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Earthquakes In Nepal-XVIII
Speaking to the reporters after the donors’ conference held in Kathmandu on June 25, 2015, Finance Minster Dr Ram Sharan Mahat boasted that the conference was a grand success despite the international community committed only $4bn against the request for $6.7bn for the reconstruction of the damaged-and-destructed structures left by the massive quakes and aftershocks. Prime Minister Sushil Koirala repeated his commitment to punish the persons involved in misusing the resources intended for the reconstruction. Representatives of more than 50 countries and multi-lateral agencies listening to the prime minister, the finance minister and the foreign minister must be wondering what would happen to the money if they were to drop a few millions in the piggy bank set up by the government of Nepal in a hurry ostensibly for the reconstruction of the quakes-damaged-and-destructed structures declaring the search and rescue operation done so fast, and ending a state of emergency even though the quake victims in the remote areas had not been reached either by the government or by the NGOs and INGOs, yet. The government of Nepal (GON) complained that the international community had lacked the transparency of how they used their resources for the quake victims while ignoring the transparent irregularities in the purchase and distribution of tarpaulins done by the ministry of urban development. The international community and other Nepalese lucky to attend the donors’ conference also wondered why the representatives of the quake victims were conspicuously absent in the conference.
My guess I made in my immediate previous writing on the quakes that the government would over estimate the resources required for reconstructions proved to be true following the ecstasy of the finance ministry over $4bn the donors committed to provide despite the request for $6.7bn. Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat labeled it ‘a grand success’ and even went on saying that he got more than what his colleagues and he had anticipated. Stating more than what actually needed, probably, the ministers and the National Planning Commission believed that the international community would drop more dollars in the piggy bank but failed to understand that the international community was smart to have the experiences in dealing with the Nepalese administration that had changed little during the last 50 years despite the political change from the despotic rule to the democratic and ultimately to the republican system.
The international community had advised the government of Nepal not to be in a hurry to the reconstruction while many quake victims were unattended, yet. But the government declared that it had reached every district hit by the quakes and provided the victims with the relief supplies, and the rescue of the victims had been done. The international community knew that the remote areas had been neglected, and the victims had been left on their own without the state support for them to rebuild their lives lost to the quakes. The chief district officer of the Chitwan district said that the quakes had heavily hit the northern nine village development areas of the Chitwan district but the relief supplies had not reached there, yet, the news posted on ratopati.com revealed it on June 26, 2015. The association of INGOs in Nepal had requested the government to extend the state of emergency for one month more making a three-month emergency so that they could bring in the relief supplies stuck at the custom points. But the responsible government official said that they could bring in the relief supplies without paying custom and taxes on them, and dump them in the state-central warehouse for distribution by the government. How could the international community believe the GON officials in doing a good job when the parliamentary committee on public accounts had been so furious with the minister for the urban development and secretary to this ministry at the gross irregularities in purchasing and distributing tarpaulins and tents to the quake victims, and when the personal secretary to the finance minister attempted to divert the tents taken to the Nuwakot for distribution to the quake victims, and those irresponsible officials committing such irregularities were still free with impunity.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33249184
http://www.ratopati.com/2015/06/26/243338.html
While listening to the government speakers at the conference, probably the representatives of various countries and the multi-later agencies had been wondering why the representatives of the quake victims had been missing in the conference, and why the representative of the ministry of urban development had no words to say at the conference. Only the Vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission had been given a chance to speak at the conference. The ethnic Nepalese incidentally happened to be the majority of the quake victims bitterly complained that the government had disregard them to represent at the conference [1]. The question was how could this government be representatives of the people when they ignored the people in whose name the government was begging for such a large sum.
The Koirala government had the mindset of the beggar, some political leaders and the cadres of the party called ‘Bibeksheel Nepali’ said. The cadres of the ‘Bibeksheel Nepali’ had protested against the donor’s conference demanding not donation but investment but the government sent the police to take them in custody rather than listening to them seriously. Some political leaders particularly of the UCPN-Maoist had written in the Nepalese digital media that the government not having a plan on reconstruction to hold a donors’ meeting was the demonstration of the mindset of a beggar. One of the Nepalese intellectuals even questioned how Nepal could be a poor country when its government could not spend fully the annual budget on development. In fact, hundreds of Nepalese youths working elsewhere in the world had been remitting billions of dollars to Nepal annually. The question was why the government could not properly utilize those resources and jumped in begging the international community for the reconstruction of the quake-damaged structures. Naturally, some of the western reporters almost all the time at their opening statements snubbed Nepal as an impoverished country demonstrating their ignorance of the real economic, cultural and generous traits of the common Nepalese.
