Monday, August 31, 2020
Man vandalises ambulance in Bhaktapur after recovery from Covid-19
Dozens injured during a clash between NCP and People's Socialist Party cadres in Siraha
Man accused of attempted rape arrested in Nuwakot
Journalist threatened for writing news of illegal sand mining
Bheri Hospital starts plasma therapy treatment
NEPALGUNJ, AUGUST 31
Bheri Hospital of Nepalgunj has started treating coronavirus patients through plasma therapy for the first time in Banke. Two people from Banke donated blood plasma today.
The hospital said that treatment of critical COVID patients through the plasma therapy had started.
Bheri Hospital carried out this treatment technique for the first time in West Nepal. Dr. Khagendra Jung Shah of the hospital said that spokespersons of Nepalgunj and Kohalpur sub-metropolis Pramod Rijal and Ramraja Chaudhary respectively donated blood plasma to treat critical COVID patients.
Dr Shah, who is an expert in plasma therapy, said that the plasma donated by Rijal would be given to a twenty-nine-yearold coronavirus-infected youth of Salyan. Dr Shah said those infected, who had stayed in isolation and had recovered, could donate plasma through their blood after 14 days. He said that plasma could be stored for one year.
Dr Shah further said plasma therapy was a technique that could be adopted to treat critical COVID patients through the blood taken out from recovered COVID patients. He said it would help patients increase their immunity power.
A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 1, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.
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Djokovic embracing the pressure as he extends winning streak
NEW YORK: Novak Djokovic showed a bit more passion than might have been expected in his first-round win over Damir Dzumhur on Monday but the world number one brushed aside any question that he was feeling the pressure as overwhelming US Open favourite.
The Serbian lost his way a bit in the second set but rallied for a straightforward victory on Arthur Ashe Stadium that extended his extraordinary winning streak to 24 matches this year.
The absence of fans because of the coronavirus pandemic perhaps exaggerated his testy exchange with the umpire, the angry roar he emitted after sealing the second set, and a bit of back-and-forth with his box.
For Djokovic, though, it was just all part of his make-up as a 17-times Grand Slam champion.
“You care about winning a tennis match, obviously you’re a professional,” the top seed said on court after setting up a second-round meeting with Briton Kyle Edmund.
“If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t be here. This is how I play, I play with a lot of intensity and try to bring a lot of energy to the court.”
In the absence of the two other men vying for the title of the greatest male player of the modern era, Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal, Djokovic is an odds-on favourite with the bookmakers to win a fourth U.S. Open crown.
That, combined with maintaining the prospect that he might go through the year unbeaten, could weigh on a player with less mental strength.
“I know pressure is a privilege, pressure is part of what we do,” Djokovic added in a news conference.
“I try to embrace it. I know what I need to do and how to behave, how to make myself calm and composed and focused on what really needs to be done.”
Djokovic admitting to resorting to cliché when he said he would be taking each match as it came at Flushing Meadows but eschewed the usual sporting trope about ignoring statistics when asked about the winning streak.
“Do I want to keep the streak going? Of course, I do,” he said.
“Am I thinking about it as a priority number one every single day? No.
“It’s there, and of course it’s an additional motivation for me. It actually fuels me to play even stronger, play even better, I think bring the right intensity every match.”
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From Far & Near: Current World Affairs: September 2020
Current World Affairs: September 2020
- Japan: Towering Personalities in Succession RacePoisoned Russian Opposition Leader Recuperating
- Pressure Mounts on Belarus President to Stand Down
- Mali Has Enough of Bungling Politicians
- Czech Breaches ‘One China’ Policy
By Shashi P.B.B. Malla
Change of Guard in Japan
Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe has announced plans to resign over health problems. Attention has now turned to his possible successors. However, there is yet no clear consensus on the likely candidate (AFP/Agence France Presse, August 28).
Longtime German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who worked with Abe during both of his spells in office, sent him a message which underlined his personality as a source of stability in the very volatile Western Pacific region, and his unique standing among world leaders, saying he was “always a constructive and reliable partner in our common commitment to multilateralism, free trade, peaceful conflict resolution and rules-based order,” adding: for the future, I wish you a swift and complete recovery and personal well-being.” (AP/August 29).
The political heavyweights of this ancient island nation [with the world’s oldest monarchy] are now lined up.
One of the top candidates is the current deputy PM and finance minister Taro Aso, quite old at 79 and gaffe-prone. He is not only an old-timer of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party but was himself from 2008-09. He has been Abe’s deputy since 2012. He was unceremoniously booted from office in 2009, after the party’s historic defeat.
Shigeru Ishiba, the former defence minister, is a popular choice among the general public but is not so well thought of by ruling lawmakers. The 63-old former banker is the scion of a political family and seen as a strong orator with significant parliamentary experience, having been elected at just 29.
Like Abe, Ishiba is a defence hawk who wants to strengthen the country’s ‘Self Defence Forces’ in the restraining pacifist constitution. He has even considered the possibility of reconsidering Japan’s policy of forbidding stationing nuclear weapons on its home soil. He has served in several Cabinet posts.
Yoshihide Suga, 71, a major power player, rose to national prominence as a trusted Abe adviser and was the key proponent of his second bid for the premiership after a disastrous first term.
After Abe’s return to power in 2012, he appointed Suga as chief cabinet secretary, a powerful position in Japan that coordinates the efforts of government ministries and the ruling party. He is also often the face of the government, delivering regular press briefings. He is a rare self-made parliamentarian in a ruling party filled with hereditary politicians and former technocrats. He is the eldest son of a strawberry farmer and moved to Tokyo after high school and worked odd jobs to put himself through night college. He won a lower house seat in 1996.
Fumio Kishida, former foreign minister currently serves as the ruling party’s policy chief and is presumed to be Abe’s preferred successor. However, his soft-spoken, low-key presence and alleged lack of charisma may prove to be a stumbling block.
He was elected from Hiroshima and worked hard to invite US President Barack Obama for a historic visit to the city that was devastated by the dropping of the world’s first war-time atomic bomb under President Truman.
He was also credited with helping to cement the bilateral Japanese-South Korean deal meant to end the long-running dispute over the use of sex slaves [or euphemistic: ‘comfort women’] during the Japanese occupation.
Taro Kono, the Defence Minister was once considered an ambitious and independent, but the 57-year-old has since toned down his rhetoric in recent years as a key member of Abe’s cabinet. He was educated as Georgetown University and travelled extensively as foreign minister, 2017-2018 before taking the defence portfolio. He is seen as close to both Aso and Suga. He has a lively Twitter presence both in Japanese and English.
Russian Opposition Leader Navalny Recovering after Poisoning
German specialist doctors are treating prominent Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny for a suspected case of grave poisoning at Berlin’s famous Charite’ hospital (AP/Associated Press, August 28).
Navalny has widely investigated corruption in Russia. He is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic and fell suddenly ill on a flight back from Tomsk, Siberia to Moscow. He had drunk tea at the airport. He was taken to a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk after an emergency landing. Strangely, the doctors there pronounced that there was no poison in his body!
This was firmly contradicted by the Berlin doctors, who established the presence of a poisonous substance that inhibits vital bodily functions. They established that while Navalny’s “condition remains serious, there is no immediate danger to his life.” However, due to the severity of the poisoning, “it remains too early to gauge potential long-term effects.”
Navalny, 44, is an energizing force for the Russian opposition, conducting investigations that expose corruption and mobilize against Putin’s regime. He attempted to run against Putin in the 2018 presidential election but was barred from doing so. A fraudulent conviction was the retribution for his activism.
It’s the second time that Navalny has possibly been poisoned. He was hospitalized in July after being jailed for calling for street protests.
According to experts, this time around the poisoning was meant to kill. It is also highly suspicious because a number of Kremlin foes have been poisoned or killed during Putin’s 20 years in power (NPR/National Public Radio, August 20).
There was the targeted killing of Kremlin critic and former spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died after drinking tea that was laced with polonium-200 in a London hotel.
Another high profile case was the use of Novichok nerve agent to poison former KGB spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the UK.
