January 3-9, 2003
Headline
Editorial
Carnival time
Emerging out of the morning fog at Tripureswor one morning this week was an elephant in full regalia with mahout and pachuwa in attendance.…
Columns
Guest Column by GANESH RAJ SHARMA
A constitutional crown
A fully-functional executive, judiciary and parliament can work as constitutional safeguards to the monarchy.
Here And There by DANIEL LAK
Predicting the worst
The habit of using the new year to measure progress and predict the future dies hard.
State Of The State by CK LAL
Jumla is not Jaffna
The LTTE fought for an ethnic homeland, our Maoists are fighting a class war. There is a difference.
Under My Hat by KUNDA DIXIT
Some more news items we’d like to see in 2003
As you may have noticed, 2003 is off to a flying start with the daily papers carrying a slew of positively-angled news items designed to warm…
Nation
Why Sikkim works
Sikkim is one-tenth the size of Nepal, but it seems to be governed ten times better.
KUNDA DIXIT
One victory at a time
The court victory that Gurkha prisoners of war won for equal compensation last year may have a bearing on pensions and pay cases affecting over 50,000 Gurkhas and their families that will be heard in London 18-21 February.
GOPAL SWAKOTI CHINTAN
Army vs Amnesty
The standoff between Royal Nepal Army and Amnesty International continued this week over the alleged rapes of two cousins in Nepalganj.
MANJUSHREE THAPA
Interview
"We have a radical democracy"
Nepali Times spoke to Sikkim chief Minister Pawan Chamling recently about his vision for development and the Maoist problem. Excerpts: Nepali…
Literature
Book Worm
The Brick and the Bull
An account of Handigaun, the ancient capital of Nepal Sudarshan Raj Tiwari Himal Books, 2002 Rs 1,150 Handigaun, the earliest known urban…
Halfway to the mountain
The Jirels of Eastern Nepal H Sidky, J Subedi, J Hall, S Williams-Blangero Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies, Tribhuvan University, 2002 Rs…
Date Conversion Chart
9Bikram to Christian Era Tri Ratna Manandhar (ed) Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies, Tribhuvan University, 2002 Rs 115 A handy guide for those…
Sports
Biking in the time of bandhs
Biking right across Nepal from Kodari to Mahendranagar is a breeze when the roads are empty.
GARRYK HAMPTON
Development
The house that Rabindra built
How to combine old and new, and blend it with the medieval urbanscape of Bhaktapur.
MOHEINDU AMIRAN CHEMJONG
Nepali Society
Ellen Findlay, MBE
Ellen Findlay had just returned to Pokhara from a rural health camp in western Nepal on New Years' Eve when she got a call from the British…
From The Nepali Press
Domestic Brief
Un-united Marxist-Leninists
The Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) is holding its seventh party convention 1-5 February in Janakpur, where a contest is…
Metro Channel by June
A new feature has emerged on the Kathmandu skyline: a 72m television tower within Singha Darbar for a new NTV channel. The Chinese-aided project…
Top it with peace
Everest has been climbed for many reasons-profit, adventure, records and because it's there. Now we can add peace to the list. Among the many…
Safety at a cost
Pillion riding in the Valley may become expensive for the unprepared. Anyone not wearing a helmet will get slapped with a up to Rs 200 fine by…
Clean fuel
Nepal Oil Corporation is mulling a ban on petrol and diesel vendors selling kerosene too. This is an effort to cut fuel adulteration, and will…
Conflict listings
The National Defence Council Foundation of United States identified Nepal as one of the serious conflict zones of 2000 in a report released on…
Business Briefs
Tourist arrivals down 50 percent
Tourist arrivals to Nepal are down by more than half compared to two years ago. Nearly 460,000 tourists visited Nepal in 2000, and the latest…
Shangri-la is back
Shangri-la, the in-flight magazine of Royal Nepal Airlines has been revamped and re-launched. The new-look issue of the quarterly is on board…
SAFTA deadline put off
The seven-member South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has failed to finalise the treaty framework for a regional free trade…
Siddhartha Bank takes off
Kamaladi-based Siddhartha Bank Limited commenced operations from Kathmandu last week with the slogan: "Our business is to understand your…
NIIT CATS Centre
NIIT's CATS (Center for Advanced Technology Studies) at Tripureswore in Kathmandu will be offering ORACLE Cetrified Courses for the first time…
Letters
Mussarafship
CK Lal's "Musharrafship" (#124) delves into fundamental concept of human and democractic rights. Are democracy and human rights universal? Who…
Worst of times
Reading "The red windmill in the valley of the gods" (#125) I really felt like it is the best of times and the worst of times in Nepal. When…
Sir Michael
I really appreciated the interview of Sir Michael Jay ("Cross-party approach to conflict a must", #122) with regard to the solution of the…
Privatise, or else
I appreciated Bhagirath Yogi's article regarding privatisation of government-run enterprises ("Going to the dogs", # 124). My concern is that…
Cr?me de la cr?me
Phudorjee Lama's referral to the graduates of Budhanilkantha School as the cream of the society in "A nation's call" (#121) is not justified.…
Booze and butts
Thanks to Hemlata Rai for emphasising that alcoholism is a disease that can be contained ("Nepal's anonymous alcoholism", #125). But the Nepali…
Pashupati SJB
Reading Pashupati Shumshere JB Rana's interview ("I will work to bridge the gap between the king and parties", #125) reminded me of Prof…
In this issue:
Royal rally | Carnival Time | Editorial: Jumla is not Jaffna | A constitutional crown | “In Sikkim we’re trying to do everything Nepal didn’t do and should have done, and what Nepal has done and shouldn’t have done.” | Predicting the worst | “We have a radical democracy” | One victory at a time | Army vs Amnesty | “Men-streaming” | From Chhabilal Dahal to Prachanda | Biking in the time bandhs | Taxing the poor | Honest politics | Land of the setting sun? | The North’s nukes | Off the people | Up the drains of Kathmandu | The house Rabindra built | Some more news items we’d like to see in 2003