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The Nepal Digest Wednesday 6 July 94: Ashadh 24 2051 BkSm Volume 29 Issue 1
Today's Topics:
1. TAJA_KHABAR:
News from Nepal
2. KURA_KANI:
I. Social Issues
Women in Hinduism II
Perspective in Christianity
II. Education
Comments on SLC
3. JAN_KARI:
Looking for Binaya - Jesbin
*****************************************************************************
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* +++++ Food For Thought +++++ *
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* "Democracy perishes among the silent crowd" - Sirdar_RJS_Khalifa *
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Date: Sun, 03 Jul 1994 18:42:47 EDT
To: The Nepal digest Editor <nepal-request@cs.niu.edu>
From: "Pramod K. Mishra" <pkm@acpub.duke.edu>
Subject: women in Hinduism II
Dear Editor,
In my last letter to you, which I wrote in response to some articles on
women in Hinduism, I mentioned, by quirk of mood or from piqued experience,
that enmity against women begins right at her father's door the day she
is born; and then the chain of silent and outrageous reactions that set
off that day never cease until the day a woman enters her grave in
Hinduism. I reread what I had said and began thinking about how in the
world I said that a woman's father inadvertently, by default, becomes a
woman's first enemy!
Well, Mr. Editor, I'm not talking here about any other society--Moslem,
Judeo-Christian, or Buddhist--but Hindu society in which I happened to be
born. I consider it my right to critique that society that fed me
honey but with the honey was mixed, without my knowledge for a long time,
deadly poison, something that does not kill instantly like a cobra's fang
but slowly, almost imperceptibly, seeping through one's whole vision,
infesting the mind with such incurable malaise that most of us never
recover from it--and die unredeemed.
A Hindu father of a Hindu daughter is born in a world that is cursed for
her from birth, because the first time her father hears the news of her
birth, either in the private ward of a hospital in Kathmandu or in a
dripping hut in the remote village, the color from her father's face fades to
hear the bad news of a female child's birth. He begins to think, if he is
kind-hearted and educated, about his daughter's whole life, as he has seen
his own mother's, sister's, wife's life. And if he happens to be
religious, knowledgeable in the scriptures, he forgets all about the Five
Virgins, and remembers only one thing--the prestige, the honor attached to
the female child's sexuality.
There are several reasons why the color of his face fades. First of all,
he begins to think what the village pudit has said quoting from the
scripture, from the Manusmriti: that as a child, a woman plays in the lap
of her father; as a young woman, she plays in the hands and protection of
her husband; and as a mother, she has to be protected and saved by her son
(not her daughter, mind you). So she has to be saved, to be protected, to
be played with. Something that has to be protected all the time is what
Mr. Editor, if not property? So a daughter is born as a property, a
worthless property at that, for at the time of her marriage, with tears in
the eyes but peace at last in the heart, the father happily bids farewell
to his daughter and submits her into the hands of her husband. Do you
know what is said at time of her farewell from her father's doorstep?
Well, Mr. Editor, as you know, it is said that a woman's procession leaves
her father's house but once; the next time her procession leaves is for
the cremation ground, the last procession.
There is, however, a stronger reason why the color from the father's face
fades. From his childhood, the father as a male child in a Hindu
household is told that he is special; that only he possesses the magical,
miraculous power to salvage all his ancestors; and if he does not beget a
male child, not only he but all his ancestors will be doomed in the Bhava
Sagar, the murky Ocean of the World. The birth of a male child then
becomes an urgency for the parents, if not as a social security in their
old age in this material, illusory world, then as a potent agent of final
salvation in the after world. Only the male child, no matter what
he is--a drunkard, a profligate, a wicked monster, a rapist, a worthless
good-for-nothing scum--only the male child can salvage his ancestors. The
female child, no matter how learned she is--a PhD professor--no matter how
skillful she is--a renowned doctor--the female child can only watch
helplessly, not able to steer the boat of her ancestors through the murk
of the Bhava Sagar, Mr. Editor. Even now, at the advent of the
twenty-first century, when man's landing on the moon has become a
grandma's story, when the talk of the Third World War, the theory of
relativity, rationalism, Marxism, communism, capitalism, existentialism,
quantum physics, the black hole, the ozone layer has become a stale story
for the people of the world, even now--in fact only last year (was it last
year or this year?)--that India Today reported that the Sankaracharaya of
one of the four monasteries (I think it was Kanchi) publicly prevented a
girl in Calcutta from singing the richas of the Vedas. The melody of the
girl's voice did not appeal to His Holiness, it ground and grated like
pieces of ragged stone in a tin box. She was prevented from her melodious
efforts to sing the Vedic hymns because she is a Shudra; a woman is
a Shudra according to the Scriptures; and if a Shudra by some grievous
fault hears the hymns, molten lead should be poured into his ears, Mr.
