‘Re-export of Chinese goods to India exaggerated’

By Gopal Tiwari

KATHMANDU, Nov 21 - Political leaders and businessmen, today, categorically rejected the possibility of smuggling of Chinese goods to India via Nepal and its adverse impact to Indian industries as claimed by a section of the Indian media.

Talking to The Kathmandu Post, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ram Krishna Tamrakar said, "Since Nepal does not import large quantity of goods from China, it is baseless to argue that re-export of Chinese goods from Nepal to India has affected the Indian economy severely."

The Economic Times daily published from India, in its November 20 issue ran a story tiled "Himalayan Blunder" alleging a huge smuggling of Chinese goods to India via Nepal, "thereby posing a serious threat to Indian industries." The story is third in the series that appeared in The Economic Times in the last one month. The newspaper also reported that Indian industrialists met Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee last week and demanded revision in the present Nepal-India Trade Treaty to curb "re-export" from Nepal.

However, the import figures from China do not support the allegation. Nepal imported Rs 1.25 million worth of goods during the fiscal year 1998/1999, which jumped to Rs 4.07 billion in 1999/2000.

"Deducting the domestic consumption, the Chinese goods that enter Indian market, if any, via Nepal would be insignificant in terms of India’s total import bill," says Rajendra Kumar Khetan, Fourth Vice President of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI).

Indian allegation looks even more unrealistic in the wake of dwindling import from China following the last budget’s provision that put import of Chinese goods into banking channel. Since the new provision came into effect in July, the Tatopani Custom’s - the only entry-point for Chinese goods to Nepal - records show that Rs 477 million worth of goods have only been imported from China.

Further, Nepal has currently introduced a license system in the import of goods from China, which also checks excess and unauthorized imports. "The license currently issued is just enough to meet the domestic demand," said Krishna Hari Banskota, Chief of the Department of Commerce.

Khetan expressed doubt that India was using the re-export issue to "arm-twist" Nepal to curb some of her growing export items to India. "Some Nepalese exports are doing extremely good in the Indian market, which Indian industries fear. In a globalized context, Indian industry should not be afraid of competing with global products,"

It is ridiculous on the part of India to demand a review in the present Nepal-India Trade Treaty citing re-export from China, he added.

However, he also suggested that both the governments of Nepal and India should sit together and sort out the issue at the earliest.

FNCSI flays Indian media report

Federation of Nepalese Cottage and Small Industries (FNCSI) has strongly flayed the recent Indian media reports that Nepalese businessmen are engaged in the illegal export of imported industrial raw materials and goods from third countries.

The Economic Times, an Indian daily, dated November 20, charged that Nepalese businessmen undervalue goods shipped to India to invade countervailing duty, which is the only duty applicable on Nepalese goods. It further alleged that the money made out of the difference between the billed price and actual cost is collected in India and used to finance terrorist activities and drug cartels.

Refuting all charges, the Federation, in a press statement issued here today, said that such baseless news was published solely with the aim of maligning the Nepalese industries.

It is unfortunate that India forgets about the Indian products which enter Nepal without any restriction and under confessional duty, says the release.

Ex-Gurkha moves British Court

By Satish Jung Shahi

KATHMANDU, Nov 21 - After years of informal protests over the issue of pension parity in the British Army, a former Gurkha soldier has finally done what many solders here say it was needed to be done years ago: knock on the doors of Britain’s Court of Law.

Thirty-seven-year-old Hari Thapa, a former British Gurkha soldier, has appeared before an employment tribunal in the Welsh city of Cardiff in Britain accusing UK’s Ministry of Defence of "monstrous and scandalous" discrimination, says a BBC report posted on its website. The tribunal chairman has been quoted as saying that Thapa’s full hearing should take place in October next year.

Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Adrian Griffth, the spokesperson at British Gurkhas Kathmandu, when contacted, refused to comment on any "specifics of the case" saying it is pending court appeal. He, however, confirmed that Hari Prasad Thapa, who was discharged from the Queens Gurkha Transport Regiment in Jan 1998, had filed the case.

