A recent study carried out by the Women’s Rehabilitation Centre showed that 64 percent of victims of violence against women suffered from domestic violence and 59 percent of them were raped by their close relatives. Even as the trend of reporting cases of domestic and sexual violence is gradually increasing, the incidence of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) must surely be higher than what is reported. Research shows that women are still reluctant to report cases of domestic and sexual violence because of a number of reasons, including financial dependency, a lack of awareness or education and a fear of social exclusion. Women need a lot of courage to step out of their homes and file a complaint against family members. Thus, ‘safe houses’ (sewa kendra in Nepali) have become a boon for women who want to speak out.
What do they do
The concept of a safe house is not new. The Government of Nepal declared 2010 as the year to end SGBV. Accordingly, the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare established safe houses in 15 districts with an intention to protect victims. Safe houses are now a well-known transit shelter for victims of SGBV. Besides providing free lodging and food to victims, the homes also help victims pursue justice, advocate for their rights through women’s organisations and care for the mental well-being of victims.
Currently, there are 85 safe houses in 18 districts. All these houses are managed by women cooperatives and supported by the government’s women and children offices (WCOs). The safe house at the Sunsari district headquarters alone has served 257 victims of SGBV over the past four years. Every year, the number of women utilising the safe house is increasing, according to the safe house in-charge. Earlier there were quite a few reports on domestic violence cases. Now, there has been an increase in the reporting of sexual violence cases too. Furthermore, all safe houses records show that women from marginal communities are the primary seekers of their service.
A study conducted by Nepal Peace Trust Fund (NPTF) showed that the establishment of safe houses had contributed to raising the confidence of women for their protection and consequently, led to an increase in the reporting of SGBV cases. The report highlighted that in the absence of safe houses, the WCO was facing difficulties in handling sensitive and serious SGBC cases. For instance, in Arghakhanchi, a victim of domestic violence committed suicide as the district WCO tried to send her back to her husband’s house. Similarly, in Humla, WCO staff often shared their residence with SGBV victims as the district lacked a safe house.
Common challenges
In spite of their outstanding contribution to the protection of victims, safe houses in all districts are facing common challenges. Their security is a foremost challenge. For example, almost all safe houses avoid displaying signboards in order to avoid unnecessary trouble from the perpetrators of such violence against victims taking shelter. The safe house coordinator of Doti said that they were forced to remove the signboard after a vandalising incident by a man whose wife had filed a case against him and was taking shelter in the safe house.
The safe house in charge of Sunsari also reported experiences of receiving many threats. In one such incident, the safe house was sheltering an incest victim and had managed to place the culprit in detention. The culprit’s supporters came to the safe house, verbally abused the staff and board members and even threatened to take their lives. In the end, the victim yielded to pressure and left the safe house and the threats ceased. In a few cases, cooperation between the WCO and the District Police Office (DPO) have managed to settle such cases but the DPO alone cannot fully ensure security for safe houses.
Safe houses usually don’t have the funds required to hire private security guards. A limited budget is provided to run the home, which compels them to establish the centres in cheap locations with a minimum of facilities. Some houses even lack a permanent boundary wall.
Insufficient human resource is another challenge for safe houses. Most safe houses only deploy two staff, including an in-charge and helper. The in-charge of the safe house from Kanchanpur said that she had often missed opportunities for capacity building and
personality development as there was nobody else to hand over responsibility of the safe house and take leave. Similarly, many safe houses cannot provide much needed psychosocial and legal aid counseling as they lack qualified experts.
As the main objective of a safe house is to provide emergency shelter to a victim for a transitory period, the length of a victim’s stay is planned for around 15 to 30 days. In practice, however, many victims are forced to live there for more than two-three months due to a prolonged legal process. Safe houses in such conditions lack rehabilitation or recreational programmes for such residents.
More homes
Accordingly, the Ministry of Women has been receiving overwhelming demands for the establishment of more safe houses in districts that do not have them. The ministry itself has envisioned increasing the number of safe houses throughout the country and has planned to improve the management of existing safe houses. However, the pace of progress is very slow. By the year 2013, three years after the
declaration year to end SGBV, safe houses had only been established in three more districts while districts with safe houses established a few more at the VDC level.
The Nepal government is a signatory to various conventions and resolutions related to gender-based violence and has shown a strong commitment to combat SGBV. In this context, safe houses can contribute to minimising SGBV and protecting victims. Thus, an improvement in their management by ensuring the security of staff and victims should be the prime concern of the authorities. An ideal safe house would be a sanctuary where a victim can feel secure, where she has access to basic facilities, psychosocial and legal counseling and access to much-needed rehabilitation packages. Sunuwar is a consultant with the Nepal Peace Trust Fund at the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction
I’ve come across people who read a lot and also the ones proud to announce that they don’t read literary books at all. For a person like me who identifies reading with “knowing”, it came as a bit of a shock to know that those who claim not to read at all also tend to have a very good understanding of ideas and are equally intelligent. Ever since I was a little girl, I was told that the one who “reads” secures good marks in examinations and that in turn goes to show if a person is intelligent or not. Personally, I prefer to read, and lately, I have started reading whatever I can lay my hands on. So, where exactly does my reading take me? In my search for an answer, I somehow led myself to believe that reading shouldn’t and couldn’t be bad at all. But again, not knowing what you really want from the readings that you do may not amount to anything substantial in your intelligence. Like reading a lot of fan fiction just to get entertained will only entertain.
Having said that, I do not mean to say that reading big literary books and poetry is classy or anything. I am just pointing out the fact that reading does have its own purpose in the lives of each one of us. For one person, it might mean passing time; for another, the same reading might mean things beyond what is written on the pages. I remember how, at times, I have wondered at my teachers who used to read the same text that we have read but would somehow generate such deep philosophical ideas. Those were the same texts that we had dismissed as simple readings and had not given much thought to. From the same “nothing” they could extract so much and amaze us... leaving us with the feeling that we don’t even know how to “read”.
Journalists reporting on weather-related disasters have largely been careful not to attribute any single event to climate change. A standard line in their stories often is, “scientists say no single incident can be pointed out as climate change.” With the latest report on climatic changes, however, that practice may gradually change.
Unlike previous reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN body on climate science, the one that came out this week has mentioned many changes that are already happening. Earlier reports mainly talked about what could happen in the future.
Effects and adaptation
The latest report, which focuses on climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation, states this with what it calls 'very high confidence': impacts from recent climate-related extremes, such as heat waves, droughts, floods cyclones and wildfires reveal significant vulnerability and exposure of some ecosystems and many human systems to current climate variability.
The second instalment of the fifth assessment report further says, “Based on many studies covering a wide range of regions and crops, negative impacts of climate change on crop yields have been more common than positive impacts.”
“Many terrestrial, freshwater, and marine species have shifted their geographic ranges, seasonal activities, migration patterns, abundances, and species interactions in response to ongoing climate change.”
Now that the supreme authority on climate science has begun to cite recent incidents as climate related, media coverage will certainly adapt to that change.
And adapting to inevitable climatic changes is something the latest climate report has quite stressed on. It has also given considerable space to explain that many parts of the world are adapting to the changes: “Adaptation experience is accumulating across the regions in the public and private sector and within communities.”
“In Asia, adaptation is being facilitated in some areas through mainstreaming climate adaptation action into subnational development planning, early warning systems, integrated water resources management, agroforestry, and coastal reforestation of mangroves.”
The language used for Asia largely gives a positive impression. Whereas, what is said for Africa is also applicable to the Asian context. “Disaster risk management, adjustments in technologies and infrastructure, ecosystem-based approaches, basic public health measures, and livelihood diversification are reducing vulnerability, although efforts to date tend to be isolated,” the report said for Africa.
