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The Nepal Digest Wednesday 5 April 95: Chaitra 22 2051 BkSm Volume 37 Issue 2
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* TND Board of Staff *
* ------------------ *
* Editor/Co-ordinator: Rajpal J. Singh a10rjs1@mp.cs.niu.edu *
* SCN Liaison: Rajesh B. Shrestha rshresth@black.clarku.edu *
* Consultant Editor: Padam P. Sharma sharma@plains.nodak.edu *
* TND Archives: Sohan Panta k945184@atlas.kingston.ac.uk *
* Book Reviews Columns: Pratyoush R. Onta ponta@sas.upenn.edu *
* News Correspondent Rajendra P Shrestha rajendra@dartmouth.edu *
* *
* +++++ Food For Thought +++++ *
* *
* "If you don't stand up for something, you will fall for anything" -Dr. MLK *
* "Democracy perishes among the silent crowd" - Sirdar Khalifa *
* *
******************************************************************************
**********************************************************************
From: adhital@st6000.sct.edu (Arun Dhital)
Subject: Literature.
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 1995 14:16:50 -0500 (EST)
SO FAR!
The moon has already passed
the mountains of far west,
And dews on petals are
about to change to frost.
The sun must be getting
prepared to show its
rosy smile.
My arms are still unfolding,
and the door of my heart
is wide open.
My eyes are eagerly
waitting for your arrival.
Your sweet, passionate smile,
and soothing voice,
I hear but, only when
I close my eyes,
I cant hold you yet,
You are so far far away!!
%%%%%EDITOR'S NOTE: Gautam ji, you can send Nepali Kabita also in the %%%%%
%%%%% "Katha-Kabita" column. %%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
*******************************************************************
Date: 31 Mar 95 15:55:18 EST
From: Rajendra.P.Shrestha@Dartmouth.EDU (Rajendra P. Shrestha)
Subject: today's news
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Taken from VOA Gopher service
****************************
BYLINE=MICHAEL DRUDGE
DATELINE=NEW DELHI
INTRO: ANTI-AMERICAN PROTESTORS HURLED STONES AT A MOTORCADE
CARRYING AMERICAN FIRST LADY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON AS SHE
ARRIVED FRIDAY IN NEPAL. CORRESPONDENT MICHAEL DRUDGE REPORTS
FROM THE V-O-A SOUTH ASIA BUREAU IN NEW DELHI.
TEXT: NEPALESE POLICE SAY THEY HAVE ARRESTED 23 LEFTIST STUDENTS
WHO TRIED TO STONE MRS. CLINTON'S ARMOR-PLATED LIMOSINE AS IT
DROVE IN FROM THE AIRPORT IN KATHMANDU.
JOURNALISTS TRAVELING WITH THE FIRST LADY SAY NONE OF THE ROCKS
HIT THE MOTORCADE AND NO ONE WAS REPORTED INJURED. POLICE
ATTACKED THE DEMONSTRATORS WITH LONG STICKS.
THE DEMONSTRATORS, FROM THE UNITED LEFT FRONT PARTY, CARRIED
SIGNS SAYING "IMPERIALISTS GO HOME."
MRS. CLINTON'S MOTORCADE PROCEEDED WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENT TO A
HEALTH CLINIC.
MRS. CLINTON LATER MET WITH 15 PROMINENT NEPALESE
WOMEN, AND SHE HAD VISITS SCHEDULED WITH KING BIRENDRA AND PRIME
MINISTER MANMOHAN ADHIKARI.
**********************************************************
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 1995 02:54:08 -0500
From: rshresth@black.clarku.edu (RaJesh B. Shrestha)
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Annapurna Circuit
I want to go to Nepal to do a couple months of hiking. I want to do the
Annapurna Circuit and some less known tracks. Does anyone know anything about
other tracks and could anyone give me some information about the seasons and
necessary equipment. I am an experienced Alps/Norway hiker.
Jeroen
**************************************************************************
From: ponta@sas.upenn.edu (Pratyoush R. Onta)
Subject: book review
To: NEPAL@cs.niu.edu (tnd)
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 1995 12:17:47 -0500 (EST)
Book Review
Adrian Sever, Nepal Under the Ranas, Oxford and IBH Publishing Co., New
Delhi, 1993, x + 506 pp., appendices, glossary, bibliography, index, IRs.
950.
This book claims to be "the story of Nepal under the rule of the Rana
family." In part I Sever covers the 100 years between the early
unification schemes of Prithvi Narayan Shah (1740s) and the rise of Jung
Bahadur following a decade of political chaos in Kathmandu (1840s). In
the second part, he describes the Rana regime which lasted between 1846
and 1951, focussing on the important political, administrative and
economic experiments done by the Ranas to preserve, in the main, their
hereditary rule. In the final section, Sever briefly describes the
various political experiments conducted in Nepal during the 1950s in the
name of multi-party democracy and provides his assessment of Rana Nepal.
