Five rebels killed, 21 suspects held

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KATHMANDU, Dec 21- Intensifying the attack on Maoist "terrorists", security forces have gunned down five Maoists and arrested 21 suspects yesterday across the country, said the press release issued here today by the Defence Ministry.

In Bhirkot, Gorkha district, three rebels were shot dead by the joint security forces of Royal Nepal Army (RNA) and Armed Police Force(APF) when they attempted to break the security cordon, according to the release.

Those killed by the security forces have been identified as Radhika Adhikari, team commander of rebels’ military team, Kopila Kumal, rebels’ squad commander and another rebel with a same name Kopila Kumal.

The release also said that other remaining deceased have been identified as Madan Gurung and Shyam Sundar Adhikari. They were shot dead by the security forces while attempting to escape from the security cordon.

According to the release, security forces have also seized 13 guns and explosive materials from Gharti Gaon, Rolpa district .

Altogether 21 suspects have been arrested from six different districts namely Dhading, Makwanpur, Sarlahi, Dhankuta, Kathmandu and Gulmi, the release also said.

Child labour is cruel alright, but who is to take care of the freed children?

By Tashi Dolma Thinley

KATHMANDU, Dec 21 - Twelve-year-old Shivam leans on an electric pole near a garbage dump in
the main street of Newroad, emptily blowing smoke rings as he tells of a life that has been excruciatingly tough.

When he was back home in Humla, his days revolved around a bhatti (shanty liquor shop) that his parents were running. There he had his fill of drunkards, junkies, and brawls. Humla was a nightmare for the boy barely into his teens.

Then Kathmandu beckoned with the promise of a job in a carpet factory where his parents had once worked. His parents had told him that there were hundreds of kids like him working at the factory. Little did he know that things had changed.

Under pressure from child rights groups and with some carpet-buying countries not willing to buy a product that has used child labour, the government last year had got the carpet owners to lay off the children from these factories.

When the boy went to the Kathmandu factory, he was told there were no jobs for kids like him. The factory owner, like many other employers, was compelled to toe the line of anti-child labour activists.

‘I left home thinking that the carpet factory would hire me, but they told me the authorities did not want people of my age to work. It might be a good thing done by the government, but where does it leave people like me?’ asks a desperate Shivam.

Indeed, where did that leave him? On the Kathmandu streets and begging...

There are now hundreds of children like Shivam rag-picking and begging on the country’s streets after the authorities bowed into international pressure and conventions that child labour ought to be gradually eliminated. These children find jobs hard to come by, and there are not many organisations working towards getting these kids a shelter, decent education, and all the other things of a normal childhood.

"It’s not merely enough to stop child labour, it’s absolutely essential that these child labourers are given all the facilities that can help them fend for themselves in adulthood," says a child rights activist.

Shivam couldn’t have agreed more. He says poignantly, "This world is so unrealistic, they speak against child labour and then we find that that we have nothing to eat."

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Children says that all actions affecting children should place priority on what is in the best interest of the children involved. But in Nepal’s reality, the anti-child labour drive seems to have done more harm than good to the working children.

"We need to be far more sensitive to what actually works for children and more sophisticated in planning our actions. The Nepali government has failed to develop any kind of infrastructure for the rehabilitation of street children, and even most of the INGOs and NGOs have also failed," says Sumnima Tuladhar, information chief at the INGO CWIN (Child Workers in Nepal).

What has happened in many cases of children being denied work, is that they are now increasingly becoming vulnerable to a world of violence, thievery, abject neglect, sexual exploitation and chemical addiction.

The new awareness about barring children from working has also meant that in many cases children are employed in the ‘backyards’, hidden from public glare. This also means that there is nobody to ensure a decent wage for them, nor are their living conditions anything to write home about.

Thirteen-year-old Ramu two years back used to get Rs 40 a day working in the sooty kitchen of a tea stall, but now that wage has come down to 15. He says he can’t ask the owner for his earlier pay because the owner thinks that by continuing to hire him he is doing the boy a favour.

But even with the concerted campaign to stop children from working, CWIN figures say there are around 2.6 million child labourers in Nepal, with around one million of them involved in what are called "worst forms of child labour".

