Although there was a controversy when Sujata Koirala was nominated to lead Nepali Congress in the government, she was appointed as the foreign minister. Daughter of NC president Girija Prasad Koirala, Minister Sujata is also in the forefront of party. After her appointment as Foreign Minister, SUJATA KOIRALA gave first exclusive interview to KESHAB POUDEL. Excerpts:

Do you realize that the storm over your induction into the cabinet has not died down yet?

There was no storm as such. Some did not like it. That’s all. But a large number of youth party members are happy. They believe that my appointment opens the way for them in the Congress politics. I don’t care what others say about me. All I want is to work for the Nepali people and the Nepali Congress. I have been working for the party for 18 years in different capacities. I was asked to withdraw my nomination in the Pokhara General Assembly though I was in a firm position to be elected to the Central Committee. Many district presidents have supported me.

Support of the party president and your father Girija Prasad Koirala was crucial, no?

Of course, I am daughter of Girija Prasad Koirala but I have been active in politics for a long time. His influence has had nothing to do with my success. I have been working with party workers. I have devoted almost all my time to the political party. Although as a daughter, I do have relations with my father.

If you have made such a big contribution to the party why such opposition from within the party?

I don’t understand it. There are many who are jealous of my success in politics. I was not picked up by anybody. I have own my political role. I have always been a part of Nepali Congress and I took part in all the struggles launched by my party.

But you lost the Constituent Assembly elections. Did not you?

The constitution clearly states that anybody can be appointed as a minister, I don’t understand why they are only pointing fingers at me. So far as the election in my constituency is concerned, they were completely rigged. The then election commissioner rejected my request to recount and to conduct re-polls in some booths.

How can one expect the government to deliver the goods when it has not even been unable to expand the cabinet for three weeks?

Of course, there has been a delay. This is because all want to have consensus. This government will be stronger in the coming days as all the parties have agreed to back us. We are also trying to bring in the Maoists. Their participation is crucial in the constitution making process. We are in dialogue with Maoist leaders. We also want the support of Maoists to restore rule of law and stability. Only through the active participation of Maoist, you can write the constitution. The situation is fluid as the peace process is not moving smoothly.

If it takes more than three weeks to give a complete shape to the government, how can you guarantee that this government will last?

The time does not matter. Had the prime minister done a poor job in expanding the cabinet, it may have bitter political results. It may take couple of weeks to expand the cabinet but will have good results and lead to national consensus. Better late than hurry.

Maoist leaders have been saying that this government will fall within three months.

I have not read such statements. Instead, even Maoist leader Prachanda congratulated me by telephone after I became minister. I requested him to join the government and to make it a national government.

Don’t you think a new alternative alliance will be made?

It is impossible now.

Now you have been appointed to the important office of Foreign Minister. How do you plan to go about?

Foreign affairs is not foreign to me. I have been actively working in the party’s foreign affairs department for quite a long time and I visited different parts of the world in that capacity. I have met various leaders and diplomats.

What is your priority as foreign minister?

My priority will be to strengthen the relations with our neighbors, India and China, and to maintain good relations with all the other countries.

What is the state of relations of Nepal with its two neighbors?

They are good, friendly and cordial. I want to maintain good and friendly relations with both of our neighbors as in the past. This is also mentioned in the government’s common minimum program.

Isn’t that a tall talk, given the shaky future of the government?

This government will last until we make new constitution. This government has no alternative. Of course, there are challenges. But opportunities as well. I have joined the government with the intention to bring the peace process to its logical end. As you know, Girijababu initiated the peace process, I want to complete it.

As foreign minister, what role do you see for yourself in the peace process?

As foreign minister, I have a lot of role to play. As a foreign minister, I can support the peace process by mobilizing the international community. We need moral support of international community to bring peace process to a logical end.

You don’t have the experience to run the foreign affairs. Do you?

You don’t necessarily need to be book-worm to be a good foreign minister. Your experience can guide you. The country’s situation will tell you how to work. In this era of globalization, I can do a lot of work. As Girijababu declared there is going to be an all-party committee to guide the government, and that committee will also guide me. This is a government of consensus and such committee will play an important role whenever there are misunderstandings.

How can you hope to do your best when foreign ambassadors do bypass the foreign minister and directly meet prime minister?

Every ambassador can meet prime minister but there should be prior coordination with the ministry regarding such meetings. At least the foreign ministry should receive information on what matters they discuss.

Do you have any plan to introduce any mechanism for this?

I am new in the ministry. I am still considering whether or not to create a new mechanism. I don’t want to create misunderstandings between my ministry and the prime minister regarding such meetings. What I am considering is building institutional mechanisms so that there is coordination among us on country’s foreign policy issues.

What are your visions in Ministry of Foreign Affairs?

I want to make my ministry effective in dealing with all our friendly countries. I want to strengthen embassies abroad to protect the interest of Nepal and Nepalis.

How do you see Nepal’s relations with our two neighbors?

We have two neighbors and we have excellent relations with both of them.

But there is border dispute with India.

We will settle it through diplomatic means.

Reports say, India is encroaching upon Nepali land. But you have been reported to have given a clean chit. Why?

I have not said anything of the sort. I was quoting only preliminary reports of the officials. After final reports, I will be in a position to give a definitive answer. I have not made any comments on border issue thus far.