Multiple plans
If you have counted climate-related action plans that Asian countries, including Nepal, have prepared one after the other, then the picture might certainly look different.
The National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA), Local Adaptation Program of Action (LAPA), National Adaptation Plan and so on are all there on the shelves. Several others might be in the pipeline. The trouble is, most of them are the standard template handed out by donors or intermediary agencies and the recipient countries usually tick off boxes. If you have been reading this column regularly, you must have become familiar with the gaping holes in those documents. For instance, Humla district, which has been regularly hit by flood waters from a glacial lake for several years, is rated as less vulnerable to glacial lake outburst flood in the NAPA.
Some of those who were actively involved in the preparation of the document argue that LAPA was a significant progress and that Nepal was an example internationally.
Perhaps, but has any of that changed things on the ground? Take the case of Darchula district, whose entire headquarters was swept away by floods from the Mahakali, which also devastated India's Uttarakhand last August. Locals are still waiting for relief. In contrast, across the border, the Indian government has launched a huge reconstruction project financed by the World Bank. Approval for this $250 million project was fast-tracked by the multilateral agency, according to the Indian media.
But not all vulnerable communities, particularly those in poor countries, get such support. Take the case of the Haiyan-hit Tacloban of the Philippines. Not only was the coastal city unprepared for the disaster, it did not get timely relief and reconstruction support either.
Twin approach
International climate negotiations halls still echo with voices that there has been no proper funding for adaptation, although donor countries argue that they have lived up to their promises. All that the Green Climate Fund, which has been billed as a treasury to combat climate change, has seen is a meagre sum of money and a secretariat established in South Korea. Add to that the concoction of corruption and chaos in the bureaucracy of the third world that hardly knows what comes in as climate finance and what gets spent for adaptation.
Even if all of these are corrected, scientists say that adapting to climatic changes will still be very difficult under the fossil-fuelled economy. They have warned that if carbon emissions do not go down drastically, climate could have many surprises for us. By that, they mean changes could be quite unexpected, abrupt and intense. In that case, the adaptation template given out to poor countries would be obsolete.
So it will have to be a twin approach: make vulnerable communities capable of dealing with the inevitable changes and at the same time, reduce carbon emissions significantly.
As of now, neither is happening. Khadka is a BBC journalist based in London
[email protected]
Last month, an overwhelming majority of Crimeans voted in favour of secession from Ukraine to join the Russian federation. Many allege that the referendum was Russia sponsored and was meant to give a semblance of democratic ethos to what would have otherwise been a clear case of annexation. The people in this part of the world hardly seemed to be bothered by what was happening in eastern Europe. But the western European countries and the US appear to fear a Russian takeover of the whole of Ukraine. The result of the referendum in Crimea, which is said to have an overwhelming majority of people of Russian ethnicity, was a foregone conclusion. And of course, a 'merger' attained through a democratic method such as a referendum cannot be reversed.
Crimea and Sikkim
Critics of the Crimean referendum, almost all of whom have a western European mindset, say that the referendum was 'illegal'. What is legal in politics? Was ex-king Gyanendra's restoration of the Parliament in 2006 legal? What does legality do in the face of popular uprising (in Nepal's case) or in the face of total wiping out of an ethnicity (in Crimea's case)? Do the implications of wiping out of ethnic identity ring a bell? It should in Nepal's case, if one cares to ponder. The same countries that oppose the Russian annexation of Crimea—whatever elese it is called, it is in fact an annexation—were silent when it there was a similar situation in South Asia almost 40 years ago.
According to a 2001 Nepali Times edition, BB Gurung, a former chief minister of the Indian state of Sikkim said, “We can't turn back the clock now.” Under the Indo-Sikkim Treaty of 1950, Sikkim was made a 'protectorate' of India and the 1975 referendum effectively paved the way for Sikkim to join India. The US State Department, in documents declassified in 2007, wondered why India did what it did facing international criticism when it had effective control over Sikkim. The declassified documents (available readily on the web) reads, “Possibly India's confrontation with the Chogyal last year (1974) and his continued effort to assert his independent authority prompted India to undertake a 'permanent' solution at this time.”
Protests and consequences
International criticism of the 1975 Sikkim referendum was, at best, muted and nowhere near what the Europeans and Americans (the US) are currently voicing (criticisms) and doing (sanctions) today. China (think of Tibet) criticised India and accused the then Soviet Union of colluding with India. But the criticism in Nepal was rather loud. There were street protests and the National Assembly (Rastriya Panchayat) condemned what it called India's annexation of Sikkim. The result was devastating for Nepal. There were multiple sanctions (including on petroleum products) and Nepalis living temporarily in eastern Indian states were evicted. The movement of Nepalis in these areas, contrary to the 1950 Nepal-India Treaty of Friendship, was restricted and Nepalis travelling to these areas had to obtain special permits from the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu.
The tension between New Delhi and Gangtok was brewing since the early 1970s and late king Birendra, in his speech at a farewell dinner during his coronation in February 1975, called on the international community to declare Nepal a ‘Zone of Peace’ (ZOP). By the time a western-style multiparty democracy was restored in 1990, more than 100 countries, except India, came out in support of the ZOP. But when democracy was restored in Nepal, out went the ZOP. It was as though regime and system changes force countries to change their national interests to suit the interests of more powerful countries. Or such changes show the assymetrical relationship between the leaders of small and big and powerful countries, particularly when leaders of small countries find, what they think to be a refuge in big and powerful countries which helps them develop—and may be unconsciously—a tilt towards them. Nepal has so far remained silent on the Russian annexation and the fact is that it seems to have done so because the masters of the present leadership have remained quiet.
Inconsisent opposition
In a true democracy, plebiscites help ascertain the wishes of the majority of the people. Yet, this mode of understanding the people's wishes has been denied time and again in many countries and in many areas in different countries. There is always a fear of a breakup of countries because of such plebiscites. In Nepal, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal has been calling for a referendum on secularism and on the monarchy. Political parties in power and different pressure groups obviously would not want such a referendum to ever take place. There is a saying that freedom is a myth and a rainbow which everyone strives for but cannot reach. The western European and American attitude is immensely idealistic on one hand and equally contemptible on the other. The Russian annexation of Crimea on whatever grounds needs to be condemned. But the European and American reaction would have been more than justified had they responded similarly on all such occasions. The West showed no hesitation while sending in aircraft to Libya following an uprising there. But what have the Europeans and Americans done in the case of Syria, where thousands have been killed and many more thousands rendered homeless? Is this not a two-faced attitude?
What does the Nepali leadership landscape look like? More specifically, what does the next generation of leadership look like? The Nepali political leadership can be roughly divided into five categories: feudal leadership (Prithvi Narayan, Jung Bahadur, king Mahendra), democratic leadership (the Koirala brothers, Ganesh Man, Khanal, Nepal, Mainali and Adhikari brothers), insurgency leadership (Prachanda, Baburam, Baidya), justice movement leadership (Upendra Yadav, Laxman Tharu, Ang Kaji Sherpa) and student movement leadership (from Sher Bahadur Deuba to Gagan Thapa).
The era of feudal leadership, which depended on violence and repression, is over. The other kinds of leadership have two running threads: some form of armed and/or non-violent protests/movement/insurgency against autocracy and the feudal state, followed by a transition into electoral politics. The form and degree may have been different but the Congress movement of 1950, the Jhapa Movement and its trajectories of the late 1960s and 70s by the Marxist-Leninists and the decade-long Maoist insurgency (1996-2006) all adopted some form of armed struggle against the autocratic repressive state, followed by various street protests and movements, culminating in the abolition of monarchy.
Making of leaders
The first generation of leaders emerged from these various armed and peaceful movements. The leadership that emerged from student politics kept the flame of freedom and democracy alive, occasionally taking their work outside to support the parties. The second generation of leaders in various parties comprise of these student leaders.
