Now to ACNeilsen Survey and the Student Poll. To begin, here is a part of my discussion in an email group (which is now organized as a Google Discussion Group "Nepal Democracy"), that might interesting for you. From: Deepak Khadka To: . . . . Cc: . . . . . Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 8:06 PM Subject: Re: Controversial middle ground philosophy [skipped] I think the "Democratic Middle Ground in Nepal" by LDN [note: it turned out LDN is not the official owner of the document] is an important political document for the simple fact that it is a political roadmap for Nepal prepared by a group of 18 intellectuals of North American Nepali Diaspora. Having not seen any vigorous discussion on it in Nepali forums, I was thinking either it has been accepted by Nepali community as it is or it simply has gone unnoticed. It's good to see some discussion initiated. My own opinion about the document is this: 1. Has valuable ideas for reforms in the post-democracy era 2. However, does erroneous assessment of the current situation 3. And, clueless about how democracy actually is brought about I hope to share my thoughts in detail in appropriate forums, although frankly speaking, the list of the authors and their resume I am aware of are very intimidating to this amateur writer. I have tried to comments randomly about this and that in my postings in freenepal.org. However, that is just a fraction of what I would like to share. In this email, I would like to comment on Anup jee's reference to "Neilsen National Survey 2005" which reportedly found only 5% of the Nepali population have republican sentiment. Also let me tell that the following statement from the MG manifesto is appears to have based on the above. "Currently, a vast majority of Nepali people do not support abolishing the monarchy and establishment of a republican state." A wrong approach, intention and statement based on a wrong information ! And I am saying this fully knowing what WRONG means. First, approach. When you are studying something that is rapidly changing, what is more informative and helpful, the TREND or some one point data ? It's the trend. Look at the above statement from MG. Let me illustrate what I am talking about. Kul Chandra Gautam, who has professional obligation for being as unbiased as possible, invaraibly writes in all of his article the following (not exact words) "The republican sentiments, particularly in Nepali youths, are GROWING everyday" MGers do not care that it is GROWING. All they care is 5% that "Neilsen National Survey 2005" reported. But here is a catch. The information coming from "Neilsen National Survey 2005" is WRONG. Once again I am saying it fully knowing what WRONG means. The "Neilsen National Survey 2005" did not ask a clean question like if you are for Republic. It asked a "leading" question that clearly led the respondent to take that monarchy is there to stay. Let's see the proof in the pudding itself. The question asked was: "Q 26: What type of monarchy should be in Nepal ?" I rest my case. just one more thing. This one is about a poll MGers are either not aware of or did ignore it. Anybody is aware of Student Poll 2004 ? They actually called it a mini-referendum on monarchy. 35346 students from more than 20 campuses from all over the country took part in it. Note that the number of the participants of this poll is 10 times (!) more than that participated in "Neilsen National Survey 2005" (of course sampling in the later). And the result ? More than 90 % students supported the Republic Democracy !!!!!!! I don't have to add what students are meant when it comes to political changes in Nepal ? MGers has spectacularly failed to inform themselves with right information about important things. [skipped] **** **** Relevant links: Here are links to the report and news about the survery and the poll I am talking about. The Survey conducted in 2005 by ACNielsen Nepal Pvt. Ltd. - http://www.asiafoundation.org/pdf/Nepal-ContemporarySituation.pdf Students' Referendum on Monarchy 2004 - http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=11526 (The news is reporting the result of the 'referendum' conducted in TU. At this point, as you see in the report, about a dozen campuses already have conducted the 'referendum' and had shown similar overwhelming support for the republic. I do have the result from all of the campuses if you are interested to see.) **** ****