Surath Giri's Blog

The unemployment myth and the Right to Employment

2012-01-23T12:50:00.000+05:30

When Nepal Airlines Corporation announced a vacancy for 119 positions last month, it received an astounding 23,000 applications . As in the past, the state of affairs was touted as another instance of the severity of unemployment problem in Nepal. The scenario is not unique to the case of Nepal Airlines Corporation , any government vacancies announcement is overwhelmed with applications and there is hue and cry about the unemployment scenario in the country. Unemployment problem gets highlighted time and again in the political discourse of Nepal and right to employment is even considered to be a fundamental right to be guaranteed in the constitution. However, the ratio of applications to vacant posts in a government agency is a poor , in fact, a very misleading way of ascertaining the unemployment status of Nepal and listing out employment as a fundamental right in the constitution is more likely to exacerbate than solve the unemployment problem.

The real scenario and the lure of government job

The exact figure of unemployment rates of Nepal is yet uncertain. The range of unemployment rates ranges from as low as single digit to as high as almost half of the population. Underemployment rather than unemployment remains the major issue plaguing Nepalese economy. The astounding number of applications has more to do with the lure of government jobs than high unemployment rates. The private sector has never held any charm as a career for majority of the populace as private sector is in its nascent stage and Nepal is just taking its first steps towards industrialization. With the declining industrial sector and anti-entrepreneurship forces in dominance everywhere, private sector and entrepreneurship has further lost its attractiveness to job seekers. Finding skillful and competent people is among the top concerns for Nepal's private sector.

Government jobs on the other hand provide anyone with an opportunity to not only get a secure job for life regardless of performance but also myriads of opportunities to get rich through less visible and less legitimate means. Besides these, a government job also shields the job seeker from the competition and the urgency to remain updated and skilled in one's own vocation to accommodate the new innovations and changes in an industry. It would be no surprise that if customs were to announce vacancy for 100 seats we would have more than a million applicants. Would that be any good measure to judge the unemployment scenario of Nepal?

So what's the harm in it ?

Writing Right to Employment in the constitution (as a fundamental right) may sound as a brilliant way of solving the unemployment problem of Nepal but it would be as effective as writing “Right to a vehicle” and expecting everyone to have an automobile. It may seem mere addition of another line in the constitution but its implications can be disastrous. Any 'right' written in the constitution entails other fundamental questions “How?” and “By whom?”. If we were to have right to employment as a fundamental right in the constitution, who is to provide the jobs and how is that to be done. If the government is to be provide the jobs, how is it supposed to do it: though increasing the number of public enterprises which are a kick in the face of any financial prudence, or over-staffing the already ailing current public enterprises or coming up with populist, self-aggrandizing schemes such as youth self-employment fund or increasing the already bloated bureaucracy?

Making state responsible for providing jobs is nothing more than creating extra avenues for politicians to interfere more with the economy and lives of general citizens. Besides this, the harm in asking government to create jobs means attracting even more people towards bureaucracy. Nothing could be more detrimental to economic health of a country than having its best and the brightest people, , busy with the dead end , unproductive, paper-pushing jobs in the government bureaucracy and many a times, working to hinder other productive people through various regulations and controls rather than being engaged in wealth creation. It is a very depressing scenario that many Nepalese youth would want to work for a highly mismanaged, corruption infused organization like Nepal Airlines Corporation (or any other government run entity for that matter) , than aspire to work for an innovative and profitable company or dream of creating their own company. Hence, the astounding number of applications attracted by vacancies in government agencies are not an indicator of how severe the unemployment problem is but how distorted the incentives are for Nepalese youth to build a career in.

Since economic well-being of any economy depends on the level of productivity of its citizens, it is imperative that our policies and actions align towards encouraging people to be engaged in more productive jobs. It is necessary to understand that employment is not an end in itself but rather a means to achieving the end of creating wealth. Jobs created in government sector or even jobs created by spoon-feeding schemes by the government may employ people but ultimately they fail in meeting their end objective. i . e. to engage citizens in wealth creation.

(Published in The Reporter Weekly on January 23, 2012)

14 very interesting books I read in 2011

2012-01-07T19:58:00.000+05:30

I had planned to read at least 40 books in 2011. Due to various other engagements I was able to read only 25 books and partially read 3 other books. However, I am very happy to have read some very interesting books during the year. Below, I present you the 14 most interesting and informative books I read in 2011 (In no particular order):

1. Here comes everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky

I came to know about this book while reading an article on social media on one of our national dailies. The article had mentioned this book as a source of some key concepts in the field of social media. As the sites like Facebook and Twitter have pervaded every aspects of our life, social media has become a bit too familiar to anyone with an access to internet. As it is said, familarity breeds contempt, social media's ubiquity though hasn't bred contempt , has surely make us overlook the way they have and are transforming our societies and the way we live and interact with each other. Reading this book, makes one comprehend deeply the way social media is shaping up our societies and the way we connect and collaborate with each other.

2. Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism: And the economics of Growth and Prosperity by William J. Baumol, Carl J. Schram and Robert E. Litan

No word is more misunderstood and villified than 'capitalism' in political discourses around the world. At the same time, no political system tried till date, has helped more people to get out of the circle of poverty than capitalism itself. This provides a very good understanding of capitalism , its various forms and their implications.The book carries two ideas: The first notion is that capitalism is not a monolithic form of economic organization but rather that it takes many forms, which differ substantially in terms of their implications for economic growth and elimination of poverty. The second notion is that it takes the mixture of two forms of capitalism, namely entrepreneurial capitalism and big-firm capitalism to achieve and sustain economic growth.

3. Libertarianism Today by Jacob H. Huebert

At first instance, libertarianism indeed sounds like a plain crazy idea and libertarians, a loony bunch of people. However, if there is anything to libertarian thought then it's logic, reasoning and deep understanding and respect of human nature. The book starts with the basic libertarian idea that people should be free to do whatever they want as long as they don't harm anyone else. Then the book examines what that means for a wide range of contemporary issues, including the economy, health care, guns, drugs, online file-sharing, and more. It is a must read for anyone interested in the libertarian ideas and their application in most prevalent issues in societies of today. After reading the book, a reader will surely think twice before waving off libertarian thoughts as crazy or inapplicable.

4. The World is Flat:A brief history of the 21st Century by Thomas L. Friedman

The seminal work of Thomas L. Friedman is too well known, argued, supported and criticized already to have anything left to be said about it. The author uses case studies and anecdotes from all around the world to show the readers how the globalization and the new developments in the field of information and communication technology is ~~changing~~ transforming the world beyond our comprehension. His description of the way India is benefiting from outsourcing jobs and the way jobs are being done these days left me with eyes widened with disbelief.

I think every Nepalese interested in the nation's development and economic prosperity should read this book, just to get to know how the world (including our neighbors) has already moved so far ahead while we are still tangled in ideological battles.

5. The end of History and the last man by Francis Fukuyama

If I were to choose one book out of the total books I read in 2011, The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama would be the one.Written in the aftermath of collapse of communism in USSR and Eastern Europe, the author makes extensive use of Hegel's philosophy of universal history to present and vindicate his thesis that after the failure of communism, the liberal democracy remains the only viable form of government in the modern world and this form of government is most probably the end point of humanity's sociocultural evolution and the final form of human government. In his own words:

What we are witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or a passing of a particular period of postwar history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.

I have written a review of the book which can be found here.

6. Clash of the civilizations and remaking of the world order by Samuel P. Huntington

Unlike Fukuyama, Huntington doesn't find the post-cold war world unifying into a single type of government system- liberal democracy and finally achieving lost lasting peace. Instead he sees the post cold war world as a chaotic world where the conflict between ideologies and economic systems have been replaced by more vicious and dangerous conflicts between civilizations. According to Huntington, the West rather than rejoicing its victory over communism should start preparing itself for a more complicated world order where at least 7 superpowers based on different civilizations will exist and will continuously be conflicting with each other although not necessarily militarily.

My review of this book can found here.

7. The Purple Cow: Transform your business by being remarkable by Seth Godin

Seth Godin is a well-known entrepreneur, author and public speaker and a very respected figure in the field of marketing. In this short and simple book, which in fact looks more like an essay stretched into a book, Godin presents one simple but remarkable idea; the old ways of marketing is dead. Overwhelming people with ads about your products or services through every conceivable medium doesn't produce results anymore. Why?

Because there is too much competition, too much ads and products but no time/money/interest among consumers for your products or services. He says, "The sad truth is that whatever you make, most people cannot buy your product. Either they don't have the money, or they don't have the time, or they don't want it. The world has changed, there are far more choices and less and less time to sort them out."

Read my more elaborate review of the book here.

8. Mastery:The Keys to Success and Long-term fulfillment by George Leonard

Consider this situation. You are trying to learn a new skill. Let's say swimming. You have been practicing hard to learn the skill but to no avail. You practice more but you seem to be making no progress at all. What do you do? You might try for a while and then get bored and move on to try something else. If you are the persistent kind, you will probably practice even more albeit grudgingly until you are good at swimming. But if you are among those people who are on the path of mastery, you would practice without grudge even when your effort seems to be making no progress at all. You would enjoy the act of practicing itself. The book is about the path of mastery; what it is, why it matters and how having this approach towards learning makes all the difference.

After trying to challenge my comfort zone by trying out new skills for the last two years I have come to the painful realization that: when it comes to skills that are more physical oriented, I am a very slow learner. Although, I am good at learning skills of mental orientation, I am painfully slow at learning other activities. And it bothered me a lot until I read this book and related to my learning experiences. The author who is a master aikiado ( one of the most difficult variant of martial arts) describes in this book, how our mind and body acquire new skills and why we should learn to see the practice as an end in itself rather than a cost to pay for mastering a skill. He shows how the process of mastery can help us attain a higher level of excellence and a deeper sense of satisfaction and fulfillment in our daily lives.

As per him, mastery is:

The process where what was difficult becomes both easier and more pleasurable;
Long-term dedication to the journey - not the bottom line;
Gaining mental discipline to travel further on your journey;
Being goalless;
Realizing that the pleasure of practice is intensified;
Creating deep roots;
Knowing that you will never reach a final destination;
Being diligent with the process of mastery;
Your commitment to hone your skills;
After you have reached the top of the mountain, climb another one.

9. Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi

Never Eat Alone is one of the best books I have ever read about networking and relationship building. In this book, Keith Ferrazzi, a master networker who owes much of his success to his superiors networking and relation building skills, lays out the specific steps—and inner mindset—he uses to reach out to connect with the thousands of colleagues, friends, and associates on his Rolodex, people he has helped and who have helped him. I learned a lot from the book, although, I am yet to practice most of the skills practiced in the book, which I hope to do in 2012. The book is highly recommended to anyone looking to improve their personal and professional relationships.

10. The Politically Incorrect Guide to Socialism by Kevin D. Williamson

If you want a very straight-forward book on what is real socialism (not what it pretends to be), its variants and how socialism destroys civilizations, this is the right book for you. As the title suggests, it is politically incorrect, which means the author goes beyond the usual niceties and diplomacy and gives you the real picture of socialism. The way the book offers deadly blows to socialist thought is very interesting. I would NOT recommend the book to a sympathizer of socialism let alone the ardent socialists, they might suffer a heart attack due to the rage generated by reading this book. However, to anyone who wants to know why socialism is evil (not just for producing 100 million plus dead bodies) but also the objective reasons behind it-mainly the inability of a centralized planning system to gather all the relevant informations and making timely decisions, it's a must read.

11. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely

Why do our headaches persist after taking a one-cent aspirin but disappear when we take a 50-cent aspirin? Why does recalling the Ten Commandments reduce our tendency to lie, even when we couldn't possibly be caught? W h y do we splurge on a lavish meal but cut coupons to save 25 cents on a can of soup? W h y do we go back for second helpings at the unlimited buffet, even when our stomachs are already full? And how did we ever start spending $4.15 on a cup of coffee when, just a few years ago, we used to pay less than a dollar? This intriguing, witty and utterly original book looks at why we all make illogical decisions in life and what can be done about it. If you liked "Freakonomics", you'll love it!

12. 7 Habits of the highly effective people by Stephen R. Covey

7 Habits of the highly effective people is one of the best (and the one that actually works) self-help books that I ever read. In this book, the author describes how the personal development industry has been too crowded by quick fix methods and personality centric approaches for personal growth and how that is not working. He offers instead seven habits that are character-centered for leading better and more fulfilled lives. He has categorized the habits into three categories: private victory which contains habits needed for a better you, public victory which contains habits needed for a better relationships with others and finally the renewal which suggests ways for keeping you in the track. Be proactive, Begin with the end in Mind,Put First Things First, Think Win-Win, Seek First to Understand then to be understood, Synergize and Sharpen the Saw are the seven habits. Halfway through the first chapter, I had the feeling that this was going to be one of the most important books I ever read in the self-help genre.

13. The Other Path: The economic answer to terrorism by Hernando De Soto

Hernando De Soto's seminal work that influenced the destiny of a nation had been in my reading list for a long time until I finally got time to complete the book. De Soto who hails from Peru which had been until a decade ago, stuggling with a violent communist uprising similar to that of Nepal. The Shining Path, a communist rebel group waged an armed struggle against the Peruvian government for more than 10 years and the conflict was responsible for the death of more than 80,000 people. The tactics and strategies of Shining Path are said to have influenced our ex-rebels as well.

De Soto wrote this book to show Peruvian that there is other path, alternative to Shining Path for achieving prosperity and equality and he was very successful at achieving his objective. Though, De Soto is said to be on the hit list of Shining Path and his organization has been attacked multiple times by the members of Shining Path already, Shining Path today has less than 2000 members and acts of terror are getting rarer. Peruvian economy is growing rapidly. So what exactly was stopping Peru's prosperity? De Soto explains how the cumbersome laws and bureaucracy was (and in many cases "is") preventing people from engaging in economic activities and thereby preventing them from getting prosperous and what can be done about it.

14. Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a connected age by Clay Shirky

After reading Here Comes Everybody, I couldn't wait to read another book by Mr. Shirky. So, I read cognitive surplus as well. I find it difficult to answer which book is better. Both are equally amazing. In this book, he explains how people are using the modern tools of communication to cooperate and collaborate together to produce new things and services. He shows how in a connected age, it is very easy for people to pool together their intellect and cognitive surplus to create things that were simply impossible to be created until the recently. He explains how wikipedia grew to be what it is today and why does it keep growing despite the fact that no ones makes money out of wikipedia and it solely relies on voluntary contributions. The book also covers how the interconnected world is making an expert out of everyone and minimizing the roles of middle persons in almost every field and also the ways people can tap into the cognitive surplus to make the world a better place.

So, what do you think? Have any recommendations for me? Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Share your comments below!

Pour and puddles

2012-01-02T12:10:00.003+05:30

When I am flying

In my castle of smoke

You pour on me

Avalanche of grace

When I am flowing

In my river of indulgence

You shower on me

Fragments of bliss

And yet you ask me

How I melted into puddles

and started dreaming mahogany dreams?

How I lost myself to the rubble

and started finding solitude in the spring?

-Surath Giri

केही लिबर्टेरियन भनाइइहरु - ८

2012-01-01T20:35:00.000+05:30

यो नयाँ बर्षको सुरुवात केही स्वतन्त्रताप्रेमी भनाइइहरुबाटै गरौ होला ।

१) म माथि कुनै निर्णय चाहे कुनै तानाशाहले लादोस या त मेरो छिमेकीहरुको बहुमतले लादोस , के नै फरक पर्छ र ? मेरो स्वतन्त्र र शान्तिपुर्वक काम गर्न पाउने अधिकार त जे गरी पनि छिनियो नै । - Stephen H. Foerster

२) सरकारले जुत्ता कारखाना नचलाएकै भएर मान्छेहरु खाली खुट्टा हिंडेका चै होइनन है । -Anonymous

३) केही बर्षको अन्तरालमा मालिक छान्न पाउदैमा कुनै मान्छे काम दास हुन्छ भन्ने हुँदैन । -Lysandeer Spooner

४) मतदान गर्न पाउने अधिकार हुँदैमा मानिसहरु स्वतन्त्र रहन्छन भन्ने कुराको ग्यारेन्टी हुँदैन । कहिलेकही मानिसहरुले मतदान मार्फत आँफैलाई दाशत्वतर्फ डोर्याउने काम पनि गर्दछन । -Frank Chodorov

५)आँधी आउँदा गरिएका संकल्पहरु शान्तिको बेलामा बिर्सियिन्छन । -Old English Saying

६) राजनीति भनेको सिद्धान्तहरुको लडाईं रुपी खोल ओढेको स्वार्थहरुको झगडा बाहेक केही होइन । -Amrose Bierce

७) ऋन लिउ , खर्च गर , कर उठाउ ... अनी आस्वासन, आस्वासन अनी अझै आस्वासन देउ । यो नै लामो र सफल राजनीतिक करीयरको सुत्र हो । -Hal O'Boyle

८) स्वतन्त्र बजारमा हुने भन्दा विपरित राजनीतिक सरकारमा कुनै एउटा व्यक्तीले जित्नका लागि अर्को कुनै व्यक्तीले हार्न जरूरी हुन्छ । - Robert Klassen

९) लोकतन्त्रको एउटा बिशेषता भनेको बिशेष हित-समूहहरुको अन्तर्द्वन्द हो जहाँ प्रत्येक समूह आफुलाई बहुमतको समूह भएको दावी गर्छ र बाँकी समूहहरु माथि शोषन गर्न खोज्छ । - Robert Garmong

१०) निजी सम्पत्तिको प्राबधान स्वतन्त्रताको ग्यारेन्टी हो । यो धन हुनेहरुको लागि जती महत्वपूर्ण छ , धन नहुनेहरुको लागि पनि उत्तिकै महत्वपूर्ण छ । - F.A. Hayek

माथिका भनाइइहरु मन परेमा मज्जाले Share गर्नुहोला ।

Occupy Wall Street movement: Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism

2011-12-13T10:10:00.000+05:30

Image Source: watchdocumentary.tv

Occupy Wall Street movement which started as a series of demonstrations in New York City based in Zuccotti Park in the Wall Street financial district has gained worldwide momentum. Over 900 major cities of the world are reported to be buzzing with replica protests of Occupy Wall Street currently. Nepal didn’t remain untouched by the wave. Nepalese intellectuals paid their tribute in their usual way, declaring it an end of capitalism, blaming capitalism for anything and everything that has gone wrong in this country and calling for similar protests.

The shallowness of their understanding is evident by the way every major disturbances in the West is heralded as the ultimate endpoint of capitalism, and a vague alternative system promising utopia is promised. It is very unfortunate that while spewing hairsplitting criticisms of capitalism most usually the income inequality, critics forget to acknowledge that capitalism as compared to every other political and economic system so far known is better at creating wealth and lifting millions of people out of abject poverty. It is surprising that advocates of social justice and equitable distribution of wealth find that capitalism is the only system that creates enormous wealth, so indigestible. To understand the Occupy Wall Street movement objectively and its relevance to Nepal, it is necessary to understand what exactly gave rise to the protests and also that, rather than a monolithic form as described by its critics, capitalism has different forms. It is imperative to understand that there is good capitalism and bad capitalism, and the distinction between them is the first step towards solving the aforementioned problems.

Crony capitalism, which is the form of capitalism where wealthy corporations and politicians tie up in a “you-scratch-my-back-I scratch-yours” fashion to abuse power and wealth for each other’s vested interests, is bad and is one of the true causes of discontent among the protesters. Two of the major issues raised in the Occupy Wall Street movement are bailing-out failing banks with the taxpayers’ money and rising income disparity among the citizens. If one digs deeper, both of these are results of crony capitalism. The banks having close ties with the politicians are rescued with the taxpayers’ money instead of letting them face the consequences of their mistakes. Similarly, income disparities rise because of governments providing special privileges to those wealthy corporations through various means such as subsidies, tax-rebates, special licenses, and favorable policies.

Free market capitalism that rewards entrepreneurship, risk-taking and innovation, and at the same time provides easy universal access to economic activities to all citizens is a blessing. There are enough evidences that when allowed to work, the market has lifted more people out of the mud and misery of poverty than any government. And it has been true regardless of the culture, tradition, religion, economic base, and civilization of the society practicing it. The most prevalent myth about free market capitalism in Nepal is that in free market capitalism the economy is dominated by cartels and syndicates.

Source: Facebook

Whatever little degree of capitalism Nepal has practiced so far has been riddled with practices of crony capitalism. The majority of the wealthy class of Nepal were either born rich or became so by political and bureaucratic connections. Why do few business houses thrive whereas majority of the populace languishes in poverty? Why do few industrialists dominate the economy? Not because they provide quality goods and services to satisfy the customers but because they happen to have political and bureaucratic connections. License permit regime has been a key factor in sustaining and fostering the close ties between politicians and businessmen. The few people who supposedly control the majority of the wealth of the nation do so because they are politically powerful and well-connected. But, despite this, there are also entrepreneurs in Nepal who came from a humble background and made a fortune by providing goods and services to the hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers. If we criticize capitalism blindly, we are also criticizing these people who risked everything they had and provided something useful to the society and made fortunes. It would be mere foolishness to criticize these ‘job creators’ for the unemployment problems in the country. Even our neighbors -socialist India and Communist China, who didn’t look at capitalism with favor in the past have embraced it after realizing their folly. It would be a hug mistake for Nepal to take the already abandoned path.

Fights against capitalism have already become the war of the past. Today’s interconnected and globalized world begs for a different fight. A fight to ensure the benefits and privileges of capitalism to even the poorest of the poor. A fight to eliminate close ties between politicians and large corporations and let the markets work freely. The debate for the future is not whether to have capitalism or not, but what kind of capitalism to have- the crony capitalism that plagues the economy of Nepal or a free market capitalism that ensures equal access to economic activities and equal respect of rights of every individual citizen.

-Surath Giri

(Published in The Himalayan Times of 13 December, 2011.)

The Rise and Fall of Dr. Bhattarai's Popularity and lessons learned

2011-12-12T12:45:00.001+05:30

Image Source: Wikimedia

When Dr. Bhattarai was elected the prime minister of the current coalition government, many people breathed a sigh of relief and raised their hopes high. His ardent supporters went crazy with joy and excitement. For a while it seemed Nepal had finally got it's messiah who had cures for all the ills of this nation, who could bring everyone together and get the country on track. Those few who thought it better to control their excitement and contain their expectations were labeled too cynical and pessimists. Some jubilant populace even initiated campaigns demanding the new Prime Minister be allowed to work. When the new Prime Minister decided to use a Nepal assembled Mustang as his vehicle and set a precedent for other politicians to follow the suit, general people’s excitement went up through the ceiling. The trend continued when Dr. Bhattarai declared government relief packages and other several populist moves. However, in the euphoria people forgot few small details, the generosity of PM was solely based on 'Other People's Money' rather than deep convictions for really helping the poor and whether a leader is good or evil has little bearing on a nation's well-being than the system and policies that are in place.

Only when the new PM's cabinet made history by being the largest one till date, designated convicts as ministers and convicted people as ministers and the media started reporting the gross discrepancy between PM's commitments and the reality- were the people shaken out of their illusion. The popularity of PM Bhattarai is declining with the same speed as it rose during early days of his premiership. The ardent and faithful are utterly disappointed, the skeptics are in glee with “I told you so” mood and the vast majority of the populace is as apathetic as ever. So, why did Nepal's “messiah” dash the hopes of so many of his fans? What proved the skeptics right? And how long will the Nepali idiom “Jun Jogi Aaye Pani Kanai Chireko” hold true?

It's the system

Centuries of patronization from the state, short lived experience with democracy, massive poverty and illiteracy resulting in the political discourse being overwhelmingly dominated by political parties and their puppet intellectuals and a decade long bloody communist uprising has turned majority of us into political romanticists. Discourses about development of any field predictably end with “lack of a genuine leader with a vision” and fantasy of a true patriotic leader with cure for all ills of our society is rampant. This person centric approach is confirmed by our interpretation of history too. Nepal's political system has too many heroes or villains rather than values and systems. Nepal's political and social institutions have been predominantly feudalistic in nature which allowed an individual/family/party to wield much influence in the society. Therefore, much of a society's progress has depended upon that leader's whim. In reality, however, the kind of political system a society adopts and the values and norms it upholds are much more instrumental in driving the society forward rather than the goodness or evilness or a political leader.

Dev Shumsher might have been a relatively liberal Rana Prime Minister but his generosity failed to extend beyond his term. King Birendra might have been a generous King but Nepal under his rule was no way better than Nepal under the rule of King Mahendra. The political leaders of parties like Nepali Congress and UML who have become the epitome of ineffective and corrupt leaders now were once the ideal revolutionaries whose sole purpose in life had been the nation's interest. Similarly, Maoists who waged a decade long war in the name of the poor are nowadays in constant controversies ranging from criminal activities to institutional corruption dashing out any hopes that they would provide a better alternative to the major political parties of pre-2006 era.

International experiences illuminate us more about this principle. Citizens of democratic and liberal countries of Europe and North America can rationally hope that despite of any leader coming into power to be not outrageously corrupt unlike them, citizens of Pakistan and Bangladesh can be pretty much sure about corruption, ineffectiveness and controversies no matter who came into power. Similarly, it is also noteworthy that every country that has ever tried communism found a ruthless dictator who really hated free speech and dissenting views among other things. What chances are there that all the leaders of similar political and economic systems be equally ruthless unless the system itself made them to act that way?

Image Source: Nepalnews

In this context, Nepali citizens would really be better off in the longer run if they placed their hopes on having a good system rather than a good leader and it would be a folly on our part to assume a single leader through his/her personal choice would be able to change the system for better. That said, it is imperative that we venture beyond the usual rhetoric of blaming the system and figure out what actually is wrong with the system. We have had leaders competing with each other to promise us loftier dreams. From transforming Nepal to Switzerland, to making a Singapore out of it to generating 10000 Megawatts of electricity, we have heard it all. However, our political discourse has severely failed to address the “How” part of the question. There is a dearth of opinion on the “how” part of the question except for some self contradictory ideas regarding the development of the country. On one hand, people are furious over the ineffectiveness and blatant hypocrisy of the political leaders and the ruin their actions have brought to the country whereas on the other hand, the mere suggestion that government should not be extensively involved in the economic activities as well as other aspects of people's lives raises many eyebrows and such suggestions are looked upon with ridicule. Suggesting people that if a nation wants to progress, it is essential to separate the government and the economy as far as possible draws many sighs of disbelief.

Constitution and Prosperity

The constitution is being written and hopefully will be completed this time. The kind of constitution we will have will set a system that will shape the politicians and the political behavior in the future, thereby determining in part what level of prosperity we will achieve. Hence, figuring out the what kind of system do we want to have in country-the one that bequeaths the politicians with extensive power to shape and influence our lives or the one that puts its faith in general people - is the best thing we can do for the sake of the country than getting overzealous about a leader or a political party for that matter.

-Surath Giri

( Published in The Reporter Weekly on 12 December, 2011 )

Flat Tax System for Nepal?