There have been concerns of our northern neighbor China vis-à-vis its security? How do you address their concern?

China is our important neighbor. I have already told them the government will never allow any anti-Chinese activities in Nepal. Nepal has similar policy regarding India. Nepal will not allow any activities directed at our two neighbors from our soil. The Chinese want to see Nepal as a peaceful and prosperous nation. They are supportive of our peace process.

But the Chinese are complaining that Tibetans are launching anti-China activities from Nepal.

Nobody will be allowed to conduct any hostile activities against our neighbors. This has always been the policy of Nepal. Of course, Nepal needs political stability and secure environment. This is the reason we are requesting that even the Maoists join the government. We need unity among all the political parties to bring political stability in Nepal. By establishing political stability, we can assure our neighbors.

How do you balance the relations between the rival neighbors, India and China?

India and China are our good and friendly neighbors. We will not play them against each other. We will respect their sensitivities.

Beside India and China, what is the state of Nepal’s relations with other countries?

We have very friendly relations with all other countries. Recently, the foreign minister from the UAE and assistant minister of the United States of America visited Nepal. The American minister expressed his desire to support Nepal’s development and peace process. We have also good relations with European countries. During my tenure, I will do my best efforts to strengthen Nepal’s relations with all countries. We need massive support to build our infrastructure which was devastated during the conflict. We need the support of our friendly countries to increase employment opportunities for Nepalese youth. For all these things, we need political stability.

Many people say that India and China have contradictory interests and that creates trouble for Nepal. Do you agree?

The relations between India and China are changing as both countries have made tremendous improvements in bilateral trade. This is good news for Nepal. Nepal can benefit a lot if they continue to increase their bilateral and trade relations.

Lastly, about the future of the Nepali Congress. Nepali Congress did poorly in the last elections. Internal dissension is too deep. Can the party survive?

Our party has a long history and ideology. We have had strong leaders like B.P.Koirala and G.P. Koirala and there are tens of thousands of our supporter in grass roots. I don’t think our party can be wiped out. It will strengthen. Just wait and see.

(Courtesy: New Spotlight Fortnightly Magazine)

Former Deputy Executive Director of the UNICEF and Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, KUL CHANDRA GAUTAM, 60, is now back taking active participation in civil society activities and trying to support the country’s fragile peace process in whatever way possible. Gautam, who was the highest-ranking Nepali in the UN system, spoke to KASHISH DAS SHRESTHA in Kathmandu on contemporary issues. Excerpts:

After the army chief row resulted into the downfall of the Maoist-led government, the Maoists are alleging that the President violated constitutional norms. How are you looking at this controversy?

The Supreme Court will soon decide if the president’s actions were constitutional. The case could also be taken to the sovereign Constituent Assembly which after all symbolizes the supremacy of the people, and has the power to even impeach the president.

It is ironic that the one political party that has not renounced violence, that keeps a private army of its own, and that still subscribes to an ideology of “power comes from the barrel of the gun”, claims to stand for “civilian supremacy”. All other political parties with a much longer and consistent record of following democratic norms are castigated as supporting militarization, and being feudal, reactionary, anti-people, lackeys of foreigners – as certified by self-proclaimed defenders of the people. The Maoists and their sympathizers being the only supporters of “civilian supremacy” sounds curiously like the old Nepali saying “the cat is the watchdog of the milk” – doodhko saakshi biraalo!

You have been watching Nepal’s peace process from close quarters and have publicly expressed very strong ideas on the scope and the role of the army in Nepal. Would you like to share your views with us?

I have a long-term dream scenario and a short term immediate practical one. I’m a pacifist, so my long term dream scenario would be that a country like Nepal, like Costa Rica, can dream to be a country without an army altogether. Costa Rica has justified it by saying they neither expect to attack anybody nor do they expect to be attacked. That they want to be a peaceful demilitarized country and they have not had a military for the last four decades and the country has not collapsed. On the contrary, it is the most progressive the most prosperous an the most egalitarian country in all of South America. Here we are between India and China. If anybody could attack us it would be either of them. But one, we don’t expect them to attack us. Two, if they did attack us Nepal’s defense is not going to be based on the army, so our defense is diplomacy. So for the normal national security purposes, a country like Nepal in the long run should not need an army so long as we are able to maintain good diplomacy. That’s the long-term dream, that will maybe happen in my grandchildren’s lifetime.

In the short term, now, we do need a small army in Nepal but we need to be clear about their function. Securing the border of the nations, protecting the sovereign integrity, is going to be one of the functions. There are other functions that I think are uniquely suited for Nepal; one is international peacekeeping. Nepal has a very good image in the UN Peacekeeping operations and we are the fifth largest contributor to this force. Bravo! Let’s do more of that. Why couldn’t we be the number one contributor in the world? Right now we are contribution about five thousand peacekeepers. Why not 10,000, or 15,000? Let’s be the world’s number provider of peacekeepers. Second thing is Disaster Relief. The Army, if well trained, can do a beautiful job. Let’s mobilize the army in protecting the people from earthquakes, floods, landslides, and fires. I would be happy to see well-trained army professionals of several thousand who can provide this kind of service. The third is, a specialized group in the army such as the Army Corp of Engineers, Doctors, which could be utilized for those kinds of development purposes. In fact, during times when the Nepal army is not otherwise too occupied, instead of sitting idle in their barracks let them be involved in development activities with the specialized units provide technical knowledge. Finally, there are a few miscellaneous things the army can do such as making sure they are providing security to vital national institutions and infrastructures, VIPs. That’s what I would like to see.

