Best wishes extended to Crown Prince, Crown Princess

KATHMANDU, Nov 11 (RSS) - Nepal Intellectuals Council organised a function here today to extend best wishes and congratulations to His Royal Highness Crown Prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev and Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Himani Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah on their being proclaimed crown prince and crown princess of the Kingdom of Nepal.

At the function, ex-prime minister Kirtinidhi Bista said as all the Nepalese people strongly believe that Nepal’s identity will be jeopardized in the absence of the institution of the crown the proclamation of his royal highness the crown prince has reassured the people about the future of the country.

Chakra Prasad Bastola of the Nepali Congress said that a well-educated royal family will further enhance the dignity of the country and the institution of the crown.

Radha Krishna Mainali of CPN-ML said proclamation of the crown prince on the basis of the constitution, our traditions and the present circumstances has put an end to the existing uncertainty.

Politician Rajeshwor Devkota reminded one and all of the historical fact that it is the Nepalese people who set up the institution of the crown and said that in a democracy it is not the crown that should take care of the people but vice versa.

Ex-minister Keshar Bahadur Bista described the institution of the crown as indispensable for maintaining the glorious tradition of nationalism and unity in a country that is small but rich in diversity.

Politician Shribhadra Sharma was of the view that as it would not be proper to let such important positions as crown prince and crown princess remain vacant for long the proclamation of the same on the basis of the constitution and tradition was but natural.

Ex-minister Dil Bahadur Shrestha said monarchy is a must for perpetuating democracy, national sovereignty and national integrity. Likewise, Kamal Shah said the proclamation of the crown prince has ensured the continuity of the long tradition of monarchy.

From the chair, council chairman Jit Bahadur Arjel stressed the need for all Nepalese to be serious about nationalism, the institution of the crown and democracy.

Bangladeshi cyclists in Kathmandu

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KATHMANDU, Nov 11 - Two Bangladeshi university-students have arrived Kathmandu on their way to world tour on bicycle to make the world aware of the pathetic situation of children working as child labours throughout the word.

Raiz Uddin Ahmed and Shah Alam, students from Jagannath University College, Dhaka, were currently in Nepal on their tour of forty countries with a slogan that "We want Child Labour Free World".

According to them, they will stay in Nepal for the next 10-15 days. They will hold discussion with organisations and social development organisations in Nepal.

The cyclists started their journey on November 2 and have finished the tour of India, according to Raiz and Shah "We have plan to finish the tour within two years," they said.

When asked what inspired them to undergo the world trade they said, "The situation of child labour is very pathetic and we want that the children to be as just children, not labour" adding "the youth have a great role to play to eradicate child labour in the world".

Acccording to them, they want to establish a "child trust" for the betterment of the children working as child labour in different parts of the world after they will complete the tour. According to International Labour Organisation there are 250 million children are working as child labour.

Mugu citizens seek help from Nepalis

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KATHMANDU, Nov 11- As the government has failed to provide necessary subsidy to the poor and remote district of the country, a Non Government Organization finally tried to collect help from the domestic sources so that the people of the unproductive district could find a beacon of hope.

To Nepali For Nepali Help-Committee (NNHC) have started a campaign of collecting second hand clothes, shoes, blanket and other things of daily use with a view of distributing them to the poor people living in the remotest district of Mugu.

NNHC disclosed it at a press conference held Sunday in the capital. According to NNHC, an organization consisting of INGOs, NGOs, social organization and private companies, it will collect the used clothes and send it to Mugu district. The organizers said the collected items would be sent to the fate-stricken remote district "as soon as possible".

Raju Karki, President of Human Rights and Environment Development Center, Mugu said that one Nepali should help another Nepali in anyway. "Nepali should help Nepali is out motto," he added.

The capital is moving towards the 21st century technology but the literacy rate of this Mugu is only 19 per cent and that is also a right of only men and women have little access to education.

"The life expectancy of this district is only of 36 years whereas the national figure mounts as much as 57 years," Karki said.

State minister for Local Development, Duryodhan Singh and Badri Narayan Basnet, Vice president of Social Welfare Council inaugurated the program.