Because of his repeated successes in exposing corruption among high-ranking government officials and state-controlled companies, Navalny had a long list of enemies in high places. Anyone of these ill-wishers could have done the evil deed.
However, Semyon Kochkin, an activist and ally of Navalny insists that it would be “impossible” to poison Navalny without Putin’s approval.
He added that the ongoing unrest and public anger over the hotly disputed presidential election in next-door neighbour Belarus had made Russian leaders very afraid of a similar development in Russia itself.
“If Navalny were to die, it would be a seismic event in Russian politics,” according to NPR’s Lucian Kim. “It would be a huge loss for the Russian opposition. What Navalny has done or accomplished is really energized a new generation of Russians who have only known Putin as their president. And Navalny has shown them how to organize at the grassroots level, how to investigate corruption and how to harness social media also for fundraising purposes.”
It is symptomatic that the loud-mouthed, utterly corrupt and cowardly Donald Trump – at this moment in time still the putative POTUS – has kept silent about this ominous development. He is after all beholden to Russian oligarchs for massive financial infusion into his private commercial undertakings. This is also a prime reason why he wants to be re-elected –to dodge culpability for his infinite number of wrongdoings and criminal acts.
Minsk Matters
Matters are coming to a head in Minsk, the Belarus capital. In the ongoing protests against President Alexander Lukashenko, social media have contributed enormously in organizing and sustaining them. Public mobilization has gone far beyond traditional opposition supporters and social media-aware young people to embrace broad swathes of society united by a burning desire for a change in government (Oxford Analytica, August 28). Lukashenko is in the horns of a dilemma: he can neither placate his once subject people nor brutally suppress them.
Lukashenko has responded by wild accusations and appealing to Russia [which claims supremacy in the neighbourhood] for help. He has also become more aggressive and erratic. He blames the protests on outside interference and has instructed the police to stop the street demonstrations – a monumental and thankless task.
Last Sunday, tens of thousands again took to the streets, facing off against riot police. Shocked by police violence – and probably buoyed by their own successes – protesters have lost their fear. People have also come out to demonstrate in Grodno and Brest, both near the border to Poland, the latter site of the historic treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918) among Soviet Russia, Imperial Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Protesters chanted “disgrace” and “go away”. Many mocked Lukashenko on his 66th birthday carrying a cockroach puppet and chanting “happy birthday, you rat!” (BBC, August 31).
Putin congratulated Lukashenko and invited him to Moscow [perhaps he goes and doesn’t return – a most convenient and elegant solution!]. He has also formed a ‘police reserve force’ to intervene in Belarus if necessary, although “it won’t be used until the situation gets out of control.”
Kremlin spokesman Dimitry Peskov has now elaborated that Belarus’ security forces and the country’s leadership were keeping the situation under control in what he called “quite an assured manner” (Reuters, August 31).
But not for long. Belarus opposition leader Ms Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya presently in self-imposed exile in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, where she fled to escape capture, has been invited to address the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) this coming Friday.
She will speak via video link at the invitation of Estonia, another Baltic state, currently a non-permanent member of the world body’s executive branch. This is a major foreign policy victory for the opposition. It also illustrates a basic fact of international relations that small nations can play a crucial role in times of crises.
Germany has summoned the Belarus ambassador over revocations of accreditations of journalists. BBC has condemned “in the strongest possible terms this stifling of independent journalism.”
Lukashenko’s presidency is thus badly shaken but remains in place as he is not expected to resign voluntarily. Although the mass protests have unified much of the population, there is still no ready mechanism for a peaceful transition if Lukashenko refuses to go peacefully [with only one single option: Russia].
In such shaky circumstances, three future scenarios are possible:
First, the least likely is Lukashenko’s immediate departure and fresh elections.
Second, Lukashenko could impose a still harder line rule akin to a military dictatorship, resulting in thousands of detentions and possible Russian intervention. This would result in international sanctions and isolation for Belarus. This would be extremely unstable and singularly difficult to maintain for any extent of time. The possible turmoil not only in Belarus but also Russia and the immediate neighbourhood cannot be imagined.
Mali: Hope After the Coup
The military coup in Mali raised alarm across West Africa, a region under severe threat for years under Islamist militants of various hues. It can ill afford more instability, yet in Mali itself, it’s largely seen as a harbinger of progress (Bloomberg, August 29).
According to Marc-Andre Boiswert, an independent researcher in civil-military relations in the Sahel [the vast bio-geographic, semi-arid zone of North Africa, to the south of the Sahara, and the Sudanian savanna to the south], the notion of a coercive coup’ has been present in African coups since independence, but there’s been an upsurge since then.
Malians have realized that politicians haven’t been able to solve the country’s problems. They believe that a military-led transition will be stricter, more rigorous, and will put people to work. Above all, such shameless corruption as the government buying socks for its soldiers at a staggering US $ Dollar 63 a pair will not happen!
Some see last month’s weeks of public unrest more as a popular uprising than a coup per se, with the military intervening as the final act – so to say, the culmination to incessant calls to finally do something. A vast majority of Malians wanted a mixed civil-military government to restore order in the transition period. Consequently, the junta also seeks a referendum on constitutional changes to bolster the credibility of the political system.
China Reacts Robustly to Violation of ‘One China’ Policy
China’s second-highest-ranking official on external relations, Foreign Minister Wang Yi has warned that Czech Senate Speaker Milos Vystrcil will “pay a heavy price” for violating the ‘One China’ principle by making an official visit to Taiwan, according to the Chinese foreign ministry (Reuters, August 31).
The highest-ranking official in foreign relations is, in fact, Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) Central Committee, and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Commission. This is in tune with the Chinese doctrine of the supremacy of the party over state institutions. This is, of course, China’s own domestic matter. However, Nepal’s Communists have tried to implement this too, and we have to resist this attempt tooth and nail.
The Nepal Communist Party’s (NCP) hold on the country is that of a Hydra-headed monster with its tentacles reaching far and wide. Its ideological hold is such that it has even managed to thwart the progress of the ‘Nepal Compact/Millennium Challenge Corporation’, although that is indubitable in the national interest, and recognized as such by certain progressive nationalists like Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali.
Vystrcil arrived in the capital Taipei on Sunday. He said his visit would promote business links, and that the Czech Republic would not bow to Beijing’s objections.
The Czechs have a history of being resolute and defiant. Way back in 1968, the Czechoslovak Communist Party and its First Secretary, Alexander Dubcek defied the entire Soviet block by introducing innovative reforms during the famous ‘Prag Spring’ and were rewarded by being invaded by the armies of the Soviet Empire – Russians, East Germans, Polish, Hungarian and Bulgarian [Peter Calvocoressi: World Politics, 1945-2000; 2010, pp. 309 ff.]
Wang, who is currently on a visit to Germany, admonished: “We will make him pay a heavy price for his short-sighted behaviour and political opportunism.” At the same time, this was also an exercise in damage control in order to deter other countries from attempting such an initiative.
Wang reminded the world that challenging the One China principle was tantamount to “making oneself the enemy of 1.4 billion Chinese people,” and the Chinese government and people will not tolerate such “open provocation” by the Czech Senate speaker and the anti-Chinese forces behind him.
The ‘One China’ doctrine refers to Mainland China and Taiwan both belonging to “one China”, a position that requires all countries it has diplomatic relations with to abide.
China considers Taiwan a breakaway province ineligible for direct state-to-state relations.
The writer can be reached at: shashipbmalla@hotmail.com
So close yet so far: I could not meet my dad in his last moments
Location: Covid-19 Unified Hospital, Balambu
Time: Around 12:30 pm
A man strode towards the C-1 block of the hospital where all the coronavirus-infected (Covid-19) patients were kept. He climbed up the stairs of the three-storey building and reached its roof and started observing the ICU ward in the south.
A team of security personnel were making preparations to take out the body of a man who had died in the ICU. Seeing the scene, the 41-year-old man could not stop his tears. He was continuously wiping his tears and watching the scene unfold. A bystander said, “This is very pitiful.”
The staff lied the body on the ground, they then took out a cloth piece that had covered the body. The body disposal team, then, disinfected the body.
