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Kathmandu: Nepali Congress President and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said the opposition party in the parliament had a significant role to play in strengthening democracy. Speaking at a party program, he expressed hope that his party would be more effective in the opposition than it was in the government. RSS

Kathmandu: Prime Minister and CPN-UML Chairperson KP Sharma Oli has said the unification of the UML and CPN (Maoist Center) could take place by mid-April. “Party unification will take place as per the need of the hour and aspirations of the people, and it could happen even before April 22, the proposed day for the merger,” he said. The prime minster was speaking at a tea reception organized at the prime minister’s residence at Baluwatar.

“The incumbent government is capable of promoting and establishing national unity, peace, stability, prosperity and carrying out development activities,” he said. On the occasion, the prime minister thanked the House of Representatives members who gave him their votes of confidence and helped him secure three-fourths majority. RSS

Frankly, I was unsure whether to do this piece. Following Mon­day’s crash of the US-Bangla aircraft at TIA, my mind had been oscillating, perhaps like the mind of the ill-fated plane’s pilots as they struggled to decide whether to land from the north (‘20’) or from the south (‘02’). We are still not sure how this accident, which could have been easily avoided, ended up being so tragic. This crash has aroused not only deep sympathy but also immense curiosity. And not just here but the world over. This was particularly because of the availability of live communication audio between the air traffic controller (ATC) and the aircraft. One can listen to it over and over again. It is just a headphone away for anyone. For novices though, understanding the ATC jargon could be problematic.

Without going into the details of the accident per se, I want to approach it from a different angle. While it may be natural for someone at the US-Bangla to blame Kathmandu ATC for the accident, many on our side will disagree. But the blame game does not help anyone, nor does it enhance aviation safety. A rational and impartial analysis is vital. I have thus taken the liberty to extract comments on aviation forums following the crash. Needless to say, those comments come without any trace of regional bias. I save my dui-paise for the end.

As the accident was avoidable, many wondered if the ATC transcript was in fact real. They found it unbelievable, even mind-blowing. Most people on the forums wondered how the pilots got the runway number, the flight number and the wind direction all wrong. But all agreed that there was utter confusion both in the flight deck and in the tower.

Confirmation, Compass, confusion

One comment was particularly perceptive as it suggested the crash was a result of the mind processing what it expects to hear rather than what is being actually said, or what you would call confirmation bias. When you get wind from a ‘220’ direction and are flying into and with a ‘02/20’ runway, you are naturally better off landing from 02 than from 20 because of the unfavourable tailwind (a headwind is generally more preferable for take-offs and landings).

The fact that ‘02’ is a compass heading (of 20 degrees) raises the potential for confusion: wind from 220, a 02/20 runway—it’s a lot of 2s and 20s. The problem is compounded if you are not a native English speaker as you process the language less instinctively.

This commentator further said that as people find themselves in stressful situations—like landing an airline with a tailwind in an airport in a foreign country with very high terrains around—their reasoning faculties shut down and they go with their instinctive judgement. The less experienced someone is at a task, the higher this tendency is. It can even reach a point where people disregard information that clearly indicates something is wrong.

If both the pilots make the same cognitive error, there is nobody there to question it. The commentator rightly points out that this is the kind of cognitive stress or cockpit resource management (CRM) concern that is a nightmare for beginners.

Likewise, another extremely sharp comment hit the nail on the head, “Oh, my goodness just tell them to go around, this cannot be real! ATC gave them what they wanted and thought it will fix it. ATCs were aware that the pilots were confused.”

This, more or less, summarises everything that happened. Listening to the audio, the captain sounds very calm, and can be heard clearly reading back the ATCs’ instructions. The ATCs, on the other hand, sounded agitated and unsure. But this is not to suggest that the ATCs were primarily responsible for the crash: it was the captain’s prerogative to make a missed approach and try a stabilized approach later.

Domino effect

It was the captain who initiated the domino effect by swinging between ‘02’ and ‘20’, not just once but right up to the end. The confused ATC gave him the option to land at any end of his choosing. Disoriented as the captain was, how come he didn’t see obstructive landmarks as he passed over at a very low altitude—and still thought he could land?

They say a sure way for a pilot to get disoriented quickly is to attempt too late a turn at low altitudes while also trying to manage the radios and other critical flight phase items. This was what happened with the US-Bangla flight.

As we notice in the audio, our ATC seems to first shoot and then re-think and go for quick change, creating more confusion. This has been the hallmark of our ATCs for long. And this is not the first time I have said so. An ATC has to be a patient listener cum speaker. But most of our ATCs seem to lack this basic skill. Agreed, it is hard to do away with your native accent, but you can surely speak slowly and intelligibly to make sure the person at the other end understands what you’re saying. It saves a lot of time and unnecessary hassles.

