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The second elections of Ras­triya Panchayat created prob­lems for the Panchayat regime as some political enthusiasts had entered the electoral fray with dem­ocratic agenda.The second graduate elections were scheduled for May 1967. The month leading to the polls was filled with anticipation. Among the contestants were people like Rishikesh Shah, Ramraja Prasad Singh, Bashudev Dhungana, Nirmal Lama, Shankar Ghimire, Birendra Keshari Pokharel, and Prayag Raj Singh Suwal.

Shah was among the framers of the Panchayat constitution but had gotten fed up with the Panchayat regime a few years after the constitu­tion’s promulgation. The palace had kept him at bay.

During the second graduate elec­tions, most conspicuous was the rise of Ramraja Prasad Singh. He did not have a political background and he wasn’t a known figure. He was pur­suing a legal career, having obtained an advocate’s license three years earlier and then running a law firm at Putalisadak in Kathmandu. Out of the blue, he filed candidacy for the polls with a two-page electoral manifesto entitled “Elect Ramraja Prasad Singh. Here is why.”

In an electoral rally at Battisputa­li in Kathmandu, he said: “King Mahendra orchestrated a coup in 1960. The challenge is upon us to fight that coup. Every revolution has to go through phases. You tell the people that something wrong has happened. You tell them that it wasn’t good and should be cor­rected. But you need a legitimate platform from where you can tell the people. That is called ‘repre­sentation’.” (Ganatantraka Laagi Sangharsha, Ramraja Prasad Singh’s autobiography published in 2010)

That was a highly-charged speech calling for educating the people, taking out rallies and, if that didn’t work, starting an armed revolt against the regime. Obviously, the Panchayat regime could not tolerate such bold words—and that was just his first speech!

When he delivered the speech in English, the Panchayat support­ers began to hoot against him. It brought Singh into notice and the administration put him under sur­veillance. The police had come to arrest him immediately, but they couldn’t recognize him as he was still an unknown face. He then went to the Tarai, hiding from the author­ities. The police eventually did nab him in Mahottari, and his candidacy was cancelled. He was later released on bail.

Nepali Congress showed an inter­est in the 1967 elections as well. Shankar Ghimire, who was close to the party, was a candidate. He too had an electoral agenda of ‘resto­ration of democracy’. But he, along with Nirmal Lama, was arrested before the polls.

The Election Commission sud­denly announced that elections were postponed. It also published a notice that dissenters were barred from contesting. Former general secretary of Nepali Congress Bish­wa Bandhu Thapa, who had then gone into the Panchayat fold, was arrested as he was planning to issue a statement that the action breached people’s fundamental right of con­testing elections. Congress leader Surya Prasad Upadhyay, who was considered close to Panchayat, was also arrested. Surya Bahadur Thapa was the prime minister at that time.

The election of graduates was rescheduled three months later, on 25 August 1967. Of the 24 candidates who contested this time, Bashudev Dhungana, Birendra Keshari Pokha­rel, Rishikesh Shah, and Prayag Raj Sing Suwal were elected.

Next week’s Vault of History will discuss the third elections of Rastri­ya Panchayat where pro-democratic leaders had further tussles with the Panchayat regime

While the world is on guard against the coronavirus that the World Health Organi­zation has declared a global health emergency, Nepal still seems at a loss. The epidemic spreading out of China’s Wuhan city has already claimed over 400 lives and is rapidly spreading around the globe.As there is high number of visi­tors between Nepal and its northern neighbor China, the risk is evidently high in Nepal (even though the num­ber of Chinese visitors to Nepal has come down drastically following China’s travel ban abroad.)

Save the Children quotes Hassan Saadi Noor, Asia Regional Director, as saying: “Children are particularly vulnerable because they like to touch and taste the world around them, don’t understand health advice and tend to have weaker immune sys­tems than adults.”

He warns that the risk is height­ened in the countries whose healthcare systems are not pre­pared to “adequately screen for the virus or treat patients who have contracted it.”

APEX tried to find out how pre­pared our schools—always at a great risk to contagious diseas­es—are in coping with the possible health crisis. Our findings were not encouraging.

The Ministry of Health and Popula­tion (MoHP) does not have any spe­cial program for schools. As children spend a great deal of time in schools and frequently come in physical contact with their friends, this is too sensitive a place to ignore.

“We have been working on dif­ferent issues related to coronavi­rus, but haven’t thought of any­thing particular for schools,” said Mahendra Prasad Shrestha, spokes­person at the MoHP. Private and Boarding Schools’ Organizations of Nepal, a major umbrella of Nepali private school owners, also seems negligent.

PABSON co-president DK Dhun­gana says the organization has not thought much about it yet. “Till date we haven’t done anything to ensure the safety of school students against coronavirus. But we soon plan on conducting awareness programs,” Dhungana says.

