‘द कलर पर्पल’

Kindle

अमेरिकी उपन्यासकार एलिस वाकरले यो पुस्तकका लागि सन् १९८३ मा पुलिट्जर पुरस्कार पाइन्। कथाकार, कवि, उपन्यासकारका रुपमा उनी चिनिएकी नाम भए पनि यो पुस्तकका कारण उनी निकै चर्चामा रहिन्। जर्जियाबाट सुरु भएको यो पुस्तकको कहानी जर्जियामै आएर अन्त्य हुन्छ। तर बीचमा पात्रहरू कहिले टेनेस्सी पुग्छन् त कहिले पश्चिम अफ्रिकामा। सन् १९२० देखि १९५० सम्मको समयलाई उतारिएको यो पुस्तकमा नारीवादी पक्ष धेरै हाबी भएको देखिन्छ जसमा मुख्य पात्र सेली छिन्। यो पुस्तकको सबैभन्दा मन परेको पाटो भनेको सेलीले आफ्नो पीडाको अभिव्यक्तिको माध्यम आफ्नो पत्रलाई बनाउँछिन् जुन उनी भगवानका लागि लेख्छिन् ‘डियर गड’ सम्बोधन गरेर। खासमा यो एपिस्टोलरी उपन्यास हो अर्थात् पत्रात्मक उपन्यास हो। उनले पहिलोपटक लेखेको पत्रमा ‘डियर गड आइ एम फोर्टिन एयर्स वल्ड’ भनेर सुरु गरे पनि अन्त्यसम्म पुग्दा त्यसमा धेरै परिवर्तन आइसक्छ। भगवानप्रति उनका जिज्ञाशा आम मानिसका जस्तै छन् चाहे जुन सुकै भूगोल वा धार्मिक आस्थाकै मानिस किन नहोस्। जस्तो कि, भगवान कस्तो रुपको हुन्छ? उसले कस्ता मानिसको कुरा सुन्छ? भगवान कहाँ हुन्छ? दुखमा परेकालाई कसरी मद्दत गर्छ? सबैको भगवान प्रति आस्था छ भने किन कसैलाई सुख र दुख हुन्छ?

सेलीको मनमा भगवानलाई लिएर थुप्रै प्रश्न उठे पनि उनले कथा भन्न तिनै पत्रको सहारा लिएकी छन् र उनी आफूलाई श्रीमान्‌ले कुटेको देखि अर्की केटी ल्याएको सम्म सबै कुरा लेख्छिन्। उनको पीडा सानो छैन। उनी त्यस्ती छोरी हुन् जसलाई आफ्नै बुवाले सानै उमेरदेखि बलात्कार गर्दै आएका हुन्छन्। बलात्कार त्यसमाथि पनि आफ्नै बावुले गर्नु, सभ्य समाजका लागि अपाच्य र असाध्यै घृणित लाग्छ। तर अहिले त बेलाबेला समाजमा सुनिन्छ भने १ सय वर्षअघि अपत्यारिलो लाग्दैन।

सेलीको जीवनमा त्यो भन्दा पनि मार्मिक कुरा के थियो भन्ने उपन्यासको पछिल्लो भागमा खुल्छ। अहिलेलाई सेलीका लागि परिस्थित जति नै प्रतिकुल भए पनि उनी उम्कन पाएकी हुँदिनन्। बिरामी आमा बितेपछि उनी थप यौन दुर्व्यवहारमा पर्छिन् र दुईवटा बच्चा जन्मिन्छन्, ओलिभिया र एडम। बलात्कारका कारण जन्मिएका सन्तान उनले हुर्काउन पाउँदिनन्। बाबु यति कठोर हुन्छन् उनले ती सन्तान अर्को कुनै एउटा जोडीलाई दिन्छन्। सेलीसँगै उनकी बहिनी पनि छिन् जसको नाम नेटी हुन्छ।

