Nepali Times - Digital Himalaya

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here may be a row brewing betweenIndia and Nepal over bilateral trade,but in the vast underground Indo-Nepal

ganja business things couldn’t be smoother.In this narcotic free market, the prices arefixed in advance, officials are properlygreased, and the only laws that apply hereare the laws of supply and demand.

Intrepid Indian traders have begun toventure deep into Nepal’s midhillssupplying marijuana seeds on credit,providing technical know-how, and evenagricultural extension to subsistence farmersto set up plantations. They come back atharvest time to pay for the ganja crop andtake it away in trucks, ox-carts or porterback. Our investigation shows that Nepal isgrowing 3 million kg of ganja (driedmarijuana plants) and charas (concentratedresin) every year with a street value of Rs 6billion for “export” to India every year. Butdon’t look for this data in any officialbilateral trade figures because the entireindustry is illegal. The cultivation and tradeis going on with the full knowledge (andusually the connivance) of localgovernment, police, and even Maoist cadrewho provide protection to villagers againstofficial harassment.

Just 20 km south of Kathmandu Valleyin the neglected and roadless regions ofMakwanpur District, Tamang and Chepangvillagers who never grew enough food tofeed their families are turning over theirterraces to ganja. Even in the dry season,the well-maintained farms are lush withmature marijuana plants ready for harvest.Watchtowers provide a lookout againstpolice patrols that sometimes carry out half-hearted raids to destroy crops. Villagers toldus police only destroy the crops of thosewho haven’t paid them off, usually the reallypoor peasants. But they aren’t complaining,since the plants are ready to pluck anyway.As one farmer told us with a rueful smile:“The police do our work for us by cuttingthe ripe plants.”

Another farmer is a Nepali Congressworker who grows ganja. He told us thepolice raids don’t really affect him much:“The raids you read about in Kathmandupapers are all fake. And when there is aganja haul, you can be sure they aresmugglers who didn’t pay off the rightpeople.” One police source told us traderstaking ganja to India pay police posts a fixedrate of Rs 200 per sack, and there is nobargaining. A posse of 65 policemen wenton a showcase ganja raid last month, but itwas clear much of this was being done as apublic relations exercise. Some villagersbegged the police to spare them becausethey had nothing to eat, and it was obviousthe policemen were just doing it for the

After walking five hours from Manahari,30 km east of Hetauda, you are in theheart of Makwanpur’s ganja country. AtKalikatar you can already see the greenmarijuana plantations on terraces acrossthe river on the other side of the valley.Growing ganja here is as good as legal.There is no sign of any police presencesince remote posts have all been closed

for fear of Maoist attacks. The villagersare wary of strangers: anyone who doesn’tlook visibly Indian, Chepang or Tamangis regarded with suspicion. We pretendedwe were freelance marijuana traders, butno one believed us.

In every Village DevelopmentCommittee we visited there are ripeningterraces of ganja, vigilantly guarded byvillagers who know what it is worth. Thelinks with Indian buyers goes back to the1980s, and the villagers found it muchmore lucrative to sell this new cash cropthan to scour the surrounding forests forHimalayan herbs to sell in India. From theterraces carved out of the steep flanks of theMahabharat hills right down to the innertarai villages adjoining the East-WestHighway, ganja plots are everywhere. Inadjoining Parsa District, nearly all thevillage development committees havesizeable marijuana plantations.

GANJA NATIONcameras. Lalit Bahadur Praja was having achat with the cops who came to hishomestead. He told them: “Look, I don’thave food, I survive on roots,I cannot afford rice. EvenGod protects the poor.” Thepolicemen spared his crop.

For subsistence farmers inMakwanpur, Bara, Parsa andDhading, the marijuana trade is agodsend. They buy marijuana seedsfrom Indian suppliers at Rs 1000 perkg on credit, the Indians tell them howto nurture the plant, about weeding,irrigation and harvesting techniques. Theolder farmers don’t need to be taught—theyused to grow marijuana before the Nepalgovernment was persuaded to banmarijuana in 1973 under pressure from theUS government after US aid to Nepal wasdoubled to compensate for the loss ofrevenue.

The peasants plant the seeds and can growup to 10 kg of ganja in one kattha(0.3 hectares) of land. In the more suitableclimate and moist sandy soils of Makwanpurand Dhading, one kattha can yield as much as20 kg. When the Indian trader returns, hesubtracts the advance he gave for the seeds andpays Rs 3000 per kg of ganja in the leanseason. But the same crop sold to a Nepalimiddleman will not get the farmer more thanRs 1000 during harvesting. “If you can selldirectly to the Indians you earn more,” onefarmer told us. “But I sell my crop to thevillage headman so I get less.” Another farmer,Phulmaya Praja, says middlemen often cheather. “They give us only 200 or 300 rupees for a10 kg sack,” she says. Farmers in Parsa getbetter prices: being so close to the border theyare in direct touch with buyers and boast theycan make as much as IRs 2000 (Rs 3,200) fora kg of ganja.

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Ganja crop in a Makwanpur village that the police did not uproot out of pity for the family that grew it.

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Nepal finally has an InformationTechnology (IT) strategy. “We’vemissed the industrial revolution andthe green revolution, but we don’t wantto miss this one,” said SurendraChaudhary, our S&T minister who is aself-confessed fan of India’scybercrat, Chandrababu Naidu.Chaudhary reckons Nepal can earnRs10 billion from exporting ITproducts in five years. Nepal wants tomodel itself after Naidu’s AndhraPradesh, but the private sector saysthe government has got one thingwrong: Indian industry gets duty-freehardware and software imports. InNepal, we still tax the knowledgeeconomy. Equipment coming into theproposed IT Park in Banepa will havea one-percent duty for five years. Therehave been no major investors inNepal since 1997, and from the lookof it, the new policy is not going tochange that. Here’s a tip for anamendment: allow duty-free hardwareand software imports and provideincentives to this dollar-earningindustry.

��#)# ��*Dunai is history. Then came theMaoist strike at Kalikot. The Army waspartially deployed in 16 districts, butthe palace and the cabinet are playingping-pong with the proposedordinance on an Armed SecurityForce. This week the governmentfinally got its way on one point: theparamilitary will not be governed bythe National Security Council.

Next week in Nepali Times

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2 15 - 21 DECEMBER 2000 ��

Nepali Times is published by Himalmedia Pvt LtdSanchaya Kosh Bldg, Block A-4th Floor, Pulchowk, LalitpurMailing address: GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu, NepalPhones: (01) 543333-7 Fax: (01) 521013Editor: Kunda DixitDesk editors: Deepak Thapa, Samuel Thomas, Anagha NeelakantanEditorial: [email protected], Marketing, circulation and subscriptions:[email protected] www.nepalitimes.comPrinted at Jagadamba Press (01) 521393

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In media schools, they teach you that news is whatever is out of theordinary. This is the woman-bites-bitch rule of journalism. When positivebecomes commonplace, it is negative that makes the news. Thousandsof buses travel safely to their destinations every day. That does not makenews. It is the bus that falls into the Trisuli that is reported.

Having said that, buses are now falling so frequently into the Trisulithat it takes a threshold fatality of at least three passengers before it iseven reported by the national news agency. Usually, it needs at least tendead to be broadcast on Radio Nepal (unless some bigwig is on board),and 15 to make it to the evening television news. Like a tree that topplesin the middle of a forest, unless there is someone there to witness theevent, it hasn’t happened.

It is the same with the Maoist body count. When a schoolteacher ishacked to death in Gorkha, or a VDC chairman is shot in Baglung whilejogging, it is for the inside pages. A day after we wrote an editorial on thissubject earlier this month, eleven policemen were killed in Kalikot. It wasa blip in the media radar screens, and faded away within a day. Thesurnames of those killed in Kalikot showed they represented castes andcommunities from Dhankuta to Dadeldhura—sons of poor Nepalifamilies who joined the police because they needed jobs. Only onenewspaper knelt to interview the widow of the constable from Dang, andchronicled the tragedy for a far-away family of one life lost.

The other thing about news is the pace with which it happens.Sudden events are news, tragedies that unfold slowly are not news.Thousands of babies drying up and dying of diarrhoeal dehydration donot make it to the news. To take notice, media demands that they diesuddenly and spectacularly. So, the fact that more Nepali mothers die atchildbirth than anywhere else in the world is not really newsworthy for us.

It is a big dilemma for the Nepali media to cover corruption. Whencorruption becomes widespread, and even accepted, it is not newsanymore. In fact, coverage of corruption is so rare that when it doeshappen the average reader’s reaction is that the story is motivated andmedia itself is corrupt. The nasty Conde Naste Traveller has nowpronounce Nepal “one of the most corrupt countries on earth” Where doyou even begin to cover graft when everything is so graft-ridden? How doyou prioritise theft: by magnitude of the money involved, by the misery itgenerates, by the sheer injustice, or a blatant disregard of the commongood? Which is the bigger evil: a petrol pump owner who openly admitsmixing cheaper kerosene in diesel, an international civil servant whotakes kickbacks on maternity hospitals, a ministry which makes $150 forevery hour that a leased jet is in the air?

All right, if evil is so rife this is what we will do: we will cover the out-of-ordinary. We will profile honest bureaucrats, the immigration officer whorefuses to be on the take, the MP who walks to the House, thepolicewoman who will insist that you pass your driving test, VDCchairmen who work tirelessly to ensure the well-being of theirconstituents. These Nepalis are news because they are extraordinary.

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We have heard of hotelworkers going on strike,but only in Nepal will yousee hotel ownersthrowing guests out intothe streets as we saw onMonday. This mustbelong somewhere inRipley’s Believe It Or Not.So we are now back tosquare one. If all it tookwas the prime minister’s“assurance” to persuade hotel owners to open up for business why didn’tthe prime minister give them that assurance at the beginning ofNovember? If all it took was a meeting with the deputy prime minister totell the party-controlled unions to get back to work why didn’t he do thatearlier? Instead, we had this tripartite charade of hotelwallahs, unionsand the government playing hide-and-seek. For what? To bring us back towhere we started. Nothing has been resolved: the same cliffhangersituation is slated for a repeat end-January.

There we have it: hotels may be open for business but there are noguests because everyone has gone somewhere else. Tour operators inJapan and Europe are not going to be in a hurry to send guests our way.The Christmas and New Years booking looks bleak. Meanwhile, thecountry’s economy is suffering losses of up to Rs 265 million a week.Way to go, everyone!

BANGALORE – Silicon Valley is a sillyname for this city located on the DeccanPlateau at an altitude of 3,000 feet. EvenIndians have forgotten that Bangalore wasonce called the Garden City, and one isreminded of Kathmandu’s lost charms asyou go around this city recalling that itreally used to be a cool and green garden.All that is history now.

Today there are silicon boys aroundwho earn obscene salaries as Bill Gate’scyber coolies, but for everyone else in Indiaand beyond Bangalore is better known asthe gateway to Sai Baba. A holy man (or, asthe Indian media likes to label them, a“god-man”) who considers himself anincarnation of a Sufi saint from Maharastra,this Sai Baba is 75 years young, has an afrohairdo and commands a following ofmillions all over the world many of whommake a pilgrimage to his ashram atWhitefields, about 25 km outside Bangalore.

Sai Baba is of course suddenly in the newsafter a rather negative expose of his sexualescapades in a Britishpaper, picked up in acover story earlier thismonth by the masscirculation India Today.There is obviously more tothe cult of Sai Baba thansacred ash materialising outof thin air and actually fallingoff his photographic portraitsand images. The Sai Babaphenomenon, like the FalungGong or Christian evangelicalsects in North America, is allabout keeping the faith in thetimes of deep disillusionment: the realisationthat consumerism, materialism, and thepursuit of wealth does not always bringhappiness. Religion may be the opium of themasses, but it addresses the emptiness inside.

Back in 1973, Whitefield was a sleepysuburb of a backwater town called Bangalore.Sai Baba was not a rage then as he is now, andyou could quite easily get close to him. Today,the inner sanctum is surrounded by a huge wallwhere devotees gather and sing bhajans inpraise of the Baba. Brindavanam, as the place isnow called, is abuzz with activity. Sai Babahimself sits majestically on a high-backed,throne-like gilded chair placed on an elevatedplatform. Faithfuls squat in rows, gazing wide-

eyed at the Baba’s face as if in a trance. Theatmosphere is magical during morning andevening bhajans. That over, you can buyyourself a cup of coffee or Pepsi from theAshram shop and walk around observingsubcontinentals, orientals, Anglo-Saxons andeven Africans mingling in the vast lawns—arainbow coalition of devotees.

I was there on Friday, and among thedevotees was a sizeable group from Nepalincluding Swami Anand Arun, the Oshoitewho runs South Asia’s most popularmeditation destination at Nagarjun inKathmandu Valley. The Baba has quite afollowing in Nepal, even among the high andmighty. (Finance and Defence MinisterMahesh Acharya and Rastra Bank governorDipendra Purush Dhakal are devout Sai Babafollowers.) There are Sai Baba templessprouting in several Kathmanduneighbourhoods. And instead of increasingflights to Bangkok, Royal Nepal Airlines inOctober started a new link to Bangalore: it

seems pilgrim traffic is morelucrative than casino traffic.

Outside Brindavanam aretrinket-shops festooned withportraits of Sai Baba invariablywith an aura, halo or rays oflight emanating from behindhis head. The posters sell formany times more than thecost of a comparable one ofMadhuri Dixit. There is nodoubt who is god aroundhere. And like in all holyplaces in the subcontinent,honesty and fair play has

not trickled down to the level of theauto-rickshaw drivers who behave likevultures. My driver was comparatively honestand offered to throw in a tour of theTechnological Park of Silicon Plateau for free ifI chartered his vehicle. There are a fewpragmatic fellows in Holy Land.

You do not have to be a devotee of SaiBaba to see that he does perform a function inglobalised free market world that has lost asense of direction, is suffering ecologicalmeltdown and where spiritual solace is hard tocome by. For the same reason that theRamayana and Mahabharata have becomepopular TV serials, a procession of god-mencommand large followings. Irony, isn’t it, thattelevision serials that have the highest ratings

tap into this spiritual longing, and the channelsrake in billions through commercials. Nothinglike peddling the opium of the masses to amasswealth.

So, the new rich build their villas withdriveways supported by Corinthian columnsand with lavish lavatories. The puja room is anafterthought. And as you get on in life, andyour heart gives its first hiccup, you come to arealisation that someday soon you have toleave it all and continue on your journey toeternity. An irony of our times that even in themost crowded of our cities, the only place thatyou can have completely to yourself is inside atoilet. There is so much loneliness allaround, but no solitude. And as weruminate there we realise how quickly werot, how transitory it all is.

Traditional family structures arecrumbling. In our nuclear subcontinent,extended clans are being replaced by nuclearfamilies. Bangalore has the dubiousdistinction of having a Non-residentIndians’ Parents Association (NRIPA). Canyou get any more lonely than that? If youdon’t have a straw to hang on to you caneasily go mad. But don’t panic, help is athand. There is always a magician-turned-cult guru who will market salvation. SaiBaba at least runs schools and hospitalsfrom his earnings, and does not ask you toburn schools as they do in United States orpoison subways as they do in Japan.

Devotees at Brindavanam have middle-class frustration writ large over their faces.There may be some who have no one else toturn to. There may be others who sufferterminal ailments. Here they have foundwhat many of us have lost—innocence.Even in these hard and cynical times, it is amoving experience to see people can findfaith. Walking around, I soon felt like anintruder in this assemblage of faithful. Was Ithe only one who didn’t come here lookingfor a spiritual placebo? In the autorickshaw,puttering back to the cyberdhabas ofBangalore I couldn’t help thinking aboutwhat would happen when the Oshodeparts. Despite his enigmatic epitaph:“Never born, never dead” perhaps the SaiBaba cult will also fade, just as you don’tsee Rajneesh lockets in Kathmandu thesedays. But you can be sure there will beanother engineer of human souls to takehis place. �

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315 - 21 DECEMBER 2000 ��

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ark Twain supposedlymade the famous remarkthat everyone talks

about the weather but nobody doesanything about it. Some 20,000participants gathered 13-24November in the Dutch capitalThe Hague to understand how thehuman species may, inadvertently,be causing global climate changeand how we might come to gripswith its consequences. This SixthConference of Parties to the UnitedNations Framework Convention onClimate Change (COP-6)concluded unsuccessfully, with theAmericans and the Europeansunable to agree on a plan of actionto cut emissions of greenhouse gases(GHGs) that are largely blamed forglobal warming. The “G77 andChina”, as the countries of theSouth are collectively known, hadvery little say.

The global community reacheda historic agreement on a Protocolfor reducing atmospheric GHGs inDecember 1997 at Kyoto, Japan.The Kyoto Protocol containsemission reduction targets for eachindustrialised country to meet and atimetable for doing so. As a group,the industrialised “Annex I”countries, have agreed to reduceemissions by a total of 5.2 percentbelow 1990 levels within the firstcommitment period of 2008-12.Non-Annex I countries do not havebinding obligations at present.

COP-6 was meant to resolvehow much flexibility Annex Icountries would be allowed inmeeting their individual Kyototargets without directly reducingtheir emissions, including settingrules on crediting countries forremoving carbon from theatmosphere through planting trees(sinks). Other goals of theConference were to agree on how tomonitor countries’ compliance withtheir commitments and to set upaccounting methods for nationalemissions and emissions reductions.Agreement was also expected on thecreation of an Adaptation Fund aswell as capacity building andtransfer of technology to helpvulnerable developing countriescope with the adverse impacts of

climate change. An agreement atThe Hague would have gone along way to readying the KyotoProtocol for ratification by bothAnnex I and non-Annex Icountries. At the end it was theflexibility that turned out to bethe most contentious.

The Kyoto Protocol includesthree “Kyoto Mechanisms”designed to allow Annex I countriesconsiderable flexibility tosupplement domestic actions tofulfil their reduction commitments:

�� thatallows a country to trade reductionsmade beyond its commitment; �� whereinvestors in one Annex I countrycan get credit for emissions reducedby a clean energy project inanother; and, the ��(CDM) allowing for jointimplementation of projects in non-Annex I developing countries. CDMprojects have the additionalrequirement of also meetingsustainable development needs ofthe host country.

