News, Views From Nepal

Yuba Nath Lamsal Democracy has become a global lingua franca in the present 21 st century. The democratic upsurge has swept all over the world either forcing the dictators of various kinds to bow down before the power of people or has simply toppled the regime and replaced it with the government of people’s representatives. Many countries in the world have now democratic dispensations, while in some countries this process is intensifying. But there is one stark reality the world has witnessed at present that is despite such a marvelous global popular upsurge in the march for democracy, the genuine democratization process has yet to take place in many of the countries in the developing world. The people in various countries have overthrown the authoritarian regimes and installed a new one that claim to be democratic and vow to work for the greater interest of the people. Democracy is still in fragile state in the newly emerged democracies especially in the developing countr

Yuba Nath Lamsal In an anniversary function of Nepal Council of World Affairs, Chairman of the Interim Election Government Khil Raj Regmi has raised one very pertinent issue that is related to formulation and conduct of Nepal’s foreign policy. He said foreign policy should be consensus-based. The remark itself is nothing new. What is new is the realization by the people in power about the long felt need of consensus on some vital national issues including foreign policy. Foreign policy watchers and experts have long been demanding that the key political actors reach a broader consensus on what should be Nepal’s foreign policy, its goals and priorities and tools to be used to achieve foreign policy objectives. However, consensus-based foreign policy has been elusive in Nepal especially after the 1990 political change that ushered in a multi-party political era. As a result, there have been marked inconsistencies and discrepancies in the conduct of foreign policy. This is also

Yuba Nath Lamsal Even as India claims to be treading on a path to become a global power, it is getting internally entangled with plethora of problems and conflict that India’s position is becoming more and more vulnerable to achieve the feat in the international arena as it has been desperately trying to accomplish. Given the nature of the conflicts it is faced with currently, India appears to be unable to manage the disgruntlements and grievances of its own people. It makes New Delhi too difficult to deal with the international powers and players in a confident manner. India, as it seems today, is sitting on a dormant volcano of revolts and protests, which are now becoming slowly active. Already in history’s worst crisis since independence from the British rule, India’s future cannot be ascertained once full blown volcano of popular unrests erupts. India is currently facing popular protests and revolts in various regions and areas. The protests and revolts are from the gra

Yuba Nath Lamsal Revolution is a festival and counter revolution is a funeral for radical and revolutionary people anywhere in the world. Revolution is a rupture from the old system for which all accepted rules and norms are to be violated to spearhead revolution. But counter revolutionaries dub it as a criminal act and terror and use every possible means to suppress the revolution. The history of modern political development is   thus a history of revolution and counter revolution. Nepal’s chequered history, too, is characterized by the long struggle of revolutionaries and counter revolutionaries. Although Nepal’s history goes long back to prehistoric era, the real political history begins with the unification process initiated during the time of Shah king Prithivi Narayan Shah. In the short history of little less than 250 year since mid 18th century, Nepal has seen and experienced many erratic political developments, tumults and turbulences at different intervals of Nepal’s