On the roof, the man continued to watch the body being taken into a hearse and towards Pashupati Aryaghat, unable to react.
The deceased was a 67-year-old man from Ombahal, Kathmandu metropolitan city-21 and the man, on the roof, was his son. He said, “I was in the hospital but still could not go near my father in his last moments.”
—
Still, in isolation at Balambu, he recalls his time from the point he went to the hospital to the point he lost his father:
I run an advertising agency. My father was a heart patient and used to take regular medicine. He was the Nepali Congress president for my ward, KMC-21. After the lockdown was loosened, he was active in political activities, for which he used to go out of home regularly.
Other party leaders and cadres used to come home to meet him as the party was busy in distribution and renewal of membership cards. A room, with all the security measures, was managed on the ground floor of the home for his convenience. From there, he used to distribute and collect the forms for party membership. In between, he had also gone to a bank(s) a few times.
It was a few days later that he started getting a fever and experienced respiratory problems. As the symptoms matched Covid-19’s, he stayed isolated at home. After two days, I also got a fever, and I shifted to a different room. But, my father and I were sharing the bathroom. On August 11, we both went to Star Hospital to give our swab samples.
My report came positive on the same day. And, my father tested positive the next day. Then, other family members also gave their samples, out of which my younger sister also tested positive.
I had gone to Birgunj before the pandemic and before the lockdown was imposed in Nepal. However, some media had reported that the infection [in my family] spread from ‘the son who came from Birgunj’. I am shocked and sad to see such news. The media could have reported the news only after knowing the truth of the matter, but that did not happen. I do not know why.
My sister is at home, in isolation. My father and I came to the APF Hospital in Balambu on August 15. On the day, my father had mild respiratory problems. We were first kept at C-2 block of the Hospital. But, since my father’s bed did not have an oxygen outlet, we were shifted to the C-1 block. He was put on oxygen as his oxygen levels were fluctuating.
On August 18, he was shifted to the ICU. His condition saw no change even in two days, so doctors prescribed plasma therapy and remdesivir. I made arrangements as prescribed. He was then shifted to a ventilator and the very next day, his treatment started.
I used to get regular updates from the doctors. But, on Tuesday around noon, I got the news about his demise. I tried to save him despite me battling with the virus myself, but even with several efforts, I could not.
When I reached the roof of the building, it was maybe 3 or 4 pm. The body disposal team of Nepal Army took out his body, disinfected, and took him towards Pashupati Aryaghat on the hearse. I could not even go near my father’s body, even though I was in the hospital premises. I consoled myself thinking that I am one among the many families who have had to bear the misfortune of losing their family members during this pandemic situation.
—
He is still at the hospital mourning his father’s demise and battling Covid-19. He says he is trying to stay strong and consoling himself. Also, he says he will return home after defeating Covid-19 only.
COVID impact on religious tourism overlooked
KATHMANDU, AUGUST 31
Along with adventure, culture and nature, Nepal is also known as a religious destination for tourists. Among other sectors, religious tourism sector of the country has also been adversely affected due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As the country was celebrating Visit Nepal 2020 campaign, the government and private sector, among others were preparing for grand events in various religious places. The global outbreak resulted in cancellation of all events.
Even though the government had conducted impact assessment of the country’s tourism sector during the pandemic period, religious tourism has somehow been overlooked.
Stakeholders stated that religious tourism was not given its due priority in the discourse on COVID-19 impact.
“Religious tourism is the second sector, after mountaineering, which welcomes a large number of tourists into the country. Indeed, some discussions were held on impact of COVID-19 on religious tourism.
However, it has not been prioritised the way it should have been,” said Vice-Chairman of Lumbini Development Trust, Venerable Metteyya Sakyaputta.
Lumbini alone has lost around 900,000 tourists during this pandemic. In 2019, a total of 173,083 tourists had visited Lumbini via air route.
Moreover, a huge event was scheduled for the Buddha Jayanti this year. Hence, hotels and other businesses in Lumbini had invested additional money. However, the pandemic ruined everything, Sakyaputta added.
“Religious tourism was never prioritised, even during the normal times,” he claimed, adding, “Till date we have not identified the significance of religious tourism on the country’s socio-economic sector.
We are still to conduct a proper study on religious tourism in the country.”
He further said that the country still doesn’t have the exact data of religious tourists, their expenditure and the average length of their stay in the country.
Achyut Guragain, president of Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents, stated that exact data has not been prepared yet about the impact of COVID-19 on religious tourism.
“Generally Hindu and Buddhist tourists travel to Nepal for pilgrimage,” he said. “Due to the pandemic, we have lost millions of our religious tourists and billions of rupees in income, however, we have not analysed it seriously.”
Emphasising that he had initiated Buddhist International Travel Mart in the country, he said, “Each year we receive a large number of religious tourists from India, Burma, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, among other countries. This year, all of them cancelled their trips.”
According to Guragain, Nepal has not fully tapped its religious tourism potential. “Religious tourism is linked with people’s sentiment and somehow it is way more easier to regain religious tourists than other travellers,” he said.
The country’s religious factor not only attracts religious tourists but is an attraction for non-religious tourists too who enjoy the abundant religious and cultural activities in the country, he added.
“Religious tourists do not infer to non-nationals only but also people across the country that travel for pilgrimages.
Thus, all the foreign and domestic religious tourists have been affected due to the COV- ID-19,” said Ghanashyam Khatiwada, executive director of Pashupati Area Development Trust. People visit Pashupatinath not for religious purpose only but also to roam around and for their internal peace, he added.
“However, as it is quite challenging to control the crowd in religious sites, the sector might not have been prioritised,” he said, while admitting that the exact data of the socioeconomic losses in the sector have not been compiled although it is estimated to amount in billions of rupees.
It is to be noted that COV- ID-19 impact assessment of tourism sector conducted by Nepal Tourism Board has also not included any information regarding religious tourism.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has claimed that the pandemic period has been utilised for infrastructure development of religious areas.
A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 1, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.
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Man discharged after recovery from COVID vandalises ambulance
KATHMANDU, AUGUST 31
A man, who had fully recovered from coronavirus, suddenly vandalised an ambulance that was ferrying him home from hospital, fearing that he was being abducted.
The incident occurred last night at 10:00pm. The ambulance from Balambu-based Armed Police Force’s COVID special hospital was carrying the 24-year-old man to his home after his successful treatment. But on the way home, he suddenly behaved strangely and started vandalising the moving ambulance from inside.
The man is a resident of Bhaktapur Municipality.
Looking at the man’s violent behaviour, the ambulance driver had to stop the vehicle, but as soon as the vehicle stopped, the man broke the windowpane and jumped out of the ambulance. He did not stop here. He started vandalising the ambulance more fiercely.
DSP Chakra Raj Joshi of Jagati Police Circle said that the man approached them and sought help stating that he was being abducted by the driver of the ambulance.
Jhalak Kumar BC was driving the ambulance. According to police, the driver was a complete stranger to the man and he had no idea why the man behaved in a weird manner.
After some time police informed about the incident to the family members of the man. The family members said he had no mental health problems and he might have behaved in such manner due to the mental trauma he had to go through in the isolation ward after being infected with the virus. Police later handed the man over to his family members after they agreed to pay for damages done to the ambulance.
Psychiatrist Dr Sagun Panta at Tribhuvan University’s Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj, said although it was difficult to say anything about the case without proper diagnosis, his violent activities might have been the result of panic attack.
A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 1, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.
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Pandemic claims health worker
JANAKPURDHAM, AUGUST 31
A health worker of Mahottari’s Balawa Municipality diagnosed with COVID-19 had succumbed to the disease on Wednesday, the health ministry revealed today.
The 37-year-old man, who had completed the health assistant course and used to run a medical store in Balawa bazaar, breathed his last on the way to Kathmandu-based Vayodha Hospital.
According to health officer and COVID-19 focal person at district health office Girendra Kumar Jha, the health worker and his wife were referred to the Kathmandu-based hospital after they complained of breathing difficulty.
They went in the same ambulance.