The first generation of leaders of the Congress and UML forged their leadership through underground activities, imprisonment and open politics. The capital they accumulated thus and the name they made still carries a certain cache with the public. This is why they have been voted to power in the second Constituent Assembly election. The crucible of insurgency or rhetoric and the activism of the liberation movement have shaped even the Maoist and justice movement leaders.
So the training these leaders received during their underground days, their reading, conversations and reflections in prison and the experience they gained on the streets and during elections have stood them in good stead. But the records of the Congress and the UML leadership from 1990 to 2002 and then again from 2008 to 2013 show that even though their initial political capital hasn't yet fully run out, there is something they sorely lack to transform themselves into visionary statesmen. And Nepal into an equitable and just society, which is what is needed in this historic epoch where Nepal finds itself.
If one has to be more specific, one can say that the admirable training our political leaders received underground, in prison and on the streets that brought democracy could go only so far because the red book by Marx, Lenin and Mao or the theories of Socialist International and the desultory familiarity with politics and political leaders in India could only go so far.
Nehru, Gandhi and Ambedkar
Consider the range of intellectual harvest and processing that went in the making of Gandhi, Nehru and Ambedkar in India. Not a very bright student and a failed lawyer in Bombay, how could Gandhi range from Henry David Thoreau, John Ruskin and Leo Tolstoy besides dipping into the Bible, the Koran, and the Gita and their multiple heritages? Nehru's tripos was in natural science from Cambridge but the formidable range of knowledge and scholarship evident in his two books Glimpses of World History and The Discovery of India—of course, unlike Gandhi, Nehru was too dependent on Anglo-American scholarship to validate his conclusions about India—is what shaped the Nehruvian vision that Indian political scientists and historians of the liberal bent so brag about.
But even such depth and breadth of knowledge and assiduously cultivated compassion through what we call a liberal arts education failed Gandhi and Nehru when it came to dealing with Dalit justice before independence and state formation after independence. Through his fast, Gandhi virtually forced the Puna Pact of 1932 on Ambedkar, who had to abandon the agenda of a separate electorate for the 'untouchables'. And Potti Sriramulu had to die during his fast-unto-death before Nehru agreed to carve out Andhra Pradesh from Madras state. Because Ambedkar was educated in law, social sciences and humanities at Columbia, London School of Economics and at Gray's Inn, he possessed formidable vision and won Nehru and Gandhi's respect and trust despite differences of opinion and perspective to become the draftsman of the Indian constitution. But frustrated and pained as he was by India's caste system, even he couldn't fight from within, converting to Buddhism toward the end of his life.
The issue of caste, ethnic and linguistic justice thus severely tested the formidable intellectual and moral depth of Gandhi and Nehru. What intellectual and moral preparation do our first and second generation of leaders have? How can they measure up to the formidable challenge that the country's justice issues present before them?
Of Nepali leaders
To be sure, there is more than one PhD in economics and business in the Congress party and this or that college and university degree in the UML. But we know very little about these leaders' formal or informal training and self-study in the liberal arts and the social sciences—literature, philosophy, theology, history, etc—the kind that, say, even BP Koirala possessed, whose knowledge and training remained untested because of prison and exile.
Why did Upendra Yadav fail to sustain his momentum after the Madhes Movement? Why did he become so enamored by power and post at the expense of everything else? Gagan Thapa has been busting the popularity chart in the polls. Many have pinned great hopes on him. Thapa has made the right moves so far. But what is his intellectual preparation? We don't know.
Wasn't Baburam Bhattarai very popular not too long ago? In fact, Bhattarai had the near perfect combination of political as well as intellectual training. Always number one in academics, formidably read among his political peers, his moral and political vision forged in the fire of the insurgency and subsequent struggle, how did he lose his sheen so soon? I see two factors: one, he stuck to the prime minister's chair too long (and this means genuine commitment to the politics of value over the politics of power); and, two, he failed to clear the rumour of Hisila Yami's nepotism and politics-as-usual activities. While these are not irreversible flaws or damages, there is a great lesson here for the second generation of leaders—the politics of value trumps that of expediency and quick power. And this comes from one's moral and intellectual depth.
Whenever students, parents and friends refer to SLC as the Iron Gate, I always get confused, surprised and unhappy. I don’t think by any angle that the title Iron Gate is suitable for SLC since passing this high school exam is not like breaking through the Iron Gate, rather it is a gate of flowers which are beautiful, soft and a gate of golden opportunities which is very easy to break with more efforts by students. It is like a regular exam in which students appear at the school level. This year’s SLC exams started on March 20. According to the Office of the Controller of Examination, the total number students appearing in the exam is 566,085. There are 1,836 exam centres and 1,836 superintendents.
The most interesting thing about SLC which I have seen and experienced in my long teaching career is the practice of keeping the students like criminals in jail from early morning to late evening and making them study. This custom is seen among most private schools in the Kathmandu valley and some major cities in Nepal. Some are even forced to live in the school hostel while they prepare for the SLC exams. By any means, they are literally prepared to break the so-called Iron Gate. The children are mentally tortured with the unnecessary burden of extra classes and corporal punishment. Parents are forced to shoulder a heavy economic burden. In the name of SLC, the students’ real potential cannot be harvested, their creativity is hidden and their inner calibre can’t be explored. The children’s are treated like broiler chicken or hybrid living organisms.
When teachers of class 10 repeatedly focus on the SLC exam and make it sound like a very tough exam, and describe it like an iron gate which is very tough to break through, and when they say constantly that if the children fail the exam, their future will be dark and so on, this ultimately brings negative thoughts to the children’s minds. Parents are equally responsible for putting an unnecessary burden on their children by reminding them frequently that they should obtain excellent results in the SLC exam. The SLC result has became a matter of big pride for parents, a matter of gossip for their relatives and so on, but they don’t know that they are actually damaging the future of their children by aiming for only high marks and not real and practical knowledge which they will need in their lives.
Putting pressure on children harms their creativity and potential, and in the long term, the country has to bear the high cost. In fact, the main point I want to raise is that SLC is no more an Iron Gate. So teachers, parents and education experts must not focus only on getting high marks in SLC. They should focus on giving practical, scientific, life-based and modern education that will prepare students to adapt to today’s world.
Given the importance of security in the current world order, it is surprising that a specific day has not been set aside to recognise its many roles in dealing with complex threats to human life. Generally, security programmes are organised whenever possible. In Nepal, security is often a secondary activity in the anniversary functions of police organisations. The inclusion of security activities and targeted audiences are limited whereas security concerns should be presented to a wider public, educating and changing their attitude to act proactively under threat and emergency situations and thus, helping security agencies. Therefore, it would perhaps be pertinent to establish a ‘Global Security Day’ where various security programmes could be organised.
Ten threats
The UN defines security as a conducive environment for development and prosperity. In the current age, security threats come in unexpected and incredible types, like when the Twin Towers in New York were reduced to ground zero by jet planes turned into flying bombs. In 2003, a high-level UN threat analysis team identified ten major security threats of the 21st Century—poverty; infectious disease; environmental degradation; interstate war; civil war; genocide; atrocities; trade in women and children for sexual slavery; kidnapping for body organs; weapons of mass destruction; terrorism; and transnational organised crime.
The existence of such threats is evident in the more than 100,000 deaths of the Syrian civil war; the chemical weapons used in Kurdistan; the continuing development of nuclear warheads; the hazards of nuclear power plants like in Fukushima; intrastate conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and inter-state conflicts between Israel, Lebanon, North and South Sudan. Incidents of terrorism are also present, like when Boko Haram Islamists killed 59 students in Nigeria. Furthermore, there are 100 million street children worldwide with 50,000 deaths per day related to poverty. Global warming impacts include temperature rises; regular food shortages in Sub-Saharan Africa; shifting rain patterns in South Asia, some parts under water while others without water for power generation, irrigation or drinking; loss of reefs in South East Asia; and increasing vulnerability of coastal cities to cyclones.
