However one defines an authoritarian regime, one of its hallmarks is a lack of press freedom. Indeed, only about three weeks ago or so, an organisation called Reporters Without Borders published a report, which stated that Nepal's rank in the world, in terms of press freedom, was 160 out of 167. Nepal did better than CERTIFIABLY authoritarian regimes such as Burma, Cuba and North Korea. Indeed, going by this report, it left no doubt in anyone' mind that Nepal was/is indeed an authoritarian regime. Surprisingly, at the time, everyone in Nepal seemed to accept this verdict WITHOUT challenging or questioning or even welcoming it. It became news and sort of died out after that. [My uncharitable explanation for that silence is: Journalists did not want challenge it because (a) they don't have the basic background in stat to challenge the RWB's methodology, and (b) it's in their financial interest (i.e. to continue to have an easy access to donor funds for governance work to conflict-mitigation work to whatever else that our 'conflict-jounalism industrial complex' has spawned in recent years!!) to continue have the rest of the world paint their situation as hopelessly khattam in Nepal. They did not want to welcome it either, for they know that though situation is not that encouraging in Nepal (especially for rural journalists), it's not horribly bad either, especially for most urban media elite (presumably the ones who filled out the survey questionnaires) who are basically well-paid NGO-wallahs!). Besides the journalists had just received millions of rupees from the government, and, understandably they did not want to bite the hand that fed them.] So that's Part I. *** Part II is: But when the old Panchayati hand Mohammed Mohsin dared to say that the country might well head toward being an authoritarian regime, watch how all hell broke loose. From Khagendra Sangraula to Suman Pradhan, everyone jumped on Mohsin, some even asking for his resignation. ***** Observations: When foreigners tell us: "Based on your press freedom index, you ARE an authoritarian regime", Nepali journalists keep quiet -- and, assuming that to be true, do NOTHING to expand the degrees of freedom. But when a Minister suggests that we might be heading toward an authoritarian rule, then everyone shouts at him as if any word against democracy is totally unacceptable. ******** Question: Could it be that for most people in Nepal shouting at the Minister is a lot easier in terms of generating heat than challenging RWB's index? After all, let's face it, an authoritarian regime does NOT exactly announce to all that it is GOING to be an authoritarian one. It just is. oohi ashu