Ramesh Singh, Chief Executive, ActionAid International

One of the few Nepalis who have made it big internationally, Ramesh Singh is the Chief Executive of the ActionAid International, which works in 47 countries in Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe to eradicate poverty and injustice, Ramesh Singh has worked in Gambia, Ethiopia, Nepal, Vietnam, Thailand, United Kingdom and South Africa in a range of roles from programme officer and country director to regional director and operations director of the ActionAid. Trained as an agronomist- seed technologist at the University of Edinburgh in the UK, Ramesh’s recent interest and work have been focused on poverty analysis, rights based and participatory approaches, governance, south-south alliances and NGO strategic management and governance. During his recent visit to Kathmandu, Singh spoke to Bhagirath Yogi and Indra Adhikari on a number of contemporary issues. Excerpts:

You have been quoted as saying that democracy is indispensable for development. Does international experience support this thesis?

Yes, everywhere, because development is about people, it is about citizens. It is the voice of citizens, even the rights of the citizens and through the fulfillment of those human rights that makes development work. We know that everywhere, how freedom of people, freedom from fear, freedom from want and access to decision making it is all about people. Since democracy is of the people, for the people and by the people, it is more important for us to recognize that development, which is must for social justice, is impossible without democracy. Development would progress in active participation of the people, which is possible only in democracy.

Nepal is trying to undergo a significant change and political transformation. How do you analyse the challenges that Nepalis can face for resolution of armed conflict as well as achieving socio-economic progress?

I must say what I have seen from international scene I was very proud of the ground swell of the people’s movement. It was very inspiring not only for Nepal but for many other countries. My colleagues in Zimbabwe, France and Kenya are asking how did it happen and how could we do in our own country. As a Nepali I was very pleased by the way people took over the political process here and were able to bring about this big change. There are many challenges, which we had faced before as well. We have much more hopeful environment now. We had the unity of purpose to bring democracy back to people. Therefore, it is important for us to keep this unity of purpose to give democracy back to people, more specifically in order to sustain democracy. Obviously, it does mean accommodating differences. I very much believe that the Maoists, who have been on the fringes, outside the mainstream politics, should have enough space and we need to have them back into the political discourse. That will bring us out from the situation of conflict. We need to accommodate them into the process and let people decide.

You are based in South Africa that has recently gone through big political and constitutional changes. How could Nepal learn from such experiences?

“In this transition, the international community should allow Nepalis to talk to each other first. A genuine Nepali discourse is possible now and that’s likely to happen. There is no need to rush or hurry.”
We have several examples from across the world of bringing armed conflict into people’s discourse and making sure that we can actually bring democracy. South Africa is very good example where at the end of the day the minority had to give in to the majority. Giving the political process back to the people and recognizing the plurality is very important. We are very pleased with the way transition was managed in South Africa. There were compromises but justice was delivered. We have to really find a workable ground to reconcile differences and there has to be reconciliation but that reconciliation must have elements of justice and negotiations in it. There are other cases, in Sierra Leone, for example, where there was armed conflict the warring factions were able to come back. Massive demobilization is necessary, great deal of reconciliation is necessary and justice has to prevail. Indeed, we have to ensure that justice has been delivered to the people in the process of negotiation and we need to be practical about it.

Action Aid has been in the forefront of the global fight against poverty. What experiences have you learnt which could be relevant in the Nepali context?

The major lesson we have learnt in our fight against poverty is that poverty and injustice are very deeply linked. In addition to that it is the violation of human rights what makes people poor. Therefore, it has to be ensured that human rights of the people are protected, promoted and fulfilled and justice delivered to the people. In the end, we believe that it is the primacy of the agencies and action of poor people themselves that actually brings sustainable changes. Civil society like us can help and be part of that solidarity movement. But in fact it is the poor people’s own action that will bring about changes. And, we have seen that here. In the end the democratic process is the agency of the people that actually matters.

The theme of this year’s World Press Freedom Day (May 3) was media, development and poverty eradication. In this context, how do you see the role of media in poverty eradication?

