[grc] Campus Radio Manager in Nepal reports on aid blockade

[Frieda Werden]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dr.Manju Mishra <drmanju.cjmc at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 3:40 AM
Subject: Update on Nepals Current Situation
To:


Dear friends and well wishers,



I feel I am morally obligated to share what's been transpiring here in
Nepal.



Two months of un-announced blockade of food and oil by India has crippled
our economy and pushed many people into starvation. Severe oil shortage has
made travelling a nightmare and extremely expensive. Prices of daily
necessities have sky-rocketed. At a time when global oil prices are
collapsing, we are paying 5 US dollars for a liter of petrol out of
desperation. People in the capital ( god knows what's happening in the
villages) have started purchasing fire-wood for cooking purposes :
cooking-gas-carrying-bullet-trucks have not been allowed to pass from
India-Nepal border. People have started cooking collectively to save gas.
As for me, our cooking gas will last for a month and like millions out
there I will have to stockpile fire wood.

If the blockade continues and if the international community remains
silent, it will cause devastation far greater in scale than the earthquake.

If the blockade continues for another month, analysts have warned of
medicines being out-of-stock and public transport coming to a complete halt.





Of the 532 constituent assembly members that were present for the voting,
507  voted in support of the new constitution - that is an overwhelming
majority.  But India objected.

(Mind you, India imposed 2 months of blockade on Bhutan when it's prime
minister met with the Chinese premiere without prior informing India.
Sri-lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh not being any different with many
serious instances of intervention.) The agitation in the plains ( on
no-man's land to be precise) is sanctioned and supported  by the Indian
establishment to have "their" interests accommodated in our constitution.
Although, it has been portrayed as : the whole of "Terai region" in Nepal
not being represented.



Specially, when more than two-thirds of our representatives in the
parliament gave their approval - this objection by India is an affront to
democracy and a direct attack on our sovereignty. Democracy is a compromise
and this constitution has made every effort to be as inclusive as possible.



We Nepalese share deep social and cultural ties with the Indian people. We
have no deep-seated anger with our Indian brothers and sisters. It's the
Modi led Indian government that many here in Nepal blame for this
misfortune. One just has to follow Modi's attempts on Arvind Kejiriwal (
Delhi's chief minister) to truly understand what he stands for.





As goes with most things, this negative event has brought along many
positive outcomes. It has united us in a brotherly and sisterly bond.
People have been providing rides in their vehicles like never before and
organizing joint cooking events for the community. It has brought upon a
mindset of tolerance and inclusiveness amongst various races of people that
call themselves Nepali. This constitution and the blockade in general has
sparked a nation-wide dialogue in every household regarding who and what a
Nepali is  - because there is literally no monolithic character or
 physical attribute that defines a Nepali.



In the mean time, construction of the college building came to a complete
halt as cement and other building materials got terribly scarce.  However,
we did manage some repair works on the structure with carbon-fiber
re-enforcement and epoxy the loss it got due to the devastating earthquake.



With warm regards,

Manju Mishra





-- 
Frieda Werden, Series Producer
WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service www.wings.org