Nepal, IMF conclude crucial negotiation

By Ameet Dhakal

KATHMANDU, Nov 29 Nepal today concluded a crucial negotiation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to enter into the Fund-sponsored Poverty Reduction Growth Framework (PRGF), that will guide the country’s economic decision making, including social spending for the next three years.

Nepal’s entry into PRGF, will particularly expedite the pace of economic reform initiated by the Nepali Congress government back in 1992 but slackened due to ensuing political uncertainty in the second half of the 1990s.

PRGF mainly focuses on macro-economic stability (low fiscal deficit, low inflation and comfortable foreign exchange reserve), structural reform (privatization of public enterprises, civil service reform and restructuring of financial sector among others) and poverty reduction.

Though the IMF mission and high-level government officials concluded the negotiations at the Finance Ministry today in the presence of Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya, it will have to be endorsed by the cabinet and IMF Board of Directors before Nepal enters into PRGF, possibly by April 2001. Besides, Nepal should pass through three crucial requirements to qualify for the entry: it should award the management contract of Nepal Bank Limited and Rastriya Banijya Bank; conclude the mid-term budget review and finalize Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper before April. Experts say it will not be difficult to comply with the requirements since Nepal has already initiated actions in these directions.

Talking to The Kathmandu Post after the conclusion of the negotiations, Finance Minster Mahesh Acharya said, " Entry into PRGF will help us to remove our structural impediments to achieve higher growth and to alleviate poverty." It will also send positive signal to the foreign investors and donor community and enhance our credibility in the international arena, he added.

With the entry into PRGF, IMF will extend Nepal an annual assistance of US$ 20 million for the next three years, which will be spent in reducing poverty and pursuing reforms. Dr Shankar Sharma, member of the National Planning Commission and a member of the negotiating team says, "the message of Nepal’s entry into PRGF is more important than the amount of financial assistance." The entry, symbolizes an endorsement from the multilateral agency that Nepal has prudent policies and qualifies for more assistance and investment, he argues. In Sharma’s opinion it is an important achievement for Nepal, given the increasing trend on the part of the donors to tie up assistance with good policy environment.

Sharma informed that some of the lending agencies - bilateral and multilateral - have already hinted that they would increase assistance, should Nepal enter PRGF.

A senior government official, on condition of anonymity, argues that Nepal’s entry into PRGF is not without pitfalls. "Given the socio-economic context and conflicting views even within the ruling party, it would be extremely difficult to push ahead the privatization and financial sector reform at the promised pace...and it might be nearly impossible to down-size the bureaucracy," he says.

Should Nepal fail to comply with the promises, the message would be extremely damaging. "It is perhaps better to abstain the exam than to appear and fail."

This is for the third time that IFM is joining had with Nepal to assist her with the reform program. Nepal obtained stand-by IMF loan and opted for Structural Adjustment Facility in 1986/87, which marks the beginning of economic reform program in Nepal. In 1992, Nepal entered into Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility(ESAF), which saw major policy reforms in the area of trade, finance and industrial sector. However, Nepal and IMF failed to agree on the second ESAF after the first ESAF expired in 1994.

PRGF is a successor of ESAF, however, unlike the latter which excessively focussed on macro-economic balance and structural reform, the former includes an element of poverty reduction.

Conservationists wrap up fifth rhino-translocation

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KATHMANDU, Nov 29 - Conservationists have finished translocating ten more rare one-horned rhinos from Royal Chitwan National Park in the central Terai to Royal Bardia National Park and Royal Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve in the far western part of the country.

At a press conference organized here today to round off the week-long translocation programme, officials announced that they have successfully translocated six rhinos - three males and three females - to Bardia, and four - one male and three females - to Shukla Phanta.

The translocation programme got underway on November 19, and was jointly carried out by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC), the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)’s Nepal Programme.

The US $ 30,000 project came to an end on the evening of November 26, the eighth day, after a team of about 150 wildlife technicians and experts captured the tenth rhino in the Sukebar area of central Chitwan and lifted it by crane onto a truck which later headed to the release site in the Babai Valley of Royal Bardia National Park.

