THE SECOND CLASS CITIZENS

                                                                                                                                                                                               

In a regular, normal day, I asked a sane friend of mine a more than sane question, "What is this?". He replied, "This is f***ing bullshit!"  Well, when I was listening to a reply by one of the government official regarding shortage of fertilizers I had the same reply written all over my face.

via Ekantipur :Happy! But for how long?

More than half of Nepalese depend on agriculture for their livelihood. For most of them, paddy is the main source of feeding themselves and earning a profit. With the irrigation system not in place; people already have to depend on the almighty for rain. The next big thing is fertilizers. Nepal needs about 700,000 tons of fertilizer annually. However, this summer what we are going to have is just 150,000 tons of fertilizer. That deficiency ratio is greater than the power deficiency and even crosses the petroleum deficiency ratio. However, both the petroleum and power shortage issue gets caught in tape and are shown over and over until some politician does a "breaking news" kinda spectacular crap. It has been long since Kathmandu has forgotten the rest of Nepal. Had fertilizer not made itself available in polished shops of Kathmandu; people might have taken the issue up to the street. The Reporter's Club would have hold a debate on "Fertilizers..." and maybe the secretary of Agriculture ministry or the minister himself might have suffered the same disgrace that Janajati Leader Aang Kaji Sherpa has suffered through the hand of mainstream media.

Well, the street next to Tri Chandra and ASCOL gets crowded with protest as soon as the petroleum tariff increases. And for our poor farmers who have to toil hard to feed themselves, whose successive generation has never made it to Kathmandu, there's none-not even in a Government college to protest for their cause. It is obvious for the next generation of urban based population to forget agricultural difficulties as much of us haven’t been through the rigors of sweat and mud. It is always difficult to stand for the cause of the poor’s. They cannot put a case in the court as some of our Royalist do to revive the monarchy. They don’t go to conferences like RIO 21 like our caretaker PM has gone to. All they can do is visit neighboring state of India and carry loads double or even triple the weight of their body just to feed their family .A look that the Nepalese themselves are ashamed of seeing when they travel to India. Why this? The answer is simple. Without proper fertilizers the yield from their already limited land is not sufficient to feed throughout the whole year.

The situation is critical in Nepal. Amidst the political turmoil and instability the farmers are set to suffer in future as well. As per the government, there is no way Nepal can import more of fertilizers until next three month fulfilling technical procedure. Well, we defy technical procedure when there is acute shortage of petroleum; we bring it via governmental understanding with India even if there is an outstanding amount of due to be paid. This is because, without Petroleum; Kathmandu and its leaders shall starve. The luxury shall curtail. The pressure is enormous and somehow even if it means standing in long lines the supply is restored. This is not the case with fertilizers. With no connections to the bureaucrats and lobbyist in Kathmandu the farmers have sought to contraband fertilizers from India. That in itself has led to tax evasion and moreover than that the poor farmers are cheated with sub standard fertilizers. Regular lab test has shown these fertilizers of not having the chemicals as they advertise in their packet. The farmers in the hills, they don’t even have access to these smuggled ones as they are far from the border itself.

And they need to work to feed themselves!
via stevemccurry.com

And of course, we have famines due to issues like this. The government sends second class foodies through costly airways. There the people have to pay more for degraded stuffs. The state has treated them no less than second hand citizens. First the state deprives them of raising their own crops, and later rotten rice is sent to weather the self caused famine. The paddy growers have to face tough competition from Indian counterparts as they have heavily subsidized seeds, fertilizers and other crucial facilities. So, the profit that the well-to-do farmers are doing in Terai is too decreasing. This means the landless farmers who do farming in lease for their 'Mahajans' and 'Jamindars' get lesser of the share and subsequently suffer from food insecurity.

There is little solution to this problem. According to some agricultural experts, the delay in fertilizer supply is due to role of commission in every aspect of the supply system. From immediate buyers to transporters and suppliers all have to pay some commission to the officials. Until the commission is fixed, importing of fertilizers is a far cry. As regard as constructing our own fertilizer industry in Nepal. One report said, a 100 MW of energy to run such industry. That seems to be a distant alternative.

Successive socialist government has ruled Nepal. We have currently a PM who did his PhD based on Marxist ideals that criticize capitalism. However, the truth is they have not been able to defy the principle set by Adam Smith, where he says the workers of poor countries shall work for more hours than workers of rich countries but still they would be much poorer. When some segment of the society raises voice for some limited ethnicities the problem is rather the farmers across all ethnicities are treated as a second class citizens.Hope, the future gets better for more than half of the Nepalese souls!