Going into COP-6, the UnitedStates favoured complete flexibilityin the extent to which sinks and theKyoto Mechanisms could be usedto meet committed reductiontargets in the interests of pursuingleast-cost compliance options. Themembers of the European Unionand many environmental groups,however, wanted strict limits on theuse of sinks and Mechanisms sothat countries would be forced totake substantial domestic action toreduce emissions. The mainargument was that greater flexibilitywould allow for large loopholes andresult in postponement of crucialinvestments needed to makerenewable energy systemscompetitive with fossil fuels—theonly realistic way global emissionscan contract to 50 percent ofcurrent levels by the end of thecentury. The negotiations fell apartbecause the Americans and theEuropeans were not able tosufficiently narrow the differences intheir positions.

Even though Nepal is not asubstantial contributor to climate

change and may not suffer its worstimmediate impacts, it is still veryimportant for us to fully engagewith the issues for a number ofreasons. Every impact makes thealready difficult task of sustainabledevelopment that much harder.

Agricultural productivity andforests are expected to decline intropical and sub-tropical regionsthroughout the world as a result ofglobal warming due to varyingprecipitation, pest outbreaks, andexacerbation of El Nino effects.This will negatively affect farmersboth in the tarai and the middlehills of Nepal. Vector-borneinfectious diseases, like malaria andencephalitis, will likely be morewidespread and move north into thepopulation centres of the middlehills. Accelerated melting of glacierswill result in increased frequency ofGlacial Lake Outburst Floods(GLOFs), washing away roads,bridges, hydropower plants, andfarms and settlements along glacier-fed rivers. Intense rainfall events areexpected to be more frequent,increasing flood damage. While theexpected 15-95 cm sea level rise bythe end of the century will notdirectly affect Nepal, the pressuresput on our neighbours will alsoresult in stress on our borders.

Bangladesh is expected to lose asmuch as 17 percent of its land toinundation by 2100 if it cannotbuild dikes—this translates to a lossof as much as half of its rice-growing areas.

Nepal needs to substantiallyincrease its capability to adapt tothe effects of climate change. Weneed to be able to forecast theweather, including El Nino effects,and inform our farmers better,manage floods more effectively,install systems to provide earlywarning of GLOFs, and strengthenpublic health.

Nepal can also attractinvestment into clean energyprojects in the transportation,industrial, and domestic sectors bymaking use of the CleanDevelopment Mechanisms. Thecountry is naturally suited to use itsown renewable sources likehydropower and solar energy tomeet its energy needs in place offossil fuels, like coal and petroleumthat need to be imported and whichcause serious local air pollution.However, even with the highpetroleum prices today, it is stillcheaper to drive cars and trucksthan to run electric vehicles, trolleybuses, ropeways, and electric trainspowered by hydropower. It is

�� by BIKASH PANDEY

cheaper to cook with kerosene andLPG than with electricity. By givingcredit for the saved carbon to theinvestor, who can then use ittowards meeting his country’sKyoto targets, the CDM encouragesAnnex I investment in Nepaliprojects that use clean energy evenif they may be more capitalexpensive.

Developing countries, as awhole, were largely sidelined atCOP-6. They remain concerned,however, that the richer countrieshave not left them sufficient‘environmental space’ for theirown future economic growth.Since it is expected thatdeveloping country emissionscould surpass that of Annex Icountries in as little as 10 years,it is clear that there will verysoon have to be negotiations toreduce emissions beyond the firstcommitment period that will alsoinclude all countries. Onesuggestion, initially made byenvironmentalists from India 10years ago, gained a lot of currencyat COP-6 (not in the officialplenary sessions but in the well-attended side events)—thatfuture negotiations be based onthe premise that every humanshould have equal entitlement to

the environment. Countrieswould then be able to trade theportion of their entitlements thatthey did not use. The Kyotonegotiations in contrast startedwith countries’ 1990 levels ofemissions and negotiatedreductions using that as abaseline.

It has recently been reportedthat the Americans andEuropeans have worked to resolvetheir differences since The Hagueand that an agreement might behammered out before Christmas.If this happens, the KyotoProtocol may indeed move fairlyquickly towards ratification.Nepal needs to build up its abilityto manage the impacts of climatechange by participating intechnology transfer and accessingthe Adaptation Fund. It alsoneeds to attract investments intoclean energy and infrastructureprojects under the CDM. In theinterests of global equity, Nepalshould support per capitaentitlements as the basis fornegotiating emission reductions infuture commitment periods. �

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Much as I would like to, it isbecoming more and moredifficult to find something tofeel good about Nepal.Reading your page one piece“Nepal oil corruption” (#19)was for me the final straw.Something as open anddirect as adulteration cannotbe stopped even when theculprits are mixing kerosenewith petrol in broad daylight.And boasting about it! Itpoints to failure ofgovernance and a failure ofcivil society. When a middleclass becomes so apatheticthat it cannot be outraged bysomething as glaring as thisit has a sinister implication—it means democracy is notworking as a check and

balance. You in the media mayhighlight these issues, butwhat use is it if the institutionsthat are supposed to act on it(the legislature, judiciary,consumer groups andgovernment) don’t care?

Sam Shresthavia Internet

Why are our party leaderssuch a bunch of jokers?Madhav Nepal with hissupporters protested in frontof Singha Durbar (#12) butinstead of protesting about thehike in petrol prices theyshould first think about thereal problems our country isgoing through likeunemployment, education,

corruption and Maoists whoare causing chaos in thevillages.

Max MaliPune

Thank you for your front pageon petroleum adulteration(#19). Through your paper I,as a Nepali consumer, want totell this to the government, Idon’t care about rising prices.In fact, double the price offuel—but make sure we getwhat we pay for. And I haveanother message for theopposition: stop shoutingabout fuel price hike, dosomething about adulterationand the corruption that feeds it.

J AldersPokhara

-�%��*��-�%�Daniel Lak: you’ll have to startpracticing throatsinging in mygarden. Having seen GenghisBlues, I too couldn’t tell if itwas a tale of, as you say,

“immense human dignity” orone told by “New Orientalists”.(Here and There, #20) Whiteboys in Mongolia: I was waryfrom the start. My Orientalistradar did beep several timesduring the film, but I was sowon over by Paul Pena that Ieventually threw away thatradar. Pena never armshimself against his unfamiliarmilieu; he opens his heart toviewers, exposing his inmostjoys and anguishes, andoffering us the gift of hishumanity. That the rest of usmight remain equally openwhen we travel...or evenwhen we see traveldocumentaries.

Manjushree ThapaKathmandu

� �,��%I couldn’t help but notice thatyour #20 was a particularlystunning issue. I thought thatthe feature on page 6“Goodwill ambassadors”was especially wellresearched, and written withjust the right sense ofempathy, analysis andappreciation.

Simon ForresterOfficer,UNV Programme

+ %%�+�� The credit for the twopictures illustrating the story“One step forward, two stepsback” (page 4, #19) shouldhave gone to Nick Dawsoninstead of what inadvertentlyappeared. – Ed.

Paul Pena

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4 15 - 21 DECEMBER 2000 ��

�� by DANIEL LAK

he debacle that followed the American election is being blamedon the most despised class of non-criminal human beings on theplanet—the lawyers. In the most litigious society on earth, the

United States, legal eagles soar high, and now they’ve hijacked thedemocratic process. That’s probably one of the least of their sins inthe overall scheme of things.

Yes, lawyers are essential if there is to be law, the presumption ofinnocence and protection of fundamental rights. Courtroom drama isan honoured genre in film and pulp fiction, and I confess to beingrather fond of the novels of one John Grisham, a lawyer byprofession. Check out the films “Twelve Angry Men” with HenryFonda, and “Inherit the Wind” featuring Spencer Tracy as the greatClarence Darrow—as close to a lawyer-hero as America has ever had.Those stirring movies show the legal process at its theoretical best,with reason and good will triumphant after a tussle of immenseintellectual proportions. But these days, an American televisionchannel is as likely to show you commercials featuring “personalinjury specialists” who will sue anyone and charge their clientnothing in hopes of a massive jury settlement. Slipped and fallenon your neighbour’s walk? No problem, just hire Sue, Grabbitand Runn, and settle out of court for a couple of million. Nevermind that you were drunk when you fell, or running to make alate appointment, or ignored the signs warning you to becareful. It’s Not Your Fault!

Lawyers dominate democratic governments in many developedcountries—the political equivalent of letting the fox baby-sit thechickens. People who make money from manipulating the rules are

making the rules. Hello! Anyone home? The outgoing president of theUnited States is a lawyer, a law professor actually. He met his wife, alsoan advocate, in law school. I take some heart from the fact that neither

of the two gentlemen who’ve asked the courts to appoint them asPresident Clinton’s successor has worked in a law office. But askthem how many lawyers they have hired in their lives, and theywon’t be able to tell you. They have long since lost count. Theproblem, of course, is that the modern task of the lawyer involvesconstant reinterpretation of the intentions of people long dead, orout of the political loop. That’s a license to bend rules, and tocreate new ones where the existing structure doesn’t serve theclients’ purpose. If the law were simple and straightforward, if courtsdispensed true justice, if all people and organisations acted withgood will and if truth were ever-present, then who would needlawyers? They exist because we are so gravely imperfect.

There are many lawyers who do good. One of the best is AsmaJehangir, a lawyer from Pakistan, who has done more to enforcethe badly tattered standards of decency and human rights inthat country than any politician, general or businessperson. Infact, it’s clear that lawyers in countries like Pakistan, Nepaland India are crucial because they do the opposite of many oftheir counterparts in developed lands. They uphold thespirit and letter of the law by highlighting misuse of legalprocess by elites. Long live Asma Jehangir and her ilk.Shakespeare’s famous line from Henry VI “the first thing we

do, let’s kill all the lawyers” was actually spoken by an anarchistplotting revolution, so it’s clear the bard was actually praising thelegal profession in a roundabout way. Most likely, judging frommany other jibes at lawyers in his plays, Shakespeare saw them—wisely—as the necessary evil that they most assuredly are. �

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t’s been ten years since theWorld Wide Web hit the world.And in this short time, Internet

Service Providers (ISPs) in Nepalhave demonstrated how competi-tion can benefit customers.Computing power has increasedthousand-fold, the price of connec-tivity has come down and there aremore services to choose from.

But the industry could also bestagnating—thanks to hightelephone costs, courtesy the NepalTelecommunications Corporation(NTC).

Five years ago an averageminute of Internet connectivity costRs 12. Today, it’s just about Rs 1.Some service providers even gobelow the rupee barrier, especiallystart-ups trying to get a foothold inthe booming market. Nepal is saidto have 20,000 email/Internetaccount holders, which in realterms works out to about 100,000users. The market is said to begrowing by about 30 percent eachyear, but at existing telephonetariffs and in light of the fiercecompetition, it may not be longbefore many of the smallercompanies begin to fold up.

“The cost of a phone call is thebiggest roadblock obstructing thegrowth of Internet users,” saysRajesh Lal Shrestha, ManagingDirector of Infocom, one of a new

generation of ISPs. “At today’smarket growth rate and telephonecharges, about half of the ISPs wehave may shut down in about ayear. You cannot stay in businesslong with earnings that average

about 10 paisa per connection orless.”

Life for ISPs may soon getharder. Nepal TelecommunicationsCorporation (NTC), our monopolytelephone network owner, isconsidering a hike in local phonetariffs. The NTC says use of itsinternational services is down, andthe proposed hike will help bolsterdiminishing revenues. It blames

international calls through theInternet for some of that revenueloss . “Only pricing to reflect thecosts of providing the service cankeep us afloat over the long run,”says Raghubar Lal Shrestha, general

manager of NTC.The NTC used to thrive on

unusually high international tariffswhich accounted for almost 55-60percent of its revenue. This, it says,was used to subsidise localtelephone rates. “Revenue data overthe last year shows that we’re losingmore money than we’d anticipated.We could be in trouble if wecannot raise local tariffs,” Shresthaadded.

ISPs find this hard toswallow—public perception is thatthe NTC makes a killing on localand international calls. There’sbeen a sharp increase in local callsas more people have gone online.ISPs argue that the NTC wouldbenefit if it made telephonycheaper, not more expensive. Theyeven have a proposal which they saycould result in a win-win situationfor all parties. “We’re proposing arevenue sharing mechanism betweenNTC and the ISPs, or a reduction

in the cost for those using phonesfor data communication,” saysSanjib Rajbhandari of MercantileCommunications. “Thecompetition in the market wouldforce ISPs to transfer the reducedcosts to customers, and everyonewould benefit.”

Generally, ISP economics isstraightforward. The more peopleonline, the more the benefits to bederived from the emergingknowledge economy. There’s even alaw, attributed to Robert Metcalfe,a pioneer of computer networking.“Metcalfe’s Law” says that thevalue of a network grows in linewith the square of the number ofusers. The truth could besomewhere in between, but theNTC doesn’t seem too inclined todiscuss it.

There are 15 ISPs in Nepal, andmost have bitter stories to tellabout working with the NTC. Untilthis May, when the Nepal

Telecommunications Authoritybegan licensing V-SAT users, ISPsrelied on the NTC for theircommunications needs. Thisincluded everything from gettingtelephone connections to relying onNTC’s network to get through toservers upstream in the web,Singapore, India or the US. That isno longer the case, even thoughNTC’s connectivity has improvedand is certainly cheaper than whatISPs pay V-SAT service providers.V-SAT stands for Very SmallAperture Terminal, and it’s a costeffective satellite solution for usersseeking an independentcommunications networkconnecting a large number ofgeographically dispersed sites.“We’re paying more for totalreliability,” says an ISP source.“NTC rates are cheaper, but thereare too many unseen costs.” Inplain English, the “unseen costs”are bribes and favours ISPs have tooffer to get even routine officialtasks done. Many ISPs have begunusing radio modems for even localconnections to bypass the NTC,especially for corporate clients.

Customer service and industryrelations are the weakest links inthe NTC’s Internet backbone. TheNTC’s poor service record is oldhat—about 40 percent of allcomplaints take more than 24 hoursto fix. Unreliability on this scale isunacceptable in an industry rifewith competition and growingexponentially. “You cannot blameus for trying to provide reliableservices,” says another ISP source.“We rely on speed and accuracy. If

I get a faulty connection on a Fridayevening, at NTC’s pace it will berepaired next week.”

When it began Internetservices, the NTC tried wholesalingconnectivity, spending six monthstrying to convince service providersto purchase its connections forresale to retail buyers. None of theISPs—who had already been burntdoing business with thecorporation—were interested.Eventually, the NTC decided tomove into end-user sales, which itsofficials bragged would “teach ISPsa lesson”. Its only aim was to enterthe market cheaply and fast. Itdidn’t take into account that itwould have to provide installationand follow-up services. It offeredthe cheapest connections, and thisforced prices down. But customerssoon found out that cheap alsomeant erratic and unreliable serviceand maintenance. This is why theservice provider with the lowestrates has just 2,000 email andInternet subscribers. We called theNTC asking how we could get aninternet connection. “Come toPulchowk and fill out a form. Thengo to Jawalakhel to get youraccount.” We then asked if thecorporation would help us withinstallation and provide training onhow to use the service. The personat the other end sounded irritatedby this unreasonable demand. Hesaid: “We’ll give you a catalogueand you can do everythingyourself.”

With this kind of service, eventhe 2,000 subscribers the NTC hasseems too many. But this total itself

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may be misleading. No one will sayhow many of those accounts arefree—either service connections orlike those made available to MPsearlier this year. The NTC’s cheapunlimited internet connectivitydoes benefit people who need nohelp figuring out the differencebetween an IP address and an ISPor setting up and using aconnection. But there aren’t toomany such users.

“We should be working tocreate a situation where NTC’sreturns would grow with the growthof our businesses,” says ShyamAgarwal, Managing Director,Worldlink Communications P. Ltd.“It is scary to have such a large

player in the market, especially onethat has total control of thetelephone network.” The NTC,which sells everything frominternational telephony to Internetconnectivity, also has the space tocross-subsidise different services anddistort the market. “People arescared to put in too much money toupgrade their businesses, thinkingthat NTC is in a position to makeconnectivity free,” says Agarwal. Onaverage it costs Rs 5 million to setup an ISP making use of the NTC’sphone network. Those willing toset up their own V-SAT gatewayswould need another Rs 2.5 millionfor the license and Rs 4 million forthe system. But the relatively lowstart-up cost (minus the gateway) ismisleading: the investment increasesfast because companies must makefrequent technological upgrades andpay for replacements due to highdepreciation rates in the business.

ISPs say the NTC should focuson more important things. It has abacklog of over 260,000

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1��'��$��Just to recap:

• Two hotel unions decided to go on indefinite strike from11 December demanding a 10 percent service charge on topof their salaries.

• Hotel owners said no way, and threatened a lockout.• The government belatedly intervened and on the eve of

the strike convinced the unions to agree to a two-monthmoratorium.

• Sulking hotel owners said we’ve lost business anywayso we will remain closed, and started evicting guests fromtheir own hotels.

• Prime minister methotel owners andcoaxed them to reopen,which they did.

A rift betweentourism entrepreneursprompted owners toreluctantly lift thelockout “in the interestof the economy”. Buttravel trade sources tellus much of the damagehas already been done.Many Christmas andMillenium bookingshave been cancelled,airlines have curtailed flights and hotels are nearly empty.“The situation is murky,” said one hotel owner. “Since there isno business for the next few months it would have beenbetter to remain closed and force the issue once and for all.”Some HAN members are angry that after all this heartbreak,the issue has not been resolved, only postponed. In twomonths, the tourism industry will have to go through thewhole bitter experience again. A high-level governmentmediation panel is looking into the union demand for servicecharge and is supposed to come up with a recommendationin two months.

