#437 6 - 12 February 2009 16 pages Rs 30

Weekly Internet Poll # 438. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com

Q. Do you agree with the coalition’sgovernance by ordinance?

Weekly Internet Poll # 4376

Q. How would you describe PM Dahal’saddress to the nation?

Total votes: 3,112

Mc Dowell

espite fears that Nepal’stiger population has beendecimated by habitat loss

and poaching, an ongoing catcensus in Chitwan has foundencouraging signs of theirnumbers bouncing back.

The nationwide tiger censuswill be completed in March, butwith half of Chitwan NationalPark covered so far, 20 adults and12 cubs have been counted. Thenumber of breeding tigers isexpected to top 60, which wasthe total number from theprevious census in 2000.

“The situation doesn’t appearto be as bad as it was thought,”says a beaming NarendramanBabu Pradhan, chief wardenat Chitwan.

The census is being carried

After being ruthlessly hunted, Nepal’stiger numbers are climbing again

Burning brightout with 50 sets of digitalcameras that are placed alongjungle trails and triggered bymovement. The images areanalysed and individual tigersidentified by their distinctivestripes. Forty staff on fiveelephants are involved.

The camera trappingtechnique is also being used intwo western reserves in Bardiyaand Sukla Phanta where tigers

were decimated by Indian

poachers in the past eight years.The army was withdrawn fromjungle posts during the war,allowing armed poachersfree movement.

In Sukla Phanta, tigernumbers dropped from 20 in2005 to eight last year; however,preliminary results of the censusshow that the majestic cats arespringing back there too.

Says Naresh Subedi of theNational Trust for NatureConservation, which is carryingout the census with theDepartment of National Parks andWildlife: “We will have to wait Full story p4

for the final tally, but so far weare all pleasantly surprised atleast in Chitwan that tigersaren’t as badly affected as wehad feared.”

In 2000, there were 123breeding tigers and about 200cubs in national parks all overNepal. A further 100 tigersprobably live in wilderness areasthat aren’t designated nationalparks. That number has probablygone down, but conservationistsexpect the total tiger tally inparks to be about the same asin 2000.

NANDA RANA

D

2 6 - 12 FEBRUARY 2009 #437EDITORIAL

Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Editor: Kunda DixitCEO: Ashutosh Tiwari Design: Kiran MaharjanMarketing Manager: Sambhu Guragain Asst Manager: Subhash Kumar Marketing: Arjun KarkiSubscriptions: 5542535/5542525

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edi tors@nepal i t imes.comwww.nepal i t imes.com

CITIZEN DAHALIn his address to the nation as a “common citizen” last week,Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal bemoaned that frequentstrikes were scaring away investors. He said the tendency ofNepalis to hit the streets at the slightest pretext needed to bestopped once and for all.

That’s what Citizen Dahal feels. But what is Prime MinisterDahal going to do about it? He must know it is goons from hisown party who are undermining his efforts to woo investors. Thehead of the Maoist student wing publicly threatened last week to“break the backbones” of anyone daring to oppose his union.Since they have done it before, nobody doubts their ability tocarry out the threat.

Union militancy has now become the single biggest worry ofthe private sector. It continues to create havoc in the Birgunj-Hetauda and Itahari-Duhabi industrial corridors. Manyentrepreneurs have bought peace at prices that nobody knowsabout. Emboldened by the easy success of their technique ofintimidation, Maoist labour is now targeting schools andhospitals. It is of no concern to the union mafia that theseinstitutions already pay much higher wages than the minimumfixed by the government.

But then it is not really about wages, is it? It is about controland extortion.

When asked about the violent and brash behaviour of his footsoldiers, Finance Minister Baburam Bhattarai actually repliedthat a planned chaos was necessary to wrest control of the state.That wasn’t a slip of the tongue. It is looking more and more likethe game plan is to unleash anarchy for forcible state capture.

If that is the case then restoring law and order is not a Maoistpriority at all. It is now up to members of the coalition to up theante and demand that Dahal publicly and credibly renounceviolence as a political tool before they do any more dealswith him.

GUEST COLUMNDirgharaj Upadhyay

DHANGADI—On the day afterUma Singh was killed, HomeMinister Bamdev Gautam came tothis far-western Tarai town withthe heads of the APF and NepalPolice. He assured everyone hewould go after attackers of themedia one by one.

Gautam coming to Dhangadiwhen a journalist was brutallymurdered in Janakpur was likesending the fire brigade to thewest when the fire is in the east.He said he’d nab the murderersone by one, but journalists arebeing killed one by one.

Things were never this bad forthe Nepali media: not in theconflict years, not even duringthe royal emergency whenjournalists were randomlydetained, kept in solitaryconfinement and tortured.

Today, whilejournalists are beingbrutally murdered thestate is perpetuatingimpunity by not takingaction, and in somecases garlanding theattackers. And whenthings get reallydifficult, thegovernment’s standardresponse is to set up acommission, pad it upwith its ownsympathisers and hopethat the problem willjust fade away.

When Himalmediawas attacked, PrimeMinsiter Dahal told apublic meeting in

Butwal that he didn’t understandwhat the big fuss was aboutbecause “no one was killed”. Hewent on to ask why there wasn’tsimilar outrage when Dhangadijournalist JP Joshi was killed twomonths previously.

Of course there was anoutrage. Even though Joshi was adistrict committee member of theMaoists, and there weresuspicions that Maoiststhemselves were behind thekilling, the Federation of NepaliJournalists launched protestsnationwide.

It is this sort of insensitivityand such irresponsible commentsthat has got the government intohot water over subsequent attackson media. They feed theperception that the Maoist partyhas never been serious about pressfreedom, and that it only pays lipservice to it. How can you expectanswers and justice from agovernment that seems sooblivious to the threats tothe press?

The media fraternity doesn’tcare what political persuasion acolleague who is harassed orkilled belongs to. Journalistswant to cover the news, notbecome the news themselves.When Uma Singh was killed, ithurt journalists in western Nepal.When JP Joshi was killed,reporters in Jhapa were outraged.

Only if the journalists’ rightto life is protected, does it makeany sense to protect their right tofree expression. Only if the mediais free to fulfill the people’s rightto know without threats orhindrance will democracyfunction as it should.

So far, not even a singlemurderer of a journalist has been

prosecuted. It is this impunitythat proves to the enemies of pressfreedom that they can literally getaway with murder. And let’s notforget that it’s not just theassassins of journalists likeBirendra Sah who are scot free,even the killers of Kathmandubusinessman Ram Hari Joshi arenot just at large but have beeninstalled as members of the Maoistcentral committee. What kind of amessage does this send to thecitizenry when criminals are notjust let free unprosecuted but arerewarded instead?

The irony of all this, of course,is that during the conflict themedia had years gone out of itsway to be objective. When themedia struggled against the king’sdictatorship to safeguard pressfreedom, it lavished coverageand interviews of undergroundMaoist leaders.

The media is the mediumthrough which public debate takesplace. It is our duty to presentdissenting points of view, even ifthey are views held by the enemiesof press freedom. The mediadoesn’t want journalists to bedeclared martyrs, they don’t wantany more toothless commissionsof inquiry, they just want theperpetrators of murder caughtand tried. Is that too much toask?

Dirgharaj Upadhyay is thechairman of the Kailali Chapter ofthe Federation of NepaliJournalists.

Reporters are not supposed becom e new s them selves

Getting awaywith murder

LLLLL E T T E R SE T T E R SE T T E R SE T T E R SE T T E R S

HUMILIATIONIn response to Ratan Gazmere’sanswer to the question on how heevaluates resettlement program(“Thimpu will not get away withexpulsion,” #436) I would like to addfurther comment. No doubt theInternarional Organization for Migration(IOM), as an institution does acommendable job, but regrettably agood number of people that have beenhired to work for the IOM have thewrong attitude. The escorts must havebeen hired according to the criteria ofIOM rules and regulations, but therehave been instances when refugeeshave been treated in a discourteousmanner. IOM also has foreign staff thatare stationed at the airport duringdepartures. A number of Bhutanirefugees have complained that theyhave suffered humiliation from them. Isecond Gazmere’s comments when hesays that the refugees’ sense of dignityis affected. We came out of refugeecamps, we were not living inconcentration camps. Above all, wenever wanted to live like this in a

LETTERSNepali Times welcomes feedback. Lettersshould be brief and may be edited for space.While pseudonyms can be accepted, writerswho provide their real names and contactdetails will be given preference. Email lettersshould be in text format without attachmentswith ‘letter to the editor’ in the subject line.

