Why Nepali institutions are corrupt?

The most prevalent view among the skeptics is that Nepal is doomed because of its selfish and immoral politicians and civil servants who abuse power unabashedly. Often, this is where the conversation ends. This is not where it should end.

We need to ask ourselves why our politicians and civil servants indulge in corruption, assuming that they are just like any of us, and like politicians of other countries. Certainly, economics as a field of study does not tolerate arguments based on assumptions that some people are innately corrupt and can never change their ways. Let us take a moment to get into the basics of accepting and giving bribes. A person accepting bribes compares the benefits of taking bribes with its costs. If the benefits exceed the costs, he accepts it; if it does not, he rejects it. Regardless of his race, place of residence, education, and his level of income, it is this cost and benefit analysis that determines whether he accepts bribes.

The negative consequences of abusing power have largely been absent in Nepal, and absolutely absent for the ones at the very top. This is why corruption has become a way of life.
Try giving 5,000 rupees to the police chief of Kathmandu to hush a murder, and he will throw you out of the room. Try giving him 5 million, and maybe he will think twice before being impolite to you. Try giving 50 rupees to motorcycle license granting operator to bend the rules for you, he will get offended. Try giving him 5,000 rupees, and he might actually bend the rules for you.

The same logic applies to those giving bribes. The person considering bribery does a cost-benefit analysis, and bribes only if the benefit outweighs the cost. This economic model stripped to its most basic form explains why corruption exists.

If we are serious about curtailing corruption, this is where the focus ought to be—on increasing the costs and decreasing the benefits of accepting bribes or abusing power for personal gain.

To decrease the benefits of indulging in corruption, many have argued that salaries need to go up. This may not be a smart way to curb corruption. Increasing the salary for those in authority will certainly make it more expensive to bribe them. But it may actually increase the rupees value of money bribed.

Just think about it. Suppose a license granting officer is salaried at 10,000 rupees, he may bend the rules for you for 5,000 rupees. If his salary were to be increased to 50,000 rupees per month, he will not bend the rules for 5,000 thousand, but will bend it for only 15,000 rupees. While there will be fewer people who can afford 15,000, the rupees value of total bribery may go up. Besides, it is very expensive for the government to hike salaries by such proportions.

The focus, therefore, ought to be on the cost side. We need to have a system in place that makes it difficult to accept bribes and abuse power, and increases the chances of catching them. When we do catch them, we need to prosecute and punish them. We need to do this publicly and harshly.

The negative consequences of abusing power have largely been absent in Nepal, and absolutely absent for the ones at the very top. This is why corruption has become a way of life. It is nothing to be ashamed of, and, in private, occasionally something to be proud of.

This culture isn’t surprising, though. We have a long legacy of our role models abusing power. Nepal’s laws and its institution were never meant to check the abuse of power by the powerful. These institutions were made by the powerful, for the powerful.

The writers and guardians of the Muluki Ain swore allegiance to the king not to ordinary citizens of Nepal. The idea was to keep the public happy enough using a carrot and stick approach to avoid revolution and in the meantime plunder the country’s resources. The new guardians of the system after 1990, realizing how wonderful the system served those in power, showed little interest in changing the system.

Call it shortsightedness, incompetence, or patronizing attitude towards the rest of the Nepalis, these freedom fighters never really understood why it was important to have laws and institutions that tied their own hands. Even today, there does not seem to be any desire to change the system when it comes to punishing those that abuse power.

Courtesy: My Republica

Author: DR ANAND JHA

Wenger: We are the worst with injuries

Manager Arsène Wenger admits that we seem to be most unlucky club amongst the big four when it comes to injuries, especially when we're in the months of November or December.

There is a list of injured players on the Physio Room website which makes for interesting reading.

Currently, we have the following nine players injured: Tomas Rosicky, Theo Walcott, Kieran Gibbs, Abou Diaby, Robin van Persie, Nicklas Bendtner, Gaël Clichy, Eduardo and Johan Djourou.

Wenger said: "We pick up more injuries than the other big teams, that is true.