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��!With the government unable to provide security to schoolsthat wanted to defy a 8-14 December closure called by a pro-Maoist student union, most schools all over Nepal (eveninternational schools in Kathmandu) remained closed thisweek. Talks between the student union, parent reps, schoolteachers and the government failed to find a way out. Notsurprising given the nature of the 15 demands put forward bythe students’ groupwhich included returnof Nepali territoryoccupied by “foreignpowers”, freesecondary education,nationalisation ofprivate schools,banning the nationalanthem and theteaching of Sanskrit.

The Private and Boarding School Organisation, Nepal(PABSON) says it’s had enough. It will not abide by futurethreats to close schools. It is seeking support of all parents,teachers, students and school authorities to ensure educa-tion is not disrupted. It has also called upon national andinternational human rights agencies to monitor such threats.Among the Maoist demand is nationalisation of privateschools, which presently accounts for the education of about1.5 million students and employment for over 75,000teachers and administrative staff.

applications for fixed line connec-tions. “Even today we have notbeen able to get all the high speeddigital lines we would like to haveand here you have NTC retailingInternet connections rather thanhelping us meet the need,” an ISPsource said.

NTC’s revenue per line,including international calls, is

thrice as much as it was two yearsago—up from about Rs 750 per lineto about Rs 2,000 in Kathmandu,where telephone density is highest.ISPs say it is the services theyprovide that have helped increasethe revenue and they want NTC toshare that with them, as is beingdone in many countries.Alternatively, the NTC should bethinking about lowering dial-uprates, they add. NTC’s numbersshow that local calls have increasedrevenue by as much as Rs 60million in the last year, but it isunwilling to accept that theincrease is a result of the growthbrought about by ISPs. The NTCdoesn’t have the technology tomonitor usage and there’s no wayfor them to realistically confirm ordeny the suggestion. “We’rethinking about special rates for datacommunications, but it’s only aproposal,” says the NTC’s Shrestha.Nothing is said about revenue-sharing.

The NTC believes that the

increased use of telephones is duemore to the addition of new linesand other services that rely ontelephony such as pagers, mobilephones and, yes, the Internet. Italso says that the Rs 0.40 we payper local call per minute is amongthe lowest in the world. Further, itblames ISPs for the reduction of itsrevenues from international calls,especially after the advent ofInternet phones or the Voice OverInternet Packets (VOIP) services.There is some truth in NTC’sgrouse, but why should people payits absurdly high monopoly tariffswhen a phone call is just theInternet away. Privately many NTCtop brass admit they themselves useDial Pad to make personal phonecalls abroad.

Providing Internet connectivityisn’t all that profitable. One reasonISPs are in the business is to try and-*build large networks bypopularising the Internet. Whenthat happens, they’ll be betterpositioned to add other services andcharge for content. Both number ofaccounts and usage need to bediversified for them to make realmoney. And then, with size ofnetworks providing economies ofscale, ISPs could think aboutproviding free connectivity.

The NTC is also headed forchange. The plan is to break thehuge corporation down intoseparate companies providingdifferent services to level the playingfield for private companies that are

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being allowed to undertake telecomservices. That will not only changethe monopoly profits it has beenthriving upon but also force it to docost/profit centre accounting toreflect its real costs—minus thecorruption that takes place all theway up to the ministry. Its revenuestructure—55-60 percent frominternational communications, 14-16 percent from domestic trunkcalls and 16-18 percent from localcalls—is also bound to change.

All this is reason enough todiscuss the ISP proposal, especiallybecause we’re already talking aboute-commerce and the need to baseour growth on the knowledgeeconomy. Internet access sale is notthe NTC’s main line of business, soit is unlikely that it wouldconcentrate on propagatingconnectivity as much as privateISPs would. That is the reality thatfaces the government’s recentpronouncement that we shouldwork towards drawing benefits fromthe knowledge economy. Should westruggle to prop up an inefficientgovernment monopoly whose realcosts are unknown? Or should weprepare ourselves to become cost-effective netizens by formulatingthe right policies early in thegame? It is telling enoughthat most ISPs will not go onrecord saying most of this. Theysay it’s because the NTC hasenough muscle to create problemsfor troublemakers and loudmouths. �

Guests leaving hotel in Kathmanduon Monday during the 24-hour lockout.

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Clockwise from left: Worldlink’sV-SAT antenna in Jawalakhel,Sanjib Rajbhandari of MercantileCommunications in his server roomon Durbar Marg, Shyam Agarwalof Worldlink Communications,and the computer room of Infocomat Hatisar.

6 15 - 21 DECEMBER 2000 ��

he common wisdom inKathmandu is that there willbe no dialogue with the

Maoists. And there will be noattention paid to what thegovernment keeps calling “theMaoist problem,” until after theCongress Party tamasha in Pokharain January. I don’t think it wouldbe considered “too political” toreiterate that the Nepali peoplecrave peace and security, and thatthe longer the country and thepeople have neither, the harder itwill be to reinstall both. Positionswill harden further, more peoplewill either be dislocated from theirhomes, jobs and schools, or join theMaoists, and the chaos andcorruption in the capital will beeven less controllable than atpresent.

If we wait much longer to talk,compromise, and give the peoplethe kind of government they longfor, it may be too late. We couldget to that point immortalised innursery rhyme where “all the king’shorses and all the kings men,

couldn’t put Humpty Dumptytogether again”. In the aftermath ofthe failed fiasco of the tête-à-têtebetween the deputy prime ministerand the Maoist’s Kathmandu chiefin November, and the closing downof schools, rumours are running rifeagain. One is that the status quoclasses are selling off property andinvesting in gold. And are our policegetting a “strike force” trained bysome foreign “special forces” unit?Internationalising this insurgencymay have some dangerousramifications for Nepal.

One area in which there shouldbe no qualms about internationali-sing the issue would be in findingreputable international institutionsspecialising in conflict resolution.Because the situation is getting soserious and the present governmentseems to be focussing more onfactional quarrels in the run-up to

Pokhara, this may actually be oneway out. Provided both sides areserious about talks, thesenegotiations could be held in a far-away neutral venue such as Genevawith capable and experiencednegotiators.

It might actually be useful forboth parties to confront theirdisagreements from a comfortabledistance, and far away from mediaglare and domestic posturing.Physical and mental detachmentand a neutral venue could coolpassions and hardline positions onboth sides, and create a betteratmosphere for compromise. Thecost would be negligible comparedto the money looted by Maoistsfrom provincial banks, and bydefaulting businessmen from the bigbanks in Kathmandu.

A neutral observer andmediator, whether counselling

parties in a failing marriage orparties to a deadly conflict, can bequite desirable. But a pre-requisiteis serious commitment to finding anegotiated solution on both sides.You can’t go into this in a half-hearted way, as a strategy to buytime, or to follow a two-track,carrot-and-stick approach. Up untilnow, every time we thought thetalks might be getting somewhere, amonkey wrench flies in fromnowhere and destroys all trust.There are professionals specialisingin negotiating ceasefires andcompromise solutions toinsurgencies. Why don’t we makeuse of them?

If that sounds far-fetched,another place to start would be tolook at a negotiator from the Army totalk on behalf of the government andthe people. The Maobadis havehinted in the past that they would not

be averse to talking with the army.After all, the Maoists considerthemselves at war, so negotiating withrepresentatives of the militaryapparatus would make sense to them.

Since the Congress Party is sofragmented that it seems unable toagree on anything, one can only,very tentatively, put one’s lastextant hope in the good patrioticsense of the group of ten parties ofthe moderate left. If they could only

put aside their political differences,and temporarily unite to work forthe good of this rapidlydeteriorating country, they mightactually have a good chance tosucceed. Were they to unite tomake peace with the Maoists, andagree on changing the Constitution,they could prove a real and positiveforce. How about it comrades?How about cobbling together aUnited Front for peace? �

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At Hetauda we looked into the regional police office. The resident chief deniedthere was any marijuana growing in Makwanpur. But junior constables saidganja was so widespread that there was no way they could destroy the crops withtheir present manpower. At the Manahari police post, Surya Prasad Upadhyayatold us: “We have information that Indian buyers provide armed protection topeople transporting marijuana to the border.” A local Nepali Congress leaderagreed. Indian criminals protect farmers who cannot protect their own cropsfrom police raids, he said. We asked the Chief District Officer of Parsa, DolakhBahadur Gurung, if all we had been told was true. He hedged the question: “Wedon’t have a budget to destroy ganja. I have no information of Indians cominghere and doing marijuana cultivation.”

Local politicians will tell you privately that everyone gets a cut fromthis well-greased trade, and that is why it runs so smoothly. All local organsof political parties get somethingout of the ganja economy. Somelike the UML sometimes takeaction—the party expelled a localcadre Triloki Chaudhary becauseof his involvement in the business.But other locally elected officialshave actually got together toprotect marijuana farmers. VDCchairman Buddhi Bahadur Lamaof Ratnapuri in Bara District and

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Nepal and you have it: leftist guerrillas involved in protecting an illegalnarcotic crop. Since the farmers growing ganja are mostly poor peasants,local Maoist cells in Makwanpur have got a cause they can fight for. Andboth have a common enemy: the police patrols who regularly raid ganjaplantations. Two months ago Maoists attacked the Makawanpur policepost to warn them not to harass ganja farmers in northern Makwanpur.The Assistant Sub-Inspector of Kalikatar police post told us it would beimpossible for him to send patrols anymore to the ganja region for fearof Maoist ambushes. The police have even withdrawn from posts inDandakharka and Kandarang because of Maoist activity, according toMakwanpur’s Superintendent of Police Narendra Khaling. Localresidents spread scare stories to police patrols, telling them Maoistshave booby-trapped the trail. The Maoists are not actually growingmarijuana themselves, but they have told farmers not to payoff policesince they will provide them protection.

another member of the Nepali Congress party have formed a “GanjaProtection Committee” to hold talks with the administration to leave ganjafarmers alone.

When a reporter comes snooping around, there is a ping pong of blame: thepolice say ganja growers have political protection, and politicians say the policeand the district administration are colluding with Indian ganja interests. Thetruth is probably that they are all up to their necks in it. And why not? Somehave convinced themselves that the trade is good for the country, it bringsincome to poor peasants who have no other income, and it spreads the wealtharound.

Also, political parties have to look the other way—such is the power ofthe “ganja vote”. Their constituents depend so heavily on the crop and itstrade that any politician seen to be destroying this livelihood will not lastlong. In Makwanpur’s Sarikhet village local farmers have begun to raise Rs500 per kattha to pay off the district administration to leave them alone.The locals will tell you in hushed tones the names of all the ganja barons inManahari and Hetauda. Even some pragmatic national-level politiciansknow which side to be on: they say use of marijuana should be banned, butnot its cultivation because the people depend on it. And so, it seems, dopoliticians. In Parsa, Indians not only provide seeds but they lease landfrom farmer/politicians paying Rs 2000 per kattha and they grow the ganjathemselves. Many local politicians own the land, and benefit from the lease.Deep in the jungles of the char kose jhari are marijuana plantations thatcan only be seen from the air, but the locals will tell you about them.

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But just how much marijuana cultivation benefits villagers is an openquestion. Here in the dusty trails of Makwanpur district, it is difficult to seeany visible sign of improved living standards after ten years of harvests. Theganja mafia has of course made money, and the middlemen and officialsalong the way have been paid off. But for people like Thulimaya Tamang ofKol village, it is still a hand-to-mouth existence. “I have a loan of Rs 20,000to repay. Other crops I grow don’t produce enough to feed the family, letalone pay back the loan.” Ganja may not have improved the lives of farmerslike Thulimaya Tamang, the middlemen may be exploiting her, but it isclear that without this cash crop their lives would be even more difficult.

A young man in Kol is also rather desperate: “I want a job, and to get ajob I need to pay a bribe. How can I make enough money to bribe unless myfamily grows ganja? If you water vegetables, you have a meal, if you waterganja plants, you can grow money.” The cash has also given the farmers ofMakwanpur a new status among the moneylenders and shopkeepers in thebazaar. Once they see the cash, they will let them buy on credit.

In the tarai people plant marijuana in about five katthas and grow a rowof maize or sugarcane along the side to conceal it from law enforcers. In theParsa villages adjoining the Indian border where it is difficult for outsiders tovisit, the crop is grown openly. “Indian presence is here from the verybeginning,” a schoolteacher and former ganja grower from Nijgadh told us.The Indians also provide crop specialists as “consultants” who can guaranteea 100 percent yield from the seedlings for a price—10 percent of theharvest. These “mistris” as they are known, also help to press the ganja into5 kg bricks and the charas into pellets for easy transportation. �

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Villagers mill around after police destroytheir marijuana plantation in Makwanpur.

Nepal’s open border through whichthe ganja enters India.

Woman farmer weeps after police destroy her family’s ganja plantation in Ratnapuri in Bara district last week.

715 - 21 DECEMBER 2000 ��

Through study every individual can be led onto a brighter path.It is consolation to the old, ornament to the rich and wealth tothe poor. Being refugees we do not have anything to do and wedo not have property, only our education is with us.��

Because we do not have much work to do we joke with each other topass time. Our huts in camp are so close that we often meet with ourfriends. Whenever there is a group of people they will talk aboutBhutan.��

This is a 97 year-old man who lives in the camp. Hethinks life is like smoke that a puff of wind can disperse.He is a pessimist. He says in Bhutan he was very rich andthat he came to Nepal with only the clothes that he waswearing. Now he is poor: his clothes, plates and pots arefrom UHNCR. He complains that he will die withoutseeing his country again. We tell him that is not the wayto think, that our problems will soon be solved.��

If real tears are an indisputable sign of grief, then glass tearscould possibly be the mark of insincerity. From looking at ourfaces you see no tears but our internal hearts are crying.��

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His name is Hari Khrishna Rai. He is about 42 years old. It isone year since he became blind. It started with a headacheand in a few months he was blind. He took many medicinesprovided by SCF, but his health did not improve. We areoften ill because we have no fresh fruit and vegetables to eat.Hari Khrishna Rai is blind, but he talks like a healthy person.He spends his life in sorrow because he cannot see the thingsthat are happening in our society and the world. He says thatif we go on sitting in this refugee camp, the cominggeneration will be blind because our rations do not give usany vitamins to keep us healthy.��

The Rose Class was a participatory photography project that ran during the summer of1998 in Beldangi II Extension camp, which houses 10,000 Bhutanese refugees. Theproject worked with 13 Bhutanese refugee students, aged between 15 and 17, teachingthem photography and providing them with a medium through which to document andwrite about their lives. The group called themselves the Rose Class because thebeautiful rose was their favourite flower.

During the project, through photographs, writing and painting the group recorded dayto day life in the camp and their hopes, fears and frustrations. The Rose Class became aplatform from which the students could tell outsiders their stories and their dream thatthey might one day be able to return to Bhutan. The Rose Class put together anexhibition of their work in the refugee camp and this was followed by a collaborativeexhibition with Street Vision in London. The students of the Rose Class have spentnearly half of their lives living in the camps. The Rose Class was organised by PhotoVoice, a London-based group dedicated to raising awareness and providing means ofcreative empowerment to displaced persons around the world.

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s the hotel strike dramaunfolded, one thing wasvery clear— we Nepalis do

not require a foreign hand tomake matters worse in ourcountry.

Historically, when we look atthe progress made, we have beenrather efficient at self-destruction.The Malla kings left us with emptycoffers, and the Rana regimefollowed it up by building palatialneo-classical structures during acrippling famine. Thirty years ofone-party democracy ensured thecreation of an economic class at thecost of a backward mass. We’venever needed the services of aGenghis Khan or a colonialsuperpower to cause economicimbalance, we have done it wellourselves. What else could explainthe mess in the tourism industry inthe past month? We obviously loveto remain a $200 per capita countryranked first or second from thebottom, and we have politicianswho believe this is the future.

The effects of the past weekon tourism in Nepal will be felt inthe long run. Other Asiandestinations competing withNepal today, like Vietnam andLaos, could not cash in ontourism due to perceivedproblems of security anduncertainty. Now they’veovercome these problems and aremarketing their countries well,while Nepal is saddled with suchdisrupt ion that tourists will

think twice before visiting. Theimpact on Western touristsforced to change plans or Indiantourist here on honeymoon is thesame. Why should they come toNepal again?

The government’slackadaisical attitude andindecisiveness kept the problemsimmering until the damage wasdone. The Prime Minister gaveverbal assurances to the businesscommunity that he’d look intothe matter, but everyone knowswhat that means. The tradesector cannot see how thisproblem won’t recur after twomonths. On the other hand thegovernment has asked labourunions to defer the stir by twomonths. The government cannotkeep both commitments and onlytime will reveal all thecomplications.

After the restoration ofdemocracy, the labour force andthe media are two sections ofsociety that have grown. Theempowerment of labour throughlegislation and active inter-national intervention has giventhis country a lop-sided socialisticmodel.

Though the transformationfrom government ownedenterprise to private enterpriseshas taken place, the labour modelremains the same. A powerfulpro-labour media has backed this.Politicians have also recognisedthe labour class as a powerful

vote bank and like to keep themhappy. The business segmentmaking the most money doesn’thave to deal with unions, as theirbusinesses are trade-oriented. Thishas left a handful of entrepreneursto bear the brunt of labourunions’ tactics. Hotels, being anindustry and not a tradingenterprise, have been affectedmost. They have bowed topressure from unions andconceded a lot in the past decadewithout being able to push issueslinked to productivity andefficiency.

The past week should be abillion-dollar lesson for thecountry. The issue is not theservice charge. It is the state ofthe nation. It is a state of anarchywhere anyone, anytime, can undowhat others have built over years.Politicians here exist for their ownpetty agendas, not for the countryor enterprise. There would be nolabour without enterprise. Thegovernment should know how toregulate enterprises but not hinderthem. Yes, enterprises too shouldact well in time to understand aproblem rather than wait till theend. But no one listens in thiscountry. �

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�� by ARTHA BEED��

All prices are in US dollars, collected from informal sources, and are only indicative.

