ADB, govt clash over irrigation subsidy

By Prem Khanal & Bhaskar Sharma

KATHMANDU, April 19 – The government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Nepal’s principal foreign lender in the agricultural sector, are likely to clash on the issue of providing subsidy to the ground water micro irrigation schemes.

Talking to The Kathmandu Post today, Dr Richard Vokes, Resident Representative of ADB for Nepal said, "ADB will not support government’s attempt to reintroduce subsidy in ground water micro irrigation schemes… at least not in the present context."

Vokes further emphasized, "Giving subsidies, without enough financial resources, would only act as a constraint to supply. Moreover, inadequate subsidies would only benefit the wrong people, particularly the well offs, leaving the needy aside," he said.

By approving such a wrong policy we do not want the government to face a fiscal crisis, he said.

Only Wednesday Hari Shankar Tripathi, Member of National Planning Commission, had told The Kathmandu Post that the government had made up its mind to reintroduce the subsidy in shallow tube wells (STWs). "We have even discussed the issue with the ADB," he had said.

Despite ADB’s refusal, another member of the National Planning Commission Dr Shankar Sharma told this newspaper today that the government stands by its design to reintroduce subsidy.

Dr Sharma argued that given the present scenario of heavily shrinking installation of STWs, government is left with no option but to reintroduce subsidy. "Since the development of agriculture decides the fate of national economy and the livelihood of majority of Nepali people, state cannot and should ignore its role in assisting agricultural sector."

Since the government continues to subsidize large-scale surface irrigation schemes it should not hesitate to subsidize STWs, Sharma added.

The government had completely scrapped subsidy on STWs since fiscal year 1999/00 as it was one of the major preconditions of the Second Agriculture Program Loan that the government obtained from the ADB.

Asked if the government have had formal talks with the ADB over the subsidy issue, Dr Vokes said, " The government and the ADB have discussed the issue." However, Dr Vokes did not categorically say what the ADB’s stand would be if the government decides to reintroduce subsidy.

The ADB had maintained a rigid posture on subsidy issue in the past. It had even put on hold the release of second trench of Agriculture Program Loan unless the government completely scrapped the subsidy on STWs and chemical fertilizer.

However, Dr Vokes admitted that ADB itself would conduct a review of its policy in the agricultural sector. He informed that a Policy Review Mission for Community Ground Water Irrigation Project is slated to visit Nepal next month, which is expected to look into the issue of STWs subsidy.

The ADB, arguing for subsidy removal had earlier said that inadequate allocation of budget for subsidies was the major damper in the rapid expansion of STWs. By the same analogy it had argued that STWs installation would increase with subsidy removal.

However, contrary to the expectations, the installation of shallow tube wells (STWs) shrunk drastically after the subsidy revocation. Not even 20 per cent of the total targeted installation of 8800 STWs were met last year. More disturbing is the figures for the current year. So far only 20 STWs have been installed, out of the total targeted installation of 4300.

It is mainly the growing reluctance of the farmers towards installing the unsubsidized STWs - a major thrust of the 20-year long Agriculture Perspective Plan for achieving rapid irrigation - that is pressing the government for reintroducing subsidy.

96 injured

BHAKTAPUR, April 19(RSS) - Ninety-six persons including members of tahe general public and security personnel were injured in a confrontation that took place on the final day of the Bisket festival last night.

The three seriously injured are undergoing treatment at B and B Hospital. Police had to lob tear gas shells and charge with batons to bring the situation under control.

Brick-batting in the confrontation has caused damage to the windows, glasses and roofs of the 55-Window Palace, Nyatpole Temple and Bhaktapur municpality building. Two persons have been arrested for necessary investigation, the chief district officer said.

SC likely to brief King on Citizenship Bill soon

By Pramod Poudel

KATHMANDU, April 19 - The Supreme Court is gearing up to send the long awaited opinion on the controversial Citizenship Bill to His Majesty King Birendra.