According to Lt. Col. Griffth, an employment tribunal is like a court in Britain that looks after circumstances in the work place.

Thapa -- backed by the Commission for Racial Equality (CfRE) -- claims his pay, conditions and pensions are all inferior to those of soldiers recruited in Britain, the BBC report states.

Britain, so far, has been maintaining Gurkhas have a very good deal which is "ideal in fact". They also claim that the take home pay of serving British and Gurkha soldiers is identical. The conditions and pensions of the Gurkha soldiers were significantly worse until changes were made in 1997.

The British government had also announced substantial increases for all service pensioners effective from April 1, 2000. However, many Gurkhas have still been saying that the increase is still discriminatory.

The BBC also says that an industrial tribunal, starting in Cardiff (Britain) on Monday, will be asked to decide whether race discrimination laws apply to Gurkha cases before 1997.

On the other hand, Thapa’s landmark case, could redress the cause of many Gurkhas back home who have been raising the issue of discrimination by the British Government against the Gurkha soldiers time and again.

However, Reuters, the British news agency has quoted a CfRE spokesperson as saying that nothing could be said for others if the court upheld Thapa’s case.

"...Thapa will certainly get some compensation, but what it would mean for others, we could not say," the CfRE spokesperson says. "This individual (Thapa) has a very specific case - partly arising out of the fact that he happens to be a British citizen. This may be an additional factor."

Thapa, discharged after 15 years service -- the maximum permitted for Gurkhas, lives in Cwmbran in south Wales with his British partner Nicola King and their baby daughter, the BBC report says. British passport-holder Thapa was born in Hampshire, England, where his father also a Gurkha soldier, who was later killed in action, was stationed.

In the meantime, according to the BBC, counsel for UK’s Ministry of Defence, Rabindra Singh said that a special Army board would decide Thapa’s case by the middle of next year.

Britain maintains that according to the tri-partite agreement signed by Nepal, India and Britain, the remuneration of Gurkhas employed by the British Army is pegged against the Indian Army’s Pay Code so as not to adversely affect Nepali recruitment in the Indian Army. Gurkhas, however, say that the agreement doesn’t stop Britain from addressing the issue of pension parity.

Like Thapa, thousands of ex-Gurkhas back home have been demanding payment for those who are dismissed from service, pension payment on a par with their British counterparts, better employment opportunities for their children, and right to British residential visa.

Their other demands also include setting up a Gurkha Welfare Fund to assist children of Gurkha soldiers and their families and equal treatment for in-service Gurkhas.

RNAC defends Lauda Air deal

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Nov 21 - Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC)’S chief Hari Bhakta Shrestha Tuesday defended the controversial Lauda Air lease deal, saying exigency faced due to international competition compelled the Corporation to go for direct negotiation with the company to lease its B-767 jet.

However, documents obtained by The Kathmandu Post reveal that Lauda Air is adding more and more new clauses to the agreement, making the job of defending the agreement harder.

Executive Chairman Shrestha said that the negotiations with Lauda Air were held "only after we failed to lease an aircraft despite four tenders and one sealed offer".

Speaking about the Commission of Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) directive on leasing (and buying) an aircraft only through tenders, he said, "CIAA directive is not clear on the scenario after the tender bids fail to yield result. Shall we close the chapter then and simply say ‘bye-bye’?"

Shrestha, speaking to the press at Reporters’ Club on Tuesday, admitted that there was perception that some payoff had played a role in the deal. "If any hush money is involved there are mechanisms to check and punish such irregularities."

On the bank guarantee controversy of over a million US dollars, he said, "If you back out of an agreement at the eleventh hour, implications can be very serious. Complications might arise including litigation." The bank guarantee, not a part of the original agreement, will come into force from December 1.

Although Chairman Shrestha denied any hidden costs in the agreement, documents in possession of The Kathmandu Post reveal that RNAC will have to fork out a substantial amount in addition to the agreed costs.

