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Nepal: Shristi Shrestha Crowned Miss Nepal 2012

Pradeep Kumar Singh — Wed, 09 May 2012 11:31:41 +0000

Discussions about Miss Nepal echoed in all social media channels recently as organizers selected Shristi Shrestha as Miss Nepal in the Grand Finale of the beauty pageant of this year. The event was organised at Hotel de l’Annapurna in the capital city of Nepal, Kathmandu.

Sixteen participants made it to the final competition of the most popular beauty pageant in Nepal. Shristi Shrestha who stood bold and confident was declared Miss Nepal 2012 in the 17th edition of the pageant. She will represent Nepal in Miss World 2012 which will be held on August 18, 2012, in Inner Mongolia, China. Subeksha Khadka and Nagma Shrestha were crowned Miss Nepal International and Miss Nepal Earth respectively in the pageant. Watch the video of the crowning here!

Although an annual event, this year’s contest occurred after seven months so that the winners get sufficient time to be groomed and sent to international beauty pageants. Nepal has yet to see any significant achievements from international beauty pageants.

Miss Nepal 2012, Shristi Shrestha, the name that was on everybody's lips for the night, was already an established professional model and was often referred as British-Nepali model as she had spent a long time living in the UK. Shrestha replaced former Miss Nepal Malina Joshi who had the crown only for seven months.

Shristi Shrestha - Miss Nepal - Image via Naresh Shrestha, Himalayan Times (used with permission)

One thing interesting with Miss Nepal however, is it never fails to be controversial. Be it protests from women right activists or the way it is organised, controversies soar for each contest. And then there are post-contest personal reasonings behind who deserved the crown better.

In a post titled “Reasons why I Missed Miss Nepal 2012 and Consequences”, Sworup Shakya writes:

Turns out Miss Nepal 2012 was already decided, long before it even stared. I found out that there were multiple pages and blog posts that were supporting one lady, Shristi Shrestha for the crown.

The event of the Miss Nepal Grand Finale was organised outdoors for the first time and in relations to that another blogger – Samriddhi Rai, who herself was a Miss Nepal participant once and brought the title of Best personality Award home from Miss Tourism Queen International 2011 - comments:

The stage was bad. I mean it was so, you know, school-functions-have-better-stage-than-that types. I at least assumed that it must've looked good on TV but NO, people who watched the event on TV had the same notion.

Justifying the criticisms, Miss Nepal 2002, Malvika Subba, one of the most popular Miss Nepal ever, writes on her Facebook page:

Grapes are sour cried the fox and that's what some people remind me of when they criticize others win and things that they could never achieve. I wonder if u had achieved the same status, would you still be saying grapes are sour!!!!

Miss Nepal criticisms are one thing that will continue forever. Who was more deserving in the contest will also keep varying on individual’s views and the discussions will keep on going. But what really matters is whether the country see some progress from the winners in international pageants. This year’s winner on my view deserved the crown and so under the sub heading “Shristi Shrestha – a New Hope“, I wrote on my blog:

Shristi Shrestha is a new hope for Nepal in international beauty pageants, especially when the country has yet to see some notable achievements in crucial pageants like Miss World. Congratulations to Shristi – She deserved it!

What do you think about Miss Nepal 2012 - Shristi Shrestha?

Nepal: Asia Pacific Photo-Story Contest 2012

Rezwan — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:06:48 +0000

Nepal Youth Task Force On Rio +20 informs about a photo contest titled “Asia Pacific Photo-Story Contest 2012″ to mark the Voices of Youth globally in RIO+20, The UN Conference on Sustainable Development (June 20-22, 2012) in Brazil. This contest is open to anybody aged 15-35 from the Asia Pacific region and the deadline for submission is May 10, 2012.

Nepal: Documentary Focuses on the Children of the Conflict

Juliana Rincón Parra — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:20:39 +0000

The documentary ”Ujyalotira” (Towards the Light) is made by the Ban Landmines Campaign Nepal (NCBL) and the Women Development Society (WODES) and aims to raise awareness on the impact the conflict in the region is having on the children.