Sources in the highest court told The Kathmandu Post today that the opinion could be sent any day, probably even as soon as Friday.

The seven justices looking into the case are in the final stages of formulating an opinion, a top Supreme Court official said. "We will soon send our opinion," he said hinting that the Court could send the opinion as early as Friday.

King Birendra had sought legal opinion of the Court on whether the Bill to Amend Citizenship Act - 1964 (sixth amendment) passed by parliament earlier, mustered with the constitutional framework. The Bill was forwarded to the Court on February 20.

Under Nepal’s Constitution, bill passed by parliament gains legal status only when the Monarch grants the seal of assent on it. King Birendra however took recourse to article 88 (5) of the Constitution which grants him the authority to send any bill to the Court for legal opinion.

The controversial bill, which critics say will open the flood-gates to foreign nationals to take Nepali citizenship, was first passed by the Lower House when it was first introduced, only to be sent back by the Upper House.

It was then when most of the opposition parties demanded an amendment but the Congress government with its majority pushed through the Bill terming it as a Finance Bill. A Finance Bill cannot be sent back to parliament by the King.

Before seeking opinion of the court, the Monarch had discussed the Bill with the leaders of various political parties, specially the opposition parties.

The Bill was endorsed by the parliament on July 26 last year as the Finance Bill and was forwarded for the royal assent in mid-January this year..

During the course of the hearing on March 14 and 15, most Amicus Curie had opposed the bill. Their claim was that sub-clause of the bill contravened the Constitution as the bill tried to distort the constitutional provisions. Motikaji Sthapit, ex-Attorney General who is considered a Congress sympathizer had argued that the Bill tries to distort clause 3 of the Citizenship Act-2020, which is a part of the present Constitution.

Senior Advocate Ganesh Raj Sharma and Advocate Biswa Kanta Mainali argued that the Bill in no way could have been passed as a Finance Bill. Even Senior Advocate Mukunda Regmi, close to the Congress had stated that the bill could not be passed as a Finance Bill but he had argued that the bill was in accordance with the Constitution.

However, it was only the Attorney General Badri Bahadur Karki and Senior Advocate Bipulendra Chakrabarty who advocated that the Bill did not violate the Constitution. Their argument was that the fear in people’s mind that once the Bill becomes a law it would lead to a flood of citizenship certificates being granted to the non-Nepalis was hypothetical which in fact was an administrative issue and not a legal or constitutional one.

Chakrabarty was more specific when he argued that this was not the right issue where the King could seek the court’s advice using article 88 (5) of the Constitution.

The Amicus Curie also included former Speaker of the Lower House, Daman Nath Dhungana, former Attorney General Sarvagya Ratna Tuladhar, and even Senior Advocate Krishna Prasad Pant had pleaded during the hearing.

Labour-pain no deterrent for SLC student

Post Report

KATHMANDU, April 19 - In what appeared to be unprecedented event during the SLC examination, Thursday, Asma Achhami, 20, a student from Dholahiti, Lalitpur appeared for her regular examination although she had delivered a baby Wednesday evening.

Achhami, who was getting labour pains amidst the busiest examination schedule, had some tumultous time both writing her examination and getting ready for the delivery.

She gave birth to a healthy child at around 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday but sat for her SLC examination thirteen hours later at Mangalodaya higher secondary school, Thankot examination centre. Asma Achhami has remained standing throughout the examination and kept on answering the questions and looked confident enough as she said, "If you only have courage, it can be done." "I have experienced it...," she continued. She said that she did her exam very well and will pass.

Despite the difficult task of nurturing her newly born baby and taking her examination at the sametime, Asma is determined to sit for the remaining papers and come out with flying colours.

Global warming threatens Himalayas

By Surendra Phuyal

KATHMANDU, April 19 - Experts and scientists are painting a bleak future of the planet earth saying that global warming and effects of climate change are becoming ever more visible in the Himalayas, as environmentalists called on general public to leave behind their cars and switch to public transport.