"Now we are planning to create a second and third viable population of one-horned rhino in Bardia and Shukla Phanta," Dr Tirtha Man Maskey, Director General of DNPWC told a press conference here Wednesday. "Their population will definitely increase in their new habitats."

Conservation officials and experts said the programme is aimed at expanding the habitats and populations of the critically endangered mammals which are found only in a handful of protected areas of the Indian subcontinent.

This is the fifth rhino translocation programme carried out in Nepal. The first rhino translocation programme was conducted in 1986 when 13 rhinos from Chitwan were translocated to Bardia. In 1991, officials translocated 25 more rhinos to what is now Nepal’s second major rhino habitat.

Likewise, four rhinos were moved to Bardia in 1999 and ten more in March, 2000. The rhino population in Bardia now stands at 73, including the six that were translocated last week and the baby rhinos born from the translocated population.

This is the first time that officials have released a batch of rhino to the Royal Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve. Prior to this effort, only one rhino - supposedly arrived from the adjoining Dhudwa National Park of India - was living in the reserve.

"Now that we have three booming rhino populations we can be pretty sure that the endangered animals will not be eliminated in case of a natural disaster or an epidemic outbreak," Dr Shanta Raj Gyawali, a KMTNC expert involved in the operation said.

A census conducted in May this year put the population of the Asiatic one-horned rhino in Nepal at 612, up from 446-466 in 1994. Of these, 544 were in Royal Chitwan National Park, one of the world’s best rhino habitats included in UNESCO’s World Heritage Site list, while 67 others were in Royal Bardia National Park, and one more in Royal Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve.

The total population of one-horned rhino, which was found in abundance from Pakistan to Myanmar at the turn of the last century, today stands at 2,618 world wide. Their population in India stands at 1,868, while 138 more live in captivity in zoos.

Ex-armymen form super body, GAESO stays out

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KATHMANDU, Nov 29 - Nine organisations representing the interests of ex-servicemen have banded together to form a super federation which, its officials announced today, would press for pension parity for ex-Gurkha soldiers of the British Army.

The formation of the body, called Federation of Gurkha Ex-Servicemen Nepal (FOGESEN), was formally announced today at a press conference by former Minister of State for Tourism and Civil Aviation, Narayan Singh Pun.

Pun, who retired from the Royal Nepal Army with the rank of Lt. Col., is the president of FOGESEN. At the press conference, Pun, who is now a lawmaker of the governing Nepali Congress party, vowed that he would quit the party if ever his political commitment interferes with his work for the welfare of former armymen in the country. He said the new federation is "totally non-political."

FOGESEN groups nine similar organizations of former Nepalese soldiers from Nepal, British and Indian Armies. The nine organizations that have banded together are Nepal National Free Ex-Servicemen’s Organization, Nepal Ex-Servicemen’s Organization, National Democratic Ex-Servicemen’s Organization, National Ex-Servicemen’s Organization, Nepal National Ex-Servicemen’s Association, All Nepal Indian Pensioner Welfare Association, National Free Ex-Servicemen’s Organization, Ex-Servicemen’s Academy Nepal, and Gurkha Brigade Welfare Fund.

However, the Gurkha Army Ex-Servicemen’s Organization (GAESO), which has spearheaded a controversial battle for pension parity in the British Army, does not feature in the list of FOGESEN affiliates.

Though Pun, at the press conference, said GAESO officials are "positive" and are still mulling over whether to join the federation, GAESO has a different story to tell.

When contacted, GAESO General Secretary, Yam Bahadur Gurung said that his central committee meeting has decided "not to accept" the federation status of FOGESEN, citing it as another ploy to hamper their long-standing movement.

"It is another conspiracy to negatively influence our long standing and much-publicized movement. They (FOGESEN) wants us to work under them, which is not feasible," said Gurung, "...We will single-handedly continue with our movement."