"You cannot say there is not a reason for it but we have not found it yet.

"It's the worst season for injuries for us. And they are all in the same area - in the offensive side. Last year it was in the defensive side."

The number is the highest amongst the top four clubs, with Manchester United coping without 7 players, Chelsea without 3 and Liverpool without 2.

It's ironic that the club with the biggest and most experienced squad - Chelsea - have the second least injuries, and Liverpool with 2, are still not doing too well. Unless of course, those 2 are Gerrard and Torres of course!

By: Jonathan Chong
Courtesy: Arsenal Mania

Tom @ Jiri

Hiking started as usual, late. Two days hiking as a coordinator, 10 boys heading towards Jiri with an uncharged camera, everything was going wrong until KD started sharing jokes.
There are some regular stops in D2 Hike when we travel Araniko Highway: 1. Breakfast at Surya Vinayak, 2. Lunch at Sharmila's, Zero Kilo. I had kept these things in mind because my squad knew breakfast at Surya Vinayak is served in dirty plates with unhygienic spoons and Sharmila is just name and nothing more. Well, we stopped at Surya Vinayak for breakfast but in different hotel, it was no different. It was only when we reached Khadichaur that we realized that loads of "swaari tarkari" on breakfast is not good on long drive hike as most of us couldn't resist the sharp turnings after Dhulikhel. However, nobody chucked up.
As we headed towards Jiri, the sublime beauty of nature kept our mouth open. The curvy roads, sloppy viridian hills, a picturesque village were all demanding to take photo. We got only one camera, damn!!!
On the way, we helped two ladies(Hema and Nima Lama) from Jugu who missed their last bus to Jiri. This was what catalyzed BSB, sorry to reveal your secret BSB.
Beer and Boys really go together along with Cards. "But after getting high, you should take a bottle of water beside your bed to sleep" - Lesson learned on the trip. Ravi was looking up for water around 2 am and luckily found a bottle, god knows what it contained. 3P was waking up other guys, "Guys I am thirsty, guys I am thirsty" and thirsty SRK joined the hunt for water. BSB thought 3P talks in his dreams - god help Bahadur.
With the evanescence of the morning mist, we started hiking towards the renowned cheese factory. Our hiking group had diminished due to the hangover effect of previous night. KD, Asim & Deepak kept sleeping while Ram Dai and Raunak forfeited the hiking after a man there said "kina dukha garnu huncha, dherai mathi po cha ta cheese factory".
Although Newton's second law of gravity came into play, serene sky & bright green field illuminated with resonating light mesmerized us to reach the destination. As we stared over the edge of the mountain with a feeling of awe, our hearts were jocund. The place had an aura of .. ammm "photo session", soon everyone started giving pose. It was the hunger that pushed us more towards the Cheese factory literally, since we forgot to have breakfast at Jiri, we needed to have Mahi. Later we had to satisfy with cheese as November is not the season for Mahi.
On our way back, children from school ran after D2 van shouting, "Copy Khai!! Copy Khai!!". We were like "What!! They still remember us and our D2 Van :D". I wonder why D2 left the culture of distributing copies/pencil to school kids.
We were in no hurry to return back to Kathmandu since we were informed that there was banda in Dhulikhel so we decided to visit Dolkha Bhimsen. It was 9-10 when I got back home. Day after the hike, I found that BSB, SRK and KD changed their status on facebook immediately after they reached home but I crashed into my bed as soon as I unlaced my shoe.
Well I am grateful to all the hikers who made it to the trip and also to "Harka Bd. Jirel who guided us to Cheese Factory" and "Expensive smiling waiter, who made the fire, served us and later asked KD to bring him an iPhone during his next visit to Jiri", and to all those people who made this hike a moment to remember.


