His Royal Highness Prince Nirajan ( center ) using his mobile phone, Sunday, during the Golden Jubilee function of St. Xavier's School at Jawalakhel, Lalitpur.

After victory in 2 health fronts anaemia remains key challenge

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KATHMANDU, Dec 4 - Nepal has made significant strides in its fight against two major global nutrition problems: deficiencies of iodine and vitamin A, according to a nation-wide micronutrient status survey released here today. But anaemia, another global nutrition problem, continues to trap Nepalese in a vicious cycle of poor growth and ill health.

According to a press release issued here today, the country’s "first such" survey, a random sampling of 15,000 households, notes that iodine deficiency disorders, which retard children’s cognitive development, is nearing elimination in Nepal. Whereas vitamin A deficiency, which decreases the ability to fight illness, has almost disappeared among pre-school children.

"We attribute our remarkable progress to two successful public health interventions," said Minister for Health Ram Baran Yadav, at a press conference organized to release the survey report. "The rigorous promotion of iodized salt among consumers, and the distribution of vitamin A capsules through mass campaigns are measures pursued by the government and will continue to be supported.

According to the Health Ministry, over four million children in 69 districts receive vitamin A capsules twice a year, and this is made possible by the mobilization of community leaders, volunteers, and health workers through the joint efforts of the government and USAID, AusAID, NTAG, JSI and UNICEF. The Ministry claims that nearly all salt sold in the market is fortified with iodine, and a social marketing campaign is underway to promote packaged iodised salt.

The findings show that visible goitre, a common sign of iodine deficiency, is no longer found in school-aged children and affects only 1.3 per cent of women. Night-blindness is detected in 0.27 per cent, and Bitot’s spots, a more advanced sign of deficiency, in 0.33 per cent of pre-school children.

However, reducing anaemia, the deficiency of iron, is the new challenge. The survey shows that 68 per cent of women and 78 per cent of pre-school children suffer from anaemia. Anaemia also affects 75 per cent of Nepalese pregnant women, which is alarming because during pregnancy, the foetus requires its own supply of iron that can only be obtained from the mother.

Anaemia greatly increases the risk of a mother suffering complications in labour and delivering a low birth weight baby, and helps put the mother and child in a vicious cycle of malnutrition, according to experts.

The highest anaemia prevalence - 88 per cent, according to the survey - is found in children between 6 and 23 month-old, during a very critical period of growth and development. The staggering figure signifies that Nepalese children are being born with low iron stores, and are not receiving enough iron in their complementary food.

"Anaemia is damaging to both mother and child, yet it is so wide-spread," said Stewart McNab, UNICEF Representative to Nepal. "Nepal has shown it can triumph over two of the most pervasive micronutrient problems. It now needs action to achieve another breakthrough in controlling iron deficiency."

The survey also points out little improvement in the general nutrition status of children over the last 23 years. Using height as an indicator, Nepalese children are shorter than expected for their age. "The prevalence of stunting among children 6-59 months has dropped only 15.3 percentage points since 1975, from 69.4 per cent to 54 in 1998," the survey said.

The survey was conducted by New Era in 1997-1998 with support from the Ministry of Health, the Micronutrient Initiative, UNICEF, and WHO.

5 power developers issued survey licence

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KATHMANDU, Dec 4 - At least five private investors expressing interest in various hydel projects in the country have been recommended to receive survey licences.

The Department of Electricity Development (DED), which reviewed these proposals, has forwarded these five proposals to the Ministry of Water Resources for final endorsement.

According to officials, the survey license for the 27-megawatt Khimti II project has been recommended to the Statkraft of Norway, which successfully developed the 60-megawatt Khimti I, that went into operation this year.

The Khimti-I hydroelectricity project, which was the first privately developed hydel project, began commercially generating electricity since July and was officially inaugurated last month.

Other projects in this category are 121-megawatt Upper Marsyangdi, which has been recommended to be surveyed by Swiss company Vatec, the 308-megawatt Lower Arun to Brazilian Brass Power, 300-megawatt Upper Trishuli and 51-megawatt Likhu-4 to Australian Pacific Hydro Limited.

At least two other projects including the 60-megawatt Kankai in eastern hilly district Ilam, have submitted the required bank guarantee but are yet to submit a few documents as formality to qualify for the recommendation by the Department for the survey license.

The ministry after reviewing the recommendations from the Department will endorse or reject the proposals, following which the Department would ultimately issue the license.

With the survey licenses, these investors would be able to analyse the area to conduct the feasibility study. Before the generation license is issued to these companies they will be required to have the environment impact assessment detailing the effect on environment by construction of the project like how many people will be displaced and to what extent the surrounding would be destroyed.

