Rs 15,000,000,000 - Nepali Times

Nation
Rs 15,000,000,000
That is how much the Maoist strike has cost the country so far

FROM ISSUE #501 (07 MAY 2010 - 13 MAY 2010) | TABLE OF CONTENTS

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DOTTED LINE: Pushpa Kamal Dahal signing his commitment to support NTY 2011 in February (below,right) and the document.

Translation of the document:

Together for tourism

Nepal Tourism Year 2011 is being organised to mobilise the tourism sector for Nepal's development and the prosperity of Nepalis. To make the campaign successful we express our full commitment not to allow bandas, hartals and other activities to take place that will affect (mainly) tourists and tourism services. Furthermore, we appeal to all citizens to support this economic revolution campaign to change the face of the nation.

Honourable Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda)
Chairman

United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
Parisdanda, Koteswor

Every day of the Maoist strike the country loses Rs 3 billion ($40 million). Since Sunday we have lost Rs 15 billion ($200 million).

Bandas are the most tried and tested way to express political power in Nepal. All political entities here have used them at one time or another. Post-1990, parties have groomed students and workers to enforce
their strikes.

In South Asia there is a healthy culture of defying strikes and there are government measures to either ban them or minimise impact. In Nepal, we have not yet learnt how to react. This is why in the past, even strikes organised by unknown entities have seen complete closures.

Ruling political parties aren't even trying to thwart the current banda: perhaps they fancy using this priceless tool when they themselves are in opposition. The state has never developed mechanisms to counter strikes, either by using the state apparatus to protect essential services or by ensuring people have access to education and healthcare.

We cannot really gauge the extent of future losses simply through tourism cancellations. Airlines may now review plans for Nepal. The outside world may try to figure out what's wrong with Nepal for a while, but beyond that we will be ignored by the international community. Nothing could be worse in a globalised world.

For the politicians, the recent events may simply represent another part of their struggle for power but for Nepal, the damage may prove to be irreparable.

Sujeev Shakya

1. Johann
Why not get Comrade Awesome to pay back the 16billion to the people? With interest.

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 12:38 PM NST

2. pravasi nepali
This comment has been removed by the moderator.

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 4:04 PM NST

3. Jeffrey
Congratulations to Nepali Times for exposing the hypocrisy and lies that drive the Maoist agitation. Only my favourite newspaper could show Prachanda breaking his own signed promise. No one has covered the economy like this and drawn attention to the economic ruin that his bandh is causing the country. These criminals are holding a gun to the head of Nepali Ama and holding all Nepalis hostage. Down with Gundaraj! Maobadi Murdabad!

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 4:21 PM NST

4. Thomas Roth
Haven't you noticed how the international community is already ignoring us? Except for a few uninformed sentences by the current BBC correspondent Joana Jolly, who seems to get her information from the British Embassy tea parties, nothing at all about the current crisis anywhere. For those among us westerners who live here and love this country and its people, Nepal is home. For the rest of the world it is an insignificant backwater. This bandh is a disaster for Nepal and the entire region.

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 4:45 PM NST

5. Komal Bhandari
Absolutely agree with you Sujeev. This hardly is being covered by Media in India anyway. Just goes to say "the international community" is already ignoring us!

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 5:47 PM NST

6. Nepali
Lets get the NA out of the barracks! Patience has run out now.

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 6:10 PM NST

7. Nick Sharma
Sujeev, I wish you had done this exercise 20 years ago when Mr Madhav Nepal and Co. actually made Bandha into a fine art of political protest. Remember how they tried to bring down the first elected government of the post 90 period when it had not even completed 3 months in office?.....Mr. Nepal should resign not because of the Maoist pressure, but because he has failed to do what he was sent to do. Let him go the President submit his resignation and let politics follow its course......

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 7:49 PM NST

8. Ram bahadur
Problem with Mr Dahal is that his Brains ( If he has any Left on his Head), and Tounge seems to have a mind of their own. Says one thing and does exactly the opposite. Bashed India and then cozy up with their leaders... Does he think we Nepalese are fools, we all know that motive behind all this is his lust for POWER and nothing else. The country can go to hell if he has his way.... Sleep on Mr Dahal in your 2 lakhs bed while the Ordinary nepalese people bought from the villages for the movement have to sleep on the Cold Floor... What contradriction.