Email: letters(at)nepalitimes.comFax: 977-1-5521013Mail: Letters, Nepali Times,GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu, Nepal.

physics, on the other hand, seems to be abit rusty. In ‘Ass-to-ass talk’ (#436) thedonkey says Nepal’s ‘communist partiesare splitting faster than neutrons insidean atomic reactor’. You don’t have to beEinstein to know that it’s not the neutronsthat split in a nuclear chain reaction butthe nuclei of the Uranium 235 atom.Unless we get this cleared up, Nepal cannever start a plutonium enrichmentprogram in order to blackmail Indianexpansionists and US imperialists.

Kiran Kulkarni, Mumbai

KUMAR SHRESTHA/NEPALNEWS.COM

foreign country. The IOM should hire staffwith compassion for a job which entailslooking after human beings in need.

P Risal, USA

WAIT AND WATCHPrashant Jha’s Delhi dateline report (‘Waitand watch’, #436) was insightful. All themore so because the unnamed ‘seniorofficial’ is quoted assaying: “…But we willnot back any effort totopple thegovernment rightnow.” This opens up anumber of questions:India is in the habit oftoppling governmentsin Nepal, it couldtopple thisgovernment right nowif it wanted, but itwon’t, it could topplethis government anytime in future if it sodesired. This couldhave been a Freudianslip, but it has

exposed India’s colonial attitude towardsNepal loud and clear.

G RL Rana, email

OXYMORONSThe Young Communist League changedtheir name to Young CommunistDemocratic League (Backside, #436) toincorporate the spirit of democracy that

these youngstersstand by. Communistand Democratic—isthat even possible?It’s like being blackand white. The YCDLsure displaysAnarchy, so their realacronym should beYAM.

Praswas Shakya,email

While no one canchallenge yourbackside Ass onsatire, godssip andmetaphysics, his (?)knowledge of nuclear

36 - 12 FEBRUARY 2009 #437OP-ED

STATE OF THE STATEC K Lal

here must be something in the Vastuof Singha Darbar that makes itsprincipal occupants think and

behave like little emperors. Like Louis XV,Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahalannounced last month that any effort todislodge his government would triggeranother revolution and Maoists wouldeventually ëcaptureí power.

His Indian mentors who persuaded himin 2005 to join mainstream politics probablyforgot to tell the guerrilla chief that arevolving-door government is an essentialfeature of the parliamentary system. Theday Balkhu Darbar decides that it has nofurther use for Premier Dahal, he will haveto make way for Madhab Nepal. The moodin the legislature is turning distinctly anti-Maoist. Almost all the parties, including thekangresis, would be only too happy to join aUML-led coalition, whatever theunpredictable consequences of such anunlikely formation.

Dahal needs to realise that likeeverybody else in any democratic set-up,he is neither irreplaceable in his own partynor indispensable to the country. Historyhas an uncanny habit of getting rid ofpowerful men when they least expect it. Inany case, no prime minister since ChandraShamsher, incidentally the prime minister

who built Singha Darbar, hasserved what could be called anormal term of office in that jinxedpalace.

Since the British days and therise of the Ranas, Lainchaur hasalways been a factor in influencingthe outcome of court intrigues inKathmandu. The other influentialplayer was always the army.Popular support, when it matteredat all, came last. The first electedprime minister of the country BPKoirala realised this reality whenhe found himself behind barsdespite two-thirds majority of hisparty in the parliament. Dahalísparty commands the loyalty of onlyabout one-third of members of thelegislative assembly.

The Tarai is another factor thatcan upset the best calculations of powerbrokers. Despite boasts of some Hindi-speaking Madhesi leaders and allegationsof extremists of the left and right alike, theIndians have very few levers ofmanipulation in the plains of Nepal.Madhesis blame the Americans for fundingand abetting King Mahendraís plannedtransmigration of Pahadis in the Tarai as apart of a Cold War strategy. US-friendlynon-governmentals have recently madeinroads into the central Tarai, but theirimpact is still largely peripheral. Itís not fornothing that Matrika Yadav decided toexplore China before designing a politicaloutfit to face the challenges of the futureñ

the northern neighbour has no baggage inthe southern plains.

The Maoists realised the importance ofthe Tarai during elections last year, but theyappear to still be confused about thestrategy that would help expand their baseinto the restive region. They have beenunwittingly falling for Panchayat-erapractice of stoking the fire of fear amongPahadis that Madhesiís aspirations forequal rights somehow constitute a threat tonational integrity.

From Mohan Baidya to KrishnaBahadur Mahara, every Maoist leaderconsiders it a part of his ënationalistí duty todenigrate Madhes-based parties. This

strategy may help them consolidate theirbase among former royalists but isunlikely to win friends and gainsupporters in the Tarai. Perhaps a moresensitive approach is necessary toassuage the fears of Madhesis that theywould not be short-changed once again bythe new ruling class.

After their much-publicised pow-wowover the Madhes, the Maoists areplanning to raise a storm in the spring togain a foothold in the region. The UML isalready there: it has pitted its Tharu frontagainst Madhes-based parties. TMDP isout in the streets agitating for immediateimplementation of peace accord signedwith the previous government. If pushcomes to shove, the MJF and the pro-establishment Sadbhabana will have littlehesitation in leaving the government.

A year after Tarai acquiesced toconstituent assembly elections on thepromise of change, the plains are onceagain rife with apprehension that thecoalition government isnít serious abouttheir concerns. There is a clear trustdeficit between the rulers and the ruledand government hasnít helped its case byfloating the idea of Integrated ServicesCentres (ISCs) to be located along theeast-west highway.

Before they raise a storm in the Tarai-Madhes, the Maoists would do well toearn the trust of Madhesis. The issue istoo important to be left to slogan-mongersunthinkingly raising the bogey ofseparatism or chauvinism.

T

The spring stormThe Maoists want more influence in the Madhes

KIRAN PANDAY

4 6 - 12 FEBRUARY 2009 #437NATION

PLAIN SPEAKINGPrashant Jha

ost kangresis don’t read. Ask why, and the joke goesthere is no need because BP Koirala has read enoughfor all of them. But members of the Nepali Congress may

want to pick up a booklet published recently by the Social ScienceBaha titled Views from the Field: Anthropological Perspectives onthe CA elections.

The NC’s challenge comes from a Maoist party that wants toruthlessly consolidate. If anyone was entertaining illusions abouthardline-softline divisions, they should look at BaburamBhattarai’s recent article which reiterates that the ultimate goal hasnot changed.

But this desire to expand and control is common acrossparties. The NC did it when it was in power, padding the Nepal

Police with cadre, ensuringthe bureaucrats would beloyalists, using the stateapparatus to leveragesupport on the ground. TheUML ensured the last local

polls went their way when they had control of key ministries.The Maoists are doing the same thing. What makes it different

this time is that they are aided by a strong ideological belief, acoercive apparatus. And they just happen to be smarter than therest.

Beneath all the complexity, there is a simple truth: if you don’tlike what the Maoists are doing, mount a political challenge. Don’tdo what you did during the war– run away and leave a politicalvacuum. During the insurgency, the valid reason was fear. Theremay be instances of intimidation now, but the political space hasopened up.

NC leaders are not doing this, and they are now afraid that theywill be completely marginalized. It is this insecurity that is drivingmuch of the NC rhetoric on Maoist ‘totalitarianism’. It is making theNC top rung suck up to India and the army yet again, hoping they

would do the job for them byrallying against the Maoists. Thearmy should be careful and not beemployed when NC encourages itto go against the civilian chain ofcommand.

