NKM burns copies of Land Bill

KATHMANDU, Oct 1 (PR)- A group of activists of Nepal Kisan Manch (NKM), a sister organisation of Nepal Sadbhawana Party (NSP) today burned copies of the proposed Land Reforms Bill at the Sigha Durbar premise claiming the Bill to be "tyrannical".

Bhogendra Thakur, the central committee member of NSP, said the prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba introduced the bill in a "Junga Bahadur Rana style", without thinking about the negative impact it would make on poor farmers.

"The tyrannical bill is just a conspiracy to ruin the lives of the farmers who have been working in their farms since long," he said.

An appeal distributed at the function urges the government to implement ceiling of property too. "Land is that type of property for the farmers, just like the mansions and vehicles of the new rich class of people."

It states that on one hand the economic condition of the Terai farmers have been deteriorating day by day and on the other, a new rich class of people have been emerging overnight who have become billionaires and own imported cars.

The organisers said similar programmes were organised in several Terai districts.

Govt-Maoist talks likely next week

By Tilak Pokharel

KATHMANDU, Oct 1 - The third round of government-Maoist talks will take place next week, said a source close to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Monday. But he refused to reveal the venue of the talks.

"The government-Maoists talks will not take place this week," the source told The Kathmandu Post. "Hence, there is no possibility of taking place of all-party meet within this week. Instead the Prime Minister is likely to call another all-party meet early next week."

It is almost impossible for the talks to take place before wrapping-up the ongoing 20th session of the parliament, the source said. "There are so many pending bills in the parliament and the government is busy working on it; so the government will organise all-party meet next week and the talks later," added the source.

Facilitator of the government-Maoist talks Padma Ratna Tuladhar told The Kathmandu Post, "There is high possibility of the talks next week."

According to the Maoist negotiators, the third round of talks will mainly focus on political agenda, which includes formation of interim government, constitutional assembly and institutional development of a republican state — tough and controversial agenda.

"Both the sides are taking enough time to discuss on the political agenda that will decide the success or failure of the talks," said Tuladhar.

After the second round of talks, both the government and the Maoists came down heavily against each other for jeopardising the environment of talks at many public programmes.

However, the Maoists on Friday decided to release all the hostages including police personnel taken by them and the government has also been releasing the detained Maoists, to make the environment favourable for the third round of talks.

A Maoist source said the government will decide both date and location for the talks. "We don’t know about it (talks). The government is yet to let us know about it," said the source.

According to agreement reached at the conclusion of the second round of talks, the Prime Minister was supposed to decide both date and location for the talks.

There are several pending bills in the parliament. Among them are Land Reforms Bill, Bill on Women’s Property Rights, Second Amendment Bill on Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and Corruption Control Bill on the top.

Talking to journalists after attending a programme on Sunday, PM Deuba had said the talks would take place "soon". However, he denied giving details about it.

It has been two weeks after the government sat for the second round of talks with the rebels in Bardiya district of western Nepal. Since then, both the government and the Maoist rebels were busy denouncing each other for jeopardising the environment of talks.

From Diyalo to bulb, light finally comes to Jadkhalsi

By Dil Bhusan Pathak & Jaya Bahadur Rokaya

JADKHOLSI (Humla), Oct 1 – Sixty-year-old Kokijangmu Lama from Jadkholsi village of this remote Humla district experienced the luxury of light for the first time in her life.

This Sunday was a very special day for her as she first discarded the traditional diyalo (a lamp lit from pinewood) and entered into the modern lifestyle.

Lama worshipped the glowing bulb time and again and watched the "miracle" till late night. For her, it was more than magic as she turned the bulb on and off for several times, like a kid does with her newly bought Barbie doll.

"Its like a real magic when it goes on and off," says this visibly-elated villager. "Now, our village has also become a paradise."

Around two dozen households of Jadkholsi village of Khungal Village Development Committee are enjoying this rare facility of having electricity in their village for the first time in their lives. They no longer have to travel to the Tibetan frontier for days to experience this luxury.

There are very few lucky people who enjoy the luxury of lights in Karnali Zone, the most backward region of the country. And, Jangmu Lama is one of the few people from this region who have seen such a "miracle."

This village is one of the nearest points from the district headquarters of Simikot though takes six hours of arduous trekking to reach here.