South Asia: Every Day Is Earth Hour for Us

Rezwan — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 14:17:26 +0000

Earth Hour is a worldwide awareness event organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and it is held on the last Saturday of March annually. On this day households and businesses are requested to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour to raise awareness about climate change. More than 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries worldwide switched off their lights for Earth Hour 2011 and this year many more cities like Dhaka, Bangladesh, will be joining.

South Asia is a region with many developing countries hungry for power. Millions of people in the Indian sub-continent have no access to electricity, and the power sector is plagued by corruption and inefficiency. The demand is much bigger than supply so many countries use load shedding (planned rolling blackouts) to manage the electricity distribution.

In countries like Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh daily there are 4-12 hours of load shedding varying on the situation everyday. Netizens are vocal on the issue of observing earth hour in the social media. While some are requesting others to observe Earth Hour, some are thinking that this is not more than a joke. The following tweets from the region reflect what they have in mind.

Bangladesh

@KaziAhadKader (Kazi A. Kader): “@dailystarnews Bangladesh for the first time tonight will observe Earth Hour…” We were doing that long before it had such a fancy name.

@shuvo666 (Shuvo Rashid): No wonder #Bangladesh is one of the most environment conscious countries in the world. We celebrate Earth Hour every day, 12 times! #Blackout

@irteja (Irteja Ali)‏ Today Power Development Board (PDB) is going to celebrate Earth Hour 2012 by giving 12 hours of load shedding of electricity in Bangladesh.

Bhutan

@AumChang (Aum Chang): i had an Earth Hour today. and also yesterday. and day before yesterday. thanks to BPC power cuts, i enjoy an #EarthHour every day! #Bhutan

A view of an Earth Hour in Dimapur, Northeastern State of India. Power Department of Nagaland, shut down power supplies to celebrate Earth Hour. Image by Sorei Mahong. Copyright Demotix (27/3/2010))

India

@suyogg (Suyog Gaidhani): Earth Hour in India is a cruel joke.

@MalluJat (Ramesh Menon) 72% of India with no power connection celebrate earth hour. 1% from the rest switch off their lights, and issue PR and congratulatory msgs

@RealBharatkumar (Bharat Kumar): In india especially where I am we have earth hour everyday. So all you people who are switching their light off an hour we do it everyday.

@virenb (Viren Bhandari): People of the world should not worry about the earth hour, India has got it all covered!! #nobizlii here.

Nepal

@ayushbista (Aron): Please Switch off your lights for the Earth Hour !! Oh wait !! Don't bother ! We've got Loadshedding anyway. Nepal, (Earth Hour Forever) !!

@hardfire (Avinash Kundaliya): every day, we celebrate earth hour in Nepal .. :-P

@cinderellaman23 (SumanK Rajbhandari ): #Nepal may be the greatest Earth Hour Supporter because of loadshedding :)

@nazushrestha (Sujan Shrestha): In case you don't have loadshedding 2nite, switch off your lights for one hour from 8:30pm-9:30pm to support Earth Hr. #Nepal @tfcNepal #fb

People participate in a programme on 60+Earth Hour in Kathmandu, Nepal. Image by Sunil Sharma. Demotix (26/3/2011))

Pakistan

@adnanrasool (Adnan Rasool): I have to say this… Y r certain corporations spending tons of money to celebrate earth hour.. we have it every other hour.. #Pakistan

@AzeemUhassan (Azeemullah Hassan ): So the Earth Hour would be celebrated from 8:30pm to 9:30pm in #Pakistan Thankfully there's no light in my area in #Karachi at that time :P

@Mahamali05 (Maham Ali)‏ Is Pakistan also supposed to observe Earth Hour? We already observe Earth Hour at least 6-8 hours a day everyday.

