Culture

Quake ravages Nepal’s iconic monuments, tourism economy crumbles

- by India Writes Network

The April 25 earthquake and 50 aftershocks have not only devastated Nepal, but has also crumbled its cultural heritage, dealing a blow to the country’s tourism-centric economy.

Centuries-old structures lie in ruins, with many of them severely damaged. Social, religious and urban focal points of Kathmandu, the three Durbar Squares of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan, that housed several ancient temples, palaces and structures of historical note, were described as “almost fully destroyed”.

The iconic Dharahara tower, that stood tall for nearly two centuries, was reduced to a stump.

The extent and degree of loss was acknowledged by Irina Bokova, the director general of the UNESCO, when she said, “I am deeply aggrieved by the magnitude of human loss caused by the earthquake in Nepal.”, “I am also shocked by its devastating impact on the unique cultural heritage in the country, in particular extensive and irreversible damage at the World Heritage site of Kathmandu Valley.” The UNESCO has promptly sent a team to Nepal to assess the damage.

The loss of centuries-old temples, palaces and monuments is more than a symbolic loss of a slice of living history for Nepal and the world. The tourism industry is the worse for it; the disaster’s ripple effects on tourism, a pillar of the city’s (and nation’s) economy, will hit the local communities, who relied on tourism in these areas, the hardest.

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Net Neutrality: Reading more than just economics

- by India Writes Network

The issue of net neutrality has taken the social media by storm. Over 100,000 emails have been sent to TRAI through the website savetheinternet.in to plead for net neutrality. Videos are being shared to explain the issue to a wider audience (the latest one by AIB, of the infamous roast fame, has gone viral), endearing them to add their names to petitions pleading against any move to dilute the principle of net neutrality. The pro net neutrals are rooting for ‘saving the last bastion of equality’ which will be lost once the corporates takeover. They would be able to manipulate preferences, making it hostile to start-ups, small businesses and basically anyone who cannot pay. The anti- net neutrals gives the familiar neoliberal price/competition argument – the need to price supply as per demand allows for beneficial allocation in an increasingly shrinking space, and that those who put in the infrastructure should be incentivised (by the profit motive) to invest in making the space better.

As the battle continues, beyond the economics and technicality of the issue lie our worldview, one being framed by atomistic consumerist preferences and the constant compromise equality/ democracy makes in the onslaught of the Neoliberal- systems of economy and society we have nurtured (albeit sub/unconsciously), and affirm as the mainstream.

But first some quick facts.

What is net neutrality?

The principle that all content on the internet should be treated equally- one can access all websites (with equal speed of connection, on all possible devices), once you have internet access.

What is equal access?

Non-discriminatory access and equal distribution of content basically means that service providers should

not create high speed lanes for certain services (such as by, say, collusions between content providers and internet service providers to allow users to access their content much faster- making shopping at say, Ebay, much faster than rival Flipkart when using a certain ISP) and charge excessive tariffs based on demand and paying capacity of the user

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