यो पैसा खाएको होइन?

किनिएका साढे चारलाख त्रिपाल मध्ये ९६ प्रतिशत गुणस्तरहिन

हैडलाइन पढ़ना साथ थाहा भयो, समाचार पढनै परेन। यो पैसा खाएको हो। विदेशी सहयोग आएन भने यसै कारण आउँदैन।

भुकम्प दैवी प्रकोप हो, प्राकृतिक प्रकोप हो --- तर यो त राजनीतिक प्रकोप हो, प्रशासनिक प्रकोप हो। यस्ता कर्तुत गर्नेले १० बिलियन मागेको अवस्था छ।

समाधान खोज्नु जरुरी छ। 

A Looming Disaster

The monsoon is going to be tough.

 

one month after the disaster the situation in the affected areas is an unimagined nightmare...... 70 Village Development Committees (VDCs) have received no relief ..... These VDCs are administrative units, each covering several square kilometres and including perhaps 1,000 households, and many thousands of people. They have very little food or shelter. ....... the mess that Nepal was already living with. ..... Many of the worst affected areas received little, or almost nothing, in terms of government or donor-driven support even before the earthquake. ..... There has always been an incompetent administration and political class, which is obsessed with control of resources, but callous in its lack of urgency in providing for needy rural people. ...... the army's top leadership has displayed its undue power over the civilian government, and its chauvinism, by blocking the deployment of British Chinook helicopters which would have been invaluable to the relief effort. ....... Western donors, who are perceived to want to undermine the status of the dominant sections of society. ..... The donors were providing over $1bn a year to Nepal before the disaster, around 70 percent of it channelled through the government system. But, while the donors behave like they have all the answers, they've never been able to deliver on their rhetoric. ....... They are, in fact, as deeply entangled in the dysfunction, and as much a part of the mess as everyone else. The complete failure of the multimillion dollar "earthquake preparedness" schemes of recent years is only one obvious and topical example....... The government is seeking $10bn in reconstruction funds........ One major scheme of the past decade - designed to fund infrastructure construction - was called the Local Government and Community Development Programme. This delivered hundreds of millions of dollars through complex, donor-designed systems. In the absence of an elected local government, committees of unelected politicians called "All Party Mechanisms" misused vast sums intended for the poor, for the benefit of themselves and their cronies. There is once again talk of reviving All Party Mechanisms now. ....... One of the NPTF's programmes was intended to provide compensation to victims of Nepal's conflict. In practice, many genuine victims received nothing, while district-level politicians and administrators gave the money to local supporters. This is worth remembering now when it comes to earthquake victims. ......

Giving reconstruction funds directly to survivors could cut out a great deal of corruption and administrative waste, and give true meaning to the rhetoric of "transparency" and "empowering beneficiaries"

Related articles

• One month on, red tape hampers Nepal aid
• A Month After A Major Earthquake, Aid Funds Are Already Running Dry In Nepal
• Nepal Rejects Chinook Helicopters from UK
• Shifting The Capital To Chitwan
• Nepal blocks British Chinooks from earthquake relief mission
• RAF Chinook helicopters returning to UK after Nepal says they are not needed

सीके राउत दक्ष जनशक्ति अंतर्गत पर्दैन?

पत्रकार विजय कुमार ले दक्ष जनशक्ति को कुरा गरेको अवस्था छ। म विजय कुमार लाई सोध्न चाहन्छु, सीके राउत तपाइँको दक्ष जनशक्ति को परिभाषा भित्र पर्छ कि पर्दैन? उसको मानव अधिकार तपाइँको सरोकार को विषय हो कि होइन? उसको वाक स्वतंत्रता को जगेर्ना गर्ने जिम्मेवारी तपाइँ को हो कि होइन? नेपालको न्यायपालिका ले चोख्याई सकेको मान्छे सीके। अब तपाइँ जस्ता पहाड़ी हरु लाई बामे को चर्तिकला को विरोध गर्न किन गार्हो पर्यो? कि नेपाल मा लोकतंत्र नै छैन? सीके राउत दक्ष जनशक्ति अंतर्गत पर्दैन?

Don Sushil?