Editor. So how dare a woman, who roils in unspeakable pollution for four
or five days a month, sing the holy Shruti, nectar for the ears of the
Double Borns, the upper castes? Talk of the status of women in Hinduism!
So how can a father greet the news of a female child's birth with mirth?
She would not bring happiness in this world as social security because she
becomes someone else's property; she cannot bring happiness hereafter as
an agent of salvation because the Hindu scripture says so. But
fortunately this father did not hear about the news of ultrasonic detection
of an embryo's gender. Otherwise, who knows? he may have forced his
pregnant wife to go to the gynochologist's door. We damn well know why.
And these days, Mr. Editor, an additional burden has come upon the Nepali
father's shoulders--namely, dowry--otherwise an Indian disease. I will,
however, refrain from going into the roots of this new development. I'll
say only this that this new scare has for ever taken away whatever faded
color a Hindu father had in his face.
Mr. Editor, we the speaker of the Nepali language (and I don't mean all
Nepalese are necessarily the speakers of the Nepali language) know very
well the idioms the proverbs of the Nepali language. How many of us have
not heard the tukka ghar khanu. If the young daughter fails to adjust in
her husband's house, the father ruefully say, "chchori ghar khana sakina,
ke garnu?" Many of us have surely heard this folk-saying, still widely
popular in eastern Nepal, "Madhes khanu goru le; pahad khanu swasni le"
(To survive in the plains, you need strong, many oxen; but to survive in
the hills, you need sturdy wives). And when a woman leaves the husband's
house, his family members and his villagers compliment him, "Kali gaye
gori aaunche" (if the dark one leaves, the fair one will come).
Under such cultural circumstances, Mr. Editor, how can a father be happy?
So as soon as the daughter is born, the father takes the news with some
courage and sets about preparing her, training her for marriage. Marriage
becomes a Hindu woman's ultimate goal--as a property such as an ox and as
a begetter of a male child. God forbid that she gives birth to only
female children; the husband would marry another woman to beget a male
child, even perhaps the educated ones who know how much a woman is to
blame in this matter.
Part of the preparation for marriage, the daughter is trained in the
manual labor of her house, trained in the thirty six virtues desirable in
a woman--such a sweet spoken, sweet tempered, coy, gait that of a duck,
eyes that of a deer, and so forth. These thirty six virtues in a Hindu
woman, daily drilled under the austere guidance of her father eventually
become the thirty six shackles that bind the woman hand and foot for life,
keep her as a slave bound to the oven while the husband plays cards,
drinks, and walks the road with his elbows wide open. While the father
sends his male child to Darjeeling, to Eton, to Harvard, to great places
to learn wisdom, manly virtues of unflappable, rock-hard intellect to face
the ravages of life, the daughter is sent to Padma Kanya campus, to Indore
college, where she moves around in herds with other female students,
scared, shy, like sheep. At one time I thought Nepali middle classes were
way ahead of their Indian counterparts regarding the education of female
children (I still admire this tendency whatever the reason). Upon
investigation and analysis, I found, Mr. Editor, that the primary reason
why most fathers seem eager to send their daughters to school and college
is not to make them fiery intellectuals, sharp doctors or engeneers but to
make them house wives (not that I don't admire housewives). These
parents of female children, who are progressive, town-bound, the
upper-class language bound, complain, "Ke garne, hijo aaja keta le padhe
lekheko keti khochch (what can be done if not send my daughter to school
and college; most boys these days want educated girls?) So her college
education is for marriage, to please the future husband, not to understand
her own self, her own society, her own country, her own being.
Now if in spite of a college degree, a plentiful dowry, and widespread
network, the daughter does not get married off even to a worthless man,
she is stigmatized. No one tells her that she can be part of panch
kanyas, the ones you see on Nepal Television welcoming the dignitaries at
the Kathmandu airport or the ones you see being paraded around on an
elephant in the streets of Kathmandu on a certain day of the year. No;
the unmarried girl cannot join the pantheon; she becomes worthless. What
happens to a male child? Well, if the male child vows to remain
unmarried, praise is showered from all quarters. He becomes a
brahmacchary, and the older a brahmachary gets, the more important he
becomes. But the same scale does not work in the case of a woman. The
older she gets and remains unmarried, the less valuable she becomes. In
fact, whatever value her folks and the society attached to her being a
kanya kumari, after puberty, as soon as the polluting red scare
begins, everything vanishes like ghost.