2011-12-05T22:07:00.001+05:30

-Surath Giri

About a month ago, Ministry of Finance under the landmark direction by the National Information Commission (NIC) exposed the massive VAT evade scams by the private sector of Nepal. The incident sent out ripples all over the private business community. As in the past, the incident was treated as a vindication that private sector is overwhelmingly fraud and cannot be trusted. Many accusations were hurled at the private sector which compelled major business houses involved in the scam to rush in to save their ass*s. Amid all the hue and cry, a small fact was overlooked. Almost every business house in Nepal is evading taxes. Casinos, Super Markets, Large Scale Industries, Retailers and almost every significant business that comes within the realm of formal economy of Nepal have been found time and again to evade taxes. So, an interesting question to ask would be "Why does everyone try to evade taxes in Nepal?"

The most obvious answer you would get if you ask a citizen in Nepal is : "The private sector is corrupt, unpatriotic and too profit-focused." Well, let's put on our thinking cap and venture beyond the usual leftist rhetoric. If they had a choice, I am sure very few Nepalese citizens would willingly pay taxes to fill in the treasury of our corrupt politicians and encourage them to ruin the country even more. Could our overly bureaucratic and unfair progressive taxation system have anything to do with the tax evasion trends?

Doing Business Report states "On average, firms make 34 tax payments a year, spend 326 hours a year filing, preparing and paying taxes and pay total taxes amounting to 17.2% of profit in Nepal" which when compared to other South Asian Countries is a much better situation. But again, with all the numerous reasons for an individual or business not to pay taxes, simplifying the taxation system could surely improve the scenario. Besides simplifying the procedures, adopting a more fair taxation system (one that doesn't penalize business or individuals for being more productive or working harder) could be beneficial to us.

Many people around the world believe adopting a flat tax system would help mitigate such problems because flat tax system while simplifying the procedures and making it easy for people to understand and pay taxes also makes taxation fair and equal for everyone. So what is flat tax system?

A flat tax is a fiscal system with only one tax rate for all levels of income (whatever your level of income you just pay a certain percentage of your income as tax and that's all), in which all income is taxed once and only once. Countries around the world, such as Hong Kong, the Channel Islands, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine and Slovakia have seen remarkable results after adopting flat tax system. Tax evasion has decreased whereas the collection of tax revenues has increased over the longer period of time. Similarly, the total number of hours spent on administering the taxes (which is a very non-productive usage of time) has decreased significantly. Additionally, the low rate of taxes and the equal taxation for everyone has prompted many multinationals to seek solace in countries with flat tax system.

And contrary to what critics of flat tax predicted, countries adopting flat taxes have seen increase in the share of taxes paid by the rich. How? First, taxpayers in the highest brackets shifted money from consumption or tax-sheltered investments into more productive, taxable investments. Second, taxpayers became more honest as evasion became less rewarding. Third, some taxpayers, rewarded by higher after-tax returns, worked harder. (Source: http://bit.ly/vq5aCl )

Hong Kong is one of the famous success stories of flat tax system. It maintains a dual taxation system where taxpayers can choose between a progressive taxation system that ranges fro 2 percent to 20 percent or a flat tax of 16 percent. However, flat taxation has been the most popular choice among the tax payers so far. Notably, the flat tax has generated a high enough level of government revenue such that, between 1950 and 1981, fiscal surpluses have been recorded in no less than 27 years. (Source: http://bit.ly/vq5aCl )

Similarly, Estonia, an ex-communist country has also been successfully implementing the flat tax system with remarkable results which has inspired Russia not only to adopt a similar system but also to compete with the flat taxers with the lowest rates of taxes in Eastern Europe.

Nepal has a flat tax rate of 25 percent for corporations whereas individuals are subject to a progressive taxation system. Despite this, one of the principle of flat taxation: "tax an income only once" is yet to followed in Nepalese scenario.

Note: A paper on flat tax entitled "Flat Tax-The British Case" by Romanian Economist Andrei Grecu can be found at: http://bit.ly/vq5aCl . The paper explains the concept in more details.

Do you think a complete flat tax system would help Nepal minimize its tax evasion woes? Would such system be suitable for Nepal? Why ? Why not? Is the current rate of taxation of 25% too high or just enough?

Please share your views!

A new way of looking at Taxes!

2011-12-01T20:59:00.001+05:30

Recently when Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai announced extensive relief packages, people went gaga over his generosity. The question "Relief packages for what? And who pays for it?" was neither asked nor dealt upon. A few people (including some newspapers) who dared to ask the bitter questions were quickly drowned by the ferocious attacks from Dr. Bhattarai supporters. This tendency, however, is not associated with Dr. Bhattarai only. Any politician promising benefits to people are received with praised and gratitude in Nepal.In this context, I think the following video could present a new way of looking at taxes and government benefits.

So what do you think about the views presented in the video? Feel free to agree or disagree.

Youth Employment: Prospects in Nepali Scenario

2011-11-12T22:40:00.001+05:30

Yesterday, I presented a paper on "Youth Employment: Prospects in Nepali Scenario" in a program organized by YUWA. Below is the abstract of the paper and the download link to the PDF file.

ABSTRACT

Like every other developing countries of the world, high youth unemployment rates pose a serious threat to stability and economic growth of Nepal. Underemployment is more severe a problem than unemployment in Nepal’s scenario. Due to lack of growth in the country, majority of youth are seeking foreign employment opportunities which has resulted in a significant reduction of absolute poverty rates of the nation and a major source of foreign exchange. The trend, although beneficial in the short run poses a serious threat to long term development of Nepal. Agriculture, tourism, small and cottage industries, information technology and outsourcing and foreign employment itself are the major sectors that have potential to solve the youth unemployment problem. This paper highlights the present situation of these sectors and highlights the growth potential of these sectors to absorb the unemployed mass of youth. The paper concludes by arguing that, if we are serious about solving youth unemployment problem of Nepal, we should focus more on the major sectors of the economy and their growth rather than trying to solve youth unemployment problem through direct government intervention.

Download link: http://bit.ly/vLFq0R

Do let me know if you have any feedback and comments!

केही लिबेर्टेरियन भनाइहरु -७

2011-11-07T10:17:00.000+05:30

केन्द्रिक्रित शक्ती जहिले पनि स्वतन्त्रताको शत्रु हुँदै आएको छ । -Ronald Reagan
स्वतन्त्रता बिनाको जीवन आत्मा बिनाको शरीर जस्तै हुन्छ । - Khalil Gibran
कानूनव्यवस्था बिनाको स्वतन्त्रता र स्वतन्त्रता बिनाको कानूनव्यवस्था दुवै उत्तिकै घातक हुन्छन । -Theodore Roosevelt
आर्थिक स्वतन्त्रता बिना साँच्चैको स्वतन्त्रता सम्भव छैन । - Margaret Thatcher
कुनै पनि सरकारको मुख्य उदेश्य देशको आत्मारक्षा हो , साम्राज्य बनाउनु होइन । -Joseph Sobran
पूँजीवादको अन्तर्निहित खराब पक्ष भनेको धनको असमान बितरण हो । तेसै गरी समाजवादको अन्तर्निहित असल पक्ष भनेको गरीबीको समान बितरण हो । -Winston Churchill
अर्थतन्त्रप्रतिको सरकारको धारणालाई केही वाक्यमा समेट्न सकिन्छ : चलिराखेको छ भने कर लगाउ , अझै चलिराख्यो भने नियमन गर । अनी जब चल्न छोड्छ अनुदान दिन थाल । - Ronald Reagan
हामीलाई सरकार चाहिन्छ तर सधैं बाजले सरह तेस्लाई निरिक्षण गरिराख्नु पर्छ । -Millicent Fenwick
जहाँ नैतीकता हुन्छ , त्यहाँ कानून को आवश्यकता नै पर्दैन, जहाँ नैतीकता हुँदैन, त्यहाँ कानून बनाएर पनि काम लाग्दैन । -Anonymous
समाजवादीहरु तेस्ता व्यक्ती हुन जो आफुलाई अरु मानिसहरुको ऋणी सम्झन्छन र त्यो ऋण चै सरकारले अर्काको पैसा बाट तिरिदेओस भन्ने चाहन्छन । -Gordon Liddy

Nepal's Economic Reforms- are there any stakeholders left?

2011-11-06T11:26:00.000+05:30

Image Source: http://prarthanag.umwblogs.org

Initiating and sustaining the economic reform process is one of the major challenges being faced by the least developed countries around the world. With globalization permeating every corner of the world, no country can remain impervious to the global trends which change too frequently to be conducive for economic reforms. As evidenced by the experience many countries attempting reforms, reforms rarely enjoy broad public support. Economic reforms are generally initiated by crisis, driven by pressures and sustained by the support of few committed politicians or bureaucrats who feel a stake in the reforms. And it's no wonder that some of the major transformations of economies in the world have been under some forms of dictatorship. From Deng's China to Pinochet's Chile to Thatcher's Britain, economic reforms had to be carried out with an iron fist or as in New Zealand where major political parties has a consensus regarding the reforms. Added to this, political instability and communist uprisings in least developed countries like Nepal push economic reforms to almost impossibility.

Nepal's brief flirting with liberalization and other economic reforms were thwarted by the Maoist uprising and political infighting within the then ruling party -Nepali Congress which not only undermined the benefits of liberalization but also helped smear the process itself. Post 2006 era has been even more depressing for Nepal's economic reform process. Political agendas have pushed back economic agendas further behind. Political bargaining have pervaded every national issues and economic perspectives on issues are missing. Besides political parties, other supposed stakeholders of the reforms such as private sector, bureaucracy, civil society and even the general public are also too busy in their own affairs to care about them. In this context, it would be interesting to analyze what are these stakeholders doing regarding the process and if there is any real stakeholder left?

Private Sector

As economic reforms bolster private sector through more freedom as well as competition, private sectors have a stake in the economic reforms. Nepal's private sector, however, except for paying lip-service, has contributed very little in pushing economic reforms forward. The anti-competitive practices present across all the sectors of the economy such as syndicates, cartels, collusive agreements not only undermine people's support for private sector but also generates hostility towards governments attempts to allow private sector a greater role in the economy. Nepalese private sector currently too divided and too engaged in crony capitalism, to be excited or supportive about the economic reform process. Status quo ensures the survival and profit of the major actors in private sector which translates into lukewarm, if any, support to economic reform process.

Political Parties

Nepal is yet to see a political party that truly advocates free markets and economic freedom out of principle. Most of the political parties see supporting some aspects of economic freedom as a compromise rather than political agendas. Giving leeway to private sector is seen as a compromise on party principles and generates criticisms from within and outside the party. A look at the top five major political parties of Nepal would present this miserable state. Two of the largest political parties are principally against liberalization and other economic reforms, another two thrive on purely ethnic agendas and haven't yet shown any clear stand or interest on national economic issues. Another one doesn't seem so much happy about the economic reforms it initiated and has once again brought forward anti-market agendas in its political principles. Nepalese political parties seem to be on a “populist” race where everyone is trying to be more popular at the expense of the economy.

The Bureaucracy

A country's bureaucracy plays a vital role in directing and sustaining the economic reforms as seen by the economic reforms of Indonesia and Singapore. In case like ours where the political leadership doesn't seem to have any stake in economic reforms, bureaucracy's role becomes even more important. Nepalese bureaucracy, however, seems too busy in finding avenues for short-term gains and instant gratifications to have a stake in economic reforms. Very few bureaucrats intend to live in Nepal after their retirements and those who do are either disorganized or busy consulting the development industry. The higher level bureaucracy which can have a serious impact in the national policies, is either already too well-off or get so by the time of retirement and has less incentive to push for the economic reforms.

Civil Society

In the post 2006 era, like every other sector, civil society too has fallen victim to excessive politicization. Excessive politicization and political affiliations erode the very essence of independent civil society in a country. Our civil society is found carrying the same agendas the political parties are pushing forward and hence provide little or no contribution in pushing the economic reforms forward. An independent civil society is essential to the success of the reform process because it can actively promote equal access of every sector and class of the society to the benefit of the reforms. However, our civil society, due to its politicization is failing to act as a uniting force. Agendas picked up by civil society currently are less of national priorities than ideological agendas.

The General Public

Source: http://www.nepalmountainnews.com

Poor and middle classes of the society are another major stakeholders in the economic reform process. As seen in countries like India and China, liberalization and increased access to economic activities reduce absolute poverty rates significantly. Since they consist the majority of voters, they also can exert pressures on political parties to initiate reforms in the country. Benefited by the limited liberalization o the early 1990s, this segment of population is overwhelmingly engaged in foreign employment and improving living standards through remittance income. In fact there has been significant reduction in absolute poverty rates in the country , whose credit, in large part, goes to foreign employment and remittance incomes. This has encouraged even more people to opt for foreign employment. Nepal's over-dependence in remittance has begun showing the signs of what has been termed “Dutch Disease” in which a country goes through vicious cycle of running economy through remittance incomes which in turn lifts off the pressure to make economic reforms, which results in poor investment environment and little economic opportunities. Little economic opportunities force even more people to opt for foreign employment and brings in more remittances to run the economy. The findings of recent Nepal Living Standard Survey report suggests amid the political chaos and instability, poor are lifting themselves out of poverty. Poor are hence, slowing having less stake at the economic reforms.

In this context, any attempts at economic reform process, should take into consideration the question, if there are any stakeholders left for such reforms and who exactly is the stakeholder. Measures to hold all these actors for the reform is another necessary step that needs to be taken for a long term development of Nepal. Free, fair and regular elections would be very useful in making the political parties feel more stake in economic reforms whereas better mechanisms to curb corruption and devising a mechanism to tie up bureaucracy's remuneration with nation's economic performance could be an option for bureaucracy's stake in the reforms. More aware and demanding consumers could pressurize private sector to be more responsible and supportive of economic reforms. Meanwhile, emergence of an strong independent, non-political civil society could be the major milestone in energizing all these actors for economic reforms.

-Surath Giri

(Published in The Himalayan Times- Perspectives of November 6, 2011)

10 Reasons to Invest in Nepal

2011-11-04T13:47:00.000+05:30

Source: http://business.gather.com

Today I found a promotional promotional booklet FNCCI (Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries) has prepared to promote foreign direct investment in Nepal. It has a section called "Why Invest in Nepal?" where following 10 reasons have been outlined. Accompanying the reasons are my comments.

1. Located in between two emerging economic giants, India and China, and preferential access to their market: That's a huge advantage for us but it is also necessary to consider the question: If two emerging economic giants are our neighbors, why should an investor invest in Nepal? What additional incentives can we offer them to make us more appealing than our neighbors?

2. Huge potential of growth and untapped natural resources: I would say that's a prime reason why investors should be interested in Nepal. The potential for growth and amount of natural resources we have is amazing!

3. Liberal rules for investment including foreign investment: Well, not exactly. In the Index of Economic Freedom, which ranks countries around the world based on their friendliness to entrepreneurs and economic activities, Nepal scores 5 out of 100 in the Investment Freedom criteria.

Here is what Heritage Foundation has to say about it:

Most new foreign investment must be approved by the government. Bureaucracy and regulatory administration are burdensome, non-transparent, inconsistently implemented, and inefficient. Political instability, pervasive corruption, and inadequate infrastructure and administrative capacity also inhibit investment. Residents may hold foreign exchange accounts in specific instances; most non-residents also may hold such accounts. Convertibility is difficult and not guaranteed. Most payments and transfers require prior approval by the government. There are restrictions on most capital transactions, and real estate transactions are subject to controls. Foreign investors may acquire real estate only for business use.

4. Ease in repatriation of foreign exchange

5. Comparatively lower tax rates especially for industries: That's an advantage we can capitalize on. But despite the low taxes, the cost of doing business in Nepal is relatively high due to militant labor unions, lack of infrastructures, small scale market, corruption etc. This factor has to be considered as well.

6. One Window Policy: Well, it could be encouraging to the investors. However, this policy is not new to Nepal. In theory, one window policy has existed in Nepal since the Panchayat Era but we are yet to see its effective implementation.

7. Relatively small and accessible government: Although our leaders have very little, if any, interest towards national economic issues, they are relatively accessible , at least for the foreign investors and that's another advantage we could capitalize on.

8. Open and liberal export/import rules: Compared to India, maybe. But there is too huge a room for improvement in this area before it can really work to our advantage.

9. Hardworking people: Really?? What about our militant labor unions who are slowly but steadily destroying whatever little industries we have? What about the excessive politics that goes on with these unions?

10. Many sector-specific incentives

So what do you think about these reasons? Are these the right reasons for investing in Nepal? Are there any additional reasons? Share your views below!

The Role of Social Media and Citizen Journalism in Nepal

2011-10-31T10:32:00.000+05:30

(Following essay I wrote, was awarded Third Prize in the Fundamentals of Freedom: 2011 Asia Essay Contest.)

On 1st May of 2010, Maoist, the largest political party of Nepal , initiated an indefinite strike intending to topple the then government and take over the country. Thousands of Maoist cadres and supporters entered Kathmandu valley armed with weapons ranging from bamboo sticks to swords and took over the streets. Every shop, business, factory, school, college and transportation was forced to close down. As the strike got violent and continued for days, the whole nation came to a standstill. People were scared to go out of their houses. Even media persons and journalists were attacked by the protesters. As the longevity of the strikes increased , so did the possibility of huge confrontation initiating a wave of terror among the general citizens and media.

Despite this, the residents of the valley weren't passive though. Having seen countless protests and strikes before, they didn't react at first hoping the issues would be resolved in a day or two. However, as the strike exceeded 3 days, people got concerned and started getting involved in the discourse regarding the ongoing strike. What facilitated the conversations?? Of course, the ubiquitous Facebook and its counterparts such as twitter and blogs.

On the 7th day of the strike, general people who had come together with the help of the social media tools, organized a peace rally opposing the strike. More than 20,000 people joined the rally and swarmed in the major streets of the valley-unarmed and carrying national flags. Although there were some incidents of protesters attacking the peace rally participants, the rally was largely peaceful and later that day, Maoist announced that they were postponing their strike for an indefinite time. Hence, Nepal averted a huge political crisis that could have turned the country into a state of civil war.

Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content."1 Nepal's social media revolution started at a time when main stream media was at its knees due to excessive censorship and oppression by the then royal regime. King Gyanendra took power after the royal coup of 2001 in which he sacked the then prime minister and dissolved the parliament. Fearing protests he imposed harsh censorship on both print and electronic media curtailing press freedom of the nation severely. Since he failed to curb the web media, blogs and Internet medias emerged as the sources of unbiased and uncurtailed information for the citizens with access to the internet and knowledge of new media.

But it wasn't until 2006 when the media censorship reached its height that social media tools such as blogs emerged as a serious alternatives to the mainstream media. During the people's movement of 2006, main stream media (both private and state-owned) were turned into mere puppets and propaganda machines of the King. Citizen journalism and social media such as blogs became the preferred source of true information and news. Citizen journalists became the source of the news of actual happenings in the streets. After the April 2006 revolution, which saw the King lose most of his powers leading to be dethroned later on, Nepal's web focused citizen journalism has seen a rapid growth and is increasingly becoming the most favored source of news and information.

As of June 30, 2011 , there are 1,072,900 Facebook users from Nepal2 which amounts to 3.7% of the total population. For a country like Nepal whose only less than one-tenth of the total population has access to the internet, the numbers of Facebook users is pretty high. More than 1200 blogs have been listed by a prominent Nepalese blog aggregator 3 and some blogs such as Mysansar receive more traffic than the news sites run by media houses. Mysansar, the most popular blog of Nepal is among the top 50 thousand most visited websites in the world. 4

Besides acting as alternative sources of news and information, social media tools like Facebook contribute in allowing a the citizens a greater voice in media and issues that concern them in the society. For eg. , Facebook has been a seedbed for initiating campaigns and gathering solidarity for a certain cause or issue in Nepal. Some of the most popular citizen campaigns of Nepal of the recent times were initiated in Facebook. Gari Khana Deu , a campaign initiated demanding rule of law, end to impunity and right to earn a living has gained a nationwide momentum and now has been picked up by the mainstream media as well as civil society. Jyaala Pura Liyau, Aba Sambidhan Deu (Now that you have taken the full wages, give us our Constitution), is another pressure campaign initiated in Facebook to pressurize the Constituent Assembly to formulate a constitution in time that has now become a nation wide movement after being picked up by the mainstream media and civil society. As Constituent Assembly has been postponing the deadline for formulating a new constitution time and again and mainstream media has failed to provide enough platform for general citizens to vent their frustrations over the process and the ongoing instability and impunity , citizens are turning more and more towards social media to get together and have their voices heard be it through organized protests or be it through expression of solidarity or be it through participation in intense discourses. Nepal Unites , a campaign initiated to “bring the 'accountability' back in Nepali politics and the larger society, and contribute to this actively from where ever we (Nepalese) live” has attracted considerable mainstream media's attention and has generated huge public discourse on the issues of accountability and good governance.

The notable aspects of campaigns initiated through social media is they provide young people with platform to voice their opinions, garner solidarity and act on the issues. As evidenced by the success of Nepal Unites campaign in garnering a strong support base of young people and the success of Aavaz.org to mobilize people, especially the young people around the world to act on the issues that concern them and have a greater involvement in such issues demonstrates the important role social media plays in increasing the access of people to media. With the advent of social media, the world is seeing more and more young people involved in the issues within and outside their society as well.

The advent of social media is truly a major milestone in the history of media. Not only has it changed the way we communicate, opine or get our information but it has also challenged the hegemony of huge

media houses and other traditional media by bringing more competition in the sector and increased involvement of the general citizens in the process of information dissemination. The role of social media in the recent Arab uprisings demonstrate the pivotal role social media can play to empower citizens and act as an alternative to main stream media. Social media plays an even greater role in Nepal, especially at the time of political transitions like now, to inform and educate the citizens.

-------

1 Kaplan, Andreas M.; Michael Haenlein (2010)."Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media” Business Horizons 53 (1): 59–68.

2 http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm

3 http://www.bloggers.com.np

4 According to Alexa.com

-Surath Giri

Lovers of the Arctic Circle: An intense and beautiful film

2011-10-17T11:12:00.000+05:30

There is a downside of having watched too many movies (and most of them being critically acclaimed ones), it's gets more and more difficult to find a movie that's truly refreshing and impressive. Even the critically acclaimed ones fail to extract "wow" from you. However, after watching the Spanish director Julio Médem's 1998-movie "Lovers of the Arctic Circle", I realized it not that difficult for an inventive director to generate that "wow" feeling even from the movie-maniacs like me and what's more? He has done it making a romantic movie. Romantic movies in my view are the most risky venture for a movie director seeking to make a great movie because usually there is a very thin line between a great romantic movie and a cheap chick flick.

Full of themes of life, death, love, destiny and more prominently the circle of life and its coincidences, Lovers of the Arctic Circle tells the story of Otto and Ana who first meet when they are kids outside their school, are fascinated by each other and later on develop an incestuous relationship as half brother and half sister after Otto's father falls in love with Ana's mother and they get married. Their names are palindromes, a fact highlighted time and again in the movie, to symbolize the circle of life, I believe. The film traces Otto's and Ana's story from that fateful day outside the school to a day in their 20s where they meet once again in Lapland within the Arctic Circle, under the midnight sun. As teenagers Otto and Ana become secret lovers as they live in the same house and are siblings. They get separated when Otto's mother dies while living alone and Otto blames himself and his father for the miserable way his mother died. He leaves Ana and becomes a airplane pilot. Though their paths cross again and again throughout their lives, they keep missing each other until the power of their love finally draws them together.

The plot demands your full attention to be understood (if you are used to linear plots, you are going to have a hard time) and the cinematography gears towards a visual poetry. Circles in incidences and events as well as coincidences are abound. The scene where two lovers sitting unaware of each other in a cafe and moving along on another path for a while exemplifies the missed chances in life and how much life depends on fate. Even the coincidence that the first meeting of Otto and Ana was substantial in bringing together their single parents and making them siblings is an example of irony of life.

The way story unfolds is arguably more interesting than the story itself. The story is expressed through Otto's and Anna's perspectives one after another. Viewers can feel assured that they will be kept engaged until the end. However, the ending is very likely to polarize them. Some will hate it whereas some will find it poetic and the right one. I felt like being kicked on the stomach but again thought it was the right one.

I was happy to find this amazing movie that impressed me with its inventiveness and stroke of brilliance. Highly recommended!

Seth Godin's Purple Cow and Promoting Libertarianism

2011-10-08T19:19:00.000+05:30

I just finished reading Seth Godin's remarkable book called Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable. Seth Godin is a well-known entrepreneur, author and public speaker and a very respected figure in the field of marketing. In this short and simple book, which in fact looks more like an essay stretched into a book, Godin presents one simple but remarkable idea; the old ways of marketing is dead. Overwhelming people with ads about your products or services through every conceivable medium doesn't produce results anymore. Why?

The way out? Be Remarkable. Create something that is worth noticing and that people talk about. Ideas that spread are more likely to succeed than those that don't. Rather than targeting mass public and spending millions of dollars on advertising, target the early adapters who are constantly in search of new products and services and make your products remarkable enough to impress them. Also known as sneezers these small segments of consumers aren't only looking out for remarkable new products, services or ideas but when impressed they also tell and urge their friends and families to use the product. This method is more effective in catapulting your sales.

I really liked the book and the idea. Although, the context of the book is purely business sector, I think the idea is equally applicable in the market place of ideas and ideologies. I have found in my conversations with many people that general people rarely have a preset set of stands regarding social or economic issues. The same person may take a liberal (classical) stand on one issue whereas he/she may take an authoritarian stand on another issue. As discussed in the book, I think it's because these people lack time and/or interest to learn more about the deeper implications of issues at hand. At the same time, too many ideologies are competing for their attention and support. I think targeting mass public with ideas is less effective than targeting the sneezers of the world of ideas. Grabbing their (sneezers) attention and impressing them with the remark-ability of classical liberal ideas could go a long way in promoting liberty. Libertarianism , I believe has the features of remark-ability and a set of Otaku supporters, which should be exploited for the mission. How to find these sneezers in the world of ideas could be a whole different topic of conversation.

केही लिबेर्टेरियन भनाइहरु -६

2011-09-27T11:14:00.000+05:30

धन को उत्पादन माथिको नियन्त्रण मानव जीवन माथिकै नियन्त्रण हो । -Hilaire Belloc
कर उठाएर कुनै देश धनी हुन्छ भन्नु कुनै मान्छे बाल्टिनभित्र बसेर बाल्टिन उचाल्न खोज्नु जस्तै हो । -Winston Churchill
पहिले उनीहरुले तपाईंलाई बहिस्कार गर्थे - काले भएकाले । अहिले उनिहरु तपाईंलाई समाबेश गर्छन् - काले भएकाले । तपाईं त्यसलाई प्रगती भन्नुहुन्छ ? -Marylin French
कुनै पनि सरकारले स्वेच्छाले आफ्नो आकार घटाऊदैन । सरकारी कार्यक्रमहरु एक चोटि लागु गरेपछी बिरलै मात्र हराउछन । -Ronald Reagon
समाज आफ्ना सदस्यहरुको भलाईको लागि अस्तित्वमा रहन्छ नकी समाजको भलाईका लागि मानिसहरु । -Herbert Spencer
नाफा कमाउनु नराम्रो हो भन्ने बिचार समाजवादीहरुको हो , म त घाटा खानु चै नराम्रो कुरा हो भन्छु । -Winston Churchill
राजनीतिग्यले आफुले भनेको कुरामा आँफै विश्वाश गर्दैन , त्यसैले अरुले उस्का कुरा पत्याउदा उ आँफै छक्क पर्छ । -Charles DeGaulle
मृत्यु र कर बिचको फरक के हो भने ,मृत्यु सदन बसेइ पिच्छे नराम्रो हुँदै जादैन । -Will Rogers
लोभी पुँजिपतीहरु पैसा कमाउन परे व्यापार गर्छन् , असल समाजवादिहरु पैसा कमाउनु परे अर्काको खोस्छन । -David Friedman
अधिकार भनेको "जुन तपाईंलाई अरुले दिनुपर्छ " भन्ने होइन । अधिकार भनेको "जुन अरुले तपाईंबाट खोस्न पाउदैन" भन्ने चै हो । -Ramsey Clark

Development Buzzwords: What do they actually mean?

