| Username |
Post |
| ashu |
Posted
on 20-Sep-00 09:03 AM
The GBNC is an organization that has long been dominated by
20-something-year-olds. So are many of today's smartest dot
coms and other "future-perfect" institutions!!
Motivated and capable 20-something-year-olds bring latest ideas,
intensity, drive, chutzpah and passion into all that they try. In fact,
in certain fields such as pure mathematics and theoretical physics,
if you haven't made your major ground-breaking discovery by your
20s, you might as well declare yourself a second-rate thinker and
let it be that!!
In Nepal, however, our societies are such that older people rarely take
professional 20-something-year-old Nepali seriously in any field, with
the sole exception, I suppose, of computer-related activities!!
But having met and interacted with many really smart, articulate and critically
educated Nepalis in their 20s and 30s in the US and in Nepal, I have often
thought that many of Nepal-related complex issues such as Nepal-India
negotiations, Bhutanese refugees' ko problems, WTO, management of Kathmandu's
garbage and many others can be made more rigorously and effectively
solution-oriented if only a bunch of really smart Nepalis in their 20s and 30s
got together and worked on teams (on a "war footing") under the
guidance of a few institution-building senior people in Nepal.
But in a country where almost 80 per cent of the (23 million-plus) population
is under the age of 40 (for instance: wherever you go in Nepal, you see children
and children everywhere!), the tradition of taking young professionals seriously
has long remained a non-existent one.
Happily though, that seems to be changing -- slowly, but surely.
In this context, it's heartening to learn that His Majesty the King has just appointed
Jogendra Ghimire, a Nepali journalist-and-human rights lawyer in his
20s, to the post of Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission -- set
up last March to monitor human rights abuses in Nepal.
[Of course, the larger issue of whether Nepali democracy is best served by a government-controlled National Human Rights Commission such as the one we have now or a thoroughly independent one is an issue best left for future discussions
for now].
At the very least, though, Jogendra's appointment to NHRC is exciting news for all yuba
Nepali professionals everywhere, for it sends a message/symbol to all that many,
many young dynamic, smart non-partisan Nepalis in their 20s have the potential to offer much to the Nepali public if only they can be lured back to Nepal and given
serious professional responsibilities!!
Here's to wishing all the best to Jogendra -- a personal friend since 1996, and
a graduate of Adarsha Vidya Mandir, the Modern Indian School, Tribhuwan
University and the University of Hong Kong!!
oohi
ashu
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 20-Sep-00 04:04 PM
Those of us who enthusiastically approve
youth leadership are probably the people who
are supportive of Clinton-Blair era of
prosperity in this western hemisphere.For us,
it is sheer disappointment that our society
is run by conservative obstructionist dotards.
But one fact we should consider here:who is
the fount of all power in Nepal?if not now,
who was the fount of all power in Nepal
before a decade?A Harvard trained erudite
blue blood 26 yrs old prince was invested the CEOship of Nepal
then.The resultant retrogress is just a
lesson for all of us.
Another celebrated youth personality in
Nepalese politics was Jagrit Prasad Bhetwal,
the former left leaning Prakash weekly editor
who won the election from Chitwan to become
the youngest elected Ra.Pa.Sa.in 2043.Once
his politically zeal evaporated,he took
maternity allowance from the national coffer
and disgraced his long political career last
year.
The crux of my these examples is that probably
our country needs more youth enterpreneur,
all of us can enumerate fairly good numbers
of industrialists who are still young and
successful and energetic in Nepal, than the
politicians.Politics and decision making
bodies in Nepal needs to be envigorated,but
not necessarily by bestowing position to
young leaders.I am not a favority of senile
nepotist Girija/Bhattarai,but for now,I just
can't imagine if the country will go forward
with the leadership of ,say,Deuba ,who
shamelessly sent pack of his MPs to Bangkok,
or Ram Chandra Poudel,who so much craved to
be minister that he didn't want to "reprise"
Savamukh's Role in Perliament.
If Mr Jogendra Ghimire is trend/trailblazer,
then surely we need to welcome this.But the
root of problem in Nepal is not only the age.
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 22-Sep-00 08:53 AM
I don't think that an elite education
from the West is in and of itself essential
for youth leadership in Nepal.
What is needed are leaders in politics, industry, civil service, NGO sectors and so on who are BROADLY educated -- whether in the West or East -- BUT are aware of and sensitive to local priorities in Nepal while having a global outlook.
One person who, in my opinion, readily fits that bill is a former member of the GBNC before there ever was GBNC!!
Bikash Pandey.
Educated at St. Xavier's School, MIT and much later at Cal Berkeley, Bikash is an electrical engineer who has spent years working in out-of-the-valley areas in
Nepal.
He displays a thorough grasp of local realities when they pertain to issues of bijuli and energy in Nepal, and is quite capable to talk intelligently on a variety
of wordly issues as they relate to Nepal
ko bikas. Talking with him, one always ends
up learning new things and one's assumpstions about the world challenged or bettered.
oohi
ashu
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 22-Sep-00 04:46 PM
Bikas Pandey?
I think I have read some of his articles when
the country was crazy for Arun hydroproject.
However,I am not sure if the person I am
trying to remember now is Bikas Pandey!!
Good luck to him.By the way,what is he doing
these days??
Biswo.
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| ashu |
Posted
on 23-Sep-00 04:11 PM
Yes, he's the same Bikash Pandey, who
now lives and works in Kathmandu.
oohi
ashu
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