ADB commits Melamchi funds
Other donors certain to follow suit

By Ameet Dhakal

KATHMANDU, Nov 20 - Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asia’s premier multilateral lending agency, in a "landmark agreement" reached with the government on Saturday has approved a soft loan of US$ 120 million to Nepal for Melamchi Water Supply Project, which aims to ameliorate the chronic problem of drinking water in the Kathmandu valley.

Richard Vokes, Resident Representative of ADB Nepal Resident Mission in Kathmandu informed The Kathmandu Post that the agreement to this effect was signed by Madhav Prasad Ghimire, Chief of Foreign Aid Division, Ministry of Finance and Brian Fawcett, Chief of Nepal Desk at ADB Headquarters in Manila, Philippines. The loan will be effective only after the government and ADB board endorse the agreement.

The repayment period of the soft loan is for 32 years, with a grace period of initial 8 years - during which Nepal doesn’t have to repay the loan- and interest rate is charged at 1 percent during the grace period and 1.5 percent thereafter. The approved loan will be used mainly in the construction of 28-kilometers long tunnel that will bring in water from Meamchi river in Sindhupalchowk district, some 40 kilometers north east of Kathmandu to Sundarijal, bulk distribution of water, management of waste water and social uplift program.

With the approval of the loan by ADB, a partner in Nepal’s development endeavor since last 40 years and a lead donor in the 464 millions-dollar (approximately Rs 33.18 billion) MSWP, materialization of Nepal’s long-cherished dream for adequate drinking water supply in the Kathmandu valley looks closer than ever. "Yes, I would say, now we are closer to Melamchi, and this agreement is a landmark achievement down the road to it," said Vokes.

Other four international funding agencies - Japanese Bank for International Cooperation(JBIC), Norwegian Aid Agency(NORAD), Nordic Development Fund(NDF), OPEC Fund and Swedish International Development Agency(SIDA)- have already agreed, in principle, to fund the of external resources but are waiting a green signal from the lead agency. JBIC has committed a loan assistant of 52 million dollars for the construction of treatment plant, while OPEC has committed a loan assistance of 14 million dollar for the construction of access road to Melamchi. Similarly, NORAD, SIDA and NDF have committed an assistance of 28, 15 and 10 million dollars respectively for the construction of tunnel. Though the World Bank is officially yet to commit 15 million-dollar component, government officials expect the Bank to follow the suit once other funding agencies comply. The government will bear 115 million dollar of the cost.

All the donor agencies are expected to reach an official agreement with the government by the end of April next year on funding. But the civil construction work of the tunnel will begin only after the distribution system is handed over to private operator. " Any delay in the appointment of the private operator would impact the progress of the project," Vokes said. "The process of putting the private operator into place is already slower than any one of the donors would like to see," he added. Drinking water tariff is another important issue to be sorted out, which will be looked into once the project is completed.

A Cabinet meeting last Monday took an important decisions on the principles of tariff policy, water supply and waste management in Kathmandu valley and resettlement policy to win ADB’s confidence in the eve of Manila negotiations. The details of the Cabinet decision is yet to be known.

MDWSP, which came into final shape as a concept in 1996, will still take seven more years before it will finally supply 170 million litres of water every day to tenaciously water-shortage Kathmandu valley. The project will be able to deliver a round-the- clock supply of water to the Kathmandu valley population till 2013. And, after the completion of the second and third phase of Melamchi that will add Yangri and Larki rivers into the project it will be able to cater to the need of Kathmandu valley population till next 25-30 years.

However, the project is not without the social cost. Besides the environmental impacts, it will affect 90 households and completely displace 25 of them. The project will spent 15 million dollar for resettlement of the displaced family and additional 4.2 million dollar in Social Uplift Program that targets 40 thousand people from 17 Village Development Committees from around the project area.

PAC instructs to freeze Lauda air deal

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KATHMANDU, Nov 20 - The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday instructed the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and the Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation to freeze all their activities until it issues further orders vis-a-vis the widebody B-767 lease deal with Lauda Air.

PAC Chairman Subhash Nemwang formed two sub-committees - one on the Lauda Air lease deal with a four-day term and another on China South West Airlines jet lease with a two week term - to study the deals and to give recommendations.

