Facebook's follies: A brief history

In the tech industry, a company like Facebook likes to say that it "iterates." Old products are killed. New ones are rolled out one at a time, rather than bundled together in a huge annual relaunch. Experimental features emerge and disappear. This is one of the main reasons why Facebook's been so successful: it's kept up with the times.
And an iterative product, rather than one that plods out in occasional, finely-honed editions like a textbook, will invariably see many of its mistakes and foibles played out in the public eye. In Facebook's history some of its product decisions have been driven by lawmakers' threats, user indifference, or plain old negativity--and now we're waiting to see what will happen in response to the backlash against its most recent modifications.
On one hand, over time Facebook has shown a lot of flexibility in the face of legitimate user and lawmaker outrage. On the other hand, it also shows that as it's grown in power, Facebook has looked less and less likely to really backtrack again. Less than a decade ago, CEO Mark Zuckerberg could be silenced by university administrators. Now it's unclear whether U.S. senators who have taken issue with Facebook's latest privacy policy modifications will be able to chip away at Facebook's armor.
Let's take a look at some of Facebook's notorious and not-so-notorious misfires over the years, and its subsequent attempts to patch them up. It all starts, really, even before Facebook itself did.

Squishing Facemash

When this happened: October 2003
What happened: Call it insidious, childish, or just plain silly: Before he founded Facebook, Harvard undergraduate Mark Zuckerberg had a crazy late-night idea. He broke into online campus directories and used their contents to build Facemash.com, an app that let students vote on which of two of their classmates they thought was more attractive. Facemash created an authentic viral sensation before the marketing world had even caught wind of the term "viral"--and not everybody liked it.
How Facebook messed up: Well, at the time, "Facebook" didn't even exist. But Zuckerberg's actions--hacking into campus directories, pulling the identities of his classmates into a semi-public project without their permission--echo eerily today.
What Facebook did about it: Following protests from several women's groups on campus, Harvard shut down Facemash, and the university's Administrative Board charged Zuckerberg with breaching security, violating copyrights, and violating individual privacy. The charges were ultimately dropped, but Facemash was dead in the water. It's obvious now, though, that the early seeds of Facebook had been sown.

Disconnecting ConnectU

When this happened: Original complaint 2004; settled 2008
What happened: Even Facebook's earliest days were messy. Zuckerberg's Facemash project put him on many Harvard students' radar--including the three seniors who were in the process of assembling a social-networking project called The Harvard Connection (later changed to ConnectU). They enlisted him as a programmer; he eventually bailed to found Facebook. The ConnectU founders have claimed ever since that he stole their code and intellectual property in the process, and took their case first to Harvard and then to court.
How Facebook messed up: Well, if Zuckerberg indeed stole ConnectU's intellectual property, that's a big problem.
What Facebook did about it: Facebook didn't make any product modifications in response to the legal action (at least we don't think so). But in 2008, the spat with ConnectU had been dragging on and Facebook undoubtedly wanted to put what it saw as a dorm-room dispute behind it as it sought bigger audiences and bigger investors. The suit was settled, and the ConnectU founders are said to have received $65 million from it as Facebook effectively acquired the erstwhile social network's assets. This debacle, however, will get plenty more exposure when "The Social Network," a film based on the origins of Facebook and helmed by "Fight Club" director David Fincher, hits theaters this fall.

Butchering the Wirehog

When this happened: Fall 2004
What happened: Early users of Facebook may remember that its creators built a side project, called Wirehog, which "plugged in" to Facebook and let users give their friends access to the contents of their music and photo libraries. There were, surprisingly, very few privacy complaints because Facebook at the time was still restricted to a number of U.S. universities, and Wirehog was made accessible to even fewer.
How Facebook messed up: File sharing had drummed up plenty of fervor among antipiracy advocates long before Wirehog made its quiet debut, and so it's safe to assume that having a file-sharing service in the portfolio could be a strike against Facebook as it courted early investors. But the real problem with Wirehog, a source close to Facebook's early days said, is that its small original team didn't think Wirehog was taking off fast enough and considered it a distraction from Facebook proper.
What Facebook did about it: Wirehog was shut down. But more importantly, Facebook began to significantly downplay Wirehog in its company narrative. This, according to the source, simply wasn't an accurate portrayal: Zuckerberg and his early Facebook team, particularly co-founder Andrew McCollum, had a lot of enthusiasm for Wirehog and even thought it could potentially be as big as Facebook itself.
Still, the philosophy behind Wirehog--using Facebook identity and social connections as the instant foundation for another application--remains tightly woven into Facebook's fabric ever since it first launched its developer platform in 2007.

Force-feeding the News Feed

When this happened: September 2006
What happened: It all seems incredibly silly and innocuous now, but in the fall of 2006, Facebook users were up in arms over an unfamiliar feature that popped up on the site--the news feed. With the updates of their life now aggregated on friends' home pages rather than squirreled away on their own profiles, members originally derided it as creepy and stalker-ish.
How Facebook messed up: In retrospect, ticking off members with the News Feed launch was a risk the company had to take in order to make such a big step in social networking. But Facebook could've offered more of a hand-holding process rather than simply springing this one on members.
What Facebook did about it: Zuckerberg authored a post on the Facebook company blog that started off with, "We really messed this one up." In turn, the company added some privacy controls so that members could opt to not share certain details of their Facebook habits, like changes in relationship status, on their friends' home pages.

Sinking the Beacon

When this happened: November 2007
What happened: Facebook launched its Beacon advertising program as part of a big Facebook Ads announcement in New York. A Facebook user interacting with a Beacon partner site would have data shared back on Facebook in turn--purchases on commerce sites, reviews on Yelp, rentals on Blockbuster. Privacy advocates panicked. Activist group MoveOn.org was the most vocal critic of Beacon, damning it as a serious violation of user privacy.
How Facebook messed up: Taking your third-party site activity and sharing it with your friends on Facebook without much warning? Yes, that's a misfire.
What Facebook did about it: Beacon died a slow and brutal death. First, Facebook announced modifications to the program that let members opt out of it altogether, but after several lawsuits, Facebook finally killed it altogether nearly two years after its original debut. Ironically, sharing third-party activity on Facebook reemerged as Facebook Connect and is now as integral to the social network as the News Feed--and not surprisingly, Mark Zuckerberg's mea culpa in the wake of the Beacon controversy never apologized for the product itself, just the way the launch was handled.

Conceding to Craig

When this happened: 2008
What happened: In 2007, Facebook launched a classifieds service. But it was playing a serious game of catch-up to Craigslist, and it never really caught on.
How Facebook messed up: This was yet another peripheral feature that didn't really fit into Facebook itself, but which would make a great third-party application.
What Facebook did about it: Facebook Marketplace, as it was called, was quietly snuffed much as Wirehog had been. Instead, it anointed the third-party app built by classifieds service Oodle as the "official" home for Facebook-based bartering. It still probably doesn't keep Craigslist founder Craig Newmark awake at night.

Flying after Twitter

When this happened: March 2009
What happened: In 2009, the breakneck ascent of Twitter infected the Web with an addiction to real-time, streaming information. As a result, Facebook revamped its News Feed to make it up-to-the-minute.
How Facebook messed up: Zuckerberg giveth, Zuckerberg taketh away. In this case, too much was taken away. What had been a relatively neat home page featuring new friend connections turned into a confusing stream of "live" updates that was tough to parse. Plus, it was reactionary and hasty: Facebook made this change after it unsuccessfully tried to acquire Twitter itself.
What Facebook did about it: It redesigned again. Facebook's news feed returned to something that looked quite a bit like its old self, but members could toggle back and forth between that and the "live feed."

Losing your location

When this happened: June 2009
What happened: First, you could register for Facebook as the student or alumnus of a college or university, provided you had the e-mail address to prove it. Then, high school students could join. Then you could join company networks, too. Finally, you could register for Facebook by joining a "regional network" that grouped you in with other people who live where you do. Facebook decided that this didn't really make sense.
How Facebook messed up: Hindsight is 20/20, so when Facebook let its users box themselves into regional networks, it seemed like a good idea at first. But it doesn't make sense for a global company. Do you join a network for your city, state, or country? What about if you want to connect to both your hometown and your current residence?
What Facebook did about it: You still fill out your location and hometown in your profile, and Facebook can target ads specifically to these attributes. But there's no separate "network" anymore for, say, people living in Miami. Facebook is unapologetic about doing away with products or branding concepts that it sees as obsolete--the Facebook Connect name disappeared a year later with the launch of Social Plugins--and this is one of the reasons that the company has been so successful.

Rewiring the controls

When this happened: July 2009
What happened: In preparation, perhaps, for bigger changes to the site as it encouraged members to make more content public, Facebook made some high-profile modifications to its privacy controls. One executive explained at the time that they "can add up and pile up and not be as clean as one would like."
How Facebook messed up: They might have made a few things simpler, but they didn't please lawmakers. Privacy officials in Canada, among others, didn't like the new version.
What Facebook did about it: A month after the changes first went live, Facebook released further modifications in response to the Canadian Privacy Commissioner's critique that third parties had a troubling level access to Facebook user data.

