'UML protests ‘external interference’

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KATHMANDU, April 14 – The main opposition Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) today strongly protested external interference in the internal affairs of the country, states a press release issued by the Foreign Affairs Cell of the party.

Referring to the US ambassador to Nepal, Ralph Frank’s comments that appeared in the press on Friday, Jhala Nath Khanal, chief of the Cell said that the Nepali people would not tolerate any external interference and protest the same. He added that comments and activities in Nepal’s current situation have appeared recently. "UML strongly objects such acts."

Meanwhile, six Left parties, including the UML, today alleged that some national and international forces were out to protect the "corrupt" government of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, crossing the limits of decorum.

Saying that the whole country was united to throw the Koirala government out, the six leaders who signed the statement said, "We strongly object any wrong attitude towards the Nepali people’s united and lawful protests."

The six leaders also reiterated their resolve of preventing PM Koirala from entering the Singha Durbar, the seat of the government. Justifying the decision, the parties said that they were resorting to the step so as to prevent the Prime Minister from taking "any more wrong decisions and repeat the infamous Lauda scandal".

Rain disrupts normal life, raises hopes of ending power cuts

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KATHMANDU, April 14 - As eastern and central parts of the country continue witnessing the season’s first pre-monsoon rains, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) sources today said that the weather phenomenon could help them stop the daytime power cuts. Owing to what it called reduced water flow in the country’s snow-fed rivers, NEA started daytime "load-managing" since early April.

However, mainly the eastern and central parts of the country witnessed the season’s first significant pre-monsoon rainfalls on Friday and Saturday - just when people were celebrating Nepali New Year - 2058 Bikram Samwat (BS). Weathermen at the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology forecast that the cloudy and rainy weather may continue till the next 24 hours.

"This kind of weather will not last longer, but it will definitely remain for the next one or two days," Senior Meteorologist Bijay Baidya said. Meteorological station at the eastern hill district of Dhankuta recorded 27 mm rainfall, Kathamandu recorded 4.10 mm rainfall and Pokhara recorded 0.5 mm rainfall during the last 24 hours, while the mid- and far-western regions remained dry.

The drizzles will also pave the way for warmer days ahead, he said, adding that midday temperatures in valleys like Kathmandu have not exceeded 25 or 26 degree Celsius as yet. Whereas the daytime temperatures in these areas cross 32 degree Celsius during mid-summer.

Officials at NEA, the state-owned power monopoly, meanwhile, hope that the weather could help them bring an end to the daytime power cuts. Currently, NEA has been managing the "load" by cutting off electricity lines for six hours everyday.

"Power generation in our hydropower plants will surely go up if there is enough rain or an increased temperature - hot enough to melt snows high up in the Himalayas," a highly placed NEA official told The Kathmandu Post late Saturday.

But critics say, NEA will not be able to bring an end to the new form of daytime "load-shedding" before the start of monsoon this summer, come what may. They assert that NEA’s dream to supply 24-hour electricity to its 600,000-plus consumers - who make up roughly 15 per cent of the population - will continue to remain dampened due to lack of reservoir-type projects.

Water-level in the country’s only reservoir-type project, Kulekhani I and II, has drastically come down, and "only ten meters (deep) level of water is left to generate electricity" before the plant is closed down waiting for another monsoon to replenish the reservoir.

Until last week, NEA was facing a daily power shortfall of about 500,000 units. In order to maintain uninterrupted supply of electricity to its consumers, NEA needs an additional 4 million units of electricity daily. As such, between 450,000 to 500,000 units of electricity is being contributed to the power grid by NEA’s diesel-run multi-fuel plants.

Last week, Marshyangdi hydel plant was generating only 38 per cent of its installed capacity, Trishuli-Devighat 74 per cent, Sun Koshi 40 per cent, Jhimruk 40 per cent, Khimti 33 per cent and Bhote Koshi 33 per cent. Thanks mainly to the dry weather, most of the power plants were generating only one third of their capacity.

However, the electricity consumers have not been made to live under absolute darkness during peak hours—early in the morning and evening—this summer. Thanks mainly to new power plants like the 60-megawatts (MW) Khimti, 36-MW Bhote Koshi and 14-MW Modi plants that started generating power in the recent months - although these plants too have been affected significantly by the reduced water flow.

Poor countries pin their hope on LDC III meet

By Bhaskar Sharma

KATHMANDU, April 14 - At a time when heated debates are going on at the world fora, among the protagonists and antagonists of different issues in the multilateral trading system that affect the LDCs’ integration into the global markets, the upcoming LDC-III meet has raised hopes for a possible breakthrough.