- http://setopati.net/politics/7290/23-Bibeksheel-Nepali-activists-arrested/
http://www.ratopati.com/2015/06/24/242862.html
http://www.ratopati.com/2015/06/25/243097.html
Nepalese had never been of the poor mentality as the government always had been. Yes, the statistics of the government demonstrated that the annual incomes of the Nepalese were quite small in comparison with the annual incomes of the developed countries but Nepalese were always for helping others even when they needed to go hungry feeding the guests and the needy ones. This was what the world had learned from the media reports on the quake victims in Nepal. So, the current government really in fact all the governments in the past, too did not reflect the traits of the common Nepalese. Nepalese people were sincere and were always helpful to the needy ones but the government had been taking every opportunity of misappropriating the resources they managed to have. The irony is that even the poor politicians elected in the elections after the people’s movement in 1990, that had been wearing flip-flops joined the elite groups of rulers. They think that they are the rulers and the voters are only the people they could easily trick to vote the candidates.
Ministers had been for legalizing administratively the illegally brought in goods. For example, the responsible official had told the international community to bring in the relief supplies stuck at the custom points after the government declared the end of a state of emergency, without paying custom duties and taxes on them, and deposit them in the state warehouse but the international community was not for doing so. This was the recent incident of the attempt on legalizing the illegal things. But if we go back to an incident of a decade ago, a finance minister incidentally replying to me by an email had sincerely wrote me how he had attempted to legalize the smuggled fertilizers but dropped it when it reached the media [2]. In such circumstances, how could we anticipate the prime minister and ministers would punish officials not to mention the ministers for irregularities in doing the state businesses? The prime minister had digested the shame completely repeatedly telling the public that he would punish the officials misusing the relief supplies but doing nothing even when the State sponsored ‘National Vigilant Center’ found the irregularities in buying and distributing tarpaulins and tents by the officials of the ministry of urban development.
Speaking at the donors’ conference on June 25, 2015, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala said that the government had already set up a ‘National Reconstruction Authority,’ and the government had the ‘zero tolerance of corruption’. He also said that his government was committed to the rule of law, protection and promotion of human rights. Mr. Koirala made himself a laughingstock stating such noble things but becoming the witness of the widespread corruption committed under his nose by the officials of his ministries such as the urban development and the finance. If Mr. Koirala were to be a real human-rights protector why he sent the police to arrest the cadres of the ‘Bibeksheel Nepali’ that had protested the donors’ conference demanding the investment instead of donations the government requested for. Certainly, denying the rights to peacefully protest against the donors’ conference, Mr. Koirala believed that he had protected the human rights of the Nepalese. Surely, Mr. Koirala must have understood the human rights differently than the internationally recognized human rights. Concerning the rule of law Mr. Koirala had committed to follow, Mr. Koirala must have thought whatever his ministers including himself had been committing irregularity in doing the state business was the ‘rule of law’. The main irregularity in doing the state business Mr. Koirala committed was not punishing the ministers and officials committing irregularities in the state businesses.
Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat in turn speaking at the donors’ conference said that hundreds of thousands of Nepalese fell back to below the poverty after the destructive quakes, $500m (Nepalese rupees 50bn) worth of production loss had been, revenue shortfall was expected to be 8 percent. He said, “We need $6.7bn to build back. This was never about a Post Disaster Assessments of Wants/Desires.” Why Dr Mahat became so happy when he received only $4bn instead of $6.7bn he had vehemently pleaded with the donors to provide. Was not it the trait of the Nepalese ministers to overstate the requirements?