The eight appendices contain useful information. More than 270
photographs, some of them stunning and most of them claimed to have been
published for the first time, are interspersed with his narrative, and
provide the readers some visual insights into elite Rana lifestyles.
Those new to historical writings on Nepal will find this book to
be the best single narrative available in English about its Rana rulers.
Specialists in modern Nepali history, especially those who are familiar
with the writings of scholars such as Krishna K. Adhikari, Rajesh Gautam,
Asad Husain, M. S. Jain, Tri Ratna Manandhar, Kanchanmoy Mojumdar,
Ramakant, Mahesh C. Regmi, Leo E. Rose, Prem R. Uprety, and John
Whelpton, might appreciate its photos but will find precious little that
is new in this book. Purusottam SJB Rana's 2-volume work in Nepali, Shree
Teenharuko Tatthya Britanta (1990) covers much of the same ground and
provides a better view of the internal intrigues and private lives of the
Ranas.
Just two other comments will suffice. Sever claims in his preface
that his is a "history of peasants as well as prime ministers" and that
his book provides "some small insight into the world of the unnamed,
unsung peasantry of rural Nepal." He adds: "I would like this book to be
thought of as essentially their story" (p. v). These are laudable
sentiments but his excellently produced book, whose narrative itself is
organized around the regnal years of the ten Rana prime ministers, is a
work on elite Rana history. Unless one believes in the historical version
of what supply-side economists call the 'trickle-down theory,' this book,
by no stretch of the imagination, can be described as the story of the
'unsung peasantry of rural Nepal.' While M. C. Regmi's work on economic
history has taught us a great deal about how the extractive policies of
the Ranas impacted the lives of the peasants, a broadly conceived social
history of the Nepali peasants under Rana rule - one that also pays
serious attention to their culture and consciousness and traditions of
protest - is yet to be done.
In his assessment of Rana Nepal, Sever notes that the "record of
the Ranas in the field of national economic development" is tragic but
adds that "the fiscal burden of the Nepalese peasant was probably no worse
than that of the Indian ryot under the British raj" (p. 413). He ends his
book by arguing that a consideration of the positive contributions of Rana
rule especially with respect to Nepal's foreign relations is about due
now. Instead of mentioning it perfunctorily in the concluding paragraph
of his book, this reviewer wishes that he had engaged in a more
substantive analysis of the same. As John Whelpton as recently pointed
out elsewhere, if independence and sovereignty of Nepal are used as a
criterion to assess Rana Nepal, then it must be accepted that Jung Bahadur
and his successors did enough to ensure Nepal's survival as an independent
state during the colonial period.
(The above rewiew was written in October 1993 and published in the Indian
Economic and Social History Review, 1994, vol 31, n. 4, pp. 540-41. In
the 1.5 years since I wrote this review, two things have happened that
need to be noted here. First: We do need to rethink the Rana years in
Nepali history but not necessarily along the lines pointed out by
Whelpton. In my current thinking, I do not give the Ranas too much credit
for Nepal's non-colonial survival during the 19th century.
Second: On SPOTLIGHT of Dec 10, 1993, Mahesh C. Regmi noted how his and
Adrian Sever's minds "think alike" when it comes to certain aspects of
Rana history. Pointing out how Sever had lifted passages from different
parts of his multi-volume corpus, Regmi concluded that they both must have
great minds for their thoughts to have coincided so very much! In plain
words, Regmi accused Sever to have plagiarized from his work when writing
the book, Nepal under the Ranas . Sever responded with a letter in which
he concedes that he has found Regmi's research to be impressive and his
analysis "most convincing," but adds that "Regmi is being a touch too
academically rigorous" when he says that two passages in former's book
appear, word by word, in Regmi's books (SPOTLIGHT, Feb 4, 1994). Sever
says that these passages are from "documents on the public record and
available for anyone to use."
What he fails to tell the readers is that the original of these documents
are in Nepali and that he has used Regmi's translations of them without
giving proper credit. I doubt if he has seen the originals of these and
other unpublished documents whose translations by Regmi have found their
way to his book. In not following the academic norms of citation, Sever
has opened himself to charges of plagiarism. He should have remembered
that he was not writing for a newspaper or a magazine where rules of
reference are considerably less rigorous. He was, after all, writing a
book, described on its jacket, as "a definitive history of modern Nepal."
To my mind the more devastating critique of Sever comes from the
comparison of other passages pointed out by Regmi in his brief note with
Sever's own narrative. For instance, his description of mining on pp.
