Nepal | SabrangIndia

Nepal sets historic precedent, legalises same-sex unions

sabrang — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 06:01:49 +0000

Introduction-

The South Asian lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQIA+) population has looked to the Himalayan nation as a beacon of hope for their rights. In 2007, Nepal became the first nation in South Asia to formally recognize the third gender. Since then, the rights of gender and sexual minorities have gradually been realised and improved.

In a historic step, Nepal has become the first nation in South Asia to legalise same-sex unions, joining the tiny but increasing group of countries in the Asia-Pacific that have acknowledged this basic human right. The Supreme Court of Nepal issued a historic interim judgement on Friday ordering the Nepali government to formally recognise same-sex marriage, marking a significant step towards inclusivity and equality. This order by Justice Til Prasad Shrestha emphasises the necessity of significant changes to the current National Civil (Code) Act of 2017 (2074) provisions. According to the Family Law, marriage is defined as a relationship between “a man and a woman accepting each other as the husband and wife”. Adhip Pokharel, a Nepali national, and Tobias Volz, a German national, petitioned for this historic change. When Volz applied for a non-tourist visa to live in Nepal as Adhip Pokharel’s spouse in 2022, the couple—who had wed in Germany back in 2018—met with substantial challenges. The application was turned down by the authorities, who cited Nepal’s lack of legislative protections for same-sex unions as their justification. The pair was determined to stop this discriminatory practise, so they brought their case to the Supreme Court, which ultimately resulted in the issuing of an order granting the German citizen a non-tourist visa.

The legal journey to Same-sex marriages in Nepal

The lengthy and complex process that Nepal’s courts went through to recognise and legalise same-sex marriage is examined in this essay, along with the possible implications for an upcoming Indian Supreme Court decision.

On June 28 2023, the Supreme Court of Nepal made a historic decision that opened the door for marriage equality in the nation, making Nepal the first South Asian to legalize same-sex marriages and the fourth in the Asia-Pacific to do so. Justice Til Prasad Shrestha ordered the government to immediately begin registering same-sex marriages while working on legislation to modify the current law, despite the civil code currently defining marriage as being between a man and a woman

The Supreme Court of Nepal’s interim judgement calls for the creation of a “transitional mechanism” for the registering of weddings for the nation’s gender and sexual minorities. In addition, the directive instructs the PMCMN and the office of the Prime Minister to establish a “separate register of marriages” specifically for heterosexual and homosexual couples.

The interim order is based on Article 18(1) (right to equality) of Nepal’s 2015 Constitution and Section 69(1) (freedom of marriage) of The National Civil (Code) Act of 2017 which promote the recognition of marriage rights for people based on their gender identification and sexual orientation. It requests that the regulations pertaining to marriage and the registration of

Although there have been occasions when implementation has lagged, Nepal’s Supreme Court has won praise for its decisions in favour of LGBTQIA+ rights.

LGBTQIA+ individuals in Nepal have historically experienced significant discrimination and stigma. From their families, neighbourhoods, and places of employment, they frequently experienced hatred, rejection, and isolation. LGBTQIA+ people experienced verbal, physical, and emotional abuse, which had a serious negative impact on their mental and emotional health.

An important LGBTQIA+ rights group called the Blue Diamond Society (BDS) was established in Nepal in 2001. It was essential in spreading knowledge about LGBTQIA+ issues, offering support services, promoting legislative changes, and questioning social conventions. To provide a safe environment for LGBTQIA+ people, BDS ran community centres, outreach programmes, and pride marches.

Protests and demonstrations were organised by LGBTQIA+ activists in Nepal to demand their rights and oppose the country’s discriminatory laws and social mores. Although these activists encountered a lot of opposition and backlash, their work was crucial in spreading knowledge and rallying support for LGBTQIA+ rights.

The LGBTQIA+ population in Nepal was disproportionately impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Many LGBTQIA+ individuals were hesitant to seek healthcare treatments and support because of social stigma and discrimination. In order to address the confluence of LGBTQIA+ rights and public health, organisations like the Blue Diamond Society campaigned to give HIV/AIDS preventive information, testing, and support to LGBTQIA+ people.

Sunil Babu Pant Case- Catalyst for Change

A crucial court case, for LGBTQIA+ rights in Nepal was Sunil Babu Pant v. Government of Nepal[1]. The case was brought in 2007 by LGBTQIA+ activist and Blue Diamond Society founder Sunil Babu Pant, who questioned the validity of Nepal’s laws that make same-sex partnerships illegal.

The legal code of Nepal at the time, Section 377, used to criminalise “unnatural sexual intercourse” and target coerced same-sex partnerships. According to Sunil Babu Pant, this clause went against the Interim Constitution of Nepal’s guarantees of equality, non-discrimination, and privacy.

The Sunil Babu Pant v. Government of Nepal case was a significant advance for LGBTQIA+ rights. The LGBTQIA+ community was represented by the petitioners, who argued against Nepal’s discrimination against them and failure to recognise their preferred genders. The issuance of birth certificates, citizenship certificates, passports, voter identity cards that recognised their preferred genders, and the decriminalisation of consenting same-sex sexual activity were among the legal recognition and protections they sought.

The court ruled that under the different articles of the Constitution and the international agreements that Nepal has ratified, LGBTQIA+ people are entitled to equal protection and rights. According to the court, a person’s gender identity and sexual orientation are protected by their right to privacy and cannot be accessed without their consent. LGBTQIA+ people’s privacy was violated by treating their sexual behaviour as unnatural. A committee was established by the court with the mission of researching and defending the rights of minority groups, including the LGBTQIA+ community. The committee was tasked with advising the state on the adoption of suitable legal legislation to safeguard LGBTQIA+ rights. The court ordered the state to implement appropriate legal provisions to protect the rights in accordance with the committee’s recommendations. This verdict suggested the need for extensive legal changes to eliminate discrimination and give LGBTQIA+ people legal protection.

The Sunil Babu Pant case established crucial precedents for LGBTQIA+ rights in Nepal by reaffirming their legal equality, right to privacy, and dignity. Additionally, it emphasised the state’s responsibility to end prejudice and led to the formation of a committee to direct legislative improvements. These conclusions were important advancements in Nepal’s legal protection and acknowledgment of LGBTQIA+ rights. This verdict suggested the need for extensive legal changes to eliminate discrimination and give LGBTQIA+ people legal protection.

