Rapti training 'disastrous'

-By Yagya Bikram Shahi

NEPALGUNJ, Jan 20 - The construction of Laxmanpur barrage and afflux bund on Rapti river near Nepal-India border is going to submerge thousands of bighas of arable land and dozens of villages, say experts.

Nepali experts say the construction of 22-kilometre long afflux bund in the south of Laxmanpur barrage will stop the flow of Rapti river which will in turn overflow and inundate the villages.

Experts claim atleast nine VDCs in Nepal will be submerged because of India’s speculation that the water will rise by 8.6 kilometres after the construction of the barrage. The Indian VDCs have already begun resettling people from 52 villages that are expected to be affected by the 2-5 metre high bund.

Indian side who maintain that the bund will not affect Nepal are constructing it at the breakneck speed.

MPs from the region, Gyanu K.C from Banke-1 and Sushil Koirala from Banke-2, who went for inspection of the site, have said they will demand that the government pressurise India to stop the construction.

“India, which protested when we tried to construct a canal on Sikta, is constructing a barrage on war footing by neglecting Nepal’s sovereignty. That is very unbecoming of a good neighbour,” said Koirala.

A Standing Committee on Inundation between Nepal and India (SCINI) has been formed to study the implications of the barrage and submit a concrete solution, said an Nepali expert who is in the committee.

The committee’s meeting that was held through November 1-5, had decided to finish the work last month but the deadline has been postponed by two months because of the delay due to various factors.

Rishi Ram Sharma, Divisional Engineer at the District Irrigation Office, Banke, said Nepalis will definitely be affected by the barrage “but the exact figure can be determined only after the survey.”

The projects which was implemented since 1981, was included in the list of the problems to be discussed by SCINI. The SCINI had taken a similar decision in 1991 on the impact of afflux bund.

India has brought the water from Ghagra (Karnali in Nepal) to Sarju (Babai in Nepal) through a canal and is planning to bring the water to Rapti. According to sources, India intends to take the water to Gorakhpur for irrigation through a 180-kilometre canal.

Students warn of hunger strike

-By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan 20 - The agitating students at the Tribhuvan University (TU) economics department today warned of indefinite hunger strike if TU fails to resolve by January 23 the case of alleged tampering of their examination results.

The students have been claiming that there were evident irregularities in results of the second year MA examinations published by the T.U. Office of Controller of Examinations on Jan 13. Six students from last year’s list of top ten have failed in the second year exams, according students while two other toppers have passed with very poor marks. Most have failed in Macro Economics (Paper-V).

As a result, agitating students went on a rampage early this week, slightly burning and stoning the Central Economics Department building at TU.

Addressing a press conference here today, the Coordinator of the Economic Students Agitation Committee Bipin Regmi said they would wait till January 23 before going with the fast unto death and other “serious” agitations. Regmi, last year topped the university with 72 percent. He has, however, failed now.

“The Office of Controller of Examinations has given us an assurance that the issue would be placed in the January 23 meeting of the Central Examination Committee and duly resolved,” said Regmi. “Hence, we shall wait only till January 23.”  

TU Examination Controller Bhola Nath Pokhrel has given a written assurance to the students in this regard in a letter dated January 19.

Vice-president of TU Free Student Union Tap Raj Joshi said that there has been “repeated” result tampering since the last three academic years. “Moreover, tallying the first  year result with that of this year any one can make that the trend is strikingly opposite,” said Joshi.

Students reiterated their stand that there is something “fishy” about the TU Scrutiny Board. Scrutiny Board is the ultimate body of the Controller’s Office which sanctions examinations results.

Students have demanded resignations of the Head of the TU Central Department of Economics and the Controller of Examination on moral grounds and strict actions against the alleged “culprits”.

“Head of the Department is on the Scrutiny Board and he knows our academic calibre,” said the agitated students. “He should have warned the board of the unexpected results. Why didn’t he do so is a mystery.”

Students also demanded immediate re-marking of the Macro Economics paper from the subject experts. “We doubt our papers were recklessly checked by unskilled examiners who have no knowledge or has poor knowledge of the subject,” students claim.

Students also say, there is only one Macro Economics expert currently available at TU Economics Department and he wasn’t asked to check the papers.

Professor Bishwambhar Pyakurel at the Central Department of Economics said the alleged tampering is not a new issue in TU but the current case “is very different and very serious”. “It is not a matter of a single student, it is matter of majority of brilliant students including six country toppers who have failed.”