2011-09-26T21:46:00.000+05:30

William Easterly is no doubt one of the most prominent and effective critics of the mindless "aid" industry that plagues almost every developing economies in the world. As evident from the cases of Africa and of course Nepal, development is a very lucrative industry that is harming poor economies like us more than helping us. I have read his book "The Elusive Quest For Growth" and found it very interesting. Recently, he has compiled a hilarious insider's dictionary for development sector. Check it out here.

By the way, here are some samples (LMAO) :

“beneficiaries” : the people who make it possible for us to be paid by other people

“baseline” : a point which is so low that positive results are the only possible outcome

“empowerment” : what is left when all the quantifiable variables give non significant results

“entrepreneurial” : vaguely innovative and cool, but definitely nothing to do with the hated “market”

“sustainable” : will last at least as long as the funding

“ownership” : we held a workshop

Do you have any, add them to the comment!

Who's responsible for adulteration?

2011-09-26T11:06:00.000+05:30

Recent revealing of adulteration and malpractices in almost every consumable goods has shocked all of us. From the traditional gudpaks to sausages, no edible goods seem to be uncontaminated and unadulterated. Critical questions about the integrity of the private sector and ignorance of the Nepalese consumers are being raised. Findings have delivered a huge blow and another setback to the already dwindling image of private sector. The government's move to check the quality of food and media's support in highlighting the findings are appreciable. However, some opinions being expressed question the very existence of private sector and whether the state should start playing a greater role in providing goods and services.

Since reactions to the incident has been towards the lack of integrity of private sector, it is imperative that role of all the three parties involved, namely-government, private sector and the consumers be brought under the scrutiny of public discourse and debates.

The private sector

A critical look at the history of Nepalese private sector would be enough to convince the observer that in Nepal private sector's greatest enemy has been the private sector itself. Neither has it been able to follow ethical and moral standards of business nor has it been able to assert its importance in the economy during policy formulations. Syndicates, cartels, rent-seeking behaviors have always characterized Nepalese private sector. This is partly because of the patronizing attitude the state has always taken towards the sector since it took its first steps in 1951. Similarly, despite being the largest employment provider of the nation and the engine for economic growth, private sector has failed to assert itself when policies are being formulated.

Free markets and ensuing competition are believed to weed out the ineffective and unethical players out of the market. However, as evident in our case, blatant ignorance on the part of consumers and government apathy at justice administration in cases of malpractices can provide incentives for enterprises to cheat the consumers and put their safety at risk. Government protection and promotion of rent-seeking behavior too is disrupting the market forces in our society. Syndicates in almost every sector of the economy prevent competition and innovate players from entering the market which is why competition has been ineffective in ensuring the quality of products and services.

Nepalese private sector should contemplate on the question that when private sector is already being attacked and blemished in the political discourses of the country, will such practices be any helpful for the continued existence of the sector?

The Government

Government's initiative to expose aberrations in the market is truly appreciable and initiatives such as these can discourage such malpractices. However, whether Nepalese consumers will start getting quality goods or not will mostly depend on whether or not such inspections are carried out on a regular basis rather than once in ages and whether or not the culprits are punished.

The fact is that many of the guilty enterprises were very popular and had been in operation for years which signals how ineffective the government had been in its role as a quality controller. What were the government's regulatory and monitoring agencies were doing when almost every product available in the market was adulterated? Will all businesses that were found guilty be penalized and will the penalty be enough to deter them from engaging in such practices again in future?

Inability to punish the owner of Sugam Gas Company who was responsible for tampering with 15,314 LPG cylinders and deaths by LPG related accidents indicates the level of sensitivity of government towards consumer safety. This also inspires enterprises to engage in quick profit making schemes by risking consumer's health and safety.

The Consumers

As market inspections continue to unveil series of aberrations in the market, it is imperative that Nepalese consumers learn to be more alert and take informed consumption decisions. Nepalese consumers need to learn to take care of themselves rather than relying on the moral standards of business owners or effectiveness of government bureaucrats. It does not take a degree to know or at least assume that qualities of goods and services being offered by many of the business enterprises are of sub-standard quality and consuming such goods is hazardous to their health and safety. It is an open secret that cheap prices come with a compromise in quality. Such incidents should help us reinforce this learning in us. Developing a habit of checking the information provided by the product covers and packages and raising voices against irregularities and frauds is another measure Nepalese consumers could take to mitigate such hazards.

Conclusion

Blaming the private sector alone wouldn't only be injustice to the businesses which are operating with ethical standards and providing quality goods and services but could also prove to be a great folly if it leads to diminishing the role of private sector in the economy rather than punishing the culprits and promoting innovation and competition by providing access to new players in the market. The private sector should learn to be ethical if it doesn't want to facilitate its own destruction whereas the government could do a better job by making such inspections regular and punishments effective. Most of all, incidents such as these should shake Nepalese consumers out of complacency and make them more responsible in taking care of themselves.

Surath Giri

(Published in The Himalayan Times-Perspectives of 25th September, 2011)

Niall Ferguson's 6 killer apps of prosperity and Nepal

2011-09-24T21:15:00.000+05:30

Click on the image to watch the video.

Got this TED video recommended by a friend. Niall Ferguson who is a British historian specializing in in financial and economic history, particularly hyperinflation and the bond markets, as well as the history of colonialism explains briefly in this 20-minute presentation the 6 killers apps West used to create the huge amount of wealth and prosperity in the last 200 years. He says these apps were what differentiated the West from the rest and caused the huge divergence in the level of living standards and the best news is that these apps are "open-source" i.e. share-able and adaptable. And in fact that's what many of the rapidly developing Asian and Latin American countries doing, i.e. downloading and using them.

Following are the 6 killers apps for prosperity:

Competition
Scientific Revolution
Property Rights
Modern Medicine
Consumer Society
Work Ethic

Well, I find the future of Nepalese society pretty much bleak as we have been inept at using these apps so far and if the trends of Nepalese political and social discourse were to be followed we are very hostile to these apps. We doubt the "open-source" nature of these apps and instead prefer to consider them as "proprietary apps" developed by the West. Majority of our political leaders and public intellectuals believe apps like Property Rights, Competition and Consumer Society are in fact viruses and malware and getting rid of them would bring prosperity in our society although anyone with common sense will fail to see how apps that have worked "miracle" everywhere else can still be malware to our society. Even the supposedly fans of these apps such as private sector, civil society and entrepreneurs are trying to destroy these apps. Labor unions are hell bent on sending work ethic to recycle bin. In this context, I hardly see these apps making any changes in our lives. What do you think?

Government's relief packages: My thoughts--I

2011-09-10T09:28:00.000+05:30

The government has introduced a series of relief packages and as you might already have guessed, I am as skeptic as ever. But since his holiness Dr. Bhattarai could do no wrong, I would rather present my curiosity and inquiry than slam criticisms.

Government to instruct local administrations to immediately return seized land and property:

Source: www.ekantipur.com

Well, that's something we all would welcome. I just hope it really happens because the new "revolutionary" land owners seem to be making themselves pretty comfortable and enriched with their new acquisitions. They might be a little reluctant to give up their acquisitions and "immediately" could easily turn into "ages" and just to help Dr. Bhattarai make "informed" decisions, local administrations have been proven weak and ineffective for the job. I think his holiness should employ YCL cadres for the job if he wants to get better results.

By the way, just a small curiosity: How come returning the land to their rightful owners a "relief" package? I used to think land ownership was a right not a "relief" package. But never mind, what's in a name? I really welcome the move!

Government to provide Rs. 200000 each to 50,000 youths under youth employment program:

Last time's youth self employment scheme generated really huge fanfare and tons of accolades for his holiness before fading into oblivion. For a research purpose, along with my friends, I had gone to the finance ministry to inquire about the status of the scheme. The scheme had been confined to a single room in the ministry and was providing generous employment to about half a dozen people. Besides the employment, the scheme had also provided additional perks to its employees as we found a lady vigorously scanning some question papers and a text book when we visited the office. We were pretty surprised to find the lady extremely reluctant to talk about her additional perks though. So, I think his holiness should consider employing more than just a dozen (already relatively well-off) people.

And maybe his holiness should consider letting enterprises like Surya Nepal Garments run. Despite being capitalists and bloodsuckers, 20 such enterprises, if allowed to run, could easily provide jobs to 50,000 youths without spending a dime from the government treasury.

Government to subsidize LP gas (a cylinder a month per family) and kerosene (5 liters for oil lamp users):

Source: www.ekantipur.com

Well, I love this move and I believe so do majority of the Kathmanduites. Getting subsidized LP gas is awesome even though it might mean using poor people's (who have never used LP gas and majority of people in Nepal can't afford LP gas) tax money to help relatively well-off people to consume LP gas. I am really surprised why almost every government relief package has a subsidy on LP gas provision. But as they say, आम खाओ पेड मत गीनो, I shouldn't really keep dwelling on it I guess.

By the way, recently, a businessman who had been tampering with gas cylinders and regulators posing great risks to thousands of LP gas consumers walked free after paying minimal fine. Your holiness, if you could punish (and I mean severe enough punishment here) criminal such as those, consumers could feel more "relief" than a subsidized gas.

....

I will continue my ramblings in another post as well. Do help me figure things out with your comments!

In developing countries, government is usually the problem

2011-09-07T20:47:00.002+05:30

I was going through a blog post titled "20 Things I’ve Learned From Traveling Around the World for Three Years" by Gary Arndt in Tim Ferriss's blog. One of the things he has learnt really caught my eye. Below is his lesson no 16:

16) In developing countries, government is usually the problem.

I have been shocked at the level of corruption that exists in most developing countries. Even if it is technically a democracy, most nations are run by and for the benefit of the elites that control the institutions of power. Political killings, bribery, extortion and kickbacks are the norm in many places. There is little difference between the Mafia and the governments in some countries I’ve visited. The corruption in the Philippines was especially surprising. It isn’t just the people at the top who are corrupt. I’ve seen cops shake people down on the street for money, cigarettes or booze.

When intentions and policies contradict

2011-08-28T17:01:00.000+05:30

Source: www.ekantipur.com

Two recent happenings which are in sharp contrast to each other raise concern. The first one is the government draft of the Employment Guarantee Act promising to provide a job to all the families living below the poverty line. The act, if implemented, is supposed to provide a job of at least 100 days per year to at least a member of poor families. The act considers guarantee of employment a critical part of socio-economic security and fundamental rights of citizens.

The second is that Surya Nepal's permanent shut down its garment production unit due to constant agitation by trade unions. The decision is likely to render at least 3000 people jobless and a significant loss in government's revenues. The company's decision shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, since the prevailing trend is of industries shutting down, scaling down or relocating out of country. Militant labor unions and inflexible labor laws have been the primary reasons for such trends.

The Irony

On the one hand, the government is purportedly concerned with the high unemployment and underemployment rates of the country and the poverty it engenders. Whereas, on the other hand, the government is shamelessly blind to the plight of Nepalese industries which are being forced to close down resulting in joblessness of thousands of employees and loss of revenues to the government.

Employment Guarantee

In it's noble attempt to gain cheap popularity and with its misguided sense of responsibility, the government has brought yet another scheme that looks great at face value but is bound to fail eventually. If the findings of the latest Nepal Living Standards Survey tells us anything, then it's that people are better able to lift themselves out of poverty than the government trying to plan and do it for them. The steep decline of absolute poverty by 18 percents is accompanied by a steep rise in the number of households receiving remittances from foreign employment. According to the report the number of households receiving remittance income have also risen dramatically to 55.8 percent from 31.9 percent reported in NLSS 2003/04.

While the politicians were bickering over power and positions and bureaucrats busy making money, the poor people were quietly and steadily lifting themselves out of poverty. Fortunately, when people are left alone to fend for themselves and grow and politics isn't involved, they tend to achieve their objectives very efficiently. Poor people of Nepal have not only managed to lift themselves off poverty but they have also been contributing more than 17.4 percent of the GDP through their remittance incomes. In other words, it's not the government that's helping the poor but the poor that are helping the government officials get their salaries.

Source: http://kardiesel.blogspot.com/

It was fortunate that government failed to realize the potential of foreign employment and didn't dabble in the sector. Had it tried to plan and guide foreign employment sector it would have ended up like every other sector guided by the so called numerous five-year plans . We are already on the 12th plan but are yet to see any significant economic growth or development done by these plans. Previous attempts of government to provide employments such as Youth Self Employment Scheme have failed to achieve their obectives despite the huge fanfare they created initially and are currently limited to a room or two at the Finance ministry employing less than a dozen people at mostly administrative jobs. The government should review and scrutinize its previous attempts at providing employments to poor or youth segment of the population before preaching lofty dreams of guaranteeing jobs. The committee which drafted the act is said to be holding discussions with private sector so that jobs could be created in the industrial sector which in itself is truly ironic.

Hypocrisy and insensitivity

The government that was deaf and dumb while many major industries of the country shut down their operations and whisked away their capital and resources abroad to establish more enterprises in friendlier environments is holding discussions with the private sector to provide jobs for the poor. What could this step possibly mean except sheer hypocrisy and insensitivity in the part of the government?

Surya Nepal Garment's permanent closure the government's apathy at the incident highlights how serious the policy makers and government is about finding practicle ways to adressing the abject poverty of Nepal. Surya Nepal had been providing direct employment to around 650 people and indirect employment to more than 1400 people most of whom come from the poor segement of the population and consist mainly of women.

As evident in this case, militant trade unions who claim themselves to the voices and protectors of poor are in fact the very enemies of the poor. It is high time the government got rid of policies that merely sound good and bring in those that are realistic. For starters, bring in realistic and practical policies to provide jobs through protecting job providers and encouraging industries to flourish.

Conclusion

If Nepal is serious about achieving economic growth and prosperity, the government and policymakers should shift the role of government from a feudal patron granting favors to its citizens towards the role of a protector of citizens and productive forces in the country and facilitator of peaceful interactions between the members of the society. Employment Guarantee Act may sound great at face value but the bitter truth is it's another avenue for the politicians to garner short term popularity and loads of wealth for themselves.

-Surath Giri

(Published in The Himalayan Times of 28th August 2011)

Peter Weir's The Way Back (2010) and some lessons in freedom

2011-08-23T16:08:00.000+05:30

I just watched The Way Back (2010), a war drama directed by Peter Weir who is very well known for his great movies like Dead Poets Society (1989), The Truman Show (1998) and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) all of which are among my favorites. Although The Way Back (2010) pales in comparison to Weir's previous movies, the subject matter of the movie and visually spellbinding cinematography makes it a good movie. However, while watching this epic story of survival ,solidarity and indomitable human will about a group of prisoners who escaped from Soviet Gulags (labor camps) in Siberia to India seeking freedom walking more than 4000 miles , I was more engrossed in the lessons on freedom it delivered than its cinematic elements and its cinematic value.

The story follows Janusz, a Pole condemned by accusations secured by torturing his wife by Soviet officials and sent to a labor camp in Siberia. The labor camp is a melting pot of criminals and dissidents of Stalin and Soviet communism from all over Russia and its occupied territories like Poland, Hungary, Estonia. Even a cynical American named Mr. Smith is in th camp as a prisoner. Janusz with Mr. Smith forms a plan for escape. the duo is later joined by a Russian thug, a comic accountant, a pastry chef who draws, a priest, and a Pole with night blindness making the group seven membered.

The group escapes under the cover of a snowstorm but their escape is just the beginning. The group faces freezing nights in wilderness, deadly starvation due to lack of food and water, storm of mosquitoes, an endless and hostile desert, a desert storm and the Himalayas before finally reaching India and achieving freedom. Not all survive the journey but those who do, walk more than 4000 miles.

Some lessons I drew from the movie are as follows:

Liberty is in fact something that makes all the difference in the world.

In his article 7 principles of sound public policy, Lawrence W. Reed has put this as one of the principles of sound public policy. Watching the struggle of the characters in the movie thorugh the freezing nights and arid desert, one is tempted to ask, "Is freedom worth it? Is liberty worth all these risk and troubles?" But in the scene where the Pole with night blindness respond to the remark that he might die while escaping with "..then I will die a free man" and the last scene when these characters reach India and achieve freedom, the joy in their eyes and the obstacles they overcame says it all, 'yeah, it's worth it'.

The greatest harm totalitarianism does to freedom of mankind or society is the way it destroys even basic sense of morality in the society and alienates people from each other.

Janusz's wife is tortured and forced to make accusations against her own husband condemning her to life long regret and guilt. People cannot speak what they think even at the gulags (labor camps) as one character says at one scene "...Stalin has ears everywhere" and "...whole Russia has become a huge prison". Another brilliant movie called "The Lives of Others (2006) also deals with the way totalitarianism destroys lives and morality of people.

The huge and vicious net of propaganda and lies created by totalitarian systems creates an artificial reality for common people and perpetuates such systems.

The character Valka in the movie truly represents the common folks (in thoughts not in activities) living under totalitarian systems like Communism. They fail to understand the implications totalitarianism has in their lives and tend to adapt to the system. For them the dictator always remains a hero no matter what he does. The scene where Valka assaults the comic character for making fun of Stalin (although Valka himself has been sentenced to labor camp) and asserts that Stalin is a hero who takes away from rich and gives it to the poor reflects how common people generally tend to look at communism and communist dictators. The point can be further emphasized by the fact that even though Mao Zedong is said to have killed more than 30 million people directly and indirectly and yet he is still considered Godlike by the older generation. Although the same can't be said about the new generation. I think it's because of the huge and vicious net of propaganda created by totalitarian systems that people tend to think that way. And I believe it is one of the incentive for communist dictators as no matter how many their wrong doings they will still be celebrated and cherished more by the common folks who survive their misdeeds.

केही लिबर्टेरियन भनाइहरु - ५

2011-08-22T15:31:00.000+05:30

Source: Teamster Blog

मानिसलाई दास बनाउनका लागी सबैभन्दा राम्रो र प्रभावकारी उपाय उसलाई निहत्था गर्नु हो । -George Mason
आगो, पानी र सरकार -यी तीन कुरालाई दया के हो भन्ने थाहा हुँदैन । -Albanion Proverb
जब शब्दहरुले आफ्नो अर्थ गुमाउछन तब मानिसहरुले आफ्नो स्वतन्त्रता गुमाउछन । -Confucious
राजनिती भनेको दुबैलाई एक अर्का सँग बचाउछु भनेर धनीसँग पैसा र गरीबसँग भोट लिने कला हो । -Anonymous
मुद्धा जे नै होस्, सरकारद्वारा एउटाै समाधान सबैमाथि लाद्नु भन्दा स्वतन्त्रतालाई सयौ विकल्पहरु प्रस्तुत गर्न दिनु नै असल हुन्छ । -Harry Browne
स्वतन्त्र बजारले अनुत्तरदायित्वलाई सजाय दिन्छ, सरकारले भने अनुत्तरदायित्वलाई पुरश्कार दिइरहेको हुन्छ । -Harry Browne
त्यो समाज जसले समानतालाई स्वतन्त्रताभन्दा माथी राख्छ, अन्तत उसले न स्वतन्त्रता पाउँछ न त समानता नै । -Milton Friedman
आफुले गरेको निर्णयको मुल्य नचुकाउनु पर्ने व्यक्ती हरुलाई निर्णय गर्न दिने जस्तो मुर्ख र खतरनाक निर्णय गर्ने तरिका अरु कुनै छैन । -Thomas Sowell
राजनितिज्ञहरुले बम हान्ने व्यक्ती जस्तै आफ्नो शिकारलाई बिरलै मात्र देख्छन । - Donald Boudreaux
सबैभन्दा जटिल प्रश्न "सबैभन्दा उत्तम के हो ?" भन्ने हैन बरु "सबैभन्दा उत्तम के हो भनेर कसले निर्णय गर्छ ?" भन्ने चै हो । -Thomas Sowell
राज्यवाद लुटेर मौलाउछ भने एउटा स्वतन्त्र देश उत्पादन गरेर मौलाउछ । -Ayn Rand
कल्याणकारी राज्य संसारको सबै भन्द ठुलो ठगी खेल हो जसमा पहिले तपाईं खुसुक्क मानिस हरुको पैसा लिनुहुन्छ र त्यसको केहि हिस्सा पछी तडक्-भडक सँग फिर्ता दिनुहुन्छ । -Thomas Sowell

Top 7 myths about Linux and why you should start using Linux!

2011-08-21T00:25:00.000+05:30

As of today, I have been using Ubuntu (exclusively) for 21 days and looks like I'll keep using it for a long time. Although I had been thinking of using or rather say learning to use Linux for more than two years, it took me seeing through my eyes a person actually using it effortlessly that finally convinced me to start using Linux. I was not sure if I could survive by using Linux alone (I had heard the rumors that Linux was too difficult for ordinary people to use and lacked the myriads of useful applications as in Windows). So, I dual booted (installed two operating systems) my laptop with Windows 7 and Ubuntu 11.04 aka Natty Narwhal.

Alas, it didn't work!

Ubuntu 11.04 failed to boot at all! My fears of losing my data resurfaced and I wanted to run back to the covers of Windows 7. Later, I came to know a misconfiguration (easily fixable by laymen) had caused the problem. But then, the geeky pride in me prevented me from giving up and compelled me to give it another try. So this time I installed Ubuntu 10.04 aka Lucid Lynx.

I haven't had to boot Windows (except to transfer my remaining files) ever since.

Today I present here the top ten myths about Linux that I have come across and the facts that I have learned while using Ubuntu:

Myth 1: Linux is not as easy and user friendly as Windows. Linux is too difficult for ordinary people to use. It requires writing codes and knowledge of programming to get things done.

Not at all. Not only is it as easy to use and as user friendly as Windows,it's even more so because of the quick updates and creative features developed by thousands of programmers around the world. No knowledge of programming is required at all and some versions of Linux like Ubuntu, Edubuntu are being used to teach computers to young students for the first time.

Myth 2: It's hard to install. There are high chances of my data being lost and I'll have to migrate all my data from Windows through a tedious process.

I installed it within 30 minutes almost by clicking next, next and next only. Not only the installation process asked me time and again what I wanted to do with my data but it also showed me graphically what my hard drives would look like if I chose a certain option (cool, aint it?). But the coolest thing is, I can access all my files, folders and date stored in my Windows partition and work on them easily through Ubuntu.

Myth 3: There are not enough applications for Linux. I won't be able to use with Microsoft Office documents and presentations.

Alternative to MS-Office: Libre Office

Not enough applications? Well, as far as my experiences goes for the last three weeks, I have been overwhelmed with so many cool applications to choose from to perform almost any job a computer can perform. There are just too many alternatives for any program you must have been using in Windows! And best of all, in Linux you just don't have to worry if the software is trial version, demo version or shareware. I have already installed 100 plus applications and every one of them was free and almost every one of them was open source. In fact, some of the very popular applications used by general users are open source and run flawlessly in Linux such as Firefox, VLC media player, Thunderbird, Pidgin, Eclipse, Audacity etc.

For your word documents, excel sheets and presentations there are two cool application you can use in Linux: Open Office or Libre Office . Both are free to use and come packed with features and are updated with new features every six months or so.

Myth 4: Linux is not compatible. It's hard to find drivers.

As I interacted with a couple of members of the Ubuntu community I came to know: there are very few instances of hardware and software remaining that can't be used with Linux. If you are using a well known brand (which one isn't in today's world?) , it's very likely that Linux will run easily and almost flawlessly.

Myth 5: If something goes wrong, there is no place to turn for help.

I encountered a problem with my DVD drive once and as mentioned earlier with Ubuntu 11.04. When I posted my plea for help in one of the Ubuntu forums, I got a reply within 20 minutes and it worked. Unexpectedly, I also got a couple of more replies telling me how to perform the steps the first reply had mentioned because i had mentioned I was new to Linux. I am so surprised by the huge community of Ubuntu users & experts and their eagerness to help!

Myth 6: Linux's interface is not as attractive as Windows.

My desktop in Ubuntu 10.04

As i have experienced, this myth usually derives from myth mentioned in number 1 i.e. since Linux isn't user friendly, it's interface is not attractive as windows. I found this is the greatest myth of all. Compared to the aero effect in Windows, the effects in Linux are AWESOME! Rotating cubes for different desktops, wobbly windows, animated window behavior, inherent cool effects like watery desktop etc will make you conclude that it's windows that's ugly not Linux! I wouldn't say the same for Mac though, it's equally awesome!

Myth 7: You can't play games in Linux.

It's true only until you download two wonderful programs called WINE and PlayonLinux. Once you have these programs installed, "you can't play games in Linux" is just a myth. However, if you are seriously into gaming then I guess Linux is not for you yet as there are couple of games yet to be supported fully by Linux.

Well, that's it. I hope I have been able to convince you to switch to Linux (Ubuntu) although getting a Linux (couple of hours to download the latest version or Rs. 50 for the DVD) is as costly as getting the latest version of Windows in Nepal (Rs. 50 for the DVD). But the real reason you should start using Ubuntu or any other linux distro is not because they are free but because they are AWESOME!

--Surath Giri

When lions descend on the ground...

2011-08-13T23:21:00.002+05:30

When I wrote my reflections regarding our government's noble attempt to save us from ourselves through smoking ban, most of my readers felt I was doing injustice to the government by having second thoughts about such noble attempts. "All you do is criticize government on whatever it does. Is there anything at all that government can do that you will welcome?", remarked one of my aspiring bureaucrat friend of mine. Well, he has a point I admit. Is there anything that government can do that will make me pleased?

Source: http://www.ekantipur.com

Fortunately, YES! I would be happy if the government saved us(30 million sheep as I mentioned in my earlier posts) from the lions that are about to descend on the ground. As you might be well aware, Mahesh Basnet maalik is pretty pissed off with Nagarik daily, its editor Narayan Wagle and all the journalists and bloggers for discriminating against the lions (Youth Association Nepal) by failing to appreciate their noble efforts to slaughter a journalist of Republica daily and has recently warned us that if we keep discriminating against those poor fellas of Youth Association Nepal for their activities, the lions will soon descend on the ground and sweep us all like Saptakoshi river. He has also threatened to throw Narayan Wagle behind bars and informed us that he knows where the police chiefs live and that they better watch out for their wives and children.

With due respect, Maaliks in the government, please save us! It is one thing if you did, I would really feel grateful. We keep paying our hard earned money hoping that you would save us when our lives and properties were in danger! It's not our fault that newspapers, journalist and bloggers failed to praise their noble efforts to slaughter a journalist. When we were young, we were taught that taking/attempting life of someone is a heinous criminal act and is punishable by law. We , as good citizens should condemn such criminal activities and do every effort on our part to deter such activities.So how come it's our fault that we failed to praise those poor lions for their activities?

