Cheap electricity production stressed

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KATHMANDU, May 18 - Leader of the main opposition party CPN(UML) Madhav Kumar Nepal has pointed out the need of producing cheap electricity in Nepal.

Addressing the 5th convention of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Employees Associations 2051 here today, Nepal highlighted the need to review power purchasing agreement (PPA) with Bhotekoshi and Khimti hydropower project, which are most expensive in terms of per unit price of electricity in Nepal.

" We must find ways to amend such mistakes" says he adding that greater care must be taken to check the price of electricity.

Referring to the various perennial problems in NEA, he blamed the ruling Nepali congress government for brewing institutional corruption.

"NEA can’t be taken in isolation while talking about corruption and it is there in the political level" blamed he.

Speaking at the occasion, Bishnu Bom Malla, Executive Director of NEA and various representatives of different employees associations highlighted the need of strengthening the NEA with the joint effort of management and employee.

Mid-day meal to students

DARCHULA, May 18 (PR) - More than 7,000 primary level students from this north-western frontier district will enjoy a mid-day meal at their respective schools from May 28.

All the students enrolled in 74 primary schools in 16 Village Development Committees out of the total 41 VDCs will be fed in the afternoon as a part of the programme to be jointly launched by World Food Programme (WFP) and the government.

Minister of State for Education, Dilendra Prasad Badu, recently initiated the mid-day meal programme by inaugurating its office in Khalanga, the district headquarters. The government has decided to implement the mid-day meal programme in 16 remote districts of the country. Other two hill districts - Bajhang and Bajura - from the far-western region have also been included in the WFP funded scheme.

Chief of the mid-day programme, Khagendra Raj Joshi, said that the programme was delayed by three months due to lack of logistic supports.

The rest of the 82 primary schools from 25 VDCs will be included into the programme by end of 2002, Joshi said.

Joshi said that main objective of the mid-day programme is to encourage parents to enrol their children at schools and reduce the drop-out rate from the primary level education.

‘ Settle petty cases in VDCs’

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RAJBIRAJ, May 18- In a district level interaction programme on Community Mediation held in Rajbiraj today most of the participants expressed the view that promoting institutional capacity of VDCs and other informal community organisations to mediate petty disputes would ensure access of justice to the poor and also reduce the backlog of cases in the court.

Inaugurating the programme, Sarada Pandit, the chief judge of Appellate court, Rajbiraj, pointed out that the community mediation programmes would promote rule of law. Dr. Bidur Osti, the director of Centre for Victims of Torture said that preventing petty disputes from escalating into grave crimes would help reform the penal system of the country.

The interaction programme was jointly organised by Centre for Victims of Torture, CIVET and human rights and Community Development Academy Nepal, Rajbiraj (HUCODAN). Judges from Appellate and district courts, CDO, senior Police officials, lawyers, DDC and VDC representatives and NGO workers were present at the programme.

Nepal acquires ICOM membership

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LALITPUR, May 18 - Nepal has become a member country of the International Council of Museums (ICOM). Nepal has become the 150th country to gain membership of the international organisation concerned with the development of museums and the museum profession world-wide.

The museum professionals today said that though the tradition of opening museum to the public stated over 50 years ago, the government has not yet formed an official definition of museums.

"The word museum is being misused by different entrepreneurs. There must be an organisation to stop it," said Jala Krishna Shrestha, the Chief of Patan Museum. He was addressing an interaction programme to mark the 24th International Museum Day.

Shrestha said that a national committee has also been formed recently to extend communication among the existing museums of the country and develop museum infrastructure by co-operation.

Lecturer Diwas Dhakal said cirriculum of postgraduate level of Culture at Tribhuwan Univesity emphasises musicology as a vast subject and is taught as a compulsory subject.

There are forty museums in the country, which have come into existence either in reality or in conception.

ICOM, the international non-government organisation, with over 15,000 members is in formal association with UNESCO and it receives support from UNESCo’s programme activity for museums and from public and private funds.

‘Missionaries lure locals for conversion’

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BIRGUNJ, May 18 - Policemen on Monday met with Christian missionaries in Thori, about 60 km west of here, the district headquarters, where their mission was to flush out Maoist rebels from the area bordering with India.

The policemen and the Chief District Officer, happened to see a large number of people gathered in a thatched-roof house where they were discussing Christianity. The policemen dashed to them and enquired about the motive of their gathering.

These converted Christian people did not stir, nor were they panicky with the sight of the security men. Rather some of the women participants replied politely, "Sir, we are here to discuss on Jesus Christ, the saviour of mankind. We are learning how to behave politely and how to be friendly with each other."

