Showing posts with label Canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canada. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

26: Canada



Bill Gates gets real about climate change: Planting trees is ‘complete nonsense’ but the end of the oil and gas era is finally in sight

Innovation, Not Trees. How Bill Gates Plans to Save the Planet. He has billions to donate for crises from coronavirus to climate change, and more hope now that Trump is out of office.

Latest Prompt Engineering Technique Chain-Of-Verification Does A Sleek Job Of Keeping Generative AI Honest And Upright

Centrist Dems and McCarthy’s allies are in secret talks to strike a deal Any Democratic participation in a plan to stop a shutdown — let alone save the speaker’s gavel — would have huge conditions attached.

Sam Altman tracked how quickly people responded to his texts and emails to distinguish between 'great and mediocre founders'

‘A jealous god’: China remakes religions in its own image

Saturday, October 16, 2021

भ्रष्टाचार का मुद्दा और जनमत



हतौडाले हानेर महोत्तरीमा एक महिलाको हत्या प्रहरीका अनुसार महोत्तरी गाउँपालिका ३ मडईकी ४२ वर्षीया शिलादेवी झाको हत्या भएको हो । ....... घरमा कोही नभएको बेला टाउकोमा हतौडा प्रहार गरी हत्या गरिएको अवस्थामा उनको शव फेला परेको प्रहरीले जनाएको छ । महोत्तरीका प्रहरी प्रमुख एसपी दिनेश आचार्यले घटनास्थलमा रगतले भिजेको हतौडा बरामद भएको जानकारी दिए । ....... हत्या कसले र किन गरेको विषयमा केही खुलेको छैन । उनको जेठो छोरा भारतको गुजरातमा छन् । र, कान्छो छोरा जलेश्वरस्थित मावली पुगेको बेला शिलादेवीको हत्या भएको एसपी आचार्यले बताए ।




इस जहाज को देखिए। दो लाख टन से ज्यादा का है। लेकिन डुबती नहीं। दो टन का एक रॉड को पानी में गिराइए डुब जाती है। सरफेस एरिया की बात है। 

नेपाल में भ्रष्टाचार का मुद्दा अभी का सामयिक मुद्दा भी है और कठिन मुद्दा भी। लेकिन उसका प्रेशर जनमत पार्टी सिर्फ अपने नेता और कार्यकर्ता पर रखे वो सही रास्ता नहीं है। वैसे भी आम जनता के स्तर पर भारी जागरूकता न आने तक भ्रष्टाचार को मटियामेट नहीं किया जा सकता है। 

ज्यादा से ज्यादा जनता भ्रष्टाचार के विरुद्ध आंदोलन में उतरने का रास्ता क्या है? (Remote Relay अनसन: चुँकि रामलीला मैदान उपलब्ध नहीं है)


मन्त्री नबनाएको विरोधमा उपेन्द्रको पुत्ला दहन (फोटोफिचर)



Searching for the American Dream? Go to Canada
Searching for the American Dream? Go to Canada Physical mobility, then, is the best pathway to economic mobility. ....... Canada is a policy lab for experiments in reducing inequality. The country is far from perfect, but it ranks far higher than the U.S. in social mobility: Almost 20 per cent of Americans are born below the poverty line, a figure that’s less than 10 per cent in Canada.

America is also going through its second eviction crisis within a decade, worsening both poverty and hunger.

.......... The expansion of large-scale farming just over one hundred years ago lured 750,000 Americans to Canada’s Prairie Provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Today more than one million Americans live in Canada, and their numbers are rising. After 2016, it was Donald Trump’s election that drove a new wave north of the border.

In 2020, at the height of the coronavirus, Americans jammed Canadian real estate websites, buying properties unseen.

Canadians joke they’ll need to build a wall along their border to keep Americans out. At least Canada wisely banned certain assault weapons in 2020, keeping out the most odious American trait. ................ While the U.S. convulses over immigration policy, Canada has far fewer qualms. Canada has entered the immigration big leagues, setting a clear target of 400,000 migrants annually to add to its 38 million population – a far higher annual percentage than the U.S. Canada’s “Century Initiative” openly aspires to grow the population to 100 million – at which point its population will likely surpass that of Russia. Is Canada the migration magnet of the 21st century? .......... Its aging population requires caregivers; its eastern and Maritime provinces need to be rejuvenated with new industries, from IT to hydropower; its thawing frontiers require hearty workers to cultivate the bounty, and connecting its oilpatch and farmlands to global markets requires new pipelines and a vast freight rail network. There aren’t nearly enough Canadians to do it all. ........ One-fifth of Canada’s current population is immigrants, who account for most – and soon all – of its population growth, especially South Asians and Chinese. If Canada continues this high immigration trajectory, by 2036 half the country’s population will be foreign-born or have at least one immigrant parent. ............... Canada is on the hunt for talent as it seeks to diversify its economy, and Indians are an easy target to poach. The number of annual Indian immigrants to Canada more than doubled between 2016 and 2019, to nearly 90,000, more than migrated to the U.S.

Critics of Mr. Trump’s 2020 executive order suspending the H1-B visa program dubbed the order the “Canadian job creation act.”