Speak For Change writes in a blog post:

Earth Hour is a serious issue and one must not write against it. Is it a bigger issue than load-shedding that we experience daily in all parts of the country? Is it a bigger problem than the losses in millions we attain due to the absence of electricity to the industries? Is it more serious an issue than the non-availability of electricity in a local hospital where patients are operated upon under standby generators because the electricity doesn’t show up? I don’t think it is more serious than countless scenarios like these, because it is not for us, people living in third world countries.

Nepal: Call for Submissions for Nepal International Indigenous Film Festival

Juliana Rincón Parra — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:14:10 +0000

The 2012 Nepal Indigenous Film Festival is calling out for submissions of any type of film related to Indigenous youth produced after 1 January, 2008. Submitted films should be made by indigenous youth or should focus on positive efforts indigenous youth are doing to honor their heritage. More details about the festival including submission forms on their site.

Nepal: Why Nepal Is Poor

Rezwan — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 23:06:02 +0000

Chandan Sapkota argues that extractive political and economic institutions are the reasons why Nepal is poor.

Nepal: Major Constraints Faced by Firms Operating in Nepal

Rezwan — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 06:27:01 +0000

Shortfall on energy and political instability are two major constrains faced by manufactures and businesses operating in Nepal. Chandan Sapkota has the detailed statistics.

Nepal: Attitude Towards Foreigners

Rezwan — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:57:27 +0000

Blogdai comments on the attitude of some Nepalis to the foreigners: “National unity cannot be built on xenophobia.”

Nepal: Evolution Of Export Destination

Rezwan — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:27:06 +0000

Chandan Sapkota depicts how Nepal's export destinations evolved over the years.

Nepal: More Powercuts

Rezwan — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:26:05 +0000

Pradeep Kumar Singh informs that the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has increased the load shedding (power cut) hours from existing 69 hours a week to 88 hours indicating severe energy shortage in the country.

Nepal: Editors And Twitter

Rezwan — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:06:29 +0000

Ujjwal Acharya reports that “microblogging platform Twitter has become popular among the editors in Nepal”.

Nepal: Explosion In Kathmandu

Rezwan — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:35:27 +0000

Pradeep Kumar Singh reports that Last Friday a loud explosion rocked the New Road, at the heart of Kathmandu City in Nepal. There had been conflicting reports about whether it was a bomb or a fire cracker. There were no casualties reported.

South Asia in 2011: A Year Full of Controversies and Protests

Rezwan — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:13:02 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage 2011 on Global Voices.

2011 was an eventful year for social media as people used many tools to organize protests, share frequent updates and news which had impacted our lives. We have seen people talking intensely in Facebook, Twitter, blogs etc about deaths of world-changing figures - from inventors to dictators and terrorists. The Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street protests became viral and the world was glued to the events in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world.

South Asian countries also have seen use of social media to discuss about many controversies and protests. This year we saw more netizens using microblogging sites to share their opinions.

Controversies

In January, Pakistani celebrity Veena Malik was accused by religious hardliners of immoral behavior as she took part in the Indian reality show Big Boss. Pakistani netizens stood divided amongst its conservative and liberal lines.

Veena Malik at Lux Style Awards. Image by Arun Reginald. CC-BY-SA-3.0

At the end of the year Veena Malik stirred up another controversy when FHM India, a male lifestyle magazine, published her nude picture on its cover page. Veena’s shoot with an ISI Tattoo on her arm sparked strong reactions from right, left and center in Pakistan and India.

On the other hand a Pakistani Islamic televangelist was also at the center-point of a controversy. A behind-the-scenes video depicted Dr. Amir Liaquat Hussain, a notable religious scholar, uttering abuse and profanities as well as religious blasphemy.

In April the Sri Lankan government had condemned a 196 page leaked report on civilian casualties by an United Nations (UN) advisory panel, dismissing it as flawed and biased. Intense debate ensued in Twitter and Facebook.

In May the accidental death of a research scholar from Kerala, India sparked controversies about the privacy of women, privacy of a dead person and in general about the lingering male chauvinism in Keralan society.