They would also be required to have power purchase agreement with either Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) for domestic use or with the power authorities if they want to export power.

A generation licence would give these investors the authority to begin construction, develop and operate these projects.

For the past few years, successive governments have been trying to attract private investors from both at home and abroad to invest and develop the immense hydropower capacity.

Studies have shown that Nepal has the potentiality to produce 83,000 megawatts of power, out of which extraction of 42,000 megawatts is feasible. However, at present about 300 megawatts is produced even when there is high demand for power during the cold winter days resulting into a huge deficit in power supply. Worse, only 15 per cent of the total population has access to electricity.

At present, NEA’s various hydel power plants produce maximum 319 megawatts of power with additional 32 megawatts from diesel-powered plants when needed.

Maoists seize helicopter Make crew sign‘agreement’

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KATHMANDU, Dec 4 - In a high voltage drama today, a group of Maoist rebels captured a helicopter, painted its interior and exterior with anti-government slogans and got all those on board to sign an agreement that the chopper be not used by the army and police, and that it will not carry daily consumer goods and firewood.

According to a press release issued late Monday by Western Regional Bureau of the underground Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) which carried out the surprise operation, the rebels took control of the Phaplung-bound Asian Airlines helicopter at Tingla helipad in Solukhumbu district at 2:45 p.m. this afternoon.

The airlines office could not be reached for conformation.

Subsequently, the rebels comprising Kusum Chhetri, Shakti Kiran and Jit Bahadur made the 9 ACT helicopter crew of pilot Mingma Sherpa, captain Alexander and flight engineer Nicoli sign a four-point agreement before they released it at a forest in Goli Village Development Committee (VDC).

Nepali Congress (NC) Solukhumbu district Ilaka no. 7 member Datta Singh Karki, NC elected Chairman of Tingla VDC Om Singh Karki, Sanghutar Bridge Construction Committee Chairman Raha Bahadur Rai and local people were also present when the agreement was signed.

According to the agreement, "the airlines will not be allowed to be used by the army and the police, the airlines will not allow its aircrafts to be used to suppress the `people’s war’, the airlines will not carry daily consumer goods and firewood from Jiri and Katari."

"We hereby inform that the airlines will not be spared if it violates the agreement," a copy of the agreement paper, attached with the press release, warns, adding that the agreement was signed by all those present and countersigned by the three rebels.

After the signing, the rebels painted the helicopter’s interior and exterior with anti-Monarchy and anti-Government slogans, and boarded the aircraft which was later flown towards Jiri in Dolakha district via Terung, Taptin, Morakhani, Tamakhani, Kamala, Chaulakharka and Goli VDCs.

According to the release, the rebels told the pilots to take the helicopter to Kathmandu for publicity, but the crew members acknowledged that there was not enough fuel, so the helicopter had to land at Jiri.

"The government is promoting helicopter culture - against the wish of the poor porters who make their ends meet by carrying heavy loads on their back - in the name of development," the release signed by CPN (M)’s Bureau In-charge Diwakar said. "And hence, this agreement..."

The "agreement" came days after Maoist rebels fired at a helicopter carrying policemen while flying over Liwang, the district headquarters of Rolpa, a Maoist hotbed district in the mid-western hills. The latest incident occurred about a year after they destroyed a helicopter owned by Air Ananya in Dolakha.

PAC summons Minister Chataut

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KATHMANDU, Dec 4 - Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today asked Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Tarinee Datt Chataut to appear before the Committee to explain the reasons for violation of its directive on freezing RNAC-Lauda Air jet lease deal.

On November 29, the parliamentary body had asked the Ministry and Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) that its November 20 decision on freezing the deal till next order remained intact. The Ministry too had promptly acted by directing the Corporation to abide by the PAC directive the same day.

However, establishing a precedent of sorts, RNAC went ahead with the deal and brought the plane on December 1 as per the agreement signed by RNAC and Lauda Air on September 27.

Subhash Nemwang, Chairman of PAC, termed the decision by the Corporation a blatant violation of PAC directive. The Chairman added that it was not merely a violation of a parliamentary committee’s decision, but also of the sovereignty of the Parliament.

The PAC members felt that there was a tradition of abiding by the PAC ruling if it did not allow any proceedings to go ahead.

Later, speaking to the mediamen, Chairman Nemwang said that if the Prime Minister felt that the legislature was obstructing the business of the executive, he should dissolve the Parliament and go to the people. "Let him order polls and tell the people that the present Parliament was not allowing the government to do its work."

Nemwang added that he would raise the matter with the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

When contacted, Speaker Taranath Ranabhat told The Kathmandu Post that he would not make any comments on whether or not Parliament’s sovereignty had been challenged. The Speaker said that he had called a meeting in the Parliament at the end of the second week of this month. The meeting, he said, will take up the present case, among other issues.

