Life was a nightmare for Krishna Pariyar, when he was living in a slum along the banks of the Bishnumati River. Besides the pungent smell from the river he also had to deal with the frequent threats that this hut would bulldoze his hut, the only ‘property’ he owned.

But those days are history. Since 2005 he has been living in at the Kirtipur housing colony with his 11 family members in cemented, two-storey house.

It is not only the Pariyars’ lives that has changed but also those of more than 44 families since the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), came together with some other organizations to relocate the squatters at Kirtipur.

In 2004, KMC had a plan to expand the Bishnumati ring road and evacuate all the squatters living along the banks. But following the protests from squatters living along the river the NGO Lumanti, A Support Group for Shelter took the initiative to build a housing colony in Kirtipur at the cost of Rs. 10 million. KMC, the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC), UN-HABITAT, Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR) and Slum Dwellers International supported the project.

The each two-storey house has four rooms attached bathroom, rain-water harvesting system, waste water treatment system, solid waste management system. Each household in this colony has to pay Rs 2,000 every month towards the payment of Rs. 350,000 over a maximum of 15 years after which they will own the house.

“We had a small hut nearby river; very often, we had to spend the night sleeplessly. Even nature was so cruel out beds would sometime be flooded,” said Pariyar, who is also the president of Kirtipur housing committee. “But, now we have a new house with facilities that of no different than a millionaire enjoys in town.”

Pariyar, who once used to work as helper in a bag stitching factory, now owns his own bag factory and employs five people. He pays Rs 7,000 to each staff member and saves Rs. 15,000 a month.

“Life here is like in heaven,” says Nanihira Shahi, another resident in the colony.

Forty-four households of the area have linked septic tanks which is attached to a waste water treatment plant so that the filtered water can be reused. All houses are also have rainwater harvesting systems that collect in three water collection tanks for household use. A solid waste management system is also in place to collect the waste generated in their households, compost it and make fertilizer.

There are an estimated 45 squatter settlements in the capital which the government is trying to evict but without plans for resettlement

The government has made final preparations to launch a two-tier scheme to tackle the low enrollment and high dropout rate in schools in some 21 districts along with five districts of Karnali region.
The Educational Guarantee Scheme (EGS) is set for launch
on Wednesday, coinciding with the beginning of the new academic session. The first phase concludes on April 27 while the second phase will run through April 28-May 8.

The EGS, targets school-age children from backward, marginalized and poor communities, particularly those out of school between six and 10 years of age.
The EGS, with its slogan defining free, quality and inclusive education as new Nepal’s expectation, targets school-age children from backward, marginalized and poor communities, particularly those out of school in ages between 6 and 10 years.
The two tier-schemes aim to encourage children of school going age to enroll in school, similalarly guarantee the completion of primary level education.

The scheme is expected to contribute to the realisation of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and the National target to raise school enrollment to 100 percent from the current 91.9 percent and reduce the dropout rate to zero by the year 2015, Acting Director of Department of Education Chitra Prasad Devkota said.

An estimated 266,000 children between 5 -10 years age group are out of school, according to the
Ministry of Education.

This comprises eight percent of the total school going children population. The average dropout rate in Class One is quite alarming with one sixth of the students staying back from school every year .

“With this dual campaign, we expect school going children who are yet out of school to enroll in this academic session and continue their education until they complete primary level,” said Chudamani Paudyal, Chief of Equity Department at DoE.

The government has allocated Rs. 24 million for EGS for 21 districts along with five districts of Karnali region and Rs. 25,000 for each school as incentive to provide a boost to the enrollment campaign in all 75 districts.

The government has so far decided to distribute necessary school accessories, namely textbooks and copies, uniforms, day meal, scholarships and other incentives to increase enrollment.

The respective District Education Officer will fix necessary programmes to ensure that more children enroll and complete their primary level education.

The 21 districts targeted are: Solukhumbu, Sunsari, Sindhupalchowk, Bara, Parsa, Rautahat, Siraha, Saptari, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Dhanusha, Makwanpur, Kapilvastu, Rupandehi, Manang, Mustang, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Rolpa and Rukum.

Kathmandu Valley denizens and Tarai people beware! Vector-borne diseases are likely to give the populace a hard time in the absence of serious efforts to keep the diseases at bay.
The Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) under the Ministry of Health and Population has warned that water-borne diseases will break out in the wake of intermittent summer rains.

Parts of the valley, including Balaju, Patan, Balkumari and Bhaisepati, are especially vulnerable to outbreaks of cholera, diarrhoea and jaundice, said EDCD. Vector-borne diseases remain a threat to Tarai districts as well.