Maaliks, you should have taught us that Maaliks were different. They are above the law and deserve praises for stealing, robbing or killing! You should have taught us that maaliks of new Nepal too were exempt from clutches of law just the way Gyanendra Maalik and his families used to be. You should have taught us law was not applicable to you folks. Folks like Narayan Wagle and journalists (and me too!) live in the illusion that it's a person natural right to express freely which includes criticizing wrong deeds of Maaliks as well!

By the way, I would feel very happy if the government decided to punish(and actually did) the murderers of Rosy Maharjan. But as I hear the person accused to be responsible for the murder is the son of one of the Maaliks at Forest ministry (Disclaimer: I just heard it and am not sure about it.), I am not sure if we are supposed to ask for him to be punished! Who wants to be wiped by lions or swept by Saptakoshi river anyway?

Thou shalt not smoke: Nepal's anti-smoking law as I see it

2011-08-10T11:22:00.000+05:30

I have mentioned in my earlier posts time and again that Nepalese government doesn't really care if you may die in the hands of a criminal but it surely is concerned that you may die of cancer caused through smoking cigarettes. In it's noble attempt to save its citizens from themselves, the government has taken two new measures:

Has made it mandatory for cigarette companies to include anti-smoking messages in the cover of every cigarette pack. And such messages are supposed to cover 75% of the cover area:

In case you didn't know smoking could create health hazards and even cause cancer and if you were worried that you could accidentally smoke cigarettes and die, you needn't worry anymore. Every time you buy a pack of cigarettes , you'll know.Thank the government , you can afford to be naive now!

Has banned smoking in public places.And the so called public places include government offices, educational institutions, airports, public transport, children homes, old-age homes, public toilets, work places at industries and factories, cinema halls or theaters, hotels, motels, restaurants, bars, hostels, guest houses, stadiums, fitness centers, department stores, mini markets,religious places, bus stops and ticket counters:

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/

I am racking my brains to figure out , how come hotels, motels, restaurants, bars, guest houses, fitness centers are public places? Last time I checked , they used to belong to private individuals and whether to allow smoking in their premises or not depended on the owner and the wishes of the costumers. Since religious places will also see the banning of smoking, I see a tough time ahead for Babaji's. I hope they will consider giving up smoking for the greater good of the society.

I am also wondering who will punish the guilty ones and who charges the fines and if we have enough of Shepherds for the 30 million sheep? But Shanta Lal Mulmi maalik, whose Resource Centre for Primary Health Care (RCPHC) played the pivotal role in pressuring the government to pass the anti-tobacco Act says he has the solution to the problem. Mobilize the city police to follow every smoker around and check if he/she smokes in a public place. That's a very good idea and you're nothing short of a genius. You correctly assumed that city police has done all it could to save our lives and properties and now is lying around doing nothing! What better job to give them than implement the law of such primary importance.

But I am very happy for some of my friends who are overjoyed at the thought of never having to stand beside a smoker and inhale secondhand smoke and are thanking the government for this noble deed. I just hope their belief turns out to be true and they won't have to inhale smoke while running for life when "Pashurams" (oh I meant 'Parshuram' but 'Pashuram' has a better ring to it, doesn't it?) are coming after them as the policemen are busy chasing the smokers.

Source: http://www.chroniccandy.com

I also hope they won't realize someday that acts like this which sound as good as apple pie, do more harm than good by providing a new avenue for corruption for the police personnels and nothing else. Unclear laws and acts are another words for "opportunities for corruption". I have faith that editor sa'ab at Republica will someday realize that when we too often remark "we have very good policies , it's only the implementation that's not happening in Nepal", we should also consider the question if policies/laws (such as this and trust me we have tons of them) which are next to impossible to implement are good laws/policies at all? And if in its attempt to garner cheap popularity, the government isn't turning into The Boy Who Cried Wolf day after day?

Top 10 Classic Movies (pre-1960) you shouldn't miss!

2011-08-08T01:11:00.000+05:30

I was inspired to writethis post when for a 100^th time I was asked how could Imanage to watch slow and or black & white movies. And whatclassic movies should one watch so that he/she doesn't fall asleepduring the movie and develop a distaste for the oldies . I havecompiled here a list of my most favorite classic movies made before1960 along a short synopsis and reason why I loved the movie. I amsure if you are able to find these movies and finish them, you'llstart loving the classics. A warning though: Once you get used towatching the classics, it hard to get you out of their world. Proceedwith caution!

1. 12 Angry Men (1957, Sidney Lumet,96 minutes)

Adapted from a teleplay of the samename by Reginald Rose, this court room drama has inspired countless remakes in countless other languages. 12 Angry Men, tells the story of a jury made up of 12 men as they deliberate the guilt or innocence of a defendant on the basis of reasonable doubt.Except for the opening titles and a few other scenes, the whole movie is set inside a room in a court. The viewers are always engaged and on the edge of their seats as the 12 men discuss and debate the innocence or guiltyness of the defendant. I really loved the way the movie keeps the viewers interested and glued to their seats even though all it consists is 12 people discussing and debating, nothing else.

2. Casablanca (1942,Michael Curtiz,102 minutes)

Of the 1100+ movies I have watched so far, Casablanca is the ultimate romantic drama for me. Set during World War II, it's a triangular love story. During the world war, Rick Blaine, exiled American and former freedom fighter, runs the most popular nightspot in Casablanca which is under German occupation and is a transit point for refugees escaping to United States.Blaine comes into the possession of two valuable letters of transit. When a Nazi Major arrives in Casablanca, the local police Captain Renault does what he can to please him, including detaining Czech underground leader Victor Laszlo. Much to Rick's surprise, Lazslo arrives at Casablanca with Ilsa, Rick's one time love. Rick is very bitter towards Ilsa, who ran out on him in Paris, but when he learns she had good reason to, they plan to run off together again using the letters of transit. But fate holds different plans for them...

3. Some Like It Hot (1959, Billy Wilder, 120 minutes)

Some like it hot is the ultimate comedy from one of the greatest film director ever- Billy Wilder. Two struggling musicians witness a massacre and try to find a way out of the city before they are found and killed by the mob. The only job that will pay their way is an all girl band so the two dress up as women. In addition to hiding, each has his own problems; One falls for another band member but can't tell her his gender, and the other has a rich suitor who will not take "No," for an answer. American Film Institute has named it the greatest comedy of all time. Thirty minutes into the movie and you'll be laughing till your stomach hurts. Need I say more?

4. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951, Elia Kazan, 122 minutes)

"I've Always Depended On The Kindness Of Strangers." I found this famous quote from the movie very hard to get out of my mind. Based on a immensely famous play of the same name by Tenessesse Williams, this was the movie that launched Maron Brando career into stardom. Blanche Dubois goes to visit her pregnant sister and husband Stanley in New Orleans. Stanley doesn't like her, and starts pushing her for information on some property he knows was left to the sisters. He discovers she has mortgaged the place and spent all the money, and wants to find out all he can about her. Even more friction develops between the two while they are in the apartment together... A simple story but legendary acting by every actor in the story is what makes this movie unforgettable for me.

5. Witness For The Prosecution (1957, Billy Wilder, 116 minutes)

This Agatha Christie's story is so full of one surprise after another that you get used to them and don't see the largest twist come and blow away your mind in the end. Even today, the movie feels fresh and new. At previews of the movie, audience members received, and were asked to sign, cards that read, "I solemnly swear I will not reveal the ending of Witness for the Prosecution." Have I enticed you enough to watch the movie? If not here's a short plot summary (except the ending of course):

When Leonard Vole is arrested for the sensational murder of a rich, middle-aged widow, the famous Sir Wilfrid Robarts agrees to appear on his behalf. The case is so difficult: Vole's only alibi witness is his wife, the calm and coldly calculating Christine Vole. Sir Wilfrid's task becomes even more impossible when Christine agrees to be a witness not for the defence but for the prosecution...

6. Sunset Blvd. (1950, Billy Wilder, 110 minutes)

As I list the third Billy Wilder movie in my list, I am realizing how brilliant and versatile Mr. Wilder was. He surely is one of the greatest directors of all time. This movie of his made me fall in love with the "film-noir" genre of movies. This is such a great film on so many levels I can't really settle on whereto begin. Let's begin with a plot summary. An unsuccessful screenwriter is drawn into the fantasy world of a silent-era movie star (played by Gloria Swanson) who refuses to believe that her days in the silver screen are over and dreams of making a triumphant return to the screen. She lives with only her butler, Max who was once her director and husband in an old mansion at Sunset Blvd. After meeting the screenwriter, she begins a relationship with him which results in various complications. Gloria Swanson's acting in the movie is considered one of the greatest performance in the screen ever. I totally agree with that!

7. The General (1926, Buster Keaton, 107 minutes)

If Charlie Chaplin is the only image that conjures up in your mind when you hear the term "silent comedies", then you are in for a treat with Buster Keaton's The General. Not only will this silent comedy keep you laughing uncontollably till the end, it will provide a refreshing look at silent comedies. Buster Keaton who not only directed the movie but also plays the main character in the movie is absolutely amazing. While funny, Keaton is much more than justa clownish figure – he manages to evoke a lot of sympathy as well, and hegenuinely becomes what can only be described as an action hero as well. Histiming, whether for a joke or for a tender moment, is absolutelyimpeccable. You can be sure of one thing after watching the movie, it's not possible to make movies such as this anymore and there is more to silent comedies than Charlie Chaplin.

Plot Summary: Johnnie loves his train ("The General") and Annabelle Lee. When the Civil War begins he is turned down for service because he's more valuable as an engineer. Annabelle thinks it's because he's a coward. Union spies capture The General with Annabelle on board. Johnny must rescue both of his loves.

8. The Wages Of Fear (1953, Henri-Georges Clouzot, 131 minutes)

Very few thrillers have glued me to the seat as much as this Freach thriller by Henri-Georges Clouzot. Four European adventurers who are stuck nearly penniless in a festering town inan unnamed South American country agree to drive a load of highlydangerous and explosive nitroglycerin to be delivered to a remote wellfire 300 miles away burning out of control. The route is throughjungles and over crude and treacherous mountains and those men aredesperate enough to take the chance. None of these men is heroic orgenerous, they are in for the money. Their long, harrowing ride over bad roads with their cargo ready to explode at every jolt and jar; the drivers are gambling with their very lives against the opportunity to escape from their steaming, sordid environment.Every possible jolt brings the viewers' hearts to their throats. I am sure these four characters will remain etched in your mind for a long time after the movie.

9. Singin' In The Rain (1952, Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly, 103 minutes)

Until I watched Singin' In The Rain, I had never thought a musical would be so fun to watch.I didn't like musicals. They never made any sense to me. This movie changed my perceptions totally. "Singin' in the Rain" is one of the best musicals of all times. Even today it's so fun to watch. Although it was not a big hit when first released, it was accorded its legendary status by contemporary critics.

Plot Summary: In 1927, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont are a famous on-screen romantic pair. Lina, however, mistakes the on-screen romance for real love. Don has worked hard to get where he is today, with his former partner Cosmo. When Don and Lina's latest film is transformed into a musical, Don has the perfect voice for the songs. But Lina - well, even with the best efforts of a diction coach, they still decide to dub over her voice. Kathy Selden is brought in, an aspiring actress, and while she is working on the movie, Don falls in love with her. Will Kathy continue to "aspire", or will she get the break she deserves ?

10. North By Northwest (1959, Alfred Hitchcock, 131 minutes)

Of course, any list of best classic movies would be incomplete without at least one movie by the legendary director Alfred Hitchcock. I have watched and loved almost every one of his movies but none surpasses the perfectness of this 1959 thriller about a New York advertising executive who is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive and figure out the mystery. North By Northwest never lets you leave your seat even when you are dying to answer nature's call. I watched this movie twice. Both of the times, it reminded me what a perfect movie should be like and how it takes a legend to make a movie this unforgettable.A feast for a spy-thriller lovers like me!

Some honorable mentions (Movies I would have surely included had I not been concerned about the length of the post and had I had enough time) :

1. On The Waterfront (1954)
2. All About Eve (1950)
3. Nights of Cabiria (1957)
4. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
5. It Happened One Night (1934)
6. Double Indemnity (1944)
7. All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)
8. M (1931)
9. Brief Encounter (1945)
10. It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

So what do you think about this list? What are your favorite classic movies?

अफ्रिका किन गरीब भयो ? भाग ---३

2011-08-05T16:54:00.001+05:30

भाग १ यहाँ छ:
http://www.surathgiri.com/2011/07/blog-post_30.html

भाग २ यहाँ छ:
http://www.surathgiri.com/2011/08/blog-post.html

Source: http://www.wcr10.co.uk/

...उक्त समयमा अफ्रीकाको संस्थागत विकासको गति ज्यादै फरक थियो । ईथोपिया एक्लो र स्थिर थियो भने अन्यत्र सम्पत्तीको अधिकार को असुरक्षा र दासको व्यापार ज्यादै चर्किएको थियो जस कारणले राजनैतिक बिकासको बाटो अवरुद्ध भयो र कन्गो जस्ता राज्यहरु जो लगानी नभईकन दासप्रथामा निर्भर थिए को उत्पत्ती हुन गयो । अफ्रीकामा सुरु हुदैं गएको आर्थिक पछौटेपनले यसलाई उपनिवेशको खतरामा पार्न थाल्यो जसले गर्दा एक किसिमको अधिनायकवाद अर्को किसिममा परिणत हुँदै गयो । पछि सम्पत्तीको अधिकार सापेक्ष अवस्थाको सिर्जना गर्यो । यसको उपर्युक्त उदाहरण सिएरा लिओन हो जसको बेलायती उपनिबेशको रुपमा भएको अस्तित्व भनेको महत्वहिन अस्तित्व थियो । १९६१ मा स्वतन्त्रताको ६ वर्ष पछि सिएरा लिओन साईका स्टिभेनको अधिनमा पुग्यो जस्ले रेलको विस्तार देशको दक्षिण भाग तर्फ गरे र आफ्नो बिरोधी बढी भएको मेडल्याण्ड क्षेत्र लाई एक्ल्याउन अरु ट्र्याक र रेल्गाडी चै बिक्री गरिदिए । त्यसले गर्दा भएका सडकहरु भात्किदै गए बिद्यालयहरु पनि टुकृए । राष्ट्रीय टेलिभिजनले आफ्नो प्रशारण सन् १९८७ मा रोक्यो ।

द सिएरा लिओन प्रड्युस मार्केटिङ बोर्डु ले खेती योग्य जमिन जफत गर्न थाल्यो । जब केन्द्रिय बैंकका गभर्नरले आर्थिक अनियमितताको बारेमा १९८० मा उजुर गरे उनलाई केन्द्रिय बैंकको कार्यालयको छतबाट खसालेर हत्या गरियो ।स्टिभेन र उनका उत्तराधिकारी जोसेफ मोमोहले एकाधिकारको सुरु गरे सम्पत्तीको जफत गरे अनि हिराको खजाना लुटे । १९९१ मा यस्तो शाषन सत्ता पतन भयो र गृहयुद्धको शुरुवात भयो । आज सिएरा लिओनको धेरै भाग १४९ प्रमुखहरुले संचालन गर्दछन् जो शाषक घराना बाट आजिवनका लागि निर्वाचित हुन्छन् । जनताको यस्तो प्रमुख र शाषक घराना सँग सम्बन्ध हुंदैन र जनताको सम्पत्ती चाँडै कब्जा हुन पुग्छ ।सिएरा लिओनको प्रति व्यक्ति आय ५० वर्ष अघीको भन्दा धेरै कम छ र संसारको अरु देशको तुलनामा धेरै कम बाँच्नॆ उमेर भएका नागरिक बसोवास गर्दछन् ।

सब-साहारन अफ्रीकाको गरिबी लामो समय देखि देखा परिरहेको छ । तर यसको उत्पत्ति र निरन्तरतामा भुगोलको कुनै दोष छैन ।

Saika Stevens

धेरै अफ्रीकीहरु आफ्नो स्थीति परिवर्तनका लागि सङर्घषरत छन सम्पन्न बनी लामो फलदायी जिवन बाँच्ने उनीहरुको सपना छ । यही सपना पछयाउदै उनीहरु ज्यान जोखिममा राखेर युरोप प्रवेश गरि आफ्नो र आफ्नो परिवारको सुनिश्चित भविष्यका लागि सङर्घषरत छन । हामीले उनीहरुलाई सहयोग गर्ने कि नगर्ने ,यदि गर्ने हो भने कसरी? मेरो विचारमा धेरै कारणहरुले उनीहरुलाई हामीले सहयोग गनुपर्छ । सर्वप्रथम हामीले नजानिकन गर्ने धेरै कार्यले अफ्रीकालाई असर पुर्याएको हुन्छ त्यसैले पनि हामी त्यसमा संलग्न भइरहेको हुन्छौ । त्यसका साथै अफ्रीकामा रहेको गरिबीका कारणले उबजिएको असन्तोक तथा गलत मसिहाहरु जस्तै ओसामा बिन लादेनले संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिकालाई प्रभाव पार्ने हुँदा त्यस क्षेत्रको दुःखले हामीलाई धेरै चिन्तित बनाउनुका साथै हाम्रो नैतिक जिम्मेवारी माथि पनि प्रश्न उठेको छ ।

हामी यस विषयमा के गर्न सक्छौ त ?

सर्वप्रथम वैदेशिक सहायता बारेमा स्पष्ट हुनु आवश्यक छ वैदेशिक सहायता समस्याको समाधान पनि होइन न त यो कारण पनि हो । १९७० र १९८० को दशकमा जब स्टिभेनले सिरिया लिनोनलाई दुगर्ति तर्फ धकेलिरहेका थिए त्यसबेला सिरिया लिनोनले वैदेशिक सहायता पाएको थियो । यसता सहायताहरु विशेषगरि भ्रस्ट राजनितिज्ञले छायाँमा पार्ने कार्य गछर्न । वैदेशिक सहायताले यसता भ्रस्ट राजनितिज्ञहरुलाई श्रोत साधनको दुरुपयोग गर्न मद्दत पुर्याउँछ । अफ्रीकाको आर्थिक समस्याको मुल जड वैदेशिक सहायता आउनु भन्दा धेरै पहिलेको हो ।

सब-साहारन अफ्रीकन समाजलाई आर्थिक तवरले सहि मार्गमा ल्याउन तीन मुख्य कुरा आवश्यक छ ।

सर्वप्रथम सब-साहारन अफ्रीकीहरुलाई अझ बढी आर्थिक अवसर दिइनुपर्छ त्यसको मतलब उनीहरु माथि पैसा खनाउनु मात्र होइन । अफ्रीकीहरुलाई आर्थिक अवसर दिनु भन्नाले अफ्रीकाको निर्यात तथा कारोबारलाई विश्वको लागि खुला पार्नु हो । सत्रौ शताब्दिमा बेलायती कारोबारले यस्ता व्यक्ति विशेषलाई बलियो र विकासशिल बनाउने गरेको थियो जसले अन्ततः राजनिति र साम्पत्ति अधिकार परिवर्तन गरेका थिए । यो सम्भवत अफ्रीकामा पनि हुन सक्छ ।

दोस्रो अर्थशास्त्रले परराष्ट्र नितीमा ठूलो भूमिका खेल्नु पर्छ । अफ्रीका केन्द्रीत परराष्ट्र निती आर्थिक विकासमा केन्दित नभई अल्पकालिन राजनितीले डोरयाएको देखिन्छ । अफ्रीकाको समृद्धीलाई प्रोत्साहन दिनु असल दिर्घकालिन परराष्ट्र निती हो ।

अन्तमा विकासको सहायताले समाजको राजनितिक परिघटनाहरु परिवर्तन गर्न सहयोग गर्नुपर्छ । मेरो यस भनाईको मतलब प्रजातन्त्र लादनु भन्ने होइन । तर पनि नयाँ प्रजातन्त्रलाई सहि ढङ्गले संचालन गर्ने हो भने यो राम्रो कुरा हुन सक्छ । ऐतिहासिक प्रमाणले के दर्शाउछ भने समाजमा शक्तिहरु सन्तुलित भएमा राम्रो राजनितिक र आर्थिक सस्थांहरु उब्जिन्छन । यस लक्ष्य प्राप्तीका लागि हामीले नागरिक समाजको सहायताका साथै संचार माध्यमको प्रर्वधन गर्न आवश्यक छ ।अफ्रीकाको लागी कागजमा सिमित रहने व्यवस्था भन्दा यि राणानितीहरु बढी उपायोगी हुन्छन ।

समाप्त

लेखक : जेम्स रबिन्सन
अनुवाद : सुरथ गिरी

"When you see corruption being rewarded...

2011-08-05T00:53:00.000+05:30

Just read this news! An Ecuadorian newspaper when penalized by the court for publishing an opinion article criticizing President Rafael Correa, has retaliated beautifully by running an almost empty front page full of white space except for an Ayn Rand quote at the bottom of the page. The quote reads:

Source: www.cato.org
"When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion–when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing–when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors–when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you–when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed."

The newspaper's directors and its former opinion editor have been sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay $30 million for an opinion article about President Rafael Correa. The newspaper has been ordered to pay $10 million.

Doesn't the quote sound as if it was said after observing the current scenario of Nepalese society? Corruption is not only rewarded but rejoiced. Being honest isn't only a tough job but also an unrewarding one. Criminals receive far better protection than normal citizens. Politicians are setting new records of lowliness and dishonesty. In order to establish an enterprise a producer/entrepreneur has to get consents from people who have never produced any wealth and getting that consent is costly in terms of money, time and self-esteem. Committing a crime is easier and more profitable than running a business. To quote Ujwal Thapa, an entrepreneur and activist, "जुन समाजमा घुस खानेलाई कमाएको भनिन्छ तर नाफा कमाउने उद्दमीलाई लुटेको भनिन्छ !" (Rough translation: A society where bribes are termed income but entrepreneur's profit is termed as loot!). The laws protects the government and criminals from us rather than protecting us from them. Alas, our society is headed towards doom for sure!

We better wake up to our rights and senses soon or be prepared for living in a doomed society!

Whistling in silence

2011-08-04T23:40:00.000+05:30

No, I didn’t hear
The approaching footsteps
I was listening to the rain
And controlling my rage
But I felt a wave pass through my heart
Was that you?

No, I didn’t see
The imminent death
I was dancing to the lights
And kissing the abyss
But I tasted
The bittersweet taste of existence
Did you?

No, I didn’t feel
The pain of the inflicted
I was sympathizing the inflicter
And cursing the hatred
But I smelt
The freshness of wounds
Did you?

No, I didn’t smell
The sweet fragrance of grace
I was whistling in silence
And pleading to a stone
But I heard
Repressed sobs in the distance
Was that you?

-Surath Giri

अफ्रिका किन गरीब भयो ? भाग ---२

2011-08-02T22:53:00.002+05:30

भाग १ यहाँ छ:

http://www.surathgiri.com/2011/07/blog-post_30.html

...यसरी पेटेन्ट कानूनको स्थापना जसले अन्तत बौद्धिक सम्पत्ती अधिकारको संरक्षण गर्‍यो, सदन र राजाबीचको संघर्ष र सदनद्धारा राजाको शक्तिमा अन्कुश लगाउन गरेको प्रयासको उपज थियो ।

Medieval London illustrated by Larry Dowell

सन् १६४० को दशकको गृहयुद्ध देखि सन् १६८८ को गौरवशाली क्रान्तिसम्मका राजनैतिक सङ्घर्षहरुले बेलायतबाट निरङ्कुश राजनैतिक शासनलाई हटाउने काम गरे । जबकि कङ्गो र इथियोपियामा भने निरङ्कुश राजनैतिक शासनले अझसम्म पनि असुरक्षित सम्पत्ति अधिकारहरुलाई निम्त्याइरहेको छ । हामी देख्न सक्छौ चौधौं शताब्दीमा दासप्रथा अन्त्य भएदेखि बेलायतमा राजनैतिक परिवर्तन शुरु भएको हो । सन् १३४० को दशकको महामारी पश्चात बेलायतको राज्यले श्रमिक ऐन पास गरेको थियो ताकि ज्यालामा भइरहेको वृद्धि रोक्न सकियोस । उक्त ऐनको विरोधमा शुरु भएको बिद्रोहले राजालाई उक्त ऐन खारेज गर्न बाध्य तुल्यायो जुन उनको उक्त कानून लाद्न सक्ने क्षमताको कमीको प्रमाण हो।

बेलायतको त्यसपछिको राजनीतिको वक्ररेखा नितान्त भिन्न किसिमको थियो र यसले सम्पत्ति अधिकार र समृद्धिमा ठूलो प्रभाव पार्यो। काङगो र इथियोपियाका राजाहरुले पनि आन्तरिक प्रतिद्धन्दीको सामना गर्नुपरेको थियो तर तिनका प्रतिद्धन्दीहरु पराजित भए । यदि उनीहरु विजयी भएका भए पनि उनीहरु आफैं पनि निरङ्कुश राजा हुने सम्भावना ज्यादा थियो । बेलायती अनुभवको भिन्नता नै के हो भने निरङ्कुशताको ठाउँमा अर्को निरङ्कुशता आउनबाट पनि वन्चित भयो ।

बेलायतमा भएको निरङ्कुशताको पराजय र सदनको उदयलाई के ले व्याख्या गर्छ त सदनको उदयले किन आर्थिक व्यवस्थामा परिवर्तन ल्यायो यसको उत्तर यो हो कि बेलायती त्यस्ता थुप्रै झट्काहरुबाट गुज्रेको छ जसले सुरक्षित सम्पत्ति अधिकार चाहनेहरुको संख्यामा वृद्धि मात्र गरेन बल्कि उनीहरुलाई सशक्त पनि बनायो ।

कालो मृत्यु महामारी को झट्का भन्दा पनि बढी महत्वपूर्ण त हेन्री आठोंले १५३६ मा गिर्जाघरहरु खारेज गर्नाले भएको भूमिको पूर्नवितरण, नयाँ विश्वको आविष्कारले ल्याएका वृहत आर्थिका अवसरहरु र १४९२ पछिको अन्तर-सागरीय व्यापारको विस्तार थिए । "व्हिगहरु", जसले निरङ्कुशताका विरुद्ध सङ्घर्ष गरे र सन् १६८८ मा हासिल गरे राज्यको नीति तथा व्यवस्थालाई आफ्ना आर्थिक हितलाई पाएक पार्ने गरि परिवर्तन गरे । तर उनीहरुको गठबन्धन यति ठूलो थियो कि उनीहरुले चाहेको कुराले सम्पूर्ण समाजलाई नै फाइदा पुर्यायो निरङ्कुशतामा नगइकन । जनताको खर्चमा राजालाई विशेष सुविधा दिने, राजासँग नजिक रहेका साभ्रान्त वर्गलाई फाइदाजन्य व्यापारहरुको एकाधिकार दिने जस्ता व्यवस्थाहरुलाई खारेज गरियो र तिनका ठाउँमा समाजको ठूलो हिस्सालाई बचत लगानी र आविष्कार गर्न प्रेरित गर्ने खालका व्यवस्थाहरु स्थापना गरियो ।