0.74 0.37 0.40 0.22 0.37 0.04 53.75

0.68 0.36 0.58 0.36 0.21 0.02 46.75

0.64 0.36 0.57 0.28 0.13 0.05 46.76

0.25 0.28 0.40 0.30 0.42 0.21 11.82

0.41 0.43 0.52 0.22 0.12 0.03 57.91

0.73 0.36 0.61 0.23 0.19 0.03 82.42

0.65 0.38 0.63 0.36 0.30 0.09 74.30

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[email protected]

6 months 1 year

SAARC countries US$25 US$48

Other countries US$40 US$75

��

Average rate of 91 days and 364 days T/Bill dipped loweron aggressive bidding by some of the commercial banks.The average rate of 91 days T. Bill is expected to remainunder pressure in the coming weeks unless the liquidbanks park their surplus liquidity in the secondarymarket. Expected range for next week 4.20 to 4.30 %.

AG/USD CURRENT * WK/AGO %CHG

OIL(Barrel ) 28.44 32.29 - 11.92

GOLD(Ounce) 272.50 269.80 + 1.00

GOLD ( NPR *) 7200 7110 + 1.27

EUR 0.8832 0.8763 + 0.79

GBP 1.4443 1.4383 + 1.37

JPY 110.79 110.96 - 0.15

HF 1.7077 1.7277 - 1.16

AUD 0.5438 0.5386 + 0.97

INR 46.75 46.83 - 0.17*Currency bid prices at 12.30 p.m. on 11/12 - Source Reuters

CURRENCY UPDATE

NEPALI RUPEE CURRENT% PREVIOUS%

Call Money Avg. 5.25 5.50

70 Days t/bill 4.86 -

91 Days t/bill 5.26 5.29

364 Days t/bill 5.73 6.18

Repo. rate 5.76 5.79

INTEREST RATE UPDATE

USD EUR GBP JPY CHF

LENDING 9.50 6.50 6.00 1.50 5.13

LIBOR (1M) 6.71 4.96 5.99 0.82 3.44

FOREIGN CURRENCY : Interest rates

BANK RATES (DEPO/LENDING) Mkt Hi/Lo Mkt Avg

S/A NPR 6.0/3.5 5.23

F/D 1 YR 7.5/6.0 6.73

OVERDRAFT 15.5/12.5 13.54

TERM LOAN 14.5/13.0 13.37

IMPORT LN 13.0/10.5 11.52

EXPORT LN 13.0/10.0 10.63

MISC LOAN 17.5/13.5 15.03

�

Oil : Strong selling pressure in the wake of expectations of Iraqresuming its oil exports in the next few days sent crude oil pricessliding down last week. Suspension of Iraq’s exports has alreadycut oil flow by some 25 million barrels, as Iraq exports about 2.3million barrels per day, a fifth of world oil trade.

Currencies : The U.S dollar has been under pressure againstthe Euro and other European currencies over the past twoweeks amid mounting evidence of a slowdown of the U.Seconomy. The dollar was locked in tight range against the Yenwith the market on tenterhooks as it awaited a U.S SupremeCourt ruling to decide who would be the next president.

INDIAN RUPEE OUTLOOK : The Indian rupee firmed slightlyas sentiments were buoyed by a drop in global crude oilprices and a surge in foreign exchange reserves to a newhigh. Reserves rose by $4.28 billion over the past month,driven by inflows from State Banks. Data on Saturdayshowed foreign exchange reserves up by $730 million to arecord high of $39.021 billion in the week ending December 1.

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��Japanese consulting firm Nippon Koei has nearly finalised a study on an alternative roadleading out of Kathmandu Valley which would avoid the Thankot bottleneck and cut commutingtime by half.

The proposed road will link Sitapaila in the Valley with Dharke in Dhading district, avoidingthe Naubise-Thankot stretch, one of Nepal’s busiest roadways. The Naubise-Thankot roadwas upgraded three years ago to support 3,000 vehicles daily, but over 2,800 cars, buses andtrucks already use it every day, and the number is growing by 7.5 percent each year.

Another study by the Department of Roads says that the annual average daily traffic atThankot and Kalanki points was as high as 5,990 and 14,300 vehicles per day. The 25.4 kmlink from Sitpaila will take 34 months to complete, cost Rs 4 billion to build and another Rs654 million to compensate landowners along the alignment.

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�� !�"#The government’s inability to make duty drawback payments ontime has frustrated exporters, mainly three major Indian jointventures: Nepal Lever, Dabur Nepal and Colgate-Palmolive, thelargest sellers of Nepal-made goods in India. Nepal Lever alonehas Rs 163 million blocked in the form of duty drawback, about 14 percent of its total exports,the company says. The money payable to the three companies is over Rs 400 million.

The Department of Industries and the Ministry of Finance arrange the payments. Leverofficials say that of the claims submitted so far, only Rs 17 million has been settled. Some ofthe claims date back to 1997-98. The government introduced the new duty drawback system toremedy a situation where exporters could import goods after paying 50 percent customs dutyand claim refunds after exporting finished goods.

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$�#�%�"��&��The International Organisation for Standardization has awarded Hukam PharmaceuticalsPrivate Limited (PHPL) ISO9002 certification, the first for a pharmaceutical company in Nepal.The certification means Hukam’s products are of international standards, and paves the wayfor the company to aim at international sales. ISO is a federation of bodies that sets productionstandards in 130 countries.

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�"#�%��Lack of working capital and raw material forced closure of the Hetauda Textile Industry lastweek. The mill, with an annual capacity of 11 million metres of textiles, had been operating onlyfor a few hours each day since early November until raw materials finally ran out last week.This is not the first time the factory has stopped weaving, and every time the operations halted,the government has restarted the looms by injecting more money. This has cost thegovernment over Rs 85 million till date. Factory sources say they need Rs 130 million to getworking, after paying overdue salaries and making provident fund deposits.

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��'��(� ��Ilam Tea Producers Pvt Ltd (ITPPL) has begun marketing high quality orthodox tea in 150 and200gram sachets aimed at promoting the brand in international markets. At present, Nepaliorthodox tea finds its way to Germany and Japan.

Nepal produces some of the world’s best orthodox leaf in the eastern hills and manyfarmers sell the leaf to processors in India’s Darjeeling district. Growers say Ilam producesbetter quality leaf because the plants are younger, though climatic conditions are similaracross the border. Nepal now annually produces 700,000 thousand kg of orthodox tea and 7million kg of CTC tea, the most widely available form in the market. The government also hasambitious plans to bring 30,000 hectares of land under tea cultivation in the next few years.

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ou don’t need to go to Jomsomanymore, or rely on thegenerosity of travelling friends to

savour Mustang’s juicy golden andred apples. Mustange syau (Mustangapples), dried apples, apple jam andbrandy are now in Kathmandu andPokhara.

Kashmiri, Chinese and Simlaapples are cheaper, but Mustange syauare the Alphonso of apples.Connoisseurs say the appeal of theapple lies in its superb flavour,enhanced by the aromatic presence ofhigh Himalayan water. “The Jumlasyau is as tasty but the appearance ofMustange syau bypasses all others.They are number one in South Asia,”says pomologist Gopal PrasadShrestha, who trains apple farmers

and conducts research at theAgriculture Ministry’s Directorate ofFruit Development.

The apples are brought in byPokhara Fruits Centre (PFC) incollaboration with Himali Agro Centre(HAC). Three varieties of Mustangapples are available in Kathmandu andPokhara, priced according to flavourand aroma. There’s Royal Delicious (Rs70/kg), Golden Delicious (Rs 70/kg)and Red Delicious (Rs 60/kg). DriedMustang apples are popular among theelderly for “timepass”.

The apples are cheap in Mustang atRs 28/kg. But in Kathmandu’ssupermarkets you could pay up to Rs120 for a kilogram of the heavenlyfruit. “Some supermarkets havecomplained about our low prices. Butwe don’t need such a big margin. It is

unethical,” saysAmar Baniya,proprietor of PFC.Rhetoric aside, it isa strategic move on the part of PFCand HAC to keep their prices low thisyear and encourage more people tobuy. It’s a new market, and they’relooking to cement their first-moveradvantage before more people get intothe act. Large-scale domestic appletrading began last year when PFC took50 tons of Jumla apples to Kathmanduand Pokhara. Only 30 tons were sold,the rest rotted. “But we saw demandfor good apples, and looked foralternatives,” says Baniya.

This year they decided onMustange syau, and are nowcompeting for the retail market withsupermarkets. The fruit at the storeslooks glossier and is supposed to be ofthe highest grade. No one says how thefruit is graded or what this indicates,

but wholesalers like PFC claim there’sno difference in taste. Thesupermarkets have their own suppliersin Mustang, supposedly funded byJapanese businesses exploring thepossibility of an internationalmarket.

The capital’s apple-loversaren’t complaining about theseshenanigans, though. Since the

season started in October, 15 tonsof Mustang apples have beenconsumed here. Outlets at the KalimatiFruits and Vegetable DevelopmentBoard Market and at KuleshworWholesale Fruit Market say that theysell 60 crates—1200 kg—ofMustang’s pride a day. All manner ofpeople buy Mustange syau, frommiddle class families to the largesthotels in the Valley. Hotels buy over70kg of apples daily from wholesaleoutlets. A vendor says: “First-timeretail buyers purchase around 3kg.When they come next, it’s up to 7kg .” The season ends in mid-December, but the fruit is availablelonger. Mustang is a rain shadowregion, so the apples aren’t exposed tohigh levels of humidity. The resultingcompactness makes them easy totransport and they keep longer than

most other locally available apples.“Our target was sales of 100 tons

this year,” Baniya says. But that looksimpossible. Snow has already stoppedapple-picking in Mustang. “Withbetter transportation facilities in peakseason, the apples would’ve arrived inKathmandu easily,” says Ram KC,proprietor of Himali Agro Centre.

How do the apples get to thevalley from Mustang? At Jomsom theyboard a flight down to Pokhara. Achartered helicopter costs US$ 2,200per hour, so if the helicopter is filledto maximum capacity—4 metrictons—transport costs for this phaseaverage out to Rs 38/kg .Transportation on mules to Pokharacosts under Rs 10/kg, but almost 60percent of each load is damaged, and ittakes too long anyway. In Pokhara thefruit is loaded on to trucks and sent toKathmandu overnight at Rs 2 per kgwith a maximum load of eight metrictons per truck. If all goes smoothly,the apples reach Kathmandu five daysafter they’ve been picked. This isexpensive, but it works better than theJumla apples entrepreneurs tried tobring to the Valley last year. Regularchartered helicopters are available fromJomsom, while air transport fromJumla is problematic.

Apple farming wascommercialised in Mustang andDolpo by Pasang Khampache Sherpaand Buddhi Ratna Sherchan in theearly 70s. Pasang Sherpa headedMarpha’s Horticulture ResearchStation, a state-run organisation, whenhe saw the potential of growing applescommercially. The sticking point forpeople who wanted to bring Mustangapples to the Valley was high transportcosts. Now there might be a wayaround that. Last year’s experimentdidn’t work out, but this year

Mustange syau hit the market inKathmandu in mid-October to tapinto Tihar spending. At the KirtipurHorticulture Centre’s apple exhibitionthen a whopping four metric tons werebought. (Exhibitions like these aretrade shows and attract farmers,distributors, and scientists .) Thegovernment, sensing a good thing,announced annual subsidies of Rs9,00,000 to help cover the packaging,transportation and storage costs of anybusiness that brought apples fromMustang to Kathmandu. For this year,the subsidies have come too late andremain on paper except for the Rs2,00,000 packaging subsidy. TheMinistry of Agriculture offered a testflight this year, but it was at the end ofthe season and few logistical issuescould be worked out to ensure thesystem works next year.

The other factor contributing torisk and high prices in theundertaking is lack of appropriatestorage space. The 35-odd applestorehouses in villages like Marpha,Tukuche, Kowang, Kunjo and Lete inMustang help stock some of the annualyield of three thousand metric tons ofapples indoors, but more space isneeded that provides optimalconditions for apple storage. Fresh orproperly stored fruit is more profitablethan the brandy, cider and jam thatfarmers’ co-operatives in the region areforced to turn much of their produceinto. If the subsidies work out,wholesale prices of Mustang apples inKathmandu could drop as low as Rs45/ kg. The Agro Enterprise Centre,an agricultural wing of the Federationof Nepali Chambers of Commerce andIndustry believe there’s somethinggood here. They provide farmerstechnical training, help market theirproducts, and lobby on their behalf.“There is immense export potential forcash crops like the Mustang apple. Butthere has to be proper infrastructure—storehouses, better transport andinternational grading standards,” saysVijay Shrestha, programme manager ofthe Centre.

Last year Chinese and Kashmiriapples ruled. Next year it might be thepricier, but rather more deliciousMustange syau. The impact of a sharprise in demand for domestic andpossibly international markets isanyone’s guess. For now, the prospectof biting into a large, red, crisp,fragrant, sinfully delicious Mustangapple is fomenting seditioustendencies. �

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Golden delicious, Rs 70 per kilo

Royal delicious, Rs 70 per kilo

Red delicious, Rs 70 per kilo

Distillery—which produce the 25 proof apple and apricot brandy.When you drink Mustang apple brandy, you’re not only treating

yourself to a truly fine drink, you’re also opening a bottle that hasadvocates of energy-efficient recycling nodding enthusiastically. Insteadof using new bottles, distilleries seal their brandy in the beer bottles yousee piled up like installation art outside Lakeside restaurants in Pokhara.The khali sisi—empty bottle—collectors, mostly from the Terai, buybottles from the restaurants and bars at three rupees each. They sell themto larger consolidators for a profit of around two rupees a bottle. Thebottles, now worth five rupees, are cursorily washed and sent up by mule orair to Marpha, Tuckuche and Jomsom.

All the distilleries have cleaning facilities where the bottles aretreated scientifically and readied to receive the nectar of the Himalayas.Apple or apricot brandy in, metal cap crimped on, label attached, andthe bottles are good to go. In Mustang, good apple brandy costs Rs 125for 750 ml, apricot brandy around Rs 70. In Kathmandu, the wholesaleprice for a beer bottle of apple brandy is Rs 170. Retail price varies onwhere you buy, but can go as high as Rs 350 in some supermarkets. Hole-in-the-wall wholesalers, supermarkets, orchards, back-alleys: where you buythe stuff is your call. Just make sure you have yourself a moment or two ofsolitary communion with the divine drink.

Mustang’s apple brandymay not be as famous as itsNormandy counterpart,Calvados—nothing is ever

as famous as its French version—but it is a fine drink,and deserves to be enjoyed even off the trekkingtrails.

Although the 162 acres of orchards in Mustangare very productive, apples never go to waste here.They are either dried into sukuti, or turned into jam,jelly, cider and brandy. Especially brandy.

The village of Marpha in Mustang is almostsynonymous with apple brandy among tourists doingthe Annapurna circuit and Nepali wine connoisseurs.The first brandy factory was set up here in the mid-80s to see what else could be done with the largeapple and apricot yield. Currently, there are fivedistilleries in Mustang—the Marfa distillery at theHorticulture Centre Mustang, Muktinath Distillery,Tukuche Distillery, Nilgiri Distillery and Himsikhar

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uddenly, there were bugs everywhere on the Arniko Highway. A large new

four-wheel drive was overtaken bya wildly careening powder-blue1964 Beetle. Minutes later, ayellow 1974 Bug zoomed by the4WD as haughtily as it is possiblefor a car that belongs, rightfully,in a Noddy illustration. Theoccupants of the big car lookedon in surprise as the rear-propelled bugs disappeared in acloud of yellow dust.

Thirty-one of Kathmandu’slovingly maintained Beetles, theoldest 37 years, and the youngest25, drove in procession from theYak and Yeti hotel to theHimalayan Shangri-la Resort inDhulikhel last Saturday to raisemoney for the Ganesh Foundationthat supports corrective surgeryfor Nepalis with cleft lips.Supporting a good cause wasincentive enough, certainly, butthere was an equal measure of thefanatical clan pride of Bug ownersin evidence. The Cult of theBeetle remains a mystery to theuninitiated, but the love of Beetleowners towards their Bugs isalmost filial. It is also cross-generational, and there weremany enthusiastic participants atthe rally who were surely bornafter production of the Bug hadceased. A typical conversationbetween two complete strangers

at the parking lot of the Yak andYeti ran something like this:

“Which one is yours?”“The blue 1974 over there.”“Ah, nice one. Is it a boy or

girl?”“It’s a boy, his name is

Harvey.”Sharad and Bernice are in

Nepal to get married. Sharad isserving in the British army’sGurkha regiment, and both sharea passion for Beetles. Theyshowed up Saturday morning—the day after their wedding—in a1967 Beetle festooned withballoons, a Nepali flag and adiscreet but legible Just Marriedsign. Said Bernice: “Sharad hadtalked so much about his belovedBeetle in England. And when weread in Nepali Times there was tobe a rally the day after ourwedding—also my father’sbirthday—we thought it would bea really nice celebration.” Theydidn’t just participate, thenewlyweds also found the time toget together a basket of paperproducts (including a 2001 BeetleCalendar) to sell to participantsto raise more money for theGanesh Foundation. They hadsuch faith in their Bug that theywere confident they’d make it toDhulikhel even though the carlies unused when Sharad is away,but they took along an oldtrusted mechanic just in case.

Every car made it, though,

and personal mechanics, the tow-truck driven by two bankers,Richard Vokes of the AsianDevelopment Bank and JeffreyCox of Grindlays in their “VokesWagon”, and the first-aid vehiclepiloted by Chameli director RaviBaral, all had a lazy morning. Butthings did get a little rough onthe road. The Volksy bright blue-and-white paint job on a certainbug was seductive enough tomake more than a few drivers givechase. The oldest car in the rally,Sambhu Rana’s 1962 Beetle withsliding roof, dressed in maturemaroon, navy and black, took onthe challenge only to have a littletrouble with its hydraulicssystem. But the old Bug reachedDhulikhel all right, and despitethe smoke it sputtered on arrival,was fit for its age.

