As tributes are pouring in for Vaclav Havel, former President, playwright and the icon of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia who died on 18 December 2011, I wish to recall an extraordinary occasion when I had the opportunity to meet him and hear one of his most poignant speeches. The occasion was 30 September 1990 More...

- कुलचन्द्र गौतम/दमननाथ ढुङ्गाना/पद्मरत्न तुलाधर/ डा. वीरेन्द्र मिश्र/सुशील प्याकुरेल नेपालको नयाँ संविधानमा जातीय, क्षेत्रीय, लैङ्गिक लगायतका असमानताका सबै अवशेष समाप्त गर्ने र नेपालले अनुमोदन गरेका मानवअधिकार सम्बन्धी सबै अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय महासन्धिहरूको पूर्ण पालना गर्ने प्रतिबद्धता र सङ्कल्प गरी संविधानसभामार्फत हामीले नयाँ संविधान लेखनको मूलभूत कार्य अगाडि बढाएका हौं । यही क्रममा प्रमुख राजनीतिक दलहरूबीच भएको पछिल्लो More...

KUL CHANDRA GAUTAM The 1 November agreement breathed new life into the Comprehensive Peace Accord five years after it was signed. We spent much time in the past five years debating the differing understandings of what the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) and the Agreement on Monitorign of Management of Arms and Armies (AMMAA) meant by More...

BY KUL CHANDRA GAUTAM A group of senior Nepali Communist leaders from UCPN (Maoist) and NC-UML are going to Phnom Penh next week, to learn about Cambodia’s peace process. Going on donor-funded junkets to virtually all post-conflict countries to learn from their peace process has been a thriving cottage industry in Nepal over the past More...

BY KUL CHANDRA GAUTAM History has given the Maoists a second chance to lead the Government of Nepal in three years. The new Prime Minister, Dr Baburam Bhattarai, assumes leadership of the nation with a mixed reputation — but on the whole, with high respect and great anticipation. In public opinion polls, he scores a More...

KUL CHANDRA GAUTAM There has been great excitement, debate and controversy about the plans of the Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation (APECF) to mobilize investment of US$3 billion plus for the development of Lumbini as a Special Development Zone (SDZ). After four decades of failed attempts to develop Lumbini into a global pilgrimage site More...

BY KUL CHANDRA GAUTAM Imagine employees at a major hospital in Paris, London, New York or Tokyo suddenly closing their own hospital, including its emergency ward, intensive care unit, and all essential services, and forcing all patients to move out to seek treatment elsewhere. No matter what the grievances of the employees, there would surely More...

BY KUL CHANDRA GAUTAM Though it came late and is imperfect, the Five-Point Agreement formally endorsed by the legislature-parliament as part of its approval of the three-month extension of the Constituent Assembly (CA), offers one more opportunity to re-energize the peace process and the writing of the new constitution. It also poses a challenge for More...

-कुलचन्द्र गौतम संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघीय महासभाको अध्यक्षका निम्ति नेपालले दिएको उम्मेदवारी असफल भए पनि सम्मानजनक र उपयोगी अनुभव सावित भएको छ । चुनावमा नेपाल पराजित भए पनि यसबारे काठमाडौं र न्यूयोर्कमा प्राप्त प्रतिक्रिया निकै फरक थियो । काठमाडौंमा उम्मेदवारी नदिएको भए हुन्थ्यो वा उम्मेदवारै ठीक नभएकोजस्ता आलोचनात्मक धारणा आएका छन् । चुनावमा पराजित भएर नेपालको वेइज्जत More...

by Kul Chandra Gautam With only one month left to 28 May 2011 deadline for promulgating the new Constitution, preceded by the completion of the peace process, tensions are rising high and political parties are blaming each other for lack of progress. This is a moment where the test of leadership will lie not in More...