So how do you think the integration of the Maoist PLA into the Nepali Army could be materialized in the current context?

Looking at what is in the best interest of the nation, I think a limited number of integration can be very useful and here is how. So far I’ve talked about the numbers. We need to look beyond the number and talk about the composition of the army. Our army, we all acknowledge, is not reflect the diversity of Nepal. It looks like it belongs to a certain group of people. What we don’t have in Nepal Army is proper representation. We have very few women, for example. I would like to see in this revamped army while overall number goes down the number of women must go up. While overall number goes down the number of madhesis, dalits should go up. Even as we decrease the size, we have to increase the number of the under represented groups so it will be an inclusive army. To do that, actually, some of the Maoists in the cantonments will be a good pool to draw from. After all, they have got 4-5,000 women. Let’s bring them on a preferential basis and provide them with good training particularly in international peace keeping. The UN is looking for more women soldiers and professional in peacekeeping operations. The army could also bring other marginalized members of the PLA on a preferential basis. But they must all meet the army’s normal recruitment criteria. I know some people will say how can you integrate these politically indoctrinated members of a political party? And yes, we need to be careful about that. But my own conviction is that many of these women and other Maoist combatants, most of them did not do so out of ideological fervor or conviction. They did it out of social circumstances. Bring them in and I think some of the ideological excessiveness will rub off after a while. Give them some good assignment, let them earn money, I would not worry that much about the ideological things. On the positive side of the ideology many of them are likely to have a progressive view of society, on caste system etc. so let us also take advantage of some of the positives that are there. But also we need to be careful that when and if they are integrated, there should not be any separate Maoist unit. After a little bit of basic training, mix them with the rest of the Nepal army. So there is a sense of camaraderie, a sense that they are part of a larger professional Nepal Army, not the agents of one political party.

While you lived in New York and other places, you were one of the most high profile Non-Resident Nepalis. You are now based in Nepal. What role do you see the NRNs having in not just the writing of the constitution but in the on-going peace process and the transitional phase Nepal is in? What contributions do you think will be key?

There are two things the NRNs can do. There is now a special committee the NRNs have organized to make suggestions for the constitution. And I know that the committee is about to finalize the recommendations. They have consulted with the National Coordination of over 24 countries and have had lots of participation with a flood of suggestions. A small team headed by Surya Subedi, a competent lawyer based in the UK, is putting together some recommendations and those will be presented shortly to appropriate officials. I hope that the NRN suggestions will be taken very seriously by the government because the NRNs come with a particular perspective. When you are right here in Nepal, you are subjected to a lot of today’s problems, temporary and local problems and concerts. With a little bit of distance, you are able to look at things with a perspective that questions what is good for all of Nepal. There is a little bit of a distance between the NRNs and Nepal that is very helpful.

Second, NRNs are still sustaining the country’s economy to a considerable degree. The remittance funds of the NRNs continue to be the backbone of Nepal’s economy and they will continue to be so. We hope that NRNs will continue to make this contribution. Then I think several NRNs are coming with special projects. Learning from lessons of other countries, quite a few of them have been able to rise above petty local ethnic concerns in the larger interest of the nation. I think just by doing that, investing in the development of this country, they can be a force for the change for the better. We should not expect much more that that from the NRNs. Remember among the NRNs, the vast majority are poor ordinary villagers who have gone to do menial jobs in Malaysia, Middle East and so on. They themselves are struggling to feed their families against great odds. They are simple folks, working hard far away from home. But thank goodness the small amount of remittance that individuals send are of huge difference to many rural communities in this country. That in it self is a major contribution.

The NRNs have also lobbied to maintain dual citizenship. How is that proceeding going on?

Very slowly! I think many political parties and their leaders, when they go abroad and meet NRN leaders or address NRN conferences, they enthusiastically say they will support dual citizenship. But in practice, not much progress has been made on that.

I hope in the case of dual citizenship we will learn from the experience of some of our neighboring countries and developing countries who have a longer experience than Nepal in dealing with their non-resident nationals. And they have come to the conclusion that providing dual citizenship is good for their country.

ON the other hand, short on dual citizenship, another NRN act has come into being, which I think is quite helpful.

But short of dual citizenship there are still many more things that can be done. For example, I find that many people of Nepali origin who have taken citizenship abroad to come back to Nepal for them, the Visa regime is terrible. They get these short-term visas. Why not a 10 year visa? India does that. Nepalis who are American citizens can get a 10-year multiple entry visa to India, but not to Nepal. Ridiculous! Please be more generous, why are we so conjus? This is nonsense. If it’s a question of money, charge them the money. Many of them will be happy to pay. I think there is some narrow-minded mentality that we need to overcome. But in the long run dual nationality with certain limitations, as is the case everywhere, is something worth considering. It will be in Nepal’s interest. Don’t do it as a favor to NRNs. Do it if it is in Nepal’s interest and I think the experience is enough from our neighboring countries that it can be structured in a way that it is in the best interest of Nepal.

Are you an NRN or just an NN (Nepali National)?

