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The Nepal Digest Monday 7 August 95: Shrawan 23 2052 BkSm Volume 41 Issue 1
******************************************************************************
* TND Board of Staff *
* ------------------ *
* Editor/Co-ordinator: Rajpal J. Singh a10rjs1@mp.cs.niu.edu *
* TND Archives: Sohan Panta k945184@atlas.kingston.ac.uk *
* SCN Correspondent: Rajesh B. Shrestha rshresth@black.clarku.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 *
* *
******************************************************************************
**********************************************************************
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 16:47:32 -0600
To: NEPAL@cs.niu.edu
From: scmorgan@bowest.awinc.com (R. Scott Morgan)
subscribe
put me on the list for scn!!!
From: Puspa M Joshi <pjoshi@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: Re: A Poem
To: NEPAL@cs.niu.edu
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 19:30:24 -0400 (EDT)
Shree Rajpalji
Namaskar
As per your suggestion, I am mailing my poem which I recited at the ANMA
convention in Columbus. I wrote in Nepali but when I tried to convert the text
to Roman letters I found it very lengthy. So I am posting the English version.
I hope the netters will enjoy it. Thank you.
Puspa Man Joshi
PhD Candidate
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Ph.D. Offense, then a Defense: By: Puspa Joshi
God! I do not want a Ph.D. degree. May 26, 1995
One has to finish so much tough course work,
Then defend the dissertation painfully,
But if having the degree means lowering other people
To raise one's own prestige,
Then I do not want that degree.
Immediately after receiving the certificate,
If I would forget my parents who blessed me for succeess
Or my brothers and sisters who inspired me,
Or my friends who consoled me
Or for no reason, other than this degree I would be tempted
To divorce my beloved wife who has no PhD,
I do not want that certificate.
God! I have always been against the caste system,
But because of this paper chase,
A chance to get a green card makes me believe that
Nepalese with American citizenship and
Those with green cards
Are like brahmins and chhetris (higher castes)
And others including students are similar to
Baishya or Chhudra (lower castes),
I do not want the degree.
God! I do not mean to say that
All educated people are worthless.
If this were true
We would not have an organization like ANMA
Nor an annual convention like this one
which needs the efforts of many to succeed
If this were true I would never have a chance
To recite a poem in front of so many scholars
God! My complaint is not only against the people
Who grasp for more credits than they deserve.
It is also against our academic society that
Unfairly hurts as often as it unfairly helps.
A good example of overcredit:
Usually a person is honored by a community
Only after many months or years of social service
But once someone gets a doctoral degree,
Regardless that the person may detest community service
He or she is automatically offered a place on
Steering committees of social organizations
Examples of inequity:
A PhD candidate who had to quit
Or who is spending a long time on his or her dissertation,
Inspite of all the other degrees he or she has,
The person is offered no sympathy from the community
To the contrary he or she is despised.
Someone might suggest: "Go hang yourself on a chili plant!"
God! Because I am complaining in Nepali in the U.S.A.,
Please do not pretend that you can not understand.
To be honest, I do not mean I do not want a PhD degree.
I am unable to say so too.
You know a person with such a degree is just like a lady
With a dopatta sari (a lady's bright dress).
Thus, I am not going to have other thoughts
Rather, I will spend my time on writing my dissertation
Because I would like to shine too.
Let me tell you my request
If with sweat and luck, I attain my PhD degree
Please! Provide me the honor of a pager from you
Like the one Dr. Baidya has clipped to his side.
Then, like the animals lured by green grasses,
When I am lured by green dollars
And forget my duty to others
The compassion that is life's purpose,
Please! Warn me through that pager that I stray
So that I would never become lost.
******************************************************
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 23:34:10 EST
From: tilak@UFCC.UFL.EDU
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: The Koan
The koan - 'The battle of the left & the right hand'.
(Part I of the IV parts series.)
Tilak B. Shrestha, University of Florida, Summer 1995.
Please allow me to express my humble opinion on this
interesting question 'Is Buddhism a part of Hinduism ?'. This
writing also deals obliquely with the general sentiment of
Hinduism and relations between different sects within Hinduism. I
am not a theologian or a philosopher, so please bear with me for
possible inconsistencies. I would like to keep the subject as an
open discussion and would like to invite questions, comments or
criticisms. Perhaps these kinds of discussions would help us
understand our religious and cultural roots which are often
fundamental to the inner strengths of the human beings. I
strongly believe that the inner strength is the prerequisite for
the progress.
Hinduism:
Hinduism consists of many ways of life, wisdom collected
over the ages, and inquiries into the universal truths. Hinduism
is not a teachings of a particular individual, nor was it started
at a given historical time. It consists of teachings and
observations collected over time immemorial, by countless and
faceless seers and spiritual masters from diverse regions.
Hinduism is not a religion as commonly understood in the
west. The problem has come about because of the meaning of
'religion' as understood in socio-political terminology of Judeo-
christianity. That is why, questions like whether an individual
is a Buddhist or Hindu, or did Hindus oppressed Buddhist or not,
have been raised. Such questions have underlying assumptions that
people can be neatly separated into well defined groups, and that
these groups would invariably struggle for dominance and that
stronger group would oppress the weaker. That paradigm is not
valid to deal with Hinduism. From Hindus' perspective Judaism and
Christianity are not religions but subjective history and
politics. Hinduism has its own problems, but not the above.
Hinduism may be looked into in three different ways.
A. Geography : Hinduism is, by definition, the spiritual
development occurred in the Indian sub-continent. It is a
geographical term, first used by Persians to denote the
religiosity/philosophy of the people living in the banks of river
Sindhu, and by extension the Indian subcontinent. Thus, by
definition, Sikhs, Buddhist, Vaishnavs, Jains, Shaivs etc. are
Hindus. Whereas Muslims, Christians are not. As far as syncretic
religions like Sikhism, and Bahais are concerned; Sikhs are
Hindus, but Bahais are not. Simply because of the geography of
their origin. Within the broad Hindu mainstream, Tibet is also
included. For example, Kailash and Man Sarober, where Lord Shiva
supposed to dwell, are in Tibet.
The Tibetan language and script, along with Tibeto-Burmese
(Mongoloid) languages which comprise most of the Nepali jana
bhashas, are quite close to the Sanskrit and related languages.
In terms of people, Hindus are not a racially homogeneous people.
Hindus consists of all the races, African, Caucasian (?),
Mongoloid. Hinduism consists of the beliefs and the philosophies
coming out of these diverse groups of people. For example, Lord
Pashupati is identified with mongoloid Kiranti people. 'Jhankris'
and temples of 'Banakali Mai' etc. are still staple of the
Nepalese religious map.
The notion that the Vedas are war hymns of barbarians
lacking any spirituality, brought to India by foreign invaders,
is not true. Neither, the myth of Aryan invasion of India from
abroad against cultured Dravidian (original Indians ?) is true.
These are simply misconceptions generated by European scholars
(?) like Max Muller, who see world through the Eurocentric and
biblical perspective. The term 'Arya' simply means cultured or
noble person. Thus, every ancient Indian claims himself or
herself to be an Arya and his or her enemies as Anarya or non
Arya. It is not a racial terms. The different languages and
cultures in different parts of the Indian sub-continents arose
simply due to thousands of years of evolution. The derogatory
terms like Rakshyas or Pishach are the expression of internecine
warfare and politics, not race or religion. Acharya Chatursen
gives the origin of the term 'Rakshyas' as the 'Raksya Sanskriti'
or the 'defence league' formed by ancient south Indian Kings to
protect themselves from north Indian Kings. The term 'Pishach'
originates from 'Nisha char' or 'night invaders'. Apparently
people from North Indian plains were mortally afraid of the
night raids by then Himalayan people. Otherwise both south India
and Himalayas are regular features of ancient Indian literature
where normal commerce occurred and where Rishis would live among
the people. That is, Hindus as people consist of proto Nepalese
or mongoloid people also, and Hinduism as religion consists of
the beliefs and philosophies of the ancient Himalayan people
also.
B. Democratic forum : Another way to look at the Hinduism is
to consider it as the democratic forum for spiritual teachings.
As democracy, Hinduism does not propose any particular set of
doctrine, but consists of many competing beliefs and
philosophies. They are called sects. A particular sect might
claim to have a certain advantage over other sects or may
emphasize certain teachings more than others. However, no sect
will claim to be only true way, let alone to claim that other
sects are wrong.
The corner stones of Hinduism are concepts of 'Samyaktva -
Avoidance of dogmatic, intolerant, harmful attitude', and 'Sarva
dharma sambhava - Many paths to the same summit'. The revelation
in Isavashya Upanishad states 'Yo yo yam yan tanum bhaktah
sraddhyaarchitumicchati, tasya tashyaachalaam sraddhaam tameva
vidadhamyaham - Whatever form any devotee with faith, wishes to
worship, I make that faith of his or her steady'. Krishna states
in Gita 'Ishwara sarvabhootaanaaam, hruddese Arjuna tishthati -
The lord dwells in the heart of all beings'. Buddha never claimed
his way to be exclusive, though he cautioned against spiritual
snake oil salesman. That way, Bahais and religions of native
American may be also considered Hinduism, but not Islam and
Christianity. Simply because, later two religions claim to be
exclusive. For example the fundamental Islamic doctrine is 'There
is no other God except Allah'; and the fundamental Christian
doctrine is 'Jesus is the only way to the heaven'. Different
sects among Hindus may debate over a certain religious ideas or
metaphysical points, but would not condemn others. Even those
disagreements are limited within only the Acharyas of these
sects, and do not percolates down to the lay Hindus.
A typical Hindu will go to all the temples, listens to all
the discourses, celebrates all the festivals, and participates in
all the religious functions. He or she may go more often to a
particular temple than others, or participate in a particular
function more than in others, depending upon his or her taste,
interests, or simply due to proximity. When a Hindu declares
himself or herself to be a Buddhist or Vaishnav, he or she is
simply stating about the higher influence of that particular
philosophy or way of life on himself or herself. It does not mean
that he or she would not go to Shiva temple, or condemn Adwaita
philosophy. It is only the case of degree, not about separation.
According to Hinduism, an individual in the process of
growing up, may be affected more by different ideas at different
times of his or her life. That is, each individual goes through a
spiritual evolution not religious conversion. In the same theme
Alan Watts writes - "A convert to Buddhism is as unimaginable as
a convert to cookery, unless the conversion means simply that one
has become a cook instead of a cobbler, or that one has become
interested in cooking well. For Buddhism, whether Hinayana or
Mahayana, is not a system of doctrines and commandments requiring
our belief and obedience. It is a method (one of the exact
meanings of dharma) for the correction of our perceptions and for
the transformation of consciousness. It is so thoroughly
experimental and empirical that the actual subject-matter of
Buddhism must be said to be an immediate, non-verbal experience
rather than a set of beliefs or ideas or rules of behavior." A
Hindu may say some thing like 'These days I am interested in
Buddhism and in comparing the Mahayan Buddhism with Dwaita
philosophy and Theravada Buddhism with Adwaita philosophy'.
However, a Hindu will not say 'I am converting to Buddhism. So, I
am no longer a Vaishnav but a Buddhist. Now on Buddha is only
God, and Shiva and Vishnu are no God'. Or a Hindu may say 'These
days I am impressed with the life style of the Hare Krishnas and
trying to be a vegetarian'. But, a Hindu will not insist upon
making every body vegetarian. A Hindu might wonder about the
influence of Dwaita philosophy on Jesus, when he addresses God as
'father', or of Adwaita philosophy when he talked about 'kingdom
within'. However, a Hindu will not say that all the Hindus are
saved and will automatically go to heaven, no matter how evil
they are; and none of the others are saved and will automatically
go to hell, no matter how virtuous they are. A Hindu has no
problem recognizing Jesus or any other religious leader as a
spiritual master, though would not agree that he or she is the
only one.
A Hindu is essentially free to choose to lead his or her own
spiritual life. However, Hindus will not condemn others and
violently attack or destroy any temple, as a part of their
religious belief. If there are such cases, then they are
aberrations not a general rule. The reasons for such isolated
cases may be found in politics or economics than in religion. For
example, when Shankaracharya went around challenging any
religious leaders for metaphysical debate, he was not leading an
army, nor losers lost their head. Most often, the losers chose to
be disciples of Shankaracharya on their own. Some debate losers
even committed suicide, because they could not bear the trauma of
loosing. However, the point is, though the doctrinal debate did
occur in the old days, physical violence did not. Even Buddha,
while preaching 'middle way', criticized the strictness of his
contemporary Mahabir or Jainism. However, the criticism is
limited to a certain issues, not against Jainism at large. Buddha
declared that caste should determined by deed, not by birth. It
is exactly what it is. Such criticism is appropriate, limited and
positive.
Hinduism may be considered as a supra system, within which
many spiritual ideas coexist and compete, and relations foster
within the acceptable norm. However, Hinduism itself does not
preach a particular doctrine. A parallel may be drawn with
democracy in the political field. Democracy does not preach a
particular political ideas, rather it provides platform for any
idea, where these political ideas would compete and cooperate.
Any political party, including Fascism or Communism, may be
considered a part of the democracy as long as it plays by the
rule. Within democracy many parties coexist, even develop
relations, and would not stop other parties from functioning. A
citizen is free to associate with any or all parties as much as
he or she wants. A political party would cease to be a part of
democracy only when it claims to be exclusive or totalitarian. In
Hinduism every body is free to preach or believe whatever he or
she deem right. Though there may be debates to distinguish wheat
from chaff. Hinduism, like a market place, simply presents
smorgasbord of spiritual ideas. An individual is free to chose
any, or as much of any, depending upon his or her own conscience
and need. That is, Hinduism consists of many ideas and teachings
including Carvakism, Jainism, Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Buddhism,
Sikhism and so on.
C. Science of spirituality : Hinduism may also be defined as
an inquiry into the spirituality or universal/eternal truths, not
a given set of doctrines or beliefs. The Hindu term for inquiry
into the eternal truth is 'Sanatana'. It may be compared with
science and loosely defined as science of spirituality. The
division among hindu sects are like that of division among
scientists. There are chemists, botanist, geologist and so on.
However, each of the scientists will tell that he or she is
dealing with only a narrow field within the general body of
science and each scientist works in cooperation with other
scientists.
A religion, defined as a set of doctrines, forces people to
chose a camp. Thus, it divides people and do not allow individual
freedom. For example, an individual cannot be a Muslim and a
Christian same time. However, inquiry into universal truths
requires to learn from as many sources as possible. For example,
a geologist has to learn mathematics, physics, chemistry etc.
Likewise, a Hindu may go to any temple, learn any philosophy or
metaphysics, or practice any spiritual system. Thus, Hinduism
stresses individuality, without creating religious boundary and
dividing people.
A Hindu, never claims to know all the truth, or expresses
that his or her religion is the only correct religion. A Hindu,
like a scientist, rather admits the limitation of his or her
background or upbringing and present living environment, and does
as best as he or she can do to improve his or her spirituality,
with the help of countless spiritual masters who has left their
teachings behind.