As a kanya kumari, she is taught all the thirty six virtues, but in the
orthodox Hindu families in Nepal, no one of her father's family let her go
to the kitchen and cook food. She is not an untouchable this time as her
mother becomes for a few days every month; this time there is another
reason, a holier, nobler one. No one lets her touch any eatable or lets
her cook food, because she is Kanya, too pure, too holy; and if anyone in
her family eats what she touches or cooks, they become so sinful that
doom stares in their face as hellfire. Do you see, Mr. Editor, how a
female child is caught in a double bind in Hinduism? As a result of this
lack of training in the culinery arts but grinding work in the field and
in everything else, by the time she reaches her marriage, she becomes
nothing but field property. She has the scare of her life when she cooks
bland, artless food, not knowing what to do, and hears her husband's and
his folks' unremitting scolding and punishment. So before marriage, she
is an untouchable, not worth training and investment; and after marriage,
she becomes an untouchable and a domestic labor and begetter of male children.
So, Mr. Editor, discrimination begins right at the door of a woman's
father, and once this vicious circle starts, it never stops rest of her
life. All those thirty six virtues shackle her limbs and shut the windows
and doors of her mind, enslaving her; she is raised but never prepared for
the ordeal that is called arrange marriage. And what is love marriage?
Well, I don't have time to go on today. But one thing I must say
before I close this letter. We, both nominal and real Hindus, must not only
interpret the old stories but create our own, invent new ideas, new
theories, and help our sisters, mothers, daughters, lovers, wives invent them;
help prepare them mentally and physically not just to mug what is ready-made
custom-tailored to enslave them but to challenge and reject what is stale
and festering, and reinterpret, invent new ideas and paths for a better,
happier life and society.
**********************************************************************
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 23:04:10 EST
To: nepal-request@cs.niu.edu
From: lpdhakal@maple.circa.ufl.edu
Subject: PERSPECTIVES ON CHRISTIANITY - A COLLECTION OF FACTS OF CHRISTIANITY
Dear editor,
I am posting this on behalf of Mr. Tilak B. Shrestha (who currently does not
have an account for e-mail) a PhD student in University of Florida. He asked
me to communicate through my account to the ND forum.
Let us hear from him what his views are for what he collected.
PERSPECTIVES ON CHRISTIANITY
Tilak B. Shrestha
Have you ever met Bible carrying professionals trying to strike a
conversation with you ? Did you wonderwhat they are trying to tell you ?
Did you know that the Churches are actively teaching that Hinduism and other
religions are created by Satan, and unless you become Christian you will
definitely go to the hell ? If you are curious to know the truth behind the
Christianity, please take a look at the collection of articles written by
authors from different perspectives and backgrounds and collectively
presented in PERSPECTIVES ON CHRISTINITY to be displayed at the coming
ANA-meeting in Arlington, VA ( There is no intent to make profit out from
the proceed, the value is sum total of photocopying cost). Hopefully it
would help an unbiased reader to know the existing various information and
opinions, so that the reader may come to his or her own conclusion.
Some of the interesting statements are given below.
_ Jesus's natural father is Roman soldier named Panthera
_ Jesus studied, lived and died in India.
- Jesus studied and practiced many teachings of Hinduism and Buddhism
_ Jesus never taught the doctrines, on which the present Churches stand
- Churches are deliberately hiding the findings of the "Dead Sea Scrolls"
- Early Christians believed in the law of "Karma," but it was occicially
dropped at the 'Council of Constantinople' in the year 553 AD, at the
behest of Josephine, the ambitious wife of the Emperor Justinian. Because
she did not like the idea of the suffering the full consequences of all
the murders she committed, according to the law of 'Karma'
- The Biblical 'Ten Commandments' are the summarised excerpt of the famous laws
of Babylonian king Hammurabi (1728 -1686 BC). and these laws themselves were ba
sed upon the Rig-Veda.