199-201 of his book is a minimally rephrased selective narration of what
Regmi has written on pp. 130-148 of his An Economic History of Nepal,
1846-1901 (1988). This is similarly true for Sever's discussion of
slavery (pp. 219-21) which has been obtained from pp. 127-28 of Regmi's
Thatched Huts & Stucco Palaces (1978). One is equally likely to find
exact sentences or paraphrases from other works in Sever's book (e.g.
compare Perceval Landon's account of the 1921 hunting trip to the Nepal
terai made by the then Prince of Wales in Nepal (1928) with that given by
Sever). Sever has tried to justify the writing of his book as an attempt
"to promote a greater understanding and an enhanced appreciation of Nepal"
amongst the people of his country, Australia. No justification can be an
excuse for intellectual dishonesty.) End
*******************************************************
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 1995 11:27:38 -0600 (CST)
From: loomin <rd038@aix1.ucok.edu>
To: bulletin nepal <nepal@cs.niu.edu>
Subject: gossip overheard...
Like Amulya, many must have thoght that Nepal would actually stack up arms.
No way! It's her way palying APRIL FOOL. It sure sounds a costly game but
it sure is helluva exciting.
- kunga tshring
****************************************************************
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 1995 12:30:27 -0600 (CST)
From: KUNGA TSHRING <rd038@aix1.ucok.edu>
To: nepal-news bulletin <nepal@cs.niu.edu>
Subject: gossip...sulsoole
overheard top 10 reasons why Nepal's buying thes big guns from Sweden -
10- it'on sale
9- they aren't guns after all
8- in return you buy our carpets
7- we gurkhalis are born for battlefield
6- we have nothing to do except sunbathe
5- takeover sikkim
4- life sucks out here, British army was better
3- imminent breakout of civil war in the capital
2- how appropriate??
1- ..to scare Jigme Sigme's pants off...
***********************************************
From: Dibesh Bikram Karmacharya <ds@cyberspace.org>
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: To the Editor,
I enjoy reading TND. It keeps me in touch with all the developments back
of Nepal. Going to school in Wayne, Nebraska has isolated me from
Nepali community very much. Thanks to TND I can read something about nepal
at least.
The 31 march issue had an article about Nepal's import of anti-
aircraft missiles. Amulya Tuladhar gave different perspectives on why
Nepal should not import them. While all of his reasonings were
justifiable to some extent, I think he has forgotten the fact that
Nepal is a separate Nation and not a part of India or China.
As a nation, our military has both the right and the necessity to be
fully armed. And Mr.Tuladhar probably does not our role in the United
nation. As our military often takes active role in the U.N. they
should be trained with modern weapons. I, as a nepali, has been offended
by this article which potrays nepal as nothing but a toy of India and
China.
All the best to TND. We appreciate your effort in bringing nepali
here together.
Thank you.
Dibesh Bikram Karmacharya.
Wayne State College
Wayne, NE 68787.
*********************************************************
Date: Sat, 01 Apr 1995 17:34:15 -0500 (EST)
From: Jagadish Dawadi <JXD9590@ritvax.isc.rit.edu>
Subject: Re: The Nepal Digest - March 31, 1995 (17 Chaitra 2051 BkSm)
To: The Nepal Digest <NEPAL@cs.niu.edu>
Related to section #7,8 and 9
Namaste Netters!
I would like any of you to help me with the following:
1. I just wanted to know the location of Greater Bosten Nepalse Society's
office in Boston. I was there in Boston, Mass for four days last month visiting
Harvard University, M.I.T, Boston University, as well as other interesting
visiting sites. While my times there, I tried to figure out this office's
location for meeting some Nepalese there, but too bad that I had no idea about
the location of it. I should have found out about this before setting out for
the journey.
2. Now I have F-1 multiple visa and it is expiring on this June 28th. And my
I-20 says that I can stay here in the States until 2000AD. In this situation
do I still need to extend my visa after it expires? If so what will have to
be done?
3. Currently, I am filling in 1410 tax from...and I found that I need a Social
Security # for it. The one I have is issued by my college, RIT not Social
Security Dept. I wonder whether the SS# issued by my college that starts with
three digit nbr 999 can be used on this tax form.
I would be very grateful if anyone could help out with the above. You can
contact me electronically at: jxd9590@rit.edu Thanks in advance.
Dherai Dherai Dhanyabad!!
Jagadish Dawadi
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, New York
***********************************************************************
Date: Sun, 2 Apr 1995 17:45 EST
From: ATULADHAR@vax.clarku.edu
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu, sabez@u.washington.edu, camille@picea.cnr.colostate.edu,
Shadow Boxing in Tribhuvan University: More of the Same...
========================================
The political parties have once again started their shadow boxing in Tribhuvan
University and there is little a Vice-Chancellor can do much about it when
decisons about the rules and strategies of shadow boxing are made withing
political parties outside the ambit of TU.