Early in 2015, a report from a government-appointed commission was released, effectively endorsing the legalisation of same-sex unions. However, neither had the same impact as the Supreme Court’s ruling establishing a third gender category. The third option was added to voter records by the Election Commission in 2010, and immigration papers quickly followed suit. Nepal was the first nation in the world to include a third gender in its federal census in 2011. The government also began issuing passports in 2015 that recognised three genders. In the same year, Nepal’s constitution was amended to specifically protect LGBT persons, making it the tenth nation in the world to do so.

Nepal’s progressive Constitution

On September 16, 2015, Nepal’s Constituent Assembly approved a ground-breaking new constitution following a protracted process of review and discussion. Having lost its monarchy in 2008, this was Nepal’s first constitution as a federal republic. Notably, the new constitution of Nepal is the first in Asia to specifically recognise the human rights of LGBTQ individuals.

Numerous sections of the constitution guarantee safeguards and rights for LGBT people. Article 12 gives people the freedom to indicate either their preferred gender identity—male, female, or other—on their citizenship documentation. The state and the judiciary are expressly forbidden from discriminating against gender and sexual minorities when enforcing the law under Article 18. Additionally, it enables the government to create specific legal provisions that develop, protect, and defend the rights of sexual and gender minorities as well as other oppressed and marginalised groups.

In order to encourage inclusiveness and representation, Article 42 also acknowledges gender and sexual minorities as a group with the right to participate in governmental processes and public services.

The Supreme Court of Nepal’s ground-breaking decision from December 2007 helped pave the way for this momentous development in Nepal’s constitution. The court’s ruling prepared the way for the inclusion of gender and sexual minorities’ rights in the nation’s constitution by laying the foundation for their recognition and protection.

Nepal’s constitution demonstrates a progressive position by specifically recognising the human rights of LGBT people and marks a significant turning point in the country’s advancement of equality and non-discrimination.

The court in the Sunil Babu Pant judgement also observed that the right to marriage is an “inherent right” of an adult based on free consent and will. However, it appears that the government’s legislative ineptitude in carrying out these court orders continues. In fact, there are some instances where the government has shown a reluctance to recognise the equal rights of the gender and sexual minorities, such as when it maintains a strictly gender-binary definition of marriage under Sections 67 (marriage deemed to be concluded) and 68 (marriage to be inviolable social bound).

The Supreme Court of Nepal has recently made decisions based on the principle of Stare decisis, citing other decisions it has made regarding LGBTQIA+ rights. The court strengthened the legal recognition of same-sex marriages and established a progressive trajectory in defending the rights of sexual minorities by being consistent and expanding on prior precedents.

Impact on Neighbouring countries and Global precedents

The Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which aims to repeal legislation criminalising intimate conduct between consenting adults, was recently dismissed by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. The court found that the proposed legislation would guarantee everyone equal protection under the law regardless of sexual orientation, strengthen fundamental rights, and enable people to live with dignity. Recognising the right to privacy and liberty, the court emphasised that it is not the function of the government to regulate adult-to-adult private consenting sexual interactions.

This advancement in Sri Lanka is consistent with the historic decision rendered on March 22 by the Supreme Court of Nepal. The Supreme Court of Nepal recognised the equality of marriage and ordered the Ministry of Law and Justice to draught an equal marriage law or change current legislation to reflect this. Since the court’s ruling in Sunil Babu Pant v. Government of Nepal in 2007, which recognised the third gender legally and upheld the right to marriage as an inherent right based on free consent and will, non-heterosexual weddings have been accepted in Nepal.

The region’s neighbouring nations are significantly impacted by Nepal’s progressive position on LGBTQIA+ rights. The Supreme Court of India, a neighbouring country, decriminalised homosexuality in 2018 and is currently taking requests for non-heterosexual couples to be treated equally in marriage. The ruling in Nepal establishes a precedent and motivates comparable debates and legal issues in India.

The legalisation of gay marriage in Nepal also demonstrates the nation’s leadership in furthering the rights of South Asian gender and sexual minorities. The steadfast dedication of Nepal’s Supreme Court to equality and the affirmation of fundamental rights serves as a model for other nations in the region.

Conclusion

The legal environment is changing, and it is more crucial than ever to recognise LGBTQIA+ people’s rights. The courts’ emphasis on respect, confidentiality, and equal legal protection is consistent with universally accepted human rights tenets. A rising understanding that consenting private conduct between adults should not be criminalised can be seen in Nepal’s ruling and Sri Lanka’s dismissal of challenges to the repeal of discriminatory laws.

In conclusion, tremendous progress has been made in recognising and defending the rights of gender and sexual minorities in South Asia as seen by Nepal’s ground-breaking decision on marriage equality and Sri Lanka’s rejection of objections to the repeal of discriminatory laws. These developments may influence legal debates and reforms in neighbouring nations, promoting a more welcoming and egalitarian society for all.

LGBTQIA+ activists and advocacy groups in India find inspiration and a role model in Nepal’s legalisation of same-sex unions. The courts would be encouraged to fight for the same rights and official acceptance of same-sex unions in India. Legal advances in one nation can have an impact on judicial rulings and legal debates in neighbouring nations. Nepal’s legalisation of same-sex unions may add to the increasing number of worldwide legal precedents and justifications for marital equality. These precedents could be mentioned in Indian courts while a petition for same-sex unions is under consideration. When same-sex marriage laws are successfully implemented in Nepal, politicians in India may consider making similar changes. The Indian government may come under pressure as a result to deal with LGBTQIA+ rights problems more aggressively and take steps to legalise same-sex weddings or increase the legal status of same-sex partnerships.