Meanwhile, on the British pension parity issue, Pun today said, his federation will press the government for an "immediate initiative" to abide by the recommendation made by the Human Rights and Foreign Affairs committee of the Parliament some years ago. The recommendation states that the pension parity issue be raised at government level.

"We are also in favour of increasing the pensions of former British Gurkha soldiers but we will not irritate the British as well as embarrass our government on the matter," he said.

Pun also requested the government to look into providing better services and better pension packages to former servicemen of the Royal Nepal Army.

"Former armymen are both educated and experienced...the government should utilize such a work force who are better qualified to handle issues ranging from forest preservation, promotion of medicinal herbs, handling the refugee issues to conducting vocational studies," Pun said.

Farmers’ bane could be boon for famine-prone districts

By Bhaskar Sharma

KATHMANDU, Nov 29 - Every year, the remote north-western mountain districts of Humla, Jumla and others face food shortages due to lack of grain at the local food depots. While the major problem can be attributed to the difficulty of transporting food grains to such inaccessible areas, the problem is further compounded by bad harvest.

This year, however, the bane of Nepali farmers can become a boon for the hapless hungry citizens of such remote mountainous districts. If only the government carries out its own commitment of stocking 40,000 tons of grain in the aptly named but still non-existent Food Security Reserve (FSR), families may not have to go hungry this winter.

A bumper harvest this year and flood of cheap grain imports from neighbouring India has led to a glut in the market. The result - tumbling grain prices, which has hit the farmers hard. However, this surplus can be better used to stock up the FSR, which its name indicates, is to be used in case of food emergencies as happens regularly in the north-western districts.

Officials of Nepal Food Corporation, the government-run food depot, say that such an endeavour would have a dual beneficial impact. It can stock up the FSR and also buy off the surplus grain from hard-hit farmers, both at the same time.

"NFC had proposed to purchase rice, with dual objectives of maintaining FSR and providing relief to farmers," says a top-level official of NFC who requested anonymity. "However, the proposal was discarded by the government."

NFC presently has a stock of 27,000 tons of rice, which is deemed sufficient to meet normal grain requirements. But in case of an emergency the quantity is insufficient. The susceptibility of agricultural production on climatic conditions only points towards a need to maintain buffer stock for emergencies.

Time for such an emergency stock is already running short. The government first announced its intention to build up the FSR more than a year ago. And yet, no work has begun towards fulfilling that commitment.

Part of the problem lies with the low paddy price, which ironically should have been an incentive to buy up stocks which today is as little as Rs 530 a quintal, half the price of last year. According to studies, a farmer has to invest Rs 600 to grow a quintal of paddy.

Farmers are, therefore, demanding that the NFC buy up the grains at a "support price" - which is higher than the market price but lower than last year’s price - to support the farmers. NFC recently proposed to do just that, but the government rejected the proposal.

"At a time when farmers are under severe financial pressure, there is no better opportunity for the government to serve farmers’ interests than to start FSR," says Dayanidhi Dahal, an official at the planning department of NFC. "These purchases should be made at a support price, which the government should immediately fix."

Immediate government action for building up the FSR can also be justified on grounds of its experiences of implementing the controversial Value Added Tax (VAT) two years ago. There are arguments that if the government could spent over Rs 1.5 billion to encourage businessmen to register with VAT offices, then it can well afford to spend a few hundred million rupees to build up the FSR which could alleviate farmers’ grievances as well as serve the needs of remote mountainous populations.

Missing girl appears before Supreme Court

KATHMANDU, Nov 29 (PR)- A four year-old girl who had been missing from her mother was presented before the Supreme Court today by her "captors."

Samjhana Timilsina was brought to Court as ordered last week by the single bench of Justice Kedar Prasad Giri. However, no hearings could take place today, and the court has scheduled hearings for tomorrow, Thursday.