Although in the latest PAC meeting, held last Wednesday, it was decided that PAC would take a final decision on the Lauda deal today, Dr P C Lohani, Buddhiman Tamang (both of RPP) and Hridyesh Tripathi (NSP) asked for more time to go through the agreement papers and the copies of the correspondence between RNAC and Lauda Air.

Even on Wednesday, the three members had suggested that PAC make a decision after scrutinising all the papers, which, as per the decision of PAC Chairman Nemwang, they were to do during the four-day holiday.

However, all the CPN-UML members of the PAC and a lone-ruling NC member present today, said the deal should be scrapped.

Gokarna Bista, member, feared the blame would fall on PAC if it "allowed a deal to go ahead that, right from the very beginning, was so full of irregularities."

"There are reports that PAC only takes up issues of corruption and delays in taking any form of remedial action," said Bista.

Subhash Nemwang observed that despite the investigation launched by PAC into the present deal, RNAC had gone ahead step by step. "Lauda Air has already written to RNAC stating that they need to discuss the pending issues, which include, among others, incorporating a clause on bank guarantee that does not exist in the original agreement."

When asked if he was preventing PAC from making a swift decision, Dr Lohani told The Kathmandu Post that it was not a question of his view or decision. "We should go by the facts instead of taking any hasty decision." He added that he had no time to study the papers (of the deal) "that were not provided on time".

Denying the implication, Hridyesh Tripathi reiterated that he "was the first one to suggest that RNAC stop all activities regarding the deal." "Had that been done then, our money (over a million US dollars) would not have been in limbo."

MP Tamang too denied that he was delaying a decision on the lease deal. "We cannot take any decision on an ad-hoc basis. We had not received tender documents, so that we could have studied them. Moreover, the ruling party MPs, save one, were not present."

Kanti Hospital directed to explain service charge hike

By Subodh Gautam

KATHMANDU, Nov 20 - After the hike in service charges at Kanti Children Hospital came out in the media a month after it became effective, the Health Ministry today ordered the Hospital Development Committee to present a report within a week with reasons for the hike of hospital charges by up to 24 times.

Tirtha Ram Dangol, State Minister for Health today directed the committee to present the report. "I have asked the hospital administration to review the hike and present a report immediately," said Dangol.

The hospital increased the charges for various medical services from 50 to 2,400 per cent on October 17 without issuing any prior notice to the public.

"We will try to review the hike, if possible, on some of the services during the meeting of the hospital committee," said Dr Govinda Ojha, director of the hospital and member secretary of the hospital development committee.

The increase in charges at the hospital has left the parents of the sick children, who cannot meet the bills of private nursing homes, helpless.

After the hike, a patient at Intensive Care Unit (ICU) has to pay a total amount of Rs 3,100 for a day which includes Rs 2,500 as Ventilation Charge, Rs 500 for bed and Rs 100 for Photo Therapy. The total reciprocal charges before the hike was Rs 650 only.

Bishnu Rai, a resident of Bhojpur had to keep his sick son outside the hospital for four hours before he could pay the required Rs 4,300. "I had to leave my seriously sick son outside for 4 hours and look for loan to pay the hospital bill," said Rai. "I came to Kathmandu with just 1,200 rupees."

Previously, only Rs 1,000 was needed as deposit for admission to ICU the charges for which has now reached somewhere between Rs 3,000 and 5,000.

Basanti KC, who came to the hospital for the treatment of her brothers’ newborn baby complained, "They refused to admit the baby who was very serious even when I told them that I will deposit Rs 2,500 now and come back with the balance amount later."

"If the government hospitals charge so much, where will the poor people take their patients?" she addd.

Kanti Children’s Hospital is the only government owned hospital where patients under the age of 14 years come for treatment. According to the hospital data, it provided service to 83,933 children last year. The hospital used to give free service to poor families, about which, however, no mentioned has been made in the recent change.

Director Dr Ojha claims that the hike was necessary because of the recent price hike of the medical equipments in the international market.

Part-time TU teachers protest ‘exploitation’

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KATHMANDU, Nov 20 - Nepal’s oldest and largest institution of higher learning, Tribhuvan University (TU), employs about 6200 teachers to teach on its campuses and colleges around the country. Almost 1800 of them are part-timers. But, in a situation that is fuelling resentment at campuses across the country, these part-timers earn only 10 per cent of what their full-time colleagues earn from the University, even though the work is the same.

