Showing posts with label Jhapa District. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jhapa District. Show all posts

Monday, May 18, 2015

The Earthquake And Internal Migration

This earthquake has been the biggest disaster the country has seen in its entire existence. The Nepal Army and the Maoists took five years to kill as many people as this earthquake killed in a swift minute. The civil war did not see these many damaged buildings, not even close.

There will be some internal migration as a result. And most of it will be not through the Nepal Government. People will vote with their feet. They will simply move. I never felt bad about Bhutani refugees setting up camp in Jhapa. As in, what are they doing here? Internal migrants in Nepal post earthquake will move, and will go where they might want to go. They might seek refuge many places, some of them might end up in the Terai districts, so be it. It is not like they have a choice. They will move as a last resort. Because abandoning home is not a choice people look forward to. They stay put, come high or hell water. But sometimes that is not an option.

I would prefer to separate earthquake related topics from the ongoing political debates in the country. Although I don't see why democracy needs to take a break. The back and forth of political discourse will help relief work. Federalism is a separate topic.

As for the larger question of internal migration, I want the Terai to become such an economic powerhouse that Nepalis anywhere in the country no longer feel the need to go to Malaysia or Qatar. If they go, it is as tourists, or much higher wage earners. It is within the concept of a modern nation state that citizens of a nation state can live and work anywhere in that country. That applies to Parvates, that applies to Teraiwasis. But when you drag your feet on federalism like Sushil is doing, when you knock four million Madhesis off the voters' list like Madhav Nepal did, then you get in the way of that modern state forming. As soon as you start playing with the northern boundaries of the Terai districts in the debate on federalism, you are sowing the seeds for ethnic riots in the country. Ethnic riots do not make a modern nation state.

As for the earthquake, erecting a tent city for about 50,000 in one place in some place like Chitwan might not be such a bad idea, but then this government is not exactly all about good ideas. A tent city, by definition is temporary in nature. People are expected to go back to their homes in a year or so. It would be a good idea to facilitate cottage industries, so people not only have a roof over the head, but also livelihood.

The tent city should have schools and health clinics. It should have TVs. Computers with internet access. It should have soccer and volleyball fields. Cricket, maybe. It should have regular cultural programs by visiting artists. Adults, and children, should go to school.

And if there is suitable land, heck, why not erect a permanent city for them? A city for 50,000. Build cheap earthquake proof homes. Make it a planned city. I mean, if you are starting from scratch. It might even be possible to find a corporate or country sponsor for the whole project.

Maybe the idea should be to erect multiple cities. Modi talks of "100 smart cities." And he was not responding to an earthquake. But let the earthquake be an excuse for Nepal to think along the lines of at least 10 new cities. They could be along the Kathmandu-Pokhara highway, along Arniko highway, in Chitwan, in several Terai districts.

Get 10 corporate/country sponsors and erect 10 new cities across Nepal. People get to swap their land in their wiped out villages for a house in the new city and a small loan for a new livelihood. The government takes their land and converts them into forests. Entire hillsides see new trees planted on them. These dwellers will probably have to give up farming and get into small cottage industries.

Or set up one big factory per city to mass employ a bunch of the people. Labor intensive industries might make sense. The corporate/country sponsors might help find markets and buyers.

When the old gets destroyed, weep. But after you are done weeping, see that new things are now possible. New, better things.

These are not slums, these are cities that you are trying to create.


Sunday, January 11, 2015

7 Regions In One Madhesh State


Kailali (combining the current districts of Kailali and Kanchanpur): Capital Mahendranagar
Tharuhat: Capital Nepalgunj
Awadh: Capital Bhairahawa
Chitwan (the current district by that name): Capital Narayanghat
Bhojpura: Capital Birgunj
Mithila: Capital Janakpur
Kochila: Capital Biratnagar

State Capital: Narayanghat (as a goodwill gesture to the 40% Parvates in the Terai, also because it is the geographic center of the Terai, also for its good climate, and the limitless supply of drinking water from the Narayani, to build the top city in all of Nepal, to make it a software hub)

Political implications: Kailali, Chitwan and Kochila will likely have Parvate regional chiefs, and that is okay. The state capital will be in Narayanghat. When you get rid of the current district boundaries, having seven regions in the state will be more efficient than having only two, or four.

There will be right to self determination. That is unavoidable. Just like you can not imagine a democracy where the state is not secular, the cutting edge kind of federalism necessarily has a right to self determination. That is like saying sovereignty rests with the people, as it does.

But if you keep Kailali, Chitwan and Kochila as part of the Madehsh state, you are looking at a Madhesh state where the Parvates are 40% of the state population, and likely more and more Parvates will descend south in search of greener pastures. Unless that Madhesh state legislature has a 50% support for a referendum, there will not be a referendum on the separate country question. So having Kailali, Chitwan and Kochila as part of the Madhesh state is what people who profess they want to keep Nepal intact as one country should want. But they want the opposite! They want to take these sections out of the Madhesh state, which will make a breakup of the country more likely.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Exhibiting Flexibility On Federalism

6 Geographic States With Geographic Names


There are some fundamentals that you can not compromise on. For example, there is no compromising on the very idea of federalism. Similarly, there is no compromising on the Madhesi Kranti agreement that the Terai's share in the national parliament will be proportionate to its population. So if 50% of Nepal lives in the Terai, it will have 50% of the MPs. If 55% of the people live in the Terai, it will have 55% of the MPs. There is no compromise on the northern boundary. The northern boundaries of the 20 Terai districts will stay the northern boundaries of the Terai states.

But those stands also create plenty of room for compromise. For example, it is not true that there can be only one state in the Terai. That might have been the starting point in the negotiations. But there are other viable options. There could be two states. Chitwan to Kanchanpur could be one state. Birgunj to Jhapa could be another state. Heck, personally speaking, I am open to the idea of five states in the Terai. Tharuhat, Lumbini (Chitwan included), Bhojpura, Mithila, Kochila. You will note, four are cultural names, one is a geographic name. I think that might also be a good formula for the hills. Some states in the hills will have geographic names, some will have cultural names.

I am open to being even more flexible. What if you create only two states in the Terai and give them both geographic names? My preferred position is to create two states in the Terai that include the Bhitri Madhesh (Inner Terai). So Nawalparasi to Kanchanpur (Surkhet included) would be West Terai. Chitwan to Jhapa (Udaypur included) would be East Terai. Two states with purely geographic names.

There is a fear among the Parbates (I am dividing the Terai population into two for this discussion: Madhesi and Parbate) in the Terai that once you create the states in the Terai, only Madhesis will become Chief Minister. My way to address that fear is by including Surkhet, Chitwan and Udaypur in the Terai states. Parbate and Madhesi are already in the 50-50 ratio in Jhapa, Morang, Kailali and Kanchanpur. In my preferred position of two states, the Parbates will stand a good chance of grabbing the Chief Ministership in the Terai.

The disadvantage of the two state ideas is you might have to keep the district boundaries, otherwise the state government might be too far from the local government. There the five state idea is better. Then you will not miss the district boundaries.

Personally I am very open to Ek Madhesh, Panch Pradesh, as long the fundamentals I have outlined in the first paragraph are respected.

In this blog post I have not talked in detail about the hills because I want the hill people to talk more about that. I have a few ideas, but I want to leave the details to them. It is my guess that there will be about five states in the hills as well. Some will have geographic names. Some will have cultural names. But all will have to be one word names.