In Kathmandu, unregulated deep boring for water, air pollution, overcrowding, increasing number of vehicles, haphazard construction of buildings and unsanitary living conditions have all degraded the environment. Furthermore, the International Labor Organization states that 2.4 million women are trafficked for forced labour. Nepali victims are trafficked within Nepal and to India, the Middle East and Malaysia. They are often forced to become prostitutes, domestic servants, beggars and circus performers. Each year, around 5,000-10,000 women are trafficked to India for prostitution.
Transnational crime
Civil wars continue across the world even as criminal gangs proliferate. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates an illicit flow of $125 billion per year to crime syndicates. The pervasive activities of criminals have compelled countries to formulate new policies, strategies and more effective control measures. In that vein, the issue of wiretapping for intelligence collection is currently under intense scrutiny. The importance of wiretapping for the protection of the public must be made known. Restrictions on wiretapping would be unwise and would weaken the capability of security agencies. However, agencies must strictly adhere to legal procedures for wiretaps. But gathering intelligence must remain an anonymous service.
Transnational crime will be the defining issue of the 21st century for policymakers. Terrorists and transnational crime groups will proliferate as major beneficiaries of globalisation with enormous strength while governments remain stuck in lengthy administrative procedures for approval, delaying immediate operational responses. Transnational organised crime undermines democracy, disrupts free markets, drains national assets, inhibits the development of stable societies and threatens the security of all nations. In Nepal, the government, political leaders and security agencies must realise that our transitional situation provides a favourable environment for the growth of transnational organised crime. Nepal is currently being used as a transit point and a shelter by international terrorists money launderers, counterfeiters and financial criminals.
A tripartite approach
The implementation of effective policies, necessary laws, control measures and modern resources are required for an immediate response. The current state of security policies, strategies and implementation needs to be strengthened. The proclamation of a ‘Global Security Day’ would be a noteworthy milestone in this aspect. The rational ground of initiating this concept would be to bring together all governments, security agencies and citizens on one tripartite platform in an effort to isolate and deal with criminals. The ten threats, as identified by the UN, are inter-related and thus, demand a collective preventive approach. The UN and Interpol are two such existing platforms for security agencies.
A Global Security Day programme would be an appropriate platform for the public to participate. The objective would be to develop public awareness on preventing crime; protecting the environment; raising health consciousness; educating about the effects of war; controlling human trafficking; creating an environment friendly to innovative and cost-effective crime and threat prevention measures; and enhancing effective coordination between tripartite actors. The Global Security Day will be a collective venture, bonding scattered security programmes and eventually consolidating global security. Security agencies alone cannot confront unexpected challenges. The success of politics, economy, prosperity, development or security depends on the support, voice and optimism of a majority of the people. Likewise, a people-based approach is essential for the effectiveness of proactive policing.
A big budget alone is not effective either, as was obvious in the 9/11 attacks in the US. There is a need for a new dimensional approach to security by revamping current policies and strategies. The new approach should involve dedicated and determined citizens willing to cooperate and assist the government and security agencies in the approach to the ten threats. Thus, the formal proclamation of a security programme as Global Security Day by the UN would be appropriate. This can be a congenial platform for the sharing of information and the development of mutual trust between peoples, countries and security agencies. The initiation of a new tripartite collective security strategy would definitely consolidate current individual policies and approaches.
Lama is a former Inspector General of the Armed Police Force ([email protected])
Instances of loan fraud seem to be increasing in recent days. These kinds of fraud make it difficult for financial institutions such as banks, finance companies and other micro-lending agencies to maintain their financial security. There are several common psychological and environmental conditions that result in fraud at lending institutions.These can include an individual’s propensity towards addictive behaviour, family problems, romantic entanglements and financial hardships. The involvement of top officials is not necessary to commit fraud. Lax management and weak internal controls can lead to fraudulent activities in lending institutions. Similarly, a lack of early investigation and inadequate audit programmes present unscrupulous insiders with opportunities to engage in improper behaviour.
Fraud causes
Loan fraud can be of various types in financial institutions. For example, ‘nominee loans’ are used, where the loan document is prepared in the name of a borrower but the borrower is not the real party. To put it another way, a loan is documented in the name of borrower but the use and benefit of the loan is enjoyed by a hidden party. This type of transaction is used to circumvent laws, regulations and the internal policies of institutions. In Nepali financial institutions, nominee loans were used massively in the past, jeopardising the financial health of a number of banks and financial institutions.
Furthermore, conflicts-of-interest among officials can also foster fraudulent activities. In some cases, loans are tied to favoursfor friends, family and relatives. Similarly, non-monetary assets are also considered while providing loans to kith and kin. And sometimes loans arranged inappropriately and in a fraudulent manner to purchase capital stock. Similarly, manipulation is done in the purchase and sale of loan pools.
Preventing fraud
To protect the financial system from fraud, early examinations of the institution’s operations become vital. This can be done through audits and on-site investigations by accredited examiners. After the investigation, strict action must be taken against offenders, if any, found to be involved in fraudulent activities. In case of high-level officials found to be involved in financial fraud, criminal prosecution as well as disciplinary action should be pursued by the concerned institution. Other actions against such offenders include assessing and reimbursing the loss amounts; making restitution or compensating the loss; and making certain the offender does not work for financial institutions in the future.
Measures such as the adoption of a code of conduct, proper employment practices, a loan review system, independent audits and internal controls can also work as strong tools for controlling loan fraud. The code of conduct should address the issue of conflict-of-interest and self-dealing; clearly define acceptable behaviour; encourage ethical conduct; institute a compliance system;establish monitoring mechanisms; provide for proper disclosure of all related interests; and institute a whistleblower policy to encourage the reporting of any suspicious activity. Furthermore, the board of directors of any financial institution must be required to make a statement about their ethical position as a preventive essential code of business principles against loan fraud, thereby providing a clear message to the public that the institution does its business fairly and honestly.
Proactive employment practices can also deter fraudulent activities. Such procedures are required to incorporate proper criteria for a comprehensive background check of employees, including those of the directors; employment references with respect to the prospective employee’s eligibility and reliability; and sudden changes in lifestyle andbehaviour of employees and directors.
Additionally, there should be an effective loan review system in place.This system can contribute to exposing insider loan fraud and self-dealings at an early stage. Loan reviews should be conducted periodically and thoroughly. The review must be independent of the credit administration and loan approval processes. Procedures should be put in place so that fictitious and fraudulent activities on loan fraud are promptly identified and the adherence to established lending practices and conflict of interest policies assessed. Personnel involved in loan review activities should have the knowledge and confidence to challenge suspicious transactions executed by whosoever (either by executive officer or board member).
Strengthening inner workings
Moreover, institutions should institute a comprehensive, reliable and independent audit system to deter fraudulent lending practices. The audit report should be submitted directly to the board of directors for prompt and effective implementation. There should be specific audit procedures targeted at controlling insider loan fraud.Auditors too should dare to challenge suspicious transactions, especially when an executive officer or a board member is involved.
The potential for insider loan fraud is high in an environment where internal controls are slack, arbitrary or non-existent. Hence, institutions should have stern internal control systems which provide no room for anybody to be exempted from the institution’s policy and procedures. Anti-fraud policies and procedures should be implemented effectively. The institution should pursue control environments and organisational structures which do not allow lending officials to undermine lending procedures and decisions. Potential consequences of violatingthe lending policy should be stipulated clearly and implemented accordingly. The board should play a proactive role in monitoring and supervising the loan officers to see whether they are executing their duties and loan authority in accordance with the loan policy and the delegation of authority.