About 100 cycles, 65 rickshaws and activists from 200 different organizations went through the streets of the Capital calling for an increased use of clean energy and car-free roads to mark the 31st Earth Day Thursday. The rally was organized by Earth Day Nepal Committee 2001, a coalition of 16 organizations working in the field of environment and clean energy.

The incidents of fluctuation in weather patterns - such as prolonged dry spells, heat waves as well as reduced water flow in the snow-fed rivers - being observed in recent times indicate that the effects of global warming are evident all over, according to Nepali meteorologists.

The problem is more severe in the snow-clad Himalayas, where rising temperatures are triggering the rate of snow melting, leading to the disappearance of glacial and formations of more glacial lakes. Experts say, the bigger the glacial lakes start growing, the greater the fear of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs).

Citing a recent study conducted by Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM), Dr Adarsha Pokharel, a senior meteorologist and the Department’s Director General, said that the temperature is annually rising at the rate of 0.12 degree Celsius in the Nepal Himalayas. While the warming rate for the mid-hills and the Terai of the country stands at 0.03 degree and 0.06 degree Celsius, respectively.

The finding, according to him, is based on the analysis of last two decades’ meteorological data recorded by DHM’s 45 meteorological stations across the country.

"What is really alarming is the rate (0.12 degree Celsius) at which the temperature is rising in the Himalayas," Dr Pokharel said. "If the temperature continues to rise at this rate the situation will be horrible...unimaginable. In hundred years, the temperature in the Himalayas will rise by 12 degree Celsius, a rate more than double the rate calculated by United Nations experts."

NC leaders take pot shots at each other during meet

By Damakant Jayshi

KATHMANDU, April 19 – All the Nepali Congress stalwarts were there on the stage today, at least those who matter. There was the Prime Minister, two former Prime Ministers, a former party Vice-President and former General Secretary, among others.

So when these heavyweights from opposite camps of the same party met on the same stage, there was bound to be fireworks. And the audience at the City Hall, where these leaders met together today, was not disappointed. Although the occasion was the 32nd anniversary of the founding of the Congress-affiliated Nepal Students’ Union (NSU), the party stalwarts took pot shots at each other.

Shailaja Acharya, former party Vice-President and niece of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, set the tone for the day. She hit out at the dissidents in her party, led by former Prime Ministers Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and Sher Bahadur Deuba, who were also on the stage alongwith Koirala.

She thundered that there was no Mai ko lal (mother’s son, literally) in the party other than Koirala who was capable of shouldering the country’s enormous responsibility at this hour of crisis. Acharya was brilliant in portraying the dangers to democracy that "though saved temporarily by external support, was still not completely out of danger".

However, it was not only the dissidents who she attacked. She remarked that the composition of the sub-committee formed under Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ram Chandra Poudel was too weak to deliver the goods.

While listening to Acharya, Young Turk Deuba was all smiles, probably itching to join issue with her. And he did it in style, judging by the thunderous applause he drew. "I don’t know from where to begin. May be she (Acharya) has hundred more years to live and can wait for her turn. However, I offer myself as one such Mai ko lal." Even Koirala could not hold back his smile.

Deuba stressed on party unity but warned that it cannot be limited to a mere technical one. Elections, said Deuba, are an integral part of inner-party democracy, adding that those who lose they too deserve due respect and place in the party. Looking at Koirala, Deuba quipped, "May be you have got more votes, but we also are a hand and a leg of the party and no one can walk with only one hand and leg."

PM Koirala who spoke after Sushil Koirala’s speech, did not want to be outdone. "I have come to this programme precisely looking for that other hand and leg," said Koirala, drawing loud cheers and applause. "I am facing the same situation today as I faced at Tundikhel in 1990 after the successful People’s Movement. People threw stones at me when I said that no one, including the King, was a loser in democracy."