At least 279 cases of waterborne diseases were recorded in the Valley last year and EDCD officials maintain that the situation is likely to get worse this summer.

“Changing weather pattern is likely to make matters worse this time,” maintains EDCD Director Dr. Senendra Raj Upreti. According to EDCD officials, waterborne diseases will strike after rainfall. Says Upreti, “Often contaminated with sewarage, the capital’s piped water is quite hazardous to public health.”

Besides, groundwater is a breeding ground for harmful vectors and contains unsafe level of arsenic, which causes cancer, suggests findings of an Environment and Public Health Organisation study conducted a few years ago.

Underground sources, including stone water spouts, account for 45 percent of the Kathmandu Valley’s water supply volume. According to studies, these sources have become more contaminated over the years.

The capital is also susceptible to Japanese Encephalitis and kala-azar. But unique weather condition has prevented the agents of these diseases from multiplying, reasons Dr. Upreti. “Rain can aggravate the situation in coming months,” says Dr. Upreti, calling for concerted efforts from the government, local health bodies and people to control the diseases.

According to health officials, there are many ways to remain safe. They include: Drinking potable water; protecting food from insects and rats; washing and cooking food properly; keeping surroundings clean to prevent flies and other insects and rodents from breeding.

Fed up with extended load-shedding hours? Don’t lose hope, for there’s a ray of hope for the power-starved denizens of Kathmandu Valley.

A team of Swiss experts and Nepali engineers are teaming up and conducting a feasibility study to generate electricity from sunlight and connect it to the national grid. Since last January, the team has been carrying on work to set up a Photovoltaic (PV) cell system to do this.

The PV cell system consists of photovoltaic cells, PV modules and an inverter wired together, where photovoltaic cells convert sunlight into direct current (DC) electricity.

“India, China and many European countries are using this system as one of the major renewable energy sources,” said Prof. Jagan Nath Shrestha, Director of Center for Energy Studies (CES) under Tribhuvan University (TU).

Shrestha said the PV system can prove to be the best alternative renewable energy source for the country.

“We can generate five kilowatt per hour from the sun’s rays while most European countries can generate only three kilowatt per hour.

Despite this, most European countries, including Switzerland and Germany, are using this system to generate electricity,” he said.

It costs Rs. 500, 000 to set up a PV cell system and generate one kilowatt electricity. Once the PV cell is installed, it works for 20 years, according to Shrestha.

CES had installed the PV cell system in 2003 at some places on a test basis and it has been operating round the clock, said Shrestha.

In the initial phase, the PV cell system would be installed in Kathmandu Valley as a pilot project, according to Domenico Chianese, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Applied Sustainability of the Environment, Switzerland.

Kathmandu Valley has transmission lines with 220 KV capacity and that will help transmit the power generated from the PV cell system that will be fed into the national grid, he said.

Meanwhile, he suggested that when real estate business and big building projects are booming so fast, power demand will naturally increase.

He added that the PV cell system would be an appropriate option for the valley denizens to get regular power supply.

Demand for PV cell system is growing by 40 percent every year worldwide, according to him.

A team of geologists and sedimentologists from Japan and Tribhuvan University (TU) have discovered 40,000 and 24,000 years old footprints of elephants respectively on two separate soil sediments in Kathmandu Valley.
These two finds suggest that elephants lived in the Valley in those ages, according to geologists.

“To our knowledge, nobody has found such imprints on soil sediments that old anywhere else in the world,” said Dr. Tetsuya Sakai, Sedimentologist from Shimane University in Japan. He also said that in the research period along sand-mining areas in Thimi and Gokarna, many strange deformations of elephant footprints and toed-ungulates (having hooves) were found and we could scientifically infer that elephant treadings had caused the deformations.

The age of the footprints and sediments were measured with carbon dating, an international instrument for measuring the age of soil.

Japanese geologists, ecologists and sedimentologist, in collaboration with geologists of TU, have been regularly conducting research on geological, cultural and natural landscapes and topography of Kathmandu Valley since 1998. However, the footprints in the Valley were this time discovered by a team comprising Prof. B.N. Upreti and Ananta Prasad Gajurel from Geology Department at Tri Chandra Campus, TU; and Dr. Tetsuya Sakai, from Shimane University in Japan and Dr. Hideo Tabata from Gifu Academy of Forest Science and Culture in Japan.

“We had never seen anything like this anywhere during our research in any part of the country including Kathmandu Valley,” said Dr. Hideo Tabata. Adding that they needed animal fossils for more evidence for further confirmation of their interpretation, he said, “We are very sure that these evidences can be found on the soil sediments around sand-mining areas.”