यो उपन्यासले अर्को देखाउन खोजेको कुरा भनेको छोरीहरू त्यो समयमा कति जोखिममा थिए भन्ने हो। सेली आफू आफ्नै बाबुबाट बलात्कृत भए पनि बहिनीले त्यही परिस्थित भोग्नु नपरोस् भन्नेमा सतर्क हुन्छिन्। यस्तैमा नाम नखुलाइएका एकजना पुरुष (Mr____)ले नेटीलाई पच्छ्याइरहेका हुन्छन्। सेलीले आफ्नो बुवाको आफूमाथिको अत्याचार सम्झिएर त्यही परिस्थिति बहिनीले भोग्नु नपरोस् भनी त्यही पुरुषसँग विवाह गर्न भन्छिन्।

तर देख्दै नदेखेको भए पनि ती पुरुषले नेटीलाई नभइ सेलीलाई विवाह गर्छन्र. ती पुरुषका आफ्नै सन्तानहरू हुन्छन् र तिनीहरूलाई हुर्काउने कोही हुँदैन। सेली र ती पुरुषको विवाह भएपछि आफ्ना बुवा ‘पा’ बाट जोगिने नेटी पनि दिदीभिनाजुँगै बस्न थाल्छिन्। तर त्यहाँ पनि भिनाजुका कारण नेटीलाई जोखिम नै हुन्छ। उनी त्यहाँबाट अर्को एउटा जोडीको घरमा नोकर्नी भएर जान्छिन्। त्यो त्यही जोडी हुन्छ जसले सेलीका सन्तान ओलीभिया र एडमलाई ‘पा’ एडप्ट गरेका हुन्छन्।

आफूसँग बहिनी छुट्टिएर जाँदा सेलीले पत्र लेखिरहन भनेकी हुन्छिन् तर उनलाई त्यसपछि एउटा पनि पत्र प्राप्त हुँदैन। यता सेलीमाथि उनका पतिले एकदमै दुर्व्यवहार गर्ने र यातना दिने हुन्छन्। उनका पतिका थुप्रै सन्तान हुन्छन् र ती मध्ये हर्पो जठो छोरो हुन्छ। उसले सोफिया नाम गरेकी केटीसँग विवाह गर्छ। सोफिया हर्पोको केही पनि कुरा नमान्ने खालकी जिद्दी स्वभावकी हुन्छे। एकदिन सेली र उनका श्रीमान्‌ले उक्साएर सोफियालाई कुट्न लगाउँछन्। पछि सेलीलाई आफूले त्यसो गरेको प्रति पश्चाताप हुन्छ र उनले सोफियासँग माफी माग्छिन्। यहाँनेर आइपुग्दा सेलीले अर्को एक महिलाको पीडा महसुस गरेको र भगवानलाई लेख्ने पत्रमा टोन थोरै परिवर्तन भएको देखिन्छ। तर सेलीमाथि नै पनि दुर्व्यवहार निरन्तर भइरहेको हुन्छ। ती सबै पीडालाई सेलीले ‘भगवानलाई पत्र लेखेर’ अभिव्यक्त गर्ने गरेकी हुन्छिन्। बहिनीले एउटा पनि पत्र लेखिनँ भन्ने पनि उनको गुनासो रहन्छ।

यतिकैमा उपन्यासमा अर्की एउटा पात्र देखापर्छिन् उनको नाम शग हुन्छ। उनी गायनमा रुची राख्ने हुन्छिन्। र, सेली र उनका श्रीमान् भएकै ठाउँमा शग आइपुगेकी हुन्छिन्। शगको सेलीका श्रीमान्‌सँग विगतमा सम्बन्ध हुन्छ। र, उनीहरूबीच पुन: प्रेम सुरु हुन्छ। उनीहरू सँगै बस्न थाल्छन्। यसप्रति सेलीको कुनै आपत्ती हुँदैन। शगलाई अचम्म लाग्छ र उनले यस’bout सेलीलाई सोध्छिन्। बिस्तार कुरा खुल्दै जाँदा उनीहरू निकट साथी बन्छन्। सेलीले आफ्नो विगत शगसँग खोल्छिन्। कसरी उनका बुवाले र पछि श्रीमान्‌ले उनीमाथि अत्याचार गरे भन्ने सुनेपछि शगलाई सेलीप्रति दया जाग्छ। सौतासौता भए पनि उनीहरूको मित्रता यतिधेरै झाङ्गिन्छ एकदिन सेलीले आफू समलिङ्गी भएको खुलासा गर्छिन्। उनको यो यथार्थ अरू कसैलाई पनि थाहा हुँदैन। सन् १९८२ मा लेखिएको यो उपन्यासमा अव्यक्त समलिङ्गी प्रेम पनि देखाउन खोजेको पाइन्छ।