On the way, they began gasping for breath. But there was only one oxygen cylinder in the ambulance. He put his wife on oxygen and breathed his last in the ambulance before reaching the hospital. On reaching Kathmandu, his wife was admitted to the hospital.
Their swab samples were collected and his body was sent to Mahottari in the same ambulance.
Jha said the body was buried the same day in his home district.
Later, they tested positive for COVID-19. His wife has, however, recovered and is staying at her kin’s place in Kathmandu. Swabs of 82 people who they had come into contact with have been collected.
A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 1, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.
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More people prone to mental health issues due to COVID fear
KATHMANDU, AUGUST 31
Psychiatrists have warned that the country might see an unaccounted rise in the number of people suffering from psychological stress and other mental health issues due to the increasing fear of COVID-19 spread and months-long lockdown imposed in a bid to subdue the virus.
Psychiatrist Dr Sagun Panta at Tribhuvan University’s Teaching Hospital said that active and healthy people who are confined to their houses for months have started showing symptoms of mental health problems.
The common psychological disorders recorded in relation to the situation created are: depressive disorder, insomnia disorder, anxiety disorder, alcoholism, smoking issues, weakening of daily performance, irritation and lack of confidence and lack of concentration.
Dr Panta said, “People, despite their hardship in the first couple of months, had been able to cope with the problems, but with the government decision to reimpose the lockdown, more people have started showing symptoms of psychological stress and anxiety .”
Panta further said the number of people with suicidal tendency, depression and anxiety was increasing mainly due to financial insecurity.
These problems lead people to alcoholism and smoking. Similarly, some people have started becoming victims of unwarranted fear of contracting the virus and many people have stopped venturing out of their houses due to fear.
People who have recovered from the virus are also suffering from post-traumatic disorder. Recovered people also have fear of being stigmatised in society, and have developed the habit of remaining aloof.
Similarly, most of the people contracting the virus, normally feel that they are facing difficulty in breathing and go through unwanted fear of dying.
These psychological impacts in the long term can lead to serious mental health issues. In some cases, this can lead to suicide, according to Dr Panta.
A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 1, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.
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Two persons arrested
RAUTAHAT, AUGUST 31
Police have arrested two persons for their alleged involvement in the murder of a Hindu priest in Rautahat more than a week ago.
On August 19, some unidentified persons had shot Shreeram Sah, the priest of Hanuman temple in Khesarahiya bazaar of Madhavnarayan Municipality, while he was resting in his home in the evening after having his meal.
Murder accused Ram Naresh Patel and Bal Kumar Patel of Dewahi Gonahi Municipality are said to have been arrested from the across the Nepal-India border.
According to sources, they were arrested from their hideout in Ghodasaha area of Purbi Champaran of the Indian state of Bihar, with the help of Indian police.
Four other persons, including ward 1 chairperson Shekh Narullah of Dewahi Gonahi Municipality, Rajendra Patel and Ram Prabesh Patel, have been missing from their homes following the incident.
While police hasn’t confirmed the arrest of the two persons, various religious organisations have protested the failure of police to investigate the incident effectively and arrest the perpetrators.
A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 1, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.
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Foundation stones laid for temples
RAUTAHAT, AUGUST 31
On the 13th day of priest Shreeram Sah’s murder, foundation stones for Ram Janaki temple and Hanuman temple were laid in Khesarhiya of Madhav Narayan Municipality, Rautahat.
Following Sah’s murder, Nepal Communist Party Province 2 Chair and Rautahat constituency 3 Province Assembly member Prabhu Sah had declared that temples would be constructed.
Maulapur Municipality Mayor Rina Devi Sah laid the foundation stones for Ram Janaki temple and Hanuman temple.
Priest Sah had built the temple on his own and was taking care of the temple selflessly. Prabhu Sah said he had announced construction of the temple to realise the dream of the priest. Rautahat CDO Indradev Yadav pledged to set up a police post in its vicinity.
A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 1, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.
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Oximeter a good investment for COVID-19 patients staying in home isolation
KATHMANDU, AUGUST 31
Cases of asymptomatic COVID patients staying in home isolation suddenly becoming ill and succumbing to the contagion have come to light, prompting the need to spread awareness about precautions patients staying in home isolation must take.
Santa Kumar Das, who is COVID-19 Management Committee Coordinator at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, told THT that people staying in home isolation should frequently check their oxygen level and should be rushed to hospital when their oxygen saturation drops below 90 per cent. “Often people staying in home isolation have no symptom of the disease, but they do not know that their oxygen level has dropped, which becomes fatal,” Das said.
He said even asymptomatic patients staying in home isolation should be rushed to hospital when their oxygen level drops to abnormally low point or when they experience other severe symptoms. Das added that patients staying in home isolation should keep a pulse oximeter, which measures oxygen level, at home. It costs Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000.
According to Das, health authorities should monitor the health of COV- ID-19 patients who are staying in home isolation at least twice a day and should inform patients what they should or should not do while staying in home isolation.
“Leaflets and other information disseminated to the public about COV- ID-19 may not be enough and therefore, there is a need for constant monitoring of patients staying in home isolation. The government should form mobile teams of health professionals who could visit COVID patients in their homes,” he added.
Das also said that government authorities needed to tell patients staying in home isolation which hospitals they should visit. “COVID patients should be told in advance where they will be treated. When COVID patients develop symptoms or need medical care, they should not be wasting time looking for the hospital that will admit them,” he said.
Director of Patan Hospital Rabi Shakya said, “COVID patients staying in home isolation should be rushed to a hospital even if they experience slight deterioration in their health.”
Assistant Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population Samir Kumar Adhikari accused local authorities of inadequate monitoring of patients staying in home isolation.
“Local governments should increase their monitoring of patient staying in home isolation,” he said.
Regarding a patient from Bhaktapur who died yesterday while staying at home, Adhikari said he was kept at home at the insistence of his family who told health authorities that the patient was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and family members could take better care of the patient.
“Home isolation is a good option for asymptomatic cases as staying close to family can keep their morale high,”
Adhikari said, adding that it would not be possible to put all asymptomatic patients in hospitals.
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Crime up in Rautahat, four killed in two weeks
RAUTAHAT, AUGUST 31
Criminal activity has been on the rise in Rautahat district of late.
A woman aged 40 was found murdered in Rautahat last evening. The body of Mintra Devi Baitha, 40, was found in the field at Laxmipur tole of ward 3 of Gadhimai Municipality, Rautahat, last evening. She had left home at 10:00am to collect fodder for cattle.
Police have started investigating the incident, said SP Rabiraj Khadka.
Niranjan Ram, 20, of Jingadawa of ward 8 of Garuda Municipality, Rautahat, was murdered a fortnight ago.
Four days after Ram was killed, a priest of Hanuman temple at ward 2 of Madhav Narayan Municipality, Shreeram Sah, was killed. Despite investigation, police are yet to book people involved in the priest’s murder.
Police had arrested Bijay Ram for his alleged involvement in killing Niranjan Ram. Bijay died due to torture meted out by the police in custody.
Among the four killed in various incidents, Niranjan, Bijay and Mintra Devi are from the Dalit community.
Family members and the local Dalit people have been staging a relay hunger strike against the police in relation to the death of Bijay in police custody.
Due to the protest, Area Police Office DSP Gyan Kumar Mahato was recalled to Province 2 Police Office. A three-member probe committee formed by the Home Ministry has started investigating the incident from today.
A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 1, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.
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AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate begins late-stage US study
AstraZeneca Plc said on Monday it has begun enrolling adults for a US-funded, 30,000-subject late-stage study of its high profile COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
Trial participants will receive either two doses of the experimental vaccine, dubbed AZD1222, four weeks apart, or a placebo, the company said.
The trial is being conducted under U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed program, which aims to accelerate development, manufacturing and distribution of vaccines and treatments for COVID-19.
US President Donald Trump has said a vaccine for the novel coronavirus could be available before the Nov. 3 presidential election, much sooner than most experts anticipate.
AstraZeneca, which is developing its vaccine in conjunction with Oxford University researchers, and Pfizer Inc with partner BioNTech SE have said they could have data by October to support U.S. emergency use authorization or approval of their respective vaccines.