Finally, preventing loan fraud in the first place is far more cost effective than investigating and prosecuting offenders. It is a herculean task to control all insider loan fraud activities in financial institutions. However, financial institutions that create a proper control environment and have an open and ethical corporate environment are better suited to address such concerns.
Burlakoti holds a PhD in law and is former Chairperson of the Debt Recovery Tribunal
What do they do
The concept of a safe house is not new. The Government of Nepal declared 2010 as the year to end SGBV. Accordingly, the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare established safe houses in 15 districts with an intention to protect victims. Safe houses are now a well-known transit shelter for victims of SGBV. Besides providing free lodging and food to victims, the homes also help victims pursue justice, advocate for their rights through women’s organisations and care for the mental well-being of victims.
Currently, there are 85 safe houses in 18 districts. All these houses are managed by women cooperatives and supported by the government’s women and children offices (WCOs). The safe house at the Sunsari district headquarters alone has served 257 victims of SGBV over the past four years. Every year, the number of women utilising the safe house is increasing, according to the safe house in-charge. Earlier there were quite a few reports on domestic violence cases. Now, there has been an increase in the reporting of sexual violence cases too. Furthermore, all safe houses records show that women from marginal communities are the primary seekers of their service.
A study conducted by Nepal Peace Trust Fund (NPTF) showed that the establishment of safe houses had contributed to raising the confidence of women for their protection and consequently, led to an increase in the reporting of SGBV cases. The report highlighted that in the absence of safe houses, the WCO was facing difficulties in handling sensitive and serious SGBC cases. For instance, in Arghakhanchi, a victim of domestic violence committed suicide as the district WCO tried to send her back to her husband’s house. Similarly, in Humla, WCO staff often shared their residence with SGBV victims as the district lacked a safe house.
Common challenges
In spite of their outstanding contribution to the protection of victims, safe houses in all districts are facing common challenges. Their security is a foremost challenge. For example, almost all safe houses avoid displaying signboards in order to avoid unnecessary trouble from the perpetrators of such violence against victims taking shelter. The safe house coordinator of Doti said that they were forced to remove the signboard after a vandalising incident by a man whose wife had filed a case against him and was taking shelter in the safe house.
The safe house in charge of Sunsari also reported experiences of receiving many threats. In one such incident, the safe house was sheltering an incest victim and had managed to place the culprit in detention. The culprit’s supporters came to the safe house, verbally abused the staff and board members and even threatened to take their lives. In the end, the victim yielded to pressure and left the safe house and the threats ceased. In a few cases, cooperation between the WCO and the District Police Office (DPO) have managed to settle such cases but the DPO alone cannot fully ensure security for safe houses.
Safe houses usually don’t have the funds required to hire private security guards. A limited budget is provided to run the home, which compels them to establish the centres in cheap locations with a minimum of facilities. Some houses even lack a permanent boundary wall.
Insufficient human resource is another challenge for safe houses. Most safe houses only deploy two staff, including an in-charge and helper. The in-charge of the safe house from Kanchanpur said that she had often missed opportunities for capacity building and
personality development as there was nobody else to hand over responsibility of the safe house and take leave. Similarly, many safe houses cannot provide much needed psychosocial and legal aid counseling as they lack qualified experts.
As the main objective of a safe house is to provide emergency shelter to a victim for a transitory period, the length of a victim’s stay is planned for around 15 to 30 days. In practice, however, many victims are forced to live there for more than two-three months due to a prolonged legal process. Safe houses in such conditions lack rehabilitation or recreational programmes for such residents.
More homes
Accordingly, the Ministry of Women has been receiving overwhelming demands for the establishment of more safe houses in districts that do not have them. The ministry itself has envisioned increasing the number of safe houses throughout the country and has planned to improve the management of existing safe houses. However, the pace of progress is very slow. By the year 2013, three years after the
declaration year to end SGBV, safe houses had only been established in three more districts while districts with safe houses established a few more at the VDC level.
The Nepal government is a signatory to various conventions and resolutions related to gender-based violence and has shown a strong commitment to combat SGBV. In this context, safe houses can contribute to minimising SGBV and protecting victims. Thus, an improvement in their management by ensuring the security of staff and victims should be the prime concern of the authorities. An ideal safe house would be a sanctuary where a victim can feel secure, where she has access to basic facilities, psychosocial and legal counseling and access to much-needed rehabilitation packages. Sunuwar is a consultant with the Nepal Peace Trust Fund at the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction
I’ve come across people who read a lot and also the ones proud to announce that they don’t read literary books at all. For a person like me who identifies reading with “knowing”, it came as a bit of a shock to know that those who claim not to read at all also tend to have a very good understanding of ideas and are equally intelligent. Ever since I was a little girl, I was told that the one who “reads” secures good marks in examinations and that in turn goes to show if a person is intelligent or not. Personally, I prefer to read, and lately, I have started reading whatever I can lay my hands on. So, where exactly does my reading take me? In my search for an answer, I somehow led myself to believe that reading shouldn’t and couldn’t be bad at all. But again, not knowing what you really want from the readings that you do may not amount to anything substantial in your intelligence. Like reading a lot of fan fiction just to get entertained will only entertain.
Having said that, I do not mean to say that reading big literary books and poetry is classy or anything. I am just pointing out the fact that reading does have its own purpose in the lives of each one of us. For one person, it might mean passing time; for another, the same reading might mean things beyond what is written on the pages. I remember how, at times, I have wondered at my teachers who used to read the same text that we have read but would somehow generate such deep philosophical ideas. Those were the same texts that we had dismissed as simple readings and had not given much thought to. From the same “nothing” they could extract so much and amaze us... leaving us with the feeling that we don’t even know how to “read”.
Journalists reporting on weather-related disasters have largely been careful not to attribute any single event to climate change. A standard line in their stories often is, “scientists say no single incident can be pointed out as climate change.” With the latest report on climatic changes, however, that practice may gradually change.
Unlike previous reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN body on climate science, the one that came out this week has mentioned many changes that are already happening. Earlier reports mainly talked about what could happen in the future.
Effects and adaptation
The latest report, which focuses on climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation, states this with what it calls 'very high confidence': impacts from recent climate-related extremes, such as heat waves, droughts, floods cyclones and wildfires reveal significant vulnerability and exposure of some ecosystems and many human systems to current climate variability.
The second instalment of the fifth assessment report further says, “Based on many studies covering a wide range of regions and crops, negative impacts of climate change on crop yields have been more common than positive impacts.”
“Many terrestrial, freshwater, and marine species have shifted their geographic ranges, seasonal activities, migration patterns, abundances, and species interactions in response to ongoing climate change.”
Now that the supreme authority on climate science has begun to cite recent incidents as climate related, media coverage will certainly adapt to that change.
And adapting to inevitable climatic changes is something the latest climate report has quite stressed on. It has also given considerable space to explain that many parts of the world are adapting to the changes: “Adaptation experience is accumulating across the regions in the public and private sector and within communities.”
“In Asia, adaptation is being facilitated in some areas through mainstreaming climate adaptation action into subnational development planning, early warning systems, integrated water resources management, agroforestry, and coastal reforestation of mangroves.”
The language used for Asia largely gives a positive impression. Whereas, what is said for Africa is also applicable to the Asian context. “Disaster risk management, adjustments in technologies and infrastructure, ecosystem-based approaches, basic public health measures, and livelihood diversification are reducing vulnerability, although efforts to date tend to be isolated,” the report said for Africa.
Multiple plans
If you have counted climate-related action plans that Asian countries, including Nepal, have prepared one after the other, then the picture might certainly look different.