Just as the pro-multiparty political activists the left and the democrats of
various hues and not a few mandale rightists kept the political stew in
Tribhuvan boiling during the 30 year of panche regime and just as the uml and
the left intelligentsia, both teachers and students and some staff, went out
of their way to cripple the mathema regime, we are now seeing the pro-Congress
supporters in the University shadow boxing with the left to see how much they
can get away with proving that the UML administration cannot deliver the goods
because they will get in the way and how much the public and the power
watchers will buy thier strategy.
The news of TU closing a second day follows news about the Nepal Congress
passing a resolution to bring down the govt next summer, and the pro-democrat
Professors Union, called the Nepal University Teachers union and the students
organization, called the Nepal Vidyarthi Sangh, feel obligated to follow the
Cogress's policy directive, both explicit and implicit. That we have the
pro-congress student union combatting the pro-left student's organization
after the Girija exhorted his supporters to take a militant stand against the
left is no surprise to any political observers. The hopes and stakes of the
pro-congress supporter in TU has been raised by their winning the professor'
union, usually a bell-weather of what the Nepali intelligentsis thinks is the
stronger power that needs to worshipped, as well some key positions withing
the prestigious Student council in the central campus of TU.
One of the purposes of this shadow boxing is to give notice to the UML that
there is a limit to the sweeping change in the administrations from Dean and
Directors to Campus Chiefs from pro-Congress to pro-UML. If the UML feels it
can railroad through we can have more changes in the administration, if
pro-Congress students win enough public support for their disruption, always
in the name of academic advancement rhetoric, of course, we can expect the uml
to take a more modest stands in all of its agenda including those that
threaten the political power of the landed class such as land reforms.
The second purpose of this shadow boxing is to prepare the public for mosre
street-based disruption to create a feeling that uml cannot deliver basic
peace and security. They are already being helped by the far left group of
mashal which have publicised thier Nepal bandh program, something the
pollution weary Kathmanduites perversely look forward to, a day of clean air,
noiseless traffic and free walking around new roads: an environmental holiday.
The forces of destabilization is also helped by news or "natabad in UML
appointments" so all those who expected CHANGE from uml can wail that this is
more of the same, and other avante garde environmentalists can condemn uml for
going ahead with ARun III. The challenge of the petrol pump owners, the petit
buorgeouise, in closing down pumps and massively inconviniencing the city
life, because of the govt's move to demand unadulterated gas (the pump owners
allege that they get adulterated gas from the nepal oil corp, a state entity)
is another shadow boxing to test whether the dissatisfication level is high
enough to guarantee massive rejection of the uml should elections be held next
year.
Amulya Tuladhar
Clark University
usa
***************************************************************
Date: Sun, 2 Apr 1995 19:17:56 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ashutosh Tiwari <tiwari@husc.harvard.edu>
Subject: Gossip and BBC Nepali Sewa
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Recently, Boston's Raju Pradhan and I were in London, as guests of
Swarnim Wagle at the London School of Economics. While there, thanks to
Swarnim's and Joti Giri's great hospitality, we had a marvelous time,
touring all over London on Double Deckers, meeting Nepalis in London and
at Oxford (great bunch of people!), eating at Natraj in London -- the
oldest Nepali restuarant there (good food, especially the momos; but, alas,
no, we did not get to meet Ms. Karishma KC-Manandhar!!) -- guffing about
this and that till the wee hours of the morning, and trying to imitate Joti
Giri's most unforgettable gestures, mannerisms, and passionate river-talks.
[Given Joti's amazing dedication to study the science and the
engineering behind the rivers of Nepal, Raju and I deduced that Joti
must have been an hyperactive fish in the Karnali River in his previous
life! Still, too bad that Joti, being the Japanese chef Joti, does not
believe in Hindu-istic idea of reincarnation!]
Anyway, our stay in London was, as Joti would have put it
more memorably, with his palms knifing across the air: "kya khatara
trip, yaar!"
One highlight included stopping by the Nepali Sewa Studio of the
BBC Radio Service. Folks there -- especially Mr. Khagendra
Nepali and Mr.Rabindra Mishra -- were quite cordial, and expressed
interest in getting news related to Nepalis and Nepal from North
America.
They said that if there's something interesting happening in North
America that could be of interest to Nepali listeners worldwide, they
would like to be informed, so that they can, whenever possible, despatch
their BBC staff to cover the story for transmission. Unfortunately, they
do not have e-mail, but their fax number is as follows: (44) 0171-379-0975.
BBC radio service, as you all know, is very influential in Nepal.