“Therefore we urge sand mine workers to contact us if they find fossils, namely bones and teeth without breaking the site of the finding,” he added. “These are treasures of Nepal and they need to be further conserved in museums, instead of destroying or letting them go unnoticed.”

He also said he is socked by the fast pace of development activities in the Valley, which are destroying the historical, cultural and natural landscapes in such a way that Nepal can never recover its lost greenery and healthy treasures.

More than a year ago, a group of European tourists came to visit the Patan Durbar Square, paid entry fees and strolled around. In the middle, one of them had an emergency. He looked around for a toilet, but found none.
Then the tourist approached the then mayor of Lalitpur-Sub Metropolitan City (LSMC) and sought his entry fees back, stating that lack of a toilet around the historic square had forced him to urinate in pants.

This incident made the officials install first-ever mobile toilet in the Durbar Square in Lalitpur district a year ago, says Prof. Dr. Jaganath Shrestha, director of the Centre for Energy Studies (CES) at the Tribhuvan University. Shrestha is the brains behind the installation of the first mobile toilet in Lalitpur that cost Rs 90,000.

Mobile toilet is a transportable and eco-friendly toilet with facilities for separate storage of urine and excreta.

LSMC officials had a hard time convincing local people about the sustainability of this environment-friendly technology.

“During the project’s initial phase in Lalitpur, people even threatened to burn mobile toilets if they were installed in and around their localities, thinking such toilets will spread foul smell,” recalls Pradeep Amatya, chief of the Environment and Sanitation section of the LSMC.

People living around the Patan Durbar Square protested the installation of this toilet, forcing officials to relocate it to Pulchowk in three days.

According to Amatya, “Not even one person used the toilet for almost six months.” Later on, LSMC set up the toilet at the Gwarko chowk. These days, hundreds of people use it every day.

Meanwhile, in collaboration with the private sector, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City set up its first mobile toilet in Tundikhel on Sunday.

The newly-installed toilet cost Rs 10.5 lakh. It can accommodate nine people at a time with separate ladies’ and gents’ sections.

KMCSWMS has decided to set up nine more toilets in nine busy areas within as many months to better the sanitation facilities inside the Kathmandu Valley.

According to Basu Uprety, chairperson of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City Solid Waste Management Service (KMCSWMS), the private sector involved in the installation of this toilet, the main objective of the move is to provide better sanitation facilities through eco-friendly measures.

Uprety said the mobile toilets would be set up in Thamel, Basantapur Durbar Square, Koteshwor, Kalanki chowk, Bhugol Park, Singhadurbar, Gongabu, Old Buspark in nine months. “We will set up one mobile toilet each month.”

Biogas from toilet waste

Waste from Gwarko’s mobile toilet, which has the capacity of 100 cubic metre, feeds into and powers a biogas plant in Balkumari, according to officials.

“Earlier, we had to collect dung from other places to keep the plant running. These days, waste from the mobile toilet does the job.”

Encouraged by this success story, LSMC is planning to set up seven mobile toilets in Lalitpur sub-metropolis, according to Amatya.

He says, “We aim to supply biogas and produce manure from toilet waste.”

They stink

Public toilets inside the valley are inadequate to serve the general public and most of the existing ones are in a deplorable state due to the lack of proper management and maintenance. Thanks to unplanned urbanisation, there is no space to build fixed toilets, especially in the core city area. Because of this, mobile toilet is the only alternative in the Kathmandu Valley , according to Jaganath Shrestha of the TU’s CES.

Urinating in open? Go for mobile toilet now
Metropolitan City Solid Waste Management Service (KMCSWMS) has set up a mobile toilet at Tundikhel in Kathmandu Valley recently.
This is the first time in ten years that a mobile toilet is being set up inside Kathmandu. Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilization Centre had operated mobile toilets in Kathmandu Durbar Square and some other public places more than a decade ago.

According to Basu Uprety, chairperson of the KMCSWMS, the newly set up mobile toilet is an initiative of public-private partnership to expand public toilet facilities inside the valley.

“The population inside Kathmandu Valley has been increasing rapidly in the past few years. But drinking water and sanitation facilities have failed to match the needs of the inhabitants,” he said.

Public toilets inside the valley are inadequate to serve the general public and most of the existing public toilets are in a deplorable state due to lack of proper management and maintenance, said Uprety.

Meanwhile, the newly set up mobile toilet is due to be inaugurated by Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, Ganesh Shah on Sunday at Tundikhel.

Data kept by Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO) shows that there are a total 34 public toilets in Kathmandu Valley including 16 toilets run by Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) while the remaining are being run by private organizations.