It must be F8

When this happened: April 2010
What happened: The volume of new product announcements in Mark Zuckerberg's keynote address at its F8 developer conference was staggering. It was also, to some, a bit terrifying. As part of new changes that emphasize Facebook's ability to connect just about anything on the Internet to anything else, users were given the choice of either making their profile interests public or deleting them altogether. New "social plug-ins" take Facebook Connect to the next level, and a test program called "Instant Personalization" will Facebook-ify any partner site.
How Facebook messed up: Most of this, angry Facebook members really should have seen coming. What's thrown them off guard for good reason is making profile interests public by default, something that has made some users concerned that Facebook can't be trusted to adhere to reasonable standards of privacy protection.
What Facebook did about it: You're not going to reach 400 million people on the Facebook company blog. So Facebook turned to the press instead: public policy chief Elliot Schrage answered a lengthy Q&A with The New York Times. Will it quell users and privacy advocates? Probably not. Facebook isn't through with the damage control for this one yet.


Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20004853-36.html

Happy Marriage is the 'me' marriage

A lasting marriage does not always signal a happy marriage. Plenty of miserable couples have stayed together for children, religion or other practical reasons.

But for many couples, it’s just not enough to stay together. They want a relationship that is meaningful and satisfying. In short, they want a sustainable marriage.

“The things that make a marriage last have more to do with communication skills, mental health, social support, stress — those are the things that allow it to last or not,” says Arthur Aron, a psychology professor who directs the Interpersonal Relationships Laboratory at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. “But those things don’t necessarily make it meaningful or enjoyable or sustaining to the individual.”
The notion that the best marriages are those that bring satisfaction to the individual may seem counterintuitive. After all, isn’t marriage supposed to be about putting the relationship first?
Not anymore. For centuries, marriage was viewed as an economic and social institution, and the emotional and intellectual needs of the spouses were secondary to the survival of the marriage itself. But in modern relationships, people are looking for a partnership, and they want partners who make their lives more interesting.
Caryl Rusbult, a researcher at Vrije University in Amsterdam who died last January, called it the “Michelangelo effect,” referring to the manner in which close partners “sculpt” each other in ways that help each of them attain valued goals.
Dr. Aron and Gary W. Lewandowski Jr., a professor at Monmouth University in New Jersey, have studied how individuals use a relationship to accumulate knowledge and experiences, a process called “self-expansion.” Research shows that the more self-expansion people experience from their partner, the more committed and satisfied they are in the relationship.
To measure this, Dr. Lewandowski developed a series of questions for couples: How much has being with your partner resulted in your learning new things? How much has knowing your partner made you a better person? (Take the full quiz measuring self-expansion.)
While the notion of self-expansion may sound inherently self-serving, it can lead to stronger, more sustainable relationships, Dr. Lewandowski says.
“If you’re seeking self-growth and obtain it from your partner, then that puts your partner in a pretty important position,” he explains. “And being able to help your partner’s self-expansion would be pretty pleasing to yourself.”
The concept explains why people are delighted when dates treat them to new experiences, like a weekend away. But self-expansion isn’t just about exotic experiences. Individuals experience personal growth through their partners in big and small ways. It happens when they introduce new friends, or casually talk about a new restaurant or a fascinating story in the news.
The effect of self-expansion is particularly pronounced when people first fall in love. In research at the University of California at Santa Cruz, 325 undergraduate students were given questionnaires five times over 10 weeks. They were asked, “Who are you today?” and given three minutes to describe themselves. They were also asked about recent experiences, including whether they had fallen in love.
After students reported falling in love, they used more varied words in their self-descriptions. The new relationships had literally broadened the way they looked at themselves.
“You go from being a stranger to including this person in the self, so you suddenly have all of these social roles and identities you didn’t have before,” explains Dr. Aron, who co-authored the research. “When people fall in love that happens rapidly, and it’s very exhilarating.”
Over time, the personal gains from lasting relationships are often subtle. Having a partner who is funny or creative adds something new to someone who isn’t. A partner who is an active community volunteer creates new social opportunities for a spouse who spends long hours at work.
Additional research suggests that spouses eventually adopt the traits of the other — and become slower to distinguish differences between them, or slower to remember which skills belong to which spouse.
In experiments by Dr. Aron, participants rated themselves and their partners on a variety of traits, like “ambitious” or “artistic.” A week later, the subjects returned to the lab and were shown the list of traits and asked to indicate which ones described them.
People responded the quickest to traits that were true of both them and their partner. When the trait described only one person, the answer came more slowly. The delay was measured in milliseconds, but nonetheless suggested that when individuals were particularly close to someone, their brains were slower to distinguish between their traits and those of their spouses.
“It’s easy to answer those questions if you’re both the same,” Dr. Lewandowski explains. “But if it’s just true of you and not of me, then I have to sort it out. It happens very quickly, but I have to ask myself, ‘Is that me or is that you?’ ”
It’s not that these couples lost themselves in the marriage; instead, they grew in it. Activities, traits and behaviors that had not been part of their identity before the relationship were now an essential part of how they experienced life.
All of this can be highly predictive for a couple’s long-term happiness. One scale designed by Dr. Aron and colleagues depicts seven pairs of circles. The first set is side by side. With each new set, the circles begin to overlap until they are nearly on top of one another. Couples choose the set of circles that best represents their relationship. In a 2009 report in the journal Psychological Science, people bored in their marriages were more likely to choose the more separate circles. Partners involved in novel and interesting experiences together were more likely to pick one of the overlapping circles and less likely to report boredom. “People have a fundamental motivation to improve the self and add to who they are as a person,” Dr. Lewandowski says. “If your partner is helping you become a better person, you become happier and more satisfied in the relationship.”

Source:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/weekinreview/02parkerpope.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=the%20happy%20marriage%20is%20the%20me%20marriage&st=cse

मैले सिकाएँ प्रचण्डलाई बन्दुक चलाउन !

०४५ सालतिर म अखिल भारत नेपाली एकता समाजमा काम गर्थेँ, त्यतिवेला हाम्रो माउ पार्टी थियो मशाल । मशालले नेपालमा जनयुद्धको तयारी गर्दै छ भन्ने सुनिएको थियो । मैले पहिला भारतीय सेनामा काम गरेको भन्ने थाहा थियो साथीहरूलाई । यस्तैमा पार्टी च्यानलबाट मलाई नेपाल जानुपर्ने भन्ने सूचना आयो । तर, किन भन्ने मेसो थिएन ।

भैरहवा हुँदै म नारायणगढ पुगेँ । त्यहाँ पुगेपछि साथीहरूले मलाई तत्कालीन मशालका महामन्त्री विश्वास (प्रचण्ड) कहाँ लैजानुभयो । विश्वासले पार्टी जनयुद्धमा जान लागेको बताउनुभयो ।

उहाँले मबाट पार्टीका नेताहरूले बन्दुक चलाउने तालिम लिन खोजेको पनि बताउनुभयो । पार्टीले मलाई त्यति धेरै विश्वास गरेको रहेछ, मलाई खुसी लाग्यो । त्यसैले मैले भनिदिएँ, 'म तालिम दिन तयार छु ।'

हाम्रो भेट विश्वासको घरमुनिको अर्कै घरमा भएको थियो । बादल पनि त्यही घरमा हुनुहुन्थ्यो । मैले भारतीय सेनामा तालिम लिँदाको अनुभव सुनाएँ अनुभव सुनेर उहाँहरू रोमाञ्चित हुनुभयो । प्रारम्भिक तालिम त्यही घरको आँगनमा तत्कालै सुरु भयो । आँगनमा प्रचण्ड र बादललाई पिटी खेलाएँ । हतियारबारे जानकारी पनि दिएँ ।

दोस्रो दिन पनि त्यहीँ बसियो । सामान्य तालिम भयो । तेस्रो दिन बादलले आफ्नै घरमा लग्नुभयो । उहाँको घर विश्वासको घरबाट नजिकै थियो ।

बादलजीको घरमा पुगेपछि उहाँले सामान्य तयारी गर्नुभयो, त्यहाँबाट पनि हामी अघि बढ्यौँ । हामी नारायणगढ हुँदै मुग्लिङ पुग्यौँ । त्यसपछि पनि अघि बढ्यौँ, त्यो बाटोमा मेरो पहिलो यात्रा थियो, भूगोलबारे जानकारी थिएन । त्यसैले बादल कमरेडले जताजता लैजानुभयो म त्यतैत्यतै गएँ । खास कुन ठाउँ जाने हो, थाहा थिएन ।

