Received: from mp.cs.niu.edu (mp.cs.niu.edu [131.156.1.2]) by library.wustl.edu (8.6.9/8.6.9) with SMTP id PAA08083 for <huestis@library.wustl.edu>; Tue, 22 Nov 1994 15:06:38 -0600 Received: by mp.cs.niu.edu id AA25337 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for nepal-dist); Tue, 22 Nov 1994 11:55:53 -0600 Received: by mp.cs.niu.edu id AA25333 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for nepal-list); Tue, 22 Nov 1994 11:55:51 -0600 Date: Tue, 22 Nov 1994 11:55:51 -0600 Message-Id: <199411221755.AA25333@mp.cs.niu.edu> Reply-To: The Nepal Digest <NEPAL@cs.niu.edu> From: The Editor <nepal-request@cs.niu.edu> Sender: "Rajpal J. Singh" <A10RJS1@cs.niu.edu> Subject: The Nepal Digest - Nov 23, 1994 (7 Manghir 2051 BkSm) To: <NEPAL@cs.niu.edu> Content-Type: text Content-Length: 56220 Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 59
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The Nepal Digest Wednesday 23 Nov 94: Mangshir 7 2051 BkSm Volume 33 Issue 16
Election FLASH !
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* TND Board of Staff *
* ------------------ *
* Editor/Co-ordinator: Rajpal J. Singh a10rjs1@mp.cs.niu.edu *
* SCN Correspondent: Rajesh B. Shrestha rshresth@black.clarku.edu *
* Editing Editor: Padam P. Sharma sharma@plains.nodak.edu *
* Discussion Moderator: Ashutosh Tiwari tiwari@husc.harvard.edu *
* Looking For Correspondent: Sudeep Acharya sa01@engr.uark.edu *
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* +++++ Food For Thought +++++ *
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**********************************************************************
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 1994 18:12:23 EST
To: nepal-request@cs.niu.edu
From: DHRUBAS@aol.com
Subject: THE NEPAL DIGEST
TO,
EDITOR/CO-ORDINATOR MR. RAJPAL SINGH
THE NEPAL DIGEST.
NAMASKAR !
All Nepali living in US including me know that you guys are doing wonderful
job, for that, I salute you.
I hooked-up AOL just couple weeks ago. I would really appreciate if
you could put my number in your list for The Nepal Digest. My E-Mail number
is DHRUBAS@AOL.COM I hope you don't mind introducing my self. My name is
Dhruba Shrestha. I'm Ultrasould Tech. Married and three kids. My wife name is
ANITA(registered nurse), ROBIN(11), KEVIN(7) and, ANGELA(6).
I'm living here in Michigan since 1983. My address is 3535 wheeler road, BAY
CITY, MI 48706. Phone# 517 684 8314.
Thanks again.
Yours,
Dhruba Shrestha
**********************************************************************
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 17:53:14 -0600 (CST)
From: SUDEEP ACHARYA <sa01@ineg2.engr.uark.edu>
Subject: How about some critique on St. Xaviers??
To: The Nepal Digest <NEPAL@cs.niu.edu>
After hearing all the critic(crap) about the school I graduated from,
that is of course Budhanilkantha, how about some critique on those ST. schools?
Can we justify the christian influence they put on the students and others
alike, for some good education?? I know the students from these schools might
not have felt any pressure to become christians, but I bet they get some
influence.
Education is vital for every citizen of Nepal. I have nothing against St.
Xavier or St. Marys school, they are giving a chance to a lot
of young people. Budhanilkantha is doing the same, it is competitive and
produces very worthy students. There would be lot less students from poor
families studying abroad if Budhanilkantha was nonexistant. The expenses
beared by Budhanilkantha might be high but the product it's producing is
of high quality too. Budhanilkantha is a window of oppurtunity to
students from poor families, so it's worth keeping it.
Sudeep
********************************************************************************
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 1994 18:50:57 EST
To: The Nepal digest Editor <nepal-request@cs.niu.edu>
From: "Pramod K. Mishra" <pkm@acpub.duke.edu>
Subject: Congratulations and Condolences!
Dear Editor,
I must congratulate at this great moment to all Nepalis and well-wishers
of Nepal who supported explicitly or implicitly the left lead (can we
call it a victory yet?) in Nepal's mid-term polls. The outcome of this
election demonstrates that people of Nepal, no matter how illiterate, how
ignorant, how deprived of modern means of communication, have the guts to
be different, to assert their independence, and to show the world,
particularly the Western world of ease and luxury, that they know the
issues as clearly as daylight but the members of the Western media and
some of their experts do but little understand the hardship of the poor,
and their wish to get out of this agony of poverty, in many parts of the
world--in spite of the drama of foreign aids played in their soil for these
many years. Otherwise, the media in the Western world would not have shown
the kind of surprise and misgiving they did as the UML lead began to come
out in the world media network.
Now, at this time when Nepal needs the support of the West more
than ever in fixing its myriad problems--poverty, illiteracy,
deteriorated environment, town planning, agricultural reform, building of
roads and other means of communication, developing energy sources--we
first of all must respect the sovereignty of the Nepali people who
have chosen the leftist forces to lead them out of poverty. And
they should also understand that the victory of the left parties does not
mean the world is coming to an end and that all aspirations for democracry
will be quashed in Nepal.
On the contrary, as the leaders of the UML have time and again asserted
and as their election manifestoes clearly announce, this potential
victory has given the left forces in Nepal a challenge they had never had
before to prove what they have been preaching so far--that they are the
sincere, honest, dedicated, committed, unflinching workers devoted to
the upliftment of the Nepali people and society while maintaining all
features of radical democracy. I in fact fear that the challenge is too
tall and the mandate is not so clear to meet the challenge. I am also
afraid now that internal personal squabbles may irrupt and mar realizing the
dedication, now that they are close to power. But let us hope and pray
that personal interests of the leaders won't come in the way of serving
the people.
Many observers and some diplomats have expressed reservations
about the hardliners within the ranks of the UML who may disrupt and
pull the party to take drastic steps to curb democractic freedoms.
I would argue just the opposite. I would say that these
hardliners would function as watchdogs so the more personally ambitiious
members of the party will not devote their energy in fulfilling personal
ambitions and goals, forgetting the plight of the
people.