Next Canada could pluck from the 500,000 Indian-origin residents of Silicon Valley alone. American nationalists shouldn’t separate the innovation emerging within their borders from the diverse nationalities of the brains that produced them. Without the latter, much less would happen in the former.............. Canada is much more like continental Europe than the U.S. or United Kingdom, which partly explains why its politics since the financial crisis has stuck to the centrist path of the Netherlands, France and Germany rather than the virulent populist nationalism of America and Britain. ........... Young people around the world keep a close eye on these trends, which is why they continue to flood the website of the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) to check their eligibility to gain Canadian residency. ...........

The urban-rural gap is common across the world. Indeed, it represents as profound a pattern of inequality as the disparity between North and South globally.

.......... The acreage of protein-rich soy growth has also accelerated all across Canada. A single drone made by a company like Flash Forest can plant 100,000 trees each month, meaning billions more trees sprouting by 2030. Canada’s energy, agriculture and technology sectors are expanding in lockstep with its population. .............. Whereas Americans have been flocking to low-tax but climatically troubled Texas and Florida, Canadians old and new are likely to become more dispersed farther and farther north. Towns in Canada’s inland provinces of Ontario and Manitoba are becoming much more desirable as the climate warms and Hudson Bay becomes a grand Arctic gateway. ..............

Simply put: Canada’s future human geography will dissipate beyond the narrow belt along the U.S. border.



Warm and chill: Canadians flock to Panama for a slower, affordable life Chantal Poulin and her husband, Eric, lived fast-paced lives in Quebec. They owned two art galleries. They earned high incomes. But they wanted more. Not more money – but more out of life. ......... They now live on a four-acre property in Panama near the mountain town of Boquete, where they spend their time tending to a pack of rescue dogs. “It was stressful in Canada,” Ms. Poulin said. “So many people measure themselves by what they own and they keep wanting more. We wanted to get away from that.” .......... Panama, which borders Costa Rica and Colombia and straddles the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, has long been a favourite retirement destination for Canadians seeking a slower pace of life, a different culture and warm weather. The country is known for the ease with which it gives legal full-time residency to foreigners. ..........

Canada typically ranks among the top three points of origin for people seeking residency in Panama, along with the U.S. and the U.K.

.......... Even in the region’s larger cities, life tends to move at a slower pace than in Canadian cities and towns – a potential frustration for people accustomed to fast-paced living. But the culture offers social benefits. For example, it’s common for people to greet each other when getting on elevators or public buses. In smaller towns, strangers typically greet each other on the street. ........... Although the country has one of Latin America’s most advanced economies, its gross national income per capita was, in 2020, about a quarter of Canada’s, and life essentials are priced accordingly. Medical and other professional services are inexpensive (a doctor’s bill might come to $20), and so is general labour. .......... Women over 55 years of age and men over 60 qualify for 50 per cent off movies, theatres, concerts and sporting events; 50 per cent off the closing costs of home purchases; 50 per cent off hotel stays from Mondays through Thursdays; 30 per cent off hotel stays from Fridays through Saturdays; 25 per cent off restaurant meals; 15 per cent off dental and eye exams; and 25 per cent off airline tickets. ............ The Friendly Nations Visa allows foreign residents to work, and the country doesn’t tax residents on foreign income – a boon to anyone telecommuting to a job in their home country. (Panama recently launched a short-stay, nine-month Digital Nomad Visa to encourage exactly that sort of visitor.) .............. the country uses the U.S. dollar ........ “Here in Panama,” he says,

“manana [tomorrow] doesn’t always mean tomorrow. Sometimes it means the day after tomorrow, or the day after that.”

........ “If extraterrestrials decided to pick a place on Earth to live, I’m pretty sure they would pick Panama over a place that gets snow and ice”


Tuesday, September 05, 2017

संविधान संसोधन का मुद्दा हरु



प्रदेश सभा र प्रतिनिधि सभा को चुनाव पछि संविधान संसोधन को संभावना छ। संसोधन नभए सम्म त्यसलाई बलियो चुनावी मुद्दा बनाएर चुनावी सफलता हासिल गर्न सकिन्छ। मुद्दा दरो रूपले स्थापित भएको छ।

हिंदी भाषा मधेसलाई भन्दा पहाडलाई चाहिएको। मैथिलि किन हुँदैन? थारू किन हुँदैन भनेर सोध्ने ले पहाडमा राई भाषा किन हुँदैन, गुरुङ्ग भाषा किन हुँदैन, तामांग भाषा किन हुँदैन, नेपाली नै किन संपर्क भाषा चाहियो भनेर सोध्नुपर्छ। अशिक्षित नेपाली काम का लागि भारत जाने पुरानो कुरा हो। १० वर्ष भित्र मा शिक्षित नेपाली अमेरिका, बेलायत, जापान, ऑस्ट्रेलिया नगयेर भारत जाने अवस्था आउँदैछ। विश्व भरि नेपाली नोकरचाकर भएर बस्नु परेको अवस्था छ। हिन्दी नै त्यो छाता भाषा हो दक्षिण एशिया को जसले नेपाली लाई विश्व भरि आदर दिलाउने छ। गुगल को Artificial Intelligence ले सम्पुर्ण इंटरनेट लाई हिंदी मा अनुवाद गर्ने समय अब धेरै टाढा छैन। अनि त के हिंदी, के अंग्रेजी। नेपालमा हिंदी घृणा आत्म घृणा (self hate) हो। हिंदी घृणा दास मानसिकता हो। अंग्रेज गए, अंग्रेज प्रतिको दासत्व भावना गएन।