राहत वितरण संयन्त्रमा गुण्डागर्दी गर्नेहरु, प्रधामन्त्रीले नै टिका लगाएर विदाइ गरे

यो कस्तो समाचार आइपुग्यो?

अदालतको महा मानहानी

सीके राउत ‍फेरि पक्राउ
टेलिभिजनमा अन्तरवार्ता दिन हिडेका सिके राउत पक्राउ

अदालतको महा मानहानी हो यो। बामे ले distract गर्न खोजेको। Relief and Reconstruction को काम मा पुर्ण असफल भएको सरकार को ढाकछोप को टैक्टिस हो यो। चिनुक पनि फरकायो, सीके पनि समात्यो ---- अब त Foreign Aid झ्याल ढोका सबै तिर बाट आउने भो। Free Speech आदर नगरी सुक्ख?

यस्तो अवस्थामा नेपालको न्यायपालिकाले proactively अगाडि बढेर नेपाल सरकार लाई परमादेश जारी गर्नु पर्छ। लोकतन्त्रको त्यो दस्तुर हो।

Hulaki Rajmarga

Nepal's future is one where 75% of the country lives in the Terai. As long as all levels of government are organized around one person one vote, that should be manageable. 

Media Coverage

English: Durga, Kathmandu, Nepal Español: Durga, Kathmandu, Nepal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are the Thakres in Mumbai, and the Owaisi brothers in Hyderabad, and (in media) the Dixit brothers in Kathmandu. Kanak Dixit cemented his reputation with the Himal magazine a long time ago, and they have branched out since. I have thought of Kanak as a distant comrade on the democracy issue back in 2006, in the more recent years I have thought of him as an opponent on the federalism issue.

Let me make it clear, I have never had issue with any trending topic on Twitter, and #GoHomeIndianMedia was no exception. Free expression is a beautiful thing. I can disagree and celebrate at the same time.

But I have been curious. I have had the disadvantage of not seeing the TV coverage that brought about that Twitter storm. For the most part. I have seen a few minutes here and there on Facebook. But I have yet to come across something I might find offensive.

TV coverage is what brings in the help and the aid. TV coverage gone, most of the incoming help also comes down to a trickle, as it predictably did.

Of course the media is going to report on the extremes and the dramatic. That is how they work everywhere. The Dixit brothers are in the print medium. Maybe they should jump into the online video segment as well. That will help them appreciate.

In fact the first foreign correspondents to parachute in the next morning were surprised on the drive into the city that they didn’t spot a single ruined building. Had they flown into the wrong hotspot by mistake? ....... there is a formula for news and it’s hard to file a story that doesn’t fit it........ Which is why from Haiti to Haiyan, from Nargis to Nepal, it is, quite literally, the same old story. ...... The international media arrives in herds and hunts in packs. Everything has to conform to a preordained script: you parachute in and immediately find good visuals of ‘utter devastation’; recruit an English-speaking local who doesn’t need subtitling; trail the rescue teams with sniffer dogs you flew in with as they pull someone out alive, after 12 hours (the rescuers need their logos on TV as much as you need them in the picture). ....... Then it’s back to the hotel bar to swap stories of derring-do, before calling the desk to plan tomorrow’s story of slow government response, and the day after tomorrow’s account of yet another survivor pulled out alive. After that, get a ride in a rescue helicopter for the out-of-town visual of utter devastation in a remote mountain village.

Why is this surprising? Is this Dixit trying to pull a Go Home Western Media?

To my knowledge no foreign correspondent went around shooting streets in which all the buildings were still standing. They didn’t have time to look at farmers harvesting potatoes by the roadside as they rushed to pan across more historic ruins. ...... No-one found it extraordinary or newsworthy that the phones were working, that they could tweet even from the hinterland, or that Kathmandu got back electricity in three days. Such bits of information didn’t fit the script. ...... Because competing TV channels are in the same helicopter, there is a temptation to over-dramatise, embellish and overstate. And countries like Nepal better have their disasters on a slow news day in North America - otherwise they might not make the bulletins.

And now the money quote.