And as far as enforcing free market system is concerned, Nepal
has always had free market. We always washed our bodies in Lux and
Lifbuoy soaps, listened to Panasonic radio, wore proudly on our wrists
Seiko watches, wrote with Chinese pens when we grew past the bamboo twig,
hid our heads under Chinese and Indian umbrellas, rode Raleigh bicycles,
and wore Bata and Shanghai made shoes--and our women flaunted Benarasi
silk and Japanese siphon and jorjette saris. The only thing we never did
was use anything Nepali--except sometimes eating Gundruk. Even those
industries that were established in Nepal in recent years--like soap,
jute, cothes, and what have you--most of the workers, materials, factory
owners came from elsewhere and took the money elsewhere. Even some
Nepalis in recent years began to keep their capital (I wouldn't use the
word "loot" here) elsewhere, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and India, to name
only the three places. Nepal was used only as a license, a paper work,
and hunger raged more than ever in the bodies of my villagers, two-third
of whom could eat rice, salt, and boiled vegetable to their fill only during
the harvesting season, four months a year. So there is free market and
then there is free market. Even Adam Smith, in whose name free market is
worshipped as a sacred god, would have been horrified to see what goes in
the name of free market in our times. Adam Smith surely meant that free
market would bring absolute economic equality if enforced with complete
honesty and without constraints; he believed in the free movement of
labor and capital. Many of the conditions he laid down don't exist
anymore in our modern times. Or if they exist, they do so for the wrong
reasons. If you don't believe me, please read Noam Chomsky, and,
like any other theory or book, take what he says with a grain of salt.
So let us not pronounce judgements on Nepali people sitting in our
air-conditioned, centrally heated television-fitted rooms or lying in our
hot-water bath tubs. Let us respect the wishes and judgements of the
people of Nepal. After all, it was they who gave their blood in the
streets of Kathmandu and elsewhere in 1990; democracy did not come on a
platter for the people of Nepal as a gift from CBS, the BBC, or anywhere
else, although most of us did wish for it and offered our good wishes.
And here I offer my sympathies and condolences who supported the
Congress Party and hoped for a Congress government to come to power. It's
difficult to say why some one supports one party; someone else another.
Many would say it is class interest or personal interest. But the reasons
seem to me a little more complex than that. Whatever the reason, I offer my
sympathies to those who feel defeated. I ask them not to bang their
heads on the walls too much, for they have a more interesting job to do
now--to wait like a cat for any mistake, any loophole in the UML policies
and jump on it, hungry and ferocious. And of course they have their
chance in the next election again. So why moan and frett; why not get on
with life. And those who supported the Congress Party but hated Mr.
Girija Koirala, their bag is a mix of pleasure and pain. I offer them
both congratulations and condolence.
But I offer nothing to those who supported Ratirya Prajatantra
Party. Literally, the name means National Demecratic party. Does it
ring ay bell? Well, Hitler's Nazi party had the same name, hadn't it?
Maybe "Socialist" also figured somewhere there. But my problem is not
in terminology. My problem lies in this party's use of the
name of the Palace and the King. Every time someone mentions this party,
the Palace or the King is invoked, which is not fair. At this point,
both the Palace and the King belong to all the parties; every party has
affirmed the role of the Monarchy in the life the Nepal. Now if one
party tries to cash in on the Palace, the Palace should repudiate this
spurious opportunist allegiance and assert its neutral ground in order to
endear itself to all--red, white, and black.
So, folks, rejoice, moan, and talk. Please don't jump out the
window nor go mad with glee.
********************************************************************
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 1994 22:23:06
To: a10rjs1@cs.niu.edu
From: himalaya@ronast.ernet.in
Subject: Parliamentary Polls Results
10:01PM 11/19/94
Dear Mr. Singh,
The latest outcomes and analysis are as follows. Maybe of the interest of those
who cares about Nepal.
With best regards,
ATTN.: MR. M.K. RAZDAN, PTI, NEW DELHI, INDIA
FROM: SICHENDRA BISTA, KATHMANDU, NEPAL
NEPAL ELECTIONS - CPN-UML LEADING
KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 19: WITH THE RESULTS IN 177 PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCIES DE
CLARED BY THIS AFTERNOON, THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF NEPAL (UNITED MARXIST LENINST)
MAINTAINS ITS LEAD, CAPTURING 84 OUT OF 205-SEAT NEPALESE PARLIAMENT, SO FAR.
THE RUNNERS UP ARE THE RULING NEPALI CONGRESS PARTY WHICH BAGGED 63 SEATS AND T
HE PRO-PALACE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY WITH ITS VICTORY IN 17 CONSTITUENCIES.
ING VIRTUAL LEANINGS TOWARDS LEFTIST, RIGHTIST OR CENTRIST POLITICAL GROUPS.
OUT OF THE TWELVE CONSTITUENCIES WHERE THE VOTE COUNT IS CONTINUING, AS THE ELE
CTION COMMISSION SAID, THE GOVERNING PARTY IS ON THE LEAD IN TWO PLACES, CPN-UM
L IN THREE, NDP IN TWO AND NSP IN ONE.
THE COMMISSION ALSO ADMITTED THAT THE ELECTIONS WERE REPEATED IN 18 POLLING CEN
TRES ON SATURDAY AND THE PRELIMINARY RESULTS IN THOSE PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENC
IES WOULD BE FLASHED OUT BY THIS EVENING.
NOTABLY, THE ELECTION COMMISSION ON TUESDAY CANCELLED THE ELECTIONS IN 81 POLLI
NG STATIONS IN 39 CONSTITUENCIES OF 22 DISTRICTS DUE TO VIOLENCE. END ITEM+
ATTN.: MR. M.K. RAZDAN, PTI, NEW DELHI, INDIA
FROM: SICHENDRA BISTA, KATHMANDU, NEPAL
PARLIAMENTARY POLLS RESULTS
PN-UML NOR THE RULING NEPALI CONGRESS PARTY (NC) ARE LIKELY TO ACQUIRE ADEQUATE
SEATS FOR MATERIALISATION OF A SINGLE-PARTY GOVERNMENT.
IT IS NOTEWORTHY THAT A SIMPLE MAJORITY OF 103 SEATS IN THE 205-SEAT PARLIAMENT
IS REQUIRED TO FORM A GOVERNMENT OF ITS OWN OR TO OPT FOR A COALITION GOVERNME
NT, OTHERWISE.
NDS WITH NC, NSP AND NDP AT ANY COST ASIDE FROM DEMOCRATIC GROUPS.
EXCEPT NPLP, THERE IS NO OTHER PARTIES WHICH WON SEATS IN THE CURRENT PARLIAMEN
TARY POLLS AND THE CPN-UML CONSIDERS AS DEMOCRATIC ONES, NEPALESE PEOPLE ARE CU
RIOUS HOW CPN-UML COULD MANAGE THE DEAL OF FORMING A COALITION GOVERNMENT.
CIPLES OF COMMUNISM.
YMITY) TOLD PTI.
IF NEPALS TWO LEADING POLITICAL FORCES (CPN-UML AND NC), THOUGH UNLIKELY, HAPPE
NS TO JOINTLY FORM NEW GOVERNMENT, THIS HIMALAYAN KINGDOM WILL BE THROWN TO CHA
OS IN THE ABSENCE OF A STRONG OPPOSITION, A POLITICAL ANALYST SAID.
