"बन्दको बिरुद्ध नेपाली अभियान" NO BANDH!

It would be hard to make stuff like this up. So now political parties (well, one of them) can control the content of TV channels on a whim? Not a bandh on movement but a partial one on the airwaves. What next?

The electronic media, film halls and cable operators had stopped transmission of Hindi materials from last Saturday on request of the Maoists who have been on an anti-Indian campaign as part of their fourth phase of protests. The Maoists had asked the FM stations and film halls to transmit only Nepali materials till January 24. Cable operators, media houses and film halls said they obeyed Maoist directive so as to avoid problems in the future.

http://myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=14379

Illicit activities

And it is not only the airwaves. The self-appointed moral guardians of the state are bashing down the door first and asking questions later:

Cadres of Maoist aligned Young Communist League (YCL) raided various local  hotels in Narayangdh, Chitwan on Friday and held 13 couples who they accused were found involved in “illicit” activities there, Kantipur Daily  reported.

While this is not bandh, it goes to show how the culture of “we know what’s right for you and we’ll make sure you suffer until agree with us” is spreading.

http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/news-archive/2-political/3691-ycl-cadres-raid-hotels-in-narayangadh.html

Chandan Sapkota reports on the death of the garment industry. As he points out, bandhs were far from the main cause – incompetence or negligence over more than a decade are they key reasons. However:

Frequent strikes along the main highways led to an increase in transportation cost. This also increased the risk of delivery problems, leading to an escalation in the final price of garments. It further eroded the price competitiveness of Nepalese garments. To make matters worse, trade unions and militant youth wings made a mockery of property rights by occupying and confiscating private property, and forced an increase in wages and allowances, irrespective of labor productivity. The lack of a regular power supply also aggravated the situation.

If this is the case for the garment industry, how is any other industry coping?

From “ARCHANA”

They should not hesitate to declare academic institutions as zones of peace and parties should give necessary emphasis to keep the education sector out of politics. The right of students to education is being violated by the so-called bandhs.

http://nepalnewshorizon.blogspot.com/2010/01/education-at-mercy-of-strikes.html?zx=777d063e1d389506