The authorities then discovered that Christianity was on the rise and missionaries were proselytizing people, taking advantage of their poverty and backwardness. No Maoists were visible around in the day time. They encountered with the people they had never expected.

The policemen resumed their way disgustingly. "We encountered with such people instead of what we were seeking after. All these are happening because of acute poverty," lamented Senior Superintendent of Police, Dipendra Bahadur Bista, on his way to other village.

Maoists have been expanding their organisational base in the entire Thori area, situated closed to the Nepal-India border and Royal Chitwan National Park, ever since the insurgency started six years ago.

Thori Village Development Committee Chairman, Uddav Sapkota, said that conversion into Christianity was more of a serious problem rather than that of the Maoist activities.

"There are more than 40 churches from Banderjhula to Thori, one church in a distance of one kilometre," Sapkota said. If the present situation continues for another 10 years, the people of this entire area will proselytize themselves into Christianity, he said.

Local leader of the ruling Nepali Congress, Brihaspati Shrestha, revealed the fact that the missionaries offered each person Rs 1,000 per month and a bicycle for his conversion into Christianity. This sort of temptation has lured even to a conservative Hindu who is financially poor but cannot resist the social environment he is living in, Shrestha said.

People from Nirmal Basti, Subarnapur, Birudhgadhi, Bagbanna and Harpur villages have been fast proselytizing themselves into Christianity because of financial temptation.

Commenting on the situation, former lawmaker representing the area, Ramesh Rijal, said, "Everything, even deep- rooted religious faith, can be bought easily by money in a poor society like ours." He added that this sort of temptation could be wiped out only by means of employment and providing them better living condition.

Villagers said that more than 500 people from three villages have changed their religion into Christianity over the last 15 years. Locals said there were no Christians in the area about one-and-a-half decades ago.

4 forestry officials feared abducted

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MANTHALI, Ramechhap, May 18 - Four employees, including a woman representing the Swiss Community Forestry Project, from the District Forest Office (DFO) are feared missing at Daduwa Village Development Committee for the last four days, according to the DFO. The VDC is located at one day trek from here, the district headquarters.

Those missing from the VDC are ranger Farman Miya Ansari, Satta Bahadur Magar, forester Kumod Adhikari and Anita Shrestha. All of the four had left for the VDC from Doramba VDC to organise a training on herbal plantation and its processing four days ago.

A DFO source suspected that the people must have been abducted by Maoist rebels. The source could not confirm whether they were conducting the conducting training and expressed his ignorance about their whereabouts for the VDC lacked communication facility.

"If they were not abducted by the rebels, they were due to arrive at the office by today," the source said.

Earlier, the rebels had released two employees from the District Court after holding them into their captivity for three days.

3 suspects in Raya’s house pillage held

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MAHOTTARI, May 18- Three persons were arrested recently in connection with Sunday’s incident of pillage in the house of Assistant Minister for Industries, Commerce and Supplies, Mahendra Kumar Raya.

The police, however, has not come to a final decision as to the motive behind the attack. "We’ve not concluded anything about the incident," said DSP Manohar Prasad Rijal. "We are still in the preliminary stage of investigations and therefore we can say nothing of the motive behind the incident: it might be the work of the Maoists, but of course, we can’t rule out the possibility of revenge and criminal factors behind the attack."

A group of 200 people, including 60 women, had looted 100 quintals of grains, about 110 grams of silver, 55 grams of silver, clothings, furniture and kitchen utensils from Raya’s house. There was nothing left in the house except little salt and vegetables.

However, the Acting VDC Chairman of Jamunia from where the police arrested two of the three men on suspicion, said that those arrested are entirely innocent. "The police, in fact, created an atmosphere of fear and terror as they arrived here for raids," he said. "The police didn’t spare even my house as they took to vandalising my property during my absence.

Where people drink liquor early in the morning

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HETAUDA, May 18- The booze trade in rural Hetaunda is untouched by the anti-liquor campaign in urban areas.

For one reason, the liquor trade is the only way of livelihood for many women in many VDCs like Manahari. Says a liqour vendor from Manahari, " All my six children depend on the trade for livelihood and education."

Married at 14, this lady from the Tamang community had no option but to go for selling liquor when her husband left her alone. "Anybody who tries to persuade me to give up the trade should take my children away and look after them. I’ll be happy to abandon the liquor trade if anybody comes up with a provision for my children."