बलात्कार हुनुको मात्रै नभइ जीवनको ठूलो हिस्सा सेलीले समलिङ्गी हुँदा र यौन दुर्व्यवहारमा पर्दाको दोहोरो पीडा भोगेकी हुन्छिन्। यो सुनेपछि शग र सेलीबीच पनि शारिरिक सम्बन्ध रहन्छ जुन सम्बन्धलाई उनले पहिलोपटक रमाइलो मान्छिन्। दुख, संघर्ष र पीडाका कथा बगिरहँदा उपन्यासमा जब शग आउँछिन् उज्यालो किरण पाए जस्तो हुन्छ। उनीसँगको सङ्गतबाट सेलीले आफूलाई चिनेजस्तो महसुस गर्छिन्।

यसैबीच सेलीकी बहिनी नेटीले वर्षौंदेखि आफ्नी दिदीलाई पत्र लेखेको भए पनि ती पत्रहरू सेलीका श्रीमान्‌ले लुकाएको भन्ने पत्ता लाग्छ। सेली आफ्नो श्रीमान्‌सँग विगतमा कहिल्यै नरिसाएजसरी रिसाउँछिन्। नेटीको पत्रमार्फत् नै सेलीले थाहा पाउँछिन् कि उनीहरूले जसलाई आफ्नै बुवा ठानेका थिए ती उनीहरूका सौतेला बाबु थिए। र, उनीहरूको आफ्नै बुवालाई त कुनै श्वेत पुरुषले मारिदिएको थियो। बहिनीका सबै पत्र पढिसकेपछि सेली र शग त्यो ठाउँ छोडेर इङ्ग्ल्याण्ड जान्छन्। इङ्ग्लाण्डमा शग गीत गाउन थाल्छिन् र सेलीले कपडाको व्यापार गर्न थाल्छिन्। त्यहाँ ब्रिटिश कम्पनी आउँछ र उसले पानीमा पनि कर लगाउन थाल्छ।

उता नेटी पनि आफ्ना मालिकहरू स्यामुअल र कोरिनसँग दक्षिण अफ्रिकाको विभिन्न ठाउँमा यात्रा गर्दै जान्छिन्। यो बीच स्याम्युअल र नेटीबीच सम्बन्ध भएको दोष कोरिनले लगाउँछिन्। कोरिनलाई आफूहरूले पाल्न भनी ल्याएका सन्तान एडम र ओलिभिया सेलीको नभइ नेटीको सन्तान हुन् भन्ने शङ्का गर्छिन्। एडम र ओलिभियाको अनुहार नेटीसँग मिलेको उनलाई लाग्छ। स्याम्युअलले कसम खाएर त्यस्तो नभएको र सेली र नेटीका बुवा सौतेला भएको पनि उनैले खुलासा गरेका हुन्छन्। यसैबीच कोरिन बिरामी भएका कारण मर्छिन्। सेलीका छोरा एडमले पनि तासी नाम गरेकी बहिनीसँग विवाह गरेका हुन्छन्। दिदी बहिनीबीच पत्र आदानप्रदान हुन थालेपछि स्यामुअल, नेटी, ओलिभिया, एडम र तासी सेलीको घर जान्छन्। त्यहाँबाट सबैजना जर्जिया नै फर्किन्छन् जहाँ सेली र नेटीले आफ्नो बाल्यकाल बिताएका थिए। यतिबेलासम्म उनीहरूका सौतेला बुवाको मृत्यु भइसकेको हुन्छ। यो बीच सेलीका पतिलाई पनि सेलीमाथि आफूले अन्याय गरेको महसुस हुन्छ। र, कथाको अन्त्य सेलीसँग माफी मागेर हुन्छ।

