YOU and ME, Mindless, mindless, mindless idiots!
paritraanaya saadhunaam
vinaashaaya cha dushkrataam
dharma samsthaapanaarthaaya
sambhavami yuge yuge
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Stuffing our bloated, dead faces,
With trash-food, full of chemicals,
And genetic mutation time-bombs.
Raping our fragile bodies with,
Prozac and steroids and lipitor,
As if doctors can cure foolish assumptions.
Smoking and boozing like,
Slow motion suicide bombers,
Worshiping the 'right' of self-destruction.
Slashing and burning our forests for what?
Asphalt and concrete temples called malls,
And garbage dumps full of plastic forks and fetuses.
Behaving as if bank accounts are gods,
Too stupid to recognize that dollar bills,
Can't even pour a glass of water.
Wasting our precious, unreplacable time,
Slopping around in fear and arrogance,
Pretending guns and armies cure ignorance.
Screeching around in fat cars,
Spewing filth into Mother's air,
Like terrorists - yes, YOU and ME,
Mindless, mindless, mindless idiots.
Divide and rule? Muslim cops for Muslim areas
CNN-IBN
In perhaps the clearest indication of a possible mid-term poll, the UPA Government seems to have taken to minority appeasement. It has advised states to increase the representation of Muslims in the various sectors like police force, healthcare and banking. The idea comes from the Sachar panel on improving the lot of Indian Muslims. CNN-IBN debates if the move is justified or whether it will divide the nation.
http://ibnlive.com/nation/index.html
Police probing allegations of gangrape against sadhus
Police are probing into the allegations of abduction and gangrape made by a woman against six persons including five sadhus of the Swaminarayan sect of Vadtal (in Bhavnagar), sources said on Friday.
Baba held for stampede at healing camp
Hindu - 1 hour ago
Jabalpur, Sept. 7 (PTI): A religious guru was arrested today in connection with the stampede at a healing camp that left at least 11 people dead and 20 others injured in a village here.
Jabalpur's Miracle Baba arrested for stampede deaths Earthtimes.org
11 die in stampede near Jabalpur Times of India
paritraanaya saadhunaam
vinaashaaya cha dushkrataam
dharma samsthaapanaarthaaya
sambhavami yuge yuge
Kannan Devan writes:
Freedom and tolerance should not be used as a pretext to tolerate intolerant and deadly ideologies of Islam and Marxism. Pseudo secular politicians and bogus media (subversive) agents in India are busy promoting intolerant ideologies of Islam and Marxism. These miscreants and phony politicians throw words like dalit, brahmin as means for mental misdirection.
Lok Sabha MPs demand right to work as fundamental right
Cutting across party lines, members in the Lok Sabha today demanded an amendment in the Constitution to include `Right to Work' as a fundamental right.They were participating in a discussion on the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2004 seeking insertion of `Right to Work' as a fundamental right moved by Mohan Singh of Samajwadi Party.
"The population is increasing at a much faster rate than are employment opportunities. In such a circumstance, it is necessary that right to work becomes a fundamental right," said Ramkripal Yadav of RJD.He said the unemployed should be provided with an unemployment allowance.
Supporting the Bill, Lal Singh (Congress) said changes should be brought upon in the education system and more stress should be laid upon vocational education.Nikhil Kumar of Congress also backed the Bill, saying, "unemployment is the most important issue today".
"I support the Bill. But the government should ensure implementation of the right to work," he said, complaining that the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has not been implemented properly in his constituency.
"Only about 21-22 per cent of the funds earmarked for my area under the scheme has been spent. While the scheme is good, the problem is that it is not being implemented properly," Kumar said.
Bhartuhari Mehtab (BJD) regretted that while many countries have made right to work a constitutional right, we have yet to move in that direction.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today sought to allay the concerns of the Left parties on the legislation for unorganised sector workers saying the proposed bill was flexible and their suggestions can be incorporated.
Singh gave this assurance to a delegation of CPI(M) MPs led by Sitaram Yechury who met him to seek his intervention for bringing out a comprehensive legislation for unorganised workers providing them social and job security.
"We demanded a comprehensive legislation which includes social security for workers and takes into account the condition of their services," CITU General Secretary and Rajya Sabha member Mohd Amin told reporters here.