Foreign Minister Mahendra Bahadur Pandey told the donors-conference audience that the government held the “International Conference on Nepal’s Reconstruction 2015”, and then the theme of the conference was “Toward a Resilient Nepal”. He also said, “The video shown a while ago demonstrated a cross-sectional presentation of the scale of devastation.” The foreign minister said that the field visit made yesterday by the members of the international community must have given the idea of the magnitude of losses and damages done; then, the PDNA was with them, and the requirement was $6.7bn.
Both china and India contributed to the “Reconstruction Fund” at the maximum. Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj delivered a touching speech to the conference audience stating Nepal and India were together in distress and happiness. She also said that India committed one billion dollars to the reconstruction, of which one fourth was the grant and the rest was the soft loan. She said, “For efficient and transparent utilization of funds to achieve the PDNA goals, a robust institutional mechanism and the dedication of an empowered team of officials is required.” The funding committed by the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank also, was in soft loan; only some technical assistance was in grant. Chinese foreign minister said that China would provide Nepal with $760m but China would also provide as and when Nepal needed more.
The government set up “Reconstruction Fund”, and “National Reconstruction Authority” through the “Ordinance on Reconstruction of the Structures Affected by Earthquakes 2015,” the news on myrepublica.com stated. I called this fund, a “piggy bank” because it was more like such a piggy bank than fund for reconstruction. The news also stated that the government was putting $2bn to this piggy bank, the government had already transferred $200m and also the $55m from the Prime Minster Disaster Relief Fund to this piggy bank. Thus, the government had switched from the relief to the reconstruction.
June 26, 2015
[1] Email copy
Tribhuvan Tuladhar
9:01 PM (12 hours ago)
to Kalyan, Himalayan, Dirgha, Cc:, Madan, Basanta, Office, Ex-PM, Ex-PM, Ex, Ex, K.P., US, British, Embassy, Lok, Mohan, Suka, Kishore, Rita, Mahendra, Prakash, Mohan, राष्ट्रिय, Krishna
Take a look at this Declaration from Lahurnip. The Donor Countries conference is ongoing in Kathmandu called by the GON that does not include the majority people of Nepal. Is this a travesty of Justice, or Irony of Faith, for the Indigenous and downtrodden People of Nepal that comprise more than 70% of populace of Nepal?
Lahurnip Nepal
Declaration of the Indigenous Peoples’ Conference on the Challenges for Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in the Earthquake-Affected Areas June 2015 Kathmandu
Expressing our deep sadness over the massive destruction of life and property caused by the 25 April 2015 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks; expressing our heartfelt condolences to the affected families; hoping they are able to achieve recovery in time and worrying to the situation of the displaced peoples,
Considering that the ancestral lands of indigenous peoples, including Tamangsaling/Tamsaling, Wallo Kirat, Kirat, Tamuwan, and Newa (Nevah) Land were hardest hit by the earthquake; that seventy percent of the victims (8,810 dead and 22,310 injured according to (the) government data as of 7 June 2015) belonged to indigenous groups such as Tamang, Gurung, Newar (Nevah), Ghale, Thami, Sherpa, Hyolmo, Majhi and Sunuwar; that indigenous peoples faced discrimination based on their ethnic identity, language and distinct way of life even at a time when they suffered tremendous economic, cultural, spiritual and psychological damage,
Expressing grave concern over the fact that even days after the earthquake, the government had not begun rescue and relief work in the affected villages with predominantly indigenous population in timely manner; that the government still has not reached some of those areas; that the government’s one-door policy hindered rather than aided rescue and relief efforts of individuals and organizations; that the government’s response was characterized by confusion, delay, corruption, nepotism, politicization, a failure to coordinate external support, as well as ethnic, gender and other forms of discrimination,
Regretting the fact that the government did not ensure representation and participation of indigenous groups in bodies formed to undertake relief distribution, rehabilitation, and post disaster needs assessment; that it did not consult indigenous groups or seek their prior informed consent or even mention them in its public statements,
Regretting the blatant violation of rights enshrined in international instruments to which Nepal is a party, that includes the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, ILO Convention No.169, and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,
Drawing the attention of the government, international communities and donor agencies to the fact that the government’s uniform policy and program on settlement development threatens the collective identity, culture and ways of life of indigenous peoples,
Drawing attention to the fact that the conference organized by the government to garner donor support on 25 June 2015 is taking place without the participation of indigenous peoples,
The 23 June 2015 conference of the indigenous peoples of the affected areas, indigenous political leaders, representatives of indigenous peoples’ organizations, civil society members, and indigenous experts and scholars hereby issues this declaration:
1. This conference honors the courage and the spirit of solidarity demonstrated by the local people in the earthquake-affected areas, who spontaneously came out to lead rescue, relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. We also express our commitment to becoming actively involved in rescue and relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction work in our respective areas.
