PM Deuba denies innocents killed in RNA operations

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KATHMANDU, Dec 10 – Just when opposition leaders have begun to air misgivings about the state of emergency imposed two weeks ago, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has vowed that the emergency powers will not be misused. 

And for the first time in the last two weeks, the prime minister also categorically denied that any innocent civilian has been killed in the anti-Maoist operations conducted by the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) and police forces.

"No single innocent person has been killed since the RNA’s mobilization," Deuba declared categorically addressing a sombre function held to mark the 53rd World Human Rights Day. The function was organized by the Human Rights Organization of Nepal (HURON). "I will be compelled to take serious action if innocent people are killed by RNA. Those taken into custody are in good health."

But even those assertions have failed to cut ice with the opposition, mainly the main opposition CPN (UML) which is now arguing that imposition of emergency rule was unnecessary.

At the same function, main opposition leader and UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal argued that the army mobilization would only aggravate the present fluid situation instead of solving it. "Declaring the state of emergency will not solve the problem," Nepal said. "If the country is to be free from terrorism, it is necessary to identify its root cause."

Bam Dev Gautam, leader of the CPN (ML), a splinter of the UML, also came down heavily against the imposition of emergency. "Nobody will be able to live in peace after the mobilization of army," he said, adding, "If the RNA starts committing atrocities against innocent people, we will be forced to protest vigorously against its mobilization."

Other communist leaders also continued in the same vein in another human rights related programme in the capital Sunday – this one organized by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

CPN-UML leader KP Oli, speaking at the NHRC function, said that the government which has a mandate from the people should seriously protect the rights of the people. Oli emphasized on the need to end the state of emergency soon, otherwise, he warned, the government will have to face "grave consequences."

"If government makes slightest mistake then democracy may not recover from the present crisis," Oli said. "We are celebrating Human Rights Day at a time when democracy has been wounded". He pointed out that the government could have mobilized army without declaring the state of emergency.

Likewise, speaking on the occasion, NHRC Chairman Nayan Bahadur Khatri said that the present crisis was mainly brought about by politics "not heading in the right direction." Political scientist Lok Raj Baral pointed out that the present crisis came about because "there were no changes in the development field, which could deliver to the people."

Maoists suffer heavy losses in Salyan, Baitadi

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KATHMANDU, Dec 10 – Royal Nepal Army soldiers killed 16 more Maoist rebels in separate incidents, the Defense Ministry said here today in a statement. Two soldiers also died in the skirmish.

Maoist "terrorists" attacked a contingent of soldiers stationed to guard a telecom repeater station at Kapurkot of Salyan district Sunday night. The troops managed to repulse the attack in a five-hour battle, the Ministry said.

"Eleven dead bodies of Maoist terrorists were found at the site," the statement said adding that the rebels had carried away many of their dead and wounded comrades. Two soldiers who were defending the sensitive installation were also killed in the fire-fight, the Ministry said.

However, our reporter in nearby Dang, citing security sources, reported that the army believes more than 40 Maoists could have died in the Salyan skirmish. The soldiers have stepped up patrols leading up to Kapurkot and armoured vehicles have been brought out on the highways, according to our reporter.

Dang is the operational base of the Royal Nepal Army which has been deployed in Maoist-infested areas of western Nepal since emergency rule was imposed late last month. Reports from Dang said that transport movement on the Dang-Salyan road due to ambushes set at several places by the Maoists.

Meanwhile, in another incident early Monday, security forces trapped a group of Maoists

at Durgamandau village of Baitadi district and killed five more "terrorists," the Defence Ministry said. It said that the rebels were trapped in the army’s cordon and search operation. Two Maoists were also nabbed in the same incident.

In a related development, soldiers have arrested 26 suspected "terrorists" alongwith nine mules loaded with parts and ammunition at Khara village of Rukum district. The soldiers suspect the arrested persons to have been involved in the vicious attack on a telecom repeater station at Ratomate of Rolpa district Saturday night. According to army sources, extra force has been dispatched to Rolpa from Dang.

Soldiers also found and cordoned off an arms and ammunition "factory" in Baglung district. The Defence Ministry said that a huge cache of locally made arms and ammunition, as well as combat dresses and medicines were seized by the soldiers. Three persons were also arrested in the same incident.

An army contingent also arrested five persons with some arms and Maoist-related publicity material at Dhanpokhari of Lamung district yesterday, the statement said.

NRB to introduce more flexible monetary policy

By Ram Sharan Sedhai

KATHMANDU, Dec 10 - Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the central bank, is making preparations to announce a more flexible monetary policy with a view to enhance investment and economic activities by reducing cost of capital, as the economy passes through a slowdown.