नागरिकता समस्याको वास्तविक समाधान भनेको कनाडा र अमेरिका बीच भए जस्तो, ब्रिटेन र अमेरिका बीच भए जस्तो द्वैध नागरिकता हो। दुई देश बीच त्यस किसिमको नया सन्धि गर्नु पर्छ। भारतीयले नेपाली बिहे गर्दा भारतीय नागरिकता किन त्याग्नुपर्ने? नेपाली नागरिकता पनि किन नपाउने? भारतको सहयोगमा नेपालमा पनि बायोमेट्रिक ID मा जानुपर्छ। र नागरिकता एक किसिमको मात्र हुन्छ। भारतमा सोनिया गाँधी लाई प्रम बन्न त्यहाँको कुनै कानुन ले रोक्दैन।

राष्ट्रिय सभा का लागि जनसंख्याको आधारमा मतदान हुनुपर्ने एक व्यक्ति एक मत लोकतंत्र हो। जनसंख्याको आधारमा स्थानीय तह बढाउनु पर्छ। मधेसमा २०० थपे भइहाल्यो नि। होइन भने २०,००० लाई पनि एउटा पुस्तकालय, एउटा अस्पताल, २००,००० लाई पनि एउटा पुस्तकालय, एउटा अस्पताल? तर्क संगत भएन।

Thursday, January 21, 2016

कनाडा को आयातित विविधता र नेपालको आफ्नै धरती मा रहेको विविधता




Prime Minister Trudeau pointed to the economic benefits of diversity during his speech in #Davos today.
Posted by Globe Politics on Wednesday, January 20, 2016

I don't see any USA Presidential Candidate who is as refreshing to listen to as Canada's Prime Minister. Looking forward...
Posted by Robert Scoble on Wednesday, January 20, 2016




एक भाषा, एक भेष, एक धर्म, एक संस्कृति वाला फासिस्ट महेन्द्र राष्ट्रवाद का मतियार हरु नेपालमा शासन मा छन। संपत्ति लाई संपत्ति देख्न सकेका छैनन्। सांस्कृतिक विविधता संपत्ति हो। तेल जस्तो संपत्ति।

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Pahadi Men, Take Note

English: Nepali people
English: Nepali people (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: A picture taken in Bhaktapur, Kathman...
English: A picture taken in Bhaktapur, Kathmandu, Nepal. A Nepali woman smiles. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: A hindu devotee in Nepal
English: A hindu devotee in Nepal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Nepali Writer Manjushree Thapa
Nepali Writer Manjushree Thapa (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


Nepalese writer Manjushree Thapa explains why she burned her country’s new constitution
The new statute bars Nepalese women from conferring citizenship to their children independently of men. It also prohibits children of Nepali women and foreign men from holding high office.
I don’t know when I realised I wasn’t equal to my brother. My mother was a medical doctor, my father a PhD; there was never any question that my sister and I would have the same educational and professional opportunities as my brother. When we were old enough to understand such things ‒ I may have been nine or ten ‒ my parents explained that when the time came, they’d will their property to us evenly. My sister and I were promised that we were, in all ways, equal. But by that time I already knew that the rule of our family wasn’t the law of the land. I understood that outside the shelter of our exceptionally socially liberal family, in Nepal, my brother was more valued than I. ...... Concepts such as rights come later in life, but the feeling of our lesser worth is inculcated early in Nepali girls. Is it when we’re praised more for our looks than our achievements? Is it when the expectations of us are shaped, violently, to make us fit an impossible ideal? Is it when we’re reminded, over and over, to behave demurely, to be pleasing, to agree, to smile? The messages come from all directions, all the time. We’re taught early in life that we’re just girls. ...... I’m in my forties now, and living, for the moment, in Canada. I’ve successfully eluded the impossible ideal of Nepali womanhood. I haven’t married, I don’t have children, my family life is happily unorthodox. My mother didn’t make my sister and me spend our menarche hidden away, as girls of our caste were expected to do; we’ve never been considered untouchable when menstruating. I don’t defer to my partner; I don’t defer to men in general. From the age of fourteen I’ve identified as a feminist. ...... But by law I’m a Nepali woman, and therefore, by law, lesser than a Nepali man. Though I’ve lived in the US and Canada for half my life, I have, against the advice of well-wishers, and with some abiding, perhaps misguided, loyalty, retained Nepali citizenship......... Nepal’s civil code has been guided by Hindu law, which sees women as the property of either their fathers or husbands. There’s a Nepali adage ‒

“Women have no caste”

‒ which goes to the heart of the Hindu patriarchal devaluation of women. Our identities are defined by men; we have no essence, no identity, of our own. ...... When I first became politically aware ‒ in my early teens ‒ Nepal’s civil code was so hateful it

assigned punishment for rape according to whether the victim was a virgin, married, or a prostitute, because her worth relied on her sexual purity.

Women couldn’t inherit parental property. Abortion was illegal. There were only one or two women in government at any given time; often there were none. There was no concept of affirmative action to correct that. ......... The adage, “Women have no caste,” has been interpreted by constitution after Nepali constitution as, “Women have no nationality.” Our bodies are considered mere vessels for men to pass on their nationality, be that foreign or Nepali. ...... When I turned eighteen I obtained my own citizenship through my father, not my mother. ..... If I’d had children I wouldn’t be able to confer citizenship to them.......