The National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA), Local Adaptation Program of Action (LAPA), National Adaptation Plan and so on are all there on the shelves. Several others might be in the pipeline. The trouble is, most of them are the standard template handed out by donors or intermediary agencies and the recipient countries usually tick off boxes. If you have been reading this column regularly, you must have become familiar with the gaping holes in those documents. For instance, Humla district, which has been regularly hit by flood waters from a glacial lake for several years, is rated as less vulnerable to glacial lake outburst flood in the NAPA.
Some of those who were actively involved in the preparation of the document argue that LAPA was a significant progress and that Nepal was an example internationally.
Perhaps, but has any of that changed things on the ground? Take the case of Darchula district, whose entire headquarters was swept away by floods from the Mahakali, which also devastated India's Uttarakhand last August. Locals are still waiting for relief. In contrast, across the border, the Indian government has launched a huge reconstruction project financed by the World Bank. Approval for this $250 million project was fast-tracked by the multilateral agency, according to the Indian media.
But not all vulnerable communities, particularly those in poor countries, get such support. Take the case of the Haiyan-hit Tacloban of the Philippines. Not only was the coastal city unprepared for the disaster, it did not get timely relief and reconstruction support either.
Twin approach
International climate negotiations halls still echo with voices that there has been no proper funding for adaptation, although donor countries argue that they have lived up to their promises. All that the Green Climate Fund, which has been billed as a treasury to combat climate change, has seen is a meagre sum of money and a secretariat established in South Korea. Add to that the concoction of corruption and chaos in the bureaucracy of the third world that hardly knows what comes in as climate finance and what gets spent for adaptation.
Even if all of these are corrected, scientists say that adapting to climatic changes will still be very difficult under the fossil-fuelled economy. They have warned that if carbon emissions do not go down drastically, climate could have many surprises for us. By that, they mean changes could be quite unexpected, abrupt and intense. In that case, the adaptation template given out to poor countries would be obsolete.
So it will have to be a twin approach: make vulnerable communities capable of dealing with the inevitable changes and at the same time, reduce carbon emissions significantly.
As of now, neither is happening. Khadka is a BBC journalist based in London
[email protected]
Last month, an overwhelming majority of Crimeans voted in favour of secession from Ukraine to join the Russian federation. Many allege that the referendum was Russia sponsored and was meant to give a semblance of democratic ethos to what would have otherwise been a clear case of annexation. The people in this part of the world hardly seemed to be bothered by what was happening in eastern Europe. But the western European countries and the US appear to fear a Russian takeover of the whole of Ukraine. The result of the referendum in Crimea, which is said to have an overwhelming majority of people of Russian ethnicity, was a foregone conclusion. And of course, a 'merger' attained through a democratic method such as a referendum cannot be reversed.
Crimea and Sikkim
Critics of the Crimean referendum, almost all of whom have a western European mindset, say that the referendum was 'illegal'. What is legal in politics? Was ex-king Gyanendra's restoration of the Parliament in 2006 legal? What does legality do in the face of popular uprising (in Nepal's case) or in the face of total wiping out of an ethnicity (in Crimea's case)? Do the implications of wiping out of ethnic identity ring a bell? It should in Nepal's case, if one cares to ponder. The same countries that oppose the Russian annexation of Crimea—whatever elese it is called, it is in fact an annexation—were silent when it there was a similar situation in South Asia almost 40 years ago.
According to a 2001 Nepali Times edition, BB Gurung, a former chief minister of the Indian state of Sikkim said, “We can't turn back the clock now.” Under the Indo-Sikkim Treaty of 1950, Sikkim was made a 'protectorate' of India and the 1975 referendum effectively paved the way for Sikkim to join India. The US State Department, in documents declassified in 2007, wondered why India did what it did facing international criticism when it had effective control over Sikkim. The declassified documents (available readily on the web) reads, “Possibly India's confrontation with the Chogyal last year (1974) and his continued effort to assert his independent authority prompted India to undertake a 'permanent' solution at this time.”
Protests and consequences
International criticism of the 1975 Sikkim referendum was, at best, muted and nowhere near what the Europeans and Americans (the US) are currently voicing (criticisms) and doing (sanctions) today. China (think of Tibet) criticised India and accused the then Soviet Union of colluding with India. But the criticism in Nepal was rather loud. There were street protests and the National Assembly (Rastriya Panchayat) condemned what it called India's annexation of Sikkim. The result was devastating for Nepal. There were multiple sanctions (including on petroleum products) and Nepalis living temporarily in eastern Indian states were evicted. The movement of Nepalis in these areas, contrary to the 1950 Nepal-India Treaty of Friendship, was restricted and Nepalis travelling to these areas had to obtain special permits from the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu.
The tension between New Delhi and Gangtok was brewing since the early 1970s and late king Birendra, in his speech at a farewell dinner during his coronation in February 1975, called on the international community to declare Nepal a ‘Zone of Peace’ (ZOP). By the time a western-style multiparty democracy was restored in 1990, more than 100 countries, except India, came out in support of the ZOP. But when democracy was restored in Nepal, out went the ZOP. It was as though regime and system changes force countries to change their national interests to suit the interests of more powerful countries. Or such changes show the assymetrical relationship between the leaders of small and big and powerful countries, particularly when leaders of small countries find, what they think to be a refuge in big and powerful countries which helps them develop—and may be unconsciously—a tilt towards them. Nepal has so far remained silent on the Russian annexation and the fact is that it seems to have done so because the masters of the present leadership have remained quiet.
Inconsisent opposition
In a true democracy, plebiscites help ascertain the wishes of the majority of the people. Yet, this mode of understanding the people's wishes has been denied time and again in many countries and in many areas in different countries. There is always a fear of a breakup of countries because of such plebiscites. In Nepal, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal has been calling for a referendum on secularism and on the monarchy. Political parties in power and different pressure groups obviously would not want such a referendum to ever take place. There is a saying that freedom is a myth and a rainbow which everyone strives for but cannot reach. The western European and American attitude is immensely idealistic on one hand and equally contemptible on the other. The Russian annexation of Crimea on whatever grounds needs to be condemned. But the European and American reaction would have been more than justified had they responded similarly on all such occasions. The West showed no hesitation while sending in aircraft to Libya following an uprising there. But what have the Europeans and Americans done in the case of Syria, where thousands have been killed and many more thousands rendered homeless? Is this not a two-faced attitude?
What does the Nepali leadership landscape look like? More specifically, what does the next generation of leadership look like? The Nepali political leadership can be roughly divided into five categories: feudal leadership (Prithvi Narayan, Jung Bahadur, king Mahendra), democratic leadership (the Koirala brothers, Ganesh Man, Khanal, Nepal, Mainali and Adhikari brothers), insurgency leadership (Prachanda, Baburam, Baidya), justice movement leadership (Upendra Yadav, Laxman Tharu, Ang Kaji Sherpa) and student movement leadership (from Sher Bahadur Deuba to Gagan Thapa).
The era of feudal leadership, which depended on violence and repression, is over. The other kinds of leadership have two running threads: some form of armed and/or non-violent protests/movement/insurgency against autocracy and the feudal state, followed by a transition into electoral politics. The form and degree may have been different but the Congress movement of 1950, the Jhapa Movement and its trajectories of the late 1960s and 70s by the Marxist-Leninists and the decade-long Maoist insurgency (1996-2006) all adopted some form of armed struggle against the autocratic repressive state, followed by various street protests and movements, culminating in the abolition of monarchy.
Making of leaders
The first generation of leaders emerged from these various armed and peaceful movements. The leadership that emerged from student politics kept the flame of freedom and democracy alive, occasionally taking their work outside to support the parties. The second generation of leaders in various parties comprise of these student leaders.
The first generation of leaders of the Congress and UML forged their leadership through underground activities, imprisonment and open politics. The capital they accumulated thus and the name they made still carries a certain cache with the public. This is why they have been voted to power in the second Constituent Assembly election. The crucible of insurgency or rhetoric and the activism of the liberation movement have shaped even the Maoist and justice movement leaders.