(This article has been researched by Hasi Jain, an intern with the organisation.)

same-sex unions[1] Sunil Babu Pant v. Nepal Government, Writ No. 914 of the year 2064 BS (2007 AD)

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A faux pas that could have lead to another Indo-Nepal war of words

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 13:15:35 +0000

Image Courtesy:indiatoday.in

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has had to move at lightning speed to try and undo the diplomatic damage done by the words of Minister S Jaishankar who called Gautama Buddha one of the two greatest “Indians”. The other name Jaishankar invoked was of the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, who truly is an Indian, unlike Gautama Buddha who was born in Lumbini, Nepal, and is worshiped the world over.

According to the Indian Express, Jaishankar’s statement at a webinar on Saturday, the remark disturbed many in Nepal, and could have led to diplomatic stress between the two nations. Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement giving Jaishankar a refresher course on the life of Gautam Buddha. It stated, “It is a well-established and undeniable fact proven by historical and archaeological evidences that Gautam Buddha was born in Lumbini, Nepal. Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha and the fountain of Buddhism, is one of the UNESCO world heritage sites.”

“During his visit to Nepal in 2014, the Prime Minister of India H.E. Shri Narendra Modi himself, while addressing Nepal’s legislature Parliament, had said that ‘Nepal is the country where apostle of peace in the world, Buddha, was born’,” they added.

As reported by The Indian Express, leaders from both, the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and the opposition Nepali Congress, joined voices and expressed their anguish over Jaishankar’s statement who said on Saturday that Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi were the two greatest Indians. “Who are the two greatest Indians ever that you can remember. I would say, one is Gautam Buddha, and the other is Mahatma Gandhi. Not just the greatest Indians that you and I, as Indians remember. But the greatest Indians that the world remembers,” Jaishankar had said during a webinar on Saturday.

The Telegraph reported that India was then forced to act swiftly to soothe a “possible new irritant in the already strained relations.” That the Buddha’s birthplace of Lumbini is located in Nepal “remains beyond doubt and controversy and thus cannot be a subject of debate”, Nepal’s foreign office said, adding “It is true that Buddhism spread from Nepal to other parts of the world in the subsequent period. The matter remains beyond doubt and controversy and thus cannot be a subject of debate. The entire international community is aware of this.”

India’s external affairs ministry responded quickly, saying: “EAM’s (external affairs minister’s) remarks yesterday at the CII event referred to our shared Buddhist heritage. There is no doubt that Gautam Buddha was born in Lumbini, which is in Nepal” said the news report.

According to the Telegraph, Jaishankar’s comment was made at an interactive session organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry on Saturday. He had been asked by Naushad Forbes, co-chairman of Forbes Marshall, if there was “a place for moral leadership in India’s foreign policy or is that being Jimmy Carter in 2020 (being impractical and putting principle ahead of interest)?”

Then, Jaishankar began his reply saying, “Who are the two greatest Indians ever you can remember? I would say one is Gautam Buddha and the other is Mahatma Gandhi — the greatest Indians that the world remembers.”

The rest is history.

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Tussle ensues between India and Nepal over disputed Kalapani area

Sat, 09 Nov 2019 04:40:29 +0000

Nepal’s government, political brass and people have been up in arms against the new political roadmap released by India which places Kalapani, a territory claimed by Nepal, within Indian borders, The Wire reported.

A tussle has ensued between the two countries with both claiming the Kalapani areas falling under their borders.

The Nepalis, who are fuming over India’s claims say that Kalapani is a part of Nepali territory as per the Sagauli Treaty signed between Nepal and the then East India Company.

Over the past two years, there has not been much communication between Kathmandu and New Delhi regarding disputed territories like Kalapani, even though officials from both sides have agreed to sort out border issues, The Kathmandu Post reported.

The Kalapani dispute began in 1962 after India withdrew all its border outposts from the northern belt of Nepal, according to Buddhi Narayan Shrestha, former director-general of the Survey Department.

During Matrika Prasad Koirala’s prime ministership in 1952, Nepal allowed India to station its troops in Kathmandu and on Nepal’s northern border, including Kalapani. India later withdrew from all other posts and stationed its troops on its side of the border of Kalapani. But later, India moved into Nepali territory, making Kalapani a disputed area between Nepal and India, according to Shrestha.

MyRepublica, reported that protests had mounted all over the country over Kaplapani’s inclusion in the Indian Territory. Even then, the coat of arms used by several government offices in Nepal on their official websites appear to conform to the Indian version in this particular regard.

Former deputy director general of DoS Suresh Man Shrestha said that though the department had disseminated the official map of Nepal to all government ministries, many were still using the old map – the one in accordance with India.

Republica has found that the coat of arms used on the Flickr page of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) also includes the incorrect map of Nepal. A similar coat of arms is found to have been used by various other government offices on their official websites, including Nepal’s embassies in Australia and Qatar, the government’s ‘official portal’ (www.nepal.gov.np), and the Teachers’ Service Commission among others.

While India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar has said that the map is accurate in its depiction of the sovereign territory of India, Nepalis have taken to the streets and to social media demanding that India correct its stand by trending the hashtag #BackOffIndia.

With both sides not willing to back down from their stance, is India set to form an enemy in Nepal?

New government’s policy concerns on energy, water, environment, pollution and climate change

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Nepal bans new Indian currency notes above Rs.100

Fri, 14 Dec 2018 08:23:23 +0000

According to a report by Kathmandu post, the government has asked Nepal citizens to refrain from keeping new Indian note of Rs. 2,000, Rs. 500 and Rs. 200 denominations.

Kathmandu: The Nepal government has decided to ban Indian currency above Rs. 100, according to a report published in Kathmandu Post on Thursday.

According to the report, the government has asked Nepal citizens to refrain from keeping new Indian note of Rs. 2,000, Rs. 500 and Rs. 200 denominations. The government has asked the people to refrain from keeping or carrying Indian bank notes higher than Rs. 100 denomination as it has not legalised the higher denomination notes, The Kathmandu Post quoted Nepal Minister for Information and Communications Gokul Prasad Baskota.

The decision, which will affect middle and low-income Indian tourists, was taken at the last Cabinet meeting, the minister announced.

The move can also affect the Nepali people working in India, who carry the currency in Nepal for transactions.

Indian had introduced the new notes of Rs 2,000, Rs 500 and Rs 200 denominations after demonetisation in 2016. The Nepal government has not notified legalisation of new Indian notes.

