Up close with Paras Khadka

Paras Khadka, the current captain of Nepal's National Cricket team is in UK for a short personal visit. Under his captaincy, Nepal won the 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Five in Nepal, 2012 ICC World Cricket League Division Four in Malaysia and 2013 ICC World Cricket League Division Three in Bermuda, and participated in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh. Check out this video where he talks about his journey.

Fight against corruption

                                            SSP Ramesh Kharel - Photo by ekantipur.com

Ramesh Kharel, Senior Superintendent of Police and Chief of Kathmandu Police has gained immense admiration from Nepalis living all around the world for his fight against corruption. He is known for his enthusiasm to wipe out corruption from Nepal. Whilst his work has been appreciated widely by the Nepalis, the Ministry of Home affairs has written to Election commission to replace Ramesh Kharel.

Bam Dev Gautam who heads the Ministry of Home Affairs, explains why he is not supportive of Ramesh Kharel in the video below;


Video by Ramesh Poudyal

Allegations have also been made against the Home Minister about abusing his position on decision making of the promotion of Nepal Police Personnel.

In support of Ramesh Kharel and to fight against corruption, Bibekseel Nepali is holding an event to sign petition to separate the politics between Home affairs and Police affairs. The event will subsequently be held in Kathmandhu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur.
See more details on this event

Happy Republic Day !

Madan Krishna & Hari Bansha in UK

Bumped into Madan Krishna, August 2013

I hopped along with my mom and her friends yesterday to watch the show by the popular Madan Krishna & Hari Bansha also known as Maha Jodi. Anticipating to take a break from my hectic life, I was purely going there for a laugh. But the show offered so much more than just a laugh with their satirical jokes towards the political leaders and the plight of Nepal that really does make you ponder. With my goldfish memory, I picked up some of these:

• How practical is it for 601 members of Constituent Assembly of Nepal to draft the constitution?
• The wide practice of nepotism in the parliament
• Why won’t American Embassy in Nepal co-operate in the road extension work when the roads in their own country are supersize?
• The intervention of the Home minister in SSP Ramesh Kharel’s (Chief of Kathmandu Metropolitan Police) investigation. Ramesh Kharel has received huge positive response from Nepali citizens for his work on fight against corruption.
• The introduction of MA.PA.SE by DIG Ganesh Raj Rai (Traffic checking rule to prosecute drivers driving over alcohol consumption limit)
• Corruption on all levels of public services

Lastly, I was most touched when the pair portrayed the existence of caste division. This was done with such subtly which left the audience to reflect on themselves.  

Indian Influence in Nepal

                  Nepal's former PM Baburam Bhattarai with India's PM Manmohan Singh Photo from      www.content.time

India’s 2014 election is the world’s biggest in the history of elections. More than 800 million people in India will be voting while the whole world is watching it as a massive democratic movement. But why does it significantly matter to Nepal? Well there are a whole range of reasons why it should matter to Nepal. A country sandwiched between two Asian giants can only do so much for them when the governance of their own country is stumbling. The influence of India has had relatively more impact on Nepal compared to China. As there are always two sides to a coin, the impacts have been both positive and negative. Although Nepal has faced various issues with India such as border demarcation, currency dependency etc., India played a highly influential role to forge a 12 points agreement between the Maoist and 7 political parties in 2005. This brought an end to a 10- year long violent insurgency, which resulted in the Maoist putting down their guns and working with the government to bring a positive change in the country. Whether or not India's new prime minister will play a more influential role on the governance of the country remains a mystery. The bottom line is Nepal needs to be stronger internally rather than having to rely on others to bring a positive change in the country.

Youths stirring up the nation in Nepal

Photo by Monib Manandhar

There are scads of scepticism about the political upheavals in Nepal. In the midst of the citizens' distrust on the politicians, youths are advocating to bring a positive change in the country. In no particular order, I hand picked 5 youth-led initiatives striving to reconstruct the country.

Photo by Monib Manandhar

Nepal Unites
Although the page looks relatively quiet for now, this was one of the first initiatives raised via social media to prompt citizens to take action for the betterment of the country. This campaign attracted youths from overseas to pressure the diplomats in those countries to draft the constitution.
BibekSheel Nepali
BibekSheel is a political force to transform Nepal built by youths. 4 members of the organisation stood up as candidates in the last Constituent Assembly election. They were not able to secure a seat in the Constituent Assembly but gained a spiking number of votes within a small timescale. For the love of dogs, visit Bibeksheel Nepali.
YUWA
YUWA is established as a non-profit organisation and aims to increase participation of youths through empowerment and advocacy. Some of the issues that are addressed by YUWA are active citizenship and ''Glocal'' information access. Looking at their work, there cannot be a better time for youths to be in Nepal than now.
Bichardabali
This is an open platform for people to express opinions on Nepal’s socio-economic and political issues. As the writing space is open to anyone, the blog is unbiased in terms of political views. Whether you are a writer, a reader or a procrastinator, Bichardabali will stimulate your thirst for knowledge.
Nepal ko Yuwa
Nepal ko Yuwa is a fellowship led by youths living in Nepal and abroad. So no matter which part of the world you are in, this organisation aims to give an opportunity to come together to solve the critical problems of Nepal.
If you are not part of any of the above listed initiatives, its never too late to get involved and play your part.

Elderly take top spots in Constituent Assembly

                                          Photo by Safalta Gurung

Nepal is a prime example, where age seems to play a vital role in almost every aspect you can think of. This is a country which is currently being led by a 74 year old Prime Minister. Since Nepal was declared Federal Democratic in 2008, the average age of the Prime Ministers till date is 64. Traditionally, the culture is to respect the elders in Nepal. However, the committees of Constituent Assembly broke the limits of giving the elders full authority and control. This Friday, 25th April 2014, will see the announcement of Constituent Assembly Committees Chair. The heads will be elected by the majority of the votes. Up until now, the committees were headed by the eldest members in the committee. The 5 committees formed by CA are:
1. Constitutional political dialogue and consensus building
2. Statute drafting committee
3. Constitution record study and determination committee
4. Committee for capacity enhancement of lawmakers
5. Committee on citizen relations

As reported by Republica and Setopati, there is already a tacit understanding of who heads what in a way to ensure that each party has equal powers in constitution writing.

Rabindra Mishra, Chief of BBC Nepali shares his view on Nepal's Journalism & Politics

On 13th April 2014, I was able to conduct a short interview with Rabindra Mishra to know about his opinions on where Nepal's journalism and politics is heading. Rabindra Mishra is the Chief of BBC Nepali, and is considered to be one of the top journalists of Nepal. Please share your thoughts...