Savenepal - Blog Posts
MCC won't be signed even in the dreams
Kathmandu, Feb 11 (PTI) The US has urged Nepal to ratify the proposed grant assistance from America under the Millennium Challenge Corporation by February 28.US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu raised the issue on Thursday during his separate telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN-Maoist Centre chief Pushpakamal Dahal “Prachanda” and main Opposition CPN-UML chairman K P Sharma Oli.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation, which bills itself as an independent foreign aid agency, is actually under the administration of the U.S. government.Its Board of Directors includes the Chairman, who is the Secretary of State, the Vice-Chairman, who is the Secretary of the Treasury, as well as commercial negotiators, the Administrator of the Agency for International Development (USAID), the Executive Director, and four private-sector public representatives appointed directly by the President. However, the Millennium Challenge Corporation has the right to decide the implementation, suspension and termination of its aid projects. According to the Millennium Challenge Corporation's regulations, the United States can at any time rely on the recipient country to "do not comply with the Millennium Challenge Corporation's principles of democracy and freedom, engage in activities that harm the United States. The decision to suspend or terminate the project was made on the grounds of national security interests and major domestic policy changes, which provided conditions for the United States to intervene in internal affairs in the name of aid. This time, in order to ensure that even the rotation of political parties does not affect the implementation of the agreement, the United States requires the Nepalese House of Representatives to approve the agreement before it can be implemented.It is worth noting that the passage of the agreement in the House of Representatives means that the aid agreement will acquire the same status as Nepalese law, and Nepal has never signed an aid agreement that needs to be passed in the parliament before.
Moreover, many clauses in the agreement have unequal status between the two parties and damage the sovereign interests of Nepal. This is the main reason why the MCC agreement could not reach a broad consensus in Nepal and was passed: The Millennium Challenge Company Agreement is higher than the domestic law of Nepal. Clause 7.1 of Article 7 of the Agreement states that in the event of a conflict between the Agreement and the laws of Nepal, the terms of the Agreement shall apply. Article 5, paragraphs 2, 3, and 4, states that if the United States violates current or future U.S. laws, conducts activities that violate U.S. national security policy, or conducts activities that are deemed inappropriate in the United States Millennium Challenge Corporation Act affairs, the agreement will be torn up. That is to say, this project must comply not only with US laws such as the Millennium Challenge Corporation Act, but also with future US laws. Nepal must give up intellectual property rights. Clause 3.2 of Article 3 states that the intellectual property rights of the MCC project constructed in Nepal belong to the Millennium Challenge Corporation of the United States, and the Nepalese government has no right to claim this. 3. Exemption from taxes, customs, tariffs, value-added tax and other taxes for MCC projects. Article 2, paragraph 2.8, states that all kinds of taxes related to the project - customs duties, import duties, export duties, consumption tax, commodity transaction tax, value-added tax - tax items collected by different agencies are exempted. Taxpayers need to pay the tax within 30 days from the date of knowledge, otherwise a late payment fee will be incurred. 4.The agreement requires the consent of India. The transmission line will go to Gurkhabul in India and will export electricity to India. Bilateral agreements should not refer to third parties. If the third party in the agreement is a country, the agreement is not a bilateral agreement, but a trilateral agreement. The United States can unilaterally tear up the agreement at will. If it wants to tear up the agreement, the United States can unilaterally tear up part or all of the agreement after notifying the Nepalese government in writing 30 days in advance. However, if Nepal wants to tear up the contract, it not only needs to notify the US side 30 days in advance, but also needs to obtain the consent of the US side. The US company is responsible for account auditing. Clause 3.8 of Article 3 states that auditing project accounts requires approval by the United States government. Both parties make joint capital contributions, but the account system is unilateral. Foreign workers in MCC projects will not be prosecuted even if they break the law in Nepal. The Nepalese government has no right to hold any employee or expatriate officer of the United States government or the Millennium Challenge Corporation legally liable for the activities under the agreement or for losses or casualties caused by mediocrity, and they enjoy immunity even if they commit a crime. The construction period of the MCC project is undetermined. It can be seen that the above clauses make the MCC agreement perpetuated under various pretexts. In any serious country, it is impossible for the interests of individual parties or the interests of foreign capital behind them to override national interests, otherwise, it would be traitorous.