असाध्यै राम्रो भाषामा लेखिएको यो पुस्तकको नाम किन द पर्पल कलर दिइएको होला भन्ने लागेको थियो। त्यो किन रहेछ भने यो पुस्तककी मुख्य पात्र सेलीको मनपर्ने रङ्ग पर्पल हुन्छ। उनी लुगा पनि पर्पल रङ्गकै मन पराउँछिन् र जुत्ता पनि।

जर्जियामै जन्मिएकी एलिस वाकर आध्यात्मिक प्रकृतिकी रहिछन्। बुवाआमाका आठ सन्तानमध्ये कान्छी रहिछन्। सानैमा उनको दाइले खेल्दा खेल्दै गोलीलर् आँखामा चोट लागेपछि तत्काल उपचार हुन नसक्दा उनी एउटा आँखा नदेख्ने भएकी रहिछन्। उनको अर्को रोचक प्रसङ्ग उनी कुनै समयमा प्रख्यात गायिका/गीतकार ट्रेसी च्यापम्यानसँग सम्बन्धमा रहिछन्। तर त्यसअघि उनी ९ वर्ष एकजना अभियानकर्मीसँग विवाह बन्धनमा थिइन् र उनकी एक छोरी रेबेका छिन्।

पुनश्च: यो किताब पढ्न सुझाउने लेखक शिवानी सिंह थारूलाई धेरैधेरै धन्यवाद।

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पश्चाताप

तिम्रो बहिर्गमन र उसको आगमन थपघट त केही होइन

मेरो जीवनको हिसाबकिताबमा नाफा/नोक्सान बराबर

 

तिम्रो बहिर्गमन अघि नै उसको आगमन भयो

जीवनमा कहिल्यै नमेटिने पछुतो पनि त्यही रह्यो

न तिमीलाई फर्काउने कुनै सामर्थ्य छ

न उसलाई धकेल्ने सुझबुझ

 

सम्बन्धको जालो समयसँगै यसरी जकडियो

जति फुकाउँछु भन्यो भावना उति पत्र बन्दै बेरियो

मनको त्यो गहिरो बिन्दुमा धेरै खाटा त बसिसक्यो

अपितु पश्चातापबाहेक अरु केहीको गुञ्जायस छैन

 

तर फेरि लाग्छ,

मेरो जीवनमा तिम्रो उपस्थितिकै खातिर

कम्तीमा मैले दिललाई दिमागले जित्नुपर्छ

दिमागलाई जति थामथुम पार्छु, दिल उति निसासिन्छ

विगत कोट्याउँदा वर्तमान बेस्सरी दुखेर आउँछ

हो,

त्यहि बेला म चन्द्रमाको छहारी खोज्न निस्कन्छु

दिललाई दिमागले जित्ने उर्जा सधैँभरी दिइराख है

 

Health should not be for wealth

Binita Dahal

The putative putsch by the Nepali Congress this week to get the Maoists to abandon their alliance with the UML in the governing coalition has had far-reaching consequences.

It has brought fresh uncertainty about the new government, final fate of the Constitution, inclusion of dissatisfied Madhesi and Janajati elements into mainstream politics, endorsement of budget-related bills, long-delayed appointment of Supreme Court justices, ratification of ambassadorial appointees and, most urgently, meeting the demands of Govinda KC, the physician who has now been on a hunger strike for 13 days.

While the ruling and opposition parties are at loggerheads over whether to form a new government, the parties who are willing to do so are halting the process of the parliamentary hearing of the 11 justices nominated for Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court will be a critical arena for writ petitions in the coming days since the rival parties are consulting legal experts about the constitutional crisis and the no-confidence motion in parliament. The Maoists and Nepali Congress do not want to start the hearing process of the 11 justices, since many of them are closer to the UML.

This delay also impacts on one of Govinda KC’s demands, which calls for the impeachment of Lokman Singh Karki, Chief of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA). Another contempt of court case against Karki is also sub judice in the Supreme Court, which has summoned him. If found guilty in the contempt case, Karki could even be suspended from his CIAA post.