A 1964 Beetle that wasbrought into Nepal by KingMahendra for his personal usealso participated in the rally,although it had changed handsmany times and looked its age.Satindra Siddhi Bajracharyaclocked the fastest time toDhulikhel in his aquamarine bluebug with a sporty white striperunning down the middle.Satindra maintains his car withspare parts bought from Bangkokand locally. “I go to Chitwan andLumbini all the time, and Iovertake all the new model carswithout problems. The roadhandling and power of this vehicleare unsurpassed,” he says proudly.Another Beetle fan is Ujjwal Satyal,a teacher at the Tourism TrainingCentre, who has a hand in givingold Beetles a new lease on life. “Iused to buy Beetles for Rs 6,000,renovate them and sell them for Rs

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25,000 till 1987,” says Satyal.The Beetle rally was organised

by Susan Fowlds who came toNepal in 1996. She soon met DrNarayan Thapa, former director ofKanti Children’s Hospital and apaediatric surgeon. Susan had awhite Volkswagen Beetle, andfound that Dr Thapa owned ablack one. They realised theirshared passion for this strange-looking car could lead tointeresting things. They decidedto gather Kathmandu’s Beetle-owners together for a rally. But,they needed a cause for whatwould certainly be a fund-raiser,to draw on the inexhaustiblegoodwill of the clan when given achance to show off their cars. DrThapa used to do about 120 cleft-lip operations a year at minimalcost. So they decided to dedicatethe rally to raise money forNepalis who can’t raise the Rs6,000 it costs for an operation.Says Susan: “Dr Thapa was myinspiration, and together we madethis rally happen. It is a rally witha purpose.” There are anestimated 40,000 Nepalis withcleft lip and palate. The realreason it is more visible in Nepalcompared to other countries—there are even 60 year-olds withthe condition—is not that there isa higher incidence here, butsimply that many families are toopoor to afford corrective surgery.

The city’s Beetlemaniacsacquitted themselves well. Oncethey got to Dhulikhel, uncurledtheir lips—after all, they were withThe Family now—and got the dustof the Arniko Highway out of theirhair, they rolled up their sleeves tobegin another sort of game. Therewas Bug memorabilia to be bid for,

This woman from Chitwan recovers from corrective surgery for a cleftlip. When the bandage came off, her child didn’t recognise her.There are over 40,000 Nepalis with cleft lip or palate. They’re veryvisible here because many don’t have Rs 6000, the minimum fee forcorrective surgery. Dr Narayan Thapa performs three to five operations aweek, and the Ganesh Foundation is now raising money so operationcosts can be covered for more people.

after all: T-shirts proclaimingparticipation in the GreatHimalayan Beetle Cleft Lip Rally,stickers from a Bug-parts shop allthe way in Calgary, Canada, andbest of all, a shining red and blackmodel Bug, complete with openingdoors, a retractable sunroof andfunctional steering wheel. Manypeople supported the rally one way

or another, and Susan Fowlds isvery pleased with the results: “Weraised enough money for oneoperation a week for more than ayear,” says the New Zealander. TheGanesh Foundation is so namedbecause many boys born with cleft-lips in Nepal are called Ganesh.Which was the name of many of theboy-Beetles at the rally. �

Clockwise from top left: Beetles line up before the rally at the Yak & Yeti Hotel , theoldest entry (#18) 1962 convertible, # 16 a yellow 1974 model zooms past Bhaktapur, astraggler 1974 model # 16 crosses the finishing line at Dhulikhel, and the fastest driver,Satindra Bajracharya receives his T-shirt prize from Susan Fowlds.

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n 1924, Adolf Hitler was inprison for an unsuccessfulputsch on the Federal German

capital. Having time on his hands,the future Führer devised aningenious plan to solve Germany’sunemployment problem. Thegovernment would build specialroads—autobahns—for motorvehicles. It would also mass-produce a car that the man on thestreet could afford. These werethe humble beginnings of thePeople’s Car, the Volkswagen.

Nearly a decade later, in

February 1933, theNazis swept topower and at thefirst cabinetmeeting Hitler laidout his cunningplan. Work on theautobahns beganin September, anda Stuttgart design firm workingwith Daimler-Benz, headed byone Ferdinand Porsche, wascommissioned to design thepeople’s car within ten months.However, it wasn’t until 1938that the design for theVolkswagen was finalised.

Hitler specified certaincriteria the car must meet: itmust have a top speed of 62 mphand achieve 42 miles per gallon; itmust have an air-cooled engineand be able to transport twoadults and three children. Andmost importantly, it shouldmarket at no more than £86. Itwas for reasons of economy thatFerdinand Porsche decided on arear-engine car, the car was thenknown as the Type 60. Heexperimented with various enginedesigns: flat four, vertical fourcylinder, two cylinder, but noneof them proved adequate. In 1935a new Austrian engineer at thefirm came up with a design for aflat four engine in two days.Accountants and other stodgy,careful people checked it out andit proved to be the mostfinancially viable option. Thesame engine design has driven theVolkswagen Beetle for the last 60years.

Ferdinand Porsche had beenworking on other cars for variousmanufacturers before theVolkswagen and he incorporatedsome older designs within thisnew project. The backbonechassis and the idea ofindependent front and rearsuspension came from one car,and the torsion bar frontsuspension had been patented by

Porsche back in 1931. The bodystyling itself dates back to 1931,to a car called the Wandererwhich never reached production.However, Beetle-fiends who insiston the car’s superiority, design-wise, at least, to every otherpassenger vehicle in history, willbe pleased to learn that the onlyprototype built was used byFerdinand Porsche for hispersonal transport. Hitler had hisown reasons for approving theBug’s design. He is supposed to

have briefedPorsche, “Itshould looklike a Beetle,you have tolook tonature tofind outwhatstreamliningis.”

The car went intoproduction in 1939, and Hitlerannounced its new name, the KdFWagen, short for Kraft-durch-Freude Wagen, which doesn’texactly trip off the tongue. Not,of course, that KdF Wagensounds like anything other thanwhat it is, an genocidalideologue’s dream car.Unofficially, the car was stillcalled the Kubelwagen, or thebeetle-car. The Nazis even built atownship for the factory workerswho’d produce the car. It wascalled KdF Stadt, or KdF City.(Kraft durch Freude, which means‘power through joy’ was also whatthe leisure section of the Naziparty was called.) The factory wasthe largest motor factory inEurope, capable of producing150,000 cars per year, with plansfor expansion. By 1942 theproduction rate potential wasprojected to be1.5 million carsper year. Unfortunately, thatpesky WW II broke out, and thefactory was handed over to theGerman Air Force when just over600 cars had been built.(Interestingly, variations of theKdF did see military action.

These were variously suited tooff-road use, carrying three men,ammunition and a machine gun,travelling in water.)

After the war, KdF Stadt wasrenamed Wolfsburg by the Allies,and the family of KdF cars,Volkswagen, and the factory cameunder the jurisdiction of theBritish Military Police. In thesummer of 1945, after Britishmotor manufacturers hadgracefully—and foolishly, as itturned out—declined the offer toproduce and market the Beetle,production of the Kubelwagenrestarted with spares that werelying around the factory. Thefactory was sold to a man calledHeinz Nordhoff in 1947. Thenew management decided to keepthe Bug’s unique design, by nowcode-named Type 1, and less thanfive years after the war, thefactory was producing close to20,000 cars annually. By 1949, in

fact, there was even anexport model.

By 1955, Bugproduction had reacheda million. Variouschanges were made tothe Beetle over the years,and the car was steadilygrowing in popularity.Most of the changes wereto do with increasingengine size and exteriorspecifications. The Beetlereached its highest everproduction in 1969 (almost

1.1 million bugs). In1970, VWtried to improve on a good thingand produced a markedlydifferent Beetle which tried toovercome criticism of the car’ssmall under-bonnet capacity. Themost visible changes were aslightly curved windscreen and amore bulbous bonnet. Productionfell every year after this, althoughby 1973 the Beetle was officiallythe most popular car ever in theworld, with over 16 millionhaving been produced. The finalmodel of the Beetle as we know it(more later on what purists callthe travesty that is the NewBeetle) was launched in 1973.The creature had slid intougliness, some insisted, with itsvery curved windscreen, shorterbonnet, plastic-padded dashboardand wider rear wings that framedthe new football-like rear lights.

Whether it was the new, un-improved design, or a sadlychanging world with no place fora comic-book car, in 1974, VWannounced massive losses, thefirst ever in the history of thecompany. The upshot: the Beetlewould have to die. German

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production of the car stopped in1980. However, VW factories inplaces as far afield as Brazilcontinued to produce the carinto the mid-1980s. In itsheyday, the Beetle had beenproduced in South Africa,Nigeria, Malaysia, Philippines,and Singapore. Today, 52 yearsafter it started production,Mexico still makes the Beetlethe old-fashioned way.Despite its waningpopularity, the

hippie Bug was still endearingenough to star in those sillyDisney movies, playing Herbie.

As for the so-called NewBeetle, its similarity to the oldBug is only skin deep. It is athoroughly modern, rathersoulless car. If you want a frontwheel drive, water-cooled engine,

twin air-bags, power steering, frontsuspension, large wheels, automatictransmission, side-impact doorbeams, front and rear crumple zones,air-con, and a compound crank rearaxle, whatever that is, go drive aGolf. Like we said, the similaritybetween the ageing Bugs and thepretender is skin deep. Of course, it

is a rather nice skin, buteven so—they just don’t

make ’em like theyused to. �

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The business end of a 1964 model Beetle

The prototype “people’s car”

12 15 - 21 DECEMBER 2000 ��

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�� IN TOKYO

t is a busy arcade in downtownTokyo, but rather than the crackleof virtual gunfire, this one is alive

with the sound of music. Twogyrating teenagers step swiftly arounda dance pad, matching their feet toonscreen commands, while nearby amiddle-aged couple rhythmicallyshake maracas in time to theelectronic samba.

Welcome to the world of musicvideogames, which like Karaoke, areset to become the next big Japaneseexport. Known as Bemani in theirnative country, the games all work ina similar way: as a song starts, theplayer must match moving arrowswith those at the top of the screen.Depending on the title this couldinvolve strumming a guitar, playing a

keyboard or physically stepping on aspecific part of a dance pad.

Emily Britt, product assistant ofKonami, the official manufacturer,says: “These games are phenomenallypopular in Japan and have sold aboutthree million units altogether.” AndBritt feels it’s more than just a trivialpastime: “These games are popularbecause they take their fun seriouslyover there, they practise at home, thenthey go and show off in the arcades.There are huge tournaments wherecompetitors dance in front of packedauditoriums.”

Konami introduced the firstmachines into UK arcades in 1998but the games are now coming to a farmore culturally significant space (atleast in the UK anyhow)—the home.The PlayStation and Dreamcast arethe main emissaries, with eachconsole sporting a variedmusical catalogue. But,while the last 18 months has seen thebeginnings of an invasion, with gameslike Parappa the Rappa, Bust-a-Groove and the recent Space Channel5, these games have all beencontrolled by the standard joy pad.

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This summer saw the release ofBeatmania, an accurate conversion ofthe arcade game, which actually camebundled with a plasticated all-in-onemini keyboard and turntable. Thismonth sees the release of Sega’s

Samba de Amigo where the playerconnects a pair of maracas to theDreamcast before shaking away toRicky Martin and the rest.Finally, Konami is releasingDancing Stage, which is bestexperienced using its 1 metresquared dance pad. So, ratherthan embarrassing yourself inpublic, you can learn yoursteps in private.Another significant factor in

the success of music games has beenthe genre’s wider appeal. The UKrelease of Dancing Stage has beenbolstered by the inclusion of

western-friendly tracks by popgroup Boyzone and GloriaGaynor, which Britt sees asimportant. “We’re hopingthat Dancing Stage will

have a universal appeal as it’s certainlya far cry from your traditional shoot’em up or a racing game,” she says.

The game even includes acalorie counter, making it possiblythe first to ever to help you get fit.

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and gave people the means to party.Instead, this teenager and his cohortsare cult figures.

David and Goliath, however, havefinally decided to make up. Instead ofmusic systems around the globe fallingsilent, woofers and tweeters everywhereare hard at it pumping out someserious sounds.

Now, for the bad news. The daysof the free download may well benumbered. The talk is of a monthly feeof around five dollars. A pittance?Possibly. A pity? Definitely. Theagreement reached with the

Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG)will turn up the pressure on the otherfour of the big five music concerns—Sony, EMI, Warner Music andUniversal—to finally make peace withthe new technologies. The cooperationbetween Napster and BMG is by nomeans exclusive—the party has begun,and everyone is invited. One piece ofadvice: get there early becauseNapster’s 38 million registered usersare already inside and partying hard.And what’s more, the idea of having topay a little at the door is not going toput them off coming back for more.

The future of the rock, rap,rhythm and roots business lies on theInternet. Ten years ago, the world ofmusic revolved around good old vinyland there was not a cloud in the sky.Now it looks as if the CD riskssuffering the same fate over the nextfew years. Large music shops indowntown shopping malls could soonbecome a thing of the past, ascustomers choose instead to order themusic they want as a small bundle ofdata over the Internet. It saves timeand money, quality is ensured and allthanks to the MP3 digital standard—and the German laboratories whichcame up with it in the first place.

Music historians will look back atNapster in a hundred years andmutter the word pioneer. They willtalk about a period of two years whenmusic was available to anyone andeveryone for free on the Internet. They

will rave about the piracy and secretlyyearn for a return to the anarchy whichpermitted any song anyone couldimagine (and put a name to) to bespun from one hard disk to the next—without a single cent, penny orpfennig changing hands. However,they will no doubt feel obliged tomention one or two of the catchesinvolved—there is no such thing as afree lunch; never has been, never willbe. The whole venture was not withoutits drawbacks.

For one thing, as far as a largenumber of US record companies andan even larger number of musicianswere concerned, the whole deal wasillegal. It represented a hideous breachof copyright, an attack upon the

� ��!��!�� $ intellectual property of the artist. Itjust became time for this obscure littleengine which existed somewhere outthere in cyberspace to be given thelegal seal of approval.

Both the recording industry andNapster stand to profit from thiskind of cooperation. Shawn Fanningand Co. would then wave goodbyeto the last whiff of illegality clingingto them and stride confidently into afuture where the company can liveon—risk capital flows like wine,everyone can make money and thewhole thing ends up as a success onthe stock market. This could be thestart of something seriously big—the ultimate music portal. And therecording industry would havefound a way, finally, of closing thebook on the chaos of uncontrolledmusical piracy.

While seasoned Quake fanatics willchoke on their pizza, it’s likely thatwomen, whom the mass-marketneeds if these videogames are everto become truly mainstream, willbe keen.

However, there are problems forcompanies wishing to import thisJapanese musical phenomenon intothe UK. A combination of culturaldifferences and peripheral expensehas made it hard for the genre togain more than a niche foothold.While an average PlayStation gamecosts £30 ($42.90) in the UK, amusical controller can double thecost, making it less attractive than,say, the latest football game.

Still, Britt is confident thatthere is a market in this country.“We have great expectations forDancing Stage. It has wide appeal,the tracks are well known andpopular. We’re hoping it willappeal to peoples’ sense of fun andhumour, as well as their competi-tive streak.” ��(The Guardian)

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�� IN NEW YORKirst, there was good news forfriends of contemporary music:Napster and its champion, Shawn

Fanning (19), have been saved. Nojudge would dare to close down themusic website after the surprise dealwhich it has just secured withBertelsmann. And as far as the softwaregoes—the fastest-travelling computerprogramme of all time—no judgewould now even consider banning it.

Napster almost became the digitalrevolution’s first martyr, a kind ofRobin Hood who stole from the rich

The deal with BMG gives theGermans an option for an equity stakein Napster. In return, the Internetcompany not only gets a much-neededinfusion of cash but also a free ride outof the court room, soon.

A whole host of further dealsbetween traditional companies andwebsites could now open up withthose offering free services, such asGnutella, Freenet and Imesh, follow-ing in Napster’s footsteps. Thiswould move the battle from the fieldof music to the silver screen and theworld of literature.

Critics say that industry in thethree-dimensional world has alreadylost the battle against the web pirates.The deal between BMG and Napsterhas more than symbolic significance: itmay have stoppered the largestloophole in web history. � (dpa)

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I don’t think you can understand what’s happening today and thesituation of the Palestinians unless you understand what happened in 1948.A society made up principally of Arabs in Palestine was uprooted anddestroyed. Two-thirds of the Arab population of 870,000 was driven out bydesign. The Zionist archives are quite clear about this, and several Israelihistorians have written about it. Of course the Arabs have said it all along.By the end of the conflict in 1948, Palestinians were a minority in theirown country. Two-thirds of them had become refugees and the restbecame subjects of Israeli military occupation in 1967,when the West Bank and Gaza, along with EastJerusalem, were occupied. So the festering wound of1948 has remained.

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The peace process began in 1993, with a secretive agreement betweenthe PLO and the Israeli government that was to give the Palestinians andthe Palestine Liberation Organisation under Yasir Arafat some territory andauthority in the West Bank and Gaza. However, given the tremendousdisparity in power between the Israelis and the Palestinians, in effect thepeace process has simply been a repackaging of Israeli occupation. Israelstill controls 60 percent of the West Bank and 40 percent of Gaza...amilitary occupation that is the second longest in the twentieth and twenty-first century, the longest being the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910to 1945.

$&��%Of course, the Israeli army is called the Israeli Defence Forces. The

media has, very misleadingly, presented it as if they are defending Israelfrom Palestinians, who are basically throwing stones. This has an almostOrwellian quality to it. The Palestinians have no arms to speak of exceptfor some small arms among the police. It’s been a population of stone-throwing youths against Israeli missiles, helicopter gunships, tanks androckets. So to use the word “defence” here is a grotesque misnomer. ThePalestinians are resisting military occupation and the Israelis are prolongingthe occupation, and making, as all colonial troops have done, whether inAlgeria, Vietnam or India, the civilian population pay the price ofresistance.

