Guardians of development??

Agents of Aid tend to (knowingly and most often unknowingly) abet dysfunctional elements of society and that keeps honest, hardworking citizens oppressed and without an opportunity to pursue their own talents and dreams.

Isn't it best to ban these uninformed 'guardians' of development who often become obstacles to opportunity development, sucking up time, resources and energy while working with precisely the wrong people?

....better to not invite bureaucrats and officials into positions of greater leverage...better to neither request nor allow indefinite aid schemes to operate in Nepal. 

Thanks for your greater consideration on this important subject for the freedom and well-being of the people of Nepal. 

It's the ecosystem smarties (with your precious heads buried deep in drought-parched sand)

Leading causes of species extinction, deforestation, ocean dead zones, water depletion, and wider environmental degradation are the meat and fishing industries. If no other reason to give up animal flesh, then reflecting on the all-important natural environment might provide greater motivation. The natural environment has a critical link to climate change and affecting one will affect the other, hopefully for the better...Many cheers for your kind consideration.

From the AFP: Over Half of the World's Primates on the Brink of Extinction 

The great scourge of planet earth, Homo sapiens sapiens

#climateimpact #climatechnage

All Nepal for All Nepalis -- 'The Time has Come'

"Nepal is not here to satisfy your saviour-complexes or act out your political adventures. Colonial lords should know this." Tweet by Rubeena Mahato, 19th November 2015
https://twitter.com/rubeenaa/status/667346976187351040

Indefinite aid is not in the best interests of Nepal. Nepal needs less foreign interference (from both near & afar). After nearly six decades, isn't it time to consider phasing out foreign aid schemes run by people non-fluent in language and culture?

Time for all of Nepal for all Nepalis.

The Time Has Come

A Fact's a Fact

It Belongs to Them

Let's Give it Back

--from Beds Are Burning, protest song by the Aussie band Midnight Oil

Rockabilly cover of Beds Are Burning 

Say 'Cheese' Part II

Compelling evidence that present technology is stranger than fiction

Say 'Cheese'

Unfortunately, summarizes how I've felt for foreseeable past but not without dazzling, exceptional people appearing now and again (hard-bitten author of following is unknown)

(on lighter side, again, author unknown, although I disagree with first bullet--'life is actually the number one cause of death' and not death itself)

Baltimore Sun Throwing Shade on Nepal

Cheers for the coverage of Nepal (Another Crisis Looms for Nepal, Balitmore Sun, 2nd November, 2015). With all due respect to the esteemed author, it seems more a weakly disguised plea for donations than a news piece about Nepal.

Nepal needs less foreign interference (from entities both near and far) not more. Perhaps commerce and business can be given a chance in lieu of indefinite aid which entrenches the wrong people and contributes to the country’s endless political and economic woes.

Aid has not only dis-empowered people but has damaged the country's ethos while endowing a privileged gang with unmerited entitlements. Decades of aid interference has left Nepal (and many other developing economies) without measurable progress on economic development and without reduction of poverty among other critical metrics.

Aid entrepreneurs tend to (knowingly and most often unknowingly) abet dysfunctional elements of society and that keeps the citizens oppressed and without an opportunity to pursue their own talents and dreams.

Regarding the earthquakes over five months ago, only a relative fraction of Nepal was severely affected then, and the worst hit areas have been and are receiving attention. Unfortunately, earthquake relief has become another political game. An unsatisfactory constitution was rushed through by a ruling establishment motivated by ‘aid’ funds dangled as a carrot—that is, foreign interference (despite good intentions) played an unsavory role, and it led to an eruption of protests backed by India and a supply crisis in urban areas of Nepal, most significantly Kathmandu…although the well-looked-after aid entrepreneurs are not likely to feel the pinch relative to most Nepali people.

Another bone of contention with this story, I don’t know of any “high altitude areas” requiring “delivery of urgently required supplies such as food and shelter materials” before being “cut off with the onset of winter”. In fact, I cannot think of any villages at all throughout Nepal that might be “impossible to access” unless an ungodly amount of snow fell.

Even then, if such villages do exist, and if there is some unexpected heavy snow early in winter that temporarily blocks trails to villages that implausibly do not have enough supplies to cover for a few days, then, in that extremely unlikely scenario, helicopters are the logical delivery means for urgent supplies until trails re-open within days.