In Nepal, media played a phenomenal role and have been the foundation of the democratic movement in difficult period in the country. I am very proud of that and am very pleased. Media connects people, connects issues, brings discourse into public domain, opens things for us and allows diversity and dissent to be brought out. That actually refines agenda and gives voices to issues, voices to the people. Indeed, we need to be worried that international media has been hugely corporatised and therefore monopolized. More specifically, I don’t think that it is media houses that have brought out phenomenal difference in the democratic process. It is the individual journalists, the professionals who actually are the catalysts. I think our job would not have become so significant without the impartial media support. Media takes side but it has to be on the side of justice, plurality and human rights. I don’t necessarily believe in neutrality. Media has been the consciences in many circumstances. It actually gives profile to the issues, gives voices to the people and makes the whole fight against injustice and poverty much more influential. Our task would have been much harder without media.

Nepal has been implementing the Tenth Plan as the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). But the long-drawn conflict and political instability have had adverse impact on these endeavours. How should Nepal move ahead in such a context?

Quite clearly, we need to rethink our development strategies again. We are likely to come out of ten years of very entrenched conflict. We are just coming out of the period of absence of democracy. This is a good time for us to re-think, re-strategise much more equitably the poverty issues and agenda. They need to be considered in terms of regional disparity, making sure that all parts of country really benefits, especially the marginalized section of the society. It should not be urban centered and (focused on) those already getting benefits. We have an opportunity now to open up and use this space that has been created with optimism. There is a lot of reconciliation, reconstruction (of infrastructure) and rehabilitation of people to be done. Development and political process here and structural changes in the political process need to go hand in hand. We cannot let the political process remain as it was and look for development that is equitable. Nepalis need to discuss this. There is a need for real Nepali discourse: pro-development and on human rights. The space for discussion has been created. Of course, we need international help, it will be our entitlement, we should claim for that. There is the need for money and ideas but I think the international community should pause for a moment instead of pouring in money, their advisors and their model of development. Nepal needs to begin new discourse on development that should go hand in hand with political restructuring.

What role do you think the international community and donor agencies need to play in such a transitional period?

I hope in this transition the international community will allow Nepalis to talk to each other first. A genuine Nepali discourse is possible now and that’s likely to happen. There is no need to rush or hurry. I also suggest that the international community has dedicated resource for Nepal. We need much more money, much more support than we have had. The political transition, reconciliation and reconstruction all costs money. When the Nepali politics is sorted out of restructuring changes, when development in Nepal has begun, when the Nepali discourse is there, then we need money, we need technical assistance. The international support for development would need to ensure that people’s voices are heard, their sentiments for democracy supported and political process allowed to mature, at the same time humanitarian and development assistance delivered. The international community should come forward and cancel the debt many of which was accumulated during the course of undemocratic governments. The change is here. Now, the government and the people of Nepal should come up with their own agenda for development

Leaders of Seven-Party Alliance (SPA) said that notwithstanding their 12-point understanding with the seven political parties, Maoists are continuing extortions and urged them to stop it immediately.

Speaking at Wednesdays meeting of the House of Representatives, Nepali Congress lawmaker Devendra Raj Kandel said the Maoists has asked him to “donate” Rs 100,000 recently.

He said that Maoists asked him to give the amount in a letter sent by Maoists on 27 February 2006, three months after the Maoists and the political parties signed their understanding.

Kandel further said the rebels have been issuing threats to his men living in Maheshpur village, Nawalparasi for not paying the sum.

Kandel survived a shooting by rebels in August 2003. The rebels also bombed his homes in Nawalparasi.

Likewise, speaking at a function in the capital on Wednesday, SPA leaders accused the rebels of continuing with extortions and terrorizing civilians.

Urging the Maoist leadership to immediately stop such activity and facilitate the peace process, they also said the government was ready to support the Maoist army if the latter agreed to put an end to such doings.

Asking the Maoists to stop all atrocities against people, CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal said that he was ready to take responsibility for feeding the Maoist army.