While Clause 7 of the agreement on Cabin crew states it will "be defined if applicable", a latest letter (of November 18) from Lauda Air SpA mentions "some misunderstandings needs to be clarified on this matter".

The letter by one Capt A Giannelli from Lauda Air says that "at the beginning of our operations we will need to fly with 8 Italian Cabin Crew on board until proper training will be carried out..."

The original agreement provides for only five sets of crew at a cost of 21,000 USD per month. The additional sets will cost the RNAC extra 63,000 USD per month.

The fax letter also points at the difference in the "original" and "the actual plan" vis-a-vis the flight schedule sent by the Corporation to Lauda Air, which included three rotations to Europe and none to Japan.

The new plan mentions two rotations to Japan and only one to Europe. Capt Giannelli suggested that five-set crew will be "absolutely insufficient". According to Lauda Air’s Crew Planning Dept., the letter stated, 8.5 sets of crew were required for the new schedule.

The latest letter states that even though Nepali pilots will get licence from Italian and Austrian authorities, "a minimum certified Italian crew will be on board ... and only one Nepalese pilot will be allowed to sit at the control".

This contradicts RNAC chief’s statement earlier in the day that in three months, Nepalese crew will completely take over the jet in three months.

$3.5 million project for Kamaiyas

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Nov 21 - A 3.5 million US dollar project was announced here by the US government today for sustainable emancipation and rehabilitation of the former bonded labourers popularly known as Kamaiyas who were liberated by the government last July.

Announcing the aid package, Deputy Under Secretary of International Affairs at the US Department of Labour, Andrew Samet, said that the aid package will help some 75,000 Kamaiyas, including around 16,000 children in western Nepal to reintegrate into their communities. The aid package will include legal aid, training, micro-finance and credit schemes.

"The project we are funding in Nepal intends to make sure that these people (Kamaiyas) don’t slide back into other forms of exploitation," said Samet. The project will run under the International Labour Organization’s International Program on the Emancipation of Child Labour (IPEC).

The government banned the practice of bonded labour involving labourers working, unpaid, for upper caste land owners to pay off their debts. This practice was most prevalent in Banke, Bardia, Kailali, Kanchanpur and Dang districts of western Nepal.

The government announcement also freed the bonded labourers of any debt or obligation to the landlords. Anyone violating the ban is liable for up to ten years’ imprisonment.

"The grant will help to design and implement rehabilitation programs and to educate the children and train their parents so they can adapt to leading a normal life," said Prithvi Raj Legal, Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission.

Ever since the ban, the government has been working with various agencies to rehabilitate the former bonded labourers.

Kanti fee hike fully justified, says Director

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Nov 21 - The hike in service charges at the nation’s only children’s hospital, Kanti Children’s Hospital, is fully justified, said Dr Govinda Ojha, Director of the hospital today.

Dr Ojha asserted that since the hospital needs to support itself and government assistance for the management of the hospital is very low, the increase in service charges, which has raised a ruckus, is fully justified.

The Hospital Development Committee on September 7 decided to increase charges for various services from 50 to 2,400 per cent effective from October 17. Ojha said that the hospital is still facing financial crunch, since "the change has only helped the hospital to shoulder around 45 per cent of its financial burden."

The government’s annual assistance to the hospital totals Rs 47 million, out of which Rs 12 million comes as general budget and Rs 35 million as development budget. According to Dr Ojha, the hospital provides salary for 220 development employees out of a total 478 employees.

"There have been no changes in the charges for the past five years," said Dr Ojha. "This was the only practical alternative that was open to us to enable to bear some of the financial burden for the management of the hospital."

Currently, the hospital has leased its arable land for Rs 63,000 per year. The shopping complex at its premises used to generate an additional Rs 192,000 per month. That was until last month. "Those occupying the complex left last month and as of this month that income too is not certain," said Dr Ojha, who claims that the charges even after the increase are less than some of the other government-run hospitals.