People had been using the new notes in Nepal for nearly two years after demonetisation was announced in November 2016.

“The decision comes as the Nepal government is preparing to celebrate 2020 as the ‘Visit Nepal Year’. Estimates indicate that at least 2 million people will visit Nepal in 2020, the bulk of them from India. In an unrelated incident, a Kathmandu court imposed a fine of Rs. 1,000 on an activist who had planned to show a black flag to Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he had visited Nepal on August 30 to participate in the BIMSTEC summit,” The Indian Express reported.

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Two years after the earthquake, why has Nepal failed to recover?

Mon, 15 May 2017 10:55:20 +0000

Two years after the devastating earthquakes that struck Nepal, the country is struggling to bounce back. Nearly 70% of the affected people still live in temporary shelters, and it is common to see damaged houses, temples without roofs, and earthquake debris lying around, even in the capital Kathmandu.

The recovery is painfully slow, and many families who lost their loved ones continue to live in traumatic conditions.
Over the past two years, working with CARE Nepal and the Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies, we have talked to local communities in the Gorkha, Kathmandu and Kavre districts, and helped to organise a national workshop involving senior government officials, researchers and civil society actors.

Devastation

The twin earthquakes that struck on April 26 and May 12, 2015 caused around 9,000 deaths, and around half a million families in the central region of the country lost their homes. As well as houses, dozens of Kathmandu’s heritage buildings were destroyed, including the iconic Dharahara tower.

In the quakes’ immediate aftermath, relief and rescue work began swiftly, with local volunteers working with the army and international aid workers. However, over the past two years the recovery effort has slowed to a crawl.

Political bickering, a lack of accountability and poor management of funds have all hampered efforts to rebuild. After two years, Nepali media have branded the situation a “failure”.
What went wrong? Our fieldwork and interviews identified four underlying problems.

The historic nine-storey Dharahara tower in Kathmandu, two years after it was severely damaged. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

1. Partisan squabbling

Immediately after the disaster, the government and opposition parties agreed to create a new public body, the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), to oversee rebuilding.

However, despite pressure from international donors and humanitarian agencies, protracted political wrangling meant it took almost nine months to appoint someone to lead the new body. The chief executive has changed three times in little over a year.

Donors pledged more than US$4 billion to the NRA, but little of the aid money has found its way into the work of rebuilding. As a result, fewer than 10% of the roughly 500,000 damaged homes have been rebuilt with support from the government and donors.

The earthquake hit at a time when Nepal was embroiled in debate over its new constitution, which became a matter of controversy. For about ten years, the disaster response agenda had been neglected by the contentious politics of state restructuring, following the decade-long violent Maoist revolt.

Disaster response has thus been sidelined by protracted political instability, characterised by constitutional transition, ideological and ethnic tension, and frequent changes of government.

2. Absence of local government

Although national parliament elections have been held in Nepal on more or less on a regular basis, there has been no local election or effective local government for 16 years.

Local elections have finally been announced for May 14 and June 14, 2017, but the damage caused by more than a decade of political vacuum is huge. The loss of political accountability to local people is one of the key factors of the failure of disaster recovery in Nepal.

In several locations, we found unaffected local elites included in the lists of victims receiving financial support. Without local democratic leadership, people cannot voice their concerns, mobilise community resources, or scrutinise projects.

Despite this, Nepalese people enjoy strong local social capital, which has helped them in times of distress and difficulty. Community leaders in Gorkha told us: “we work together at the community level to rebuild damaged houses one by one even when there is no support from the government or donors”.

Some local leaders have worked with their communities to build infrastructure, small roads, schools and hospitals. Nevertheless, these individual efforts are no substitute for strong and democratic local government.

A girl lights a candle as she marks the anniversary of the first 2015 Nepal earthquake, at Boudhanath stupa in Kathmandu.REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

3. Ineffective international aid

In the aftermath of the earthquakes, Nepal’s National Planning Commission estimated that the country needed more than US$7 billion for recovery. The billions of dollars committed by international donors was not translated into a clear plan to direct the money, which meant it has had little impact in rebuilding.

The NRA, which should have led the major state response to the disaster, has been hampered by cumbersome administration. A proposal to allow the NRA to bypass the standard procedures failed to eventuate, and a senior official told us their work is slowed by inefficient and lethargic regulations.

The head of the NRA recently publicly criticised the slow pace of rebuilding, blaming overly inflexible procedures and a lack of strong political will.

Donors have therefore preferred to give to international NGOs instead of state options; in Gorkha alone there were 300 different NGOs operating immediately after the earthquake.

The effectiveness of these organisations has been questioned by independent commentators and academic researchers, some even describing the post-disaster aid industry as “disaster capitalism”. However, despite challenges, several NGOs have delivered vital relief in times of need.

Nepal still lacks effective and enforceable mechanisms to monitor the use of humanitarian support. Having the money is not enough; it must reach the projects that truly help people.

4. Regional tensions

Nepal exists in a delicate balance between India and China, and a few months after the earthquakes a blockade between India and Nepal disrupted supplies. Nepal blamed India for the blockade, while India said the disruption of supplies was due to internal political problems in Nepal.

As a landlocked country, Nepal has historically relied on India for its basic supplies. India’s blockade led to almost total paralysis of not only the recovery work, but the entire economy. At the same time, in recent years China’s interest in Nepal has grown.

During the blockade, China provided free oil, but such one-off assistance did not address recovery needs. The competition between China and India for influence in Nepal has not resulted in any substantial benefit for those affected by the disaster.

Given the persistent seismic risks in the Himalayas, there is a need to create a coherent regional structure for disaster recovery. Yet internal tensions appear to have prevented the Nepal government from promoting serious international cooperation.

Since the entire Himalayas is prone to multiple forms of disaster, a region-wide research and recovery initiative, involving both China and India, is crucial.

Nepal is just one case of poor disaster recovery management. The questions we need to ask, two years on, are: how can we improve national and local government responses? How can international aid work with government efforts? And how can we foster regional cooperation?

This article was first published on theconversation.com.

