Unplanned security expenses exceed Rs 500m in one month

By Prem Khanal

KATHMANDU, Dec 26 –  The non-budgetary security expenditures caused by the declaration of the State of Emergency has already exceeded more than Rs. 500 million, leaving the government with no option but to slash down the expenditures on other topics.

Though the total budget allocated for security purposes was Rs. 10.31 billion in this fiscal year, it has already exceeded by more than Rs. 500 million, a highly placed source at the Ministry of Finance (MOF) told The Kathmandu Post today. "Going by this trend, the overall security budget could surge up to Rs. 15 billion at the end of the current fiscal year."

This extra budgetary expenditure occurred in the last one month, after the government declared the emergency and began to spend without any proper plans, the source said.

The sources, however, said that the MOF is still not in the position to pin point the exact security budget required for the rest of the current fiscal year. "We have received various security expenditure proposals but it is too early to comment on the specific size of this budget due to which we are facing difficulties in preparing supplementary budget," the Ministry sources added.

The MOF is in the final stage of preparing the supplementary budget, which could be announced by mid-January. "We have almost finished all the necessary procedures and the final budget can be produced within a week of notice once the security budget is finalised," he said.

The proposed supplementary budget will raise the limitation of internal borrowing set by the bill to raise internal debt. The bill for the current fiscal year has authorised the government to raise Rs 9 billion at the maximum. "Given the situation, the limit of the internal borrowing would be raised and some of the development expenditures would be diverted towards the regular expenditures to finance the growing security expenses," said the source.

Plunging revenue is another main cause for the widening mismatch between expenditures and sliding government revenues, creating a major problem to the national economy. Experts point that the revenue growth rate for the current fiscal year could remain at around 8 per cent against over 18 per cent witnessed last year.

Continued decrease in import, which contributes one third of the total revenue and the decrease in excise duty collection due to record-low production of liquors are the major causes for poor performance of the revenue collection.

The government in its budget for the current fiscal year had targeted to accumulate Rs. 60.25 billion, which is around Rs. 11 billion more than the proposed regular expenditure.

"With the increased security expenses, the total regular expenditure could go to around Rs 55 billion, which could be equal to the overall revenue collection if we achieve 8 per cent revenue growth rate," a Ministry official said requesting anonymity.

MOF sources also said the budget division of the ministry has asked the revenue division to recommend necessary steps to curb the slumping revenue collection and to present a possible amount of collection in the changed context. The revenue division has also been asked to examine other potential areas for additional revenues.

Besides searching new sources of revenue collection and seeking more foreign assistance, the government has also started to take measures to cut its own expenditures.

"We have already issued necessary direction to the entire Offices of Finance Comptroller to cut expenses by 25 per cent in solely government finance projects," said Dr. Madhav Prasad Ghimire, Chief of the Budgetary Division of the Ministry. "However, such cuts will be limited to 10 per cent in the case of the public health related expenditures."

Beside the flat cut of 25 per cent in the overall expenditure, the government has also taken some tough measures to slash in its regular expenditures. The budget allocation to the least priority development projects has already been frozen and the foreign visits by the government employees have already been cut down.

Two killed in accidental blast

Post Report

KATHAMNDU, Dec 26 – Two boys of a family on Tuesday evening died instantly in an accidental bomb explosion at Dakalkhet village of Amargadhi Municipality-1 in the northern frontier district of Dadeldhura, according to the District Administration Office (DAO).

The boys, killed in the explosion have been identified as Dipendra Aeir, 15, and his brother Bhim Bahadur Aeir, 11, the sons of Prem Singh Aeir, who is a peon at the DAO.

Locals said that the boys had recovered the stray bomb in a nearby jungle of the village on Tuesday afternoon. Both of them died when they unknowingly tried to open it at their own home. Although details of the incident were yet to be known, police have started a thorough investigation on the explosion.

The police suspect that the bomb might have been left behind by the Maoist rebels a few weeks ago. The post-mortems of the deceased were carried out in a local hospital before performing their last rites.

Likewise, the Defence Ministry said one Maoist was killed by the army while trying to escape and five other Maoists and 59 suspected people throughout the country were arrested on Tuesday, said a statement issued by the ministry today.

In Dadeldhura district, besides arresting the Maoists, the army seized Rs 99,000 in Indian currency (more than Rs 150,000 Nepali rupees) and cassettes of "terrorists’ songs".

The army also seized socket bombs, pressure-cooker bombs, 100 kilograms of explosives, police uniforms and documents belonging to the "terrorists".

A total of 59 suspected persons were arrested from 11 districts on Tuesday, including 19 from Gongabu in Kathmandu.

Likewise, reports from Damauli said that the army has started aerial patrolling in Tanahun district where the Maoists activities have escalated in recent times.

After three soldiers were killed in land-mine blasts in the nearby Lamjung village, the army has started its search operation in Tanahun after being tipped off by informers that Maoist militia might have entered the district.