No other country in South Asia discriminates between men and women’s citizenship rights; only 26 countries worldwide do. Nepal long ago ratified the UN’s Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. A young generation of Nepalis is forward-looking, progressive, embracing of social liberalism. So we really believed things would finally change.

...... all of Nepal’s major political parties, be they conservative, liberal, leftist, or radical, have consistently been united on one point: that equal citizenship rights for women threatens Nepali sovereignty. ....... in the mind of the Hindu patriarch ‒ since women have no caste/nationality, their bodies are possibly traitorous, hosts to foreign babies, and ‒ given Nepal’s open border with India ‒ specifically to Indian babies. These traitorous female bodies have to be controlled for the sake of the nation; women must not be able to confer Nepali citizenship independently of men......... In the past few years Nepal’s feminist movement did everything short of taking up arms to change the minds of Hindu patriarchs. They put on demonstrations, rallies, and marches to the point of exhaustion. They sat at meetings with party leaders, with the president, the prime minister, the speaker of the house. They led awareness drives and media campaigns. They even went on hunger strike....... When all other arguments were exhausted, Hindu patriarchs returned to

the same hateful argument: “It isn’t about women, it’s about the open border with India.”

Nationalism beats, as a final refuge, in the hearts of Nepal’s Hindu patriarchs. Incredible as it sounds, they are ruled by

a deep-seated xenophobia, a fear that Indian men will marry Nepali women, and the children ‒ born of Indian seed! ‒ will populate Nepal.

Nepal will then no longer be Nepali; it will be Indian. “We agree with you,” Nepali feminists have been told. “But you have to consider our national identity.” If women are to be loyal to Nepal, we must accept unequal citizenship rights. ....... Not only can women not confer citizenship to their children independently of men, the children of Nepali women and foreign men will be barred from high office. No such restriction applies to the children of Nepali men married to foreign women. And Nepali men can, as ever, confer citizenship to their children independently of women.......

News of this vote felt violent, like a slap, a blow, a punch to the gut. I spent days reeling, in shock, raging and impotent, bewildered and ill, thinking: a country that betrays its women doesn’t deserve women’s loyalty.

....... Unequal citizenship rights will leave more than

four million stateless

in Nepal. This means they’ll have no recourse to government services; the stateless are intensely vulnerable. ..... it feels deeply personal, as though I’ve been dealt a psychic wound that won’t ever heal now. Perhaps my shock is a post-traumatic response to having my worthlessness ‒ just a girl, just a woman ‒ reinforced every day for all of my life. As I’ve grown older, and more confident, I’ve come to feel that

being a Nepali woman is akin to being in an abusive relationship.

The relationship in this case is with a state that holds our paperwork captive, and uses its power to humiliate, demean, and demoralize women, to keep us down. ........ I’m through with being abused by my own country. I can’t accept the constitution’s privileging of the male bloodline over the female, of semen over ova. I can’t accept the empowering of the male body and the negation of the female body, the erasure of women’s agency as full human beings. ...... I read about BR Ambedkar burning the Manusmriti, the text that enshrines caste, and also gender, bigotry in Hinduism. After September 16, I followed the news of others in Nepal who were going to burn the constitution ‒ in the Madhes, in Indigenous communities. I was hoping not to have to do so myself. ....... I’d gone to the banks of Boulder Creek and quietly, without ceremony, burned it. ...... The act felt funereal rather than defiant. I was mournful rather than angry. Something in me ‒ hope, perhaps, for a better future for Nepal ‒ had died. My loyalty had faded. “Mann nai maryo,” were the only words I could speak. The fire flared, blazed briefly, and flickered out. My emotions toward my country burned away.

Sunday, August 03, 2014

"Nepal can become a developed nation by supplying power to India."

English: Image of Narendra Modi at the World E...
English: Image of Narendra Modi at the World Economic Forum in India (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
"Nepal can become a developed nation by supplying power to India."
- Narendra Modi

The government of India formally claims it has better relations with Nepal than any other country in the world. It is also true that India-Nepal have a deeper relationship than any two neighboring countries in the world, US and Canada included.

But recently as soon as news surfaced that India was trying to enter into a power trade agreement with Nepal a lot of leaders and commoners in Nepal gave a knee-jerk reaction. There was deep suspicion and mistrust. India was accused of all sorts of wrong motivations.

Where does that come from? It is very important to get to the bottom of it. Because therein lies the key to ending poverty in Nepal.

I think that parody of false nationalism is everything to do with the fundamental incompetence of the leaders of Nepal, be they political or in the bureaucracy.

When a government sends you a draft proposal, the right thing to do is to take it through wide debate and consultation among the elected leaders of the country. The parliament would have been a good place. But to date the letter of the agreement has not been made public yet, not to my knowledge. So what were the false nationalists reacting to? Nothing they had read.

You do homework months in advance to make concrete gains in a Prime Minister level meeting. You make counter proposals to any proposals. You negotiate.

India renegotiated its 1950 like treaty with Bhutan. I am sure it would be willing to do the same with Nepal. Is the 1950 treaty an issue? But not even the Maoists brought that up with India when they were in power. And they waged a decade long civil war on that (and other) issue.

Nepal is not a landlocked country. It is an India locked country.

