RBB in no condition to recover billions in loans

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Sept 6 - The chief of Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) today admitted that the nation's oldest and biggest commercial bank has billions of rupees in bad loans it is in no condition to recover it.

Records showed that the bank has over Rs. 8 billion stacked just in principal amount of loans that have not been recovered and have passed the time fixed for payment. The interests on the loans sanctioned by the bank add upto Rs 9.67 billion.

"Loans that we have not been able to recover date back to 1965 and there are billions of rupees that are yet to be settled," RBB's Executive Chairman Punya Prasad Dahal said at the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today.

One such example has been of an individual identified as Bir Bahadur Rai who had taken out a loan of Rs. 50 million but the interest has already piled up to Rs. 760 million and the bank has no hope of recovering it.

The principal amount on the loans that are categorized as completely unrecoverable and has exceeded five years from its due date has already totalled Rs. 1.03 billion and the interest on this has piled up to Rs. 4.17 billion.

The principle amount on the next category of loans that has exceeded the due date by 1-to-5 years has totalled Rs. 3.6 billion whose interest has also shot up to Rs. 2.59 billion.

Dahal said the bank has not been able to recover these bad loans and suggested that a high level committee comprising of representatives from the Auditor General's Office, Special Police Force, Banker's Association, the Home and Finance Ministries needs to be constituted to recover some of these money.

RBB at present has as many as 165 cases filed against defaulters. Most of these cases take months if not years to be settled at the courts.

Few weeks back, Dahal had admitted widespread irregularities among bank officials while issuing loans and evaluating collateral.

He had said that if action was to be taken against the staff of the bank who are involved in these kinds of irregularities then there probably would not be any employee left in the bank.

PAC first began to investigate on the allegations that RBB bank officials make inflated evaluations and grant huge loans against collateral that are a fraction in value and then had auctioned the seized property at nominal prices.

Documents have shown that a four ropani land at Koteshwor area belonging to Taraman Bajracharya had been issued a loan of Rs. 9,00,613 and an interest of Rs. 2,104,452 had been levied on it. However when the land was seized by the bank, it was auctioned off for only Rs. 51,555. This piece of land at the present real estate value could fetch as much as Rs. 20 million.

This case was also taken up by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA). However, the CIAA's recommendation for action against the officials involved was ignored and the people who were actually involved in this have already retired from service.

PAC today formed a sub-committee comprising Hridesh Tripathi, Gokarna Bista, Dilliraj Sharma, Buddhiman Tamang and Lilamani Pokhrel as the members to look into various reports presented by both foreign and domestic agencies on the state of RBB and report back within two months with recommendations on correcting the anomalies existing in RBB that is pushing it towards bankruptcy.

PM gives interview to CNN Says he will work for peace in S Asia

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Sept 6 - Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who heads the Nepalese delegation at the UN Millennium Summit, has stressed on eradicating poverty from the world.

Participating in US Television CNN Network's Q&A programme, PM Koirala said that if the global community ignores to act against poverty, it would soon pose as a great security threat in the near future.

Koirala also said that he will be holding talks with the delegates from India and Bhutan for peace and goodwill in the South Asian region. Koirala also stressed that the repatriation of some 100 thousand Bhutanese refugees presently sheltered by Nepal will "be difficult" without India's help.  PM Koirala further said that it would prove dangerous to both Nepal and Bhutan if the refugees ever tie up with the insurgents. PM Koirala also revealed that Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had shown interest in solving the Bhutanese refugee issue during his recent India visit.

Koirala also said that he will request his Indian counterpart to initiate steps to revive the stalled SAARC Summit during his stay in New York.

Answering a query on India's security stand, PM Koirala said that if India would provide clear information on ISI activities in Nepal, the country would always initiate actions against such activities.

Rawal files writ petition at SC

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Sept 6 - Former governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Tilak Rawal today filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court demanding annulment of the August 28 government decision that unceremoniously sacked him and appointed Dipendra Purush Dhakal at the central bank's helm of affairs.

In the petition, Rawal has argued that his ouster was a violation of the Nepal Rastra Bank Act 2012, which categorically stipulated the term of the governor as five years. Rawal was sacked only after seven months of his appointment.

Rawal is known to have received a letter about his ouster on August 31, a day after the government decided to appoint former bureaucrat Dhakal as the NRB governor. The move followed a cabinet decision on August 28.

Rawal was appointed as NRB governor early this year by the Krishna Prasad Bhattarai-led government in a dramatic turn of events, which saw resignation of Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya opposing the appointment.

