Friday, May 22, 2015

Urbanization Is A Good Thing

List of Prime Ministers of Nepal
List of Prime Ministers of Nepal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Big cities, done right, are good for the environment.

The Next Chief Minister Of Bihar?

But unless Baburam Bhattarai leads the national unity government, this massive tragedy will get turned into yet another farce in the long list of farces in Nepali politics. He is the only one with the vision. And I am basing my comments based on his publicly shared thoughts since the tragedy hit.

Bamdev Gautam is PC Sorcar. His idea of relief work is to create a major distraction in the Terai to hide his incompetence, gross corruption, and open mafia links. That guy is beyond cynical, he is criminal.

A national unity government has to be a response to the national tragedy. It can not be ruled by logics like (1) maybe it is KP Oli's turn now, or (2) let's see how the political arithmetic works out. I respect the logic of political arithmetic, and that is why I am proposing one berth also to Kamal Thapa's party, even though the only feeling I have for him and his party is utter, total disgust. I worked full time for the 2006 April revolution. I respect the logic of political arithmetic, and that is why I am saying, if Baburam Bhattarai is to lead the new national unity government, his party should get less than the number of berths it otherwise might get, to even it out. I am even suggesting his party should give up on the idea of states with ethnic names and a directly elected president as the price for his leadership in this current time of unprecedented national tragedy.

Continuing with Sushil Koirala is better than bringing KP Oli in. And no, I am not letting my bitterness towards his anti-Madhesi racist sentiments rule my logic. Time for that will come later. I just don't think KP Oli can do good for the relief and reconstruction work. Baburam, on the other hand, will bring the kind of zeal and vision that he brought to the politically complex task of widening the roads in Kathmandu.

Forming a national unity government in Sushil Koirala's leadership is out of question. It is better to continue with the current formation than to do that.

You bring KP Oli in, and that will be a cocktail of Sushil Koirala's incompetence ("deer in the headlights") and Bamdev Gautam's mafia ways. You can accuse Sushil of many things, incompetence and ethnic prejudice among them, but mafia links are not one of them.

There is a reason why Bijay Gachhedar is rooting for KP Oli, that is another joker who believes in open mafia links. That was a guy sent into the Forum by the Nepali Congress to destroy the afterglow of the Madhesi Kranti. And now he has been working to successfully destroy whatever little aura Prachanda has left in him.

Political criticism has to be taken to new heights at this moment of tragedy because so much is at stake.

Baburam should be brought in at the helm, and he should be allowed to bring in some non political people into his cabinet, as he might see fit.

राष्ट्रिय सरकारको आवश्यकता त छ तर
Bibekshil Nepali: Matrix Management Structure
Three Chambers
Minendra Rijal's Joke
Foreign Aid Truths
संघीयता पछि के?

Talking about big cities, this earthquake has given Nepal an opportunity to attempt a new wave of urbanization. New cities should be built along the Arniko Highway, along the Kathmandu-Pokhara highway, along the Kathmandu-Nijgadh route, in Chitwan, and several Terai districts. I don't see how anyone in the three parties except Baburam can even grasp the concept of it.

A true need of the hour is to have the guts to see the national capital needs to be shifted, and to imagine a megacity in Chitwan that might go on to be home to fully one third of the Nepali population down the line. Kathmandu does not need to shrink. But Chitwan can grow massively. A city of 10 million residents in 10 years. It is easier to provide for infrastructure when people are amassed like that. It can also help ease people from the agriculture sector to the non-agricultural sector.

The Ultimate Megacity: 100 Million People
Abraham Lincoln?
World Government And Federal States
Does The World Government Have To Await A Total Spread Of Democracy?