AZD1222 is already undergoing late-stage clinical trials in Britain, Brazil and South Africa, with additional trials planned in Japan and Russia. The trials, together with the U.S. Phase III study, aim to enroll up to 50,000 participants globally.
The U.S. trial will evaluate whether the vaccine can prevent COVID-19 infection or keep the illness from becoming severe, the National Institutes of Health said in a statement https://ift.tt/32H3FZZ.
It also will assess if the vaccine can reduce incidence of emergency department visits due to COVID-19.
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Dominant Tsitsipas advances to US Open second round
NEW YORK: Greek fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas kicked off his quest for a maiden Grand Slam title in style as he overwhelmed Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-2 6-1 6-1 on Monday to reach the second round of the US Open.
Tsitsipas, who entered the first Grand Slam of the COVID-19 era fresh off a run to the semi-finals of the US Open tune-up event, never faced a break point and broke Ramos-Vinolas seven times during the 98-minute match.
“I had a clear picture of what I was doing, where I was pressing. The depth on my ball was good,” said Tsitsipas, whose best Grand Slam result to date came at the 2019 Australian Open where he reached the semi-finals.
The 22-year-old Tsitsipas, who has never been beyond the second round of the US Open, came into this week with 16 wins to his name this season and has been tipped by many to make a deep run in a tournament missing a number of top players.
Tsitsipas broke to go ahead 3-1 and that opened up his game as he went on to play the contest on his terms, flashing equal parts power and variety to overwhelm his opponent.
After Ramos-Vinolas held serve to start the third set, Tsitsipas won six consecutive games to wrap up the match and improve to 3-0 in head-to-head meetings with the Spaniard.
Tsitsipas enjoyed a solid day from the service line as he lost just four first-serve points and finished his day with 38 winners against 26 unforced errors.
The loss brought a speedy end to Ramos-Vinolas’s return to competition as the Spaniard, in his first tour-level event since the ATP Tour returned from its COVID-19 hiatus, withdrew from last week’s tune-up to be at the birth of his first child.
Up next for Tsitsipas will be a first-ever career meeting with American wildcard Maxime Cressy, who beat Slovakia’s Jozef Kovalik 6-1 2-6 6-4 6-4.
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Late Mukherjee had disclosed Indian double standard
By Our Reporter
India’s ex-president Pranab Mukherjee died of coronavirus pandemic on 31 August in New Delhi.
Mukharjee, 84, was the personality to be remembered by the Nepalis forever that he had disclosed the Indian double standard, who had publicly admitted that the Maoist insurgency in Nepal was solely sponsored by the Indian government.
At a time when the Maoist insurgency was taking momentum in Nepal, the Indian external affairs minister had declared the Maoists as “terrorist” when the Nepal government was yet to declare them a terrorist.
The very India declared “terrorist” force was sponsored by India, several years later, in January 2009, when Mukharjee was the external affairs minister, had disclosed. In an interview to Al Jazeera, Mukharjee, disclosing Indian double standard, had said that the Maoist insurgency in Nepal commanded by Pushpakamal Dahal and Baburam Bhattarai was sponsored by India.
People’s Review Print Edition
The nation in isolation
By Pushpa Raj Pradhan
After a prolonged nationwide lockdown for four months, the nation is passing through another lockdown in the name of the prohibition order in above 45 districts by the chief district officers. Altogether, it has been six months the nation is witnessing total or partial lockdown. Despite continuous lockdown or prohibition order, every day the number of Covid-19 infected cases and the number of deaths are on the rise. The government has seen helpless and it has totally failed in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Covid-19 a free gift from India:
Open border, free movement of people from each other’s country are the reasons behind the transmission of the deadly virus in Nepal from India. Nepal closed its international air routes but she could not control migration of hundreds of thousands people from India, which enormously contributed to spreading the Covid-19 pandemic all over the country. This is a big lesson to learn by the political leaders and policymakers of the country. Today, all the sectors have been very badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The country has been totally paralyzed and the economy, which is already weak, is on the verge of collapse. It is because we kept our borders with India opened.
Undermining the virus:
The political party in the government and other parties in the opposition didn’t take the virus seriously. Even the executive chief of the government – Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was found making loose talks that Nepalis are strong in immune power, therefore, the virus cannot harm us. He prescribed to drink enough turmeric hot water to defeat the virus.
Despite responding health experts’ advice for conducting throat swab testes at mass and effective contract tracing, the government firstly relied on RDT tests which contributed spreading of the virus at the community level in many districts. Even today, the government is not encouraged to conduct PCR tests at mass, instead, keen on prolonging lockdown or prohibition order.
PCR test is not medicine: Lockdown is not a solution
The government officials are discouraging on mass level PCR tests saying that it is not a medicine to cure the coronavirus pandemic. Therefore, the government has requested people to maintain other precaution measures including maintaining physical distance and wearing a mask.
Meanwhile, the general public, who have been badly suffering from the prolonged lockdown, are saying that lockdown is not a solution.
Indeed, in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus in China, where hundreds of thousand people were infected from the coronavirus, within two months of the lockdown the infection rate was brought down to zero levels and the lockdown was lifted. Here, even after six months of lockdown, the pandemic is on the rise.
Of course, the general public have violated the precaution measures, equally, the government officials are responsible as they have also violated the government announced precaution directives.
Discrimination on PCR tests:
The government spokesman is frequently saying for not pressuring the government to conduct PCR tests as it is very expensive. On the other hand, the PR tests are being conducted on those influential leaders having less risk and those people even staying in isolation are unable to receive such a facility. Again, to get the PCR report, those helpless people have to wait for two weeks whereas, VIPs are receiving the report within a day. This is serious discrimination performed by the government that too of the communists!
Dysfunctional government organs:
The government restricted on trans-district transportation and movement of people. In practice, the movement of people could not be stopped. People are found travelling from one district to another by demonstrating the influence of the political leaders, high-ranking officers and military officers. The security personnel deployed at the district borders are found helpless, therefore, they closed their eyes.
Similarly, on repatriation of Nepalis from foreign countries by chartered flights, after arrival at the Tribhuvan International Airport, those who can mobilize political leaders, high-ranking officers and military officers, they should not go to the holding centre, instead, can go home directly but those helpless people will have to face many hurdles at the holding centres.
Accordingly, in the name of repatriation of Nepalis, the government charged them expensive airfare than the normal tariff.
The government took the pandemic situation as the opportunity to make profit and commission, on the other hand, the coronavirus outbreak became uncontrolled when the government officials violated the precaution protocol introduced by themselves.
Of late, the Kathmandu Valley, the capital city of the country, has become a hotspot of the coronavirus pandemic. When the government machinery is unable to control the pandemic in the capital city, it is useless to talk about the situation in other districts.
Failure of federalism:
Federalism is the system which empowers the local governments and provincial governments, where, the role of the federal government is very less.
At the present context, except a few local bodies, all the local bodies and the provincial governments have failed to perform an effective role in the fight against the pandemic.
Politics in federal Nepal has become an employment providing platform for the political leaders. Besides, the very platform has become the place to make money through corruption and commission. When all the political leaders from the central level to the grassroots level are busy in making money, they are unable to fight against the pandemic.
The government is enjoying grant from the western countries to retain the present federal structure imposed by them. If there was any other system introduced by the Nepalis themselves, by viewing the daylight loot of the government coffer, the western countries have had already been imposed ban and restrictions on Nepal. As the westerners are on their mission, they have closed their eyes on rampant corruption taking place in Nepal.
People’s Review Print Edition
PM Oli still in a mood to downsize his opponents, Gautam becomes a hurdle for Oli
By Our Political Analyst
In an interview telecasted by one television channel on Saturday evening, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said that he is not going to change chief ministers, however, he is doing homework to reshuffle his cabinet.
PM Oli made it clear that he has not planned to change the chief ministers as it will give the message of political instability.
Oli said that the chief ministers will be changed only after the next elections.
Earlier, it was believed that to end the internal dispute in the party, PM Oli had agreed to change some chief ministers and reshuffle his cabinet.
