Uprising in Nepal
During the year 2001 some events of our neighbouring country Nepal became headlines in our Indian print media for several times. Among the most remarkable ones, the first one was a vigorous protest action on reaction to an alleged remark by an Indian film superstar. These were tumultuous 'anti-Indian' protests, burning down of cinema halls, etc. against which the Government of Nepal unleashed brutal police terror. The second one was the 'Palace massacre', and then also many Nepalese saw some 'Indian hands' behind the royal killings. The last one was, as termed by the government. 'Maoist insurgency', 'terrorism' etc.; clamping of a state of 'emergency'; India Government's declaring support of every kind to its Nepalese counterpart; etc. What cannot but become questions to the Indian workers are—? why there are such deep anti-Indian feelings among our Nepalese brothers and sisters, and ? why many parts of Nepal got 'infested' with 'Maoism' or such like things. In the perception of the rich and upper middle class Indian tourists Nepal is a country of awe inspiring mountain peaks, and of course, starred hotels-bars-casinos and shopping plazas full of 'foren' articles. Nothing else. They never look beyond this outward lustre, and Indian workers are kept at dark regarding the hard realities of Nepal; they can only form their ideas through what is given to them by the media controlled by rich folks. In this short article we will try to present the harsh ground reality of Nepal, so that the above-mentioned questions can be approached by all of us.
Nepal, the only Hindu state, only Hindu monarchy, is one of the poorest countries in the world. More than 70% of the total population of 25 million can be termed as 'poor', and the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) calculates 4.2% of the population as 'extremely' or 'absolutely' poor. More than 60% of the population is still illiterate, more than 90% live in villages. Poverty level is such that from the US killer-cum-terrorist organisation CIA's web pages it can be estimated that more than 70% of the families can't even own just a radio! When so many people there live in the rural areas agriculture should be their mainstay. What is the condition of Nepal's agriculture? Only 13% of the cultivated land is irrigated (figure of mid-nineties). Don't blame the hilly terrains for it; The Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimated that in the Terai 80% of the land, and in the hills 25% of the cultivated land can be irrigated taking the total possible irrigated area to mostly 70%! Presently the cropping intensity is barely 0.9, which means that 90% of the cultivated area yields a single crop per year only. Not only that; in the period 1984-94 overall agricultural production dropped by 0.68%, the drop in food grains being 7.23%, and for the most important grain, rice, production decreased by more than 16%! If we look at the agrarian scenario, we'll see that 8% of the rural population has no land of their own. Out of these having land, 65% of poor have only 10% of the cultivated land. Whereas, the richest 10% own 65% of the cultivated land. And all these figures were calculated by a FAO expert who was studying the effect of the much-publicised 'land reform' in Nepal. Most of the poor peasants are tenant farmers engaged in sharecropping. 80% of the rural credit comes from the usurers. Though 81% of the country's labour force is engaged in agriculture, only 10% can be said to be 'employed', whereas more than 60% are much underemployed. Modern agricultural practices are rare. Only 1% of investments in agriculture consist of modern inputs. The rest goes to agricultural 'marketing' and allied activities. Needless to say, Nepal's agriculture is much backward, even perhaps compared to Bihar or Assam. Severe feudal exploitation, exploitations by landlords-merchants-money lenders bend the back of the Nepalese and the people also refused to tolerate it any more.
Whereas in the early 50's 2.19% of Nepal's labour force was engaged in industries, in the early 90's only 1.25% was engaged in the industrial sector. In the 'globalised' period of the 90's some 'industries' did thrive in Nepal too. But the result of such industrialisation is that each Nepalese citizen can be supplied with (if they can afford at all) a litre or more of 'Made in Nepal' Coke or Pepsi or Beer or such soft drinks. But production of cotton fibre is still at a level of 0.3 meters/capita/year and of shoes, it is 0.03 pairs/capita/year! Investments are being made in luxury production including tourism sector. The first large scale industry to be started in Nepal was the Biratnagar Jute Mills (1936), owned by the then Nepal's PM JS Rana's family and one Radhe Krishen Chamariar. Mainly Indian multibillionaires, especially the Marwari businessmen, control Nepal?s industries and all major trade/commerce institutions. Through various "agreements" between the Indian and Nepalese governments these rich Indians enjoy government patronage there, and own businesses of their own or with Nepalese 'partners' from among the ruling class of Nepal. A recent document says that though the penetration of Indian goods in Nepal's market has lately decreased to less than half of the total, Indians control more than three quarter of Nepal's industry-trade-commerce and allied economy. In the mind of the Nepalese exploited people this Indian domination quite justifiably causes hatred.