According to him, the charges for beds and the cabins have not increased and the hospital still gives free service to children from poor families whose parents cannot bear the costs.

The hospital has 144 beds which are free of charge out of the total 224 beds. "We are charging only those people who can afford to pay and those who cannot pay are not charged," said Dr Ojha. The hospital currently has two funds - Hashimoto Fund, named after former Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto who is a benefactor of the hospital, and Oncology Fund. The interests from these funds is used to provide free services to the poor children, according to Dr Ojha.

"We have decided to charge Rs 50 for admitting a child," said Dr Ojha. This, he said, was necessary in order to develop a system to store the medical history of the child, "so that we could trace the files when the patient comes next time."

After the review, charges for pathological tests and X-ray has increased by 20 to 40 per cent and operation charge has increased by 50 per cent, said Dr Ojha. "We are establishing a system whereby the patients will have to deposit a certain amount -Rs 3,000 for minor operations and Rs 5,000 for major operation -and the patient’s family does not have to worry about the necessary tools and medicines that are required during the operation," said Ojha. "The deposit amount will be used to buy all the necessary things for the operation, if the full amount is not used it is returned when the patient is discharged."

"If we want to offer a certain standard of service, have all equipment in place and in order, we need a lot of money even when the hospital is non-profitable," said Dr Ojha.

Twenty years under construction and the hospital is not in place

Post Report

SANPHE, Achham, Nov 21 - A 15-bed hospital at Ridikot has been under construction for the past 20 years. Over this period, the six-room hospital building had been left abandoned and crumbling for months at a time. Almost all the building materials have been ruined.

Built on approsimately 3,000 square feet of land, the hospital building was in a bad state before formally being handed over to the Ministry of Health. The failure of the project is much to the disappointment of the people of Achham, who had been looking forward to having the medical facility at their doorstep.

Local Ranju Singh says, "The hospital has not been built, the doctors have not come. People are dying - we only have a bleak hope of seeing light at the end of the tunnel."

The people of this poverty-stricken area revolted against the government, demanding a hospital in this locality, some 23 years ago. During the unrest, four people were shot dead and six others sustained serious injuries.

After the six buildings built under the first phase of construction crumbled, another nine buildings were constructed under the second phase. Built on 9,000 square feet of land, most of the wooden construction material of the building has become a breeding ground for termites.

Ujir Singh Budha from Mastamandu VDC-3, says that once someone falls ill, he or she has to travel long distances before reaching Dhangadhi, Nepalgunj or even India, as the district hospital is a long way from Sanphe and has no basic medical facilities.

"One of the most pathetic situations prevailing in the town is the plight of pregnant women and children. They are left to die due to lack of adequate medical facilities in the area," Dhruba Swar from Bayalpata VDC said.

Swar says that the long-drawn-out project remained unfinished due to gross negligence on the part of the government, especially the Ministry of Health.

Dead bodies requiring post-mortems have to be transported to Doti district, around 65 km west of here.

The hospital building near to the Sanphe Airport has not been formally accepted by the government. The reasons for this have not yet been spelt out.

"It has been two years since we finished the construction of the building. However, the Health Ministry has not accepted it yet," says the Manager of the G.R. Construction, Ganga Bahadur Shrestha, "It’s been the proverbial a White Elephant to the people of this area."

More than Rs one million has been spent so far on funding this project. The Under Secretary of the Health Ministry, Sumitra Rajbhandari, who visited the building site last month, declined to comment.

The Chief District Officer, Khumraj Punjali, expressed confidence that the hospital would become operational within six months. Locals suspect that the contractor built the hospital ignoring the official design.

Concern over Melamchi tariff 

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Nov 21- Kathmanduites, who have been suffering an acute shortage of drinking water over the last one decade, have welcomed the news of Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) becoming a reality, but expressed concern over the tariff implications of the multi-billion rupees project.