साँझपख बगर भएको ठाउँमा पुग्यौँ । अनि उकालो लागेर राति जंगलमा पुग्याँै । रातिराति हिँडेर अलि माथि गाउँमा पुग्यौँ । डाँडामा पुगेपछि जंगल सुरु भयो । बाटो अलिक सुनसान भयोे । केहीबेर पछि गाउँ आयो, ठाउँ गोरखा सिरानचोकको फेद रहेछ भन्ने पछि थाहा भयो ।

सिरानचोक पुगेपछि पो थाहा भयो, थुप्रै नेता जम्मा भइसक्नुभएको रहेछ । विश्वासलाई त हामीले चितवनमा छोडेका थियौँ, तर उहाँ हामीभन्दा पहिले नै सिरानचोक पुगिसक्नुभएको रहेछ । साथमा कमरेड किरण पनि हुनुहुँदो रहेछ । किरणलाई त मैले पहिले नै चिनेको थिएँ ।

हामी १०/१२ जना थियौँ । राति ११ बजेतिर गाउँमा छरिएर सुत्यौँ । मलाई अर्को दिन के गर्ने भन्ने जानकारी थिएन । राति सबै साथीसँग परिचय पनि भएन ।

म नेपाल भित्रिएको चौथो दिन थियो, बिहान ६ बजे उठ्यौँ । जंगलमा गएर नेताहरूले तालिम सुरु गरौँ भन्नुभयो, मैले उहाँहरूलाई लाइन लगाएर एक घन्टाजति पिटी खेलाएँ । खाजा खाने वेलामा बल्ल परिचय भयो । त्यसपछि तालिम निरन्तर भयो ।

नजिकैको जंगलमा शिविर सञ्चालन भयो । म हतियार, शारीरिक र युद्धकलाबारे तालिम दिन्थेँ । विश्वासजी सैन्य विज्ञानसम्बन्धी सैद्धान्तिक विषयमा प्रशिक्षण दिनुहुन्थ्यो । पाखामा नौ बजेतिर घाम लाग्थ्यो, जंगलमा गोठाला पनि आउँथे, उनीहरूले थाहा नपाउन् भन्नेमा पनि सचेत हुनुपथ्र्यो । दिउँसो हतियारको तालिम, बेलुका सैद्धान्तिक तालिम, दैनिक रुटिनजस्तै बन्यो ।

त्यहाँ मैले उहाँहरूलाई दुस्मनमाथि निसाना साध्ने, राइफल खोल्ने, जोड्ने, गोली लोड/अनलोड गर्ने भन्ने सिकाएँ । राइफलका पार्टपुर्जाबारे जानकारी दिएँ ।

दुस्मनमाथि हमला गर्न जाँदा कसरी जाने, कस्तो भूगोलमा कस्तो नीति तयार गर्ने, दुस्मनको पोजिसन हेरेर अगाडि कसरी बढ्ने, आफूतिर कम मात्र खति गराएर कसरी जित हासिल गर्ने भन्ने विषय पनि तालिममा थिए ।

त्यति मात्र होइन, एम्बुस कसरी बनाउने, कसरी थाप्ने भन्ने पनि सिकाएँ । आक्रमण-प्रत्याक्रमणका योजनाबारे सबै योजना सुनाएँ । दुस्मनको ब्यारेक कब्जा गरेपछि पुनः कसरी मोर्चाबन्दी गर्ने र र्फकने भन्ने कुरा पनि तालिममा थियो । तालिमसँगै 'प्राक्टिकल' पनि हुन्थ्यो । कुनै निश्चित ठाउँलाई दुस्मनको किल्ला मानेर लडाइँको तालिम लिइन्थ्यो । त्यसैमा नेताहरू घाइते भएको अभिनय गर्थे, दुस्मनको घाइतेलाई नियन्त्रणमा लिने र आफ्नो घाइतेलाई उद्धार गर्ने तालिम पनि दिइयो ।

तालिम एक साता चल्यो । तर, एक ठाउँमा एक दिन मात्र तालिम लियौँ । जंगलमा दिनहुँ ठाउँ फेथ्र्यौं । सुरक्षा र गोपनीयताका लागि यस्तो गरेको हो । व्यवस्थापनमा गोरखाका पार्टीकै साथी खट्नुभएको थियो । जंगलमा बस्ने र खानपिनलगायतको व्यवस्थापन राम्रै थियो । खाना सामान्य नै थियो ।

त्यहाँ विश्वास कमरेडले सैद्धान्तिक विषयमा तालिम दिनुभयो । म युद्धकलाको प्रशिक्षक भए पनि कम्युनिस्टसम्बन्धी धेरै सैद्धान्तिक ज्ञान जान्ने मौका पाएँ । बन्दुक चलाउन मैले सिकाए पनि बम बनाउन उहाँले पहिले नै सिक्नुभएको रहेछ । मैले पनि विश्वासबाटै सिकेँ । तालिम लिँदा सबै साथीमा उत्साह नै थियो । विश्वास कमरेड, बादल कमरेड र आलोकलगायतले खुवै रुचि राखेर सिक्नुभयो ।

थ्री नट थ्री राइफलमा एक म्यागजिन गोली थिए । तर, हामीले त्यहाँ एउटा गोली पनि पड्काएनौँ । उहाँहरूलाई बेनेट फाइटिङ (युद्धका वेला गोली सकिए राइफलमा संगीन राखेर दुस्मनसँग लड्ने तरिका) का बारेमा पनि सिकाएँ मैले । यसमा आलोक (यानप्रसाद गौतम जो युद्धकालमा मारिए) निकै चुस्त थिए ।

'प्राक्टिकल' गर्दा दुस्मन ढिस्काढिस्कीबाट आइराखेको छ भन्ने अनुमान राखेर त्यहीअनुसार लड्ने गथ्र्यौं । समूह विभाजन गथ्र्यौं, सपोर्टिङ समूहले फायरिङ गर्ने, लड्ने टिम अगाडि बढ्ने हुन्थ्यो । सुतेर, उठेर वा बसेर कसरी अगाडि बढ्ने भन्ने भूगोलअनुसार हुन्थ्यो । उहाँहरू पालैपालो बन्दुक समातेर यसै गर्नुहुन्थ्यो ।

'दुस्मनलाई कतिवेला आक्रमण गर्नुपर्छ ?' उहाँहरूको प्रश्न हुन्थ्यो । म जतिवेला दुस्मन लाचार, कमजोर र विकेन्दि्रत हुन्छ, त्यहीवेला आक्रमण गर्नुपर्छ भन्थेँ । झमक्क साँझ पर्दा, मध्यरातमा, बिहान उठ्ने वेला, पानी परिरहेको वेला, हावाहुरी लागेको वेला, हिउँ परिरहेको वेला आक्रमण गर्न पनि सजिलो हुन्छ भन्ने जानकारी दिएँ ।

दिनभर तालिम लिन्थ्यौँ । राति सुत्नेवेलामा सेन्ट्री बस्नुपथ्र्यो । उहाँहरू पालैपालो सेन्ट्री बस्नुहुन्थ्यो । दुई-दुईजना दुईवटा सेन्ट्रीमा बस्ने गरेका थियौँ । तर, मलाई प्रशिक्षक भनेर उहाँहरूले सेन्ट्रीमा बसाल्नुभएन ।

मैले त्यहाँ एसएलआर, एसएमजी, एलएमजीलगायतका हतियारको तालिम दिन चाहेको थिएँ, तर हतियार भएनन् । तर पनि त्यतिवेलासम्म फौजी क्षेत्रमा यस्ता-यस्ता हतियार प्रयोग भइरहेका छन् भन्ने जानकारी दिएँ उहाँहरूलाई । टु इन्च मोर्टार, थ्री इन्च मोर्टारको बारेमा पनि जानकारी दिएँ । युद्धकला सिक्ने ड्रेस त थिएन, तर टाउकामा स्याउला राखेर जंगलमा दौडनुहुन्थ्यो उहाँहरू ।

उहाँहरूले दुस्मनबाट हतियार खोसेर जम्मा गर्ने हो, किनेर ल्याउने होइन भन्नुहुन्थ्यो । तालिम सिकियो, अब दुस्मनकै हतियार खोसेर लड्ने हो भन्नुहुन्थ्यो विश्वास ।

बिदाइ समारोहपूर्व एउटा कार्यक्रम भयो । तालिमको समीक्षा भयो । तालिम ऐतिहासिक महत्त्वको भएको भन्नुभयो नेताहरूले । यद्यपि यो प्रारम्भिक चरणको हो भनियो । उद्देश्य प्राप्तिका लागि महत्त्वपूर्ण छ, निरन्तरता दिनेछौँ भन्नुभयो । उहाँहरू बन्दुकलाई निकै माया गर्नुहुन्थ्यो, क्रान्तिको साधन भनेर पनि होला । सायद धर्ममा विश्वास गर्ने भए पूजा नै गरेर राख्नुहुन्थ्यो होला ।

सिरानचोकबाट र्फकने वेलामा आ-आफ्नो बाटोबाट हिँड्यौँ । म र एकजना साथी मस्र्याङ्दी नदीको किनारैकिनार भएर मुग्लिङ आयौँ र नारायणगढ पुग्यौँ । नारायणगढमा रहेको विश्वासको घरमा पुग्दा उहाँ पहिले नै त्यहाँ आइपुग्नुभएको थियो । एक दिन त्यहाँ बसेँ । त्यहाँ पनि चार-पाँचजना साथीलाई सामान्य तालिम दिएँ । अर्को दिन म फिर्ता भएँ ।

निकै उत्साहपूर्वक, इच्छाशक्तिका साथ तालिम लिएका थिए नेताहरूले । तालिम दिएर फकर्ंदा मलाई त्यतिवेला विश्वास थियो कि यो टिमले केही गर्छ । अहिले हेर्दा मेरो विश्वास सार्थक भयो भन्ने लाग्छ ।

को हुन् पाठक ?

