Democracy may be here, but the Royal Nepal Army is not turning into a democratic force anytime soon. Chief of Army Staff Rukmangat Katuwal ordered a number of measures to be set into motion after the transition, but some officers are disregarding the Army Act 2006.

There are accounts of officers involved in embezzling as much as Rs 70 million from forces on peacekeeping duty. Those who lost their pay include the 169 members of the Ranasingh Battalion who went on peacekeeping duty to Haiti last summer and returned in February this year. Members of the unit received from the UN a monthly salary of $1,028, a governmental allowance of $1,000 for working the peacekeeping force, and food rations. Of the 86 items on the list for soldiers' rations, only six were actually provided as required. The rest were sold outside the camps and substituted with cheap local goods.

Shumshere Battalion's ration officer Major Bishnu Khatri is said to have embezzled more than Rs 10 million out of the ration funds for the 507-member peacekeeping force. The soldiers who served in Haiti say they never saw the milk, biscuits, eggs, cheese, cornflakes, meat, and dry fruits that were supposed to be part of their rations.

As for the salaries, soldiers received only $775 of the $1028 that is due to them. Officers, who receive the same, get a take home sum of $850. Soldiers thus pay $253 each into the Army Welfare Fund, while officers contribute only $150. The soldiers also complain that although they were in Haiti for seven months, they only received salaries for six months.