Pyakurel also urged for a “high level” committee to probe into the case in accordance with TU law.  All the student unions at TU are have come to a consensus that the issue must be resolved immediately.

EU office in Nepal likely

-By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan 20 - The European Union (EU) is thinking positively towards opening a permanent office in Nepal, according to a source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This was expressed in a response to the letter written a month ago by Foreign Minister Ram Sharan Mahat. In the letter addressed to Chris Patten, Commissioner of the EU, Mahat had requested the Union to open a permanent office in Kathmandu.

According to the source, Mahat stressed that a permanent office in Nepal will help consolidate the bilateral relations besides promoting the relationship between SAARC Secretariat and the EU.

EU and SAARC Secretariat signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Administrative Cooperation in July 1996.

EU has not opened a permanent overseas office in any country in the past few years. According to the source, the Union is currently reviewing establishing permanent overseas offices.

The EU has a liaison office in Nepal which was established in May 1992.

Policy enforcement billed lacklustre

-By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan 20 - Population experts today said that the plans to check population will loose their effectiveness unless there is commitment from administrative and political leadership to implement them.

“The strategies we make for population control never actually take off,” said Dr Shyam Thapa, president of Family Health International. “Effective implementation and coordination amongst the agencies working in the field is the most necessary thing which our plans lack.”                                           At a seminar “Population Perspective Plan”, speakers pointed out at a “lack of effective implementation and coordination” in not achieving the desired goal. The two-day seminar was organised by Ministry of Population and Environment (MOPE).

Experts highlighted the importance of policy-making, coordination between the agencies working on population and monitoring in order to achieve effective results. According to a book “Review of Population Policy in Nepal,” Nepal lacks the infrastructure that supports and implements the policy objectives.

According to experts, Nepal does not lack “good and comprehensive population policy” but does lack the well-defined machinery and mechanisms that could translate policies into effective programmes and successful implementation.

State Minister for Population and Environment, Bhakta Bahadur Balayar said the prevailing plans are unable to address the problems of rapid population increase and thus need to be reviewed.

“Our plans have to be able to address women and especially the rural population,” said Balayar. “Till we are able to make the rural population aware of the consequences population rise will bring and involve them in the process our plans will remain futile.”

The participants at the seminar emphasised the need for coordination between ministry and private agencies to address the problem. “Our policies have to be focused on the problems of immigration and food security,” said Govinda Raj Bhatta, secretary at MOPE.

According to Upendra Adhikari, Under Secretary at MOPE, the programme was organised to formulate strategies for the effective implementation of plans.

Khanal against Indian security umbrella

-By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan 20 - India has tried to put Nepal under its security umbrella which is an attempt to impinge upon Nepal’s sovereignty, said Jhala Nath Khanal, chief of CPN-UML’s Foreign Affairs Department here today.

Delivering a lecture on Nepal-India relations at a programme organised by the Rotary Club of West Patan here today, Khanal said when one talks of security it concerns sovereignty of a country.

“A group of people come from India and kill a Member of Parliament in Kathmandu, armed Indian police enter hundreds of miles inside Nepal’s border. This is a gross violation of our sovereignty,” said Khanal. “India’s interference in our security is highly objectionable.”

When asked whether India also interferes in Nepal’s domestic politics, Khanal said “When I say India interferes in security and all other spheres of life, it interferes in politics too.”

Khanal added that Nepal-India relations has gone cold after the hijacking of Indian Airlines Airbus.

He said the open border has to be regulated as the open border is conducive to criminal activities.

Earthquake jolts capital

-By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan 20 - A moderate earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale rocked Kathmandu Valley at 18:39 this evening.

According to the Department of Mines and Geology, the earthquake’s epicentre was located around Phulping near Barhabishe-Tatopani area of Sindhupalchok district. The area lies approximately 120 kilometres north east from Kathmandu.

The tremor that lasted for several seconds has been felt in central Nepal after an interval of at least five months, said Dr Madhav Raj Pandey, Senior Seismologist at the department.

Situated on the lap of the Himalayas--the meeting point of the Indian and Tibetan tectonic plates that continue to slide pass each other--Nepal lies in one of the world’s most seismically active regions.

The tremor was felt barely a day after a powerful earthquake with its epicentre in the Hindu Kush mountain region jostled Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan, only a few hundred kilometres north west of here.

Immigration official suspended

-By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan 20 - The Department of Immigration has suspended senior immigration assistant Pushkar Khadka and initiated investigation against him regarding his involvement in letting fake passport holders pass through the immigration at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).

Deputy Director of Immigration Department Atmaram Pandey has been assigned the task to investigate the matter.