I am an NNN- Nepali Nepalis in Nepal, no longer an NRN. The larger NRN movement has a group of special advisors for them and I (am) in their advisory board and the advisors don’t have to be NRNs. After all I have lived abroad for so many years. I am happy to help NNN or Nepali Nepalis anywhere. To me, as I said, we are no 26 million Nepalis, I think we are 36 million in the world and I think we’re proud of all of them.

(Courtesy: Global Nepali magazine)

If federal lines are drawn to create sub-national governments on majority rule of ethnicities, minor ethnic population or communities may always be a subject of repression. Subsequently, a new conflict of interest may emerge between the ‘new’ and the ‘old’ middle classes that may end up breeding antagonism in the community.

BY Dr Surendra R Devkota

Dr Surendra R Devkota “The establishment of a Civil Constitution in society is one of the most important facts in human history.”- Kant

After the election of Constitution Assembly in 2008, Nepal entered into a republican set up, and now writing a new constitution with principles of federalism is the major mandate for the Assembly. There are expectations that Nepal will go along with democracy and federalism to pave the way for sustainability by advancing social, economic and ecological capitals and addressing injustices and inequalities.

From the early pioneer federal constitutions in the United States (1776), Switzerland (1848), and Canada (1867) to recently federated system of governance in Belgium (1993) and Ethiopia (1995) nearly forty percent of people in more than two dozens of countries ( Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Comoros, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Micronesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, St. Kitts and Nevis, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Sates of America and Venezuela ) constitute the federal political systems. The stylized model of federal system in these countries ranges from a centralized governance like India to highly divided federalism such as Canada and Spain that comprises of a wide variation of federal institutions, politico-economic prospects and practices, and devolution of authority from center to sub-national governments. Nepal, after the abolition of the monarchy in May 2008 by the 601-member Constitutional Assembly, may join the federal club of the nations, only if she adopts the federal system of distribution of powers and responsibilities in the forthcoming constitution.

“Federalism refers to a means of governing; a polity that grants partial autonomy to geographically defined subdivisions of the polity” mentions by Feeley and Rubin in their book “Federalim” (2008). It implies the devolution of authority by geographical divisions that will also embrace the socio-political capital and resources including individual identity to build up a political regime. Federalism will address the sources of political identity and restore as well as modulate emotive feelings of people and community in particular areas. But federalism and decentralization are not mutually exclusive. Feeley and Rubin say, “While federalism generally results in a fairly high level of decentralization, decentralization does not necessarily lead to federalism.” Federalism grants sub-national governments a final authority in some areas of governance, while decentralization is simply a ‘managerial strategy’.

In order to build up a federal character at least two levels of government are required: one at national level and other at sub-national level. One of the noted 20 th century philosophers of federalism, Daniel Elazar explicitly explored about federalism in his “Exploring Federalism”. Elazar explains that federal principles are rooted in combing both “self-rule” and “shared rule” that links individuals, communities, and polities and maintain both unity and diversity with appropriate “structure” and “process”. It involves both creation and sustainability of unity and the devolution of power in the name of diversity like in Switzerland. But one has to be aware of the fact that it may lead to disunity like in Iraq. So Elazar further explains that federalism streamlines both organization of power and pursuit of justices. It may fail if federalism is imposed upon on societies if they feel as subordinate of the central government.

The conventional wisdom of a federal government is as a question of constitutional law that balances between the national government and the sub-national governments is cast in terms of rights, powers, and judicial determinations. The basic assumptions of federalism involve the requirement that a federal government needs a constitution so that the sharing of authority essential to the federal principle can be laid down and maintained.

Since federalism is to create national and sub-national regimes with explicit devolution of power to pave for a better socio-political, economic and environmental development, economics of federal structure is very crucial to sustain the spirit of federalism. To which, both political and economic federalism need to be considered.

The principle of economic federalism prefers the most decentralized structure of government capable of internalizing all economic externalities, because

it encourages an efficient allocation of national resources;
it fosters political participation and a sense of the democratic community; and
it helps to protect basic liberties and freedoms.
For example, the central government can provide public goods and correct spillovers in either of two ways: provide the goods directly or mandate outcomes or subsidize or tax the local governments to provide the efficient levels of the activity on their own. In many cases, central governments use both approaches. For instance, in the United States, national defense, social security, and environmental protection are directly provided or mandated by the federal government, while low income assistance, interstate highways, and basic research are largely managed through central government price subsidies or matching grants to state and local agencies or nonprofit organizations.

Fiscal decentralization in general reduces the role of the central government and increases that of the sub-national governments such as regional or state and local. Take a look at India’s political economy since 1990s a Nehruvian centralized command is substituting by the federal market economy. As of now India’s regional states enjoy considerable political and economic autonomy.

In a federal state, obviously, there could be a tug of war between the central and sub-national governments on taxation and revenue sharing. In general federal model public borrowing could be open to all types of government. Federal government will have major tax base in these areas such as customs and excise, corporate income tax, personal income tax, while sub-national governments will share taxes on consumption and sales tax and partially in personal income. The sub-national governments may have to rely on some further sources of revenue such as property tax that may alone be a heavy burden for local residents to sustain the sub-national governments.

