What PDRN can learn from DPRK?

Around September of 2007, a new and energetic Minster of Information and Communication – Com. Krishna Bahadur Mahara declared, Nepal will celebrate the 57th anniversary of the DPRK to pay respect to the glorious history of Korean revolution and to pay our tribute to the great and the dear: His Excellencies -the Kim s.Then I had just finished reading a book on North Korea and also was fresh from the memory of going to University with 2 very nationalist North Koreans. I was trying to understand what Nepal can possibly get be-friending one of the most notorious leader of modern world..(—umm no no no don’t get me wrong yet- Mr. Bush stands a step further for sure ). Though my plain experiences show that the coolest people actually live in the most difficult countries in the world. The North Koreans that I met were one of the nicest for sure. Nepalese can befriend with them very easily. After all we both are F****ed by politics for long and for sure. After my careful thoughts here are my recommendations for PDRN to learn from DPRK:
ท The adoption of “ Junche” the ideology- Since Nepal is going out of control with over-empowered and awfully over expecting “masses”, may be Junche (which basically talks about self criticism and what we can do for the country- rather than what we can get) may help reducing this profound madness in Semi-urban Nepalese society (if you don’t believe me trying to take a taxi in Kathmandu these days).
ท Bargain money out of UN- As we all know how north Korean (in full cooperation by UN systems) drained out aid money to make the most out of it. Since UN works hard in communities where there is no problem and does nothing much at other places citing security reasons, this idea can work in both party’s interest in Nepal. Remember AID is for Nepal and Government is Nepali.
ท Not be a "defacto" base for US to work on TIBET: Noting that the U.S. forces' occupation of south Korea was a direct product of the policy of aggression of the successive U.S. administrations to use south Korea as a strategic base from which to dominate Northeast Asia- Please don’t make that mistake- with China and India around Nepal can be the “hotbed” for US. This relates to my next recommendation
ท Blackmailing West: Nepal can use the distance between India and China and China and the rest of the world to maintain the status quo and bargain some development AID to Nepal. Remember we don’t have to stand very close to Indians, we can use them and the west: best by playing china card. No no no I don’t mean by doing the exact way that our beloved past king did and sorry about using the word "blackmail" - Turkey got 100 Million USD in Grant for letting US plane fly over its AirSpace during IRAQ War.
ท Going against Indian Imperialism: I don’t know what it really implies but “imperialism” is a big buzz work in MLMP (Maoism, Leninism, Marxism, Prachanndapath – to be lengthy enough). If Nepal can gather some guts and use this “whatever” in our own gain- may be we can at-least voice against building dams and flooding our villages by Indians. Hey by the way it’s not like you guys that Nepalese always travel across the countries. Sometimes they sleep in bed in Nepal and wake up the next morning in India (because the border pillars had just moved in last night).
And the final one- this is my favorite:
ท Most of the revolutionaries (Mao, Castro, Kim, Robert, Hoxa, Pot- that sounds confusing- okay POL POT – not the G -POT) who started “peoples struggle” and been victorious revolutionary have been the most brutal dictators in the history of the world. They failed to manage the politics, grea the development and basically destroyed the countries. Com. Prachanda can surely learn this lesson from DPRK and anywhere else and may be give institutionalizing democracy a serious thought.
Commenting on the news below, thoughts and counter-thoughts are welcome- Sushil

DPRK to increase cooperation with NepalTwo days after Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal got elected as the first Prime Minister of Federal Republic Nepal, paving way for the first ever democratically elected Maoist government in the world, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Sunday that it would strengthen the "friendly and cooperative relations" with Nepal.Kim Yong II, premier of world's most isolated communist nation, sent a congratulatory message to his Nepali counterpart Dahal Sunday for being elected as prime minister of the country, the official KCNA news agency reported.He also wished for the political stability and prosperity of Nepal.

Is there logic in requesting a constituent assembly looser to be head statute drafting committee

I don’t know why Maoists are so scared of UML. They should have told the world and UML that they rejected MKN in president post because he lost election in 2 places. People rejected him not once but twice. If he is rejected 2 times by people even to be member of the 604 people strong assembly there is no logic in making him a head of it. I found it Kiddish of UML to play power hungry greed move, like they have been doing since 1990 without a success. The fact is very simple; there are 4 power centers in Nepal. UML is the 3rd political force in Nepal. They should be happy to be bronze medallist and stop eyeing the gold. In rule of life you have to earn what you want.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------MK Nepal again offered to head statute drafting committee Former UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, who earlier rejected request from Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala to head the statute drafting committee, again received the same offer from the Maoist leadership Wednesday.CPN-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' during the four hour long discussion in Lalitpur asked Nepal to head the constitution drafting commission. The request has come from the Maoist leaders in another effort to forge alliance with UML in the formation of the new government and to rebuild relations that went bitter after the presidential election.Reports say that Prachanda also told Nepal that he could not support Nepal's candidacy for president due to internal problems of the party.In response, Nepal termed Prachanda's offer as positive but would accept the offer only on the condition that other parties back the proposal.