Just like blaming India for their own incompetence and inadequacies is a staple among many Nepali politicians, the anti-Madhesi prejudice and hatred and systemic marginalization falls in the same category.
India allays Nepal’s fears over hydel proposal
the proposal was a draft for discussion “and would require bilateral negotiations prior to finalisation.” Both sides are free to propose amendments or modifications to the draft ..... Mohan Baidya said that news reports about an export-oriented PDA (power development agreement) with India, “instead of scrapping the already existing unequal treaties on Koshi, Gandak, Mahakali, Upper Karnali, Arun III, High Koshi Dam and Upper Marsyangdi, has come as a shock to all patriotic Nepalese people.” ...... The controversy over the draft has been brewing for several days now. Both the ruling and the opposition parties have come together to oppose it.
A new beginning with Nepal
No two neighbouring countries enjoy a more intimate and a more complex relationship than India and Nepal. India is where Nepalis come to study, work, spend holidays, plan weddings, invest in a second home; yet, India is also blamed for being insensitive, for meddling in Nepal’s internal affairs and often, for taking Nepal for granted. ...... accumulated cobwebs of mistrust ..... the 1950 India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship. Most Nepalis are unaware that it was Nepal that had wanted this treaty, in order to maintain the special ties with independent India that it had with British India. Nepal’s security concerns had been heightened by the Communist revolution in China and its takeover of Tibet. The treaty provides for an open border between the two countries and allows Nepali nationals to work in India without a work permit, to apply for government jobs and the civil services (except for the IFS, IAS, and IPS), to open bank accounts and buy property. Incidentally, India had waived its rights under reciprocity as a sign of goodwill. The provisions of the “secret” side letters to the Treaty, which required Nepal to consult India on its defence requirements, which Nepalis perceive as unfair and which are often used by politicians to whip up anti-India sentiment, are no longer secret or even observed. ...... Today, the open border is used by Pakistan to infiltrate terrorists and pump in significant amounts of fake Indian currency. Although India has agreed to review and update the treaty, every time the matter is taken up, Nepal sidesteps the issue. ......... accumulated resentment over the 1954 Kosi Agreement and the 1959 Gandak Agreement, cited by successive Nepali regimes as unfair, has rendered progress on hydel cooperation impossible. Three mega-projects — Saptakosi with 5,000MW, Karnali-Chisapani with 11,000MW, and Pancheshwar with 6,500MW — have been languishing for 30 years. When the hydel sector in Nepal was opened up to the private sector, Indian companies (including Tata Power, LANCO, GMR, Jindal, IL&FS, L&T, and GENCO) won 27 survey licences for projects ranging from 100 to 1,000 MW each, but not a single one is even close to beginning construction. ........... help unlock Nepal’s hydel potential, making it one of the richest countries of the region ..... Two-thirds of Nepal’s foreign trade is with India which also accounts for half of Nepal’s foreign direct investment. The Nepali currency is pegged to the Indian rupee. Over the years, India has built highways, optical fibre links, medical colleges, trauma centres, polytechnics, schools, health centres, bridges, etc. For flood protection and embankment construction in Nepal, India provides more than Rs.75 crore annually. To facilitate the movement of goods and people, India is providing Rs.270 crore to build four integrated check posts on the border, Rs.650 crore for extending two railway links out of the five proposed, and Rs.700 crore for the first phase of rebuilding old postal roads in the Terai region. In addition, there is a second EXIM Bank Line of Credit for $250 million available and another $125 million for the power transmission line upgrades. About Rs.1,300 crore is disbursed annually to the 1.25 lakh Indian Army pensioners in addition to other welfare schemes. The provision of iodised salt, conducting cataract and trachoma camps, gifting of ambulances and school buses in the remotest of Nepali villages are initiatives that have made a difference to life in rural Nepal. ........ some Indian political leaders would push for supporting the Madhesis who enjoy a close kinship with Indians in north Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. ..... Nepali leaders publicly adopted anti-India postures — an approach started by the Palace in the 1950s and adopted particularly by the Left parties as a means of demonstrating “nationalist credentials.”
Nepal hopes for deal on power trade
The three-member panel consisting of Nepal’s Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat, Mr Bhim Rawal of the CPN-UML and Mr Narayan Kaji Shrestha of the UCPN (Maoist) had prepared a draft of the power trade agreement (PTA) for the two governments’ consideration. They had suggested that two countries come to an agreement only on power trade and its transmission. However, an Indian draft that suggested an integrated approach to Nepal’s power development – including hydropower and other forms of renewable energy – was heavily criticised here, forcing Indian Embassy to issue a clarification.
Modi meets Koirala, three agreements signed
A new template for India-Nepal ties
Indians and Nepalese share a common culture and terrain south of the Himalaya. Bound by languages and religions, marriage and mythology, the links of their civilisational contacts run through Lumbini to Bodh Gaya, Pashupatinath to Kashi Vishwanath, and Muktinath to Tirupati. At the people-to-people level, relations between India and Nepal are closer and more multifaceted than between India and any other country. Many partisans of Nepalese democracy also fought for India’s freedom, for which they were jailed by the British, including Matrika Koirala, B.P. Koirala, and Man Mohan Adhikari, who became Prime Ministers of Nepal........ Many Indians believe independent India never had foreign combat troops deployed on its soil. Nepalese troops were the exception. Aside from those recruited to India’s Gurkha Regiment, an outsized Nepalese Army brigade drawn from all its 18 regiments was loaned to India in 1948-49, when Indian troops were deployed in Kashmir and for the integration of Indian States. The commanding officer of this force, General Sharda Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana, was the son of the then Prime Minister of Nepal, Maharaja Mohan Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana. Yuvraj Karan Singh’s marriage to Yasho Rajya Lakshmi, Sharda Shamsher’s daughter, was arranged during the General’s stay in India. ..... In spite of per capita income levels declining towards close to half of India’s average, Nepal has done better than India on several Millennium Development Goals (MDG), including infant mortality, maternal health, child malnutrition and poverty reduction rates.... Having developed the confidence over the past decade to be able to work with any democratic electoral outcome in Nepal, India has kept the day-to-day bilateral institutional mechanisms in play. ..... These include defence cooperation and supplies, trade access and transit facilitation, river protection works, augmentation of electricity supply during the lean season, Exim bank credit for the infrastructure sector, and development projects, including construction of Terai roads, integrated check points at important border crossings and cross-border rail links. Many of these need a strong push from the two governments to speed their implementation. There exists excellent two-way cooperation between the respective security agencies to deal with difficult cross-border issues such as terrorism, smuggling (including of fake Indian currency notes), and trafficking. ..... India has been ready to receive Nepalese proposals to revise the antiquated 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship — unequal principally because of the one-way privileges it accords to Nepalese nationals living and working in India. Other tasks include resumption of the Boundary Working Group, signing of the finalised strip maps, and signature or ratification of a host of treaties and letters of exchange ranging from extradition and mutual legal assistance to transit, railways and communications. ........ About a fifth of Nepal’s 28 million resident population lives and works in India. The open border is a “safety-valve” for Nepal. ......... Mr. Modi would do well to propose easing remittances and exchanging currencies, reducing telephone calling costs (calls from India and Nepal to Europe or the U.S. cost less than between the two neighbours), expanding educational opportunities, ensuring more dignified border crossings, increasing cross-border social and cultural linkages, improving road and rail transportation links, relaxing rules for border trade for private consumption, better managing the Das Gaja land at unmonitored border crossing points, and improving coordination between the respective border district officials for prompt resolution of local issues. ....... The big idea on the table is for Nepal to simply tap power from the enormous body of waters that flow into the Bay of Bengal. Hydropower generation in Nepal is, unbelievably, less than half per cent of what can be produced. Nepal can become, by far, the richest country of the subcontinent, on condition that it harnesses this resource. There is recognition in Nepal today that this can transform the social and fiscal dynamics of Nepal by its employment, energy and revenue generation potential. ....... If Nepal awarded production licensing for the development of over 8,000 MW of electricity offered eight years ago to independent power producers on the basis of competitive international bidding — most of them run-of-the-river projects avoiding large-scale inundation, displacement, compensation issues and ecological surprises — at the current rate of investment of $2 million/MW, the foreign direct investment (FDI) could be a staggering $16 billion. Compare this to the $350 million actual inflow of FDI into Nepal over the last 23 years. The free power for Nepal, at a conservative rate of 12 per cent just from these projects, will be more than Nepal’s total current production, besides free equity, royalties and taxes that will flow to its exchequer. If half of Nepal’s hydro potential was to be harnessed, annual revenues could top $40 billion, over $100 million a day. Mr. Ranganathan said that in 20 years’ time his successor would have to visit Kathmandu to raise capital for the bank and not go to New York or London for it. ......... Other big ideas include Indian partnership in cooperative watershed and environment management for the protection of the Himalayan ecosystem, including soil conservation, re-forestation, and more rational land use for horticulture and bio-agriculture. On connectivity and infrastructure, India could build a road bridge over the Mahakali, extend Eximbank loans and provide viability gap funding for the Kathmandu-Terai Fast Track road, the international airport at Nijgadh and new cross-border power grids. When the hydropower revenues kick in, Nepal could build an East-West railway (prospected by RITES), along the present alignment of the highway built by India. It could become economically viable the moment it is connected to Kathgodam in the west and Siliguri in the east, significantly shortening the route from north to north-east India.
Will Modi's Nepal visit mark a change in India's water policy?
Controversies surrounding past treaties and deep-seated suspicions have held hostage mega-projects planned on Nepalese rivers that contribute up to 70% of water to India's Ganges during dry season. ...... In the latest reflection of mistrust, Nepalese politics remains heated following a controversy over a hydropower development agreement recently proposed by Delhi. Nepali politicians from both ruling and opposition parties claimed that the proposal was aimed at securing India's monopoly over Nepal's water resources, an allegation India has dismissed....... Delhi also clarified that Kathmandu was free to amend and modify the proposed document. ...... "India-Nepal relations are constantly being upset by insensitivity and blundering on the part of India and hypersensitivity and proneness to misunderstanding on the part of Nepal," former Indian water resources secretary Ramaswami Iyer wrote in the Indian Express newspaper following the latest controversy. ..... five of the 20 most water-stressed cities in the world are in India and the capital, Delhi, is second on the list...... Satellite images have shown that India's underground water tables have depleted to dangerously low levels.
India's Modi offers Nepal $1 billion loan in regional diplomacy push
Modi is on a two-day visit to Kathmandu to help speed up negotiations on a power trade pact that is at the centre of his new diplomatic drive. ..... Nepal's politicians are at odds over the proposed energy pact. Opponents say it would give Indian firms a stranglehold over Nepal's energy resources and bar other countries, like China, from investment in the sector. Modi sought to allay those concerns.