- Abraham is not a name of an individual but of a group of people, who were
'non'or 'ex' Brahmans, or A-Brahman in Sanskrit
- The term 'Christ' descends from the Greek word 'Chrestos", which can be
traced back to the Sanskrit word 'Krishna"
- Jesus neither was born in Dethlehem, nor died in the cross. This can be
concluded merely by studying the Bible carefully
- The doctrine of atonement by vicarious sacrifice of Jesus is the concoction
of St.Paul; to be more precise, it is a plagiarization from the religion
called Mithraism
- The term 'Logos' originates from the Greed philosopher named Heraclitus,
who lived about half a millenium before Jesus, as to denote the orderliness
visible in the universe
- The Christ or Messiah, according to the scripture, is the man, a descendant
of King David, chosen by God, to reestablish the throne of David and the
Kingdom of Israel, physically in this earth
Hope aforementioned statments seems surprising, but are true.
NB: Any questions and comments can be directed to:
Tilak B. Shrestha
3141 Turlington Hall
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
Home Phone 904 846 5807
Off Phone 904 392 8482
**********************************************************************
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 16:27:34+0530
From: root@ronast.ernet.in
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Looking for Binaya Kansakar.
I'm looking for one Binaya Kansakar, who is doing his BS at the Slippery
Rock College, at Pensylvania. All his mails seems to bounce back. I can't
figure out what the problem is. If anyone has any info on him, can you pass
it on to me.
Jesbin Baidya (jesbin@ronast.ernet.in)
P.S. At RONAST, we've been receiving 3-4 copies of the same issue of Nepal
Digest every time it is circulated. Dipak Gwyali, Suresh Man Singh and
myself work at the same office. So, instead of sending 3 copies, I would
appreciate it very much if you could just mail 1 copy. I promise to
circulate it not only to the 3 individuals but to the entire staffs of
RONAST. I'm asking you this favour because of the poor tel. connection betn
India and Nepal. For the last 2 days I've been trying to access mails
and each time the line is cut while the mail is being transferred. Today
I found out that the lengthy email was Nepal Digest. So, I hope you
consider our plight the next time around. Thank You !!!
**********************************************************************
Date: Sat, 2 Jul 1994 09:06:09 -0700 (MST)
From: Arun Pandey <arun@bigdog.engr.arizona.edu>
Subject: kura-kani
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Comments on the SLC Results
---------------------------
Few days ago, Mr.Rajendra Shrestha posted a news in SCN about the
SLC examination results for B.S 2050. It was mentioned that over 50,000
out of around 70,000 people who took the examination failed it. The
extreme high failure rate of over 70% raises questions among all the
Nepalese people.
In a country like Nepal, where SLC is considered the
biggest examination in a student's life, failing this examination could
mean the biggest block to one's desires and aim in life. Except those few
people who were in first and second division, most of the Nepalese high
school guys and girls are going through the trauma of waiting for one
whole year for the next year's examination. What is their chance of
passing again? Very less.. because the total passing rate will not go above
30%.
The failure rate brings out two main questions. Are our high
school students so bad that they cannot even pass the basic exam
requirement. These students are the future of our country and if they
cannot even succeed this exam, how would they do in the rest of the
tougher exams they will face in College. Even though SLC is given the
nationwide highlight, it is just a high school, like 10th grade in US,
and it is not enough education for our country's future leaders.
Could the SLC result be determined by politics and not solely based on
the students' performance. If over 70% students pass the exams, they
would want to go the next level. Do we have enough college space for all
these people. What if they want to work. Where will the government find
jobs for these new school graduates when there are already thousands
people waiting. The easiest solution for the government would be to make
the grading so difficult that less than 30% pass the exams. This way, the
government can tell them to pass the exams first and then think about the
future. SLC passing quota?? could this be possible?
My congratulations to the board first Miss Garima Rana and all those
who made it in the first division. Hopefully in coming future we will see
more students in the first division than anywhere else.
Arun R Pandey
University of Arizona, Tucson
*******************************************************************
From: atuladhar@vax.clarku.edu
Date: 1-JUL-1994 18:28:40
Description: NEWS FROM NEPAL
NEWS FROM NEPAL
=================
[source: "Vishwobhumi" June 17
RNAC LOSSES ON EUROPEAN ROUTES: RNAC reported a 9% reduction in flights to
Europe and a 40% reduction in revenues. Of the losses 31% is said to be
swindled by the RNAC European agent Dinesh Dhamija and RNAC Director General
P.R. Pandey.
SPLIT IN FAR LEFT: "Sanyukta jan Morcha" the farleft communit party
represented in the Parliament split between supporters of Dr. Babu Ram
Bhattarai and the Vaidya group.
