Surya B. Prasai
Surya B. Prasai is an internationaly acknowledged global strategic communications, media and international development resources consultant based in Washington D.C. His views have appeared globally on Google, Yahoo and American Chronicle News Nets on international affairs, development, public health, immigration, and climate change issues. He writes for the American Chronicle as a regional contributor from Washington D.C. and can be contacted at just_1_idea@hotmail.com
Articles by Surya B. Prasai
February 13, 2011
The US State Departmentīs Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, Maria Oteroīs visit to Nepal between 12 to 14, 2011 provides strong moral encouragement to the Nepal Government to curb human trafficking and promote the cause of a planned approach to safeguarding women and chil...
February 04, 2011
While Nepalīs media kept guessing the outcome of the 17th round of elections for Prime Minister, political leaders in Kathmandu were engaged in last minute negotiations which eventually saw Pushpa Kumar Dahal(Prachanda) from CPN-M withdraw his name in support of Jhalanath Khanal, the CPN-UMLīs off...
January 10, 2011
On January 15, 2011, the United Nations Mission will officially end in Nepal, signaling a new opportunity for Nepal´s political parties to forge a long due internal consensus which the UN could not guarantee. Karin Landgren as head of the UN Mission in Nepal did try hard, despite perceived ...
December 25, 2010
In 2010, the United Nations Mission faced many hurdles in maintaining Nepali peace, which sadly did not culminate in a definite and logical conclusion as desired by the Nepali people and the global diasporas. While Nepali people seemed to be increasingly living at peace with one another, given the ...
November 23, 2010
The International Tiger Conservation Summit held at the beautiful and historic city of St. Petersburg in Russia serves as a testimony to urgent measures required to halt the tiger species from going completely extinct. Nepalīs Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal along with Minister for Forest...
November 14, 2010
Though the Nepal Government has been slow in responding to the ever increasing demand of able Nepali hands in foreign lands for more than two decades, Nepal ranked GDP wise among the top five countries in terms of remittance contribution in 2010. The World Bank´s new report entitled Migrat...
October 29, 2010
The 13th failed election for the post of Prime Minister took place in Nepal this week, making it a hard to match record in global democratic practice in electing a leader. Caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal appears confident future attempts will bear the same results. Mr. Nepal has alre...
October 21, 2010
Recently, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake told AFP that he was quite confident Nepal will form a new government and get to work on broader issues, despite months of failed attempts to settle on a Prime Minister. Blake was optimistic that differences would n...
October 09, 2010
On October 4, 2010 the Obama administration made a donation of $4 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a 38 percent increase according to Ambassador Eric Goosby, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator attached to the State Department.
Over the past decade, the US has ...
September 30, 2010
The UNīs Political Affairs Chief Lynn B. Pascoe is making another periodic visit to Nepal on October 6 to renew dialogue with Nepali political parties, civil and human rights organizations on the future role of UNMIN after its four month extension on September 16. The UN hopes this visit will he...
September 04, 2010
As 2010 started, there was building hope among Nepali political parties and the international community that the Nepali peace process might be completed within the next few months that is within the fifth renewal period of UNMIN which now officially ends on September 15, 2010. As of this writing, s...
August 23, 2010
Nepal might soon go down in the Guinness Book of World Records as the only country that had five, if not six elections if one also includes the next one scheduled on September 5, 2010, to elect a Prime Minister. The fifth round of voting which was held on August 23, once again failed to elect a Prim...
August 16, 2010
Recently, Hollywoodīs heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio visited Nepal on a secret mission to save its tigers. Capri joined hands with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Nepal visiting other Asian countries as well to launch an ambitious global campaign to double the world's tiger population. Capri, who i...
July 29, 2010
Katmandu, the capital of Nepal, is abuzz with various political rumors once again on possible choices for the next Prime Minister of Nepal. As of now, the Nepali peace process is already in a diplomatic limbo despite UNMIN and Karin Landgren´s pro-active stance. Various parties, particular...
July 20, 2010
A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests, according to Machiavelli. A lot of confusion currently precedes the formation of Nepal´s next Federal Democratic Republic government. Nearly a month ago, the CPN-UML government led by Prime Minister ...
July 01, 2010
The much hyped pro-people 13 month old UML government bowed out this week after Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal opted for a live broadcast on Nepal Television to tender his resignation, denigrating the Maoists for the cabinet´s past failures. The beleaguered UML government had failed on...
June 11, 2010
Dr. Rajiv Shah, or Raj to his friends and office coworkers faced an important challenge as soon as he was sworn in by Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton as USAIDīs Administrator in the beginning of 2010. President Barak Obama appointed him the overall coordinator of aid to Haiti which was hit by ...
May 13, 2010
In the beginning of 2010, Nepali peace seemed forthcoming and a new constitution anticipated by May 28. But now, Nepal´s political leadership is torn apart on what kind of constitution will benefit Nepal; the fact to consider is what constitutes proper constitutionalism in Nepal where a genera...
April 05, 2010
Hardly two weeks after the death of Girija Prasad Koirala, the five time Nepali premier who was hailed as the broker of the 2006 Nepali National Peace Accord, Nepali politics appears to be journeying through a field of contradictions once again. Despite preaching democratic stability, confusion ...
March 22, 2010
The author who has written extensively on international development and Nepali affairs, in particular the Nepali Peace Process, remembers Girija Prasad Koirala as a man for all seasons...
March 11, 2010
The United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) has been operating on a very tight deadline to meet the failing demands of Nepali peace. The recent visit to Nepal of UN Under Secretary General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe underscores the increased confusion and heightened suspicions among...