Hardly a month remains for the United Nations Third Conference on Least Developed Countries (LDC-III) slated for May 14-20 to begin at Brussels. The expectations of LDCs around the globe, including Nepal, from the multilateral trading system, as such, are bound to rise.

LDC-III has aimed to prepare a "Program of Action" for the next decade with special focus on the issue of poverty and underdevelopment, and to address the challenges that globalization has brought about to the poorest of the economies.

In addition, it also aims to help poorer economies streamline trade into sustainable poverty reduction strategies and facilitate the accession of new members into the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The WTO leaders, on the other hand, are preparing reports on the Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance, and papers on market access conditions for LDCs and status of LDCs accession to the WTO, among others.

And given the objectives of LDC-III that ultimately lead to an increased participation in the global market, the meet can act as a proscenium to settle some of the hot issues fiercely being debated in the WTO presently. So it is imperative that LDCs think high of it.

The meet is now taken as a window of opportunity for the Third World countries to voice their concern on the fallacies of the global rules based trading system. And it is natural for the non-WTO member LDCs, like Nepal, to expect a smoother accession and reduction in commitments following the LDCs meet.

However, despite all arguments and counter-arguments on the issue, it would be naive to assume that the objectives highlighted by the LDC-III would be achieved easily. The success or failure of the LDC-III would be largely determined by the degree of commitment of the developed countries and their reaction to the afflictions of the LDCs.

So far, response of the North towards the underdeveloped countries has been stiff in most of the issues, which include those of food security, patenting, end-loading of quota and the tariff reduction commitments, among a host of others. And it is these issues that the developed countries must compromise on before it can really facilitate the LDCs entry into the global markets.

The overall thrust of global heads should be to enhance the competitive edge of the LDCs, in addition to reducing the infrastructural bottlenecks, capacity-building, and allowing autonomous policy reforms at home. Until these areas remain unattended to, there is no way that the objectives of the LDC-III, however vehemently pushed, can be achieved.

To get a concrete positive outcome from the upcoming meet, the North must announce measures by which the LDCs’ integration into the world market can be really aided. Bullying them into the WTO system would yield nothing more than the LDCs’ further marginalization and poverty.

To achieve the goals laid down for the LDC-III in its true spirit, it is imperative that the LDCs get a fair chance to lay down their grievances in the multilateral forum. However, doubts over a proper representation of the LDCs have sprung, especially since G-77, a conglomerate of 48 LDCs and other developing countries, lead the LDC pack.

This is not the first time that a better future has been projected at an international meet. And to be true, it cannot also be said that nothing has come out of such meets. But how much of collective say will the LDCs have is one factor that would make the results more meaningful.

Cheema leaves for home

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KATHMANDU, April 14 – Mohammed Arshad Cheema, the Pakistan Embassy First Secretary who was arrested with a large amount of explosives, left the country with his family members today three hours before the 24-hour deadline set by Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Cheema, his wife Rubina Cheema and relatives Arshad Urma Cheema and Asma Arshad Cheema took the PIA flight to Pakistan at 5 p.m. today.

Cheema and his wife were arrested on Thursday at a house they were staying for the past few days in New Baneshwore, after police recovered 16 kg of RDX in a surprise raid.

"Since it is incompatible with his diplomatic duties and inconsistent with Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the government has decided that Mr. Cheema should leave the country within 24 hours," a Foreign Ministry release stated yesterday, justifying the marching out orders to Cheema.

DIG Om Vikram Rana of Valley Police Office said that Nepal would continue to investigate the RDX case. "If the Pakistan government wants cooperation from our government for their own probe, we will provide all help."

Bagmati ghats in dire need of protection from squatters

By Razen Manandhar

KATHMANDU, April 14 - The historic stone-paved bank of the holy Bagmati river, stretching from Teku to Thapathali continues to be encroached by squatters, polluting the water and damaging the monuments, thanks to lackadaisical metropolitan unit and drying river.

Bagmati is considered the holiest river system of the Kathmandu Valley which brought civilization in the Valley thousands of years ago. Ancient inscriptions state that the Saint Ne, who gave Nepal his name, used to live at the confluence of Bishnumati that meets the Bagmati at Teku.

But right from Teku, just 100-meter from the Kathmandu Metropolitan City’s (KMC) central office, ghats, or steps made with brick-shaped steps to control the river flow and also give space for the pilgrims of the holy river, have been the favourite of squatters.