**************************************************
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 1995 17:39:24 -0400
From: rshresth@black.clarku.edu (RaJesh B. Shrestha)
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Sur Sudha
Cross-posted from SCN:
---------------------
In article <3u24kr$afm@hecate.umd.edu>, greenspan@UMDSP.UMD.EDU wrote:
> Does anyone know if the Nepali musical group Sur Sudha
>will be performing in or near Washington, DC or Baltimore,
>and if so, when? I've been in Boulder
>for a meeting and saw a notice at Narayan's Nepal Restaurant
>saying that they will perform in Boulder on July 15, but now
>I'm back home in Maryland. I had a tape of their music that
>I enjoyed very much, and I would like to hear them live if possible.
>I apologize if the information has been posted here recently.
>Since I've been out of town, I haven't been reading SCN.
> Also, does anyone know of a restaraunt that serves Nepali
>food in Washington or Baltimore?
> Thanks very much.
> Marian G.
Sounds like the Sur Sudha group has no intention of visiting the Pacific
North-West. I too have a tape of Sur Sudha, taped from a CD. Does any
one know if Sur Sudha on CD can be purchased in the US? I haven't been
able to get one from Nepal either.
Another good Nepali music CD is titled "Deepa" played by Gurung (? forgot his
name) in flute accompanied by Nepali and Japanese drums and other instruments.
The collection of music on CD is really good. However, I haven't seen any in
the US, and haven't been able to get one from Nepal. A friend of mine got it
from Japan, and again I taped it ;-). The CD was made in Japan, consequently
quite expensive (about $25.00).
Does any one know about other Nepali music CD titles [other than Fetival (sic)
Music of Newars] and where they can be purchased? I'd appreciate the info.
KLV
*****************************************************************
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 1995 17:40:19 -0400
From: rshresth@black.clarku.edu (RaJesh B. Shrestha)
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Nepal's incentives to foreign investors may fail
KATHMANDU, July 14 (Reuter) - The Nepali communist
government's fresh incentives to lure foreign investors to the
Himalayan kingdom could fail as political uncertainty checks the
flow of foreign capital, analysts said.
``Investors will study the impact of policies, their
continuity, stability of the government and labour laws before
they put their money in,'' said Banwari Lal Mittal, a businessman
and industry analyst, on Thursday.
Nepal's King Birendra in June ordered mid-term general
elections -- the nation's third vote in five years -- to be held
in November after dissolving its parliament.
Mittal said investors will seek a guarantee for the security
of their capital. ``Investors may wait until the elections are
over before they actually bring in their money,'' he told
Reuters.
Finance Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikary on Tuesday presented
a fresh set of incentives for foreign investment while
announcing Nepal's annual budget.
He said the governement was working towards easing current
restrictions on foreign investment, welcoming small investors
and cutting the rates of corporate and personal income tax.
``The personal income tax rate is the lowest in the entire
SAARC region,'' Adhikary said, referring to the South Asia
Association for Regional Cooperation, a regional body that
comprises India, Bangladesh, Srilanka, Nepal, Bhutan, the
Maldives and Pakistan.
The finance minister said the communists would guarantee
foreign investors 100 percent repatriation of income and
capital.
Foreign aid currently accounts for 36 percent of Nepal's
52.89 billion rupee ($1.06 billion) budget, but Adhikary
stressed: ``This is not an age of aid but of trade.''
``The phase of soft loans is now over -- Nepal now needs
investments,'' he said.
A Finance Minstry official said the Asian Development Bank
did not approve of the kingdom's arbitration laws, saying they
run counter to foreign investors' interests.
``I think these laws have to be changed,'' Adhikary said.
Nepal adopted a market economy in 1992, soon after its
populous neighbour India began a radical economic reforms
programme.
Liberalisation in the kingdom, one of the world's 10 poorest
nations, followed its first democratic multi-party elections in
1991, in which the Nepali Congress party swept to power.
*****************************************************************
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 1995 17:40:53 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: news
HEADLINE: 97 parties registered to compete mid-poll in nepal
DATELINE: kathmandu, july 14; ITEM NO: 0714049
BODY:
a total of 97 political parties, many of them newly born, have
registered with the election commission (ec) before the deadline to apply
for registration on thursday afternoon. the number this year increased 28
from 69 parties applying for registration with the commission to contest
the elections to the 205-seat house of representatives last year. some 30
parties thursday and 13 wednesday had submitted their party statutes and
applications to the ec, whose recognition is a must for any party to be
eligible to contest the parliamentary elections, slated to be held on
november 23. chief election commissioner bishnu pretap shah said the ec
would soon scrutinize the parties and announce which parties are
nationally recognized. "it will take us a few days before the commission
awards status to the parties," he added. five out of 69 parties seeking
the commission's recognition were identified as national parties last
year. these parties are the nepali congress (nc), the communist party of
nepal (uml), the rastriya prajatantra party (rpp), the united people's
front of
nepal and the nepal sadhbhavana (goodwill) party.
********************************************
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: news
From: ponta@mail2.sas.upenn.edu (Pratyoush R. Onta)
HEADLINE: bus collision in eastern nepal
DATELINE: kathmandu, july 16; ITEM NO: 0716046
BODY:
a bus full of passengers collided with a truck coming from the opposite
on friday, killing the truck driver and his assistant on the spot, report
reaching here today said. the accident occurred on a highway bridge in
the eastern district of saptari, according to the home ministry. the
driver and his assistant of the bus, which headed from kathmandu to the
eastern city of kakarvitta, were seriously injured during the collision,
the ministry said. eight passengers in the bus have sustained minor
injuries.
HEADLINE: more people die of gastroenteritis in nepal
DATELINE: kathmandu, july 16; ITEM NO: 0716048
BODY:
more than 100 people have died of gastroenteritis in western nepal
since the epidemic began to spread in various parts of the country last
week, according to the health ministry. the disease has killed 25 lives
in villages of the far-western district of doti in the last three weeks,
the ministry said. in neighboring district of achham, earlier report said
that 75 people had died of gastroenteritis. teams of health workers from
district health offices and local health posts have already reached the
affected areas with necessary medicines for containing the epidemic, the
ministry said. gastroenteritis was attributed to the use of unclean water
and lack of medical services.
HEADLINE: Nepali women kept as slaves, prostitutes in India: report
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, July 16
BODY:
Indian and Nepali government officials have contributed to a burgeoning
traffic in Nepali women who are forced into prostitution and slavery in
India, according to a report released Sunday.
In its 90-page report "Rape for Profit," Human Rights Watch/Asia
charges that women and girls from remote hill villages and poor border
communities in Nepal are lured by recruiters promising jobs or husbands.
But the agents sell the women to brokers, who in turn deliver them to
brothel owners in India. Their purchase price, with interest, becomes the
debt that the women must work to repay.
The women are "held in debt bondage for years at a time, ... raped and
subjected to severe beatings, exposure to AIDS, and arbitrary imprisonment,"
Human Rights Watch said.
"These abuses are not only violations of internationally recognized human
rights but are specifically prohibited under the domestic laws of both
countries," it said.
The group called for delegates at the Fourth UN Conference on Women in
September to pledge improved cooperation in stemming the traffic in women and
girls and in cracking down on those who profit from it.
"The willingness of Indian and Nepali government officials to tolerate
and, in some cases, participate in the burgeoning flesh trade exacerbates
abuse."
"Many of the girls and women are brought to India as virgins; many
returns to Nepal with the HIV virus," it said.
Human rights groups in Nepal have identified traffickers and reported
extensively on the traffic in women to Indian brothels, the human rights
group said, but that has resulted in few arrests and fewer prosecutions.
Nepali women and girls comprise up to half an estimated 100,000
prostitutes in Bombay, many of whom are believed to be infected with the
AIDS virus, the report said, citing non-governmental organizations.
Police and local officials in India patronize brothels and protect their
owners as well as traffickers, while brothel owners pay protection money and
bribes to police to prevent raids and bail out underaged girls, it said.
"Police who frequent brothels as clients sometimes seek out underaged
girls and return later to arrest them" as a way of extorting larger
bribes, the report said.
"Girls and women who complain to police about rape or abduction, or
those who are arrested in raids for vagrancy, are held in 'protective
custody' -- a form of detention. Corrupt authorities reportedly allow
brothel owners to buy back detainees," it said.
The group also interviewed brothel owners, doctors, lawyers, activists,
social workers, government officials, police officers, and non-governmental
organizations working on the traffic in women and AIDS.
************************************************************
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 1995 17:43:08 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: UC Berkeley - India/Nepal Cultural Introduction
From: jwurtzel@sirius.com (Jason Wurtzel)
Namaste. I have been asked to post this announcement for any interested
parties:
On Saturday, August 5, an "India Nepal ACTION" program will be held at UC
Berkeley. This event is sponsored by: The Center for South Asian Studies -
UC Berkeley, SISSA (School for Independent Study of South Asia), Joint
Assistance Center, Top Guide Trekking & Tours
This program is meant to provide an introduction to various cultural topics
with regard to Nepal & India. The program schedule runs from 9:30 to 4:30
and is as follows:
9:30 - 10:00am Morning Ritual
10:00 - 11:00am Hindu & Buddhist Culture
11:00 - 12:00am Culture Do's & Don'ts
12:00 - 12:30pm Traveler's Tales
12:30 - 1:00pm Lunch (Indian & Nepali Food)
1:00 - 1:30pm Hindi Movie Clips
1:30 - 2:30pm Living, Working & Traveling
2:30 - 2:45pm Tea Break
2:45 - 3:00pm Gestures in Culture
3:00 - 4:00pm Slide Show - India / Nepal
4:00 - 4:30pm Question & Answer Period
This event will be held at Berkeley - exact location is to be announced.
Registration is $35 by July 21st, $40 after.
For more information, or to register, please contact SISSA at (510)835-6156
Payments may be set to SISSA at 2007 Rose Street, Berkeley, CA 94709
(Checks should be made payable to SISSA)
***************************************************************
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 1995 17:43:43 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Governments and markets - invitation
From: global.trade@cgtd.com (cgtd research)
An invitation to participate in a thoughtful, constructive
discussion regarding economic governmental intervention
SHOULD GOVERNMENTS GOVERN THE MARKETS
Keywords * Political Economy, National Trade Policies,
Economic Growth & Decline, Global Economy,
nationalism, public policy, social factors and economy , free
economy
Excessive Political maneuvering and intervention in
otherwise self-sustaining economic systems remains one of
the most significant obstacles blocking economic growth
and natural societal evolution.
The gap between politically free, liberated economies and
politically obsessed prisoner economies, as defined by
varying degrees of political interference, is as wide as pacific
ocean.
Today, disputes and debates within countries over state-
society relations concerning the economy spill over into the
international arena and into national policies toward a more
open global economy.
Within most nations with emerging market economies,
mature markets and semi-dormant economies, the ongoing
debate over how best to relate to the ever evolving global
economy is causing exciting disputes.
Now, more than ever, nations are striving hard to reach a
comfortable equilibrium between interference and absolute
laissez faire.
The debate includes:
open borders,
free trade,
formation of trading blocs,
regional geo-economic blocs,
export oriented industrialization,
IMF and World Bank's economists push for extensive
privatization and expenditure cuts,
small scale enterprise in open economy,
open or closed door policy toward services,
who should invest where,
foreign investment vs. blanket nationalism,
nationalistic fundamentalism,
religious fanaticism,
political liberties,
individual freedom to conduct business, etc..
While in the 1990s most developed economies quietly drift
toward post-industrial societies, industrialization and the
gravitation to the global-marketplace, industrialization and
markets are spreading around the globe placing severe
stress on the political processes of nations pushing for
reforms and foreign investments at the same time they are
also struggling to keep oppressive political systems alive to
control the public.
The public however , today enjoys more political and
economic freedom, born of market liberalization and
industrialization and to some extent wider spread of
information net, resist the oppressive laws and systems
which want full control over the market and their
political and economic freedom.
Many governments still take it for granted that foreign
investment can corrupt the people,
however the truth remains that they are unable to manage
the faster pace of growth created by massive investment and
consequently control the people.
It is also notable that foreign investment does work as a
driving force to motivate the otherwise dormant domestic
investors.
Governments use a wide variety of hidden tactics to
"domesticate" the "corruptive" effects of entrepreneurial
spirit and non-political foreign capital investment.
Among them are the following; nationalism, religion, caste,
ethnicity, invisible tactics, old-values, fear of the unknown
and Western culture, and decrepit ideologies
Center for Global Trade Development [CGTD] -- an
unaffiliated and independent organization -- monitors all
countries and geo-economic areas.
CGTD invites your views on the role of governments: on
how governments should behave relative to business and the
market economy, on the role of political parties and political
machine in democratizing and freeing the economic system
from political clutches, on the shift in political processes and
how said shifts determine the market economy: on the
deliberate disguise of populist movements to control
burgeoning markets, etc..
Governments, laws and policies are devices formed by
human beings seeking to solve socio-economic
problems...but are these devices turning against their human
creators ?
Should the veil of religion, the invocation of God to explain
events, anti-human laws, anti-business policies, and
ideological dreamers with forceful but stagnant thought
processes,
be separated from economic system and market ?
Markets are social institutions. Political machines can either
crush markets through authoritarian rule that places duct-
tape over each mouth or the same political machine
can free the market and society to breathe on its own and to
let people make it work.
Free-markets are said to be self-perpetuating mechanisms
guided and sustained by independent entrepreneurs.
In this context, can you write about a specific country you
know well. If yes, do it now.
We will put your opinion across to the related people.
Please feel free to write on above issues modeling specific
countries or geo-economic
areas.
All participants sending original views will be entitled to a
free printed copy of a report soon to be published on these
topics.
If you have a paper please send us a brief of it preferably by
e-mail, which we'll try to include in the publication to be
circulated widely and worldwide.
Please send your reply mail to economy@cgtd.com
Thanks and best regards
CGTD Research
PS: If you have a book-size papers to be considered for
publication , kindly send a very brief summary/synopsis to
editors@cgtd.com
************************************************************
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 1995 23:23:33 -0500
To: NEPAL@cs.niu.edu
From: sharma@plains.nodak.edu (Padam Sharma)
Subject: Stories on Nepali prostitutes in Bombay...
Courtesy: The India Digest...
#4 Bombay brothels enslave 50,000 Nepali girls - Report
By Sonali Verma
NEW DELHI, July 17 (Reuter) - As many as 50,000 young Nepali girls are
enslaved in Bombay brothels, most working to repay the price their families
were paid for them, according to a U.S.-based human rights group.
Thousands of young Nepali girls are brought every year across the
500-mile (800-km) open border India and Nepal share, by greasing palms of
officials on either side, Human Rights Watch Asia said in a report titled
"Rape For Profit."
The report said many, lured from remote, impoverished village homes
with promises of marriage or jobs, are sold for 200 Nepali rupees ($4) to
brokers who deliver them to Indian brothels where they are beaten, raped
and tortured.
"If I had known what was to happen to me, I would have killed myself
halfway," it quotes 16-year-old Tara as saying. "My purity was violated, so
I thought, why go back, go back to what?
"When they brought me here, I kept wondering what kind of work was
going on. Men would go and come through these curtained entrances. People
on the street would be calling out, two rupees, two rupees (six cents). In
two days, I knew everything. I cried."
"In India's red-light ares, the demand for Nepali girls, especially
virgins with fair, 'golden' skin and Mongolian features, continues to
increase," the report says.