POLITICAL PUNDITS ALSO SPECULATED THAT THE COUNTRY WOULD FACE A FINANCIAL AND P
OLITICAL DISASTER IF NO ONE COULD FORM A GOVERNMENT AND THE COUNTRY HAD TO GO T
O THE POLLS ONCE AGAIN.
THE ELECTIONS RESULTS OF ALL 205 CONSTITUENCIES WILL BE DECLARED BY THE EARLY H
ALF OF NEXT WEEK, ACCORDING TO THE ELECTION COMMISSION. END ITEM+
CPN-UML GOVERNMENT AND INDIA
EN OUR TWO BROTHERLY COUNTRIES HAS NOT BEEN RECAPITULATED FOR SOME FIVE DECADES
.
CPN-UML CHAIRMAN MR. MANAMOHAN ADHIKARI WHO HAS ALSO BAGGED TWO SEATS IN KATHMA
NDU IN THE PARLIAMENTARY POLLS MADE THE REMARK IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW TO PTI
AT THE PARTYS CENTRAL OFFICE AT BAGBAZAR THIS NOON.
LE BEARDED COMMUNIST FREEDOM FIGHTER WHO IS RUMOURED AS NEPALS FUTURE PRIME MIN
ISTER.
L TO NATIONAL DIGNITY AND SENTIMENT.
THER.
RE, MR ADHIKARI RESPONDED WHEN ASKED HOW HIS PLANNED TO SOLVE THE TANAKPUR ISSU
E, POSING AS A BONE OF CONTENTION IN THE INDO-NEPAL TIES.
REPLYING A QUERY HOW HIS GOVERNMENTS FOREIGN POLICY LOOK LIKE, HE SAID THAT WOU
LD BE INDEPENDENT OF IDEOLOGIES, NON-ALIGNED AND BASED ON THE FIVE PRINCIPLES O
F PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE.
THE HEAD OF THE LARGEST COMMUNIST PARTY IN NEPAL DENIED THE GENERAL APRREHENSIO
N THAT THE COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT WOULD HAVE LEANING TOWARDS NEPALS NORTHERN NEIG
HBOUR CHINA, THE BIGGEST COMMUNIST COUNTRY.
RATION OF DEMOCRACY WITH ACTIVE PARTICIPATION OF COMMUNIST FORCES IN THIS HIMAL
AYAN KINGDOM. ISNT IT NOW THEIR DUTY TO CONTINUE THEIR ASSISTANCE TO A COMMUNIS
T GOVERNMENT, CAME TO THE POWER THROUGH BALLOTS?
MORE/PAGE TWO
PAGE TWO/CPN-UML & INDIA/ NOV. 20/ SICHENDRA BISTA/ KATHMANDU/NEPAL
A POWERFUL COMMISSION WILL BE CONSTITUTED TO PROBE INTO THE CORRUPTION AND COMM
ISSION-RELATED CASES IN THE GIRIJA REGIME AS WELL AS IN THE 30 DARK YEARS OF PA
RTYLESS PANCHAYAT REGIME AND THE CONVICTED WILL BE PUT BEHIND THE BAR, HE INFOR
MED.
ZA WHO IS A CLOSE RELATIVE OF FORMER INDIAN PRIME MINISTER MR. CHANDRA SEKHAR.
AIN LEAD FOR THE FIFTH CONSEQUETIVE DAYS.
SO FAR, CPN-UML BAGGED 85 SEATS, NC 74, THE PRO-PALACE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PART
Y(NDP) TWENTY, LEFTIST NEPAL PEASANTS AND LABOURERS PARTY FOUR, ETHNIC NEPAL SA
DBHAVANA PARTY THREE AND INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES SIX.
TALKING TO PTI, MR. ADHIKARI HAS EXPRESSED HIS WILLINGNESS TO FORM A COALITION
GOVERNMENT JOINTLY WITH LEFTIST FORCES AND DEMOCRATIC-MINDED CONGRESSITES IN CA
SE HIS PARTY COULD NOT MUSTER A SIMPLE MAJORITY OF 103 SEATS.
HOWEVER, HE IS OPTIMISTICALLY AWAITING THE RESULTS OF ALL 205 CONSTITUENCIES WH
ETHER HIS PARTY COULD CAPTURE ADEQUATE SEATS, REQUIRED TO FORM A GOVERNMENT ON
ITS OWN.
RY PROVISIONS IN THEIR MANIFESTO AND ASSURERED NPLP OF PROGRESSIVE CHANGES FOLL
OWING THE FORMATION OF CPN-UML LED COALITION GOVERNMENT.
WE ARE WILLING TO SUPPORT PROGRESSIVE PARTIES TO FORM A GOVERNMENT, BUT WE WILL
NOT HOLD ANY POSTS IN THE GOVERNMENT, HE MADE CLEAR.
SEVERAL TIMES IN THE PAST.
HE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (UPPER HOUSE) MR. MADHAV KUMAR NEPAL FOR NOT ALLOWING MR.
KOIRALA TO REGAIN POWER.
MORE/PAGE THREE
PAGE THREE/ CPN-UML & INDIA/ NOV. 20/ SICHENDRA BISTA/ KATHMANDU/ NEPAL
WHEN ASKED WHETHER THE MERGER BETWEEN ANTI-KOIRALA NC WINNERS AND CPN-UML WAS T
HEORITICALLY POSSIBLE.
IONARY FORCES.
NEVERTHELESS, MR. NEPAL FIRMLY BELIEVES THAT CPN-UML WOULD FORM ITS OWN GOVERNM
ENT BECAUSE HIS PARTYS ELECTORAL MOTTO THAT READ, CPN-UMLS NEXT GOVERNMENT WAS
COINED FOLLOWING ADEQUATE HOMEWORK.
HE ALSO HINTED THAT THE CPN-UML MIGHT JOINTLY FORM A COALITION GOVERNMENT WITH
THE CURRENTLY GOVERNING PARTY, NC IF THEY CANNOT WORK OUT WITH OTHER POLITICAL
FORCES.
PARLIAMENTARY POLLS WERE HELD COMMENDABLY IN SPITE OF MULTIPLICITY OF PROBLEMS
INCLUDING RESOURCE CONSTRAINTS THAT THE ELECTION COMMISSION WAS FACING.
ELECTORAL LAWS, POLITICAL ACTIVISTS CASTED MULTIPLE VOTES - A FORM OF RIGGING,
HE ADMITTED HIS FEELINGS.
OLIDATION OF DEMOCRACY IN THE COUNTRY. END ITEM+
*******************************************************************
To: nepal-request <nepal-request@cs.niu.edu>
From: WAGLE@VAX.LSE.AC.UK
Subject: Discussing education in Nepal.