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 7:56 PM NST

9. Rupak
Can anybody also tell me how much of the real ransome budget been spent by this madhav-govt ? when talking of analytical database better not forget the real one also.

any idea my frenz

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 8:59 PM NST

10. Rupak
too many words spent counting unhatched eggs, can anybody also tell me how much spent on what by your loving madhab govt, let's also spend some words on real budget spent than just analytical databases..

any good suggestion.. ?

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 9:02 PM NST

11. Jung Bahadur
I would like to think that this front page of Nepali Times with the facsimile of the commitment that Prachande signed and then broke did the trick. It exposed the Maoist lie like nothing else, in black and white. Congratulations, NT and Sujeev Shakyaji!

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 10:17 PM NST

12. Ashish
Now isn't that ironic?

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 10:38 PM NST

13. Sujeev Shakya

@ Nick Sharma...do read Unleashing Nepal (Penguin 2009) to know more about the antics of the then UML that was nothing different than the CPNM of today.

@ Rupak - the problem is that people even do recognise there is a government and then to identify oneself with its leader like MKN is even more difficult.

With the withdrawal of the strike, the ball is in the government's court

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 10:43 PM NST

14. Shreya
such hypocrites !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 11:05 PM NST

15. hange
For all the Maoist supporters, I hope that you now understand the duplicity of your leadership. While the existing leadership is no different, the Maobadi have greatly exacerbated our pain - all to no end.

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 11:27 PM NST

16. Nepali Chori

This is beautiful! Perfect timing to publish it too. They need to be exposed to eveyone. Applause!

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 12:14 AM NST

17. NEPALI

15,000,000,000

+13000 LIFE x 1million each - Nepali Norms

+ 1000's if intimidations and extortions

- 70% of savings on Royal Family Budget of Approx 2,000,000,000

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 12:28 AM NST

18. Sargam
Maoists' strike is proved to be a damp squib!?!

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 12:52 AM NST

19. Ramesh
Moist is the most richest party of Nepal . They have people's money and they should be liable for this lost. All the bussiness and tourism board should file a case against them in the supreme court for this lost.

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 1:44 AM NST

20. sunil
I m very glad to hear that the "real people's power" have shunned off the damage that the "false people power" claim to have done so.

Posted on: 07 MAY 2010 | 2:19 AM NST

21. jange
Why are people complaining about the duplicity and lies of the Maoists? They have behaved entirely according to their character, their nature, their principles. Do you condemn a dog for barking or a donkey for braying?

Posted on: 08 MAY 2010 | 9:23 AM NST

22. K. K. Sharma

Bandha etc had support form our intellectuals since decades ago. No worry about the loss in economy. We all will be paying for it, through price rise.

Posted on: 08 MAY 2010 | 10:08 AM NST

23. Dr B
Well chosen, well timed, well articulated Sujeev.

Posted on: 08 MAY 2010 | 12:37 PM NST

24. simon
Actually the royal family household budget was $500,000

Posted on: 08 MAY 2010 | 3:32 PM NST

25. Aashish Poudel
DO YOU HAVE "RSS" in your website???

If not, please put 'RSS' feature

Posted on: 08 MAY 2010 | 11:23 PM NST

26. Gadi ko chabi
Did not know the country was so rich to earn that much everyday. By the way how much did the Jana-andolan 2 cost the country in terms of monetary loss? And can an outline for the loss be provided? Any data perhaps for veracity?

maybe we should just resort to empty economics for the future of our country.

Posted on: 09 MAY 2010 | 1:34 PM NST

27. himalaya
I'm,general Nepali , only thing i request our dear leaders is give us jus environment to work and we'll make this country.. u jus manage corruption and stability, i respect all the constitution of all ur parties but have u implied it accordingly???? i dont want to go rob people in the name of donation or whatever ,,, i want be rich as well but i have to and will work for it... :)) i cant jus envy someone elses hard work tears and sweat now can i ??

my last point is more than constitution writing of nepal constitution implimenting is bigger issue ?? coz none of the constitution in the world says kill, rob , take awya rights etc etc the problem lies in strict implementation .. isnt it my fellow frens ,,, ?? politicians plz wake up its Sunrise.