गुल्मी पौदीअमराई- ९ मा २००६ जन्मेका पाठक १९६७ मा भारतीय गोर्खा आर्मीमा भर्ना भएका थिए । उनी १९७१ मा भारत-पाकिस्तान युद्ध लडे । आर्मीमा भएकै वेला उनी दाइलाई भेट्न दिल्ली गए । त्यहाँ एउटा कार्यक्रममा सहभागी भए, जहाँ कम्युनिस्टको बारेमा धेरै कुरा सुने । कम्युनिस्ट पार्टीका नेतालाई भेट्ने मौका पाए दिल्लीमा उनले ।

उनले सेनाभित्र स्वतन्त्र ढंगले बस्न खोज्ने मानिसका लागि उपयुक्त वातावरण नभएकोे भनेर राजीनामा गरे १९७४ मा । जागिर छाडेपछि उनी पञ्जावमा गए र बैंकमा जागिर सुरु गरे । त्यहाँ उनले नेपालीको अवस्था देखेपछि एउटा संस्था नै बनाए । १९७७ मा उनले अखिल भारत नेपाली समाज बनाए अरू साथीहरूसँग मिलेर । पछि अरू नेताहरूले १९७९ मा अखिल भारत नेपाली एकता समाज गठन गरे । उनी आफू संस्थापक सदस्य रहेको संगठन छाडेर अखिल भारत नेपाली एकता समाजमा प्रवेश गरे । त्यही संस्थामा रहँदा २२ वर्ष पहिले तालिम दिन नेपाल भित्रिएका थिए ।

हाल उनी माओवादीको केन्द्रीय सल्लाहकार सदस्य छन् । जनयुद्धपूर्वको पहिलो तालिममा प्रशिक्षक पाठक थिए । प्रचण्ड र पाठक सम्धी-सम्धी हुन् । प्रचण्डपुत्री रेणु र पाठकपुत्र अर्जुनबीच विवाह भएको छ ।

को-को थिए तालिममा सहभागी ?

गोरखाको सिरानचोकमा करिब १५-१६ जनाको टोलीले तालिम लिएको थियो । माओवादी सचिव दिवाकरका अनुसार टोलीमा हालका माओवादी अध्यक्ष तथा तत्कालीन मोटो मशालका महामन्त्री विश्वास (प्रचण्ड), उपाध्यक्ष मोहन वैद्य (किरण), महासचिव रामबहादुर थापा (बादल), सचिव पोष्टबहादुर बोगटी (दिवाकर), माओवादी सचिवालय सदस्य देवप्रसाद गुरुङ, दण्डपाणि न्यौपाने (हाल बेपत्ता), यानप्रसाद गौतम (आलोक जनयुद्धका क्रममा मारिए), माओवादी पोलिटब्युरो सदस्य हरिभक्त कँडेल, हाल जनसेनाका डिभिजन कमान्डर रहेका सन्तु दराई, माओवादी केन्द्रीय सदस्य दिनेश शर्मा, किसुन मण्डल, ज्ञानु श्रेष्ठ, विष्णुहरि सुवेदी अटल थिए । तालिममा सहभागी दिनेश शर्माले खोटाङका राजविक्रम राई पनि उक्त तालिममा सहभागी रहेको जानकारी दिए ।

Source:

Democracy for the long hau

There has been a lot of discontent expressed about the peace process in the Nepali media, and some have even begun to raise questions about democracy itself. The irresponsible behaviour of political leaders as well as the deteriorating law and order situation are fuelling the discontent.

Many people are dissatisfied due to the spectacle of the ongoing political manoeuvring for positions and perks by the elected leaders. Other people may not be happy because they perceive threats to their traditional privileges by the ongoing changes, while others may not be happy because democracy

has not delivered many things they expected.

One reason people are frustrated with Nepali democracy is that they find it lacking in many aspects when they compare it with established democracies. One should not expect the same things in established and new democracies. Democracy theorist Philippe Schmitter argues that new democracies in the developing world should not be compared with the same criteria with established democracies that evolved over a much longer period and faced many similar problems during their evolution.

All problems will not be addressed the moment democracy is introduced. If one were to look at the established democracies where a better law and order situation and more responsive governance prevail, those qualities did not emerge in one stroke. The older democracies took centuries to include more citizens in the polity and become responsive and accountable to the people. The foundation for democracy was laid in Britain with the Magna Carta of 1215 that respected the rights of the elite lords. It took centuries for other democratic rights such as freedom of speech, the bill of rights and universal

suffrage to become part of the British democracy.

Similarly the US did not grant suffrage rights to blacks and women for a couple of centuries despite the lofty words in its constitution. Various restrictions that prevented blacks from voting were lifted only in 1964 in the US. The US and the UK provided universal and equal suffrage to women only in 1920 and 1928 respectively, a long time after men had obtained similar rights. The Swiss enfranchised women only in 1971. Established democracies like New Zealand and Belgium initiated major political reforms in recent decades to deepen their democracies. Many of these changes did not come by themselves. The people had to struggle and launch movements for a long period of time.

Democracy is a long-term project. This does not mean that people should remain pliant and do nothing about the problems plaguing the polity. People should mobilise to expand their rights and make the government more responsive. The established democracies consolidated and deepened over time only with continuous struggles by its people to make their polity progressively more responsive and participatory.

In the context of Nepal, one way to assess whether we are moving forward in the democratic project is to compare the current polity with past democratic epochs. Has the post-2006 Nepali polity become more democratic than the polity of the 1990s? There are still many problems, but the comparison resoundingly says that the post-2006 polity is far better than the previous ones for a large number of the common people. Around 2.4 million Nepalis without citizenship certificates obtained the documents after 2006. The monarchy, the fountainhead of feudalism, was abolished in 2008. Elements of feudalism still exist, even among the self-declared “anti-feudalists”; but feudalism has been nevertheless weakened with its anchor gone.

The Nepali state has been declared secular, paving the way for making followers of all religions and non-believers more equal. The adoption of a mixed electoral method has reduced the creation of an artificial majority by the single-member district method and has better reflected the people’s votes in Parliament. Women have attained 33 percent representation in the Constituent Assembly for the first time in Nepal’s history. The Dalits have also made significant gains in the Constituent Assembly and the cabinet. The country is set to adopt federalism that will take governance closer to the people, and empower diverse groups and millions of citizens. Even some of the political parties have become more democratic, and younger generation leaders have begun to occupy more influential positions in party organisations and in public institutions like the Constituent Assembly.

These are major achievements of the 2006 regime change that will make the future Nepali democracy qualitatively much deeper than the previous experiments. Of course, major problems still remain: The culture of impunity is more or less intact, politicisation of the administration continues, the peace process appears to be in the doldrums and no one can guarantee that it will not falter, the law and order situation has deteriorated, and politicians still squabble over positions and perks leaving important issues on the side.

The old constitution has been dismantled and a new one is yet to be made. Such a situation creates uncertainties, including among politicians and administrators, because the polity is in a state of flux and hence administrators may not act decisively. Once the country adopts a new constitution and the polity begins to stabilise if the new constitution is acceptable to the people, then some of the problems due to the transition will be reduced. However, some problems like weak accountability and the culture of impunity may continue even after the new constitution is adopted. The challenge to the Nepali people, therefore, will be to progressively work, perhaps through advocacy, awareness raising and even movements, to reduce such problems.   

Democracy provides space and opportunities to  make citizens’ voices heard, and to organise and mobilise to influence the leaders and the political process. They must utilise these opportunities if they want to make the polity better. The more people organise, the sooner some of the problems might be addressed in some ways. The global history of democracy tells us that citizens have obtained more power, the polities have become more accountable, and democracies have deepened when citizens have organised and mobilised.

Nepal’s history till date also supports this thesis. More Nepalis have been empowered post-2006 because they struggled for their rights. If Nepalis want to improve the democracy the country has, they will have to work for it. The global trend gives plenty of hope—with people’s efforts, democracies have deepened globally. More people today are living under freer societies and deeper democracies than ever before.

By: MAHENDRA LAWOTI

Source: www.ekantipur.com

Why reservation for Dalits?