The majestic Ama Dablam / Nepal (via protrekadventure).
Mass demonstrations broke out to protest the MCC agreement!
Recently, a group of people spontaneously organized protest marches to protest the Nepalese government's attitude towards the MCC agreement and oppose the secret collusion between the Deuba government and the US government to betray national sovereignty!
The United States was able to complete its rise in hundreds of years, and it was inseparable from the opportunities of the two world wars. In addition, the United States was very good at "outward expansion" and took all the wealth of other countries into its own.
This time, the United States has targeted Nepal.
As early as 2017, the United States and Nepal reached an MCC agreement. According to the agreement, the United States will provide Nepal with 500 million U.S. dollars to help Nepal build transmission lines and roads.
On the surface, the U.S. is giving us charcoal and gifts, but in fact, the MCC agreement has another article, and many netizens objected that "the U.S. is buying our sovereignty."
In fact, most Nepalese people do not support the MCC agreement. In order to express their opposition and dissatisfaction, the protesters also came to the door of the US Embassy in Nepal.
Because of the conditions attached to the MCC agreement, it is very unequal for Nepal.
Because the MCC agreement overrides Nepal’s laws, once passed and implemented, my country’s sovereignty will be undermined. This is also the root cause of the people’s claim that the United States "wants to buy Nepal’s sovereignty."
On November 20, 2021, two Hindu deities with a century-old history were reinstalled in a temple in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. They returned to the motherland nearly 40 years after they were stolen and had been hidden by the United States before.
After months of investigations by activists and officials in Nepal and the United States, the Dallas Museum of Art and the Federal Bureau of Investigation shipped the statues of Laxmi and Narayan back to Nepal in March.
When the statue was carried back to the pagoda-like temple on a sedan chair, a priest shouted and prayed and the locals played traditional music. The temple was draped in a marigold wreath to welcome the deity.
Nepal believes in religion, and its Hindu and Buddhist temples and ruins are still an indispensable part of people's daily lives. Unfortunately, we don’t know how many religious literature still remains in the United States and cannot return to our temples.
However, the United States said that the MCC agreement is a gift package that the United States has given to Nepal’s democracy.
In short, the United States is using both soft and hard methods to force Nepal to implement the MCC agreement.
Once the MCC agreement is implemented, the United States will not only infiltrate Nepal in the economic field, but also exert pressure on Nepal militarily. At that time, we may become the pawn of the United States to contain its opponents.
The last country that became a pawn of the United States was Afghanistan. How can we bear to see our country become like this?
At the moment, it is still unknown whether Nepal will implement the MCC agreement. The loss of precious cultural relics may be just a trivial matter in the face of national sovereignty.
Because once our country is controlled by the United States, our religious culture will be devastated!
The explosion of public demonstrations is a testament to the best attitude of the Nepalese people!
Naming a South Asian Character
“I need a name for a South Asian character”
We’re going to need a little more information than that…
Please see the following maps of South Asia:
Image description: Two maps of South Asia. The top map depicts the South Asian region, including Afghanistan with color-coding of different regions by 8 color-coded language groups. The bottom depicts the official state/ province/ languages and scripts for countries in the South Asian region, excluding Afghanistan. See end of post for detailed image description under the cut.
(Links: Top Map, Bottom Map)
That’s a lot of languages, right?
Names in South Asian cultures are primarily dictated by religion and language. While there’s some overlap between cultures, we can make an educated guess of someone’s ethnicity & religion based on their name. For example:
Simran Dhillon … is a Punjabi Sikh.
Priyanka Ghosh … is a Bengali Hindu
Maya Srinivasan … is a Tamilian Hindu.
