| Username |
Post |
| ashu |
Posted
on 14-May-04 07:26 PM
Today (Saturday) ko Kantipur's headline news is that vegetable farmers in Chitawan -- who are very well connected to Kathmandu's markets on which they depend for their livelihood -- were so fed up with various bandhs and blockades that they have protested by "dumping" vegetables worth 100s of thousand of rupees on the
highway.
These hardworking, entrepreneurial farmers want vegatables and produce from their farms reach Kathmandu and other cities in the freshest possible condition so that they can fetch maximum prices.
The longer these farmers are FORCED to hold on to their plucked vegetables due to Bandhs and Blockades, their perishable commodities start to rot and start becoming worthless -- leaving the ANGRY farmers no choice but to eventually dump their
produce on the highway to make a protest.
The Maoists -- the guru of blockades -- claim that they are fighting heir goddamn war
"for" Nepal's farmers. Political parties too say they organize the bandhs "for" the
people.
In both cases, the means is justfied by the ends.
BUT the the fact none of them can disprove now is that Despite all the lofty rhetoric, Bandhs
ALWAYS,
ALWAYS,
ALWAYS and ALWAYS
negatively affect the weakest sections of our society the most.
I extend my full support to those farmers in Chitawan who have denied an opportunity to earn the fruits of their labor. How bad can it get in Nepal?
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| ashu |
Posted
on 14-May-04 07:32 PM
PLEASE READ:
"I extend my full support to those farmers in Chitawan who have denied an opportunity to earn the fruits of their labor."
AS
"I extend my full support to those farmers in Chitawan who have BEEN denied an opportunity to earn the fruits of their labor."
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 14-May-04 08:06 PM
There is something more about vegetable markets than we know.
A lot of vegetable growers are not even landowners. They are just renting the lands to grow vegetables. Some, if not majority, of them are hardworking madhesis.I know this because I am from Chitwan, and just a few days ago, my father told me about some of these people asking for land to rent.
I have witnessed a lot of other pains of these people. A friend of mine went bankrupt primarily because he had bought very expensive cows, but Dugdha Bikaas Sansthaan wouldn't buy milk on the holidays, and there were simply no alternative markets to sell milk. They even spilled the milk in the road a few years ago.
Poultry farming is also suffering. It seems there is no end to the sorrow of my people.
I don't blame the Maoists or the government: I know they are by nature against the farmers. I am sad that parliamentarian parties did organize bandhs after having promised they wouldn't. It was a really sad thing. I support their cause firmly, but I wish they had stuck to their commitment.
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| ashu |
Posted
on 14-May-04 09:09 PM
The Maoists say one thing, and do another.
ALWAYS.
Regardless of what they say, their actions and killings have hurt the poorest of the poor the most in Nepal.
For the Maoists, the end justifies the means, even if that means is inexcusable violence.
Period. Let's not kid ourselves about this.
Likewise, for the parties campaiging for restoration of democracy, the end sees to justify the means too.
Meantime, I have always wondered how people like Ram Sharan Mahat, with his PhD
in economics from Poona's Gokhalay Institute, have consistently FAILED to act as an intellectual compass for their politcal parties. Last year, I was shocked to hear Mahat justify -- on national television, no less -- that college student-led FORCED shutdowns of high schools was a good thing indeed.
I mean, if nothing else, how could a former finance minister -- who should know
the value of human capital -- EVER justify fewer school days for children in
Nepal? It's one thing to be loyal to your party; it's another to be loyal to your
own conscience.
[Of course, I need not invoke the fact that ALMOST all our netas who are presently doing the Andolan on the street have their children either studying or living SAFELY AWAY from Nepal. Maybe Kantipur should do a story on this, but it won't, because
it will show the netas in a poor light!! Let the Gagan Thapas of Nepal be at the
forefront to bear the brunt of the Andolan.]
I am sure when asked why his political party FORCED down a two-day shutdowns into people's throat, Mahat and his cohorts will come up with politically expedient reasons
for the Bandhs, and so it goes . . . sadly.
When parties fail to keep their own commitment of no-Bandhs to the people, it makes one difficult to support their cause, and they should know it.
oohi
"getting ready for three-day bandhs next week"
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| rbaral |
Posted
on 15-May-04 08:25 AM
Service to the people is primary. Hadtal and Band harm people.
During 046 Andolan, Marichman tried to make this rhetoric work, to pacify the Kangres and Samyukta Bammorcha Andolan.
After 046, GP Koirala tried to use this coin, when NCP UML brought government-servants to the street.
And now, King Gyanendra is working on it. But what's the moral?
Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
I didn't say that.
http://www.brainyquote.com/whosaidthat/whosaidthat_101648.html
But I would like to add -
Man can't afford to lose it. At lease willingly.
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