Pawan Budhathoki has been teaching Population Science at Kathmandu’s Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus for the last six years. But he earns only around Rs 10,000 - not in a month but in a year. His full-time colleagues earn the same amount in a month. "All these years, I feel humiliated when I get my remuneration."

Part-time teachers are introduced in campuses by campus administrations as per the need, without TU Service Commission’s consultation. They are paid according to the hours they teach and are deprived of any regular facilities the teachers can legally claim.

A teacher is paid Rs 60 per every 45-minute lecture he/she delivers to a class. Out of that meagre amount, 10 per cent is deducted as tax. A campus teacher in general takes 40 periods per month and classes run for around 5 months in one academic year. Their earning is Rs 12,000 a year, or a meagre Rs 1000 a month on average.

"We are just like coolies in the bus stations," says Budhathoki. " They (the campus administration) hire us as long as they need us and then they are free to sack us in a wink. We don’t have even a contract paper."

The campuses bear no responsibility for such part-timers’ security. They neither get any paid holidays, allowances, provident fund nor any other facilities for teaching in the country’s public campuses and colleges that are affiliated to TU.

Basanta Kaji Buthathoki, the chairman of Nepal University Teachers’ Association (NUTA) of Ratna Rajya Campus Unit says the payment to the part-time teachers is very discriminatory. "There is little difference between those who earn by physical exertion and those who earn by intellectual labour."

He argues part-time teachers should be hired only for a short period, such as when a permanent teacher is on leave and replacement is required. But in hundreds of campuses of the country, part-time teachers have been teaching for many years. "At least after one academic year the part-time teacher should be hired on contract basis and should be entitled to benefit with due facilities. There are teachers who have been working on part-time basis for ten years," he says.

Despite such problems, part-timers have not yet raised any organised voice against, what they call, "intellectual exploitation." But now they are planning to do just that. Even so, many part-timers are loathe of coming into open confrontation with campus management due to the fear of losing their jobs. Finding another job is difficult in these scarce times, they say.

NUTA Central Chairman Bhimsen Das Shrestha said that NUTA has taken the issue of the payment of part-time teachers as one of the agenda for the coming conference, which is scheduled, in early December. However, he takes a safe side saying that the number of part-time teachers are growing because of the monopoly of the campus chiefs.

According to Teachers Union of RR Campus unit chairman Budhathoki, one third of the total number of the teachers in 61 campuses of TU are part-time teachers. They are more numerous inside the Valley than outside.

Nepal commited to int’l labour laws

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KATHMANDU, NOV 20 - Nepal’s political commitment to major international conventions on labour is greater than its commitment to any other international conventions, said a US Under Secretary for International Affairs here today.

After Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala launched a two-day seminar in the capital on Application of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, Andrew J. Samet, the Under Secretary of the United States Department of Labour also cued that the "political will" of a country is what counts the most in any development process.

"Outside resources are no resources...it is each country’s political will that brings about success," said Samet to reporters. He is in the Capital to announce a major bonded labour project for Nepal tomorrow.

Nepal has, to date, ratified four ILO core conventions namely, the Equal Remuneration convention, the Discrimination Convention, the Minimum Age Convention and the Collective Bargaining Convention. There are four more conventions on fundamental rights which remains to be ratified.

Speaking at the inaugural function, L. B. Gurung, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, said that two more conventions regarding Forced Labour and Elimination of the Worst Form of Child Labour will be submitted to the coming session of the Parliament for ratification. Once a country ratifies the Convention, it becomes bound under international law to incorporate its provisions into national law and practice.

On the other hand, Nepal has also fallen under ILO-IPEC’s two time-bound programs to eliminate the worst forms of child labour starting from next year.

"But we have a long way to go before we are completely successful. Only 10 years have passed since the restoration of democracy," added Thapa.

Roger Bohning, director of programme management on promoting the ILO Declaration, in his inaugural speech lauded Nepal’s approach towards fulfilling the ILO Declaration’s minimum conditions. "Despite the fact that Nepal still has a lot of catching up to do in the economic sphere, it is well on the way to catching up with the most advanced countries in the social sphere...," he said.