At the root of the NC’s problemlies its inability or unwillingness toface the election result head on.Yes, there was coercion but toover-estimate that element isintellectual laziness and politicallysuicidal. The polls were a lot morecomplex and until the NC sitsdown, honestly evaluates eachseat and why they lost, there willbe no revival.

The Baha has compiled threeessays by academics who went back on Election Day last April tovillages where they had been working for decades. The key lessonis: all politics is local.

David Holmberg visited Nuwakot to witness an election wherefor the first time parties had given tickets to local Tamangs. But inthe constituency he covered, the Maoists had a Bahun candidateand NC had a Tamang face.

Judith Pettigrew was in Kaski and explores how a young local,Thagu, who despised the Maoists for harassing him in 2004 hassuddenly become a party member. It was not force, but constantconversations with the Maoists that impressed Thagu and madehim defect from the NC.

Mukta Tamang was in Kabhre where he saw how young voterstilted the balance in favour of the Maoists. The defining mood was afusion of fear and hope.

In each VDC, there are political contradictions. If the NC wants,it can capitalise on it. But for that they have to be quick, proactiveand strategic. Ranting in the capital will get them nowhere.

The Bardia OHCHR report depicts a humanitarian catastrophewhere Tharu families were victimised relentlessly during the war. Ithappened under Sher Bahadur Deuba after he deployed the army.

Suppose Deuba went back to Bardia, reached out to affectedTharu families, explained that it was a dirty war and there weremistakes, and shared the pain. All they are looking for is anacknowledgement. The Maoists won all seats in Bardiya, Deuba’sgesture would have opened up local space for the NC to at leastbuild links with the community again.

Nepal’s liberal democrats are their own worst enemy. Theywould rather forget how they needed the left even when fighting fordemocracy in 1990 and 2006, but not rediscover their socialistroots. They would rather live in the capital, in denial about theelections, but do nothing to overhaul the party structure. And theywould rather rehabilitate crooks than look for new faces.

NC can recover, but for that, they have to first forgetKathmandu.

ForgetKathmanduThe NC needs to get out of thecapital and re-invent itself

t is getting dark in the thickjungle as a hazy sun dips intothe horizon, and the forest

stirs.Near a watering hole,

technicians alight from elephantsto fix the digital cameras on theside of trails frequented by tigers.The elephants are getting nervousand blow noisily through theirtrunks.

The ongoing nationwide tigercensus has so far covered half theChitwan National Park and 20tigers and 12 cubs have beenidentified by their distinctivestripes. The other half of the parkin the Chure Hills and the MadiValley beyond has a significantlylarger number of tigers, so thecensus-takers are optimistic thattiger numbers are rebounding.

However, in Bardiya and SuklaPhanta the tiger numbers weredown by 30-50 percent between2005 and 2008 and are recoveringat a slower pace. “It appears that

Smile, you’re oncandid camera

poaching was much morewidespread in western Nepal,”says Naresh Subedi of theNational Trust for NatureConservation (NTNC).

This is the first scientific tigercensus in Nepal using digitalcamera trapping technology. It iscombined with a count of pugmarks and scratches on trees toconfirm the number of tigers.“The stripes of individual tigersare as distinct as our finger prints,and the count can be prettyexact,” explains Subedi.

Until the 1950s when theforest cover in the Tarai was stillintact, tiger ranged from Mechi toMahakali. Since the eradication ofmalaria during the 1960s,transmigration of hill people tothe Tarai meant that primehabitats for wildlife were clearedfor settlement and agriculture.Nowadays, tigers are found onlybetween the Bagmati andMahakali rivers in the Tarai.

Poaching, habitat loss and thedepletion of prey have

contributed to the steady loss ofthe species. In India, tigerpopulations are down to 1,100from 2,000 fifteen years ago. TheSariska reserve in Rajasthan haslost all its tigers to poaching inthe past ten years.

In Nepal, national parks wererelatively better protected by thearmy as well as effective bufferzone mobilisation of villagers forconservation and anti-poachingintelligence. “We have put thearmy back into the abandonedposts, and poaching is now undercontrol,” says Laxmi Manandhar atthe Department of National Parksand Wildlife Conservation inKathmandu, “and we see thehappy result in the Chitwan tigercensus.”

However, the chief warden ofChitwan National Park,Narendraman Babu Pradhan, saysmuch more could be done if theconservation sector had moreresources to mobilize people inbuffer zones, increase mobility ofrangers and upgrade research.

Harkaman Lama (pictured) is a senior wildlifetechnician at the NTNC and heads one of thetwo teams on elephant back that is laying thecameras for Nepal’s ongoing tiger census.

“We have to always keep our eyes andears open here,” whispers Lama, “we couldrun into rhinos, bears or tigers.”

With 30 years of experience as anaturalist, Lama knows instinctively from thewildlife calls whether there is danger near. Hehasn’t had any confrontations during thiscensus, but wild elephants have smashedcameras in Bardiya after they flashed at night,and bears sometimes play with them andwreck the aim.

The digital cameras are positioned on bothsides of tiger trails, facing each other and at adistance of 1.5 to 2 km for 15 days at a time.They are triggered by wildlife movements, andbesides tigers they have also “shot” wild boar,bears, leopards and lots of deer. Lama’s teamsets 50 cameras every two weeks in a sectionof the park, gathers all the images for analysisand moves on to the next area.

What makes Lama really happy is whenhis camera snaps portraits of tigresses withtheir cubs.

DEWAN RAI in CHITWAN

ENUMERATOR

M

I

CHONG ZI LIANG

NANDA RANA

56 - 12 FEBRUARY 2009 #437BUSINESS

STRICTLY BUSINESSAshutosh Tiwari

hile teaching a weeklycourse on corporategovernance in an

evening program at a managementcollege last year, one requirementI had for students was to visitand study two Nepali companies,and write about those companies’

corporate governance practices.That is, explain how thosecompanies were directed andcontrolled for stronger businessresults.

Most students wrote aboutpublic companies such as banksand manufacturing units, in partbecause information obtainedfrom them could be verified fromother sources.

The two key findings wereas follows:

Family on Board: The boardcomposition of most Nepali-owned public companies raisedtoo many red flags. Unqualifiedrelatives and family members ofthe founders were assigned seatson the company’s board to suchan extent that even nominallypublic companies were ran likefamily businesses under thecontrol of a patriarch whobrooked no dissent.

With the independence of theBoard thus compromised, hiringwas mostly about gettingrelatives, friends and loyalhangars-on into the company.

Often, there was no auditcommittee to make sure that thecompany’s financial reportingwas truthful. And the Boardmembers themselves ran thecompanies on a day to day basis,

Managing to get byNepali companies need to adopt andadapt if they want to survive

telling the hand-pickedmanagement staff what to do andnot do. Besides, with no onequestioning their actions, suchBoard members found it easier torepeatedly use the company assetsfor personal use with littlethought to what shareholdersmight say.

Indeed, if we examine whysome Nepali financialinstitutions went intoreceivership in the last threeyears, the inherently faultycomposition of their boards—which then led to board members’treating banks as personal piggy-banks—comes up as trigger pointthat eventually led to theirdownfall.

Management mistakes: Often,managers at most companies haveto perform in such a way thatthey hardly have time or interestto deepen the necessarilyunglamorous tasks of cleaning uptheir company’s innards that leadto long-term stability.

As such, most companies havelofty mission statements, but nocode of ethics, no employeemanuals and no agreed-upon andwritten operating procedures.True, not having these documentshelps a manager consolidatepower, especially when it comesto hiring his chosen people andthen fixing pay packages. Inpractice, however, such control

comes at the cost of enervatingoffice politics that lead to lowstaff morale and low productivity.

Besides, the absence of suchdocuments reduces themanagement to making decisionsunder pressure, and on an ad-hocbasis. When employees alwayshave to guess what themanagement’s decisions might be,that does not help the company toestablish a culture of openness,predictability and accountability.

And it’s no exaggeration to saythat most trade union-relatedproblems in Nepali companieshave their start in themanagement’s inability orreluctance to establish andmaintain the basic standards ofcorporate governance.

