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The Nepal Digest Sunday 7 Aug 94: Shrawan 24 2051 BkSm Volume 30 Issue 2
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Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 14:57:52 EDT
From: atuladhar@jack.dnet.clarku.edu
Subject: latest nepal book
Latest Book on Nepal
======================
"NEPAL, DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE IN A LANDLOCKED HIMALAYAN KINGDOM'
by Pradyumna P. Karan and Hiroshii Ishii with collaboration from
Masao Kobayashi
Mohan Shrestha
Chakramehr Bajracharya
David Zurick
Cartography
Gyula pauer
published by
Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa,
(ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
Monumenta serindica No. 25
1994
I know many netters in scn and tnd are actively trying to keep up with Nepal
both for personal interest and professional interest. And no subject is of the
broadest interest as the subject of development and change of Nepal. This
book is of potential interest to all interested in contemporary nepal.
This book has the added relevance of being the most uptodate book on Nepal,
being published in 1994 and includes post-revolution perspectives of 1989-1993
as well recent data of 1991 census and studies done inlate 1980s and early
1990s.
Written by a geographer (karan) and an anthropologist (Ishii), the books
explicit purpose is to "provide and outline of some of the crucial issues
facing the country and to explore how the social sciences can contribute to
their understanding and management".
It is also significant that the book is written by two Western scholars who
have had a long history of introducing Nepal to the West in general. Many in
the English speaking West have got their first glimpse of Nepal from Karan's
widely cited 1960 book, "Nepal: a Physical and Cultural Geography." Karan is
also leading a major, nearly million dollar project to assess environmental
history of the Himalayas for all Himalayan districts for the last 100 years.
This book is, therefore, likely to be a major optic through which the West
both the Whites and japs view Nepal, its problem and its opportunities; this
would likely affect the flow, direction, and quantity of aid that flows into
the country.
The book is organized into 11 chapters. Subjects covered include the Political
Economy and History prior to 1950s and from 1951-1993; Environmental and
Natural Resource Base; Land Use, Forest Cover and Environmental Problems;
Agriculture patterns and problems; Population growth and migration patterns;
cultural patterns including contemporary debates of "Parbate hindu dominance
and influence, urbanism, caste and ethnic groups, education, universalism, and
foreign influences"; Settlement patterns and urbanization; Industrial
development; Transport and trade patterns;Tourism; and Development challenges.
In short, the book is an excellent reference book on a wide variety of of
development issues and database that could be profitably bought for keeps.
In its chapter on "Development Challenges" the authors give away their
ideological stand : moderate liberalism. They conclude for instance that the
development challenges are a) sustainable development and conservation; b)
integrating poverty alleviation in development strategies; c) integrating
population in development planning.
The book is replete with the liberal political philosophy's footprints; the
improvement in government's social welfare delivery system and the control and
mitigation of enviromental and social inequities that result from the march of
capitalism, the State, the development impaerative are championed. The authors
are uptodate on data but have not incorporated some of the theoretical
challenges to the political philosophies of development as a modernization
project and the occlussion of political project of underdevelopment by
concentrating on "tinkering " with minor problems of development and
environment.
Considering that Nepal is 152 among the 173 countries in Human Development
Index after 40 years of development, one must wonder why we do not question
the whole philosophy of development which is the biggest vehicle of social
change in Nepal.
It is also questionaable why the authors fail to adequately problematize one
of the most inequitable societies in the world and the implication of
development aid actually promoting underdevelopment of Nepal throught the
capture of the State by the urban and social elite who belong to the
privileged upper castes of nepal.
If the West continues to follow the political philosophies outlined in ths
book, as it no doubt will, we can expect more social polarization, more
underdevelopment, more unhappiness, and more destruction of Nepal's
environment.
