16 FEARED DEAD IN FLOODS LANDSLIDES IN NUWAKOT RUKUM

LANDSLIDES AND FLOODS KILL 16 IN RUKUM. NUWAKOT UPDATE
Kathmandu, 15 July: Landslides and floods triggered by heavy rain overnight have killed at least 16 persons in Rukum and Nuwakot and injured several others.
Thirteen persons, including children, are feared killed at two wards in at Purtimakada VDC.
Ten members of Udiram Buda’s family are feared dead along with family members Ghan Singh Gharti,
Three members of a family were swept away by a river in t Thangsing and five were overnight injured in neighbouring Nuwakot.
Landslides have blocked the movementofvehicles on the Lamosanghu Highway in the district.
Dozens of vehicles are stranded on the Pokhata-Baglung Highway by boulders are efforts are underway to open it.
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Rs. 348,90 BILLION BUDGET IN OFFING

Kathmandu, 15 July: For the second time in a year, the country’s annual budget presentation became a victim of political bickering. Had it been presented in parliament on Thursday, the country would have got a budget of Rs 384.90 billion that focuses on infrastructure, peace process and constitution drafting and expanding the role of cooperatives in the economy, Mukul Humagain writes in The Kathmandu Post.
The government’s policies and programmes has already given enough indication that the budget will have pro-socialist policies. Finance Ministry sources said the budget has given utmost priority to the cooperative sector and tries to establish it as one of the major pillars of the economy.
“The role of the cooperative sector has been expanded virtually in every sector,” said a high-level official at the ministry. “The budget talks of providing grant to establish cooperative funds for income-generating activities for backward groups, conflict victims and martyrs’ families and subsidies for cooperatives run by women and dalits.” The Youth Self Employment Programme, introduced by the former Maoist-led government has been revived and expanded this time around. Giving civil servants a reason to cheer, the budget has proposed a salary hike for them in the range of 30.39 percent to 42.86 percent. Initially, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari and his team had planned to raise the salary by 20 percent, but was forced to increase it by double amid strong pressure from employee organisations.
The new budget, which is larger by Rs 48 billion than the current one, has earmarked more resources on infrastructure sectors—energy, roads and irrigation. Sources said the budget for energy has gone up by Rs 10 billion. “More has been earmarked for energy, keeping in view the energy crisis,” a source said. In the new budget, the government has proposed recurrent expenditure of Rs 266.61 billion and capital expenditure of Rs 72.61 billion. With the budget being introduced in a new format, capital expenditure looks small in size than in the previous budget. “Of the total allocation, Rs 202.56 billion is for development programmes and Rs 182.34 billion for general administration,” the source said.
The budget, according to a Finance Ministry official, sets an ambitious target when it comes to economic growth and inflation. “It has targeted an economic growth of five percent and inflation at seven percent,” the official said. However, with the hike in the civil servants’ salary, the target of keeping inflation at seven percent looks impossible.
The budget will please the realty sector, capital market and financial institutions.
Now, disclosing the income source will not be required while purchasing a vehicle worth Rs 5 million and a house worth Rs 10 million. It has also allowed purchase of flats by foreigners. Also proposed is reduction in the capital gain tax on stock market, commercial housing and realty
business.
In a bold move that could draw flak from international financial institutions, the budget has replaced income source disclosure in depositing money above Rs 1 million in financial institutions with negative declaration. The private sector and bankers had lobbied hard for removal of the income source disclosure provision.
In a bid to build depositors’ faith in the banking sector, the budget has proposed an increase in the deposit insurance ceiling to Rs 5,00,000.
Even though Madhes-based parties forced the government to postpone the budget presentation schedule, one of their demands—Postal Highway—has got almost Rs 5 billion, the highest given to any single project.
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POPULIST BUDGET HAS MORE SUBSIDIES GRANTS
Kathmandu, 15 July; With top priority given to education, infrastructure and the agriculture sector, the budget for the next fiscal year 2011-12 is 25.67 percent bigger in size than the previous one, Prithvi Maan Shrestha writes in The Kathmandu Post.
The budget that comes in a new format this time, introduces the new classification code—financing. The government introduced the financing heading to keep its financing to various projects and programmes from the current fiscal year.
Continuing the past trend, education is being given the biggest chunk of the budget—Rs 63.9 billion—followed by local development—Rs 44.9 billion. The ministries of physical planning and works, health and home are other ministries that are getting a good share, according to Finance Ministry sources.
Sources said a reflection of the current political equation can be seen in the budget as major pet projects of the two coalition partners—CPN (UML) and UCPN (Maoist)—have been included.
The Maoists have been demanding programmes like youth self employment, promotion of low priced shops, a Muslim Commission and cooperatives in villages, employment in each household, Prachanda Marga (road) connecting Mangalpur-Shukranagar of Chitwan and budget allocation for families of martyrs and conflict victims.
Under the youth self employment programme, each youth will get loans up to Rs 200,000 without collateral.
“Afno Gaun Afai Banaun (Let’s make our villages ourselves), a popular programme of the CPN (UML) will be given continuity,” sources said.
With more money being pumped into the social sector, subsidies and grant, the budget looks populist. There has been a heavy rise in the social security budget—Rs 26.64 billion from the Rs 22.67 billion in the current fiscal year. “The grant to local bodies and social services has also increased to Rs 113.68 billion as compared to Rs 91.80 billion this year,” the sources said. The social service grant has gone up to Rs 82.28 billion from Rs 68.35 billion earlier. Subsidy has also gone up to Rs 7.1 billion from the Rs 5.44 billion earlier.
The budget will also be announcing a number of social programmes, the sources said. It has increased the amount of scholarship for higher education for Kamalaris, extended the one-family-one-employment programme from the Karnali region to Jajarkot, Achham, Bajhang and Bajura.
The agriculture sector is getting a whopping Rs 29.73 billion as compared to 22.76 billion this year. The government will start a commercialisation programme for agriculture under the slogan of ‘Let’s increase production, be self-reliant,’ to make the country self-reliant on food and other agriculture products within the next three years. Agriculture related programmes will get 15 percent of the grant that will go to village development committees. The budget also seeks to make the country self-reliant on meat within the next three years.
In a move that would provide relief to farmers, subsidies on fertilisers has been increased to Rs 3 billion. The government has also promised subsidy for purchasing improved seeds. The government will exempt cooperatives that import agriculture processing equipment from customs duty.
Workers in urban centres will also get concession in customs duty if they import public vehicles under the transportation cooperatives.
The budget seeks to prepare a national rural electrification master plan to provide electricity to all households within the next five years. A big hydropower project will be developed with involvement of all interested Nepali nationals.
For the private sector, the government will declare the industrial sector as peace zone while proper security will be provided. The budget seeks to make Nepal an excellent tourism destination in the world within the next 15 years, according to tourism ministry sources.
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POLITICS PRIORITIZED OVER ECONOMY
Kathmandu, 15July::The country has not yet come out of the shocks from last three years’ delayed budgets that has literally shaken the foundation of economy, it seemed to happen this year again, Kuvera Chalise writes in The Himalayan Times..

