Ninth National Games: Why so many players got injured?
The APF Club and the Lumbini Province were playing the quarter-final match of the volleyball under the Ninth National Games on October 18. Three players sustained injuries during the second set of the third quarter-final. Rupendra Gaire and Tek Raj Awasti of the APF and Bijay Pariyar of Lumbini were sent to the hospital for treatment. Later, the quarter-final match was called off. They were playing on the old mats because of which they slipped and fell down. Prior to that, three players had also sustained injuries. Prem Kumar of Gandaki got one of his legs fractured while playing with Bagmati. Chiranjibi Khadka of Gandaki and Hemanta Malla of APF also got injured. Later, the organizer removed the mats amidst the protest from ordinances and players. The medical center of the Health Sub-Committee near the main gate of the Pokhara stadium saw a large number of players every day. Some came with their legs fractured. Almost all the players come there with some kind of health problems. Most of the players, who came to the medical center, had soft tissue injuries, fractures and were infected with dengue, Dr Ham Nath Acharya of the Sub-Committee Secretariat. He said that 650 players sustained injuries during the tournament. Among them, 130 were referred to different hospitals. Four had to undergo surgery. At least 6, 127 players had taken part in the national games this year. That means, 10 percent were injured in the games. Dr Acharya said that the number of players who suffered injuries has increased due to lack of training, unmanaged ground, dress and discipline among others. Sports expert Diwakar Lal Amatya said that many players got injured owing to lack of fitness and junk food. Another sports expert Sushil Nursingh Rana said that the problem was seen due to lack of regular training and fitness. He said that the players should have special training for at least six months in the big tournaments like national games. Health Sub-Committee Coordinator Dr Bulanda Thapa said that among 6, 000 plus players of 36 games, only four had to undergo surgery which can be considered quite good. He, however, said that paragliding player Nimesh Thapa died due to a technical problem.
Will the government declare a climate emergency?
In August last year, the then Minister for Forest and Environment Pradeep Yadav had said that preparations were underway to declare a climate emergency. Since then, there has been a debate about its relevance. Concerned stakeholders have been expressing their concern. Dr Buddhi Paudel, Chief at Climate Change Management Division at the Ministry, said that concerned authorities have been analyzing the facts. He was of the opinion that work is being done in such a way that a climate emergency has been declared in the country. Paudel said that 18 countries have declared a climate emergency in the world. “Thirty-nine countries have declared a climate emergency at the district level. How are they working? How easy is it to bring climate finance with such work? These kinds of issues will be discussed,” he said. He was of the opinion that the government has no exact details about how many areas have been affected. Paudel said that that is the main problem. Climate change expert Ajay Dixit opined that the government should be clear on what basis and how long a climate emergency will be declared in which area. Expert Madhukar Upadhyay said that a crisis or emergency means that the problem is serious. He said that the seriousness has increased. “The government will declare a climate emergency anytime. The country needs help if the situation goes out of control,” he said. He said that a climate emergency can be declared immediately by formulating the policy. Upadhyay said that it will be easy to address the problems of climate change once the emergency is declared in the country. He, however, said that the government has no proper knowledge about the time to impose the emergency. He said that the time has still not come to declare a climate emergency in the country. “But, the emergency can be declared in the affected areas. The monsoon rain has been changing its pattern for the past few years. Some areas have been receiving light rainfall while some have been witnessing heavy rainfall,” he said. “Recently, the floods in Pakistan killed thousands of people and destroyed properties worth millions which was unbearable to the country. In that case, an emergency can be declared,” he said. He said that there is no point to impose an emergency only to get climate finance from the donors at the climate conference to be held in Egypt in November. Upadhyay said that Pakistan can declare an emergency for not less than 10 years as per the recent incident. “Because the lives of people should be saved. Source should be protected. It will take time to carry out reconstruction. Emergency can be declared by observing the situation,” he said. He further said that the process to claim climate finance is difficult. Dr Bimal Regmi, member of Environment and Climate Council, said that all the resources of the country should be focused once the emergency is declared. “We need evidence to make our decision strong. World politics should be in our hands. We need a strong basis,” he said. The then Minister Yadav had entrusted the Council with the work. He had said, “The incident of Pakistan has taught us a lesson. We have the same geography. We may face incidents like that of Pakistan. Now, the emergency should be declared. There is no alternative.” “The government will work seriously and the world’s attention will also be drawn once the emergency is declared.” Minister Yadav was preparing to declare the emergency prior to COP 27. The government has recently removed Minister Yadav from his post. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has kept the ministry with himself.