सन् १६८८ को गौरवशाली क्रान्ति र राजतन्त्र माथि आधुनिक संसदीय प्रजातन्त्रको विकासको एक शताब्दी भित्रै बेलायतको औद्योगिक क्रान्ति हुनु संयोगको कुरा होइन । महान आविष्कारकहरु जस्तै रिचार्ड टेभिथिक जसले पहिलो रेलगाडी बनाए, जेम्स वाट जसले वाष्प इन्जिन पत्ता लगाए, रिचार्ड अर्कराइट जसले धागो बुन्ने यन्त्रमा जलशक्तिको प्रयोग गरे र इसम्बार्ड किङ्डम ब्रुनेल जसले आफ्ना डिजाइन मार्फत सार्वजनिक यातायातको क्षेत्रमा क्रान्ति ल्याए, सबै जना आफ्नो सम्पत्ती अधिकारको सम्मान हुनेछ भन्ने कुरामा ढुक्क भएर आफ्ना आविस्कारले ल्याएको आर्थीक अवसरहरुको फाइदा लिन सफल भएका थिए ।

बेलायतमा भएको राजनैतिक परिवर्तन जसले गर्दा सम्पत्ती माथिको अधिकारको सुनिश्चीतता र आर्थिक अवसरहरुको सिर्जना द्वन्द र एकतन्त्रको हारको परिणाम थियो । यसैगरी यो घटना संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिकामा पनि लागु हुन्छ ;जहाँ राम्रा बेलायती संस्थाहरु जेम्स्टाउन कोलनीमा स्थापना गरिएको थिएन । यसको एक कारणमा बेलायती संस्थाहरु १६०७ मा पूर्ण रुपमा स्थापना भैसकेका थिएनन् । यसको अर्को कारणमा त्यहाँ बसाई सरेर जाने मानिसहरुले सोचेको उपनिवेशको नमूना स्पेनी योद्धाहरु हेर्नान कोर्टेस र प्रुान्सीस्को पिजारो बाट उत्प्रेरित भएको थियो जसको आशय शाषकलाई कब्जा गरेर आदिवाशीलाई शाषन गर्नु थियो । तर यस्ता रणनितीहरु उपनिवेशमा युक्तिसंगत भएनन् ; १६१९ सम्ममा भर्जिनिया कम्पनीले आदिवाशी जनता र नवस्थापित आगन्तुकलाई शाषन गर्न नसकेर साधारण सभाको स्थापना गर्यो जुन पुरुषहरुको सर्वव्यापी मतदानबाट गरिन्थ्यो ।

जब बेलायती उत्तर अमेरिका बिकशित भयो बेलायती विशिष्ठ अधिकारीहरुले धेरै हदसम्मको राजनैतिक र आर्थिक अधिकारमाथीको हस्तक्षेप गरेर शामन्ती समाजको रचना गर्न थाले । सबै प्रयासहरुमा भर्जिनियामा जस्तै यो नमूना असफल रह्यो किनभने बेलायतमा नै सुरक्षित सम्पत्ती माथीको अधिकार र अधिकतम फैलिएको आर्थिक अवसरहरुमा बिश्वास गर्ने मानिस प्रभावशाली रहे ।

नयाँ बिश्वमा जहाँ जमिन अत्याधिक थियो र श्रमको अवसर न्यून थियो मानिसहरुको जमातहरु शक्तिशाली थिए किनभने उनिहरु आर्थिक अवसरहरुको लागि उच्च वर्गका व्यक्तिहरुसँग निर्भर रहँदैनथिए। यसको विपरीत उच्च वर्गका शाषक हरु जनतामा निर्भर रहनु पर्ने अवस्था थियो । यसका यस्ता शुरुवाती द्वन्दहरुले वृहत्तर राजनैतिक र सम्पत्तीको अधिकार सहितको अमेरिकी संबिधान र समाजको निर्माण भयो जहाँ त्यस समयमा आर्थिक अवसरहरु विश्वका कुनैपनि अरु स्थानमा भन्दा धेरै थिए । जसकारणले गर्दा संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिकाको आर्थिक सफलता १९ औं र २० औं शताब्दीकै उच्च रहन सम्भव भयो ।

क्रमश्:

लेखक : जेम्स रबिन्सन
अनुवाद : सुरथ गिरी

भाग ३ यहाँ छ:
http://www.surathgiri.com/2011/08/blog-post_05.html

Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations: A review

2011-08-01T23:32:00.002+05:30

After reading Francis Fukuyama's “The end of history and the last man” , I went through a couple of reviews before posting my own review. Almost every review had a mentioning of Samuel P. Huntington's “The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order” which enticed me to seek the book and read it. I found “Clash of the civilizations” a brilliant and insightful read. These two books are said to have had a huge impact in shaping up USA's foreign policy after the collapse of USSR in 1991.

Unlike Fukuyama, Huntington doesn't find the post-cold war world unifying into a single type of government system- liberal democracy and finally achieving lost lasting peace. Instead he sees the post cold war world as a chaotic world where the conflict between ideologies and economic systems have been replaced by more vicious and dangerous conflicts between civilizations. According to Huntington, the West rather than rejoicing its victory over communism should start preparing itself for a more complicated world order where at least 7 superpowers based on different civilizations will exist and will continuously be conflicting with each other although not necessarily militarily. Rather than trying to impose Western lifestyle and Western style of governments on the rest of the world, the West should realize that the Judeo Christian values, liberalism as form of governance and capitalism as economic system are purely western products and hence are far from being universally applicable around the world. In his 1992 article on which the book is based ,Huntington wrote:

It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.

The post-cold war world will have more than 7 major civilizations namely Western Civilization which encompasses North America and Europe and is led by United States of America, Orthodox Civilization which encompasses the world of the former Soviet Union (excluding the Baltic states, most of Central Asia and Azerbaijan), the former Yugoslavia (excluding Slovenia and Croatia), Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, and Romania and is led by Russia, Sinic civilization which encompasses East Asian countries and is led by China, Hindu Civilization which encompasses some countries of South Asia and is led by India, Japanese civilization with Japan as the only member state, Muslim civilization which encompasses all the Muslim dominated countries around the world and doesn't have a clear leader yet, African civilization which encompasses all the sub-Saharan African countries and will most likely be led by South Africa and Latin American civilization which has a possibility of merging into Western Civilization. With these civilizations conflicting with each other in culture, tradition, social values and religion, the world will be a complex system with a delicate balance of powers. The civilizational conflicts are "particularly prevalent between Muslims and non-Muslims", in the "bloody borders" between Islamic and non-Islamic civilizations. The problems of future world will mostly derive from "West's arrogance, Islam's intolerance and Asia's assertiveness", says Mr. Huntington.

Although in the initial pages I was quite skeptic about Huntington's thesis of the clash of the civilizations, towards the end of the book I was fairly convinced with his ideas. Yep, it looks likely that the future world will be characterized by the inter-civilizational conflicts. However, I disagree with the author on the extent of such conflicts. I don't quite subscribe to the author's version of a more chaotic and always-on-a-brink-of-a-war world. However, my most severe disagreements with the author is that I don't believe liberalism, free market capitalism, rule of law are entirely western concepts. The way Huntington has presented these ideas as alien to every other society except the Western societies seriously undermines the universal appeal and applicability of liberal ideas. The concepts of free market capitalism, rule of law, parliamentary democracy may be somewhat hard for non western societies to grasp but if historical trends are any guide to us then, we can be fairly sure that eventually these concepts will be integrated to all societies around the world. Muslm societies may be the last ones to fully accommodate liberal values but they can't be forever immune.

Huntington thesis fails to account for the fact that the trend of economic freedom (free market capitalism) is spreading all over the world although with varying paces. It is a folly on authors part to believe liberal values are not native to other societies. Hindu societies, at least Nepalese society has remained pretty much liberal in terms of social issues and in most part so is Indian society. Besides, these concepts are relative , you can't either have liberalism or non-liberalism. There are degrees of liberalism. Asian societies under the Sinic civilization may have less degree of liberalism prevalent but if one notices the trend towards which they are moving one can be sure of the universal appeal of liberalism. The current trend of Western societies moving away from free market capitalism (especially the USA) and Asian societies (namely India , South Korea and China) moving towards more free market economy repudiates his hypothesis that free market economy is purely a western concept and is unlikely to be adopted by non-western societies.

Although Huntington's seminal work helps us to have a clearer and deeper understanding of post cold-war world and in many ways may guide the global leaders of powerful countries to shape up the future, it makes too many naïve and premature assumptions especially with the concepts of liberalism, parliamentary democracy, free market capitalism with regards to non-western societies and hence fails to capture the true essence of the dynamics of the rapidly growing societies of non-western world. But overall, a very highly recommended reading from my side. Anyone wishing to get a better understanding of world affairs and relations between countries in today's world must read the book!

-Surath Giri

Book: The Clash of Civilizations (1996)
Author: Samuel P. Huntington
Length: 367 pp.

In Nepal, available in : American Library, Maharajgunj

अफ्रिका किन गरीब भयो ? भाग ---१

2011-07-30T21:15:00.001+05:30

Photo taken from the web

वर्तमान विश्वको एउटा प्रमूख जल्दोबल्दो बौद्धिक तथा नीतिगत मुद्दा भनेको सबसहारन अफ्रिकाको गरिबी हो । जसले बिल गेट्स जस्ता व्यापारी देखि लिएर म्याडोना र एन्जेलिना जोली जस्ता चलचित्रकर्मी देखि लिएर बोनो तथा बब गेडल्फ जस्ता संगीतकारहरु समेतको ध्यान खिचिरहेको छ । विश्व बैङ्कले गरिबी मापन गर्दा दिनको एक अमेरिकी डलर भन्दा कम आम्दानी गर्ने व्यक्तिहरुलार्ए गरिबीको सूचीमा राख्दछ । यसरी हेर्दा ती व्यक्तिहरुमध्येका अधिकांश झण्डै ३५ करोड व्यक्तिहरु सबसहारान अफ्रिकामा बसोबास गर्दछन् । अझ मूख्यतः अफ्रिका मात्रै विश्वको त्यो भूभाग हो जहाँ निरपेक्ष गरिबीको मात्रा बढिरहेको छ । सन् २०१५ सम्ममा संयुक्त राष्ट संघको सहस्राब्दी विकास लक्ष्यलाई दीइएको महत्वका बाबजुद अफ्रिकाको गरिब मानिसहरुको संख्या ४० करोड नाघ्ने अनुमान छ ।

अफ्रिकामा आज किन यति धेरै गरिबहरु छन् ? के अफ्रिका संधै यस्तै थियो ? यस विषयमा फरक फरक मतहरु पाइन्छ । केहीले अफ्रिकाको गरिबीको जड यस महादेशको भूगोल तथा पर्यावरनलाई मान्दछन् ।

अरुलाई भन्छन् अफ्रिकाको संस्कृति परम्परा नै यस्तो छ कि यहाँ पूँजीवाद फस्टाउनै पाउँदैन त्यसैले गरिबी छ। म यस लेखमा अफ्रिका ऐतिहासिक रुपमा गरिब हुनु र आजसम्म पनि गरिब रहिरहनुमा सम्पत्ति अधिकारको प्रमुख भूमिका रहेको छ भनेर तर्क गरिरहेको छु । छोटकरीमा अफ्रिकन देशहरुमा ती समान प्रकारका सम्पत्ति अधिकारहरु छैनन् जसले पश्चिमी यूरोप वा उत्तरी अमेरिकाको आर्थिक उन्नतिमा ठूलो भूमिका खेले र उनीहरुसंग भएका सम्पत्ति अधिकार पनि असुरक्षित छन् ।

अफ्रिकामा सम्पत्ति अधिकारको अभाव वा भएको स्वरुप नै यसको गरिबीको मूख्य स्रोत हो । यो खुसीको समाचार पनि हो र दुःखको समाचार पनि । खुसीको समाचार के हो भने अपि्रुका भाग्यमै गरिबी लेखिएको छैन यसका सम्पत्ति अधिकारको व्यवस्था सुधार्ने हो भने अफ्रिकाको आर्थिक वृद्धी हुनेछ र यहाँका नागरिकहरुको जीवनस्तर सुध्रिने छ । दुःखको समाचार चाहिँ के हो भने सम्पत्ति अधिकार सुधार्नका लागि कुनै एउटा अचूक उपाय छैन । उदाहरणका लागि अफ्रिकामा विदेशी अनुदान थुर्पानाले त्यहाँको पीडा त केही हदसम्म कम होला तर त्यसले त्यहाँको व्यवस्था सुधार्ने सम्भावना अत्यन्त न्युन छ ।

अफ्रिकाको गरिबीमा सम्पत्ति अधिकारको भूमिका खोतल्दा हामीले यसको इतिहासको अध्यायनबाट शुरु गर्नु जरुरी हुन्छ । हामीलाई थाहा छ बेलायतमा २३० वर्ष अघि औद्योगिक क्रान्ति शुरु हुनुभन्दा पहिले देशहरुको सम्रिद्धीको स्तरमा भिन्नता अहिलेको भन्दा निकै कममात्र थियो । आज एउटा अमेरिकन नागरिकको औसत कमाई इथियोपिया वा सियरालियोनको नागरिकको औसत कमाईभन्दा ४० गुणले बढी छ जबकी सन् १७५०मा यो भिन्नता दुई वा तीन गुणले मात्र बढी थियो । सन् १७५० र सन् २००९ को बीचमा संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिकाले तीव्र आर्थिक वृद्धी हासिल गर्‍यो तर अफ्रिकी देशहरुले गरेनन् । सन् १७५०मै पनि विभिन्न समाजहरुबीच संरचनागत भिन्नताहरु थिए । हुनत हामीलाई थाहा छैन ति भिन्नताहरु कहिले उत्पन्न भए तर हामी इतिहासका केही पानाहरु पल्टाउन सक्छौं ।

उदाहरणका लागि सन् ५०० मा अक्सम अधिराज्य उत्तरी इथियोपियामा फस्टाइरहेको थियो । यसको आफ्नै लिखित भाषा र आफ्नै मुदा थियो र हलोमा आधारित विविधिकृत कृषिजन्य अर्थतन्त्र पनि । त्यस अधिराज्यले पर्सियाको खाडी अरेबियन प्राय:द्वीप र पूर्वी मेडिटेरानियन, भारत र श्रीलंकासंग समेत व्यापार गर्ने गर्दथ्यो । रोमन सम्राट कन्सटेनटीन सन्र ३१२ मा ईसाइ धर्ममा परिगत भएका थिए भने अक्समका राजा सन् ३३३ मा केबल २१ वर्ष पश्चात ।

तथापि प्रविधि र राजनैतिक व्यवस्थाको विकासक्रममा अफ्रिकाको वक्र रेखा पश्चिमी यूरोपको भन्दा निकै भिन्न छ । इथियोपिया भन्दा बाहिर नत हलो नत चक्का नै प्रयोग भयो सब सहारान अफ्रिकामा । अक्सम र मालीका ठूला सहरी केन्द्रहरु अपवाद मात्र ठहरिएका छन् । यी दुई समाजका राजनैतिक व्यवस्थालाई तानाशाही भनेर वर्णन गर्न मिल्छ । यिनीहरु राजाद्वरा शासित थिए जसको शक्तिमाथि कुनै अंकुश थिएन ।

तानाशाही व्यवस्थाले खडा गर्ने आर्थिक समस्याहरुको एउटा राम्रो उदाहरण कङ्गो अधिराज्यको जुन अहिले कङ्गो प्रजातान्त्रिक गणतन्त्रको रुपमा छ इतिहास हो । कङ्रगोको राजधानी म्वान्जा सन्र १४८३ मा पोर्तुगाली अन्वेषक डिएगो चाओले भ्रमण गर्दा करिब ६० हजार थियो जुन त्यसबेलाको लिस्बनको आकार समान र लण्डनको भन्दा ठूलो हो ।सन् १५०० मा लण्डनको जनसंख्या करिब ५० हजार मात्र थियो ।

कंगाली जनताले पोर्चुगालीहरुसंग हलो र चक्का पाङ्ग्रा को बारेमा सिके जब पोर्चुगालीहरुले सन् १४९१ र १५१२ मा सुधारिएका कृषिजन्य अभ्यास प्रेरित गर्नका लागि दुतहरु पठाए । तर पनि बिसौं शताब्दीको शुरुवातसम्म पनि त्यहाँ हलो र पाङ्ग्रा दुवैको प्रयोग नगन्य मात्रामा मात्र हुन्थ्यो । त्यसबेलाको समाज कसरी संगठित थियो भन्ने बारे प्राप्त प्रमाणहरु बाट थाहा पाउन सकिन्छ । कङ्गो एउटा राजा र घरानीया वर्गबाट शासित थियो जसको सम्पत्ति दासहरुद्वरा सन्चालित बगानहरुबाट र कर संकलनबाट हुन्थ्यो । शामन्तहरुले दासप्रथाको अभ्यास आफ्नो बगानहरुमा श्रमशक्ति जुटाउनका लागि र युरोपेलीहरुलाई बेच्नका गर्दथे र दासप्रथा अर्थतन्त्रको केन्द्रविन्दु सरह थियो । कर प्रणाली मनोमानी ढङ्गको थियो र जब जब राजाको टोपी खस्थ्यो तबतब उठाइन्थ्यो ।

समृद्ध हुनका लागि कंगाली जनताहरुले बचत गर्न र लगानी गर्न पर्थ्यो ;जस्तै हलोमा । तर त्यसो गर्नु लाभकर थिएन किनकी उनीहरुले उत्पादन गरेको अतिरिक्त सामान राजा र उसका भारदारहरुले लिएर जान्थे । प्रायः मानिसहरुको सम्पत्ति अधिकार पनि अत्यन्तै असुरक्षित थियो लुटपाटबाट बच्नकै लागि धेरैले आफ्ना गाउँहरु सडकभन्दा टाढा सार्ने गर्दथे ।

अक्सम र यसको उत्तराधिकारी इथियोपिया सन् ५०० मा समकालीन युरोपेली समाज भन्दा खासै भिन्न देखिदनथ्यो होला र युरोपकै समयतिर सामन्तवाद पनि उत्पन्न भएको थियो । तर यस विन्दु पश्चात भने अफ्रिका र युरोपका सम्पत्ति अधिकारको व्यवस्थामा ठूलो भिन्नता देखापर्न थाल्यो । युरोपमा सन् १४०० आइपुग्दासम्म आन्तरिक दासप्रथा हराइसकेको थियो र यसै समयताका सामन्तावादका धरोहरहरु पनि धरासायी हुन थालेका थिए । इथियोपियामा भने यी प्रथाहरु बिसौं शताब्दीको मध्य सम्ममा पनि कायमै थिए ।

अठारौं शताब्दीका बेलायती इतिहासकार एडवर्ड गिब्बनले भनेझै इथियोपियालीहरु "झण्डै एक हजार वर्षका लागि निदाए"। तर बेलायतमा भने फरक किसिमका घटनाहरु घटिरहेका थिए । सम्पत्ति अधिकार र श्रम बजारको व्यवस्थामा मात्र नभएर वैचारिक सम्पत्ति अधिकारमा र मानिसहरुको भूमिसम्मको पहूँमा पनि परिवर्तन आयो । सन् १६२३ को एकाधिकार सम्बन्धी ऐनले विश्वको पहिलो पेटेन्ट सम्बन्धी कानूनलाई जन्म दियो दासप्रथा उन्मुलन हुँदै गयो र भूमि निजी सम्पत्तिको अधिकार विकसित हुँदै गयो । यी व्यवस्थाहरु विस्तारै अन्य युरोपेली उपनिवेशहरु संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिकासमेतमा फैलिदै गए र बेलायतको अर्थतन्त्रमा ठूलो भूमिका खेले ।

यो कुरा किन बेलायतमा भयो तर कङगो वा इथियोपियामा भएन रोचक त के छ भने एकाधिकार ऐन पेन्टेट सम्बन्धि कानून बनाउनका लागि नभएर राजालाई मनोमानी रुपमा पत्र मार्फत पेटेन्ट दिनबाट रोक्नका लागि ल्याइएको थियो।

क्रमश्:

लेखक : जेम्स रबिन्सन
अनुवाद : सुरथ गिरी

भाग २ यहाँ छ:
http://www.surathgiri.com/2011/08/blog-post.html

So, when are you coming to Google+??

2011-07-17T00:53:00.001+05:30

It looks like the relentless pursuit of Google to have a place on the emerging center of the web universe-social networking- is finally going to pay off. Its latest venture Google+ which stands upon the graves of its failed predecessors like Google Wave, Google Buzz, Orkut is really making headlines as millions of netizens are clamoring for invitations to join it.It might be too early to predict but the search giant may as well shed any of the doubts it has for the fate of its latest venture. Released about 3 weeks ago, Google+ has already been reported to have more than 10 million users which is the fastest growth of a social networking site in history. It is an impressive number even for a giant like Google given the miserable failure of its previous attempts. Besides, not only is Google+ is exploding but is also garnering mostly positive and considerably enthusiastic responses from users and experts alike.

Fearing a shameful failure as its predecessors Google has so far tried not to present Google+ as its competing product to Facebook and instead is promoting it as an extension to Google itself , that's why Google+ but it's an open secret that an unrivaled Facebook is going to seriously undermine Google's establishment on the web and Google is well aware of its need to have a stake on the future of the web. And Google+ is Google's latest card for Facebook. Facebook with its extremely formidable base of 750 million users may not have to run for cover this early but its recent decisions to ban Google+ ads in its website signals panic. The feathers of its cozy comfort zone are being ruffled for sure.

Having used Google+ for more than two weeks now, I must say it's pretty impressive with its clean user interface, innovative features like circles and sparks. Circles let you categorize and disseminate the information you produce among different circles of friends and acquaintances separately which is a relief when compared to "for everyone" style of Facebook that requires a lot of effort and discretion on part of users to decide what to share on Facebook and what not to share! Similarly, I found the Sparks feature quite engaging. Sparks keeps you updated with the latest news and events of the hobbies and interests you choose at the beginning. Another brilliant feature of Google+ I found is the way notifications appear. When you click a notification, the related item(photo/note/comment) is shown at the notification box itself. You don't have to load a new page to see what the notification is about. Another supposedly cool feature of Google+ which I haven't tried yet is Hangout. It's supposed to be the online version of 'hanging out with friends'. I am yet to use it but have heard it's the coolest feature of Google+.

Despite all this euphoria and my loyalty to Google, however, I think I'll stick with Facebook mostly for a while as it still is the best place to hangout online. And until a significant number of my friends come to Google+, there is nothing to do over there. So, when are you coming to Google+??

हात्ती बचाउने कसरी ? -- शिकार गरेर ! --भाग २

2011-07-12T00:20:00.002+05:30

भाग १ को लागि यहाँ क्लिक गर्नुहोला ।

Source: www.globaleye.org.uk

केन्याको विपरित जिम्बाब्वेमा के भयो एकपटक हेरौं । सन् १९८९ मा केही परिणाममूखी संस्थाहरु जस्तै विश्व वन्यजन्तु कोषले CAMPFIRE भन्ने कार्यक्रम लागु गर्न सहयोग गरे । यस प्रकारका कार्यक्रममा प्राकृतिक स्रोत व्यस्थापन गर्ने, त्यसबाट फाइदा लिने वा बेच्ने अधिकार र साथसाथै सफारी शिकारको अधिकार पनि स्थानिय तहलाई दिने प्रयास गरिन्छ । वन्यजन्तु र तिनको बासस्थानका बारेमा स्थानीय ज्ञान भएका समुदायका नेताहरुको मद्दत शिकारको कोटा निर्धारण गरिन्छ । उक्त शिकारबाट भएको आम्दानी समुदायका सदस्यहरुलाई रोजगारी दिन बाली तथा सम्पत्तिमा पुग्न गएको क्षतिको क्षतिपूर्ति दिन विद्यालय स्वास्थ चौकी तथा ईनारहरु बनाउन प्रयोग गरिन्छ र शिकारबाट आएको मासु पनि गाउँलेहरुबीच बाडिँन्छ;पास्रनको हात्तीको बेलामा जस्तै ।

स्थानीय व्यक्तिहरुलाई वन्यजन्तु तथा स्रोतको नियन्त्रण गर्न दिनाले उनीहरुको संरक्षणप्रतिको प्रेरणा अझ प्रगाढ भएको छ । परिणमस्वरुप वन्यजन्तुको तस्करी तथा मानव-वन्यजन्तुबीचको द्धन्द्धमा पनि कमी आएको छ । हुनत अझै धेरै चुनौतीहरु बाँकी छन् विशेषगरी जिम्बाबेको राजनैतिक वातावरणबाट उत्पन्न हुने तर ति चुनौतीका बाबजुदपनि CAMPFIRE ले चुपचापसँग परिणामहरु निकालिरहेको छ विना कुनै सकृयतावादी अभियान ।

यस कार्यक्रमको सफलतालाई अङ्कहरुले राम्रोसँग झल्काउँछन् । कार्यक्रम शुरु भएको १० वर्षमा वन्यजन्तुको जनसंख्या ५० प्रतिशतले वृद्धि भएको थियो । सन् २००३ सम्म आइपुग्दा हात्तीको कुल संख्या ४००० बाट दोब्बर बढेर ८००० पुगेको थियो । यद्यपि यस कार्यक्रमबाट वन्यजन्तुलाई मात्र फाइदा भएन । सन् १९८९ र सन् २००१ CAMPFIRE ले प्रत्यक्ष आम्दानीबाट मात्रै २ करोड डलरभन्दा बढी कमायो जसमध्ये अधिकांश शिकारबाट प्राप्त भएको थियो । उक्त समयावधिमा त्यस कार्यक्रमले अनुमानित ९०००० घरधुरीलाई फाइदा पुँयायो र करिब १० करोड डलर बराबरको आर्थिक प्रभाव पार्यो ।

यस्तो परिणाम CAMPFIREले समेट्ने क्षेत्रहरुभन्दा बाहिर पनि देखा पँर्यो । सन् १९८९ देखि २००५ को बीचमा जिम्बाब्वेको कुल हात्तीको सांख्या ३७००० बाट ८५००० पुग्यो जसमध्ये आधाभन्दा बढी राष्टिय निकुाज भन्दा बाहिर बसोबास गर्दछन् । आजभोलि उक्त संख्या करिब १००००० पुगेको अनुमान गरिन्छ पास्रन जस्ता शिकारी हुँदाहुँदै पनि । र यो सबै अर्थतन्त्र धरासायी भइरहेको राजनैतिक अस्थिरता चलिरहेको र बढ्दो सामाजिक- राजनैतिक चुनौतीको अवस्थामा भएको हो ।

Source: www.nwf.org

दक्षिणी अफ्रिकाभर शिकार र वन्यजन्तु सम्बन्धित पर्यटनले गर्दा वन्यजन्तु आरक्षणप्रति निजी क्षेत्रको चाख बढी राखेको छ । यस क्षेत्रमा हाल ९००० भन्दा बढी निजी खेल मैदानहरु सन्चालनमा छन् । त्यसैगरी ११०० वटा निजीस्वरबाट व्यवस्थित प्राकृतिक संरक्षण क्षेत्रहरु त्था ४०० भन्दा बढी प्रवद्र्धन केन्दहरु सन्चालनमा छन् । नामिबिया जहाँ शिकार गर्न पाइन्छ ८० प्रतिशतभन्दा बढी ठूला स्तनपेयी वन्यजन्तुहरु निजी वा सामुदायिक क्षेत्रहरुमा बसोबास गर्दछन् र हालका केही वर्षहरुमा तिनको जनसंख्या ७० प्रतिशत वृद्धि भएको छ । यी क्षेत्रहरुमा जहाँ वन्यजन्तुले आफ्नो खर्च बेहोर्छन तिनको वासस्थान संरक्षित हुन्छ र जनसंख्या मौलाउँछ ।