New-Hair Style

Hey guys, How are u all? It's been long time. Hope all of you are doing great. After getting job at Brisbane our buddy Prafulla is lost. Hey guys I've got some new snaps taken at my University. Check my new hair style dudes. Do you guys think I look bald in those photos. Please do comment and take care.


Best Regards
Sanjeeb

Will there be polls this April?

By Akhilesh Tripathi
Posted on: 2008-02-11 09:35:06 at kantipuronline.com

WILL THE CA elections, which have already been postponed twice in the past, take place this time around, on April 10? This is a question which, apparently, everybody is asking everybody in Nepal these days, without anybody being able to give the answer with any degree of certainty. Nobody is sure. For everybody clearly knows that the major reasons which caused the past deferrals of the much-touted polls are very much still there. To make matters worse, some new and seemingly even more dangerous anti-election factors have surfaced in the meantime.
Yes, of course, the only kind of people who appear to be optimistic and are publicly claiming with full determination that the crucial polls will be held this April are the ruling seven-party lot including the prime minister, home minister, other ministers and leaders (Well, they were making the same tall claim, expressing the same degree of determination on the previous two occasions as well!). However, the simple reality is, the people are not convinced. They don’t believe the politician’s promise. Interestingly, even some seven-party politicians doubt the possibility of the polls during private conversations.
The seven-party 23-point agreement reached in December last year that resulted in the proclamation of Nepal as a “federal democratic republic” by the interim parliament may have ended the misunderstandings and differences among the ruling parties, providing the Maoists a good pretext to rejoin the government, and rekindling hope for holding the CA election in some political sections. But this agreement, too, like other previous SPA-Maoists accords and understandings, was based on the wrong and prejudiced notion that the seven parties were all that mattered in this country and that anything could be done if the seven parties including the Maoists were on one side. This agreement especially left the agitating parties and groups in the country’s southern plains feeling ignored and neglected once again as it had utterly failed to address their demands.
Perhaps such surface gestures led to the formation of what we now have in the form of the United Madhesi Democratic Front- an alliance of Mahantha Thakur’s Terai-Madhes Democratic Party, Upendra Yadav’s Madhesi People’s Rights Forum and Rajendra Mahato’s Sadbhavana Party—that is openly threatening to foil the polls if their six-point demand is not met.
Not to mention the nearly two dozen armed outfits which have mushroomed in the past few months, leaving the situation in the Terai region really appalling with their gun and bomb tactics. One group calls a bandh in one district, while another in some other district. And this is happening almost everyday. Sometimes, the whole of Terai is brought to a total standstill.
Amid all this, the home ministry can do nothing except act like a mute spectator. A legitimate government agency looking helpless. So much so that even the recent seven-party electoral campaigns in many of the Terai towns—though they were claimed to be held amid tight security—were not free from bombings. What kind of real message does this infiltration give? Do these bombings give the people any hope? How can you hold an election as crucial as the one to a Constituent Assembly in such a situation? Even if you can somehow, who will believe that they were held in a free and fair manner?
Leave the elections aside for a while, what’s happening to the state’s supplies system? Used to the long serpentine queues for fuel that have become an almost veritable landmark, do the people have the time to think about the polls?
Nobody had perhaps imagined that the country would be in a situation it is in today within less than two years after the historic popular uprising of April 2006. Worse, the country’s slide towards anarchy and instability could further continue, giving the twice-postponed CA polls a fat chance of success this April too.
There is, however, an even uglier and undemocratic side to the “historic” 23-point agreement and the resulting republic declaration by the interim parliament. A nominated body, which the current interim parliament essentially is, cannot impose a mandatory directive on the assembly of the people’s elected representatives, that is, the constituent assembly. An elected constituent assembly cannot be reduced to the status of a mere implementing body. But unfortunately, the ruling alliance and the nominated MPs have done just that.
There is nothing more democratic in a democracy than to seek the people’s mandate to decide issues of national importance.
The interim constitution issued last year had already clipped all powers and privileges of the monarch, depriving him of any formal/informal role in state affairs. What was wrong with the earlier constitutional provision which said the fate of the monarchy would be decided by the first meeting of a democratically-elected constituent assembly? What made the seven-party leaders take the Nepalese people’s sovereign right into their own hands?
To take such decisions in the name of the people without actually and exactly knowing the people’s mandate is doubtlessly undemocratic. No one should forget that an imposed change is not sustainable.
On the other hand, all this has only opened the door and encouraged other several groups and parties—on the margins or otherwise—to put forward new demands to even derail the CA polls or otherwise. The simple logic that is being attached to these ever-increasing demands is-- “If you don’t have to wait for the CA polls to declare the country a federal republic, why on earth do you need the very same polls to meet our demands?”
The ruling alliance doesn’t have a convincing answer.