To: WAGLE
Subj: Re: A personal reply "straight to you"
From: Ashutosh Tiwari <tiwari@edu.harvard.husc>
Swarnim,
Thank you for your e-mail. I regret that we have substantially digressed
from the issue that had been the starting point of the discussion, that
is, how should Nepal government allocate education aid to get more
productive manpower.
Somebody else on the net brought up the point about BKS, and there were a
few BKS grads defending their school on, what I thought, purely Pavlovian
grounds. Larger issue at hand was what to do with foreign aid that comes for
secondary school education.
I had disagreed with BKS's govt. financing on grounds that the govt.
can deliver education to more people by making effective use of the
resources that go solely to BKS. In a country where 2 out of 3 people
fail the SLC every year, and thereby create a drag on the economy, among
other educational failures and mismanagement, yes, I would argue, there are
OTHER and more important issues that the government must be worried
about than funding one school in Kathmandu.
I wanted to address these larger questions of public policy so on . . .
and BKS was only a vehicle to move the discussion forward. I would be
disappointed if intelligent friends like you thought that the whole
SERIES of discussions centered ONLY as attacks on BKS.
You say that there should be smaller BKSes all over the country. I ask:
what kind of education for what kind of people? First, we have to define
those parameters. After all, not everybody will or
even should go off to LSE or Harvard. For most Nepalis, all they
need is a set of [vocational] skills that they can apply directly to the
now-growing marketplace and make a living. The question is: Is the
educational system that is in place in Nepal allows them to do EVEN that?
No.
Think, for example, why do you think there are so many Indian laborers
in Nepal? For better or worse, these Indians COME with a set of skills, and
use them to their advantage in the Nepali marketplace. Nepalis simply
cannot compete with these Indians. Now, instead of bashing these Indians,
one public-policy way to reduce this problem would
be to EQUIP Nepalis with marketable skills at schools. . .
In fact, I would even say why not
turn high schools into some sort of "community colleges" where skills such as
plumbing, carpentry, and so on can be taught WELL? In other words, give
people skills so that they can manage their own lives later. Else, by
teaching hugely irrelevant SLC stuff, we run, and have been running, the
risk of turning out graduates who are virtually unemployable.
To be sure, Naya Sickcha Yojana tried to do that in mid-70s. But their
vocational programs failed in part because they did not allow the economy
to exapand. Even for skilled laborers, there were no jobs . . . But NOW the
situation has changed, now the economy is MORE open, and now is the time
to make sure Nepalis have skills to run their own business or participate
more effectively in the marketplace. But is the government doing anything
about these? No. Should that be a matter of concern for you and me? Yes.
I am alarmed by the dangerous, misplaced and ultimately COSTLY elitism
that is strangling the Nepali educational policies. Witness, for example,
there are now THREE
medical colleges but NO place to teach public health, which is of primary
importance. Witness the rate at which the govt.is spending money on
television when that pot of money could be used to reach and influence MORE
people by radio [through regional programming and so on] and examples abound
everywhere. Consider, for example, the money spent on Sanskrit University
when the whole university could have been propped up as a Sanskrit
Department under TU in Dang. And there are many other examples.
Broadly, the question is should Nepal try to catch up with the
west, or should it develop at its own pace while FULLY utilizing its
resoures and manpower? What is our citizens' comparative advantage
vis-a-vis their counterparts in India? A good
educational system allows MORE people to benefit frm their talents while
sharpening skills. . .
All said and done, at the end of the day, the fate of Nepal is determined,
not by you and me with our fancy education from Harvard and LSE, but by
toiling millions who have become the PASSIVE poor as opposed to active
citizens. And EFFECTIVE education, I would argue, is the MOST EFFECTIVE
social equalizer that Nepal curretly posseses, and rather than create a
"eduational hierarchy" that schools like BKS promote with taxpayers'
money, education money could be used to deliver the maximum to the
maximum number of people WHILE the expanding the economy.
Thank you,
ashu.
please feel free to share your thoughts on this, or even post this on SCN
or TND.
Also, Swarnim, could you please have the LSE send me applications for their
graduate school? There's a joint program on economics and
philosophy that I am particularly intrersted in. Brochures and info on
funding would be great.
My address:
37 A Gorham Street
Cambridge, Mass. 02138
USA
By the way, I will be in London for a week in January: hope to meet
you there.
*********************************************************************
To: a10rjs1@cs.niu.edu
From: himalaya@ronast.ernet.in
Subject: News Update
9:11AM 11/21/94
Dear Mr. Singh,
The latest outcomes and news are as follows. Maybe of the interest of those who
cares about Nepal.
With best regards,
ATTN.: MR. M.K. RAZDAN, PTI, NEW DELHI, INDIA
FROM: SICHENDRA BISTA, KATHMANDU, NEPAL
CLIBERS FOUND DEAD
ON THE FOOT OF 6,091 METRES HIGH PISANG PEAK IN WESTERN NEPAL ON SUNDAY.
LATED FOR NOVEMBER 15, ACCORDING TO A GERMAN TOUR GUIDE MR. HUBER FRIELD WHO AC
COMPANIED THE SEARCH TEAM FOR FOUR DAYS.
APART FROM THE HELICOPTER SEARCH FUNDED BY THE DAV SUMMIT CLUB OF GERMANY, TEN
SHERPA GUIDES HAD ALSO CLIMBED UPTO 5,600 METRES TO FIND OUT WHERABOUTS OF THE
MISSING CLIMBERS BUT FAILED DUE TO DENSE CLOUDS.
MR. FRIELD ALSO INFORMED THAT THE BODIES LYING IN A SINGLE HEAP COULD NOT BE BR
OUGHT BACK TO KATHMANDU YESTERDAY DUE TO STRONG WIND AND WOULD BE POSSIBLY RETR
IEVED FROM THE SPOT ON MONDAY.
NCE AND KILLED OWING TO VERTICAL PLUNGE.
THE BODIES OF THE CLIMBERS WERE RECOVERED IN A SINGLE BALL CRYSTALLISED IN A BI
G SNOW BALL, IT IS LEARNT.
E MR. STEFAN HASENKOPF (25), AND MR. HELMUT KLOPPING (47).
MS. CHRISTINE HAMMI (33) AND MR. CHAYAMBA SHERPA (41) ARE THE SWISS AND NEPALES
E CLIBERS WHO SUCCUMBED TO DEATH IN THE DISASTER. END ITEM+
PARLIAMENTARY POLLS
ERS PARTY 4, ETHNIC NEPAL SADBHAVANA PARTY THREE AND INDEPENDENTS SIX.
OUT OF THE TOTAL VOTES CAST IN THE PARLIAMENTARY POLLS, CPN-UML MUSTERED 41.95
PER CENT, NC 37.80, NDP 9.76, NPLP 1.95, NSP 1.46 AND INDEPENDENTS 2.93, THE OF
FICIAL RSS NEWS AGENCY REPORTED.