Although assorted politicians, Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar and some members of Parliament’s Social Justice and Human Rights Committee visited the fasting doctor this week, the government has not bothered. Some of KC’s current demands persist from past hunger strikes, and include those that had been either ignored or only partially implemented.

On this eighth fast, some of KC’s demands are more serious and zero in directly on the source of interference and corruption in the medical education sector. KC has long known that Karki has a conflict of interest in medical education because of the involvement of his immediate family members in this lucrative sector. KC also knows full well that top politicians own or benefit monetarily from medical colleges, and they are beholden to Karki.

Hence, among his demands for health sector reform, KC is also asking for Karki’s impeachment. It is probably for this reason that parliament members and the government are not responding, because conceding to the impeachment process would invite Karki’s wrath. They also probably feel – rightly so – that cobbling together a two-thirds majority for impeachment is impossible in the current fractious climate.

Which is why the government finally formed a dialogue committee to mediate with KC on the eleventh day of his hunger strike. Headed by a bureaucrat, however, the committee has no power to address KC’s demands.

The popular young NC leader Gagan Thapa on Thursday filed a motion of urgent public importance to discuss KC’s demands in parliament. Nevertheless, his party has already decided to abstain from debating KC’s grievances. This is an indication of just how long a shadow Karki casts in the party.

Speaker Magar assured KC on Wednesday that she would take the initiative in parliament to address his demands. It is interesting that she had stopped by to meet Maoist Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal and President Bidya Bhandari before seeing KC.

Govinda KC commands tremendous public respect and support for his selfless and lifelong devotion to healthcare for Nepal’s poor. The CIAA has used a pliant section of the media to publicise a counter-campaign by private hospital owners against KC’s demands, but the attempt to discredit him has come to naught.

As KC’s health deteriorates, a Health Bill that does not address any of his demands is awaiting ratification by parliament after the Cabinet passed it last week. Parliament needs to take a new look at the Bill and form a committee to investigate the abuse of authority by the CIAA Chief, in order to satisfy KC.

The new Constitution has a provision that one-fourth of the House of Representatives may table a motion to impeach the head of the CIAA for a serious violation of the Constitution, incompetence, misbehaviour or failure to discharge duties.

According to provision 101(3), a committee of 11 members can be formed in the House of Representatives to recommend charges of impeachment. For now, such a committee could easily be established.

KC’s past fasts have put pressure on stakeholders, but this time the government is wholly preoccupied with the formation of a new government. Public pressure on parliament is therefore important. We cannot afford to lose someone like Govinda KC, who has devoted his life to the health of the nation with no regard for his own.

Government officials and parliamentarians blame KC for getting the timing of his hunger strike wrong.

What is the right time to make healthcare affordable and accessible to all Nepalis, or to clean up the medical education sector?

 

This article was originally published in Nepali Times (http://nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Legalese/Health-should-not-be-for-wealth,753)

The law and the media

Binita Dahal

For the past year, the judiciary has often been mired in controversy. There was the decision in 2013 to appoint the Chief Justice as a caretaker prime minister to conduct elections, and the controversial move to appoint tainted judges to the Supreme Court.

Most of the criticism came from the legal fraternity and the media. But despite the hullabaloo, the appointments were approved by a parliamentary hearing. Stung by the uproar, the Supreme Court decided to strike back and make an example of Kantipur, Nepal’s widest circulated daily newspaper.

The parliamentary hearing of the Supreme Court judges recommended by the Judicial Council was sharply criticised by most media, starting with by the popular digital portal, Setopati. Kantipur then took up the subject by investigating the background of all the appointed justices. Even when the paper was slapped with a contempt of court against its group chairman, director, editor-in-chief and reporter, it continued its exposes.

During the first hearing of that case, Justice Cholendra Shamser Rana, who was one of the targets of the exposes, reviewed the sub-judice contempt case filed against Kantipur Group. In its second hearing Justice Gopal Prasad Parajuli, whose past judgments and personal details were investigated by Kantipur, ordered publishers and editorial staff of Kantipur to appear in person to explain why they shouldn’t be convicted in contempt of court case.