On the occasion, PM Koirala pledged to eliminate child labour and root out the practice of bonded labour popularly known as Kamaiyas. He also highlighted the need to initiate concrete actions to promote gender equality.

Around 75 participants from 24 countries are presently gathered in the capital to attend the two-day seminar which is a follow-up to the first of its kind which was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia last year.

School teachers seek security against Maoists

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KATHMANDU, Nov 20 - Teachers of government schools in the Kathmandu valley say that they will not resume their duty unless the administration provides security to them.

Gopal Prasad Baskota, the Headmaster of Ratna Rajya School, Baneshwor, says, "Unless the government creates a working environment by having dialogue with the revolutionary student groups, we are compelled to continue protests."

The teachers of government schools, by issuing a press release here yesterday, said that they would close schools for five days starting tomorrow demanding the government to make the secondary level education free of cost according to its promise.

The teachers were compelled to start protests after groups of All Nepal National Free Students’ Union (Revolutionary) - a student wing of underground Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) - started manhandling teachers demanding waiver fees, banning of Sanskrit and the national anthem.

Baskota says, if the government does not provide security by next week, they will go ahead according to the decision made by their pressure group.

"Although our students have stopped singing the national anthem, we cannot stop taking fees from them," Baskota said, adding "The Ministry of Education or the Curriculum Development Centre should decide whether to include Sanskrit course in the school curriculum or not."

Shri Kant Ragmi, Secretary at the Home Ministry says, "If the teachers come to us asking for security, we will not deny it."

Vijay Kumar Shrestha, Headmaster of Nandi Ratri School, which also has stopped customary singing of the national anthem, says, "We have strong support to the teachers’ protest programmes. We will stop taking fees from the students if the government takes sole responsibility for the school expenses. We will close the school from tomorrow."

When contacted Dwarika Prasad Pokharel, Acting District Education Officer of Kathmandu said, "We will sit for a dialogue with the protesting teachers tomorrow and will forward the demands of the teachers to higher level (the Ministry). The District Education Office alone can do nothing in solving the teachers’ demands."

Meanwhile, Principal of Suryodaya Boarding School Lachchhe Bahadur KC said a group of revolutionary students today came and asked to stop the tradition of singing the national anthem and annulling Sanskrit course. "Unless the teachers have peaceful mind, how can they teach ?" KC questioned, adding "the government should give the guarantee of security to the schools and teachers."

NC gearing up for tough election

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KATHMANDU, Nov 20 - Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala might be confident about getting re-elected as the president of governing Nepali Congress (NC), his close aides, however, are gearing up for a tough election slated for next year.

Koirala at the moment does hold much influence in the party compared to his competitor Sher Bahadur Deuba. But an assessment made this week by the Koirala camp revealed that he was losing his grip on at least two of the five development regions.

The report says that in the central development region that is home to the capital city, Koirala’s has less than 40 per cent support mainly due to the debate over renewal of active membership.

Koirala as the party president had dissolved the district committee of Kathmandu headed by Prakash Man Singh and replaced it with an ad-hoc committee which had further deteriorated his popularity.

On top of that, Singh and his supporters accused Koirala of attempting to illegally block the renewal of active party membership to ensure his influence on the party.

The row over the renewal of active membership hit not only Kathmandu but in the entire nation widening the gap between the two camps in NC as the anti-Koirala camp continue to accuse them of massive irregularities while renewing the active party membership.

These active members elect the General Convention members who will be heading to Pokhara in January to elect the party’s next president.

The same report says that the vote in western region also expected to be divided equally. However, with the tussle within the Koirala camp in Kaski District and Chiranjivi Wagle holding his influence in Gorkha District, Koirala’s support could be much less than projected by his people.

In Eastern region that is home to Koirala, he has a better prospect with the report stating him a whooping 80 per cent support for him.

In the Far Western region, Deuba’s home area, the projection is 60-40 in favour of Koirala. But that figure contradicts the fact that at least 13 of the 18 NC lawmakers from the region is siding with Deuba with the exception of Suresh Malla, Dilendra Prasad Badu, Tarini Dutta Chataut, Puskar Nath Singh and Binaya Dhoj Chand.

The picture should be much clearer following the completion of district level elections that is scheduled to conclude by Friday and the result declared a day or two after that.

"We are not going to predict but the picture will be clear by the weekend with the completion of district level elections," Chiranjivi Wagle told The Kathmandu Post.