The writ petition filed by Samjhana’s mother Laxmi Timilsina on 23rd November had stated that she had worked as an ayah (maid-servant) at Nil Shishu Niketan Boarding School, Dhalku, from April to July this year where she had admitted her daughter for studies.

According to the filed writ, the child went missing from the school premises September 1. Ambika Sigdel, the Principal of the school then refused to entertain Timilsina’s pleas to search for the child, but relented later only after pressuring the mother to sign on a blank paper, the writ stated.

The writ petition had also stated that with the help of the police, the petitioner’s daughter was traced at the residence of Hajuri Shrestha, an associate of the Principal of the school.

Even as the District Police Office (DPO) then had asked the Principal and her associate to present the child within a week, the decision could not be complied with as the Appellate Court then had issued an "interim order" in the case.

The division bench of Justices of the Appellate Court Damodar Purush Dhakal and Keshav Prasad Mainali had issued an interim order to DPO (Hanuman Dhoka) not to arrest the Principal Sigdel as she had filed an application seeking for "injunction order".

The order of the Appellate Court had stated that Timilsina had given her daughter to the Principal for bringing her up under a "written agreement".

At the Supreme Court today, the child refused to go with her distraught mother. She was taken away by Principal Sigdel and Shrestha.

Lack of funds impede prison reforms

By Madhav Dhungana

BHAIRAHAWA, Nov 29 Dev Bahadur Thapa, 48, who has been imprisoned in Bhairahawa jail for the last two years, is more worried about his family than his early release.

Dev Bahadur’s six-member family in Butwal has been living in acute poverty ever since he was imprisoned on a charge of drug trafficking two years ago. Currently he is serving two separate jail terms for drug abuse--one eight year term with a fine of Rs 1,00,000 and another for two year term with a fine of Rs 50,000.

Although Dev Bahadur can serve both of the terms at once, once he completes the longest sentence, he will not be free unless he pays both fines totalling Rs 150,000.

"I was the sole bread-winner in my family. Now I wonder how can they survive without me" Thapa said with tears falling down his face. His wife who visited him a few days back spoke of the family’s difficulties.

This is no exception. There are many prisoners with similar tales to recount.

A few years ago the council of ministers decided to convert the jails into reform centres. However, the majority of jails have not witnessed this change. Thapa and those in his shoes believe that they should be allowed to engage in some vocation so that they can support their families from inside the four walls of the jail. "It will also help to kill time if we are allowed to work," Thapa says.

Jailor Radhakrishna Sharma says that lack of space prevented vocational training. "If prisoners can live in a working environment their criminal attitudes may be corrected," jailor Sharma says.

Built some 65 years ago, the district jail is overcrowed and dilapidated; thousands of rupees are owed in electricity and drinking water bills.

Prisoners say that rations doled out by the government are too meagre. A prisoner is entitled to 700 grams of rice and Rs 15 per day which, they claim, is too little for their daily requirements.

A prisoner, requesting anonymity, said that the one piece of thin clothing they are given each year does not protect them during the winter months. "Most leaders in the ruling and opposition parties are too busy to think about the penal reforms even though many of them have experienced such conditions firsthand."

The member secretary of the Siddhartha Sahitya Parisad, Balkrishna Bhattarai, says that the jail should be a reform centre rather than a 16th century torture camp.

To add insult to injury, prisoners now have to spend their entire daily allowance on a litre of kerosene, with nothing left over for vegetables and pulses. Jailor Sharma concedes that the prisoners cannot have two meals a day without full subsidy throughout the month.

However, the local administration has allowed 176 prisoners only 165 litres of kerosene each month, whereas in fact the total number of prisoners require at least 900 litres of kerosene monthly.

District president of Nepal Human Rights Organisation, Hare Krishna Shah, says that unless the prisoners are provided with minimum facilities in the prison, it cannot be ruled out that they will not refrain from social crimes once they are released from the jail.

Despite several high-level inspection visits to the prison since the restoration of democracy in 1990, penal reforms are far from being a reality.