A couple of Indian Ministers were drawn into controversy because of their statements. India's Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, angered the gay community and gay rights activists with his comments at a HIV/AIDS conference in New Delhi. Netizens condemned his take on homosexuality as “unnatural” and a “disease” that had come from the West.

In December the Indian Union Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal asked Internet giants such as Facebook, Google and Yahoo to pre-screen derogatory, defamatory and inflammatory content about political leaders and religion and filter if objectionable. His words got a huge backlash from the netizens.

Wordle Image of the banned word list. Click on the image to enlarge.

In November, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) become the center of controversy when it sent a list of 586 Urdu and 1,109 English banned words and phrases to the mobile phone operators in the country to filter them.

The pregnant Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and her impending child birth produced a media hype in India. Bangladeshi exile writer Taslima Nasrin was also drawn into controversy when she tweeted that she wished that Aishwarya would give birth to a girl child.

Actions have been taken by a Bangladeshi court against a teacher living abroad, as a consequence of his Facebook status.

Protests

Anna Hazare addressing the people and media at Jantar Mantar, Delhi. Image by Sarika Gulati, copyright Demotix (08/04/2011).

In India, social media has been extensively used to power civil society's push for a proposed anti-corruption bill. The movement is being led from the front by a Gandhian social activist Anna Hazare, who continues to receive a huge amount of support in home and abroad - online and offline.

In November, India's Agriculture Minister, Mr. Sharad Pawar, was slapped on the face by a youth, who was apparently fed up of the growing inflation, corruption and graft cases in the country and decided to hit out at the Union Minister in protest. Netizens discussed the merits and demerits of this violent protest.

In Bangladesh, citizen media was a vital tool for the indigenous people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh who shared news about the ethnic clashes between Bengali settlers and indigenous people. These minorities have found a voice via blogs and Facebook when the mainstream media have been accused of ignoring the plights of the local aboriginal people. Later in the year many Bangladeshi indigenous people had taken the streets holding meetings, human chains and rallies, demanding constitutional recognition of their identity. Bloggers engaged in a debate on this issue.

Farzana Yasmin. Image courtesy Kowshik

In this region some of the protests were unprecedented and unique. In several South Asian countries Dowry is prohibited by law but is still widely and illegally practiced. A protest against dowry was much discusses and lauded in the social networks in Bangladesh. Farzana Yasmin sent ripples across the country by divorcing the bridegroom right after the wedding as her in-laws demanded a TV set, refrigerator, motorbike and a few more things as ‘gifts' from the bride's family in presence of the guests.

In Bangladesh capital Dhaka after a three-fold campaign via Blogs, Facebook and street protests authorities of the Viqarunnisa Noon School and College (VNC) were forced to sack and arrest a teacher accused of sexually molesting a student.

In July bloggers and online activists among other protesters were arrested while striking in protest of a recent Production Sharing Contract (PSC) between the Bangladesh government and United States energy giant ConocoPhillips for deep sea gas exploration.

A placard of the Occupy Dhaka Movement

This year in October Eight Bangladeshi migrant workers were beheaded in public in Saudi Arabia for being involved in the robbing a warehouse and killing of a security guard. Netizens were enraged by this horrific punishment and questioned the transparency of the trial.

The Occupy Wall street movement prompted a similar protest in Dhaka where people vowed to get themselves free from the two feuding, corrupt and occupier political alliances.

A recent venture by the Bangladesh government to takeover 25000acres of wetlands (Arial Beel) 60km South of the capital city of Dhaka, for a proposed International airport and satellite city led to protests and violence in the area. Netizens too, reacted strongly to the government debating the need for a new airport and the government was forced to back down on the airport project.

In Pakistan, the death of 24 Pakistani troops by friendly fire from NATO helicopters and fighter aircrafts in Pakistan sparked protests across the country.

Raymond Davis, an American diplomatic staff, is under investigation for the double murder of two Pakistani motorcyclists in Karachi, Pakistan. Following the US demand to release Davis, the protesters took to the streets in a country which already has increasing anti-US sentiments.