This accident will go down in history as the most unfortunate accident that could have been avoided with the available tools and procedures. I am sure it will be used as an example of what pilots and ATCs should avoid. It could be instructive for airports the world over with a ‘02/20’ orientation that are otherwise operating quite normally.  

By HEMANT ARJYAL
[email protected]

One historian has remarked that establishing a democracy in China at that time was not possi­ble. The country was at war and divided between the Communists and the Nationalists. Corruption within the government and a lack of direction prevented meaning­ful reform. Chiang Kai-shek, a democratic leader, saw the failure of his administration to do real work and said, “Our organiza­tion becomes worse and worse… many staff members just sit at their desks and gaze into space, others read newspapers and still others sleep.”

It looks like a replication of the restoration of parliamen­tary democracy, the downfall of monarchy and the beginning of a republic in Nepal. The level of cor­ruption, a lethargic civil service and anarchy in the administration in that era of Chinese history have parallels with what has been hap­pening in Nepal since 1990.

Bit of Chinese history

This specific period in China initially witnessed a democratic administration run by General Chiang Kai-shek. The southern part was under the control of the Kuomintang, led by a pop­ular leader Sun Yat-sen. But the north-western part, contiguous to Soviet Union, had turned into a communist bastion under Mao. When Sun Yat-sen died, the Kuo­mintang leadership went to Gen­eral Chiang and two major polit­ical forces emerged. They came together when Japan attacked China in 1937.

They stayed together until the end of the Second World War in 1945 to drive out foreign invaders. But when that mission was com­pleted, the two started fighting for political supremacy. After over four years of intense civil war, the communists succeeded in driving the Chiang-led Kuomintang out of mainland China. The Kuomintang moved to Taiwan and established a separate state.

Unity and disunity

Similarly, Nepal witnessed three-pronged hostility among the monarchy, the democratic parties and the armed Maoists during Nepal’s conflict years. It was taken for granted that coales­cence between any two of the three political forces would defeat the third force. But it was not clear for several years which among them would stay and which would be out. When king Gyanendra took over state powers in 2005, it paved the way for the demo­cratic parties and the insurgent Maoists to work together against the monarch. No sooner did they come together than they launched massive agitation against the king and eventually abolished the monarchy.

But as happened in China, the monarchy’s abolition brought about lawlessness, massive abuse of state coffers and impunity. Three political parties became dominant in turn in three successive elections, and they united and disunited in their pursuit of power. The Maoists, the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML were the biggest par­ties in, respectively, the first, sec­ond and third polls held after the 2006 changes. As in China, subse­quent to the democratic exercise and internal fighting for about 30 years, the united Nepali communist outfit now exercises power over the state machinery.

Million-dollar question

The role of foreign powers in these countries is also compara­ble. Few Chinese had any illusion about Japanese imperial desires on China. Japan was hungry for raw material and wanted fresh territory to accommodate a grow­ing population. That led to the seizure of Manchuria in 1931. The ensuing Chinese fury against Japan was predictable.

Nepal had a similar experi­ence when it promulgated a new constitution in 2015. It was well aware of India’s attitude towards it. However, it went ahead and issued the constitution by defying India. Consequently, Nepal had to endure untold suffering wrought by a months-long economic blockade.

The big political parties stood together while issuing the consti­tution. But as soon as the blockade ended, they began fighting. The fight continued until the recent polls gave the communist alliance a clear mandate to govern. But the question remains: can Nepal under a communist government consolidate and develop the way communist China has done in recent times?

By ADITYA MAN SHRESTHA

Accidents happen. On March 11—the day before the US-Bangla aircraft crashed at the TIA killing 51 people, including 22 Nepali nationals—a Turkish plane had crashed in Iran; all 11 on board died. On the same day, a sightseeing helicopter crashed in New York (five dead). Even on the day of the US-Bangla crash at the TIA, another small private airplane had crashed in Chicago (no casualty).

But all aviation-related accidents have a cause. For a modern aircraft with all its safety equipment to crash, something, somewhere should be badly amiss. A commercial passenger jet, like the one that came down at the TIA on March 12, is particularly tailored to deal with any kind of on-air emergency.

From what has emerged about the TIA crash in the media thus far, a few things become instantly clear. There was a clear gap in communication between the air traffic controllers (ATCs) at the TIA and the US-Ban­gla pilots. It appears that the two pilots were confused about the exact approach of landing. This is surprising as the aircraft’s captain was said to be experienced in landing at the TIA. Perhaps he was tired and disorient­ed: reportedly, the Dhaka-Kathmandu flight was the captain’s fifth of the day.

