Archive for March, 2009

We, the Nepali people, saw remarkable transformation in past 3 years.

12 years of miserable democratic experiences prompted the king to think that it’s ripe time to take over and so he did. He dismissed elected PM and took absolute power. People were already fed up with the 10 years of bloody war that had cost lives of too many near and dear ones; forget about the loss of properties. Never ending cycle of corruption no matter it’s king’s men or whoever in power, always inching inflation and gross violation of basic rights made people to speak out against the king and his rule. 7 political parties who were ousted by the king and the Maoists met in Delhi (yeah, again!) to find solution to the crisis. And the great April Revolution (for many Popular Movement – II) occurred. Millions of people poured in the street demanding democracy, equality and end to the war which forced the king to kneel down and bow out. 2 years afterwards, much awaited (remember from 1951) happened and very same parties who have led the April Revolution swept the election and the Institution of Monarchy was abolished heralding new dawn of Republic era.

People had many expectations from those parties who talked about reform and development. They believed parties have changed their attitudes and mended their corrupt minds but alas! Nearly after a year country saw CA elections and Maoists taking over the government as an elected force, I rode micro, as usual, to my work destination.
A man of probably 40s or 50s too hopped in. People were talking about whether new revised transport fares have been implemented or not. There was skepticism in the crowd. Even though government consulting transport entrepreneurs announced revised fares, in reality it was a joke. No one implemented the new fares and consumers were being cheated everyday.

After brief interaction on fares, the man I mentioned earlier talked how inconsiderate we, the common man have become. The common man doesn’t want to speak for right cause and just become a silent spectator when another common man is fighting for the cause that could benefit him as well. And when the power throws him out, we feel sigh of relief (not bothering that we could be in that thrown man’s place tomorrow or any other day).

The common man is being cheated in every front. All political parties are cheating him. They talk about transparency and accountability but when given a chance, happily indulge in corruption. Even government is cheating the common man. Look at Nepal Oil Corporation and Nepal Telecom. Even though petroleum prices have gone down like a bungy but we are still paying more than higher price. NTC loves to charge money for the calls we can’t make. They are just a few examples. Tariffs of water, electricity etc. has gone up but water doesn’t come from tap and we are facing load shedding of more than 16 hours a day. Government bureaucracies make common man like a sheep knocking every possible door without thinking twice for a simple work.

Not only government and parties claiming to represent the same common man, but every powerful one is resisting the change and cheating very same common man. Revenue department tries to check evading of taxes but the business people protests saying this is attack on their business, the common man can’t finish his work because of no products in the market. Government tries to take 5% education tax from profits of private schools to support government schools of rural areas, Schools go on strike but the common man obligingly pays dues. Government announces new revised fares (of course bowing to transport entrepreneurs) ignoring consumers, those entrepreneurs again defies government cheating passengers, the common man. The rich and well-linked people makes their way out of legal hassles easily no matter how serious his crimes might be, but the poor common man has to make rounds of courts or government administrations thousands time to solve a simple case. Poor common man can’t put his stalls at public places to survive but the rich powerful always gulp down government properties, that too easily. Common man can’t take loan to start his business but rich never pays back the loan still live king’s life. Poor common man has to abide by law always but rich powerful ones jokes about the law.  Millions of rupees are pouring in for the common man but what change has it brought in his life? Still a common man can’t get any security and always has to be exploited to light stove at the night.

So has any change come to the life of common man? Yes, democracy came so did power in the hands of people, but only in the paper. In reality his life has never seen sunshine of change and prosperity. Instead he’s being looted, cheated and exploited everyday.

Isn’t he angry, of course he’s. He too wants to express his anger but all he’s doing is, quelling those aggressions inside him and trying to make a decent living. But for how long? The quelled feelings has slowly become like stored lava which could erupt any time. And when it happens, we should redefine the term “Chaos”.

So may be this is high time we respect a common man. Definitely we can’t expect government intervention or any miracle for this. We can begin from ourselves, respect another common man. At least support his argument for the right cause. This is just a beginning, a beginning for real new change.