February 10, 2010
In 1998, Nepal came up with its first campaign to promote a cohesive national tourism policy with the launch of the Visit Nepal destination year. Although the then Prasai Commission findings had projected nearly 1 million tourists by end of the decade that was not to be, despite earnest and sinc...
January 15, 2010
Fifteen years after the U.N. International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the world has still to achieve a lot when it comes to universal access to reproductive health. At the 1994 ICPD held in Cairo, Egypt, 179 nations reached consensus on actions needed to achieve universal ac...
December 31, 2009
As 2010 begins, the recent meeting between Chief of United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) Karen Landgren and Unified CPN (Maoist) vice chairman Baburam Bhattarai at the latter's residence has aroused new diplomatic curiosity in Kathmandu and New York. While the Nepal government led by incumbent P...
December 07, 2009
In one of the positive news updates out of Kathmandu, CNN reported recently Nepal's cabinet meet at the base of Mount Everest last Friday to highlight the impact of climate change on the Himalayas adopting a 10-point Everest Declaration. Nepalīs Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal was quoted, "The Hi...
November 28, 2009
On November 25, the White House announced Presidentīs Obamaīs leadership pitch to make the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen a success. The summit is starting on December 9, and President Obama will propose a bold plan to reduce emissions 83% by 2050 a 30% reduction in 2005 levels by ...
November 23, 2009
Recently envoys of various countries including those representing the permanent five in the UN Security Council called for strict implementation of the Nepali peace process at a time when UNMINīs continuation has once again become a hot topic in Kathmanduīs diplomatic circle.
Certainly the UML...
November 04, 2009
It is not for anyone to suggest on what will follow in the next few weeks, should the current political crises in Nepal turn into a fist fight between the Maoists and the CPN-UML with NC poised as an emergent winner. The Maoists claim absolute power of the state. Sharing a berth within the UML f...
October 22, 2009
"Development depends on good governance," President Barack Obama said to a round of applause from Ghanaian officials during his recent visit to that country, considered a role model for good governance. "This is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long. Thatīs ...
October 17, 2009
The Fourth Global Conference of Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) recently concluded in Kathmandu with an 18 point declaration which includes such wide ranging commitments as creating an investment friendly environment, implementing provisions of an NRN Act that would eventually help th...
October 12, 2009
On October 9, 2009, US President Barack Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for his commitment to build the momentum of global peace through such bold initiatives as to reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress the primacy of multilateral diplomacy and cooper...
September 25, 2009
The 64th UN General Assembly which started in New York on September 15 has been termed a remarkable one. The important highlight this year has been the optimistic speech of President Barack Obama calling for fresh thinking on a number of important global issues concerning the future generation,...
September 10, 2009
This week Nepal Army got a new chief, General Chatra Man Singh Gurung who formally took up the post of new CoAS, the highest rank a Nepali soldier can aspire to achieve. CoAS Gurung is an enlightened army professional, who understands the difficult phase the country is going through, and why the...
September 01, 2009
The climate once again is the focus of a conference inaugurated by Nepali Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal this week in Kathmandu, which focuses on vulnerable South Asia. After the Bali summit, held in the first and second weeks of December 2007, Nepali and South Asian environmentalists came b...
August 22, 2009
Nepalīs Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has made a remarkable visit to India this week in the middle of the deadly Indian monsoon season. Without Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala who suddenly caught a throat infection and could not join the official delegation, he met Indiaīs top leadership,...
August 13, 2009
For more than a decade and a half now, Nepal has faced one or another form of political crises, over-shadowed by misunderstanding among political parties all in the name of promoting Nepali democracy. This includes the Maoists who have joined the democratic mainstream. In the middle of 2009, Nepal...
July 30, 2009
In the middle of 2009, Nepal is facing a crises of economic expectations. Nepal is still among the poorest and least developed countries in the world with almost one-third of its population living below the poverty line, according to the CIA handbook 2009.
While the stark truth is Nepalīs curre...
July 20, 2009
On May 5, 2009, President Barak Obama introduced a new Global Health Plan which through a comprehensive package seeks to spend 65 billion dollars in the next half decade to fight deadly diseases in the poor developing world. President Obamaīs plan which is called a "new comprehensive global healt...
August 03, 2008
On, July 30 , 2008, President George W. Bush signed H.R. 5501, the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 proving a significant day in the US Senate. This is a new law that triples America's budget for fight...
July 05, 2008
For Nepal, the oath taking ceremony of the Constituent Assembly members on May 28, 2008,, was an important historic day since it fulfilled the promised of the April 10 Constituent Assembly Polls. The new road that Nepal chose was a Federal Democratic one, with a President, a Prime Minist...
July 01, 2008
In the 1980s, there used to be a motto in the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) īAble Hands in Foreign Landsī considered a pioneer among Asian governmental structures that promote foreign labor. The Philippines indeed has been promoting foreign labor in quite a few ways that o...
June 20, 2008
In an unexpected turn of political events, Nepalīs leftists comprising the CPN-UML and CPN-Maoists have met at the famous Hotel Vaishali in Thamel to sort out their political differences whereby it proposed UML for the President and the Maoists to head the government. Though it is reported wit...
June 15, 2008
According to various NC media sources close to Baluwatar, the first President of Nepal could be current Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, whose name though earlier rejected, is now considered highly favorable given the revised selection criteria and the Maoists unofficial acceptance. However, a...
June 10, 2008
When Hurricane Nargis struck Burmaīs Irrawaddy Delta nearly a month ago, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon decided to pay an immediate visit to the region. In visiting Myanmar, it is rumored within international aid circles, Banīs barefoot walk to the Shwe Dagon Buddhist temple alt...