Alarming stories and photos are damaging one of the largest and most hardworking industries of Nepal, tourism. The tourism industry can immediately benefit Nepal and the many people who rely on if for work rather than the very few who rely on the top-heavy donor industry (which tends to support only the wealthy ruling elite). Continued tales of disaster and crisis are turning tourists away unnecessarily. Most if not all of post-quake Nepal is open for tourism and has been for a long time. The people are ready and eager to receive visitors.

In my humble reckoning, it seems foreign interference is a cause of many of the difficult issues that Nepal faces including lack of preparedness for a natural disaster -- a result of a lack of development and progress for the foreseeable past in spite of nearly six decades of ‘aid’ and over 50,000 I/NGOs now operating in country…instead of a nation dazzling like Norway or Switzerland, it is wallowing in troubles...and that begs the question...what are tens of thousands of I/NGO’s doing in Nepal? Transparency is paramount, especially in dysfunctional systems...can these I/NGO's reveal their operations, pay scales and data regarding their activities?

All the while, most aid entrepreneurs enjoy a lifestyle in the upper crust of Nepali society (despite claims of hardship) and reside in luxuriant housing, often with servants, and revel in posh comforts not dreamed of by the majority of Nepalis. Most aid workers are enjoying high-living at the very top economic echelon of Nepal. Even more curious, most do not have local language and culture skills for the country that they are working in.…giant, red flags all around for those wishing to operate in a place that has for decades ranked in the bottom tiers of transparency and corruption indices.

Simply put, despite the best of intentions, aid agents tend to endow dysfunctional elements of society including the ruling establishment and a privileged gang with unmerited entitlements. That tends to prolong the very issues ‘aid’ aims to serve--severely hampering issues of development and progress--with fatal results for the disenfranchised population.

To these INGO’s, please cease and desist. Quitting Nepal might be the very best thing imaginable right now for the benefit of the honest, hardworking people of Nepal. Or, if you absolutely must do something, if you cannot resist traveling overseas to effect change in a faraway land, then only try to clean up governance and not abet and endow dysfunction directly and mostly indirectly. With a decent government, then the people of Nepal will be free to do for themselves what aid aims to do for them. Better yet, leave this beautiful and tender culture and its people alone. Focus on the home front and the (many) problems closer to your own homes. Cheers and good-speed. Come back soon as a tourist to enjoy the endless natural and cultural wonders of Nepal and help uplift the economy the right way.

As a side note, the Tharu ethnicity, mentioned in the Baltimore Sun story do not have “close ties with India”. Tharu are considered to be an indigenous, malaria resistant people of the jungle plains. They have a distinct culture, traditions and lifestyle and they identify very little with India. The Madhesi do tend to have ties to India but by no means “occupy the bottom rungs of Nepali society”. Many top political posts have been filled by Madhesi people including Ram Baran Yadav, president of Nepal from July 2008 to October 2015.

Delivering 'aid' to a developing economy is about as precarious as crossing the log bridge pictured above--better not to try. Photo by Alonzo Lyons

First Nepali Woman to Stand Atop Everest

Building-sized portrait of Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, first Nepali woman to stand atop Sagarmatha (Everest). More on the trekking in the Sherpa homeland of Solu-Khumbu here, The Best Little Guidebook to the Everest Region.

"Nepal is in crisis, and it has nothing to do with the earthquake"

Nepal identifies culturally with India much less than might be suspected especially while nationalistic and devout Hindu Narendra Modi is at the helm of its meddling neighbor, The hills people of Nepal have a distinct culture, traditions and lifestyle, including the janajati Tamang, Magar, Gurung, Rai, Limbu, Kami, Tharu and other ethnicities such as the Sherpa, Thakali, Manangi and Bhotiya with origins and close ties to Tibetan culture. All of these aforementioned groups identify little with India.

The groups that potentially identify with Indian culture have a growing disgust towards outside interference. Modi has blundered here, and China is stepping in to the void on Nepal’s request. At the very least, opening supply lines to the north for landlocked Nepal will increase flexibility.

That said, the energy crisis is mainly in urban areas, especially Kathmandu Valley. In rural areas, people rely much less on cooking gas, petrol and products from India.

Still the many aid organizations headquartered in the valley seem to want not for resources that the majority of citizens have been suffering for. These aid entrepreneurs are enjoying a lifestyle in the upper crust of society as they impinge upon Nepali society in petrol guzzling SUV’s, reside in luxuriant housing, often with servants, and enjoy posh comforts not dreamed of by most Nepalis. Still, they claim hardship while enjoying high-living at the top economic echelon of Nepal.