Foreign Aid Truths

English: The United Nations Development Progra...
English: The United Nations Development Programme in Ukraine (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Where is Nepal aid money going?
a country where corruption is seen as "endemic"? Britain is already the biggest national donor to Nepal - but what has happened to this aid? ....... The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) has spent more than £20m ($30m) in the last four years on an earthquake resilience programme. So what has it achieved? ....... One focus has been on improving building regulations and enforcing them. But walk through downtown Kathmandu and you see hundreds of new buildings that are unsafe, badly built and have clearly flouted these building laws. ...... "Nepal suffers from poor governance, and corruption is endemic. ....... "If Nepal is to become less corrupt, improvements in governance and a change of culture have to be made to state institutions." ..... Part of DFID's programme was carried out by the United Nations Development Programme, (UNDP) which received more than £5m in funding from the UK for its comprehensive disaster risk management programme (CDRMP). One senior aid insider told me the project was "a disaster from start to finish". ......

Over five years, the UN spent £1.3m of its original £10m budget on two international employees.

...... Millions more went in what the public project document lists as unspecified "professional services". ...... the UNDP had "poor financial controls, weaknesses in payment processes and misreporting and recording of payments". .... Because of the widespread corruption and bureaucracy within the government of Nepal, international donors like DFID have channelled their money into the big NGOs and UN agencies to deliver their programmes. ...... Dr Govind Pokharel, vice-chairman of Nepal's National Planning Commission, admits the system is weak and corrupt but says the huge salaries on offer in NGOs and the UN means they are causing a brain drain in Nepal's civil service.

"A government guy gets $200 for a month, whereas you are paying $2,000 per month at an NGO or agency, it is damaging," he says.

....... "The Nepal police didn't like it. I was paid $300 (£190) a day but for the international consultants it was £1,200 a day." ..... "There's a strong case to say we should use national consultants before we go international. There will be a wave that will come - whether it's a helpful wave remains to be seen."


If the corruption culture is not remedied, and if somehow magically you get to cut down on the huge fees for foreign consultants, then most of the money will then go to corruption. Foreign consultants might be ridiculously expensive, but domestic corruption should not be getting a free ride in the process. There are two problems.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

जस्तो सरकार उस्तै जनता?

Like सरकार, Like जनता -------- like father, like son भने जस्तो। जस्तो सरकार उस्तै जनता?

Modi In China

संघीयता पछि के?

उत्तर सजिलो छ: आर्थिक क्रांति। आर्थिक क्रांति को परिभाषा के? Double digit growth year in year out for 30 years.

Double digit growth rate दिन सक्ने प्रधान मंत्री पास -- double digit growth rate दिन नसक्ने प्रधान मंत्री फेल। मलाई पार्टी सार्टी मतलब छैन।


राष्ट्रिय सरकारको आवश्यकता त छ तर

List of Prime Ministers of Nepal
List of Prime Ministers of Nepal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
देशको इतिहासको सबै भन्दा ठुलो प्रकोप को बेला राष्ट्रिय सरकार गठन नगरे कहिले गर्ने? जनता लाई राम्रो सन्देश जान्छ। तर गर्ने भए गरिहाल्नु पर्छ। नत्र भने फेरि राष्ट्रिय सरकार को कुरा शुरू गरेर ५-६ महिना खिंचा तानी मा नै बिताउने हो भने बड़ो गलत सन्देश जान्छ जनता लाई। त्यो नाटक भन्दा बरु राष्ट्रिय सरकार को कुरै नगरेको राम्रो।

सुत्केरी र रोगीबाहेक सबै एमाओवादी पुनर्निर्माणमा लाग्ने

गठन गर्ने हो भने उपयुक्त व्यक्ति बाबुराम भट्टराई जस्तो लाग्छ मलाई। भुकम्प पछि डा भट्टराई ले राहत, पुनर्निर्माण र उत्थान का बारे प्रस्तुत गरेका विचार अरुको भन्दा धेरै नै राम्रो छ। बरु बाबुराम भट्टराई को नेतृत्व मा बन्ने हो भने भट्टराई को पार्टी ले उप प्रधान मंत्री नपाउने र मंत्री पाउनुपर्ने भन्दा कम पाउने गर्न सकिन्छ। उसै पनि राष्ट्रिय एकता को लागि बन्ने सरकारको कैबिनेट सकेसम्म सानो बनाउनु पर्छ।