यी सफलताहरुले गर्दा केन्यामा केही व्यक्तिहरुले वन्यजन्तु सम्बन्धी कानूनमा परिमार्जन गरेर निजी जमिनमा "दिगो प्रयोग"का लागि वन्यजन्तु राख्न पाइने बनाउन प्रयास गरिरहेका छन् । हालसम्म यी प्रयासहरु असफल भइराखेका छन् । यसको एउटा प्रमुख कारण अन्तराष्टिय जनावर अधिकारवादी समूहहरुको प्रोपागान्डा हो ।

केन्यामा जनावर अधिकारवादी समूहहरु सकृय छन् र प्राय ः पैसाहीन 'केन्या वन्यजन्तु सेवा' लाई स्रोतहरु पनि जुटाइरहेका हुन्छन् । तर निजी जमिनका मालिकहरुजस्तो उनीहरुले वन्यजन्तुले जमिन र मानिसहरुमा पार्ने प्रकोप भोग्नु पर्दैन । परिणामस्वरुप उनीहरुले जिम्बाब्वे तथा अन्य अफ्रिकन देशहरुले पत्ता लगाइसकेको तथ्य "अस्तित्वमा रहिरहने हो भने अफ्रिकाका वन्यजन्तुले आर्थिक मूल्य दिलाउन जरुरी छ भन्ने कुरालाइृ बेवास्ता गरिरहेका हुन्छन् ।

PETA र अरु संस्थाहरु शिकारले गर्दा हात्तीले बालिमा क्षति पुर्याइरहेका अफ्रिकाका किसानहरुलाई सहयोग पुग्छ भन्ने कुराको बिरोध गर्छन् । PETA का अनुसार शिकारका अन्य राम्रा बिकल्पहरु छन् । उदाहरणका लागि बव पास्रनको शिकार को जवाफमा PETA लेख्छ "हात्तीहरुलाई खेतिवालीबाट पन्छाउन सरल प्रभावकारी अनी खतरामुक्त तरिकाहरु छन् जसमध्ये खुर्शानीयुक्त डोरीहरु" र मौरीका गोलाहरु खम्बाको टुप्पामा राखेर तयार गरिएको सस्ता पर्खालहरु। अन्य शिकार हटाउने तरिकाहरुमा-त्यो वाली लगाउने जुन हात्तीले खान मन पराउदैन वा हात्तीको गोबर र मरिच मिसाएर बाल्ने जसले गर्दा हात्तीहरु भाग्ने छन । तर यहाँ समस्या के छ भने , हात्ती लगायतका प्राय: जन्तुहरु यस्ता उपायहरु प्रति प्रतिरक्षा गर्न छित्टै सिक्छन र यी उपायहरु निस्प्रभावकारी हुन पुग्छन । त्यसैगरी नामेबियामा विश्व वन्यजन्तु कोषले गरेको मानिस र वन्यजन्तुबिचको सङघर्ष सम्बन्धि २०० को रिपोर्टले बढी समय लाग्ने र नियमित आपूर्ति र ममर्त गर्नुपर्ने भएकोले यस्ता उपायहरु प्रभावकारी नभएको बताएको छ।

यसका साथै उक्त प्रतिवेदनले के पनि निचोड निकालेको छ भने जिम्बाब्वेको CAMPFIRE र नमिबियाको उस्तै प्रकारको कार्यक्रम जस्ता समुदायमा आधारित श्रोत व्यवस्थापनले गर्दा वन्यजन्तुले मानव-वन्यजन्तु बीचको संघर्सको लागत भन्दा बढी नै आर्थिक फाईदा ल्याउन सफल भएका छन् । वन्यजन्तु सम्बन्धी सम्पत्तिको अधिकार स्थानियलाई दिने खालको नितीको विकास गर्नाले समुदायले वन्यजन्तु संरक्षणको लागत र फाइदाबारे आफैले निर्क्योल गर्न सक्ने भएका छन् । ती किसानहरु जस्ले पार्सनको मद्त मागे , उनिहरुले दुख्: दिने हात्तीबाट मुक्ति मात्र पाएनन , तेस्बाट आम्दानी, रोजगारी र मासु पनि पाए । यो भनेको नतिजा हो चिप्ला गफ मात्र होईन ।

यदी वातावरणवादी संस्थाहरुले अझ राम्रो नतिजा निकाल्नु छ भने तिनीहरुले आफ्नो शिकार प्रतिको लगाब हटाएर सम्पत्ति सम्बन्धि अधिकार र सामुदायिक स्रोत व्यवस्थापनका लागि आवाज उठाउनु पर्छ । यसले वन्यजन्तु र प्राकितिक स्रोत सम्बन्धि निणर्य गर्न अधिकार ति जनतालाई दिन्छ जो यसबाट प्रत्यक्ष प्रभावित छन् । जिक्बावे नामिबिया र अन्य अफ्रिकन देशहरुको अनुभवले के देखाउँछ भने स्थानिय जनतालाई निणर्य गर्ने अधिकार दिनाले स्थानिय जनता तथा वन्यजन्तु दुवै यसबाट लाभान्वित हुन्छन् ।

PETA, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Earthjustice र Greenpeace जस्ता स्रोत सम्पन्न संस्थाहरुले गर्ने विरोध र्याली धर्ना तथा पत्र लेखन अभियानले धेरै अनावश्यक तर केही मात्र राम्रो नतिजा निकालेको छ । तर शिकार गराउने संस्था जस्तै अन्तरराष्ट्रिय सफारी क्लब तथा वातावरणवादी संस्थाजस्तै वातावरणीय संरक्षण कोष जस्को मुख्य सिद्धान्त "साँच्चै काम गर्ने विकल्प पत्ता लगाउने " हो , ले साँच्चैको परिणाम ल्याइराखेका छन् । PETA ले गरेका अनावश्यक कामले उच्च नैतिक स्थान पाउलान तर पास्रनले गर्ने व्यवसायिक शिकार गर्ने तरिकाले यो संसारमा धेरै हात्ती संरक्षण गर्न सहयोग पुर्याएको छ ।

अर्को चोटि आफ्नो प्रिय वातावरणवादी समूहलाई चेक् लेखिदिदा एक पटक सोच्नुहोला - तपाईंको पैसाले प्रोपगान्डा किनिरहेको छ की साँच्चै परिणाम निकालिरहेको छ ?

Blogger's new interface...loving it!

2011-07-10T20:28:00.000+05:30

So Google has finally unveiled it's long awaited new interface for blogger.com. After using the new interface for a while I must say it was worth the wait.I am loving the new interface. Blogger's new UI is cleaner as it generally is with most of Google's products and a very useful new feature has been added: now you can views the number of pageviews of every post in your blog. The old cluttered compose window has been trimmed and polished. Now instead of the tabs there is a vertical menu and the list of labels is now a drop-down. As one of my friend in Google+ was saying, "the new interface makes you want to blog ...just blog more". The use of ajax in the new interface has significantly increased the loading speed saving a lot of time of bloggers.

Here's how my dashboard looks now:

And here's the new post editor window:

Here is how the new posts list looks like. Notice the details about the posts in their sides:

So all the blogger.com users, happy blogging!

हात्ती बचाउने कसरी ? -- शिकार गरेर ! --भाग १

2011-07-09T13:04:00.004+05:30

Source: National Geographic

नेपालमा वातावरण सक्रियतावाद उचाइमा छ । गरिबीले आक्रान्त मुलूकमा आर्थिक व्रिद्धी भन्दा पनि वातावरणको चर्चा बढी भैरहेको अवस्थमा अन्ध-वातावरणवादले कसरी वातावरण र वन्यजन्तुलाई नाफा भन्दा बढी नोक्सानी गरिरहेको हुन्छ र अन्ध-वातावरण्वाद भन्दा कसरी बजार र नीजी स्वामीत्वका माध्यमबाट बढी प्रभावकारी ढंगबाट वातवरण र वन्यजन्तुको संरक्षन र प्रबर्धन गर्न सकिन्छ भन्ने बारेमा टेरी एन्डर्सन र शन विल्लियम्स द्वरा लिखित "Shoot an elephant, Save a Community" नामक लेखलाई अनुवाद गरेर यहाँ प्रस्तुत गरेको छु । पढेर प्रतिक्रिया दिनुहोला ।

जब GoDaddy.com का संस्थापक बब पास्रन आफूले जिम्बाबेमा हात्तीको सिकार गर्दै गरेको भिडियो अनलाइनमा प्रेसित गरे आलोचनाको ठूलो बाढी नै आयो । त्यो सिकार मार्चमा गरिएको थियो र मारिएको हात्ती किसानहरुको बाली नष्ट गरेर दुख दिइरहेको हात्ती थियो ।

People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) नामक समूहले जब उक्त भिडियो पत्ता लगायो त्यसलाई वेबभर फैलायो र GoDaddy.com मा भएको आफ्नो वेब अकाउन्ट पनि बन्द गर्‍यो र अरुलाई पनि अनुशरण गर्न आग्रह गर्‍यो । NameCheap.com भन्ने अर्को प्रतिद्वन्द्वी वेब कम्पनीले GoDaddy.com का २० हजार भन्दा बढी ग्राहकहरुलाई आफ्नो नाफाको केही प्रतिशत हिस्सा सेभ द एलिफेन्ट्स भन्ने संस्थालाई दान गर्ने बाचा गरेर आफ्नो कम्पनीमा खाता सार्न लगाउन पनि सफल भयो ।

हात्तीहरुका लागि गरिएका यस्ता भावनात्मक सक्रियतावाद बुझन सकिन्छ । तर PETA को यस्तो सक्रियतावादले शब्दजाल भन्दा माथि उठेर साँच्चै परिणाम यानिकी बढी हात्तीहरु र तीनको बसोबास क्षेत्र हासिल गर्छ कि गर्दैन भन्ने कुरा चै सोचेको विषय हो ।

अधिकांस वातावरणबादी समूहहरु जस्तै PETA पनि एउटा "विरोधी" संस्था हो । यो "शिकार विरोधी" हो । यसका समर्थकहरु सजिलै पहिचान गर्न सकिने खराब व्यक्तिहरु जस्तै व्यापारिक संस्था र बब पास्रन जस्ता शिकारीहरुको बिरुद्धमा एकजुट हुन्छन । यस्ता असल र खराब वृत्तान्तहरुले आर्थिक सहयोग जुटाउन त ठूलो मद्दत गर्छन तर यिनले अफ्रिकाको मानव र वन्यजन्तुको सङ्घर्षको जटिलता तथा स्रोत संरक्षणमा सम्पत्ति अधिकार र स्थानिय व्यवस्थापनको भूमिकालाई बेवास्ता गरिरहेका हुन्छन् ।

Source: www.epochtimes.com

विरलै मात्र PETAले बढी व्यवहारिक र कम भावनात्मक कार्यहरु जस्तै वन्यजन्तुको वासस्थान सामुदायिक स्रोत व्यवस्थापन वा बढी आम्दानी को पैरवी गर्ने गर्दछ । परिणामस्वरुप वन्यजन्तु व्यवस्थापन स्थानिय तहमा ल्याउने जस्ता समाधानहरुलाइृ्र यसले बेवास्ता गर्दछ । वन्यजन्तुको लागत भोगिरहेको स्थानिय व्यक्तिहरुले वन्यजन्तु व्यवस्थापन गर्न दिएमा वन्यजन्तु र तिनको वासस्थान संरक्षण गरेर फाइ्दा कमाउन सक्छन् भन्ने कुरालाई उपेक्षा गरिरहेको छ । जहाँ वन्यजन्तु माथिको सम्पत्ति अधिकार स्थानिय समुदायहरुलाइृ दिइएको छ-- चाहे त्यो स्पष्ट रुपमा गरिएका संस्थागत सुधारहरु मार्फत वा नयाँ चालको उद्यमशिलतामार्फत-- अफ्रिकनहरुले प्रमाणित गरेका छन् कि निजी स्वामित्व भनेको स्रोत संरक्षणको महत्वपूर्ण कडी हो ।

पास्रनको शिकार शब्दजाल भन्दा पनि परिणामको उदाहरण हो र यसले सक्रीय संरक्षणवादीहरुले मानिस तथा वन्यजन्तुलाई कसरी मद्दत गर्न सक्छन् भन्ने कुरा देखाउँछ । पास्रनकै शब्दमा "त्यो किसान निरास थियो । उसले आफ्नो खेतबाट हात्तीको झुण्डलाई भगाउन सकिरहेको थिएन । उसले हामीलाई आउन र समस्या समधान गरिदिन आग्रह गर्‍यो ।" पास्रनको भिडियोले हुनत कतिपय ठाउँमा घिनलाग्दो छ तर अफ्रिकामा संरक्षणको तितो यथार्थलाई उजागर गर्दछ । त्यहाँको वन्यजन्तुले वरिपरिको समुदायहरुलाई साँच्चै नै ठूलो नोक्सानी पुँयाइरहेका हुन्छन् । साँच्चै परिणाम हासिल गर्ने हो भने यी समुदायहरुलाई वन्यजन्तु व्यवस्थापनमा संलग्न गराउन र वन्यजन्तु तथा तिनको वासस्थानको सुरक्षा गर्नलाई उनीहरुलाई सही प्रेरणा दिनु जरुरी हुन्छ ।

PETA को शिकार विरोधी अभियान यी दुवै कुरामा असफल ठहरिन्छ । शिकार विरोधी समूहहरु सन् १९७७ मा केन्यालाई सबै खालका शिकारमाथि प्रतिबन्ध लगाउन मनाउन सफल भएका थिए । तर त्यसबेला देखि केन्याको ठूला वन्यजन्तुको जनसंख्या ६० देखि ७० प्रतिशतले घटेको पाइएको छ । त्यहाँको हात्तीको जनसंख्या १९७३ मा १६७००० रहेकोमा सन् १९८९ मा आइपुग्दा घटेर १६००० पुगेको थियो । हात्तीहरुले बालीनाली तथा मानिसहरु माथि पुँयाइरहेको क्षतिले गर्दा शिकारतस्करीको प्रकोप उनीहरुमाथि पर्‍यो । आज केन्याका वन्यजन्तु अधिकारीहरु हात्ती जनसंख्या दोब्बर भयो अर्थात ३२००० भयो भनेर घमण्ड गर्छन तर झण्डै सबै जसो नै हात्तीहरु संरक्षित राष्टिय निकुाज भित्र छन् जहाँ चोरी तस्करी केही हदसम्म नियन्त्रण गर्न सकिन्छ । केन्याको करिब ८ मात्र जमिन संरक्षित क्षेत्र भित्र पर्दछ । त्यसले गर्दा वन्यजन्तु तथा हात्तीहरुले सुरक्षित वासस्थान पाउन गाह्रो हुनु आश्चर्यको कुरा होइन ।

ती जग्गाधनीहरु जो वन्यजन्तुको लागत व्यहोरीरहेका छन् उनीहरुका लागि वन्यजन्तु संरक्षण गर्ने कि नगर्ने भन्ने निर्णय गर्न सजिलो छ: यसबाट पैसा आउँछ भने बस्छ हैन भने जान्छ । शिकार माथिको प्रतिबन्धले वन्यजन्तुको आर्थिक मूल्य अत्यन्त न्यून वा शून्य हुन जान्छ जसले गर्दा ग्रामीण भेगका अफ्रिकनहरुका लागि वन्यजन्तु संरक्षण गर्नुपर्ने सम्पत्ति नभएर टार्नुपर्ने दायित्व बन्न जान्छन् । परिणामास्वरुप जग्गाधनीहरु वन्यजन्तु आरक्षणको साटो कृषितर्फ लाग्छन जसले गर्दा उपलब्ध वासस्थान कमी आउँछ र मानववन्यजन्तुबीचको द्वन्द को सम्भावनालाई बढाउँछ ।

क्रमश:

भाग २ यहाँ छ :

http://www.surathgiri.com/2011/07/blog-post_12.html

Improper Slogans, really?

2011-07-08T13:06:00.001+05:30

Image Source: Republica

Just read this news. It looks like former King Gyanendra is yet to get over his delusions that this country belongs to him. For you kind information Mr. Shah, you didn't give up your throne , we kicked you out of it. Please stop patronizing us! No ones needs millions of people on street and 19 days of complete shut down to give up power voluntarily. Although we have ended up having 601 masters in place of you and the limits of our patience is being tested, it doesn't mean we want to go back to your rule.

For DSP Jagdish Pokharel, I am so proud of you that you saved us from hearing some "improper slogan chanting" from RPP cadres! Boy what a grave 'threat' it was. I just hope someday you'll grow up and be a little more educated and more courageous (like the policeman we used to read in our textbooks) and do something worthwhile like catching actual criminals, making our neighborhoods safer especially during nights and making our lives easier. I hope someday you'll learn about a thing called "freedom of speech" which allows people to chant any slogan they like regardless of their creed, color, culture or religion until they physically harm others.

North Korea's Jasmine Revolution; when?

2011-07-05T08:34:00.000+05:30

Just read this news. The communist regime (read: bastards) has decided to shut down universities and send students to work in factories for 8 months fearing a possible uprising similar to that of 'Jasmine Revolutions' in Middle East and Africa. I wonder how long these last fragments of communist tyranny will last? How long will it be since the humanity can get rid of this inhuman experiment forever?

But when I come to think of it, we are in no better position. Our communist-socialist-madhesi (read: even worse bastards) regime doesn't let us study with peace. We may not have shut downs for 8 months straight but when counted seriously our universities also run no longer than 4 months in a year. A supposedly 3-year course in our good old Tribhuvan University takes at least 4 years (if you are lucky) to complete. And the worse part is; here our factories are shut down too (for months). So I sometimes wonder if we are even worse off than those communists over there. By the way, until a year back both Nepal's and North Korea's per capita income were estimated to be around $1100 dollars.

By the way, any ideas on how long will it be until democracy arrives on this communist paradise? Or will democracy (economic freedom at least as in China) ever see the light of the day in North Korea?

The End of History and the Last Man

2011-07-03T23:12:00.001+05:30

I just finished reading this very popular and yet highly controversial book called "The End of History and the Last Man" by Francis Fukuyama. Written in the aftermath of collapse of communism in USSR and Eastern Europe, the author makes extensive use of Hegel's philosophy of universal history to present and vindicate his thesis that after the failure of communism, the liberal democracy remains the only viable form of government in the modern world and this form of government is most probably the end point of humanity's sociocultural evolution and the final form of human government. In his words,

What we are witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or a passing of a particular period of postwar history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.

As per Fukuyama, liberal capitalist democracy is the final form of human government because unlike every other forms government tried till date, it doesn't suffer from any inherent contradictions. Liberal democracy with its most prominent characteristic of equal and universal recognition to all the citizens and the prosperity it brings satisfies all the three parts of human soul, i.e desiring part, reasoning part and the "thymos" part. Unlike the former two parts, the thymos part of human which demands recognition as a human being or superior to others is somewhat subdued by liberal democracy rather than fully addressed. This might pose a grave threat to the sustainability of liberal democracy.

Accompanying the triumph of reason and desire through liberal democracy is Nietzsche's vision of of a dark world full of men without chests. The men who are too indulgent in consumption and cozy security that they have forgotten the essential characteristics of being human- i.e. seeking freedom, ideals worth dying for and nobler visions. Content with their happiness and unable to feel any sense of shame for being unable to rise above those wants, Nietzsche's last men cease to be human. In the latter part of the book, Fukuyama, raises the inevitable questions with regards to Nietasche's last men:

Is not the man who is completely satisfied by nothing more than universal and equal recognition something less than a full human being, indeed, an object of contempt, a “last man” with neither striving nor aspiration? Is there not a side of the human personality that deliberately seeks out struggle, danger, risk, and daring, and will this side not remain unfulfilled by the “peace and prosperity” of contemporary liberal democracy? Does not the satisfaction of certain human beings depend on recognition that is inherently unequal?

I don't know if the world is approaching towards the end of history as stated by Fukuyama as he too doesn't leave us with any precise conclusions but I can surely say we (Nepalese) are still a long way from reaching there. We are , in fact , trying to reach the beginning of history instead, the part which is full of savage bloody battles entailing into creation of masters and slaves.

I found the book fascinating in almost every chapter and frequently brilliant. It is one of those few books, that provides with the reader with such a deep insight that he/she feels like a genius. For me the book was also a crash course on Hegelian philosophy as well as an interesting introductory text to philosophies of thinkers such as Plato, Tocqueville, Kant, Marx, Nietzsche, and Alexandre Kojeve. With the tons of controversy it has generated, one can't say Fukuyama's book answered the question satisfactorily but there is no doubt that it adds immensely to our understanding of the question and its importance.

8 reasons why our politicians and our labor unions are similar

2011-06-25T23:15:00.000+05:30

After a momentary hiccup around May 28, the CA is back again to its normal political bickering and chaos and we citizens are back to our difficult lives. I must admit I used to be quite puzzled by the political developments in Nepal. However, one fine day I had a click on my mind and the picture has become crystal clear now. The reason we don’t understand our politicians is that we forgot they are the proletariat. To keep it simple: Our politicians are similar to the labor force of our country. Don’t get it? Well, here are the top 8 similarities between our politicians and our labor force:

Both are adamant of high (and ever increasing) wages regardless of how much their skills are really valued by the employers or the market
Labor union's loyalty is commanded by different political parties and ideologies rather the organization that feeds them. Our politicians' loyalties are commanded by their party's interests and ideologies rather than the country that feeds them
Labor unions believe they own the factory or enterprise even more than the owners themselves.Politicians believe they own this country more than the citizens themselves
If they work for 90 days in a year, they expect to be paid for the whole year along with myriads of benefits. The CA members hardly worked for 90 days and expect to be paid forever.
The leader in the unions is the one who works the least and does Netagiri the most. The leader of the CA is the one who works the least and visits the foreign countries the most.
Labor unions have no idea of what a peaceful protest or a logical negotiation is. Violence, bandas, padlocking is their tools of achieving objectives. Similar is the case with our politicians
Once hired, loborers expect the organization to feed them for life whether they provide any value to the organization or not. They hate being fired! Once elected our politicians expect us to feed them for the rest of their lives. They hate being without jobs! No wonder our constitution making is delayed so much.
Both of them are lazy , non-innovative and violent.

So what do you think? Are there any other similarities that you have noticed?

केही लिबर्टेरियन भनाइहरु - ४

2011-06-23T23:27:00.000+05:30

प्रत्येक भलादमी मान्छे आफ्नो सरकारदेखी लज्जित भैराखेको हुन्छ । -H.L. Mencken
स्वतन्त्रता कुनै राजनैतीक उदेश्य प्राप्त गर्ने माध्यम नभएर आफैमा सबै भन्दा ठुलो राजनैतीक उदेश्य हो । -H.L. Mencken
यदि कुनै राश्ट्रले स्वतन्त्रता भन्दा अरुनै कुरालाई बढी महत्व दिन्छ भने उस्ले स्वतन्त्रता गुमाउने निश्चित छा । अझ दु:खको कुरा त के हो भने उस्ले बढी महत्व दिने कुरा पैसा अथवा आराम हो भने ती कुराहरु पनि गुमाउछ । -Somerset Maugham
स्वतन्त्रता मानिसहरुको मनमा बस्ने कुरा हो । जब त्यहाँ यसको मृत्‍यु हुन्छ , कुनै संबिधान , कुनै कानून वा कुनै अदालतले यसलाई बचाउन सक्दैन । -Justice Learned Hand
भेडाहरुको राष्ट्रले ब्वासोहरुको सरकारबाहेक केही पाउदैन । -Edward R. Murrow
कुनै नागरिकलाई ऊ आफैंबाट बचाउनु न त सरकारको दायित्व हो न त कानूनी प्रणालीकै । -Casey Percell
अपराधीहरुबाट नागरिकहरुलाई बचाउनका लागि सरकार र सरकारबाट नागरिकहरुलाई बचाउनका लागि संबिधान बनाइएको हो । -Ayn Rand
पहिले उनीहरु यहुदीहरुलाई लिन आए तर मैले केही गरिन, किनकी म यहुदी होईन । त्यसपछी उनीहरु समाजवादीहरुलाई लिन आए तर मैले केही गरिन , किनकी म समाजवादी होईन । त्यसपछी उनीहरु क्याथोलिकहरुलाई लिन आए तर पनि मैले केही गरिन किनकी म क्याथोलिक होईन । अन्त्यमा उनीहरु मलाई लिन आए , तर तेसबेला सम्ममा मलाई मद्त गर्न आउनलाई कोहि बाँकी नै थिएन । -Pastor Father Niemoller (1946)
राजनीतिलाई पेशा स्वरुप अगांल्ने अनी इमान्दार पनि रहने -असम्भव कुरा । -Ambrose Gwinett Bierce
जब कुनै एउटा ब्यक्तिको जिवनमा ठुलो असर पार्ने कुराहरुको निर्णय अरु नै कसैले गरिराखेको छ भने त्यो निर्णय चाहे राजाले गरोस या चाहे तानाशाहले अथवा समाजले नै गरोस केही फरक पर्दैन । -James Taggart (1992)

फिल्म फेस्टिभलको मज्जा

2011-06-05T18:51:00.000+05:30

The elusive quest for a liveable Nepal

2011-06-05T18:33:00.000+05:30

-Surath Giri

With the extension of the CA deadline for another three months, our quest of getting a constitution has once again eluded us. Political parties that surprised us with coming together for a common cause of extending the deadline have reconfirmed our misgivings by resuming their bickering and fighting from the very next day. With the continuing political instability and uncertainty, our quest for a constitution seems even more elusive. Meanwhile, the lives of general citizens continue to be as difficult as ever, inflation remains in double digit, economy is stagnant and the lives and properties of citizens continue to be threatened and forced strikes and shutdowns are creating havoc in daily lives. In such a context, it is not surprising that every Nepalese is looking at the upcoming constitution as the panacea to all the hardship.

However, having a constitution itself wouldn’t solve anything. Having a good constitution is equally essential (if not more). Constitution being the supreme law of any country guides all the subsequent laws and policies as well as the government and hence plays a huge role in the realization of the dreams of its citizens. It would be a tragedy if after such a long and elusive quest we end up with a constitution that cannot guarantee equal rights to all of its citizens and an environment where everyone can pursue their dreams freely.

An Ideal Constitution

For any constitution to be conducive for the prosperity of a country, it is essential that it treats every single individual of the country equally. It should be based on the fact that an individual is the most important unit as well as the tiniest minority in a society. If a constitution fails to protect this minority from the aggression of majority forces, then it fails to achieve its primary objective. Our new constitution should realize that free individuals are the cornerstones of human progress and prosperity.

At its very core, our new constitution should make sure that the powers of the government and politicians are kept to a minimum and individual freedom is guaranteed. Even with the constitution making, we have seen the hazards of giving unlimited powers to the government and politicians. Two extensions of deadlines and still an unfinished constitution lay before us as a proof to the saying, “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The new constitution should make sure that the ongoing irresponsibility and corruption doesn’t become a perpetual ritual of our politics by limiting the power of the government and providing check and balances to every institution of the government.