Speaking at a function organized by All Nepal National Free Students Union (ANNFSU) in the capital, Nepal welcomed the Maoists decision to return land and property that were unlawfully seized in the past.

Nepali Congress General Secretary Ram Chandra Poudel asked the Maoists to stop terrorizing and troubling innocent people.

Wednesday’s session of the House of Representatives (HoR) formed two separate committees to probe into Nagarkot and Belbari massacres, and murder of MP Hem Narayan Yadav of Siraha district.

The proposal on the Nagarkot and Belbari incident was tabled by Nepali Congress (NC) member of parliament (MP) Mahesh Acharya and was supported by MPs Lal Babu Pandit and Bhakta Bahadur Balayar.

The seven-member committee formed to probe into the Nagarkot and Belbari incidents is headed by MP Pari Thapa. MPs NP Saud, Gokarna Bista, Ram Narayan Adhikari, Bijay Subba, Tirtha Gautam and Kamala Pant are members of the committee.

Gautam and Panta were added in the committee after women parliamentarians expressed their objection to inclusion of only male members in the committee formed to probe the crime committed against a woman in Belbari.

An “enraged” army man had massacred 13 civilians, who were celebrating a festival in Nuwakot on December 4. Likewise, army men on April 26 had killed at least six civilians in Belbari, who were protesting the incident that the army men gang raped and murdered Sapana Gurung, a mother of two children, on April 25.

Acharya also urged the government to immediately provide treatment and relief to the wounded and family members of the deceased [in the Belbari incident].

Lal Babu Pandit of CPN-UML said both the incidents were indicative of the feudal mentality prevailing among army personnel.

NC(D) member Bhakta Bahadur Balayar said killing of innocent villagers in villages even after transfer of state power to the people has produced more suspicion about the army’s future loyalty to the representative government.

The House also formed a separate committee to probe into the suspicious murder of MP Hem Narayan Yadav two years ago.

The proposal was tabled by CPN-UML MP Jaganath Khatiwada. While Ananda Kumar Dhungana is the coordinator of the panel, MPs Anand Kumar Pokhrel, Ramesh Lekhak, Lekhnath Acharya, Yog Narayan Yadav, Sushila Nepal and Kashi Poudel are members of the panel.

Chairing the House session, Deputy Speaker Chitra Lekha Yadav informed the House that NC(D) and Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandidevi) have been recognized as separate parties.

Earlier, speaking in the House, lawmakers reiterated their demand for action against those allegedly involved in suppressing the popular people’s movement. Most NC members also demanded that Deputy Speaker Chitralekha Yadav be installed as the Speaker.

Pashupati Shumsher Rana of Rastriya Prajatantra Party urged the government to work toward resolving the 16-year old Bhutanese refugee problem through coordination with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Wednesday’s meeting had begun two hours behind the schedule, amid uncertainty over the agenda of the meeting since the seven-party alliance had not reached into consensus on “how to go about on Wednesday.”

The next meeting of the House has been scheduled for 2:00 pm. Thursday.

Breaching the ceasefire, a group of Maoists abducted five personnel of the Armed Police Forces (APF) from Bhumahi of Nawalparasi district on Tuesday.

The Maoists abducted the policemen deployed in the area with weapons ahead of the visit of APF Additional Inspector General (AIG) Raviraj Thapa, who was arriving there to attend a police convocation ceremony at APF’s training school at Bardaghat.

The abductees include Sub-Inspector Krishna Bahadur Kunwar, head constable Krishna Rijal, constables Nawaraj Shrestha, Dharma Raj Jaisi and Bharat Thapa.

According to eyewitnesses, the Maoists took them towards northern direction in a vehicle.

However, reports quoted Maoists’ district government chief Chinak Kurmi as saying that the locals handed over the policemen to them after seizing them due to theor suspicious activities.

On Tuesday night, the rebels tried to handover the policemen to human rights activists but they were unsuccessful as the policemen refused to go without their weapons.

Claiming that they did not seize their weapons, Maoist leader Kurmi said that they could have taken by locals and also assured to return the weapons if they were found.

