As a new Coordinatror and Editor, it is my pleasure and great honor to present you rejuvenated TND. I hope to receive the same support from all of you that you have been giving to TND for the past 14 years.

Background of The Nepal Digest
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"The Nepal Digest" was born during the democratic movement of Nepal in 1990. And since then, it has been the pioneer on discussion forums in Nepali Diasporas.

(For older issues of "The Nepal Digest", please visit http://www.thenepaldigest.org/pastissueslib.htm )

Rejuvenation of "The Nepal Digest"
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In depressing political and economical landscape of present-day Nepal, Nepali community feels that it badly needs a forum to voice its ideas and opinions. In this very context, "The Nepal Digest" hopes to create a free and democratic electronic platform -- against prejudices and unjustness of all kinds furthermore free of all political views and cultural biasness. This will also be a platform to share our achievements, hopes, concerns, aspirations, goals as well as sorrows and pains.

People are free to post but they would have to adhere to certain very broadly defined norms: no pornography, no phohar kura, no hate mail, and full responsibility for the postings.

How "The Nepal Digest" will work?
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"The Nepal Digest" depends on contributions of readers, thinkers and intellect minds like you. You can send your contributions in three ways:

1.Email us at editor@theNepalDigest.org with your article.
2. Use the form at http://www.theNepalDigest.org/submit.htm
3. Or mail us at TND Foundation, P.O. Box 8206 White Plains, NY 10602

Once the digest is ready, it will be emailed to you. You can read the digest in your email or by visiting us at http://www.theNepalDigest.org/

Final Appeal
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If you believe that this forum could be a valuable platform for those living abroad as well as for those living in Nepal, please share your knowledge, experiences or even frustrations with us. That might make more of us feel our duty towards our beloved motherland.

And feel free to forward this email to anyone who has an urge towards contributing for the cause of Nepalese and Nepal.
(Submit Here: http://www.thenepaldigest.org/Submit.htm)

The Nepal Digest Team
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Coordinator: Ujjwal Bhattarai
Web: Sunita Dhungana
Advisor: Pramod Mishra
Advisor: Rajpal Singh

We are looking for enthusiatist who can run chapters at their home city, coutnry. If you are interested, please contact us. Thank you once again for your support.

For The Nepal Digest Team,
Ujjwal Bhattarai

White Plains, NY
contact@theNepalDigest.org

Conditions of Maoists

The statement from the Maoists was faxed to news organisations in the capital, Kathmandu. In his message, Comrade Prachanda said the Maoists had agreed to observe a ceasefire after talks with the government, and had called upon distant rebel units to be aware of this.

A dialogue would begin soon, the statement said, and the government had precipitated the move by agreeing to three conditions:
1. To stop calling the Maoists terrorists
2. To lift rewards offered for their arrest
3. To withdraw international police warrants issued for the rebel leaders
MORE

At the time when I was composing this article the news of an immediate ceasefire between the government and the Maoist rebels came out as a nice surprise.

This has again inspired hope among war-weary despaired Nepalese living in and outside of Nepal that this may finally be the beginning of the end of seven-year conflict that has cost more than 7,000 lives and ruined the nation to the bottom of development. It will be too obvious to explain about the Maoist insurgency and its adverse effects in Nepal again and again, but at the same time it is very important to understand some fundamental underpinnings of the effects of this insurgency in the development of Nepal.

It is well known that Nepal is a tourism oriented agricultural country and most of its foreign currency is obtained from either tourism business or from exports of various agricultural/garment products. Most of the development projects of the nation depend on the foreign grants and loans and needless to say that the burden of foreign loans is much more than actual development for what the loan was obtained for.

The past seven years of Maoist insurgency and moreover the post peoples' movement era of Nepal did not bring anything more than despair and hopelessness among general Nepalese. Rampant corruption, never aligning political parties, and unstable governments developed a suitable brewing environment for first rebellion and then insurgency in the country. On the one hand scores and scores of people are being killed by either rebel or government side, and on the other hand there is a massive exodus of working age men and women to India and other countries seeking their personal and family safety rather than anything else.

Schools in most of the rural western Nepal have been shut down leaving children behind the darkness of illiteracy and thus a dark future. Many school age children are recruited by rebels as porters to transport materials needed for their combat and other uses. All these situations may lead Nepal towards the tragic situation as in war ridden African nations where all the working age generations are either killed or emigrated leaving elderly and small children which would be the most tragic moment that Nepal would ever have to face. This is certainly not a good sign for the future of a nation. If the Nepalese government had given adequate time to contemplate the country's problem and situation few years ago, we perhaps would not have to see so many this grim situation.