The new constitution should also make sure that the state doesn’t become (in the words of Bastiat) “the great fiction through which everyone endeavors to live at the expense of everyone else.” So, it should refrain from creating provisions that allow a certain group of citizens to benefit at the expense of another group. Such provisions not only disrupt the harmony of a society by turning social interactions into zero sum games, but also empower politicians to patronize their supporters by granting them with favors whose cost is borne by another group of citizens.

The new constitution should free the economy from the clutches of the state and politicians. As examples around the world have shown, when business becomes the business of the government, the economy rarely progresses. A deeper look at the economic history of Nepal also drives home the point that intermingling of the politics and economy has so far been the greatest impediment to the economic development of Nepal.

Finally above everything else, the new constitution should be based on the fact that freedom is not only a means to prosperity and progress but also the highest desirable political goal in itself. Countries whose constitutions have prioritized freedom as their highest goal such as New Zealand, United States, Australia, Estonia, and Lichtenstein enjoy not only the most vibrant of the economies of the world but also very high living standards. Nepal could learn a lot from these countries.

A Liveable Nepal

As the constitution making is being constantly delayed, the worsening transition period is taking its toll on the living standards of general citizens of Nepal. Not only the security situation of the country is deteriorating with prevailing anarchy and impunity, Nepal is slowing into a country where surviving is hard and making a living is next to impossible. Last year alone we had 125 days of bandas in a period of 365 days whereas we have already witnessed more than 90 bandas so far during 2011. The sporadic eruptions of anti-banda protests, hoarding boards covered with slogans such as “Gari Khana Deu”, pressure groups surrounding CA hall and countless social networking groups demanding better protection of our lives and properties clearly indicate the level of frustration of general public at the deteriorating condition of the country. Continuation of such deterioration could easily lead Nepal into a failed state such as Somalia.

It is essential that the upcoming constitution as well as the government ensure an environment where every Nepalese can have their lives and properties secured from aggression of others and are allowed to peacefully engage in a profession or enterprise of their choice. To achieve a society fit for living, it is imperative that rule of law is properly maintained and coercive forces are eliminated. Government institutions that were designed so that citizens could be protected from being harmed by each other or by any foreign forces are being proven next to useless with the ever increasing criminal activities. Proper maintenance of rule and order is essential to the well being of the citizens of the country at these times.

If the ruling forces keep failing to provide even the minimum requirements for a livable society, it is more than likely that the sporadic protests of citizens may turn into a new people’s movement!

(Published in The Himalayan Times-Perspectives of 5th June 2011)

A traveler and a magician

2011-05-11T19:43:00.000+05:30

The migrating rain, the tumultuous heart
The wandering traveler and the magician’s art
All died silently and withered away
Like the jasmines that weren’t here to stay
And finally I summoned my courage to say
I came; I saw and had been conquered
I had denied but pondered and wondered
If climbing that wall would lead me home
Where safe in my shadows I could roam
Or would those rose petals lead me astray
In the purgatory of a night and a day

The sugar scented river, the path of glory
The injured traveler and the untold story
All cried silently and tears dried away
And the perpetual euphoria came to stay
I learned, I felt and have been explored
I Climbed, I fell and yet higher I soared
Applauding the magician the crowd roared
"You don’t always climb to get in and reside
Sometimes you climb to get out and stride"

Oh poor magician you writhe within
My inflicted soul wriggles in my coffin
I fade in oblivion and you bleed in silence
I reach out in vain and you fumble in darkness
I would still have loved you and borne your pain
We could have tried and started all over again
But alas, I already buried my heart in the mountain
But alas, I already buried my heart in the mountain

-Surath Giri

Do we really have a free market economy?

2011-04-25T10:42:00.002+05:30

-Surath Giri

Around the world, the growing consensus is that free markets and entrepreneurship are the most effective tools for tackling poverty and bringing growth and innovation to every nation. They are the primary sources of prosperity. In Nepal, however, free markets don’t seem to enjoy the same kind of respect like they do in other parts of the world. The general notion is that Nepal is a free market economy and the sorry state of affairs is largely due to markets being too free. Anything that could go wrong and that has gone wrong is being blamed upon free markets. Political speeches invariably eulogize central planning and authoritarian state. Newspapers are rife with articles condemning free markets. Talk shows conclude with demanding more regulations and expanded role of the government. Ideological rhetoric rather than the facts or logic reign in the public debates. A foreigner would surely have the impression that, Nepal must be the epitome of failure of free markets.

So, are free markets and liberalization the most pertinent aspects of Nepalese economy? Hardly so. Economic Freedom of the World report, an annual report prepared by Fraser Institute, an independent Canadian think tank with collaboration of more than 80 other think tanks around the world ranks Nepal as 125th most economically free nation out of the 141 nations the survey is carried out in. The report uses only secondary and objective data rather than rhetoric to formulate the rankings which makes it difficult to refute its findings. Contrary to the prevailing opinions, Nepalese economy is miles away from being a free market and the miserable performance until now, can largely attributed to the lack of free markets.

It could come as a surprise to the critics of free markets in Nepal that even China, the so called communist country ranks at 82nd position in the report way ahead of us, the so called liberal economy. Another neighbor of ours, India who has written socialism as the only tolerable political ideology in the constitution ranks at 87th in terms of economically free nation.

Free Market: What does it look like?

Free market is a summary term used to refer to all the voluntary exchanges that take place in a society. The existence of free market implies that the exchanges in a society take place voluntary without the use of any force or tools of coercion.

Image Source: www.demotix.com

When translated into policies, free markets mean lack of price controls, lack of subsidies to one group at the expense of other, security of property and lives of every citizen, easy and affordable mechanism to enter into a business , run it and close it down if needed, enforcement of rules and regulations that encourage competition and discouragement of market distorting forces like monopoly and cartels, presence of necessary regulations to save people from fraud and theft but lack of over-burdening regulations that prevent people from making their own choices without harming anyone else, proper enforcements of contracts between people, fast, affordable and independent judiciary system, low inflation rates and lack of deficit budgeting, promotion of free trade and foreign investment, transparency in government policies and expenditures, flexible labor laws, low tax rates among other things.

Freeing Nepal’s Market

Nepal’s economy with more than 70 percent of work force still employed in traditional and subsistence farming and informal sector as the dominant sector of the economy and absence of any major industries can be classified as ‘pre capitalistic’ economy. A pre capitalist economy is typically very poor with few if any of the institutions associated with free markets. The late advent of democracy, more than 3 decade’s long autocracy, the dominance of left leaning political parties has hardly done anything that could develop Nepal into a well functioning free market economy. The bulk of the power and wealth is held by the state and a small group of individuals and families which is the characteristics of feudalism or oligarchic capitalism at best.

Lack of stable policies, security of property rights, wide spread corruption, irresponsible government spending and lack of rule of law plague Nepalese economy. The state has continuously suppressed private sector development and politically instability has left the country devoid of any economic reform plans or strategies. Lack of infrastructure development and protectionist approach to handling economy has resulted in Nepal’s economy lacking the entrepreneurial dynamism that would propel economic growth and long-term economic development.

Government created monopolies like Nepal Oil Corporation and Nepal electricity authority continue to be a drain in the economy. State owned enterprises such as Janakpur cigarette factory have accumulated billions of rupees as losses and debts. Almost all of the state owned enterprises are suffering losses and mismanagement of properties. Monopoly of Nepal electricity authority, mismanagement, corruption in hydropower license distribution has resulted in country suffering for more than 14 hours of power cuts and whatever industries that are left are being crippled by the power crisis.

Anti-employer labor laws and politicization of labor unions have made Nepal one of the most difficult countries to fire an incompetent worker. Dominance of political agendas within the industries and the militant labor unions let businesses run not more than 6 months in a year. Nepotism and favoritism in distribution of licenses and promotion of industries had resulted in oligarchy in almost every sector of the economy.

Anti-competitive practices like price fixing, syndicates and cartels in every sector have driven the costs of goods and services to general public tremendously and have made formal sectors of the economy virtually inaccessible to the poorer and less powerful segment of the populace. Burdensome and costly regulations to start up, run or close down a business has forced the majority of the population to remain within the informal or extralegal sector.

The policies allowing and empowering the politicians and government bureaucrats to make decisions as per their discretion has created such an avenue for corruption that corruption is the norm rather than the exception in any government procedures. Nepal ranks 146th in the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index making it one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

Similarly, Nepal ranks 100th out of 129 countries in International Property Rights Index which can provide a glimpse of how insecure the lives and properties of Nepalese citizens are. Property stealing and grabbing culture spearheaded by the political parties themselves has instilled fear and insecurity among people discouraging investment and entrepreneurship. In such a scenario, calling Nepalese economy a free market economy and blaming free markets for the sorry state of affairs is not just naivety but outright lie.

Image Source: http://www.wagle.com.np

Critics of free markets or liberal economy tend to forget that the very newspaper that publishes their opinions or the very television channel that airs their views is the outcome of the limited liberalization of the early 1990s. Proponents of central planning tend to forget that more and more rural population is entering is being absorbed by the expanding informal sector and helping them realize their own dreams. The ardent supporters of collectivism and nationalization forget the fact that Nepalese now have access to latest banking facilities such as ATM and electronic banking and yet are forced to spend 14 hours a day without lights or electricity.

The worshippers of state owned enterprises don’t realize the fact that had it not been for the competition between different telecommunication service providers, they would still have to wait half a decade to get a telephone line and wouldn’t have been able to afford a cell phones at all. Perhaps these people take these benefits for granted or perhaps they are too busy in the historical debate to notice that the debate has already ended and free markets are changing the lives of both rich and poor people around the world except for some few still dark corners of the world such as Nepal.

(Published in The Himalayan Times-Perspectives of 24th April 2011.)

Nepal's Other Path

2011-03-27T10:12:00.001+05:30

-Surath Giri

In 1989, Peruvian economist Hernando De Soto published his seminal book entitled “The Other path", which was written as a response to the growing atrocities and violence of Sendero (The Shining Path), an ultra left wing terrorist organization which had been debilitating Peru’s economy and murdering thousands of people for almost a decade by then. The Other Path made history not only by helping eradicate one of the most brutal terrorist organization ever to operate in Latin America by solely engaging in the war of ideas but also by creating a new wave of understanding of the causes of poverty around the world.

During the research for the book in Peru and subsequent researches in developing countries around the world, De Soto and his team found out that unlike what ultra left wing groups usually claim, most poor people aren’t proletarians. Instead they are emerging entrepreneurs working outside the legal system engaged in subsistence activities because they lack clear property rights to what they own which in turn denies them access to capital, broader market, legal protection and technology. Ironically, it is not the market economy and provision of private property that’s keeping them poor but the very lack of access to it. Contrary to the arguments of left-wing groups or ideologies, poor do not lack property or means to become prosperous. Poor around the world are estimated to have amassed a wealth of more than 9.3 trillion dollars which is multiple times higher than all the foreign aids and grants combined from around the world. What the poor lack, however is the proper property rights that would enable them to expand their means of production to expand their wealth.

Peru’s government which embarked into reforms based on these findings and worked in partnership with the Institute for Liberty and Democracy (De Soto’s think tank), was able to bring some 300000 owners into the legal system within 5 years whose property on average doubled. At the same time, more than twenty five new institutions began giving loans to those owners who had been denied access to any credit hitherto during the reform. Cutting down business regulations and bureaucratic procedures, Peru was able to bring majority of its informal economy into the formal system creating over half a million new jobs and revenues of USD 1.2 billion. Today Peru’s economy is among the most vibrant ones in Latin America with very high growth rates-including the world’s highest growth rate of 12 percent in 1994.

Nepal’s Case

The experience is no different from the one De Soto describes in his book when one walks down any road or hikes in Nepal's hills. Reaching out to any village in Nepal, or exploring the shanty settlements in cities, one will find many things: houses used for shelter; parcels of land being tilled, sowed, and harvested; merchandise being bought and sold and a plethora of entrepreneurs engaged in businesses of their own.

Hearing about some farmers making hundreds of thousands solely by selling their produces after they had access to the markets isn’t news anymore. And yet, majority of populace still languishes in abject poverty. What explains the discrepancy?

Though poor of Nepal too own some properties or means of production, clear property titles, lack of scientific measure of assessing properties and their values and their lack of access to sources of capital are some of the reasons poor people never seem to be able to rise above subsistence. Lack of roads and means of transportation still bottleneck the progress of remote villages in different parts of Nepal. Informal economy still reigns as the largest employer of the populace. Agricultural sector, the largest segment of Nepalese economy is largely informal. Due to lack of formal property rights and access to capital, most of these emerging entrepreneurs are forced to seek informal money lenders who charge exorbitant interest rates and are once again confined to subsistence activities.

Even those operating within the formal environment are increasingly plagued by the growing insecurities and threats to their lives and properties. Proliferating violent groups and lawlessness is forcing people to limit themselves to survival and operate within their own circles only.

Recently released International Property Rights Index 2011 has ranked Nepal 100th out of 129 countries with regard to secured and strong property rights. Nepal scores 4.4 out of ten and is among the bottom 20 quintile of the index. Among the components used to measure property rights, Nepal scores 3.2 in legal and political environment, 5.8 in physical property rights and 4.1 in intellectual property rights. Contrast this with China, the so called communist country, which scores 5.5 and ranks 60th among the 129 countries. The sorry state of property rights may explain in part, why the poor in Nepal remain poor and proletariats whereas the poor in countries even like China are getting prosperous exploring their entrepreneurial abilities.

Besides this, the World Bank’s Doing Business report too highlights the obstacles that deter the emerging entrepreneurs from getting into formal system. Nepal ranks among the worst countries to be doing a business with very high costs of registering, operating and closing down a business and one of the most unfriendly labor laws in the world.

The Other Path

While our political parties, intelligentsia and media are blaming liberal economy and capitalism for all the poverty and everything else that has gone wrong, the observation around the world in countries which once stood on equal footing with us tells just the opposite. Private Property Rights are rather the source of prosperity and wealth creation than the cause of poverty. Contrary to general notion, it’s the poor who need property rights and economic freedom the most in order to get out of the vicious circle of poverty which is made vicious due to welfare and aid driven programs for them. Acknowledging the fact that even poor people have some form of property and means of production and are of entrepreneurial nature despite the lack of formal titles and ownership is a more pragmatic approach of alleviating poverty. We can at least start from there. Recognizing private property rights of everyone, especially the poor, and making it easy for anyone to get into the formal system while securing and enforcing their private property rights, encouraging entrepreneurship among the poor too and maintaining a strong rule of law is the other path Nepal could take to get rid of poverty.

(Published in The Himalayan Times of 27th March 2011.)

"A" woman's day!

2011-03-08T11:07:00.000+05:30

Just read this news today and felt very happy about it. A family has married off its widowed daughter-in-law. This is among the few, if not the first instance of a family marrying off their widowed daughter in law. It's good to see that Nepali society is awakening to the consciousness of the supremacy of individual over society. Social or rather say religious norms and values that subordinated a woman's identity to either her father or her husband or her son are slowly withering away. I hope soon will be gone the days when a widowed woman wishing to remarry is ostracized or her wishes are frowned upon. The sheer amount of publicity and praises this news is getting is equally encouraging. I just hope it inspires more people to awake to the same consciousness. Happy women's day and may freedom prevail!

An open letter to the people of Egypt !

2011-02-22T13:02:00.000+05:30

(Here's a letter I have written to the people of Egypt on the success of their revolution.)

Greetings and respect to you, the people of Egypt.

During you heroic struggle against totalitarianism , as a friend of liberty I had kept my fingers crossed and heart hopeful. Now that you have finally achieved your freedom, I congratulate you on your achievements. My heart leaps with joy to see that you've inspired millions of people around the world to wake up, get organized and fight against the enemies of liberty and banes of humanity. Like you I have my fingers crossed and prayers sent to them too. I sincerely hope someday we'll ALL be free and all our societies will be open and accommodate everyone's freedom. I am sure that human spirit will triumph the countless oppressions as we can see in our history, it has always been so.

Photograph by: Hossam Rashad

Now that you have achieved you freedom, I would suggest you to have a careful watch on it as a wise person once said, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." Freedom is always at the brink of extinction. I pray that you do not to make a mistake as we Nepalese did and let 601 dictators rein in the place of one dictator. I pray that you not let the so called leaders capitalize on your struggles and fulfill their own interests like it happened to us. I pray that you to think for everyone and respect everyone's rights EQUALLY. I pray that you not to take the path of vengeance but of forgiveness and make your nation as such that every individual's life and freedom is cherished and the fruits of their labor is well protected which we haven't been able to do.

As you have now experienced the dangers of totalitarianism, I request to keep your powers with yourself and delegate only the necessary powers to the politicians /state. As they say, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, please refrain from giving more power to the state and breed corruption. A society based on mutual respect and strong rule of law is the only society worthy for humans.I want to reiterate that only free people of a free society can take the human civilization forward. I am sure that the belief that free people when protected from forceful aggression of others and otherwise left on their own, will always find their own path to progress through their creativity, courage and voluntary cooperation will come true in your case.

You have shown the world how peace can conquer oppression and inspired the whole world to do the same. And I somehow think, if things continue to be the same in Nepal, someday we will be following your footsteps too. I thank you for this and pray that you don't let your struggles go in vain by letting the enemies of freedom who come in various names and disguises have a upper hand in your society.

And with all my heart I pray for the success of Libyan people in their quest for freedom. May freedom prevail!

Your friend of liberty,

Surath Giri

वर्षमान पून्ज्यु , ५० हजार कमाउन एउटा औसत नेपालीलाई १७ महिना लाग्छ !

2011-02-22T10:20:00.000+05:30

Barsaman Maalik

ढोङ्गीहरुको कुरै गर्नु नपरोस भनेको आज फेरि कुरा गर्नु पर्ने भयो । कथित गरीब , उत्पिडित , सर्वहाराका पार्टीका नेता भनाउदा वर्षमान पून ज्यु ललितपुरको एक सामुदायिक बिद्यालय को स्वर्ण महोत्सव उद्घाटन गर्न हेलिकप्टर चढेर जानुभएछ । ललितपुरबाट केबल ५२ किलोमिटर टाढा भएको ठाउँमा जान ५० हजार खर्च गरेर अभिभावकहरुले दु:ख गरेर कमाएको पैसा आफ्नो बिलासमा खर्च गर्नु भनेर कुन चै सिद्धान्तले सिकाउदो रहेछ कुन्नी , बुझ्नै गार्हो ? हाम्रो साधारण बुझाईमा त ५० हजार कमाउन एउटा औसत नेपालीलाई झन्डै १७ महिना लाग्छ , जनताको धन आफ्नो बिलासितामा खर्च गर्न नैतिकताले दिदैन । सर्वहारा , गरीब जनताका कुरा गर्ने अनी आफु चै एउटा औसत नेपालीले १७ महिनामा कमाउने पैसा बिलासितामा खर्च गर्ने , खैकुन्नी एउटा साधारण मान्छेलाई त लाज लाग्नु पर्ने कुरा हो । तर यी ढोङ्गीहरुको कुरा बुझिनसक्नु को!

क्यासिनो भनेको एक प्रकारको जुवा हो भन्ने तपाईंलाई थाहा छ ?

2011-02-17T12:02:00.000+05:30

क्यासिनो भनेको एक प्रकारको जुवा हो भन्ने तपाईंलाई थाहा छ ? अनी जुवा खेल्नु भनेको पैसा र समय को बर्बादी हो , भर्पूर पैसा हुनेले मात्र खेल्ने चिज हो भन्ने नी ?

तपाईंलाई के बेकारको प्रश्न सोधेको होला, यो त १०-१२ वर्षको बच्चालाई पनि थाहा हुने कुरा हो भन्ने लाग्यो होला ,हैन ? तर अहिले प्राय: मानिसहरुको कुरा सुन्दा नेपालीहरुलाई क्यासिनो भनेको जुवा हो भनेकै थाहा रहेनछ की क्या हो भनेझैं लाग्छ ।काठमाडौं र पोखरा म सन्चालन भैरहेका ८ वटा क्यासिनोले राजस्व नतिरेकाले आन्तरिक राजस्व बिभागले अनुमती रद्द गरि बन्द गर्न सिफरिस गरेको सुन्दा धेरै जना खुशी भए । कानून अनुसार लाग्ने कर नितर्ने ब्यवसाय माथि कारबाही हुनु पर्छ भन्ने कुरा मा कसैको बिमती नहोला । लाग्दो कर तिर्नु पर्छ ।

तर क्यासिनोले नेपालीहरुलाई बिगार्यो , "करोडपती नेपालीलाई रोडपती " बनायो , त्यसैले नेपालीहरुलाई बचाउनका लागि सरकारले क्यासिनोहरु बन्द गर्नु पर्‍यो भन्ने कुरा चै लाजमर्दो कुरा हो । के नेपालीहरुलाई क्यासिनो भनेको जुवा हो, पैसा नहुनेले जुवा खेल्ने चिज होईन भन्ने थाहा छैन र ? कुनै पनि जुवामा खेलाउनेले सकेसम्म पैसा धुत्न खोज्छ , तेसैले समयमै सहि निर्णय लिनु पर्छ भन्ने कुरा नेपालीहरुलाई थाहा छैन र ? क्यासिनोमा नेपालीलाई जना प्रतिबन्ध (यो आफैमा अर्को बहस को बिषय हो ) छ भन्ने कुरा थाहा भैकन क्यासिनो जाने ती नेपाली के पूजा गर्न मन्दिर हिडेकोमा झुक्किएर त्यहाँ पुगेका हुन र ? म क्यासिनो गएको छैन , सम्भवत तपाईंपनी जानु भाको छैन होला। हामी सरकारले क्यासिनो नजानु भनेको छ भनेर क्यासिनो नगएका हौं की आफ्नै बुझाईले क्यासिनो जानु ठीक होईन भनेर नगएका ?? नबालकलेझैं सानोतिनो कुरामा पनि सरकारलाई गुहार्ने , अनी भोली चै तेही सरकार भ्रस्ट भयो भनेर गनगन गर्ने ? अच्चममा छ बा !

प्राय: नेपालीले तेल खाने गर्छन् , तेलमा कोलेस्ट्रोल हुन्छ जुन ह्रिदयघातको एउटा प्रमूख कारण हो । तर प्राय: नेपालीलाई यो कुरा थाहा छैन । सबै कुरा सरकारले गर्दिनु पर्ने भए , तेल पनि प्रतिबन्ध गर्न पो लगाउने की ? अथवा सडकछेउका अस्वथकर मो:मो: पसल हरु पनि बन्द गर्न लगाउने की ?

"नेपालीहरुलाई बचाउनका लागि । "

हैन भने हामी सबैले बुझ्नु पर्ने एउटा कुरा हो :

"कुनै नागरिकलाई ऊ आफैंबाट बचाउनु न त सरकारको दायित्व हो न त कानूनी प्रणालीकै ।"- Casey Percell

Guide to a career in public policy!

2011-02-16T16:44:00.008+05:30

I recently finished reading the book entitled "Creating your path to a policy career" published by the Institute for Humane Studies. Targeted at young people aspiring to advance the causes of liberty and free market economics, the book is a very useful read for anyone wishing to make advancing liberty their career. The book, however is equally useful for anyone (non free marketers too) wishing to make a career in public policy. Written in clear , simple language , it covers topics like the structure of social change and role of think tanks, skills essential for a career in policy world, roles with in a think tank, steps necessary to kick start your career, ways of changing or influencing policy making outside of think tank etc. Each chapter of the handbook is written by someone with an expertise in a particular aspect of the public policy world, which has added much to the usefulness and relevancy of the book.

Here are the top ten things, I learned from the book:

In the world of public policy, integrity or character is the most valuable asset anyone can have.

"Integrity is more important than all the good grades or degrees you’ve earned, more important than all the management courses you could possibly take, and more important than all the knowledge that you could absorb on any subject. It’s something over which every responsible, thinking adult has total personal control, and yet millions of people every year sacrifice it for very little. It will not only define and shape your future, but it will also put both a concrete floor under it and an iron ceiling over it. It’s what others will more likely remember you for than your looks, your talents, your smarts, or your rhetoric. If you lose it, it will taint everything else you accomplish", says Lawrence W. Reed, the President of Foundation for Economic Education, one of the earliest free market think tank in USA.

Good writing skills is a must.

A career in policy world involves a lot of writing regardless of whatever your role is. "Writing is not just for the blogger, the op-ed author, and the novelist. It is also the absolutely indispensible tool of the fundraiser, the recruiter, and the manager", says Mr. Matt Mitchell, a research fellow at Mercatus Center.

There is no such thing as a typical day in a think tank.

Process of influencing policy decisions doesn't have a well-defined set of activities or a path. You'll have to be perform various roles ranging from an op-ed writer to fundraiser to mail dispatcher to event coordinator which implies anyone choosing a career in public policy has to be flexible and must love changes and various roles. Policy world is more of an adventure than a well trodden path.

Higher degrees in economics or political sciences are very valuable.

A PH.D. in economics or political science is well respected in the policy world so are Masters degrees in these disciplines whereas degrees in other disciplines aren't as valuable by themselves but are valuable in respect to the contribution they make to your work. But any degrees is less valuable than the quality of your work.

Understanding of Economics helps in policy

Policies of any field always has something to do with economics due to the cost and benefit that comes attached with any public policy. So, understanding of economics is necessary for personnel involved in the policy world. "Economic thinking allows policy professionals to ask the right questions, thus helping good thinking to overcome some tempting policy errors that are made every day", says James D. Gwartney, Professor of Economics at Florida State University.

Understanding of Politics helps in policy

Like economics, politics is another indispensable aspect of any public policy. So, an understanding of politics really helps while advocating for or against a policy. Too many times, bad policies get enacted solely for the reason that their lobbyists have a good understanding of politics and use it to their advantage.

Use (Not misuse) of statistics is important

Statistics are seductive. It's necessary for a policy professional to have a good command of statistical tools and analysis.However, statistics represent just information not knowledge.It's important that statistical information aren't misused to serve vested interests.

The secret of convincing people to your thinking lies in your persuasion and issue framing skills.

Different people have different values. Some people may value liberty above all other values whereas some may put more stock in other values. You need to have good persuasion skills and the ability to frame your issues in the manner suitable to your audiences. As Fred Smith, founder of Competitive Enterprises Institute notes:

In the political world, people aren’t stupid because they’re stupid.
They’re stupid because they’re smart.
And if we try to make them smart, we’re being stupid!

Think Tanks accommodate several roles and backgrounds.

Think tanks accommodate roles that range from academicians to journalists to managers to researchers. No matter what is your background, you can still contribute to the world of policy. Policy analyst, policy strategist, communications specialist, investigative journalist, researcher (academician), blogger, op-ed writer , networking expert are some of the common roles in a think tank.

There are many ways to influence policies besides working in a think tank.

Working for a think tank isn't the only way you can influence a policy. There are various professions you can choose to influence policy decisions in your country. You can influence policy decisions by being a professor, businessman, politicians, author, op-ed writer, activist or any other profession. However, working for a think tank gets you in the forefront of the battle of ideas.

Note: The book is freely available for download. Click here to download the book.