In all fairness though, mostpublic companies in Nepal doknow about the importance ofadopting stronger corporategovernance practices. But theirunderstanding is comparable tothat of a couch potatocomprehending the benefits ofregular exercise.

My students learnt that theinternal control mechanisms atcompanies they studied were tooset to change anytime soon,though some have recordedprogress in the presence ofprofessional management andshareholders who ask pointedquestions.

Still, the best hope lay inspeeding up the magnitude ofchange in the external context ofcompetition (for customers,managerial talents and resources)in such a way that the companiesthat want to grow are soon leftwith only one of two choices:either adopt better corporatepractices so that decision rightsare clear for stronger businessresults or exit from themarketplace all together.

W

NEW PRODUCTS

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Just rumourThe Malaysian embassy in Nepal has denied rumours that thegovernment of Malaysia banned the intake of Nepali workers to thecountry. It said that recruitment of foreign workers in themanufacturing and service sectors were only "temporarily frozen"due to the global economic recession. It added that approvals forNepalis to work in Malaysia are still being issued at the embassy.

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Branching into BoudhaNepal Investment Bank opened a Boudha branch in January,making it the bank’s 25th branch in Nepal and tenth in the valley. It

will be linked through thebank’s ‘Any BranchBanking Services’service to all other 24

branches of the bank. The branch’s services include safe depositlockers and ATM.

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Banking buddiesHimalayan Bank, Bank of Kathmandu and Laxmi Bank have agreedto exchange banking services so that a customer of one bank cannow deposit, withdraw and transfer services at the other two banksat a minimum charge.

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Rainbow troutThe Hyatt Regency in Kathmandu is organising rainbow troutpromotion dinners at the Rox till the end of February. Dishes thatwill be served include roulade of trout and smoked salmon withtrout, among others. The Himalayan rainbow trout is a fresh waterfish.

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Great switchThe sole distributor of Yamaha bikesin Nepal, Morang Auto Works hasopened a new trade-in store at Buddhabari Complex, Teku wherecustomers can exchange old bikes for new ones. Morang AutoWorks currently has 17 outlets in Kathmandu.

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On saleJohn Players is offering customers up to 35 per cent off for allclothing throughout Nepal until Wednesday 11 February.

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Fashion storeYishion, a clothing brand for men and women, has opened its ownstore at the Kathmandu Mall, Sundhara. The store features casualwear.

DOZER: Continental Trading has launchedKomatsu’s new D39EX Dozer. Fitted withhydro transmission static technology, theDozer has an electronicmonitoring system and can beoperated with a palmcommand control system.

6 6 - 12 FEBRUARY 2009 #437FROM THE NEPALI PRESS

Nepal, 8 February

Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and COASRookmangat Katuwal have been at loggerheadson the issues of army recruitment and integration.The row became acrimonious as rumours swirledthat Thapa was gettingready to sack Katuwal.The prime ministerhimself had to denythere was any suchplan. Eventually, Thapaaccepted that there hadbeen amisunderstanding. Butonly three weeks later,the controversy haserupted again withThapa complaining inpublic that the Army wasrefusing to take his orders. The NC and the UMLhave taken the stance that the recruitment processshould continue. Now that even the MJF andSadbhabana have joined in, the Maoists areisolated. The Maoists now have three options:appease the army, squeeze its budget, or replacethe top brass.

It seems that the Maoists are inclined towardsthe third option. But taking that road will not beeasy because the Maoists are alone, there arelegal hurdles and although the government has the

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Peace villageKantipur,2 February

The Ministry for Peace andReconstruction is designatingseven villages in seven districtsas ‘peace villages’. The move ispart of an effort to bolster thepeace process in areas where thewounds from the conflict arestill fresh. “We wanted torehabilitate areas that faced themost violence during the war,”says Minister of Peace andReconstruction Janardan Sharma.Khara in Sukum, Guranse inSalyan, Jolbang in Rolpa, Pipe inJajarkot, Palata in Kalikot,Shibapur in Kapilbastu andAnekot in Kabhre have beenchosen. More than 100 securitypersonnel, Maoist combatantsand civilians died during theconflict in these areas. Last year,the National PlanningCommission drew up a plan forthe villages. However, theallocated budget is not adequateto start construction this year.Senior engineer at the ministry,Dhurba Poudel, said that localparticipation will be high in there-construction of the villages.According to him, an estimatedRs 500,000 will have to beinvested in each village, whereschools, drinking water facilities,roads, sanitation and librarieswill be made. The commission isalso planning to construct aRs 7 million Martyr’s park inGokarna, a model city inKhalanga for Rs 1.1 million and avillage for those affected by theconflict in Kanchanpur.

One country two armiespower to change the commander in chief, there isanother provision that allows Katuwal to hold hispost for the full three-year term. In addition, tochange that provision and also to change the armyleadership, the Maoists will need the support of thepresident. That support seems unlikely at the

moment.However, the

question arises: why isThapa raking it all upagain? Does Thapa wantto create a new positionfor himself in his party?Or are the Maoistsplanning to take over thearmy?

“Both of them areegoitistical,” says anarmy official. Thepersonality clash

between Thapa and Katuwal seems to be at the rootof the controversy.

It is only natural for the Maoists and the NepalArmy to have differences because they were killingeach other till not too long ago. The government isfacing the sensitive issue of army integration andthe army is adapting to a democratic civilian chainof command. Ex-general of the Nepal Army andalso a CA member, Gopal Singh Bohara says: “Thisdebate has to be solved through negotiations, itcan’t be prolonged.”

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Work hazardNepal Samacharpatra, 3 February

Following radio journalist UmaSingh’s murder, families in Bake,Bardia, Kailali and Kanchanpurare pressurising womenjournalists to change profession,according to a Federation ofNepali Journalists (FNJ) report.Most female journalistsinterviewed said they were understrong family pressure. FNJ saysthat because of the deterioratingsecurity situation the reporters inthe area are stressed and feelthreatened. The journalists nowchoose to write soft stories ongeneral subjects to avert risk. Theyshy away from investigative

reporting and news is nowlimited to reports oninaugurations, meetings andformal programs. In the absence ofprofessional support and thetrend for so many journalists tobecome political leaders as a sidejob, press freedom has beenundermined.

Criminals are hiding underthe cover of the political partiesand the environment of impunityhas forced the journalists to workin dangerous conditions.

Janadisha, 4 February

Landmines laid by the army during the war has claimed anothervictim: Kameri Ghartimagar of Khumel in Rolpa who died in anexplosion while she was cutting grass. The incident happened in theSatdobato Jungle where the army’s New Gorakh Battalion had set up acamp and laid mines around its defensive perimeter. Another younggirl, Chameli Rokamagar, was seriously wounded. District Police inRolpa confirmed that the two were caught in an explosion at 3PMwhile cutting grass in the base perimeter. Kameri’s body is still inthe forest because it is in a minefield, police said. Despite thepeace process, the army has still not cleared mines in Libang and itsother bases.

Mine death

76 - 12 FEBRUARY 2009 #437CONSTITUTION 2010

he lack of worthwhile proposalsreceived from the public regardingthe new constitution has been

attributed to people’s confusion rather thaninertia.

The State Restructuring and State RulesDelineation Committee secretary ThakurPrasad Baral believes the public is confusedby 11 committees asking for suggestions atthe same time. “This work should have justbeen given to the Civil RelationshipCommittee for better management,” he says.

The CA committees are actively engagedin collecting suggestions and outlining theframe of the new constitution. Thecommittee members have started collatingexperts’ opinions on constitutionprinciples, the merits and demerits offederalism and state structure. In the nextphase they will go out to the people togarner their thoughts and opinions.

However, despite advertising the processacross the media only about 500 suggestionshave been received and most of them are notpracticable. Baral says the committee isengaged in internal discussions-–studyingvarious publications and articles, lookinginto international practices, collectingparties’ manifestoes and consulting withexperts.