Here I want to underline and emphasize some basic fundamental prerequisite for peace and development which are not impossible at attain even today especially when the ceasefire has just been declared. I think now is the best time and opportunity that the responsible parties should take to restore peace, law and order and finally the security of the nation. The following should be some of the priority policies/activities that the government of Nepal should consider to restore peace in the nation:
· Maintain a minimum level of security among general public for the functioning of the economy. At the present situation, the government seems to be unable to maintain and provide any sense of security to general public. This brings a sense fear among people to run their daily lives. Similarly, tourism business has also been plummeted because of the very same reason. Country like Nepal, which depends on tourism and development aid, is loosing its ground in the international arena becoming an example of bad governance and corruption.

Good governance and civic participation is very important from national to VDC level to maintain. As there is no any local government in Nepal, donors are hesitating to invest and trust the bureaucrats. We have witnessed the results of bad governance for last 12 years and its consequence. It is very important to have civic participation and stake in any local development issues. The government should create a favorable environment to conduct local elections at the earliest possible time.

General public should have confidence on the government. When public stops trusting the government, there develops a situation of chaos and anarchy. The present government should try hard to maintain the confidence among the public. Having said this, as the government has just initiated a fresh round of talks with Maoist, this should be maintained with best intentions from the both sides to help bring back a sense of hope among general public. This will not only help Nepalese breath peacefully but it also mobilizes economic sectors once again and revitalizes a nation, which is socio-economically and hopelessly crippled for the past several years.

This article is a broad and conceptual in nature and that is exactly my idea so that more thoughts could come from readers in future. I wish all my best for the success of this peace talk and restoration of peace in Nepal so that we can reorient/redirect our thoughts towards developments and other creative areas to promote development of this beautiful Himalayan nation.

(By Pramod Pandey Bristol, CT)

The implication of article 128 is the only solution as this is likely to bridge the gap between the monarch and the political parties. Constituent assembly is not the alternative solution; there is no alternative to article 128. Its time for reconciliation within political parties and the general public too. We see Nepal as a failing state, yet we have done nothing about it. Our country is plagued with varied complications.

Any possibility for constituent assembly has to be ruled out. The
consequences of a constituent assembly would spur out differences between and within political parties, which would widen the gap between the parties, people and the palace. Constituent assembly would leave us divided.

National reconciliation amongst political parties and the king is the only
solution. A broad-based national consensus has to be reached without any further delays. Both the Monarch and the Parties have to play an active role to put forward a common strategy, an aim and a mission to start with.

The monarch is a symbol of national pride, honour and unity. The King is
born to rule and not to reign. Therefore, the king too must realize the
urgency of the crisis his country faces and act accordingly in the
interest of the nation and the people. Should the King and parties unite,
the Maoist will be defeated.

Wal-Mart has taken a long march from humble rural roots to become a great leader of today's retailing business. Here are its 8 secrets:
1. Customer Service
"And by the way, would you like us to skin that frog for you? " Welcome to Wal-Mart in China, where the late Sam Walton has a new image: the Mao of retailing. So the store in Shenzhen is crowded with tanks of crabs, fish, frogs and shrimp, which can be taken home wiggling or be expertly gutted and cleaned on the spot.
Customer-service with right merchandise is the why Wal-Mart just keeps gaining market share, not only from bankrupt discounter Kmart but also from grocers like Kroger, drugstore chains like CVS and electronics sellers like RadioShack. Wal-Mart is mounting an audacious expansion that could double its sales within just five years, to $480 billion.

2. Expansion into new geographic area and merchandise sector
The chain plans to expand from 3,400 U.S. locations today half of them in the South to a nationwide network approaching 5,000 stores in five years. Wal-Mart has 1,300 Supercenters. In some areas, it is placing these 180,000-sq.-ft. monsters as close as 5 miles apart.
If you think Wal-Mart already sells just about everything, think again. Think PCs, ceiling fans, more fashionable clothing, gasoline and even cars. Wal-Mart is building its first urban Supercenter, in downtown Dallas. And without fanfare it is testing used-car sales alongside one of its Houston stores.