June 10, 2008
After nearly a month of power haggling and prolonged assurances from Nepal´s top leaders on emerging Nepali democratic options in consensus building, it now appears the choice of the Nepal presidency largely hinges on which candidate is more acceptable to the three parties, namely...
June 06, 2008
Recently, the US congratulated the people of Nepal on the historic Constituent Assembly's first step in defining a new, democratic Nepal with the declaration of a federal democratic republic on May 28. This was followed by similar felicitation notes from Nepalīs good neighbors such as India, C...
June 04, 2008
This year, weather patterns globally have shifted more ever since the great El Nino in 1997 when the world witnessed the first major devastating effects of shifting weather patterns on global agriculture. It took nearly a decade fro world agriculture to recoup before world food prices started...
May 30, 2008
The recent talks on committing the industrialized G-8 countries to new environmental emission cuts in Kobe, Japan, have resulted in a new prolonged target deadline stretching to 2050. The Group of Eight is composed of the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada, and R...
June 01, 2008
Last week was a memorable one in the history of Nepal as the Constitutional Assembly through its first sitting declared the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. While the world waited, the US and India, who are considered heavyweight players in Nepali politics and development and do wield st...
May 29, 2008
As February 29, the first historic day dawned in the new Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the United States, UN and India separately congratulated the Nepali people for their new found democratic credentials, after carefully weighing the unfurling political situation in Kathmandu ...
May 28, 2008
After a beleaguered period marked by political arm twisting, Nepali politicians have now finally agreed through the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA) to declare the country -- Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. The government has given a two day holiday for celebrations a...
May 26, 2008
The Myanmar Government led by General Than Shwe has finally agreed to let all international aid and relief workers to operate in the country after their movements were restricted to the delta for more than two weeks. The Myanmar Government gave permission after the visit of UN Secretary Gener...
May 26, 2008
The recent visit of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to Myanmar to convince Gen Than Shwe and the military junta to open up their doors to relief efforts after the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis, can be considered a positive UN success, since the government has now agreed top let int...
May 27, 2008
For Nepal, May 27 will go down its modern history as a day of fulfilling an important promise, when the Constituent Assembly members took their oath opening the way for a new democratic republican path for Nepal. With the swearing in of new Constituent Assembly members, 575 elected on Monda...
May 27, 2008
China's prime minister, Wen Jiabao, recently stated that the earthquake death toll could surpass 60,000 and head towards 80,000 in the days ahead. In his visit to China after convincing the Burmese Government to allow international aid workers to help in the post-typhoon Nargis relief ...
May 25, 2008
Within hours of landing at Kathmandu airport, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Dr. Evan A. Feigenbaum called on Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala at the latter's residence in Baluwatar Sunday where the dominating discussions were on the formation of the new Nep...
May 26, 2008
Recently David Igantius and Fareed Zakaria, two well known American media editors with Washington Post-Newsweek group posted a global blog question recently "Food riots have broken out in Egypt, Indonesia, Cameroon, Peru and, most recently, Haiti. What impact do you see the food-price explosion h...
May 23, 2008
One of the biggest successes of the US Presidentīs Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief(PEPFAR) has been its ability to help developing countries caught in the AIDS crises to overcome problems through effective partnership development. In fact, on December 1, 2007, many Americans were impressed...
May 24, 2008
After a series of discussions between the former seven party members and political leaders from the new 18 comprising 25 political parties in the 601 seater Nepal Constituent Assembly, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, in keeping up with his staunch democratic beliefs and earlier promise...
May 22, 2008
In Nepal, there is a proverb that that the number 11 is very auspicious since it is at the eleventh hour that most things get done in typical Nepali fashion. Surely, Nepalis are able to manage things at the 11th hour whether it is putting a mountaineering team on the top of Everest or forming a c...
May 22, 2008
Few can doubt that the global immigration system is built on the old adage of Adam Smith namely that "Man is of all sorts of luggage the most difficult to be transported." The rise in global immigration across borders, particularly to G-8 countries such as the United States, Canada, Brita...
May 21, 2008
While tourists are flocking into Kathmandu in droves this Spring season, Nepalīs friends in the international community are worried about the lack of democratic transparency which is affecting the formation of a national unity government. Nepalīs Constitutional Assembly elections were held on April ...
May 15, 2008
According to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, there is no possibility of extension of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), the mission support which his Special Representative and Resident Coordinator will provide in future. According to Ban, " These are critical times for...
May 15, 2008
Last year in a major workshop on Labor Migration Poverty Alleviation and Foreign Employment held in Kathmandu in August, 2007, one of Nepalīs most well known intellectual think tanks, Professor Sridhar Kumar Khatri, stated that Nepalīs economy had good prospects through the export of systemat...
May 15, 2008
There are new hints that Nepal´s CPN-Maoist party poised to take the leadership of the next coalition Nepal Government is going to be accepted by the US government. The Deputy Spokesperson for the US State Department, Tom Casey, referring to an earlier meeting between US Ambassador to Nepa...
May 14, 2008
Recently, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala of Nepal in calling the first sitting of the Constituent Assembly on May 28, had given indirect hint of continuing on as the next democratic coalition government head, despite his closest colleagues in the Nepali Congress pointing out that NC sh...
May 11, 2008
Democratic power struggle erupts in Nepal to form a new government
Surya B Prasai
With the Nepal Constituent Assembly Poll results all in, and the Maoists commanding a simple majority, several political parties in Nepal have started hinting at breaking the political ice in search of a ...