"The Nepalis also suffer from a reputation of sexual compliance among
both Indian sex workers and customers, who say they engage in higher-risk
sexual acts than their Indian counterparts, who may have more control over
the terms of contact."
In 1991, the average age of new recruits from Nepal, among the world's
10 poorest countries, was 10, compared to 16 in the 1980s, the New York
group said in the July 16 report.
Brothel owners pay 15,000 to 40,000 rupees ($500 to $1,330) for
newcomers, then imprison, beat and rape them to weaken them physically and
psychologically, the report said.
"I am not living even now, so how does it matter if I die," a young
Nepali prostitute was quoted as saying. She was infected with HIV, the
virus which can lead to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrom (AIDS), for
which there is no known cure.
The report accuses Indian and Nepali police of colluding with brokers
in trapping and sending women through a vast trafficking network, and
allowing brothels to flourish despite laws forbidding prostitution, in
exchange for hefty bribes.
It quoted Nepali officials as saying poorly-paid policemen were not
trained to identify traffickers among the estimated 100,000 people who
cross the border without visas every day.
"Because many of the girls contract AIDS sooner or later, there is a
growing demand for 'fresh meat' and traffickers have begun looking for
Nepali girls of all castes and localities," the report said.
The women, many illiterate, uneducated and very young, were powerless
to negotiate to protect themselves from HIV infection. It said 20 percent
of Bombay's 100,000 prostitutes were under 18. At least half of them are
suspected to be infected with HIV.
"Customers are falling off these days. Those men who want to live stay
away," it quoted a brothel owner as saying.
#16 India-Nepal Prostitution
By ASHOK SHARMA
Associated Press Writer
NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- About half of Bombay's 100,000 prostitutes are
young women bought in Nepal and then raped, beaten and held in brothels as
virtual slaves, a New York-based human rights group said Monday.
Human Rights Watch blamed the governments of Nepal and India for
permitting the traffic in Nepali women, sought by brothels in Bombay
because of their light skin.
"Many of the victims are young women from remote hill villages and poor
border communities of Nepal who are lured from their villages by local
recruiters, relatives or neighbors promising jobs or marriage, and sold to
brokers who deliver them to brothel owners in India," the Human Rights
Watch said in a report titled "Rape for Profit."
Nepal seldom arrests traffickers and Indian policemen and other
officials often patronize the brothels and protect their owners, it said.
"The willingness of Indian and Nepali government officials to tolerate,
and, in some cases, participate in the burgeoning flesh trade exacerbates
abuse," the report said.
The report said 20 percent of prostitutes in Bombay, India's financial
capital, are under 18, and at least half may be infected with the HIV virus
that causes AIDS.
"Many of the girls and women are brought to India as virgins; many
return to Nepal with the HIV virus," the report said.
The report was based on interviews with Nepali women working in
brothels, brothel owners, local doctors, activists and lawyers in India.
***********************************************************
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 08:59:47 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Forwarded by: Rajesh Shrestha <rshrestha@black.clarku.edu>
Subject: longest surname among Nepalee citizens.
From: g44329a@nucc.cc.nagoya-u.ac.jp (GP)
I am trying to make a format with boxes for first and middle name
and for the surname (THAR) separately. I have limited space, A6
size paper, every column has 3.5mm width. There are total 26
columns. i am allocating 14 for the given name+middle name and
12 for the surname. I have found "Bajracharya" as the longest
surname, so far, from my association. So, any of know the
surname longer than 12 character, I would be greatly indebted
to you. It is because the person having longer than 12
character in the surname will be disappointed if such
name exist, if it does not exist then what is the upper limit
in Nepalee surnames. As far as the first name is concerned
I can accomodate them by putting lot initial even if the
the name is from Royal family, i.e. Sri Panch Maharaja Dhiraj
Birendra Bir Bikram to SPMDBBB Shaha Dev. But, my intention
is put full surname in the appropriate column.
Some of the surnames,
Pokharel 8 characters
Pradhanang 11
Shah 4
Tuladhar 8
Thapa Magar 10+1
Kunga 5
Sherpa 6
Gurung 6
yadav 5
Thakur 6
Bajracharya 12
Karmacharya 12
Chitrakar 10
Sherchan 9
Joharchan 10
Dhakal 6
Shapkota 8
Dhital 6
Koirala 7
Adhikari 8
etc...............please mention if longer than 12 character.
**********************************************************
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 09:00:36 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Nepal's geotechnical professionals
From: g44329a@nucc.cc.nagoya-u.ac.jp (GP)
To:
Nepalee Geotechnical Professionals ,
working on
1. Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering
2. Engineering geology
3. Soil engineering/science/technology
4. Mining Engineering
5. Rock Mechanics/Engineering
6. Ice Technology/ Glacilogy related to civil engineering aspects.
7. Geotechnical Engineering and its several other branches.
are requested to send their details of publications (publication
list) on referred (learned) journals and international referred
conferences, to Nepal Geotechnical Society, G. P. O. Box -4058,
Kathmandu, Nepal. All the correspondence shall be addressed to
the Secretary General. The society is aiming to publish the list
of publications made by Nepali geotechincal professionals residing
in Nepal and abroad. NGS further aims to publish the abstract of
the Masters thesis and Ph.D. (or equivalent) works by the Members
of the NGS in near future. (Like Geotechnique, proceedings of
the British Geotechnical Society, also publishes abstract of the
Ph.D. thesis in geotechnical field completed in Britain ).
The society hopes to get success as the time passes. It has
right now more than dozen individual members and fellows.
The society is still suffering from financial problems and
hopes to get rid of as the time passes AND expects the
number of members to go up geometrically and sponsership by
several geotechnical industries/consultants/laboratories.
It also aims to conduct yearly national level conference
in geotehcnial field and workshops/ forums to boost the
professional ability of geotechnical professionals in
Nepal. If any of you geotehcnial professional are going to
to Nepal for short time visit or after your studies let
the NGS know, it will try to arrange small meeting venue
and you can present your current work and research
achievement and it will help the Nepalee G. P. living
in Nepal who rarely get access to the international
and current research / construction activities going
on. . May be you can sell your output of the
research in Nepalee geotehcnial market. And
get to know with Nepal residing geotechicnal
professionals.
Your support is expected and highly appreciated.
Good Luck and very many thanks.
(More later.)
Faithfully yours,
Gyaneswor
Member /NGS
*********************************************************************
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 09:03:37 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: News from Nepal
From: sshakya@lynx.dac.neu.edu (Sunil Shakya)
Headline: Khimti I hydropower project on track
Source : The Independent, July 5, 1995
An accord reached in Manila 16 June 1995 placed the Khimti I Hydropower
Project, owned by Himal Power Limited (HPL), back on track. At the
meetings hosted by the Asian Development Bank, and its sponsors
were able to agree with both His Majesty's Government of Nepal (HMG)
and the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) on new terms and tariffs.
The project has thus been given the injecton of confidence that
was required for it to move forward. The climate during the
negotiations was at times tense. As both sides had gone to Manila with
determination and the hope of a successful outcome, the talks continued
until agreement was reached. The result of the accord is considered
beneficial, not only to the parties involved but also to the country and
NEA's consumers. As the result has been considered satisfactory by both
sides, it is indicative that site activities will be resumed in the
not-too-distant future enabling electricity to be supplied to NEA's
National Electricity Grid before end 1999.
Himal Power Limited is a Nepali company registered in 1993. The
sponsors of the project are Statkraft SF, ABB energy and Kvaaerner
Energy, all Norwegian companies, with Butwal Power Compnay Ltd.
representing Nepal's interests.
The project is part of Nepal's private sector development policy
and is, at present, one of the most developed hydropower projects in
Nepal in the small to medium range. After the new accord signed in
Manila last week, HPL will work with the financing parties, Asian
Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation (the World
Bank's private sector wing), NORAD/Norwegian Export Finance, NEA and
HMG toward completing all necessary documentation in the shortest
possible time - a target of October 1995 was set.
The project is to be financed with loans totalling approximately
$100 million from the Asian Developmetn Bank, International Finance
Corporation and NORAD/Norwegian Export Finance. NORAD, the Norwegian
Aid Agency, has played a vital role in closing the gap in order to
finance the project in an affordable way.
Project details
The 60 MW Khimti, is a run-of-river hydropower project on the
Khimti Khola. It is located about 100 kilometers east of Kathmandu, in
the middle hills of Nepal, being built along the border of Dolakha and
Ramechhap districts in Janakpur zone. The headworks site is located at
the confluence of Palati Khola and Khimti Khola, and the powerhouse at
Kirne Besi, Dolakha. In addition, five adits (tunnel access points) are
required to construct the project. The major portion of the
construction activities lie in Dolakha District.
Environmetal aspects
Environmental impact studies have indicated no serious negative
impacts, but have recommended certain measures to mitigate some of the
impacts of the project. The purpose of this plan is to specify the
impacts in detail, how they are to be mitigated, the responsibilities of
the various parties, and how the impacts may be monitored.
A plan has been prepared HPL, the project owner. The contents
specify the measures, which are applicable to all parties involved in
the project. It is part of the documentation prepared to meet the
requirements of the international lenders, and is incorporated as part of
the project licence issued by HMG.
In association with the main project, there are two related
activities:
Nayapul Kirne Road (access to the powerhouse area). This is
esential for project construction, but is being built by HMGN as part
of their district roading network. The road had been started prior to
project inception, but was delayed. HMGN then undertook to complete it.
Grid connection (132 kv transmission line). The connection of
the project to the national grid is NEA's responsibility as the onwner
of the national electricity grid. They are carrying out the necessary
investigations to minimise the environmental impact of the grid
connection.
The cost factor
The understanding reached in 1993 allowing for regular increases
in the tariff tied to American dollar inflation (normally less than
Nepal's inflation), mentioned a figure which would be 5.5 cents. The
at-site price paid by NEA does not include any of the costs which may be
incurred by them to get the electricity into the national grid. The NEA
currently buys electricity from Butwal Power Corporation at very low
rates indeed. On completion, the Khimti project may be staffed by 60
trained Nepalis and four expatriates. The Andhikhola and Jhimruk
projects have no expatriates at all among their personnel._
************************************************************
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 09:03:55 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: News from Nepal
From: sshakya@lynx.dac.neu.edu (Sunil Shakya)
Source: The Independent, July 5. '95.
"The Supreme Court has no alternative to ordering another poll"- Madhav
Kuman Nepal
Deputy Prime Minister and CPN-UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal
is now the most powerful man in the party and government. A former bank
employee, Nepal has been handling the portfolios of Foreign Affairs and
Defence Ministries since his party formed a minority government last
December. Considered the de facto prime minister in some political
quarters, he has steered party and government affairs, rendering
septuagenarian PM Adhikari virtually powerless. He is considered a most
fortunate man, since he does not have a constituency, yet is an upper
house member. After the dissolution of the house of representatives and
announcement of another mid-term poll, Nepal is now busy deputing his
party workers for election campaigning in the districts. He talked to
Achyut Wagle of The Indepnedent at the CPN-UML party office July 1
about recent political developments and party infightings. Excerpts:
Q. After coming to power, the communists seem to be trying to give
the impression that the CPN-UML is extremely pro-palace.
A. Our policy toward the monarchy is clear because we are committed to
working under the constitution.
Q. But your party policy is different. The fifth (latest) national
conference has passed a resolution that the party's ultimate goal would
be the establishment of a republican communist state with a classless
society, but you are now praising the monarchy. How can you establish a
republic under a monarchy? Does it not sound like a strategy to fool
the people?
A. There can be two sorts of republics - real and practical. We believe
in a practical one. If we can reduce the gap between the haves and
have-nots that may be a step toward establishing a classless society by
eliminating feudal exploitation. Right from the drafting of the
constitution we were involved. Therefore there should not be any
confusion regarding our vision of the monarchy.
Q. Contrary to your statement, your Deputy General Secretary Bamdev
Gautam has challenged the monarchy and other non-communist formations,
expressing a desire to bury them all in the same grave, terming them all
"reactionaries" and threatening armed struggle.
A. I asked him if he had said anything regarding the monarchy and he
said, "No." There is nothing on record as claimed by the media.
Regarding other political parties, we believe they are not functioning
democratically and he has challenged them inthe battle of the ballot.
We are confident that we may defeat all pseudo-democrats in the
elections, and may be equivalent to digging their grave. As far as
armed struggle is concerned, we are ready to battle to safeguard the
country's democracy.
Q. Instead of safeguarding communist ideology you are talking about
democracy these days.
A. If the country has a democratic future, it can only be guarnateed by
us. All other parties are wearing lions's skins of democracy but
working against it. The motto of any political system should be to work
for the people and think a democratic system may also translate
communists' dreams into reality.
Q. You claimed that your party may win the elections, but what have you
deliverd the people to attract them to your side?
A. In the last six months in power we built up confidence in the people.
We demonstrated that our party and leaders have the capacity to lead
the country toward brighter futures and mobilise the idle villages'
workforce by encouraging the participation of the people in develooment
projects. The "build your village yourself" program has set a new
developement trend in the villages which has had a good impact on
people. We have made the people realise they should develop their
villages instead of being dependent on the centre. Other important
achievements include programs to settle the homeless, resolve
citizenship problems and a great deal of work on land reform. We have
controlled corruption and made our stance clear in the diplomatic arena.
We have strengthened relations with neighboring countries in
particular.
Q. All your moves are confronted by serious problems. You are
distributing land ownership certificates to the homeless but there is no
land available for them. You are also encouraging people to encroach on
the forest. Are these achievements?
A. I have already directed the commission that, before distributing
land, the deforestation and social impacts aspects should be assessed.
I understand there were some problems earlier but now there are none.
The homeless are now trying to settle on the land they have been
provided.
Q. While in the opposition, your party protested against the Tanakpur
accord but now your government is talking about inviting India foar the
Mahakali Basin project.
A. All the wrongs were committed by the Congress government. The
Pancheshwor project was agreed on by the Koirala government. We just
followerd it up according to the understanding. We have slso said that
all the undrestandings related to this project should be brought into
a treaty format so that we can talk about is stauts. Different
provisions are in different papers, and thus difficult to deal with.
Q. Your most populist BYVY program is also in trouble due to your
party's infighting. Local Development Minister C. P. Mainali has been
critical about the cabinet decision to dissolve the BYVY follow-up
committee constituted by him.
A. The cabinet did not feel a necessity for the commitee since existing
governmental agencies can do it. It was also felt that unnecessary
expenses should be avoided. In countries with parliamentary system,
ministers cannot change cabinet decisions or be critical of them on
moral grounds. Even those who take a stand on moral values should not
go on criticising decision in which they were involved.
Q. But he has already done it.
A. Our prime minister must have taken his statements into account.
Q. Regarding the continuation of business in the national assembly, the
government and oppositions seem at loggerheads. Don't you think the
upper house should be allowed to function?
A. It is ridiculous that the majority of national assembly members are
forcing the caretaker government to be accountable to that House,
though undre Article 35(2) of the constitution, we can recommend its
being prorogued. Being extremely flexible, we are not doing so. They
are creating an issue where there is none. A caretaker government
can't present a budget in the House. It must come by an ordinance.
That is also a precedent set by the Congress.
Q. It seems, the country has been polarised politically into communist
and anti-communist formations. That must cause you some insecurity.
