Thursday, May 31, 2012

RE: [NNSD] Mass meeting and rally advocating Newa Rajya

May 31, 2012
Bihari K Shrestha
Kathmandu

Dear Bihari jee
Thanks a lot for your solidarity.
Besides the question of greater and wider integration, as in Europe, there is another question of Newa identity that I view differently from Newars demanding Newa Rajya. For me Newa identity is like an orchid which thrives on a tree, taken away from which it stands the risk of withering away. There are people of Newa descent in India whose Newa identity is non-existent. At best they are identified as Indians of Nepali origin.

With best regards,


Sincerely,


Ratna Sansar Shrestha, FCA
Senior Water Resource Analyst
http://www.ratnasansar.com/

From: NNSD@yahoogroups.com [mailto:NNSD@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Bihari Shrestha
Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2012 18:34
To: NNSD@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [NNSD] Mass meeting and rally advocating Newa Rajya

Dear Ratna Sansarjee,

I would like to join you in your advocacy of the inadvisability of a separate Newar state by adding that such a development would be counterproductive for the Newars themselves too, even as it would also be detrimental for the development of other regions and people in the country. Compared to what the Newars were like socio-economically at the time of the end of the Rana regime when the country broke its international isolation, more than anybody else it has been the Newars who have gained immensely in terms of social, economic and political growth. While they traditionally enjoyed dominance in trade, government service and access to education, today Newars have even excelled Bahuns in HDI in Nepal, and that has been possible due to the fact that Kathmandu valley has always been the hub of all development activities in Nepal that have steadily been on the rise both in its range of functions, their magnitude and their outreacfh in and out of the country. This has been further aided by the steady rise in its population, made possible by the absence of restriction to move into the valley. Most of today's Newars in Kathmandu is a cosmopolitan man and his society of reference is the international community. Its one single example is that despite the provision of a separate department for Nepal Bhasa (i.e. Newari) in the TU, they are hardpressed to find students, more so at advantced levels. While there are a few self-styled Newar leaders too demanding Newa Rajya (the Maoist assignment) or the Nepal Mandala (the demand of the ethnic Newar chauvanists), most Newars do not want themselves to be caged in all over again into any arbitrarily defined territory and feud against all manners of caste ethnic people, living in and outside its boundary. While such federalisation of the country should have been put to a referendum to start with, the Maoists, who learnt the art of divide and rule from their mentors in India who themselves inherited it from their British colonial masters, did not happen to believe in public opinion; they want to impose their own ideas-unbaked, half-baked or whatever--on the people on the strength of the barrel of the gun that they had procured from outside too. If nobody else, the Newars at least must send the message that the time is for greater and wider integration like in Euprope, SE Asia, North and South America and so on to benefit from the ever more potent factor of economy of scale in the development of mankind.



Warm regards

Bihari Krishna Shrestha

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