LIKEWISE, FIFTY EX-PARLIAMENTARIANS INCLUDING 33 OF NC, NINE OF CPN-UML, THREE
OF NSP AND FIVE OF ULTRA NATIONAL UNITED PEOPLES FRONT HAVE ALREADY SUFFERED DE
FEAT IN THE PARLIAMENTARY POLLS. END ITEM+
9:11AM 11/21/94
Dear Mr. Singh,
Attached herein are two items. Maybe of the interest of
those who cares about Nepal.
With best regards,
FROM: SICHENDRA BISTA, KATHMANDU, NEPAL
KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 21: FAILED TO
MUSTER ADEQUATE SEATS IN THE PARLIAMENTARY
POLLS, A HIGH-LEVEL MEETING OF COMMUNIST PARTY
OF NEPAL UNITED MARXIST LENINST (CPN-UML)
ON MONDAY DECIDED TO SEARCH FOR A NATIONAL
CONSENSUS IN A BID TO FORM NEPALS NEW GOVERNMENT.
POLITICAL SOURCES SAID THAT THE CPN-UML
LEADERS HAD ALREADY STARTED DIALOGUES
WITH THE GOVERNING NEPALI CONGRESS
PARTY (NC) AND PRO-MONARCHY NATIONAL
DEMOCRACY PARTY (NDP) HIGH COMMAND
IN AN ENDEVOUR TO CONSTITUTE A COALITION
GOVERNMENT.
BUT, THEY ADDED THAT THE ROUGH
PICTURE OF NEXT GOVERNMENT
WILL COME INTO PUBLIC BY NOVEMBER 23
AFTERNOON FOLLOWING THE DECISIONS OF
THE CENTRAL COMMITTE MEETINGS OF NC
AND RPP, SLATED FOR WEDNESDAY.
SO FAR, CPN-UML MAINTAINED ITS LEAD
WITH ITS VICTORY IN 86 CONSTITUENCIES
OUT OF 199 DECLARED WHILE NC BAGGED
80 SEATS, NDP 20, NPLP FOUR, NSP THREE
AND INDEPENDENTS SIX.
ACCORDING TO ELECTIONS COMMISSION, THE
LARGEST COMMUNIST PARTY IS LEADING IN
TWO PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCIES, THE
PRO-PANCHAYAT NDP IN ONE, LEFTIST NPLP
IN ONE AND INDEPENDENT IN ONE OUT OF
FIVE PLACES WHERE THE VOTE COUNT IS
CONTINUING.
IN A CONSTITUENCY IN MUGU DISTRICT,
THE REPOLLING TOOK PLACE THIS
AFTERNOON AND THE RESULTS OF
THE SIX REMAINING PARLIAMENTARY
CONSTITUENCIES WILL BE DECLARED
BY TOMORROW.
ALTHOUGH THE AGENDA OF THE CPN-UML
CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEETING WHICH
WAS ON-GOING TILL THESE LINES ARE
WRITEEN, WAS NOT DISCLOSED,
IT IS LEARNT THAT THE PARTY HIGH COMMAND
MEETING IS LIKELY TO FINALISE THE SHAPE
OF NEXT GOVERNMENT AND FUTURE
STRATEGIES.
THE MEETING ALSO ACCUSED THE
GOVERNMENT UNDER PRIME MINISTER
GIRIJA PRASAD KOIRALA OF INDULGING
IN ELECTORAL RIGGING AND IRREGULARITIES
IN AT LEAST 30 CONSTITUENCIES AND DECIDED
TO STAGE A PROTEST ON TUESDAY.
EARLIER, CPN-UML GENERAL SECRETARY
MR. MADHAV KUMAR NEPAL TOLD PRESS
REPORTERS THAT HIS PARTY WOULD
GO TO THE COURT AGAINST THE MISUTILISATION
OF STATE RESOURCES
BY THE GOVERNMENT AND OTHER
IRREGULARITIES OF VARIOUS FORMS DURING
THE ELECTIONS. END ITEM+
ATTN.: MR. M.K. RAZDAN, PTI, NEW DELHI, INDIA
FROM: SICHENDRA BISTA, KATHMANDU, NEPAL
KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 21: FOLLOWING THE
DEFEAT OF THE RULING NEPAL CONGRESS PARTY
IN THE PARLIAMENTARY POLLS, NEPALESE PRIME
MINISTER GIRIJA PRASAD KOIRALA ON MONDAY
REQUESTED NEPAL KING BIRENDRA FOR THE
INITIATION OF THE NECESSARY PROCESS TO
CONSTITUTE NEPALS NEW GOVERNMENT.
MR. KOIRALA WHO WAS SUMMONED TO THE
MONARCH THIS EVENING AT THE NARAYANHITI
ROYAL PALACE EXPRESSED HIS WILLINGNESS
TO BE FREE FROM ALL RESPONSIBILITIES AS
A PRIME MINISTER OF THIS HIMALAYAN KINGDOM.
BEFORE HE LEFT FOR THE PALACE, THE OUTGOING
PREMIER ISSUED A PUBLIC STATEMENT, SAYING
THE NEPALI CONGRESS PARTY SERIOUSLY ACCEPTED
THE OUTCOMES OF THE PARLIAMENTARY POLLS AS A
WISH OF THE NEPALESE PEOPLE ALTHOUTH
THE RESULTS WERE UNEXPECTED AND UNPRECEDENTED
TO A PARTY WHICH IS THE BIGGEST POLITICAL FORCE.
HOWEVER, MR. KOIRALA STATED IN THE MESSAGE
TO THE NATION THAT HIS PARTY HAS ACCOPLISHED
TO ACHIEVE THE GOALS THAT THE CURRENTLY
GOVERNING PARTY HAS BEEN STRUGGLING FOR
FIVE DECADES TO CONSOLIDATE MULTI-PARTY
DEMOCRACY THROUGH DECENTRALISED REGIME
WITH PUBLIC FACE.
HE ALSO APPEALED ALL HIS PARTY WORKERS
NOT TO BE DETEREED WITH THE POLLS RESULTS
WHICH WENT AGAINST THE FAVOUR OF THE NEPALI
CONGRESS PARTY AND REQUESTED TO MAKE A
MIND FOR REFORMS AND CORRECTIONS WITHIN
THE PARTY.
WITH RESULTS REMAINED TO BE DECLARED IN SIX
PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCIES OUT OF 205 IN
TOTALITY, COMMUNIST PARTY OF NEPAL UNITED
MARXIST LENINIST CAPTURED 86 SEATS, THE
GOVERNING NEPALI CONGRESS BAGGED 80, THE
PRO-PALACE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY
WON 20 PLACES. LIKEWISE, HARDLINER LEFT
WING NEPAL PEASANTS AND LABOURERS
PARTY BAGGED FOUR SEATS, PRO-INDIA
NEPAL SADBHAVANA PARTY THREE AND
INDPENDENTS SIX.