A. We had expeced it. I believe this polarisation will help the people
identify the political forces really working for them. All the parties
against us are intimidated by our popularity and lack the courage to
face us. I have laready said that their veil of democracy will soon be
lifted by time, and they will be nowhere. Now the real battle has
started between the forces really working for he country and the
high-sounding betrayers of democrary.
Q. On the one hand you are talking about holding free and fair elections
and on the other you have assigned concerned ministers work for your
party's election campaign. The election commission has also issued an
order to stop some of the activities you are carrying out. How can the
polls be fair if you continue with your populist posture, and set the
budget accordingly?
A. I assure you that it will be conducted fairly. As far as our
ministers' involvement in party committees is concerned, being party
workers, they have obligations to the party too. But we know how to
function, not being immoral like the Congress. In the budget, we will not
propose programs on which questions may be raised. Besides, we are
confident that, by all fair means, we will get a majority to form a
permanent government after the November polls.
Q. You were critical of the congress when you were in the opposition.
Now your are treading the self-same paths, saying this was also done by
the congress. Your are not trying to correct the ministers. lt is as
if two wrongs make a right.
A. We have to follow what they have done politically. Except for
corruption and nepotism, there is no alternative. If there is wrondoing
it is their, not ours.
Q. Your PM recommended dissolution of the House of Representatives. If
a minority PM recommends dissolution, the constitutional provision for
tabling a no-confience motion (59(2))and summoning a special session of
the House (53(3)) will be void. Do you think in your heart that the
dissolution was constitutional ?
A. It was the oppositions's desire to go to mid-term polls not ours.
Regarding different Articles of the constittuion, it is for the supreme
court to interpret them. Its interpretations are acceptable to us.
Q. What do you expect the court's verdict to be?
A. I am confident that the honorable supreme court judges will not give
a verdict disgracing themselves. Due to their longstanding background
they may not drag themsleves into controversies by giving a verdict
against last year's precedent.
Q. That sounds like a threat.
A. It is not, but they have no alternative to ordering the political
parties to go to the polls.
******************************************************************************
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 09:07:00 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Nepal's communist premier dismissed minister
From: Amrit R Pant <arp>
KATHMANDU, July 15 (Reuter) - Nepal's prime minister has
dismissed a dissident cabinet colleague, exposing a rift in the
Himalayan kingdom's ruling communist group before crucial polls,
officials said on Saturday.
They quoted a Royal Palace communique issued late on Friday
as saying Man Mohan Adhikary had sacked Chandra Prakash Mainali
from his post as minister for local development and supplies.
A spokesman for the ruling Unified Marxist Leninist (UML)
Party told Reuters that Mainali, who represents a minority
faction in the group, had frequently criticised decisions made
by Adhikary's cabinet.
The prime minister had earlier dissolved a committee formed
by Mainali's ministry to promote the UML's 'Build Your Own
Village Yourself' programme.
Mainali reacted to the move during an interview with a local
magazine, saying: ``Dissolving the committee would impede the
success of the programme in my ministry. That would bring about
the failure of the government.''
He was not available for comment on Saturday, but officials
close to Adhikary said he had apparently declined a less
important portfolio.
Last month, Adhikary's minority government, facing likely
defeat in parliament in a no-confidence vote, asked King
Birendra to dissolve parliament and order general elections in
November.
The polls will be the third in less than five years.
***************************************************************
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 09:09:48 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: slc trend!!!
From: baniya@engrs.unl.edu (Pradip Baniya)
I read in some nepali weekly that this year's SLC result was published.
But to my great surprise.. UML govt. has broke some 69 years long trend of
publishing the top 10 students by not publishing board students.
May be the increasing amount of publicity given to the schools which
secure more no of positions in board and the race between the schools to "buy"
the brilliant students, trying to obtain question papers before exam and even
tracking who is responsible for correcting the question papers.. etc, might
have led the UML govt to come to this decision.
But it certainly nips the competitive feelings amongst the students.
just my thought...
pradip... --
*******************************************************************************
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 09:10:19 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Caste and Hinduism: Where do we start?
From: rvarma@ccaix.jsums.edu (Rajiv Varma)
[Cross-posted to all India and Hindu related ngs, where caste has been
discussed in the past, or presently being discussed, or being mentioned as a
part of a debate under another subject.]
Preface
-------
Caste in modern times has been a potent weapon in the hands of enemies of
Hinduism, both external and from within. Hindus readily go on the
defensive whenever, the word 'Caste' is uttered by the combine of
Macaulite perverts-Nehruvian secularists-Islamic Jihadists-Marxist
debauchers-Christian missionaries and their surrogates. Unfortunately,
till date there has been lacking a Hindu perspective on this issue. What
is needed is a Hindu School of Thought on this issue (among many others),
which can put the whole issue in proper perspective, so that the stifled
Hindu society can move on into the future. Even more importantly, proper
justice to our Hindu brethern who have been denied opportunities over the
centuries of mlechha (alien) political domination, can be awarded only
when a proper Hindu perspective on this issue is developed. In its
absence, power-hungry politicians have caught the Hindu society off-gaurd
and have put it into a quagmire of politics of casteism, politics of
subtraction and politics of division. This is a minimum and the foremost
requirement for laying the foundation of a resurgent Hindu society. Also,
such perspective should form the basis of a viable policy and program for
the Antyodaya (self-upliftment) of the Dalits.
There have been many white lies perpetrated by Hindu-baiters over caste.
Fortunately for the Hindu society, the foremost leader coming out of the
ranks of SCs in modern times, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar never fell for these
blatant lies. [He seemed to have gone wrong on an entirely different
issue, viz. Hinduism and Buddhism. But as is found now, his
misconceptions about relationship between Hinduism and Buddhism arose
from the same set of factors, i.e. concocted theories by the
Hindu-baiters, which rather fell in the complex shades of gray.]
Let's start this complex issue with Babasaheb's views on caste.
[Dr. Ambedkar's views do not necessarily reflect those of this poster.
But are listed here only due to his stature as a great thinker.]
Dr. Ambedkar on the Conspiracy Theory of Caste:
----------------------------------------------
First of all, Dr. Ambedkar rejected the conspiracy theory of caste, i.e.
the notion that the caste system was cunningly and malaciously imposed on
the Indian society by the machinations of the sly Brahmins. This was the
view fed to Jyotirao Phule by the missionaries, and is nowadays the most
popular and politically exploited belief about caste. The conspiracy
theory of caste is a variation on the pop-Marxist view of religion. Hence
.....
A little necessary digression into Marx and (esp. his Desi) followers.
Marxist view of religion as the "opium for the people" is well known.
However, Karl Marx's own view on religion and that of his followers
differed considerably. Marx saw religion as a genuine reflection (though
a mistaken belief) of people's actual condition: without needing outside
inspiration, the common people themselves would create religion as a
source of consolation for their misery.
But his followers (esp. the desi variety) saw it as "opium FOR the
people," a false belief system concocted by the exploiters who sat down
one day, thought of a way to fool the people in submissiveness, and then
improvised the Bible, or the Veda, etc., which they fed to these
unbelievably gullibale masses. In this view, sly exploiters could make
the millions accept a religion which they had hitherto not known or
needed, and similarly, the sly Brahmins (esp. the law-giver Manu) could
make the millions adopt a rigorous and all-encompassing system of
practices which they had not known nor needed and which moreover meant
against their own interests.
......
In his paper "Caste in India", Ambedkar wrote:
"One thing I want impress upon you is that Manu did not give the
law of caste and that he could not do so. Caste existed long
before Manu. He was a upholder of it and therefore philosophized
about it, but certainly he did not and could not ordain the
present order of Hindu society .... The spread and growth of the
Caste system is too gigantic a task to be achieved by the power or
cunning of an individual or of a class. .... Similar in argument
is the theory that the Brahmins created the Caste. After what I
said regarding Manu, I need hardly say anything more, except to
point out that it is incorrect in thought and malicious in intent.
The Brahmins may have been guilty of many things, and I dare say
they were, but the imposing of the caste system on the non-Brahmin
population was beyond their mettle."
[Source: Dr. Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches, Vol I, p. 16]
Thus, both Manu, as an individual, and Brahmins as a class stand
exonerated by the greatest thinker coming out of the ranks of SCs himself,
for their supposed "crime" of foisting the Caste System on the Hindu
Society, as alleged by the Hindu-baiters.
...............
I am not sure where this debate would lead us. But I thought first it was
necessary to "free" both Manu and Brahmins of the white lies perpetuated
by the Hindu-baiters.
...... will continue to add to this from time to time.
regards,
Rajiv
***************************************************************
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 09:11:43 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Hindus seek worldwide laws to protect religion
From: an76311@anon.penet.fi (Robert Clive)
DURBAN, South Africa (Reuter) - Hindus from 38 countries,
meeting in South Africa, said Tuesday they would ask governments
to outlaw blasphemy and violations of religious rights.
``We resolve that a call be made to governments all over the
world to pass a religious harmony bill to prevent blasphemy,
conversion and other transgressions of religious rights,'' they
said in a statement.
The resolution was one of 41 adopted after a four-day World
Hindu Conference which brought more than 600 Hindu saints,
swamis (priests) and scholars together in South Africa for the
first time.
The resolution urging governments to secure religious rights
was in the interest of world peace, one of the organizers,
Rambhajun Sitaram, said.
He said other resolutions included a call to the United
Nations to look urgently at threats against Hindus' fundamental
rights in such countries as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Kashmir.
One resolution said: ``We commit ourselves to
inter-religious dialog and also caution all other religious
groups that Hinduism will not necessarily accept with simple
magnanimity all their attacks and affronts on Hinduism. We will
resist vigorously attempts at conversion.''
Sitaram said a committee had been delegated to compile a set
of core principles of Hinduism which all proponents of the
religion would be recommended to follow.
An international development trust would be established to
support the Hindu way of life.
**************************************************************
From: Migran Aslanian <aslanian@ruf.uni-freiburg.de>
Subject: nepal dig
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 15:09:43 +0200 (MET DST)
dear Sir,
I am a nepalese studient studying in Germany and would like to have your news about Nepal and the Publications.
With best regards.
Anil Adhikary, freiburg, Germany
Migran Aslanian, 0761/4867111 <aslanian@ruf.uni-freiburg.de>
****************************************************************
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 09:15:39 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Arun III/NEPAL- A Case of Anti-Social Development
From: cookekb@ndlc.occ.uky.edu (Ken Cooke)
Arun III/NEPAL- A Case of Anti-Social Development
The World Bank, in connection with the (NEA)
Nepal Electricity Authority, is planning to fund
one of the most expensive hydro-electric projects
ever in the economically impoverished country of
Nepal. The U.S. $1.1 billion dollar project, better
known as Arun III, would entail construction of a
122 kilometer access road, a dam, 2 tunnels, and 11
bridges in Nepal's Arun Valley, which is the world's
last intact Himalayan forest valley.
The Valley is home to 450,000 people belonging to 24
distinct ethnic groups-- involuntary resettlement of these
groups would severely jeopardize their traditional socio-
cultural and economic practices. Arun Valley is also
home to a number of endangered plant and animal species.
Environmental impact studies have cited 14 mammal, 14
plant, 2 reptile, and 4 bird species as threatened with
extinction if the mega-project is implemented.
Arun III is economically unfeasible because the sheer
cost of the hydro-scheme will generate electricity
which will be too expensive for the majority of Nepali
citizens to afford. The project cost is equivalent to
two years of Nepal's national budget, and in order for the
NEA to repay its loans, it is estimated that it must raise
the electricity tariff by at least 83%, with consumers
footing the bill. If for any reason the NEA cannot repay
its loans, the country will amass an even greater external
debt, allowing the World Bank to gain control over Nepal's
economic development and domestic resources.
As water is considered one of the most dependable factors in
natural resources in Nepal, there is a real need for creation
of small-scale, National-based schemes which will not lead
the country into greater dependency and debt. According to
a study undertaken by His Majesty's Government of Nepal,
over 30 small scale schemes have been identified which can
produce over 1,000 MW of power at half the cost as Arun III, and
would utilize Nepali engineers, economists, and contractors.
Who can afford to buy Arun III power? Who will benefit from
Arun III???? Considering the project is entirely foreign run,
with technology, machinery, and experts coming primarily
from abroad, it looks like foreign business interests, as well
as the World Bank institution, will rake in a large profit if
Arun III goes through. Public pressure is crucial at this time
to inform the Bank that Arun III is economically,
environmentally, as well as socially unsound for the country
of Nepal. You can express your concerns to the World
Bank by sending letters or e-mail to:
The Inspection Panel/ World Bank
1818 H Street N.W.
Washington D.C. 20433
Internet: RBISSEL@WORLDBANK.ORG
For more information contact:
INHURED INTERNATIONAL
International Institute for Human Rights,
Environment and Development
P.O. Box 2125
Putalisadak, Kathmandu, Nepal
Tel. (0977-1) 419610
Fax. (0977-1) 412538
***********************************************************
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 09:16:39 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Arun III/NEPAL- A Case of Anti-Social Development
Cross-posted from SCN:
---------------------
cookekb@ndlc.occ.uky.edu (Ken Cooke) writes:
> Nepal's Arun Valley, which is the world's
>last intact Himalayan forest valley.
I dont like Arun III either.But this is an example of hyperbole?
There are a few other intact valleys in the Himalaya.
Why is 'the world's last'? Are there Himalayan
valleys, or Himalayan forests anywhere but in the Himalaya?
>The Valley is home to 450,000 people belonging to 24
>distinct ethnic groups-- involuntary resettlement of these
>groups would severely jeopardize their traditional socio-
>cultural and economic practices.
The valley to be flooded is a narrow chasm. I doubt that anybody lives in
the area to be flooded. but in any case the number of effected people
will be very small, no where near 450,000 people, who live downstream
from the proposed dam site.
There is enough wrong with this project that it really is not necessary
to make up stuff.
>INHURED INTERNATIONAL
>International Institute for Human Rights,
>Environment and Development
>P.O. Box 2125
>Putalisadak, Kathmandu, Nepal
>Tel. (0977-1) 419610
>Fax. (0977-1) 412538
Frank
****************************************************************
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 09:18:24 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: -->Culturally Mixed Marriages<--
From: livegod@netcom.com (Mark T. Palmos)
Hi People,
Is it possible for "Mixed Marriages" to work?
Black-White -- Jew-Moslem -- Christian-Jew
Korean-Latino -- Bosnian-Serbian -- Japanese-Italian
etc...
What you think about "Mixed Marriages"?
Should they be encouraged or discouraged?
I am collecting real information from people's own personal experience for a
documentary on the subject. I want to hear from you especially if there were
challenges and difficulties you had, and overcame, or had and could not
completely overcome. Problems with things like language, parents, family and
friends, food, religeon... Please E-Mail me at livegod@netcom.com
I believe that "love conquers all" and that differences can enhance a
relationship as much as they could be problems. My documentary will end
with the conclusion that anything is possible where there is love... but
it will be a much more interesting story if there is a challenge which
the loving couple had to overcome!
I am still collecting my information, but if you get chosen for the
documentary, you will get a couple of hundred dollars for your trouble,
and of course, it will be with your permission.
Please Write!!!!! Yours Sincerely, Mark T Palmos.