तर संसद को गणित को कुरा आउन सक्छ। अब कसको पालो भन्ने कुरा गर्लान कति ले। त्यो राष्ट्रिय सरकारको स्पिरिट होइन। अंक गणित को कुरा गर्ने हो भने अहिले सुशील सरकार को अंक गणित मिलेकै छ। किन झंझट गर्ने?

बरु अहिले जनता को सेंटीमेंट को आदर गर्दै संघीयता को कुरा पनि हतार हतार छिनोफानो गरिहाल्ने कि? गार्हो खास छैन। सबै भन्दा ठुलो पार्टी नेपाली काँग्रेस ले चुनाव मा एक मधेस तीन प्रदेश भनेको र भुकम्प अगाडि तीन दलका दोस्रो तहका नेताले छ प्रदेश मा सहमति गरेको कुराको कदर गर्दै यसरी जान सकिन्न? जनकपुर, लुम्बिनी, राप्ती, कोशी, गण्डकी, कर्णाली: ६ राज्य



जातीय नाम नभएका छ राज्य --- लुजा! राष्ट्रिय विपत्ति परेको बेला हदै को लचकता।

प्रधान मंत्री: बाबुराम भट्टराई
उप प्रधान मंत्री: चित्रलेखा (काँग्रेस), विद्या (एमाले)
मंत्री काँग्रेस: १०
मंत्री एमाले: १०
मंत्री एमाओवादी: ३
मंत्री मधेसी: ३
मंत्री राप्रपा: १

मॉनसून पछि झ्यापझुप स्थानीय चुनाव र प्रदेश चुनाव गर्दिहाल्ने। बाँकी समय पुनर्निर्माण।

I think this is what is best for the country. The price Baburam Bhattarai pays for being PM as the most capable person: (1) his party gets fewer ministries than it might, (2) his party makes major concessions on federalism and gives up on the idea of ethnic names for the states, and (3) his party gives up the idea of a directly elected president.

In this model, the 75 districts are kept intact.

बाबुरामलाई गोर्खालीले सोधे– ‘सबै सखाप भयो, अब के गर्ने ?’
पौडेलको प्रश्न, ‘राष्ट्रिय सहमतिको सरकार के का लागि ?’
बन्ला त ओलीको नेतृत्वमा राष्ट्रिय सरकार ?
पौडेलले भने, ‘पहिले संविधानमा सहमति अनि राष्ट्रिय सहमतिको सरकार’

Bibekshil Nepali: Matrix Management Structure

"People don't change their ideas, they die with them." 
 - Max Planck, father of Quantum Mechanics

 

Bibekshil Nepali can not change the ways of the Nepali Congress, the CPN UML, or the CPN Maoist. But it can replace them.

BibekSheel Nepali: Earthquake Response Task Force
नेपालमा एउटा अहिंसात्मक कोतपर्व को खाँचो

Missing Leadership by Ujwal Thapa
we rushed to Teaching Hospital less than 30 minutes after the massive quake at 11:56 am. Everyone and everything seemed to be in utter chaos. ...... During a calamity of this magnitude, BibekSheel Nepali party had built a clear protocol. It states that the first thing any BibekSheel Nepali party member is expected to do after checking upon their families is to go to the nearest hospital and help the authorities there manage the chaos. We did what we had been taught to do. We immediately set up a help desk to handle the rush of thousands of injured and panicked citizens. ....... We started helping the doctors and nurses ferry the ones still fighting for their lives and the dead. There was an immediate shortage of emergency medicines so right there and then, we started raising money.

Every Nepali we asked gave!