May 10, 2008
The Nepal Governmentīs Ministry of Health and Population recently released new figures stating that the total number of AIDS cases had gone down. The National Center for AIDS and STI Control (NCASC), Ministry of Health and Population, stated the figures could be around 69,790, close to the...
May 08, 2008
PEPFAR focuses on saving lives and creating hope globally
Surya B. Prasai
Recently the Presidentīs Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief(PEPFAR) and Warner Bros. Entertainment proudly unveiled a trailer "Saving Lives Creating Hope." Developed through a public-private partnership between PEP...
May 08, 2008
After the Constituent Assembly Poll held on April 10, Nepal still is searching for a new democratic government despite all the political soothsaying from Prachanda, Chairman of the CPN-M. The Chief Election Commissioner Dr Bhoj Raj Pokhrel announced the final list of the CA members elected under...
May 06, 2008
According to prominent Nepali media, the US government, whose envoy to Nepal, Nancy Powell recently met with Maoist chairman Prachanda before her visit to the US, might likely remove the negative travel advisory to Nepal. This comes amidst fresh Kathmandu diplomatic gossip that the US government ...
May 03, 2008
During the Third Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change (MEM) which concluded on April 18 in Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy had pleaded for stronger global focus and resurgent dialogue to accommodate the developed and developing countries differing position...
May 02, 2008
According to the US Embassy in Kathmandu, US Ambassador to Nepal, Nancy Powell met yesterday with CPN-M Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and discussed the outcome of the April 10 Constituent Assembly elections. The CPN-M had won the elections with a simple majority, and according to a trusted source, th...
May 01, 2008
It is likely that in the coming two weeks, the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists which won a simple majority in Nepal´s recently conducted Constitutional Assembly elections will form a singular government if it fails to draw on coalition support. Their latest interaction was with Upendr...
April 28, 2008
Recently, world scientists have stated recurrent failure in finding a global AIDS vaccine despite best possible inputs. Not only have human AIDS vaccine trials failed, a serious risk is posed to the lives of some who have been tested with it. The global scientific community however is not one to d...
April 26, 2008
Although various possibilities are being mooted this week on the proposed Maoist led government, most of such īinformedī reporting does not seem to meet the actual geopolitical expectations of what the Maoists seek within. The Maoists have hinted at a firm democratic coalition which allows suf...
April 22, 2008
UN, India reaffirm support while US rethinking Nepal Maoistsī īTerroristī tag
Surya B Prasai
The United Nations has called on "all parties to respect the will of the people and the rule of law in the coming weeks as the results are being counted.'' The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)...
April 21, 2008
Despite the CPN-Maoistsī near victory in the CA Poll conducted on April 10, the final results still need to be validated officially by the Nepal Election Commission. Hopefully this will happen within the next two days although the chances of forming a Prachanda-led government within the im...
April 21, 2008
America has one of the longest immigration lines anywhere in the world, since it is, by definition a land of immigrants where the Statue of Liberty still beckons the world´s downtrodden, the deprived and those who seek better economic freedoms and democratic opportunities that might not ...
April 20, 2008
Recently the National Center for AIDS and STD Control (NCASC) under the Ministry of Health and Population of the Nepal Government released figures from a study conducted in 2007 which states that HIV/AIDS cases have supposedly stabilized in Nepal in the past two years. According to the repor...
April 20, 2008
The Third Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change (MEM) which concluded on April 18 in Paris ended with no substantive agreement on how to reduce greenhouse gases. Like in the earlier two meetings, representatives from the 16 major industrial economies, UN and other ...
April 19, 2008
Recently President George W. Bush discussed renewable and alternative energy technologies and Americaīs commitment in developing them at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference. For the past few years, President Bush has been talking on the need to enhance clean energy technology ...
April 18, 2008
With the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists bagging 30% of the proportional votes and sweeping the first past the post votes with an overwhelming majority, it is now likely that the new Nepal Government will be announced soon, most probably in two weeks time. This will likely take the shape of...
April 17, 2008
The Communist Party of Nepal (CPN-M) which has almost won the Nepali CA Poll results with a widening victory margin is actively engaged in broad based political parley with other Nepali political parties in order to form a new united democratic government of Nepal. In its continuing talks with the C...
April 16, 2008
With Nepalīs Maoists continuing to win the majority of direct and proportionate vote counts to the new Constituent Assembly, CPN-UML has tendered its resignation to the incumbent Koirala government. It is learnt, the UML decided to give their written resignation to Prime Minister Girija Pra...
April 15, 2008
The US, UK, India have all expressed deep satisfaction and congratulated the Nepali people on successfully participating in the April 10 democratically held CA Poll, whose results show Nepal´s Maoists widening their lead both in direct and proportional vote counting. Nepal&acut...
April 15, 2008
The American people, through PEPFAR, have been providing generous support in HIV/AIDS impact mitigation to 15 of the world´s most seriously affected countries by way of financial, logistical, medical and health information services to support them in meeting the challenge of the HIV/AID...
April 14, 2008
Nepalīs Maoists have so far scored more than a century in direct representational seats in Nepalīs recently held CA Poll, a maverick test score going by any world sport.
What is the significance of this all where some are seen victorious while others reeling in defeat? If the trend continues,...
April 13, 2008
Nepalis eagerly follow Constituent Assembly Election results
Surya B. Prasai
With Nepal´s Maoists widening the lead in the Constituent Assembly Polls, Nepalis the world over are hooked on to TV, FM radio, local newspaper or the internet in getting the latest results. In fact, Nep...
April 12, 2008
So far, Nepalīs Constituent Assembly Poll is proving a bag full of surprises with the Nepal Communist Party Maoist maintaining a wide lead over its nearest rivals, the Nepali Congress and the Nepal Communist Party Marxist-Lenninist(UML).