3. Centralized Management
Wal-Mart's centralization of power at its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., could produce agitation among the managers of its stores, who have traditionally been granted considerable independence in stocking what locals want. However Wal-Mart pushed responsibility and information to the lowest ranks. Managers of departments such as sporting goods or women's apparel still get detailed reports of sales and profits in their areas, and they have a say in which products are stocked.

4. Efficiency because of nonunion labor
Wal-Mart's Supercenters are able to underprice their supermarket competitors about 15%, according to analyst Kalish, in part because they are more efficient but also because the discount giant uses nonunion labor. Wal-Mart matches the union pay rate in union markets, but the average wage at Wal-Mart nationally is less than $10 an hour before bonuses.

5. Becoming contractor, importer and wholesaler
By becoming contractor, importer and wholesaler, Wal-Mart expects not only to save money on the buy but also to cut down on inventory by speeding up the supply lines. Wal-Mart gets most of its towels from India, and today it reorders once a month. If one pattern gets hot and sells out early, sales are lost. In going direct, however, Wal-Mart will make the factories in India part of its Retail Link system. That allows vendors like Sara Lee (Hanes underwear, Bryan bacon) to dip into Wal-Mart's computers and track sales and replenish supplies constantly.

6. International Expansion
Wal-Mart's expansion has gone well in Mexico, where it is the country's largest retailer. And the company just completed a deal to crack the Japanese market by acquiring 34% of Seiyu, a well-positioned but struggling retailer. But Wal-Mart has stumbled badly in some countries, particularly Germany. German shoppers found Wal-Mart's door greeters appalling, and they regarded the ever-helpful clerks as an intrusion on their private space.
From Wal-Mart's point of view, it's the Chinese who have turned out to be the best capitalists. Wal-Mart is increasing this year, from 25 to 40, the number of stores in China. In China's three main cities, according to a McKinsey study, increasing wealth will support 250 Supercenters among the competing retailers, each selling $24 million to $36 million annually.

7. Grocery brings people in!
Over the past two years, Kmart filed for bankruptcy, and Ames and Bradlees, once East Coast powerhouses, closed up shop. Wal-Mart is quickly adding scalps in the grocery industry too, the venerable Grand Union among them. Safeway, Albertsons and SuperValu have all slashed their earnings estimates in the past few weeks. Before getting into groceries, starting in 1986, Wal-Mart figured that a typical store needed a potential customer base of at least 150,000 people. But add groceries, and more of the available shoppers show up; each store needs a smaller area to support it. So Wal-Mart can situate Supercenters less than 5 miles apart in many suburban areas. It is also deploying a cut-down grocery-convenience store called the Neighborhood Market between the superstores.

8. Advanced Technology
Wal-Mart's next competitive weapon is advanced data mining, which it will use to forecast, replenish and merchandise on a micro scale. By analyzing years' worth of sales data and then cranking in variables such as the weather and school schedules the system could predict the optimal number of cases of Gatorade, in what flavors and sizes, a store in Laredo, Texas, should have on hand the Friday before Labor Day. Then, if the weather forecast suddenly called for temperatures 5 degrees hotter than last year, the delivery truck would automatically show up with more.
Sell a buck.
Save a buck. Repeat. It's that cycle of high-powered logistics engineering and nickel-squeezing huckstering that remains retailing's most potent weapon. UBS's Kristiansen sees no reason why Wal-Mart, which has trounced the Dow over the past five years, will not sustain 15% earnings growth. Scott, who earns less than most other Fortune 500 CEOs, was leaving a store not long ago when he stopped to chat with one of the many senior citizens who work as greeters. They are a fearless lot, and the old gent teased the boss with a question: "Did you give everyone a big raise?" Scott returned a look of mock horror. "Are you kidding me?" he said. "This is Wal-Mart!"

If TND puts forward these successful stories in front of coming new generation, it will guide them as light houses guides the sailing ships. I hope this forum should search and publish about our role models first. In Indian Channels and magazines, we see a lot of news about NRIs. I suggest TND to have a coloumn devoted to this cause.

Finally, for publicity, TND should exploit the presence of FM radio stations in Kathmandu and have them highlight TND as well as use local magazines. They always carry good coverage about web ventures and give detail descriptions of popular websites. Then you will be able to attract a whole new generation for this noble cause.

Ram Gopal Lageju, Kathmandu

Rainbow is reserved. Cc is curious and playful. Rainbow is chunky. Cc is sleek. Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society might be inclined to say: I told you so. But then, so would cc's creators at Texas A&M University.

Sure, you can clone your favorite cat. But the copy will not necessarily act or even look like the original. MORE