None held back. With the nearly Rs 100,000 raised, we opened up closed medical shops, bought the medicines which the medical practitioners immediately used to save lives. The hospital garden soon became a big 'open sky' hospital. ......... At a time of a disaster of this magnitude, the job of any leadership is to build a positive network connecting those who want to save lives to those who needed help.

While the political leadership proved utterly incapable of arranging this, Nepali citizens opened their hearts.

They were desperate to help in any way they could. So realizing this gap in governance, we started connecting with them to give all these noble hearts better chances of saving Nepali lives immediately. ......... In the last two weeks, we connected thousands of wonderful kind-hearted, ordinary men and women from around the world together to bring relief to millions of Nepalis. We ourselves managed to send immediate help to 300+ areas in 17 districts. ......... Leadership is all about managing and creating hope for those around you, even when you yourself are in shock. As Nepalis reached out on social media assuring millions of Nepalis inside and outside the country that they were safe and working together to save Nepali lives, this created a virtuous cycle of hope. And along with thousands of independent efforts, this cycle of hope has perhaps created the single largest outpouring of love and empathy from the world ever for Nepal! ........ We started a 24-hour hotline even though we only had a mobile phone number and no landline and internet. We must have responded to thousands of immediate help requests over Facebook alone. Hundreds poured in to get help from our physical help desks that we opened in Teaching Hospital, Bir Hospital and Bhaktapur Hospital! ....... When citizens needed paal (tarpaulins) we rushed to Dhangadhi in the far west to bring back three tons in a truck. When another group requested urgent help to bring shelter to the Chepang villages in Makwanpur, we dropped some of the paal on the way. ....... When residents of Tsum valley chartered a helicopter, we helped them with tarps and rice sacks. It's not always that we took the initiative; it's mostly been Nepali citizens themselves. We just enabled them to their highest potential. When citizens of Sindhupalchowk came with their painfully collected relief materials, we arranged our volunteers to provide them security and transportation. When doctors and nurses came to help, we gave them information and medicines to support in their own life saving missions. ....

A government that doesn't go local doesn't function. When people simply do not trust their elected government with their donations, it concerns us greatly. We felt the acute need of elected local governance in every level of our rescue and relief missions in the 17 districts we made it to; there was a chronic absence of local authority!

.......... Leadership trusts and opens its arms and lets go of suspicions at times of calamities. We were full of doubt when people we had never heard of offered help. But we came to a decision to eventually accept the help of anyone who wanted to help save Nepali lives because in the end, that is all that matters. We got the help of Bangladeshi doctors to European volunteers to Buddhist monks to American disaster fighters. We learnt a painful lesson: Opening our heart is more important than doubting intentions when humanity seeks to share our pains. In the end, leadership is about saving lives.

Monday, May 18, 2015

Three Chambers

List of Prime Ministers of Nepal
List of Prime Ministers of Nepal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Nepal needs a three chamber parliament: the lower house, the upper house, and a body for former Prime Ministers. Since Nepal changes Prime Ministers every year or so, it makes sense to create a chamber just for those former Prime Ministers. In the current state, they are underutilized. So many former Prime Ministers!

Minendra Rijal's Joke

"There cannot be any institution more transparent of more accountable than the government, because any penny that we spend would be under the scrutiny of the parliament, would be under the scrutiny of constitutional organs and many other parliamentary committees, individuals, journalists,” said Information Minister Dr Minendra Rijal.
These were the same people who called Nepal's 1991 constitution "the most democratic in the world."