The Dalits of Nepal are socially, politically, economically, educationally and religiously backward and discriminated against. The population of Dalit represents 13.05 percent of the total population of the country. Still this statistic is debatable. Dalit leader, intellectuals and non-government organisations working for Dalit are refusing this statistic. They claim that the Dalit population represents around 20 percent of the total population. There are two reasons behind the less number of Dalit i.e. the family names of Dalit are similar to higher caste and some Dalit do not like to be recognised as Dalit.


The Dalit movement was initiated in 2004 in Nepal. Before that, the pace of the movement was slow. At that time, this issue was raised as social issue but not as a human right. After democracy dawned in the country in 2007 BS, the government denied to take the issues of Dalit seriously between 2007 to 2020. The Dalit leader played a vital role in shaping the Dalit movement in this period, preparing guidelines for the movement. They entered in the temple of Lord Pashupatinath. Political parties were also reluctant to raise the issue of Dalit in the meantime.

Legally, the caste discrimination and untouchability were prohibited in 2020 following the introduction of New Legal Code 2020. This was really a positive initiative from the government because it was a historical breakthrough for Dalit. Nevertheless, that legal code was not fully practiced in the daily life due to social obstacle and reluctance of the government. The Dalit leaders also continued the movement during Panchayat regime for dignified life. Some Dalit leaders were appointed in the parliament (Rastriya Panchayat). At that time, the government did not work for Dalit intensively.


After the restoration of democracy, the constitution of the kingdom of Nepal absolutely avoided all kinds of discrimination among people. The constitution claimed that all citizens shall be equal before the law and no person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws. The state also committed that the state shall not discriminate citizens on grounds of religion, race, sex, caste, tribe or ideological conviction or any of these. The state has also committed that no person shall, on the basis of caste, be discriminated against as untouchable, be denied access to any public place, or be deprived of the use of public utilities. Any contravention of this provision shall be punishable by law.

The legal code was reformed after the restoration of democracy. Even though the government provisioned not to enter the temple for Dalit. So, it can be proved that the people who are in decision-making level are very negative on the issues of Dalit even now. Therefore, the provision of the legal code inconsistent with the constitution was null and void after a petition was filed in the Supreme Court. The legal code has made provision that social discrimination and untouchability were punishable. Nevertheless, only few cases have been registered in the court.

Dalit leaders, non-government organisation, the state, political parties and others are working for Dalit though there are no fundamental changes in the lives of Dalit. The main reason behind it is the lack of reservation for them. Provision of reservation must be made for Dalit due to following reasons:

Social discrimination
             Dalits are not allowed to marry with other high caste and even in other Dalit castes. If they marry with high caste or even in the other Dalit communities society does not accept and they have to live outside the village and city. They are not allowed to take out drinking water from the same wells used by Brahman and Chhetri in the same time. They are not allowed to enter the hotels, shops or high caste peoples’ home. They have to wash glass and plates after drinking tea and eating food in hotels and homes. In the rural area, they are not allowed to sit or eat with high caste people at social gatherings, ceremonies, feasts and festivals. Social boycott is done as a method to punish if they disobey the order of high caste people.

Political discrimination:
                 All political parties have provisions to uplift the status of Dalit and their political participation in certain level in their manifestos. But it is not in practice. None of the Dalit is member in the executive committee of political parties so far except one alternative executive member in CPN-UML. No Dalit is a chairman and vice chairman of District Development Committee so far. Only one member of Parliament was elected in the House of Representatives. So it can be said that Dalits are used only as vote bank. On the other hand, political leaders and worker are involved in caste discrimination.
The political leaders are also reluctant to formulate new Acts in favour of Dalit. Ex-member of Parliament Pari Thapa registered the Untouchability (Crime and Punishment) proposed bill in 2053 but the government and political parties do not present it in the parliament. The government has formed Marginalised, Oppressed and Dalit Welfare Development Committee in 2054 to formulate, design and execute appropriate policy and programme for the socio-economic development of marginalised, oppressed and Dalit communities. But its role and programme execution are not effective. However, the government has already established the National Commission of Dalit and announced that the caste discrimination cases are state cases.

Economic discrimination
                    Eighty percent of the Dalit population lives below the poverty line with per capita income of US $ 39.6 and only one percent of them possessing cultivatable land. They are skilled manpower but their skill is neglected by society. It is difficult to market goods produced by Dalits nowadays also. They are suffering from different indirect barriers to work in the public place. Many Dalits are also now regularly following conventional occupation ie, balighare pratha, doli pratha and hali pratha. They cannot run hotels and shop freely.

Educational discrimination
              The literacy rate of Dalit in Nepal is only 23.80 percent. The reasons behind it are existing discriminatory practices in educational institutions in some places of the country, poverty and inaccessibility of scholarship. Dalit cannot join Sanskrit schools. There is strict prohibition to study Sanskrit University in Dang. Only few persons are graduated so that most of them are deprived of the opportunities for better employment.

Religious discrimination
                   The origin of caste discrimination in Nepal is religion. Hence Dalit are extremely oppressed in religious sector. They are not allowed to enter temples, study Sanskrit, worship gods and goddess and follow religious rituals. As a result many Dalits have adopted Christianity.
There is no representation of Dalits in government civil service, Human Rights Commission, other commissions and judiciary sector. Provision of reservation is necessary to uplift their socio-economic, educational, political and religious condition in Nepal. Reservation is not the ultimate goal of Dalit movement, but it should be retained till the discriminatory practices exist in the society and Dalits are not able to lead a dignified life as the other citizens.

By: Suresh Mijar

Source: http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2010/03/24/Letters/letters-to-the-editor/6527/

Tiny Hands On Offer

As I was adjusting my woolen scarf during my regular morning walk, I caught sight of a girl, maybe 8 years old, who was searching in a heap of garbage with a big dirty sack hanging from her left shoulder. I had to take a detour from my usual route because of the street dogs chasing and barking at her.

Nothing unusual! I know it. Yet, I found myself pretty occupied with the sight of that girl, which later prompted me to turn the pages of a recent International Labour Organisation (ILO) report that had been lying on my table since last week. The report reveals that about 1.93 million children in age group 5 to 7 years are involved in child labour in Nepali urban areas; 200,000 in the Kathmandu valley alone. These child labourers typically work more than 65 hours a week and approximately 1.4 million of them work under severely exploitative and unsafe conditions.

Various UN organizations’ reports on child labour have shown that in rural areas children predominantly work in farms, while in cities they are mainly involved in manual labour in domestic household activities, carpet factories, brick kilns, leather factories, transport industries, restaurants, and other such businesses. In recent days, cases of children being forcefully involved in illegal activities have also surfaced. According to a caste and ethnicity disaggregated data set, the majority of the Nepali child labour force belongs to various Janajati groups, a few from Newar community and only 29 percent from Brahmin-Chettri families.

The decade-plus long insurgency has been a major contributing factor in increased numbers of child labourers in the country. Many rural families sent their children to cities out of apprehension of them being targets of Maoist combatants or security forces. Disrupted subsistence livelihoods, illiteracy and extreme poverty also pushed families to send their children to work outside their native villages. As a result, the majority of these children ended up as child labourers or slaves. It is estimated, that more than 80 percent of these children got trapped in the worst forms of child slave labour.

Child slave labour is still so profoundly ingrained in some communities of Nepal that most of female victims are denied even primary schooling. For example, although the Kamaiya system of slavery has been abolished, ex-Kamaiyas and their children are still at a high risk of bondage due to absence of necessary rehabilitation and integration provisions and existing discrimination against female children.

Along with child slave labour, some communities also use children for a religiously approved form of child prostitution. The most alarming and unique of such cultural practices is the Deuki system used in far western Nepal.

The practice of Deuki entails parents offering their female children to local temples to serve the deity in the belief that they will be blessed in return. In ancient times, Deukis were regarded as sacred temple slaves or dancers who after reaching puberty were asked to provide sexual services to male priests and worshippers.

There are reports that this practice has been modernized and contemporary Deukis are even sold to bidders. These girls become extremely vulnerable, not only to exposure to sex at young ages, but also to child-prostitution. Empirical evidence from several African countries has revealed that such exposure leads children towards a vicious circle whereby they are forced to embrace prostitution as a profession for survival. According to a report of Maiti Nepal, Nepal’s largest anti-trafficking non-governmental organization, which also operates a hospice for HIV/AIDS positive trafficking victims and their children, the majority of women and girls rescued and repatriated as sex workers from India test positive for HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

The 1990 Constitution has vowed to protect the interests of children, conferring their fundamental rights. The Interim Constitution also guarantees child interests, protection and rights. Apart from these, the Children’s Act, 1992, and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 2002, are other key regulations that aim to prevent children from child labour and sexual abuse. It is disheartening to know that despite these measures, the number of Deukis is increasing. According to a UN report, there are now more than 30,000 Deukis in Nepal compared to 17,000 in 1992.

