Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Democratic Fermentation: NRN Style

Nepali architect - Arniko in Miaoying Temple
Nepali architect - Arniko in Miaoying Temple (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
For the first time in its history, the Non Resident Nepali Association has become a mass based organization in America. This is a major milestone. Once the elections are over in a month, and people have the option to become members again, it is estimated the number might hit something like 10,000 to the current 4,000.

This makes the NRNA the largest Nepali organization in America, and now there is no more need for another umbrella organization. There must be a few hundred Nepali organizations across America, big and small. And that is all good. But there was a need to have one organization that brought everyone together from all parts of the country. That void has been filled.

Other than a large membership base, and perhaps more important, the basic democratic process seems to have taken root in the organization, starting from the election process itself. When an organization has 4,000 members spread across America, you have no choice as a candidate but to wage a decent campaign. You have to go out there and ask for votes, or go online.

I like to joke, which is the most socio-economically backward ethnic group in NYC? Is it the Nepalis, the Tibetans, or the Bhutanis? Considering Nepal is the poorest country outside of Africa, if Nepalis are not number one from the bottom in NYC, the crowd has got to be close to the bottom, there must be a pool of such ethnic groups.

How do you organize such people? Is it possible to buck the trend? As in, could Nepal continue to be the poorest country outside of Africa, but Nepalis in NYC organize themselves in such ways that the community makes major advances as a group over a period of something like 10 years?

I think that is possible. And turning the NRNA into a mass based organization is key to any such attempt. It is not just about dual citizenship. It is also about making socio-economic advances here itself, right here in New York City. Being better organized as a community helps, and that is to do with applying the basic democratic process.

For the longest time it felt like the minuscule ANTA had more members than the giant sounding NRNA. All that has changed. 2014 is proving to be a watershed year for the organization.

When you move from 200 members to 4,000 members, that is a move in the right direction. When members can register online, that is good. When members can vote directly for those running for office, that is swell. Online voting is a tremendous idea. A candidate creating a public Facebook page elevates the conversation.

The issue of dual citizenship remains the top item on the agenda, as yet the perennial unfulfilled goal. Politicians in Nepal are scared shitless that if they were to allow the NRNs dual citizenship, some of them might show up in Nepal to run for office, and then where are we? I remember one Holi in the 1980s when all planets in the solar system came to form one straight line, and that was supposed to be the end of the world. Nothing happened. At the end of the last century, all computers of the world were supposed to go haywire. Nothing happened. There is nothing to fear and everything to gain from the dual citizenship idea. In today’s globalized world Nepal has to think of all members of its diaspora as its ambassadors. Like I like to say, you can bring in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) or you can keep sending your workers out to Malaysia, Qatar, and where have you.

But then basic democracy is not enough. Recently I jotted down some ideas as to what a new Madhesi organization in the city might look like. Even with its recent love for basic democracy the NRNA will remain an organization where ordinary members have nothing much to do after they have paid their membership fee of 10 dollars and voted for somebody. Then all activity shifts to the few dozen active ones. I am not a big fan of that arrangement.

The basic building block of organizing Nepalis in the city has to be the Home Meeting, perhaps once a month, about 10 member strong. The emphasis has to be on helping more of the Nepalis who wish to come over to the US to come over, to help with the first phase of seeking lodging and a job. Most of that gets taken care of informally right now. Maybe there is room for something more organized. And then there has to be major emphasis on people making $10 per hour or less to help them get past that barrier. A lot of that might be to do with education and training, much of which can be done online for cheap these days. And there the social element can be a huge factor between someone moving upward, or staying stuck in third gear.

I think the same basic model of organizing can also work for Nepalis in the higher income brackets. In case you have not noticed, most of the top earners among Nepalis meet regularly, and compare notes, and help each other out.

The NRNA in NYC and in America should not just focus on the distant, seemingly abstract goal of dual citizenship, important as it is, but should primarily focus on helping its ordinary members advance socio-economically locally. Part of that also is about being efficient. Don’t get in the way of these Nepalis and the city itself and all that it has to offer. When you put together disorganized events that don’t have much focus or direction, you are basically inviting people to show up and waste their time. They work crazy hours for little pay. On their day off, they’d rather do laundry, or go visit Times Square, than show up for your event.

Can you blame them?
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Sunday, May 11, 2014

BNKS' Gift To Me



I have been talking to some high school friends across the pond recently. In less than a year Nepal will get its constitution and its federalism. After that 100% of the political focus has to shift to development and economic issues. After my work for Nepal's democracy and Madhesi movements to Obama 2008, I am squarely in the entrepreneurship boat by now.