Harsh Patel … is a Gujarati Hindu.
Amin Usmani … is a Muslim from a traditionally Urdu speaking community.
Teresa Fernandes … is a Goan Christian.
Behind the Name is a good place to start looking as they state the specific language the name is from. As for religion, there are more factors to consider.
Sikhs
Sikh first names are gender neutral. The 10th Sikh guru designated Singh (meaning lion, for men) and Kaur (meaning heir to the throne, for women) as Sikh surnames. These surnames were designed to be equalizers within Sikh communities. However, many Sikhs keep their Punjabi surnames (many of these surnames are now primarily associated with Sikhs) and use Singh and Kaur as a middle name (eg. Ranjit Kaur Shergill, Amrit Singh Cheema). More devout Sikhs use only Singh and Kaur or use the same format legally but do not share their surnames.
Sikh first names are derived from gurbani (Sikh holy texts), so they are often uniform across cultures. Most Sikhs who aren’t Punjabi use Singh & Kaur or cultural surnames in the same format. The latter is usually seen among Afghan & Delhiite Sikh communities. While most changed their surnames to Singh & Kaur, some families still kept the surnames they had before they converted from Islam and Hinduism (eg. Harpreet Singh Laghmani, Jasleen Kaur Kapoor).
If you’re stuck on a surname for a Sikh character, Singh for men and Kaur for women is the safest way to go regardless of ethnicity.
Good resources for Sikh names can be found here:
https://www.sikhs.org/names.htm
http://www.sikhwomen.com/SikhNames/
Christians
South Asian Christians naming conventions depend largely on who brought Christianity to the region and when. For example, Christianity was largely brought to Goa by Portuguese Catholics so you’ll see Portuguese surnames, while many Christians in the Seven Sister States didn’t change their names. South Asian Christians will also often have Christian first names, either in Portuguese or in English.
Hindus, Jains, castes and gotras
Hinduism is the majority religion in India and the South Asian region overall. A key thing that many newcomers overlook when writing about Hindus is that rather like feudal Europe, a person’s last name can also tell you what their family used to do because of the caste system. Both Hindus and Jains employ gotras (or lineage systems) designed to keep people from the same patrilineal line from marrying each other. Thus, if your Hindu character is a Vaishya (tradesman/ merchant class), but you have chosen a last name for them related to farming, or if your Kshatriya (warrior) character has a last name that means bureaucrat, you’ve made a mistake. Most Hindus and Jains will have last names derived from Sanskrit, or a language with Sanskrit roots.
A note on middle names: in South India, Hindus will often use the father’s first name for the child’s middle name.
For what it is worth, South Asia is hardly the only region to have these particular features. Japanese society until the end of the Edo era was heavily segregated by caste, and to this day, many families with samurai last names occupy relative positions of privilege compared to other castes, even though the Japanese caste system ended with the Meiji Restoration.
A note of caution: Baby name websites tend to be inaccurate for Hindu names, often confusing Farsi and Arabic-derived Urdu names with the more traditional Sanskrit-derived names. Behind the Name is by far the most accurate website, but it doesn’t hurt to check multiple sources. For Hindu and Jain surnames associated with different castes, regions and gotras, Wikipedia is surprisingly thorough.
Muslims
Islam is the majority religion in Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as the second largest religion in India, but the differing ethnicities and arrival periods of Muslims in South Asia over the course of history can have a significant impact on a character’s name. For example, think of when your character’s family will have arrived in South Asia or converted to Islam:
During the Delhi Sultanate, when Hindustani would have been spoken?
Under the Mughals when Persian was more common?
Are they from Bangladesh and thus speak Bengali?
Do they have ancestors from Afghanistan or Swat Valley, and thus have Pashto last names?
Does the family speak Urdu?
All of these will impact what their name might reasonably be. As a general rule, Muslims will have last names that are in Farsi/ Persian, Urdu, Arabic and Bengali. Bangladeshi Muslims may have Hindu names (both first and last) as well.