CONGRATULATING ALL WINNERS, THE OUT-GOING
HEAD OF THE CARETAKER GOVERNMENT HOPED
THAT THE NEW PARLIAMENT WILL BE GUIDED
BY PEACE AND COORDINATION AMONG THE POLITICAL
FORCES.
ACKNOWLEDGING THE CONTIUED COOPERATION
AND ASSISTANCE OF THE FRIENDLY COUNTRIES
AND INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES FOR THE
DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY, MR. KOIRALA
HOPED THAT NEPALS FRIENDS WOULD CONTINUE
THEIR ASSISTANCE IN THE FUTURE TOO
WHICHEVER PARTY CAME INTO POWER.
MEANWHILE, THE PRO-GIRIJA NC ACTIVISTS
ALLEGED THAT THE PUBLIC APPEAL OF SUPREMO
MR. GANESH MAN SINGH IN THE VERY MOUTH OF
THE PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS WAS PRIMARILY
RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEFEAT OF THE NEPALI
CONGRESS PARTY.
IT IS NOTEWORTHY THAT OCTOGENARIAN MR.
SINGH MADE A PUBLIC STATEMENT ON
NOVEMBER 1, 15 DAYS AHEAD OF THE MID-TERM
POLLS, APPEALING TO CAST VOTE AGAINST THE
GIRIJA-BRANDED CANDIDATES AND IN FAVOUR
OF REBEL PARTY CANDIDATES OR THE CO-WORKERS
OF THE MOVEMENT FOR RESTORATION OF DEMOCRACY.
THE FREEDOM FIGHTER WHO IS AILING
FROM A SEVERE HEAD INJURY TERMINATED
HIS 48 YEAR OLD ALIGNMENT WITH THE
NEPALI CONGRESS PARTY IN SEPTEMBER
FOLLOWING A RIFT BETWEEN HIM AND ANOTHER
FACTION LED BY PARTY PRESIDENT MR. KRISHNA
PRASAD BHATTARAI AND PREMIER MR. KOIRALA.
BUT, FOLLOWERS OF MR. SINGH OPINED THE DEFEAT
OF THE RULING PARTY WAS RESULTED FROM THE
MISCALCULATION AND ASSUMPTION OF MR. KOIRALA
THAT THE VICTORY OF A PARTY IN POWER WAS INEVITABLE.
IT IS NOT THE POWER, BUT THE PEOPLE WHO
DECIDES THE FATE OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN
A MULTI-PARTY SYSTEM. THIS IS THE LESSON
THAT MR. KOIRALA HAS TO LEARN,
A REBEL EX-PARLIAMENTARIAN COMMENTED.
END ITEM+
***********************************************************************
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 16:29:00 CST
To: A10RJS1%NIU.BITNET@INTERBIT.UGA.EDU
From: DGURUNG@CLEMSON.EDU
Subject: (Copy) WTN News 94/11/19 02:00 GMT
4. Confident communists look to governing in Nepal
-------------------------------------------------------------------
(Updates election results)
By Nelson Graves
KATHMANDU, Nov 18 (Reuter) - Nepal's Communist Party was on
the verge of victory on Friday in the general election and held
talks with a breakaway faction of the centrist Nepali Congress to
explore forming a coalition government.
Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of the Community Party
Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML), said he met Congress elder
statesman Ganesh Man Singh on Friday morning.
"The talks were very positive and it (a coalition) can go
ahead," Nepal told Reuters in an interview.
The UML general secretary said he still hoped to win a
majority but was preparing the ground for a coalition. "There is no
doubt we will be the single biggest party."
Singh, who spent 15 years in jail during the years of Nepal's
absolute monarchy, broke with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala
earlier this year. He said Congress had become an impotent party of
selfish people and called on members to get rid of "Koirala
brands."
Koirala was later forced to call snap elections when he lost
a parliamentary vote of confidence after a pack of dissidents, some
loyal to Singh, abandoned the prime minister.
With 164 of 205 parliamentary races decided, the UML had won
77 seats compared with 59 for Congress, the outgoing ruling party.
A splinter communist group clinched four races, assuring the
communists of 81 votes -- 22 short of an outright parliamentary
majority, with 41 races left to be decided.
Congress, which had controlled 114 seats in parliament, had
been stung by allegations of corruption, bitter infighting and high
inflation.
Nepal said candidates loyal to Singh were expected to win
20-25 seats, enough to give the communists their first chance ever
to lead the country which for almost all of its history has been
under autocratic rule.
The UML general secretary said the party's chances of winning
an outright majority could be hampered by a "conspiracy hatched in
certain quarters."
He declined to elaborate except to say the Election Commission
was baulking at rescheduling polling in areas where irregularities
had harmed UML candidates' prospects.
"They have not been fair, transparent and clear," he said.
A group of international observers said on Thursday that while
the elections were generally free and fair, there were
irregularities committed mostly by Congress. Polling in 21
constituencies had to be reset for Saturday, delaying results.
Staking out a different position from that of UML president
Man Mohan Adhikary, Nepal said the communists were not against an
alliance with the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), whose key
figures led the country during three decades of partyless rule
dominated by the monarchy.
The RPP had so far won 16 seats, 12 more than in 1991.
The UML general secretary said the country's national
interest, not ideology, would guide the communists' foreign policy,
and it would seek to renegotiate a four-decade-old friendship
treaty with India.
The treaty unnecessarily binds the Himalayan kingdom's
security to India and gives special preferences to citizens of each
other's country, the general secretary said.
He said the UML would overhaul land laws, lowering the limit
on how much can be held and scrapping dual ownership which allows
both an absentee owner and a tenant to claim the soil.
The UML would protect viable local industries from foreign
competition by placing barriers on traded goods and investment, he
said.
It would also not engage in any nationalisations or complete
privatisations, although Nepal did not rule out the partial
sell-off of state-owned firms.
"It will be a mixed economy," the UML leader said. "We will
give complete help to the private sector in the areas of taxation,
interest rates and policy preferences."
**********************************************************************
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 21:37:07 -0500 (EST)
From: Nirmal Ghimirez <NGH42799Q236@DAFFY.MILLERSV.EDU>
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: poem
Believing that everyone some time in life feels desperate and emptY
I am jotting this line of desperation.It is not only you but evryone
feels like that.And more important is that everything in life
is an experience and a process of learning.Influenced a little bit by
Satre and Kirkegaard and their Existentialism I am writing this.Basically
to give and obtain encouragement from everything.