Indian domination doesn't end here. There are a series of agreements between these two governments regarding Nepal's rivers. One last such agreement in the 1990, gave Indian ruling classes almost exclusive right on Nepal's water resources. One may find it queer that why such a thing like river water can cause such a grave problem ? but if one looks at the CIA's site, it will be found that CIA places water and Hydel power among Nepal's top five natural resources. According to some researchers, Nepal is the second richest country in the world in terms of water and Hydel power resources, and only 0.5% of the latter is utilised now. Dams are being built in such a way as to give Indian ruling classes most of the water. Hydel projects are built in such a way (big dam ? big Hydel project) that foreign contractors and Indian monopolies can exploit the whole, and suck Nepal dry. Foreign domination and dependence have increased to such an extent that while in 1970 per capita foreign loan of Nepal government stood at only Rs. 70, in 1994 it crossed Rs. 6,000 mark!
Apart from the foreign exploitation (particularly by and through the Indian ruling classes), and exploitation of native landowners-traders-usurers-capitalists and their state power, Nepal has some other serious problems arising from the character of the Nepalese ruling class. Nepal is a monarchy, ruled by a despotic king, for hundreds of years. After many years of struggle for democracy the king ultimately gave some space to multiparty parliamentary democracy in the early 90's. But a decade of parliamentary democracy has taught our Nepalese brothers and sisters a good lesson about how much democracy such parliament bring. Secondly, Nepal happens to be a Hindu state with a Hindu king of Kshatriya caste. So all the evils of Hinduism are dominating there. Caste exploitation and Hindu religious domination over 'lower castes' and other religions/ethnic groups are there. There are various nationalities in Nepal who do not enjoy a drop of freedom or equality; e.g.: the Newars who are a major group in the Kathmandu valley; the Magars, who are in the majority in Western Nepal's districts, etc. Hindu cult, Nepalese language, caste system, etc. everything is forced upon them; and moreover studying Sanskrit language is compulsory in schools which creates a blockade to higher education among non-Sanskrit language speaking students.
As the ruling classes look down upon their 'subjects' in Nepal so the Indian ruling classes behave with the Nepalese nation a whole. Some alleged remarks by an Indian film star caused an uproar there, and afterwards the same 'star' said that he had been misunderstood; he indeed loves the Nepalese, and his household's all good old loyal servants are Nepalese!! This actually show how insulting is the attitude of Indian rich folks regarding our Nepalese brothers and sisters, and also why our Nepalese brothers hate the Indian ruling classes so deeply.
Against this economic and social background, the Indian working class and the real democratic forces can well understand that Nepal's path of salvation lies in uprooting the state power, uprooting the domination of foreign (including Indian) and native exploiters, and forming a real peoples' democracy in Nepal. The brutal atrocities of the Nepal government and the support given to it by the Indian government can only steel the Nepalese freedom loving, struggling workers and peasants. We on our behalf must demand that the Indian government must stop giving support to the Nepal government, must scrap all the unequal treaties; and we must give support to the struggling workers and peasants of Nepal. To some of us, the path taken by the revolutionaries there may, in some parts or other, seem questionable; but we also do not know exactly and fully how the revolutionary struggle is being built up there and the concrete objective reality of Nepal. Still then we hope that they will find their correct way by practice and by summing up of their experiences, in the light of Marxism-Leninism, and they will succeed.
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