In Sri Lanka, clashes at the Katunayake Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in Sri Lanka between protesting workers and police claimed the life of an young worker and injured many workers and policemen. The debate on the social media on this issue sent a strong signal to the Sri Lankan government.

Protesting increase of commodity prices in Maldives. Image from Twitpic by Ahmed Nazim (@GraveBone).

For seven consecutive days, thousands of residents of Male, the capital of Maldives, have protested on busy streets and public spaces, expressing their dissatisfaction over soaring prices of consumer goods and economic mismanagement of the government. Madivian citizen journalists shared the updates of the protests.

Nepali Internet users were caught in disarray as the Internet Service Provider’s Association of Nepal (ISPAN) shut down its internet service as a mark of protest against the government's crackdown on ‘illegal VOIP call bypass'.

The South Asia authors team will continue to highlight and translate more citizen voices from across the region in 2012. You can get involved in the Global Voices community in multiple ways. Please do send us your suggestions and feedback. Wishing you a happy 2012.

This post is part of our special coverage 2011 on Global Voices.

Nepal: Outcome Of The 17th SAARC Summit

Rezwan — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 06:57:18 +0000

Chandan Sapkota analyzes the outcome of the seventeenth summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) which was held in November 2011 in the Maldives.

Nepal: Not a Territory of India!

Pradeep Kumar Singh — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 06:10:15 +0000

…not to forget the Nepal territory because Nepal territory is also a part of India…

A recent remark by a moderator of an Indian TV channel had outraged many Nepalis who vented their reactions on different social networking sites. In a movie review show ETC Bollywood Business anchor and movie analyst Komal Nahta made a statement that Nepal is also part of India while explaining the box office collection for the blockbuster Bollywood movie DON 2.

The video on YouTube posted below also follows a clarification statement by ETC networks on the statement made by Mr. Nahta:

It became a much talked issue on social networks this week and has once again fuelled debate on Nepal-India relations.

As matters got intense online, especially on Twitter mentioning Komal Nahta (@KomalNahta) while discussing his statement, he had to tweet a clarification article and also had to write a convincing blog post by holding his same values.

It was surprising that Komal did not regret his statement on his blog post. Rather to justify his point, he further claimed those who made such statements were just irate citizens and hardly knew about his business point. He further added:

Probably, most of the Nepali citizens who created a controversy where none existed, weren’t even aware that Nepal is, in fact, counted as part of India for the express purpose of counting the domestic shares of Bollywood films.

His attitude in responding to others' tweets was also questionable.

Lex Limbu writes:

When I heard that, I felt uneasy as well. But then I wondered why a grown man, who surely is educated would say such a nothing. After fishing for clarifications Komal Nahta took to twitter and justified himself [..]. Fair enough, maybe he did have a point for saying that, but it's annoying now that the millions of geographically challenged Indian viewers will now think that Nepal is actually a territory of India (oh no).

It was not just blog posts and website articles on the issues; some YouTube videos were also made against the reporter’s statement. Watch this episode on the topic:

This is not the first time that such a controversy has aroused Nepalis to speak against it. In 1998, Madhuri Dixit, popular Bollywood actor had to apologise when she said that Nepal was once a part of India. Again in 2000, Hrithik Roshan, another Bollywood actor had to clarify that he had never stated that he hated Nepal and its people.

The Hrithik and Madhuri's case was also covered by BBC News saying, “Movie theatres across Nepal have suspended screening Indian films after an alleged anti-Nepal slur by a Bollywood star.”

Recently in a comedy show Stephen Colbert made fun of Nepali identity and culture, which had aroused similar discussions on social media.

I commented in my own blog post:

My view on the topic is that be it film business calculations or industry norm or whatever, it is indeed a blasphemous error. If it’s industry norms, the reporter should have mentioned that clearly in his show.

Thumbnail Picture: Screenshot from YouTube Video.