Mira Bhattarai, a housewife from water-shortage area of Baneshwor height says, " I’m excited with the news and hope that at-least my daughter will not have to face such chronic problem of inadequate water supply". When reminded that the tariff might go high with the round-the-clock supply of water, she said," I prefer higher water-tariff than to have no water at all."

Bimal Ojha, a resident of Ghattekulo, is even more excited. "Melamchi is finally coming and that is big news, do not talk about the tariff right now," he said.

However, everyone wouldn’t agree with Ojha. " Yes we are ready to pay higher price but it should be reasonable," says Puspa Ghimire, a high-school teacher living in Buddhanagar.

Since water is the most essential commodity, the tariff should be affordable even to the lower strata of population.

A senior government official closely associated to the Project admitted that the tariff would go up but, he too hoped, that it wouldn’t be "too high."

Richard Vokes, Resident Representative at ADB’s Nepal Resident Mission, said, "It would be too early to predict the tariff level," and added " tariff rate would partly depend both on pre and post Melamchi cost review."

Meanwhile, a highly placed government official informed that the ADB Board is likely to endorse the "negotiations conclusion" reached between the Nepali mission and ADB officials last Saturday by the end of December, most probably on December 21. The two sides concluded negotiations on MWSP last Saturday, in which ADB agreed to extend a loan amount of US$ 120 million for the Melamchi Project. The loan will be effective only after the ADB Board and the government endorses the negotiations.

Pappan’s team wins Surya Nepal pro-am 

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Nov 21 - Delhi pro Pappan led his team to victory in the pro-am event of the Surya Nepal Masters, the curtain-raiser to the Rs 12 lakh tournament which begins at the Gokarna Forest Golf Resort from Wednesday.

At the par-72 course, Pappan’s team of Deepak Raj Bhandari, Prabhakar Yakhtumba and Pradeep Rana tallied 74 stableford points to emerge clear winners over the second placed team of Bijesh Shahi, Min Bahadur Raut and Phintsho O Lama, led by pro Shiv Prakash of Kanpur, who tallied 72 points.

Mukesh Kumar, Player of the Year last season on the Delchen Wills Sport Indian Golf Tour, helped his team with 35 points as his partners Dechen Lama, Rahil Gangjee and Harish Gorsia managed a total of 71 points to take the second runners-up spot.

For their effort, Pappan received Rs 4,000, Shiv Prakash Rs 3,200 and Mukesh Kumar was richer by Rs 2,400. The amateurs will get exquisite crystal trophies during the main prize distribution ceremony on Saturday evening.

The best card of the day among the pros was submitted by the 1997 champion Uttam Singh Mundy. The 35-year-old Calcutta-based pro send a clear warning to the rest of the field as he was the only player to record a sub-par round of two-under 70.

Mundy made bogies on the second and sixth holes, but recovered to be level-par at the turn with birdies on the seventh and ninth holes. On the back nine, the twice PGA champion of India made further birdies on the 10th and 18th holes for his two-under card. Mundy received Rs 1,600 for his Best Round.

The pro-am was played on a team stableford format, with one pro forming team with three amateurs. The two best scores out of the four formed the team score.

The main tournament will tee off at 8:00 am on Wednesday morning. A record number of participants have entered the tournament with 51 pros coming from India, one from Bangladesh and 11 from Nepal. As many as 15 amateurs will complete the field of 78 golfers. Among the amateurs are India’s No 1 player Rahil Gangjee, who will fight it out for top honours with Nepali amateurs Yelamber Adhikari and CB Bhandari.

Among the pros, Shiv Prakash, twice winner on the Wills Sport Indian Golf Tour this season and the current leader in the Order of Merit, will be the man to watch out for, but he will face tough challenge from Mukesh Kumar, last season’s Player of the Year and winner of last week’s ONGC-Noida Golf Club Open. Also in the fray are Vijay Kumar, the order of Merit winner for last three seasons and twice Honda Siel-Nika PGA champion Uttam Singh Mundy.