Although Nepal has been one of the first countries to ratify ILO conventions 138 on the Minimum Age for Employment and 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, the prolonging political turmoil has negatively impacted the development and implementation of national compliance mechanisms, policies and strategies.

Widespread impunity of the slaveholders and children traffickers, lax law enforcement, poverty, disintegration of families, migration, lack of protection to children at risk and ignorance on the part of parents have been crucial contributing factors to the growing demand for young children in the global sex market. Although on-going efforts by many international and national non-government organizations present a hopeful picture, they need to be cautious as the agenda is not as straightforward as it appears. This is mainly due to the fact that it is intertwined with a number of larger socio-economic issues prevalent in our communities. Hence, a coherent and holistic approach has to be followed—perhaps in a consortium mode wherein each consortium member organization focuses on its own specialization area, while working collectively towards the common goal of the elimination of child labour and slavery.

By: BHAWANA UPADHYAY 

Source: http://www.ekantipur.com/2010/12/19/oped/tiny-hands-on-offer/326748/

Visit Nepal Year 2011

    Nepal is a country of highly diverse and rich geography, culture, and religions. The mountainous north contains eight of the world’s ten highest mountains, including the highest, Mount Everest.

The fertile and humid south is heavily urbanized. By some measures, Hinduism is practiced by a greater majority of people in Nepal than in any other nation. The natural scenery, high mountains, incomparable cultural heritage and numerous specialties have made Nepal a well-known destination in the world tourism map with a distinct image of its own. However, the development of tourism is limited in number and within the certain areas of the country only. The new government has shown greater concerns about the real value of tourism and its role in contributing to economic growth, poverty alleviation, equity and overall tourism development in the country.

Therefore, the government is placing high priority on the tourism sector in its new economic development policy. As there is a favorable political situation in the country, the government is all geared towards economic revolution in next 10 years for the up-liftment of the masses. In this connection, government of Nepal in consultation with Nepalese Tourism Industry, concerned organizations and experts decided to launch a national tourism campaign "Nepal Tourism Year 2011". This announcement reflects the government’s anticipation to bring into at least one million international tourists in Nepal by the year 2011 and spread the benefits of tourism to the people at large. The national campaign also indicates the tourism industry’s exigency to organize a tourism promotion campaign having wider impact.

With the glittering badge of adventure destination and the adage “Atithi Devo Bhava” (Guests are Gods) that reflects "Atithi Satkar, Nepaliko Sanskar" (Hospitality is Nepalese culture) deeply rooted in our culture, the tourism products of Nepal never cease to mesmerize the visitors. The cultural, geographical, ethnic and bio-diversities of the country allure international visitors to Nepal time and again which truly substantiates the spirit of Nepal tourism brand; ‘Naturally Nepal, once is not enough !

The concept of Nepal Tourism Year 2011 envisions harnessing these opportunities and strengths and bringing together the commitment of the government, expertise and experiences of the organizations like Nepal Tourism Board, aptitude and dynamism of the private sector and communities for further tourism development in the country. Active involvement of the major political parties, members of the Constitution Assembly and Right groups is always taken into consideration in order to make the campaign inclusive and participatory in modus operandi and effective in result. The campaign will also focus on mobilizing the networks of the Non-Resident Nepalis (NRN) communities, Nepalese diplomatic missions abroad, I/NGOs, airlines, and national and international media. Similarly, friends and well-wishers of Nepal, tourism academicians and celebrities will also be approached in order to highlight the campaign internally as well as internationally. This is also called Visit Nepal Year 2011.

See some Video about Nepal:

Source:http://peopleboat.com/articles-section/44-events/627-2010-10-06-19-29-01.html 

            www.youtube.com

          

Lesson From Bihar

                  Tihar this year found my family in reunion. My brother had just returned from the US after studying and living there for four years. We were all in Mahottari to celebrate the festival of lights and the Chhath festival too, which was approaching soon. My parents made plans to visit our relatives in Bihar, whom we hadn’t seen for a long time due to our busy schedules. We decided to do the needful and hired an Indian jeep to make the big trip.

Bihar sprung back to my mind from childhood days—I remembered its poverty and backward mindset. Girls were never encouraged to go to school. I used to feel sorry for my cousins who were growing up there.

The jeep arrived at our door the next morning and we started early from Jaleshwor. Upon arriving at the Bhitthamod border, we took an entry pass for the road that would take us to our relatives’ village.

As soon as we crossed the border, we began to feel a big difference. Our bottoms were sore from travelling on the Nepali roads with their endless potholes and uneven surface. The Indian side, however, had us seated undisturbed—their roads were tarred neat and we were hardly even budged. The last time I remember travelling on this road, I had a hard time figuring out the road from the potholes. We would be rattled so hard that our heads would hit the roof of the car. Journeys were nightmarish during the monsoons, when ponds would flood roads, and the village would turn into a big grey pool.

My present journey, however, was going quite well on this newly tarred road and I found the answer to my surprise on roadside propaganda: “Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana” (Prime Minister Rural Road Scheme), a signboard said. We stopped for some refreshments and my father asked a person at the tea stall about this new phenomenon. He replied proudly in Maithili, “Aab Bihar ke Halat Pahile jika nahai. Sarkar bahut bikash ka rahal hai (Bihar is no longer like what it was before. The state government has done a lot for its development).”

We resumed our journey and stopped at a village named Pirokhar—the maiden home of my aunt. The place was serene and its cool mango orchards felt heavenly to a city person like me. Buses passed by, unshaken by potholes and my maternal uncle shared how easy life had become after the road project—it had made things convenient for locals to take their agricultural produce to the market.

More tarring of the roads was going on at some points and our jeep slowed down to witness these small steps that had transformed the road to Bihar. I found myself envying Biharis for this facility. A few years ago, I used to tease my relatives there about their poor infrastructure and the corruption that ran deep in their state. But it seemed to me that we had swapped spots this time—I was the one to be made fun of! I dreaded meeting my cousins now and thought it best to keep the truth about Nepali roads to myself.

With these thoughts, fuel ran out and the car came to a halt. We had to wait until the driver got a gallon of petrol from a nearby depot. Meanwhile, school girls in uniforms passed by and looked at us inquisitively. Elderly people and cattle grazers carried pride in their countenance. The sun shone brightly and I thought I saw contentment in their eyes. It certainly was true that when one’s state is developed, citizens live in dignity regardless of income. After paying short visits to three more relatives at different points, we finally reached a town called Pupree. At a railway crossing, I found myself gaping at the train that passed by. It was very well-managed and luxurious compared with our Janakpur-Jaynagar railway which goes off the track several times a day putting hundreds of lives in peril, while during the monsoons, rainwater drips from the ceiling.

We reached Behera around 1 a.m. and had a sumptuous Mithila meal prepared by my aunt. My uncle said that the Bihar government gave every female student a stipend of IRs. 2,000 to buy a bicycle for easy access to school. Books and uniform were free of cost, too. “Even Dalit girls are going to school now,” he added. My uncle’s narration made me marvel at Bihar’s progress. From being dogmatic about girls’ education, this state had gone on to include the Dalits too.

We had to return home by late evening, and could not stay there for too long. Our last stop was at a village called Sahajauli, where my mother’s elder sister lived. It was getting dark by the time we reached there, but the road was good. It took us an hour and a half to come back to the Nepali border and I couldn’t help but have mixed feelings at the point of crossing over—I was happy to meet my relatives after so many years, but my visit to Bihar this autumn blew me over with the transformation it had undergone. Bihar was almost at the point of no return in terms of governance a few years ago, and now it has surprised everyone. If this state can change from being one of the worst in India to an exemplary one, can’t our country do the same?

BY: Prasun Singh

Source:http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2010/12/17/expression/lessons-from-bihar/216163/

Study shows sex addicts fear intimacy

AFP

Photo illustration. Sex addicts feel threatened by intimacy and are more insecure about romantic relationships than the rest of the population, a New Zealand study has found.

    Sex addicts feel threatened by intimacy and are more insecure about romantic relationships than the rest of the population, a New Zealand study has found.

The survey of more than 600 people found those who indulged in compulsive sexual behaviour felt anxious and insecure about relationships and tried to avoid becoming too emotionally attached to others.

Massey University said the study, conducted by psychology honours student Karen Faislander under the supervision of a practicing clinical psychologist and an academic specialist, was the first of its type in New Zealand.

Faislander said sex addiction, which made headlines this year with revelations about Tiger Woods' love life, was a complex condition that had not been researched as thoroughly as areas such as substance abuse or depression.

She said the term "sex addict" first emerged in the early 1980s and there were 29 other terms in scientific literature that described the condition, including sexual compulsiveness, excessive sexual desire disorder and hyper-sexuality.

The preferred contemporary term is out-of-control sexual behaviors (OOCSB).

"It's widely misunderstood and stigmatized," Faislander told AFP.

"There's no known effective treatment. We don't know what causes it or how we treat it."

