From HIMAL, Volume 5, Issue 4 (JUL/AUG 1992) Lhotshampas, the Nepali-speaking people of southern Bhutan, are being forcibly evicted from their country by an elite that fears demographic inundation. Such fears are understandable, but not the method of ‘cultural cleansing’ being applied. Gross National Happiness, which King Jigme Singye Wangchuk wishes for his subjects, seems …
From HIMAL, Volume 5, Issue 3 (MAY/JUN 1992) In these times of political flux all over the Himalayan region, it is essential to be sensitive to assertions of identify. Such sensitivity is especially important in Nepal, whose people have only just gained the right to speak out and to demand. In the past, it was …
From HIMAL, Volume 5, Issue 2 (MAR/APR 1992) It is not long ago that a Finance Minister of Nepal had to remind the representative of an international development bank: “I am on the driver’s seat now. You just fill up the tank when it is necessary.” In this issue of Himal, rather than try to …
From HIMAL, Volume 5, Issue 1 (JAN/FEB 1992) The Tibetan government in exile at Dharamsala is more sophisticated in dealing with the western media than the Indian, Bangladeshi and Nepali officialdom combined. And so the setting was well set for a major announcement by the Dalai Lama: 9 October 1991, a wood-panelled auditorium of Yale …
From HIMAL, Volume 5, Issue 1 (JAN/FEB 1992) The beauty, the cultural strengths, and the very many charms of Kathmandu Valley are all givens. Poets, essayists and travel writers have been extremely kind to our “Nepal Valley” over the years, and we felt no need here in the pages of Himal to further gild the …
From HIMAL, Volume 4, Issue 2 (MAY/JUNE 1991) What George Bush called “the vision thing” in a different context is what seems to be most urgent for the proper development of South Asia’s water resource. “Statesmen” with vision is what we need, say the writers in the current issue on water politics. In his lead …
From HIMAL, Volume 4, Issue 1 (MAR/APR 1991) Himal editors Kanak Mani Dixit and Kesang Tseten met with the Dalai Lama at “Thekchencholing”, his Dharamsala residence, in early-February. Excerpts: Himal: What led you to dissolve the Kashag (Cabinet) last May? Dalai Lama: ‘You have to go back a little bit. When we came out as …
From HIMAL, Volume 3, Issue 4 (NOV/DEC 1990) At Himal, we feel that our magazine has achieved a threshold. We are confident about its editorial voice as well as its survivavility in the market-place. Though small in readership, Himal is emerging as an additional voice in the Himalayan-Gangetic region. We hope that with the help …
From HIMAL, Volume 3, Issue 2 (MAY/JUNE 1990) If democracy consolidates its gains and survives in Nepal, grassroots action may at last begin to stir and spread across these hills and plains. Village-level activism was discouraged during tlie Panchayat era, with local administrators preventing every “disruptive” act of empowerment. Adjacent hills of Kuma.cn and Garhwai …
From HIMAL, Volume 3, Issue 1 (JAN/FEB 1990) This is a call to all you people who have read and perhaps even liked Himal: why don’t you consider writing for us? No, we have not run out of ideas or writers. There is enough happening in the Himalaya to report on, and we feel privileged …