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Report claims Ramdev invested in Nepal without govt approval

Tue, 29 Nov 2016 09:48:04 +0000

Yoga guru Ramdev has landed in a controversy in Nepal after a media report claimed that Patanjali Ayurved group invested more than Rs 150 crore in the country without official approval.

Photo: Hindustan Times

The Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act requires any foreign investor to get permission from the Investment Board Nepal or the Department of Industries before investing in Nepal.

The report in Nepal’s largest selling newspaper Kantipur Daily said Ramdev failed to seek such mandatory permissions.

Meanwhile, Ramdev has denied the allegations in a statement released yesterday, saying his company has not flouted any local law while conducting activities in Nepal.

The statement, signed by Ramdev, said the proposed investment from Patanjali Ayurved Limited will flow into Nepal only after completing all due legal process.

According to Ramdev, Patanjali Yogapeeth of Nepal has not attracted any sort of investment from India.

“Entire investment in Patanjali Yogapeeth in Nepal has come from Upendra Mahato, a Nepalese businessman and his wife Samata. When we invest in the company in future which we plan to do, we will follow the prevalent laws of Nepal and take approval from the concerned government authorities,” reads the statement.

He said that proceeds from that company will not be distributed to the investor but “will be spent on philanthropic activities,” according to the statement.

“I have devoted my entire life fighting corruption, black money and financial misappropriation, and I am committed to financial transparency. So, there is no possibility that I would be involved in any kind of illegal investment in Nepal,” Ramdev said.

Speaking at a press meet on 23 November, Ramdev had announced that he has invested Rs 150 crores in Ayurvedic factory in Nepal and is planning to further invest Rs 500 crore in the future.

He had also announced to invest billions of rupees in Nepal to create 20,000 jobs in the country as by launching a new venture to produce organic medicine and other items.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari on 24 November inaugurated Ramdev’s Patanjali factory in southern Nepal’s Bara district which will produce organic medicine and other items. Minister for Agriculture Gaurishankar Chaudhary was also present on the occasion.

(With inputs from PTI)

Courtesy: Janta ka Reporter

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Teach RSS the Constitution, Mr Prime Minister

Thu, 25 Feb 2016 05:22:06 +0000

First Published on: February 12, 2016

Modi to address the principals of RSS run schools

Image: The Hindu

Today. India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, will create history of sorts. He is scheduled to address principals of 1,100 RSS-run senior secondary schools at Delhi’s Vignan Bhavan flanked by his aide and MHRD minister, Smriti Irani. Not an outfit that reveres India’s foundational document, the Constitution, we appeal to Narendra Modi, “Please Teach The RSS the Constitution, Mr Prime Minister.”

We also reproduce here a detailed critique(s) of the texts used and taught by the Vidyabharati schools run by the RSS. This substantive critique of the RSS-run Vidya Bharati schools was conducted by the NCERT (National Council for Educational Research and Training) a central body that is today filled with men and women sworn to an un-Constitutional vision. The RSS’s BJP incharge Krishna Gopal, NCERT director Hrushikesh Senapaty and CBSE Chairman Y S K Seshu Kumar. RSS had told the Indian Express (on January 22, 2016) that February 12 was chosen for the PM’s address as the day will be observed as Vasant Panchami and Saraswati Puja this year.

On November 27, 2015 a comment made Modi in the Lok Sabha (Parliament), while responding to sharp, countrywide criticisms of growing hate crimes and intolerance had sworn that the “Indian Constitution was the only holy book to which his government was committed.”

The series of hate driven crimes all across the country since August-September 2015 especially [1] had however been led by the very outfits that are the ideological bedrock of this government, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its new avatars, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal (BD). This is before the “institutional murder” of Rohith Vemula that has revealed an unseemly interest by the same central, MHRD ministry in student politics and their affairs, hastily dubbing students who challenge the narrow worldview of the RSS and its student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) as “casteist and anti-national.”

It is therefore relevant that the content of texts taught in RSS-run schools becomes central to the current debate.

[1] Mohsin Shaikh a Techie in Pune was lynched by a mob within days of the present government being sworn in, in New Delhi (June 2014); an extremist Hindutvawaadi outfit was allegedly involved

References:
PM Modi to address principals of 1,100 RSS-run schools on Feb 12; http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/pm-modi-to-address-principals-of-1100-rss-run-schools-on-feb-12/
‘India first’ only religion of government, Constitution its only scripture: Modi; http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-first-only-religion-of-government-and-constitution-its-only-scripture-says-modi/article7923917.ece

Breeding Bigotry

Communalism Combat carried this NCERT Committee report in October 1999. It is a frightening exposure and analysis of how young minds in India, within the RSS schools, are poisoned. We bring our readers this report that has relevance today

The NCERT’s National Steering Committee on text-book evaluation found that the RSS-run Vidya Bharati schools are being clearly used for the dissemination of blatantly communal ideas

We reproduce below extracts from National Steering Committee on Textbook Evaluation, Recommendation and Report II, NCERT (National Council for Educational Research and Training).
Publications of Vidya Bharati (Section VI of the report):

The Committee shares the concern expressed in the report over the publication and use of blatantly communal writings in the series entitled, Sanskriti Jnan in the Vidya Bharati Schools which have been set up in different parts of the country. Their number is reported to be 6,000. The Committee agrees with the report that much of the material in the so–called Sanskrit Jnan series is “designed to promote bigotry and religious fanaticism in the name of inculcating knowledge of culture in the young generation”. The Committee is of the view that the Vidya Bharati schools are being clearly used for the dissemination of blatantly communal ideas. In its earlier report (January 1993), the Committee had commented on publications which had been brought out with similar objectives by the Saraswati Shishu Mandir Prakashan and Markazi Maktaba Islami and had recommended that they should not be allowed to be used in schools. The Sanskriti Jnan series are known to be in use in Vidya Bharati schools in Madhya Pradesh and elsewhere. The Committee recommends that the educational authorities of Madhya Pradesh and other states should disallow the use of this series in the schools. The state governments may also consider appropriate steps to stop the publication of these materials which foment communal hatred and disallow the examinations which are held by the Vidya Bharati Sansthan on the basis of these materials.