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This is certainly that. The occupation of the West Bank and Gaza withsettlers and settlements and roads and the constant expropriation of Palestinianlands, the redesigning of the geography of the West Bank to permit its greatercontrol, have followed the line of all classical colonialism—to make sure that anoppressed and subordinate people are captive in their subordination for theprofit and in some cases the leisure of the occupiers. So what has happened inthe recent past has been an attempt to overthrow this.

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There’s a kind of repeatable quality to this. It comes from the history ofnineteenth-century colonialism. The French did this in Algeria. They wouldfind areas where docile natives could be put in their villages with nativechiefs. In West Africa the British did it under what was called “indirectrule”. In South Africa, the idea was to put the blacks on reservations orhomelands where they could have some of the attributes of sovereignty butnone of the real ones. They couldn’t control the land and water, and whitescontrolled entrances and exits. This is exactly the pattern here. These little

Palestinians areas, which are small and divided, are centres of Palestinianpopulation, but they are the equivalent of homelands where somebody likeArafat could have the impression, or give himself the impression, that he’sthe leader, but in fact the colonial occupier pulls the strings behind thescenes.

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Sharon, in Israeli popular mythology, is something of a hero. Hisexploits began in the fifties. Thereafter he went from one exploit of this sortto another. He’s basically a bully who specialises in the oppression ofcivilians and enemies who are far less well equipped than he is. So by anystandards at all Ariel Sharon is a war criminal. He has said the solution ofPalestine is what he calls the Jordanian option, to turn Jordan, which is asovereign country, into a Palestinian state. His appearance at the Al-Aqsamosque, with a thousand policemen supplied to him by Barak, was aprovocation. It’s quite clear that Barak was behind, or at least approved ofthe move. I don’t know if it was meant to be a provocation to bring forththe horrors that ensued. I don’t think his limited brains could foresee this.But I think it was a way of asserting Israeli sovereignty on a sacred Muslimsite. It was designed not so much to be provocative as to be offensive, toshow that an Israeli military figure who has a long history of brutality andwar crimes can appear in one of the holiest places of Islam with impunity.That was the Jew, representative of the Jewish state, trampling all overMuslim places and the Muslim religion and in effect saying, We are themilitary occupier, we can do with you what we wish. And yet none of thiswas ever reflected in the media. They kept talking about it as a provocation.

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It’s simply factually untrue. Before he went, Barak made it absolutelyclear that he had no intention of returning to the 1967 borders. Second, hemade it absolutely clear that there would be no return of refugees. Third, hemade it absolutely clear that there would be no return of Jerusalem toPalestinian sovereignty at all. Fourth, he made it also absolutely clear thathe had no intention of uprooting any of the settlements. These are thepositions on which his whole subsequent negotiation was based. It didn’tdepart from them. It simply consolidated them. He didn’t concedeanything. He simply said, We will allow you a form of sovereignty in theholy places. We will keep the Christian and Armenian sections. You canhave a little bit of sovereignty over some of the Muslim holy places, but thereal substantive sovereignty over East Jerusalem will remain in Israeli hands.That was supposed to be a “forward-looking” position. So far from it beingan opportunity for Arafat to take advantage of Israeli generosity, it was anopportunity for Arafat effectively to commit suicide and to give Israel thelast prize, which was everything they wanted in addition to what Arafat hadalready conceded, which was 78 percent of what they had in 1948.

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The basis of their politics is that the only argument the Arabsunderstand is violence. The occupation is a form of violence, against whichthrowing of rocks and the occasional terrorist outrage, horrible though they

may be, is nothing in comparison to the collective punishment of three millionpeople which has been going on for the last thirty-three years. Israel was the onlycountry in the world where torture was permitted. Twenty percent of thepopulation of the Israeli citizens of Israel, who happen not to be Jews,Palestinians, are treated essentially as blacks were in South Africa. They aredenied rights, not allowed to own, rent or buy land. Their lands are regularlyconfiscated. Twenty percent of the population gets one percent of the budget.This is a policy of violence and discrimination of the most appalling kind.

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I think now the preeminent thing is the end of military occupation.Palestinians and Israelis are so integrated; the territory is so small that you can’thave a situation in which one population has imposed itself militarily uponanother. I’m very much against evictions and driving people off. I do think,however, that the settlements have to be dismantled and the populations have toface each other as not only neighbours but in fact in coexistence, in one basicallyhomogenous state which we call historical Palestine, whether you call it Israel ora Palestinian state. The economies and the histories are so intertwined that I stillthink that in the end a binational state is the only long-term solution. I supposein the interim, as a kind of transition, one would have to have two states inwhich one is free of military occupation and then is able out of that freedom topursue policies that integrate it not just with Israel but with Jordan, Lebanon,the other small countries that make up this very densely populated and highlyintegrated part of the world. The point is that partition, separation, has notworked. �

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STOCKHOLM - Indonesian labourlawyer and human rights activistMunir is among four recipients of the2000 Right Livelihood Awards, alsoreferred to as the Alternative NobelPrize, presented at a ceremony in the

Swedish parliament last week. Munirhas been one of the most devotedfighters for civilian control of thepowerful Indonesian army.

As founder of the human rightsorganisation Kontras, the Indonesian

lawyer has worked to encouragerespect for due process of law andpromote reconciliation. He is amember of the Commission toInvestigate Human Rights Violationsin Timor and of the draftingcommittee for a law on human rightscourts. Kontras, which stands forCommission for Disappearance andVictims of Violence, focuses onfighting political and military violence,supporting victims of violence andpromoting reconciliation and peace.

The Award was founded in 1980to ‘’honour and support those offeringpractical and exemplary answers tothe most urgent challenges facing ustoday’’. Founder-chairman of theaward, Jakob von Uexkull, said at theceremony: “During the decades of

authoritarian rule, we were told bySuharto’s Western friends thatdifferent rules, rights and valuesapplied in Indonesia. Add to this therise of fundamentalism, the search forscapegoats, the unwillingness of themilitary to step back and accept theprimacy of democracy—and you havean idea of the challenges facingMunir.” Uexkull is a Swedish-Germanphilatelic expert, who sold his valuablepostage stamps to provide the originalendowment for the awards. He hadfelt that Nobel Prizes tended to ignoremuch work and knowledge vital forthe survival of humankind.

Besides Munir, this year’s awardswere given to activists from Ethiopia,Turkey and the United States.Ethiopian scientist Tewolde Berhan

Gebre Egziabher was awarded for‘’for his exemplary work inrepresenting the Like-Minded Groupof developing countries at theBiosafety negotiations in Cartagenaand Montreal, and achieving anoutcome that safeguards bio-diversityand the traditional rights of farmersand communities to their geneticresources’’.

Turkish environmentalist BirselLemke was recognised “for her long-standing struggle to protect hercountry from the devastation ofcyanide-based gold mining and herkey role in the internationalcampaign to ban this disastroustechnology”. The US plant geneticistWes Jackson was honoured “for hissingle-minded commitment over

�� more than two decades to developingan agriculture based on perennialcrops that is both highly productiveand truly ecologically sustainable”.Together the award winners receiveabout $200,000.

An international jury thatincludes Jakob von Uexkull, founder-chairman of the Award, chooses theawardees. Those honoured in the lasttwo decades include Norway’s JohannGaltung, known as the founder-fatherof research, and Vandana Shiva ofIndia, for placing women and ecologyat the heart of modern developmentdiscourse.

In 1994, Ken Saro-Wiwa,founder of the MOSOP (Movementfor the Survival of the Ogoni People)in Ogoniland, Nigeria, was decoratedfor exemplary courage in striving non-violently for the rights of the Ogonipeople. In 1998, the award went tothe International Baby Food ActionNetwork (IBFAN), for its campaignfor the right of mothers to breastfeedtheir babies. � (IPS)

MunirBirsel Lemke

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Palestinian protestor, injured in a previousdemonstration, hurls a slingshot at Israelitroops in the Gaza strip last week.

14 15 - 21 DECEMBER 2000 ��

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��IN NEW DELHIhirty-eight years after Chinesetroops crossed their commonHimalayan border endangering

India’s security, Beijing posesanother threat to its Asianneighbour. But today’s foot soldiersare China’s manufacturers and theirweapons, cheap consumer goods.

Indian trade bodies areprotesting that China is dumping itslow-cost and high-quality consumergoods, destroying the country’sindustrial base. With small-scaleindustries like hosiery and batteriesalready shut down, Indian businessis demanding the government adoptanti-dumping measures againstgoods that sell at 60 to 70 percentthe price of locally manufacturedproducts.

The Directorate-General ofAnti-Dumping and Allied Dutieshas initiated investigations onimports of dry batteries, shoes andtoys from China. Prime MinisterAtal Behari Vajpayee recently toldthe government-organised Councilon Trade and Industry, whichincludes businessmen, that anti-dumping measures would bestrengthened in coming months.“We have taken some steps. Theseinclude a wide range of measuressuch as ensuring transparency ininvoice value, tariff measures,adherence to standards andspecifications, and institution of

anti-dumping action,” he said.China’s ambassador to India,

Zhon Gang, dismisses dumpingcharges as “completely groundless”,adding that imports of Chinesegoods account for only 2.4 per centof India’s total imports. India’sexports to China grew much faster(60 percent) than China’s exportsto India (32 percent) in the firstnine months of 2000.

A World Trade Organization(WTO) spokesman said member-countries can rightfully “make useof WTO regulations to protectlocal industries”. A member-country must prove that importscost well below the normal sellingprice of the product in the homemarket, and that local industriesproducing similar goods arethreatened. India joined the WTOin 1995, but China isn’t yet amember. A 60-member WTOworking group is still preparing forBeijing’s entry, calling for firmerassurances from China oncommitments it has made.

Although countries can takeaction against dumping, Vajpayeetold Indian industry to adapt toface competition, as an over-protective approach would fosterinefficiency and stagnation. “Thedismantling of QualitativeRestrictions (QRs) forms part ofthe international management,which we have accepted and are

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��!��!exceptions to this rule, such asbalance of payments (BoP)difficulties.

India’s BoP situation was quiteunstable until 1993. In 1995, someWTO members disputed India’sjustification for imposing non-tariffbarriers for balance of paymentsreasons. India began phasing themout, deciding to remove all by 1April 2001. Commerce ministryspokesperson Shipra Biswas saysthe WTO provides ways to meetwith “abnormal situations causingdomestic concerns.” TheAgreement on Safeguards permitsrestrictions on imports for atemporary period by eitherincreasing tariffs or imposing non-tariff barriers.

Safeguard action can onlybe taken after an officialinvestigation. According toOmar Abdullah, junior minister

for commerce, an investigation hasbeen launched under WTO norms.The government has adopted afour-pronged strategy—hikedimport duty on edible oil, launchedan anti-dumping investigation intoselect imports from China,announced standards for importedgoods, and made licensingcompulsory for all imports. ButAmit Mitra, secretary-general of theFederation of Indian Chambers ofCommerce and Industry (FICCI),says the controversy isn’t aboutregular Chinese imports, but about“massive smuggling, rampant under-invoicing of official imports”.

All this has Indian politiciansgetting hot under the collar.Madan Lal Khurana, rulingBharatiya Janata Party MP andanti-dumping campaigner, fumes:

“Even if one agrees that Indianindustry must becomecompetitive, it would be ruinedthanks to China’s limitlesscapacity for undercutting.”Finance Minister Yashwant Sinhasays: “It is not the multinationalsbut the Chinese goods that arebothering us.” And commerceminister Murasoli Maran assuredIndian industrialists: “I will notsit on the ash hill of the domesticindustry wearing the crown ofglobalisation.”

Nevertheless, consumerswelcome Chinese imports. TheEconomic Times pleaded: “Thestate should always support ourconsuming interest—it is throughtrade that this region will becomesafe.” Ambassador Zhon said,“Boycotting Chinese goods willprove detrimental to both sides.There is great potential for Indo-Chinese bilateral trade and itwon’t be long before we jointhe WTO.”

Populist rhetoric aside, NewDelhi is handling the situationcautiously, and with good reason.India-China relations areimproving and the two countriesare on the verge of striking anagreement on a part of theirmutual border after decades ofdispute. For the first time, theyhave exchanged maps on the 545-km Line of Actual Control in theso-called Middle Sector betweenthe two countries. Equallyimportantly, protectionism runscontrary to India’s commitmentto second-generation economicreforms. New Delhi has assuredBeijing that its measures are onlytemporary. � (Gemini)

obliged to honour,” he said. India isparty to the General Agreement onTariff and Trade (GATT),predecessor to the WTO. Under

this agreement, imports can becontrolled only through tariffs orcustoms duties, not through QRs—or non-tariff barriers. There are

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�� IN JAKARTA

ising demand for the body partsand skins of Sumatran tigers isthreatening to drive the

endangered species to extinction.There used to be thousands of tigersin the jungles of Sumatra, but due towidespread poaching only about 400Sumatran tigers are left in nationalparks and 100 outside protected areassuch as logging concessions. Every yearsome 36 Sumatran tigers are illegallyremoved from the wild, but the actualnumber may be much higher.

“It is difficult to stop because thepoachers are clever and have strongnetworks,” says Samedi, head of thesub-directorate of wildlife trade andtraffic control of the Ministry ofForestry. The trade in Sumatrantigers—known in West Sumatranmythology as kind-hearted beasts—isflourishing partly due to the economiccrisis in Indonesia.

WWF Indonesia says body parts

of the Sumatran tigers—which livemainly in five reserves on Sumatraisland—are illegally exported to HongKong, Korea, Japan and Taiwan withcountries like Singapore as the transitpoint. The three main exporting citiesfor Sumatran tiger parts are Jakarta,Pekanbaru, and Medan. More than200 kg of tiger bones was exported toSouth Korea alone in 1993. Theforestry ministry says that meansaround 15 tigers were killed.

The Indonesian government,together with conservation groupssuch as the Minnesota ZooFoundation, has set up anti-poachingunits in national parks like WayKambas, Bukit Barisan Selatan, andKerinci Seblat in South Sumatra,north-east of the capital Jakarta. Still,the patrol units do not often arresttiger poachers for fear of retaliation.“What the patrol units do is drive thepoachers out of the forests, but notarrest them. It is hard to getevidence,” explains Nazir Foead,deputy director of speciesconservation, WWF Indonesia. Theanti-poaching units, consisting ofthree forestry police officers and onevillager, are tasked to arrest tigerpoachers and remove snares, and torecord the habitat and population ofone of the world’s most endangeredanimals.

The decline of the Sumatra tigerpopulation is also due to the damage

to its habitat, fragmented by humansettlement, expansion of resourceextraction activities, and poor laws.The skill of tiger poachers also aidsthe illegal trade—sometiger poachers are taxidermists whoprovide ‘quality’ skins for sale.

Indonesia’s conservation law setsmaximum punishment for offenders offive years’ imprisonment and a fine of200 million rupiah ($25,500).However, many prosecutors andjudges are unfamiliar withconservation laws. “What is applied inIndonesia are common criminal laws.That’s why tiger slaughter is treatedthe same way as stealing a chicken,”Foead says. Once, a tiger poacher wasarrested in Way Kambas NationalPark in Lampung, South Sumatra butsentenced to only six months in jail.“If only the law was being enforced, itis a good deterrent to poachers,”Samedi says.

Sumatran tigers are classifiedunder Appendix 1 of the Conventionon Trade in Endangered Species,which means they are “veryendangered” and should not betraded. But, Sugeng Hariady, head ofthe West Sumatra wildlifepreservation office, says, “Poacherscan sell just about every single piece ofthe tiger’s anatomy. Practically allparts of the tigers, including theskeleton, are traditionally believed tohave medical benefits.”

Much of the kill is destined forthe Chinese medicine market.Additionally, tiger parts like claws andbones are utilised as ornaments or inshamans’ amulets, and the tiger’s penisis considered an aphrodisiac. InIndonesia, some homes have wholetigers mounted as decorations or keptas pets. Tiger parts and skins are soldopenly in malls and airports.

Sumatra’s damagedenvironment provides ample proofthat tigers and other animals areunder threat. “The rapidlydiminishing population of theSumatran tigers is indicated by theincreasing number of pigs and wildboars in West Sumatra, which areoften a nuisance to farmers,”Hariady says. Indonesia’s totalforested area has fallen to 58.5million hectares from 64 millionhectares over the last six years dueto illegal logging and conversion offorests to palm oil plantations.

In Sumatra itself, lowland forestshave been shrinking. At least 25percent of the Mount Leuser NationalPark in northern Sumatra has beendamaged by rampant deforestation.Says Foead, “Now with poachingdecimating their population andextensive logging destroying theirhabitat, it is feared that the Sumatrantigers will suffer the same fate as theBalinese and Javan tigers, both longdeclared extinct.” � (IPS)

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��ISLAMABAD - Nawaz Sharif’s exile to Saudi Arabia last weekenddiscredited Pakistan’s military-led government in the public eye,but its rulers see it as a way to secure power. Reports said thatunder the agreement Sharif would no longer serve time butwould stay away from politics for 21 years.

Officials deny any underhand deal. An official spokesmansaid Sharif was pardoned on purely humanitarian grounds.Sharif, 51, had been complaining of heart problems and isexpected to report to hospital after arriving in Jeddah. “Thegovernment only turned imprisonment of the Sharifs into exile,while the rest of the punishments would stay,” the spokesmanadded. Officials say that Sharif would forfeit some PRs 500million ($8.8 million) in property.

The acceptance of mercy appeals is unprecedented inPakistan. In 1979, ousted PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged byGen Zia ul Haq’s military regime after similar appeals wererejected. Former Chief Justice of Pakistan Sajjad Ali Shahopined that Pakistan’s president cannot pardon Sharif withoutthe consent of the court. The situation has only encouragederstwhile discredited politicians to demand “the early restorationof democracy”. Last week, the parties of former prime ministersBenazir Bhutto and Sharif—the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)and the Muslim League (ML)—joined hands with 10 others toform the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD). A PPPspokesman said: “It is clear that accountability has little to dowith corruption, and everything has to do with achieving politicalends by fair means or foul for a certain political agenda.” MLworkers, who stood by the Sharif family through the ordeal, are ata loss on what they see as betrayal by Sharif.