**********************************************************************
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 09:19:10 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: FYI: Hong Kong Arrests Illegal Immigrants
From: forecast@teleport.com
-----------------------------
07/18 0526 OPERATION AGAINST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS LAUNCHED IN HK
HONG KONG (JULY 18) XINHUA - HONG KONG POLICE AND IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT
OFFICERS ARRESTED 95 FOREIGNERS DURING A FOUR-AND-A-HALF HOUR OPERATION IN
TSIM SHA TSUI TODAY.
A POLICE SPOKESMAN SAID THAT THE PEOPLE ARRESTED ARE MAINLY BANGLADESHIS,
PAKISTANIS, SRI LANKANS, NEPALESE AND NIGERIANS.
HE SAID THAT THEY WERE ARRESTED FOR FAILING TO PRODUCE VALID IDENTITY
DOCUMENTS, OVERSTAYING AND POSSESSING OF FORGED TRAVEL DOCUMENTS.
HE SAID THAT SIMILAR OPERATIONS WOULD BE CONDUCTED FREQUENTLY IN THE
FUTURE.
*****************************************************************
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 09:19:54 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: News from Nepal: dhuk-dhuki kahan ra kata
From: atuladhar@gramps.clarku.edu
Nepal ko Political Analysis: Rastra dhuk-dhuki kahan ra kata?
=============================================================
This essay is based on the package of newspapers from july 9-14 which i just
finished skimming. The essay contains specific news items that are not
usually covered by western wires we get to read in the internet as well as my
impressions of what these may mean.
One of the surpising absences i noticed is the apparaent lack of political
visibility of the big loud-mouth Girija Koirala. He was only quoted as being
happy at the release of Aung Sang Kyi of Burma. He is either very busy
building up party cadre or fast accelerating to political oblivion.
Ganesh Man, the man without a govt post or party post, is again in the news
for his conditions of participation in politics again. They include among
others:
1. That Girija and Krishna Prasad do not stand up for elections.
2. That all the old generation leaders from Girija and Bhattarai
remove themselves from leadership positions. [hey, i thought
girija said this in relation to ganesh man and look who
are still fishing in muddy waters.]
3. That he will not speak publicly under the auspices of the
Congress 4-star flag.
4. That he will speak for democracy not for Congress.
5. That those who sponsor his talks are not Congress but
independent persons.
6. That all those Congressi rebels who were in the
"Nepali jana jagaran" campaign of Jagannath Acharya,
a proxy Ganesh Man iniative aimed at inciting Congressi
activists against Girija, be readmitted to Congress with
due respect. [It may be noted that there is a new party called
Nepal jan jagaran party registered for elections.}
There is a lot of whining that Ganesh man is a nothing, a have-been and why
his conditions still deserve so much media play but it is obvious he is still
considered a power to reckon and the congress would like him back because he
presence has been historical victory at the hustings and his withdrawal of
support has meant congress loss. There is little confidence displayed by the
cogress that tbey can win the elections without Ganesh Man.
Instead the congress seems to jumping and prancing like a headless
chicken at what they percieve is a sure victory of UML over the Congress.
First, the Congress leadership is panicking that the new UML budget by decree
has the vastly popular, "Build your own village yourself" program where Rs 3
laks will be disbursed to each village to spend as they wish. The congress
leadership characterize this as "irresponsible populist" move that will push
deficits, devaluation, and inflation. There are all kinds of futile move to
counter this vote capture strategies from hoping the Supreme court will still
render Adhikari's decision extra=constitutional to pleading the King to
reconsider his decision and appeal for his activist role by Krishan Prasad to
now the General Secretary Mahendra narayan Nidhi announcing that the
"institution of monarchy is a too costly for the country and not really
working {for them, obviously".
The insinuations of responsible people of one of the most powerful
political parties against the insitutions of the monarchy when these very same
parties have religiously paid lip service tothe constitutional committment to
monarchy in Nepal has many political pundits wondering where the country is
going. Monarchy-baiting is not limited to the frustated and bitter congress
but also UML leadership. both PM Adhikary and Party Secretary Bam Dev Gautam
has been caught in recent post-parliament dissolution election season mouthing
sentiments such as, in effect, "UML is ultimately committed to republicanism,
i.e. the removal of the king" which the pm had wiggle out because he is in the
responsible position but has yet to bre refuted by the Party secretary.
The UML leadership seems to responding to the general accusations by
their opposition from both the right and the left that UML and the Palace has
been too cozy lately and it is specifically the mashal, "Sanyukta Janmorcha"
headed by the Baburam Bhattarai, PHD, who have been spearheading this
confrontations with the UML with public strikes and postering and re-postering
over UML slogans in public places as Ratna Park. Accusing political opponents
of being close to the King and the Palace seems to be the politically correct
thing to do. Nepal Sadabhavan party Chairman Gajendra Narayan singh, a former
Congress and Panche who spear headed the cause of the "Mashesis" by publicly
wearing a dhoti to Parliament and Rastra Panchayat and speaking Hindi
publicly, accused his former Party secretary Hrideyesh Tripathi, a former
socialist who came under the regionalist slogan of Sadbhavana and who has now
deserted his party to form his party and align himself with the left forces as
opposed to Sadhvana aligning himself with the congress, as "Raat ko adhyanro
ma daura-suruwal lagayera chor justo durbar jaane uhi Hrideyesh hun
{Hridedyesh is the one who stealthily crept like a thief to the palace in the
"national costume" considered a breach to the "Madhesi" faith.
All this is pointing to the clear political capital in mass support
for anti-king republican sentiment by various parties from the Congress,
Sadhabhavan, to UML and the Sanyukta janmorcha. It is probably due to his
vulnerability that the Monarchy insist that all political prties pay their
legal allegiance to the Monarchy.
Political pundits like to characterize the current political
dhuk-dhuki as the congealing of political forces into polemic Communist, read
left forces, and the anti-communist rightist forces. While this was
superficially so in the last formal confrontations in the Parliament, a closer
look reveals others schisms and realignment of political forces.
One interesting and potentially very signigicant political realignment
is along ethnic politics of pro and anti Hindu socio politics of Nepal. Here
are some of the evidences.
1. Recently in Dharan, there was a constellation of various modern
categories of political pluralism such as the Human Rights Organization
coalescing with ethnic, anti_Hindu label ethnic organizations such as "Tamu
Tsedung, Kirant Rai Yayokkha, Kirant Yankthung Chumlung, etc[note how these
organizations have abjured Sanskritzed names for organzatins such as 'samitis,
sangh, samudaya, samaj']" by speakers who celebrate their ethnic surnames such
as Tilak *Yongden*, or Khadga Meyanbo, under an ethnic coherance called,
"Sakeladi BhumiDevi Kirant Sanskritic Sangh" to fight against the "B.P.
Memorial Health and Science Academy ' for bulldozing and defiling sacred
Kiranti land, values, sentiments. The speaches were fiery. It is to be noted
that the diety, "Sakeladi Bhumidevi" refers to a pre-Hindu earth-goddess and
the participants came in traditional war attire bedecked in spear, bows, in
specific rejections of the HIndu, "national" norm of the daura-suruwal, a
dress which the multiparty leaders associated with the regimentations and the
cakari of the Panche govt by deliberating wearing simple western shirt and
pants immediately after the 1989 change but now are increasing wearing
daura-suruwal topi with a vengeance in a iconographic message that they are
with the Hindu definition of what is right and normal for the country. This
meeting also witnessed political critizisms against all the modern parties
from the Panche to congress, to UML and the leftist for paying lip service to
the cause of Kiranti identity and politics.
2. Obviously the Kiranti accusation has deep resonance in contemporary
political reality of Nepal. Among the 67[of the 97] political parties which
had registered till July 13, 53 or nearly 80 % were from Brahmin or chettri
castes.
3. That modern categoris of political discourse are breaking down in
their ability to define and contain ethnic and culture politics is indirectly
evident in another political development. The UML govt recently fired C.P.
Mainali for speaking against the govt in relation to the Cabinet dismissing
his special monitoring committee in his Local Development Ministry for the
"Build your own village yourself." The explanation given is that C.P. was
trying to cash in the immensely popular political capital of the program to
increase his weight in the UML and maybe to oust the present chief, Madhav
Nepal. Nor being an insider, one wonders how much political damage CP was
really doing to its electoral chances by makig sure the popular program worked
that this merited his firing, specially considering how heavy he is within the
party, beig a founding membner fro the Jhapali days, struggling in jail while
Madhav Nepal was masquerading as secure bank employee.
When this is contrasted to the way Padma Ratan Tuladhar issue has been
handled, one begins to wonder at the difference. Padma Ratna Tuladhar
definetly does not have the same following among the party cadres of UML as
C.P. but he has an independent cross-party appeal, beginning with his core
Mankah Khala to the oppressed by the Panche people when he bravely demanded
multiparty within the mono-party panche legislative body, to human rights
activists and those who value dignity of the oppressed especially the new
cultural politics outsde of the mankah khalah's traditonal challenge of
establishmentarian Hindu values. Certainly he has caused more damage to
political capital of the UML: from his insistence on his independence,
despitethe ridicule fo the congress, when standing up for elections to his
breaking teh sensitive work permit issue before visiting India as a labor
minister (much to the chagrin of the South Block) to his threat to resign over
the Sanskrit broadcast of news in Radio Nepal to the ultimate sensitive faux
pas, his alleged statement supporting cowslaughtert taht the PM and the Deputy
PM had to apologize and explain their variance with Tuladhar's stand.
My question is this: if UML govt so publicly disagrees with Tuladhar's
culatural politics why don't they fire him when CP should be fired for just
stablishing a small monitoring cell within his own ministry. I posit that UML
is very aware of the strong inde[endent political capital Tuladhar caries and
the negative political price they will have to pay if they send a message by
firing him.
It is an uncomfortable marriage of convenience between the Marxist and ethnic
politics" pretty soon the privilege paid to Hindu values over modern marxist
values would tear asunder the current left politics of capitalizing on the
feelings of the oppressed of Nepal. The PM is paying his obligatory respects
of Nepali by attending to Bhanubhakta's anniversary and Mod Nath Prasit, the
architect of cultural policies of the UML, is now defensively asserting taht
Sanskrit cannot be dismissed as a dead religion.
Besides these political dhuk-dhukis, the papers have printed a phot caption of
Makhmali Mali weeping over the prizes won by her retared son, RaMesh Mali; she
is obviously a heart-broken woman of humble back ground, not one of those
well-off who might use their afno-manche connections to wheedle n opportunity
to go to States.
Christianity seems to have increaed in the Valley, says one report. There are
125 chruches with 100-2000 followers in each, a total of 35-40000 in all.
130 cows and oxen were intercepted at Palhi VDC in Nawalparasi as they were
being smuggled to India for slaugther.
There is tension between the Transportation Department responsibnle for fixing
traffic lights and the Police dept responsible for enforcing traffic rules.
Kathmandu valley had 2000 traffic accidents in 1994, this is nearly ten times
the rate ten years ago. The total road length is 941 km with 81000 vehicles
plying and about 500 new drivers getting their lincence everymonth.
The interest offered by Himalayan Bank in Nepal for savings deposit is 8% a
year, that is more than any mutual fund stock market in usa, the cd offer 9.5%
for 2 year deposits.
Populist measures of the UML budget, would you give your votes for this?
1. Rs 100/mo social security for elders over 75 yers of age, [Nepali
who have a life expectancy of 56, rightly regard seniours over
77 as reaching godhood.]
2. Rs 5,00,000 for Build your Village yourself, up from Rs 3 lakhs.
3. Rs 3.5 millions for each of the 205 constituencies for upgrading
health, drinking water and transport facilities {sure beats
raisind money for the police bullets.}
4. Property Tax abolished.
Nepal had record rainfal in the central part. The rainfall in Pokhara was
1391 mm, highest in 23 years; naturally a number of landslides have been
reported in Syangja.
Modnath Prasit increases the budget of the Sanskrit University by 33 lakhs
this year.
A. K. Mainali becomes the first Ambassador to Sri Lanka, can any one tell if
he is related toa the Mainalis in communist leadership?
According to Arjun narshing, Girija will take over as Acting President of the
Congress Party given the current President Krishna Prasad Bhattarai "due to
reasons of health".
The money earmarke for Kathmandu cleanup i the curent budget is Rs 210
million.
Budget has been allocated for a minimum of 3 ha of community afforestation in
1352 villages and 18 townships.
Compiled and written by:
Amulya Tuladhar
Clark University
**********************************************************
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 09:55:00 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Solar cookers at IUFRO world congress
From: ala@kanto.cc.jyu.fi (Ari Lampinen)
Here is a program (incl. Nepalese contribution) of a seminar on the
potentials of solar cookers to reduce tropical deforestation.
Latest information available in WWW:
http://kaapeli.fi/~tep/iufro.html
---------------------------------
(including speech abstracts and link to conference full program)
-ari
IUFRO XX World Congress
August 6-12, 1995, Tampere, Finland
Caring for the Forest: Research in a Changing World
TEP will organize a satellite meeting in this major forest research congress
(3000 attendants expected) with a topic "Solar cookers as a means for reducing
deforestation". There will be a seminar of 2 hours (on 10th of August) and
cooker and cooking exhibitions (during the congress week). The congress is
organized by Finnish Forest Research Institute.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SATELLITE MEETING: 10th August 1995, 19:30 - 21:30, University of Tampere,
Main Building, room U 11
Solar Cookers as a Means for Reducing Deforestation
Chair: Riitta Wahlstrom, co-chair Ari Lampinen; Technology for Life and
University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
Programme:
* Claus Montonen, Technology for Life and University of Helsinki, Finland:
Using solar cookers in developing countries, different aspects
* Anita Mahandrar, Centre for Rural Technology, Nepal: Solar cookers as a
means to reduce deforestation in Nepal
* Ulrich Oehler, Group ULOG, Switzerland: Solar cooking in Switzerland -
use of cookers in Africa and India
* Artur Marques da Costa, Portugal: Experiences of using solar energy
* Discussion
********************************************************************
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 13:56:00 -0400
From: P.K. Sharma <p.k.sharma@sfwmd.gov>
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: ANA election results for immidiate release
Header: Election Results of the Association
of Nepalis in Americas (ANA)
Recent election results were announced by
ANA at its 13th. Annual Conference held in
Denver, Colorado, during the first week of
July. The newly elected officers are:
Pramod Sharma, President; Shyam Karki,
Vise President, Amrit Tuladhar, Secretary;
Krishna Nirola, Treasurer; and Hom Nath
Subedi, Chief Editor. These Executive
Officers are elected for a two-year term. A
summary of ANA's Denver Conference will
be made available very soon through TND.
For a complete list of ANA Advisors and
Executive Committee members, please
contact P.K.Sharma@SFWMD.GOV
Pramod Sharma, West Palm Beach, FL
--------------------------------------------------
Note to TND: This is my first contribution,
please let me know if I need to improve on
the format etc. Thanks, Pramod
-------------------------------------
For Your record: I am
Pramod K. Sharma, AICP
Profession - Planner
Address: 744 Whipoorwill Row
W. Palm Beach, FL 33411
(407) 791-9934 Home
(407) 687-6779 Off.