Poudel to quell Maoists by IDP

By a Post Reporter

JAJARKOT, Sept 6 - Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel today vowed to quell the Maoist insurgency by introducing attractive programmes for people at the grassroots.

Blaming the insurgents for foiling the government's development efforts in the impoverished mid-western hills, Poudel further said that the government is working on in the war-footings to bring about drastic changes in these areas.

He pledged to make people's representatives in the region more accountable, eliminate corruption and prioritize development projects on the basis of needs by implementing the government's Integrated Development Programme.

Poudel who also holds the portfolio of Minister for Local Development, is currently touring the mid-western hill districts, the flash point of nearly five-year-old Maoist insurgency.

Stating that Maoists are involved in killing their own comrades, Poudel said the road of terrorism followed by the Maoist rebels will ruin themselves.

"Maoists have not only waged a war in the country," he told a gathering of general public in this Maoist-affected mid-western hill district Wednesday, "they have also waged a war among themselves."

Advocating that "democratic polity is the best system of governance in the world", Poudel said that the rebels have closed the doors of development by involving themselves in the guerilla warfare.

'Indian terrorist groups aiding Maoists'

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Sept 6 - Close on the heels of Indian ambassador to Nepal admitting that Maoist rebels could be getting support from insurgent groups in India, a top functionary of the ruling Nepali Congress party accused Indian terrorist groups of supporting the Maoists here today.

"Maoists are being trained in India from terrorists there," said  Sushil Koirala, general secretary of NC and close aide of Prime Minister and party President Girija Prasad Koirala. "The Indian government should control such activities."

Deb Mukharji, the Indian ambassador had said yesterday in Pokhara that terrorists in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar in India could have links with Maoists in Nepal. Mukharji had stressed that Indian government was not supporting the rebels in Nepal.  

Koirala today named People's War Group (PWG) in Andhra Pradesh, (AP), naxalites in Bihar and AP, and ULFA in Assam of fanning insurgency in Nepal and appealed to the Indian government to check such activities. He was speaking at a programme in the capital today.

Koirala also said that the so-called Maoists are getting "internal support," refusing to identify the internal support, despite repeated questions.

Speaking about the explosives found in his house, the general secretary said it was either done by the Maoists themselves or smugglers and mafia groups. "Since I speak against the Maoists and the mafia, I have been targeted," added Koirala.

He did not clarify if the Committee will hold dialogue with Maoists which Deuba heads and of which general secretary Koirala himself is a member. Koirala only said, "The Commission is there to hold talks and the government is in favour of the dialogue."

Koirala also said that "Pajero culture" was increasing in the party. "People who used to walk wearing sandals till the other day are now flaunting Pajero and sending their children abroad for study," said the party leader.

Talking about Congress politics, Koirala said that Prime Minister Koirala was still the best candidate for party presidentship, "as the rank and file in the party wanted him to contest again". "However, if he does not contest, there are other leaders in the party. I could also fight for the top post," Koirala added further.

Deuba camp to contest for party presidency

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Sept 6 - The Deuba camp in the ruling party Nepali Congress said that they would contest the elections, including the post of party presidentship, during the party's 10th general convention slated to be held in Pokhara early next year.

Former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba reportedly said that his supporters want him to contest and he would decide this in the third week of September after holding talks with his supporters.

"Deuba said he was willing to contest against the people who ran the party in PM Koirala's name or Koirala himself," said a Deuba supporter.

Deuba discussed the strategy to be adopted for the party general convention with his supporters for the second consecutive day at his contact office in the capital today, according to one of his supporters from Sagarmatha zone. Deuba held talks with partymen from five zones yesterday and today with those from the remaining nine.

The aide also revealed that both the camps in NC, Koirala supporters and the dissatisfied MPs and party leaders had agreed in the last Central Committee held on 29th August that 16 posts, including that of the president's, in the 31-member CWC would, henceforth, be decided upon by election and the rest 15 would be nominated by party president. An MP from Koirala camp confirmed this. At present, only five members from each of the five development regions are elected.

However, there has not been any agreement on the modalities. Sushil Koirala, general secretary of the party had suggested that two members from each region be elected and remaining five be elected from throughout the country. Bijay Kumar Gachchhedar of the Deuba camp proposed country-wide election for the 15 posts.

Speaking about the controversy surrounding the active membership of the party, the aide said office bearers of sister organisations of the party and Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC), those  partymen who did not renew their membership in 1995 after getting it in 1991 and who are in different departments of Central Office would be given active membership.

