News, Views From Nepal

Yuba Nath Lamsal Nepal is currently passing through a thorny road of prolonged and painful transition. Transition is always painful everywhere in the world as it is marked by instability, uncertainty, chaotic situation and weak law and order often jeopardizing the rule of law. Out of the state of instability and chaos, certain unscrupulous and criminal elements often try to take benefit to serve their vested interests. This is the experience of all countries in the world that faced or are facing transition. The case of Nepal is a little different. Nepal has experienced protracted and perpetual transition that has been in the process of political trials and errors for more than six decades. Nepal is being used as a political laboratory to test different models of governments and systems. But none has so far worked to suit the interests of the people of Nepal. In a period of a decade or so, we experiment different models of governments and system. We have made trial of different ...

Yuba Nath Lamsal Irrespective of ideology, the survival strategy of North Korea, as it is also known as Democratic People\'s Republic of Korea or DPRK, is a lesson to be learnt by smaller countries in the world especially Nepal which is in the sandwiched position between Asia\'s two giants. North Korea has survived with dignity and stood firmly in the community of the nations despite hostile attitude of some of its neighbours and sanction from the Western countries. North Korea is a country which has been an example how unity of the people and strength of its own can keep foreign interference at bay and maintain national independence, unity and territorial integrity intact. Countries like Nepal have much more to learn from the DPRK which is smaller than Nepal in terms of size and population but much more powerful in terms of economic and military size. Global attention has always been focused on North Korea not because of its economy and physical size but because of its militar...

Yuba Nath Lamsal Imagine how the white revolution is in the offing, slowly, in Nepal. That, too, from young entrepreneurs, who would otherwise evade farming and look for greener pastures. The Lumbini Agro-Products Pvt. Ltd. is here with a dream and vision of white (milk) revolution. Commercial dairy farming is something that has recently made its way to Nepal. Although dairy farming has been in practice in Nepal for centuries, it used to be a family business meant only for domestic consumption. Now change is in the air and it has come to the agro sector, too. The rapid urbanization and massive migration of people from rural areas to urban centers in search of better opportunities has its impact on dairy farming, too. With high-speed urbanization, the arable land in and around the urban areas has sharply augmented the demand of dairy products in Nepal. The traditional approach of dairy farming can no longer meet the growing demand of milk and meat giv...

Yuba Nath Lamsal In the world of diplomacy, maturity, etiquette and sensitivity play vital role. The conduct of diplomacy is a delicate matter that needs high degree of sophistication and maturity. Diplomacy is not politics but an art of articulation and negotiation which requires high degree of sensitivity, maturity and sophistication. In other words, diplomacy is a battle to be fought without weapons and soldiers but with the art of convincing others. The words, tone and body language have their own meaning and carry especial message in the conduct of diplomacy. Even a slight mistake in the selection of words and use of tone and body language give negative message in diplomacy which would be costly for countries or individuals that are assigned to conduct diplomacy. In the absence maturity and sensitivity, countries and diplomats fail to achieve the goal they seek to achieve. This is what has exactly happened in Nepal in the wake of postponement of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao....

Yuba Nath Lamsal The political process began five years ago with the objective of establishing durable peace in the country. The process is progressing but at a snail’s pace. The 12-point agreement between the insurgent Maoists and the alliance of the seven parliamentary parties was the basis for the joint struggle against the monarchy. The united front of the Maoists and the seven-party alliance spearheaded the 2006 movement, Jana Andolan II, which was able to reinstate the dissolved parliament and form a government comprising democratic and progressive forces. The immediate objective of 12-point agreement was achieved with the restoration of the parliament and formation of a multi-party government. But the long-term goal of the 12-point government was to establish sustainable peace in the country by ending the decade-long insurgency. The goal of the Maoists and their people’s war was to establish a ‘people’s republican democracy’ with power in the hands of the proletariat. Given t...

Yuba Nath Lamsal Recently, Ambassador Scott H DeLisi of the United States of America made some revealing remarks on Washington’s Nepal policy. In an interview to a Nepali national daily, Ambassador DeLisi said that the United States looks at Nepal as an independent member of the South Asian region and treats accordingly. According to DeLisi, despite Nepal being surrounded by two giants—China and India, it should adopt foreign policy taking into account the fact that the world is bigger than China and India. There are mainly two messages in Ambassador DeLisi’s note. The first message is that Washington Nepal’s policy and priority remain unchanged despite its change of priority in South Asia. Secondly, it wants Nepal to come out of the tradition of India or China centric foreign policy but conduct its international relations in a broader and global perspective. Any comments and remarks made by ambassadors of international powers like the United States has its impact a...