"Prime Minister told us that the bill will be tabled in this session and after that it will be referred to the Standing Committee. He told us that it is flexible and suggestions can be accepted," Amin said quoting Singh.
The Union Cabinet last night decided to table the Unorganised Workers Bill in the current session.
The CPI(M) and other Left parties have been demanding inclusion of job and social security provisions in the bill as suggested by the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector set up by the government.
"The committee's suggestions should be the basis for the next exercise. The committee was set up by the government itself. Government must abide by its valuable suggestions," CITU leader and Rajya Sabha member Tapan Sen said.
CPI(M) leader Rupchand Pal said the proposed bill should have firm indications about resources to provide social security to unorganised workers and must be justiciable as majority of the workers are in the private sector.
A Dalit school in India's Tamil Nadu has won an award for its academic achievement. The school, Mount Sinai Residential English Medium School, is supported by Partners International.
Partners' Tom Chandler says the school took first place in a test-based competition run by the "House of the Teacher" educational agency. The Gurukulam ("House of the teacher") is an agency that conducts competitive tests for school children in English, science, and math. Out of more than 100 schools in the state, their school won first place.
Says Bishop Moses Swamidas, Bible Faith Mission's leader, "We are sowing the seed for the growth of a new generation from among Dalits who have been denied, discriminated against, and deprived of opportunities for human development. It is difficult in many ways to develop such a people who have been enslaved for centuries."
More than that, though, it's helping tear down caste barriers in the community. "The school is causing the Dalit community to be accepted by the higher caste community, and through that, they're now getting privileges for job opportunities."
There are 710 children enrolled in the BFM school, of whom 540 are Dalit ("untouchable") children, 128 from "backward classes" (a low position in the caste hierarchy), and 54 from high castes. The school goes up to grade 8, and there are plans to add one grade per year up to 12th.
The establishment of the kingdom of God includes holistic transformation. Chandler says education plays a key role in that transformation. "It's also breaking down spiritual barriers. Already, what we've seen happening is that a number of higher caste Hindus are beginning to investigate what Christianity is all about. There's been some who have already come to faith, which is significant."
Their vision and burden is to prepare students to face the challenges of globalization and the need for Christians to be active in society when they grow up. In addition to imparting quality education, they impart discipline and Christian education.
Chandler says their dream is to produce a new generation through the school which will meet all the challenges of building this community, especially in Christian leadership. Click here if you can help.
The future of civilian rule
By Ayesha Siddiqa
WHEN talking of return to democratic rule, many people feel excited at the thought of the upcoming elections which might provide an opportunity for some political normality to return to Pakistan. Should the forthcoming elections and the resultant change be considered a real shift towards democracy is the real question.
Common sense says that elections alone would not strengthen democracy in the country. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of scenarios which are expected to emerge in the next three or four months. First, elections will be used as a tool to bring to power a coalition of forces which ensure that President Musharraf remains in power and the military’s political power is intact. This is what is being referred to as the deal between the Pakistan People’s Party and General Musharraf. Second, there is no deal with the PPP and another coalition is made which comprises many of the existing political players.
Depending on what option is selected by the government, those left outside the power equation might start a political movement which could result in a third scenario leading to greater tension between the military’s top brass and the political forces.
Whichever of the two above-mentioned options is selected, the next few months will see a transition to democracy. The transitory period is very critical for the future of democracy because any mishandling of the process can stall it forever.
If the politicians are not careful in handling the military and the affairs of the state, they could encourage ambitious generals to reclaim control of the state on the pretext of saving the country from disaster. This is the lesson we can learn from the ouster of all previous prime ministers.
It could be argued that the next political government should be careful not to annoy the military. Keeping the generals fairly satisfied will ensure that they do not return to power. But then, how does one keep the generals happy? The military leadership gets extremely nervous every time the political governments falter on boosting the economy or there is mismanagement in governance.
However, it is difficult to expect the next political dispensation to perform any better than the previous ones, not because the politicians are inherently incapable but because of the peculiar circumstances in which a new civilian government will be born.
The next government, unless it is a replica of the current one, will not find itself in favourable circumstances. Nearly eight years of military rule has resulted in incapacitating civilian and democratic institutions and kept them from performing. All major government departments today are dominated by serving or retired military officers.