Himalaya

Posted on: 09 MAY 2010 | 2:21 PM NST

28. Gadi ko chabi
Did not know the country was so rich to earn that much everyday. By the way how much did the Jana-andolan 2 cost the country in terms of monetary loss? And can an outline for the loss be provided? Any data perhaps for veracity?

maybe we should just resort to empty economics for the future of our country.

Posted on: 09 MAY 2010 | 2:39 PM NST

29. Arthur
Does Artha Beed really believe this is the year 2011?

Does he really believe that the general strike was an activity "that will affect (mainly) tourists and tourism services"?

The costs of complete stagnation wasting a whole year on this corrupt and useless government has been far more than Rs 15 billion. Nepal needs to be "unleashed" to make real economic progress. Every day of stagnation should be counted, not just the last few days of an attempt to end stagnation.

Posted on: 09 MAY 2010 | 9:04 PM NST

30. Adhish Tuladhar
There is no word (commitment) in the dictionary of maoist leader MR. Prachanda. Just Fake mind all the time.

Posted on: 09 MAY 2010 | 11:57 PM NST

31. mANISH
It's all about the game of Prime Minister CHAIR. yastai taal ho vane neither Shanti nor Naya Sambidhan lekhincha. BEWARE from the ppl of NEPAL.

Posted on: 10 MAY 2010 | 10:29 AM NST

32. Sargam
Behold this dork Arthur, the unleashed jester! His purposes are so insipid and incoherent that somebody who possesses the capacity to understand his always oriented op-eds really make no difference whether he talks about politics or economics.

Never o never a commie can understand economics. Even their prophet Marx was nil in economics. Plus he tried to follow the then economic politics of the GB and what he found out was A+B = C+D, where A stands for raw material, B stands for man power, then C is yield and D is salary. Where is provision for investment and profit?. Communism failed because of this default. Until and unless you guys remain stuck in such a theory you commies whatever you churn out are not credible.

They are good for loot and blackmail and rip-off which do not last very long. One day you got to pay back because we will drag you all to the gallows by the scruff of your necks. Mind out!?!

Posted on: 10 MAY 2010 | 1:56 PM NST

33. Ram Shankar

This is precisely what they (Maoists) wanted to achieve as a party, make the country poorer, The reason is simple , where there is filth flies abound, where there is poverty maoists( communists) flourish so that they can sell to the poor piped dream of prosperity.Regrettably, the poor do not understand that it is not in the enlightened self -interest of maoists to bring people out of poverty. If they did, they would lose their support base.Afno khutta ma kalle bancharo hanchha?.Kahile bujhne hamile!

Ram Shankar

Posted on: 10 MAY 2010 | 3:52 PM NST

34. thuski
Who wants to address problems in civilized ways by maybe sitting around a table and holding dialogues to genuinely dismantle discord? Surely getting people on the streets takes away the mental pressure to make sound decisions. The bandhs and the strikes are a very primitive strategy of political parties who probably think Nepal's economy is indestructible. When the whole world is suffering the slaps of recession, Nepal is giving away to conscious economical damage. The Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Finance should be making more noise than they are. And come to think of it, Maoists have just 'postponed' the strikes! I suggest they continue their strikes and screaming only in Khula Manch like they are actually supposed to. The streets are for vehicles, ambulances and school buses.

Mr.Shakya has done an commendable job!

Posted on: 10 MAY 2010 | 3:59 PM NST

35. Nick Sharma
That's exactly the question that the Maoists are asking Sujeev- where is the money that is supposedly lost 'cos of the strike. By your own calculation, the country should have generated Rs18000,00000000 ( 18 thousand crores} just this year before the Maoists started the strike. Where is that money????

Posted on: 10 MAY 2010 | 6:55 PM NST

36. Slarti
# 32, don't take it personally but could you kindly cut the anger, Arthur like all of us believes in something, wrong or right does not matter. I am sorry for saying this but that kind of language is way too much like Maoist. The primary reason why they are wrong.