POSSIBILITY OF RWANDAN-TYPE CONFLICT IN NEPAL: An editorial in "Vishwobhumi"
warned about the possibility of Rwanda type conflict in Nepal if the ethnic
minorities and "lower" castes continue to be dominated and suppressed in
nepal. This possibility was discussed in the Amnesty International/Nepal
conference.
"GIRIJA CHOR-DESH CHOD" SLOGAN IN CONGRESS GENERAL COUNSEL MEETING IN POKHARA
Congress delegates shouted "Bandit Girija, leave Nepal" in the general
counsel. The PM kept smiling. After his minions shouted, "Vir Girija,
Jindabad". Ganesh Man boycotted the session as announced because he wanted
Girija's resignation.
RELEASE OF NEWARI BOOK "LUN-NIVA" [GOLDEN SUN]; Ganesh Man singh released the
newaribook "Lun-Niva" and commented that even Prithvi narayan Shah dared not
fight with Newars without fear.
GANESH MAN SINGH RECOVERS : ganesh man singh fell from a rotating chair
whose back wheels were missing (a prank or consipiracy?) and fainted as result
of low blood pressure. P.L. singh, his god son and Kathmandu Mayor procured
Army Hospital and rushed Ganesh Man to Kathmandu Bir hospital. Krishna Prasad
Bhattarai used this mishap to suspend the Congress general counsel "out of
deference to Ganesh Man" who had announced that he would not attend anyway and
the congress general counsel had got ahead anyway.
BUDDHA RELIC BROUGHT TO NEPAL: A piece of bone believed to be the relic of
lord Buddha was brought from Srilank to replace one that was given by Srilanka
befoe and stolen recently in Anandakuti Vihar.
"DOWN WITH MONARCHY": The far-left mashal party have put banners reading
"down with monarchy" on the occasion of their sixth convention. The banners
can be seen from Bhotahity to Basantpur.
ABUSE OF NEPALI PEACEKEEPING FORCES? Chairman of the Nepal Labor union,
V.J.B.singh decried the abuse of the nepali peace keeping forces (Gurkhas) tp
suppress the democratic struggles of the disenfranchised in different
countries. He alleged that imperialist forces also used our kings and his
brothers.
Tourism Ministry Sued
=====================
When the Tourism Ministry levied Rs 25,000 in fines to Himalayan Expedition
for allowing a British Team to scale Lhotse without permission, the trekking
coutersued the Ministry for penalizing them without due permission and
opportunity to defend.
Kulekhani silting up
=====================
The Indra reservoir of Kulekhani is silting up to 2/3 its capacity as a reslut
of the cataclysmic storm that occured last year in its 127 watershed catchment
area.
Medical college in Chitwan
===========================
64 students from Nepal, India, and canada are studying to be doctors at a cost
of Rs 10.4 laks for 6 years in the D.K.Patil medical colleage. The college is
use to the Bharatpur hospital for its lab and has been given some land and
vacant buildings to start. Tribhuwan University has refused to accredit this
college.
Ancient Kirats were Hindus?
===========================
Swami Prapannacharya spent 40 yearsto write a book ancient Kirat history . The
vice-chancellor of Nepal Academy said the book shows ancient kirat to be
hindus and used sanskrit.
This claim is significant with current ethnic rejection of hindu heritage for
disenfranchising the Tibetan mongoloied races of Nepal based on hindu concoted
myths and political suppression. the icon of this rejection is the rejectionof
sanskrit language for schools by the modern day Kirats.
Nepal communist discriminates...
=============================
Dor Bikram Thapa and other communist party workers have ostracized "Damais" or
the tailor castes as untouchables in Basheswor village of Sindhuli.
Icharam Damai was prevented from working as "bani" labor and those who
employed them have been fined upto Rs 150, says the suffering Damais. The
damais have registered a case in Sindhuli court.
source: kantipur, June 21
Why Garima was rusticated
============================
Garima Rana recently made news by breaking the record while coming board first
in SLC exams among 70,000 students. She got 640 out of 700 marks while
representing Galaxy school.
Who would believe that she was rusticated 2 years ago by the trustees of
Triyogi school, although she was the top student with 92% in the semifinals.
No reason was given. her father. lok Bhakta Rana tried to get some explanation
but to no avail. Instead the principal phone the principal of Galaxy Geeta
Rana not to accept Garima and the irony was that both the Triyogi principal
Shiva Thapa and Garima's mother kabita Rana were classfriends at St, Mary's.
It was only with the source force of the Education Ministry official that got
Garima into a new school.