Call for joint effort to combat TB, AIDS

By Tilak Pokharel

KATHMANDU, Nov 29 - Nepal observed National Tuberculosis Day on Tuesday, and this Friday, the nation - indeed the world - is poised to mark the World AIDS Day. Both these diseases are killing a huge number of people throughout the world, and Nepal is no exception. Experts say, joint effort is crucial to combat these killer diseases.

Currently, almost 90,000 people - mostly the poor - in Nepal are infected with TB, against almost 32,000 with HIV/AIDS - the incurable killer, according to the National TB Centre (NTC), Bhaktapur.

The SAARC region has remained prone to TB infection, with more than 40 per cent of the cases world-wide reported in this region. According to experts, more than three million new TB cases occur globally each year and about 1.9 million die afflicted by this serious but curable disease. On the same lines, a major percentage of the world’s 34.3 million HIV-infected people also live in this region.

Nepal endorsed DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment Short-course) campaign against TB in 1996 and so far all indications are that it has been a resounding success. "Though the campaign was very successful, still a broad section of the population at the grassroot level needs to be made aware about this disease, which kills almost 11,000 people each year in Nepal," says Dr Dirgha Singh Bam, director of NTC and SAARC TB Centre (STC).

Experts say both TB and HIV/AIDS have certain commonalities. Since public awareness against both diseases is crucial, united campaigns against these significant killers, which have spread like wildfire in the world, can be effective.

If the TB-infected persons contract HIV infection, it dramatically shortens their lives by causing an acute case of TB to erupt from their previously harmless infections.

Both the diseases are extremely infectious. One untreated TB patient can transmit the disease to more than 10-15 persons within a year. According to NTC, the lifetime risk of developing TB in a normal person (without HIV/AIDS) is about 10 per cent. Contrary to this, there is 50 per cent chance of infection of TB among the HIV/AIDS infected persons.

The World Health Organisation estimates that more than seven million people, 98 per cent of whom are in the developing countries alone, are co-infected with HIV and TB.

Prior to bringing united efforts to confront these two deadly diseases in the South Asian region, SAARC and the Canadian International Development Agency, in 1997, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreeing to develop a four-year project to address it. STC says, the project has evolved considerably in the ensuing years.

Experts say, if a patient takes the medicine regularly, TB can be cured within seven months, while no curative measures have been developed for the HIV/AIDS so far. Awareness and prevention remain the only "cure" so far.

Private investment in hydropower poor

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KATHMANDU, Nov 29 - Since the country adopted a liberal economic policy, scores of private investors expressed their desire to develop hydro electricity projects in Nepal.

Yet the investment in hydel projects make up only a small portion of such investments and that is an issue of concern, said experts today during an interaction program organized by Nepal Hydropower Association here.

"In the last five years, 80-85 per cent of the capital flow has been in energy and telecommunications sectors, however, not much of it has gone to the hydropower projects and that is a concern and a challenge," said Rameshananda Vaidya, member of the National Planning Commission and an expert on water resources.

In recent years, the government has received several inquiries and applications from local companies to multinational power giant. Yet only few have of these have actually materialized.

This week the 60-megawatt Khimti I hydroelectricity project, which was the first privately developed hydel project, was formally opened by His Majesty King Birendra.

The project, the US$ 140 million a run-of-the-river type project, began to contribute to the national grid in March and by July 11, it began commercial generation with annual generation of an estimated 350 kilowatt hours or units.

However, this is just one of the few success stories. Other companies like U.S. power giant Enron Renewable Corp which has made several attempts to jump into developing the 10,800 megawatts Karnali-Chisapani project have faced bitter experiences mainly due to the political instability and the slow decision making process.

Yet there are at least another half dozen investors who are in the process of applying for permission to develop hydel projects in Nepal.

To accommodate and attract this new breed of investors a new Water Resources Policy 2000 drafted by the Ministry of Water Resources is being reviewed by the Finance Committee of the Cabinet.

This policy, according to officials, mainly focuses on attracting the investors to invest and develop such projects.