Congratulations….

Great News,
There is nothing in the world that you can’t do and there is nothing in the world that you don’t know. That is the spirit you have to take around and I am sure profession will excell.
I know doing work is not a big deal. If anybody else can do it, surely you can as well. Focus on doing better than others and that’s where you should be aiming. All the best and we are really happy about your job. Congratulations….

Best regards,
Sushil

Hello

Hi Guys,

 

I got a job in Queensland Rail,joining from 25th February in Brisbane.Reallly happy and wanted to share my happiness with you guys.Wist me best of luck for good work.

 

Cherrs!

Prafulla

Economics of YCL upkeep :Rs 1 b a year needed

KATHMANDU, Feb 5 - Much has been said and written about extortion, intimidation and abductions by the Young Communist League (YCL) and its occasional dabbling in social work. But hardly anything has been written on the financing of this most sophisticated and perhaps most ruthless political machine with 40,000 full-time paid cadres across the country.
The Post approached a number of YCL leaders in Kathmandu Valley and asked where they got the money to keep their organization going? The answer was almost unanimous: "It's the generous contribution of the people." But there is more to it than that.
Consider room and board first: YCL provides Rs 500 monthly allowance and food and accommodation to its full-time cadres. At a merge Rs 60 per day for two meals, YCL needs to spend Rs 18,00 for each cadre.
For 40,000 cadres, the monthly budget (including allowance and meals) is Rs 92 million, which means one billion rupees in annual terms. On top of this, YCL needs to find accommodation for the cadres, who are ready to 'act' any time the party orders.
Surprisingly, each of the YCL units is 'self-sufficient'. The party doesn't provide any financial support and has asked each of them to generate its own revenue. There are over 10,000 full-time YCL members, in 41 units, in Kathmandu Valley alone.
When asked how YCL manages its finances, Chandra Bahadur Thapa aka Sagar, YCL-in-charge for the Valley, said, "People provide it voluntarily."
He offered a further explanation: People know that a parallel Maoist administration exists in the country and they cooperate, providing us financial assistance.
He proudly elaborated how his 300-member YCL unit, based in Balaju, has constructed new buildings for the unit with the help of 'generous' support from local people. "Generous people provided us bricks, cement and other items. So we were encouraged to build new houses for our comrades," he said pointing to a construction in progress.
Pratap Gurung aka Mausam, YCL-in-charge of Kapan, also says he has been running his 100-member YCL unit smoothly with 'generous aid' from people in different walks of life.
"Shoe factories provide us shoes and various other industrialists provide food and other items. Even some hoteliers here willingly give us a monthly levy ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000. So we have not faced any financial problems so far" says Gurung, former company commander of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Third Division in Chitwan.
He also claimed that since the YCL punishes any criminals operating in the area, many business entrepreneurs and hoteliers are happy to provide them a monthly donation as 'levy'.
Mausam's team has occupied a garment factory, which is essentially the property of Nepal Bank Limited. The bank seized the factory after owners Laxmi Acharya and Sher Bahadur Thapa failed to repay debts.
But that's bank property, how can you take it under your control? "Our party (Maoist) will soon talk to Nepal Bank and request it to sell it to us us at a reasonable price," he said.
The locals in Kapan refuse to talk to the press about what they think of YCL activities in their vicinity. "I don't want to speak about it," a local hotelier told the Post, refusing to reveal his identity. Forget the locals, even Kathmandu police refuse to comment about the YCL on record. A senior police official, preferring to remain unnamed, said, "The people are forced to provide money to the YCL."
He also said the YCL has taken the law into their own hands in the name of maintaining security in various places.
"It's an open secret that the YCL has been operating as a parallel administration in the country. Although we document their crimes, the government dissuades us from taking action against any YCL person. So we just ignore any crime in which the YCL is involved," he said.
Police records, obtained by the Post, show that the YCL has set up offices in 23 locations in Kathmandu Valley alone.
When asked about the future of the YCL, Sagar, former brigadier commander of the PLA Dinesh-Ramji Battalion, said, "Once we form our government, it will be dismissed." Till then, the 'generous aid'- euphemism for soft extortion - will continue.
Ghanashyam Ojha