But in Kathmandu this month it was the arrival of Indian TV journalists that exposed the worst shortcomings of the international media. It was as if the reporters were selected for their archetypal crudeness and rudeness, and ability to be insensitive to survivors. Nepali villagers who had just lost relatives were treated like hard-of-hearing hillbillies who should have been thankful to be on camera. ..... the most biting criticism came from India’s own public sphere, with many criticising the country’s TV coverage of the Kashmir floods last year as equally crass and overbearing.

This always happens, no?

Although many correspondents tried to get more minutes on air, the media had moved on to the UK elections, Syria, Yemen and Iraq. The challenge now is to keep the spotlight on Nepal when another disaster strikes. Not another earthquake, but when the monsoon rains in July-August trigger landslides on mountains destabilised by the tremors.

Do that on social media. Become your own media.

Summary: I am surprised Kunda Dixit is surprised the global media was interested in fallen temples and houses and not those intact and standing. That is how TV works. Of all people, he should know.

Related articles

• Ram Gopal Verma To Make Bollywood Movie On Nepal Earthquake
• Nepal Earthquake: 'Ground Shook, Buildings Collapsed, People Ran'; Tweets Show Panic, Impact of 7.3 magnitude Quake
• India vows to help reconstruction as per Nepali priorities

खसवादी पार्टी (काँग्रेस/एमाले) ढालने महाभुकम्प?

"२०४५ सालमा भूकम्प आयो। २०४६ मा पञ्चायत व्यवस्था नै ढल्यो।"

बाढ़ी, आगलागी, पहिरो, कोशी र महाभुकम्प

महाभुकम्प अगाडि नै नेपालमा एउटा निकम्मा, असहिष्णु, भ्रष्ट, माफिया को चुंगलमा फँसेको सरकार थियो। महाभुकम्प को कारणले त्यो सरकार रातारात सक्षम भैजाने होइन, रातारात चोखिने होइन। विपत्ति को बेलामा बरु गलत मान्छे हरु का लागि बाटाहरु प्रशस्त भएर जान्छन्।

नेपाल लोकतंत्र हो। Watchdog रोल को आवश्यकता झन ठुलो छ। अहिले को अवस्थामा। केही मंत्री ले भन्दैछन्, यस्तो विपत परेको बेला सरकारको आलोचना गरेर सरकार लाई कमजोर पार्ने काम नगर्नोस। गलत बोल्यो। चोरको खुट्टा काट भन्दा कसले खुट्टा झिक्यो भनेर हेर्ने बेला हो यो बरु।

नेपालका चेली विदेशमा बेचने माफिया गैंग हरु का लागि fishing season आए जस्तो भै राख्या छ।

२००८ मा कोशी प्रकोप मा राहत बाँड्नु पर्ने ले मधेसी हरुसँग नागरिकता देखा भनेर भनेकै हो। कति घटिया व्यव्हार! अहिले, कसलाई के सुर्ता कसलाई के सुर्ता घर जवाईं लाई खानै को सुर्ता भने जस्तो, बामे लाई महोत्तरी को सदरमुकाम जलेश्वर बाट बर्दीबांस सार्न हतार भै राख्या छ। एमाले भनेको नेपालमा riot politics गर्न खोजेको पार्टी हो। पानी धमिलो गर्ने अनि माछा मार्ने। मतदाता हरु लाई polarize गर्ने। जातीय आधारमा। टुंडीखेल मा जस्तो तराई का विभिन्न ठाउँ मा पाल गाड़ने अवस्था आएको छ भने आएको छ -- के गर्ने? मरता क्या न करता। तर त्यो मधेसी हरुको जग्गा खोस्ने किसिमले गर्न मिल्दैन। सार्वजनिक भुमि शहर शहर मा छ। महाभुकम्प प्राकृतिक प्रकोप माथि अन्याय को राजनीतिक प्रकोप थप्ने काम नगर्ने।

