Government’s fate to be decided on Feb 21

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Feb 17 - The parliamentary party of the governing Nepali Congress (NC) will decide next week whether Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai will continue in his office, party official announced today.

The NC parliamentary party secretary Benupraj Prasai said the time and date of the meeting has been set as 8 a.m. on Monday at the parliamentary party office at Singha Durbar.

Though the early date has made the rebels happy, sources in the party say that it has irked the prime minister. He wanted some time before the meeting to prepare, Prasai, however fixed the date without consulting him.

Prime Minister Bhattarai during the four-hour-long cabinet meeting today told the members that he was being kicked out in humiliating manner.

He warned that if he is ousted and party President Girija Prasad Koirala tried to form a government, he would need his support to do so.

Sources close to Bhattarai said the ministers were divided between the two sides. While the Koirala side insisted on peaceful agreement between the two leaders, the Bhattarai side wanted the government to continue.

The ministers siding with the rebels and Koirala are expected to resign tomorrow.

Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, on a trip abroad, has decided to cut short his trip and fly home tomorrow due to the developments in the party.

Rebelling NC lawmakers numbering 58 had filed a petition at the NC parliamentary party office on Wednesday seeking Prime Minister Bhattarai’s removal from office.

This group of rebelling NC lawmakers expressed "no confidence" on the parliamentary party leader who is also automatically elected the prime minister, over his poor performance as the leader of the country.

NC has 137 members in the two Houses of Parliament, the House of Representatives and the National Assembly.

The rebels are accusing the prime minister of failing to show any leadership qualities and turing out to be a weak leader leading a government that has not made any progress.

They are not sure who they will choose as the next parliamentary party leader but are confident that the choice will be based on consensus and not just agreeable to one side or the other.

Both Bhattarai and Koirala had reached an agreement nearly two months back in which Bhattarai had agreed to step down immediately after the winter session of parliament citing health reasons to defuse the situation that developed with NC lawmakers rebelling against him and beginning a signature campaign.

Since Bhattarai was appointed prime minster in May last year after NC won the general elections, the gap between the two leaders had been widening with the party blaming the government of going against the party’s directives.

Both NC members and the opposition have voiced concern over the attitude and performance of the Bhattarai government. His ministers have been accused of indulging in corruption and unethical behaviour.

Minister for Housing and Physical Planning Bal Bahadur K.C. had broken into the house of a married woman, had physically abused her and had threatened her even as Minister for Youth and Sports Sharat Singh Bhandari had been accused of pocketing hefty commissions while awarding contracts during the South Asian Games held last year. Both men were spared by Bhattarai despite protest from both inside the party and outside.

Other members in the cabinet have been accused of indulging in corruption while the government as a whole has also been accused of failing to control the Maoist insurgents who have targeted NC workers and supporters in the bloody campaign for a republican state.

Dairy farmers protest inaction

KATHMANDU, Feb 17 (PR)- About 1,500 dairy farmers from 36 districts of the country under the leadership of Central Milk Producers Cooperative Association (CMPCA) gathered in the capital today and organized a protest rally demanding long term national milk policy for the welfare of the farmers.

Milk producers representing 169 milk producers’ associations who gathered here today demanded the government for the fulfillment of their 10-point demand which has been pending for the past seven months.

Today’s demonstration is the last phase of their month-long protest programmes, according to the organizer. Their major demands include rise in the purchase price of milk from the farmers, introduction of national milk policy, end of milk holiday, formation of Dairy Development Corporation as cooperative institution, representations of milk associations to the DDC board and reduction in loan interest, among others. If their demands are not fulfilled in time, they assert, they would resort to stronger protest programmes which will also include gathering milk producers at one place.

Talking to The Kathmandu Post, chairman of the CMPCA Dhaka Ram Aryal said that due to lack of clear and scientific milk policy, dairy development has got a setback. One of the participants of the rally, Banisara Magar of Syangha Chiwuri who has been selling milk since 15 years, said she has come to Kathmandu with a hope that the government would listen to their problems seriously.

Ram Milan Upadhyaya, Executive Director of the National Dairy Development Board commenting on the milk development policy said the existing programmes are functioning well.

PAC summons Minister Joshi

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Feb 17 - The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee has summoned Minister for Water Resources Govind Raj Joshi to answer the allegations of irregularities in the Bagmati Irrigation Project.