Meanwhile, a statement of Directorate of Public Relations of Royal Nepalese Army said that Maoists forcibly took away Dwarika Chaudhari, chairman of a local community forest users’ group from Bauari in Rangapur village development committee (VDC) of Rautahat district on Monday.

The rebels also abducted Devilal Mahato of Prempur of the district.

Chairman of the Maoist affiliated All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union (Revolutionary), Lekhnath Neupane said the CPN (Maoist) would make its “new and clear” vision public soon.

speaking at an interaction in the capital on Wednesday, Neupane said, “You won’t have to wait long for an authentic Maoist vision on new development of events,” without giving the date.

He said that Maoist will publicize its view in the recent political development of the country along with participation in the interim government and the election of the constituent assembly.

Republican setup is the goal of the Maoists, but the leaders could not realise the goal due to lack of courage, he said.

Stating that the Maoist army will not stay in the barracks or camps during the talks, he said, “Our army is the people’s army. It will keep doing its duties as usual.”

Speaking at the same programme, CPN-UML leader Shankar Pokharel said since the people’s movement agreed on the existence of the king till the election to a constituent assembly, one cannot eradicate monarchy right now.

Lila Thapa Magar, a central committee member of the People’s Front Nepal, said, “Going to the constituent assembly is not a bad thing. The establishment of a republican system is the ultimate goal of the people.”

Country director of World Bank Kenichi Ohashi has said that the performance of Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) has been good despite the difficult working conditions.

“Though there were difficulties related to the security and political situation in Nepal, PAF has been successful in reaching out to people at large to help mitigate poverty in the country,” he said.

Speaking at the inaugural of the three-day long national workshop organized to review the progress of Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) on Wednesday, Ohashi also asked the Fund to continue its initiative even in the changed political situation.

“PAF has performed well despite difficulties, such as security and political problems and it must continue its business as usual,” said Ohashi, tagging PAF as one of the better performing projects that the WB is supporting in Nepal.

Executive director of the PAF, Raj Babu Shrestha, informed that the PAF, which is running poverty reduction programs in 25 most deprived districts of the country, is mulling to extend a fresh set of targeted programs in 17 new districts.

Making presentation on PAF activities on the occasion, Shrestha stressed on the need to further build capacity of local communities, so that they could organize effectively and work efficiently for the cause of poverty reduction.

A paper presented on the occasion stated that PAF programs have directly benefited 55,000 households of 25 districts.

Moreover, of the total beneficiaries of those programs, 42 percent are dalits, 36 percent are ethnic groups and 22 percent are people from other castes. Also, 51 percent of them are female and 22 percent are male, according to the paper.

Ram Krishna Tiwari, secretary at the National Planning Commission (NPC), said that the outcome of the workshop would help formulate the 11th five-year national development plan.

Representatives from the grass root level from six pilot districts of Mugu, Darchula, Pyuthan, Sarlahi, Ramechhap and Kapilbastu, partner organisations, officials from various NGOs, representatives from the World Bank, NPC, ministry of local development, ministry of finance and other stakeholders are taking part in the three day long workshop.

The workshop is set to discuss the lessons learned while implementing various projects in the six pilot districts, especially areas like capacity building, income generation, social mobilisation and development of community infrastructure.

A Brussels-based think tank, International Crisis Group (ICG), has said Nepal is not yet back to business as usual and that donors must understand that their role should be to safeguard the difficult transition from people power to peace.

In its latest report entitled “Nepal: From People Power to Peace?” said the international community lost credibility by attempting to pressure the parties into an unworkable compromise with the king and must now work hard to support a difficult transition and peace process while avoiding similar mistakes.

The report, published simultaneously in Kathmandu and Brussels on Wednesday, called on India, the US, the European Union and other members of the international community to establish a Contact Group and complementary Peace Support Group, accept that Nepalis are the drivers of international engagement, recognising that peace is the priority and “do no harm” the golden rule, and hold a possible follow-up to the 2002 London conference on Nepal, perhaps modelled specifically as a Peace and Development Forum and requiring inclusive preparation and participation; among others.

