House okays govt programs & policies

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, May 29 - The House of Representatives, the Lower House of Parliament, today endorsed the government’s programs and polices for the upcoming fiscal year that begins in mid July.

The proposal to thank His Majesty the King for deliberating the policy document that outlines the government’s programs for the fiscal year was passed by a majority vote. Adoption of the proposal is translated as adoption of the program and policy document.

Since the document was presented on May 19, lawmakers have been debating on the government’s proposals. Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala replying to concerns raised by the members said the government would seriously consider the suggestions expressed by the members during the debate on the policy document.

"The government has taken the suggestion made to seriously review the last 10 years of democracy in the country as sought by majority of the members," Prime Minister Koirala said.

He said the government had taken the issue of peace and security as the basic responsibility and would concentrate on controlling the terrorist activities of the Maoists who have been waging a violent campaign in the past few years and would continue to find a solution to the problem through dialogues and talks.

Delivering the replies, the Prime Minister said the government was committed towards protecting the rights of the women and would soon decide on the proposal to draft laws that would ensure equal rights to parental property to women. During the debate, women parliamentarians had raised the issue and criticized the government for failing to address the issue that had been on the debate front for the past few years.

On the allegation of corruption and failure to take bold steps on controlling it, the Prime Minister said the government would not waste time by debating and discussing the issue but would rather concentrate on finding basic solution at the source. He said the government keeping in mind the concerns raised about the work done by government offices despite pledges of good governance, the government has started an internal monitoring mechanism to monitor offices like the district administration office, police, land reforms, land revenue, tax and telephone and electricity offices where the people come in frequent and direct contact.

"The government has taken decisions to arrange and provide additional and necessary facilities of these government employees to raise the morale and efficiency," he said.

Referring to the recently formed Human Rights Commission, Prime Minister Koirala said the present government was committed to providing human rights and ensuring rights of the citizens.

Social services extension poor

By Ameet Dhakal

KATHMANDU, May 29 - Despite bright growth prospect and sound macroeconomic environment, the economic survey tabled in the parliament today paints gloomy picture in the area of social services and basic infrastructure.

The survey, which covers eight months of the current fiscal year ending mid-July, projects an impressive growth rate of 6 percent accompanied by low inflation projected at 3.1 percent. Similarly it reports a rosy picture in external front with booming export and improving foreign exchange reserves. The foreign exchange build has been billed at over 91 billion rupees, which is sufficient to cover the merchandise import of over one year.

The survey, however, reports very bleak achievement in the area of social services and basic infrastructures.

Extension of health services remained frustrating: Number of hospitals, health centres did not increase at all. Stranger yet is the number of health posts which decreased by 18 in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. The only consolation is the minor increase in the number of sub-health posts, which went up by 5, during the review period.

At this rate of health services extension, the government is unlikely to fulfill its election manifesto commitment, which promises to extend sub-health posts to all the Village Development Committees within two years starting the fiscal year 1999/2000.

The achievement in the extension of drinking has remained equally bleak. During the fist nine months of the last fiscal year additional 380 thousand people were supplied with drinking water facility, while only 130 thousands additional people received such facility this year. Given the fact that only about 48 percent of the Nepali population has access to piped drinking water, at the current rate of expansion, the government is also unlikely to fulfil its election commitment of supplying pure drinking water to all Nepali people within the next five years.

Though the survey doesn’t supply comparative data on education and schooling, comparison of the number of primary teachers training indicates deterioration in the situation. According to the survey,

4118 primary teachers received training during the first nine months of last fiscal year; the figure is 958 for the first eight months of the current fiscal year.

The survey neither shows satisfactory achievements in the area of key infrastructure sectors such as; roads, irrigation and telecommunications.

The first eight months of the current fiscal year added 30 kms of blacktop 50 kms of gravel and 60 kms of fair-weather roads, which totals 140 kms. At this rate it will take over 50 years to fulfill electoral promise of the present government, which said it would construct 8000 kms of roads within five years.

In irrigation sector, additional 1650 hectares of land was irrigated in the first eight months of the current fiscal year compared to 8510 hectares of land that had been irrigated during the similar period of the earlier fiscal year. Telephone extension has also been low compared to burgeoning demand. Only additional 23,346 telephone line were added during the review period, while the waiting-list for telephone line further increased to over 266 thousands.