2. People who face the threat of floods and landslides as a result of the earthquake and are at risk of losing their lives any moment must be immediately resettled with their prior informed consent; it must also be ensured that the resettlement will not have any adverse impact on them.
3. (a) The Reconstruction Corporation, chaired by the prime minister, as well as other state mechanisms for carrying out relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction work from the central to local level are controlled by one group (dominant), exclusionary and discriminatory in terms of ethnicity, language, religion, culture, gender and region, and are driven by the vested interests of a few political parties. All such mechanisms should hence be immediately dissolved and new mechanisms should be built at every level ensuring meaningful participation of the earthquake victims representing indigenous peoples' identity, language, religion, culture, gender and region.
3. (b) The chair of the aforementioned Corporation should be an independent citizen, and vice chair should be from indigenous community.
4. Shelters, homes, settlements, tangible and intangible heritage and other infrastructure must be built in a manner that respects, protects the distinct identity, culture and collective rights of indigenous peoples. Development initiatives should be based on recognition of indigenous peoples’ right to self-determine development.
5. Those who have lost their homes and have been displaced by the earthquake should be immediately resettled in safe locations, and arrangements should be made to provide them free education and health services, employment, and sources of livelihood in a manner that protects and promotes indigenous ways of life, culture, identity and traditional ties to land. Many indigenous people who still do not own land should be provided low-interest loans through a simple process.
6. All activities related to rehabilitation and reconstruction including needs assessment, evaluation, decision making, implementation and monitoring should guarantee the human rights enshrined in the Interim Constitution of Nepal 2007, ILO Convention No. 169 and UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to which Nepal is a state party.
7. A mechanism must be in place to obtain the prior informed consent of indigenous peoples for resettlement and reconstruction activities that directly affect them.
8. Information on relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction should be provided to earthquake victims in their respective mother tongues.
9. A mechanism must be established for channeling national and international resources and support to indigenous peoples, Dalits and other disadvantaged groups in a swift and efficient manner.
10. The government’s one-door policy has resulted in the centralization of all resources in government mechanisms, which suffer from irregularities and have failed to distribute the resources to affected families, communities and settlements in an equitable and effective manner. Therefore, such a flawed policy should be immediately scrapped and arrangements should be made to ensure quick and effective delivery of aid through different channels.
11. Classification of victims and estimate of damages must be based on factual information; data disaggregated by ethnicity and gender must be made public; false and duplicated data must be corrected; names of those missing from the list must be added; and updated ethnic and gender disaggregated data on those who have received relief and other kinds of support as well as the amount of support provided should be regularly publicized.
12. The family size of earthquake victims should be determined on the basis of their current situation rather than on the basis of their landownership documents.
13. As the need to produce a citizenship certificate, proof of relationship, photo, etc. has resulted in the exclusion of many affected families from relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction programs, the process of obtaining such services must be made simpler.
14. To ensure transparency, effectiveness and accountability, budget for rehabilitation and reconstruction should be prepared during a mass gathering at the community level, and followed by public hearings and timely auditing.
15. The government must act immediately to ensure the protection of indigenous women, disabled persons, and children who have become victims of or face the risk of human trafficking.
Date: 23 June 2015, Kathmandu
[2] From: Madhukar SJB Rana <madhukarsjbrana@gmail.com>
To: Siddhi Ranjitkar <siddhiranjit@gmail.com>; Kalyan Bhattarai <kdbhattarai2009@gmail.com>
Cc: Mohan Lohani <m_p_lohani@yahoo.com>; The Himalayan Voice <himalayanvoice@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2015 6:00 AM
Subject: BBIN, SAGQ and SASEC
Dear Siddhiji and Kalyanji
I thank you for reading my piece and would like to take this opportunity to clarify a few academic and not so academic points raised.