So the training these leaders received during their underground days, their reading, conversations and reflections in prison and the experience they gained on the streets and during elections have stood them in good stead. But the records of the Congress and the UML leadership from 1990 to 2002 and then again from 2008 to 2013 show that even though their initial political capital hasn't yet fully run out, there is something they sorely lack to transform themselves into visionary statesmen. And Nepal into an equitable and just society, which is what is needed in this historic epoch where Nepal finds itself.
If one has to be more specific, one can say that the admirable training our political leaders received underground, in prison and on the streets that brought democracy could go only so far because the red book by Marx, Lenin and Mao or the theories of Socialist International and the desultory familiarity with politics and political leaders in India could only go so far.
Nehru, Gandhi and Ambedkar
Consider the range of intellectual harvest and processing that went in the making of Gandhi, Nehru and Ambedkar in India. Not a very bright student and a failed lawyer in Bombay, how could Gandhi range from Henry David Thoreau, John Ruskin and Leo Tolstoy besides dipping into the Bible, the Koran, and the Gita and their multiple heritages? Nehru's tripos was in natural science from Cambridge but the formidable range of knowledge and scholarship evident in his two books Glimpses of World History and The Discovery of India—of course, unlike Gandhi, Nehru was too dependent on Anglo-American scholarship to validate his conclusions about India—is what shaped the Nehruvian vision that Indian political scientists and historians of the liberal bent so brag about.
But even such depth and breadth of knowledge and assiduously cultivated compassion through what we call a liberal arts education failed Gandhi and Nehru when it came to dealing with Dalit justice before independence and state formation after independence. Through his fast, Gandhi virtually forced the Puna Pact of 1932 on Ambedkar, who had to abandon the agenda of a separate electorate for the 'untouchables'. And Potti Sriramulu had to die during his fast-unto-death before Nehru agreed to carve out Andhra Pradesh from Madras state. Because Ambedkar was educated in law, social sciences and humanities at Columbia, London School of Economics and at Gray's Inn, he possessed formidable vision and won Nehru and Gandhi's respect and trust despite differences of opinion and perspective to become the draftsman of the Indian constitution. But frustrated and pained as he was by India's caste system, even he couldn't fight from within, converting to Buddhism toward the end of his life.
The issue of caste, ethnic and linguistic justice thus severely tested the formidable intellectual and moral depth of Gandhi and Nehru. What intellectual and moral preparation do our first and second generation of leaders have? How can they measure up to the formidable challenge that the country's justice issues present before them?
Of Nepali leaders
To be sure, there is more than one PhD in economics and business in the Congress party and this or that college and university degree in the UML. But we know very little about these leaders' formal or informal training and self-study in the liberal arts and the social sciences—literature, philosophy, theology, history, etc—the kind that, say, even BP Koirala possessed, whose knowledge and training remained untested because of prison and exile.
Why did Upendra Yadav fail to sustain his momentum after the Madhes Movement? Why did he become so enamored by power and post at the expense of everything else? Gagan Thapa has been busting the popularity chart in the polls. Many have pinned great hopes on him. Thapa has made the right moves so far. But what is his intellectual preparation? We don't know.
Wasn't Baburam Bhattarai very popular not too long ago? In fact, Bhattarai had the near perfect combination of political as well as intellectual training. Always number one in academics, formidably read among his political peers, his moral and political vision forged in the fire of the insurgency and subsequent struggle, how did he lose his sheen so soon? I see two factors: one, he stuck to the prime minister's chair too long (and this means genuine commitment to the politics of value over the politics of power); and, two, he failed to clear the rumour of Hisila Yami's nepotism and politics-as-usual activities. While these are not irreversible flaws or damages, there is a great lesson here for the second generation of leaders—the politics of value trumps that of expediency and quick power. And this comes from one's moral and intellectual depth.
Whenever students, parents and friends refer to SLC as the Iron Gate, I always get confused, surprised and unhappy. I don’t think by any angle that the title Iron Gate is suitable for SLC since passing this high school exam is not like breaking through the Iron Gate, rather it is a gate of flowers which are beautiful, soft and a gate of golden opportunities which is very easy to break with more efforts by students. It is like a regular exam in which students appear at the school level. This year’s SLC exams started on March 20. According to the Office of the Controller of Examination, the total number students appearing in the exam is 566,085. There are 1,836 exam centres and 1,836 superintendents.
The most interesting thing about SLC which I have seen and experienced in my long teaching career is the practice of keeping the students like criminals in jail from early morning to late evening and making them study. This custom is seen among most private schools in the Kathmandu valley and some major cities in Nepal. Some are even forced to live in the school hostel while they prepare for the SLC exams. By any means, they are literally prepared to break the so-called Iron Gate. The children are mentally tortured with the unnecessary burden of extra classes and corporal punishment. Parents are forced to shoulder a heavy economic burden. In the name of SLC, the students’ real potential cannot be harvested, their creativity is hidden and their inner calibre can’t be explored. The children’s are treated like broiler chicken or hybrid living organisms.
When teachers of class 10 repeatedly focus on the SLC exam and make it sound like a very tough exam, and describe it like an iron gate which is very tough to break through, and when they say constantly that if the children fail the exam, their future will be dark and so on, this ultimately brings negative thoughts to the children’s minds. Parents are equally responsible for putting an unnecessary burden on their children by reminding them frequently that they should obtain excellent results in the SLC exam. The SLC result has became a matter of big pride for parents, a matter of gossip for their relatives and so on, but they don’t know that they are actually damaging the future of their children by aiming for only high marks and not real and practical knowledge which they will need in their lives.
Putting pressure on children harms their creativity and potential, and in the long term, the country has to bear the high cost. In fact, the main point I want to raise is that SLC is no more an Iron Gate. So teachers, parents and education experts must not focus only on getting high marks in SLC. They should focus on giving practical, scientific, life-based and modern education that will prepare students to adapt to today’s world.
Given the importance of security in the current world order, it is surprising that a specific day has not been set aside to recognise its many roles in dealing with complex threats to human life. Generally, security programmes are organised whenever possible. In Nepal, security is often a secondary activity in the anniversary functions of police organisations. The inclusion of security activities and targeted audiences are limited whereas security concerns should be presented to a wider public, educating and changing their attitude to act proactively under threat and emergency situations and thus, helping security agencies. Therefore, it would perhaps be pertinent to establish a ‘Global Security Day’ where various security programmes could be organised.
Ten threats
The UN defines security as a conducive environment for development and prosperity. In the current age, security threats come in unexpected and incredible types, like when the Twin Towers in New York were reduced to ground zero by jet planes turned into flying bombs. In 2003, a high-level UN threat analysis team identified ten major security threats of the 21st Century—poverty; infectious disease; environmental degradation; interstate war; civil war; genocide; atrocities; trade in women and children for sexual slavery; kidnapping for body organs; weapons of mass destruction; terrorism; and transnational organised crime.
The existence of such threats is evident in the more than 100,000 deaths of the Syrian civil war; the chemical weapons used in Kurdistan; the continuing development of nuclear warheads; the hazards of nuclear power plants like in Fukushima; intrastate conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and inter-state conflicts between Israel, Lebanon, North and South Sudan. Incidents of terrorism are also present, like when Boko Haram Islamists killed 59 students in Nigeria. Furthermore, there are 100 million street children worldwide with 50,000 deaths per day related to poverty. Global warming impacts include temperature rises; regular food shortages in Sub-Saharan Africa; shifting rain patterns in South Asia, some parts under water while others without water for power generation, irrigation or drinking; loss of reefs in South East Asia; and increasing vulnerability of coastal cities to cyclones.