Buddhists
When discussing Buddhists in South Asia, we are primarily talking about Nepal and Sri Lanka. The majority languages in these countries are Nepali and Sinhala, respectively. Both languages are part of the Indo-Aryan language family, and like many Indo-Aryan languages, show heavy Sanskrit influence.
Others
Don’t forget that India also has a large number of lesser known minority religions, including Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Tibetan Buddhism and a host of indigenous religions.
Judaism: There are a number of historical Jewish enclaves in India, as the result of specific waves of migration. Like South Asian Muslim names, Jewish last names will vary depending on the ethnicity and arrival period for each particular wave of Jewish diaspora.
Zoroastrianism: People who practice Zoroastrianism are likely to have Farsi last names.
Tibetan Buddhism: Tibetan Buddhists will obviously have Tibetan names and are often a part of the Tibetan diaspora who entered India as refugees during the Chinese government’s invasion of Tibet.
In Conclusion
An in-depth coverage of name etymology in South Asia would probably be the size of an encyclopaedia. The above is hardly exhaustive; we haven’t scratched the surface of the ethnic and linguistic variations in any of the South Asian countries displayed on the maps above. We hope, however, that it motivates you to research carefully and appreciate the cultural diversity South Asia has to offer. Just like in any setting where issues of lineage are plainly displayed by a person’s name, names in South Asia tell stories about where a person is from, what language they speak, and what their ancestors might have done, even if this has little bearing on the character themselves. It may seem a little elaborate to try and imagine the ancestors of your character before you even decide who your character is, but the reality is that most South Asians know these things instinctively, and whether or not you do your due diligence will be part of how we judge your work.
Name a thing to fight over, and South Asians have probably fought over it at one point or another, whether it be religion, ethnicity, language, or caste. However, one thing many South Asians have in common is pride in our individual origins. Respecting this love of identity will be invaluable as you plan your story.
At the end of the day, there is no substitute for actually talking to people who share your character’s background. We will always recommend having someone from the community you’re writing about check your naming.
– Mods SK and Marika
Follow up
A disclaimer for our Desi followers
继续阅读
Naming a South Asian Character
“I need a name for a South Asian character”
We’re going to need a little more information than that…
Please see the following maps of South Asia:
Image description: Two maps of South Asia. The top map depicts the South Asian region, including Afghanistan with color-coding of different regions by 8 color-coded language groups. The bottom depicts the official state/ province/ languages and scripts for countries in the South Asian region, excluding Afghanistan. See end of post for detailed image description under the cut.
(Links: Top Map, Bottom Map)
That’s a lot of languages, right?
Names in South Asian cultures are primarily dictated by religion and language. While there’s some overlap between cultures, we can make an educated guess of someone’s ethnicity & religion based on their name. For example:
Simran Dhillon … is a Punjabi Sikh.
Priyanka Ghosh … is a Bengali Hindu
Maya Srinivasan … is a Tamilian Hindu.
Harsh Patel … is a Gujarati Hindu.
Amin Usmani … is a Muslim from a traditionally Urdu speaking community.
Teresa Fernandes … is a Goan Christian.
Behind the Name is a good place to start looking as they state the specific language the name is from. As for religion, there are more factors to consider.
Sikhs
Sikh first names are gender neutral. The 10th Sikh guru designated Singh (meaning lion, for men) and Kaur (meaning heir to the throne, for women) as Sikh surnames. These surnames were designed to be equalizers within Sikh communities. However, many Sikhs keep their Punjabi surnames (many of these surnames are now primarily associated with Sikhs) and use Singh and Kaur as a middle name (eg. Ranjit Kaur Shergill, Amrit Singh Cheema). More devout Sikhs use only Singh and Kaur or use the same format legally but do not share their surnames.