Most rulings by the courts are not more than two pages, but Parajuli delivered a 11-page tome that tried to prove that Kantipur was on a deliberate crusade to tarnish the image of the independent judiciary.

It was apparent that the Supreme Court was flexing its muscles and warning all journalists by putting Nepal’s most powerful media on the dock. Kantipur itself used the occasion to project its own profile as a champion of press freedom. Last week, on the day of the hearing, it gathered 50 members of its staff, politicians and industrialists in the Supreme Court premises as a show of force.

It was as if the group wanted to influence the court decision by a demonstration of solidarity. It has now become a prestige issue for both the Supreme Court and Kantipur. The paper has reported the case against itself with prominence on the front pages, providing maximum national exposure of its own importance. The publication’s main argument was that the court started its final hearing with the same justices who had previously looked at the case.

Although the group’s lawyers were putting forward a valid legal point, this was a clear breach of provisions of coverage of cases that are subjudice. According to universal juridical principles, one should not try to influence the court directly or indirectly during the period that a case is being heard. The media’s role is to point out the wrongdoings of court, not to stage a demonstration in the court premises during a hearing.

Whatever the past wrongs of the court, the media should also be equally responsible not to undermine the dignity of the independent judiciary. The media cannot appear to be a law unto itself, and not required to abide by it. The aggressive and prominent reporting of the case against itself is also a misuse of media responsibility.

To be sure, the Judicial Committee bypassed candidates with integrity and proven track record for those with questionable pasts, to say the least, when appointing Supreme Court justices. The media did its job by exposing this, but to exact revenge through this contempt case the Supreme Court has gone after the largest target to threaten the rest of the media to behave itself.

It is hard to say which way the verdict will go next week. In the past, the Court has been liberal in contempt cases and journalists have just been slapped on the wrist and cautioned about the law on subjudice cases. This time, positions have hardened, and by its aggressive taunts Kantipur may have exceeded the media’s accepted behaviour in a country that is supposed to respect the rule of law.

@binitadahal

This article was originally published in Nepali Times (http://nepalitimes.com/article/nation/supreme-court-kantipur-contempt-of-court-case,1685)

Wombs for rent

Commercial surrogate motherhood is moving to Nepal because of restrictions in India

Binita Dahal

After India tightened rules on commercial surrogacy two years ago, foreigners seeking such services have started trickling into Nepal where rules are murky and regulation weak.

Nepal’s cabinet decided recently to allow foreigners to have surrogate babies as long as the mother is also a foreigner, arguing that this would promote medical tourism in the country. Since then the Department of Immigration records show that many foreigners, including 20 Israelis, have had surrogate babies in private hospitals in Nepal.

Senior Advocate and Activist Sapana Pradhan Malla says many Nepali parents seek her legal advice on surrogacy. “I have no answer for them because there are no laws,” she told Nepali Times. “But I find it really suspicious that foreigners are allowed to have surrogate babies here when there is no provision for Nepalis.”

Activists are worried that in the absence of laws, the cabinet decision on surrogate babies can easily be circumvented. Nepali women could be exploited by unscrupulous middlemen and male relatives to carry and deliver babies for foreigners.

Compensated surrogacy is a process under which a woman rents her womb to another couple to have their baby delivered. There are two methods: one where the sperm is artificially inseminated into a surrogate mother, and in the other the sperm and egg from the parents first go through in-vitro fertilisation and the embryo is inserted into the uterus of the surrogate mother.

Doctors say both methods are done in fertility clinics in Nepal, but they don’t want to be quoted saying it. The lack of laws haven’t deterred many Nepali parents without children to secretly use surrogacy to have children in hospitals in Nepal and India, while Indian mothers routinely come to Nepal to give birth (see adjoining box).

After cases of fraud and exploitation, India’s Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill is now in parliament and will allow surrogacy only for married, infertile and Indian Origin couples.