Notwithstanding the protests raging in the plains and the Indian embargo, foreign agents are a key component of the problem that has Nepal teetering on the brink of failed state status and lacking in development and progress for the foreseeable past. Aid agents tend to endow dysfunctional elements of society including much of the ruling establishment and a privileged gang with unmerited entitlements.

Decades of interference by foreign agents including an indefinite aid paradigm has damaged Nepal severely--most significantly by keeping the wrong people in power while aid agents try to cover for a broken system (despite the best of intentions, many aid workers operate without local language skills and are blind to local culture).

Banning INGOs might greatly assist in pulling the financial carpet out from under the deadweight, malignant political establishment and that might be the best anyone could possibly imagine for development. That might allow the honest, hardworking Nepali people the freedom to pursue their own dreams with their own capabilities and efforts unencumbered by donors, diplomats, politicians, an entitled gang and meddling countries near and far.

The comment above regards the following story, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/11/02/nepal-is-in-crisis-and-it-has-nothing-to-do-with-the-earthquake-heres-what-you-need-to-know/ 

Indian embargo has led to a fuel crisis in Kathmandu Valley. Commuters riding atop minivan, photo by Alonzo Lyons

Lumbini, Nepal, birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, later known by the title of Buddha. Photo by Alonzo Lyons

"INGOs, show us your numbers"

Nepalis deserve the right to see the detailed expenses of money coming in to help the earthquake victims. We want to know what kind of expertise and knowhow was brought in at $10,000 per day, and how useful those experts have been during the crisis. Are the international organizations willing to hold themselves to the same standards of transparency that they propose for Nepal? Are they willing to submit to a review process for evaluating if these contributions are effective, not in terms of their own internal agenda, but by the standards and requirements of the people on the ground whom they claim to serve? It's doubtful that the very agencies that are ignorant of our organic and highly organized systems of self-government will be capable of the kind of ego-less rigor required to truly understand if their contributions are effective. But if these huge agencies insist on participating, they must be held accountable.

The whole saga only looks like one more example of greed, using natural disasters as an occasion to prop up a well-oiled industry of paid professionals invested in maintaining dependence and justifying their own existence. This is a familiar story, a phenomenon that is real and decades old, and rooted in racism and classism.

The underside of all this grief-tourism is disturbing at many levels. The approach that the international community is taking is fundamentally unsettling for the spirit, expertise and wisdom of our people. It appears that our ideas and leadership are hard to acknowledge for the international organizations operating here, let alone accept. Our resilience and our unwillingness to become another Haiti, a pawn of the international aid regime, must be frustrating to many "international experts" in Kathmandu. If they are serious about helping us, this sorry saga must end now. - See more at: http://myrepublica.com/opinion/story/22748/commentary-ingos-show-us-your-numbers.html#sthash.V3Nel6Mp.dpufVery well said by Subhash Ghimire with valid questions for INGO's participating in a dysfunctional system:

Very well said by Subhash Ghimire with valid questions for INGO's operating in and thereby, abetting a dysfunctional system (read the whole article here):

"Nepalis deserve the right to see the detailed expenses of money coming in to help the earthquake victims. We want to know what kind of expertise and knowhow was brought in at $10,000 per day, and how useful those experts have been during the crisis. Are the international organizations willing to hold themselves to the same standards of transparency that they propose for Nepal? Are they willing to submit to a review process for evaluating if these contributions are effective, not in terms of their own internal agenda, but by the standards and requirements of the people on the ground whom they claim to serve? It's doubtful that the very agencies that are ignorant of our organic and highly organized systems of self-government will be capable of the kind of ego-less rigor required to truly understand if their contributions are effective. But if these huge agencies insist on participating, they must be held accountable.

The whole saga only looks like one more example of greed, using natural disasters as an occasion to prop up a well-oiled industry of paid professionals invested in maintaining dependence and justifying their own existence. This is a familiar story, a phenomenon that is real and decades old, and rooted in racism and classism.
The underside of all this grief-tourism is disturbing at many levels. The approach that the international community is taking is fundamentally unsettling for the spirit, expertise and wisdom of our people. It appears that our ideas and leadership are hard to acknowledge for the international organizations operating here, let alone accept. Our resilience and our unwillingness to become another Haiti, a pawn of the international aid regime, must be frustrating to many "international experts" in Kathmandu. If they are serious about helping us, this sorry saga must end now." - See more at: http://myrepublica.com/…/commentary-ingos-show-us-your-numb…