Nepal, Sept. 22 -- In a dilapidated house in Rajbiraj, Babita Paswan has returned. A few days earlier, she had given birth to her child not in a hospital, but on the pavement outside it. The hospital was right there. But she did not have the money demanded for the blood test. The night caved in, and a few hours later she delivered the baby by the roadside. Babita has now come home. Her house is small, but the question this incident raises are large. In a democracy, some events are not merely news, they become a test of the system. Babita's delivery is one such event.

On October 2, which is right around the corner, the world will remember Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary and observe the International Day of Non-violence. The most u...