KATHMANDU, NEPAL, April 21, 2016 (Global Research by Barbara Nimri Aziz): Nepal has fallen into a troubling, dysfunctional state of normality which has little to do with last year’s earthquake that destroyed villages, leveled temples and schools, killing almost 9,000 people in and around Kathmandu Valley. The county’s capital, a city of four million, needs to awaken from its comatose state, a condition that may seem an outcome of the earthquake, but in fact is a result of deep-seated endemic problems:- bad leadership, misplaced and mismanaged development policies and funds, factionalism, and an over-dependence on India.
Yes, Nepal generates news: For the spiritually minded, Patan’s ancient Hindu temples are being restored and yoga retreats can be booked online. Image-makers provide appropriate graphics for those who continue to deny Nepal’s reality–that is, a nation absent basic services for its people and where government responsibility is hard to find.
Winter has moved on so those cold nights without fuel have passed. But (unrelated to the earthquake) millions of Nepalis face ongoing hardships and bleak prospects about the democratic benefits promised them – first by the introduction of multi-parties, then by the ceasefire with Maoist rebels, then by the king’s ouster and declaration of Nepal as a republic, and finally, last summer, with the passage of a new constitution.
More of this analysis at “source”.