When party’s co-chairman Pushpakamal Dahal and senior leader Madhav Nepal developed an alliance against PM and party chairman Oli demanding his resignation from both the posts he is enjoying, Oli had proposed for a reshuffle in the cabinet and also changing some chief ministers by including those leaders in the Nepal camp. However, Madhav Nepal had rejected Oli’s proposals.
PM Oli, however, said that he is thinking on the reshuffle of the cabinet.
Meanwhile, Oli also indicated that he is willing to continue Yubraj Khatiwada as the finance minister.
“Let’s wait for some days, 20 Bhadau (5 September) is yet to arrive. So far, I am satisfied with Khatiwada’s works,” Oli said.
To give continuity to Khatiwada, the government has to nominate him as the member of the Upper House. Khatiwada’s tenure as the Upper House member was expired three months ago and he is continuing as the minister as per the constitutional provision of becoming minister for maximum six months without having a member of the Lower House and Upper House.
Against Oli’s wish to re-nominate Yubraj Khatiwada as the member of the Upper House and reassign him as the finance minister, party’s vice chairman Bamdev Gautam on Monday met the chairmen duo Oli and Dahal and asked them to nominate him to the post of the Upper House member and also include him in the cabinet.
As there left only one seat for the government to nominate in the Upper House, Oli’s plan to re-nominate Khatiwada has been disturbed.
Earlier, the party secretariat meeting had given the directive to the government to nominate Bamdev Gautam as the member of the Upper House on the remaining one seat to be filled by the government.
Gautam’s demand has given the NCP dispute to a new twist.
Whether Oli has spoken to the television just for the public consumption or he wants to move forward without the party’s consent, it will become clear from party secretariat meeting to be taken place today (3 September) to discuss on the report submitted by the six-member task force to end the prolonged dispute in the party.
People’s Review Print Edition
Kathmandu mayor Shakya tests positive for coronavirus
Kathmandu, September 1
Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya has contracted Covid-19. The coronavirus infection in him was confirmed on Monday.
After his wife experienced some symptoms, the Shakya couple had gone for coronavirus tests on Saturday. However, his wife tested negative for the virus, according to the mayor’s secretariat.
“I must have been infected while working for Covid-19 control and management,” Mayor Shakya tells Onlinekhabar, “But, I have a high level of confidence. While isolating myself at home, I will continue coordinating the city government’s efforts. I will convene various meetings virtually.”
Shakya does not have any symptoms.
Gautam to Oli: Implement decision on my Upper House nomination
Kathmandu, September 1
Ruling Nepal Communist Party’s vice-chairman Bamdev Gautam has demanded that the government immediately implement a six-month-old decision of the party secretariat about nominating him for a National Assembly member.
Gautam’s statement comes at a time when media reports say the party chairman, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, wants to repeat incumbent Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada in the vacant position in the Upper House.
“But, no one can deviate from the party decision. It has to be implemented,” Gautam tells Onlinekhabar in a brief interview, “Following that decision, no other decision has been made about this issue, replacing it. Hence, The decision is still valid.”
As per the constitution, three members of the 59-member house are nominated by the president upon a recommendation from the government. One of the positions held by Khatiwada had turned vacant on March 3 as his two-year term had finished. Days before the vacancy, the party had told the government to replace Khatiwada by Gautam, but Oli did not heed owing to an internal dispute in the party.
Khatiwada had resigned from the position of finance minister on his last day in the house, but he was appointed the minister again as the constitution allows the PM to have someone outside the Federal Parliament also as a minister provided the person gets the parliament’s membership in six months. If Khatiwada is not reappointed to the Upper House in the next four days, he is certain to lose the ministerial position also.
Sunday, August 30, 2020
Businessmen in Janakpur agitated against police highhandedness
Kalikot landslide toll hits 10
Kathmandu, August 31
The death toll in a landslide in Nagma, Tilagupha municipality-1 of Kalikot, on Sunday afternoon has reached 10 as of Monday morning.
Two other persons have sustained injuries in the incident and they are undergoing treatment at Karnali Health Science Academy in Jumla.
Four of the victims are from the same family from Mungra, Shubhakalika rural municipality of the district. Prayag Shahi (36) would run a shop in Nagma. His three children and he died in the incident, informs Police Inspector Yagya Raj Joshi.
Likewise, three members of another family also died. Tek Bahadur Damai (3), his wife Chhaili (25), and their six-year-old son Gajendra died in the incident. One of the victims was a permanent resident of Birendranagar in Surkhet.
The landslide had buried three houses in Nagma.
Meanwhile, Kalikot Chief District Officer Chandra Prasad Gaire says he has assigned doctors to go the incident site itself for the postmortem of the victims.
Why Nepal urgently needs to redefine the way politics is done here
Introduction
There always exists a gap between ideology and practice; Nepali politics also cannot be an exception.
Since the establishment of democracy in 2007, many political parties and governments have been made with the slogan of ‘people at the centre of the state power’. More or less, all democratic parties of Nepal have kept the long-term vision of achieving socialism, whether democratic socialism, federal socialism or scientific socialism. All political movements have supported people’s voice for justice, equality, human rights, freedom, right to a happy life and overall progress and prosperity of the whole nation with inclusive and participatory state structures. Likewise, all leaders are highly revolutionary during the movements.
But, when they enter the governments, their sharp revolutionary spirit gets blunt, because of which Nepal is still a backward nation though many political movements and changes have occurred since long. The distraction from ideals of political culture results in corruption, conflict, and confrontation. It proves an urgent need to redefine the Nepali political ideology and practice in order to take the nation to a new track of development, progress, and prosperity.
Redefining seems necessary in each and every sector today. But, it is of utmost necessity in politics and culture as politics is the governing ideology among all. Redefining refers to rethinking upon the established conventional meaning. To redefine is to present a new meaning of something and make people look at it differently so that change is possible. As politics is a guiding and leading force in society, it needs redefinition to lead humans to advancement in the new context.
Political culture and practice in Nepal
“Political culture is a set of attitudes, beliefs, and sentiments, which give order and meaning to a political process and which provide the underlying assumptions and rules that govern behaviours in a political system,” defines Lucian W Pye, an American political scientist, sinologist and comparative politics expert. He means to say that political culture determines all the political processes, structures and practices.
Though many political movements initiated by different political parties–democrats and communists–in Nepal are held successfully, the political culture and practice have not changed even a little. Contrary to the change in the political system, the behaviours, thoughts, practices and everyday lives of the politicians have changed. They have totally forgotten promises, missions, people’s sacrifices and their expectations, and their ultimate goal. Though the goal of all the parties is to establish socialism, their practices and behaviours are just the opposite.
In Nepal, politics has become the most beneficial industry and a profession to earn money. Moreover, ‘politicisation of crime’ and ‘criminalisation of politics’ have become the greatest problem which has disrupted the whole system, paralysing the national movement to prosperity. Furthermore, nepotism and favouritism have overshadowed meritocracy leading to the failure of the structure. In all political parties, the slavishly obedient leaders and followers have got opportunities everywhere.
Here, even the experts, social activists, intellectuals, and civil society leaders are mouthpieces of politicians and the parties. The whole economy of the nation has gone under the control of the capitalist brokers and middlemen. The government and the cabinet ministers themselves are involved in the violation of the law, and the sale of national properties. The greatest irony is that the politicians and parties with “slogans of socialism” have been lost within the cocoon of the compradors and capitalist traders. Their ideology is one, but the practice is the opposite.
Urgency of redefining
No doubt, socialism promotes a collective governance system as it is a political and economic theory of social organisation which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. Nepal’s constitution and politicians here also promise to achieve it. But, the practice of the politicians and the government bodies contradicts it. Moreover, only the abstract and ideal promise of socialism is meaningless until it is materialised, associating with national resources–natural, cultural, human, technological–and development.
The nation can achieve socialism only when all the people get access to state powers, which is possible through equal opportunities, participation, inclusion and real delegation of authorities to the local bodies and honest implementation of the provisions by all the concerned.