“Many people think the act of surrogacy involves sexual intercourse so they are hesitant to talk about it,” says advocate Sadeep Kharel. “Doctors and hospitals keep quiet because surrogacy is illegal for Nepalis.”

The cabinet decision makes it easy for foreigners to be surrogate parents by processing exit permits for their babies born in Nepal: the Health Ministry writes a recommendation based on the birth certificate with DNA proof issued by hospitals to apply for a passport at the resident embassy.

 According to sources, the cabinet hurriedly decided last year on a draft on surrogacy prepared by the Health Ministry. Cabinet decisions are supposed to be in the public domain, but lawyers say the Health Ministry is reluctant to divulge details and provide a copy of the decision.

Praveen Mishra was secretary at the Ministry of Health in the previous government when the draft first came up for debate, and remembers facing intense political pressure to pass it. Mishra and Minister Bidhyadhar Mallik stood their ground, but with the new government the cabinet quickly approved it last August.

Sources say surrogacy in India and Nepal are managed by middlemen working with political protection, and there is a nexus between them and private hospitals. It is a question of supply and demand: there is a demand in rich countries for babies, and there is a supply of poor families in developing countries willing, and sometimes forcing, their women to become surrogate mothers.

Many European countries have banned surrogacy and it is strictly regulated and expensive in the United States. While it can cost up to $150,000 to have a surrogate baby in the West, in India and Nepal it can cost as little at $6,000 with the surrogate mother often not getting the money that her husband is paid as fee.

Commercialisation of motherhood through surrogacy is lucrative, but raises cultural, social, economic and political questions which are probably why Nepal’s private hospitals and the government are so hush-hush about it. “We must be careful not to allow surrogate mothers to be exploited as baby producers,” Sapana Pradhan Malla warns, “there must be laws in case mothers don’t want to give babies to parents, if babies are disabled, and about the legal status of the baby.”

There is one case of surrogacy which is sub-judice in the Supreme Court in a dispute about whether the baby born from a Nepali surrogate mother will get the parent’s property or not. This could be a landmark case in which the Court may direct the government to pass a new law for Nepali surrogate mothers.

But till then it will be women who will be more vulnerable to exploitation.

“Surrogacy is needed,” says Renu Adhikari of WOREC (Women’s Rehabilitation Centre), “but in the absence of proper laws it can lead to trafficking and women can be forced to go through with it for the money.”

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Nargis’ baby

Twenty-seven year old Nargis came to Nepal six months ago from the slums of Mumbai. Her husband had left her after she gave birth to their first child after which she moved in with her parents. After her father died, she had to take care of the whole family.

“We were so poor there was no money to even feed my baby,” Nargis remembers. One day, her mother told her that she could make money renting her womb for nine months. She was introduced to a middleman who assured her there was no sexual intercourse involved, and she would earn $6,000 carrying and giving birth to someone else’s baby.

After she was convinced to go through with the procedure, she stayed in a Mumbai hospital for a month for her insemination procedure, and was discharged after she got pregnant. She was paid INR 6,000 per month for the duration of the pregnancy.

Nargis came to Nepal in her fourth month of pregnancy along with her own first born. She stayed at a hotel in Thamel with other surrogates like her who had come to give birth in Nepal because of restrictions in India.

Their agent advised them not to get emotionally attached to their babies as they had to be given away. Nargis gave birth via caesarean in a private hospital in Kathmandu, and was paid only $3,000. Still, she told us she will go through it again so she can send her own child to school.

Middlemen look for women between 25-30 in Mumbai’s slums, and convince their families to go through with surrogacy. The Indian agents get a $1,000 fee for every successful birth in Nepal.

“I don’t care if surrogacy is legal or illegal in India, but it is easier for a woman like me to deliver a baby in Nepal so no one finds out in Mumbai,” Nargis admitted. “Sometimes when I am alone, I look at the baby’s picture that the agent gave me. I never had the chance to be with him or breastfeed him. Still, I have less of an attachment to this baby than my own first child.”

Nargis is a pseudonym.

This article was originally published in Nepali Times  (http://nepalitimes.com/article/nation/wombs-tolet-surrogacy-nepal,1991)