A politico-economic debate about the efficacy of horizontal versus vertical equity will continue. It should be noted that inter-state production and consumption of goods with distorting taxing policy may lead to the fiscal war. Consequently, spirit of regional equilibrium and competition may be difficult to achieve and that may spur the income inequalities across the states. One should be clear that fiscal federalism or complete decentralization does not mean to weaken the central government but to make the local government much more responsible to the needs of people. Therefore, it would be sensible move to allocate revenue powers and expenditure responsibilities in the constitution.

Why Federalism in Nepal?

As Nepal turned into a republican state in 2008 socioeconomic development philosophy and policies including institutional reforms are necessary to alleviate rural poverty. Villages have been relegated to the bottom in terms of availability of socioeconomic development institutions as well as resources where the crux of problems exists. This needs to be reversed in order to sustain the village economy and to reduce the level of poverty. Therefore in order to break the vicious cycle of poverty vis-à-vis under-development, each village unit should be assigned as a socioeconomic development unit. To complement the village economy, a district unit can play a developmental planning and monitoring role. The village and district are politico-administrative units, which have to deal with lots of socioeconomic problems, but have an insignificant resources and rights. Institutional reforms to strengthen the local government units are essential so that they will be complemented by economic and development planning, and implementation facilities. Once local units are ensured through basic socioeconomic developmental structures like health clinics, basic education, technical assistance to farmers, local community infrastructure, and conservation programs, local communities would become sustainable with reduced income disparity. Institutional arrangements are the necessary foundations for vibrant economic systems, poverty alleviation and sustainable development cannot take place without them. To this end, philosophy of federalism is gaining momentum in Nepal.

In a traditional society like in Nepal, particularly the roles of elites, middle class and ordinary citizen and political interplay amongst themselves is very crucial to sustain both democracy and federalism. Elites could manipulate the political power in their favour and enjoy today at the cost of future generations. In general, elites do not like democratic process that empowers citizens, which is witnessed also in Nepal. Middle class, a buffer between elites and citizens, has a potential to change from non-democracy to democracy or vice versa. If a so-called upper section of the middle class colluded with elites like Nepal’s new millionaires emerged after 1990 due to political business and profiteering of rent seeking policies, ordinary citizens’ needs and demands could be undermined. Consequently, transitory democracy becomes uncertain due to citizens’ threat of revolution, and the country floats amidst the waves of democracy and non-democracy.

Federalism to be scripted in the forthcoming constitution should correct all the misdeeds of the past by overhauling the old top-down socio-political structures and devising a new vision to drive economic development, end injustices and inequalities, and institutionalize democratic values. While restructuring, sub-national or local governments should get a primary focus because rural economy needs to be self-sustaining so that people will enjoy their politico-economic rights, utilize the resources, and build-up a system of accountability. Federalism should herald a de jure political at national and sub-national governments to establish socio-political sustainability.

Nepal has entered in to a new dilemma of creating an optimal politico-economic jurisdiction that includes optimal size, structure and scope of each sub-national government in the constitution. It may turn an opportunity for establishing a socio-political just society as well integration of regional resources for economic development, or may push the nation into a cycle of conflict over ownership of resources and /or further continue of political identity struggle.

Major political parties in Nepal such as the Nepali Congress, and the left ideologue like the Nepal Communist Party (Unified Marxist Leninist) and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) have shown their commitment in the interim constitution of 2008 to create a federal structure. But the federal model is yet to be worked out. One version of federal structure proposed by the left parties such as the Maoist is ethnicity based federal model, and Nepali Congress has yet to publish its model, but the Nepali Congress has already decided to restructure the country in its central committee meeting few months earlier.

Ethnicity based federalism in Nepal could be very complex. The Census of 2001 by the Central Bureau of Statistics of Nepal records 103 castes and several dozens of ethnic groups, and 106 languages and dialects. Many languages or dialects are spoken by a small number of people; for instance, 58 languages are spoken by less than 10,000 speakers, and 28 by less than 1,000. Likewise, out of 23 million people, the 2001 census also reveals 80.6% of the population as Hindu, 10.7% Buddhist, 4.2% Muslim, 3.6% Kiranti, and the rest as belonging to other religions (Christian, Jain, and Sikh). The distribution of different ethnic communities and their socio-cultural diversity is unique in Nepal. The heterogeneous mixture of all ethnic population in one society makes it impossible to have an absolute majority of one particular ethnic group in existing political set up such as village development committee. Based on such realities it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to delineate ethnicity based federal structure for a multiethnic, multicultural, multilingual, and multi-religious nation like in Nepal.

If federal lines are drawn to create sub-national governments on majority rule of ethnicities, minor ethnic population or communities may always be a subject of repression. Subsequently, a new conflict of interest may emerge between the ‘new’ and the ‘old’ middle classes that may end up breeding antagonism in the community.

Whether federalism is the only division of population and territory? Philip G. Roeder in his book “Where Nation-States Come from” (2007) argues that federalism is not division of population according to the communal membership. Territorial division based on the community is segmentation (Box) which “divides the population into separate communities or people and allocates members of these community different decision rights that will create a ‘segment –state’. Segment –state is nothing but ethno-federalism – Lenin’s doctrine of early 20 th century employed in the formation of Soviet national republics. The communist ideologue parties in Nepal like Maoist and to some degree the UML are also advocating the ethno-federalism which seems a parallel policy of Vladimir Lenin’s step.