The central bank is planning to announce the measure at a time when inflation is low and liquidity of the banking sector is decreasing, which is conducive to make the monetary policy more flexible.

A highly placed source in Nepal Rastra Bank said that the bank is announcing the measure in order to increase the flow of fund to the market within two weeks. However, the measure would not affect the depositors, the source added.

More flexible monetary policy is imperative at present as the industrial sector, import and export are passing through a difficult phase and the entire economy is undergoing slowdown, said Dr Tilak Rawal, Governor, Nepal Rastra Bank.

Now inflation is low, balance of payment (BoP) is also favourable and other monetary indices are also positive. So it is an opportune moment to introduce a more flexible monetary policy, said Governor Rawal.

"We reached to this conclusion after closely and constantly watching the economy and the monetary condition", said Dr Rawal.

However, banking experts argue that flexible monetary policy alone is not sufficient to combat the current recession. Former finance secretary and chairman of Bank of Kathmandu Thakur Nath Pant says though adopting flexible monetary policy may be appropriate in the current situation, but it will not bring desired benefits as the investment opportunities are limited.

Preparations are also on to remove the mandatory provision of spread rate. Currently, the banking regulation does not allow a difference of more than five per cent in spread rate, the difference between the interest on deposit collection and investment. Following the introduction of reduction in capital cost, the mandatory provision of spread rate holds no meaning.

For this, the bank is going to reduce the cash reserve ratio (CRR) and the loan loss provision will also be made flexible so that banks can invest the amount on certain conditions, adds the source. The economic slowdown has prompted the central bank to make the loan loss provision more flexible.

However, the central bank introducing new directives this fiscal year, had increased the amount of loan loss provision in keeping with the interest of the depositors. The central bank is also planning to cut interest rate of refinancing, which is currently 7.5 per cent, as the interest rates commercial banks have to pay to the market is almost the same.

So the NRB is trying to make the refinancing more attractive by reducing interest rates and it is expected to encourage the commercial banks for further investment, which will activate the market. It is an international practice to reduce interest rates on refinancing at a time of recession.

Currently, the urban inflation is 2.2 per cent, which is far below than the expectation of the current budget. Inflation was expected to touch five per cent this fiscal year. UP to five per cent inflation does not hurt the economy. Hence, the central bank has opted for adopting a more flexible monetary policy.

Presently, the liquidity of the commercial banks has also gone down. According to NRB, the liquidity of the commercial banks was Rs 45.64 billion by last year, which was to Rs 43.28 billion this fiscal year. This too has prompted the NRB to adopt more flexible monetary policy. The economic growth has been revised a four per cent in the current fiscal year while both export and export have gone down. During the first three months of the current fiscal year, total export dipped by 28.4 per cent.

‘Terrorism will be wiped out soon’

BHAIRAHAWA, Dec 10 (PR)– Home Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka on Monday claimed that in three months the Maoists would not be in a position to launch armed attack on the army and the police.

He also claimed that the joint army and police operation against the Maoists has been successful after the declaration of the State of Emergency. The Home Minister was speaking to the reporters at the Bhairahawa airport. He had gone to Taulihawa, district headquarters of Kapilvastu, to unveil a statue of late Bhawan Das Gupta, former philanthropist.

"We cannot say for sure that terrorism would be wiped out in three months or a year," said Khadka. "The Maoists will not be able to attack the organised police and the army; at best their bare existence might remain."

Replying to the reporters’ questions, Khadka said that there was no scope for peace talks with the Maoists until they returned the looted weapons. "This is my personal opinion. On the resumption of talks, no decision has been taken by the government, nor has the government talked to any one else."

The Home Minister also said that all the parties should support the government move to extend the emergency period by further three months by getting the proposal passed by a two-thirds majority.

The emergency that was imposed on November 23 would be valid for three months and would lapse if it were not ratified by the parliament with two-thirds majority. The ruling Nepali Congress does not have a two-thirds majority.

He revealed that Nepal has asked for helicopters from India and added that the Kingdom would buy weapons from any country that would supply them at a cheap rate. He named India, the US and Russia for the purpose.

When computers make their way to rural Nepal...

By Nitya Nanda Timsina

KATHMANDU, Dec 10 - Information Technology (IT) is now set to change rural Nepal. Dozens of villages in eight districts of the country are now in for a sea change with international donors set to introduce computers there.

At least 20,000 rural children in Lamjung, Rolpa, Solukhumbu, Dang, Gorkha, Tanahu, Dhading and Bajura district will not only have a glimpse of computer this week but also play with their keyboards. At the beginning they familiarise themselves with such programmes as MS-Word, Spreadsheet, Windows 95 in the beginning, and later on they will graduate to Internet, Multimedia and so on.