Nepal, signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Children, has pledged that by the year 2005, atleast the worst forms of child labour will be eliminated. But the question to be asked is: If that happens at all, who will take care of these freed children, and where will they go?

Will they all be emptily blowing smoke rings like Shivam near a garbage dump?

Racket to give away forest land exposed

By Bikas Thapa & Binod Bhandari

BIRATNAGAR, Dec 21 - It has come to light that the government-formed Squatters Problem Resolution Commission (SPRC)—now dissolved—had planned to register about 560 bighas of forest land in Morang, known as char kose jhadi, in the names of more than 900 displaced families bowing to pressure from well-placed politicians.

The defunct commission has been found to have exchanged letters with the Land Revenue Office and the Land Measurement Office regarding the registration of the forest in the names of the said families.

The SPRC, headed by then Minister of State for Land Reforms and Management, Mohammed Aftab Alam, had instructed the branch office of the Land Measurement Office at Belbari to register the resource-rich forest in the name of these people about six months ago.

Asked about the legal status of the SPRC instructions, Chief of the District Forest Office, Ambika Prasad Regmi, said that forest land can not be handed over to individuals and would be deemed null and void if found so. Regmi also said that the DFO had earlier written letters thrice to the district-level committee of the SPRC warning against handing over the lush forest to the individuals. These 900 families were displaced from their villages located on the banks of the River Kosi when India built a barrage over the river some 36 years ago.

Government records reveal that the displaced people had been compensated by the Indian government as per the agreement reached on the barrage between Nepal and India in 1954. The people had to be relocated elsewhere as the areas they were living in, would have been submerged following the construction of the Kosi Barrage.

Sources close to the DFO said that the conspiracy of taking away the forest area in Morang was plotted soon after some areas in Sunsari and Saptari districts were converted into the Kosi Tappu Wildlife Reserve about 36 years ago.

When asked to comment on the legal status of the forest land being distributed to the people affected by the Indian-built Kosi Barrage, then Central Chairperson of the high-level SPRC, Sailaja Acharya, had said that she did not act on it as it was deemed illegal.

The sources also said that the Morang District SPRC had no mandate to register the forest area in the name of the people. Some local politicians having access to the government had assured them of providing forest land in return of a hefty amount of kick-back, said the sources.

No action against press, says Minister

KATHMANDU, Dec 21 (PR)- Minister for Information and Communications Jaya Prakash Gupta said that the government would not take action against any professional journalists.

Minister Gupta’s comments follows concerns by the media over the recent arrest of two journalists and reports that authorities are looking for more journalists who have gone into hiding.

"The government will not suspend registration of any newspaper during the period of emergency and no actions will be taken against any professional journalists," Minister Gupta said today. "If any actions needs to be taken then it should be the civil administration that needs to be involved."

Concerns have been raised that the detained journalists were questioned by the military immediately after their arrests earlier this week. They were detained without any warrants.

"As far as possible there will not be and should not be any action taken against the press and there should be no action or arrests without a warrant," Minister Gupta said.

He said that since the state of emergency was not just a new situation for the government but for the civil society, judiciary and even the media, it was the duty of all to act responsibly during this time.

"There may have been some incidents (action on the media) but the government is cautious," he said. "The government has not taken a stand against the press because of one particular incident (the arrest)."

Speaking at the programme organized by the Press Chautari, President of Federation of Nepalese Journalists Suresh Acharya said the government needs to be clear on how to deal with the journalists at the time of emergency.

"In the manner the government is behaving with the media and even mentally torturing, the consequences could be negative for the government," Acharya said. Chairman of the Press Council Harihar Birahi said that thought the government had said the army would be used only against the "terrorists", the press too has come directly or indirectly under their actions.

Chairman of the newly formed Media Society Puskar Lal Shrestha questioned the government if the committee formed by the government to investigate foreign investment in media was just a smoke screen.

"The committee had been given 15 days to complete its task but days after it was constituted they are still looking for mandate from the government," Shrestha said.

In reply Minister Gupta said the time limit was not the question but a discussion was needed to resolve the issue and find if there had been any laws violated and how new laws could be made to govern the issue.