****************************************************************
Date: Sat, 22 Jul 1995 11:00 EST
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
From: Oliver_Seeler@RedwoodFN.org (Oliver Seeler)
Description: Help on Stupa Book
I'm in the early stages of planning the production of a book on
Buddhist stupas. The concept, at this point, is to produce a book
that will be of interest from a variety of perspectives -
historical, religious, architectural, archeological, mythological
and artistic. It will provide an informal but accurate
introduction and overview of Buddhist stupas in general, and of
the stupas of Nepal in particular (the latter to limit the work
to manageable size and to provide a geographical focus).
Extensive graphics - color photographs, technical drawings and
modern and old paintings of stupas - will be the heart of the
book, and will complement both modern and classical text
organized to allow the reader to follow his or her particular
areas of interest without distraction.
Much as I would like to myself photograph all of the stupas that
might be included, and research and write the text myself, I
can't undertake a lifetime project. So this is a call for
material. If you have taken photographs or have created other
graphics of stupas, or have written something about stupas, I
would be most interested in the possibility of including your
work in this book. If you know of other material that I might be
able to include, I would be grateful for your direction to it.
What is sought includes:
Graphic material including photographs, diagrams, drawings,
paintings, maps and so on; termas, or parts of them, and other
scriptural references to stupas; relevant folktales and other
stories, including personal ones; accounts of historical secular
and religious events involving stupas; travel, exploration and
pilgrimage stories; material relating to the ornamentation of
stupas; technical or more casual papers dealing with any aspects
of stupas; bibliographical entries, annotated or not; and
anything else you might suggest.
Some business: Submitted material can be returned if desired, but
please be aware that this project won't be finished overnight.
Written material will not be edited without consultation with and
approval of the author(s). Scriptural material will not be used
without the approval of a therewith associated religious
authority. Contributed material will be credited in the work. If
applicable, copyrights of submitted material will be retained by
the contributors and will be so acknowledged. Payment for
material used will be at the least a copy of the published work;
other payment may be possible as the project progresses, but at
this time this is an individual out-of-pocket effort. Some
portion of any profits will be donated to the maintenance of the
stupas of Nepal.
Some of you may recall my recent issuance of a GIF of a
spectacular photograph of the Great Stupa at Bodhnath. I have now
completed a digital transcription of the English translation of
the terma (The Legend of the Great Stupa) associated with that
stupa (with the permission of the print publishers, Dharma
Publications of Berkeley). Both the GIF and the text file are
available, free, on request from me.
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to a whatever support
you can offer. May this project be of benefit to all beings.
Oliver Seeler
oliver_seeler@redwoodfn.org
*******************************************************************
Date: Sun, 23 Jul 1995 14:22:45 -0500 (CDT)
From: Rupeshiadis Pradhanis <PRADHAN@AC.GRIN.EDU> (Rupesh Pradhan)
Subject: Kathmandu Home Page
To: NEPAL@cs.niu.edu
I would like to invite you to check my web page, Kathmandu Home Page. Though
most of it still under construction, there is enough material for you to
browse through and send me comments, suggestions, recommendations...
The main purpose of Kathmandu Home Page is to provide a resource base for the
Nepalese economy through its Chanakya Page. Chanakya Page has very limited
information at this stage, but hopefully, it will grow in the days to come. I
would appreciate any help you may be able to offer in bettering Chanakya
Page.
The URL for Kathmandu Home Page is:
http://www.math.grin.edu/~pradhan
Thanks and hppy browsing!
Regards,
Rupesh
*****************************************************************
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 1995 17:15:22 -0400
From: rshresth@black.clarku.edu (RaJesh B. Shrestha)
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Nepal VISA info needed
Cross-posted from SCN:
---------------------
Information about VISA for Nepal. Us Dollars CASH still buys a visa at the
airport. Be sure to have little photos of your self. One for each VISA, one for
each VISA extension ( I am not sure how long they give if you buy the VIS at
the airport, which usually has a shorter line than the line for the those that
already have a VISA). For each trekking permit, two photos. A new permit is
required for each area Annapurna, Everest and Miscellaneous (they are color
coded). Annapurna region permits can be obtained in Pokhara. Central
Immigration Office is located at Tri Devi Marg, across from the Himalayan Bank,
just west of the Royal Palace just as you enter the Thamel area (where many low
to moderate price tourist hotels and restuarants are located). They open at ten
a.m. People start to line up beofre then. There is a separate line for those
merely extending a VISA but not getting a TREKKING permit. It will be croweded.
You MUST have the photos. Trekking fees in Spring 1995 were Nepali currency
equivalent to $5 per week. If you are going to a National park or special
Conversation Area(as in the Everst and Annapurna treks) there is an additional
fee (payable at a different window, be patient) of about US$12 ( I think Rs.
600). Visa extensions for tourist are payable at the rate of US$1 per day in
local currency (about Rs 50 or 51 to one US Dollar). Have exact change!!! They
will accept (usually) US dollars cash in lieu of Nepali rupees. VISA and
trekking permits submitted in the morning are generally avaialbe to be picked
up that afternoon.
The lines wil be long, but enjoy yourself. I often run in to friends of mine
while standing in line. Just like in Casablanca, "Everybody goes to Rick's", so
it is with Immigration office. Some trekking destinations are off limits and
others require that you pay special fees and go with a group and follow special
rules. All parks require that you use kerosene and NOT food for cooking. There
are some kerosene sales and stove rental depots set up outside of some parks
andother trekking areas.
Tourist VISA is can be extended to a maximum of 5 months total stay per
calendar year. I have never heard of any exception. Usually by the three or
fourht month you need to provide some sort of justification. After you have
beenthere a total of five months. Bye, Bye.
Trekkers, remember just because the guide book says the monsoon is over in
oct/Nivember doesnt mean that it can't rain hard!!!! Be careful, carry a
walking stick. I tis useful to protect yourself from rabid dogs. There were at
least 300 deaths last year among Nepalis due to Rabies. All modern
immunizations (including Hepatitis A, brand name Havrix) are available in
kathmandu (those made outside Nepal or India or more expensive).
Happy trekking. Remember, she or he who finishes the trek last has seen more.
Don't be in a hurry. Finish each day early enough to enjoy the sunset or find that hot springs.
************************************************************
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 1995 17:15:51 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Nepal VISA info needed
From: alan.r.wald@support.com
Hi again, I left something off in responding to the question about Nepal VISA
info. The cost of the initial visa often changes and is soemwhere in the
neighborhood of $25 to 40 dollars (US) depending on how many days it is good
for. Tourist Visa can be extended in Kathmandu, no problem. Jut need money and
photos.
It ahs been about two years since it was necessary to show a minumum amount of
money changed in order to get a TOURIST visa extension.
This information is accurate of May 1995. I don't expect it to change soon.
Though immigration office opens at 10 am that is just to hand out forms. The
acutal doors don't open for ral business until 10:15. Occasionally there is
some delay due to late arriving employees. Those who have taken public
transport (bus) in Kathmandu will understand.
*********************************************************
Following news article is taken from The Globe and Mail ( Canadian
national newspaper); july 20, 1995 ( ie, today).
NEPALESE BEING SOLD TO BROTHELS
Slavery - Age of girls being lured into prostitution down, rights group says
Thousands of Nepalese women and girls are sold into a life
of prostitution in India every year and kept in conditions tantamount
to slavery, a report by Human Rights Watch says.
In India's red-light districts, there's an increasing demand for
Nepali girls, especially virgins with fair skin and Mongolian features,
according to the report, titled Rape for Profit : Trafficking of Girls
and Nepali Women to Indian Brothels.
Estimates put the number of Nepali girls and women now working
in Indiaa brothels at about 200,000 with between 5,000 and 7,000 new
Nepalis ending up in Indian brothels every year.
Girls forced into prostitution in Bombay's brothels may stay trapped in the system for more than a decade, during which they may be
sold from one brothel to another several times.
"It is clear the percentage of Nepali girls in Indian brothels
is very high, that their numbers appear to be increasing and that the
average age at which they are recruited is significantly lower than it
was 10 years ago," the report says.
The age range at which the girls are recruited has dropped,
from 14 to 16 years old in the 1980s to 10 to 14 in 1994, despite
new laws in both countries intended to stem trafficking and child
prostitution.
The report says the victims are young women lured from their
villages by local recruiters, relatives or neighbours with promises
of jobs or marriage. Kidnapping was also reported.
They are then sold to brokers who deliver them to brothels in
India. Their purchase price and interest become the "debt" the women
must work to pay off, and that can go on indefinitely.
Most girls and women start out in cheap brothels where they are
"broken in" througha process of rapes and beatings, and frequently
resold to other brothels where they can bring in more money for the
owner.
Both psychological and physical means are used to "break in"
new girls purchased for brothels. "Psychological abuse, threats and
intimidation are an integral part of the process and are used exclus
ively with girls who are purchased as virgins and can threrefore be
sold for higher prices if their 'training' does not include rape," the
report says.
And when the psychological approach fails to work, brothel staff
use phusical abuse or permit customers to do so; the abuse can include
beatings, gang rapes and torture with burning cigarettes.
Escape from the brothels is almost impossible because they're
tightly controlled. The debt bondage is enforced by near-total
confinement to the brothels premises.
Many return to Nepal infected with the AIDS virus.
The Human Rights Watch/Asia report is largely based on
interviews with trafficking victims, most of them Nepali women in their
20s who were sent to India as teen-agers, or older women in Bombay
who were still involved in the industry.
Becuase people pass freely between India and Nepal, it is
difficult for the border police to check illegal activity, the report
says, adding that in Nepal border police are bribed to allow traffickers
to get the girls to India.
While Bombay appears to have the highest percentage of Nepali
prostitutes, Nepali women are trafficked into many other cities in
India. The report also says that tourism is less a factor in the sex
industry than local demand.
One organization dedicated to the rights of children reported
last year that 40 per cent of 300 Nepali prostitutes interviewed in
Bombay had been trafficked from carpet factories. Carpets are Nepal's
most important export; Kathmandu carpet factories are notorious for
the pervasive use of child labour, the report says.
The Nepali girls and women interviewed by Human Rights
Watch/Asia were forcibly trafficked into India and didn't work as
prostitutes voluntarily "but were held in conditions tantamount to slavery."
*************************************
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Email Send/Receive Service in Nepal
From: sbhattar@osf1.gmu.edu (Sushovit Bhattarai)
Date: 21 Jul 1995 15:03:30 GMT
Great News!!
For Those Requiring Email Receive/Send Services to Friends and Families In
Nepal
Due to the numerous inquiries regarding email/internet access in Nepal, a
company named Global Communications Consultants based in Karmachari
Sanchayakosh Building at Thamel has set up an email service through
Mercantile Office Systems (MOS). This company provides phone, fax, telex,
email and postal services to the general public. They also have a branch at
Everest Communications Service at Boudha.
With this service, anyone from abroad can receive/send email to almost anyone
in Nepal. Due to the send/receive cost regarding connection through Mercantile
Office Systems, there will be a fee charged to the recipient (in Nepal). The
Costs are as follows:
Sending email NRs. 80.00 per KByte
Receiving email NRs. 30.00 per KByte
Procedures in Sending an Email to a Person In Nepal:
1. Create and send the email to the address <glocom@globpc.mos.com.np>
2. Do not forget to write the recipient's FULL NAME and PHONE
NUMBER.
3. The recipient will be notified immediately.
Please forward your comments/questions/concerns to :
[bshresth@frodo.okcu.edu] or [sbhattar@gmu.edu]
******************************************************
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 1995 17:33:02 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: news July 21
From: ponta@mail2.sas.upenn.edu (Pratyoush R. Onta)
The Xinhua News Agency, JULY 21, 1995
HEADLINE: fair price shops to be opened across nepal
DATELINE: kathmandu, july 21; ITEM NO: 0721075
BODY:
the nepalese government is to open 4,745 fair price shops in the
country to relieve public woes caused by the spiraling prices of daily
commodities, according to the ministry of supplies. the decision to set
up such shops was taken by the cabinet recently under its program to
provide relief and make all daily goods available to the people at one
place, the ministry said thursday. commodities to be sold in the fair
price shops include grain food, salt, sugar, tea, edible oil, baby food,
vegetables, meat, fruit, medicine, clothes, construction materials and
other essential goods, a spokesman from the ministry said. this program
is to begin from kathmandu, the capital and biggest city in the country,
and to be expanded to all the 75 districts in the country, according to
the spokesman.
******************************************************************
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
From: dummy <dummy2@AIX1.UCOK.EDU>
Date: 22-JUL-1995 16:26:46
Description: Re: Nepalese being sold to brothels
Much ado about nothing!!!!abi@newsserver.sfu.ca (Abi Kumar Sharma) wrote:
>Following news article is taken from The Globe and Mail ( Canadian
>national newspaper); july 20, 1995 ( ie, today).
>
>
>
> NEPALESE BEING SOLD TO BROTHELS
>
>
>
> Slavery - Age of girls being lured into prostitution down, rights group says
>
>
> Thousands of Nepalese women and girls are sold into a life
>of prostitution in India every year and kept in conditions tantamount
>to slavery, a report by Human Rights Watch says.
>
> In India's red-light districts, there's an increasing demand for
>Nepali girls, especially virgins with fair skin and Mongolian features,
>according to the report, titled Rape for Profit : Trafficking of Girls
>and Nepali Women to Indian Brothels.
>
> Estimates put the number of Nepali girls and women now working
>in Indiaa brothels at about 200,000 with between 5,000 and 7,000 new
>Nepalis ending up in Indian brothels every year.
>
> Girls forced into prostitution in Bombay's brothels may stay trapped in the system for more than a decade, during which they may be
>sold from one brothel to another several times.
>
> "It is clear the percentage of Nepali girls in Indian brothels
>is very high, that their numbers appear to be increasing and that the
>average age at which they are recruited is significantly lower than it
>was 10 years ago," the report says.
>
> The age range at which the girls are recruited has dropped,
>from 14 to 16 years old in the 1980s to 10 to 14 in 1994, despite
>new laws in both countries intended to stem trafficking and child
>prostitution.
>
> The report says the victims are young women lured from their
>villages by local recruiters, relatives or neighbours with promises
>of jobs or marriage. Kidnapping was also reported.
>
> They are then sold to brokers who deliver them to brothels in
>India. Their purchase price and interest become the "debt" the women
>must work to pay off, and that can go on indefinitely.
>
> Most girls and women start out in cheap brothels where they are
>"broken in" througha process of rapes and beatings, and frequently
>resold to other brothels where they can bring in more money for the
>owner.
>
> Both psychological and physical means are used to "break in"
>new girls purchased for brothels. "Psychological abuse, threats and
>intimidation are an integral part of the process and are used exclus
>ively with girls who are purchased as virgins and can threrefore be
>sold for higher prices if their 'training' does not include rape," the
>report says.
>
> And when the psychological approach fails to work, brothel staff
>use phusical abuse or permit customers to do so; the abuse can include
>beatings, gang rapes and torture with burning cigarettes.
>
> Escape from the brothels is almost impossible because they're
>tightly controlled. The debt bondage is enforced by near-total
>confinement to the brothels premises.
>
> Many return to Nepal infected with the AIDS virus.
>
> The Human Rights Watch/Asia report is largely based on
>interviews with trafficking victims, most of them Nepali women in their
>20s who were sent to India as teen-agers, or older women in Bombay
>who were still involved in the industry.