The country has been witnessing lower growth rate since last three years because of regular delayed budgets due to political tug-of war and eroding confidence of private sector. “If the ‘unpopular tradition’ of bringing budget for the regular expenses — of one-quarter of the fiscal year — like last three fiscal years continue this year, the country will plunge into deep economic crisis,” said senior economist Dr Bhola Chalise.

The unholy politics-driven economic crisis has already seen slower economic growth, low revenue mobilisation coupled with drop in growth of engine of the economy manufacturing sector and service sector, he said, adding that the current poor economic indicators are the reflections of political instability.

This fiscal year, the country has seen the lowest growth rate in last three years. The Central Bureau of Statics (CBS) has projected the growth rate at 3.47 per cent — due to lower growth of manufacturing sector and service sector — for this fiscal year, though the government has expected it to be 3.5 per cent.

Another former senior bureaucrat Rameshwor Prasad Khanal agreed that the overall confidence will seriously erode leading to slackening of economic activities, in case of such repeated delayed fiscal policy.

Chalise opined that economics is also the study of human behaviour. “No one wants to take risk,” he said, adding that investors are smart, they keep taking stock of situation before investing as they seek political security above all. Lack of new investment has left less jobs opportunities and delayed budget has made it difficult for the government to spend on the development activities that could boost economic growth in the long run.

As it has become a ritual for political parties to block budget every year, since last four years, to bargain for their petty interests at the cost of country’s economy, noone seems to be giving a second thought for their own future.

The ‘irresponsible act’ neither helps build confidence nor helps the political parties in

the long run. “It will damage political parties in the long run as the political party that obstruct budget will lose popular base,” said former finance secretary Khanal.

Private sector concern

The private sector has shown its serious concern over the postponement of budget announcement on Thursday. “The political parties are not serious on deteriorating economic condition of the country,” said the umbrella organisation of private sector Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The government’s fiscal policy should be announced before the end of the fiscal year, it said.
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POLITICS GOES HAYWIRE