Box

No Communal partitioning

No territorial partitioning

Territorial partitioning

Unitary

Federal

Communal partitioning

Corporate

Segmental

Roeder advances his discussion in both making and breaking of the Russian Federation and tug-of-war between nation-state and segment-state. The conflict between the nation-sate and segment-states ended up by claiming a sovereign state by segment-states in late eighties and early nineties. Federalism in modern Russia has been contractual after the introduction of the Federation of Treaties in 1992 and in 1994 which has consolidated the power of the president at the center and limited the segment-state’s decision making authority as well as excluded the ownership of natural resources under their jurisdiction. The combination of territorial federal and traditional ethno-federal principle causes conflict since the latter promotes the disintegrative forces. As of now, Russian federalism is endangered by Putin’s centralization of presidential power since 2000 2 and Russia has de facto federalism.

Nepal could also draw a very recent and real life experience from Ethiopia. While creating an ethno-federalism in 1995, the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front has imposed an ethno-linguistic “holding together” federal. All languages are equally recognized. Every national group has the right to develop and promote its own culture and preserve its own history and they are entitled to a full measure of self-government including their own institutions within their territories and representation in regional and federal governments. The Ethiopian experiment is unique in that it allows for the possibility of self-determination. Subsequently, many groups are making claims for self-determination, language, and cultural recognition as well as for their own territory in the construction of a novel form of federalism based largely upon ethnic identities. In fact, Ethiopian ethnic federalism seems pursuing the Soviet-style version of multinational or ethnic federalism that suits only in non-democratic system, and democracy and federalism may not go together at all in Ethiopia. Ethiopia today lacks two basic pre-conditions for mitigating ethnic conflicts in federal states: a democratic system of governance and an inclusive and sustainable pan-national identity.

Since Nepal has both social and geographical diversities, exclusive consideration of social diversity in the federalism may be incomplete. Differences of socio-political attributes such as economic interest, religion, race, nationality, language, historical background, dissimilarities of political institutions produce a demand for federal system of diversities, which could be counter-demanded by unitary state. Henceforth, the federal system is a compromise between these two demands, and the federal constitution draws the lines of this compromise. Federalism is a compromise between centripetal and centrifugal forces but it should embrace the structural- functional characters. Structure in a federal system is geographical patterns of regional diversities and constitutional instrumentalities to preserve them, whereas functionality is the process of national and sub-national governmental progress to maturity. The fundamentals of federalism must combine both ‘structure’ and ‘processes of government to streamline the federal character of any polity. For instance, in Switzerland, Canada, and USA both structure and process are far better than in Italy and Austria. India lies in the middle of these.

The only primary factor of federation is supremacy of the political federal value and political commitment for ideological federalism that aims to manifest destiny and national greatness will success. Certain secondary and tertiary factors such as language and ethnic balance may be superficially be favorable for federalism but are not sufficient to ensure success as it has been proven in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, West Indies, Malaysia, Rhodesia, Nyasaland, and Ethiopia.

Based on above discussion of different aspects of federalism and that of its need in Nepal, the Constitutional Assembly’s concern is both creating and sustaining the federal structure. Therefore any federal restructuring model needs to be examined by:

its scientific basis,
economic feasibility, and
Social acceptance in order to ensure the model’s applicability and sustainability.
To which, spatial information of country that includes geophysical and natural resources profiles could be utilized to employ for both scientific and economical analyses. Meanwhile, society needs to be fully aware of both rights and resources available at their disposal so that they could crave a path of sustainable development. As mentioned earlier, the need of federalism in Nepal is for a balanced socioeconomic development and justified use of resources as well as to reduce the increasing gap of income inequality and to complement such desires every federal state must have access to resources under their jurisdiction. For example, natural resources such as forest and rivers have been the victims of rent seeking policies at the center level because a greater amount of natural resources increases the number of entrepreneurs engaged in rent seeking and reduces the number of entrepreneurs running productive firms. If that trend continues, Nepal may end up as one of the recent countries that exemplify the so-called ‘curse of natural resources’. Curse of natural resources implies that countries with huge natural resource endowments tend to grow more slowly than resource poor countries. Hence, to sustain politico-economic federalism in Nepal country’s spatial information could serve a strong foundation. To this end, ecological footprint analysis may be useful criteria for creating the federal states.

The notion of ecological footprint (EF) is to measure biophysical resource requirements in order to sustain a given regional population in terms of land areas. The EF is not to determine the maximum human population that an area can support, but to examine the productive territory actually used by resident. Since all economic and individual activities have impacts on the earth by means of use of resources and services of nature as well as generations of wastes, and these impacts are converted to biologically productive land area. So EF calculates the need of natural capital to maintain the current material throughput of economies. The EF calculation is based on resources flows, resources consumed, and waste flows, and such flow and consumption patterns can be converted into the biologically productive land areas.

Creation of federal states with respect to the dynamics of both natural resources endowment and demography could pave the way for sustainable development. The mission of federalism is not only to exercise certain socio-political rights by political parties and their entities but it also should allocate economic rights to sub-national governments. Political gerrymandering in the name of ethno-federalism could end up a situation where federalism and democracy may not be compatible like in Ethiopia or even in contemporary Russian Federation. Repetition of a failed dogma of ethno-federal models as in Ethiopia and Russia could be a futile exercise.