Just when everyone thought that Koirala was in a rare reconciliatory mood, came the bombshell. "I don’t want passive support but active support of party leaders. Those who want to come with me in my march to fulfil party’s goals are welcome. Those who won’t will be left behind." Koirala also said that he was not going to shake at the whimpering and hollow voice of the opposition who had taken to the streets demanding his resignation.

However, it was Bhattarai who stole the show today. "We should not be bothered by small fries like CPN-ML, CPN-UML and others. They can never come to power."

The former PM said that his party even supported the opposition to form the government so that they could see how difficult governance was. "They broke into two – ML and UML."

Bhattarai asserted that NC united, more than Indian National Congress and Bhartiya Janata Party. Bhattarai revealed that some Indian leaders had asked him how come Nepali Congress was so cohesive, despite dissidence. "Only I know how cohesive it is," drawing peals of laughter. "I asked them not to probe the insides of the party."

He finished off by criticizing the UML-led Left for asking Koirala’s resignation in the parliament and in the streets now. "They have no right at all. It is we who will ask our Prime Minister to resign." Nothing more could be heard in the thunderous laughter that followed.

EC to prepare ‘clean’ voters’ list

Post Report

KATHMANDU, April 19- Election Commission, an independent body constituted for holding of ‘free, fair and impartial’ elections has introduced a new measure to incorporate the names of future voters so as to make the voters’ registration list less cumbersome and more transparent, Election Officials said Thursday.

The move came specially after reports from the Ministry of Home came stating that several people claiming to be Nepali citizen had secured citizenship cards through fraudulent practices and posed serious threat to the process of bringing out a fair and clean voters’ registration list. "Voters’ registration list must be clean for free and fair elections," said Purusottam Prasad Sapkota, Joint Secretary, EC.

The new measures will be implemented first in five districts of Morang, Makwanpur, Kaski, Banke and Kailali before they are made operational in other districts, phase wise.

The EC will send its trained team comprising such members as VDC secretary, Ward representatives, and individuals besides the involvement of NGOs, INGOs— door to door on a voters’ awareness campaign starting with the first fifteen districts, said Election officials."Political parties are doing a commendable help to us in the villages," said Sapkota.

Of the total of 1.43 crore voters, a large number of them remain ignorant of their rights to vote, said Sapkota. Booklets published by the EC for their education will be circulated among the masses shortly, he said.

Asked if Maoist hit areas have posed any threat to the free and fair elections, the EC officials said security was the responsibility of the government and the free and fair elections depend basically on the type of security management.

As regards the biggest obstacle faced by the EC, a total of thirty districts badly need laserjet printers. DANIDA, a Danish NGO had furnished all the election offices in those districts with the computers but the unavailability of printers has really delayed the process of readying the voters’ registration lists.

Vitamin A program begins

Post Report

KATHMANDU, April 19 - The two-day Nationaal Vitamin A Program organised by the Health Ministry, kicked off today at 72 districts across the country.

Under the program, more than three million children under five years are to be administered the Vitamin A capsules as a part of the government strategy to reduce child mortality, control eye diseases resulting from vitamin A deficiency and to encourage a better diet.

According to a press release issued here, children above six months and below five years are administered the Vitamin A capsules during April-May and October-November every year in the districts where National Vitamin A Program is under implementation.

Trans-border efforts for enviroanment stressed

Post Report

KATHMANDU, April 19 – Environmental experts from USA and South Asian region have called for trans-border efforts among South Asian countries in environmental management and water resources conservation.

Experts participating the Joint USAID-State Department’s South Asia Environment, Science and Technology Officers’ Conference here have also pointed out the urgent need to tackle issues related to water resources management, forest and land management, urbanization and energy. This was informed at a press conference held here Thursday to highlight the five-day conference, which is scheduled to conclude Friday.

Talking to newsmen, David McCauley, one of the consultants involved in commissioning an environmental report focusing on the region, called for integrated regional efforts to tackle the region’s worsening environment and energy related issues. He blamed growing population pressure as the major challenge and the factor behind the region’s depleting forest and fast diminishing water resources.