The army has kept 110 suspects under house arrest for investigation, reports from nearby Pokhara said.

Similarly, reports Nepalgunj said that Maoists ooted 200 quintals of paddy from the house of one Dilliraj Rijal of Manau-3 village in Bardiya district on Tuesday.

Likewise, reports from Chautara said that the Maoists shot dead a Nepali Congress worker Netra Bahadur Dhungana today.

Death toll: 523 Maoists, 97 security personnel

Of child labour, trafficking, AIDS...

By Suresh Jha

KATHMANDU, Dec 26 (RSS) - Lack of child rights and quality education for children in the South Asia region is leading to growing problems of child labour, malnutrition, girl trafficking and dreadful diseases like HIV/AIDS.

These kinds of problems have been growing in the region due to the lack of concrete steps and commitment to resolve these common problems of the countries of South Asia.

According to UNICEF data, 160,000 children in South Asia under fifteen years are affected by HIV/AIDS.

Out of 130 million children orphaned by HIV/AIDS worldwide, 125,000 are from South Asia.

The unicef statistics show that one out of every three young boys or girls aged between 15 to 24 in the world are infected by HIV/AIDS. the same statistics shows that a majority of the children between 15 to 19 years of age who live as street children, are orphans, or are working as child labour have been infected by the disease as a result of drug abuse and sexual exploitation.

So far 149 persons have died from HIV/AIDS in Nepal and 2109 persons have been found to be infected by the disease till November. But the concerned health specialists estimate that the number of HIV/AIDS infected persons in the country is about 30,000 due to a number of reasons.

It may be recalled here that it was in 1984 that the first international Non-governmental Organizations’ child rights declaration was made.

Concern for child rights grew worldwide after the the United Nations general assembly adopted the global child rights declaration in 1989. Nepal also showed its commitment to child rights by signing the child rights convention on September 14, 1990.

Although Nepal began to pay attention and give importance to child rights and welfare issues in the ensuing days while formulating its policies and plans, there have been no marked improvement in the status of the children in the country.

According to the Nepal labour force survey prepared by the international labour organization, 1.7 million children out of the total 6,225,000 children between 5-14 years in Nepal are engaged in economic activities. Of them, 250,000 are estimated to be engaged in menial or hazardous work.

Similarly, the number of children suffering from malnutrition is also growing day by day in Nepal.

As per a nationwide survey on malnutrition conducted in 1975, 48.5 percent of those surveyed were found to be suffering from acute malnutrition while 6.6 percent were found to be suffering from immediate malnutrition. the multi-index survey carried out in 1997 showed 53 percent children suffered from acute malnutrition and 16 percent from immediate malnutrition.

The South Asian human development report published in November 2000 has shown that the literacy rate of Nepali women was 21 percent, the lowest in South Asia. Maldives has the highest women’s literacy rate in the region. Three out of every five women in South Asia are illiterate. Likewise, the data shows four in every five women in Nepal and three in every four women in Pakistan are illiterate.

The report, which was released in Nepal, states that 480 mothers died in every 100,000 live births.

Likewise, 208,000 women die every year in South Asia due to abortion and pregnancy-related problems.

Maitighar corner to get exotic look with mandala, stupa and water spouts

By Razen Manandhar

KATHMANDU, Dec. 26 –  The traditional artisans of the Valley’s Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts have always been competing with each other in their field since ages. But, for the first time, they are joining hands to create an artistic structure to replace the concrete structures at the Maitighar junction.

About two dozen artisans from around the Valley are working day and night to finish this traditional structure to decorate the two-ropani-land at Maitighar, which has just been cleared for the preparation of the upcoming SAARC Summit.

Kathmandu Metropolitan City is working on a war footing to construct an eye-catching landscape with a 64X64 feet Astamangala Mandala, a Stupa and traditional Dhunge Dhara (waterspout), giving a luxurious look to the corner.

"We are doing our best to complete this project before the SAARC Summit," said Padma Sundar Joshi, co-director of Kathmandu Valley Mapping Project of KMC. "And I believe, it will be completed by that time."

The project team is also thinking of constructing a view tower nearby, as the beauty of the colourful Mandala will not be seen from the surface.

According to the technicians of Astra Development Network Pvt Ltd, the oval-shaped land which lies in the middle of the corner will have a Mandala on a dome in south west, a set of three water spouts in south-east and a stupa on a hillock in North.

A dozen of technicians are making the base for the Mandala with around 14,000 kg of iron at Radha Structure and Engineering Works (RSEW) at Thimi, Bhaktapur.

"We have never done such a huge and artistic job before," said Ghanshyam Poudel, the technical director of (RSEW). "But most of the things will be completed within a week."

He said KMC provided them a small drawing of the Mandala, out of which they produced a 100 per cent drawing with computer and the workers made fragments of iron rods from the drawing. "First we tried a one-eight portion of the whole Mandala on elevated surface and started working on the whole thing."