The CA secretariat has been facingproblems paying for advertisements thatwere distributed in the media withoutcareful planning. Kumar Adhikari, undersecretary at the secretariat says newspapersand television channels are coming to the

he democratic movementin Nepal has consideredthe CA and the

constitution writing process oneof its key objectives. But formarginalised communities, theconstitution writing representsnot just a map for the state but anopportunity to gain respect. Thisis because the new constitutionwill legitimise the voices of themarginalised and give meaning totheir relationship with the state.

This is where it becomescrucial for the Madhesicommunity who had participatedin great numbers in the CAelections. The belief was that thenew constitution would includethe legitimate wishes of theMadhesi people.

If the transformation of Nepalcan take place peacefully throughthe CA then it will certainlystrengthen democracy andnational unity. But there are stillsome dissatisfied factions in theTarai that are not yet present inthe CA and it is important thattheir voices are also included inthe new constitution throughdialogue. The more theconstitution writing process canaddress and incorporate thesentiments of the Madhesicommunity, the more the countrywill gain political stability.Therefore the constitution writing

secretariat demanding payment but there isno money allotted. He said one tvbroadcaster produced a bill for Rs 3million. The committees havediscontinued ads on seven tv channels, allFM radio and daily papers for now.

Suggestions vary wildly and many aresloppy and wish-washy. The CivilRelationship Committee received aproposal for mediation in quarrels betweenhusbands and wives. Other proposals

include demands for fertilisers or aresimply full of abuses for the CA and itsmembers. The Natural Resource, EconomicRights and Revenue Allocation Committeereceived 13 letters, of which three wererequests for advertisements.

But experts have also sent suggestions,these include conflict expert Bishnu RajUpreti. The secretariat has placed twosuggestion boxes in Singha Darbar and onein the International Convention Centre in

No commentThere have been disappointinglyfew proposals from the public tothe constitutional committees

DHRUBA SIMKHADA

Baneswor. However, most of thesuggestions have been received via email,fax and toll free telephone. TheConstitutional Committee received a totalof 35 written, phone or emailed ideaswhile the State Restructuring and StateRules Delineation Committee received justone fax that wasn’t even related. Mostsuggestions have come from outsideKathmandu and abroad.

Legislative Organs DelineationCommittee received a proposal for onerepresentative for every 100,000 people, aunitary state system with 100-105representatives in a two-tier legislative, anda maximum of 12 ministries.

Fundamental Rights and DirectivePrinciple Committee received threeinstitutional and two individualsuggestions of which one was sent by alabour union. National Interests ProtectionCommittee, which is responsible forlooking after national security policy, theNepal Army, foreign affairs and naturalresources received 20 suggestions includingtwo experts’ opinions.

By the end of January, 328 suggestionshad been received but the processing andstudy of them has not yet begun.

Comparatively, South Africa received2 million ideas from the people during itsconstitution-drafting process.

T

process should not be viewed as apurely technical process but asensitive political one.

The demands of the Taraipeople are not very different fromthose of other regions. They toowish for the country’stransformation into a federaldemocratic republic which isinclusive, and want long-termpeace. The Madhesi movement

and Madhesi leaders do n’tbelieve that the state and itsleaders hold a positive view ofthe Madhesi community. Despitethe CA elections the ambiance ofdistrust still continues.

For a few years the Madhesis’political, social, economic andcultural wishes and requirementshave been aired through variousmedia. These aspirations have

Including the MadhesCHANDRA KISHOR Madhesi people still don’t

trust Kathmandu is readyto address their grievances

been incorporated in the statereconstruction process, which is asensitive and long-term issue andhas been the subject of discussionand controversy. We have tocarefully consider the Madhesiexpectations as well as that of thewhole country.

The Madhes itself hasmultiple cultures, religions,languages and ethnic groups. Toestablish a clear vision for theTarai, the Madhesi parties firstneed to take certain initiatives.The constitution writing processcan progress smoothly if theparties can develop a commonunderstanding that is acceptable

Tto the major parties as well. Ifthe constitution is based onunderstanding rather thanmathematical foundation wecan hope for long lasting peaceand an end to conflict. Amongthe 25 parties that have beenelected in the CA, most seem toagree on the establishment of aninclusive, secular and federalrepublic state. Taking thisagreement positively andcompleting the constitution isthe national requirement today.

If the new constitutioninvolves popular participationof the Madhesis and establishesautonomy in the region, it willnot only address their needsbut also bring in acceptance anda sense of common ownership.We also need to consider theconcerns of people from otherregions towards the Tarai.

To implement theagreements signed between theNepal government and theUnited Democratic MadhesiMorcha, there should be anunderstanding between theMaoists, NC and the UML. It isalso necessary to have similarunderstanding among theMadhesi parties to address theMadhesi issues in theconstitution. Civil society, inturn, should help developcultural tolerance throughdiscussion and assist theparties in this process.

MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA

SANTA GAHA MAGAR

8 TRAVEL

Wwonde

Wwonde

SNOWLESS: A prolonged winter droughtand receding glaciers not withstanding,the mountains are still awe inspiring.

96 - 12 FEBRUARY 2009 #437

emperatures plummeting to 20degrees Celsius outside and 12inside at night. Having to walkknee-deep in snow. Being stuckin Lukla till spring. The

inability to find lodges open out of season.Anxiety about being isolated. Such fears mayexplain why no more than 300 or so trekkersvisited the Sagamartha National Park in thefirst three weeks of January compared with arecord of over 9,000 last October.

But there are many reasons to opt for lowseason over high. In October 2008 trekkersrarely saw the major peaks through thecloud, there were queues of walkers, portershad to race ahead to bank a bed for clients inthe lodges where they often camped on diningroom floors, people had to wait up to threehours for a meal. Ifplanes werecancelled, a backlogof trekkers quicklyaccumulated.

This January, theskies are clear rightthrough two weekson a return trek fromLukla to Gokyo.Although drinkingwater freezes in ourrooms, we can’tboast of having hadto endure freezingtemperatures. Andthroughout theentire ascent we encounter only 12 othertrekkers. Once above Namche, and out ofphone range, the feeling of isolationintensifies. In Dole, Macchermo and Gokyo thewomenfolk have deserted the lodges to winterin Kathmandu, leaving their men to look afterthe odd passing traveller.

Every day of the trek is quite distinct fromanother. In the fertile villages leading up toNamche people are still harvesting pak choiand winter saag while bridges crisscrosspristine rivers tumbling over huge boulders.Higher still, sheltered from the sun by therhododendron, camellia and deciduous treesdraped in moss, the waterfalls are frozen solid.Then from Dole it opens out, becoming quitewild and affording magnificent views.

Finally the weary, perhaps breathless, but

WintererlandWintererland

TEXT by KATY ELLIOTT and PICTURES by HELEN ARTHY in GOKYO

There aremany

advantages oftrekking the

Khumbu in thelow season

elated trekker is rewarded with the glorioussight of the turquoise lakes. It comes as asurprise to be confronted by wildlife at 5000m,a relaxed mouse sunning himself, RuddyShelducks on the iceless lake, snow pigeons,redstarts and finches.

The second turquoise lake in Gokyo itself isfrozen though thawed at the edges. The soundit emits as the wind blows over its surface isquite eerie: a deep groaning followed bycracking. Those with the stamina to climb500m up Gokyo Ri in the afternoon will berewarded with the breathtaking sight of the sunsetting on Everest as well as views of Makalu,Lhotse and Cho Oyu. The trek to the fifth lakeis similarly exhilarating, with magnificentviews of Chomolungma, better than those atKala Pattar (base camp).

But for those,and there are many,who choose to gowithout a guideand cross thepasses the weathercan catch them out.There is no sign ofthe 33-year-oldBritish trekker, lastseen in Gokyoaround 22December, headingtowards Everestbase camp via ChoLa pass.

Anotherdownside is that clear skies, warmth and lackof snow are reminders of how the weatherpatterns are changing. Grazing for yak and nakherds is at a minimum and the ground is indesperate need of fertiliser, but manure is burntas fuel to lessen reliance on scarce firewood.