Appendix:
3P = Pawan Pokhrel
BSB = Bahadur Singh Baniya
KD = Kapil Raj Pandey
SRK = Sudip Raj Koirala

This is a short rant…

Football is a results driven business and I am happy to go another season trophyless for the bigger picture… I am even prepared to suffer the taunts of scum fans as they succumb to altitude sickness due to their unexpected league position… I am even prepared to accept that Cesc Fabregas will go to Barcelona in the summer… However what I am not prepared to accept, are players who are not willing to sweat blood for the cause and fight with pride even when losing. I have had enough of this attitude which suggests that some players are probably over paid and not under pressure for their places. I want grit… I want passion… but most of all I want the Vermaelen factor. People who get very angry when we do not as a team give a good account of themselves. Yesterday very few players stayed on the pitch to acknowledge those of us still left in the stadium to cheer “We love you Arsenal we do” I thank those players who applauded our efforts of support. Lets not worry about the title, lets worry about what we are, and how others see us when the going is tough. WE ARE THE ARSENAL AND WE ARE THE BEST, WE ARE THE ARSENAL SO F*CK ALL THE REST…

Fight until the end Gunners, anything less is a disgrace to our heritage!

By: FTK

Courtesy: Arsenal Insider

Bouquet of Happiness

Costa Rica has been declared the happiest country in the planet earth. It has topped the HPI chart (Happy Planet Index). Nepal is standing at 37 with the HPI score of 51.6. Interesting enough, large and developed countries like USA and UK are found at the bottom of the chart (USA at 114 and UK at 74). In the indexer’s words “The Happy Planet Index reveals the ecological efficiency with which human well-being is delivered. The index combines environmental impact with human well-being to measure the environmental efficiency with which, country by country, people live long and happy lives.” Like one of my friends comment, I think what it essential means is the index of ‘living in harmony’.

At the philosophical side (if you hate philosophy you can safely skip this paragraph :) , I have been thinking for a while - that ultimately the essence of the goal of life is the happiness. People may believe in different routes to reach that state. Some may find it in wealth and power and others would see it in the intellectual attainments. Some may find it in the religious devotion and others may take the path of self realization. Some would find happiness staying at the ‘giving end’ while others would enjoy the ‘receiving end’. Some finds happiness solving the problems while others find happiness just by ignoring them. Whatever the way it is, the attained happiness is priceless. Happiness in a lavish lifestyle is in no way superior to the happiness farmers find with their successful crops. There are different believes, ideologies, ethics and standards whose job is to define which paths to happiness are right and which are wrong but still they are all dealing with the ultimate goal of life which is to be happy. There should have been a God of Happiness. Just a thought.

With all this in mind I recalled the feelings I had last month when I was in my remote village Majuwa at Bhojpur. No road, no electricity, my village is really deprived by the Nation’s development process. But in the other side, I met many more happy people there than I usually meet at the cities. Genuinely happy people.The trepidation of the current recession cannot even touch them. This is a place where even a 10Rs bill can bring a pouring happiness.

Let me share some happiness straight from my village :)

Original Post: Everest Uncensored
Posted By: Dream Sky

What's going on with our celebrations?

What's going on with our celebrations? Where have they gone? One of the greatest things about the invincible era was the enthusiastic and all-inclusive celebrations. It extended the joy of the goal for a few more precious seconds. It actually formed part of the joy of the goal: 'Brilliant, we're 1-0 up and I'll get to see the boys celebrate like mates'. A good celebration is the football equivalent of the post-coital cigarette.

These days our celebrations are at best muted, at worst our boys look quite annoyed that we're scored. Almost as if someone has ruined their fun by scoring and forcing us to give the ball back to the oppo.

The Arshavin 'shhh' celebration is boring now plus it doesn't make any sense at home. Worryingly, none of his teammates seem the least bit interested in giving him a good old fashioned cuddle. Let alone some piggy-back action (chance would be a fine thing).

Even more bizarre was Eddy's refusal to celebrate the own goal that he had clearly forced on Saturday. I understand he doesn't want run the length of the field in rapture knowing that he didn't touch the ball but he actually looked pissed off about the fact that we had gone 1-0 up! He shook his head at Gallas as if to say, 'that goal means nothing to me. Don't even look at me, let alone offer a high-five.'

The new Blues Brothers

STRIKEFORCE ... Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka are the most feared pairing in the Premier League

Source: The Sun