I have come full circle in some ways. One word of appreciation I would like to express is that because of my BNKS experience I have not gone to rooms and halls and events in Manhattan ever and felt like, gosh, these people are too smart for me. That has been BNKS' number one gift to me.


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Monday, April 21, 2014

If There Ever Was A Primitive Map

I was just reading an article by Sukhdev Shah in Republica. And the map caught my attention before I had even finished reading the first paragraph. If this is the map the Congress is going to try to push, the country will see major political upheaval. An anti-incumbency electoral wave can not be seen as a mandate against federalism. Decentralization, King Birendra style, is not federalism. Another attempt at it should not be made. The Madhesi Kranti of 2007 gave the country a clear mandate for federalism. That has to be stuck to.

The only debate as far as the Terai is concerned is if there will be two or four states in the Terai. Chipping off the far eastern, the far western and the central Terai districts is British style divide and rule. That will not stand.

I could live with four states in the hills and two in the Terai, or even four.


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Wednesday, April 16, 2014

I Am Indian



The Madhesi political consciousness came to me much later. At the Kathmandu high school I attended, the m-word was in the air, people would tell racist jokes about your people like you were not even there, comedian Santosh Pant made a living out of it, and the guy was on national TV. But as a successful student who went on from leadership position to leadership position, I was to an extent shielded, but that was a false shield. It was weak. And one administrative blow crashed the glass around me towards the end of my Class 10 year. After that it took me years of emotional pain, and meandered career trajectories, and political action led more by a hunger for all things political than the Madhesi rights issue that I ultimately floundered upon the Sadbhavana types, and that gave me some of the vocabulary, which I quickly found highly inadequate.

Race matters powerfully, Barack Obama has said. I had a very happy freshman year at college in Kentucky. And then the blow of an administrative decision crashed my glass all over again. It was yet another experience in disenchantment with yet another highly reputed educational institution. And so I am a huge proponent of taking as much of education online as possible. Knowledge has to be freed up from the power structures of the day.

At college I was not thinking Madhesi rights. I was not thinking about it after. After the king pulled his coup in early 2005, I had no plans to get involved with the democracy movement, although I was much concerned, and when I moved to NYC a few months later, my full time involvement was gradual. I had no idea I cared so much about Nepal, the country I grew up in. I guess I did. It came from inside. But it was also the ideological purity of a democracy movement that brings a clarity that makes mobilization more black and white.

Late in 2006 the Nepalgunj riots happened, and that triggered the Madhesi Kranti, might as well, because it was that movement that mirrored the April Revolution of 2006 that gave Nepal the gift of federalism. I put full time work into the Madhesi Kranti. In many ways it was tougher than the democracy movement. Comrades in the democracy movement were now vocal, energized opponents.

When Upendra Yadav landed in Los Angeles a few months later, the first question he asked was, “Where is Paramendra Bhagat?” We had never met, we had never talked on the phone before. I used digital tools to do political work. It was no journalism.

Becoming NYC’s first full-time volunteer for Barack Obama brought it full circle. This was 500 years of world history come full circle. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

There is the macro politics. And there is the micro politics of emotionally damaged Madhesis and Janajatis you deal with at close range. NYC has allowed me interactions to see things up, close and personal.

But then the political compass is already pointing in the direction of economic growth. And if land-lockedness is Nepal’s biggest handicap, the solution lies in a South Asian economic union, and that basically asks for killing the false nationalism in Kathmandu that rests on all things anti-India. If Nepal’s political boundaries will have to weaken for Nepal to achieve prosperity, where will the identity come from? There are healthy sources of identity like culture, language, and religion. A South Asian economic union will not dilute those, quite the opposite. A more prosperous people will take better care of their cultural heritages. The resource crunch will wane.

Nepal’s future points in the direction of the land of my birth. My mother’s side of the family is Indian. If you have any idea about Mithila, you know how ridiculous the Nepal-India border is. My official birthday is not mine, but that of my favorite movie star, Amitabh Bachchan. I am Indian through and through.

I am 100% Indian. I am 100% Nepali. I am on the way to becoming 100% American. 300% is more than 100%. People with multi-cultural heritages are richer, and quite literally so. In today’s globalized world, being instinctive about cultural diversity gives you advantages. I deal with engineers in India. I happen to think Nitish through example has set an example to most of Nepal’s challenges. He is the ultimate Bihari Babu.