KMC is running toilets at Ratnapark and Jamal. Town Service Centre is operating toilets with bathroom, saloon and grocery store in the land provided by the KMC at some places. The Centre pays Rs. 50,000 annually to KMC. There is no public toilet in crowded places like Tinkune, Babarmahal, Maitighar, Anamnagar, Maitidevi and Putalisadak, according to ENPHO.

Last August, a mobile toilet was set up for the first time in Lalitpur district. Center for Energy Studies, Institute of Engineering and Kantipur Research Academy had jointly constructed the mobile toilet through the technical and financial support from UN-HABITAT and had later handed it over to Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City.

KMC has already planned to construct mobile toilets in 50 different places inside the valley in partnership with the private sector.

“The committee will visit each ministry and Constituent Assembly (CA) committee to pressure them to set up the mechanism. The panel will also prepare a report and submit it to the OHCHR.”

Rai added the committee comprised well-known indigenous activists, representatives of NEFIN, National Women’s Federation of Indigenous Nationalities and CA members from ethnic groups.

According to Rai, they had filed a writ at the Supreme Court on February 12 and moved the OHCHR later.

The OHCHR has recommended the government to establish a mechanism to ensure indigenous peoples’ prior and informed consent in relation to the constitution-making process. It has sought the formation of an indigenous peoples’ thematic panel to guarantee representation and participation of indigenous peoples in political life.

On March 1, a single bench of Supreme Court Justice Min Bahadur Rayamajhi issued orders to all ministers’ offices, including the Prime Minister’s Office, and CA panels to furnish a written reply in response to the February 12 writ by April 7.

“The government can suppress our voices no more, for we have legal support and international agencies by our side,” added Rai.

Two facets of the journalism profession in Nepal should be evident to anyone who observes the media scene. First the profession is socially exclusive to a high order. Second, journalism in Nepal has become a somewhat dangerous profession.
Until some years ago the fact that the newsrooms of Nepali media institutions were staffed almost exclusively by male Bahun Chhetri journalists who had grown up in the middle hills of Nepal (or who were first generation Pahadi migrants in mid or eastern Tarai) was not perceived as an issue deserving discussion in the profession. Those who led various associations of journalists would claim confidently — as they did to Martin Chautari researchers in 2001 — that issues such as gender, caste, religion and regional origins of media professionals were of little relevance to the profession. Journalism was all about competence in the newsroom, they would add.

But the hegemony of that view began to crumble as movements calling for social inclusion began to assume importance in Nepali society. Building upon the rights conferred by the 1990 Constitution of Nepal, various social movements emphasized that representatives from many of Nepal’s social groups were absent in our public life. As part of this exercise, those missing in the newsrooms — women, janajatis, dalits and madhesis — began to be subjects of various studies. When these studies began to establish ‘missing’ journalists from these communities as a social fact of Nepali newsrooms, the profession began to acknowledge that something must be done.

As that was happening, the second evident facet of Nepali journalism also began to assume public recognition: that is journalists in Nepal have been targeted for physical attack by representatives of various social forces. Journalists have been regularly attacked by violent groups — in the name of the revolution or other similar flimsy excuses — and in some very tragic cases, murdered in a gruesome manner. The number of journalists killed during the years of the active conflict and after the onset of the peace process is worrisome.

Putting these two facts together, it would appear that this is not an easy time to be marketing social inclusion in the journalism profession. However, it must be done as it is the right thing to do for reasons that have been described at some length elsewhere (e.g., in the 2008 book Samabesi Media) by this writer and others. If that is so, then what needs to be done to make Nepali journalism more socially inclusive at a time when the profession seems very vulnerable to the antics of violence-promoters?

To increase the numbers of hitherto underrepresented communities in the Nepali newsrooms, we need to think about the entire pipeline that will deliver those numbers. First stop is the matter of their recruitment in the field. In other words, the number of those who join the profession has to be much larger given that in any profession, many who join it will leave for various personal and institutional reasons. To increase the intake of women, janajatis, dalits and madhesis, journalism has to be marketed to erstwhile under-represented communities. This has not happened in Nepal in any systematic way despite the efforts of some organizations.

And if you agree with my proposal, here are some of the challenges that we need to think about. First, many from within these communities do not culturally recognize the importance of media as a public sphere player through which some social change can be achieved. This is not surprising given the lack of journalistic practice within the community and the under-analysed role of the positive aspects of media’s public sphere role in Nepal. This role needs to be discussed in the communities.