Reviewed by Amulya Tuladhar
Clark university, USA
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To: a10rjs1@cs.niu.edu
From: tilak@maple.circa.ufl.edu
To: Nepal@mp.cs.niu.edu
Subject: Women in Hinduism
Dear Editor,
I would like to express a few thoughts regarding the
articles 'Women in Hinduism' by Mr. Pramod Mishra. It seems he
comes from different Nepal than I come from. I am pretty amazed
by his assessment of women's position in our hindu society. I am
not proposing that there is no problem and every thing is milk
and honey. However I must object to his incoherent and out of
context statements on women's position in our society as pure
nonsense. I would like to challenge Mr. Mishra to walk with me in
different parts of Nepal - Kathmandu, Terai, Pahad etc. and
observe objectively the real situation of women in Nepal, both
good and bad. Let me show Mr. Mishra Nepalese women going about
doing their business, talking, working, laughing, worrying,
singing, querreling, dancing, etc. Let me also show him our
loving sisters, mothers, wives, daughters, and sweet hearts. Let
him show a single cowering, slavish women who are not even
allowed to laugh.
The articles only shows profound ignorance of Mr. Mishra
regarding basic terms like 'Hinduism', 'Hindu society',
'Brahmanism', 'Economic and Political power', etc. It also shows
his lack of understanding the historical evolution of hindu
society as per different internal and external pressures, not to
forget ecological and economic imperatives. We also have to keep
in mind that ours is not a uniform monolithic society but rather
collection of many subgroups with widely different traditions,
values and behavior patterns; not to forget the complexities
arising out of the interaction among such a various groups and
subgroups. Besides we do not have any central authority on our
religious or social issues like churches. Our system works
similar to Adam Smith's unseen hand of market, where many
individual decisions and attitudes slowly creates a social norm.
Thus whom do we blame for obvious problem (or credit for
felicity) ? That is, we have no choice but to isolate a
particular counterproductive strain of social behavior and
correct it (and reinforce the good one), rather than wholesale
condemnation of so called 'Hinduism'.
Another basic mistake Mr. Mishra commits is the confusing
the frame of references. Surely Mr. Mishra would agree with me
that social values in the times of Ramayana is different from
today. In another hand where do you find a society where ideal
condition of perfect equality between gender has achieved (there
are also cases where female gender is decidedly dominant), other
than as a pie in sky. You cannot compare a real social condition
with an imaginary ideal one. It is not to minimize present real
problem or use of ideal as a social goal. In my opnion the effort
should be directed toward recognition and amelioration of
problem, than condemnation of unrelated institution and fostering
hate. Perhaps more healthier approach would be to compare
Nepalese real social condition with other real social condition,
for example social condition in USA. Perhaps we can learn a lot,
how to enhance good and avoid bad behavior, with due respect to
the economic, educational and cultural differences. Perhaps Mr.
Mishra might like to compare the statistics on percentage of
income, education along with divorces, rapes and children out of
wedlock. It is not to criticise the present American society, but
merely to state that a real condition may be compared with
another real condition. Again the definition of so called ideal
condition also may change with time. Perhaps some time in future
there may be a demand for freeing female sexuality out of the
boundary of marriage. If that occurs how would you react Mr.
Mishra ?
An ancient poet wrote 'Women's character and men's destiny
are unpredictable'. So, what do you want to make of it ? Is it a
gospel truth ? God's revelation ? A great hindu Mantra ? Does all
the hindus goes around chanting this sloka ? After all this is
one poet's one expression. From this poetic expression, who says
and how do you conclude - 'She is not human being like man ...
She is mere flesh ... Her character arises out of her sexual
organ ... She is reduced by Hinduism to her meat ...' ? What a
nonsense.
In our culture most of the women in the four days of
menstruation period stays secluded and does not do household
work, sort of a vacation from house work. The reason may have to
do with hygiene or simply associating menstruation as unclean.
But this amazing Mr. Mishra writes 'When our mother has period,
we forget about our mother's sex and her blood ... we declare her
an untouchable, to see her face on such occasions makes our bad
day ...'. In our culture when a young girls gets her first
period, she is kept secluded for about nine to twelve days, where
her female friends will keep her company and they engage in all
kind of games and plays. In the last day she goes through some
religios rites accompanied with a small celebration/feast and
then she returns to her normal life. This system is a marker of
her coming of age. Now on she is no longer a girl but a maiden
fully capable of bearing children. This practice actually helps
her to take a time out and reduce the trauma of her first period
and related physical changes. Her status actually goes up in her
family as now on she will be considered an adult. Now, on this
issue amazing Mr. Mishra writes 'For to see her face would bring
the greatest calamity on earth. The girl, who emerges out of this
trauma never recovers her self-esteem for life, always
considering herself the polluting creature on earth'. Mr. Mishra
deserves Ph.D. for his ability of making a complete nonsense out
of sensible things.