Ethnic diversity in Nepal is one of the salient social capitals that must be enhanced for advancing socioeconomic development. Equating ethnic diversity with a piece of federal land may not deliver a sustainable society. Therefore creation of new federal states should not only be on scientific basis but also be economically viable and socially acceptable in order to minimize social, economic and ecological injustices and build up an equitable society. Henceforth, ecological footprint approach may serve a compatible formula for creating federal states with socio-political, ecological and economic rights at sub-national governments, which will provide an ample opportunity to enhance social, economic, and ecological capitals at different scales across the country. To this end, optimal basis for creation of federal states could be based on the major river basins like Koshi, Gandakai, and Karnali river watersheds. Nepal in 21 st century must avoid the 20 th century mistakes such as ‘curses of natural resources’ and ‘tragedy of commons’ and pursue a path of prosperity and sustainability.

(Excerpts from the Devkota’s forthcoming book “ Nepal in 21 st Century”. Write to the author: [email protected]).

(Editor’s Note: Nepalis, wherever they live, as well as friends of Nepal around the globe are requested to contribute their views/opinions/recollections etc. on issues concerning present day Nepal to the Guest Column of Nepalnews. Length of the article should not be more than 1,000 words and may be edited for the purpose of clarity and space. Relevant photos as well as photo of the author may also be sent along with the article. Please send your write-ups to [email protected])

Sugat Ratna Kansakar

Executive chairman of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) Sugat Ratna Kansakar has filed a case at the Supreme Court (SC) against Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) for charging him of corruption.

Kansakar filed a writ at the apex court through his lawyer demanding an interim order to stay the case filed by CIAA at the Special Court.

CIAA had filed case against Kansakar and half-dozen other officers at NAC charging them of corruption while paying the advance amount to buy two aircrafts.

In his writ, Kansakar has claimed he paid the amount as per the decision of NAC board following the government announcement to buy the aircrafts during the budget speech. nepalnews.com

The government has written to the United Missions in Nepal (UNMIN) saying the secretariat under the Army Integration Special Committee (AISC) would monitor the arms and the army after UNMIN’s departure on January 15.

The government wrote to UNMIN one day after Unified CPN (Maoist) unilaterally requested the UN Security Council for UNMIN’s term extension.

Two parties of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) and other agreements – the government and the Unified CPN (Maoist) – have clearly mentioned in the interim constitution, the management and integration of the combatants will be done through consensus, mentions the letter written by the government to UNMIN. The secretariat under the AISC will take over the role of UNMIN after its term end.

The secretariat headed by former senior Nepal Army officer Balananda Sharma has already started its work to take over the management and monitoring of the cantonments. nepalnews.com

Snowfall has taken place in many mountainous and high hilly districts from Thursday night due to decreased temperature.

According to the Department of Meteorology, snowfall has taken place in high altitude areas of Myagdi, Mustang, Dolakha, Dolpa, Mugu, Jumla and Humla among others.

Snowfall started after sudden drop temperature and brief rainfall. The temperature in some parts of Jumla has gone down up to five Celsius degrees below zero, while that in Mustang has gone down two Celsius degrees below zero.

Normal life has been adversely affected in the districts due to the snowfall. Schools have been closed and airports in some places have also been close.

The temperature has gone down throughout the country due to the rainfall Friday evening. nepalnews.com

Executive chairman of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) Sugat Ratna Kansakar has filed a case at the Supreme Court (SC) against Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) for charging him of corruption.

Kansakar filed a writ at the apex court through his lawyer demanding an interim order to stay the case filed by CIAA at the Special Court.

CIAA had filed case against Kansakar and half-dozen other officers at NAC charging them of corruption while paying the advance amount to buy two aircrafts.

In his writ, Kansakar has claimed he paid the amount as per the decision of NAC board following the government announcement to buy the aircrafts during the budget speech. nepalnews.com

The government has written to the United Missions in Nepal (UNMIN) saying the secretariat under the Army Integration Special Committee (AISC) would monitor the arms and the army after UNMIN’s departure on January 15.

The government wrote to UNMIN one day after Unified CPN (Maoist) unilaterally requested the UN Security Council for UNMIN’s term extension.

Two parties of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) and other agreements – the government and the Unified CPN (Maoist) – have clearly mentioned in the interim constitution, the management and integration of the combatants will be done through consensus, mentions the letter written by the government to UNMIN. The secretariat under the AISC will take over the role of UNMIN after its term end.

The secretariat headed by former senior Nepal Army officer Balananda Sharma has already started its work to take over the management and monitoring of the cantonments. nepalnews.com

Snowfall has taken place in many mountainous and high hilly districts from Thursday night due to decreased temperature.

According to the Department of Meteorology, snowfall has taken place in high altitude areas of Myagdi, Mustang, Dolakha, Dolpa, Mugu, Jumla and Humla among others.

Snowfall started after sudden drop temperature and brief rainfall. The temperature in some parts of Jumla has gone down up to five Celsius degrees below zero, while that in Mustang has gone down two Celsius degrees below zero.

Normal life has been adversely affected in the districts due to the snowfall. Schools have been closed and airports in some places have also been close.

The temperature has gone down throughout the country due to the rainfall Friday evening. nepalnews.com

The Maoist leaders’ recent accusation that Nepal’s ruling politicians are remote controlled by India echoes the era of “special relations” with India in the 1950s. The traffic of Nepali politicians to Delhi has indeed been unusually high. Largely left out from the ‘ Delhi pilgrimage’, the Maoists now have called for “direct talk” with India to resolve issues at home. However, the Maoists need to understand that the increased Indian influence in Nepal results from the inability of Nepali politicians to work together.