The ICG has also asked the international community to make stability and peace, not reforms and increased development, the top order of business, and recognize the need to avoid rushing into ill-considered “peace dividend” packages since poorly planned injections of cash and other support could well be counterproductive; and evaluate government reach and administrative capacity in the districts, which is at least as important as change in top-level political environment.

The International Crisis Group has also called upon Nepal’s international friends to support the peace process by helping monitor the ceasefire, if requested, and starting practical planning now for a small mission; preparing to assist both armed parties with a gradual demobilisation and demilitarisation process; and using development and humanitarian assistance to consolidate peace by delivering services and opening up space for economic development;

The executive summary and recommendations of the ICG report can be accessed at:

The government has asked 12 Nepali ambassadors, who were called back early this week, to return to the country within 45 days.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has sent letters to the 12 envoys, giving them 45-day ultimatum to return, news reports said. A meeting of the Council of Ministers had on Sunday decided to call back the ambassadors who were appointed by the previous royal government.

Ambassadors called back to the country are given 35 to 45 days to make preparations for their return, according to MoFA officials.

The ambassadors who have been called back are: Karna Dhoj Adhikary (India), Narendra Raj Pandey (China), Prabal SJB Rana (UK), Kedar Bhakta Shrestha (USA), Hiranya Lal Shrestha (Russian Federation), Prajwolla SJB Rana (France), Tara Bahadur Thapa (Thailand), Victory Rana (Myanmar), Dr. Rameshananda Vaidya (Japan), Abulesh Thakurai (Saudi Arabia), Pushkar Man Singh Rajbhandari (Pakistan) and Shyamananda Suman (Qatar).

The seven parties had been saying that the royal-appointed ambassadors were trying to win international support for the previous authoritarian regime.

The government is expected to form a two member team for talks with the Maoists under the leadership of home minister Krishna Sitaula by this evening.

The meeting of top leaders of the seven parties held at the prime minister’s residence on Thursday morning has given authority to the prime minister to form the team.

President of People’s Front Nepal Amik Sherchan told reporters after the meeting that the team may be made public by this evening and will be extended within the next three days.

However, UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal said the team would be extended after the establishment of the high level peace secretariat. According to reporters present at the prime minister’s residence in Baluwatar, the seven parties have agreed to establish a peace secretariat with one representative from each party of the SPA to facilitate the peace process.

There are reports that Maoists have formed three-member negotiation team under the leadership of its spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara on Wednesday.

In the meantime, the leaders did not finalize the issue of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Sher Bahadur Deuba, president of NC-D admitted there were differences among the leaders of seven parties regarding the election of the Speaker. Nepal proposed that UML should get the position as it has compromised on seats in the cabinet but Deuba opposed the proposal and left the meeting hall.

NC-D has been demanding that Deputy Speaker Chitra Lekha Yadav must be designated the position. Deuba and Sherchan left the meeting in the middle when they could not reach a compromise.

The differences among the leaders have also led to a delay in the cabinet expansion. Sherchan told reporters that the cabinet is unlikely to get expanded before finalizing the issue of the Speaker.

The meting was held for more than four hours.

Japanese Ambassador to Nepal, Tsutomu Hiraoka, inaugurated and handed over the Saraswati Primary School Building of Masyam village development committee (VDC) Palpa to the School Management Committee, amidst a function on Thursday.

A press statement issued by the Japanese Embassy in Kathmandu said the Embassy of Japan has extended a grant of sixty-eight thousand, two hundred and eighty-eight US Dollars to Masyam VDC for the implementation of the project for construction of Saraswati Primary School Building under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP).

Out of the total project cost of NRs. 6,412,122, Masyam VDC, the school and the community contributed up to 25 percent of the cost; which included locally available material required for construction, as well as and labor costs etc, the statement adds.

Similarly, the procurement of reference and text books for the library, the construction of a water tank and partial cost of toilet construction, amongst other things, was also borne by the VDC, school and local community.