News, Views From Nepal

  Yuba Nath Lamsal  Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it is just the opposite: John  Kenneth Galbraith  ‘Right wing’ and ‘left wing’ are perhaps the two most cited terms in the political discourse across the world. But understanding of these terms is as diverse as world’s geographic variation and heterogeneity of humankind.  The terms ‘left’ and ‘right’ mean differently in different continents and different regions as well as in different contexts. In Europe and northern America, leftists are understood as ones that advocate larger government and policy that seek to favour workers, lower brackets of society, higher tax while conservatives are known to be rightist who seek lower tax, small government and deregulation.  Evolution of ideology  Those who support liberal political order and free economy are called centrists while opposing this are rightists. The idea of right and left in politics came into political lexicon af...

  Yuba Nath Lamsal In the modern era of liberal democracy, ideology appears to have lost its appeal and charm. What matters is the immediate interest and benefit. Like in economics, market rules the roost in all sectors, including politics. In other words, market is the God that determines the fate of politics, parties, politicians and even individual citizens. Politics, too, is being dictated by the market force and we are in the age of market politics. Since market calls the shots in the larger political ruckus, parties and politicians tend to manufacture products that sell in the neoliberal political bazaar. What sells today is rhetoric, populism and propaganda which may hardly see the day of light in the world of realpolitik. Gone are the days of ideology and politics of ideals and principles. In the present era of market dictated politics, every action and move has a price tag. Values are replaced by prices and profits. This is the fundamental of neolib...

  Yuba Nath Lamsal Ever since Nepal evolved as a modern nation-state, certain days and occasions have had historic significance. May 28, 2008, was indeed a momentous day for Nepali people. On this very day, the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly made a momentous decision abolishing the 240-year-old monarchy and declaring Nepal as the world’s newest republic. Since then we have been commemorating this momentous day as Republic Day on May 28 every year with a sense of pride. Truest Form of Democracy Republic is the truest form of democracy and a sovereign state. Monarchy by its nature is an anti-democratic institution, which always tends to centralise power in the hands of a monarch. People are not considered free citizens but subjects in any active and absolute monarchies.  Genuine democracy is thus not possible in an active monarchy. However, there are certain monarchist countries where democratic culture flourished but with a cost. In those countries, mon...

  Yuba Nath Lamsal The local elections are over. The results from most of the places have already been announced. Nepali voters enthusiastically participated and voter turnout was relatively satisfactory. Elections were largely peaceful, free and fair. The Election Commission, the government, security organs and political parties deserve commendation for their role and hard work in making the election successful, peaceful and impartial.  This is the second time local elections were held under the present federal and republican constitution which was promulgated seven years ago in 2015. The tradition of the local election in Nepal is not a new as this practice goes back long ago. Even during the Panchayat regime, elections used to be held for the local units which used to be called Nagar Panchayat and Gaun Panchayat. But Nagar and Gaun Panchayats were not independent local bodies and thus such elections were not genuine ones. However people were accustom...

  Yuba Nath Lamsal “I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance, Among my skimming swallows; I make the netted sunbeam dance Against my sandy shallows. I murmur under moon and stars In brambly wildernesses; I linger by my shingly bars; I loiter round my cresses; And out again I curve and flow To join the brimming river, For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever” These are the excerpts from Lord Tennyson’s poem ‘The Brook’ in which the poet beautifully portrays the life and journey of a river that begins as a small rivulet to grow bigger before joining the vast ocean. Like the poem, the Gorkhapatra had a humble beginning and grew slowly and steadily to become the proud and living history of Nepali media industry. Writing about the Gorkhpatra is, thus, writing the history of Nepali newspapers and journalism. The Gorkhapatra is the pioneer newspaper in Nepal which began in 1901. The Gorkhapatra is the seed from which Nepal’s journalism grew fast and steadily to...