By L.D. Pulami
There is no doubt that most people in different parts of the world want to own a piece of land. This not only gives them a sense of ownership but also acts as a sense of security if things really go bad.
In different countries, the attitudes are different. In a wide open country like the United States, most people prefer to stay in small apartments which they own in big cities rather than spend their time toiling in the big fields which their parents own. In China, people can own apartments, but the land belongs to the government. It is only in other countries like India and also Nepal, that people yearn to own their plots of land for one reason or the other.
But before we look into the examples in other nations, let us see the race that has been going on for many years in our own country, to just grab some land by any means. The regulations are also such that it has made it easy for landgrabbers to stay on any public or private land of course, being in cahoots of the different government authorities, starting with the land revenue office, the land reforms office, and the survey department. Many public land and forest land belonging to the government have been encroached on, and even private land, like in the much-discussed Lalita Niwas land scam, has taken place with the protection of the political leaders, and exchange of money between the land encroachers and government officials.
This author does not have any grouse against most people from all over the country, who want to have at least a small piece of land in Kathmandu. After all, it is Kathmandu, the capital city, which has all the government facilities, health facilities, a better level of educational opportunities and also a fully running international airport among other things. These are the rights the people expect in other parts of the world too. So it is no different in Nepal, which is now connected to the world by information technology. This author remembers the time when one had to go to the Telecom Office near Tripureswor and wait for days to even contact some cities in India. Now connecting to any part of the world is just a click away, right from the comforts of your own home. This is the technology revolution late King Birendra was talking of way back in the early Eighties when this concept had not touched even other much-developed nations.
But be it, political leaders, bureaucrats or businessmen closely attached to information technology, they all seem to want land and more land. The more land they can grab more easily through political and bureaucratic networking, the better.
While the wishes of the common people are understandable, whether they want land in their own villages, nearby cities or even Kathmandu, because of road connectivity or other facilities, it is a marked question why people who already own lands in many places still want more land for mere individual gains? Meanwhile, the government looks like it was serious about opening old files of corruption, including those of land scams, but till now, all it has been able to do is let go of Scot Free, the real big dealers and managed to put behind bars only the small fries who seem to have no political connection.
In the case of the Lalita Niwas land scam, many were involved in the buying and selling of this prime property, right next to the official residence of the prime minister, but no politician has been arrested, though it has been reported in media outlets that top-level politicians were also involved. No bureaucrats have been arrested, only a businessman by the name of Min Bahadur Gurung was arrested, but he was also allowed to sleep in a cabin at a hospital till he was released. The same happened in the case of Arun Chaudhary, who was accused of grabbing ten ropanis of land from the then Bansbari Leather and Shoe Factory, but after less than a week of staying in a luxurious hospital room, he was freed. What does this mean and what message will such acts of the government send to the people who were encouraged by what they thought were bold actions of the ‘firebrand’ Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who is now the prime minister of the country for the third time?
Here questions have to also be raised about why the government is so selective in targeting individuals for prosecution and at the same time is also selective in allowing many to walk away free when it seems that they are very much guilty of being involved in illegal activities. Though Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha always says that the guilty will not go unpunished, what was he doing when thousands of youths in the country were laying down their lives for a revolutionary change, whether they understood this would be good for the country or not?
In the case against Arun Chaudhary also, many industrialists were right in questioning why to arrest this prominent industrialist without first questioning him or letting him explain his version of things. It is another story that with a lot of pressure from his eldest brother, who is also an elected member of parliament of the Nepali Congress, besides being the richest person in the country, the junior Chaudhary was allowed to walk away free, when popular figures like Pearl Shah, a famous actor, was put behind bars for more than one year. Is this justice? As for the judicial system, it would be futile to say that there are two systems of justice, one meant for the powerful politicians and the other for the poor ordinary classes.
The political leaders, right from the time when they came to power after the political revolution in 1990, have had much clout over the judiciary, as it was they who were responsible for appointing justices and other top officials in the different courts across the country. For an ordinary observer like this writer, the situation has become worse, exactly like in the security forces and the bureaucracy as well. The education sector probably is the most affected one and there are hundreds of government undertakings where an individual’s affiliation to one party or the other affects his or her stature in office.
So it is not surprising that land grabbing, making commercial plots in agricultural lands and illegal exchange of money are taking place in government land offices while certain political leaders and other government officials are benefiting along with cunning businessmen. It is difficult to see a better Nepal unless this crooked nexus between politicians, bureaucrats, land revenue officers and also security personnel is broken up. Let us hope this happens soon as we don’t want to see a carved-up Nepal instead of a unified one.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.
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