Due to low social services extension accompanied by number of other factors, "Poverty situation couldn’t improve," concedes the survey.

Everest conquerors felicitated

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, May 29 - This year’s Everest Day will always remain special in Nepal’s mountaineering annals. At a programme organized today to honour successful mountaineers, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said Sherpa women who have scaled the world’s highest peak will be a source of inspiration to all Nepali women.

"They dared," said Koirala, "and they did it." The Sushma Koirala Memorial Trust today felicitated all mountaineers who scaled Mt Everest this year.

On this day in 1953, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary made the first conquest of the world’s tallest mountain.

Referring to Lhakpa Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to scale Mt Everest and successfully climb down, and Pemba Doma Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to scale Mt Everest from the north side (Tibet), Koirala said "these women have won a title to the country. This should be one of the most memorable moments in the country’s history," he said.

Appa Sherpa, who scaled Everest for a record 11th time on May 24, and Babu Chhirri Sherpa, who established a new record for speed climbing - 16 hours and 56 minutes - were also felicitated in the programme.

A march rally was also organised in the Valley today as a part of the felicitation.

"I am opening a school at Akang, Takshindo VDC of Solukhumbu with the Rs 10,000 that I have received," declared Babu Chhirri Sherpa, at another programme organised today by the Trekking Agents Association of Nepal. "...and if I get as much support from the country, I will go for yet other records."

IA resuming New Delhi, Calcutta flights

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, May 29 - The Indian Airlines which halted all its flights to Nepal from December last year will resume its flights to Kathmandu from two sectors -- New Delhi and Calcutta -- from next month.

According to a press release issued by the Civil Aviation Authority Nepal (CAAN) here today, Indian Airlines IC-813/814 will fly Delhi-Kathmandu-Delhi daily. These flights will arrive here at 1 p.m and depart at 1.30 p.m.

Likewise, IC-747/748 will fly Calcutta-Kathmandu-Calcutta thrice a week -- Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. These flights will arrive here at 11.45 a.m and leave at 12.40 p.m. The, IC-747/748 will fly the same sector on Tuesdays and Saturdays as well. These flights will arrive here at 11.20 a.m and depart at 12.15 p.m.

The press release also states the Kathmandu-Varanasi flights will begin soon.

Indian Airlines is resuming its flight from June 1. It stopped its flights to Nepal in the immediate aftermath of the hijacking of its flight IC-814 on December 24 last year. The hijacking ordeal continued for eight days.

Legislators lambast Khatri

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, May 29 - Members of the governing Nepali Congress (NC) today criticized their own government and sought explanation over the recent appointment of the chairperson to head the Human Rights Commission, Nain Bahadur Khatri.

"The comments made by the newly appointed HRC chief in the newspapers is objectionable. He is quoted as saying that the present constitution is harsh and as a result cases have been piling up at the Supreme Court," former minister and NC’s outspoken member Ram Sharan Mahat said.

Mahat was referring to a news item today in a NC-leaning newspaper that carried the interview of Khatri who had been recommended to head the HRC by the Recommendation Committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice and the Leader of main opposition party.

Khatri, 78, had served as the Chief Justice for nine years at the Supreme Court and served as the justice for 17 years.

Mahat said that a person who is quoted as saying that the Panchayat system was better than the present system would have his loyalty leaning towards the old system.

Questions were also raised about Khatri’s tenure as the Chief Justice during the Panchayat when he was part of the bench that sentenced two pro-democracy leaders to death for their attempt to restore democratic system in the country.

NC’ another member Rajendra Kharel said the process in which the appointment was made is "condemnable". "This would move toward weakening democracy," he said, adding such moves would only reflect the undemocratic moves being adopted by extreme groups like the Maoists.

Bijaya Subba of the main opposition CPN-UML said he seconded the concerns raised by the NC members and disagreed with the recommendation.

I was misquoted : Khatri

KATHMANDU, May 29 (PR) - Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission Nain Bahadur Khatri denied having said the quotes attributed to him by the weekly vernacular newspaper Tarun.

Talking to The Kathmandu Post later today he said he was misquoted by the newspaper.