Fax them news from North America, who knows, news about your activities
or community news could be picked up on the air-waves in Lamjung!!
namaste
ashu
***********************************************************
Date: Sun, 2 Apr 1995 20:36:50 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: buying guns to beg for food: Nepal ko gati
From: abhagat@gramps.clarku.edu
The deconstruction of the Royal Nepal Army by Mr.Tuladhar made very intresting
reading - the part about the possible purchase of anti-aircraft guns and its
critical evaluation seems appropriate given the ramifications of an increasing
army budget. Nepal needs to concentrate on pressing issues, stablizing its
to improve the state of its villages, to work towards the redistribution of
its agricultural and arable land resources.
W
While every nation should be concerned with its neighbours, its
physical intergrity et la. A nation like Nepal can be a symbol of peace
and higher moral status. Relations between Nepal and India have
fluctuated between strong and strained but India cannot be said to have
been a physical threat to Nepal. Infact the two countries share a deep
relationship that goes beyond the realm of the often stated essentiallist
stereo-type of India having a big brother attitude. I do not
know of any two countries that allow their populace to freely commute, reside
and make a living in either of the nations without the bureaucratic hassels
of paperwork and the likes of greencards. Our douths and skepticisms on the
motives of countries are often responsible for creating a feeling of needless
ill-will and bitterness. On the other hand I would agree that politics of
be it India or Nepal is not an exercise in puritanical practices. We live in
a higly political world, even an act of a simple putting a message on the net
is has political implications to it. The point that I am trying to make is that
we should not become devoid of "commen sense," in structuring our
political arguements for as I implied earlier they do have "political
implications."
**************************************************************
Date: Sun, 2 Apr 1995 19:13:22 -0800
To: NEPAL@cs.niu.edu
From: bhushan@Tanner.COM (Bhushan Mudbhary)
Subject: Festivals, Fun and Onta
Sir:
In his essay titled,
>Festivals are Fun, But for Whom?
Pratyoush Onta states amongst other things..
1. ... that Festivals aren't infact fun for a whole bunch of people.
2...that upstate NY suburbanites who indulge in an ocassional metaphor or
two make for great openings in long winded academic discussions.
3. ... that he has never met Dr. Sharma, I have, he is in fact my cousin.
So what?
My main problem with an article that I would have otherwised "page downed"
my way through, is Onta's arrogant dissection of the quote attributed to
Dr.Sharma. He takes the good doctor to task, first for calling Kathmandu "a
living muesuem" and subsequently for making the statement that " festivals
bring joy to both the rich and the poor". Shame on Dr. Sharma for not
having agonized enough before making such shocking pronouncements about
dear KTM!!
The only dictionary that I have, defines a muesuem as, " an institution,
building, or room for preserving and exhibiting artistic, historical, or
scientific objects." The adjective "living" in this same dictionary is
defined as "full of vigor; in active operation or use". Gosh, god forbid
Dr. Sharma make the OBVIOUSLY misguided attempt to sell us Kathmandu as a
vigorous, operational and a resplendent exhibit of artistic and historic
objects!
Luckily for us, eagle-eyed Onta saves the day by not buying into such hype.
Kathmandu for him is not just " simply a museum", it's a "complex active
cultural [scene] ..", and "The cities in the valley have a history and
every shrine,temple, palace, and sculpture is marked by time". I dunno ,
sounds like a living museum too me. But then I majored in Physics and
Electrical Engineering, what do I know about juxtaposing "various
representations of a theme within the universe of culture for what it might
teach us about how we construct that universe". Neither did Dr. Sharma, but
Onta skewered him anyway. Hey, no problem, its not like Onta had met the
guy or anything.
With scalp in hand of at least one "long-distance Nepali", Onta proceeds to
disembowl the same. By the way, I don't recall UPENN being a particularly
close commute to Assan. Anyway, in part two, Onta proceeds to dispute Dr.
Sharma's notion that "... the people of Kathmandu are friendly, joyous and
preoccupied with celebration of their ancient culture and festivals."
True. The last part of this quote teeters on the verge of becoming an
innocuous hyperbole. But then, give the man a break, would we rather Dr.
Sharma have used Onta's misgivings about our brethren in KTM, "...gangs of
inebriated & irreverent male youths..". Onta may whine here that I am
taking the previouse quote attributed to him out of context, but he has
done no less with Dr. Sharma's quote. Afterall, for godsake the man was
writing for the newsletter of ANA, hardly a forum for the type of
pessimistic bile that Onta evidently has plenty of!
Sincerely,
Bhushan Mudbhary
***********************************************************************
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 09:22:06 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Kathryn S. March" <ksm8@cornell.edu>
To: NEPAL@cs.niu.edu
Subject: .Cornell-Nepal Study Program
Many of you may already be aware of the new program that Cornell
University and Tribhuvan University have begun. For those who are not, or
who may not know all the details:
The Joint Study Program (Samyukta Adhyayan Karikram) is a pioneering
joint venture between Tribhuvan University and Cornell. It is located at
the Kirtipur campus and offers courses of study for both Nepali and
non-Nepali students. Courses are taught primarily by Tribhuvan University
faculty, with coordination from Cornell, in English and in facilities
immediately adjacent to the teaching blocks at TU.