PM Narendra Modi in Kathmandu: India wants a powerful Nepal
Earlier, India had provided USD 250 million line of credit to Nepal through the Exim Bank of India. ..... Modi said India has won no war without the sacrifices by Nepalese soldiers. "I salute those brave hearts who laid their lives for India," he said...... Invoking Sam Manekshaw, the first Field Marshal in the Indian army, Modi said, "Any soldier who says I am not afraid of death would either be lying or is a Gurkha."
Modi pledges $1 billion concessional line of credit to Nepal
The concessional loan will be extended to Nepal through Indian Export Import Bank.
What Modi had for meal today in Kathmandu?
Nepal accords grand welcome to Modi (Photo feature)
Modi mesmerizes Nepal with eloquent speech (with video)
Maze of mistrust
At least since the Treaty of Sugauli between the-then East India Company and the King of Nepal in 1814-1816, suspicion of each other’s intention has remained the fundamental feature of Indo-Nepal relation. All subsequent treaties, exchanges of letters, memoranda of understanding or official transactions have centered around Nepal’s obsession with its sovereignty and the perception in India that unbridled independence of neighboring countries run the risk of becoming security threats. Sasastra Seema Bal (SSB) is a paramilitary agency tasked with patrolling Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan border. This year, New Delhi reportedly hiked its budget to over three thousand crore in Indian Rupees. Since New Delhi has almost no faith in the PEON’s ability to safeguard its security interests, it operates its independent network of informers, intelligence agencies and sundry other operatives. ..... Without planned and massive interventions upstream in Nepal in natural drainages that contribute over two-third of its flow, Premier Modi’s much-touted Mission Ganga has little future. Unfortunately, Himalayas are young; Mahabharata Ranges soft; and the Shivaliks mere protrusions of gravel. Rivers that flow through these unstable terrains are unpredictable at best. ....... In the early-eighties, professors of river engineering in universities of North India often distributed cyclostyled research sheets in lieu of textbooks. Western publications on the subject were considered to be completely unsuitable for unique nature of Himalayan streams. If global funding agencies and engineering corporations haven’t rushed to exploit Nepal’s supposed hydropower potentials, there must be some reasons behind their hesitation. Unlike commercial calculations behind prospecting for petroleum, investment in hydropower requires arrangements of political economy that only the State can guarantee. Premier Modi may think that India can’t wait forever for Kathmandu to make up its mind. Politicos afraid of PDA, PTA, and PPA will soon discover that these alphabet soups are made of carrots. Sticks remain hidden. But Modi is not too well known for exercising restrain in using instruments of coercion. Such fears seem to have made vested interests of hydro-politics even more panicky. ....... The border issue between Nepal and India has been dominated by the worldview of cartographers for far too long. Largely determined by the victors of a war—the East India Company—two centuries ago, boundary along Nepal-India land border resembles zigzag teeth of a rusted saw that cuts through families, cultures, natural habitats and inseparable economies. Plans of ‘regulating’ such a line are fraught with risks of unintended consequences on both sides of the international border. Level of trust, however, is so low that the proposal has begun to get traction in capital cities of both countries. ........ The Nehru Creed and the Indira Doctrine gave continuity to the imperial outlook of British India, which wanted to have the final say in the internal affairs of Nepal. In the name of advancing its security interests, New Delhi never refrained from micromanaging political economy of Nepal. It has created a mindset in Kathmandu that nothing can happen in this country without New Delhi’s nod. ..... When others are seen to be determinants of one’s destiny, three kinds of responses usually surface. ...... A large section of Nepali population has become indifferent. Forced by circumstances to survive in a very challenging situation, they become Jit Bahadur of Gujarat, Teriya Magar in Mumbai or struggle as ‘nearly Indian’ workers in the Subcontinent, the West Asia or Malaysia. This cohort will like India and Nepal to get even closer, but they have little or no say in the political economy of their own country.......There is a group active in administration, businesses, professions, politics and religion that considers complete submission to Indian hegemony as the best method of securing its personal and family interests. Since their stakes are purely personal, they probably do more harm than good........ The most vocal, and probably also most dangerous, are relics of the Cold War era in Kathmandu that continuously spin cobwebs of ultra-nationalism in the mistaken belief that the net will stop the sky from falling over their heads. Administrators and accountants masquerading as hydropower experts; cartographers pretending to be professionals of political boundaries; journalists in the guise of geo-strategic thinkers; consultants and NGO-entrepreneurs wearing hats of environment and humanitarian activists; brokers and dealmakers posing as creators of wealth—almost everyone in the motley crowd of self-declared nationalists deserve separate adjective. Though diminishing, they still have enough clout to sabotage any deal between India and Nepal. ...... Until the silent majority begins to assert, the opportunists lose their influence, or the pretenders have been made irrelevant, no compromise reached between India and Nepal—irrespective of the merit of the deal—will remain uncontroversial. Premier Modi’s visit has given Singh Durbar a unique opportunity to clear cobweb off its ramparts. It will take a little longer to remove meshes of the mind. But when relationships are as intimate as between India and Nepal, it’s best not to rush anything and make haste slowly.
Air-locked