Surely, a change in government will mean that the number of military personnel in the government will have to be reduced, especially if it is not to be the continuation of the same type of politics as we see today. The new dispensation would demand that it places officials to carry out policies congruent with its ideology or political beliefs. A change of civilian bureaucrats would not immediately result in stability because they would suffer from nervousness born from the memories of previous years.
Furthermore, a political change will not necessarily reduce pressure from the GHQ which would try to control things from the back seat. No party has outlined an agenda of critically examining and then curtailing the actions of the intelligence agencies, one of the major causes of constant instability. The parties do not even have an agenda to shift the emphasis from military security to social and economic security and development.
In any case, the next government would struggle hard to run the state and keep the generals happy. Given the limited playing field the top political leadership will opt for the easiest option which is keeping its expectant constituents happy through financial or other rewards. This will mean more of what we saw during the 1990s. Even if the PPP comes to power, the arrangement will be short-lived.
So, it is natural to ask: why bother with change? General Musharraf himself believes that his continuation in power will result in making Pakistan into a Singapore. But what he does not understand is that each country has its own historical experience.Military authoritarianism has never helped to sustain the economic progress which military regimes claim to bring about. Pakistan is not a city state like Singapore and its political dynamics are quite different. Hence, a transformation from military authoritarianism to civilian rule is necessary because centralised control has traditionally put massive pressure on the health of the Pakistani federation.
The Pakistani military is ethnically homogenous and does not truly represent the federation. Moreover, it pursues policies which treat the society of the entire federation as a monolith. This perspective is untenable for hundreds and thousands of people from the smaller provinces generally under-represented in the state’s policymaking. The interests of these people can only be negotiated through a political process.
However, fulfilling the democracy dream in Pakistan equally puts the onus on the political leadership to reconsider its own attitude towards democracy. A parallel process of negotiation has to start amongst the civilian political actors to achieve, what the famous political scientist Charles Tilly calls, the insulation of public politics from categorical inequalities. There are differences amongst the larger population based on their ethnic, racial, gender or other considerations.
According to Tilly, people form trust networks based on what they believe in or what race, colour, gender or ethnicity they belong to. Government policies or politics at large should create environments which do not reflect a bias for one group or the other.
The aforementioned formula means that a successful transition will not happen until and unless the national leadership is willing to see beyond its personal need to capture more power for itself. In fact, greater political power will accrue to an individual who is able to insulate policies from categorical inequalities.
To put it simply, politicians of all kinds will have to make space for each other in order to create greater room for themselves. As long as the leadership continues to pursue politics which denies space to the other, as had happened in the past, the country will never be able to transit to greater political maturity and sanity.
Under the circumstances, the best option for the future government is to spell out the problems to its constituents and the nation at large. Also, there is a need to make the government transparent. The best bet for the next political dispensation is to introduce ‘glasnost’ and ‘perestroika’ in its policymaking and conduct of the business of the state.
Such transparency will convince the people of the government’s sincerity of purpose and save the political leadership from pressures from the GHQ. It will indeed be a shame to see the generals touting the political leadership as insincere once again.
The writer is an independent analyst and author of the book, “Military Inc, Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy.”
E-mail: ayesha.ibd@gmail.com
India’s growing insensitivity
By Kuldip Nayar
A FOUR-and-a-half-year-old child dies in Simla on the Mall because the ambulance carrying him does not reach the hospital in time. The road is blocked by a throng of protestors from the ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. A panchayat in Haryana forcibly separates a newborn boy from his parents belonging to the same clan (Gotra).
Upper caste members kill a Dalit who is acquitted by the court in a Jat murder case. A policeman chains to his motorcycle a poor boy who has stolen a gold ornament and kills him in public. A truck runs over four people of a minority community which retaliates by fomenting communal trouble.
On the face of it, there is nothing common in these incidents, except that they illustrate strong emotions. Yet what strings them together is society’s insensitivity, the authorities’ nonchalant attitude and the people’s blind faith in tradition which was wrong even when adopted. It also shows the other side of society. The social order is breaking up. The value system is weakening further. The common man is losing faith in decency because of a hard and insecure life.The boy’s death due to the road blockade was described by politicians as “very unfortunate”. There was no word of apology and no action by the authorities. In the second case, two Haryana ministers, in defence of “tradition”, took the couple to task for having violated the sanctity of the Gotra clan. The state chief minister said he had received no complaint. Media focus forced the police to restore the child to the parents. They have left the state because they do not feel safe.