In appearance, Nepal is prosperous as it is a federal democratic republic nation with a socialism-oriented constitution, inclusiveness, secularism and proportional representation. But, in essence, the political culture and practice are the same as that of the autocratic Rana regime or the Panchyat rule. Institutionalised corruption, black marketing, compradorship, nexus of politicians and the limited capitalist businesspersons and exploitation of the nation still prevail in Nepal even though we have a two-thirds -majority government of Nepal Communist Party now.
The present way of politics based on its old practice has been unable to address the issues of the nation including natural disasters such as floods and landslides, Covid-19 pandemic, etc. and human problems like poverty, starvation, unemployment, food adulteration, black marketing, price hike, impunity and so on. Our values, assumptions, ideals, faiths, and norms have been devoured by the termite-like feudal behaviours. People and the whole nation are under the suffocation created by unchanging political tendency of the party leaders on both ruling and opposition sides. It must end as soon as possible.
Conclusion
Political movements in Nepal have succeeded in achieving political changes with the establishment of federalism, republic, secularism, inclusiveness, proportional representation, and socialism-oriented constitution. However, political culture, tendency, thought, behaviours and practices are still the same. In saying, we live in heavenly new Nepal, but, in reality, people are compelled to live a hellish life with lacks in every step.
The nation is immersed in evil practices in such a way that only a volcanic interference can liberate it. To end people’s distrust of people towards politics, political ideologies, politicians and the government, to protect the republican achievements, and to lead the nation to prosperity, it is inevitable to revisit Nepal’s political culture, emphasising on practices rather than on abstract ideals. Otherwise, British scholar Nigel Gibson will be right in the context of Nepal, “Political change does not really lead to any fundamental change for most of the people, indeed, because politics (even if it calls itself democratic) is elitist and barred to most people, so it is necessary to look to new movements outside of politics”.
Then, the consequences will be unimaginable.
Dhungel teaches at Bishwa Bhasha Campus in Kathmandu.
Police clueless about priest’s murder
RAUTAHAT, AUGUST 30
Eleven days have passed since a priest was murdered. But, police are still clueless regarding the whereabouts of people involved in the murder.
Three people, including a ward chair, have been at large since the incident occurred.
A joint team of police deployed from Province 2 Police Office and Rautahat District Police Office has been investigating the incident. But, the team is clueless about the perpetrators.
A group of unidentified people had shot the priest of Hanuman temple in ward 2, Madhavnarayan Municipality, Shreeram Sah to death on August 19 when he was sitting to have a meal.
Immediately after the incident, police had reached the incident site and started investigation.
Four sniffer dogs were brought to investigate the murder the next day. A police source claimed that three persons, including ward 1 chair of Gonahi Municipality had been at large since the incident occurred. It is suspected that three people, including ward chair Nurullah, have fled to India.
Before being elected ward Chair from Janata Samajwadi Party, Nurullah used to work as a spy for Nepal police and APF. He is suspected to have hired criminals from India to commit the murder and other heinous crimes in Nepal in the past.
Police involved in the investigation showed that Nurullah had visited the temple a few days before the murder took place. He had a verbal spat with the priest then. Dewahi Gonahi Municipality Chief Dharmendra Patel said that ward chair Nurullah had gone out of contact.
Province 2 Police Office SSP Yagya Binod Pokhrel urged locals to have patience as police were investigating the incident. He pledged to book the guilty as early as possible.
A version of this article appears in e-paper on August 31, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.
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One house, one person PCR test in Durgabhagawati RM
RAUTAHAT, AUGUST 30
Durgabhagawati Rural Municipality has started ‘one house, one person’ PCR test campaign in Rautahat from today.
The campaign was launched to stop the virus from spreading further in the rural municipality. Chairman of the rural municipality Arun Kumar Sah said the swab samples of 73 persons, including all the chairs of the wards, were collected at the local Saraswati Secondary School in Pipara, today.
Similarly, as many as 118 persons’ swab samples were collected for the PCR test at Sanskrit Secondary School, Matshari.
Chairman Sah said that the collected swab samples were sent to Dhulikhel Hospital, Kavre, for tests. He said that the locals were not very eager to undergo the PCR test.
Sah informed that his rural municipality was the first local level to start PCR test campaign free of cost. He urged the rural municipality dwellers to give their swab samples for test to control the spread of the virus through timely detection.
Sah said that relief packages would be distributed to those who gave their swab samples for PCR test.
Rural municipality health Coordinator Ram Binod Das said that the swab samples would be collected from August 31 to September 2 at Badarharwa, on September 3 and 4 at Pancharukhi, on September 4 and 5 at Gangapipara and on September 5 and 6 at Bhalohiya. He said that 40 health workers, including volunteers, had been deployed to collect swab samples from all wards of the rural municipality.
A version of this article appears in e-paper on August 31, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.
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Geopolitical verities and surreal politics
By M.R. Josse
KATHMANDU: This week’s offering will cover a number of topical issues – some relating to geopolitical verities and others to surreal politics. I shall begin with the latter category, focusing on American President Donald Trump’s surreal acceptance speech last Thursday after being formally nominated by the Republican Party as its candidate for the November 3 presidential election.
ON PLANET TRUMP
Given space constraints, I will limit myself to just a small bunch of observations on his over 70-minute peroration, viewed live on CNN; days earlier, yours faithfully had similarly listened to and viewed the Democratic Party nominee former Vice-President Joe Biden’s 22-minute speech. Therein, he vowed to defeat Trump, ending what he termed as America’s ‘season of darkness’.
A future column – or columns – will assess the prospects of the two contenders in the 65 days that remain before America finally decides to re-elect Trump or to go with Biden, instead. This effort will, as stated, will be mostly devoted to Trump’s flight into political fantasy land. The in situ audience of nearly 2,000 supporters – mostly without masks and in flagrant violation of social distancing norms – lapped up Trump’s rhetorical surreal journey avidly, as they mentally accompanied him to ‘Planet Trump’.
For starters, a stark differential in the two acceptance speeches, apart from their widely differing lengths, was that while Biden’s was soft, clear, hopeful, but firm in tone – speaking mainly about national unity and returning the United States to its traditional leadership role in the world – Trump’s oration was characteristically brash, accusatory and brimming over with vitriol and braggadocio.
Revealingly, while Trump referred to his rival, in non-flattering terms, 41 times, Biden in his address had not even named the incumbent president once! Even more tellingly, perhaps, Trump’s acceptance speech gave the impression that he was actually speaking about not how things are but how he actually wished them to be.
Indeed, according to a CNN ‘fact-checker’, the American president presented over 20 ‘alternative facts’ in a matter of three minutes, including the ludicrous claim that he had done the most for African Americans in American history, after Abe Lincoln!
He also thought nothing of claiming that he had created 9 million new jobs – while forgetting to mention that that ‘achievement’ was more than wiped out by the number of unemployed spiking to 22 million, subsequently!
He seemed to forget that the problems besetting the United States today are happening in Trump’s – not Biden’s – America! He is the incumbent, not the political challenger.
SURREAL
It was mind-boggling to hear his long litany of claims of political achievement when he has been presiding over a post-Covid-19 public health scene which even as he spoke was marred by a horrific death toll of almost 180,000 lives – the highest casualty rate in the world.
People around the globe who follow current affairs are well aware that in the past Trump not only dismissed the pandemic as something that would go away, miracle-like but also proposed a string of weird ‘cures’ for the deadly disease, including one advocating swallowing phenol!
Despite that sombre reality, he brashly claimed he had made great contributions in tackling or managing the pandemic; that, without his competent handling, umpteen thousands more would have died.
Equally startling was to note that – even as incident after incident of racial unrest spawned, in part, by police brutality against blacks kept occurring with disturbing regularity across the nation – Trump, incredulously, blamed Biden and the Democrats, projecting them as ‘wild-eyed’ radicals and Leftists out to destroy America.
The truth is, of course, that Biden and the Democrats are not opposed to ‘law and order’ but merely against egregious excesses by the police, of which there have unfortunately been too many instances in recent days and months, all recorded on video. Democrats have also condemned the violence in the current rash of racial unrest but insist that peaceful protests against such racism are legitimate.