Now the portion of eight auspicious signs, "Astamangala", is being made in the factory but the cost of the whole project is yet to be estimated.

Chief of the KMC’s Public Works Department Jyoti Bhushan Pradhan said that after the iron base is placed on the surface, it will be filled with coloured materials on every chamber, divided by the iron rods. "It is just like making the traditional Mandala in religious occasions," he said. "The only different is that we are not using colour powder but something that will not be blown away with wind."

Artist Lok Raj Bajracharya and his sons at Gwarko of Lalitpur have already completed the construction of a five and a half feet high Stupa with four Dhyani Buddhas.

"As the KMC came here with the proposal a bit late, we will not be able to complete the water spouts before SAARC Summit," said Bajracharya. "But we have ready-made water spouts which will be temporarily fixed at the site."

NWPP slams Maoists

KATHMANDU, Dec 26 (PR) - Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party, NWPP today came down heavily on the Maoists for attacking its party activists across the country.

The accusations by NWPP of its party activists being looted, extorted and manhandled by the rebels came at a time when the government is all out to quell the Maoist movement.

"Our party activists across the country have been looted and manhandled for no reason" said Narayan Man Bijukche, Chairman of NWPP while addressing the press conference held at the capital. "Many party activists have been forced to comply with the rebels’ demand. They have been threatened to follow the violent path adopted by the rebels." added Bijukche.

Dahal invents traffic signal for the blind

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Dec 26 – The National Federation of the Disabled-Nepal held a press conference in the capital today to announce the launch of Ramesh Dahal’s invention which will help blind people cross traffic intersections safely .

Dahal has created a traffic light, which not only has the normal red and green signals, but also a sound system which alerts blind people while crossing the road. Dahal says it took him almost five months to invent the gadget.

"I used to feel ashamed to hold a stick after I became blind and then there was this incident when I fell after being pushed while attempting to cross the road," said Dahal. This was the incident that spurred him on to "do something to help the blind".

"I want people to realise that blind people are also capable of performing tasks like any ordinary human being," he told his audience.

32-year-old Dahal lost his vision six years back after he suffered an infection in the eyes and could not avail of proper treatment due to lack of finances. "I could see a little till a few months back but after I got another infection in the kidney, I lost sight completely," said Dahal.

Dahal is now doing his Intermediate in Commerce, and before his "world got filled with darkness’, he was working as a science teacher in a boarding school in Gothattar, his hometown.

"Dahal is handicapped physically but very talented mentally," said Munishwor Pandey, President of the Federation, on the occasion. "He refused to accept any monetary help from us and was determined to do everything on his own and we can see now that he has been successful in his attempt".

Pandey also accused the government of doing nothing to help and encourage such talents even in the case of disabled persons. "We have always been putting forth proposals before the government for assistance in such cases but to no avail," he said.

"Even in Ramesh’s case the government officials showed very little interest. In the beginning they called his invention a noisy equipment which would be very disturbing. Only after much persuasion, did the Department of Roads agree to check it out," added Pandey.

After Dahal’s invention is accepted by the Department of Roads, it is expected to begin operation from coming Sunday, December 30, initially at the Exhibition road.

Clarifications sought from two ministers, CWC member

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Dec 26 – The ruling Nepali Congress (NC) has sought clarifications from two ministers and a Central Working Committee (CWC) member alleging them of giving statements that are against the spirit of the party.

Minister for Information and Communications Jaya Prakash Gupta, Minister for Children, Women and Social Welfare Rajendra Kharel and CWC member Narhari Acharya were issued the letter by the NC’s central office. Sources in the party said the letters were issued with the approval of party President Girija Prasad Koirala but initiated by Assistant General Secretary Govind Raj Joshi.

Both Gupta and Kharel are close to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and the anti-Koirala camp while Acharya has been drifting away from the Koirala camp in the recent Months. In the letter to Minister Gupta, he has been asked to clarify if he had given a statement saying Koirala sees the fall of Prime Minister Deuba as his opportunity to catapult himself to power.

While Kharel has been questioned for his statement where he reportedly said that Koirala should take sanyas (retire) and he should be sent to Rachi. Rachi in India is known for medical facility for mentally ill people.

Acharya is charged with the allegations that he went outside the boundaries set by the party for stating that the property of the King should be nationalized and there should be a referendum on whether there should be amendments in the Constitution.

The three have been asked to hand in a written answer within a week clarifying if they made the statements, if the statements made were outside the boundaries of the party and if it would have negative effects on the party. The action against the trio comes at a time when an appeal by Koirala for a "broader democratic unity," is dragging the party into rifts in the party.

Koirala’s opponents in the party say the call for unity is just an attempt to oust Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba from power and get himself back into his old job he held for over a year, while Koirala aides say there is no hidden motive behind the appeal.