OH! SOCIETY
1 Alone,desperate,frustrated I sit
In nothingness,emptiness,I find myself fit
Surrounded by darkness,and roughness here I am
In vain,in pain,aimless and in void I am
Simple,and small,I prefer but never to be a savage
In harmony,is my deep and long internal voyage
Civilization,is just a vaccum,only a vanity fair
For in essence,nothing is real and fair
death is my friend for it is friendly then life
darkness is my friend for it teaches me what is light
sorrow is my friend for it gives me insight to happiness
Pain is my friend for it teaches me goodness
Open wide open, brains I want
Open, real and true society I want
Seeing this fake,artificial society hurts me
Its narrowness,boundaries and limitedness shatters me.
Thanks. Nirmal
***********************************************************************
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 23:52 EST
From: ATULADHAR@vax.clarku.edu
Subject: for Publication
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Dear Editor:
Since I did not nitice the following article published in the TND, I am
resubmitting for publication, assuming thatypur earlier copy was lost int eh
coputer transfoer protocol, sorry for the typos, using a new comm software!
thnaks
amulya
Sex and Nepali women: a Research Report
---------------------------------------
[The following is an extract of a research report by Elaine Schroeder, who
completed her thesis on "Sexual Behaviour of Chetri-Brahmin Women in Nepal"
for her Masters in Social Work in University of Washington in 1982, Source:
Himalayan Research Bulletin, Monsoon 1982, Vol ii, no. 2 pg.47-54]
Amulya Ratna Tuladhar
Have you wondered if there has been a Kinseyan study of sexual behaviour of
Nepali women? Well, here it is. Based on a study of 226 samples of married
Chetri-Bahun women of Pokhara and kathmandu and in-depth of seven articulate
Chetri-Bahun women as well as participant oberservation over a period of 14
months, Elaine has come out with statistical numbers to underscore her
findings.
Findings:
---------
"sexual behaviiour is always covert. Even moderate displays of affection
between husband and wife are concealed. However, Chetri-Brahmin women freely
discuss in public their opinions about sexual behaviour of others, so long as
only women are present. [This behavioural pattern of high-caste Brahmin-chetri
women by Julia Thompson who studied them for 2.5 years . she found that beauty
parlors are sequestered localities that represent traditional Hindu gender
ideals, where they indulge in ribald jokes while having facials, in Himalayan
Research Bulletin, 1992, 12(1-2):123].
"Women spoke of sex as a marital duty rather than volitional experience. The
fertile wife who denies sexual access to her husband may be replaced by a
co-wife or lose status in the household.
"It is the male who initiates secual contact, either verbally by calling his
wife tohis bed or physically by going to her sleeping place. Chettri-Bahun
women are not socially permitted to be sexually assertative or to indicate
sexual desire. Women are expected to be reticent and naive about sex.
"There are words in Nepali referring to common female sex behaviour which
literally translated mean "log" ("mudha justo?"), "corpse" ("murda justo ?"),
"stone" ("dhunga justo?"). There is not any word in nepali for female orgasm,
{really? I thought Vatsayana 's Kama Sutra and Kok Shastar sexual "all you
wanted to know about Hindu sex did acknowledge the existence of a female
orgasm, could some of our Nepali pundits couter this, could "mokcha" or
"Chirananda" describe a climax?}, although there is a term for vaginal
lubrication which literally translated means "slippery water" ("chiplo,
chiplo?").
"Rural Chetri-Bahun couples apart and rarely have a separate bedroom except
when they are newly married. An increasing number of urban couples are living
in a nuclear family situation and have a private sleeping room, but even then
the wife often sleeps on the floor next to her spouse's bed. Chetri -Bahun
women remain clothed during sex and during childbirth and bathing. Privacy and
clothing restrictions may account for the narrow range of coital positions
reported. The "missionary position" or male superior posture accounts for
themajority of coital connections. Varitions include the female wrapping her
legs around the male ("penchis" or plier position?) while lying beneath him,
and occasionally the female superior position.
"Sexual foreplay is minimal among Chettri and Brahmin married couples,
according to the indirect interview informants. There may be some teasing,
pusing, and smacking on the backside by a husband to his wife before they make
love, especially during the early years of marriage. Other, more explicitly
sexual behaviours which precede or coincide or coincide with intercourse are
few. Kissing, except on the cheek, is rarely practiced by other than highly
educated couples. Breasts are only erotic until they become functinal by
feeding a baby. If any part of the woman's body is caressed, it will probably
be her thighs or buttocks.
"Oral or manual genital stimulation of the female by the male is practically
unheard of among Hindu Nepali {It should be more familiar with the ready
availability of pornographic "adult" films in Kathmandu and Pokhara now.}
Informants said this was because female genitalia is considered unclean, and
even manual stimulation would hve overtones of pollution{ probably a good
thing in the age of aids where "safe sex" brochures in campus health
dispensaries show oral sex with a plastic ceran wrap prophylactic for
protection!}. Some women did admit to manual contact with their partner's
penis, to assist insertion (many virgin males report prematurely ejaculating
between the thighs during the first sex encounter after marriage when they
have no help from their partners in navigating through the labyrinth of 12
meters of gold brocaded saree and equally convulted petticoat and with modern
women, the final panty). Postcoital (i.e after ejaculation by male) behaviour
usually consists of either falling asleep orone of the participants returning
to her or his own bed (so children and in-laws will never know!).
Coital Frequency
-----------------
"The mean coital frequency is 7 times a month (about 2 a week), the median
frequency (not the same as mean) is 4.2 times a month, with the maximum being
30 times a month (holy cow that is every day!). Coital frequency decreaes with
age as follows:
Age group Coital Frequency per month
15-19 9
20-24 9.3
25-29 9.7
30-34 6.8
35-39 4.3
40-44 2.8
45-49 3.3
50-54 1.3
>54 1.1
Mean 7.0
"In Indian Calcutta, mean coital frequency was 6.4 (does that mean Nepali women
are "sexier" than the Bengali women?) while another Indin studyof eastern
Indian villages reported slightly lower frequency of sex and often lower even
than the Muslim.
"Coital frequency also changed with urban and rural, literate/illiterate
variables. It is 9.5 or twice a week for urban Hindu women and half of that in
rural situations; similarly liteate women had sex 9.3 times a month while the
illiterate had half as much.d emi2z fo ain : enta
"The mean monthly coital frequency during the first year was 14.3 (that is
every alternate day.) while the median was 11.6. Sexual intercourse more often
during the first year of marriage than during the later years because the high
sexual expectance is associated with the social pressure for the first child
(to affirm her fertility and not booted out as an inauspicious, sterile one.)accxuaruan was sus
"Agricultural season affects sexual behaviour in rural areas, during teh
busiest agricultural cycles, men and women work in the field all day and are
too exhausted to indulge in sex in the night (does that mean few childrean are
born in march "chait" month which is June/July + 9 months?). Village birth
records show cyclical decline in births during those time of the year which
follow peak agricultural seasons by about 9 months (can any nepali from the
villages confirm or challenge this interesting hypotheses?)