The point of my article is is to show that BBIN, SAGQ and ADBs SASEC, an offshoot of SAGQ process, are all about the same thing: East South Asiaian sub regional integration. I welcome PM Modi's wise initiative but wish to state that it should address more than trade issues as laid down in the SAGQ Action Plan. That's all.
Now to Siddhiji making a libellous remark that I, as Finance Minister in 2005, was involved in exporting fertiliser to India. Be known Siddhiji that in 2005, as most times for various causes including untimely imports, fertiliser was in acute shortage and farmers in the Hills were suffering.
It was then proposed by the then Minister of Agriculture that substantial quantities of fertilisers were (and continue to be) smuggled from India as our prices were/are much higher. He thus called a meeting of the Home Minister and Finance Minister to allow a certain smuggled stock (lying in Chitwan?) to be transported to the Hills with the businessman paying the necessary income and other taxes (note: there is was no customs duty on fertilisers).
While the Ministers were deliberating on this matter the fertiliser importer got wind of it from the leak made by any of the bureaucrats and further leaked the matter to the Press. And the matter was dropped.
I hope you realise, Siddhiji, that POL products and fertilisers are two of the biggest supplies where graft and corruption are rampant with the businessmen oiling the machinery to the hilt.
How did you get the impression that I was engaged in (re) exporting to India? Does it make sense to sell coal to New Castle, as the saying goes?
Thank you and I hope you will refrain from making such a derogatory remark.
Regards
Madhukar
Comments:
Former Finance Minister Madhukar SJB Rana madhukarsjbrana@gmail.com has stated the following three things very clearly in his email reply to me:
- Legalizing the Smuggled fertilizers;
- Ministers dropped the matter;
- Rampant corruption in dealing fertilizers and POL products
- Legalizing the Smuggled fertilizers: Madhukar SJB Rana madhukarsjbrana@gmail.com stated in his email reply to me that the ministries of agriculture, home, and finance sat together to make the stolen fertilizers as legally imported after charging the income and other taxes (custom duty not applicable to the fertilizers as stated by Former Minister Mr Rana) to smugglers (businesspersons with due respect from the finance minister). The very responsible ministries such as the home and the finance attempted to legalize the illegally brought in fertilizers charging some income and other taxes. Is it what the ministers are after? Don’t these ministers need to take administrative and even legal actions against the smugglers? Should the smugglers go free with impunity after indulging in the illegal activities? Certainly not, but the Nepalese ministers did not take actions against them for the clear reasons.
- Ministers dropped the matter: but once it was leaked to the media by the fertilizer importers, the subject matter of legalizing the smuggled fertilizers was dropped instead of taking administrative and legal actions against the smugglers. How nicely former finance minister Mr. Rana had stated how the ministries had functioned. Everybody having a little bit of knowledge of corruption in Nepal could easily understand why the matter of legalizing the smuggled fertilizes was taken up and then dropped probably under the pressure of the fertilizer importers.
- Rampant corruption in dealing POL products and fertilizers: Former Minister Mr. Rana declared the rampant corruption prevalent in dealing the POL products and fertilizers but did not say anything about taking administrative and legal actions against the corrupt bureaucrats, businesspersons, and might be even the ministers.
Now, the questions are whether the smugglers could bring in the fertilizers or any other goods without the support of the custom officials, and of the police. The answer is certainly not. Former Minister Mr. Rana would certainly agree on it. Custom officials are under the Finance ministry and the police under the home ministry if I am not mistaken. Then, everybody could conclude that these two ministries are directly responsible for not stopping the smuggling of fertilizers.
The former finance minister Madhukar Rana also wrote, “graft and corruption are rampant with the businessmen oiling the machinery to the hilt.” He must have meant ‘machinery’ a bureaucratic machinery of the State.
Then, why did these two ministries probably directly involved in such an illegal act of smuggling of fertilizers drop this matter once the public knew it through the leak to the media?
Obviously, the ministries had done nothing to dispel the corruption rather attempted to award the smugglers legalizing the illegally brought in fertilizers but the matter was dropped once it was made public.
June 16, 2015