For the non-Nepali students, the Program offers language study, a
seminar in Contemporary Issues in Nepali Studies, a course on Research
Design and Proposal Writing, and supervised Field Studies (in overnight,
two-week, and one month periods) in both Environmental Studies and Cultural
Studies, as well as a variety of cultural, social and extracurricular
activities at the Program Houses in Kirtipur. Because non-Nepali students
live with Nepali roommates, study with TU faculty, and take part in joint
field research efforts, we feel this Program offers them opportunities not
found in other study programs in Nepal.
For the Nepali students, the Program offers two types of fellowships:
(a) research fellowships to support Masters Thesis research and
supervision, and (b) residential fellowships for room and board in the
Program Houses. Nepali students receive training in English, Research
Design and Proposal Writing, and supervised field research to complement
their regular degree study at Tribhuvan University. Because so many
students are formally enrolled in the courses of study at TU, while so few
actually complete their theses, and because so much of the research at TU
is presently donor-driven, we hope this Program will help more students
complete their theses and allow more faculty to concentrate more fully on
their own teaching and research.
This Joint Program is specifically designed (a) to provide a rich
personal and academic experience in Nepal for non-Nepalis among peers and
at the national university, (b) to help develop research capacities for
both students and faculty at Tribhuvan University, and, overall, (c) to
promote cross-cultural scholarly exchange. Although it is only a small,
new and still experimental program--with plenty of difficulties to
overcome!--it's goals are to benefit both Nepali and non-Nepali
participants mutually and to enhance prospects for joint research and
study.
Nepali participants must be students in good standing at the
Kirtipur campus with interests in studying either cultural diversity or the
environment/ecology. Students receive a certificate of study from Cornell
University as well as their Masters from Tribhuvan University.
Applications for both research fellowships and residential fellowships are
available from the Program House, Naya Bazaar, Kirtipur.
Non-Nepali participants must be first or second year graduate students
in a relevant field OR they may be juniors or seniors with very strong
records and clear motivation for independent study. Study is available for
one semester or one year; students receive fifteen credits of Cornell study
per semester. Most forms of student financial aid (including Foreign Area
Language Fellowships) are applicable. Applications are available from
Cornell Abroad, 474 Uris Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (e-mail
<CUAbroad@cornell.edu>, fax (607) 255-8700, or phone (607) 255-6224).
Please feel free to visit the Program anytime you are in Kathmandu and
encourage your friends and students to do so, too. We look forward to
hearing from you.
Kathryn S. March
Associate Professor of Anthropology,
Women's Studies & Asian Studies
*************************************************************************
Date: 03 Apr 95 10:25:24 EDT
From: Rajendra.P.Shrestha@Dartmouth.EDU (Rajendra P. Shrestha)
Subject: News3/31-4/1
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
March 31
Communist protesters greet Hillary Clinton
Excerpts from AFP, DPA, UPI, The Daily Telegraph and VOA reports
Angry leftist demonstrators chanted ani-US slogans hurled black
flags at US First Lady Hillary Clinton Friday as she arrived for a
three-day visit to Nepal.
At least Nineteen demonstrators were arrested at the airport
following the incident, police said. The flags scattered around the
wife of President Bill Clinton and her daughter Chelsea, but neither
was hurt.
Protestors from the the communist United People's Front (UPF) were
outside Kathmandu airport waving the flags, and banners saying
"Imperialist Yankees go home." They shouted slogans against the US
president and the United States.
As Clinton waved to the crowd while leaving the airport, the bundle
of flags was hurled and police moved in to make the arrests, witnesses
told.
The route taken by her bullet-proof limousine, specially flown in
from the United States, was lined with further groups of angry
demonstrators.
The activists were apparently angry over what they called US
repression of the Peruvian people and the arrest of Abiezmal Guzman
Gonzalo, leader of the Peruvian communist terror group, the Shining
Path.
UPF official Tulsi Humagai said 19 group members arrested were only
waving black flags and shouting slogans and that nothing was thrown.
Among those arrested were All Nepal Women Revolutionary
Organization (ANWRO) chairwoman Hisila Yemi and Secretary General of
the All Nepal Trade Union Federation (ANTUF) Kumar Dahal, Humagi said.
Before the incident, Clinton and her daughter were taken to the
"Very Very Important Persons" (VVIP) lounge at Tribhuvan International
Airport by Queen Aishworya and Princess Shruti at the start of the
third leg of their four-nation south Asian tour.
