The beauty, the cultural strengths, P I 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 lily. In this special issue on the Valley, we have chosen instead to take a long look at how it is run and what challenges it faces. And it is clear, to us, that the cauldron of Kathmandu is reaching boiling point, or is leaking badly. One of the two.
The rich Newar culture of the Valley towns, which all Nepal claims as its own with pride, is in peril. As Nepalis of different ethnic backgrounds move in from hill and Tarai, many Newar and non-Newar well-to-do are engaged in suburban flight. Towards the end of his lead article, Sudarshan Tiwari suggests that incoming migrants should have been able to fit into the existing cultural mould of Bhaktapur, Patan and Kathmandu — but this has not happened.
In the absence of political fail-safe mechanisms, such as decision-making powers vested in local communities, the voracious needs of the city pauperises the poor of the periphery. In the case of the Valley, this cruel fact of urban development finds recognition in the articles on the Valley´s rural space and on the rim-dwellers of Shivapuri ridge. Inadequate response of government to obvious wrong turns in the Valley´s development is clear from the write-ups onland taxation, housing and "master planning".
The powerful, democratically-elected Nepali Congress administration seems without when it comes to tackling urban growth. It is business as usual in the ministries. Bureaucrats rule the roost because the politicians, for all their years spent in jail, in exile, or underground, seem unable to provide the required courage, vision and administrative prowess. From the numerous times the term "expatriate consultant" crops up in these pages, the reader will know whose advice we follow. The Government gets the quality of "expert" studies it deserves; it is too weak to direct and monitor donor-assigned consultants. Basing itself on their reports, the Government continues to opt for externally-funded quick-fixes, such as the Melamchi Project.