Sikh first names are derived from gurbani (Sikh holy texts), so they are often uniform across cultures. Most Sikhs who aren’t Punjabi use Singh & Kaur or cultural surnames in the same format. The latter is usually seen among Afghan & Delhiite Sikh communities. While most changed their surnames to Singh & Kaur, some families still kept the surnames they had before they converted from Islam and Hinduism (eg. Harpreet Singh Laghmani, Jasleen Kaur Kapoor).
If you’re stuck on a surname for a Sikh character, Singh for men and Kaur for women is the safest way to go regardless of ethnicity.
Good resources for Sikh names can be found here:
https://www.sikhs.org/names.htm
http://www.sikhwomen.com/SikhNames/
Christians
South Asian Christians naming conventions depend largely on who brought Christianity to the region and when. For example, Christianity was largely brought to Goa by Portuguese Catholics so you’ll see Portuguese surnames, while many Christians in the Seven Sister States didn’t change their names. South Asian Christians will also often have Christian first names, either in Portuguese or in English.
Hindus, Jains, castes and gotras
Hinduism is the majority religion in India and the South Asian region overall. A key thing that many newcomers overlook when writing about Hindus is that rather like feudal Europe, a person’s last name can also tell you what their family used to do because of the caste system. Both Hindus and Jains employ gotras (or lineage systems) designed to keep people from the same patrilineal line from marrying each other. Thus, if your Hindu character is a Vaishya (tradesman/ merchant class), but you have chosen a last name for them related to farming, or if your Kshatriya (warrior) character has a last name that means bureaucrat, you’ve made a mistake. Most Hindus and Jains will have last names derived from Sanskrit, or a language with Sanskrit roots.
A note on middle names: in South India, Hindus will often use the father’s first name for the child’s middle name.
For what it is worth, South Asia is hardly the only region to have these particular features. Japanese society until the end of the Edo era was heavily segregated by caste, and to this day, many families with samurai last names occupy relative positions of privilege compared to other castes, even though the Japanese caste system ended with the Meiji Restoration.
A note of caution: Baby name websites tend to be inaccurate for Hindu names, often confusing Farsi and Arabic-derived Urdu names with the more traditional Sanskrit-derived names. Behind the Name is by far the most accurate website, but it doesn’t hurt to check multiple sources. For Hindu and Jain surnames associated with different castes, regions and gotras, Wikipedia is surprisingly thorough.
Muslims
Islam is the majority religion in Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as the second largest religion in India, but the differing ethnicities and arrival periods of Muslims in South Asia over the course of history can have a significant impact on a character’s name. For example, think of when your character’s family will have arrived in South Asia or converted to Islam:
During the Delhi Sultanate, when Hindustani would have been spoken?
Under the Mughals when Persian was more common?
Are they from Bangladesh and thus speak Bengali?
Do they have ancestors from Afghanistan or Swat Valley, and thus have Pashto last names?
Does the family speak Urdu?
All of these will impact what their name might reasonably be. As a general rule, Muslims will have last names that are in Farsi/ Persian, Urdu, Arabic and Bengali. Bangladeshi Muslims may have Hindu names (both first and last) as well.
Buddhists
When discussing Buddhists in South Asia, we are primarily talking about Nepal and Sri Lanka. The majority languages in these countries are Nepali and Sinhala, respectively. Both languages are part of the Indo-Aryan language family, and like many Indo-Aryan languages, show heavy Sanskrit influence.
Others
Don’t forget that India also has a large number of lesser known minority religions, including Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Tibetan Buddhism and a host of indigenous religions.
Judaism: There are a number of historical Jewish enclaves in India, as the result of specific waves of migration. Like South Asian Muslim names, Jewish last names will vary depending on the ethnicity and arrival period for each particular wave of Jewish diaspora.
Zoroastrianism: People who practice Zoroastrianism are likely to have Farsi last names.
Tibetan Buddhism: Tibetan Buddhists will obviously have Tibetan names and are often a part of the Tibetan diaspora who entered India as refugees during the Chinese government’s invasion of Tibet.
