On March 22, 2010 when the All Nepal National Independent Students´ Union - Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) emerged as the winner at the Engineering Campus in Thapathali, student politics in Nepal took a new turn. Although seemingly acute, the immediate publication of the inner workings of the union in terms of its accounts transparency is a first for Nepal, and thus revolutionary in itself.
At 22, Yubaraj Dahal, president of the union saw such transparency as a must for his college, and furthermore as a pillar for what national level politics should look like. "It is necessary to be honest and declare what policies the union has taken, what we´ve done and what we plan to do," he says.
The publication, a simple eight-page summary of the doings of the union under the title of "Yearly Report" brings to surface a clear breakdown of aims, objectives, accomplished deeds, future plans and most importantly, a complete review of expenses incurred and proposed future expenses.
"In previous years, under various party unions, no one knew what was going where, and it seemed as though while the budget allocated was the same as we have now, the amount of work that was done was minimal in comparison to what we have done and intend on doing," declares Yubaraj. His take on the idea is that when you have such transparency, nothing is left to the imagination in terms of where money is going, erasing any speculation that may be amidst students.
And this is apparent in the report. From listing of the expenditure of small sundry directives like photo copying and ink cartridges to larger scale initiatives like the welcome program for students costing Rs 126,975, a detailed breakdown of the accounts section is available at the simple request of a student or outside civilian.
The irony in all of this is that this report has been made available by what many see as a root cause of much of the student-led political upheavals in the nation - the ANNISU-R. Yubaraj opines that "We take our ideology seriously. I am not a representative of Prachanda or the Maoist party. It just so happens that at this time, I feel the party has brought forward the issues that concern us Nepalis in the best manner."
He further goes on to talk about how he condemns the unnecessary politicization of educational institutions, and in the annual report it states clearly that one of the objectives of the union is to make sure that while demonstrations may take place at campus, by no means will any classrooms be locked up, "not allowing students to do what they have come to college for".
How well these ideas will be implemented are still to be seen in the days to come. Nonetheless, the initiative taken by Yubaraj and his union is surely the first that we have seen of its kind in Nepal. The Free Students´ Union at the Engineering college, while a wing of the Maoist party of Nepal are moving along based on an ideology that they claim represents their student body, and not simply tagging along with the frolics of party politics.
While fundamental issues of price hikes in the public and private academic sector continue to plague the campuses of this country, Thapathali campus is testament to the fact that by taking on clear policy strategies and mapping out their implementation tactics, both practically and financially, a fair bit of credibility is gained. It´s high time this ideology of accountability and transparency is adopted by other student unions and certainly by those stakeholders within the national political arena, if ever they wish to be taken seriously in the struggle for public support.
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