Haryana is the same state where a Dalit was murdered after acquittal. Thousands of Dalits took to the streets in protest in the state and even in Punjab. But the hold of the Jats is so firm that the police are normally afraid to take notice of what they do. Both states are headed by Jat chief ministers.
Police highhandedness displayed in the death of a poor child is nothing new. There is hardly any such happening which does not underline police brutality. What shocks me is the lack of accountability in the force. The other day, the SSP of Moradabad was caught on TV beating innocent bystanders. He was not even in uniform. The state government promised to consider the case after receiving the details. The matter rests there.
Police in Bhagalpur have decided to go on strike after the dismissal of two policemen. The punishment was, in fact, overdue. The case had been going on for 16 long years. The police were a party to the killing of persons belonging to a minority community. Still, many have gone scot-free.
Communal rioting appears odd in a society which takes pride in pluralism. By this time, people should have imbibed the basic tenets of tolerance and a sense of accommodation. A truck accident should have been treated as an accident, not an opportunity to settle old scores. Leaders of the minority community should have intervened before the riots broke out. In fact, the riots spread to Allahabad. Here the majority community was at fault.
Such incidents have taken place earlier. But their occurrence was rare. A study shows that in the rioting people attack one another to kill and not only to injure. This indicates many things but one thing is certain: there is no normal outlet for grievances. Nor are there any serious attempts to bridge the gulf between two antagonistic sides.
Of what use is the annual growth rate of nine to ten per cent when people have no concern, no sympathy for one another? Granted the government cannot do much in a capitalist economy to stop the rich from getting richer and the poor from getting poorer. But the state can at least ensure the rule of law.
The West, with all its faults, does so. The rich have a civic sense. The top echelons of society in India, the upper castes, the Jats or small-time politicians get away with the violation of basic laws. Devoid of values, they are like animals on the prowl. But for the attention they receive from the media, even a few examples of excesses would not have come to light.
With the yawning divide between the haves and the have-nots, the quarrel over denial to the poor is going to intensify. The lower half is getting increasingly marginalised. How to enable it to earn its livelihood with dignity is the biggest problem the country faces. Many are getting desperate and 112 districts in 15 states have become a haven for armed radicals. However reprehensible the use of force, they see no other way out.
Yet I find the common man still imbued with values which he has inherited. Thus he does not ordinarily steal or appropriate another man’s gains. He or she prefers to suffer silently and does not take up arms. The question is not whether or not the suicide of farmers in the country is increasing. It is whether the present system is driving them to choose suicide (112,000 in a decade) over natural longevity.
Even palliatives in the shape of government grants have not been of much help. A study shows that the money does not reach the needy. There is too much red-tape and plain corruption.
UP chief minister Mayawati is too busy buying property in Delhi to initiate something concrete for those whose holdings are shrinking. Is it not possible for the government to establish facilities to provide common services like ploughing, tending and thrashing for the crop?
The corporate sector, if asked to step in, can do so. But its entry in the agricultural sector will not augur well for farmers. Economic steps to ameliorate the condition of the poor are too few and too slow. At least basic rights under the constitution should be available to them. Yet if faith in the fundamental values of a democratic society is to be preserved, every citizen, whatever his class, caste or creed, has to display a degree of sensitivity and support for the rule of law.
Without being aware of what is right and without speaking out when wrong is done, there may come a day when the realisation of what is wrong may go. There is a thin line dividing right and wrong, moral or immoral.
Once that line is erased, people do not know where they stand, whether on the right or the wrong side. It does not need a revolution to change this attitude. Mere concern for others will do.
The writer is a senior columnist based in New Delhi.
Dalit teen gangraped by seven in Uttar Pradesh
6 Sep 2007, 1809 hrs IST,PTI
FAIZABAD (UP): A Dalit teenaged girl was allegedly gang raped for three days by seven persons, who abducted her from a village here, police said on Thursday.
The girl was abducted from her house in Dudi village on Tuesday morning by seven youths who gang raped her, police said.
She later managed to escape and told her parents about the incident following which an FIR was lodged.