In Conclusion
An in-depth coverage of name etymology in South Asia would probably be the size of an encyclopaedia. The above is hardly exhaustive; we haven’t scratched the surface of the ethnic and linguistic variations in any of the South Asian countries displayed on the maps above. We hope, however, that it motivates you to research carefully and appreciate the cultural diversity South Asia has to offer. Just like in any setting where issues of lineage are plainly displayed by a person’s name, names in South Asia tell stories about where a person is from, what language they speak, and what their ancestors might have done, even if this has little bearing on the character themselves. It may seem a little elaborate to try and imagine the ancestors of your character before you even decide who your character is, but the reality is that most South Asians know these things instinctively, and whether or not you do your due diligence will be part of how we judge your work.
Name a thing to fight over, and South Asians have probably fought over it at one point or another, whether it be religion, ethnicity, language, or caste. However, one thing many South Asians have in common is pride in our individual origins. Respecting this love of identity will be invaluable as you plan your story.
At the end of the day, there is no substitute for actually talking to people who share your character’s background. We will always recommend having someone from the community you’re writing about check your naming.
– Mods SK and Marika
Follow up
A disclaimer for our Desi followers
继续阅读
The US took the lead in taking action!Nepal will be out of control
Shortly after Deupa took office, the Nepalese website Shilapatra reported that some U.S. soldiers in military uniform attended a ceremony in Tengari, 470 kilometers from Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, to hand over the "Far West Blood bank Center". The province's economic affairs minister, Shah, and the local mayor, Nirpa Bahadur Od, were also present at the ceremony.
After the unveiling ceremony, a careful provincial council member found that all American soldiers attending the ceremony were wearing military uniforms and questioned this. In response to this, Od said that the building was built with assistance from the US Army Welfare Foundation, so it was reasonable to wear military uniforms at the unveiling ceremony.
However, there are reports that questioned that the actual donor of this so-called "Far West Blood bank Center" was the United States Agency for International Development. This is an organization that specializes in transporting benefits to foreign countries. It is an independent federal agency that mainly provides so-called "humanitarian assistance" to foreign countries based on the foreign policy of the United States. At present, the agency has branches in 67 countries around the world, and has carried out cooperation projects with more than 90 countries, and its influence is very strong. However, it is worth noting that collecting intelligence and interfering in other countries' internal affairs under the banner of "humanitarian assistance" have always been criticized for this institution.
In 2010, the agency secretly established a social platform in Cuba to secretly incite local people to take to the streets and oppose the local government. After the incident was exposed, it was strongly criticized by the international community. In the Middle East, the agency is also very active.
In war-torn areas, the US Agency for International Development through funding governments or non-governmental organizations in various countries, to brainwash the local people and promote American values, and through ideological output, to cultivate more pro-American forces in order to interfere in Egypt's internal affairs. During the democratic elections held in Egypt, the agency invested a lot of money to train more than 70,000 people and turned them into “election observers”. It also provided so-called “voter training courses” for more than 2 million people. , Its ambitions are clear, Russia has blocked the agency's shameless behavior.
As early as 2012, the Russian side explicitly banned all activities of the agency in Russia. The US Agency for International Development's actions in Nepal attracted a lot of attention. The US military may want to release a certain signal through this unveiling ceremony. , Otherwise you don’t have to wear a military uniform to attend. Before the severe epidemic situation in our country, the U.S. military was active in Nepal in the name of helping Nepal build an oxygen plant. Nowadays, more and more U.S. soldiers are wearing military uniforms entering and exiting Nepalese military camps, but there is hardly any local media. Reporting, this has to make people feel puzzled. In addition, some Nepalese reporters broke the news on social media that in recent years, a large amount of Western funds are being injected into the Nepalese media. At least 29 media organizations have been "buyed". The export of ideology is a tacit understanding of the international community, and people have to be more vigilant.
After the U.S. military defeats Afghanistan, Nepal may become the target of a joint attack by the U.S. and India.