Not getting an adequate explanation from Triyogi why Garima was rusticated,
Lok Bhakta, a lawyer in the Supreme Court, filed a complained with the
Education Ministry. The Ministry issued a show cause notice to Triyogi school
which ignored the notice. as a result, their upgradation request was denied.
Lok Bhakta did not stop there. he filed a suit in the Supreme court againest
Triyogi. Triyogi ignored the Supreme Court summons too. A second suit was
filed for contempt of court. Triyogi board finally came before the courst and
answered that Garima was involved in pamphleteering and indiscipline, a
baselesscharge and the Board members hooted while the court was in progress.
The supreme court found Triyogi guilty and ordered them to pay Rs 1.00 to lok
Bhakta as the admission of guilt.
Yet what was the reason for Triyogi's apparently arbitrary action on Garima?
It turns the Patron of the Board of Trustees of Triyogi was Princess Shajyada,
the sister of King Birendra. She was behind the fire order. Why did she do
that? her husband Khadga Bikram was behind her action. Kumar Khadga had taken
a massive loan from nepal bank which he was trying to get waived as bad loan,
a polite of way of stealing, of course. Lok Bhakta, the son of Kaisher
Shumsher Rana, the learned Rana who established the Kaisher Library in which
the Education Ministry is housed, was a legal attorney for Nepal bank and he
resisted Kumar's little insider scheme. In retaliation, Kumar got Garima
rusticated.
nepal ko sadayantra aparampar. garima wants to be a lawyer like her dad.
source: Suruchi weekly, June 19
HINDU INTOLERANCE IN NEPAL
===========================
The myth of religious harmony was shattered in Nepal.
In Siraha, villagers of Belaha took out a procession demanding the dismantling
of a Moslem masjid, according to the village development committee chair,
Mohamed Razak Rain.
Forest Corruption in Bardiya
=============================
The forest administration of Bardiya in Western Nepal Terai is reportedly
involved in smuggling timber. The forest administration is implicated with the
Chief District Officer, the Superintendent of Police, and hundredsof thousans
of ruppees are made by smuggling logs from Nepalgunj to kathmandu.
The modus operandi is to cut trees illegally in Bardia forests having to sawed
in jamuni Mill of Pitambar Adhikary and then fix papers to transport the
sawed board feet as Timber Corporation wood legally.
One such truck contained 600 cubic feet of sawed timber worth RS 8 lakh or $
16,000.
[source suruchi : june 19]
Sugar ain't sweet...
====================
Sugar prices in Nepal has sky rocketed in Nepal and still it is in shortage.
The official price is Rs 22 a kg ($0.45/kg) while the black market prices are
Rs 27/kg. One reason is the Indian price of rs 26/g (nc). os if sugar is
costiler in Indian , subsidized sugar is divertd to India.
I guess this woould be less maturity onset diabetes in Nepal
********************************************************************
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 1994 09:40 EST
From: ATULADHAR@vax.clarku.edu
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
MARWARDI COMMUNITY AGAINST NEPALICOMMUNITY IN NEPAL
=====================================================
[SOURCE: dRISTI WEEKLY, june 15]
Marwadi community in Damak have brought out incendiary communal slogans in
Jhapa bazaar as "Let us all Marwadi community ( the business community) all
unite! Nepali chor desh chod!"
Emotions were inflames when Kabita bansal, a marwadi girl, insulted a "nepali"
teacher named Subedi. The principle Tej Kumar Shrestha officially reprimanded
kabita. The next day, Kabita vomited and died and was cremated without post
mortem. This made the Marwadies really mad. they ransacked the school,
manhandled teachers including the lady teachers. Subsequently, Principal
Shrestha was handcuffed and arrested DSP Chokpa Sherpa. The Marwadis allege
Kabita died as a result of the shock from rustication.
NO Salary Increase this Year
============================
Quoting a reliable source, Dristi weekly claims there would be no salary
increase this year. Such an increase would cost an additional Rs 600 million
($ 12 millin) and there is no source of such revenues/
This is the first time regular revision of salary every 3 years has been
discontinued. At a consumer price index of 12% per year, Nepalese civil salary
has really gone down in real terms.
In dollars terms, my own salary has gone down from $ 100 to $ 70 in 14 years
of service althought the Nepali salary has increased from Rs 700 to Rs 3500.
Birgunj a Dry port
===================
Plans are afoot to upgrade birgunj to a dry port. A Inland container Deport
for $ 22 million dollars and upgradation of the narrow gauge to broad gauge
railway from Muzzafarpur-Raxaul.
