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Weekly Editorial Cartoon

Is it disappointing, though hardly surprising, that our new parliamentarians are lobbying hard for the continuation of the controversial Constituency Development Fund (CDF). Previous governments used to allocate funds to MPs—which swelled to Rs 30 million for each during the tenure of the previous par­liament—that were meant for the development of their respective constituencies. They each got an addition­al Rs 5 million, for similar purpose, under a separate Parliament Development Fund. Tellingly, these outlays would be spent at the sole discretion of individual MPs. Most of the funds were predictably misused, which is why they became wildly unpopular.

But the new MPs are now lobbying not just for the continuation of the arrangement, but they also want the allotted amount under the CDF to increase over three-fold, to Rs 100 million each. If the government bows down to their demand, and it seems to be con­sidering doing so, it will cost the exchequer at least Rs 3 billion a year. This is indefensible, for multiple reasons. Now that the country has fully embraced federalism, there are separate budgets for individual provinces and local units. Moreover, any of their budget shortfalls will be met by the central government. There is thus no justification for giving individual MPs such discretion­ary spending power.

These self-serving acts of our MPs and ministers also suggest that they are in politics primarily to make mon­ey, and not to serve the people, a perception that adds to public cynicism about their government. This is an unhealthy development for a budding democracy. Of course, this doesn’t imply that our MPs should not earn enough or that all of them are crooks. But they already make plenty. The basic monthly salary of a federal MP alone is Rs 55,000. When other bonuses are added, the final take-home pay is well above Rs 100,000. How much more do the MPs of a country with a monthly per capita income of less than Rs 8,500 need?

The new government of KP Sharma Oli has of late made some courageous decisions in public interest, for instance in its refusal to budge against the long-en­trenched transport syndicates. Its strong stand against interference in Nepal’s internal affairs by other coun­tries and institutions is also laudable. It is doing a good job in foreign policy too. Now it should have the cour­age to refuse this selfish and unjustified demand of the federal MPs. If it can do so, there would be no bigger proof of its commitment to public service.

Despite its cultural and archeological sig­nificance, the nearly six-century-old Mus­tang Palace doesn’t inspire much awe. In fact, the closed and decaying doors and windows give an impression that the palace is getting more decrepit. But the fresh layer of earth in some walls raised an obvious question: who is renovating the place? Historical records suggest that the Mustang Palace was constructed in 1440 following the establishment of an independent Mustang state. Besides the palace’s unique style that is appropriate for the high mountainous region, the tall walls surrounding the entire capital are an extra attraction. But the collapsed walls are a pathetic sight now. Within the confines of the walls are the palace, a Buddhist shrine and 170 houses built in ancient styles of architecture.

The palace is a five-storied building with 108 rooms. It houses important Buddhist texts, stat­ues, ancient artifacts as well as over 300 sheep and mountain goats.

Coming back to the present, my investiga­tion revealed that the palace’s façade is being redone by an NGO named HimalAsia Cultural Heritage and Educational Foundation, without the government’s knowledge. The NGO works on issues related to mountain culture and edu­cation and has offices in Germany and Sikkim besides one in Kathmandu.

Such unsupervised reconstruction threatens the palace’s originality. “Official indifference on the one hand and the NGO’s negligence in the name of reconstruction on the other have spoilt the palace’s traditional splendor,” says Madan Rimal, a culture expert. “No heritage building can be altered without government permission. The Department of Archaeology (DOA) has to take charge of the palace’s reconstruction.”

The DOA isn’t aware of the reconstruction work on the palace either. Director General Bhesh Narayan Dahal pleads ignorance and admits that his office hasn’t been able to take charge of the renovation even though it should. Following the monarchy’s abolition, the Mus­tang Palace has been reduced to a tourist attraction, and no more. While the govern­ment, through the Office of the Nepal Trust, has started conservation work on the palaces of the Shah kings, the Mustang Palace hasn’t drawn its attention. Ramchandra Tiwari, Chief District Officer (CDO) of Mustang, says he has no information about the palace’s reconstruc­tion. “There is no record of any organization seeking permission for it. But we can certainly look into it,” says Tiwari.