In the past, when Buddha Air, a prominent Nepali carrier, tried to link Pokhara and Lucknow directly, the Indian side strangely declined to provide the necessary consent on the requested additional entry-exit point west of Bhairahawa. The plan had to be scrapped. The proposed Pokhara-Lucknow flight would have been of a 30-minute duration for an ATR-42 aircraft, had a direct routing (as the crow flies) been provided, but the Indian side’s insistence on following the existing airway scuttled the plans as the additional distance that needed to be traversed undermined its financial viability. ...... There is tacit understanding in Nepali aviation circles that this “airway stalemate” invariably has to do with the all-pervading influence of the Indian defense establishment. The Indian Air Force, which is the de-facto owner of the entire Indian air space, and its generals have simply remained unmindful of Nepali side’s repeated concerns to break out of its southward “air-locked”-ness and in all likelihood have been exerting pressure on its civil aviation agencies to turn a Nelson’s eye towards Nepal’s concerns. Agreed, every nation is free to tend to its national security interests in a manner it deems best but this cannot be an alibi to encroach on a sovereign neighboring country’s interest, like those pertaining to matters of civil aviation. Else, the very idea of international cooperation, as envisaged under the aegis of the international convention on civil aviation, stands utterly undermined. ...... With limited available avenues for augmenting its revenue in a sustainable manner, until large scale export of hydropower materializes in the distant future, Nepal could supplement its coffers by opening up its airspace for over-flights to dig into the proverbial pie of ever-increasing east-west air traffic along the Indian subcontinent corridor—i.e., open a parallel airway to those existing over India that connect south-east Asia to Europe. For this too, India’s willingness to designate the necessary entry and exit points, whether existing or additional ones, is essential.
Mending ties
Can this visit truly transform Nepal-India relations making it a model of inter-state relations in the 21st century? ..... Nepal-India ties cut across all aspects of state-to-state and people-to-people interactions. The people-to-people relation is such that “if one side bleeds the other feels the pain”. For instance, 5,000 Nepalis died in the Uttarakhand floods two years ago. That is why as some politicians were protesting the visit of the Indian Ambassador in one part of Nepal, people from the two sides of the border were exchanging flowers in another part to ensure that politicians do not further enlarge the chasm. The people-to-people side to our relations will continue irrespective of what politicians do. This is the strength of our relation and politicians and diplomats should learn from it........ Small events are blown out of proportions with slogans of “national independence” in Nepal or “insensitivity to Indian interests” in India. ..... unnecessary politicization of relations with India poisons the environment on the Nepali side. Indian elites recognize Nepalis as porters, security guards and Maoists. Nepal reels under protracted political transition, instability and stagnation. This is bad for both. ...... With creative thinking the rivers, roads, dams and the open border could produce mega-models of mutual cooperation. ..... Contrary to their perception as ‘anti-Indians’ Nepalis know very well that India is the only foreign country where they can travel freely, get refuge when they get persecuted and land decent jobs. Indians too have tremendous goodwill for their Nepali brothers and sisters. But Indo-Nepal relations suffer from the mindset that is unable to comprehend the vitality, complexity and sensitivity of our relations. To transform this relation the political and foreign policy elites need to be guided by popular aspirations and tremendous potential in harnessing the unalterable closeness of geography and time-honored history of mutual benefit.
The Gentleman from South
The man from south with a white beard should be given credit for not only becoming the most sought after politician of his time but also a fashion icon! ..... Personally too if we look within the country many Nepalis have had higher education in India and most come back to be involved in the development activities here as opposed to those who head towards the West for higher education. ..... The most important gift that Modi can bring is education for aspiring youth of Nepal at the same cost that Indians pay in their universities. We studied that way, but for our children’s education we need to pay in dollars as international students! Why is this so? Where have the long-lasting relation and the provision in the 1950 treaty gone? The other gift that Modi should bring is the answer to the question on why Nepal’s economy is sliding day by day whereas India’s is booming? Since 1950 India has had “friendly” economic ties with Nepal but India has reaped most of the border benefits.
Let's prosper together
She clarified that Nepal is ‘top priority’ for her government. ..... Modi is a role model for ‘development and good governance’ in India. His development formula of 5T—trade, technology, tourism, talent and tradition—was instrumental in his success in recent Indian elections. His friendly relation with China is a reflection of India’s willingness to put economy first, apart from its ‘neighbor first’ diplomacy...... Nepal too has a development formula comprising 5H—Himalayas, hydro-power, herbal, heritage and human resources. ...... Exemplary relationship with India is of importance as Nepal shares 1,800-km-long open border; six million Nepalis are working in India; all our big rivers cross into Indian territory; and we have a whopping trade deficit. Nepal is moving towards economic prosperity for which peace and stability are preconditions. Nepal wants to upgrade its status to a ‘developing country’ by 2022. It is high-time for Nepal to seek economic and development partnership with India. Efforts should be made by Nepali and Indian leaders to build trust and confidence and open up new development prospects for mutual benefit.
Nepali leaders praise Modi's speech in parliament
We are looking for investment not charity
Anyone who does not understand from history is bound to repeat it, goes the famous line. We have been repeating the history for the last 65 years. ..... Unless we undertake mega projects of national interest on the basis of broader consensus, we are bound to fail.
Biz community expecting a lot from Modi visit
I have a clear viewpoint on the issue. If you are hungry, you eat whatever you get. Our total energy demand is around 3,000 MW. Up to that mark, we should not set any conditions. After that, we can renegotiate with India. We should sign PTA with India without further delay.