"Women abstain from sex involuntarily when men migrate and voluntarily during
the 3 days of menstruation, the taboo number one, and by frequent visits to
the maita to avoid sex. Women also abstain from sex about 3.4 months before
delivering the baby and after 5.9 months after delivering a baby.
Sexual Feelings
----------------
"The mean DESIRED coital frequency reported was 4.1 times a month, the median
was 1.7 (i.e. half the 226 women inteviewed said they wanted it only twice a
month, woe to the masculinity of Hindu Chetri-Brahman men of
Kathmandu/Pokhara!). The DESIRED coital frequency was far less than the actual
sex (7, which means more than half the time they are NOT enjoying sex at all).
Women in the late twenties wish sex most at 6.2 times a month relative to 9.7
times they have to indulge in it "involutarily"). Urban and literate women
desire sex four times more than rural, illiterate women.
"When women were asked how much they enjoy sex, 36 percent orthe total sample
and answered "never", 46 percent "sometimes", and 18 percent "usualy".
Younger, urban,and literate groups more frequently indicated that they usually
enjoyed sex.
"The reasons given for avoiding or disliking sex was fatigue, fear or
resulting bad breadth (hey there is a toothpaste market,there), fear of
pregnancy, dislike huband's behaviour, and dysmenorrhea. No respondent was
free of complaints about sexual activity. Fatigue was the greatest
distraction, followed by fear of pregnancy.
"Women are generally believed to be incapable of enjoying sex, and almost half
of the women in the sample responded that they never enjoyed sex. Sexual
respnse and enjoyed are culturally determined and some cultures such as Hindu
are not supposed to have women enjoy sex. The given data seem to indicate that
only an infinitesmal number of Hindu Chetri-Brahmin women have orgasm.
Effective and sufficient stimulation is a prerequisite for orgasmic release.
In a cultural context where sex equal coition and where direct clitoral (is
there an Nepali word for clitoris?, will our Nepali medical doctors help us
here?) stimulation is not practiced, few women will be able to respond
orgasmically.
"Women are subject to strong sexual controls from pubescence through old age.
A double standard certainly prevails in the areas of premarital and
extramarital sex, as well as the right to initiate and enjoy conjugal sex.
"In the area of secuality and in other realms of life, the Chetri-Brahmin
woman is placed in a rigidly defined role. The wife who is expected to act
like a stone in bed and show no secual interest is also permitted to
demonstrate autonomy in other apsects of her behaviour. In fact, almost any
expression of personal drive and assertiveness is strongly repoved. In most
aspects of a Chetri-Brahmin woman's lie there are limitations on expression
similar to the ones which exist in the area of sexuality.
Amulya's Postscript:
Julia j Thompson, a Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the
University of Wisconsin, has just studied Hindu high caste Chetr-Brahman women
in kathmandu in the context of post-democratic Nepal after 1990. According to
her findings, "Hindu women continue have socially constrained life but they
use their daily religious activities, fasts, weddings, and filial rites as
social sites of resistance and protest. These protests range from very overt
to very covert. They continue to demonstrate that they are not passively
conforming to although they continue to participate in Hindu ideals of
religious and social rituals.
"Despite this situation, Thompson also found that man and woman also share a
common discourse based on common meanings, mutuality, trust, and balance in
constructing a life history of a high-caste married couple.
"High caste conservative Hindu women in kathmandu are also sites of
interaction for new ideologies in the transition of kathmandu society from a
monarchy to democracy. Like the village water spouts, high class women gather
in beauty parlors where they negotiate new gender roles from their
conservative hindu values to western values such as that espoused by the
Cosmopolitan, phoning their lovers while paying the bills. These multiple
discourses demonstrate that change does not affect culture uniformly even
within class, caste, and gender lines, nor can influence of social change be
predicted.
**********************************************************************
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 23:16:18 -0600
From: sk9999@NebrWesleyan.edu (Sameer Khati)
To: NEPAL@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Visas
I do not necessarily agree with Mr Ghimirez's arguments on the *visa
denial of the US immigration to the students in Kathmandu*. Yes, not all the
students who apply for the visas are accepted by the immigrigation, but
as he has mentioned, I haven't heard of any *qualified* students being
denied for the visa. Before putting forth our criticism on the immigration's
policy on this issue, I think it is important for us to understand the reasons
for visa issue and denials and I don't think if it has anything to do with
Nepal's size. First of all, the *qualified, logical and good*
students (according to the concerned institution's standard),
are generally provided with the scholarships and other financial
assistance from the institutions and, to my knowledge, non of these students
have ever been denied. For the students who come here on self-resources I
don't think economic means should not be considered as the only factor for
issuing the visas if economically qualified was what he meant.
As far has Mr. Ghimirez has complained that *...because our country is
small that he (immigration) is not issuing visas, it seems to be his
monopoly* it just tells me that we Nepalese tend to have less confidence in
what we are. We are definitely small and poor, but if the US immigration
should have any perjudice over this why is that every year the number of
Nepalese students coming to the US increase. Every administration has its
own policy in conducting its duties. It may just be that the Immigration has
to adopt the policies set by its government and when following its policies,
those of us who meet their requirements are accepted and those who don't,
denied.
Mr. Ghimirez's source must have had the bitter experience of being
questioned about his social status by the councellor, but not everyone of us
have to go through all those lengthy processes. I don't think it is one of
the immigration's new policy to harass the applicants, but what I can tell
is that the Nepalese government had recently requested the immigration to
make sure some of requirements are fulfilled by the applicant before issuing
the visa, and among them was proper academic qualifications (10+2),
could be the proper guarantee of the applicant's return to the country fall
under those requirements.
We must also realize the number of applicants the councellor has to go
through in one day, especially in the peak seasons (Jul-Aug, Nov-Dec). And
many of these applicants come without fulfilling some of the basic
requirements, and sometimes with illegal documents. Working in such an
atmosphere, providing the informations on procedures to follow for the next
meeting to the unqualified applicants must have been tiring job for the
councellor. In such situations he could have asked some unneccessary
questions, which I think is natural. After all he is a human being.
In the end I would like to make a comment on Mr. Ghimirez's point that
whether the councellor is misusing his power (position). It is up to the US
government to regulate the inflow of the foreigners into their country and as
the US government employee, the counsellor has every right to deny visas to
someone whom he finds unqualified. I am sure these people at the immigration
pretty much know what they are doing and we don't need to remind them of
their responsibilities. So the easiest solution to Mr. Ghimirez's problem
would be to make all our brothers and sisters and friends at home qualified for
higher education abroad.--------- (* comments appreciated *)
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