In fact the defeat has been unbearable for so...
April 12, 2008
Since 1970, the United States has been commemorating Earth Day every year on April 22, the movement being the brain child of Senator Gaylord Nelson, who had long thought about finding a way out "to put the environment into the political 'limelight' once and for all." America act...
April 12, 2008
Recently when delegates from around the world got together in the UN-ESCAP in Bangkok venue between March 31 and April 4, it was strongly felt that complex international agreements alone would not help countries abide by a 2009 timeline to goad them towards slashing global greenhouse gas ...
April 11, 2008
Within hours of Nepalīs peaceful holding of its constituent assembly elections on April 10 , the United States has become among the first Western countries to welcome it stating that Nepal has taken a huge step toward towards the path of peace and democracy. Earlier India had al...
April 10, 2008
With Nepal's Election Commission predicting between 55-60% percent voter turnout and polling postponed in 34 booths nationwide, Nepal's CA Poll has been termed a huge success by Chief Election Commissioner Dr. Bhoj Raj Pokharel.
India has already welcomed the fruitful Nepali elector...
April 09, 2008
Nearly 17.5 million Nepalis are all set to cast their historic vote in Nepalīs Constituent Assembly Poll to be held on April 10. The election has drawn worldwide media attention, including the presence of globally well known election observers such as ex-U.S. President Jimmy Carter who arrived ...
April 08, 2008
Nepal voters are all set to caste their historic vote in the first democratically conducted Constituent Assembly Polls scheduled on April 10, 2008, aptly described by British Ambassador to Nepal, Dr. Andrew Rotely Hall as a unique opportunity for which the Nepali people had been waiting for ...
April 08, 2008
In ending the Bali meeting, UN member states had set out in agreement on a set of four main conclusions related to global climate change: namely its mitigation, adaptation, financing and technology adoption. All four factors do matter to developing countries of the world which is led by India, ...
April 08, 2008
Last week the UNFCCC´s first major follow-up summit took place in Bangkok, Thailand between 31 March to 4 April 2008, dubbed also as the Bangkok Climate Change talks. The five day long meeting hosted by the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC) at Bangkok´s beautiful cherry tree lined ...
April 07, 2008
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) which looks after immigration issues in the United States announced recently that it would complete more than one million naturalization cases during fiscal year 2008 far exceeding the number of cases it has completed in 2007 This i...
April 07, 2008
Last week the UNFCCCīs first major follow-up summit took place in Bangkok, Thailand between 31 March to 4 April 2008, dubbed also as the Bangkok Climate Change talks. The five day long meeting hosted by the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC) at Bangkokīs beautiful cherry tree lined Rajdamnern N...
April 06, 2008
The Nepal Government has tightened its security arrangements ahead of the Constituent Assembly elections scheduled on April 10. In a press conference organized at the Home Ministry on Friday, the Nepal Governmentīs Home Secretary Umesh Mainali stated that 7 to 25 security personnel will be deployed...
April 06, 2008
On April 10, 2008 Nepali people are making a historic tryst with their destiny by voting in the Constituent Assembly Poll. Nepal has never had a CA Poll before though there was talk about it after 2007 B.S. (1951A.D.) when the country got its first taste of democratic freedom under late King Tribhuv...
April 06, 2008
Aditya Baral, Senior Expert (Advisor) on Foreign Relations to Prime Minister G.P. Koirala of Nepal, is considered one of the brightest young generation faces in Nepal, and a champion of balanced Nepali tourism growth. A fully committed democrat, Baral is also credited for the remarkable resurgence o...
April 04, 2008
Aditya Baral, Senior Expert (Advisor) on Foreign Relations to Prime Minister G.P. Koirala of Nepal, is considered one of the brightest young generation faces in Nepal, and a champion of balanced Nepali tourism growth. A fully committed democrat, Baral is also credited for the remarkable resurgence o...
April 01, 2008
With building Nepali excitement to the upcoming 10 April Constituent Assembly election, the worldīs top global freedom agenda advocate former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Mrs. Rosalyn Carter will personally be leading the international election observation delegation to Nepal along wit...
March 31, 2008
With hardly 10 days left for Nepalīs Constituent Assembly Polls, Dr. Bhoj Raj Pokhrel, Nepalīs Chief Election Commissioner, speaking from a Maoist influenced district, Parbat, threatened to cancel the Constituent Assembly polls if there is forceful coercion against the spirit of the Election Code of...
March 31, 2008
This week the Bangkok Climate Change talks take place between 31 March to 4 April 2008 at the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC) of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The talks in which Nepal will also participate as a principal signatory of the UNFCCC´...
March 26, 2008
Nepalīs popular broadsheet, The Himalayan Times, reported from Dhangadhi on March 26, that former three time Premier Sher Bahadur Deuba, tipped as the next likely Prime Minister of Nepal, has warned of the possibility of the mobilization of the Nepal Army given the increase in pre-poll violenc...
March 26, 2008
According to the latest UNAIDS December 2007 revised estimates, there are an estimated 33.2 million people living with HIV whereby every day there are 6,800 new infections and over 5,700 people die of AIDS. Incidentally, 2008 marked a new UN two-year global rollout theme "Stop AIDS: Keep the Pr...
March 25, 2008
After attending the first major global summit to discuss climate change and how it affects the world´s future populations in Bali, Indonesia in the first and second weeks of December 2007, Nepal´s environmentalists came back quite delighted that so many of the delegates talked about...