Deuba lets it go against Koirala

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BUTWAL, Dec 21– Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Friday fired a salvo at his predecessor and bete noire, Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala, by terming his call for consensus for broad national alliance as an untimely ploy to grab power.

On Thursday, Koirala even indicated that he was open to the formation of national government under the alliance he had been proposing of late. Joining the issue today, PM Deuba said, "Consensus is not needed in the game for power." The Prime Minister was speaking at the inauguration of industrial exhibition here today.

Deuba said at a time when the army and the police were battling the Maoist "terrorists", it was inopportune to raise controversy over power. "In democracy, consensus should be sought on the basis of programmes and policies and not on sharing of power."

He further said that national consensus was needed to root out corruption, defeat terrorism and social and economic reforms, adding that all political parties would be consulted for the purpose.

In the thick concrete jungle, wood is dead

By Razen Manandhar

KATHMANDU, Dec 21 – Nepal might be a country known for its forest wealth, stretching from the east to the west, but it is seldom these days that people build houses using wood. One of the reasons they give is that timber is more expensive than concrete, cement and iron rods.

Devendra Dangol, the chief of Urban Development Department of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, says that out of the over 3,200 houses being built in the capital presently, over 90 per cent are using concrete as the base material.

"The house owners feel proud to have a dhalan (concrete) house. I don’t know whether it is necessary at all, but all the masons and consumers seem to prefer using concrete to wood and other local materials for building houses," says Dangol.

Architect Sharosh Pradhan of SP and Associates says he does not use timber in his construction work because it is too costly. "When we suggest timber for structural use such as beams and columns, the cost gets doubled," he says.

Quality timber is available in the market at prices ranging from Rs 250 to Rs 1000 per cubic feet.

According to workers at the Timber Corporation of Nepal (TCN), the price of timber grows not because of its scarcity or rising demand but because of the bureaucrats and the "commission game" that has been going on for decades in the TCN and other related government bodies.

"The dealers, whether private or government staff, have to pay a specific price to the government as royalty, which is actually very low. Then different parties claim the contract to cut timber at a particular area. For this, these parties have to bribe the officers. In the long process of passing from one contractor to another, the price of timber increases," said a TCN employee. He also added that the government could earn as much as Rs 440 million from the unused timber lying around in different parts of the country.

But Professor Sudarshan Raj Tiwari, the former Dean of the Engineering Faculty at the Tribhuvan University, says the low use of timber has also got to do with the fact that increasingly, the architects are in favour of concrete buildings.

"Most of them have studied in Western countries and are taught about using new materials for building houses. They love to experiment with what they have been taught, and there is a tendency to show off as ‘foreign-returned’," says the Professor.

"Concrete structures are not necessary for small houses. Wood is strong enough for a house of 3-4 floors, and we are indeed rich in wood resources," he says.

Programme Manager of WWF, Ukesh Raj Bhuju, says there are both positive and negative sides in the case of using either wood or cement for house constructions. "We need to cut trees to build wooden houses, and in the case of concrete, we have to put up with smoke of cement factories," says Bhuju.

The general thinking is that hard wood such as Sal are expensive or difficult to procure. But the fact is the government has quite a big quantity of wood lying chopped in jungles or timber depots unsold.

Harishankar Shrestha, the General Manager of Timber Corporation of Nepal, says there are choices of wood, and clients can reduce the cost by 50 per cent if they choose "second class" wood which is "not bad" for buildings.

The Joint Secretary at the Ministry for Forest and Soil Conservation and Spokesman Uday Raj Sharma also says that scarcity of timber is not the reason for the mushrooming of concrete houses. "Millions of cubic feet of timber are decaying in the jungles and in the depots of TCN. There must be some other reason for people not using timber these days," says Sharma.

A recent report, Forest Resources of Nepal (1087-1998), states that the country has a wealth of 108 million cubic feet of Sal trees, the most preferred species of wood for strong structures and the one which has the largest reserve among the eight types of "economic class" trees.

Higher education abroad just got more expensive

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KATHMANDU, Dec 21 - Going abroad for higher education has just got a little more expensive. The government has begun charging a fee to all the students seeking foreign exchange permission from the Education Ministry.

The hundreds if not thousands of students who leave home every year to pursue higher education at various countries need to apply with the Ministry before getting permission to exchange foreign currency to pay for tuition, housing and other expenses.