It is transparent that the purpose of such reckless allegations against the Democrats is to create a climate of fear, hoping that such a device would neutralize the significant lead in national polls that Biden enjoys today.
What was striking, but hardly surprising, was that Trump, despite a long-standing tradition in American political history of not using the White House for political propaganda, went ahead and brazenly exploited it as a prop for promoting the Republican Party.
All in all, the tamasha at the White House last Thursday night – dubbed by many American commentators as the ‘Trump Show’ – was overwhelmingly dominated by him and a host of Trump family members. For cosmetic purposes, however, it had a number of black and ‘coloured’ speakers intended to prove his popularity among the black and immigrant community.
It is well known, of course, that in the Trump cabinet there is only one black member; they are also in woefully small numbers in most key departments of the Trump administration.
Finally, even more, disturbing has been Trump’s reluctance to unequivocally declare his readiness to accept the poll result if Biden is declared victorious; so, too, are his continuing efforts to suppress balloting by attempting to obstruct mail-in voting, an absolutely vital component for voting during the pandemic.
SAYONARA ABE
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s snap announcement on his retirement Friday has not only brought the curtain down on Japan’s longest-serving premier but has possibly set off a new period political uncertainty while opening a veritable geopolitical Pandora’s Box.
To appreciate the significance of Abe’s sayonara from the Japanese political scene – he will continue as premier until his Liberal Democratic Party elects a successor and is formally approved by the Diet – it will be necessary to recall not only his ‘special’ relations with President Trump but also that his ultra-nationalism had aroused deep suspicions in China and the two Korea, given their bitter experience at the hands of imperial Japan in the pre-World War II era.
Abe had travelled to New York to meet candidate Trump at his luxury apartment in 2016 – even while Barak Obama was still American president! Trump’s ‘unofficial’ tete-a-tete with Abe was, in fact, the former’s very first meeting with a foreign leader.
Abe’s rare diplomatic gesture probably helped further consolidate Japan-America security ties and may, indeed, have resulted in Trump taking a much softer line towards Japan than he has vis-à-vis other allies such as in matters of trade and cost-sharing of mutual defence arrangements, including the American ‘nuclear umbrella.’
Abe was unsuccessful in achieving his cherished objective of formally re-writing the U.S. – drafted pacifist constitution at the end of World War II – because of poor public support. Abe’s political rhetoric had often focused on making Japan a “normal” and “beautiful” nation with a stronger military and greater role in international affairs, raising the spectre of Japanese militarism in the Koreas and China.
He was also unable to secure the return of the contested islands claimed by Japan and Russia, thereby enabling Tokyo and Moscow to sign a formal peace treaty officially ending the War.
Though dealing with fraught relations with an increasingly influential China constituted one of Abe’s most important foreign/security policy agenda items, their dispute over the uninhabited East China Sea islands – which Japan calls Senkaku and China labels as Diaoyu – remains unresolved, to date.
Abe did manage to work out a delicate modus vivendi with Chinese President Xi Jinping, despite strategic strains in the Sino-Japanese relationship, given Beijing’s rapidly increasing global role and influence, on the one hand, and, Japan joining in such thinly disguised anti-China gambits as the still-evolving ‘Quad’ security arrangement between the United States, Japan, India and Australia, on the other.
With Abe’s exit, and Trump’s future looking increasingly insecure, the ‘Quad’ concept may go south if not collapse altogether, significantly impacting India, among others. If post-Abe Japan cannot get its act together – and soon – there is the possibility that North Korea could get tougher on Japan than it has been in the past and, possibly, South Korea and China, as well.
While it remains to be seen how things in the East Asia/Pacific theatre actually pan out, an important geopolitical verity seems to be shaping up nearby: in the form of a nascent ‘Eurasian alliance’. To summarize Pepe Escobar’s interesting recent article in the ‘Information Clearing House’, the “definitive passing of the geopolitical torch from maritime empires back to the Eurasian heartland” is actually slowly but surely taking shape. “Beijing-Moscow is already on, Berlin-Beijing is a work in progress; the missing link in the future is Berlin-Moscow.” Interesting geopolitical times clearly lie ahead.
BELARUS: A NEPALI VIEW
Indeed, the very same can be predicted from the portents of the massive but peaceful daily protests erupting in Belarus, particularly in its capital of Minsk. They come in the wake of the patently fraudulent 9 August election where President Alexander Lukashenko claimed he received an unbelievable 80 percent of the vote in his sixth consecutive victory – after 26 years of unpopular, authoritarian rule!
Those triggered a massive and viscous crackdown against the protestors – a situation that has aroused widespread anger in Belarus and the ire of international public opinion, triggering sanctions by the E.U. which has rejected the ‘results’ of the poll.
The gut issues behind the crisis, however, actually are geopolitical – mainly encapsulated in neighbouring Russia’s well-known security sensitivities vis-à-vis Belarus. In many, if not all, ways this is redolent of India’s familiar stance on her security, vis-à-vis Nepal.
But, although both Nepal and Belarus are landlocked, Nepal, unlike Belarus, has an adjacent countervailing power – China – to balance any possible/hypothetical aggressive move against her from India. Though Belarus has a multiplicity of neighbours, unlike Nepal, she does not have a ‘China’ as such a potential shield. Her dependence on security assistance from Russia, in the case of outside intervention, is total. So is her vulnerability.
That is why it is obvious that Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to play the most decisive role in what happens next. He has promised to send in his military – if the need be felt – as Russia has so often in the past, particularly in her ‘near abroad’.
It is, after all, a well established geopolitical truism that Russia regards its security as being inextricably tied to the political orientation of her neighbours. Since the protestors in Minsk are not chanting pro-West or anti-Russian slogans, there is hope that Russia will not have to intervene.
While ruling nothing out, I find it illuminating that President Trump has not chosen to speak out personally, either in favour of the beleaguered Belarussians or to counsel Putin that he should ‘cool’ it.
NEVER-NEVER LAND
I began this discourse by saying how surreal I found President Trump’s acceptance speech. Truth be told, the conditions in our own land are no less incredulous. Though we have a government that commands a brute majority in parliament, it has, for months now, been characterized by inaction, incompetence and a seeming inability to control endemic and rampant corruption.
And, as is becoming increasingly apparent day by day, its impotence in checking the raging pandemic has acquired almost legendary or mythical dimensions. What is more: while official scribes wax eloquent about Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli’s recent ‘ice-breaker’ call to his Indian counterpart on India’s Independence Day, that conversation seems to have ignored the elephant in the room: the urgent need to shut down – pronto! – the open Nepal-India border, if we are not to be submerged in a tsunami of virus infections ‘imported’ from India.
What’s more, the powers that be seem to be totally infected by the kissa kursi ka syndrome with endless, useless meetings and debates in party conclaves that do not translate into anything worthwhile or concrete for the janata janardan. In short, it continues to be all about enjoying the ‘loaves and fishes’ of office and of ‘making hay while the sun shines’.
Work clearly within the purview of civilian ministries is outsourced to the Army. Revealingly, too, most high-profile appointments in the government sector turn out to be controversial and unacceptable.
A much-hyped federal system that has been established is, from all relevant metrics, unsustainable from an economics or revenue point of view. How long will such inanities continue?
A government composed entirely of Communists functions as though they are as far divorced from the masses that they supposedly represent, as one can imagine.
According to a plethora of angry social media outpourings, the nomeklatura have become luxury junkies, easily outdoing their former counterparts of the panchayat era.
A government of supposed atheists very often behaves as if it were the Nepali version of the BJP in India. Secularism apparently is only for show – for Westerners! Quite apart from the ideological absurdity of multi-party Marxist-Leninists cohabiting with one-party ‘Maoist’ revolutionaries, there is also this tell-tale irony: these ‘Maoists’ were nurtured not in Mao’s China but in Gandhi’s India.
Where such gaucheries, absurdities and contradictions are going to end, and how, God only knows. In the meantime, we, too, are condemned to live in a totally surreal world of make-belief that the tearing down of the ancien regime, with generous extraneous help, has birthed!
The writer can be reached at: manajosse@gmail.com
People’s Review Print Edition