"The decision to give active membership to those in the Central Office shows that party was run by those who had no authority in doing so," he said.

However, a Bill on political parties passed by the House of Representatives and sent to the Upper House bars any salaried staff, like teachers and union leaders like those in NTUC, among others, in the government or corporations owned by it cannot become members of a party. 

Encephalitis claims 52 in Bheri

NEPALGUNJ, Sept 6 (PR)- Mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis that broke as an epidemic in the mid and far-western Terai region during this monsoon has claimed 52 lives here at three hospitals of the district so far, according to a hospital source.

Out of the total 411 patients of the disease admitted at three hospitals in Nepalgunj, 35 patients died at Bheri Zonal Hospital, 14 at a nursing home of Nepalgunj Medical College and three at its Teaching Hospital.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Ram Baran Yadav who was on an inspection visit of the encephalitis-hit districts -- Banke, Bardiya, Kailali and Kanchanpur -- claimed that "there was no shortage of medicine and human resources on Wednesday."

Talking to pressmen, Minister Yadav said the government has already received an assistance of 5,00,000 pieces of vaccines from China to combat with the disease. He, however, realised that those vaccines had to be inoculated before the outbreak of the disease.

Precautionary measures shall be undertaken for the coming year before the outbreak of encephalitis, Minister Yadav said.

Campaign for education of underprivileged children

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Sept 6 - Some 400 non-governmental organisations from around the world are bracing for a global education campaign calling upon the world community to work towards educating underprivileged children.

Dubbed "Global Campaign for Education", the campaign has been launched worldwide, said children's rights activists at a press conference held here Wednesday. The campaign is believed to help accomplish the commitments made in the recently held Dakar World Education Convention.

In last April, altogether 181 countries converged for a conference in Senegalese capital of Dakar at the call of UNESCO (UN's Education, Science and Cultural Organization) and signed the Convention. The participating countries pledged to impart "education for all" by 2015, besides vowing to provide special priority to girl children, victimised children, handicapped and other underprivileged children.

"Almost 400 international and national non-governmental organizations and individuals will be involved in this campaign," said Kailash Sathyarthi, Chairperson of South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude (SACCS) and Coordinator of the Campaign, at the press conference organised by Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN).

Sathyarthi said, the participating countries in the Dakar Conference have committed to form "National Education For All Plan" by the end of 2002. Nepal is also a signatory to the Dakar Convention.

"The global campaign intends to make sure that all the countries accomplish the commitments," he said, adding that the campaigners will also pressure the governments to develop a mechanism that could oversee the activities carried out to achieve the goal.

The campaign also appeals the rich and developed countries to write off the interest of the debt given to the developing and poor countries so that the latter will have money to expand educational infrastructures.

Fifty-three per cent of the country's over 22 million population are literate, according to the Education Ministry. Thirty percent children still continue to remain deprived of primary education. And, though 70 per cent children manage to go to primary school, 30 per cent of them drop out by the time they pass primary level.  Only 19 percent of them appear in the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination, the final examination of Nepal's high school education which is still regarded as a yardstick to student's potential. The pass percentage is as low as 40 per cent on average.

The government plans to increase the literacy percentage to 70 by the end of the Ninth Five Year Plan which is currently running in its third year. Currently, there are about 24,000 schools in Nepal; the government plans to add 10,000 more by the end of the five year plan.

On an average the government allocates 14 per cent of its annual budget on the education sector. Experts say the quality of education in the South Asian region is deteriorating except in Sri Lanka where the literacy rate is over 80 per cent.

No headway in improving literacy

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Sept 6- Not much headway has been made towards increasing the literacy rate in Nepal despite efforts put by the governmental and non-governmental organizations, experts said here today, attributing the failure to what they said absolute lack of coordination.

About 53 per cent of Nepal's over 22 million population are literate, according to government claims.

Academicians and educa-tionists at a programme on "Literacy for development", organised here today by World Education and Non-Formal Education Council, suggested that networking of the implementing agencies could help resolve the problem. 

Urgent need of district level research centres for need identification and the need to improve the skills of facilitators were also highlighted at the programme. 

Speaking at the programme State Minister for Education and Sports Dilendra Badu said that the "government is ready to follow the guidance of those working in the field of literacy programmes for productive output."

Sushil Pyakurel, Member of National Human Rights Commission said that the right to education is a fundamental human right. "State should ensure basic education for all," he added.

 Dr Kevin Lillis, Senior Education Advisor at DFID said that little is known about the effects of investments in literacy programmes in Nepal.