>
> Becuase people pass freely between India and Nepal, it is
>difficult for the border police to check illegal activity, the report
>says, adding that in Nepal border police are bribed to allow traffickers
>to get the girls to India.
>
> While Bombay appears to have the highest percentage of Nepali
>prostitutes, Nepali women are trafficked into many other cities in
>India. The report also says that tourism is less a factor in the sex
>industry than local demand.
>
> One organization dedicated to the rights of children reported
>last year that 40 per cent of 300 Nepali prostitutes interviewed in
>Bombay had been trafficked from carpet factories. Carpets are Nepal's
>most important export; Kathmandu carpet factories are notorious for
>the pervasive use of child labour, the report says.
>
> The Nepali girls and women interviewed by Human Rights
>Watch/Asia were forcibly trafficked into India and didn't work as
>prostitutes voluntarily "but were held in conditions tantamount to slavery."
Kathmandu Carpet industries may be notorious for child labor but don't
you think that a child of age 10-14 is better off knotting a carpet
amidst her family members or village friend than being raped and tortured
in "Indian Brothels?"
Suman Sharma
Univ. Central Okla.
*********************************************************************
From: neup2011@mach1.wlu.ca (Bhanu Neupane u)
Date: 23-JUL-1995 18:35:31
Description: Re: Nepalese being sold to brothels
dummy (dummy2@AIX1.UCOK.EDU) wrote:
:
: Kathmandu Carpet industries may be notorious for child labor but don't
: you think that a child of age 10-14 is better off knotting a carpet
: amidst her family members or village friend than being raped and tortured
: in "Indian Brothels?"
:
: Suman Sharma
: Univ. Central Okla.
:
You've said it! but the current scenario is even worse. NOt only girls but
the boys have equally affected. All you've to do is stand in front of the
Nirula's at Durbar-marg. If you're a tourist (got to be white) or have a
look alike appearance, you can witness the appalling aftermath of the
outcry against child labor. Little boys (8-15 years) -- once actively
working in carpet industries -- may approach you and offer anal-sex for a
dollar or two ( or even worse for a cone of vanilla ice-cream or a
half-eaten hamburger).
If child-labor was disgusting and an exploitation, how should one take
this burgeoning atrocious activity.
To my frustration, anger and grief, would somebody from INURED (hello!
knock!! knock!!!) or (I)NGOs with similar CELESTIAL objectives comment?
[social work...NGOs...Bah!]
Bhanu
*************************************************************
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1995 12:09:02 -0400
From: rshresth@black.clarku.edu (RaJesh B. Shrestha)
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Nepalese being sold to brothels
Cross-posted from SCN:
---------------------
In article <DC6xF7.6MA@info.uucp>, neup2011@mach1.wlu.ca (Bhanu Neupane u)
wrote:
> dummy (dummy2@AIX1.UCOK.EDU) wrote:
> :
> : Kathmandu Carpet industries may be notorious for child labor but don't
> : you think that a child of age 10-14 is better off knotting a carpet
> : amidst her family members or village friend than being raped and tortured
> : in "Indian Brothels?"
> :
> : Suman Sharma
> : Univ. Central Okla.
> :
> You've said it! but the current scenario is even worse. NOt only girls but
> the boys have equally affected. All you've to do is stand in front of the
> Nirula's at Durbar-marg. If you're a tourist (got to be white) or have a
> look alike appearance, you can witness the appalling aftermath of the
> outcry against child labor. Little boys (8-15 years) -- once actively
> working in carpet industries -- may approach you and offer anal-sex for a
> dollar or two (or even worse for a cone of vanilla ice-cream or a
> half-eaten hamburger).
>
> If child-labor was disgusting and an exploitation, how should one take
> this burgeoning atrocious activity.
>
> To my frustration, anger and grief, would somebody from INURED (hello!
> knock!! knock!!!) or (I)NGOs with similar CELESTIAL objectives comment?
>
> Bhanu
> =====
I don't get this. Why do a lot of you Nepalis get so bloody uptight as
soon as somebody even mentions "child labour" or "carpet factories"? Is it
some kind of collective guilt-trip, or what? Sure, there ARE atrocities
worse than child labour in Nepal, but why does seem so impossible to get a
serious discussion on the subject??! Please, don't (mis)take this for a
flame, I'm just really bewildered by this phenomena.
On my visit to Nepal in December 1994 I made a series of unannounced visit
to three different carpet factories in Kathmandu (all located in the
vicinity of the Boudhnath stupa). All used child labour, they working
conditions were appalling, in short, it was awful! Why defend it? I know
there are no easy solutions, and even (?) Garuri Pradhan (of CWIN) doesn't
believe international boycott will be even a means to the end of
readicating child labour. Also, a lot of the regular contributors to SCN
seems to bear a grudge towards Nepalese NGO's. Why is that? OK, there are
quite a lot of "dollar-chasers" (Hello Amulya!) around, but a whole bunch
of others are doing great work with no or very limited means. I consider
CWIN to be one of these.
So, please enlighten me on these issues. They have been puzzling me for
quite a while now, and it would feel great to get it out in the open so to
speak.
My apologies if anyone has found this offending, it wasn't my intention.
regards,
Michael Nord
************************************************************
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1995 12:07:57 -0400
From: rshresth@black.clarku.edu (RaJesh B. Shrestha)
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Nepalese being sold to brothels
Cross-posted from SCN:
---------------------
In article <abi.806297466@sfu.ca> abi@newsserver.sfu.ca (Abi Kumar Sharma) writes:
| NEPALESE BEING SOLD TO BROTHELS
| Slavery - Age of girls being lured into prostitution down, rights group says
|
| Thousands of Nepalese women and girls are sold into a life
|of prostitution in India every year and kept in conditions tantamount
|to slavery, a report by Human Rights Watch says.
|
| In India's red-light districts, there's an increasing demand for
|Nepali girls, especially virgins with fair skin and Mongolian features,
|according to the report, titled Rape for Profit : Trafficking of Girls
|and Nepali Women to Indian Brothels.
|
| Estimates put the number of Nepali girls and women now working
|in Indiaa brothels at about 200,000 with between 5,000 and 7,000 new
========================================
|Nepalis ending up in Indian brothels every year.
================================================
Either on of these data is wrong. If we assumed all girls
dragged to these "DHOTI BHAI's" heaven and hell(cf. haven) for Nepali
girls, are between age 14 to 16 then they work till the age of 50 years
only then the above data approaches to be correct. If we assume the
first data to be more reliable , which can be real ,we also assume
these girls work decades (lets assume 20 years), then the average
influx of Nepali girls in these red light areas becomes 10, 000 years.
Every day, 30 girls. If we assume there are 30 ports from where they
are dragged , then every day one girl is passed for the purpose of
prostitute from every port? As far as I know from my 7x2=14 passes
to India, our Nepali army checks our every bag very carefully, but,
why they fail to check the girls who are not tiny szie of "LIRIL"
soap. The custom officer make issue of one tiny sized "LIRIL"
soap, but, why they fail to extract such innocent girl who have
bEEN taken to india? Why they fail to interview to every girl of
the possible age before they leave Nepal? Is there something
wrong with them? They interview/ask questions to every passenger/
commuter going/coming to Nepal about every tiny goods, but
why don't they ask the guys who are exporting girls? Why don't
they watch the psychology of such hell bent idiots? Are our
custom officers more interested in non-living goods only?
As far as I know the duty of immigration + custom officers
is to check and verify that the person living the country
will not suffer any problem in the country of destination and
there responsibility is make cautious on the possibility of
sufferings.
We failed all these checking because our politicians
are power muggers and running behind the power, what to
do with these poor souls, who don't where is their destination.
Its a shame . who will take care of them, who will verify
them, who will listen to them, who will bring them back,
who will cure their HIV, who will accept them even if they
come back, some one will do it? But, who is he? God, that
is the only last hope, I can make. That is only answer I
can satisfy. That is only hope these teens dreaming. Shit
politicians like Girija and Mana Mohan are just spending
the money brought from selling these innocent girls
in "SO CALLED DEMOCRATIC ACTION" , i.e. election every year.
So, the total money imported so far from india selling these
poor souls in present price level if assumed per head
@NRs. 10,000. Then total is 200,000x10,000=NRs. 2, 000,000,000 .
So, total is 2 billion nepali rupees. If the 20 years
is their average period in those hells, in next twenty
years they (innocent girls) will contribute by selling
their life another Rs. 2 billion net . As you know the
2 bllion net means, if assumed 5 cycles of use before
this money returns to india, then it is about Rs. 10 billion
rupees. They will allow our politician to make every year
election. Thus, the every years election money comes from
selling our own daughter, sister what not.
I have nothing more to say to these money sucker politician,
just one word "shits".
Gyaneswor
P.S. I have read an interview with the exporting gang, saying
now a days they sell in between NRs. 20, 000 and 30,000.
You can make you own computation.
|
| Girls forced into prostitution in Bombay's brothels may stay
trapped in the system for more than a decade,
during which they may be
|sold from one brothel to another several times.
|
<rest part purged>
**********************************************************
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1995 16:55:01 -0400
From: rshresth@black.clarku.edu (RaJesh B. Shrestha)
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: sponsoring visitor
Cross-posted from SCN:
---------------------
On 24 Jul 1995 greenspan@UMDSP.UMD.EDU wrote:
> Does anyone know what U.S. government forms and red tape are required
> to sponsor a Nepali friend for a U.S. tourist visa?
> Thanks very much.
> Marian G.
It does seem to help to have a sponsor letter which basically should
swear that the individual will return to Nepal...which tells the Embassy
in Kathmandu that you are rich enough to support them if they need be
supported and that you have known the person to be of fine character and
all of that. Beyond that it is a total crap shoot. The consulate office
in Kathmandu is abitrary and frankly irrational. The Consulate denied my
brother in law a visa because, according to a very good AMERICAN friend
who accompanied him to apply for the visa, "he is too good looking...and
might marry an American"...How is that for a good reason to deny a
visa!!! Don't get your hopes up unless your pal is independently
wealthy. We had asked for a visa for my brother in law so that he could
accompany a six year old here who had severe orthopedic deformities who
was accepted to Shriner's Hospital for surgery. Not only did the
Consulate expect this crippled kid to get here on his own...(despite the
fact that he had rarely even been outside of his village...) they
responded to my pleading requests only after a letter from my Congressman
was faxed to the Ambassador. Is it any wonder that few Nepali citizens
ever venture back to Nepal!!! The damned Embassy makes it so hard to get
here in the first place that once here, few want to risk going back for
fear that they will NEVER get another visa!!!
Anyway in answer to your question...outside of your sponsor
letter...there really is nothing else you need to do. All of the visa
documents are available from the embassy in Kathmandu. They charge a
colossal fee for even applying for a visa...to discourage applicants. So
your pal should have someone who speaks English review his papers to make
sure they are in order before he applies. The consulate loves to hear
that they have land, a wife or husband and children...because they are
under the naive assumption that if the individual has all of the above
they will be motivated to return to Nepal...NOT.
Anyway...GOOOD LUCK!
Mari Sherpa
********************************************************
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 1995 15:42:20 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: SOFTWARE TRADE AND NEPAL
From: rrr50209@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (The Notorious R.R.R.)
Nepal and Software Trade with Other Countries
Recently, I have returned from Nepal and on my quite enjoyable trip, I
happened to attend a seminar on software trade between Nepal and
more developed countries. The seminar was setup by the Computer
Association of Nepal (CAN) and they invited a speaker from the
International Trade Commission (ITC), Geneva. Other speakers were
from the Trade Promotion Center (TPC) and various other
organizations/companies.
The seminar ran eight hours and covered various topics.
Here are a few:
- the trade of software in Europe.
- the Indian approach to facilitate software trade development.
- the history of Nepal and computers.
- the past image of Nepal and what image is needed for the future.
- the ITC spokesman talked about how it can facilitate the trade if
given money.
Then the seminar was open to general question/discussion. Discussion
of various problems and various solution to those problems arised.
Personally, what I saw from the seminar was that there is very great
interest in Nepal to trade software with developed countries. Not only
are there are a lot of people in this field, the people knew what they
were talking about. If the trade works out, Nepal would be a
promising investment. Nepal does not have too many other avenues
to better it's economy. This is the best, if not the only, way that Nepal
can vastly improve it's economy.
Now the question is "how?". India developed their software trade by
the use of the their Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). So the best chance
Nepal has is the use of their NRNs (Non-Resident Nepalis), which is
basically... us.
I currently hold a portfolio of one the companies in the Nepal. I can
give a copy of this to anyone who needs it. This can be distributed
anywhere to promote trade between Nepal and other countries.
So, those of us who want to help Nepal, this is one of the best ways.
I, myself, am a starting software consultant who is also starting my
master's in CS. I do not have the time nor the connections to help
Nepal in this sense to the fullest. So, If you are in the software field
or software-related field, or know someone in these fields,
please email or call me.
Thank you for your time,
Rajan Rajbhandari
vader@uiuc.edu
(312) 769-6059
Right now my email account is being transferred around, so it may be
unreliable. If there is no response in 3 days, please call.
**********************************************************************
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 1995 15:42:46 -0400
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Nepal hands over Tibetans to China (fwd)
From: "T.Matthew Ciolek" <tmciolek@coombs.anu.edu.au>
Tibet Information Network / 7 Beck Rd London E8 4RE UK
ph: (+44-181) 533 5458 / fax: (+44-181) 985 4751
-------- TIN - an Independent Information Service -------------
TIN News Update / 26 July, 1995 / pages: 4 ISSN 1355-3313
- Over 200 Tibetans Repatriated by Nepal Despite UN & US Protests -
Forced repatriation of Tibetan asylum seekers is continuing to take
place in Nepal, with at least ten refugees deported this month, after they
had formally sought government protection. The deportations continue in
the face of strong protests from the US, Australia and the UN's High
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), and could have repercussions on western
aid to Nepal.
Since April 23rd this year Nepal has repatriated over 200 Tibetans who
had crossed the Himalayas to seek asylum, including three well-known
Tibetan dissidents, while other are currently hiding in the mountains to
evade Nepali police, according to diplomatic sources.
The real figure for forced deportations this year is likely to be as
high as 400. By June this year refugee arrivals in Kathmandu were down by
520 compared to 1994, suggesting that up to 200 other deportations have
probably taken place without being documented by exile Tibetan or western
observers in Nepal.
Until April this year the Nepal authorities allowed Tibetan asylum seekers
who reached Kathmandu to be assessed by UNHCR officials in Kathmandu
before proceeding to India, where asylum is granted. About 2,500 had been
helped in this way each year since 1990.
Nepalese Government ministers deny that there has been any policy change,
but diplomatic sources say that by 19th June at least 14 groups of
refugees, totalling around 210 people, are known to have been handed over
by Nepalese police to the Chinese authorities at the border town of Dram,
known in Chinese as Zhangmu.
On about 11th July ten more Tibetan refugees, hoping to avoid being
detained by local police who might not have training in refugee
procedures, formerly applied for asylum with district authorities in the
Solu Khumbu region in Eastern Nepal. The ten were driven back to the
Chinese border and handed over to Chinese police, according to an
unconfirmed report from Kathmandu today.
Security patrols have been intensified around Salleri, 70 km south of the
Tibet-Nepal border, as well as other villages in the Solo Khumbu area as
police search for refugees who have crossed the Nangpa-la, the 5,700 metre
pass most often used by Tibetan refugees.