Police arrested four persons, Guddu, Jugnu, Meraj and Mujeeb, in this connection and efforts were on to nab the others.
Senior police officials including DIG P P Srivastava and SSP, Faizabad B P Tripathi visited the village, where tension was prevailing after the incident.
Heavy police force has been deployed in the area to prevent any untoward incident, they said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Dalit_teen_gang_raped_by_seven_in_Uttar_Pradesh/articleshow/2344328.cms
Good results rarely make them happy
Poverty stands in way of Dalit students' education
Staff Correspondent
Good results in the SSC and HSC examinations seemingly fail to make happy the students from Dalit (lower caste) community, as they fear that severe financial constraint will stand in the way of their education.
At a reception programme arranged for the successful Dalit students in this year's SSC and HSC examinations, the guardians and students from the community yesterday sought assistance of the government and non-government bodies for their further education.
Government initiative alongside the NGOs' is essential to help the children from the community to pursue studies for a better future, said speakers at the programme at Women's Volunteer Association auditorium in Dhanmondi in the capital.
Bangladesh Dalits Human Rights, Dalit Youth Forum and Nagorik Udyog jointly arranged the programme to award reception to 38 students for their results in SSC and HSC.
Many of the guardians, mostly unaware of the need for education, have already asked their children to stop studies while the underprivileged children, like others of their age, want to continue education until at least graduation in subjects like business administration or computer engineering.
Kanya Kumari Kona, who passed this year's HSC examinations from Dhaka Commerce College and nourishes a dream to study in business administration, was a participant at the reception programme. She broke down in tears, expressing fear that she would not be able to go for higher education.
“My parents did not even imagine that I would pass the HSC examinations. Now I am receiving an award for my results. I wish I could study business administration at a public university. This is my dream but I fear I would not be able to do it,” said Kona.
“My father who is a guard in a city hospital fears that he would not be able to bear my academic expenses, be it at a public or private university,” said the girl who had to borrow money to enrol in the college.
“Only God knows how I have come to this stage. My friends did not help me with notes, suggestions or even textbooks and I could not afford private tutor or coaching,” she said.
Similarly, Raju, Jyoti and Emon Chandra Das, who passed the SSC examinations with GPA A-, GPA A- and GPA B, said financial problem may force them to discontinue education.
“Only guardians of our community know how they managed educational expenses for their children, after meeting everyday expenses of their family. Most of them even do not know why education is important,” said Mony Rani, a guardian.
“The universities could introduce quota system offering an opportunity to the Dalit community students for higher education,” said Dr Farzana Islam, professor of the Department of Anthropology at Jahangirnagar University.
“From their own position, any individual or organisation can contribute to the struggle the children from the Dalit community are waging to change their social position and stop social and state exploitation of them,” she added.
Zakir Hossain, chief executive director of Nagorik Udyog, and Prohlad Sarker, general secretary of Bangladesh Dalits Human Rights, were present among others at the meeting.
The word 'Dalit' means poor and oppressed people in society.
http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=3161
Woman's diary of a jungle guerrilla's life
By Andrew Gumbel
Published: 06 September 2007
http://news. independent. co.uk/world/ americas/ article2934351. ece
Bhutani Maoists
Interview with general secretary of Bhutan Communist Party Marxists-
Leninists-Maoists (BCP-MLM) Biklab in Nepal, 25 August
[From Nepali Times, Issue #364 (31 August 07 - 06 September 07)
http://www.nepaliti mes.com/issue/ 364/FromtheNepal iPress/13916
Global Jihad: Uzbeks To The Fore - International Terrorism Monitor---
Paper No. 273
By B. Raman
http://www.saag. org/papers24/ paper2360. html
From al-Qaeda to al-Quds
By Pepe Escobar
http://www.atimes. com/atimes/ Middle_East/ II07Ak05. html
The Pakistani road to German terror
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
http://www.atimes. com/atimes/ South_Asia/ II07Df03. html
Ecuador: A Prologue
By James Petras
Sep 5, 2007, 18:41
http://axisoflogic. com/artman/ publish/article_ 25203.shtml
HINDUS in Malaysia are taking the British Government to court for years of alleged atrocities.