Nepalbhasa Council gives away award, prizes

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KATHMANDU, Nov 11 - Senior politician and poet Hari Krishna Shrestha today distributed various prizes of Nepalbhasa Council to different persons for their contribution to the development of mother language literature, marking its golden jubilee.

Shrestha said each from the civilised community of the Newars has the duty to work for development of their motherlanguage and culture.

The council gave away the title of Bhasha Thuwaa to Madhav Lal Karmacharya, the academician of Royal Nepal Academy. The Chittadhar Sirpaa of Rs 25,000 to Lizaa Nepalbhsa Poetry Forum, Thakurlal Sirpaa of Rs 15,000 to Mangal Prasad Syasyaa and Motilaxmi Sirpaa of Rs 15,000 to Nnepalbhasa Misa Khala (Nepalbhasa Woman’s Association).

Nabin Chitrakar represented Lizaa Nepalbhasa Peotry Forum and Subarna Keshari Chitrakar represented Nepalbhasa Misa Khala on the occasion. The recipients of the prizes remembered their past deeds and expressed their view on the contemporary Nepalbhasa literature. The programme was chaired by the Council Chairman Ppurna Kkaji Ttamrakar.

Robbery, terror come as a reward for social service

By Seema A. Adhikari

KATHMANDU, Nov 11 - Dutch national Margo Bos flew to Nepal with the mission of helping poor children get educated and leave with fond memories of this Himalayan kingdom. Instead, she is recovering from the trauma of being robbed by armed looters claiming to be Maoist rebels.

For the past few months, Bos has been working with Holland-based non-government organisation Young Nepal Interactive (YNI), helping the poor and children from the disadvantaged families get education in the remote Solukhumbu district.

However, her reward for her good deeds and service to the poor came not in applaud or cheers but in a terrifying experience where an armed group claiming themselves to be Maoists looted US$ 1,300 in cash along with Canon-350 camera from her.

The incident occurred when Bos accompanied by a local guide met with the rebels at Lokhim Talau village, who robbed her pointing weapons at her, regardless of her tremendous contribution for the education of these marginalised children in this terrain and desolate district.

A group of about 42 armed men stormed into her guide Kedar Rai’s house where Bos was staying. The gang held all five members of Rai’s family at gun point and asked Rai for Rs 100,000 in cash and another Rs 150,000 from Bos.

When they pleaded to be freed, the rebels held them tightly under their guns threatening to kill them. Four hours later, they fled with their loot.

Rai, however, claimed that the group was affiliated to Khumbuwan Liberation Front (KLF), which is actively involved in acts of terrorizing their opponents and violent activities in the villages. The group has been active in eastern Nepal. The same group had killed two of the locals in Solukhumbu’s remote village of Pauwa a day before that.

A top police official at Solukhumbu told The Kathmandu Post over telephone that one of the robbers had been apprehended. The police also claimed that the same group of KLF had hacked two locals to death.

Social workers say the attack on them is neither beneficial for the country nor fulfill the vested interests. "The terrible incident that occurred to me would definitely batter the reputation of this country and would lead them nowhere," says Bos, who returned to Kathmandu recently suspending her work educating Solukhumbu’s most deprived rural students.

"There may be few people who want to destroy the country through barbaric acts but it will not benefit their country," says the enraged Bos, who had been rendering social service to at least ten School Leaving Certificate-level children in Kathmandu.

Her heart went to these children last year when she first visited the poverty-stricken rural village of Solukhumbu where she found large number of students wanting to peruse their higher studies. And for a remote district like Solukhumbu college education is a distant dream.

Before fleeing out to their hideouts, the rebels threatened Bos and her guide with dire consequences if they make public their whereabouts or informed authorities about the incident. The group also warned that they have at least 40,000 supporters in Kathmandu counting their moves.

Absence of officers hampers development works in Humla

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SIMIKOT (Humla), Nov 11 - Development works of this remote Himali district have come to a halt as most of the office chiefs have not returned to their jobs even after the end of Dashain festival about two weeks ago.

Acting chiefs of the district office tell the local elected representatives that all the files of the development projects were locked up by the chiefs before they left their office for home and they could not be opened until their return.