By Pramod K. Kantha

Nepal’s political morass is deepening. Why is Nepal going in circles leaving all critical challenges shelved for a later date? The daily political drama in Kathmandu between the “stakeholders” has proved little beyond a game of trivial pursuit. While pinning the blame for this failure is debatable, the lives of common people in Nepal have suffered beyond imagination. By now, the routine sight of stinking garbage on the streets of Kathmandu is topped only by the disgusting and dysfunctional political elite whose obsession with their power and privileges is threatening Nepal’s very existence as an independent and livable nation. Yet, there are enormous opportunities to build a new Nepal, an aspiration that inspired hundreds of thousands of people to take part in April 2006 Jan Andolan.

Polarization over compromise

Hopes for a grand political settlement rekindled by November 2005 12-point understanding between Nepal’s embattled political parties and disoriented Maoists have not all gone in vain. April 2006 movement was the most sweeping reassertion of people’s power in Nepali history leading the way for a Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) formally ending the Maoist insurgency, Constituent Assembly elections (CA) in April 2008, and the abolition of monarchy in May. In their struggle against an uncompromising monarch, Nepal’s political parties, including the Maoists, made a convincing case of their ability to work together and draw support at home and abroad. The involvement of United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) was reflective of broader international support for Nepal’s peace process. So, what went wrong? Why has it been so difficult to advance the peace process?

Nothing explains the current predicament of Nepal better than the inability of political operatives, both internal and external, to embrace the fast changing realities of new Nepal. The imperatives of the 12-point understanding were rooted in an impasse created by Nepal’s inability to resolve the contradictions of its political landscape by force. King Gyanendra’s reassertion of the bygone royal authority in the name of containing Maoist insurgency had reached a dead end. The Maoist’s dream of taking over Nepal faced intractable national as well as international resistance. Nepal’s political parties had realized that their struggle against autocratic policies of the King had little chance of success without taking the Maoists on board. External powers also understood these elements of the situation. The best and only way forward is compromise/accommodation beyond mindless polarization. King Gyanedra’s failure to comprehend the inherent nature of this situation made him the earliest loser.

The current political predicament of Nepal results from Nepali political leaders’ reluctance to recognize and internalize the series of agreements they signed beginning with the Delhi agreement.

The blame here goes all around. The Maoists top this list largely in view of their lack of sincerity to play by the agreed rules thereby raising a climate of endemic distrust that has ruled out collective action. The Maoists’ voluntary exit from power in the name of “civilian supremacy” has been counterproductive. As a result, the cantonment of Maoist combatants has not ended the situation of Maoist insurgency as the Maoists recognize no authority. Continuing Maoist agitation combined with repeated threat to forcibly takeover the state has made non-Maoist politicians helplessly dependent on Nepal Army and has undermined their ability to lead the military. The military has once again become central part of Nepal’s political dynamics, the bastion of defense against the recalcitrant Maoists, the center of hope for domestic as well as international actors against possible Maoist onslaught.

The conduct of Nepal’s other political parties has hardly been helpful. Instead of reaching out to the Maoists, the largest party in CA in the interest of advancing the constitution writing process, they remain overtaken by their fixation with power. The current coalition has rebuffed the need for a national “unity government.” Instead of providing effective governance and managing conflict, they have chosen to play “Machiavellian Politics” to stay in power. Instead of living by their pledge to honor rule of law and punish violators of human rights, they have chosen to condone the perpetrators, disregarding national and international appeals; this gives credence to the Maoist allegation about the lack of civilian supremacy. Continuous outcry by UN-OHRC and National Human Rights Commission and other civil society and international groups has gone unheard. One wonders if the non-Maoist politicians see compromise with “establishment forces” as a convenient route to power to compensate for their poor performance in the CA elections and their utter inability to govern. The end game does not augur well. As has been seen in the case of many other transitions from authoritarian regimes, politically indispensible military does not augur well for democracy. Hence, the non-Maoist politicians must act boldly to prove their democratic credentials intact; conviction not convenience will help in doing so.

Remote Control of Nepali politics

The Maoist leaders’ recent accusation that Nepal’s ruling politicians are remote controlled by India echoes the era of “special relations” with India in the 1950s. The traffic of Nepali politicians to Delhi has indeed been unusually high. Largely left out from the ‘ Delhi pilgrimage’, the Maoists now have called for “direct talk” with India to resolve issues at home. However, the Maoists need to understand that the increased Indian influence in Nepal results from the inability of Nepali politicians to work together. At the height of Nepal’s April 2006 movement, India had realized the limits of its leverage in Nepal. New Delhi, one hopes, has matured enough not to entertain the illusion of managing Nepal’s political mess from a desk at South Block. May 2009 elections may have removed the conflicting policy preferences of the left-front partners in India’s governing coalition for accommodating the Nepali Maoists but Nepal’s situation remains uncertain. India will remain consequential in Nepal’s political dynamics. But, stability and sustainable governance in Nepal can be built only on the foundation of a compromise that reflects the Nepali peoples’ aspirations for a democratic, transparent and accountable government.

(The author is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Wright State University, Ohio, USA. He can be reached at: [email protected] )