Second, there are many alternatives in the form of professions other than journalism that seem to be more secure for members of the new generation of erstwhile underrepresented communities. The best known examples are the phenomenon of Gurkha recruitment, mountaineering and other long-distance labour markets that have an immediate appeal to many janajati males. Since the Gurkha connection is almost 200 years old and mountaineering is more than 100 years old, these professions are part of the community histories that are very familiar to many members of the new generation of several janajati groups. Thus these and other long-distance labour jobs have a bigger appeal than the relatively new professions such as journalism. We need to be able to provide information and comparisons of the various professions — their rewards and risks — to members of the new generation who are thinking about their careers.

Third, the absence of role models who can be emulated from within the underrepresented communities is a serious barrier against the entry of new recruits in the profession. This is partly a chicken and egg problem but unless the few who are in the profession get marketed as those who have overcome great odds and who are now making a mark in their fields, it would be difficult to entice members of the new generation.

Fourth, as the profession still does not provide financial security to most journalists, marketing it to communities that are very largely missing in Nepal’s newsrooms is a tough act. However, it must be pointed out that the relatively more successful members of the profession are now drawing salaries that are comparable to those being offered in some of the more financially secure professions. The lesson is: if you are good, there are now enough platforms that provide a competitive salary.

Fifth (although this cannot be proved conclusively at the moment) it seems that members of the journalism fraternity who remain exclusively devoted to the profession and refrain from engaging in a portfolio full of non-journalistic activities have, by and large, not been the victims of violence. This is not to excuse the violence that has been brought upon those who also engage in extra-journalistic activities (I think those who kill any citizen of this country should spend a large part of their lives inside prisons). Instead I simply wish to emphasize the point that there is a lot of room to do good journalism today without necessarily being caught in the violence cycle if one exercises prudence in one’s choice of social networks. This point needs to be highlighted.

I am sure there are other issues we need to discuss but I propose the above ones as an invitation to a public dialogue on the challenges facing those who want to market a more socially inclusive journalistic profession. These issues have to be publicly discussed if a significant number of journalists from erstwhile underrepresented communities is to be recruited in the media industry. We also need to note that as long as the intake remains low, the current situation of no or few women, janajatis, dalits and madhesis in the higher echelons of editorial and management positions of journalism will not change despite much repeating of the data of their current absence. Issues related to the retention and growth of journalists from these communities in our newsrooms also need to be addressed but those are best left for another occasion.

Finally it has to be noted that no media organization has a publicly announced policy to recruit members of erstwhile underrepresented communities. The launching of such formal policies would be a great attraction for members of the young generation who are now thinking about career possibilities.

Is anyone listening?