100% Online Transparency


Nepal is currently ranked 126th out of 174 countries by Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. Many Nepalese also view the country’s political parties and legislature as hotbeds of cronyism and nepotism. It’s much the same with public appointments

The Wrong Way To Facilitate Post Earthquake Internal Migration



र यो भूकम्प पछाडि नेपाल सशस्त्र प्रहरीले मधेशीहरूलाई हप्काउदै आफ्नो घरमा राख्न भनिरहेका छन्, मधेशीसँग भएको १-२ कठ्ठा जमीनमा पहाडीहरूलाई घर बनाउन दिन बन्दुकको कुन्दा देखाउँदै पिट्दै छन्। केही समय अगाडी मात्र सप्तरीको राजविराजको दक्षिण तिरका गाउँहरु नजीक सशस्त्र प्रहरी आएर पहिला क्याम्प राख्ने सुरसार कसे, र अहिले त्यहाँ पहाडबाट हजारौं मान्छेहरू ल्याएर टोल नै बसाउन लागेका छन्, मधेशीहरूको घर-घरमा राख्न दबाब दिइरहेका छन्, आफ्नो महिलाहरूको लागि मात्रै भएको शौचालय दर्जनौं पहाडीहरू जबरदस्ती आँगनमा पसेर प्रयोग गर्दैछन, र त्यसो नगर्न अनुरोध गर्दा सशस्त्र प्रहरीले मधेशीलाई कुटपीट गरेर एस.पी. कार्यालयको हिरासत मै थुनेका छन।
The Earthquake And Internal Migration

  • Use government owned land like Tundikhel, there is some of that in every town. 
  • Erect temporary toilets, can be done in hours. 
  • Set up small tent cities. 

The Earthquake And Internal Migration

This earthquake has been the biggest disaster the country has seen in its entire existence. The Nepal Army and the Maoists took five years to kill as many people as this earthquake killed in a swift minute. The civil war did not see these many damaged buildings, not even close.

There will be some internal migration as a result. And most of it will be not through the Nepal Government. People will vote with their feet. They will simply move. I never felt bad about Bhutani refugees setting up camp in Jhapa. As in, what are they doing here? Internal migrants in Nepal post earthquake will move, and will go where they might want to go. They might seek refuge many places, some of them might end up in the Terai districts, so be it. It is not like they have a choice. They will move as a last resort. Because abandoning home is not a choice people look forward to. They stay put, come high or hell water. But sometimes that is not an option.

I would prefer to separate earthquake related topics from the ongoing political debates in the country. Although I don't see why democracy needs to take a break. The back and forth of political discourse will help relief work. Federalism is a separate topic.

As for the larger question of internal migration, I want the Terai to become such an economic powerhouse that Nepalis anywhere in the country no longer feel the need to go to Malaysia or Qatar. If they go, it is as tourists, or much higher wage earners. It is within the concept of a modern nation state that citizens of a nation state can live and work anywhere in that country. That applies to Parvates, that applies to Teraiwasis. But when you drag your feet on federalism like Sushil is doing, when you knock four million Madhesis off the voters' list like Madhav Nepal did, then you get in the way of that modern state forming. As soon as you start playing with the northern boundaries of the Terai districts in the debate on federalism, you are sowing the seeds for ethnic riots in the country. Ethnic riots do not make a modern nation state.

As for the earthquake, erecting a tent city for about 50,000 in one place in some place like Chitwan might not be such a bad idea, but then this government is not exactly all about good ideas. A tent city, by definition is temporary in nature. People are expected to go back to their homes in a year or so. It would be a good idea to facilitate cottage industries, so people not only have a roof over the head, but also livelihood.

The tent city should have schools and health clinics. It should have TVs. Computers with internet access. It should have soccer and volleyball fields. Cricket, maybe. It should have regular cultural programs by visiting artists. Adults, and children, should go to school.

And if there is suitable land, heck, why not erect a permanent city for them? A city for 50,000. Build cheap earthquake proof homes. Make it a planned city. I mean, if you are starting from scratch. It might even be possible to find a corporate or country sponsor for the whole project.

Maybe the idea should be to erect multiple cities. Modi talks of "100 smart cities." And he was not responding to an earthquake. But let the earthquake be an excuse for Nepal to think along the lines of at least 10 new cities. They could be along the Kathmandu-Pokhara highway, along Arniko highway, in Chitwan, in several Terai districts.