Kathmandu, 15 July: When politics goes haywire, people are the ultimate victims. Politics occupies a dominant place everywhere in the world. This is more so in the developing and least developed countries where the process of nation building is underway. Even in the developed western democracies, politics continues to dominate the other sectors although the economy is said to dictate politics, Yuba Nath Lamsal writes in The Rising Nepal..
In a developing country like ours, everything revolves around politics. Given our own experience and also in some other developing countries, including our neighbours, politics is guided, motivated and dictated by power. The general rule of politics is and should be to serve the people, and politics should be guided, motivated and dictated by the interests and welfare of the people
Power - the driving force
Unfortunately, this does not happen in Nepal as the politicians, parties and leaders run after power and position rather than the interest of the people and the country. This is the stark reality of present-day politics in most of the developing countries including Nepal.
The politics driven by power, position and perks is the root cause of the present mess Nepal is witnessing. Politics should have been part of the solution to the conflicts raging in the society. Instead, politics has become the source of all conflicts and problems in Nepal. This is not a new phenomenon but has been in existence for a long time.
The decade-long armed insurgency, which the Maoists call the ‘People’s War’, brought to the fore the core issues of the conflict that had remained hidden for years, decades and even centuries. The superstructure of the Nepali society in itself is evident of numerous conflicts and contradictions. The control over the economy, resources and political power has given birth to conflicts of various forms ever since Nepal was created as a unified political entity almost 240 years ago.
The conflicts and contradictions were expressed on various occasions in different forms. But such conflict could not appeal to the people in an effective way. As a result, the resistance movements in the past failed to achieve their goals. Some were aborted halfway through and some were crushed by the ruling class with brutal force, while a few achieved partial success.
Although there were disgruntlements against the ruling elites, the people did not come to the fore in an organised and formidable form in the past. As a result, the ruling class could easily suppress the small and disorganised resistance movements. Moreover, the ruling class and their leaders often engineered various plots to eliminate their enemies and consolidate their hold on power.
The monarchy was the centre of power until it was abolished three years ago. The monarchy deliberately created two rival groups in the political superstructure and pitted one group against the other and kept them busy in the internal power struggle. This was their strategy to retain their stronghold on power.
The Kot Parva (Kot massacre), Bhandarkhal Parva and Aalu Parva are some of the plots and intrigues engineered by the palace in association with different groups in the palace and higher political clusters to eliminate the prospective enemies. The Kot Parva, which was jointly engineered by a section of the palace and a group of the upper power echelon, gave rise to Rana family rule that lasted for over a century.
The resistance movement at the popular level was visible in an organised manner in the late 20th century. Library Parva, Prachanda Gorkha and Jayatu Sanskritam alike were people’s organised resistance movements against the repressive regime. The resistance movements remained small in size and strength, and they were easily crushed by the brutal regime.
The formation of the Praja Parishad and its activities were the first resistance movement that touched the heart of the people. This sowed the real seed of discontent and movement against the ruling class and oligarchic system. The ruling class or the Ranas - who were the virtual rulers although the monarchy was intact - awarded some members of the Praja Parishad with the death penalty and some with life imprisonment with confiscation of their property.
When four members of the resistance movement, namely, Sukraraj Shastri, Dasharath Chand, Gangalal Shrestha and Dharma Bhakta Mathema, were hanged by the Rana rulers, it slowly created a stir in the minds of the Nepali people and gave rise to an organised popular resistance movement. The Nepali Congress Party, which had developed on the foundation of the Praja Parishad, cashed in on the simmering discontent of the people against the ruling class.