Because of the embarrassment people feel discussing the subject, Faislander's study used an anonymous online survey to quiz 621 people about their sex lives. 407 identified themselves as sex addicts while 214 were not.

The survey asked if they engaged in online sex, prostitution, sex in public or with multiple partners, as well as examining areas such as alcohol use and feelings of self worth.

"The OOCSB group reported higher rates of insecure styles of attachment, characterized by a perspective of relationships as threatening, and feelings of either anxiety towards or avoidance of closeness or intimacy," the study found.

In contrast, non-sex addicts found intimacy desirable and rewarding, felt secure in relationships and regarded their partners as trustworthy.

Faislander said studies estimated 3-6 percent of the population had the condition in the US, where sex addiction clinics have sprung up in recent years treating stars such as Woods, actor David Duchovny and comedian Russell Brand.

She said no such treatment was available in New Zealand, where self-help groups including Sex and Love Addicts and Sexaholics Anonymous use 12-step programs based on those pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous.

While Faislander's study was not peer reviewed, she hopes to gain a doctorate in clinical psychology and conduct further research on treating out-of-control sexual behaviours.

Source: http://thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Study+shows+sex+addicts+fear+intimacy&NewsID=269750 

ड्रग्स लिएको कुरा बच्चाको खेल जस्तो होइन

ड्रग्स लिएको कुरा बच्चाको खेल जस्तो होइन
-बसन्तराज कुँवर

आज विहानै नेपालको पाटन शहरबाट मलाई कुनै व्यक्तिले फोन गर्नु भयो र भन्नु भयो ‘बसन्त सर मेरो छोराले अलि अलि ड्रग्स खाएको जस्तो छ’ । वहाँको वाक्य पुरा नहुँदै मैले विचैमा प्रश्न गरें, “अलि अलि भनेको के हो ?”वहाँ मेरो प्रश्नले थोरै अकमकिनु भयो र भन्नु भयो, “मेरो भन्नुको मतलब उ अरु जस्तो ड्रग्स एडिक्ट होइन”, मैले फेरी प्रश्न गरें, “अरु जस्तो भनेको कस्तो हो ? तपाईले कति ड्रग्स खानेहरु माथि अध्ययन गर्नु भएको छ ?” वहाँ फेरी अकमकाउनु भयो र भन्नु भयो, “मेरो छोराले गाँजा, व्राउन सुगर खाँदैन खाली टैवलेट मात्र खान्छ” यस पछि पनि मलाई वहाँको कुरामा थुप्रै प्रश्नहरु गर्नु पर्ने थियो तर मैले गरिन र वहाँलाई संझाउन थालें कि पहिला आमावावुले ड्रग्स सेवन गर्ने वच्चाको सम्बन्धमा आफै धारणा बनाउनु हुँदैन बल्की त्यस्तो धारणा बनाउने काम विशेषज्ञलाई छोडी दिनु पर्दछ ।” आफै विशेषज्ञ बन्न खोज्दा ठूलो आर्थिक क्षति हुने मात्र होइन त्यस्तै परे दुव्र्यसनमा परेका छोरा वा छोरीको ज्यान पनि जान सक्छ ।
जुन अभिभावकले मलाई पाटनबाट फोन गरी रहनु भएको थियो वहाँलाई ड्रग्सको सेवन अलि अलि र धेरै हुन्छ भन्ने भ्रम थियो । हामीले के बुझ्नु पर्दछ भने चोरी कार्य अलि अलि र धेरै भयो भन्दैमा चोरको स्तर फरक हुँदैन । कुनै केटी वा केटाले कसैलाई बालत्कार ग¥यो भने अलि अलि वा धेरै हुन सक्दैन । मूख्य कुरा भनेको चोरी भएको छ वा छैन ? त्यस्तै वालत्कार भएको छ वा छैन ? भन्ने महत्वपूर्ण कुरो हो । चोरी गर्छ वा वलत्कार गर्छ भने त्यस्को पटकको आधारमा उ माथिको विश्वास तल माथि हुन सक्तैन । उदाहरणको लागि कुनै घरमा नोकर बस्न आएको व्यक्तिले मैले ३ पटक मात्र चोरी गरेको छु भन्यो भने त्यो घर मालिकले ए यस्ले त सय पटक त चोरी गरेको रहेनछनी भनेर उ माथि विश्वास गर्न सक्तैन । त्यसैगरी अर्को कुरो के हुन्छ भने चाहे सियो चोरेको होस्, सुनको सिक्री चोरेको होस् वा लैपटप चोरेको होस् कुरो के चो¥यो भन्ने भन्दा पनि उसको चोरी गर्ने वानि रहेछ भन्ने कुरा महत्वपूर्ण हुन्छ । कुनै नोकार हुन चाहने व्यक्तिले यदि कुनै घरपेटीलाई मैले खाली चम्चा मात्र चोरी गरेको हुँ तर सुनको सिक्री चाँही चोरेको हैन भन्यो भने त्यो घरपेटीले त्यस अवस्थामा पनि पक्कै उसलाई जागीरमा राख्न आँट गर्ने छैन र भन्ने छ यो चोर रहेछ चाहे जे सुकै चोरेको किन नहोस् । यस व्यक्तिको चोर्ने बानी रहेछ ।
लागु औषध लिनेको हकमा पनि यस्तै हुन्छ । पहिला कुरा हामीले के थाहा पाउनु पर्दछ भने यस व्यक्तिले लागु औषध लिन्छ वा लिँदैन ? कि लिन्छ कि लिदैन ? यस मध्य के हो ? त्यो कुराको एकिन गर्नु पर्दछ । यदि उसले लटठ्याउने पदार्थ जस्तै रक्सी, वियर, वाइन, हिरोइन, व्राउनसुगर, निन्द्रा लाग्ने औषधी, डिप्रेसनको औषधी, पेनकिलर, कोकिन, क्र्याक्स, सुवुटेक्स, मेथाडोन, सुँघेर लट्ठीने डेनड्राइट जस्ता कुराहरु मुखवाट, नाकवाट वा रगतवाट लिई रहेको छ भने हामीले बुझ्नु पर्दछ उसले लागु औषध लिइ रहेको छ ।
अव दोश्रो कुरा हामीले के बुझ्नु पर्दछ भने त्यो व्यक्तिले त्यस्ता लागु पदार्थ सेवन कुनै चिकित्सकको सिफारिसमा गरी रहेको छ कि आफुखुसी सेवन गरी रहेको छ ? यदि आफुखुशी सेवन गरी रहेको छ भने हामीले बुझ्नु पर्दछ त्यस व्यक्तिले लागु पदार्थको दुरुपयोग गरी रहेको छ ।
अब तेश्रो कुरा हामीले के बुझ्नु पर्दछ भने त्यस व्यक्तिले लिएको लागु पदार्थ त्यस व्यक्तिले छोड्न चाहेमा वा अरुले छोड भनेमा त्याग्न सक्छ कि सक्क्तैन ? उदाहरणको लागि कुनै व्यक्तिले रक्सी सेवन गरी रहेको छ र उसले म खब देखि रक्सी सेवन गर्दिन भनी त्याग्न खोजेमा त्याग्न सक्छ कि सक्तैन ? त्यस्तै कसैले व्राउन सुगर लिइरहेको छ भने अब देखि लिन्न भनेपछि त्यो वस्तुको सेवन रोक्न सक्छ कि सक्दैन ? यदि सक्छ भने हामीले बुझ्नु प¥यो त्यस लागु औषध माथि त्यस व्यक्तिको नियन्त्रण रहेछ र यदि सकेन भने हामीले बुझ्नु प¥यो त्यस लागु औषध माथि अव देखि त्यस व्यक्तिको नियन्त्रण गुमेछ । यो स्थिति दुव्र्यसनका दृष्टिकोणले खतरानाक अवस्था हो ।
चौथो, कुरा अब के बुझ्नु पर्दछ भने जुन लागुऔषध उसले लिने गर्दछ त्यो लागु औषध उसले सेवन गर्न पाएन भने उसलाई कुनै शारिरीक मानसिक समस्या आउँछ कि आउँदैन ? उदाहरणको लागि कुनै व्यक्तिको रक्सी सेवन गर्न नपाउने वित्तिकै हाथहरु काम्न थालेमा वा कसैले टैवलेट खान नपाउने वित्तिकै उसलाई रातभर निन्द्रा परेन वा कसैले मेथाडोन वा व्राउनसुगर खान नपाउने वित्तिकै उसको जिउ दुख्न थाल्यो वा डिप्रेसन भएको महसुस गर्न थाल्यो वा कसैले लटठ्याउने कुरा सुँघ्न नपाउने वित्तिकै उसको टाउको दुख्न थाल्यो वा बान्ता होला जस्तो भयो भने हामीले बुझ्नु पर्दछ अब यो व्यक्ति दुव्र्यसनी भयो अर्थात लागु औषध नपाउँदा अव उसलाई शारीरिक मानसिक समस्या शुरु हुन थाले छ । दुव्र्यसन भनेको यहि अवस्था हो ।
अब यसैगर िपाँचौ चरणमा हामीले के कुरा बुझ्नु पर्दछ भने त्यो व्यक्तिले लागु औषध नियमित लिनका लागि अव अनैतिक काम गर्न थाल्यो कि थालेन ? उदाहरणको लागि झुठो बोल्न थाल्यो थालेन, पैसा मास्न थाल्यो थालेन, पढाई छोड्ने वा फेल हुन थाल्यो थालेन, काम गरेको ठाउँमा गएल पर्न थाल्यो थालेन । यदि थाल्यो भने बुझ्नु पर्छ कि अब त्यो व्यक्ति सामान्य जिवन यापन गर्न नसक्ने हुँदै जाँदैछ ।
जसरी आज डिनर खाने वा लन्च खाने भने पछि संसारमा लाखौं थरीका भोजन हुन सक्छन् । कसैले आलुलाई लन्छ भन्न सक्छन्, कसैले मासुलाई, कसैले पाउरोटीलाई त कसैले भात वा ढिडोलाई । यसमा लन्च वा डिनर भन्ने कुराको मुख्य विशेषता के हुनुपर्दछ भने त्यो लिएको बस्तुले व्यक्तिको भोख सान्त गराउनु पर्दछ । त्यसै गरी संसारमा रुख, पात, जरा, पाउडर, जीव जन्तुको विष, रसायन, टैवलेट, झोल लगायत अनेकौं रुप र आकृतिका लाखौं प्रकारका लटठ्याउने चिज बस्तु हुने गर्दछन् जसलाई हामीले अहिले ड्रग्स भन्ने गर्दछौं । लटठ्याउने कुरा कुनै ठूलो सानो हुँदैन । ति विष नै हुन्छ । एउटा झिङ्गा मार्ने विष र हात्ती मार्ने विषलाई कुन ठूलो मान्ने ? दुवै विष नै हुन् । धेरै प्रकारका खानेकुराले व्यक्ति अघाए झै धेरै थरीका ड्रग्सले व्यक्ति लट्ठीएको हुन सक्छ । जुनसुकै प्रकारको लटठ्याउने कुरा लिएको भएपछि लागु औषध लिएकै मान्नु पर्दछ र त्यो चिज छोड भन्दा छोड्न नसक्ने अवस्थामा पुगेको भए अव त्यो व्यक्ति दुव्र्यसनी भएछ भनेर मान्नु पर्दछ । त्यस दिन पाटनवाट फोन गर्ने अभिभावकले यो कुरा बुझेका रहेनछन् । मैले बुझाउन प्रयास गरें । अन्तत उनले बुझे र झस्के ।
आज हज्जारौं परिवार जस्का छोरा छोरी लागु औषध समस्यामा छन् उनीहरु बर्षौसम्म मेरो छोरा वा छोरी अरु जस्तो दुव्र्यसनी होइन भन्दै भ्रममा बसेका छन् । यस प्रकारको भ्रममा पर्नु हुँदैन । कुनै पनि लटठ्याउने बस्तु लिएको छ भने गम्भीरतापूर्वक लिनै पर्दछ । ड्रग्स लिएको कुरा बच्चाको खेल जस्तो होइन ।

