Summary: Nepal is a nation of 23 million, with almost 40 per cent still subsisting below the poverty line (a line that is probably far too low to indicate the real scope of the problem). Many of Nepal's economic problems can be blamed on decades of feudal rule by monarchs and a handful of elites. But after a decade-and-half of democracy, Nepal now boasts of highly talented writers, journalists and civil rights groups who are battling to pull the country up from centuries of autocratic, monarchic rule. In Kathmandu, the rich and powerful are smart, well-travelled and cosmopolitan. But many, when they talk of the rest of Nepal, say things that Indians, after more than a half century of pluralistic democracy, would consider the relic of a bygone era. In Nepal, there appears to have been generations of ignorance, still reflected in comments from the Kathmandu powerful such as "our soldiers behave badly sometimes, but that is because they have no airconditioning in the barracks!" The Maoist insurgency has forced the ruling elite to finally take notice of its "invisible" poor. The Maoists gained a degree of public popularity by talking of social justice, land reforms, and development. However, Kathmandu paid little attention to the movement until the Maoists became a militarily unbeatable and increasingly vicious guerrilla force that blithely executes its opponents. Now, instead of focusing on socio-economic improvement, many of Nepal's rich take notice of the poor only by regarding their servants with suspicion, or wondering if the gardener is an informer.