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and United ArabEmirates (UAE) President Sheikh Zayd Bin Sultan Al Nahyanreportedly orchestrated Sharif’s release. Bill Clinton too is said tohave influenced the deal, by expressing sympathy for Sharifduring his visit to Pakistan.

However the exile may be seen outside, at home it is “thegreat betrayal”. The News said Sharif was the prototype politicianengineered by the previous generation of military rulers and onewhom a big chunk of population took for real. “His departure fromthe scene would have been considered a welcome end to afailed experiment in political engineering,” it added. � (IPS)

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1515 - 21 DECEMBER 2000 ��

�� by DESMOND DOIG

n a corner of Bhaktapur’s DurbarSquare, standing prominentlybelow the old palace, is a small

shikara type temple to Bhagwati,significant because it boasts someamazing sculpture. Images of thegoddess are particularly fine, buteclipsed by a double row of stonestatues that flank the templestairway.

At the base are two strongmen, perhaps watchmen or royalguards. They restrain savage mastiffswith heavy chains, and in their freehand clutch what have beendescribed variously to me aschildren or criminals. I favourchildren because the nude figuresclutch what look like balls or fruitin their hands. On the other hand,the firmness with which they areheld suggests evil doers of somesort, their small size perhapsreflecting the old artistic device ofmaking lesser characters smallerthan important ones. Whatever, thedress of the larger figures isextraordinary. To me they look likeVenetian Doges, but obviously theywear the costume of the court. Verygrand headdresses wound aroundwith figured turbans and securedwith jewelled clasps. Carefullypleated robes, handsome belts inwhich are tucked daggers, Tibetantype boots and a wealth of jewelleryaround their necks and cascadingfrom their ears.

I asked passers-by as I sketchedif they knew who these figuresrepresented and the answers werefascinating. Wrestlers. Policemen.Royal ayahs. Gods. Zoo keepersExecutioners. Noblemen. The childwas being punished, dragged for awalk, going to be killed, fed to thedog. Since the child, or criminal,wears a sort of cornet on its head,guessing becomes difficult.

Above the men are two horses,richly caparisoned, hung with bells,bejewelled, and even their hoovesappear to be carved, perhapspainted with bold designs. Thesesurely were royal mounts, or moreimportant, mounts fit for the gods.

�� by WENDY KING

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They look spirited without a traceof devilment.

With the two one-horned rhinoabove the horses, we are intoconjecture again. Were theseprimordial beasts brought from thetarai in the heavy chains they wearto fight before the king, or were

they exhibits in his zoo? That theywear rich saddle cloths seems tosuggest that they may have beentame and used especially forprocessions. The anonymoussculptor, however, has captured ameanness in their eyes that togetherwith their heavy chains makes mebelieve they belonged either to aroyal menagerie or were watched induels, distinguished by the coloursthey wore.

Sitting above the rhino arethe most intriguing of all thesculptures. Undoubtedly theyportray wild-men, jungle-men,ape-man, or could they possiblybe yetis? They have human faceswith beards, manes andmoustaches. But their ears arepointed, like animals, their bodiesare as much animal as they aremuscular human. The way inwhich they crouch rather than sitpoints to the wild. And they wearhead chains of captivity. Is itpossible that a Malla king hadape-men in his zoo, or had thesculptor either himself seen orheard the tales of wild men of thesnows?

Lastly are a pair of camels,the only two stone sculptedcamels in the Kathmandu valley.In fact, it is only in Bhaktapur,carved into an ornate woodenwindow and here on the steps of

the Bhagwati temple, that camelshave inspired sculptors andcarvers. Could it be they echo thecamel caravans that crossed thehigh Gobi desert on their way toTibet and Nepal? Or do theyrecall the camels of the Rajputanadesert that the early Rajputimmigrants remembered?

I have been unable to discoverthe purpose of these delightfulsculptures other than that theyprotect the deity in the temple.Many of the great temples ofBhaktapur have their entrancesguarded by legendary wrestlers ofsuperhuman strength. Onememorable example has theascending humans, beasts anddivinities each ten times strongerthan the other so that theaccumulative strength protectingthe temple image is enormous.

This Durga temple was raisedin the seventeenth century, in allprobability by the master builderof Bhaktapur, King BhupatindraMalla. His love of the beautifuland bizarre may well make himresponsible for this temple and itsunique sculpture. If only he hadkept a diary. I’d love to knowabout that ape-man. That yeti. �

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uch has been written and said about the Sherpas ofKhumbu. There has been every kind of work—academic, touristy guidebook, oversized coffee table

glossy and the ubiquitous dharma book.There’s a differentflavour though, toFireside Chat withTengboche Rinpoche:Stories and Customsof the Sherpas.

It does have thisfireside appeal to it, withits orange cover. Youalmost feel theTengboche Rinpoche’spresence, telling stories ofSherpas, Mt Everest,Sherpa Buddhism and thefamousTengbochemonastery, as you sataround and sipped tea.

The Abbot of the Tengboche Monastery explains that he“wanted to make a book about the Sherpa’s heritage” for visitorscoming to Khumbu to see Chomolongma. But also for Sherpasthemselves, since their way of life is changing so rapidly. And iteffectively tells stories in true oral tradition.

Ngawang Tenzin Zangbu, the Abbot of Tengboche Monastery,has met trekkers and climbers in Khumbu for decades, andanticipates their questions. In this book, he shares his specialperspective on the stories, the myths and lives of Sherpas. Heilluminates the Sherpa world and their origins: the ‘people from theeast’. He tells the story of Guru Rinpoche, the founder of TibetanBuddhism, and how he founded the Khumbu Valley andestablished it as a spiritual sanctuary. The Rinpoche then delvesinto Sherpa religion, explaining, “The purpose of religion is toperfect our minds… Our own minds cause happiness andunhappiness.” His pithy explanation of Buddhism provides a basicfoundation for newcomers and renewed inspiration to followers.

He follows the annual cycle of prayers for the crops, theanimals, a new house, marriage, living and dying. The ceremoniesare primarily religious, but the celebrations, like all goodcelebrations, also unite the community and strengthen bondswithin and between villages. The Rinpoche tells the story of LamaSangwa Dorje of Pangboche village who started the Dumjefestival to celebrate the anniversary of Guru Rinpoche’s birth. Itnow also commemorates Lama Sangwa Dorje’s enlightenment.Eight families take their turn each year to sponsor the Dumje,feeding the entire village. The Rinpoche explains: “Dumje-typeprayers are done in Tibet, but the feeding is only done in Khumbu,where it is possible because the communities here are small.”

Focusing on everyday life, Rinpoche portrays Sherpaoccupations, food, architecture, dress and jewellery. Indescribing monk’s clothing, he explains the importance of religiousobjects like prayer flags and holds that these “help createharmony between our actions, body and mind”.

After setting the scene in Khumbu and the local culture,Rinpoche Talks about the Tengboche Monastery “which hasbeen the heart of Sherpa culture since 1916”. It was partiallyrebuilt after the 1934 earthquake, and then totally rebuilt after afire in 1991. In the reconstruction, the Rinpoche established aschool in the monastery for higher Buddhist education to maintainSherpa culture in this changing world. The book culminates with adescription of the annual Mani Rimdu festival with its colourfulmasked dances celebrating Phakpa Chenrizig, the god ofcompassion.

Jim Fisher, an anthropologist who did his field work onSherpas in the 1960’s, returned again in the 70’s and 80’s to lookat the impact of decades of tourism. Fisher found that the respectand admiration the tourists bestow upon Sherpas—for theirculture, their prowess as climbers, and simply as personableindividuals—has actually reinforced and strengthened Sherpatraditions and culture.

This book was first published in 1985 through the SherpaCultural Centre project. This updated fourth edition is a product ofthe long friendship and collaboration between the TengbocheRinpoche and Frances Klatzel, the editor. It is a short, informative,and personal book, creatively illustrated on every page with afine collection of over 60 black and white photos (including some1950’s photos from Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf’s collection)and a dozen sketches. Though there is a general map of Nepal, Iwish the book included a local map of the Khumbu area,highlighting places mentioned in the text.

Stories and Customs of the Sherpas is a privileged insightinto the Tengboche Rinpoche’s perspective on Sherpa heritage.Treat yourself and your friends to a fireside chat with the Abbotof Tengboche Gompa.

Fireside Chat with Tengboche Rinpoche: Stories andCustoms of the Sherpas; as told by Ngawang TenzinZangbu, Abbot of Tengboche Monastery

Edited by Frances Klatzel, Mera Publications 2000The Bhagwati temple in Bhaktapur today.

16 15 - 21 DECEMBER 2000 ��

“At any point of time our party may take to armed revolution depending on the situation and circumstances inthe country.”

General Secretary Bamdev Gautam in his inaugural address to the first National Convention of hisCommunist Party of Nepal-Marxist Leninist—in Gatibidhi Saptahik, 9 December.

Hey, principal, dont worry, we have ensured full security, you can open your school.—Spacetime , 10 December

THIS PAGE CONTAINS MATERIAL SELECTED FROM THE NEPALI LANGUAGE PRESS

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�� Prakash Weekly, 8 December

Excerpts of an Interview with R.K.Mainali, Politburo Member, CPN(ML)�� A. To be frank, there is no leaderthat can understand the desire of thepeople to be able to carry the Leftmovement forward, someone who canbring all the communists together.Today’s movement cannot be carriedforward with a mode of operation thatdates back to the 1960s.�� A. There has been some change inthe thinking of the Maoists in thesefour years. In spite of difficulties beingcreated by their violent means, somechange has taken place in the past fewdays. They have started talking aboutcompetition. They still kill people whodo not agree with their politics, buthave also realised that is wrong. Theysay different things about starting adialogue, but have realised that adialogue could be held with the Kingeven while they remain underground.For a political party to realise andaccept that a dialogue with anyone isfor the benefit of the party and peopleis an achievement in itself.�� A. Both the government and theMaoists are dishonest. They have madedialogue a medium for politicking.Various factions in the Congress areopposing each other and have madethe issue of dialogue a means ofcarrying further their own politicalagendas. The UML leaders have beenstating that they can be mediators, butthe truth is that no political party canbe a medium for such a dialogue. Ifthe Maoists are honest, then theyshould work through a human rightsactivist. The Maoists do not want asolution through dialogue, because ifyou hold a dialogue then you mustreach a conclusion and also lay downarms. The Maoists are not prepared togive up their weapons. On the otherhand the Congress wants to finish offthe Maoists through dialogue.�� !��A. Our general secretary raised theissue. Actually this will provedetrimental for the country. If directelections are held for a PM, it is boundto create problems—influencing 11.5million people is not a small issue.Even during elections to parlia-ment,foreign forces are active. Think abouthow active they will be when directelections are held to elect a PM.

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�$ ��Lokpatra Weekly, 8 December

Excerpts of an interview with SubashNewang, Chairman, Public AccountsCommittee (PAC)�� "��!#$�� A. Till now the results were good,but in the Lauda Air case we feel that

our directives have not been carriedout.�� "�� !#$�� A. When parliament is not insession then PAC itself becomes aminiature parliament. Therefore thereis no question of not following itsdirectives. A decision made by it issimilar to a decision made byparliament. By not heeding thedirectives, the government is notfollowing the directives of parliament.�� !#$��%��#� ��A. We are slowly reacting to what hastaken place. The PAC has listened tothe minister’s statement on the issue.He said that disregard of PAC’sdirective was unintentional.�� # �� A. The PAC is meeting again. Wewill discuss his response. As far as Iam concerned, he could not give us asatisfactory answer. We asked him onlyone question, ‘can parliament’sdirectives be disobeyed under any

circumstances?’ He did not reply.�� !�� &��A. The PAC is going to discuss this.If the PAC is not satisfied with theminister’s answer, then we might goahead. By ahead, we mean that thecouncil of ministers and the PM canbe called in for questioning. The PACcan call him. Right now I cannot saywhether this is going to happen or not.�� $�� A. Our constitution placesresponsibility on the council ofministers and the head of this councilwho is an elected representative.Therefore parliamentarians arecompelled to follow the decisions andfunction responsibly. A parliamentcannot function without this practice.Therefore we are arguing thatdisregarding our directive on LaudaAir has become a question of concernto parliament. This must stopotherwise parliament will not be ableto function properly.

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#��%"$&�Lok Dristi National Weekly, 9December

Excerpts from an interview with SushilKoirala, General Secretary, NepaliCongress�� "��!�� A. In politics there is nothing aboutgenerations. Reaching middle age,having grey hair or beard is noqualification for becoming a leader.Therefore there is no first or secondgeneration, we are all the presentgeneration. On the other hand, justannouncing the candidacy of oneperson does not mean the other hasbeen defeated. Koirala (PM) has anopportunity to win, Deuba also hasthe chance to do so. The so-calledsecond generation should be able toprove themselves in the forthcomingparty election.�� '�� A. In South Asia, there are only twopeople alive who have fought for over

Saptahik Bimarsa, 8 December

Most of the ministers are not carrying out their duties in the manner that is expected of them. The highlyobjectionable and irresponsible behaviour of some is raising questions about the entire governmentperformance. Ministers are making no effort to tackle the grave issues we are facing and one can only guess asto what problems these issues will lead to in future. No one has been able to gauge correctly the magnitudeof problems that the nation is likely to face in the future, but one thing is for sure—the situation is slowlyturning catastrophic.

Everyone thinks a disaster isunlikely, but now one of the mainpillars of our economy, the tourismsector, is being completely shut down.The government has made no effort tosolve the crisis. The government wasinformed both verbally and through awritten notice that hotel employeeswere to go on strike from 26 Novemberand that hotel owners were going topull down their shutters. The tourismminister was not prepared to listen andtry to foresee where the problem couldlead. Since he had to contest anelection in his village, he asked the lawministry to handle the situation and left the capital. The problem just got worse. The employees wanted thegovernment to take a decision, but that did not happen. The situation has now taken such a turn thatemployers are prepared to keep the shutters down rather than pay the 10 percent service charge demandedby unions, and employees are not prepared to work unless they get the 10 percent service charge.

This has led employers to notify their international agents and clients that they may not be able toprovide services for some time in the near future. Hotel owners even informed clients who were using theirservices that from 11 December there may be disruptions in facilities and services being provided. If noagreement is reached, all hotels are going to be shut for an unlimited period.

In this very week, teachers working in 18 remote districts have stopped work. They are agitating becauseallowances for working in remote places have been slashed. The government has not taken any steps toresolve the issue. The agitation started by temporarily TU teachers is also on. The government is undecidedon this front too. The health sector too has been in turmoil for the past 10 days. People working in X-rayunits, clinical labs and other basic but important departments are agitating because the allowances they werebeing provided have been reduced. The concerned ministry remains silent over the issue. Earlier teachers ingovernment schools went on strike for five days. No decision has been taken concerning their demands. Theteachers state that their agitation will enter phase two now.

The price of kerosene was reduced by Rs 4, but this was done only after the opposition threatened toshut down the whole country for two days. It seems that only the mention of shutting down the countryactivates the concerned ministry and then it tries to resolve the crisis, never realising how that could leadpeople to lose confidence in the government.

In the last few days, it seems that the PM himself has been unable to control his cabinet members.Ministers have realised that it makes no difference whether they carry out their duties or not. Eight monthsago, when this government was formed, the cabinet passed a decision stating that a monthly press conferencewould be held by each ministry to evaluate progress and make public what work had been done. Only theLocal Development Ministry held a press conference after the decision was taken, but only once. Otherministries have not even bothered to do the same. Ministers remain silent even when publicly questioned andcriticised by junior officials in their organisations. A recent example of this was when the chief secretarystopped a minister from carrying out any discussion in the cabinet about a secretary of his ministry.

It is also said that none of the ministers have been able to control their respective ministries and agencies.Ministers have publicly accused some chairmen of public corporations of taking wrong decisions or notacting in the best interest of the people. But they have not been able to take action against the concernedchairmen. Some chairmen are rumoured to have taken decisions that have caused high financial losses, but allthe ministers have done is to set up investigation commissions, received the recommendations of thecommissions and then let the issue pass. No one has been able to comprehend why the PM and his cabinethave become so inefficient.

��"�%��' %�# ��50 years for democracy—one is(Krishna Prasad) Bhattarai and theother is (Girija Prasad) Koirala.Bhattarai has stated that he will notcontest. Therefore there is only oneperson who has the political courageto tackle problems, has a clean image,is wanted by the party workers andhas political stature, and that isKoirala.�� (��"��A. To vie for leadership throughbargaining and not by contesting is ajoke. He was president of the NepalStudent Union for eight years andduring that time he went abroadmany a time. Now he claims to have aformula for correcting everything inthis country and stands in the nameof the youth. This is not going tobenefit him.�� )��*��'�� A. It is a rumour. There is no truthin it. I cannot imagine any friendsmoving a no-confidence motionduring these tough times. A no-confidence motion is not in theinterests of the party, country,democracy and people. It will add toproblems. Such an action will makethe Congress weak and will destroydemocracy.�� $�� )��A. The Congress will not breakup—it did not break up yesterdaynor will it break up today ortomorrow. In spite of all the rumoursit will in fact unite and move ahead. Itis a specialty of the Congress, unity indiversity and togetherness amidstdisunity.�� (�� A. The government has not beenunsuccessful. It has kept the doorsopen for negotiations. Thegovernment is using all meansavailable to resolve the problem.

�� A. If this problem continues then acivil war will break out. It will destroythe monarchy. The monarchy is notsafe with Maoists around. If thenation does not survive, monarchywill not survive and the people toowill not survive.