March 25, 2008
One of Nepalīs top media English broadsheets The Himalayan Times reported on National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairman Kedar Nath Upadhayaīs statement of March 25: "Free and fair election is not possible if security situation does not improve. We want an immediate end to activities like ki...
March 25, 2008
Most recently, the German government announced an important financial support of US$ 725,000 to UNICEF Nepalīs country program to support children associated with armed forces and armed groups (CAAFAG) in Nepal. According to Norbert Meyer, Deputy Chief of Mission at the German Embassy in Nepal."...
March 25, 2008
Last year President George W. Bush was discussing how the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was meeting the $15 billion commitment over five years to support treatment for 2 million people, prevention of 7 million new infections and care for 10 million people. Pre...
March 23, 2008
Nepalīs Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has once again delivered a powerful salvo to the international media from his Baluwatar residence amidst the Spring festive election season. Speaking on March 20, Koirala emphasized the importance of the upcoming Constituent Assembly elections on April 1...
March 21, 2008
The rising trend of HIV/AIDS infections among Nepali women is suddenly being discussed at emergency levels by various international development agencies after their plight has been highlighted in the international media. Often Nepali health experts blame the AIDS rise on gender and sexual discrimina...
March 20, 2008
During the January 18 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush reviewed the steps his administration would take to improve Americaīs border security and address immigration challenges. According to President Bush,"America needs to secure our borders
.Yet we also need to acknowledge t...
March 19, 2008
Mark your calendar on March 29, 8.00 p.m. local time! This is the day to reckon with the Power of One, how you as an individual can change the world around you.
Whether one is in Caracas, Kathmandu, Los Angeles, Manila, or Washington DC, it makes a difference to see millions of people ...
March 18, 2008
According to Annabel Crabb tracing UN staffer Robert Piperīs career in, The Age, an Aussie alternative news blog site, the youthful Australian seems to have pretty much made it to the right places in life. Piper joined the much coveted post as the newly appointed Resident and Humanitarian Coordinat...
March 17, 2008
Terming each other opportunists, power mongers and untrustworthy coalition pals, Nepali Leftist and Rightist political parties have once again started intensifying their political mudslinging at each other in the run off to the Nepali Constituent Assembly Poll 2008 scheduled on April 10. Nepalīs ...
March 15, 2008
On December 1, 2007, many Americans were impressed to see in front of the White House lawns a Big Red Ribbon, which extended to faraway capitals of the world such as Gaborone in Botswana, Dar e-Salaam in Tanzania, and Bangkok in Thailand. The 2007 U.S. government theme for World AIDS Day commemorat...
March 13, 2008
America leads in clean energy to reverse global climate change
Surya B. Prasai, Global Discussant
Participating in the First Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change on September 28, 2007, President George Bush stated, "Energy security and climate change are two of the gr...
March 13, 2008
Just when the NC´s President and Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala released the 32 page election manifesto of the Nepali Congress, party vying for the Constituent Assembly elections scheduled on April 10, 2008, a spate of insecurity has once again surrounded the democratic voting p...
March 12, 2008
Nepal is going through a historic transition. A country that opened up to the West only in 1951, is also home to nearly 90,000 AIDS cases in 2008, which is still a guess estimate, since many epidemiologists believe the figure could be three times as big. The country has already lost 13, 600 lives...
March 11, 2008
On March 8, 2008 women throughout the world rejoice in celebration of their freedom. There is a saying that America is a pioneer country for almost every major invention, and certainly, this holds true on March 8, 2008 when International Women´s Day is being commemorated globally. It was o...
March 11, 2008
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has expressed his willingness to visit Nepal and to observe the Constituently Assembly Polls scheduled on April 10, 2008, according to Nepalese Foreign Minister Ms. Sahana Pradhan who met him at the sideline of the 7th UN Human Rights Conference in Geneva last week. ...
March 08, 2008
Many in the U.S media have noted that President George W. Bush´s leadership in the fight against AIDS globally is considered a role model for future Presidents to emulate as much as one of the success stories for the State Department led by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. But in the rest...
March 08, 2008
According to Mr. Carl Shustermann, an American writer and legal columnist who contributes to the U.S. immigration debate through his blog spot and once served as Trial Attorney with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, "There will be a lot of talk about immigration in 2008, but what are...
March 07, 2008
Recently, when former Prime minister and chief of Rastriya Janashakti Party (RJP) Surya Bahadur Thapa stated that his party was ready to accept the verdict of monarchy, everyone seemed to awaken in the Nepali and South Asian media. Thapa who reached his home district of Dhankuta, on March 6, to sta...
March 04, 2008
Dr. Peter Piot, the charismatic head of UNAIDS spoke on December 11, 2007 in Washington to the US Senate committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions on the need to fight back with courage on HIV/AIDS. He felt that that since the first AIDS case was known nearly 25 years back, the world had...
March 02, 2008
In the wake of various agreements signed by the Nepal Government and the previously disenchanted Terai political parties, Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has now appealed for single unity among all democratic forces in Nepal to become one and come forward to the CA Poll.
Last week, f...
March 01, 2008
Coming two days within the landmark agreement between the Nepal Government and United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), the Federal Republic National Front (FRNF) have struck a new deal effectively paving the way for the April 10 polls. This clears the way for democratic elections in Nepal. ...
March 01, 2008
When the New York based global non-profit organization, Ford Foundation, launched a Global Initiative on HIV/AIDS across five continents in August 2006, some American AIDS activists wondered whether another new program would contribute to anything more than what UNAIDS or PEPFAR had already attemp...