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” It seems that Nepal has no leader who can speak out the truth and not just repeat like a parrot what the Maoists comrades have been saying ever since the SPA came to power with the blessings from the Comrades as well as our friendly neighbor to the south.
With the untimely death of the 1990 constitution, the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and their comrades the Maoists together code named as SPAM have claimed to represent all the people of Nepal and the interest of the Nepalese people whether the people like it or not. SPAs claim to represent the people because they were elected more than seven years ago. The Maoists comrades claim to represent the people because they have been able to coerce the people to support them by intimidation, extortion, armed kidnapping, and cheap slogans. Together the SPAs and the Maoists, the so called SPAM have become the most powerful political force or so they claim. With the mighty Prime Minister Mr. Girija Koirala in the driving seat and his Comrade Prachanda in the front seat together with all the heroes of Janandolan II and eleven years old insurgency veterans, the bus carrying the Interim Constitution was in motion. Unfortunately, the arrogance of SPAM was challenged by both the Terai residents (Madhesi Group) and the Janajatis. The Interim constitution also made provision to form an interim parliament with the addition of 83 Maoists and 48 other members who are part of SPAM. After all, the scrapping of the old constitution may not have been an excellent idea.
Lack of Patriotic and Visionary Leadership
It is indeed very sad for the people of Nepal that there is not a single national level patriotic and visionary leader with clean image. Right now, Mr. Girija Koirala is the leader of SPAM. However, Mr. Koirala is not accepted by all the people. First of all, he is the leader of the half Congress party. The other half of the Congress party is led by Mr. Deuba. Mr. Koirala’s behavior during the Tanakpur Treaty with India and his lack of interest to safeguard the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country puts a question mark on his patriotism. In addition, Mr. Koirala as a Head of State and Head of Government failed to express his opposition to the encroachment of Nepalese territory in various border areas by India including in Kalapani, Susta, Illam, Jhapa. Saptari, Banke and Bardia. In fact, even the Ranas who ruled the country for 104 years were more patriotic than any of the SPAM leadership. For example, during the British Rule of India, Nepal maintained all even numbered borders and the Brirish maintained all the odd numbered pillars every year. That kind of border maintenance was abandoned both by multiparty rulers and Panchayati rulers.
Secondly, Mr. Koirala does not have a clean image. His involvement in various scandals during the time he was prime minister for the major part of multiparty government from 1990 to 2001. In fact, Mr. Koirala refused to present himself to the court when he was summoned by the court on corruption charges.
Thirdly, Mr. Koirala does not have any vision or any other plan to develop and help the country and the people. He is a happy camper as long as he is in power.
Fourthly, majority of the leaders of all political parties do not have clean image. Many of them have been involved with corruption, nepotism, favoritism, and influence peddling. Some of them even have criminal records including murder.
How about the Maoists Comrades? What kind of credibility do they have? Well, as we all know 13,000 Nepalese people lost their lives as a direct result of the so called people’s war started by the Maoists insurgents. Another 26,000 committed suicide because they could not bear the pain and suffering caused by the war. Over a million people were internally displaced. Many more people left the country in total despair without any hope for themselves and for their children. Today, there are hundreds of thousands of Nepalese people working as laborers (often doing the most dangerous and life threatening jobs which nobody else would do) in many Gulf countries as well as in Malaysia and South Korea.
Several millions if not billions of dollars of worth infrastructure including government offices, schools, transmission towers, bridges, roads, etc have been destroyed. All this happened because of the people’s war. The comrades must take the responsibility for the injustices done to the people. So these Maoists leaders whose hands are stained with the blood of the people are also intoxicated with the blood of the 13,000 Nepalese people. Therefore, it would be an exercise in futility to expect any thing good from these self proclaimed leaders who got where they are today with the use of guns and bombs and also with a little bit of help from the extremely friendly neighbor in the south.
According to Sobhakar Parajuli (Kathmandu Post, Feb,. 28, 2007) “The Maoists spread a reign of terrorism in villages and urban areas. They have yet to return the property of innocent people seized during their so-called people’s war. They continue to extort money and threaten the villagers. Madi ambush is still fresh among the relatives of those killed. Now Prachanda regrets that it was their mistake when he was aware of the fact that traveling in the bus were innocent passengers. Such regretting words do not convince the people. Rather, Prachanda appears cruel and inhumane in the eyes of the common people.”
Well then, are there any other leaders in the SPAM or any other political parties who have long term plan to lift the nation out of poverty, illiteracy, hunger, disease, and outdated caste system? Do any of them have a way to stop the exploitation of the poor and destitute people from the clutches of feudal landlords and crooked business man? Unfortunately, the answer is no.
All these leaders are chanting the same Mantra as the Maoists Comrades. For example, the comrades have been chanting the mantra of Federalism and Constituency Assembly (CA) elections and every one of the leaders both inside and outside SPAM chant the same mantra without even understanding what does constituency assembly or Federalism mean? What are the long term implications of these activities? Does Federalism lead us to a better future? Or it would lead to the fragmentation of the nation thereby multiplying the interethnic conflicts. Would it help us to provide better education to our children? Would it help us to provide better health care to our people? Would it help us to improve the well being of our people? Would it improve the standard of living our people? Would it help us to maintain the peaceful relationship among our multiethnic and multi linguistic people? If so please tell us exactly how it would happen. Is it magical in nature? Does it mean that as soon as the King is exiled or executed and CA elections held and Federalism established, Nepal will turn into another heaven?
People want to know what your plan for economic development is. What are the SPAM plans for education, healthcare, environmental issues, and exploitation of the poor people? Every dissident group is in a destructive mood right now. The infrastructure that was built by donations or borrowed money has been destroyed by our comrades as well as others who think they deserve a bigger piece of existing pie. No one wants to work to increase the size of the pie so that every one will have enough.
What kind of Leader Do Nepalese People Want?
Unfortunately, Nepal never had a visionary leader who puts personal interests above political party interests and national interests above political party interests. None have shown any vision for the future of the nation. No leader has been acceptable to all ethnic groups and people of different political affiliations. If we are to build our nation strong and prosperous we need to have political leader who has the following characteristics:
1. Since Nepal is a multi-ethnic nation where no group is in majority, we need a leader who is completely unbiased and can get along with people of all regions and ethnic backgrounds irrespective of their culture, language, political affiliations and caste. In other words, the leader must be able to live and work with Kamis, or Sarkis, or Sherpas, or Tharus, or Danuwar, or Satars, or Limbus, etc. This can only happen if the leader has the interests of the people and the nation above his/her personal interests.
2. People need a leader who has high moral and ethical standards and as such s/he has the ability to tell others to follow high ethical and moral values.
3. The leader must also be motivating and charismatic so that s/he can influence the people and motivate them to work hard to improve their own livelihood and neighborhood.
4. The leader must also possess a clear sense of purpose (or mission) – clear goals – focus – commitment.
5. The leader must also be able to work with others and be highly optimistic and results oriented
6. Ability to encourage and nurture others so that s/he can make a difference in the lives of the people.
7. Ability to understand what others say, rather than listening to how they say things. One could partly sum this quality up as “ability to walk in someone else’s shoes” Or know where the shoe pinches.
8. The leader must be able to display a passion for, and have a strong conviction of, what they regard as the moral correctness of their vision. They engage in outstanding or extraordinary behavior and make extraordinary self-sacrifices in the interest of their vision and mission.
9. The leader must be inspirational and communicate with people in an understandable way and live by example. S/he must have high self confidence, determination and persistence.
10. The leader must have ability to delegate authority to reliable and competent people.
The question is do we have any leaders who display even five of the above qualities? You be the judge.
Culture of Death, Destruction, and Violence
It is no secret that Maoists got where they are today using ruthless violence, destruction, murder, looting, kidnapping, intimidation, and extortion. They also used cheap and unrealistic slogans to attract people to their line of thinking. For example, Comrade Prachanda when he first showed up in public promised to turn Nepal into another Switzerland. It seems he was repeating the rhetoric of another great leader Mr. Krishna Prasad Bhattarai who proclaimed that he was going to make Nepal as developed as Singapore within five years when he was the prime minister.
Comrade Prachanda even went to the extent of claiming that he can make greater Nepal by declaring the Sugauli Treaty signed with the British in 1816 null and void. This comes from the same leader who wants to give the right to self determination to all those ethnic groups who are demanding for it. Comrade Prachanda! Tell us the truth do you want to break the country into smaller countries or build a greater Nepal? Your statements are conflicting and confusing.
Now the Maoists comrades are in power with the successful use of force, destruction of public and private property, extortion, and intimidation. The success of Maoists is now being copied by other groups. They have learned that it pays to be violent and act of violent crimes can get results. With the lessons learned from the Comrades, other groups whether they are Terai residents, Khambuwans, Tamurats, Magarats and many others are using the time tested Maoists tactics to get what they want. There is a culture of violence, death and destruction in Nepal now. Every one wants to stop the movement of vehicles and burn tires causing great amount of financial loss to the working class.
One of the dangerous promises that the comrades used was to turn Nepal into a Federal Republic where each indigenous group of people will have an autonomous republic. For example, they promised different autonomous regions for such ethnic groups as Gurungs, Magars, Newars, Tamangs, Tharus, and many others.
How Can an Autonomous Regions be Achieved?
According the 2001 Census of Nepal, the population of Nepal consists of the following categories in terms of percentage:

Population of Nepal in Percentage (Source: Central Bureau of
Statistics, Nepal Government)
1 CHHETRI 15.80
2 BRAHMAN -HILL 12.74
3 MAGAR 7.14
4 THARU 6.75
5 TAMANG 5.64
6 NEWAR 5.48
7 MUSLIM 4.27
8 KAMI 3.94
9 YADAV 3.94
10 RAI 2.79
11 GURUNG 2.39
12 DAMAI/DHOLI 1.72
13 LIMBU 1.58
14 THAKURI 1.47
15 SARKI 1.40
16 TELI 1.34
17 CHAMAR, HARIJAN, RAM 1.19
18 KOIRI 1.11
19 KURMI 0.94
20 SANYASI 0.88
21 DHANUK 0.83
22 MUSAHAR 0.76
23 DUSADH/PASWAN/PASI 0.70
24 SHERPA 0.68
25 SONAR 0.64
26 KEWAT 0.60
27 BRAHMAN – TARAI 0.59
28 BANIYA 0.56
29 GHARTI/BHUJEL 0.52
30 MALLAH 0.51
31 KALWAR 0.51
There are 72 other categories of people in Nepal which are not listed in the above table. The criteria used to cut off was any groups which are less than 0.5% of the total population are not quoted as these would not be needed to make the point clear.
Let us say, for example, as promised by Maoists Comrades that we all agree that Limbuwan and Khambuwan are given an autonomous region in the eastern Nepal. From the above table one can see that they constitute a population of 4.37% when both groups are combined. Now, the problem is the region where they want their autonomous region also have many other ethnic groups including Magars, Gurungs, Bahuns, Chhetries, Kamis, Damais, Sarkis, Newars, Tamangs, and the list goes on and on. If they are given autonomy in the area then what are the other people who have been living there for hundreds of years going to do? Do they have to move to somewhere else? If so where would they go? Let us forget about the Bahuns and Chettris who are supposedly the exploiters and let them go to hell. However, what is a poor Kami or a poor Damai is going to do. Where would they go? Kamis and Damais like Newars, Bahuns, Sarkis, and Chettris are spread all over Nepal.
Representation of Ethnic Groups
The recent revolts by the Terai residents and the various ethnic groups from the mountains have been claiming the fair representation in administration, army, police, etc. There is no question that their demands are appropriate and justified. However, these demands cannot be addressed by CA election or the introduction of Federalism.
Empowerment of Local Governments and not Federalism is the Answer
According to the 2001 census of Nepal, there are 103 different ethnic groups in Nepal. They speak at least 90 different languages. Some of the ethnic groups are as small as 164 people. For example, according to the 2001 census of Nepal there are only 164 Kusundas in Nepal and these people are no where else in the world. Different groups of people especially the ones demanding the autonomy are spread out through out the nation. Therefore, introduction of Federalism or declaration of self governing regions based on ethnic groups will spell disaster for the whole country. It would not even benefit the group that is claiming autonomy. The ethnic groups such as Magars, Tharus, Tamangs, Newars, only constitute 7.14%, 6.75%, 5.64%, and 5.48% respectively. Moreover, these groups are not living in a particular locality. They are pretty much spread out through out the country except the Tharus who mainly reside in the Terai belt.
Therefore, the best way to kill the snake without breaking the stick would be to empower the local governments. It will be a true democratic way of resolving the demands of terai residents as well as the various ethnic groups of the hill areas.
What Kind of Power would the Local Government Have?
The ultimate objective should be to give the power to raise tax, be responsible for taking care of school education, primary health care, local self governance including public safety (hiring local police), passing the rules and regulations on the local governance, and judiciary. Well, that gives the local elected bodies complete authority. It will all be democratic because the people will elect not only the local government officials but also the judges and the chief of the police. People must be alert and ask for transparency, accountability, and rule of law. This will be the ultimate democracy which will satisfy the demands of all ethnic groups no matter how small or how large they are.
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Khagendra Thapa is a professor at Ferris State University.