धर्मभिरु कम्युनिष्टका कुरा

2011-02-13T13:23:00.001+05:30

हिजोको नागरिकमा प्रकाशित यो लेखले हसाँउनु हसायो । बल्ल बल्ल प्रधानमन्त्री बन्ने धोको पुर्याएका कम्युनिष्ट नेता झलनाथ खनालले बलुवाटार प्रवेश गर्दा धर्मभिरु हरुले गर्ने भन्दा चर्को पूजा-आजा गरेछन । कठैबारा, के गरुन त सत्ता लिप्साले असह्य भएर घुमिरहदा अझ उल्टो झापू खानु पर्दा तातेको उनको कन्सिरी बल्ल बल्ल शितल जो भाको छ । हो न हो , देवी प्रसादलाई पक्कै देवीले नै पठाएँको हुनुपर्छ , मलाई आशिर्वाद दिन भन्ने लाग्यो होला उनलाई ।

Cartoon by: Robin Sayami

हुनत राजनितीग्यहरु भनेका जातैले ढोङी हुन्छन् , तर यी कम्निस्टेहरुको ढोङ चै बुझी नसक्नुको हुँदोरहेछ । धर्म र इश्वरवाद बिपरित धारहरु हुन भन्ने मार्क्स्वादी हुन या धर्म अफिम हो भन्ने माओ का अनुयायीहरु "कथाले माग्ने " बित्तिकै भने धर्म भिरु बन्न तम्सिहाल्दारहेछन । जनताहरुले बढी कमाए भनेर रिस गर्नेहरु आफुले चै तेइ सम्पत्ती खोसेर थुपार्नु हुने रे । अरुले पसिना चुहाएर सम्पत्ती कमाउदा चै "पुँजिपती सामन्ती " हुने आफुले लुटेर धन थुपार्दा चै सर्वहारा भइने । सन्सारका मज्दूर एक हुनु रे अनी फेरि राश्ट्रवादी पनि हुनु रे (स्टालिन )। विश्वव्यपी आर्थिक संकट पूँजिवादको अन्त्य हो रे , सोभिएत रुस र अन्य प्राय: कम्युनिष्ट देश्हरुको पतन चै साम्यवाद को अन्त्य होईन रे । चुरोट चै आधारभूत आवश्यकता रे , ईन्टरनेट चै २१ औँ शताब्दी को रोग रे (क्युबा) ।

खै यिनिहरुको कुरा बुझेर बुझी नसकिने । गार्हो प्रश्न सोध्यो भनेर अहिले प्रतिकृयावादी, बिदेशी प्रभु, प्रतिगमनकारि, राजावादी, अमेरिकी जासूसको आरोप लाग्ला, तेसैले भो न कुरो गरम्, निस्टामा कमी हुनेहरुको ।

नोट: सम्पादक ज्यू , कम्युनिष्टले पूजा गर्‍यो रे भनेर ३ पाना समाचार छाप्नेले निजी बिद्यालयका सामन्तहरु र कम्युनिष्टहरु मिलेर आफ्नो निजी स्वार्थ पुर्तिका लागी नयाँ बिद्यालय हरु दर्ता गर्न नदेको कुरा लाई पनि (एकै पाना मात्र भए पनि ) प्रकाशमा ल्याईदिए , हाम्रो शिक्षा क्षेत्र , ठुला बिद्यालयहरुको एकाधिकार र सरकारी बिद्यालयको राजनिती र भ्रस्टाचारको प्रकोपबाट तहस नहस हुन बाट बच्ने थियो कि ?

How to slap a politician? A Layman’s guide to active citizenry

2011-02-03T16:12:00.000+05:30

Devi Prasad Regmi, a simple farmer, made headlines after slapping Jhalanath Khanal, a prominent politician (they don’t deserve the title of leaders!) during a party convention. Though he later regretted his act after being jailed for a couple of days and advised his wannabe followers not to do the same, the sheer amount of publicity and the support he got through online campaigns as well as real life campaigns points out how terribly do we detest our politicians. It's to no one's doubt that when he was hailed as heroes by the general public , it was for doing something which everyone had always wanted to do but didn't have the courage. I wonder how many of our politicians would have busted cheeks if all the "wanna-be Devi Prasad" were to go on a slapping spree. Oh, what a sight it would be!

Getting back to reality, slapping a politician (literally) might not be a good idea (you'll have to spend days in jail and no matter how much people say they support you, you'll end up having to pay for your own bail and it does NOT work). Slapping them won't change anything except the color of their cheeks and embarrassing (if they are embarrassed by anything at all) them a little.However, having some understanding of fundamentals of economics, how economies function, what are the various methods of running economies and political systems and what makes our lives so dependent on their whims might help. And making the right demands and allowing nothing more than essential powers to the politicians might be useful. Boy, what do i mean by that?

If you look around, the major sources of our frustration are the stagnant economy, sky-rocketing inflation, increasing lawlessness, anarchy and threats to our lives and property, aggression of powerful ones over the less powerful ones, dwindling opportunities, increasing gap between the world and us, power cuts propelling us to middle ages to name a few. Dig down deeper and you’ll notice these problems originated in one way other because we asked politicians to act on our behalf!

Every economy has to decide what are the goods and services it is going to produce, how they are going to be produced and who gets what amount of the goods and services produced and who's going to lead the growth. We could let ourselves (individuals) decide or we could ask the politicians to decide for us. The more we ask the politicians to decide for us and give them the power, the more they are going to slap us in face without shame whereas, the more we let the people to decide themselves, the more we are going to slap the politicians by making them jobless.

For eg, who decides currently, what "noodles" do you want to have and in what amount? Or what shoes do you want to wear and for how long? "YOU"... However, who decides how much electricity to consume and at what price? Who decides how much petrol to have and at what price? Who decides whether foreign companies should be allowed to operate in Nepal, who decides whether their goods or services are good enough? Who decides which roads will be built and which won't be? Who decides what's going to be the inflation rate for a year? "NOT ME, NOT YOU" It's the POLITICIANS. And where these issues need to be decided, the dirty game of politics supersedes the common sense and rationality of general people and we get caught in their game. Needless to say, they have been slapping us so much that our indignation and common sense is getting numbed!!

We are partly to blame for all of this. At one hand we are expressing how disappointed we are with the politicians whereas on the other hand, we are making demands that they take care of more and more of our needs.

When one is asking for nationalization of schools and educational institutions, he/she is asking these very politicians to decide what education we'll get or whether we get education at all? (The money paid will be one way or the other yours and yours alone...ever heard a government or politician producing any wealth?)

When one demands that state should provide him/her with employment, he/she is asking these politicians to decide what job should he/she get, and how his/her wealth should be used? (I don't think you believe that when government provides you with employment, you get your salary from politician's pocket, or do you?)

When one is asking for "Right to food" be written in the constitution and be taken care of by the state, all he/she is asking is these very politicians to decide whether you get to eat or not? (I don't think you believe that people are starving just because "Right to food" isn't written in constitution and writing it there will solve the problem, do you?...it'll worsen the situation instead)

So, next time you make a demand, think whether you really want them to make the decisions ("state should take care") or do you want to make the decisions yourself ("leave it to the market"). Make sure that you don't let them slap you! Giving the politicians less and less power to control the destiny of your lives and properties is how one slaps a politician!

प्रचण्ड काकाको दैनिक राशिफल र चेप्टो दुनिया

2011-01-24T16:10:00.000+05:30

दुईवटा कुराले मलाई यो ब्लगपोस्ट लेख्न प्रेरित गरे- पहिलो हाम्रा महान कम्रेड (काका) प्रचन्डले फेरी (१५७३४२ औं पटक ) सफलतापूर्वक बोली फेरेका छन र भन्न थालेका छन , सत्ता कब्जा त गर्नै पर्छ , हामी सत्ता कब्जा गरेरै छाड्छौं ।अस्ती भर्खर (१५७३४१ औं पटक ) उहाँले सत्ता कब्जा गर्ने कुरा मिथ्या भएको जानकारी दिनु भएको थियो । दोस्रो मैले धेरै समयदेखी पढ्औंला भनेर सोची राखेको टम फ्रीड्म्यानको "दुनिया चेप्टो छ" भन्ने किताब आधिउधी जस्तो पढ्एर भ्याएँ । पढ्नलाई साह्रै रमाईलो र ज्ञानवर्दक यस किताबमा लेखकले यो सन्सारलाई हामीले गोलो , अग्लो-होचो छ भन्ने सोच्ने गरेका थियौं तर सोभियत रुसको पतन, सुचनाप्रविधिको विकास्, व्यापक भुमण्डलीकरणले गर्दा यो विश्व चैं खासमा चेप्टो भैसकेको छ र आजको दुनियामा विश्वका सबै कुनाका मान्छेहरुले समान धरातल्मा उभिएर एक अर्का सँग प्रतिस्पर्धा गर्न सक्छन भन्ने कुरा गरेका छन र आफ्नो गन्थनलाई भरपूर उदाहरणसहित प्रस्तुत गरेका छन ।

यसले गर्दा पहिले पहिले पश्चिमा देशरुले मात्र उपभोग गरिराखेको सम्पन्नता आज हरेकको पहुँचमा छ । १ अर्ब भन्दा कम मानिसले प्रतिस्पर्धा गरिरखेको खेलामा आज ३ अर्बभन्दा बढी मानिस हरुले अहिले प्रतिस्पर्धा गरिराखेका छन । जसका कारण अहिले बिश्वमा अत्यन्त तिब्र गतिमा बिकास भैराखेको छ । र तेही गतिमा भारत , चीन जस्ता मुलुक का मनिस हरु समृद्ध हुँदै गैराखेका छन । भारत बढ्दो उदारिकरणको बाटोमा छ भने चीन बजार अर्थतन्त्र (पुँजिवाद्) लाई बिस्तार गर्ने बाटोमा ।यही क्रम रहिरहने हो भने भारत र चीन बिश्वको अर्थतन्त्रका मुख्य धरोहर बन्न र चीनमा पनि राजनीतिक स्वतन्त्रा आउन धेरै समय बाँकी छैन भन्ने लेखकको तर्क छ । साम्यवादी ब्यबस्था टिकाउन चहिने मुख्य आधार सूचना माथी को शासक हरुको एकाधिकार अबको बिश्वमा सम्भव हुने देखिदैन । बढ्दो भूमन्डलिकरण ले गर्दा सरकारहरुको शक्तिमा झन कमी आउने र नागरिक हरुको सशक्तिकरण हुने प्रवृत्ती देखिइराखेको अवस्था छ ।

यस्तोमा प्रचन्ड काकाको राज्य कब्जा को सपना , दिवास्वप्न बहेक अरु केहि होला जस्तो लाग्दैन मलाई । आजको बिश्वको घटनाक्रम सँग राम्रो सँग अभयस्त ब्यक्ती लाई यो कुरा बुझ्न खासै गार्हो पर्दैन । बिश्व पूँजीवाद कि साम्यवादको बहस धेरै पहिले नै छोडेर (रुस लगायत साम्यवादी देशहरुको पतन पछी ) भूमन्डलिकरण को बहसमा पुगिसकेको छ । जुन पनि निर्क्योल जस्तो भैसक्यो । कारण साम्यवादको हारले बिरक्त भएकाहरुले जे जस्तै आरोप लगाएपनी आखिर सम्पूर्ण बिश्वका जनताको आकन्क्षा त भूमन्डलिकारण को बिस्तारको गती र यसबाट लावान्भित जनताहरुलाई हेरेर नै थाहा हुन्छ नि । एउटा उदाहरण त तपाईंले यो ब्लग पढ्इराख्न पाउनुको पछाडी पनि तीनै शक्ती हरुको हात छ जसले सारा दुनियाँलाई चेप्टो बनाइराखेका छन । तर कठै प्रचन्ड काकालाई यो कुरा कस्ले बुझाइदेओस जो सत्ता पाउनका लागी सत्तै कब्जा भएपनी गर्छु भनेर लागी परेका छन् ।

कहिलेकही मलाई प्रचन्ड काकाले भन्ने कुरा र दैनिक पत्रीकामा प्रकाशित हुने राशिफल उस्तै उस्तै लाग्छन । न त तीनमा कुनै तुक हुन्छ न त तीनलाई कसैले गम्भिरता पुर्वक नै लिन्छ । आज एक थरी भनेकोमा भोली अर्कै थरी हुन्छ , बिना कुनै आधार वा तर्क । दुबैलाई बिहान उठ्दा भन्नेको मुड वा चियाको मिठोपन वा तितोपनले निर्धारण गर्छन ।

नोट्: मैले यस पोस्ट लेख्न थाले देखी लेखी सक्दा सम्म काकाले फेरी बोली फेरेर "सत्ता कब्जा नगर्ने जानकारी दिनु भएको छ । "

Movies that changed US; what about us?

2011-01-17T15:27:00.002+05:30

Image Source: www.brightlightsfilm.com

The intensity with which Hollywood dominates the movie world and thereby plays a vital role in reflecting or inspiring public opinions or social values and norms is inconceivably huge. Any film aficionado regardless of his/her nationality or language is more or less bound to reach Hollywood movies at some stage of movie watching. Having watched over a 1000 movies, most of which are from Hollywood, I feel the reason behind the domination of Hollywood isn’t just about the technological edge or the huge investment or merely, the language. One reason among many is also the way its products reflect the social trends of the time and influence the direction of opinions for better or worse in many ways. It’s a quality we rarely find in the so called industries of "Kollywood" or "Bollywood". There’s very little, if any reflection of our social or political consciousness in our movies. No wonder we find it very hard to relate ourselves to our movies.

I recently finished reading a book called “The Movies That Changed Us: Reflections on the Screen” by the famous movie critic Nick Clooney. In the book, he talks about the 20 movies (19 from Hollywood, 1 from Germany) that sparked something in the country's social or political consciousness.

Saving Private Ryan (1998) changed the way Americans and Europeans viewed US’s involvement in the Second World War giving the viewers a glimpse of what the war was really like and what it was like to be a young man during the war. Star Wars (1977) changed the way movies were made and the way technology was used in the movies.

Taxi Driver (1976), which inspired a guy to attempt an assassination of President Reagan, helped to tilt the public opinion towards the support of strong gun control laws. The public opinion had been the opposite previously. Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) contributed in dismantling the shackles of the Hollywood Production Code which was a nightmare to any director trying to stretch his/her creativity or imagination or their artistic ability. Those set of censorships which prevented movies from depicting any sexual scenes, sexual perversion, ‘lustful’ activities and comedy movies from having seduction as their theme prevented many directors from exercising their artistic freedom. Thanks to ‘Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?’, movies like Superbad (2007) or The Hangover (2009) or American Pie Series can breathe life in screen at our times.

Dr. Strangelove (1964) changed the way world viewed the nuclear arms mania of the cold war period. Through humor, it gave the public a glimpse on the real threats posed by the nuclear race to the human civilization. Similarly, Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator(1940), challenged Hitler’s image of invincible ruler bound to conquer the world depicting him as an insecure clown and thereby changed the way the world thought of Hitler.

Looking back at our cinemas or even Bollywood, I find very few movies that were instrumental in creating or influencing changes in the society. Tulsi Ghimire’s Balidaan could be one and Bhusan Dahal’s “Kagbeni” could be the second. Such state of affairs is a sad one for a film industry (?) that has been making films for about 6 decades already. Our rich history that consists of numerous revolutions, our culture that encompasses numerous ethnic groups with their own traditions, norms and language, recent civil war and the thousands of stories and characters it has created whose stories remain untold, the transition that our country is going through, they all demand a clear stand of the public on major issues. Numerous social issues such as untouchability, marginalization of certain groups, the immense diversity of the people all over the country, these issues that could highly be celebrated remain untouched by our movies. If the movie makers and the stakeholders knew where to look for their stories and had a little more trust on the taste of the public, Kollywood too could boast of masterpieces. We could find many movies that would change us, for better or for worse.

-Surath Giri

(Published in the Republica daily of 18th January 2011 as "Fledgling Nepali Cinema needs more wings")

The story of Hong Kong: A Free Market Odyssey

2011-01-14T13:45:00.002+05:30

"Hong Kong at night." Source: Wikipedia

Heritage Foundation has released its annual report on economic freedom around the world for 2011. Hong Kong, the 'fragrant harbor' still reigns as the freest economy in the world with a score of 89.7 out of the possible 100. Hong Kong serves as an example of how markets, if allowed to work freely, can create a truly dynamic and prosperous society. With its area spread over just 1104 square kilometers and nothing to its stock of natural resources except a harbor, Hong Kong has created one of the most affluent societies in the world with a population of more than 7 million people (6,349 people per sq. km) who earn an average of $42,748 (PPP) in a year.

There is a general perception that Hong Kong developed because it was a British colony and there is a similar perception (which too is just a myth) about India in Nepal. From general public to so called intellectuals and even civil servants (as far as I have met) share this perception. However, if we look at the facts, during 1960s , Hong Kong followed a path that was highly contrasting to UK. When UK was succumbing to socialism and had almost turned to Soviet Kingdom, Hong Kong resisted the socialist temptations and kept its economy free which is the reason why its economy grew steadily over the decades without any serious setbacks. The fact that per capita income of Hong Kong is higher than the per capita income of United Kingdom by a whooping $8129 alone proves that United Kingdom has nothing to do with Hong Kong's progress. Instead, had United Kingdom learned something from its colony, it would have been better off.

Contrast Hong Kong with Nepal, which is considered a very rich country in terms of natural resources with an area of 1,47,181 sq. kms and more than 25 million people. A Nepalese citizen on an average earns just $1,205 per capita (PPP). Nepal ranks 146th in the above mentioned economic freedom index with a score of 50.1 out of 100 for the year which is worse as compared to last year when it ranked 130th with a score of 52.7. I wonder what Nepal would be like if it followed the right path, like Hong Kong, believing in the ability of free individuals to innovate and prosper rather than encumbering their efforts through state intervention and failing to maintain the basic requisites for a free society, rule of law and maintaining peace and order. With the growing trend just in the opposite direction, I find very little reasons to be hopeful.

10 easy to read books that will teach you about economics , wealth and prosperity

2011-01-12T16:56:00.000+05:30

Many a times after engaging in a debate on issues of public policy or economies, one response I invariably get is; “I didn’t know economics could be that interesting. Can you recommend me some books on economics that are easy to read and understand, ones that don’t have too many indecipherable figures and codes, something that can teach me to relate economics with day to day examples as you did now?”

They can’t be blamed for their view of economics. Economics has long been accused of being too abstract, irrelevant, unrealistic and boring subject. Economics for a layman has been a subject of experts. It’s all about curves, figures and numbers that has little if any, to do with our daily lives. However, the truth is that, economics isn’t all about, or I would rather say, it isn’t primarily about curves, diagrams, codes and numbers. Economics and fun needn’t be contradictory terms.

Today, I would like to present you the top ten books that are easy to read and understand which will teach you a lot about economics, wealth and prosperity. And take my word; you won’t be bored unless you have a dire disgust towards reading itself.

1.Common Sense Economics: As the name suggests, if you have common sense, you'll understand this book pretty well. The alternative title of this book is "What everyone should know about wealth and prosperity" . I believe by now you can pretty well guess what the book is about and what it will be like.

2.In Defense of Global Capitalism: In defense of global capitalism is an easy to read explanation of how the spread of the free market economy has brought about the swiftest reduction of hunger and poverty in human history. It explains how the world is getting more prosperous and wealthy through policies of free markets.

Note: If you love to believe that capitalism is about letting rich people do whatever they like and letting poor people die or if you love to take word by word what our politicians say about capitalism (capitalism is the cause of all this mess, capitalism is what USA does, capitalism is evil etc etc.), you might find the book very shocking as it has tons of facts and examples that point otherwise.

3.Economics in One Lesson: FYI, the book has more than one lesson but it is one hell of a simple read that will give you lots of insights to principles of economics and their implications in our daily lives.

4.The Choice: A fable of free trade and protectionism: Written by one of my most favorite economic writers , Russell Roberts, The Choice teaches you about the various aspects of free trade and protectionism in the simplest form possible..i.e a story. If you love reading stories, you'll definitely love this book.

5.The Price of Everything: It is another book written by Russell Roberts. It teaches why everything has a price and how prices are one of the most wonderful inventions of human societies. As it is with every other book by Roberts, it's in the form of fiction too.

6.The Deal Maker: Written by Rakesh Wadhwa, whose articles appear regularly in leading newspapers of Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, and the US, The Deal Maker is an easy to read novel with lots of twists, suspense and subplots and of course, lessons in economics and how any country can get prosperous.

7.The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible: Have you read the classic "Gulliver's Travels"? If you liked the book, you'll surely like The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible. Jonathan Gullible finds various kinds of people with various economic concepts and behaviors. Along the way, he learns a lot.

8.The Ultimate Resource: Remember your school days when a subject called "Population, Health and Environment" terrified you with a grim picture of the world where the rapid growth of population is going to threaten our existence? The author of this book seems to believe just the opposite. He thinks population is our ultimate resource and the source of prosperity and he ain't kidding.

9.Free Your Mind: A beginner's guide to Political Economy: This book is even simpler as compared to other books I mentioned but not a bit less interesting and definitely not less informative. Targeted for teenagers, the presentation style of this book is amazing. It covers topics such as employment, free trade, public administration, inflation, environment , poverty etc. Know why money is called "bucks'? The author also says , Statutory Warning! Socialist Democracy Is Very Bad For Your Health! (You’d Be Better Off Chain Smoking!) and he too ain't kidding!

10.Free to Choose: I am not sure if all the chapters of this book would be very easy to understand but I highly recommend you to read the first couple of chapters. This book is supposed to have influenced many influential politicians and general people all around the world. After a few chapters, you'll know why.

Well, that's it. Have you read any of these books? If yes, what do you think about them? Please share your thoughts and view points. If you have any similar books in mind, please share about it in the comment box below!

Privatization: The way of the future

2011-01-09T01:20:00.001+05:30

Image Source:www.ktm2day.com

The recent report presented by a high level commission formed by the government to study about the performance of the state owned enterprises presents the dire state of these enterprises. Majority of our public enterprises are running on losses and are burdensome for the state. This state of affairs is an irony to the very objective of establishing such enterprises i.e. provide public with the goods and services at affordable prices and contribute in the economic growth of the nation. Not only these state owned enterprises running on losses are having negative impact on nation’s growth but the goods and services they are producing are far from satisfying consumer needs. The commission has rightly advised for different measures for the improvement of these enterprises ranging from selling shares to adapting the private public partnership management to closing down some of them.

Once upon a time

Once upon a time, people all over the world, mostly in the communist countries and the Third world countries used to think, state operated enterprises are the panacea to all the needs of the society. The advent of the cold war saw a massive wave of creation of huge state owned and operated enterprises as well as nationalization of major industries all over the world. However, these ventures disregarded some basic principles of markets and human behaviors and were bound to fail. The basic human nature that says people are self-interested, they care for what they own and whatever belongs to no one falls into disrepair was violated when tax payers' money was used to establish these ventures. As for the people who worked in them, had little or no incentive at all to sustain and grow these enterprises.

Another violation was the principle of markets - for an enterprise to be profitable or sustainable for that matter, it has to work under the law of supply and demand. It has to respond to the signals of the various market forces. Failing to heed to market forces would eventually result in losses and shifting of resources to more efficient sectors. State owned enterprises violated this principle because they were supposed to run on bureaucratic codes and regulations rather than by responding to market signals.

Another major principle violated was the natural tendency of corruption to breed wherever political affairs are involved. State owned enterprises being under the political control no wonder became the breeding grounds for corruption. The result, SOEs all over the world became the breeding ground for corruption and epitome of inefficiency, financial disasters.

However, during the 1980s, under the leaderships of Margaret Thatcher in the UK and Ronald Reagan in the USA, privatization of state owned enterprises gained worldwide momentum. After the fall of Soviet empire and end of cold war in the 1990s, when capitalism emerged as the only practical way of organizing a society, nations all over the world started deregulating industries and privatizing or disinvesting their public enterprises with much success. The general trend over a period of time has been lower prices, improved quality, more choices, less corruption, less red tape, and quicker delivery of services. The general trend all over the world has been of liberalization and privatization of most of the public enterprises.

Once in a place

Nepal had its own fair share of public enterprises established during the Panchayat era. During the mid sixties to early eighties, the government invested large sums of money in the establishment and expansion of public enterprises (PE’s) in all sector of the economy from banking to trading, public utilities to manufacturing and social service. The concept of privatization came into focus in the sixth plan review on PE’s which showed a bleak picture of the return on the investments done on public enterprises leading to the decision of selling some of the public enterprises. During the 1990s a limited liberalization was done and a number of public enterprises privatized.

Some of the results were increase in choice and living standard of consumers, cheaper and better airlines, better banking services and spurts of various private endeavors. Behind the scene too, the administrative and fiscal burden of the government was reduced to some extent. However, the privatization of some public enterprises such as Raghupati jute mills, Bansbari Tannary Industry, Bhrikuti Paper factory were marred with political controversy generated mostly due to ideological conflict and misinforming propagandas. The too often quoted case of “Bansbari Tannary privatization” that resulted in closure of the business is more of propaganda than a fact. Contrary to the rumors, the factory was shut down because it could not compete anymore with the cheap imported Chinese shoes and the machinery of the tannery was too old that it had become obsolete.

The failure of the then proponents of liberalization to highlight the gains of privatization and the politically controversy made the process come to a halt and hasn’t been able to move very far since then.

Current time

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More than half of the 36 public enterprises that we have now are operating under losses and the amount of accumulated loss is alarming. Except for a few of them, public enterprises are epitome of corruption, inefficiency and financial disasters. More than 30 percent of the government’s initial investment of 86 billion rupees has already been lost. In the fiscal year 065/066 alone, only 4 of the public enterprises paid dividend of Rs. 3 billion and 470 millions to the government which is just about 4.3 percent return on the investment. Some of the public enterprises have even negative net worth owing to the continuous losses over a long period of time. The scenario is a kick on the face of any fiscal prudence.

As most of the functions of these enterprises are being taken up by private sector which is performing pretty well, the dire state of public enterprises is surfacing even more clearly due to the contrast effect. Take for example the case of state run Janakpur cigarette factory versus private Surya tobacco. Janakpur Cigarette Factory has an accumulated loss of more than a billion rupees and has been operating on loss for almost two decades now. It has more than 1100 staffs. Compare it to Surya tobacco which is one of the largest taxpayer of the country which has about 900 staffs. The scenario is not very different in the case of many of our public enterprises.

The future

As suggested by the Public Enterprises evaluation commission, privatizing and changing the ownership of the ailing public enterprises is the only practical solution for the government. With all the political instability going on and the ineffectiveness of the state being heightened in crucial areas like law and order , justice administration and infrastructure development , reducing the administrative burden of the government is a must for proper functioning of the government. Similarly, reducing the economic burden of public enterprises from the ailing economy of ours could be an important step towards reviving our economy.

As the commission has advised different ways to improve the performances of public enterprises including privatization, public private ownership, cooperative ownership, merging of two or more public enterprises and introducing them to PPP and shutting down, it’s very important that the government act on the suggestion quickly and effectively. If the government decides to keep owning and running them based on some dogmatic ideological principles or pressurized by the vested interest of the group that benefits from the poor performing public enterprises, they will continue to be a drain on our economy.

-Surath Giri
(Published in The Himalayan Times of 30th Jan 2011-Perspectives Page 3)