February 29, 2008
The Chief Election Commissioner, Dr. Bhoj raj Pokhrel told media representatives in Nepal´s capital Kathamndu on 29 February, that there would be no further changes to Nepal´s Constituent Assembly elections. He stated this after a meeting with US Ambassador to ...
February 29, 2008
On February 28, 2008, U.S. House leaders from both the Republican and Democratic parties and the White House reached an important agreement on a bill that would triple the funding for President Bushīs concrete achievements in the global AIDS program. The Presidentīs Emergency Fund for AIDS reli...
February 29, 2008
On 28 February 2008, the seven party coalition government headed by Nepal´s Prime Minister G.P. Koirala and the United Madhesi Democratic Front(UMDF) finally signed a much awaited historic eight point accord in effect ending the 16 day Madhesi strike in the Nepalese south known as the Terai...
February 27, 2008
On 25 February, 2008, Nepal signed a new Country Program Action Plan(CAP) with several UN agencies. They include UNDP (US$ 94.38 million), UNICEF (US $ 68.21) and UNFPA (US$ 28 million) which are providing the grant assistance for the next three years in support of the Nepal Governmentīs Inte...
February 24, 2008
It is often said in Washington circles that when it comes to reforming U.S. immigration or helping the world in fighting AIDS, President George W. Bush far surpasses the capabilities of many of his predecessors. Again on January 28, 2008, President George W. Bush delivered an important messa...
February 24, 2008
When Sir Edmund Hillary passed way in a New Zealand hospital on January 10, 2008 at the ´young age´ of 88 as he would have jokingly put it, many tributes came from all quarters of he world remembering his multi-faceted life, rich, buoyant personality and adventuresome spirit. In...
February 23, 2008
´One Madhesh one province demand unacceptable: SPA´, ´One dozen NC MPs protest 'repression' in Terai´, ´Increasing Madhes disenchantment with SPA arrogance´, 'Shortage of Petrol and Essential Commodities´ -- these are just some of the headlines making ...
February 22, 2008
According to a CNN report on Comprehensive Immigration posted after the recent debate in Texas on 21 February 2008, the two Democratic Presidential hopefuls, Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mr. Barack Obama have both expressed their feeling on the need for Comprehensive Immigration Reform as a per...
February 22, 2008
On February 20, 2008, at the end of a two day national consultation meeting of the Nepal's donor community, both Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Nepal´s Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat thanked the international donor community for pledging more aid support to Nepal with a 32 point r...
February 20, 2008
Environment impacts on U.S. immigration
Under the UNFCC, the Bali Summit sought to unite rich and poor nations to fight global warming by trying to evolve a new joint consensus on climate change policy, taking into consideration the encroaching migration and population growth spread. One should...
February 21, 2008
As the Government of Nepal prepares for a Nepal Development Forum (NDF) in 2008 seeking further pledges from aid partners for Nepal´s post-conflict reconstruction, rehabilitation and development efforts, and pledges from the development partners to initiate these processes, the coun...
February 20, 2008
The Asian Development Bank´s Vice President Liqun Jin on a recent visit to Nepal informed Nepal´s Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala that the Bank had decided to cut down its loans, which it had been supporting, and increase its grant for Nepal. However, Jin pledged to assist Nep...
February 21, 2008
Every once in a while, a major Indian newspaper or an international Nepali website carries a story about how a women trafficking ring has been caught and that the middlemen as well as the young Nepalese women in question have been locked up in some Indian city jail awaiting further judicial ac...
February 17, 2008
Recently in his trip to Tanzania, President George W. Bush stressed "We don't want people guessing on the continent of Africa whether the generosity of the American people will continue." He was talking about the need to renew the global AIDS program and preserve a requirement that steers m...
February 17, 2008
Nepal has just started recovering from the devastation of a civil conflict which in the past decade killed nearly 13,600 lives. The other big conflict that now occupies the mind of the donor community helping Nepal at large is AIDS which is expected to take away 10,000- 15,000 Nepali lives each y...
February 17, 2008
In an impassioned speech in Omaha, Nebraska in 2006, a speech that the world´s press listened to carefully, President George Bush made the clear case for Comprehensive Immigration Reform in the US with these bold words: "This country is debating the important immigration issue. And I think, it...
February 15, 2008
In dusty Raxaul south of Kathmandu, on a pale, cold winterīs morning the plight of a young Nepali woman being trafficked to India for the commercial sex sector is just beginning to unfurl. Sarswoti, from Dhading district bordering Nepalīs capital, Kathamndu, has been brought here promised of a lucra...
February 15, 2008
On 31 January 2008, at the end of the two day meting in Honolulu on global climate change, the US along with participants from 16 major global economies plus the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreed to follow on the Bali summit initiatives as well as those proposed...
February 12, 2008
The United Nations Education Scientific Cultural Organization(UNESCO) headquarters in Paris has decided to celebrate Community Leadership and Action on AIDS by announcing the second call for nominations for the Red Ribbon Award for 2008 which is awarded in August.
According to UNESCO, this bie...
February 13, 2008
Ever year, more than 10,000 women are trafficked from Nepal into India for commercial sex work through the infamous Makwanpur alley, which is a town situated midway between Kathmandu, Nepal´s capital and the Terai region of Chitwan which border India to the south. These women are sold to Indi...
February 11, 2008
In 2007 President George Bush had openly expressed his disappointment on Congress´s failure to act on Comprehensive Immigration Reform. In a speech he gave at the Naval War College, the US President stated, "Legal immigration is one of the top concerns of the American people and Congres...
February 10, 2008
In South Asia, Nepal remains the top country that faces the brunt of global child and women trafficking.
The trafficking of girls from Nepal into India for the purpose of prostitution is already well chronicled by Nepalese and Indian media where they form part of the busy 'sex slave traffic'. Tra...