Appendix:
The Vidya Bharati Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan is stated to have been set up in 1978. It has been producing materials which are used in Saraswati Shishu Mandirs and other schools which have been set up by this Sansthan in different parts of the country. A large number of these schools have been set up in Madhya Pradesh. The Vidya Bharati schools in Madhya Pradesh had earlier been permitted to have their own examinations up to class VIII as well as to have their own teacher training programme. These schools are used for the propagation of blatantly communal ideas. Some of the textbooks used in Saraswati Shishu Mandirs in Uttar Pradesh had been evaluated in 1993.

A series of booklets which is being used in the Vidya Bharati schools has been published under the general title of Sanskriti Jnan Pareeksha and Sanskrit–Jnan Pareeksha Prashn–ottari (Culture–Knowledge Examination and Culture–Knowledge Examination Questions–Answers). These books are in the form of questions and answers which are meant to be taught by teachers and memorized by students. They are also used for assessing children in an all–India examination which is conducted by the Sansthan. The Sansthan claims that during 1993–94, 3,55,282 students appeared in the examination based on this question–answer series. The total number of schools run by the Sansthan is claimed to be 6,000 with 12,00,000 students and 40,000 teachers.

The Vidya Bharati Sansthan claims to be engaged in providing to the young generation education in religion, culture and nationalism. The catechistic series is part of the Sansthan’s effort in this direction.

‘In one booklet, the RSS is given the status of divine power’.

Some examples of the kind of ‘knowledge’ of sanskriti these booklets are disseminating are given below:
1. The booklets include information and questions and answers on the ‘geographical and political boundaries of India’. Besides Pakistan and Bangladesh, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and ‘Brahmadesh or Myanmar’ are all supposed to have been earlier parts of India. There is a question on Sri Lanka which reads, “What is the name of the island in the south which touches the feet of Bharat Mother, and which reminds us of Sri Ramachandra’s victory over Ravana and which was a part of our country at one time?” Arab Sagar, according to these booklets, is supposed to be also known as Sindhu Sagar and Bay of Bengal as Gangasagar. These names are also used in the map of India which is printed as the back cover of many of the booklets under the caption Punyabhoomi Bharat. In this map, Indian Ocean is mentioned as Hindu Mahasagar.

2. India is presented in extreme chauvinist terms as the ‘original home of world civilisation’. One of the booklets (No.IX), for example, says, “India is the most ancient country in the world. When civilisation had not developed in many countries of the world, when people in those countries lived in jungles naked or covering their bodies with the bark of trees or hides of animals, Bharat’s Rishis–Munis brought the light of culture and civilisation to all those countries.” Some of the examples of the “spread of the light of Aryatva by Bharatiya Manishis” given are the following:
(i) “The credit for lighting the lamp of culture in China goes to the ancient Indians,
(ii) India is the mother country of ancient China. Their ancestors were Indian kshatriyas…
(iii) The first people who began to inhabit China were Indians.”

“The first people to settle in Iran were Indians (Aryans)”.

“The popularity of the great work of the Aryans — Valmiki Ramayana — influenced (Yavana) yunan? (Greece) and there also the great poet Homer composed a version of the Ramayana”.

“The Languages of the indigenous people (Red Indians) of the northern part of America were derived from ancient Indian languages”.

3. Many of these booklets have a section each on ‘Sri Ramjanma-bhumi’. They present RSS–VHP propaganda in the form of catechisms to be memorized by the faithful as absolute truths. Some of the questions – answers in these sections are as followers;

Q. Who got the first temple built on the birth place of Shri Ram in Ayodhya?
A. Shri Ram’s son Maharaja Kush.

Q. Who was the first foreign invader who destroyed Sri Ram temple?
A. Menander of Greece (150 B.C.)

Q. Who got the present Rama Temple built?
A. Maharaja Chandragupta Vikramaditya (A.D. 380–413).

Q. Which Muslim plunderer invaded the temples in Ayodhya in A.D. 1033?
A. Mahmud Ghaznavi’s nephew Salar Masud.

Q. Which Mughal invader destroyed the Rama Temple in A.D. 1528?
A. Babur.

Q. Why is Babri Masjid not a mosque?
A. Because Muslims have never till today offered Namaz there.

Q. How many devotees of Rama laid down their life to liberate Rama temple from A.D. 1528 to A.D. 1914?
A. Three lakh fifty thousand.

Q. How many times did the foreigners invade Shri Ramajanma-bhumi?
A. Seventy–seven times.

Q. “Which day was decided by Sri Ram Kar Sewa Samiti to start Kar Sewa?
A. 30 October, 1990.

Q. Why will 2 November 1990 be inscribed in black letters in the history of India?
A. Because on that day, the then Chief Minister by ordering the Police to shoot unarmed Kar Sewaks massacred hundreds of them.

Q. When was the Shilanyas of the temple laid in Sri Ram Janmbhumi?
A. 1 November 1989.

Q. What was the number of the struggle for the liberation of Ram Janmabhumi which was launched on 30 October 1990?
A. 78th struggle.

Some other questions which have been included along with answers are:

“When did Ramabhakta Kar Sewaks unfurl the saffron flag on Shri Ramjanmabhumi?”
“Mention the names of the young boys who laid down their life while unfurling the saffron flag”.

4. In one of the books in the series (No.12), there is a section on the saints of the world and the sects/faiths founded by them. The statements made in this section are designed to promote contempt and blind hatred against other religions. One statement on the followers of Christianity reads as follows: “It is because of the conspiratorial policies of the followers of this religion that India was partitioned. Even today Christian missionaries are engaged in fostering anti–national tendencies in Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal, Bihar, Kerala, and other regions of our country because of which there is a grave danger to the integrity of present day India”.

About Islam, one of the statements is as follows: “Thousands of opponents of idol worship, the followers of Islam, go to the pilgrimage centre of Islamic community at Kaaba to worship ‘Shivalinga’. In Muslim society, the greatest wish is to have a darshan of that black stone (Shivalinga)”.

The state governments may also consider appropriate steps to stop the publication of these materials which foment communal hatred and disallow the examinations which are held by the Vidya Bharati Sansthan on the basis of these materials.

In another question, children are asked to fill in the blanks ‘rivers of blood’ as the means by which Prophet Mohammad spread Islam.