During the party election in 1996, Koirala had a smooth sail to the party’s top job competing against Wagle only.

"At that point we had to compete against Wagle only and there was no clear rift in the party with Bhattarai expressing support for Koirala ... this time the situation is much different," a top member of Koirala said.

‘Women participation lowest in S Asia’

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KATHMANDU, Nov 20 - South Asia has produced a number of women leaders to boast of - from Sirimavo Bandaranaike to Indira Gandhi, along with Benazir Bhutto, Chandrika Kumaratunga, Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina Wajed.

Despite all this, women participation in governance structure is still the lowest in the world, says the latest issue of Human Development in South Asia report which was unveiled here Monday.

Women remain mostly invisible in all governing institutions and have almost no say when it comes to decision making. To go by the statistics: women occupy only seven per cent of the parliamentary seats, they comprise nine per cent of the cabinet and civil service, six per cent of the judiciary and 20 per cent of the local government, the report says.

"Women in South Asia today suffer greater poverty, lack of education, health and nutrition and greater lack of access to economic, political and legal opportunities relative to their male counterparts as well as to women around the world," the report adds.

One of the reasons behind the low status of women in South Asia can very well be the fact that the women’s ministries, departments, commissions and bureaus remain under-funded and lack the authority to plan and implement policies and programmes for emancipation of women’s status.

Astonishingly, at 7.9 per cent Nepal has one of the highest proportions of women in parliament in South Asia and women participation in elections also seeming quite encouraging with 85 per cent of rural and 88 per cent of urban women regularly turning up to cast their votes.

Speaking at the launching session today, Hennning Karcher, resident representative of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said that UN system is making initiatives for sequential capacity building of the elected and nominated women ward representatives. So that, said Karcher, they remain in local governance not just in numbers but are transformed into change agents to influence the direction of political, economic, legal and social change.

"Governments must play a key and leading role in moving the agenda of women empowerment and gender equality forward," said Karcher adding that little will be achieved until and unless demand is created for the realisation of basic women rights from the grassroots.

Dr Mohammad Mohasin, chairman of the National Assembly said that political freedom in South Asia has largely benefitted the males. He said though a lot of declarations and agreements, which put emphasis on enhancing the women’s status have been signed and approved by succesive governments none of them have been implemented effectively.

"We need to setup a joint committee of the parliament to review all the commitments made by the government and hold the government accountable," said Mohasin.

The report has pointed out the need of revolutionary strategies along with determined commitments and action by governments and all sections of civil society. It has identified four areas for priority action — equality under the law, equality of access to capacity building, equality of economic opportunities and equality in governance — in order to achieve gender equality.

What is needed is not only to raise the collective consciousness of the region for speedy implementation of global and national commitments that governments have made, but also to put structures and finances in place for proper implementation, says the report.

Rhino translocation prgramme begins

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ROYAL CHITWAN NATIONAL PARK, Nov 20 - The latest rhino translocation programme began here with the darting of a young rhino by Claude Martin, the international director of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Martin successfully darted the animal, also named "Martin", on Sunday, starting the week-long and expensive programme to transport young rhinos to the Royal Bardia National Park in Western Nepal and the Royal Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve in the far west of the country.

At least 150 wildlife officials, technicians and over a dozen elephants from DNPWC, KMTNC and WWF-Nepal Programme are involved in the week-long translocation programme. The Rs 2 million (US $ 30,000) project is funded by WWF.

No sooner did Director Martin tranquilized the big pachyderm then it stopped running, and in about ten minutes the animal was lying flat on the ground. And Director General of Department of National Parks Dr Tirth Man Maskey, Wildlife biologist of King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC) Dr Shanta Raj Gyawali and other wildlife technicians were quick to radio-collar it.

"We are radio-collaring all of the four rhinos being taken to Shukla Phanta because Shukla Phanta is the newest habitat for them," said Narendra Pradhan, Assistant Ecologist of DNPWC who is leading the team of technicians.

Subsequently, the rhino was pushed onto a thick wooden board which in turn was dragged for several hundred meters to where a huge wooden cage and truck were waiting. Few minutes later, a wildlife doctor gave antidote to "Martin" and the crowd of park staff pushed the unconscious animal into a huge wooden cage which was later mounted on the truck en route to the Shukla Phanta.