There are no office chiefs except for the Chief District Officer, chief of police, army, comptroller office, airport authority and the RNAC.

All the development works that are scheduled to complete during the first three-months of the fiscal year remain incomplete due to the absence of the government officers for a long time. Nor can these projects be pushed through during winter season due to heavy snowfall for more than four months.

Local representatives said that all the projects in this Himali district are started toward the end of the fiscal year, only to consume the allocated budget in the name of the projects that remain either incomplete or remain sub-standard. "The district officers are busy in spending the budget in order not to let it freeze," said a local representative requesting anonymity.

In order to discourage the long set trend among the government officers, the DDC has called a seminar during the second week of December in which all the chiefs of district offices have to be compulsorily present. The concerned ministries and departments have also given instructions to their officials to take part in the seminar. The seminar is being held to prepare a five-year-action-plan in
the district.

"If the concerned officials remain absent during the seminar, we will refer to the ministries and departments for disciplinary actions against them," said Humla DDC chairman Jeevan Bahadur Shahi. Chief District Officer Gyan Prasad Pangeni said that he make every efforts to get the seminar a success and added that he had already instructed all the officers to present in the meet.

Call to join anti-Maoist campaign

NUWAKOT, Nov 11(RSS) - Nepali Congress General Secretary Sushil Koirala has pointed out the need for all opposition parties to join the anti-Maoist campaign waged by people across the villages against the murder, violence, kidnapping, forcible collection of donation, beating and looting perpetrated by the Maoists.

General Secretary Koirala was speaking at an interaction programme on "government policy and party organisation" organised by Nepali Congress district committee here Saturday.

Expressing the view that the government-Maoist talks should be held soon and the time period for the talks should also be specified, Koirala urged the Maoist side to come ahead for the talks by immediately putting an end to the on-going murder and looting in the country.

The party’s spokesman Arjun Narsingh K.C. said the Nepali Congress has already given the mandate to the government for peaceful resolution of the Maoist problem.

Central member of the party K.B. Gurung, central regional coordinator Dr Rambaran Yadav and other speakers also expressed their views at the programme chaired by NC district committee chairman Jagdishswor Narsingh K.C

Speaking in brief to journalists following the programme, NC General Secretary Koirala gave assurance that the government would provide full cooperation to the people in the villages who have united to defend themselves from the Maoists.

He also expressed the possibility of army mobilization, if necessary, for maintain law and order in the country.

Responding to a query, Koirala made it clear that the Nepali Congress party and the government will not be responsible if the talks fail, the entire responsibility will fall on the Maoist side.

Construction of Phidim-Phalkot road underway

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PHIDIM (Panchthar), Nov 11 - Locals of the eastern part of this eastern hill district are busy in digging the 50 kilometres long Phidim-Phalkot country road linking the Indian frontier from Phidim, the district headquarters. The people from the seven Village Development Committees will benefit from the road as it links with the Indian border at Phalkot.

The District Development Committee has been allocating budget for timely completion of the road. The DDC has set aside 800,000 rupees for the road during this fiscal year. Chairman of the Phidim-Phalkot road user group, Hastaraj Thamsuhang, said that around 1.6 million rupees has been spent for this road. He said that small vehicles could ply on up to 10 kilometres of the road so far.

"I want to ride a vehicle on this road before I pass away," said 67-year-old Sanchrani Meyangbo who had came here to take part in a one-day voluntary labour service from Nagin VDC. Nagin VDC chairman Thumnath Chapagain said around 200 people contributed their voluntary labour to the road called by the VDC.

Prangbung VDC chairman Devi Prasad Nepal said economy of the rural areas would considerably improve as agricultural products could be moved to markets once the road was completed. Locals said that the government should made necessary homework to set up a customs point on the Nepal-India border at Phalkot as Indian side has also built a road up to the border side.

But local leaders are not happy with the Ministry of Finance that has allocated only 300,000 rupees to this road for the current fiscal year. The Panchthar DDC leaders said that tourism industry could also flourish in the district once the road is completed because the Indian State of Sikkim has already built a similar road on the Nepal-India border.