Get 10 corporate/country sponsors and erect 10 new cities across Nepal. People get to swap their land in their wiped out villages for a house in the new city and a small loan for a new livelihood. The government takes their land and converts them into forests. Entire hillsides see new trees planted on them. These dwellers will probably have to give up farming and get into small cottage industries.

Or set up one big factory per city to mass employ a bunch of the people. Labor intensive industries might make sense. The corporate/country sponsors might help find markets and buyers.

When the old gets destroyed, weep. But after you are done weeping, see that new things are now possible. New, better things.

These are not slums, these are cities that you are trying to create.


देर है अंधेर नहीं

राष्ट्रपतिसमक्ष सेना परिचालनसम्बन्धी सिफारिस गर्ने निर्णय
सरकारले भूकम्पपछिको खोज, उद्धार, राहत, तत्कालको पुर्नस्थपना र भत्किएका संरचनाको व्यवस्थापन गर्न परिचालन भएको सेनाको भूमिकालाई अनुमोदन गर्न राष्ट्रपतिसमक्ष सिफारिस गरिने निर्णय गरेको छ । .... संविधानमा राष्ट्रपति नेपाली सेनाको सर्वाेच्च परमाधिपति हुने व्यवस्था छ । नेपाली सेनाको नियन्त्रण, परिचालन र व्यवस्थापन कानुनबमोजिम मन्त्रिपरिषद्को सिफारिसमा राष्ट्रपतिले गर्ने संवैधानिक व्यवस्था रहेको छ । नेपालको अन्तरिम संविधान २०६३ को धारा १४५ ले नेपाली सेनाको परिचालन, सञ्चालन र प्रयोग गर्न राष्ट्रिय सुरक्षा परिषद्ले मन्त्रिपरिषद्लाई सिफारिस गर्ने कानुनी व्यवस्था छ । ....... प्राकृतिक विपत्तिबाहेकका परिस्थितिमा नेपाली सेना परिचालन भएकामा भने सरकारबाट भएको निर्णय एक महिनाभित्र व्यवस्थापिका–संसद्ले तोकेको विशेष समितिमा प्रस्तुत भई अनुमोदन हुनुपर्ने संवैधानिक व्यवस्था छ । यसअघि आज बिहान बसेको सुरक्षा परिषद्को बैठकले भूकम्पको महाविपत्तिपछि खोज, उद्धार, राहत र पुनःस्थापनालगायत काममा सेना परिचालन गरिएको व्यहोरासहित अनुमोदनका लागि राष्ट्रपतिसमक्ष पठाउन मन्त्रिपरिषद्लाई सिफारिस गरेको थियो ।
पुलिस र सेनाको एक महिनाको तलब काट्दिएको हो?
प्रचण्डं र बामदेव बीच देखिएको समानता


नेपाली काँग्रेस भित्र का मधेसी हरु

मधेसी राष्ट्रपतिले ढाका टोपी लगाउनु परेको छ। नेपाली काँग्रेस भित्र का मधेसी हरु लाई नमजा लाग्नु पर्ने। तर स्पन्दन नै नभए जस्तो। नेपाली काँग्रेस ले महासमिति को निर्णय अनुसार मधेसी जनता सँग एक मधेस तीन प्रदेश भन्दै वोट माग्यो, तर चुनाव पछि झापा, मोरंग, चितवन, कैलाली, कंचनपुर मधेस बाट गायब गरेको नक्शा पेश गर्दैछ। नेपाली काँग्रेस भित्र का मधेसी हरु लाई नमजा लाग्नु पर्ने। तर स्पन्दन नै नभए जस्तो। मधेसका जिल्ला का सदरमुकाम हरु सार्ने त्यत्रो षड्यंत्र हुँदैछ। नेपाली काँग्रेस भित्र का मधेसी हरु लाई नमजा लाग्नु पर्ने। तर स्पन्दन नै नभए जस्तो।