However, Indra Dhara Bista, a Province 4 assembly member, says that in the absence of government funds, the palace’s renovation was commenced with the help of the NGO. “As the palace became dilapidated, it stopped attracting tourists. So we started renovating it, even though the money had to come from an NGO,” says Bista.

Susan Vonderheid, Director of HimalAsia, admits that her organization started recon­struction work on the palace without informing state authorities. “We started our work on the basis of our agreement with the Mustang Pal­ace. We don’t know the rest,” she said.

The palace had already fallen victim to state apathy, and the 2015 earthquake only exacer­bated its state. Tourists aren’t allowed inside the palace after the quake damaged its struc­ture. “The palace must be conserved; this is our common concern,” says Rinjing Dorje Bista, chairperson of Lo Manthang rural municipal­ity-5. “Upper Mustang is interesting and import­ant not only because of its natural beauty but also because of its rich history, culture and archeology. The palace obviously has its own significance,” says Bista.

Some locals are preparing to launch an ini­tiative to place the Mustang Palace and the settlement in its vicinity on the World Heritage List. “The bottom line is that the palace has to be restored to its former glory. All we ask is that there be an environment where domestic and foreign tourists visit this place to see the palace,” says Tashi Gurung, a local.

 By Chhetu Sherpa | Lo Manthang, Mustang

Both India and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli were in a mood to wrap up the unification process of CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) before the start of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Nepal visit on May 11 and 12. As India has of late been dragged into a few controversies in Nepal, including, most notably, during the 2015-16 border blockade, New Delhi wanted to preempt the perception that the left unity had its blessings. For his part, PM Oli, who has in the past few years stood firm in his nationalist stand, would naturally want to safeguard the image of the new party from the damaging ‘pro-India’ label. But their desire could be thwarted, primarily because Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal wants ‘credible’ assurances that either he will be the prime minister after two and a half years or he will get to lead the combined left outfit post-merger. Yet it is hard to see what such assurances could be. If Dahal wants Oli to commit, in writing, to relinquishing the prime minister’s chair after some time, Oli could perhaps oblige. But such a commitment will be meaningless if, tomor­row, the rest of the UML lead­ership is not willing to accept him as their prime minister. Ditto with any assurances on the party’s chairmanship.

This is why Dahal has of late been hinting that he is look­ing for ‘collective assurances’ from the UML top brass. But with the UML still very divided on Dahal’s role in the new party, such a promise would be hard to get. Alternately, Dahal has proposed that party unifi­cation take place on a 50-50 basis, with near equal division of seats between UML and Maoist Center in all important decision-making bodies in the new party. That would make it easier for Dahal to stake a claim on either party leadership or the prime minister’s chair in the future. But then, a 50-50 division of spoils will be unacceptable to UML rank and file.

Interestingly, Dahal is also said to be open to party unifi­cation, even in unequal terms, if China is ready to act as a witness to the ‘gentleman’s agreement’ with Oli, whereby Oli commits to giving up one of the two executive posts at a fixed future date. Of course, Dahal cannot expect India, the other big external power in Nepal, to play that role because the Indians no longer trust him much.

Neither Oli nor Dahal can afford to be seen as backing down from the merger promise, which, after all, helped them secure a two-thirds majority in last year’s general and provin­cial elections. But signs are that it could take some time yet.

Annapurna Post daily, the flagship publication of Annapurna Media Network (AMN), completed 16 years of its publication on May 3, which is also the World Press Freedom Day. The Nepali daily has been in publication continuously since May 03, 2002.

Speaking on the occasion of the 16^th anniversary, Captain Rameshwar Thapa, the chairman of the AMN, said, “The newspaper has adeptly carried out with not just professional responsibilities but also many social obligations since the start of its publication. Now, we are committed to helping the country implement the new constitution.”

Thapa also clarified that the publication had no political agenda and that it was committed to independent journalism.

Vijay Kumar, AMN’s Group Editor, said the progress Annapurna Post has made till date is satisfactory but that it could ill afford to rest on its laurels. He also praised the “young and energetic” leadership of Rajaram Gautam, the editor of Annapurna Post.

