अशोक राईले राखे दश दलसँग एकता प्रस्ताव
Is the dolphin a fish or a mammal? Are the Tharus Madhesi or Janajati?
Is the dolphin a fish or a mammal? Are the Tharus Madhesi or Janajati?
Tuesday, March 04, 2014
Saturday, March 01, 2014
5,000 Members
The United States possibly was one of the last countries for the Non Resident Nepali movement to enter. It flourished on all continents except this one for years. And finally when it arrived it had managed to accumulate 400 members in four years.
But looks like those days are over. A recent membership drive has put the membership past 3,000. And that is in large measure because you can get your membership online. Estimates of Nepalis in America put the number at 200,000. I think to expect the NRNA will get at least 5,000 members is modest. The NRNA deserves to become the largest Nepali organization in America.
The organization suffered because the democratic process was disallowed. But some recent changes are welcome. You should be able to get your membership online. Any member should be able to contest for Officer positions, and all members should be able to directly vote for those Officer positions. The committees that run the association should organize online meetings. You put those basics into place and the next thing you know you have a truly pan American organization. Geography is no longer holding you back. All book keeping should be kept transparent and online.
The empowerment of the community comes from the organization’s commitment to the basic democratic process itself. Such a commitment to democracy and transparency will jack up the membership base to consistently large numbers. People running for Officer positions would engage in membership drives to boost their chances, and that would be swell.
The annual ANA Convention has a long tradition, and it deserves to continue with it. That convention is as good a platform as any for the NRNA as well.
The dual citizenship issue remains the unfinished business of the NRNA. And that mystifies me. Because making dual citizenship possible for global Nepalis is the easiest and the single biggest step the government in Nepal can take for Nepal’s rapid economic growth. Nepali politicians who oppose Foreign Direct Investment, either through active opposition or, more likely, plain inaction, and those who stand against dual citizenship for global Nepalis are directly responsible for Nepali women ending up in the brothels in Mumbai, and Nepalis landing in body bags from the Gulf states. Those politicians are standing in the way of job creation inside the country.
Only a mass based NRNA in America can help with the cause of dual citizenship. A NRNA with 200 members simply does not have legitimacy. At 5,000 members you are finally talking. At 10,000 members you matter. The membership drive has to be ongoing.
There are more than 30 Nepali organizations just in New York City. There are tens of Nepali organizations in most major urban areas across the country. The NRNA could be that umbrella organization that brings Nepalis together across this country. And it is a good thing the association asks for individual and not organizational membership.
There is power in numbers. For the first time I have some respect for the NRNA in America. 5,000 has been that magic number for me. The membership number has to go past that for me to take the NRNA seriously. Leaders contesting elections and winning after massive membership drives have legitimacy. Enough of backroom deals and undemocratic appointments and shady court actions.
Once the NRNA in America gets the basics of democracy and transparency right and goes past 5,000 members, it will become a serious national chapter of the global NRN movement for the first time. And it might even claim leadership of the global movement at some point. It will be able to add muscle to the dual citizenship debate.
In a culturally diverse country like America, and especially in cities like New York, a well run NRNA will bring up opportunities for alliance building with organizations that represent other countries. Transparent and online book keeping will create opportunities for massive fundraising and creating new programs.
If the Officers of NRNA America will hold online meetings, that means the gulf between the NRNA chapters in the 60 plus countries is going to be zero. Everyone can come on Skype. It is amazing how Viber has taken off. The NRN movement was always meant to be global. But lack of robust coordination has kept the movement in the doldrums. I am for more skyping and less air travel. Use social media to the max. Keep all interested members in the know. Publish meeting minutes and money details on Facebook groups.
5,000 members spread across the country might mean those running for Office might also have to conduct primarily online campaigns. That would be interesting. That would also be cheap. Which means anyone could participate, and that would be a good thing.
I have wondered out loud many times in many places as to why the top global Nepali entrepreneurs are not out of America but rather Second World countries like Russia. If America is the ultimate country, what gives? One of the things holding the community back has been a lack of large, mass based, democratic, transparent, robust organizations. Minus that the community has been nimbling along with some sort of an inferiority complex.