Then there’s the reminder of how tough lifeis up there. Supplies are often transported byhumans as well as by yak, so it is notuncommon to pass an exhausted porterweighed down by four wooden planksweighing around 110kg that he is shifting toGokyo for Rs 1,200 per plank. He complainsthere is little left for him once he has paid foraccommodation and food.

But for those who dare, and you don’t needto be that daring, this is the time to visit theKhumbu. Before the crowds get here.

T

10 NATION 6 - 12 FEBRUARY 2009 #437

our fire engines, no water,a team of 35 under-equipped men,only less

than half of whom are trainedfirefighters—that is how preparedthis city of 2.5 million is for amajor fire.

Less reassuring still is thatthe most modern engine is 25years old, and there are vintagesfrom the Rana era. Most of the firetrucks are grounded due to poormaintenance, there is not enoughwater, and there aren’t enough

water tankers when there is a fire.Bijay Singh Lama of Juddha

Fire Brigade says, “The fire-fighting system is far from whatit should be to effectivelyaddress the needs of the city.” Itis a gross understatement. Lamasays the lack of preparedness isworrying and there is just noawareness at the policy-level tobe prepared for fire disasters.

Juddha Fire Brigade wasestablished in 1935 with one fireengine and 15 firemen trained bythe British after the devastating1934 earthquake.

Kathmandu’s fire brigadecurrently has two 1976 modelGerman Moritas with a capacityof 4,000 litres and a ladder truck.The fire brigade in Patan andBhaktapur have a 1976 modelGerman Magirus Deutz each witha 2,400 litre capacity. The entirecity of Bhaktapur just has oneMagrius Deutz. Most of thesewere added after Singha Darbarwas destroyed in a fire in 1973,there have been no upgradessince.

The government provides amere Rs 200,000 for fuel and

maintenance of the gas-guzzlingvehicles that struggle to evenstart. “The amount is hardlyenough to repair the huge age-worn engines of the fire-trucks,”says Kewal Chapagain of theFirefighters VolunteerAssociation of Nepal, which ispushing for an urgent upgrade.“It’s a miracle these engines arerunning at all.”

But the fire engines’condition is not the only theproblem. No new firefightershavebeen recruited in the last 15 years.When manpower went down to

It’s an emergency

just eight firefighters in theKathmandu Fire Brigade lastAugust, additional strength wascalled in from the Armed PoliceForce (APF).

“The training given to theinitial batch of firemen was thefirst and the last ever conducted,”says Lama. The firemen now get‘on-the-job’ training—meaningthey train when there is a real fire.

The Ministry gets trainingoffers from foreign countries, butthese have turned into freevacations for ministry officials.Little attention has been given tothe safety of the firemen, who risktheir lives every time someonedials 101.

“There is no insurance, nofire-proof clothing, noequipment” says BasudebHengarju, Kathmandu’s Chief FireCommander. The firefighters usehand- me -down helmets and gearfrom a US fire brigade. The jacketsdon’t fit, the boots are too big, butit is better than nothing. Recently,one of the APFs had a narrowescape when he received anelectric shock that knocked himunconscious while fighting a fire.

Then there is the shortage ofwater. The brigade’s 10,000-litrewater storage tank has been emptyfor years, so Mahankal, upChabahil, has become the newsupply station. “There are timeswhen we have to rush toMahankal to get water and thenrush to the site of the fire,wasting valuable time,” saysHengarju. The yellow firehydrants on the road are useless,

Dial 101 for fire…and prayPAAVAN MATHEMA

F

CHONG ZI LIANG

MOTLEY CREW: The Kathmandufire brigade team now includes menfrom the APF (left).

FIRE ALARM: Fire fighters try tocontrol a fire outbreak at a house inAson.Fire engines make their waythrough a single lane road.The Lalitpur Fire Brigade truckgets a much needed inspection(top-bottom).

116 - 12 FEBRUARY 2009 #437NATION

the Water Supply Corporation haslong cut its supply.

And when, against all theseodds, the fire engines make it tothe road, they are often unable toprovide timely service because oftraffic jams and narrow roads thatare not built to pass an eight-footwide vehicle.

“A fire brigade is necessarynot just in case of fire but also forrescue processes in case ofdisasters like earthquake,” saysGhulam M Sherani, the program

manager of the UN’s DisasterManagement Program. “We haveto develop a standard fire brigadesystem that is highly equipped torespond to such hazards,especially because of theunplanned urbanisation inKathmandu”

The fire brigade is in seriousneed of new fire engines,ambulances, staff training andequipment as well as smaller firetrucks to negotiate Kathmandu’snarrow alleys.

PICS: KIRAN PANDAY

12 INTERNATIONAL 6 - 12 FEBRUARY 2009 #437

arack Hussein Obama hasbecome the darling of theworld, and we will do well

to ponder the making of Obama ata time of our own ambition tofashion a new multicultural Nepalfor Nepalis.

Obama overcame manyhurdles to become such atransformational figure, not theleast of which was a middle namethat was terrifying to many whiteAmerican ears. So, what was themost crucial component in themaking of Barack Obama? Whatis the one ingredient thatcontributed to developing andbringing all the other elements inhis personality such a potent andpersuasive mixture? It is hiseducation. It was the quality ofAmerican education that helpedObama transcend the limitationsof his birth and the circumstancesof his upbringing.

In his autobiography, Dreamsfrom My Father, Obama recountshow his mother woke him up atfour-thirty in the morning and gavehim English lessons once bothfound themselves in Indonesiawhere she could not afford to sendhim to the International Schoolwhere the wealthy and theexpatriates sent their children.When he complained about theearly hour and sleep deprivation,his mother, who worked full-time,

said, “Well, this is no picnic forme either, buster!”

She sent him back to Hawaiiat age ten to be with his maternalgrandparents so he could have abetter education. He had access topublic libraries found in every city,no matter how poor and deprived,and every county, no matter howrural and remote. Schoolscultivated the spirit of intellectualadventure, critical thinking andcreativity rather than rote learningand hero worship.

In the absence of a fatherwhose African blood still carriedthe notorious “one-drop rule”Obama found himself raciallyalone and confused about hisidentity. He was perceived asblack but his mother and hisgrandparents were whitemidwesterners from Kansas.Obama indulged in drugs, avoidedspeaking to the only other blackgirl in his class, but eventuallysought out the company of authorslike W E B. Du Bois, RalphEllison, Richard Wright, MartinLuther King, Malcolm X. By thetime he reached high school at theexclusive Punahou Academy inHonolulu on a scholarship, Obamawas ready to identify with andexplore black America through hisreadings. In Occidental College

near Los Angeles, where he spenttwo years, he was more thanready to speak in public againstSouth Africa’s Apartheid regime.In New York at Columbia, Obamabecame reclusive, focused, anddevoted as an undergraduate. Hisroommate Hassan advised him tolighten up but Obama wasrelentless in his single-mindedpursuit of knowledge.

Academics combined withinterest in public service led himto Chicago as a communityorganiser and on to Harvard Law,

where his book-black identity andwhite upbringing helped him avoidthe bitterness of many blacks andenabled him to cultivate diversefriendships. His academicachievements, his mixed racialancestry and public service madeObama one of a kind-flexible inhis identity, able to draw on theentirety of American heritage inhis expression. He was willing tofocus on race as an issue and aproblem but determined to gobeyond to find a wider horizon. So,what made Barack Obama, what

Like Barack, Nepalis will transcend thelimitations of their birth only with education

The global ObamaB made him find his place in

history? He didn’t just drop fromthe sky. When Obama speaksabout his story only beingpossible in America, he is talkingabout his unique Americaneducation. American educationtransformed the black, Muslim-named son of a single mother intoan all-encompassing, all-embracing American–indeed aglobal Obama.

Here in Nepal we are at acrossroads to build a multiculturalNepal. In order to achieve thisgoal, we must focus on building aculture of quality education withschools, libraries and motivatedteachers. They must provide equalopportunity to all Nepalis to widentheir horizons, and a culture ofsocial service, unleashing theirfull potential. Only open access toknowledge available to alleverywhere will enable us tofashion a new breed of Nepalis-flexible in their identities,committed to the common good,and intelligent and compassionateenough to navigate and leadthrough the fast-drive future that isin store for Nepal.