वर्षेनी नेपाल मा तराई मा बाढ़ी र आगलागी का समाचार आउँछन्। त्यही बेला पहाड़मा पहिरो को समाचार आउँछ। तर २००८ को कोशी प्रकोप अर्कै लेवल को कुरा हो। र यो महाभुकम्प त unprecedented हो। नेपालको इतिहासमा यति ठुलो विपद आएकै छैन। तराई-पहाड़, मधेसी-पहाड़ी पछि गरौंला। राजनीति आफ्नो ठाउँमा चल्दै गर्छ। अहिले सबै पक्षले राहत र पुनर्स्थापना बारे सोँच। पुराना घाउ कोट्याउने अहिले होइन। त्यसको समय आउँछ। सत्ता पक्ष ले पनि सोंचने, प्रतिपक्षले पनि सोंचने।

यो भुकम्प सकियो भन्ने पनि छैन। वैज्ञानिक हरुले ठोकुवा का साथ भन्न सक्दैनन्। आगामी ३-४ महिना नेपालको इतिहासमा नआएको पहिरो हरु आउने संभावना छ। त्यो फेरि आफैमा भुकम्प हो। तराईमा मधेसी-पहाड़ी सम्बन्ध बिगार्ने काम गर्नु हुँदैन, नत्र नचाहिएको बेलामा राजनीतिक भुकम्प आइदिन्छ।

The Chinook Mistake Was An Impeachable Offense

And if the Nepal Army had anything to do with it, I think that criminal act negates 50% of the good work they have done in the aftermath of the earthquake. The Chinook was so badly needed. This is not a time to emphasize the chain of command. This was and is the time to take relief supplies from the Kathmandu airport straight to the villages. The Chinook deliberate mistake is enough reason for Sushil Koirala to resign. How dare the Nepal Army play asinine politics with the best relief helicopters money can buy at this time of tragedy?
 

In a town called Dhap, so many animal carcasses were trapped in wrecked buildings that the whole stretch of road reeked of decay, and people jogged by with handkerchiefs clamped over their mouths. ...... The families from Dhap were huddled in a schoolhouse, their eyes wide: If they even approached the rock piles that had been their homes, flies swarmed around them in such numbers that they turned back. Here I saw, for the first time in Nepal, something like despair. As we passed that town, I saw a woman sitting on a hillside, staring into empty space, as if part of her had already left this earth.

Related articles

• Nepal's PM: Ban On RAF Chinooks Is Not Politics
• Nepal Parliament passes relief resolution unanimously
• Nepal quake aid 'held up at customs'
• Nepal on "war footing" after earthquake, PM says
• Nepal quake death toll could reach 10,000
• Criminal Acts By The Political Leadership

Whiskey In The Time Of Tragedy

As I worked, filing reports every night from a hotel room, the details nagged at me. Her mother, Japa Tamang, was living in an open-sided shed once used to store grain, in hills still shuddering from aftershocks. My husband had the idea of giving her a ride back to Kathmandu and a plane ticket to Delhi, and this idea cheered me up greatly. But when this offer was conveyed to her, she said no, thank you. She did make one request: Could I bring her a bottle of whiskey?

Related articles

• My Long Trek Through Nepal, to Deliver a Whiskey Bottle
• Letter From India: A Long Trek Through Nepal, to Deliver a Stiff Drink
• Use The Delhi, Patna, Lucknow And Calcutta Airports
• Another Major Earthquake of 7.4 Magnitude Strikes Nepal
• Jet Airways transports 2,600 kg relief material to Nepal
• Tough journey for team of doctors

Truth And Reconciliation Commission Above The Supreme Court

The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights is above Nepal's constitution, or the constitution of any country, for that matter. The parliament in Nepal could not curtail any element of human rights through a majority vote, or a two thirds majority vote, or even with a 100% vote.

Similarly, the Truth And Reconciliation Commission, the way it should be, stands above the country's judicial system. The courts only get to look into specific cases a-f-t-e-r the Truth And Reconciliation Commission recommends. And there will be some cases. The TRC is not a total amnesty tool. But the Supreme Court does not get to order around the TRC: it is the other way round.

But some judges in Nepal are hell bent on trying to put the cart before the horse.

Related articles

• SC refuses to register judicial review on TRC
• China spurns U.S. call for release of civil rights lawyer
• UK Criminal Justice and a UK Bill of Rights
• Thailand: After 5 Years, No Justice for 2010 Violence
• Improving Human Rights through Education