A three-storey concrete building was made recently right on the 150-year-old ghat behind the Maternity Hospital at Thapathali. It has even barred part of the river with wall and a gate, like it was its private property. An old tree has been chopped off to the root and a vermilion-smeared idol installed next to it.

The regulation to protect the Bagmati states that construction of any building within the distance of 20 meters from the river is illegal.

The owner, Bhim Kumari Shah, who proudly announces that Inspector General of Police Pradip Sumsher Rana is her nephew’s son, claimed that the house has been there for a long time and so it is not illegal. "This is our ancestor’s house and we claim it is legal," she said.

Similarly, a building belonging to Advocate Sundar Lal Chaudhary, next to Bhagbateshwor Ghat is constructed on the river boundary itself. The building’s surrounding wall has covered the stone paved boundary and a small Shiva-Linga is left outside the wall.

Over a hundred make-shift huts have been put up at Banshi Ghat on the dry river bank which not only houses the squatters but also gives shelters to some social organizations, registered in the government, like Nepal Basobas Basti Sanraksyan Samaj at Banshi Ghat and Sahara Sewa Sadan.

Similarly, scores of traditional rest houses or dharmasalas, built by the Rana prime ministers and their families for the people who wished to die by the holy river have been turned into private houses, schools or police residences.

According to article 96 of Local Self-Governance Act 1999, the duty of conserving the rivers cultural heritage falls upon the municipality but KMC has so far not introduced any such programs to safeguard this ghat area from squatters.

"We should immediately make the site free of the squatters," Deputy Mayor of Kathmandu Bidur Mainali said. But he admits that no programs to clear the area have been launched.

Hutaram Baidhya, the 80-year old activist for saving the Bagmati says that only a strong superpower can save the river from the clutches of the squatters.

He says, "Unfortunately, the Bagmati has been a target for all opportunity-seekers who have no sentimental attachment to its the religious and cultural values. This is the only reason behind the continuous deterioration of our beloved river."

He blames the local representatives for this domination of squatters. "They are indirectly protecting this practice, in hope of securing votes in the local election, though at the cost of these heritage sites," he said.

Heritage expert Oj Man Singh Shrestha, presently working on the Bagmati area heritage, said the locals should be aware of this and know who loves Bagmati. "This area should be declared protected monument zone to prevent it from the squatters," he said.

This ghat area houses sixteen major temples, built in pagoda and dome style, in the period between 1812 and 1950 by various rulers, government staff and people in general. In 1996, a study was done to renovate four temples of the ghat, which was never realized. Bend von Droste, the then director of UNESCO World Heritage Centre said then that "the Teku-Thapathali group, on the banks of the Bagmati, has social problems associated with squatters in the surrounding dharmasalas".

The longest stone paved ghat of the country was made by the first Rana Prime Minister Junga Bahadur Rana by 1850, in mourning of the massacre he initiated to take over the power. According to the architects, this is a unique blend of the traditional Newari architecture and the neo-classical Rana architecture.

New system introduced in SLC this year

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KATHMANDU, April 14 - School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination is commencing from Sunday with a new system.

The new system regarding the SLC examination was endorsed by the cabinet on recommendation from the Ministry of Education (MOE) two months earlier. Conducting of examination, setting questions and examining the answers will be different this time.

"The answer sheet will be checked at the examining centre unlike previous years where it used to be checked at the teacher’s residence," said Examination Controller Dr Shah Dev Bhatt. "We will also start coding of the answer paper," Bhatt said.

There will be 37 examining centres and the examiner and the reviewer both stay in the same room while examining the paper.

This is the ‘conference margin system’ under which the paper will be sent immediately to the Office of the Controller of Examinations after being checked and reviewed.

"No any problem has arisen in any centre," said Bhatt. "SLC examination coordination committee under the convenorship of Chief District Officers has been made effective in all the districts," Bhatt added.

However, Bhoj Bahadur Shah, General Secretary of PABSON (organisation of private schools) blames the government for hastening in reforms regarding the examination. Shah argued that this reform would not succeed as it was introduced without any homework. "Imagine what will happen if qualified teachers don’t go to the assigned centres," said Shah.

The reforms in the SLC examination will however delay its result. Earlier teachers used to take the paper at home and examine it even during night time, but with the changes the paper should be examined at a specified period in the examining centre.

Students particularly of rural areas will have to face another difficulty as there is 20 marks allocated for the oral examination in English when cassette player is not available in many schools and there is dearth of qualified teachers to provide training.