Where is our 1/3 Nepal?

Treaty of 1950  with India

 

Treaty of “Peace and Friendship” between the Government of India and the Government of Nepal, 1950.

The Government of India and the Government of Nepal recognizing the ancient ties which have happily existed between the two countries for centuries;Desiring still further to strengthen and develop these ties and to perpetuate peace between the two countries;Have resolved therefore to enter into a Treaty of Peace and Friendship with each other, and have, for this purpose,appointed as their plenipotentiaries the following persons, namely,  THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, HIS EXCELLENCY SHRI CHADRESHWAR PRASAD NARAIN SINGH, Ambassador of India in Nepal; THE GOVERNMENT OF NEPAL, MOHANSHAMSHER JANG BAHADUR RANA, Maharaja, Prime Minister and Supreme-Commander- in-Chief of Nepal, who having

examined each other’s credentials and found them good and in due form have agreed as follows:

 

ARTICLE-1

 There shall be everlasting peace and friendship between the government of India and the Government of Nepal. The two Governments agree mutually to acknowledge and respect the complete sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of each other.

 

ARTICLE-2

The two Governments hereby undertake to inform each other of any serious friction or misunderstanding with any neighboring State likely to cause any breach in the friendly relations subsisting between the two Governments.

 

ARTICLE-3

In order to establish and maintain the relations referred to in Article 1 the two Governments agree to continue diplomatic relations with each other by means of representatives with such staff as is necessary for the due performance of their functions.The representatives and such of their staff as may be agreed upon shall enjoy such diplomatic privileges and immunities as are customarily granted by international law on a reciprocal basis:Provided that in no case shall these be less than those granted to persons of a similar status of any other State having diplomatic relations with either Government.

 

ARTICLE-4 

The tow Governments agree to appoint Consuls-General, Consuls, vice-consuls and other consular agents, who shall reside in towns, ports and other places in each other’s territory as may be agreed to.

 Consuls-General, Consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents shall be provided with executors or other valid authorization of  their appointment. Such executor or authorization is liable to be withdrawn by the country which issued it, if considered necessary. The reasons for the withdrawal shall be indicated wherever possible.The persons mentioned above shall enjoy on a reciprocal basis all the rights, privileges, exemptions and immunities that are accorded to persons of corresponding status of any other State.

 

ARTICLE-5

The Government of Nepal shall be free to import, from or through the territory of India, arms, ammunition or warlike material and equipment necessary for the security of Nepal. The procedure for giving effect to this arrangement shall be worked out by the two Governments acting in consultation.

 

ARTICLE-6

Each Government undertakes, in token of the neighborly friendship between India and Nepal, to give to the nationals of the other, in its territory, national treatment with regard to participation in industrial and economic development of such-territory and to the grant of concessions and contracts relating to such development.

  

ARTICLE-7

The Governments of India and Nepal agree to grant, on a reciprocal basis, to the nationals of one country in the territories of the other the same privileges in the matter of residence, ownership of property,participation in trade and commerce, movement that privileges of a similar nature

.

ARTICLE-8

So far as matters dealt with herein are concerned, this Treaty cancels all previous treaties, agreements, and engagements entered into on behalf of India between the British Government and the Government of Nepal.

 

ARTICLE-9

This Treaty shall come into force from the date of signature by both Governments.

 

ARTICLE-10

The Treaty shall remain in force until its is terminated by either party by giving one year’s notice.   Done in duplicate at Kathmandu this 31st day of July, 1950.(Sd.) CHANDRESHWAR PRASAD NARAIN SINGH For the Government of India(Sd.) MOHAN SHAMSHER JANG BAHADUR RANA For the Government of Nepal Letter from the Ambassador of India to the Prime Minister of Nepal Kathmandu Dated the 31st July 1950YOUR HIGHNESS,In the course of our discussion of the Treaties of Peace and Friendship and of Trade and Commerce which have been happily concluded between the Government of India and the Government of Nepal, we agreed that certain matters of details be regulated by an exchange of letters. In pursuance of this understanding, it is hereby agreed between the two Governments:Neither Government shall tolerate any threat to the security of the other by a foreign aggressor. To deal with any such threat, the two Governments shall consult with each other and devise effective countermeasures.Any arms, ammunition or warlike material and equipment necessary for the security of Nepal that the Government of Nepal may import through the territory of India shall be so imported with the assistance and agreement of the Government of India. The Government of India will take steps for the smooth and expeditious transport of such arms and ammunition through India.In regard to Article 6 of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship which provides for national treatment, the Government of India recognize that it may be necessary for some time to come to afford the Nepalese nationals in Nepal protection from unrestricted competition. The nature and extent of this protection will be determined as and when required by mutual agreement between the two Governments.It the Government of Nepal should decide to seek foreign assistance in regard to the development of the natural resources of, or of any industrial project in Nepal, the Government of Nepal shall give first preference to the Government or the nationals of India, as the case may be, provided that the terms offered by the Government of India or Indian nationals, as the case may be, are not less favorable to Nepal than the terms offered by any other foreign Government or by other foreign nationals.Nothing in the foregoing provision shall apply to assistance that the Government of Nepal may seek from the United Nations Organization or any of its specialized agencies.Both Governments agree not to employ any foreigners whose activity may be prejudicial to the security of the other.Either Government may make representations to the other in this behalf, as and when occasion requires.

 

Please accept Your Highness, the assurances of my highest consideration.(Sd.) MOHAN SHAMSHER JANG BAHADUR RANA Maharaja, Prime Minister and Supreme Commander-in-chief of Nepal. 

(This letter was submitted by the Indian ambassador and approved by the Rana prime minister at the last hour of the Rana oligarchy’s power holding.)

 

Source:http://www.scribd.com/doc/44282056/Treaty-of-1950-With-India