Liquor vendors can be seen at many make-shift huts erected alongside the Mahendra Highway in rural Makawanpur. Most of these stalls belong to women who are either left alone by their husbands or have to supplement the income of their drunkard husbands.

Chief of the Women’s Development Office, Maheshwari Bishta, identifies the major problem plaguing the rural women as their husband getting drunk. "The men folk, moreover, are given to gambling who come back home only to beat up their wives and children," she says.

Other women activists agree with Bishta."Half of the women’s problems will automatically be solved if we could restrict drinking and gambling only," says Chief of Women’s Skill Development Center, Bishnu Ojha.

There are a few places in the district where people drink liquor instead of tea early in the morning. In Manahari bazar, for instance, 60 out of the 80 households live on the sale of liquor. A recent survey showed that 50 percent of the total grains produced in 3 VDCs of the district was used up for brewing liqour.

‘One rupee’ enough to honour a personality

By Ganesh Raj Acharya

KATHMANDU, May 18 - At a time when there is competition in establishing cash prizes of higher amounts with different titles, challenging the orthodox trend, one more award- giving fund has recently been established not to make one rich but to honour the person in the true sense. Yes, it is the fund of only one rupee.

Abhiyan Sahitya Pratisthan (ASP), an organisation working for protection and promotion of Nepali literature, has established the fund with only one rupee and a copper inscription. According to the ASP, the prize will be awarded annually to a writer, whose writing reflects and respects "ethical values and social responsibility" and who writes for the social service but not to make more money .

In the meantime, the ASP has also publicly announced Durga Lal Shrestha, litterateur of both Nepali and Newari languages, to be the recipient of this year’s prize.

"During the selection process, we thoroughly examined the activities of Shrestha and found that he has spent his whole life to the contribution of literature and he became a right person to be awarded," said Khagendra Sangraula, an eminent litterateur and member of a jury on the selection procedure.

Scholars believe, ever-increasing number of prize-giving institutions since the last decade has become a matter of serious concern. It has been the prime concern among the scholars that the sources of fund and many other undisclosed things have boomed and corrupted this decent field.

Though such institutions explain their rationale behind establishing such prizes by saying to empower Nepali literature and encourage litterateur for more service, the scholars doubt their intention and they say that it is for popularity.

This prize is peculiar from the rest of other prizes not only because it has a sum of only one rupee but also because it has also a system that there is no provision of getting approval from the recipient to award this prize.

"We will provide prize every year on the basis of record, history and contribution of the litterateur and so far acceptance or rejection of the prize is concerned, we do not bother whether the recipient will come to receive the prize or not," ASP said.

He said, "We cannot insist on accepting this prize but in lieu of the recipient’s refusal, we will organise a function to hand over the prize."

"This approach is a step to discourage such prize-giving funds established just to earn fame," observed noted litterateur Ashesh Malla.

property looted

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GAIGHAT, Udayapur, May 18 - A group of unidentified people looted property worth Rs 500,000 from the cloth shop of a local merchant at Beltar Bazaar on Thursday evening, police said. One person was injured due to the bullet fire by the bandits.

The armed gang robbed Rs 160,000 in cash, three and half tolas of gold, 115 killograms of silver and new clothes from Bakra Bahadur Khadka. The Bazaar is located about 20 km east of here, the district headquarters.

Chief District Officer Dev Narayan Yadav said Govinda Bhandari, a client to Khadka’s shop from Biratnagar, was wounded in his stomach after the looters opened fire while raiding the shop. Injured Bhandari has been rushed to BP Koirala Memorial Hospital in Dharan for treatment.

CDO Yadav said that police have cordoned off the major exit points to arrest the bandits.

Insane inmate languishing in jail

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SINDHULI, May 18- An insane person charged with murdering his father is languishing in the local Sindhuli jail for the last seven months for want of proper treatment

Sandip Koirala, a resident of Dumja-3, is being prosecuted at the District Court which has time and again asked the jail administration to send it a medical report on the condition of the prisoner.The jailer, Rajendra Shah, says, however, "We’ve not been able to honour the Court’s order for want of adequate budgets to get him checked up." He requested the Prison Management Department for budgets which, in turn, asked the jailer to ascertain the illness in order to receive the money.

Consequently, Koirala is getting more and more serious mentally. His behaviour with other jail inmates is abnormal, another serious problem for the administration.

Says Shah, "How on earth are we supposed to report on his mental condition? Neither do we have the technical manpower to check him up nor we have necessary budgets."

A jail inamate said,"It’s the government’s duty to treat him, not the right to end him up in prison."