Close on the heels of the 39th annual conference of WWF which concluded November 17, conservationists this time are to translocate 10 more rhinos from here to the Royal Bardia National Park and Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve in the mid- and far-western Terai.

While six rhinos are being translocated to Bardia which already has 65 rhinos that were translocated on previous occasions, four others are being released for the first time into the grasslands and woods of the Shukla Phanta Reserve. The reserve already houses a male rhino, and officials say that the animal crossed over to Nepal from India’s adjoining Dhudwa National Park.

"This is our success story," DNPWC head Dr Maskey said as his team finished loading the cage (with "Martin" in it) onto the truck. "We have already created Nepal’s second viable rhino population in Bardia, now we are all set to create a third viable rhino population (in Shukla Phanta)."

This is the fifth time conservationists have braced themselves for rhino translocation. Prior to this, a total of 52 rhinos were translocated to Bardia park on different occasions - in 1986 (13 rhinos), 1991 (25 rhinos), 1998 (4 rhinos), 2000 April (10 rhinos). The endangered animal’s population there has climbed to 65, according to a recent census.

According to WWF, only 2,500 (Asiatic one-horned) rhinos survive in the world today. While the bulk of them are residing in Kajiranga National Park in Assam (India), the rest are surviving in the grasslands and woods of Chitwan and Bardia in Nepal, and at other parks on the Indian subcontinent.

Surya Nepal Masters 2000 from Nov 22

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KATHMANDU, Nov 20 - The Surya Nepal Masters, the premier sporting event in Nepal, will begin at the picturesque Gokarna Golf Club from November 22.

The Surya Nepal Masters, a full-fledged event on the Wills Sport Indian Golf Tour and forms the 11th leg of the Tour. It is the only tournament in Nepal which has been recognised by the Professional Golfers Association of India (PGAI). The four-day 72-hole strokeplay event will be preceded by a high-profile pro-am on Tuesday, November 21, which will give an opportunity to the local golfers to play with international professionals.

The tournament, sponsored by Surya Tobacco Company, offers a total prize money of Rs 12 lakh, a substaintial increase by almost 36 per cent from last season’s prize money of Rs 8.8 lakh. With this increase in the prize money, the tournament is now at par with the best PGAI tournaments in the SAARC region. The winner’s cheque will be worth Rs 1,94,400, while the runner-up will be richer by Rs 1,34,400.

The tournament assumes great importance for the eleven Nepali pros who will be pitting their skills with some of the best names on the Indian Tour. A victory here would ensure them automatic exemption on the Tour which now boasts of a total prize money of Rs 2.2 crores (appx Rs. 3.5 crores NC). The earnings from the Surya Nepal Masters will count towards the year-ending Order of Merit on the Wills Sport Golf Tour as well.

This year the tournament comprise of top professionals from the SAARC countries including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The tournament will be held for both the amateur and professional categories. While the pros will play for money, the amateurs will be compete for the exclusive crystal trophies.

Among the top Indian pros who will be seen in action are eight of the top-10 on the current year’s Order of Merit, including the No 1 this year, Shiv Prakash of Kanpur. Also participating will be last season’s Player of the Year Mukesh Kumar, who is coming in to the Surya Nepal Masters after winning last week’s ONGC- Noida Golf Club Open. Vijay Kumar, winner of the Order of Merit for past three season’s, will also be participating in Nepal after a gap of one year. He was part of the Indian team last year at the Alfred Dunhill Cup, a premier 16-nation team tournament held at St Andrew’s which was played during the same time as last year’s Surya Nepal Masters.

Defending champion Rohtas Singh, the 43-year-old veteran who is lovingly called ‘Guruji’ on the Indian Tour, will defend his title which helped him break a four-year-long title drought last season. Among the new talents who will be on view this year are Amish Jaitha of Pune and Rahul Ganapathy of Mysore, the winner and runner-up respectively at 2000-01 Qualifying School.

Among the Nepali pros, all eyes will be on Deepak Thapa Magar, who won both the Surya Nepal Eastern and Western Opens in Dharan and Pokhara respectively. The other strong contenders will be Toran Shahi and Deepak Acharya, who knows the condition at the Gokarna Golf Club as well as the back of his hands.