China agrees on rope-way link between Nepal, Tibet

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CHAUTARA, Dec 4 - With a view to discouraging unauthorised and illegal trade across the Nepal-Tibet border at Tatopani, Chinese authorities on the Tibetan side have agreed to a proposal to construct a one-and-half kilometres long cable car project from Khasa bazaar in Tibet and Tatopani on Nepali side, the border customs office said.

Chief of the Tatopani customs Bharat Raj Subedi said that he had informed the Ministry of Finance after the Tibetan authorities agreed with the proposal put forward by them. The Tibetan side has already begun a preliminary survey for the construction of the cable car service.

The project is likely to cost about Rs 200 million, which will be borne by the Tibetan side, Subedi said, quoting the Tibetan authorities.

A lot of time would be saved once the project is materialised. Currently, vehicles have to cover a 10-km long gravelled, hair-pin road to get to Khasa from the Friendship bridge over the river Bhote Kosi at Tatopani.

The business community, however, said that a massive restructuring will be required at Tatopani Customs once goods start flowing in via the rope-way. The Nepal Customs premises lacks storage space and it will be a big problem then. There is already problem of parking cargo vehicles because of the increased volume of trade between Nepal and Tibet over the last couple of years. To solve the parking congestion, Tatopani Customs was allocated Rs 20 million to develop the right bank of the Bhote Kosi river as a parking lot.

The Tibetan side has assured of completing the rope-way project within two years once the Nepal government agrees to it.

Mountain film festival makes it big in Kathmandu

By Satish Jung Shah

KATHMANDU, Dec 4 - Did Caravan set-off the trend or is it that Kathmanduites are suddenly turning movie-savvy?

Karma Wangyal, the caravan boy.

Many here are saying that the otherwise sleepy capital dwellers are finally getting more selective and are queuing for quality movies.

The organisers of the four-day long Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF), which concluded here today, claimed to have got an "overwhelming response" this year.

"We’ve held four film festivals already but this year has been a big success," says Ramyata Limbu, Director of KIMFF. Hundreds of movie goers, mostly diplomats and students, attended the movie show at the capital’s Russian Culture Center.

"Many students like me come to watch, especially because we hardly get to see such movies...more such festivals should be organized," said Avilasha Gurung, a viewer at the festival.

"Though Caravan so far is the only Nepal based International movie I have seen, it has set a yard-stick for the movies which will be made here in the future," she added.

Some 49 films, both documentaries and features, from 20 countries were screened in the four-day movie show. Out of them, 15 were based on Nepal.

Though the picturesque Eric Valli movie, Caravan, ran housefull during both of its screenings, Genghis Blues stole the show bagging the Viewers’ Choice Award in the concluding ceremony today.

Genghis Blues, the US producer Roko Belic movie is about a blind San Franciscan Blues musician who is drawn towards a unique society of fiercely independent nomadic herders in the heart of Asia. The Oscar nominated movie had to be re-run on popular demand.

Another highlight of the festival was that an interactive session was held between the audience and the casts and crew-members of some of the films.

During such a session, Jean de Tregomain, the executive producer of Caravan even went on to plead the Nepalese government to spend more money, from the "large amount" his movie has contributed, towards the development of Dolpo. Caravan, entirely shot in the mid-western rural district, is scheduled for a US release in April 2001.

"Wangyal (The little boy who acted as Tenzing/Pasang in the movie), is enrolled at a school in Kathmandu...We are also establishing one in Dolpo," he informed.

However, the most exciting of such sessions was the one where the two real-life Tamangs of the docu-drama Chickenshit and Ash - A Visit to Paradise - appeared on stage with one of their directors, Gabriele Tautscher.

When an audience enquired if it was difficult for the two Tamangs from Dolakha district to actually appear on screen, one of them, in his typical rustic manner replied: "Why should we? We didn’t have to carry the load of the camera."

Meanwhile, one of today’s screening included a BBC documentary, raising the plight of high altitude porters in the country.

East: Carrying the Burden, a documentary mostly shot in the Solukhumbu region is produced and directed by Nepal-born Sangeeta Manandhar, who has been with the Asian Programmes Unit of BBC.

"We shot in a record time of three weeks...But I am happy to have raised the issue of basic human rights which majority of the hill people are deprived of, without sensationalising the issue," said Manandhar.

Unlike other documentaries, it even suggests a solution: Put the pressure from the West to implement Porter Protection Laws.

The success of the festival has also presented Nepal as a potential stage for other international movie festivals.

