Global Voices » Nepal

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.

Nepal: The Benefit Of Being A Celebrity

Rezwan — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:16:06 +0000

XNepali translates a news where we learn that a Nepali actress got her lost suitcase back from a taxi driver after the news of the loss was covered in a local newspaper.

Nepal:No Place for Xenophobia

Aparna Ray — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 08:43:45 +0000

Blogdai writes that Nepal should stop blaming foreigners for each and every woe that comes its way, since national unity cannot be based on xenophobia.

Macedonia, Nepal: First Female Macedonian on Major Himalayan Peak

Filip Stojanovski — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 03:25:11 +0000

Macedonian climbers Ilina Arsova and Ilija Ristovski have successfully climbed the Himalayan summit of Ama Dablam, on Nov. 18, 2011. Ilina wrote about this achievement on her blog, in Macedonian and English.

Nepal: Social Media Diplomacy

Rezwan — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:41:10 +0000

The US Ambassador to Nepal, Scott H DeLisi, is very active in Facebook and he comments: “Social media have changed the way the Embassy does business.” Read Ujjwal Acharya's post for more.

Nepal: Challenges For Citizen Media

Rezwan — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 08:48:49 +0000

Bhumika Ghimire discusses about the challenges citizen media platforms are facing in Nepal.

Nepal: Government Expels UN Human Rights Watchdog

Rezwan — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 22:18:54 +0000

Article 19 reports that the Nepali government has decided “not to renew the mandate of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the only branch of the United Nations watchdog in South Asia”.

South Asia: Challenges to Railway Connections Between South Asian Countries

Rezwan — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 19:45:44 +0000

Chandan Sapkota from Kathmandu analyses the obstacles hampering the implementations of railways connection between neighboring South Asian countries.