I am not done yet. Rest for next letter.
Thanks and regards. Sincerely yours, Tilak B.Shrestha.
***************************************************************
Date: Sat, 30 Jul 1994 09:20:01 EDT
To: a10rjs1@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Nepal Strengthens fight against drugs with Master Plan
From: dkhanal@nyx10.cs.du.edu ([Master of the Universe])
ELECTRONICALLY REPRODUCED WITH THE PERMISSION FROM:
THE EDITOR
DEPTHNEWS ASIA
P.O. BOX 1843
MANILA
PHILIPPINES.
____________________________________________
NEPAL STRENGTHENS FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS WITH MASTER PLAN
KATHMANDU (Depthnews) (28 JULY 1994) -- Despite the government's efforts to get
rid of
illegal drugs, trafficking in and abuse of these substances, as well as their r
esultant social and
political problems, persist in Nepal.
Shere Bahadur Deupa, Nepal's Home Minister, admits that the problems of drug tr
afficking and
abuse, especially among the young, are difficult to combat.
However, he stressed that this Himalayan Kingdom is determined to solve the pro
blems.
"His Majesty's Gvoernment...is determined to banish illegal narcotic drug traff
icking," Mr.
Deupa said. "Nepal would never be allowed to be used as a transit point for dr
ug trafficking".
But he warned that, despite this determination, the task is not going to be eas
y.
"Everything takes time. Results of our actions in this regard will also take t
ime. There is no
other way you can prevent people from abusing drugs other than by creating soci
al awareness
about this malaise affecting us," the minister said.
Towards this goal, the country is implementing a Master Plan to fight the drug
menace. "The
objective of the Master Plan is to control and subsequently reduce the disrupti
ve effects on
individuals, families and communities and the social fabric of society caused b
y drug abuse and
criminal activites connected with illicit trafficking in drugs," according to J
errold Berke, former
resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in N
epal.
The UNDP helped in the preparation of the Master Plan and the detailed action p
lan. UN
officials here said the UN Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), which is the lead UN
organization in dealing with the drug problem, is supporting the Master Plan ov
er the next five
years to strengthen administration, eliminate illicit cultivation and productio
n of drugs, and
expand treatment and rehabilitation services.
"There are two major components of the Master Plan," explains Sri Kant Regmi, s
pokesman for
the Nepal's Home Ministry. "One is to control supply by improving law enforcem
ent and legal
assistance, and the second is demand reduction by strengthening treatment and r
ehabilitation
facilities."
Under an agreement signed July 9, 1992, UNDCP provided US$977,000. Of this amo
unt,
$534,000 went into the formulation and implementation of the Master Plan while
US$443 was
allocated for rehabilitation facilities."
The Home Ministry distrubuted funds to 13 non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
for
programmes aimed at reducing demand. But Kathmandu's vernacular weeklies charg
ed that the
funds were made available for political purposes rather than for drug-related a
ctivities.
Although Ministry officials have denied the charge, they do not seem to have an
y idea how the
NGOs which received government funds spent the money. It was also reported tha
t 10 of the 13
NGOs that received state funds had not even renewed their official registration
at the time tey
received the grant.
One critic said charlatans and self-seekers had made great inroads into the are
a of anti-drug
activities in Nepal while government has not taken any step to meet the needs o
f individual drug
addicts.
"Our current needs are not fiscal but moral", argues Father Thomas E. Gafney, a
Nepali Jesuit
who has devoted himself to the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts. "
The troubled
individuals who are the proper objects of these dubious activites are simply di
sregarded. Who
will deliver us from these injustices?" asks Father Gafney who also runs the Fr
eedom Centre, a
residential treatment centre for troubled drug users in Lalitpur near Kathmandu
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