The State Restructuring Commission by a majority wants the creation of 11provinces, most of them on the basis of ethnicity. “In a multi-ethnic, and multi-linguist country, it is only natural that different identities are recognised,” said Krishna Hatechhu, a member of the SRC.
Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai
From scarcity to looming ethnic tensions, the city is slipping.
Nepal faces a daily 14-hour power cut crippling industry and normal life. A group of consumers took control of a vehicle headed towards the depot, and each of them “bought a cylinder” on the street itself. Nepal’s gas stations have thousands of vehicles parked outside waiting for their turn to refuel. The government has not been able to ensure adequate supply even after it hiked the price of petroleum products recently.
Nepal presents a case of scarcity, collapsing service delivery and order. The country’s prominent media recently published photographs of two top police officials seated together with a Maoist legislator convicted by the supreme court for murder, and who the police have said time and again is a absconder. Public security, the rule of law and government failure to check the price rise hardly triggers a debate in parliament.
Yet, the prime minister and his ministers try to inject a sense of hope in the scarcity-stricken people. “The Peace Process has entered an irreversible phase,” said Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai. Over 7,300 combatants will start leaving their cantonments as part of the settlement package for Maoist fighters. Under the package, they will be given a financial grant between Rs 500,000 and Rs 800,000 each in two installments. But the trickier part of the peace process is yet to follow.
Another remaining 9,000 combatants want their integration into the Nepal army, and much against the previous understanding — that only a couple of combatants out of the 6,500 to be absorbed would be up to the rank of Major, or at most of Lt Colonel — they want ranks up to Lt General, and 443 of them. The army chief, Chhatra Man Singh Gurung, has said privately to the PM as well as the defence minister that foregoing academic qualifications, training requirement and physical eligibility while accommodating Maoist combatants is just not possible. But people are no more as euphoric as before. And Bhattarai, seen as a cure for all of Nepal’s problems till a few months ago, is not a politician held in esteem by the people any more.
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