5. There are special sections in some of the booklets on RSS, its founder and its other leaders. In one booklet (No. 11), RSS, which is mentioned along with Arya Samaj and Ramakrishna Mission etc. as a social reform organisation, is given the status of divine power. It says, “Some divine power, whether it was Bhagwan Ram or Bhagwan Krishna, has always emerged for the preservation of the greatness of Indian culture. The Hindu organization Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh has arisen to end the present miserable condition and for the defence of the greatness of Bharatiya Sanskriti.”

6. The ‘knowledge’ imparted in the booklets includes such facts as Meghnath Saha, being the author of History of Hindu Science. Punjab University being located in Jalandhar, Jammu–Kashmir University located in Jammu, Annamalai University in Madras, and Andhra University in Hyderabad.

Much of this material is designed to promote bigotry and religious fanaticism in the name of inculcating knowledge of culture in the young which should be a matter of serious concern.

Archived from Communalism Combat, October 1999, Anniversary Issue (6th) Year 7 No. 52, Cover Story 7

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Can India survive Hindutva’s assaults?

Fri, 30 Jun 2000 18:30:00 +0000

Were the saffron project to succeed the resultant freak will be an affront to humanity, an assault on the senses

History constructs the ethos of a nation over time, vicissitudes notwithstand ing. Overarching the peri odical transitions and contingencies emerges the distinctive identity of a nation and stamps itself on its psyche and its being. The aeons–long experiential alchemy of India has fostered an ethos that has sustained it as a society and distinguished it as a unique nation. The various cultural encounters that India witnessed throughout its chequered and multi–layered history did not force it into an isolationist sulk. It creatively accommodated not only diverse peoples but also manifold thought currents. Both these — the people and the variegated streams of thought — contributed to the enrichment of Indian civilisation. And, like a person with multiple preferences and potentials, India subsumed layer upon layer of ideational variety and creative adventure in fields as far apart as philosophy and entertainment.

The thought processes and societal schemes of India, by and large, did not admit of elimination and exclusion in its cross cultural experiences (as its response). Its assimilative imagination overreached itself in even creating new gods and goddesses out of an amalgam that history had deposited at its doors. Its art forms reflected its refreshingly original blend of influences from far and near. All this from the free play of the inventive spirit, from the uninhibited exercise of the creative imagination, from the daring flights of experimental abandon.

India rejoiced in multiplicity, it celebrated its multiples of hybridity and bewildering array of heterogeneity by imaginatively transforming them into a “pure” novelty and imprinting it with characteristics all its own. India revelled in the multiverse. Pluralism became its destiny, its distinction, its divertissement. It was this overwhelming glory of an abundance that was designated as Mahajati by Tagore. An approximate, but in no way adequate, English rendition of the idea enshrined in this felicitous coinage of the poet may be the Great Race. Some of the people who mingled in the soil of India, as adumbrated in Shrimad Bhagawat (2.4.18) are: Kirat, Huna, Andhra, Pulind, Pulkash, Abhir, Shumbha, Yavana, Khasa, etc.

Violently jerked loose from these civilisational roots India will become a vicious chimera, a dreaded nightmare, an abode of evil, a frightening vista of ugliness (drab uniformity), a vast expanse of vacuity (death of creative imagination) and sterility (conformist regimentation). The resultant freak will not be India. It will have lost its bearing, and its reason for being. The detritus pretending to be India, sequent to its demolition, would be much less than even a dung heap — an affront to humanity, an assault on the senses.

Geographical territory alone isn’t enough for a nation to identify itself. That territory must have a character and an identity, forged by history and validated by time. Kurds, even without a territory, are still a nation. Violence of realpolitik may succeed in artificially creating nation-states sometimes. But it cannot create a nation. A nation is a mirror with its back to the past too.

Those who are antipathetic to this historical identity, cultural locus, and civilisational conspectus of India are foreign to its ethos as a nation and entity as a nation–state. They pose a permanent danger to the unity of the nation, to its diversity of sub–cultures and variety of sub–nationalisms, to its pluralistic conflations, and its heterogeneous self–assertions. They constitute a permanent fifth column ever ready to betray the nation and bleed it to death.

No amount of breast beating on their part can convince any sane Indian that they are patriots or nationalists. Their patriotism is parochial, their nationalism sectarian. They have carved out their narrow domain of loyalty and affinity to “their” kind. The rhetoric of “one people, one nation, one culture” is a foreign import, fascistic in intent and content, reactionary to the core, a regressive anachronism. This concept, alien to India and its psyche, had its provenance in Europe, which it drenched in blood for close to two centuries, without ever succeeding in fixing as final the territorial boundaries of any nation-state in a rational manner, fair to all its people. No saffron, the colour of fire, can purge it of its inhumane and protean contents, and render it swadeshi.

Those who denounce and repudiate this construct will do all in their power to destroy India rooted in and sustained over millennia by it. They will rather smash and shred India to smithereens than respectfully abide by its traditional ethos and let it flourish as a great model of humanistic and pluralistic nationalism for the world to emulate and be enlightened by. They will subvert it relentlessly as die–hard enemies of the nation while mumbling anathema against “others” within and without its borders.

While tearing it apart ruthlessly and forcing its diverse peoples to secede in order to escape its steamroller of hegemonic homogeneity, they will keep howling Akhand Bharat, quixotically laying claim to Afghanistan, Burma, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and of course, the Pak–Occupied Kashmir and Pakistan, and thus “restoring” the golden Bharat of a non–existent and mythical yore, and of a puerile lore.

Such malevolent ones can never look kindly upon secular democracy, participatory polity, egalitarian aspiration, and pluralistic impulse of the millions of people who constitute the nation. Rather than endorse and give in to this humane and holistic view of civic life in a nation disfigured by various divides, the Black Caps are seeking to further maul and mangle it in the interests of the few, traditionally privileged by the status quo at home, and militarily entrenched by the predatory (imperialist) business houses abroad. What they did in the matter of Kargil and Kandahar, viz., betrayal of the nation and open treason for the benefit of their party, is of a piece with their antecedents.