"All I said was in Panchayat era whenever a charge was levelled against a judge, a committee would be formed and it could remove the accused judge. But the present Constitution has made it mandatory to have two thirds majority in parliament to remove a judge which is not possible to achieve," said Khatri.

He also denied having said he was still loyal to the Panchayat system. "All I said was I am loyal to the Judicial system of the Panchayat era in which I worked," he said.

Eleven times on Everest but not ready to retire

By Binaj Gurubacharya

KATHMANDU, May 29 - Helping an elderly American doctor up the slopes of Mount Everest forced Appa Sherpa and his team mates to lose much valuable time. But despite deteriorating weather conditions he managed to scale the 8,848 meters world’s highest mountain for the 11th time.

Appa, 40, reached the summit with James Williams, 46, mountain guide from Jackson, Wyoming, Francoise Slakey, 37, physicist, from Washington D.C., Lily Leonard, 44, from Hong Kong and nine other fellow Sherpa guides on May 24.

"We had an old member in the team that we tried to help to the summit that delayed our climb. We had to not only try to take him to the summit but also bring him down safely," Appa told reporters on Monday on arrival at Kathmandu.

It took Appa and nine other Sherpa guides 11 hours to make the last part of the climb from the last camp at 8,000 (26,400 feet) South Col to the summit.

Sherman Buhl, 64-year-old doctor from New York, did not make it to the summit but that exhausted Appa and his teammates. Appa, like most Sherpas, he hardly uses bottled oxygen though air pressure on that altitude is low, making breathing strenuous.

"This time however I had to use bottled oxygen to keep me going and help the doctor up and down the mountain," he said.

When the team got closer to the summit, heavy winds blew ropes and equipment making it difficult for the climbers. Appa had to first fix the ropes to the summit and then again come down to the Hillary Step about 50 meters below the summit and then take the members up to the summit again.

"This was the worst among all the 11 Everest climbs," Appa said. "Another difficult expedition was in 1997 when I had to guide an Indonesian team making their first attempt on the mountain."

This time, Appa broke the record first set by his neighbour and idol Ang Rita Sherpa who had climbed the mountain 10 times before retiring last year due to illness. Last week, another Sherpa guide Babu Chhiri had also climbed Everest for the 10th time.

"I don’t know how many times I will be climbing Everest but I am just 40 years now and I don’t plan to retire until I am 55," he said.

Appa first climbed Everest in 1989 with a New Zealand team led by veteran climber Rob Hall, who died in an Everest disaster in 1996.

Before he became a professional high-altitude guide, Appa Sherpa and his family farmed potatoes in the foothills of the Himalayas. He dropped out of school in the third grade, as many children do in Nepal, to help out his parents.

Since then he has moved from being a porter to high altitude mountain guide assisting western mountaineers to the summit.

Since New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa first conquered Everest in 1953, the mountain has been climbed over 800 time and about 180 people have already lost their lives.

Capt Rai’s last rites on Wednesday

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, May 29 - The last rites of the famed Gurkha war hero, Capt Agan Singh Rai will be conducted on Wednesday in Dharan, 400 km southeast of the capital, family sources said today.

In a condolence message, the British Embassy said Capt Rai "won his VC for his daring action against far superior Japanese forces...".

Rai died Saturday of lung cancer.

He was one of five living Gurkhas (of the 13) to be decorated with the Victoria Cross, British military’s highest gallantry honour. Another famed Gurkha VC recipient, Capt Gaje Ghale, died in New Delhi on March 29.

"We will be taking Father (Capt Rai) from Patan Hospital, where he is kept, to the Tribhuvan International Airport at 8:00 am on Wednesday. He will then be flown to Tarahara (Dharan) in a chartered helicopter," said Lt. Col. Rewati Rai of the Indian Army. Capt Rai is survived by two sons and three daughters.

The family is still awaiting the arrival of Capt Rai’s younger son from Hong Kong who is scheduled to land here tomorrow.

Meanwhile, in a press statement issued here today, the British Government, British Embassy Kathmandu and British Gurkhas Nepal have expressed deep sorrow over the death of Capt Rai.