At least 73 public schools in eight of these remote districts will be provided with computers this week as part of a bridging-the-digital-divide programme. The divide is said to have left a large number of rural populations in Nepal functionally illiterate and cut-off from the benefits that Information Technology (IT) can provide. Thanks largely to Committee for Promotion of Public Awareness and Development Studies (COPPADES), a local non-profit organization that is taking the lead.

"We are incorporating the spirit and plans for a service-oriented hi-tech future for these villages," says Dikendra Kandel, Chief of COPPADES, which entered into an agreement with the World Computers Exchange, a US-based non-profit company, in October last year. "At least 20,000 students, poorest of the poor from these districts, are going to benefit from the project."

And preparations are already underway. So far the COPPADES and the Friends of Solukhumbu, another local organization have also trained the teachers from these eight districts in Kathmandu last May, who are now fully equipped to handle these courses not only for the students but also for the villagers, says Kandel.

This is not all. Other donors are also keen to support Nepal’s rural and underprivileged children. Jan P Maes, Trickle Up Programmes, a New York-based non-profit organization’s Programme Officer for Asia, however, feels that this is an uphill task. "To work with poor in Nepal is very challenging," says Maes, who is working on similar projects - such as literacy and skill development programmes - in rural Nepal for the last few years.

This aside, Maes’s organisation has been providing loans to villagers living on less than a dollar a day. With the loans the villagers take up small business ventures. "Many bigger organisations are struggling - with some success - to reduce poverty, Trickle Up is a kind of issuing conditional grants making small but significant headway in villages," he says.

Trickle Up Program has been in operation in Lamjung, Kaski, Chitwan, Kapilvastu and Jhapa in conjunction with local agencies for the last eight years, and has similarly helped the "poorest of the poor". The programme contributes up to US $ 100 to each household and with that money the beneficiaries undergo computer-related training and start businesses.

The organisation has also helped more than 16,000 Bhutanese refugees, who are living in India in harsh conditions and several other non-registered refugees in Nepal, said Kishore Rai, General Secretary of Human Rights Organization of Bhutan (HUROB), which obtains support from the agency.

It may sound like a miracle for many, but changes are palpable in the villages. "Villagers have started learning from books, newspapers and reading magazines," says Guru Prasad Chaudhary, a local of Kailali district, where Trickle Up has launched a number of programmes.

"Many villagers have established saving groups, co-operatives and have learn to read newspapers after a local organisation, Women Awareness and Vision Centre (WAVC), joined hands with Trickle Up Program in Kailali," Chaudhary adds.

Physically impaired Piriderson Sets out to conquer the world

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KATHMANDU, Dec 10 - His motive is to show the world equality between those who are able and those who are not. Vichia Piriderson of Thailand, who lost his right arm when he was just 15, is going to prove it by cycling around the world.

Piriderson, 41, may have lost his right hand in an explosion, but he never lost hope and carried on his ventures with determination. He went on to compete as an athlete in cycling, swimming and track and field events and even won a gold medal in swimming for the Seventh Far East and South Pacific Games held in 1999 in his homeland.

And now Piriderson is all set to conquer the world with his new venture. Nepal is the seventh country that he has paddled through. He has already spent a year cycling across Laos, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, China and Tibet and is now visiting Nepal. During his stay in Nepal, he helped organize a two-day training program on legal literacy for the disabled women here, which was held by disabled women’s groups of Nepal. The training held in the capital concluded today. He was felicitated in the program and presented with an appreciation and admiration certificate.

Dr. Nirmal Pandey, member of the National Planning Commission, said that women should not be discriminated in any way whether they are disabled or not. He added that the disabled people in today’s world should go hand in hand with the normal people. "Vichia surely sets an example for the rest of the people," he said.

Counselor of the Thai embassy Werayut Yoothongkam said that Piriderson was a person to be admired. "He can prove to the world that being handicapped is not a reason to get discouraged," he said. He mentioned that Thailand had won an international award this year for providing facilities to the disabled.

Piriderson said he has so far completed 15,000 kilometers of the trip and still has a long way to go. He aims to cover 42 countries within three years.

"Japan gives maximum privileges to the disabled in their country. The disabled people in Japan are looked after very well," said Piriderson. "Everyone should learn a lesson from the Japanese and treat the disabled in their country as normal human beings. I want to complete this campaign of mine to prove to the world that we are all equals," he added.

He is helping promote environmental protection by recommending people to travel by bicycle, a non-polluting vehicle.

Piriderson’s next cycling visit would be to India after which he will be cycling to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and 28 other countries around the world.