It has very less to do with earning potential and everything to do with entrepreneurial responsibility. Kiran Rai operates a slaughterhouse of international standard at Talchhikhel, Lalitpur, even though a number of slaughterhouses with similar standard closed shop thanks to government failure to implement the Slaughterhouse and Meat Act 1999.
Two slaughterhouses were established in Thankot and Kakani about seven years ago to provide hygienic meat products with government assistance under the Third Livestock Development Programme (TLDP) of Agriculture Ministry. But these slaughterhouses are no more because of failure to implement the Act.

“But, we are giving continuity to this slaughterhouse, despite the loss incurred because we realise our responsibility toward consumers’ health,” said Rai, a shareholder of the slaughterhouse – Modern Integrated Pork Industry Pvt. Ltd.

Rai says the venture is losing money because it follows the Meat Act directives though they have not been implemented.

Very aware of the health hazards of unhygienic methods of slaughter in the Valley, Kiran Rai, a school teacher of Khairang-7 of Bhojpur district quit his job and came to Kathmandu with his brother Om Prakash Rai with the aim of establishing a model slaughterhouse.

His plan bore fruit and Modern Integrated Pork Industry Pvt. Ltd in 2002 was established with investment of over Rs. 1.2 million.

Initially, the slaughterhouse rarely processed more than two pigs a day and had no more than two staff. Now, it slaughters over 10 pigs and employs 15 staff.

The pigs, collected mainly from Itahari, Dharan, Belghari and Morang are certified by the district quarantine office in Itahari. The animals are screened again before slaughter. The meet is then kept in deep-freeze.

“This is not mandatory but we can’t cheat our customers,” says Rai,

With these features, the slaughterhouse is scoring in terms of image and students of food and meat hygiene also frequent it for study.

According to Rai, if the government implements the Meat and Slaughterhouse Act strictly by making its directives mandatory, not only him but all consumers would benefit.

Bio-gas from waste

The government had provided financial and technical assistance of Rs. 50,000 for construction of a bio-gas plant last year. Rai and his partners added Rs. 15,000 to this amount to manage the slaughter waste.

Talking to the Post, Rai said the government under the Community Livestock Development Programme (CLDP) of the Agriculture Ministry in collaboration with Solid waste Management and Resource Mobilisation Centre (SWMRMC) had provided financial and technical assistance to construct the plant .

“Earlier, we had problems fetching gas cylinders and managing slaughter waste,” said Rai. “But now, we neither have to fetch the cylinder nor face the tension on dumping waste, thanks to the plant.”