Though recent study has shown that Nepal has the potentiality to produce 83,000 megawatts of power out of which 42,000 megawatts is feasible, at present only about 300 megawatts is generated even when there is high demand for power during winter creating a huge deficit in power supply.

Worse, only 15 per cent to the total population have access to electricity and mainly in the urban areas while the majority of the population that live in rural areas do not have access to electricity.

"Even though hydro power in Nepal has a tremendous role for development of the country only one per cent of the total energy is met by hydropower," Vaidya said. "But it indicates the potential of energy and there is room for expansion on the use of energy."

Vaidya also said that since water diverted to projects leads to decrease in water for irrigation and other purposes, there is a need to develop a framework to address water rights issues.

During the seminar on experiences from recent hydropower projects in Nepal, experts reviewed the projects such as Khimti I, Kaligandaki A, Modi Khola, Puwa, Indrawati and Chilime hydropower projects.

NC local polls in 4 dists stalled due to disputes

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KATHMANDU, Nov 29 - The district convention of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) in Ramechhap was postponed today after two party functionaries from the centre were found missing.

According to reports from Manthali, Gunj Bahadur Shrestha, election official, had issued a notice that the duo - Lakshman Ghimire, central committee member and contender for the district president’s post and Mitharam Dukhi, central election committee member - had disappeared after taking with them election-related documents.

Later speaking to The Kathmandu Post, after their return to the capital, Ghimire said that the two did not go to the election booth as some people had filed nomination against the party constitution and also due to security reasons. Ghimire alleged that two people, Yuvaraj Bhattarai and Vidyasagar Yonjan, expelled from the party, had filed their nomination for the election. Both Bhattarai and Yonjan were rebel candidates in the last general elections.

Meanwhile, former Home Minister Purna Bahadur Khadka alleged irregularities in the election in Surkhet. Khadka, belonging to the faction led by former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, a challenger to Prime Minister and party president G P Koirala, said that all the 61 district representatives have been chosen from 188 new active members. Unlike the last year’s 1009 active members, this year there were 1300 of them.

Similarly, Thakur Prasad Devkota, ex-president of Rasuwa district, demanded re-election over the change of venue and inability of 35 of the 68 representatives to take part in yesterday’s election.

In Ilam, Himalaya Karmacharya won the re-election for the district party president today. The re-election was held as no candidate could secure the mandatory 50 per cent of the votes yesterday.

According to Narhari Acharya, NC Spokesman, party elections were completed in 71 districts. Acharya added that elections are due only in Ramechhap, Arghakhanchi, Udayapur and Bhaktapur districts due to disputes.

PAC defers decision on Lauda Air deal

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KATHMANDU, Nov 29 - The cloud over the Lauda Air B-767 widebody jet deal remained with the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) deferring once again to take any decision today.

However, PAC reiterated in its fresh directive to Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation not go ahead with the deal till its further order.

Subhash Nembang, Chairman of PAC maintained that the plane cannot be brought into the country unless the parliamentary body overturns its decision. A PAC sub-committee has already recommended the cancellation of the deal and to take action against officials involved in pushing the deal through.

Referring to the sub-committee’s finding that the lease deal was "unlawful, malafide and against the interests of the Corporation", the directive stated that its earlier decision on freezing the deal is still valid. It also expressed its serious concern over the revelation of some facts after its last decision on freezing the deal on (20th November). The instruction stressed that PAC’s decision has to be adhered to.

After the parliamentary body’s last directive, it was revealed that Lauda Air is not the real owner of the aircraft RNAC is to take on lease. The jet in question belongs to Pace Setter Leasing Limited, Hong Kong.

At the PAC meeting today, Chairman Nembang told other members that RNAC management has not yet furnished the agreement between Lauda Air and the Hong Kong based company.

Later, speaking to mediamen, Nembang said, "How can the deal, in its present state, go ahead when it is yet to be established whether or not Lauda Air has the right to sub-lease the jet?"