Pramod Mishra is on researchleave from Augustana College inthe United States.

PRAMOD MISHRA

136 - 12 FEBRUARY 2009 #437NATION

n February, we have two brilliant planets to entertain us inthe evening skies and a surprise celestial visitor (cometLulin) swinging in the pre-dawn skies.

As the evenings are getting warmer, February is a great timefor the amateur astronomer. Granted, the western sky is kind ofdull. Fomalhaut, the brightest star near the southwest horizon,sets about an hour after the Sun. Most of the Great SummerTriangle has already set with the Sun but Deneb gives a bit of ashow before dipping below the horizon.

However, there are manybright stars in the east andthey will be visible untildawn. In the evening, atabout 8.30 PM, you can seethe Orion with three stars in

its belt. Around Orion, you can easily identify the six brighteststars that belong to the so called 'Winter Hexagon'. The brightstar to the south east of Orion the Hunter is the Dog star Sirius,the brightest star in our night sky. In fact this star is 25 timesbrighter than our Sun.

Upon closer observation, you will see that the hunter and hisdogs seem to be chasing the Bull, Taurus, which is just to thewest of them. The Bull’s right eye contains the bright red-orangestar Aldebaran, another member of the Winter-Hexagon. Noticethat the three stars in Orion’s belt point northwest to Aldebaran.The Bull’s face and horns form a distinctive 'V' shaped pattern.

Comet Lulin,discovered inJuly 2007, shouldbe the highlight ofthis season. It’spredicted to reach

about fifth magnitude in late February, so it should be easily seenthrough binoculars. It may even become detectable with theunaided eye in a dark, moonless sky. Both professional andamateur astronomers have been tracking this unusual comet. Itsmost interesting characteristic is that it is actually moving in theopposite direction to the planets. As it moves to its closestapproach to Earth on 24 February, Lulin is expected to brighten tobe visibile to the naked eye and will be observable low in the skyin an east-southeast direction before dawn.

Mercury is at its greatest separation west from the Sun on13 February. But it rises only just over an hour before sunrisemaking the planet almost invisible this month. Venus is still abrilliant ‘Evening Star’ in the south-western sky at dusk. On theevening of 27 February, the narrow crescent Moon will appeardirectly below Venus, both fitting nicely into the same field ofview through binoculars.

Mars is rising only a few minutes before sunrise and wewon’t be getting good views of the Red Planet until after thesummer. Jupiter, like Mars, rises less than an hour before theSun this month. This giant planet won’t be easily observable untilafter the summer. Saturn is rising in the middle of the evening,and it’s well up in the southern sky by dawn. Many of Saturn’smoons can also be seen in the telescope including the largestand brightest saturnian moon Titan. On the evening of11 February, the gibbous Moon will appear directly below Saturn,just a few degrees away.

As the international year of astronomy (IYA 2009) is beingcelebrated throughout the world, don’t miss participating in someof its corner-stone projects, especially the global star partyhttp://www.100hoursofastronomy.org/

Wishing you clear skies and great stargazing in February!

kedarbadu@gmail.com

STARGAZINGKedar S Badu

lmost everyone wholeft Sajha Prakhashan’sbook fair at the Rastriya

Sabha Griha in Kathmandutook home a bundle of booksthat were cheaply priced to startwith, and then discounted.

“Each year, we have amassive increase in both thenumber of people who comeand the sales,” says RudraNeupane, head of the marketingdepartment at Sajha. The bookfair has been held for the past25 years and takes placesimultaneously at 28 otherlocations in Nepal, besidesKathmandu.

This year, discount ratesranged from 25 to 80 per centon some especially old butvaluable issues of Sajha’s

Books for all

magazineGarima.However, Sajha Prakhashan

has been struggling to pullfunds together for the past fewyears. After the governmentgave private publisherspermission to print and sellbooks in 32 districts in theEastern and Westerndevelopment regions, Sajha haslost its monopoly in citieswhere it was able to maintain aprofit margin that was able tosubsidise expenses for sales toremote districts. In places likeJumla where books have to betransported by helicopter,human or mule-back, Sajhaallows a suicidal 86 per centdiscount on its books.

While the private sector isapathetic towards remoteregions of Nepal, as a publicutility controlled by thegovernment, Sajha meetsgovernment pressure todistribute. Although the

government does not providefinancial support to Sajha,government officials overseeand coordinate activities. “Wehave been asking for subsidies,but demands have not been metso far,” Victor Pradhan, generalmanager of Sajha Prakashan toldNepali Times. Discussion aboutmaking Sajha an independentinstitution has also been goingon, but nothing is certain yet.

Sajha is not publishingprolifically–printing a mere 40new titles per year. However, itworks together with 19 otherprivate publishers who are alsobeing represented at the fair. Ofthe 5,000 titles on display inKathmandu, everything fromchildren’s, classics, spiritual,self-help and academic booksare available.

However, Sajha continues tomake plans to expand its reachin terms of the book fair. Thisyear, the bulk of books ondisplay were in Nepali while afew were in Newari. Sajha isplanning to publish course-books, literature and teach-yourself-books in a number ofdifferent languages includingMaithili and Bhojpuri.Moreover, they want todecentralise from Kathmandu toDang and Biratnagar, wheresales soared this year.

Despite difficulties, Victoris optimistic. He says: “We feelthat our greatest achievementhas been to encourage a readingculture among Nepalis.” Roma Aryal

The book fair will go on till13 February, every day from9AM -6PM.

February skyI

Comet Lulin inthe predawn sky

AROMA ARYAL

14 6 - 12 FEBRUARY 2009 #437CITY

KATHMANDU VALLEY

ABOUT TOWN

WEEKEND WEATHER by NGAMINDRA DAHAL

This year’s winter drought is about to enter into five months thisweek, already second driest of a decade. As a consequence ofcloud sunny days, mercury levels are about 5 degrees higher thanthe expected maximum of this month. For example, Valley recorded26 degrees on Wednesday while average maximum temperature ofthe month is 18 degrees. Satellite pictures of Wednesday eveningshow no westerly fronts and associated clouds around us to breakthe persistent drought. This means no change in existing weatherpattern—foggy morning and sunny afternoon in the mountain andhills. Most of the Tarai will remain under suspended mist layer.

KATHMANDU

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Call 4442220 for show timings at Jai Nepalwww.jainepal.com

In Luck by Chance, Sona (Konkona Sen Sharma), a wide-eyed yetambitious girl comes to Bombay with big dreams of becoming a filmstar. She is willing to do whatever it takes to make it. Living in thecity, she makes friends with those whose lives are interconnected toBollywood and are all in search of their own grandiose dreams ofmaking it big. When Vikram (Farhan Akhtar), who came to Bombayleaving his posh life in Delhi, and Sona start spending time together,they soon form a romantic relationship. Meanwhile, Rolly (RishiKapoor) is making a potential blockbuster. But when there’s troubleon the sets of Rolly’s new film, fate hands Vikram a chance at hisdreams when he is called in for an audition.

