Nepal has emerged as world’s youngest democratic republic after the Constitutional Assembly voted to abolish the 240-year-old monarchy. On Thursday morning, the flag of the Shah dynasty was taken down from the main palace in the capital city of Kathmandu. The palace will now be turned into a national museum, reports AFP.
The vote in the 601-member assembly saw just four lawmakers oppose the declaration transforming Nepal into a secular republic. Nepal, sandwiched between India and China, is slightly larger than the US state of New York (and half the size of Italy) and borders the Chinese autonomous region of Tibet, with which it shares the world’s highest peak, the Mount Everest.
The unprecedented vote followed a peace accord between Maoists and mainstream parties. “The Maoists, clear winners of last month’s elections, waged a decade of war to overthrow what they view as a backward, caste-ridden structure that kept most of Nepal’s 29 million people living in dire poverty.”
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon welcomed the vote, saying Nepalese “have clearly spoken for peace and change.” The United States, which continues to list the former rebels as a foreign “terrorist” organisation, urged “forward political developments” in Nepal, US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said in Washington. “There’s been a political transition. There have been elections. The new government is in place and moving forward.”
Nepal, with Hindus accounting for nearly 90 per cent of the population, became a British protectorate in 1816 and won independence in 1923. The hereditary monarch, traditionally worshipped as a living god, set up a system of modern cabinet rule in 1951. Multi-party democracy and a constitutional monarchy came in 1990 after a popular uprising left hundreds of people dead.
Maoists launched an insurgency to overthrow the monarchy in 1996 after boycotting elections and denouncing corruption. The world’s last Hindu king, Gyanendra, came to the throne in June 2001, after a palace massacre in which the crown prince killed most of the royal family and himself. More here…
Maoist chief Prachanda, 53, on Wednesday became the most powerful person in Nepal, who is set to head its next government after fulfilling his ambition of transforming the country into a republic, reports The Times of India. And also here…
Photo of a Nepali woman celebrating outside the Convention Hall…Courtesy AP/Mustafa Quraishi
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.