In the freedom struggle of India these anti–national, anti–social elements not only never participated, but also did their damned best to thwart it as stool pigeons and informers of the Brits. They, a national shame, constitute an indelible stigma on the social fabric of India.
The same love for the wily aliens (“Aryan” affinity, conjured in servility by the Black Caps) who drained India of its resources and subjected its people to massive tyranny (unbearable taxes and recurrent famines) and misery (devastating immiseration), is again in evidence in the grovelling welcome laid out for Bill Clinton.

And, these traditional traitors have offered to replace Pakistan as the imperium’s outpost in Asia. Emulating Pakistan! And, as new peons of Uncle Sam, also courting its fate — ignominy, isolation, abandonment after use, and political anarchy.

The US–Pak strategic alliance (SEATO, CENTO) was the prototype of the newly emergent Indo-US one, fabricated to advance American interests post–Cold War. Thus reduced to a watchdog of imperialist hegemony, facilitating and participating in the subjugation of South Asia to White aliens, India is set to become an agent of tyranny and loot directed by the imperium. This is the role pre–ordained and natally prescribed for those who made common cause with India’s enemy, the Brits.

This is the role the saffronites have played to the hilt with sickening regularity whenever they could. And, thus they betrayed the nation to Pakistan in Kargil and Talibans in Kandahar. The same role they have now pledged to play in the Indian Ocean region, ditching the interests and security of India and South Asia to oblige the foreign masters.
The number and kind of bills legislated lately by the Parliament are tell tale. They bespeak the priorities of the neo–Hindu bandwagon.

Not one enactment redressing the grievous issues currently affecting the masses, and no hurry in that direction. All the legislative flurry that has been in evidence has been strictly in favour of the foreign traders, mortgaging sector after sector of national economy (insurance, lawyers, etc.) to interests abroad. All national resources sacrificed to the holy trinity of globalisation (hegemonic death grip), liberalisation (foreign and feral exploitation), and privatisation (a fancy name for the sweetheart give–aways of public undertakings to foreigners and their native clones).

Historically, the neo–Hindus have been inimical to the people of India. And this roster only briefly showcases their bid to hasten the sell out, all as the unholy agenda of Hindutva. For diversionary ploys they never lack issues: violence against minorities, stuffing textbooks with vicious anecdotes as history, removing scholars from the ICHR for fear of exposure as Quislings, appointing avowed murderers at the helm in the NCERT, making Pakistan’s ISI responsible for its own gross incompetence and ineptitude, subverting the democratic process by gratuitously offering the Constitution for “review” and rooting for a Presidential form of government as if their tyranny in the present set–up is terribly restricted, performing neo–Hindu havanas and chanting of shlokas in state–sponsored events, encouraging barbaric vandalism by lumpens against artistic freedom of expression, communalising the bureaucracy and the police, brazenly making the governor an unabashed agent of the ruling party at the Centre, etc.

Their offensive against Hinduism, were it to succeed, may culminate into its shrinking to a cult. Only a cult has the fanaticism, narrowness, bigotry, and brain–dead conformity that the Black Caps impose on their cadres and on the society that they seek to “Hinduise”. It will have no resemblance with historical Hinduism, scriptural and popular. It would be a version of Christianity under Hitler which was quite “popular” in Germany in the accursed decades. The Black Cap Hindutva will snuff out the liberal, multi–faceted, large–hearted openness of imaginative expanse that characterised Hinduism over the millennia gone by. It would be one more Semitic sect, though not in external appearance, with its adherents dead to the wider world of humanity and its concerns, incapable of and unwilling to contribute to it anything in solidarity and enrichment. It would be dead Hinduism over whose ashes will Hindutva prevail.

As to India, this neo-Hindu fascist onslaught will prove its undoing. Its polity and society will be rent apart irremediably. Two points are worth pondering. One: This menace has not registered its ferocity well enough on the public mind. The intelligentsia is either lethargic or naive. Since its rampage is sporadic and spread out, the generality of people have not yet woken up to its fangs. But any delay in resisting it tooth and nail will amount to inviting national disaster.

Two: Fascist Hindutva will ride to power clutching the coat-tails of democracy — elections, legislatures, etc. But conceding this fig leaf of legitimacy and respectability to the murderous cult of neo–Hindus would ring the death knell of the democratic enterprise that is India.

Archived from Communalism Combat, July 2000, Year 7 No. 60, Cover Story

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Breeding Bigotry

Thu, 30 Sep 1999 18:30:00 +0000

The NCERT’s National Steering Committee on text-book evaluation found that the RSS-run Vidya Bharati schools are being clearly used for the dissemination of blatantly communal ideas

‘In one booklet, the RSS is given the status of divine power’.

Each booklet in the series comprises questions and answers on geography, politics, personalities, martyrs, morals, Hindu festivals, religious books, general knowledge, etc. Much of the material in these books is designed to promote blatantly communal and chauvinist ideas and popularize RSS and its policies and programmes.
Some examples of the kind of ‘knowledge’ of sanskriti these booklets are disseminating are given below:
1. The booklets include information and questions and answers on the ‘geographical and political boundaries of India’. Besides Pakistan and Bangladesh, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and ‘Brahmadesh or Myanmar’ are all supposed to have been earlier parts of India. There is a question on Sri Lanka which reads, “What is the name of the island in the south which touches the feet of Bharat Mother, and which reminds us of Sri Ramachandra’s victory over Ravana and which was a part of our country at one time?” Arab Sagar, according to these booklets, is supposed to be also known as Sindhu Sagar and Bay of Bengal as Gangasagar. These names are also used in the map of India which is printed as the back cover of many of the booklets under the caption Punyabhoomi Bharat. In this map, Indian Ocean is mentioned as Hindu Mahasagar.

(i) “The credit for lighting the lamp of culture in China goes to the ancient Indians,
(ii) India is the mother country of ancient China. Their ancestors were Indian kshatriyas…
(iii) The first people who began to inhabit China were Indians.”

“The first people to settle in Iran were Indians (Aryans)”.
“The popularity of the great work of the Aryans — Valmiki Ramayana — influenced (Yavana) yunan? (Greece) and there also the great poet Homer composed a version of the Ramayana”.