Dhungana, who is also the prin­cipal of the Lalitpur-based Radiant Readers’ Academy, says his school has informed its students about the virus and asked them to wear masks. “But we haven’t made it mandatory. Focusing too much on it can terror­ize students and their guardians,” adds Dhungana.

Such is also the situation at Pragati Shiksya Sadan, a government-owned school in Lalitpur.

“Right now, we haven’t done any­thing as we have been busy with our sports meet. But in few days, we are planning to invite medical experts to conduct awareness classes,” says Surya Prasad Timalsina, the school principal.

Dr Sameer M Dixit, public health research scientist at the Center for Molecular Dynamics Nepal, says school operators should pay special attention to students suffering from fever and cough, which could possi­bly be corona-related.

“Schools should strictly instruct those students to take rest and seek immediate treatment,” he says. “Similarly, special attention is required for those whose family members have recently returned from China.”

Dixit advices vigilance as “lately, the virus has also been found in people who showed no symptoms

On the first day of his Great Himalayan Trek, photographer Sudin K.C. was lost in the jungles of Chyang Thapu. It was dark and raining in the jungle, he had to suffer leech bites, and somehow make it through the deserted, spooky night. Starting from the Eastern region, K.C. trekked to the Far Western region, in 100 days, clicking pictures of people of different cultures. Of his hundreds of such photos, 12 are currently on display at the Himalayan Java Café, Mandala Street, Thamel. One photo in the exhibi­tion is of an old Kulung Rai man who is a high-altitude shepherd and lives near his livestock. The shepherds wear a traditional jacket called “phenge” made of stinging nettles. In the oral history of the Kulung village, Lord Shiva wore one of these jackets after the creation of the universe.

“I wanted to know how Nepalis live in various cir­cumstances. There are many cultures buried behind these mountains and hills. This trek’s main motive was to cap­ture these cultures in photos. I wonder if these culture will be in existence forever but my photos will surely be there,” says the photographer.

Another photograph is of woman carrying wood from the Birendra Lake in Manaslu glacier. “I thought I’d help her and offered to carry it till her house but the basket was so heavy that I could barely lug it for five minutes. After that she let me know that she got this and carried it home herself,” says K.C.

While he was on the trek, K.C. was unable to bathe for 17 days. Despite smelling ter­ribly everyone he met on the way was helpful. “The people welcomed me as if I was their own. They even allowed me to stay in their home. This shows true nature and hospitality of Nepali people. In such a short time I felt a strong bond of with those people.”

The photo exhibition will run till the end of the first week of February.

“My mother was always supportive,” she says. “My father was a bit skep­tical at first but eventually he too started supporting my choice.” Her father’s initial reluctance was more due to her young age than anything else. Coming home past mid­night frequently is still a big no for Nepali teen­agers, especially girls, but her job called for just that. “After a point, my par­ents were kind enough to even re s c h e d u l e my household chores and our family time to accommodate my late night shows,” she adds.

As she has an older brother who is also a musi­cian, Rachana took to music early. But she discovered her potential much later. “I believe everyone’s a musi­cian. They just need to dis­cover their potential,” she says. “Likewise, I think I was born to do music. I would easily catch lyrics and mel­odies of songs from an early age.” Her earliest memory with music is singing the whole “Sweet Child of Mine” by the American rock band Guns N’ Roses to her par­ents when she was in Grade I. She also participated in music concerts in school and was among only a handful of female classmates to take up music instead of dancing. But singing was not her first choice. Dahal wanted to play guitar and at the age of 16 got enrolled into a l o c a l m u s i c institute. The teachers there discovered her singing skills and she got the opportu­nity to perform in her “first real con­cert.”

“I felt a sense of empowerment while singing in that show and I was showered with appreciation by everyone when I left the stage,” Rachana says. “It was then that I started think­ing of myself as a singer and decided to up a career in music.”

Rachana then started sing­ing covers with local bands. She performed in various ven­ues in Kathmandu, honing her skills while also earning a decent bit to make her finan­cially independent. But when the music started feeling like work and she saw low respect given to a cover artist, she decided it was time she worked on her orig­inal music.

With her guitar and vocal skills and the ability to pen lyrics and melo­dies, Rachana quit the cover music scene and started composing her own songs. She released her debut song/music video “Bhumari” in April 2019. The song about how a relationship can get toxic over time and how that toxicity takes a toll on mental health brought Rachana into the limelight and introduced her as a serious indie music artist.

“I write about my feel­ings and experiences,” the songstress says about her music. “I imagine myself in different situations and write songs accordingly.” While continuing music is her goal, Rachana does not expect much in return besides gratitude. Her uncompromising attitude to her music will not let it be dictated by financial pres­sures. “I’m also doing wed­ding management to help my financial situation,” she says. “I plan to take forward both these careers” O

Rachana will be perform­ing at The Annapurna Express Music Festival 2 on February 8 at Tangalwood, Naxal