Fri Sat Sun

25-2 26-3 24-3

For inclusion in the listing send information to editors(at)nepalitimes.com

'MANDU MANDALA by PRERANA PAKHRIN

EXHIBITIONSLove in the Air, art by Ragini Upadhayay-Grela at 5.30 PM till8 March, , Siddartha Gallery. 4218048Rakshya Nepal Mela on 14 February from 10AM to 5PM atThe New Era, BattisputaliA Search for Serenity, artwork by Chirag Bangdel till 15February, Gallery 32, KamaladiLunch-hour doodles, illustrations by PreenaShrestha till 15 February, The Bakery Cafe,Pulchok

EVENTSSecond DOS Workshop ’09, 16-28 February atYala Maya Kendra, Patan Dhoka. 9851108338Call for entries for Film South Asia,documentaries made in and after January2007 qualified. For deadlines, visitfilmsouthasia.org. 5552141Valentine special at Buy & Sell Flea Market,first Saturday of every month, SangatiMuseum Road, Chhauni. 9841203646

MUSICYala Maya Classic featuring Tarabir Singh Tuladhar andJeevan Rai on 13 February at 5PM at Yalamaya Kendra,Patan Dhoka, Rs 100. 5553767Sarangi Ethnic Project Poeisie and the Fags, KathmanduJazz Conservatory, Jhumsikhel. 5013554Rock with Rashmi every Friday and Sufi and Raga everySaturday 8 PM onwards, Absolute Lounge Bar, Pulchowk.Sunday Jazz brunch barbecue and live jazz music at theTerrace, Hyatt Regency from 12-3.30 PM. 4491234Jazz evening at Delices de France Restaurant everyWednesday, 11AM-2PM. 4260326Strings Band live every Tuesday at G’s Terrace Restaurantand Bar, Thamel.Wednesday Melody at Jazzabell Café, Happy hour 6-8PM andTGIF party with live band Epic every Friday at 8PM. 2114075Some like it hot every Friday BBQ and live music by DineshRai and the Sound Minds, 7PM onwards, Rs 899 at Fusion,Dwarika’s Hotel. 4479488Happy cocktail hour, 5-7PM, ladies night on Wednesday withlive unplugged music at Jatra Café & Bar.Live Sensation, live performance by Yankey, every Saturday,9PM, the Hyatt Regency. 4491234.Fusion and Looza Band every Friday night, Bhumi RestoLounge, Lazimpat. 4412193Fusion and Classical Music by Anil Shahi every Wednesday,rock with Rashmi Singh every Friday, Sufi & Raga withHemant Rana every Saturday, 8PM onwards, Absolute Bar.5521408Ladies night with free cocktail and unplugged music, everyWednesday, happy hour everyday 5-7PM, buy one get onefree, Jatra R&B.

DININGChez Caroline for French and Mediterranean cuisine, BabarMahal Revisited. 4263070Fresh Himalayan rainbow trout at Rox Restaurant allFebruary 7PM onwards, Hyatt Regency. 4489362Mediterranean cuisine every Friday from Greece, Italy andthe Middle-East at The Café, Hyatt Regency. 4491234Strawberry Etagere at The Lounge from 4.30 PM- 6.30 PM.Hyatt Regency. 4491234Nhuchhe goes Thai at Nhuchhe’s Thai Kitchen, Baluwatar.4429903Fusion of Marcela Ragan’s new menu and Mannie’s new barat Dhokaima Café. 5522113Plat Du Jour at Hotel Shangri-la, Kathmandu, Rs 600.4412999Pasta pesto passion at La Dolce Vita, Thamel. 4700612Home made pasta at Alfresco, Soaltee Crowne Plaza.4273999Reality Bites, The Kaiser Café, Garden of Dreams, operatedby Dwarika’s Group of Hotels, 9AM-10PM. 4425341Steak escape with Kathmandu’s premier steaks at the OliveBar and Bistro, Hotel Radisson. 4411818Cocktails, mocktails and liqueurs at the Asahi Lounge,opening hours 1-10PM, above Himalayan Java, Thamel.Starry night barbecue at Hotel Shangri-la withlive performance by Ciney Gurung, Rs 999, at the ShambalaGarden, every Friday 7PM onwards. 4412999

6 - 12 FEBRUARY 2009 #437 15HAPPENINGS

LISTEN TO ME: NC president Girija Prasad Koirala, UML’s MadhabKumar Nepal and Ratriya Janashakti Party’s Surya Bahadur Thapa at adiscussion about the constitution at Everest Hotel on Wednesday.

KIRAN PANDAY

KIRAN PANDAY

20/20: National eye sight program conducts a mobile eye camp inAdarsha Kanya Niketan School in Lagankhel on Tuesday.

KIRAN PANDAY

AU REVOIR: Outgoing UNMIN Chief and Special representative of UNSecretary General Ian Martin and his newly appointed successor KarinLandgren at a farewell lunch at Hotel Shangri La on Wednesday.

KIRAN PANDAY

WALK THE LINE: Newari women participate in the annual Baha Puja intheir traditional costumes and visit Buddhist bahas in Patan on Tuesday.

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6 - 12 FEBRUARY 2009 #43716 BACKSIDE

E very time the political trinity has asummit and buries the hatchet,you can be sure some mantri or

other goes and shoots his mouth off,triggering another avalanche ofaccusations and counter accusations thatreverberates for a week.

No sooner had PKD and GPK smokedthe peace pipe, and the prime ministerassured his ex of house rental, secretariatexpenses, health care benefits, and sundryperks, than Cultural Revolution MinisterKirati suggests every Nepali should bear

arms to fightsouthernexpansionism.And BRB writes that sinceanarchy would hasten theday when the Maoists couldstage state capture, the currentchaos is good for Nepalis.Then Maoist union leaderComrade Lekhnath threatens to“dislocate the spine of anyonewho dares stand in our way”(exact quote).

But why did Girja Bau have to be sogreedy and accept PKD’s offer to use taxpayers’ money to pay for his retirementbenefits? In his own devious way, heprobly thought he’d pulled a fast one onHis Fierceness because while he(Awesome) would think GPK wouldreturn the favour and not try to topple hisgovernment out of sheer gratitude, hewould actually double cross the PM andintensify efforts to oust the Maoists bywooing away the eh-maleys. No wonderthe prime minister has a grudgingadmiration for the Old Fox because SanuBuwa is actually even more unreliablethan he is.

The reason Dahal wanted Koirala toaccept the perks was to set a precedence sothat when he is out of a job, he’d also beeligible. Smart. We hear that while ex-interior minister Sitaula was the middle-man in the PKD-GPK deal and stronglyurged his boss to accept it, while SushilDa was dead against saying the Maoistswould demand a pound of flesh. Andthere is also talk of GP striking a secretsweetheart deal for Sujata under whichthe First Dotter gets Sunsari in a platterin the by-elections.

See, no matter who comes to power theyalways try to get their relatives jobs.

Pradoand

Rado

Could it be because both words ‘Nepal’and ‘nepotism’ start with the prefix‘nep’? The saga of Comrade Yummy’s siscontinues as she flits about from KUKL toNPC, and has now been installed at theLok Sewa. The only fellow in the Yummyhousehold who hasn’t yet got a govt job isthe family canine, but the Ass hears themutt too is being groomed to be a snifferin the Bomb Squad with the rank ofStaff Sergeant. In all this, hubby Rambabuhas been squeaky clean, going out of hisway not to help anyone who is a bloodrelation, only folks from his Gorkhaneighbourhood.

One wonders where COAS Cutwall getshis confidence from despite the blisteringonslaught from Cloudy and the Comradeson everything from new recruitment toarmy integration. The general’s handshakeis extra-firm these days and he seemsto have the prime minister in hisvice-like grip.

Fearsome and The Chief haveapparently already agreed mota-moti on a

numericalcompromise

formula, but the PMis waiting till after the

PLA anniversary show ofstrength to break thenews in the cantonments.

Once again, at a secretUnified Maobaddiesmeeting this week thecadre poured derision attheir comrade leadersgoing soft and adopting

the “Prado and Rado” culture. And thehardcore seems to be trying to sabotagethe leadership’s overtures to India bydeliberately targeting Indian JVs, thelatest being the medical college inPokhara. At the ex-royal Golf Club eventhe caddies have become baddies. TheYCL’s energy could be deployed muchmore constructively if they all got onstationary exercise bicycles installed withdynamos and generated electricity to feedinto the grid.

There was a time when Nepalispretending to be Bhutan refugees startedarriving at European airports withouttravel documents to seek political asylum.How the tables have turned. It seemsyoung Bhutani women are in highdemand in Jhapa and surroundingdistricts because local Nepali guys aspireto be accompanying spouses in thirdcountry resettlement.

Tailpiece: Biratnagarindustrialists this weekprotested frequent chukkajams by (guess what?) staginga chukka jam.

ass(at)nepalitimes.com