All of this is likely increase greatly the linking of Nepal to global markets.
source: Katmandu Post, June 18
Stale Milk for Kathmanduites
=============================
The Dairy Development Corp[oration has OKed the use of butter milk from Europe
in the milk distributed to Kathmanduites. The importe d butter milk is at
least 3 months stale over the expiry date.
The reason given is that European standards of expiry date are not applicable
in Nepal.
Amulya's comment: This is quite a claim, the tendency to see Nepalese a little
less human than Europeans. Such claims are also made regarding pollution
standards or other health standards that may be used in Nepal. In fact DDT,
the pesticide, banned in the West is still freely available in Nepal: the
reason nepali lives are a little less valuable than the Western man.
Coming back to milk, it would warrant that expiry dates should be even more
stringent because Nepal is a subtropical country compared to temperate Europe
so milk spoils much faster. Moreover, generally refridgeration and other
handling facilities are much more wanting than in affluent Europe so the
probablility of spoilage is even more. In fact the report says the buttermilk
drums are old that the paint and labels have dried and peeled away.
source: Saptahik Bimarsh, June 10
Description: Plethora of NGOs in Nepal
======================================
bal gopal Vaidya, National Planning Commission Member, revealed that there are
[But almost of all are limited to the cities and are manned by members of high
castes and relatives of formaer bureaucrats and very little development
reaches to the poor .]
Even the Dhading district, abuting Kathmandu, has 75 NGos.
Soaltee now part of the Holiday Inn Chain
=========================================
Nepal's premier 5 star hotel is now "Soaltee Holiday Inn Crowne plaza
Kathmandu".
Soaltee has 287 rooms, six of which are suites, Regal Suites and 7 duplex
duplexes and Nepal's largest casino.
The general manager is Himmat singh Sandhu, [a Sikh, not a Nepali.]%
Who Benefits from the "Development Industry/"
============================================
The Human Development Report 1994 revealed that 90% of the development aid
given to development countries is spent on foreign countries although local
experts are available.
Within a country receiving development aid, the richest 40% receive twice as
much aid per capita as the poorest 40%.
This report was prepared by Dr. Maqbul-ul-Haq, former Finance Minister of
Pakistan and Vice President of World Bank and now Special Advisor to UNDP
Adminstrator james Gustav Speth.
The report is significant and brave because the role of these do-gooder
suckers have been a t aboo subject in development circel where it is more
fashionable to talk of dumb peasants, population problem, environment problem
etc. Toni hagen lost his job when he critixized aid policy in 1960s.
source: The Independent, June 88
Ethnic Marginalization in Nepal
===============================
The Girija routinely allocates its second in command by seniority, not by
influence, cabinet Minister Bal Bahadur Rai, an ethnic minority himself, and
whose peoples are now regrouping under the banner of Tibeto-Mongoloid
solidarity suppressed by the Bahun-Chettry political majority, to talk to such
minorities.
Talking to Sunuwar Sewa Samaj, Minister Rai lauded their efforts to uplift
their language, culture and religion.
[This is political euphemism that acknowledges that Nepali was a hegemonic
"language" that tried to obliterate their pre-Hindu "culture" and their
traditional egalitarian animistic 'religion" with the state Hindu religion.]
Minister Rai said out country is multi-lingual and multi-ethnic. {This is not
reflected in the State power system. Nepali is the official language, the
medium for the "operational guidelines" to manage community forests, hence a
powerful tool to marginalize non-nepali speakers and privelege certain castes
in acces to natural resources. Multi-ethnic? 6 of the 7 ambassados came from
the Brahmin caste, the 1992 intake of forestry students was 90% Brahmins, are
we to believe that the Brahmins are a racially or castewise superior people
destined to rule Nepal, well Minister Rai thinks it should be "multi-ethnic"]
source: kathmandu post June 19. Bracketed comments are mine
Instability in Sikkim
=====================
Nar Bahadur Bhandary and his Sikkim Sangram parishad was voted out by
Sanchaman limbu broke away from the SSP.
A week later Chief Minister Limbu's coalition was reduced to a minority of 14
in the 32 member house.
What is interesting is the resurgesence of Tibetto_Mongoloid ethnic minority
withing the Nepali community in this east Himalayan kingdom.
Ganga Devi rips her belly
=========================
Ganga Devi Rajbanshi of Dhangadi cut open her belly when she culd not
withstand the pain of her child delivery because she could not get access to
medical facilities or anaesthesia.
