Looking for talents in the streets

28 Oct. 2005. The seven party coalitions have called for “Valley Bandha” (Valley Closedown) today in protest of the government’s law on media. On the eve of the general strike the police radios and walkie-talkies were already blaring harsh instructions to “arrest street children in as many number as possible” in a bid to foil their participation in today’s rallies. Street children quite often suffer most in such events.

Contrary to this, Sadak Pratibha Sarokar Nepal (Street Children Concern Nepal), a NGO of street children, organized a closing ceremony to mark the end of the six month long skill development training. Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare was the chief guest. Ms Komal Oli, a noted singer, and me were some of the guests. On this occasion, the shooting of the first take of the tele film “Aawaaj”(Voices of street) was also inaugurated. The Save the Children, Norway is assisting this organization’s activities.

The problems are—why we can’t stop bullying children? And why we can’t stop children landing up in the street? A more proactive role is required instead of taking reactive ones.

Prerequisites of elections

18 Oct 2005. The local municipality elections are scheduled to be held in Magh of this year and the general election for parliament has been slated by the end of next year i.e. end of Chaitra 2063. Sounds good! But the pertinent questions are: will these elections solve all the current political problems? Are we not going to resolve down imminent things before these elections? Two key issues remain to be addressed before these elections--the re-establishment of peace by prevailing law and order, and restructuring of the political system. What about the inclusive type of political system that we have been talking lately? And what about the proportionate representative election system associated with these issues? Don’t you think that these are prerequisites to any elections if we really wish to settle things once for all?

First peace then election

The main objective of having elections is to elect a representative or a political leader for the government in a free and fair manner. When there are no freedom to choose, when there are no good candidates or parties, and when there are no voters to vote then such election is no election; it is a folly. The basic prerequisites for election are the conducive situation prevailed by law and order, majority of voters, and candidates or the political parties. Therefore the first thing we need to do is to fulfill these preconditions. Let us have first peace then elections.

Towards peace

The Maoist insurgents have declared unilateral ceasefire on 3rd September 2005. But the government has not done so yet. The government has failed to recognize the demand of the people for peace. In this way the government has politically failed to grab the advantage of the opportunity of re-establishing its faith and image inside and outside the country. The government should have welcomed Maoist’s move and further appealed for everlasting peace by calling and preparing for talks and negotiations.

Media and security

7 Oct 2005. Attended an interaction program in between the media persons and security forces. It was organized by Conflict Afflicted Media Persons(CAMP) and Media Services International(MSI) with an objective of improving the relationship between media and security forces. Many editors of major dailies and weeklies were attending. Senior army and police officials were also there. The interaction started gently. It sometime took a rough ride with the passage of time. Both sides were almost offending and defending one another. But overall the interaction ended amicably.

We all understand the value of information. I realize the tremendous degree of hazards and risks that the media persons have to undertake while seeking out for news, in fact they are in more dangerous situation than the security persons find themselves. I appreciate and thank them for the contributions despites of the dangers. I feel sorry for the losses that they have incurred in the process. I understand that the information is power. But this power should not be misused. Power corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

I think three things are dominating our relationship-- the situation, the attitude and the behavior. The situation is abnormal therefore the attitude towards one another is suspicious. There are extreme accusations on security forces that they are bent upon uprooting the democracy. On the other hand media persons are accused of glorifying the terrorists and terrorism. This type of attitude is prompting completely unfriendly behavior amongst them which is unfortunate.

The relationship is the result of the actions and reactions of both sides. Therefore we need to improve our actions and reactions. We know that there have been breach of law and code of ethics from both sides. Therefore the first thing we need to do is to correct our actions. All actions must be lawful and according to the code of ethics. These will make us disciplined; thus free from accusations of violations. We need to usher in the improvements in our faulty system. We must institutionalize good practices. And there is a need for creating a special task force to charting out a new code of ethics for both sides, at least for some time as long as the politics do not improve.

New data on trafficking

3 Oct 2005. Attended the report launching program on “Media activism for support to prevention of trafficking in women and girls in Nepal” organized by Asmita Women’s Publication House, Media, and Resources Organization. Two researchers, Ms. Anju Chhetri and Ms. Manju Thapa presented the report of the study conducted on the state of trafficking in Nepal India. According to their study the total numbers of Nepali sex workers in India are 14352.

According to the report the numbers of sexual workers in various cities of India were as under:
Kolkata- 1302
Delhi- 300
Mumbai- 12350
Pune- 500
Total- 14352

The report further estimates the total numbers of sex workers in other parts of India to be roughly 10000. Thus the Nepali sex workers in all over India are near 25000. This report is very much different from the earlier reports on the number of Nepali sex workers in India. I personally feel that the two researchers are very confident on their estimates and it looks very close to the fact since they have physically visited the field. However, it will certainly generate new discussions.