Posted on: 10 MAY 2010 | 7:30 PM NST

37. Jeev
I am certain its all in the spirit of discussion and every one's having a view on the state of things, what really puzzles me is why there are different standards for different set of people. What I am trying to get at is, While I agree the Bandh called by Maoist is not good for the nation, to measure it in monetary terms, as satisfying as it may seem, is belittling all the suffering the nation has been through its history. Can the author put a price on the consequences of the 104 years of the Rana regime, the panchyat era or even the gyanendra period, they have all had a lot worse impact in the nation building process and the social prices have been a lot higher... this piece smells more anti-maoist propaganda than pro Nepal building

Posted on: 10 MAY 2010 | 8:21 PM NST

38. Norbu Ghaley
These most crookedly selfish and narrow minded Maoist leaders and followers are playing with the simplicity, innocence and decency of all the Nepalese. It is now high time to realize the true nature of Maoist and their motivation for power, they are actually playing everything with the cost of innocent peoples lives and Nepal's welfare.

Signing agreement papers and making false speeches are just their kind of game to play politics only for the sake of power only, nothing counts. They don't have any moral ethics to stick with, so they don't have any shame and dignity of their party, only the power matters to them from the people, and in return for the people they can give dictatorship to suppress them! I am optimistic that if masses blindly and foolishly supports Maoist, Nepal will only gain more bloodshed and unstable governance!

It is now high time to fight and stand against the Maoist in Nepal!
They are nothing more then the power hungry blood thirsty party in Nepal!

Posted on: 10 MAY 2010 | 9:59 PM NST

39. jange
Ok, so the general strike has fizzled out. I wonder what our Kamreds will cook up next to distract the population from their failures.

Be on your toes. It ain't over yet.

Posted on: 11 MAY 2010 | 9:26 AM NST

40. jange
Only one question remains:- Should the Maoists be allowed to continue using violence as a means to achieve their political ends?

Until you answer this question clearly and unequivocally all your analysis will be meaningless.

Posted on: 11 MAY 2010 | 2:42 PM NST

41. Roshan
that's just the direct money lost during those days. if we count all the bad reputation accumulated due to banda as well, its a shame for the country. Hopefully such days will come when we think beyond just our self only.

Posted on: 11 MAY 2010 | 4:03 PM NST

42. Budabaaje

The King was actually right about the Maoists. They are untrustworthy and only a strong stick can bring them in line. The king's hardline strategy was much more likely to have brought the Maoists into the "mainstream" as a truly "normal and civilian" democratic party, because then the Maoists would see, in no uncertain terms, that there were no other options. Instead, we Nepalis followed this softie method of "safe-landing" them. Our intellectuals were foolish and politicians too short-sighted to advocate this softie stance. We have already lost 4 years following this politically correct and nice-sounding, but unrealistic, softie stance. No more time to loose now.

Softie stance has failed. King was right. Nepalis should acknowledge our mistake. We were too harsh on the king. He was trying to do the right thing, which we did not realize then. Now we know better.

Bring back the monarchy! How can we punish someone for being right?!

Posted on: 11 MAY 2010 | 4:43 PM NST

43. yam gurung
Once a jungli always a jungli.

Posted on: 11 MAY 2010 | 8:34 PM NST

44. santidoot

Float the dreams of wild emancipation

fog the general perception

side track with the deception

that is the virtue of MAOIST redemption

Posted on: 11 MAY 2010 | 12:15 AM NST

45. dil sherchand

float the derams of emancipation

win the popular percpetions

then, onfuse with utter deceptions

that is the Maoist tricks of redemption

Posted on: 11 MAY 2010 | 1:37 AM NST

46. Samundra

himalaya,

It's NOT the constitution of parties we care but the constitution of Nepal. The parties and their constitutions should be trashed in the bin.

Posted on: 12 MAY 2010 | 12:35 PM NST

47. stevelee
Grate Prachand...Replied..to one of the Journalist.to..his.question..regarding.the.commitment.,he.had made...not.to.late.Nepal..banda..anymore...Keeping.2011...as a target..

Journalist:Comred...you have...committed..not to late...Nepal..band...or..any..strike..for..2011.

Prachanda:I said for 2010 not for 2011..("2011 auna ta aja..1 yrs baki cha ta.)"Baru..tapai pani sayog garnus...hamro..andolan ma....

Posted on: 13 MAY 2010 | 12:32 PM NST

48. abbishnu
wat a ironic photograph....? the bloody maoist has pushing back the nepal for 30 years back.

Posted on: 20 MAY 2010 | 4:05 PM NST