Eating MoMo was the best thing I learned in the decade plus I spent in Kathmandu. And I happen to think the dish is a billion dollar idea. I will forever remain fond of Narayan Gopal. I am a Buddhist. Buddha was a Teraiwasi like me. I earned the top marks in class in Nepali at high school. I got published a poem in Royal Nepal Academy’s Kavita, the most prestigious poetry magazine in the country at the time, when I was in Class 10. I have a love for the language.

I have been everywhere in America. The first question I was often got asked was, “Are you from India?” I never said no. I am Indian.
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Friday, April 04, 2014

A Roadmap For Madhesi Parties

Mural in Kathmandu with the slogan 'Long Live ...
Mural in Kathmandu with the slogan 'Long Live Marxism–Leninism–Maoism–Prachanda Path' (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Flag of Tarai-Madhesh Loktantrik Part...
English: Flag of Tarai-Madhesh Loktantrik Party - a political party from Nepal. The design, 2:3 dimensions, colours and construction details were based primarily on the template from nepalnews.com article from 28 December 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum, Nepal
Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum, Nepal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Abhishek Pratap Shah is a Nepalese po...
English: Abhishek Pratap Shah is a Nepalese politician, belonging to the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Nepal
Nepal (Photo credit: Mathew Knott)
English: Flag of Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum - ...
English: Flag of Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum - a political party from Nepal. The design, 2:3 dimensions, colours and construction details were based primarily on Mjf-flag.PNG, where it was based on mprfnepal.org. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: politician of nepal
English: politician of nepal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
"कुनै पनि मधेशवादी दलले प्राप्त गरेको मत हेर्ने हो भने कुल मधेशी जनताको २५ प्रतिशतभन्दा बढी छैन । ७५ प्रतिशत जनताले त अझै पनि मधेशवादी दललाई मत नदिएका हुन् नि । ७५ प्रतिशत जनताले के कारणले दिन सकिरहेका छैनन् । किन हाम्रा मागलाई उनीहरूले स्वीकार गरेका छैनन् । ...... कहिं न कहीं ‘ग्याप’ छ । दलहरू जसरी प्रस्तृत भइरहेका छन् । ७५ प्रतिशत मधेशी जनताले मधेशी दलहरूलाई मत दिन सकिरहेका छैनन । त्यो ग्याप भर्नुपर्ने भएको छ । त्यसका लागि सबैले सहयोग गर्नुपर्छ । ..... अहिलेसम्म मैले बुझ्न सकेको छैन । म खोज्दै छु, तथ्यहरू संकलन गर्दैछु । कारण के हो म बुझ्दैछु । मधेशी समाजका विभिन्न पक्षसँग म अन्तत्र्रिmयामा छु । व्यक्तिगत रूपले पनि म बुझ्दैछु ।"

- हृदयेश त्रिपाठी (उपाध्यक्ष तराई–मधेश लोकतान्त्रिक पार्टी)

(1) Unification Is A Must

50 MPs have to come together under the umbrella of one unified party. That is the starting point for Madhesi parties right now. It was the lack of one unified Madhesi party that killed the idea of one unified state across all of Madhesh. You can't talk about Ek Madhesh Ek Pradesh and be 30 political parties. It is not convincing. Now that we know there is not going to be Ek Pradesh in all of Madhesh, we know who to blame. We have to blame the 30 Madhesi political parties.

If all Madhesi parties had been one, that unified party would have competed with the Maoists in terms of its size in parliament. Don't blame the Madhesi voters. Take responsibility.

(2) Unification In Stages

The three Madhesi parties coming together is a good start, but the whole process has been taking too long. I get the impression Upendra Yadav has been dragging his feet. He tries to take too much credit for the Madhesi Kranti. People like Hridayesh Tripathy and Rajendra Mahato, and even Bharat Bimal Yadav and Rameshwar Raya Yadav were working night and day for Madhesi rights for a full decade and half while Upendra Yadav was busy with the UML and the Maoists. He does deserve credit but not all of it.

And Upendra Yadav is not the only left-leaning "Socialist" making the rounds. Hridayesh Tripathy was a Soviet trained Socialist before he was a Madhesi rights activist.

It is okay to have an awkward sounding name like Terai Madhesh Sadbhavana Forum or Democratic Socialist Forum, Nepal. To start with, that is. But both are odd names. A 300 member central committee might be the only way to bring everyone together, but that jumbo size is untenable and looks senseless on the surface.

There is a solution to both those problems. It is called going for a national convention and letting the democratic process decide things.

Democratic Socialist Forum, Nepal is a little bit of a biased name. You are picking two words from Yadav's party and none from Thakur's or Mahato's. That does not sound fair.