It is official, Xi secures third term
Xi Jinping was elected general secretary of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) at the committee's first plenary session held on Sunday, according to a communique, Xinhua reported. The session, presided over by Xi, was attended by 203 members of the 20th CPC Central Committee and 168 alternate members. Xi was also named chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission at the session. The members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee elected at the session are Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi. Also elected were members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee at the session, which endorsed the members of the CPC Central Committee Secretariat nominated by the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, according to Xinhua. The session named the members of the Central Military Commission. The session approved the secretary, deputy secretaries and members of the Standing Committee of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) elected at the first plenary session of the 20th CCDI.
What to expect from Nov 20 elections?
On Nov 20, Nepal is holding elections for the federal parliament along with seven state assemblies. These elections, in principle, will provide governments both at the center and provinces for the next five years. Earlier this year, Nepal conducted elections for the local governments. The year 2022 has been the election year and it certainly is a great opportunity to consolidate democracy in more than one way. From that perspective, upcoming elections should be seen with a positive angle at least for two reasons: first, these elections are taking place in the stipulated time frame, second, despite serious doubt—political parties—have come together—and expressed their commitments towards electoral democracy. Yet elections alone are not sufficient to, what scholars call, consolidate democracy. That said elections do provide legitimacy, but the broader legitimacy comes when such elections truly work for the broader welfare of the citizens. Experience, however, is such that Nepal’s electoral democracy has failed more than one time in the past. What certainly has been noticed, to our dismay, is that successive elections have only brought the same elites again and again in the political landscape thereby not only stalling the circulation of elites but also contributed to establishing what can be referred as the formation of an electoral dynasty. This perhaps could be the reason, among others, why interest toward ‘electoral democracy’ is declining not only in the emerging but also in the so-called consolidated democracies of the west. In the context of Nepal, there certainly are problems but that does not mean that one should lose hope in democracy as there are always rooms for improvements which, yet again, largely happens from the elections. Overall, democracy is a work in progress project and is certainly a better system than many of those available in the market. Still, one may ask a question as to what extent upcoming elections can be a step towards ‘work in progress’. Nothing can be said now, everything hinges on how the electoral results pan out. Yet the way ‘tickets’ were distributed by the political parties and alliances were formed—there is little scope for the improvements. Once again, political parties have filled the same candidates who have been tested in Nepali politics on more than one occasion. In fact, if we look at the list of nominees chosen to contest election, it looks as if parliamentarians have become permanent (same faces) whereas the ‘legislative assembly’ is temporary in nature as its term expires in every five years and only gets its residents through elections after that. The new political parties and independent candidates—who are only promising goodies and change the political demography of politicians. The underlying situation and the political economy of the election, however, is not really conducive for them to be elected at least for two reasons: first, as hinted, the political ecosystem is entirely captured by those who can be termed as the resident political parties, and it certainly will be difficult for them to dismantle that ecosystem under the current circumstances. Second, the so called ‘independent’ candidates do not necessarily have any clear policies and programmes. On the contrary, most of them are the product of ‘neoliberal populism’ which does not really work here. For good or bad reasons, they have largely thrived on the inaction of the ‘resident’ political parties. Whatever the electoral outcome is, if the political culture does not change Nepal, for sure, will not have a comfortable journey towards democratic consolidation process. The fall of Nepal Communist Party’s two-third majority government earlier has forced people to conclude that most of the time it’s the internal factors which are creating more problems than the external ones. The NCP which, at hindsight, promised many things, splintered in many parts and the Supreme Court of the country have had to intervene to settle the political dust unfurled which certainly is not good not only from the perspective of separation of power but also the ‘sovereigns—the people—were insulted time and again. Questions may arise—who the decision makers are in a democracy. There are equal chances that Nepal’s upcoming parliament will also meet the same fate as the earlier one did. Such conclusions could only be made based on the way political parties have selected candidates to contest the election. If elected, most of them will have nothing to do with democracy. In contrast, while some of them are careerist political leaders, others wanted to enhance their own business and networks. There certainly are some who might have democratic impulse, but they will be overwhelmed by others. Sad as it may be, we have developed democracy into a political system that offers multiple benefits to those who are associated with the process in more than one way but for those who are out of the ring—it’s not really anything. The second point in that regard is the lack of civic political culture. And, of course, the external factors—which certainly are going to be there as they were in the past—could well be taken as the third factor. Yet, so far so good, despite all these, good part of Nepal’s journey towards democratization process is such that, at least, elections are being held even at least to come into the power then and now—although they may not have been able to bring about substantial changes into the life of people—which certainly provides relief to the people. If otherwise, means were taken to come into politics, it certainly would have been disastrous. The author writes commentaries on domestic politics and international affairs. [email protected]; Twitter: @Cdbhatta