News, Views From Nepal

Yuba Nath Lamsal: Politics is the art of governance for the greater good of the people. However, politics, of late, seems to have lost its original vigour and virtue. Politics is no longer a virtuous vocation and instead it has degenerated into a ‘vulgar game of deceit and opportunism’. As a result, public trust in politicians and political parties has sunk to record low worldwide. However, there is no alternative to political parties in the modern day democracy. Democracy without political parties is beyond imagination. In the absence of political parties, the regime cannot be democratic. Election is the soul of democracy. Election alone does not guarantee genuine democracy. Many countries in the world hold elections but not all countries are democratic. Even some authoritarian rulers and regimes hold elections to legitimise their hold on power. Such elections are doctored to hoodwink the people and international community. Elections must be free, fair and impartial through wh

Yuba Nath Lamsal:- "And thus I clothe my naked villany, … And seem a saint, when most I play the devil”: William Shakespeare writes in Richard III. Sometimes bad rulers also come up with some good jobs to cover up their wickedness. In the history of Nepal, Jung Bahadur Rana is remembered for his evil mind of orchestrating ‘Kot Parva’ in which hundreds of patriots and alike were killed in the royal court and Jung Bahadur Rana took over power . ‘Kot Parva’ marked the beginning of the Rana family oligarchy which remained as notorious regime for over a century in Nepal. After taking over power, Jung Bahadur Rana visited England in 1850 and brought with him a printing press known as ‘Giddhe Press’ from London. It was called ‘Giddhe Press’ because it had the emblem of an eagle. This marked the beginning of printing press in Nepal more than 400 years after Gutenberg invented printing press in Europe. Dev Sumsher Rana assumed the office of ‘ Shree Tin’ and Prime Minister in 1901. Dev