It would be best to go for a neutral name like Lok Dal. You want a party that could also grow into the hills. Or even a Sadbhavana Forum. My bias is for a two word short, sweet name. Nepal Sadbhavana Forum. NSF. The word Sadbhavana represents the decade and a half before the Madhesi Kranti, and the word Forum represents the first Madhesi Kranti.

(3) Party Democracy

The democratic process is the answer to pretty much every contentious issue. Who should be the parliamentary party leader? Hold an election. Who should be party president? Hold an election at the national convention. By applying the democratic process at the wada level, at the village/town/city level, at the district level, at the state level, at the national level all contentious issues can be resolved.

(4) Federalism

The Madhesi parties will want two states in the Terai. The Pahadi parties will try to create four states in the Terai. That is a tussle that will play out over the course of the year. And there the best bet for the Madhesi parties is if all 50 of their MPs are under the umbrella of one political party. Even the Maoists are not with the two states in the Terai idea. At the core of it, they are a Pahadi party just like the Congress and the UML.

(5) State Restructuring

Ensuring 49% reservation for the DaMaJaMa in all new entrances into the state bureaucracies was a major achievement. But now the Madhesi parties have to act watchdogs to that arrangement. Already the Nepal Army threw that aside.

The bigger part of state restructuring is to do with downsizing. If federalism is a superior form of government, and it is, then a federal Nepal should have fewer bureaucrats than today's Nepal. You create state level ministries, but you have to drastically downsize the national level ministries in the process.

The Nepal Army is bloated. It has to be brought down to about 10,000 soldiers. It is because what Nepal needs is more teachers, more health care workers.

The Nepal Police also has to be downsized. Policing will largely be up to the states. That is not a federal function.

(6) Nitishism

Once the country gets its constitution and federalism, and the unified Madhesi party is vigilant and proactive about state restructuring, 100% of the focus has to shift to what I am calling Nitishism. It is going to be all about development. And there Nitish is the top role model on the planet. You just imitate him and sweep election after election.

My fear is the Madhesi parties might finally unite too late, and then keep singing the Madheshbad song long after the train has already left the station and is now parked at the development station. If that happens, they will have to make do with a 20% vote share. And at that point I am not going to be blaming the Madhesi voters.

A unified Madhesi party might end up with 35% of the Madhesi votes compared to the 25% vote share of the fragmented Madhesi parties. But if that unified Madhesi party takes to Nitishism its vote share among Madhesis will rise to 50% and it will also be in a good position to make inroads into the hills and mountains.

If the unified Madhesi parties will beat the three Pahadi parties on Nitishism, it will at that point also beat the Pahadi parties in the Pahad itself. Will the Madhesi politicians be able to muster that political will? Only time will tell. That party will have a central committee that will be 20% Khas and 30% Janajati and 20% Dalit and 33% female.

And, by the way, Democratic Socialist Forum, Nepal would be a lousy name for a party.
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Thursday, March 20, 2014

The Terai Lags Behind

English: "Malnourishment in Niger" M...
English: "Malnourishment in Niger" Malnourished children in Niger, during the 2005 famine. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Help, not hinder
Almost all statistics including population density, literacy rate, annual income, unemployment, infant mortality rate, malnourished children, wasted status of children (20.4 percent in Tarai vs. 6.9 percent in Hills), anaemic women (42.0 in Tarai vs. 26.9 in Hills), families without toilet (51.2 in Tarai vs. 24.8 in Hills), Human Development Indicator, Human Poverty Index and Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) demonstrate much worse condition in Tarai compared to Hills. Despite this, only a small fraction of foreign aids and grants is allocated for Tarai. 51 percent of Nepal’s population lives in this region and carries the same proportion of burden of the loans by the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and other donor agencies. Moreover, international agencies fare much worse than Nepal government’s structures in regards to the inclusion of Madheshis. According to the UNDP data published in 2001 about the manpower involved in 30 major multilateral agencies and 61 projects, they had only 5.2 percent of Madheshis. Foreign tourists, volunteers and journalists often flock to Nepal with their backpacks, full of stereotypes. Their Nepal revolves around mountains, monks and medieval temples. They crave for virgin goddess and yetis, for trekking on trails and resting in resorts. Madhesh is no Nepal-like for them. They are not ready to buy tickets to Nepal and then end up in a place that looks much like India, as a European friend of mine remarked after looking at the landscape and people of Tarai. “If I have to see this and spend time with these types of people, I’ll go to India. Why bother about Nepal?”
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