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�$�� ( ��)� *Deshanter Saptahik, 10 December

After the increase in the prices ofelectricity, diesel and kerosene, it nowseems that telephones charges are goingto be raised. It is said that decrease in therevenue from international calls isforcing an increase in charges for localcalls. This will benefit a very smallnumber of people and hurt themajority.According to the general manager ofNTC the increase is not slated for nowbut sometime in the future. He said thatthe ministry is studying the proposaland it is not yet clear if the governmentwill approve the hike. A decision will bemade in a month.

Last year the corporation gave thegovernment its proposal for raisingcharges. It presented four alternatives.The government and parliament at thattime did not want to further burden thepeople as it had just increased theelectricity tariffs and prices of petroleumproducts and did not have the courageto raise telecom rates.

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A deserted Kathmandu hotel reception.

17 15 - 21 DECEMBER 2000 ��

rench midfield star ZinedineZidane as expected won FIFA’sworld player of the year award in

Rome this week but his coronationwas overshadowed by the continuingspat between Pele and DiegoMaradona over which of the two mostdeserved to be crowned player of thecentury.

Zidane took the prestige awardfor the second time in three years inthe poll of 150 national coaches fromacross the globe. The 28-year-oldJuventus midfielder won 370 votes,ahead of Real Madrid’s Luis Figo—the world’s costliest player at 37million pounds—who polled 327.Third was Brazilian ace Rivaldo, lastyear’s winner, who took 263 votes.

displays rather than on this season’sEuropean stage where he has beensent off twice while playing forJuventus, said he still had at least twoyears left at the peak of his career. Butthe World Cup and EuropeanChampionship-winning star said theywould not be spent in the Premiershipwhere so many of his compatriotsplay.

“The English league is excellentwith many high-quality players but itis not one of my priorities,” he said. “Ihave a contract with Juventus until

When it became clear that theowner of the “Hand of God” hadsurprisingly picked up the originalinternet poll open to the general public,FIFA farcically introduced a separate“football family vote” conducted by itsown officials and was won by a landslideby Pele with his rival back in thirdplace. As an attempt at diplomacy, itbordered on the pathetic.

Just before entering the invitation-only ceremony, Pele could not disguisehis feelings for the controversialArgentinean, who was dressed to thehilt for the occasion including silverearrings in both ears. “It’s true we arenot good friends,” said Pele. “He was agood player when he was at Napoli andI have great respect for him. But if hethinks he was a better player than me,that’s his problem.” � (sdc)

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Manchester United’s David Beckhamwas the top British player in sixthplace despite Franz Beckenbauer’srecent assessment that he was the beston the planet. Beckham gained fourfirst-placed votes, one of themsignificantly from Dutch coach, Louisvan Gaal. Only two other British andIrish players featured in the list—RoyKeane and Andy Cole—who onlymanaged to collect one third-placedvote each.

Zidane, who won the prize on theback of his European Championship

2005 and I still think my two bestyears are ahead of me. If there is onething I miss, it is a Champions Leaguetrophy. I have been on the losing sidetwice.”

Zidane’s success could not disguisethe fact that most of the attentionfocussed on Maradona and Pele whoarrived at the glitzy gala at a Rometelevision studio within seconds ofeach other and were mobbed bycameramen. Earlier, Maradona hadanswered a personal plea from FIFApresident Sepp Blatter by flying intoRome with his entire family to receiveone of the two ‘player of the century’accolades. Maradona and Pele havebeen at loggerheads ever sincebecoming embroiled in a war of wordsover which of the two was moredeserving to win the award.

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“My two best years are ahead of me.”

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18 15 - 21 DECEMBER 2000 ��

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KATHMANDU

Moisture from the west has finally started filtering across to us here inthe Central Himalaya, but not in sufficient quantities to lead to anymajor cloud buildup. Look for some cloud cover and thick fog inKathmandu and other midhill valleys. The southwesterly jet stream isnow active. The system still does not possess sufficient water vapour forany substantial rain or snow, although a drizzle or flurries in the highmountains is a possibility. A high-pressure system prevailing over theGangetic plain is preventing the westerly front from further advancinginto Nepal. All this resulted in a drop of daytime temperature but nochange in night temperature. The very low temperatures in Decemberare due to heat loss on clear nights, this may change in the comingweek with sporadic cloud cover.

Private and Boarding School Organisation Nepal (PABSON)

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�� !�The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies hasnamed a three-member team to probe adulteration ofpetroleum products. The team is headed by a joint secretaryof the ministry and has chiefs of the commerce departmentand the Department of Standards as members. Theministry says the probe was formed to address “recentpublic outcry” over adulteration and to present the facts tothe public. Recent issues of Himal Khabarpatrika andNepali Times (#19) published investigative reports onwidespread and open adulteration of petrol and diesel andthe involvement of Nepal Oil Corporation officials in theracket. The Ministry’s probe team does not include anyonefrom NOC.

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�""� !�!�!��!##�#�!$!%Noted lyricist and promoter of Nepaliliterature Ramola Devi Shah ‘Chhinalata’,77, passed away on 4 December.Chhinnalata was married to the latePrince Basundhara Shah, KingMahendra’s youngest brother. A self-taught writer, she established theChhinalata Puraskar Guthi literary trust in1983, which honours personalitiesinvolved in the field of Nepali music. Her four books arenoted for their lucid expression.

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��Spiritual Expression. Solo exhibitionby Indian artist Mona Ghosh, works varyingfrom mixed media to oil and acrylic.NAFA Hall, Naxal. Closing 15 December,Friday. 411821.��Watercolour Exhibition. An exhibitionof watercolours by artist Raju Chitrakarreflecting cultural and social aspects ofNepal. Nepal Art Council, Babar Mahal.Closing 17 December. 10.30 am–5.30pm.��A diary of portraits (1975-99). A series of studies in mixedmedia of the colourful people of Kathmandu by Carolyn Boch,long term resident of Nepal and art teacher at the HimalayanBuddhist Meditation Centre. The New Restaurant, Summit Hotel,Kupondole. Opening 3 pm, Friday 15 December.��Reflections of Nature. Exhibition of paintings by German artistDagmar Mathes depicting impressions gathered during her six-yearstay in Nepal, mostly from treks to Dolpo, Mustang, Manang, SoluKhumbu, Nubri and Tsum. The artist uses watercolours, acrylics andpigments from turmeric, saffron, cinnamon and nutmeg in paintingsand collages made on Nepali handmade paper. Closing 17December. 9 am–5 pm. GTZ, Neer Bhawan, Sanepa. 470584

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��The Summit Hotel Xmas Night Market. A grand ChristmasNight Market. More than 25 stalls will display an array of Nepaliproducts, gifts and much more. Friday 15 December, 4 pm–8 pm,Summit Hotel Garden. Entry Free.��St. Xavier’s School Annual Mela. Annual funfair with lots ofgame stalls, the city’s popular food joints, as well as some businessstalls. Raffle ticket holders need not pay the Rs 25 entry fee. 16December, 11 am–5 pm, St Xavier’s School, Jawalakhel.

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��Revolutions: Rhythms of Humla. Exhibition by PrasantShrestha, upcoming Nepali photographer, and Kimberly McClinch,American photographer and anthropology student. Closing 18December, Monday. 11 am-5 pm. 220735, Nepal Art CouncilGallery.��Angkor: Black and white photography exhibition by Jaro Poncarof Prague. The focus of the exhibition is the Hindu/Buddhisttemple complex Angkor, regarded as one of thearchitectural wonders of the world. Indigo Gallery, Naxal.20 December through 20 Jan 2001. 8 am-6 pm.

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��Jazz Sessions. Live jazz at The Jazz Bar, HotelShangrila. A unique jazz bar where Michael Feinsteinplayed Gershwin & Porter. Featuring this month a host of jazz bandsincluding Elaine McInnes & Chris Masand with the Jazz Commis-sion, the Swingtones, the Latin Lovers and others playing ColePorter, Gershwin, Brubeck and Coltrane. Enjoy drinks from abottomless cellar, gourmet food, coffee, cognac and cigars andhear… interpret Ella, Sarah, and Louis. 412999.��Maha Yantra Live: Hotel Yak & Yeti presents a classical musicconcert by the acoustic trio, Maha Yantra. Get ready for a trip fromEast to West on the vibes of bamboo basuri, tabla and guitar. 7 pm,Saturday 16 December, Durbar Hall, Rs 500.

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Status of the Women’s Right Bill and other legal challenges forwomen’s rights. Sapana Pradhan Malla and Gopal SiwakotiChintan will lead the discussion. Participation open to all. 19December. Unless otherwise noted, presentations are in Nepali.Write or call for directions: [email protected]/246065

1915 - 21 DECEMBER 2000 ��

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FREE FLIGHT: Bombardier Aerospace of Canada showed off its super-quietcommuter turboprop, the Dash 8 Q-300 with a demonstration flight on 6December.

YAK AND YETI IN VIENNA: A new Nepali restaurant was inaugurated earlierthis month in Vienna called (what else?) Yak and Yeti. Go there for fine momos.

VICTORY SMILES: Gyanodaya School pose after coming first in the Women’sOpen Basketball Championship organised by the NBA on 9 December.

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adao Nomura’s 11th trip toNepal this month was for whathe called an “easy trek.” Instead

of lugging 20 kg of photographicequipment to take pictures of Nepalimountains in different moods, thistime he was guiding his son and agroup of photographers to revisitsome of the best spots from his earlierexpeditions during which he traversedNepal from east to west.

With the help of a devicestrapped to his legs, he even countedthe number of steps he took over twoyears: 2.5 million. Other statistics:Nomura took 3,000 picutres, walkedfor 150 days on four separateexpeditions, and he traversed tenhigh Himalayan passes above 5,500m like Tashi Labtsa, Thorung La,Tilman Col. Between 1997-99,Noruma made his way fromKangchendzonga to Dhaulagiri thehard way: up and down valleys andpasses along the main spine of theNepal Himalaya.

Nomura chose 95 of thethousands of pictures and packedthem into a beautiful glossy 85-pagebook, the title of which translatesas Pilgrimage in the Himalaya. Themountains here are at theirphotogenic best: eight-thousanderslike Cho-Oyu, Mt Everest,Kanchendzonga, Dhaulagiri,Lhotse, Makalu in various moodsranging from the ferocious reds ofsunsets to the pale grey of sunrise.Then there are unconventionalshots of Gang Chhenpo, Kangtegaand Machha-puchhare. Nomura’s

affection for mountains and hismeticulous attention to photographicdetail have produced a book(unfortunately only in Japanese for themoment, although there are plans fora translation) that gives informationon equipment, exposure, lens used,speed and film for every photographprinted in the book.

When Nomura was not lugginghis cameras up the mountains beforedawn or at midnight (to capture anintriguing long-exposure shot ofNorth Star above Gangapurna), hewas shooting life in the villages andhomes. Dawa Wangchu Sherpa ofKarnali Trekking, his guide on the tripsays: “He was tireless, he walked allday, and stopped when he came acrossa good spot.” Asked to name his bestphotograph, Nomura chooses theportrait of Manaslu on the cover (top,left) . “I like mountains best in thelight of the morning,” he told usthrough an interpreter. In factNomura seems to have a fascinationfor the interplay of oblique light onmountains. Most of the pictures are inthe pinks and pastels of sunrise orsunset with the natural filters of theatmosphere giving the pictures theirdistinctive hues.

“I like the mountains, especiallyMt Everest in the morning redbecause during those times theylook really holy.” He prefers stillphotography because that is aboutbeing there to capture the picturesat the right moment. “The momentfor hitting the shutter is veryimportant,” he says. “Sometimesyou may stay at a spot forever butnever get the right picture.”Nomura has a lot of patience: hehas sometimes waited two days forthe right moment, the right light

and the right weather to capture aframe. He would have lingered evenlonger, but as he puts it: “On atrek in the mountains of Nepal youcannot wait more, there are otherschedules to be met.”

Mountains have fascinatedNomura since he was a school boyin Nagoya, and even before hestarted shooting professionally fortelevision at the Tokai Broadcas-ting Company. Nomura uses threecameras including Horseman 6X9,Fuji 6X5, and Mamiya 6X7.Nomura is worried about thegreenhouse effect and its impact onmountains. Nepal will feel theafter-effects of pollution causedmainly by industrialized countries,he says. Nomura practices what hepreaches: during his treks in Nepalhe has walked even where therehave been roads, as between Jiriand Kathmandu or between Trisuliand Gorkha. Pilgrimage in theHimalaya has a print run of 2,000copies and is priced at $25. �

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��by Kunda Dixit

o sooner had Kathmandu’s dogs wrapped up theirbi-annual mating season (which this year wasaccompanied by an unprecedented orgy of street

violence) than it was the turn of humans to launch theirown mass weddings.

I must say that the dogs put on quite a show, and thewhole exercise had the atmosphere of a street carnival. Atthe Patan Durbar Square, tourists paid Rs 250 each for theprivilege of watching interesting intercourses atintersections. The Great Himalayan Mating Season isemerging as a major tourist attraction, and the NepalTourism Bored (NTB), which is always in hot pursuit ofbright ideas, is said to be working on a brochure entitled“Carnivorous Carnivals of Nepal” to distribute at theInternational Travel Bourse in Berlin next year. Thebooklet will contain detailed information on the best timeto see dogs going all the way, the best places to watchfrom, and information for photography buffs includingmost suitable film, shutter speeds, andaperture. It will point out hotels located atstrategic vantage points from the comfortof which you can watch the dramaunfold in the street below—there is apremium rate for a room at theHotel de la Patan du Pagoda PvtLtd from where the forthcomingfour-part special on NationalGeographic Channel called“How Dogs Do It inKathmandu” was shot.

As youknow, dogmating almostalways beginson a full-moonnight with a yodelling contest at three in the morning. Allthis howling may seem pretty pointless to us humans, butit serves as an important audition for choosy female dogsso they can start working on a shortlist of prospectivemates. The tenor and timbre of the yowl, as NationalGeographic tells us, is an indication of strong genes. Well,I don’t have to go into the graphic details of what happensnext since I have it on good authority that there are

underage readers peering over your shoulders even as wespeak. But the end result of all this fooling around is thattwo months later there are millions of genitally modifiedpuppies all over our landlocked Himalayan kingdom.

Canine street fornication may all be very good forour country’s budding sex tourism industry, but what isit doing to the morals of our children? As responsibleparents, we have a right to be concerned that in the peakseason we cannot drive 100 metres without seeing dogsengaged in various stages of congress. Recentconversation inside car:

�� “Dad, whyare those dogs stuck?”

��“What? Where? Oh…um…ahem…maybethey ate too much garbage.”

�� “But why would eating garbage make themstuck?”

�� “Oh, I don’t know, maybe someone threwaway a perfectly good tube of superglue.”

�� “I don’t think so. I think they are copulating, Ithink it is the physical union of male and female genitaliain the act of procreation.”

I don’t know what filth they teach kidsin school these days, but it was not likethat in my time. Be that as it may, it is timeto turn our attention to human nuptials.There is a national census coming up next

year, and it is the duty of all Nepalisto do their bit to make thiscountry great, following ourFounding Father’sinstructions to “go forthand multiply”. That is whythe Royal AstrologerMangal Raj Joshi has

determinedthat Decemberand Januaryare the monthsthat humans

should also get on with the job of, um, procreating.Since men are from Mars and women are from Venus,Mr Mangal (who, as his name suggests, hails from Mars)has calculated that the heavenly bodies are in rightalignment with the Space Station Mir so it is quite safeto tie the nuptial knot. Just don’t forget to block alltraffic with your marriage processions, and make totaldrunken asses of yourselves. �

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Regd No: 65/045-46 Lalitpur

he Venerable NgawangTenzing Zangpo Rinpoche,abbot of Tengboche

Monastery in Khumbu, is still inKathmandu after hisparticipation in WWF’s “SacredGifts for a Living Planet”programme last month. In asunny room in his small dera inBoudha, the Nepali Rinpochesits contemplative, meditating,listening to the news on the radioand telling fellow lamas whatneeds to be done to bring peacein the world.

The Rinpoche wasrecognised as Tulku or areincarnate of the late LamaGulu, the founder of theTengbocheM monastery, byNgawang Tenzin Norbu a highlama in Rongbuk. He was thensent off to Tibet for many years

of study and he came back in 1956to be the abbot, or Rinpoche, of theMonastery.

What’s remarkable about themonk is his broad vision. From theneeds of the 50 lamas at hisGompa, to the state of nature, thevillage, the nation and the wholeplanet, the Rinpoche believes in“doing things right and not onlytalk”. And his efforts have bornefruit. The preservation of forests inthe Tengboche area is a growingsuccess. “There’s still a lot to bedone. We’re asking for governmentforests to be handed to us so theMonastery can take care of them,”he says. “The park people areplanting trees. That’s okay. But theyonly plant in areas that are visibleto passers-by. More than good work,sometimes I feel it’s a hoax. There’sno planting deep in the forest oralong the riverbanks,” says theVenerable. “This year we havedecided to plant new saplings at ourown cost in barren areas.”

The Rinpoche strongly believesin community-based action. “If thereare basic facilities in the villages—electricity, water supply, school androads—people will definitely comeback and look for new ways todevelop their villages.” He is

saddened by the wayKathmanduites are dealing withtheir environment, culture andreligion. “They are throwing stoneson their own head. Look at all thepollution and waste. InKathmandu I found peoplelistening to radio a lot. I also do.But how can you be informedabout developments and crises inthe world listening to only songs?”

The world could do withimprovements, but Rinpoche hastime for jokes. “I don’t knowEnglish. That’s my biggestadvantage. If I did, I’d be busyexplaining about the Monastery tovisitors,” laughs the 66 year-oldmonk. But he welcomes visitors tohis Monastery.

The Rinpoche is proud of thework of the Tengboche SacredLand Eco Centre. “We are notlamas to sit indoors and chant andtalk only about philosophy. We areaware of the changes in the world,”he says. In his speech at the WWFevent he said: “In my Monastery,we have been making a greateffort to promote conservation,reduce pollution and waste,and raise awareness of therelationship between spiritualityand nature.” �

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