Capt Agan Singh Rai was born in Asmara village of Okhaldhunga District in 1920. He enlisted in the British Army in April 1941 and on completion of his recruit training joined the 2nd Battalion, 5th Gurkha Rifles (Frontier Force) - 2/5th Gurkha Rifles was part of 48th Gurkha Brigade of the 17th Indian Division that played a major role against the Japanese forces in the Burma campaign during the Second World War.

"He won his VC for his daring action against far superior Japanese forces on the Chin Hills of Burma on 26th June 1944," said the British Embassy. An Indian Army pensioner, he retired in 1971 as Subedar Major and was granted the Honorary Rank of Captain.

612 rhinos thriving in Nepal’s parks

By Surendra Phuyal

KATHMANDU, May 29 - Altogether 612 one-horned rhinos are surviving in the three national parks in the country’s southern plains, up from a little over 450 in 1994, according to a census report publicized here today.

Of them, 544 are in Royal Chitwan National Park, one of the world’s best rhino habitats included in UNESCO’s World Heritage Site list, while 67 others are in Royal Bardia National Park in the mid-western Terai, and one more in Royal Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve in the far-west.

A similar census conducted in 1994 had put the Greater Asiatic one-horned rhino population in Chitwan at between 446 to 466. Bardia, which lies 500 kilometres west of Chitwan, is a fairly new habitat for the pachyderms. Officials started translocating rhinos there since 1986 after a successful revival of rhino population in Chitwan. The last batch, which were shifted two months ago, consisted of 10 rhinos.

Despite high incidence of rhino death observed in recent times, the mammal population may continue to go up, the conservation officials said Monday at a press conference held to share the findings of the month-long census conducted in the two parks.

Days before the census got underway on April 2, officials had put the rhino death toll in and around the Chitwan park in the 20-month time at over 60.

Initiated by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC), the Rhino Count 2000 was supported by King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and UN’s Development Program’s Global Environmental Facility (GEF).

The census has put the rhino population growth rate in Chitwan at 3.88 percent, up from 3.7 in 1994 census. Of the 544 rhinos recorded in Chitwan valley, 492 are surviving inside the 932-sqkm park while the number of rhinos residing outside (in the park’s bufferzone) has been put at 52.

The 1994 census had put the rhinos residing inside the Chitwan park at 411 and those residing outside at 29. Officials today claimed "armed security guards have been alerted in the park’s surrounding villages to ensure safety of the rhinos roaming and residing outside the protected area."

They claimed that Anti-Poaching Units too have been alerted and strengthened to keep track of the poaching activities.

Of the total rhinos surviving in Chitwan, 62 percent (332) are adults, 16 percent (87) sub-adults and 22 percent (117) are calves. While in Bardia, 57 percent (38) are adults, 30 percent (20) are sub-adults and 13 percent (9) are calves, said Dr Tirtha Man Maskey, Director General at DNPWC.

He said that the higher female population in both parks (56 and 58 percent in Chitwan and Bardiya, respectively) will "definitely help the number to go further up" in the years to come.

In 1950, according to data made available by DNPWC, some 800 rhinos were surviving in Chitwan valley. But the population declined drastically in the following years, thanks to rampant poaching. The population declined from 300 in 1959 to a whopping 100 in 1966.

The population, however, started to increase after the government declared the Chitwan habitat as Nepal’s first national park in mid-1970s. The resurgent population crossed 300 in 1978.

Asked to comment on the carrying capacity of the Chitwan park, Dr Shanta Raj Gyawali, one of the experts involved in conducting the recent census, pointed out the need to carry out a separate study.

He however said, "The park still has enough spaces to accommodate a few dozen more rhinos...We swept through the entire pockets of Chitwan that have the potential to house rhinos. Many potential pockets still don’t have rhinos."

Dr Maskey said that the government was contemplating translocating a few Chitwan rhinos to Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve in Kanchanpur and to other suitable parks like Katraniaghat in India’s Uttar Pradesh - which lies adjacent to Bardia - in the near future "so as to maintain viable population of the endangered mammals in the subcontinent".

The one-horned rhino, which was found in abundance from Pakistan to Myanmar at the turn of the last century, today survive in a handful of protected areas in India’s West Bengal and Assam states, and Nepal. Their population in the said Indian states stands at 1300.