February 10, 2008
Not many in the global audience might have watched the Selling of Innocents", an Emmy-award documentary film that depicts the sad story of Nepalīs young trafficked children. Ruchira Gupta not only manages to bring swelling tears to the eyes with the sad ordeals, she also focuses on why elimination...
February 10, 2008
Following the Thirteenth Session of the Summit Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change at Bali, Indonesia in December 2007, the US has been working closely with other countries of the world to fulfill a blueprint agreement to fight global warming by 2009, though it expressed th...
February 07, 2008
Surya B. Prasai
HIV/AIDS has quickly become a major environmental development problem in most developing countries in SAARC. Nepal is also caught up in a situation where the relationships between HIV/AIDS, development and environmental degradation have become a matter of serous concern. It was ac...
February 07, 2008
Although the second Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change ended without reaching any formal agreement in Honolulu recently, participants did agree to move forward on the Bali Action Plan on Climate Change agreed upon earlier. After the curtain closed on 31 January 2008 at th...
February 07, 2008
HIV/AIDS prevention and control lobbyists and American politicians often quote foreign leaders who have won in the fight where the epidemic previously had a foothold. However, it is remarkable that many foreign leaders also quote the US and President George Bush as an equally strong leader who has...
February 06, 2008
Surya B Prasai, Global Environment and Climate Change Discussant
It might be worthwhile for the American media working in conjunction with the UN and international institutions geared toward reducing global climate change variables to note and spread the word around that the United Nations E...
February 06, 2008
As candidates for the US Presidential Elections 2008 wrapped up their views for Super Tuesday on 5 February 2008, it became evident that US immigration reform was a major issue that was still contentious amongst all. While almost all the candidates both from the Republican and Democratic side decl...
February 04, 2008
US global leadership in fight against AIDS
By Surya B. Prasai
Richard Holbrooke, former US Ambassador to the UN questioned in an article in the Washington Post on October 9, 2007 "Still losing the AIDS fight?" (October 9, 2007) whether America still needed to display additional leadership and g...
February 02, 2008
With the curtain closed on 31 January 2008 at the end of the two day meting in Honolulu on global climate change, the participants from 16 major global economies plus the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) seemed to agree that the U.S. had taken new initiatives to improve...
February 01, 2008
After the reeling effects of a 11 year old civil conflict which nearly saw the death of Nepalīs tourism industry, the country in 2008 is quickly surging back to become the worldīs number one adventure tourism destination with a robust cumulative 33% growth rate compared to last year, a 24% increase ...
January 31, 2008
American Commitment to International Climate Change.
When the Thirteenth Session of the Summit Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change held at Bali, Indonesia between December 3-15 2007 , it was quite apparent that it was going to be a developing countries forum more than anythin...
January 31, 2008
American foreign assistance still valued abroad
BY SURYA B. PRASAI
In a review of the US government´s role in constantly shaping new directions in US foreign aid, US aid experts in 2008 continue fine tuning their overall strategy that helps reconcile conflicts between humanitarian a...
January 28, 2008
It is time Nepal did something to stop HIV/AIDS before it transplanted itself into a serious national menace and affected the national development plans, national security and national progress.....
In Nepal´s post-conflict scenario the curtailment of HIV/AIDS has become a challenging is...
January 28, 2008
HIV/AIDS has quickly become a major environmental development problem in most developing countries in SAARC. Nepal is also caught up in a situation where the relationships between HIV/AIDS, development and environmental degradation have become a matter of serous concern.....
It was accepted in B...
January 28, 2008
In 2008, the growing and continuing challenge of defeating AIDS has become more concentrated in women in the developing worlds, particularly countries in South Asia, such as Nepal, where increasing rates of infection have shown more women innocently succumbing to infections.....
H...
January 28, 2008
Environmental conservation efforts in Nepal are a matter of great interest in the global community, particularly at a time when the Hindu-Kush Himalayan ecology remains threatened from man-made pollution. The International Center for Integrated Mountain Development(ICIMOD) is headquartered in Nepal...
January 28, 2008
Global climate change challenge for Post Bali lobbyist, Nepal and the Kyoto Protocol
Recently the 13th Session of the Conference Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was held between December 3-15 2007 in Bali, Indonesia amidst heightened political drama and a flurry of e...
January 28, 2008
Recently during the Bali Summit on Global Climate Change, America faced a lot of heat from the developing countries despite its open approach to realistic and measurable environmental legislation. The US has been the first country to propose nearly 10 years back that a climate summit be held ...
January 28, 2008
From Surya B Prasai, Global discussant.
The National Registry of Environment Professionals in the US (NREP-US) is a highly recognized official nonpartisan, not-for-profit, non-government accrediting organization of the nationīs environmental professionals. The Registry is currently made up...
January 28, 2008
Bali Summit , Nepal and rethinking the Kyoto protocol
In Nepalīs case, there appears to be little significant benefit to achieve sustainable development even after signing the Protocol, since it has little control effect over its environmental future, situated as it is between two huge economic g...
Articles by Surya B. Prasai From Other Sources
January 28, 2008
published in www.nepalnews.com (Nepal's official e-information gateway, mutli channel tv/print and radio network with CNN/BBC)
January 14, 2008
published in www.nepalnews.com (Nepal's official e-information gateway, mutli channel tv/print and radio network with CNN/BBC)
January 05, 2008
published in www.nepalnews.com (Nepal's official e-information gateway, mutli channel tv/print and radio network with CNN/BBC)
November 01, 2003
published in Asian Survey, University of California, Berkeley Novembe 1993