Twenty persons had flown from TIA with fake passports last week. Eleven were arrested in London while the remaining nine were arrested in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and deported to Nepal.

According to a source at the Immigration Department, Khadka had checked all the 20 passports. The department suspects Khadka conspired to let those people slip through immigration. 

Villain's role for Bhandari

-By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan 20 - You’ve probably seen them in real life, especially in these heady days of government corruption. But have you ever seen a minister turn into a villain on screen? That is coming soon to a theatre near you.

Bhuwan K.C., the noted actor/producer of Nepali filmdom has convinced Minister for Youth, Sports and Culture Sharat Singh Bhandari to step into a villain’s shoes in an upcoming feature film.

According to K.C., Bhandari has accepted his offer to star as “Thakur” in the film. The movie casts the minister in a villainous role, creating havoc and mayhem until stopped, like in most movies, by the film’s hero in the end.

“I offered the role to Minister Bhandari because I think even political personalities should sometimes act in movies,” K.C. said at a programme here on Thursday.

Minister Bhandari could not be reached for comments at the time of writing this story.

Myanmar democracy backed

-By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan 20 - President of the ruling Nepali Congress Girija Prasad Koirala today extended his “whole-hearted” support for the struggle for democracy in Myanmar. Koirala lauded the effort made by the Burmese leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi to restore democracy in her country.

“The heroic struggle that Suu Kyi has been waging deserves a global applause and our whole-hearted support,” said Koirala. “I salute her for her great courage and tenacity ...”

Attributing Myanmar as “a very old friend” of Nepal, Koirala said “When I think of Myanmar, it makes my heart heavy with profound agony,” said Koirala who remembered the historic Nepal- Myanmar ties established in the 1940s.

He was addressing a two-day international conference on “Democracy for Burma” organised by  International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)/ITS.

Grass-cutting chore scares wildlife

-By Chitranga Thapa

MAHENDRANAGAR, Jan 20 - The critically endangered Royal Bengal tigers and the macho pythons endemic to Royal Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve here were not feeling free this week.

For the last five days when the reserve officials opened the reserve for the locals for annual khar-katai (grass-cutting), the animals were seen moving to and fro from their natural habitats, thanks largely to the horde of locals who flocked there.

Every year, officials open the reserve for locals for khar-katai. This, officials say, does not only help local villagers collect the dried up tall grasses for various household purposes, but also helps officials in managing the grasslands.

Shukla Phanta is home to dozens of the nearly extinct Royal Bengal tigers, including the country’s biggest one, Asiatic elephants, swamp deer and pythons.

As around 32,000 people entered the reserve for grass in one single day during the last five days, almost all the animals residing in the reserve were seen disturbed, if not horrified.

Officials said, total number of people entering the reserve was slightly lesser than before. And it is during this season that the officials opened the reserve for the locals for only five days, as against seven days in previous years.

During previous years, 33-38 thousand locals used to enter the reserve.

Mammal such as deer and tigers are not the only ones who were unstable, equally disturbed were the reptiles.

A 15 feet long python that came out from hibernation, (apparently due to disturbances caused by human beings), was found injured near Mangalsera area. As it was out of its abode and trying to prey upon a deer, a tiger attacked it.

Interestingly, the python and the tiger were targeting to prey on a same deer, said the reserve’s warden Ram Prit Yadav. The mortally injured python was later taken to a local veterinary.

The animals sometimes end up abandoning their offsprings while fleeing. A deer was found near a security personnel’s camp. “The reserve’s security personnel are currently looking after the young deer,” said warden Yadav. 

Some conservationists here argue, the annual procession of the locals into the reserve at once is one of the reasons behind the declining wildlife population in Shukla Phanta. The locals from different villages around the reserve enter the reserve often in groups so as to drive away what they call “wild beasts”.

Locals do not always do good when they are inside the reserve.

At times they have been found setting fires.

“Even the fallen woods lying around help in conserving the area,” says warden Yadav. For the locals, it is a compulsion to cut the grass because if they don’t they will have dripping roofs. Yadav says as the entrance of a large number of people at once causes trouble to the wildlife, some thing must be done.

According to him, it is impossible for the reserve security guards to monitor the activities of the 32 thousand villagers entering the area. “It should either be stopped or groups have to be mobilized to monitor their activities inside,” says Yadav.

It is not just the grass that is taken away from the reserve, villagers have been found taking wood for household use. Shukla Phanta is said to be under tremendous pressure from loggers and wood smugglers through its several entry points.