Minister Joshi has been asked to be present in next week’s committee meeting and answer on the process of tender, re-tender and repackaging for construction of the Command Area Development of the project.

Last year, this part of the project was divided into 19 packages and called for bids from contractors. However in the months that followed, the ministry itself had formed a probe team to investigate claims of irregularities.

The probe team had recommended that only four packages be forwarded and the remaining 15 be compressed into one or two packages and then only go ahead with the tender process.

Instability billed disastrous for development

KATHAMNDU, Feb 17 (PR) - Political instability is the root cause of national regression since the restoration of democracy in 1990, experts said here today. They were speaking at an interaction programme One Decade of Democracy organised by SUHIC Nepal, a Chitwan-based NGO to mark the Democracy Day that falls on Feb 19.

Media advisor at the Ministry of Information and Communication Purushottam Dahal said; "Had any of the governments since the restoration of democracy, honestly tried to address minimal requirements of people, democracy would not have been risked or questioned," he said. "Political instability and uncultured politics are largely responsible for this."

He said that it was equally unfortunate that every one tries to blame the government for all that went wrong with the democracy and development. "What tangible things we did for the sake of the country and democracy. We should all honestly self-evaluate ourselves," he said.

Lawmaker from the ruling Nepali Congress at the Upper House Bhim Bahadur Shrestha said there were hardly any concrete development in the country since the restoration of democracy but many backslides like political unsteadiness, deteriorating law and order situation and dropping economic indicators.

"However, there is no other choice than to learn from the mistakes of the past and work for the better future," he said. "Moreover, though slow, the achievements of democracy are sustainable unlike fast but fleeting success of undemocratic regimes."

Prominent industrialist Dibakar Golchha said earlier governments since the democracy was restored started the economic liberalisation which fostered industries, finance companies, information technology and other economic sectors but the political instability following the collapse of minority government of CPN-UML gave a severe setback to the economic reforms.

"Once the political instability started economic agendas were left behind by all the political parties and only the political agendas became the priorities," said Golchha. "But we are on the process of globalisation and running out of time. If the government doesn’t seriously make a few sound economic decisions then we are sure to get big shocks in the future."

He said that no government should forget that industrial and green revolutions were the only choice the country had for the growth of GDP and economic salvation of the country. "Government should coordinate with private sectors to achieve these goals," he said.

Organisers expect to popularise Shivaratri

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Feb 17 - A feelgood factor is essential to make this year’s Shivaratri Festival more attractive and approachable.

It is time to make its outlook more modern.

At a press conference today, organised by the Pashupati Development Trust, organisers pointed out the need for a gradual build up to make this year’s Maha Shivaratri, which falls on the 4th of March, more of a success.

Banwarilal Mittal, coordinator of the PDT said that this year’s Shivaratri festival, while strongly reflecting Nepal’s deep roots in Hinduism, should also be publicised more.

"Pashupatinath is one of the holiest of temples and Shivaratri is rightly a show case for our common religion.

Such an event and its message should be spread further and wider.

This means accessing the media more, especially the internet and website pages," said Mittal.

"Since it has a central place in our culture, we must make the festival have a central place in Hindu culture worldwide.

This means advertising on a broader format. Using the traditional print media, leaflets, posters, the radio and television is also important," he said.

The organisers agreed that the festival had a good success rate within Nepal since it was part of the nation’s cultural and religious fabric.

But what the festival needed, to achieve greater success, was a broader format of awareness abroad.

"We all agree that it is essential to develop the festival more because of its inherent importance for our country.

But what is essential is to advertise this thoroughly," said Purushottam Dahal, Media Advisor to the Ministry of Information and communications.

"Looking at India, it is not enough just to advertise it in Hindi. We should also make provisions for the vast number of regional languages so that more will become aware of the festival.

The language of the target country should be used," he said.

The members of PDT also approached the idea of contacting various satellite networks such as Zee TV and Star Plus to highlight the festival and bring it to a wider audience.

Nepal Television agreed that it would try to spread awareness of the festival no later than one week before its start.

Mittal also suggested that it was time to change the concept of visiting Pashupatinath during Shivaratri from ‘Religious Tourism’point of view, as it has been since 1981, but also from point of view of ‘Cultural Tourism’, thereby giving it a more secular flavour.

Last year, just over one hundred thousand devotees and tourists visited Pashupati during the festival.

This year, around two hundred thousand are expected to attend, especially since there are no elections in India.