Friday, February 28, 2014
A Unified Madhesi Party Will Sweep The State Elections In The Terai
सप्तरीमा ‘मधेशी मोर्चा गठन’
सप्तरी, १ माघ । मधेशकेन्द्रित दलका सप्तरी जिल्लामा जिल्लास्तरीय मधेशी मोर्चा गठन गरिएको छ । जिल्लामा मधेशी मोर्चा गठन गर्दै उनीहरुले जिल्लाको तथा मधेशको हकका लागि सामूहिक रुपमा लाग्ने प्रतिबद्धता व्यक्त गरेका छन् । गठन भएको मोर्चाले मधेशी जनताको भावनाअनुरुप अधिकार सम्पन्न शक्तिशाली संघीय संविधान निर्माणका लागि दबाव दिने उद्देश्य लिएका छन् । जिल्लास्थित विकासीय कार्यालयलगायत अन्य सरकारी तथा गैर सरकारी कार्यालयहरुमा भइरहेको व्याप्त भ्रष्टाचारलाई अन्त्य गर्ने, सेवाग्राहीलाई सर्वसुलभ ढंगबाट सेवा प्रवाह गराउने, सबै गतिविधि पारदशी गराउने लगायतका कार्य गर्ने जनाएको छ । मधेशी जनअधिकार फोरम, नेपालका जिल्ला अध्यक्ष युसुफ अलीको संयोजकत्वमा बनेको मधेशी मोर्चामा जिल्लास्थित सबै मधेशवादी दलहरुले सहभागिता जनाएका छन् । मोर्चाको सदस्य सचिवमा फोरम लोकतान्त्रिकका जिल्ला सचिव भोगेन्द्र चौधरीलाई चयन गरिएको छ । सदस्यहरुमा लोकतान्त्रिककै जिल्ला अध्यक्ष शैलेशकुमार चौधरी, सद्भावना पार्टीका जिल्ला अध्यक्ष सुनीलकुमार झा, राष्ट्रिय मधेश समाजवादी पार्टीका जिल्ला संयोजक गजेन्द्र मण्डल, तराई–मधेश लोकतान्त्रिक पार्टीका जिल्ला अध्यक्ष रामप्रित यादव, फोरम गणतान्त्रिकका जिल्ला अध्यक्ष भागवत मण्डल छन् । यस्तै तराई मधेश सद्भावना पार्टीका जिल्ला अध्यक्ष मुनीलाल साह संघीय सद्भावनाका जिल्ला अध्यक्ष जागेश्वर राय, नेपाल सद्भावना पार्टी (गजेन्द्रवादी) का जिल्ला अध्यक्ष दानी मण्डल र नेपाल सद्भावना पार्टीका जिल्ला अध्यक्ष मंगल राय पनि सदस्यमा रहेको मोर्चाका सदस्य सचिव भोगेन्द्र चौधरीले मंगलबार जारी गरेको विज्ञप्तीमा जनाइएको छ ।
Monday, February 24, 2014
Thursday, February 06, 2014
A Unified Communist Party Would Be A Good Thing
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| English: leader of CPN UML (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Baburam Bhattarai first brought this up. Now KP Oli is saying this. I think the communist parties coming together would be a good thing, just like the Madhesi parties coming together would be a good thing. Perhaps Ashok Rai can be part of that unification of the Madhesi parties. And we end up with three poles in national politics. That will be a tidier situation.
It would be good to have a simple party name: Communist Party of Nepal (CPN).
Friday, January 31, 2014
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Samanupatik Nautanki
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| English: Nitish Kumar (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
I have been astounded by the process through which the political parties in Nepal have allotted the seats that fell in their laps through the proportional representation formula.
My impression is the way it is supposed to work is a political party submits a list of candidates, and if it wins 10 seats for proportional representation, the first 10 names on the list get selected automatically. There is no room to play around with the list after the votes have been counted.
In Nepal’s case, since there is a major emphasis on inclusion, there should have been provisions like every third name on the list should be that of a female, every tenth name should be that of a dalit, every sixth name should be Madhesi, every fifth name should be that of a Janajati. For the regional parties like the Madhesi parties are, there would be emphasis also on the Muslims.
Instead the party presidents ended up having near total sway leading to major intra-party dissatisfactions.
There has been much talk of an inclusive democracy over the past few years. I believe 49% of all new entrants into the civil service will be coming through some sort of an inclusive formula. That is a decent arrangement whose pace might be quickened through a dramatic downsizing of the bureaucracy.
When you eliminate certain federal ministries and reduce the size of others, that creates room for the bureaucratic apparatus that needs to be set up at the state level. If the drama that has played out over the past few weeks ends up doing a repeat when the state level ministries are set up, it will not be fruitful. Meritocracy has to be the buzzword. Let the best candidates fill up the slots. That is what would be in the best interests of the people.
Federalism should not mean the regional political lords stuff up the to be built regional bureaucracies with their political cronies. That would be a disaster in the making.
A bright future for Nepal entails that the political parties play a smaller role in national life, and the party presidents have a smaller power base inside their political parties. The onus has to be on empowering the individual, the emphasis has to be on the private sector and the associated wealth creation and job creation.
The way the political party bosses were allowed to allocate their party’s PR seats is a bad sign. This is a sign the party bosses might again be more interested in forming and pulling down governments than in constitution writing.
I wonder how the proportional representation thing will play out in the constitution that will get written. First of all one hopes Nepal sure does not end up with 600 MPs. That is more than what India and America have. For a small country that Nepal is 200 MPs would be more than enough. Add to that another 100 for the upper house and maybe that is what the politicos have in mind. Perhaps those 100 would be by the PR formula. But the lists will have to be finalized before the votes are cast, otherwise you end up with a sham PR system.
A political party builds and submits its list, to the Election Commission and to the public. The list has to meet the inclusion requirements for the DaMaJaMa. If a party might win 20 PR seats, the first 20 names on the list get selected automatically.
Party bosses allocating PR seats after the fact is not too different from when the king used to appoint the anchaladhish, the zonal commissioners.
Proportional representation is a good thought. It is a great way to make every vote count. And the inclusion formula is a great one. Nepal has seen too much social disparity over the centuries.
That same way of thinking has to percolate all the way to the local levels. Nitish in Bihar has done a good job of including women at the panchayat level. He has engaged in some good social engineering. I think Nepal should learn.
Despite the uninspiring drama of the past few weeks, I hope the elected leaders in Nepal deliver a new constitution before 2014 is out.
The political process is by definition a messy process. No party boss in Nepal is a Nitish Kumar, and that is the sad reality. But peace and constitution is not too much to ask for at this point.
A system is only as good as the people who run it. But there is also something called a political culture shift. And Nitish south of the border is proof one person can make a huge difference. For the longest time Bihar stayed the epitome of hopelessness. But it is now on its feet and running.
Once Nepal has a constitution and regular federal, state and local elections perhaps the process will throw up some worthy leaders who will work to give the country double digit growth rates. One hopes.
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