In Kathmandu, unregulated deep boring for water, air pollution, overcrowding, increasing number of vehicles, haphazard construction of buildings and unsanitary living conditions have all degraded the environment. Furthermore, the International Labor Organization states that 2.4 million women are trafficked for forced labour. Nepali victims are trafficked within Nepal and to India, the Middle East and Malaysia. They are often forced to become prostitutes, domestic servants, beggars and circus performers. Each year, around 5,000-10,000 women are trafficked to India for prostitution.
Transnational crime
Civil wars continue across the world even as criminal gangs proliferate. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates an illicit flow of $125 billion per year to crime syndicates. The pervasive activities of criminals have compelled countries to formulate new policies, strategies and more effective control measures. In that vein, the issue of wiretapping for intelligence collection is currently under intense scrutiny. The importance of wiretapping for the protection of the public must be made known. Restrictions on wiretapping would be unwise and would weaken the capability of security agencies. However, agencies must strictly adhere to legal procedures for wiretaps. But gathering intelligence must remain an anonymous service.
Transnational crime will be the defining issue of the 21st century for policymakers. Terrorists and transnational crime groups will proliferate as major beneficiaries of globalisation with enormous strength while governments remain stuck in lengthy administrative procedures for approval, delaying immediate operational responses. Transnational organised crime undermines democracy, disrupts free markets, drains national assets, inhibits the development of stable societies and threatens the security of all nations. In Nepal, the government, political leaders and security agencies must realise that our transitional situation provides a favourable environment for the growth of transnational organised crime. Nepal is currently being used as a transit point and a shelter by international terrorists money launderers, counterfeiters and financial criminals.
A tripartite approach
The implementation of effective policies, necessary laws, control measures and modern resources are required for an immediate response. The current state of security policies, strategies and implementation needs to be strengthened. The proclamation of a ‘Global Security Day’ would be a noteworthy milestone in this aspect. The rational ground of initiating this concept would be to bring together all governments, security agencies and citizens on one tripartite platform in an effort to isolate and deal with criminals. The ten threats, as identified by the UN, are inter-related and thus, demand a collective preventive approach. The UN and Interpol are two such existing platforms for security agencies.
A Global Security Day programme would be an appropriate platform for the public to participate. The objective would be to develop public awareness on preventing crime; protecting the environment; raising health consciousness; educating about the effects of war; controlling human trafficking; creating an environment friendly to innovative and cost-effective crime and threat prevention measures; and enhancing effective coordination between tripartite actors. The Global Security Day will be a collective venture, bonding scattered security programmes and eventually consolidating global security. Security agencies alone cannot confront unexpected challenges. The success of politics, economy, prosperity, development or security depends on the support, voice and optimism of a majority of the people. Likewise, a people-based approach is essential for the effectiveness of proactive policing.
A big budget alone is not effective either, as was obvious in the 9/11 attacks in the US. There is a need for a new dimensional approach to security by revamping current policies and strategies. The new approach should involve dedicated and determined citizens willing to cooperate and assist the government and security agencies in the approach to the ten threats. Thus, the formal proclamation of a security programme as Global Security Day by the UN would be appropriate. This can be a congenial platform for the sharing of information and the development of mutual trust between peoples, countries and security agencies. The initiation of a new tripartite collective security strategy would definitely consolidate current individual policies and approaches.
Lama is a former Inspector General of the Armed Police Force ([email protected])
Instances of loan fraud seem to be increasing in recent days. These kinds of fraud make it difficult for financial institutions such as banks, finance companies and other micro-lending agencies to maintain their financial security. There are several common psychological and environmental conditions that result in fraud at lending institutions.These can include an individual’s propensity towards addictive behaviour, family problems, romantic entanglements and financial hardships. The involvement of top officials is not necessary to commit fraud. Lax management and weak internal controls can lead to fraudulent activities in lending institutions. Similarly, a lack of early investigation and inadequate audit programmes present unscrupulous insiders with opportunities to engage in improper behaviour.
Fraud causes
Loan fraud can be of various types in financial institutions. For example, ‘nominee loans’ are used, where the loan document is prepared in the name of a borrower but the borrower is not the real party. To put it another way, a loan is documented in the name of borrower but the use and benefit of the loan is enjoyed by a hidden party. This type of transaction is used to circumvent laws, regulations and the internal policies of institutions. In Nepali financial institutions, nominee loans were used massively in the past, jeopardising the financial health of a number of banks and financial institutions.
Furthermore, conflicts-of-interest among officials can also foster fraudulent activities. In some cases, loans are tied to favoursfor friends, family and relatives. Similarly, non-monetary assets are also considered while providing loans to kith and kin. And sometimes loans arranged inappropriately and in a fraudulent manner to purchase capital stock. Similarly, manipulation is done in the purchase and sale of loan pools.
Preventing fraud
To protect the financial system from fraud, early examinations of the institution’s operations become vital. This can be done through audits and on-site investigations by accredited examiners. After the investigation, strict action must be taken against offenders, if any, found to be involved in fraudulent activities. In case of high-level officials found to be involved in financial fraud, criminal prosecution as well as disciplinary action should be pursued by the concerned institution. Other actions against such offenders include assessing and reimbursing the loss amounts; making restitution or compensating the loss; and making certain the offender does not work for financial institutions in the future.
Measures such as the adoption of a code of conduct, proper employment practices, a loan review system, independent audits and internal controls can also work as strong tools for controlling loan fraud. The code of conduct should address the issue of conflict-of-interest and self-dealing; clearly define acceptable behaviour; encourage ethical conduct; institute a compliance system;establish monitoring mechanisms; provide for proper disclosure of all related interests; and institute a whistleblower policy to encourage the reporting of any suspicious activity. Furthermore, the board of directors of any financial institution must be required to make a statement about their ethical position as a preventive essential code of business principles against loan fraud, thereby providing a clear message to the public that the institution does its business fairly and honestly.
Proactive employment practices can also deter fraudulent activities. Such procedures are required to incorporate proper criteria for a comprehensive background check of employees, including those of the directors; employment references with respect to the prospective employee’s eligibility and reliability; and sudden changes in lifestyle andbehaviour of employees and directors.
Additionally, there should be an effective loan review system in place.This system can contribute to exposing insider loan fraud and self-dealings at an early stage. Loan reviews should be conducted periodically and thoroughly. The review must be independent of the credit administration and loan approval processes. Procedures should be put in place so that fictitious and fraudulent activities on loan fraud are promptly identified and the adherence to established lending practices and conflict of interest policies assessed. Personnel involved in loan review activities should have the knowledge and confidence to challenge suspicious transactions executed by whosoever (either by executive officer or board member).
Strengthening inner workings
Moreover, institutions should institute a comprehensive, reliable and independent audit system to deter fraudulent lending practices. The audit report should be submitted directly to the board of directors for prompt and effective implementation. There should be specific audit procedures targeted at controlling insider loan fraud.Auditors too should dare to challenge suspicious transactions, especially when an executive officer or a board member is involved.
The potential for insider loan fraud is high in an environment where internal controls are slack, arbitrary or non-existent. Hence, institutions should have stern internal control systems which provide no room for anybody to be exempted from the institution’s policy and procedures. Anti-fraud policies and procedures should be implemented effectively. The institution should pursue control environments and organisational structures which do not allow lending officials to undermine lending procedures and decisions. Potential consequences of violatingthe lending policy should be stipulated clearly and implemented accordingly. The board should play a proactive role in monitoring and supervising the loan officers to see whether they are executing their duties and loan authority in accordance with the loan policy and the delegation of authority.
Finally, preventing loan fraud in the first place is far more cost effective than investigating and prosecuting offenders. It is a herculean task to control all insider loan fraud activities in financial institutions. However, financial institutions that create a proper control environment and have an open and ethical corporate environment are better suited to address such concerns.
Burlakoti holds a PhD in law and is former Chairperson of the Debt Recovery Tribunal