"We have received credible reports that officials of the Government of
Nepal have denied newly arrived Tibetan refugees access to the UNHCR and
have returned them to Chinese border authorities", a spokesman for the US
Government told TIN today.
"The US has urged the Government of Nepal at a senior level to handle
these Tibetan cases according to international procedures and practices,"
the State Department spokesman said, calling on the Nepalese to refer all
asylum seekers to the UNHCR for assessment.
The US authorities are reported to have taken the matter up directly with
the Prime Minister in Nepal and have issued at least two demarches in
Kathmandu. While the State Department emphasised that it has no immediate
plans to take action on US aid to Nepal, worth some $25 million per year,
it noted that aid cuts could not be ruled out.
"It is quite clear that this issue will get the attention of a number of
prominent members of congress," said one US official. "They are the
people who control the purse strings", he added.
Australia has also issued a demarche to the Nepalese on the repatriation
issue, while the British Government has also made its concerns known. "Her
Majesty's Government has expressed the hope that the Government of Nepal
will continue to abide by internationally recognised standards - to which
Nepal subscribes - for handling refugees, in close co-operation with the
UNHCR," said a Foreign Office spokesman today. Nepal is signed the UN
Convention on Torture, which forbids deportation to countries where
torture is rife.
But there was conspicuous silence from the European Union, which has
issued no demarche on the repatriations and which has decided to wait and
see if the policy continues before making any collective statement.
European inaction reflects the growing reluctance of some EU members,
notably some Mediterranean states, to raise human rights issues,
particularly in relation to China. The delay, which is achieved by some
countries making repeated calls for further information from their
embassies, was criticised by other western diplomats. "There is no longer
any plausible deniability that these repatriations are taking place,"
said one diplomat, who added that some of the incidents had been witnessed
by his colleagues.
UNHCR has raised the issue both in Geneva and in Nepal, where the local
UNHCR representative, Tahir Ali, told VOA in May that he was concerned
about "the organised manner" in which Tibetans were being sent back. On
4th July a senior UNHCR official, J. Amunategui, flew to Kathmandu for a
meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.
Mr Amunategui, Director of Inspection and Evaluation Services for the
UNHCR, expressed the hope that "Nepal would live up to its humanitarian
tradition and commitments". Nepal depends on the UNHCR for substantial
funding to maintain camps for over 80,000 ethnic Nepalese refugees who
have fled Bhutan, none of whom face the practice of repatriation without
assessment.
Madhav Kumar Nepal insisted that there has been no change in Nepal's
policy concerning refugees, according to the official paper, the Rising
Nepal. A Foreign Ministry spokesman repeated the statement on Radio Nepal
on 6th July.
Home Secretary Rewati Raman had earlier admitted that some Tibetans had
been handed back to China, but insisted that they had asked to be
repatriated. It was "at their own request to return home", he is said to
have told the Kathmandu paper, the Independent, on 30th May. "Our policy
on the matter has not changed", he added.
"Whenever I have contact with the Government and the relevant officials
they always assure me there is no change in the government policy," said
Tashi Namgyal, the Dalai Lama's representative in Kathmandu. "I hope this
stands and I hope the repatriation of these refugees will be stopped,"
The deportation policy began in April within days of Prime Minister Man
Mohan Adhikari's first official visit to Beijing since Nepal's Communist
Party won a general election last year, and could indicate increasing
closeness to China. Last month police in Kathmandu raided book shops in
Thamel, the tourist area of the city, seizing stickers with the slogan
"Free Tibet" and detaining at least one shopkeeper, according to a tourist
who witnessed a raid on 23rd June. New elections are due to take place in
November, giving the Nepal Communist Party a chance of strengthening its
position.
- Leading Dissidents Repatriated: Daughter Appeals -
The most serious case reported so far involves three prominent Tibetan
dissidents who had recently been freed from prison in Lhasa. One, 64 year
old Tsewang Palden, was on conditional release, and is certain to be
returned to prison for his attempted escape to Nepal. He was handed over
with nine other Tibetans on 18th June.
Tsewang Palden, a carpenter from Lhasa, had been conditionally released
last November after serving 3 years of a 5 year sentence imposed in
December 1991 apparently on suspicion that he had links with the exile
Tibetan government. His daughter, Sonam Drolkar, a well-known political
prisoner who escaped from prison in Lhasa in 1991, today appealed to
international organisations to help get her father released.
Sonam Drolkar, who was herself tortured for six months in a Lhasa prison,
says she has no details of her father's physical condition or of his
current whereabouts. "I am especially concerned that we don't know where
they are being held", she said of her father and other deportees. "To be
arrested again is especially dangerous", she said, speaking from
Dharamsala, N. India.
The other former political prisoner amongst the ten people handed over on
18th June was Dawa, a 29 year old monk from Ratoe monastery 50 km south of
Lhasa, who completed a 4 year sentence in April 1993 for starting a pro-
independence demonstration.
Thubten Tsering, a 70 year old monk from Sera monastery in Lhasa, was
handed back to the Chinese by the Nepal authorities on 17th June, one day
before Tsewang Palden. He had just completed an 8 year jail sentence,
imposed in 1987 because he discussed Tibetan independence with an Italian
tourist in Lhasa. 18 other Tibetan asylum seekers were handed over to the
Chinese with him, including 5 children under 13 years of age. One of them,
Dorje Phuntsog, from Lhasa, is a 5 year old boy.
The three political activists were among a group originally of 31 people
who had walked across Tibet for two months, often without food, before
climbing a Himalayan pass in western Tibet and entering Nepal. They were
detained by Nepali police near Baglung in western Nepal, 90 km south of
the border, on 9th or 11th June, and driven 180 km to Kathmandu, where
UNHCR representatives were refused access to them.
Home Ministry officials contacted on 18th June denied all knowledge of the
group, who had spent the previous day in police custody in Maharajganj in
Kathmandu, less than 2 km from the Ministry, and by then had been
deported.
After one day in prison on the Chinese side of the border, Dawa, the
youngest of the three political prisoners, escaped from the Chinese police
and safely reached UNHCR officials in Kathmandu after walking back across
the border and walking for a week through the Nepalese countryside.
"Ten of us were handcuffed in pairs and driven to Dram," said Dawa. "A
plain- clothes Nepalese man took us across the bridge to the Chinese side
and handedus over to the Chinese police," he added, indicating that the
hand-over was carried out not by police but by Nepalese immigration
officials, who are less likely to have acted without central
authorisation.
Dawa spent one night in a Chinese jail near the border bewfore the
prisoners were moved to larger prisons inland. "All ten of us were
handcuffed together in a line, with the first one handcuffed to a bar in
the window, so the ones by the window couldn't lie down," said the monk,
who escaped the next day by jumping out of a truck and hiding in the
forests near the border. The group of ten, all men in their 20s, included
four monks from Sera monastery near Lhasa. Tsewang Palden, who was with
Dawa in the truck, was too weak to jump from the vehicle or to complete
the walk back to Kathmandu.
Tibetans face increased efficiency by Chinese border security forces, who
intercepted 6,838 "illegal emigrants" throughout China in 1994, a 23%
increase on the previous year, according to the People's Daily on 16th
January. The number of Tibetan asylum seekers detained by Chinese police
is not known. Under Chinese law people crossing the border without
permission face a sentence of up to one year in prison, or many years more
if accused of trying to contact the Dalai Lama and his government.
In May the Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region in his annual work
report, published in the Tibet Daily on 8th June, called on officials to
"accelerate the construction of border defences" and to strengthen the
"reserve armed forces and militia" in order to assist "the military, the
police and the civilians to make greater contributions to defending the
border [and] safeguarding the motherland's unification".
Last month M-17 helicopters were introduced to carry out border patrols in
the Xinjiang military district, which includes western Tibet, according to
the Liberation Army News on 15th June, monitored by the BBC Summary of
World Broadcasts. The use of the helicopters, replacing yaks and horses,
marked the advance of "our frontier defence towards modernisation, with
boundary control changing from surface to three dimensional", the paper
quoted the district's frontier defence director as saying.
- [names of 19 deportees available from TIN] [end] -
Dr T. Matthew CIOLEK tmciolek@coombs.anu.edu.au
ANU Social Sciences Information Systems Administrator,
Coombs Computing Unit, Research School of Social Sciences,
[Coombsweb http://coombs.anu.edu.au/CoombsHome.html]
Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
ph +61 (0)6 249 0110 fax: +61 (0)6 257 1893
***********************************************************
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 1995 18:27:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: mahesh maskey <mmaskey@acs.bu.edu>
Subject: Vaccine for cancer/fighting ebola with blood
To: The Nepal Digest <Nepal@cs.niu.edu>
Health News:
Subject: Cancer vaccine trials to start in Britain
VACCINE FOR CANCER!
LONDON (Reuter) - British scientists developing a vaccine
that could stamp out one of the main causes of cervical cancer
have tested it on animals and now hope human trials will be
successful too.
The vaccine, developed by scientists at The Institute of
Cancer Research, builds an immunity to the sexually transmitted
disease Human Papilloma Virus (HPV).
A high proportion of HPV sufferers have cervical cancer.
Professor Julian Peto, giving an update on the progress of
the vaccine tried out on cows, dogs, rabbits and mice, told
reporters Wednesday, `` We believe the likelihood is that it
will work in humans too.
``A few years ago people would have thought we were in
cloud-cuckoo land to have even suggested tackling a virus. But
now it should be relatively simple to attack the virus before it
gets started.''
He said trials on humans could start within three years.
``If the trials are successful, the vaccine could be
available by early next century,'' he said.
Date: 26 july 1995.
FIGHTING EBOLA WITH THE BLOOD OF THE SURVIVERS
----------------------------------------------
KINSHASA, Zaire (Reuter) - Zaire's top virologist said
Wednesday a team of local doctors who helped contain this year's
Ebola virus outbreak may have found a cure to the deadly disease
-- injecting victims with blood of survivors.
Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe said that foreign doctors
fighting the epidemic were totally opposed to the idea but that
his team had gone ahead anyway and the gamble seemed to have
paid off.
``Of the eight who received the treatment seven survived and
one man died, who was in a very advanced state when he arrived
at the hospital,'' he said. ``There was even one who was in a
coma when he received the treatment and he quickly recovered.''
The virus, spread through contact with infected blood or
bodily fluids, is one of the deadliest known to man. There is
neither medicine nor vaccine for the disease, which normally
kills seven out of 10 victims through uncontrollable bleeding.
The virus, which killed more than 300 people in northern
Zaire in 1976, resurfaced this year in the town of Kikwit, 300
miles from the capital, Kinshasa. It has so far killed 233 of
the 296 people infected.
Muyembe portrayed the treatment as a gamble.
``Some of our foreign friends were very much opposed to this
treatment, but the Zaireans said, there is no vaccine and no
medicine, at least we should try this procedure, and apparently
it works,'' he said.
``The principle is that there are some who recover naturally
from the disease and who develop antibodies,'' Muyembe said.
``There is no virus left in their blood, but they have
protective antibodies.''
``We take the blood of the convalescents and give it to
those in the acute phase of the sickness,'' he explained.
``If we prove by scientific study that by giving blood there
is a drop in antigens that will be proof, and we will
demonstrate it very soon.''
The Kikwit epidemic, like the one in 1976, appears to have
burned itself out.
``There has been no new case for over a month, but we have
to wait twice the longest known incubation period, which makes
42 days,'' Muyembe said. ``By the end of this month we should
officially declare the epidemic over.''
Meanwhile, the hunt for the source of the virus continues.
Researchers plotted Kikwit cases back to January and a
charcoal maker who cut wood in the nearby forest.
Scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in
Atlanta, with help from the U.S. army animal experts, have been
trapping forest creatures suspected of harboring the virus.
Muyembe suspects an insect may be the source or carrier.
``I suspect it is an insect, but it is possible that rodents
are the reservoir and insects the vector, which transmit the
virus from rodents to man,'' he said.
He added, ``The virus is still out there. We haven't yet got
our hands on the reservoir and the risk of an outbreak is ever
present.''
*************************************************************************
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 19:19:38
To: A10RJS1@cs.niu.edu
From: Anish_Bania_at_WP@abtassoc.com
Subject: proposal
Due to time constraints
many do not have the chance to look at the whole issue. Sometimes the discussio
n scrolls page
after page. If the editorial board could limit the length of the posting then t
he readers will be
better served. Long discussions are not necessarily better discussions. Or if i
t has to be a lengthy
one maybe it can be compiled and posted in parts. Can TND also be posted in two
versions? One
just for current news clippings and the other for discussions, poems, events, p
ersonal experiences
fact findings etc etc. This will give TND and the readers more flavors.
Again keep up the much appreciated service and good luck.
Subject: Proposal to start a firm to provide Environmental Services
Namaste and hello!
I am writing this sort of memo to get together some like minded people to
do some
innovative and challenging work in Nepal starting as soon as November or Decemb
er, 1995. The
goal is to start a firm to provide environmental services such as solid waste m
anagement,
recycling, consulting in air and water pollution prevention, management of par
ks and recreational
areas etc. The list is tentative and can be increased as things roll along.
The objective is to provide quality services in the most creative, effici
ent and cost
effective method, generate revenues and create a professional environment for i
ntelligent and
hardworking individuals. This is a challenge and I encourage anyone interested
to join me and
form a team. The potential market for these kind of environmental services is n
ot limited to local
domestic market by all means. If we can get together a dedicated hardworking gr
oup with
ambitious goals, the work, I assure, will be rewarding and a lot of fun.
The group in mind will come from various backgrounds. Environmental scienc
e,
environmental engineering, business administration, computer programming, econo
mics etc are
some areas. If you are thinking of going back to Nepal to work in any environme
ntal field (which
is broad) and would like to part of a start-up company this is your chance.
If you are currently a student and would like to volunteer your time
while you are
in Nepal send me your name, address, number and e-mail address. I'll keep
you informed.
If you already have expertise in this field and would like consult vo
luntarily or for a
fee please contact me. Details will have to be worked out.
If you want to be a part of this team but cannot join us physically b
ut would like to
contribute your ideas on different aspects of environmental services, plea
se let me know.
Since information about latest developments in technology will also be a k
ey factor in
tackling these environmental problems we need access to information. This is on
e area where
some of you can contribute by sending research journal articles, books, technic
al reports etc.
Any leads on names of individuals in Nepal who would be interested in this
venture will be
much appreciated.
At this point I am trying to get together a motivated group. Details and l
ogistics will
be worked out in Nepal. I am personally very excited about this venture that I
am willing to take
on. After being here for ten years as a student and a professional I have decid
ed to explore new
opportunities in Nepal and the region. I strongly urge interested people to joi
n the team.
Please respond to me directly, so that we can start discussing the logisti
cs.
Thank you and look forward to hearing from you all soon.
My e-mail address until September 15 is
anish_bania@abtassoc.com
Address in Massachusetts until end September, 1995
1077 Mass. Ave
Arlington, MA 02174
Ph: (617)643-0804 (even.)
(617)349-2844 (day)
Address in Nepal after September
Anish Bania
P.O. Box 2416
Tripureswore
Kathmandu, Nepal
Ph: 216085
Fax: 223187
******************************************************************************
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