"Some of the people who’ve attended a number of similar festivals elsewhere are very pleased and are awaiting for more," Manadhar said.

The festival was organized by Himal Association in co-operation with Eco-Himal, an Austrian organization. According to Ramyata Limbu, they are already planning for a "bigger better version" of a mountain film festival in 2002.

Hotel service charge row snowballs 

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KATHMANDU, Dec 4 – With seven days remaining for hotel employees’ ultimatum to end, conflicting views are emanating from the trade unions and tourism experts regarding the 10 per cent additional service charge on hotel services.

Remaining firm on the imposition of a 10 per cent service charge, Laxman Basnyat, President of Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC), the sister organization of ruling Nepali Congress, argued that the demand is a legitimate one and said that such service tax is charged in all hotels of the world except in Bangladesh.

"In a globalized market, Nepal should also introduce international practice that will create social safety nets for the workers and will be beneficial to all – the workers, the management and the government", Basnyat argued.

However, Dr Surendra Bhakta Pradhananga, a tourism expert and chairman of Kathmandu Research Centre (KRC), terms the imposition of an additional service tax as impractical in a country like Nepal. He says, "At a time when hotel owners are hardly getting 10-15 per cent profit out of their total transactions, to impose additional service tax would be detrimental for the whole tourism industry."

Pradhananga asserts, "Hotel entrepreneurs have invested millions of rupees to start their businesses, but to impose such an extra tax, leaving a great burden on their business would be like nipping it in the bud."

Bishnu Lamsal, General Secretary of General Federation of Nepali Trade Union, is adamant on the enforcement of a 10 per cent service tax. Lamsal asserted that service tax in hotels is a tradition accepted all over the world. He said that if the service tax is imposed, then hotel accounts will be transparent and the country’s revenue will also shoot up, benefiting the country.

According to sources, trade union leaders held meeting with the State Minister for Labour Surendra Hamal along with Rajendra Khetan, Chairman of Employers’ Council at the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) today. While, Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) separately held a meeting with the Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya, requesting him to resolve the issue early tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, issuing a press statement today, Nepal Association of Tour Operators (NATO) has deplored the obstructions created by hotel workers in the country adamantly demanding the imposition of the additional service tax.

NATO has also requested the government to impose Essential Service Act on tourism industry and ban strikes in tourism related services .

SC seeks papers on ‘missing’ child case

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KATHMANDU, Dec 4 - In a first hearing of a four-year-old "missing" child, the Supreme Court today issued an order that the related documents of the "case" be presented before the court on December 13.

Laxmi Timilsina, the mother of the four year old child, had filed a writ of habeas corpus on November 23, stating that Ambika Sigdel, Principal of Nil Shishu Niketan Boarding School, Dhalku, and her associate Hajuri Shrestha had taken her child "illegally".

Today’s order was issued by a division bench comprising Chief Justices Keshav Prasad Upadhyaya and Justice Kedar Prasad Giri.

Advocate for the respondents, Sambhu Thapa, argued that the child was born from a first husband of the petitioner. The petitioner handed over her child to the Principal as her second husband could not adopt her.

Supporting Thapa’s arguments, Senior Advocate Krishna Prasad Bhandari said that if any parents discard their child, then in such situations they are not supposed to remain the guardian.

Advocate Chhatra Gurung, contending the arguments, said that the child should be handed over to her mother since the "captors" have not accepted her as a "foster daughter."The case is also being looked after by the Appellate Court, Lalitpur, Kathmandu District Court and the District Administration Office, Kathmandu.

‘Undesirable elements’ wiped out of NC: PM

BIRATNAGAR, Dec 4 (PR) - Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala today said that the recent elections for the general convention representatives and members has wiped out 50 per cent "undesirable elements".

Koirala even went ahead to say that the remaining 50 per cent of the "undesirable elements" will be obliterated during the up-coming 10th general convention of the party.

"The election is an evidence of what kind of elements were active in the party," said Koirala at a party function here today. "Now only 50 per cent of that element is active in the party which will be defeated in the up-coming convention."

The party’s general convention is scheduled to be held in Pokhara early January.

"The convention will be able to guide how to take the party forward in the times ahead," said Koirala.

Referring to his challenger former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, he said that this is a good sign of democratic exercise. "Chiranjivi Wagle contested the election during the last convention and now it is Deubaji, which is a good signal," he said. "The election will establish a trend for the coming generations."

Koirala is contesting the election for the party’s presidentship with the former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who is backed by Koirala’s rival Krishna Prasad Bhattarai.

He confidently said that Nepali Congress will never be divided. "Mark my words, the party will never split. There will obviously be a loser but nobody is a loser in democracy and the party will remain as intact."