P Waytha Moorthy is a solicitor based in Kuala Lumpur who filed a public interest litigation (PIL) at the Royal Courts of Justice in London last week (30). He now has three months to serve a notice to the Foreign Office for damages worth over £1 million for each of the country's two million Hindus.
His move has been supported by Britain-based Hindu Human Rights (HHR), which organised a protest outside the Malyasian High Commission in London on Friday (31) to mark the country's 50th year of independence from the British.
Mr Moorthy told Eastern Eye: "Malaysia supposedly became independent 50 years ago but the Hindus of the country have never experienced independence. They are denied the right to practice their religion, their temples are desecrated, they are forcibly converted and are subjected to unbelievable atrocities.
"The British Government must take responsibility for their treatment as these Hindus were brought into Malaysia forcibly as indentured labour during the British Raj in India. Before independence was declared for Malaysia, the British Government assured that the peculiar position of the Indians would be protected.
"But that never translated into action, which is why on the eve of this anniversary we have decided to file this case."
The PIL is also demanding that the Malaysian constitution be declared null and void, all Hindus be granted British citizenship and the Malaysian government be referred to the international court of justice and the international criminal court at The Hague for human rights violations against minority Indians.
HHR spokesman Arjun Malik added: "Already subject to heavy discrimination in employment, study and general walks of life, Hindus in Malaysia have begun to suffer in more specific ways. Hindu temples are destroyed and desecrated regularly with the full backing of the government.
"Hindus are denied the right to follow their own faith, and even in death, denied the right to a decent Hindu funeral. Forced into the economic and social margins, Hindus have become the prime victims of religious and racial hatred, which few commentators and human rights organisations even bother reporting on. This petition and our protest is aimed at drawing attention to their plight."
Centre asks States, UTs to deploy Muslims in Muslim areas
By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
New Delhi : The Congress, during its successive governments at the
Centre and/or in the various States, has played the Muslim card
exploiting Muslim sentiments and playing with their emotions just to
ensure the Muslim vote bank in Muslim concentration areas. The latest
in the series is the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
government's advice to State governments to deploy Muslims in Muslim
areas.
In a letter to all State governments and Union Territories issued
Wednesday the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has directed
that there should be more Muslim policemen, teachers and health
workers in Muslim dominated areas. This is particularly in context
where there is great deal of public hearing.
So, an election-bound coalition is perhaps preparing for the
inevitable by putting Justice Sachar Committee recommendations on a
fast track.
"This is not unprecedented. Even during Indira Gandhi's time such
letters were written to chief ministers; however it's another thing
that they were not followed," Member Secretary of the Sachar
Commission, Abu Saleh Sharif said.
DoPT has also directed Union Home, Health and Human Resource
Development ministries to frame guidelines for these postings in
minority concentration areas although Home, Health and Education
appointments are a prerogative of state governments and the advisory
is not
binding.
The Government has so far accepted 72 out of the 76 recommendations by
the Sachar Commission.
The Government has however rejected the recommendation to have a
caste-based census, and the other contentious issue of Muslim
reservations has been put on a backburner.
http://www.twocircl es.net/2007sep05 /centre_asks_ states_uts_ deploy_muslims_ muslim_areas. html
Political ecology of the madhes
Pay attention to the environmental crisis in the tarai
From Nepali Times Issue #364 (31 August 07 - 06 September 07)
http://www.nepaliti mes.com/issue/ 364/StateoftheSt ate/13907
The Madhesi Tigers' five-day banda in central tarai has proved once
again that callousness and criminality are the defining features of
violent politics everywhere.
Nothing else explains the cruelty of imposing a general shut-down on
people struggling to recover from some of the worst floods anyone can
remember.
With farmland submerged, the poor and the marginalised were desperate
for the work provided by commerce and transport. For them, this man-
made disaster was even worse than the natural calamity. But there is
more to the crisis in tarai than just politics.
The growing frequency of floods is the result of man's careless
intervention in tarai's fragile ecosystem. Apart from global warming,
four factors have played a role in the annual devastation.
• Extensive areas of the tarai wetlands, which once absorbed much of
the rainfall, have been drained for human settlement in the Bhitri
Madhes.
• The vegetation of the Chure Hills, which used to slow the surface
run-off and soak up the monsoon downpours, has been cut down and
replaced by terraced fields of corn which are repeatedly was