She was given a lively welcome by Nepalese girls in traditional
costume, and greeted by acting deputy premier Khadga Prasad Sharma
Oli, cabinet members, heads of foreign missions in Nepal and senior
officials.
Clinton's visit is expected to help raise international awareness
of underpriveleged women and children. This has been a major theme of
her South Asian tour.
In a statement, Clinton said the purpose of her two-day visit to
Nepal was "not only to experience the natural beauty of this majestic
country, but also to gain a deeper understanding of its people and its
culture." "Because the status of women and children around the world
is of special concern to me, I hope to learn more about the experience
of those groups in Nepal and to exchange ideas with women leaders
here," she said.
Expectations for her visit are high, with everyone from the
communist government to tour operators saying they hope to benefit.
The last major US political figure to make an official visit to
Nepal was then vice president Spiro Agnew in the early 1970s.
Hillary Clinton visits Clinic
Excerpts from AFP, UPI and Chicago Tribune reports
Visiting U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton visited a clinic in
Kathmandu Friday where women can get a lifesaving little red box to
help protect mothers and children. She visited a maternity health
clinic run by the International Women Volunteer Services at Kalimati
Clinic, where wives of US diplomats, USAID technical experts and
others based in Nepal work as volunteers.
The "safe home delivery kit" - little larger than a pack of
cigarettes - contains a sheet of plastic, a piece of string, a razor
blade and soap for use by Nepalese women who usually give birth at
home. The newborn is placed on the plastic shell, instead of the dirt
floor of the house, the soap is used by the midwife to wash her hands,
the blade to cut the umbilical cord and the sheet of plastic to place
the cord to cut. USAID- Nepal together with the U.N. Children's Fund,
and the U.N. Population Fund funded research for the kit and other
projects.
''This cooperative effort, helped by USAID and supported by the
government and private enterprise is very exciting,'' Mrs. Clinton
said. "Something like this, as we know around the world, can make an
enormous difference if it is available," the first lady said.
''It is very important to immunize children and practice family
planning,'' Mrs. Clinton told three mothers who were visiting the
health facility started 35 years ago and supported by the American
Women of Nepal. ''Family planning is a good idea,'' Shanti Lama told
the first lady. But she confessed she never practiced it.
Mrs. Clinton, whose 12-day tour of South Asia is centered on the
needs of women and children, listened attentively as health experts at
the Kalimati Clinic described the sorry conditions under which
Nepalese mothers often deliver babies.
"All the deliveries are done in unclean situations, and when we say
unclean situations, it is really dirty," said Rukmini Charran
Shrestha, managing director of Maternal & Child Health Product.
The women-owned company was set up to assemble and distribute the
delivery kits, which were developed with support from the Nepali
government, aid from the United States and help from private relief
groups.
Mrs. Clinton said that was just the kind of cooperative effort that
needs to be encouraged around the world.
After the clinic visit, Mrs. Clinton visited Dwarika Villa where
she was accorded a warm welcome and talked on women's issues with
Nepal Communist Party-United Marxist and Leninist (NCP-UML) MP Sahana
Pradhan and local women.
The first lady and Chelsea also visited a handicraft market, where
they were showered with presents -- a yak doll for Chelsea and a black
silk shawl for Hillary. ''This must be a silk-screen print -- my
father was a screen printer,'' the first lady told one of the women at
the market.
Mrs. Clinton also attended a luncheon with leading women.
U.S. First Lady meets PM, King
Excerpts from UPI and AFP reports
U.S. first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Nepal Friday for
a two-day visit and met the country's first Communist prime minister,
who emphasized the need for friendly relations between the nations.
''I explained the pragmatic and democratic policies of the
government. I said we need the help of the United States and friendly
relations were necessary,'' Prime Minister Man Mohan Adhikari told
reporters after his 20-minute meeting with Clinton. ''She was
responsive,'' said Adhikari. Adhikari said he also pressed upon the
wife of the American president the need for U.S. companies to engage
in joint business ventures in Nepal.
Mrs. Clinton met separately with King Birendra and Queen
Aishwarya at the royal palace.
More than two dozen injured in Land Clash
Excerpts from DPA report
More than two dozen people have been injured in clashes between
landowners and squatters in central Nepal's Udayapur district, reports
said Friday.
The reports said the battle erupted Thursday in the town of Bokse,
about 220 kilometres south-east of Kathmandu. It began after a local
landowner tried to evict some 150 squatter families who had allegedly
settled on the land registered in his name. He had reportedly been
trying to evict the families for a long time against their will.
The reports said further that unidentified persons siding with the
landowner then fired on the squatters, resulting in numerous injuries
with four persons said to be seriously wounded. It was not clear what
kinds of weapons were used.
A spokesman from the Nepalese interior ministry told the German
press agency dpa that police used tear gas on the combatants to bring
the situation under control. But reports said the area remained tense
on Friday.