The rate of deaths of mothers due to parturition is 850 per 100,000 while in
areas like Kabhr and Jumla it could be 2000 per 100,000.
source: Kathmandu Post, June 20o
China closes Simikot-kailash route
==================================
A popular route to Mansarover the source of all Ganga: Brahmaputra, Ganga, and
the Indus was sealed off by China
The decision has hurt would be trekkers, pilgrims and Nepali pastoralists.
Bhutan Refugees pose Environmental Threat in Jhapa and Morang
=============================================================
About 223 ha of forest was devasted by the Bhutanese refugees as follows:
Khundana bari = 60 ha
Timai = 12
Garamani = 14
Beldangi = 96
thapari = 40
No to Indian Films
===================
"All the cinema halls in the country have agreed to show Nepali films from
today" said Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai, convenor of the United People's Front
"Sanyukta jan Morcha" (far-left).
[For those who are wondering why a politician has an appelation called, "Dr>"
well he is a Phd in Architectural Engineering from India.]
There are 150 cinemal hall in Nepal, majority showing Hindi movies.
At present 25 Nepali films are shown at present 125 Nepali films are in queue
and each have at least 3 copies so 375 films are enough to run for a year.
dr. Bhattarai wants to finght Indian cultural hegemony and protest Indian
police raid and the unencumbered entry of Indian licence plate car to India
while Nepalese cars have to wait months for such a permission.
source: The Independent, June 15
Why do Nepal get female American Ambassadors?
============================================
Nepal obviously does not account to much in US foreign policy and only
political lightweights and cronies are appointed as US ambassador to Nepal.
We had Carol Laise, Margerita maytag, and Julia Chang Bloch, and now Dr. Sandy
Vogelsang.
I wonder if the frequency of female US ambassadors to Nepal is correlated with
Nepal's position with GNP rank?
Of course with the general increase in the power of women in White House with
hillary, we could speculate that Dr. Sandy Vogelsang, besides being very
competitive on her own is also equipped with access to power as equivalent
male counterparts.
We are all familiar with American female ambasssadors who wher very competant
inidividuals but were chosen for token, implicit quota. Carol Laise was
conveniently located in Nepal so she could be close to her powerful husband Mr
Bunker working overtime in Vietnam during the height of Vietnam war.
Margarita Maytag was a political appointee of Gerald Ford. Related to the rich
Maytag family who owned washing machine, she was reported to be so attached to
her prestige that she had to literally lifted out of the office by the Marines
once the new Ambassador arrived.
Julia Chang Bloch, the first Asian American female ambassador to appointed was
a very competant inidividual as a former Peace corp to Nepal.
Let us see whether the appointment of Dr. Sandy is a political promotion to
Nepal or just business as usual.
Amulya
Clark university
How much snow is on Mt.Everest's head?
=====================================
does the height of Mt. Everest include the height of the snow on the top?
According to Prf. G. Poretti, the exact height of Mt. Everest is 8848.65
meters with a 2.55 meters of snow ( i.e. is almost 10 feet of snow!)
Sibstracting the depth of snow, the real height of Mt.Everst comes to 8846.10
meters.
The height of Mr. Everest is now being monitores with Global Positioning
Satellite (GPS system) and a laser operated device on the top by Italy and
nepal.
According to Associated Press, the tibetan Plateau is growing at the rate of 4
mm a year.
Nepalese in America still view negatively
==========================================
Here are some quotations from articles that appeared in The Independent, June
8 and the kantipur daily:
* Nepalese who go to America are implicitly rootless, restricted
immigrants in a country that is not their own.
* Nepalese in America ignore the possibility of being the target of
skinheads, racial hatred or welfare, to be part of the slave labor doing the
3-D jobs, the dirty, the difficult and dangerous when they leave Nepal for the
unlimited opportunity of America.
* Nepalese in american are choosing the land of of the highest crime
rate of the world when living on standards higher than high class Nepalese,
iel owning a car that is newer than our Nepal taxies, and eating junk food out
of refridgerator that actually has cooled from uninterrupted supply of
electricity.
* Nepalese remittance to folks back home is a pittance than those who go
to japan or to British Gurkhas, in fact Nepalese students in America is a net
drain on Nepal's resources tapping thousands of dollars per each student every
year from the world poorest nation to the richest nation on earth.
* Only the rich and ambitious Nepalese go to America.
* Nepalese who go to America are simply deserters, pure and simple.
* Nepalese in American exert no influence on democracy or development
and America has gone down in rank as a donor nation.
* Nepalese in America are curious but naive about situations in Nepal
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