India's Black Market Organ ScandalBy SIMON ROBINSON/NEW DELHI

Shocked but not surprised.
That might be the best way to sum upIndia's reaction to the revelation this week that a black market organtransplant ring had been harvesting kidneys from poor Indian laborers,sometimes against their wishes, and using them in foreigners desperatefor transplants. Police who busted the ring last week say doctors paidas little as $1000 for the kidneys and then sold them for as much as$37,500. The racket, based in Gurgaon, a business center close to thecapital, New Delhi, drew victims from as many as eight Indian statesand lasted for almost a decade. Police say the black market doctorsmay have illegally transplanted as many as 500 kidneys. The ring,according to the police, was run by two Indian brothers, neither ofwhom had any medical training but who oversaw the surgery. One of thebrothers has been arrested in Mumbai, but the other, Amit Kumar, whopolice say was the racket's kingpin, is now the focus of aninternational manhunt and may have fled to Canada.But while the details of this particular case are appalling, and thescam is the first — or at least first to be exposed — involvingforeigners from as far away as the U.S. and U.K flying in fortransplants, Indians are sadly all too familiar with organ rackets. In2007, police in southern India uncovered an illegal kidney tradeinvolving fishermen whose jobs had been destroyed by the Indian Oceantsunami. A massive transplant ring in Punjab was also uncovered in2003. Police there believe at least 30 of the donors, who as in thislatest case were poor, illiterate workers promised riches for theirorgans and bused in to be operated on, died, despite promises thatthey would receive excellent post-operation medical care and that theyhad nothing to worry about.India's illegal organ trade is driven in part by the incredibleimbalance between supply and demand for legal organs. The Indiangovernment banned the sale of kidneys for commercial gain in 1994;lawbreakers can be jailed for up to five years. But legal organdonations remain rare in India. The Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network(MOHAN), a Chennai-based non-government group that promotes legalorgan donation, puts donation rates in India at well under 1 permillion, compared to rates of more than 20 per million in places suchas Spain, the U.S. and France. The group's head Dr Sunil Shroffrejects the idea that Indian culture or religion is behind the lowdonation rates. "The reason is we haven't got our act togetherbasically," he says. "The infrastructure is not there. The generalperception is lacking."The Indian government has encouraged more people to donate, and a fewyears ago began a campaign to increase the rate of cornea donations totry to fix the country's huge problems with blindness. But despitesome success — the high-profile cricketer Anil Kumble and Bollywoodactress Aishwarya Rai both promised to donate their eyes when they die— a 2003 study in the Indian Journal of Opthamology found thatilliteracy and rural residence (read poverty) meant that only half ofthose persons interviewed "had knowledge of eye donation, 20% knewabout corneal transplantation and only 4.34% of them knew when todonate their eyes."Dodgy doctors exploit those same factors — illiteracy and poverty — tobuy cheap organs on the black markets. There are millions of pooryoung men in India, desperate for a job and only too ready to travelto India's big cities at the promise of a quick buck. And even ifthey're not willing, they're still potential fodder. The AssociatedPress reported that while some donors sold their kidneys willingly,some were forcibly brought to clinics, held at gunpoint and thenforced to undergo operations that they didn't want. "India is not sucha literate population," says a spokeswoman from the National HumanRights Commission. "That's the main thing. There are a lot of peoplewho are easy to take advantage of."Shroff and his colleagues at MOHAN argue that if India can push itslegal donation rates up "then we can take care of the shortage andstop these kind of horror stories." But encouraging families to donatethe organs of their recently deceased after this week's terriblerevelations is no easy task. "For the next month or two it's going tobe extremely hard to get a family to donate because they think it'ssome big scam," says Shroff. "That's the wider damage this type ofstory does."

Nara Photos

Hey guys what's going on? Are we all alive? No blog nothing. K ho all u guys bg ho ki ke ho.

Well yesterday I went to a place called Nara. Nara is located in the Kinai plain, less than one hour from Osaka. Due to its past as the first permanent capital, it remains full of historic treasures, including some of Japan's oldest Buddhist temples. I'm posting some of my photos taken at Nara Park and Todaiji temple (which is located within the Nara Park).