The Congress Party which had revolutionary zeal and programmes was quick to win over the people and mobilised the mass for a revolution. Although this revolution, too, was aborted in the name of a tripartite Delhi Agreement, this was the first popular and organised resistance movement that had mass support. The people overwhelmingly supported the Nepali Congress-led revolution in the belief that it would not deceive the people and would successfully complete the revolution to bring about radical change.
The concept of radical change during that period was to bring about systemic change that would transfer power from the feudal class to the new revolutionary class. But the Nepali Congress in the guise of an agreement gave up its agenda and stance and instead entered into an alliance with the old ruling class.
Until then, the Ranas were at the helm of affairs whereas the 1951 change transferred power from the Ranas to the Shah kings. But it did not bring about systemic change in Nepal but just concentrated power in the same feudal class. The kings and Ranas belong to the same class which protected the interests of the feudal class.
Moreover, the Nepali Congress which had earlier championed for revolutionary change in Nepal also surrendered to the feudal class just for power. In this way, the Nepali Congress rallied behind the feudal and bureaucratic capitalist class.
The 1951 change did not bring about any significant change in Nepal’s political, economic and social strata but gave continuity to the old order. In the 1950/51 revolution, the revolutionary forces and people had pinned high hopes on the Nepali Congress and expected radical change. Their hopes were dashed as the Nepali Congress also joined the ranks of the feudal class, landlords and bureaucratic capitalist class.
The imperialists and regional hegemonic powers had played a crucial role in the degeneration of the Nepali Congress from a revolutionary party to a petty bourgeoisie party.
A similar phenomenon was repeated in Nepal time and again until 2006. Even the 1990 political movement brought about only cosmetic changes. The 1990 movement curtailed some prerogatives of the king but accepted the monarchy as the center of power. Despite this, the 1990 political change had some positive aspects as it laid the ground for further mobilising the people for real change in the country.
The conflict between the rulers and the ruled and between the feudal-bureaucratic capitalists and the working class remained unresolved. There are numerous conflicts in the Nepali society over political power; access to economic opportunities and resources; and ethnic, lingual and cultural identity. The ruling class tried to suppress these conflicts and growing discontent among the people. These conflicts and contradictions of the Nepali society kept on snowballing, which became more visible only after the Maoists started the armed insurgency.
The Maoists identified the fundamental conflicts and contradictions in the society and not only raised these issues more prominently but also put forward their vision and plans to address them. Politically, they hit at feudalism and its patron - the monarchy. Economically, the Maoists advocated an egalitarian society. The Maoists also launched a crusade against all kinds of social and cultural anomalies, including untouchability and all forms of discrimination.
The approach of the Maoists in dealing with and addressing the inherent conflicts and contradictions in the society enjoyed popular support, especially from those belonging to different ethnic, lingual and cultural communities - groups that hitherto were discriminated and marginalised.
More than that, the Maoists adopted the strategy that the feudal system that was protected by the armed forces could be overthrown only by force. The Maoists’ conclusion was that the political movement and people’s resistance failed to bring about systemic change in Nepal in the past because the movements were peaceful in nature, which could easily be suppressed by the feudal force. Based on this conclusion, the Maoists built its own army and challenged the feudal monarchical system and finally succeeded in toppling it.
Bizarre politics
In the past, one class - the feudal and bureaucratic capitalist class - ruled the rest of the people. Now a republic system has been established by dismantling the old power structure. With the abolition of the monarchy and establishment of a republic, the Nepali people have become masters of their own destiny.
Still politics is not moving in the right direction. The self-centered approach of the parties and leaders has taken a big toll of our politics because no significant progress has been made in the process of institutionalising the achievements. Nepal’s politics has become bizarre, and people continue to suffer.
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