The Nepal Rastra Bank would then only issue a draft in the name of the institute to cover expenses for half the year. The permit would have to be sought again after six months.

Now, the Ministry will charge Rs. 1,000 for the foreign exchange permission, another Rs. 1,000 to get a letter of no objection from the government that is required by many institutes abroad and to move from one college to another, an application to the Ministry would cost Rs. 500.

"We began charging the fee less than a month ago after it was approved by the Cabinet and the money will be deposited by the student right into the state coffers," said Sambhu Prasad Lohani, chief of the Scholarship Department at the Education Ministry.

In the past, such letters were issued by the Ministry without charging the students any fees which officials say was adding work load to the already strained department.

"But now only genuine student will apply for the document unlike in the past when people just sought those documents for no specific reasons," Lohani said. "This would not just help collect some revenue but would also help us maintain record on the students going abroad."

The government estimates revenue of Rs. 4.6 million from this new arrangement. Fees would not be charged for the students who go abroad on scholarships.

A consent letter has to be also signed by the guardians of the students now so that the Ministry has on record the names and addresses of the relatives.

Ministry records show that 1,690 students traveled to various nations last year to pursue studies and obtained the permit from the government for foreign exchange. The United Kingdom topped the list with 639 students while 281 went to the USA, 227 to Australia and 99 to China.

The list does not include those who went to India as the number could be in hundreds or even thousands but since there is no permission required to exchange Indian currency, the students do not bother applying with the Ministry.

A committee headed by the Education Minister with representation from the Foreign and Finance Ministries, Nepal Rastra Bank and National Planning Commission meets every year to finalize policy of providing foreign exchange facilities to the students going abroad.

Joint secretaries' writ petitions annulled

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KATHMANDU, Dec 21- Supreme Court today annulled writ petitions filed by almost a dozen of joint secretaries of different ministries. Joint secretaries had filed the petitions alleging the government’s decision of giving promotion to 17 officials as illegal.

The secretaries had filed writ petitions about eight months ago alleging that those promoted was incompetent and unqualified.

Petitioners have been claiming that government had promoted officials against the tradition of promoting on the basis of working capacity. However, the government has been saying that the decision was made in accordance to the Civilian Act (2055).

Petitioners had laid stress on the need of promoting officials on the basis of seniority, experience, training and academic qualifications.

The joint bench of justices Krishna Jung Rayamajhi and Ram Nagina Singh held that the recommendations of the promotion committee cannot be judged illegal.

A five-member team headed by senior advocate, Basudhev Dhungana pleaded for petitioners. Similarly, Badri Bahadur Karki headed the six member team that pleaded against the petitioners.

Passed out in 980, certificates in Jan 2002!

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KATHMANDU, Dec 21 – This is straight out of a Believe-It-Or-Not-Series. The lakhs of students who finished their intermediate in the last two decades will finally receive their original certificates from the Tribhuvan University this January. In this category are 3,50,000 students who took their exam way back in 1980.

Most of these students will of course have no use for these certificates to be issued by the TU Controller’s Office since they are already in the professions. Some of them have become doctors, engineers, forest officials and the like.

Meanwhile, the Controller’s Office today revealed that 10,200 students for the last two decades have been annually repeating their exams for various degrees hoping finally for a pass.

What triggered the sudden decision by the Controller’s Office to issue the original certificates, is not clear. Some say it is because complaints have been received from Nepali students applying for Indian colleges that the colleges were not happy with the provisional certificates which look like "grocery bills".

"After we received complaints from our students seeking admission in India that the certificates we issued to the certificate-level students looked fake, we have decided to issue them the original ones," said Krishna P Pyakurel, Deputy Registrar at TU.

But that hardly explains the decades’ delay in issuing the original certificates. The Controller’s Office on Friday, announcing the decision to issue the certificates, blamed the 2028 Education Bill for the delay, saying that after Bill came into effect, the campuses were given a certain amount of autonomy in conducting exams and issuing certificates.

"The fault also lies with our back-paper system where students come like tourists and fill the exam form, sometimes ten times just to get through an exam," said officials at the TU Controller’s Office.