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 …
From HIMAL, Volume 3, Issue 1 (JAN/FEB 1990) Is life in the Himalaya on a spiritually higher plane than it is in the rest of the world? Even if it is not, does it do any harm if people across the oceans think of our mountains and its people as somehow exalted? Instead of pointing …
From HIMAL, Volume 2, Issue 4 (SEP/OCT 1989) When Himal brought out its prototype issue in May 1987, there were well-wishers who expressed worries about the magazine’s sustainability. Since the prototype issue seemed to have covered every matter worth reporting, what would we do for subsequent issues? Our standard answer was always been that the …
From HIMAL, Volume 2, Issue 3 (JUL/AUG 1989) It has been almost 15 years since Erik Eckholm’s book Losing Ground hit the stands and made many aware of the perils of Himalayan ecological degradation. Since then, there have been many studies on the processes of erosion, “mass wasting”, floods, forestry policy, stall feeding, topsoil runoff, …
From HIMAL, Volume 2, Issue 3 (JUL/AUG 1989) The Himalaya has taken to tourism in a big way. International visitors are swelling the high valleys from Chitral in Pakistan, eastward through Manali, Thak Khola, Khumbu, Sandakpu to Wangdiphodrang in Bhutan, They are all out to “do” Kashmir, Bhutan, Nepal or Tibet. For the foreigner, the …
From HIMAL, Volume 2, Issue 1 (JAN/FEB 1989) We would like our readers to know that Himal is not just an environmental magazine. To clarify, Himal is a magazine on social, economic, cultural and environmental matters which affeel and afflict the people of the Himalaya. Treating this magazine only as an environmental advocacy bulletin restricts …