The air traffic controllers, for their part, appeared incoherent and failed to give clear instructions to the aircraft on how to proceed with the landing. But, as our main story this week clarifies, the final decision on landing the plane and keeping the passengers safe was with the in-flight captain. He could have chosen to land from any direction he saw fit. Which brings us to the gist of the matter: the most tragic aspect of this accident is that it could have been averted.

To ensure that such accidents are not repeated, our ATCs need to be better trained to communicate clearly in English, the language of international avi­ation. The accident should also spur authorities to expedite the process of TIA’s expansion. It badly needs another runway. Or perhaps speeding up ongoing con­struction works on the two alternate international air­ports is the right way to go about it.

But it is as much a responsibility of international air­lines to make sure that their pilots are in proper mental and physical shape to fly. It would be unjust to blame the ATCs alone.

Yes, accidents do happen. But a lot can be done to minimize the chances.  

Surkhet: Even though the gov­ernment has started provid­ing pregnant women monetary incentives to deliver at approved healthcare centers, 30 per­cent women of Surkhet district in western Nepal still deliver babies in unsafe cowsheds. In this part of Nepal, there many families that still consider preg­nant women ‘impure’ and rele­gate them to cowsheds for the nine months of pregnancy.

“These unhygienic conditions led to many still-births,” says Basanta Shrestha, the informa­tion officer of District Health Office. Even though women who do go for check-ups get Rs 400 in incentive money, around 30 percent women in the district come fewer than two times, and often deliver in the sheds. APEX BUREAU

When she suffered from pro­fuse menstrual bleeding, 22-year-old Ruma Tharu was brought to Bheri Zonal Hospital on January 5. She needed blood urgently, and was given O+. Medical attendants informed Tha­ru she would need another pint of blood the following morning, which her father Raju Tharu procured from a blood center run by the Nepal Red Cross Society. However, the blood that the center gave to Tharu was of B+ category. Soon after, Ruma started developing blisters all over her body. Both her kidneys stopped functioning. Ruma’s family staged a protest. The hospital suspended the nurse who had administered the blood. Ruma was brought to the capital and she survived. But she has become extremely weak.

Locals says the 150-bed Bheri Zon­al Hospital is marred by political interference, staff negligence and general mismanagement. Its ser­vices are increasingly brokered by middlemen. Many are compelled to seek treatment at expensive private hospitals.

It was only a month ago that the hospital administration caught a middleman who was sweet-talking patients into seeking private medi­cal services. But no action was taken against him. Reportedly, he was close to a senior hospital staffer.

The hospital is one of the few pub­lic hospitals in western Nepal with a cardiology department. But its echocardiogram machine, worth some Rs 8 million, has been broken for seven months. An echocardio­gram examination costs Rs 850 at the hospital, but private hospitals charge over Rs 2,000 for it. Similar­ly, a TMT machine bought one and a half years ago for Rs 1.3 million is also kaput. Dialysis services, which the hospital was supposed to pro­vide starting a year ago, only began two months ago.

Poor service quality owes to the carelessness of the Hospital Devel­opment Committee, alleges former committee chairman Bed Prasad Acharya. But Bir Bahadur Chand, medical superintendent at the hos­pital, claims that there has been steady progress. “Staff shortages have caused some problems, but specialized services have been improving. There hasn’t been any negligence.

What about the broken echo­cardiogram machine? “We have brought in technicians to repair it. It should be up and running a few days,” says Chand.

The hospital has had eight heads in past nine years, an apparent sign of excessive politicking. It was only in October 2016 when Chand replaced Dr Shyam Sundar Yadav, who is credited with important reforms in the hospital’s functioning. The appointment of Chand, a junior radiologist, has not gone down well with the staff and is apparently against the Health Guidelines, which stipulate that only someone from the ‘General Health’ category can be appointed medical superintendent.

Usha Shah, who currently heads the Hospital Development Commit­tee, blames it all on lack of funds. “We are committed to quality care. We have asked the government for additional resources,” she said.

By Govinda Devkota

New Delhi: Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada was in India this week to take part in a counter-terrorism confer­ence in Gurgaon. Khatiwada was the keynote speaker at the event that was organized by the India Foundation, a think-tank close to the ruling BJP party. In the conference, Khatiwada presented Nepal’s views on counter-terrorism. The conference, according to the organizers, was held to analyze the changing contours of terrorism and evolve strate­gies to equip the international community with the ability to counter the menace of terror­ism. APEX BUREAU