Speaking at the same program, Gautam, for his part, committed himself and his team to the newspaper’s new motto Khoj Naya Soch Naya (‘New investigations, new thoughts’).  

FICTION

In the Midst of Winter

Isabel Allende

Translated into English by Nick Caistor and Amanda Hopkinson

Published: October 2017

Publisher: Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster UK Ltd

Pages: 342, paperback

In an interview, Isabel Allende said that she wrote ‘In the Midst of Winter’ in 2016 just when she was coming out of a divorce after 28 years of marriage and her agent, three close friends, and dog had all died. It was during these trying times that she came upon a quote by Albert Camus: “In the midst of winter, I finally found there was within me an invincible sum­mer. For the summer that we all have inside to manifest we need to open the heart and take risks.” And that’s what the book is about: Three traumatized people trapped in a snowstorm in Brooklyn, New York facing a life-and-death situation. By choosing to support one another and being kind, they ultimately dis­cover the invincible summers that lie within them. The book opens with a minor car collision, between 60-year old scholar Richard Bowmaster and Evelyn Ortega, an undocumented Guatemalan refugee. This incident sets into motion a chain of events which forces the two and 62-year-old Lucia Maraz, a visiting profes­sor at NYU, who is also Bowmas­ter’s coworker and tenant, to deal with a situation that, to begin with, is not their problem, and which seems to be spiraling out of control by the minute.

While ‘In the Midst of Winter’ mostly focuses on Richard, Lucia, and Evelyn’s seemingly ordinary lives, mystery and intrigue simul­taneously weave their way into the story, making what would otherwise have been a slow narrative into a gripping can’t-stop-till-I-know-what-happens-next read.

Lucia and Evelyn sometimes feel like extensions of Allende’s personal history as the author has said, time and again, that, for much of her life, she’s felt like a foreigner. And it seems here, through them, Allende is taking the liberty to make her readers understand what the immi­grant experience is like.

Though there can be no better time to tell immigrants’ stories, you sometimes wish the writing were a little less flowery, allowing you to focus on the character’s lives instead of getting stuck in the imageries it manages to conjure.

Also, ‘In the Midst of Winter’ feels a little awkward because something doesn’t seem right and the ending too is a bit off. But, all in all, Allende deserves to be read because her stories get you thinking about the many things you tend to take for granted in life.

The book takes its readers deep into the intrigues of the Narayanhiti Royal Palace and provides an inside view into the momentous events of our times: the Royal Palace Massacre, king Gyanendra’s wresting of executive pow­ers, the Maoist armed rebel­lion, its genesis and the forces backing it, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the mainstream political parties and the Maoists, the end of monarchy and the advent of republicanism in Nepal.

Written with valor and at great personal risk, the book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand Nepal’s contemporary history.

At the launch of ‘Wit­nessing Palace, Power and Politics’ this week in Kath­mandu, author Shah said that many friends had requested him to translate ‘Maile Dekheko Durbar’ as soon as it was out. “Now that the translation has come out,” he says, “many people who didn’t have access to Nepali can enjoy the book.”

“The book is a living his­tory,” he adds.

The book is published by FinePrint in hardcover and is priced at Rs 1,012.

The Zen Bistro & Café serves ‘authentic’ Thai Cuisine inside its calm and discreet premise at Bansbari, on the way to Narayanthan. “Food so authentic, you’ll have to double-check whether you’re in Bangkok” — Zen’s Facebook page reads and the many reviews by its customers on the page back it up. Zen’s Pork BBQs, Delicious Shrimps Wrapped in Bacon, Wonderful Crispy Spinach and Spicy Lemon Fish are dishes its customers swear by.

With ample parking space and also easily accessible by public transportation, Zen’s location away from the core city’s hustle makes it an ideal place for a quiet evening dinner or a lazy afternoon brunch.

 THE MENU

Chef’s Special: Tom Yum Soup, Summer Style Papaya Salad, Deep Fried Fish with Panag Sauce

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11:00 am - 10:00 pm

8:00 am - 10 pm (Saturday)

Live Music: Every Friday

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