(most of the statistics belonging to this essay is taken from an article published in The Kathmandu Post)

MY LOVE Is NOT BLIND

I still remember you being the first one I noticed when we moved to Kathmandu. You and me were just child then. We didn't have to go to school and with our parents away the whole afternoon we had enough time together. With the city bustling, all colorful, full of neon lights all you said beautiful were mere sounds that the wind bell hung on your ceiling would produce. Unlike, me you never were fond of watching TV. That made me like you simply because you were different from me and most of my friends. When my dad would scold me for watching more of TV, and shut down my desktop when I reached last level of a video game, I would consol myself for being close to you. I liked being like you even if it was forced upon me.

 

Time passed soon. Now we had to go to a school. I would pray to God so that we were admitted in the same school. Well you brought different uniform days before school started, and I knew God shattered my dream that day. You know I seldom cry in public, I didn't do it then too. But I cried in my bed. Luckily, I managed my mom not to know of it. I didn't want her to feel sad for my misery. Still, I woke up the next morning, with a frown in my face. Unusual twitches in my face immediately brought attention out of my grey haired Grandma. She would, as usual, ask me why? I could not help answering. I said I wanted to go to the same school as you did. And, my Grandma said the school of yours was for special ones. I need not go there because I was already special from the very beginning. Well, I wanted to be just like you, not special than you. I said the same to my Grandma, but she said life would be pathetic being like you. That might have made me grow to hate you, but instead I grew loving you more.

I was always a curious fellow; right from the beginning. So, I would rush everyday to you to look at what you studied that day. Your books were ridiculous. They didn't have the colorful pictures that ours had. I wanted you to see my books, but you would not dare to. I felt how could you be like that. Well, I didn't think much of it then. Then, I would say you were the most beautiful girl I ever saw. You would ask me to describe how you looked. I used to say, you had beautifully curled up thick-black hair, big forehead, beautiful brown eyes, and your lips were more than pretty when you smiled. You would blush and your face would turn red and I would often, to redden you further, ask you to do the same about me. You used to say, I smelt good, my skin felt soft, my hair though thorny were good enough to rub the cheek with, and particularly you were fond of my voice. At that moment, I would feel ashamed that I couldn't define you the way you did me.

Slowly, we promoted our respective classes just like how we lifted ourselves in the steps close to Pashupati. I always cherish those moments, where I would hold your hand and took you to those green benches facing the temple, in the evening. I came there because I like seeing the temple ablaze in evening light produced by dying sun coupled with blazing yellow electric bulbs. You said you loved to listen to the evening prayers and the birds chirp faintly. Among these days, there would come February 14. I always waited for that day, to let you know that I loved you no matter what. I still remember the first time I felt like celebrating that day with you, I brought you a bouquet of red roses out of my winter's saving. When you inhaled the smell of it; my breathing halted and my heart pounded. Then you said, to bring Jasmines the next time since you could hold it easily without minding the thorns. Moreover, I know your love for that flower and still feel enthralled remembering those days when you used to tell me I smelt like Jasmine. And the next year, when I brought jasmines to you, I never saw you that happy before. You thanked me for remembering your choices. Well, you must have known by then that it was the only thing I cared of. We were in each other’s arm that day. We felt like being at top of the world. That heavenly moment was perfect to bring us more closer. I drew your chin towards me while you closed your eye lids. I gradually came towards you, and just the moment I saw your lips part to make path for mine's our noses collided. We smiled at our inexperience, and you looked down shying. Well, we corrected ourselves just few seconds after and shared our first kiss. So pleasant, soothing was the feeling that I can still remember every fragment of it. It made me think what would have happened if I have never met you.

When I graduated from college, the first thing I thought of was marrying you. I knew you were the one I wanted to be with all my life. I said it to my parents. They would deny. And why that? I would lay disappointed for few more days. Seeing me agitate, my mom proposed me to marry your sister. She said you and your sister looked alike. I could marry her and be as happy. Such ridiculous argument made me boil from inside. I asked for the last time ,"Why?". My mom replied, "Because she is blind".

She replied as if I didn't know the fact. I knew it a decade and a half ago. I loved you before I knew it and still more after I knew that you could see more than what our human eyes could. Your senses would travel faster than light, so you are no less special than us. With all these thought crashing in my mind  I replied to my mom, " Yeah she is blind, but my love to her is not blind. It seeks her and cares for her all the while. I cannot live without her."

I am waiting for her answer right now. I hope the answer would be positive.