The squatter problem has been plaguing the Himalayan kingdom and
forced the government to set up a high level commission to distribute
land to "genuinely" landless people.
Many people have been posing as landless peasants and have been
occupying public and private territory with little resistance from the
government.
April 1
Clintons go on Wildlife Tour
Excerpts from UPI report
First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and daughter Chelsea got a tour
of exotic plants and animals Saturday during a visit to Nepal's Royal
Chitwan National Park. The Clintons toured the park, home to
endangered Bengal tigers and the one-horned Asian rhino, as part of
their three-day visit to Nepal.
Earlier Saturday, Clinton and her 15-year-old daughter took a brief
walk in the countryside, taking in the mountainous landscape and
terraced fields in the foothills of mountains where farmers eke out a
living in this poor, Himalayan kingdom. They also toured temples and
carved-wood homes in Bhaktapur.
*****************************************************************
Date: Sat, 01 Apr 1995 23:43:56 +0700
To: Nepal Digest <nepal-request@cs.niu.edu>
From: Suman Kumar Manandhar <a94314@cs.ait.ac.th>
Subject: Kidney transplants
Rajesh Shah's selling his kidney for the marriage of his sister is a
tragedy whose foundations lie in the dowry system. India is infamous for
it and we Nepalese better be aware. In Kathmandu marriage celebrations
already look as if they were the once-in-a-lifetime showoffs.
Also, Rajesh Shah being a handcart puller rings a bell in my mind. Have
you read Dominique Lapiere's (check spelling!) book "City of Joy" based
on a Calcutta slum? This book will move your heart. Please do read it
if you have not already. A movie has been made based on the story but
the book will be able to convey more, I think. Yes, there are people in
this world who will cut up people's parts and sell them for profit. It
is very easy to lure a man to sell his bones for IRs 500 if he makes only
a few rupees a day pulling hand-carts.
I know that in Bir Hospital many "thelagada" pullers sell blood. Once
one of my friend's mother was sick. We managed to get one pint of blood from
Red Cross but they said she needs two pints. They said I have to donate one
pint so that they can exchange the right type for her. I agreed. So
while I was donating my blood I casually asked "What happens if a person
needs a few pints of blood but has no one to donate for him or her?" The
attendant said laconically: "Contact me." After a while this man went out
to do something and his collegaue came up to me and said "He will charge you
more .. I can get you some at cheap price ..." I came back sick in my
mind that the bastards are making a business out of it. Incidentally, my
friend's mother passed away and she never needed that blood that I donated
for her. We didn't go back and claim anything. I think they sold my blood.
Suman Kumar Manandhar
a94314@cs.ait.ac.th
******************************************************************
Date: 03 Apr 95 15:26:00 -0400
From: "David Red" <DAVID.RED@DOS.US-STATE.GOV>
Subject: Request for teacher
To: <nepal@cs.niu.edu>
Netters,
Do you or someone you know live in the Washington, DC, area and want to
teach Nepali from time to time. Here at the Foreign Service Institute, we
have a regular teacher, but from time to time we need someone who can help out
and/or substitute. Currently, we anticipate needing someone in August and
probably again in October. This job is not at all full time, but if you have
the permission to work in the US and have some time, please get in contact
with me, and I can give you more information. I am:
David L. Red, Language Training Supervisor
Foreign Service Institute
National Foreign Affairs Training Center
4000 Arlington Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22204
Voice: 703-302-7297
FAX: 703-302-7254
Email: david.red@dos.us-state.gov
I hope to hear from someone soon. Please get in touch if you
are interested. Thanks.
Date: 03 Apr 95 16:48:19 -0400
From: "David Red" <DAVID.RED@DOS.US-STATE.GOV>
Subject: Visas to the US
To Nirmal Ghimirez and others who are interested in the cost of visas. The
cost of visa applications worldwide is now $20.00. It certainly isn't
restricted to Nepal. The US is installing machine readable visa machines in
all posts around the world. The main reason for the new machines and the
machine readable visas is the amount of fraud being committed worldwide. The
US has decided that those that come into the US have to be the ones who bear
the cost. Is it fair? I won't answer that. But be assured that you will be
asked for this money in any embassy or consulate that has the machine readable
visas, and more and more of them are equipped with them.
The other point that many in Nepal made is that if Rs. 1000 is a lot of
money, then probably applying for the visa to the US is a bad idea. You live
here and you know how little $20 is compared to how much Rs. 1000 is for the
average Nepali.
The number for the embassy is 411179 and the fax is 419963. The current
consular officer is Ms. Rekha Arness.
Hope this message clears the air a bit. I want to stress that I am
speaking as someone who knows this information from personal experience and
not as a representative of the Department of State.
David
******************************************************************************
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