As the people here had heard that they would soon get the electricity in their village, hundreds of people from other villages gathered there a night before to witness this latest development.

The Lama women here brewed local spirit and prepared delicious dishes to celebrate this rare occasion. They danced to the tune of Deuda, the most popular folk music in the far-western region, throughout the night to welcome the sign of modernity.

Balaram Shrestha, a technician who worked in the project to generate electricity, was the focus of the entire event. The locals offered him a giant cock and a garland as a mark of respect.

The 400,000 rupee micro-hydel project, built by the district partnership programme and Snowland Integrated Development Centre, is yet to be formally inaugurated.

"From today onwards, all of our sisters and brothers can read till late night," said 22-year-old Chhoijangmu Lama. "I feel that my village has become like a city."

There are around 1,000 households in the entire district that are connected with micro-hydro electricity. Around 200 households of the district headquarters have been enjoying electricity since 1989 after the French government assisted in establishing solar power plants. This is the second village to be connected with electricity after district headquarters.

Indefinite curfew in Dang

Post Report

LAMAHI (Dang), Oct 1 – The police imposed an indefinite curfew in the evening on Monday after the situation turned volatile in Tulsipur here. Earlier in the day the situation at the Tulsipur bus park turned violent when 10 persons were seriously injured after the police opened fire to control a mob which went on a rampage.

The police resorted to firing after the mob tried to set the parked wrapped in

buses on fire and pelted stones at the police which were guarding them, according to Ram Bahadur Basnet, the Deputy Superintendent of Police at the Tulsipur Regional Police Office.

The situation is still tense, said the police. DSP Basnet said that the police had to fire 30 rounds and 10 rounds of tear-gas shells were exploded to bring the mob under control.

However, some of the eyewitnesses who brought the injured to the hospital accused the police of firing more than 50 rounds indiscriminately.

On Saturday, a group of angry people set fire to more than 100 buses inside the bus park and the surrounding areas after two students were crushed to death by bus around 12 noon. The post-mortem is yet to be done.

Two of the injured people are in a critical condition, said Dr Vikas Devkota at the Mahendra Hospital, Ghorahi.

The incident at the bus park occurred when a meeting among the police and administration officials, Rapti Zone Transport Entrepreneurs Committee and the parents of the deceased children to bring the situation under control had almost reached a conclusion. However, due to the resulting tension, the meeting ended without any breakthrough.

Meanwhile, various transport committees today held a transport strike protesting the damage to the vehicles. They have threatened to continue the strike until the government compensates them for the losses incurred due to vandalism at the bus committee branch office, ticket counter and the damage to the buses.

Since Saturday, no buses have plied in Tulsipur. The situation is expected to remain tense even on Tuesday.

Amendment to CIAA Act remains uncertain

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Oct 1 – The debate on the whether Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) should be able to investigate judges including the Chief Justice remained deadlocked after some lawmakers of the ruling party suggested the Bill should be withdrawn.

The Bill proposing second amendment to the CIAA Act is currently being debated in the parliamentary State Affairs Committee (SAC). The debate took a new turn today after some lawmakers from the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) were reluctant to continue and wanted to reverse their earlier decision which stated that Supreme Court Judges would be considered people holding public office and be put under the jurisdiction of CIAA on cases involving corruption.

NC lawmaker Ramesh Lekhak suggested that since the Bill could be conflicting with the Constitution it needs to be withdrawn while Arjun Bahadur Singh suggested there should be some corrections made. Even Secretary at the Home Ministry Shreekant Regmi indicated the same opinion.

This is a major snag since the Bill was prepared and presented by the government and now the sponsors of the Bill were suggesting flaws. The move is coming under sharp criticism from the opposition lawmakers.

"Some of the committee members from the ruling party and the government are bowing to pressure and are changing their tune," alleged Pradip Gyawali of the main opposition CPN-UML.

"How can the government first present the Bill and then go back to say that it might just conflict with the Constitution?" said CPN-UML’s Subash Nemwang.

The turn comes a day after a Supreme Court judge said at a public meeting that under no circumstances should the Supreme Court be put under the jurisdiction of the CIAA since it was a investigating body like the police and if Supreme Court is put under it then the apex court will not be Supreme any more.

"Not even under the Panchayat rule such an attempt had been made," Supreme Court Justice Laxman Aryal had said adding judges were not seeking concession to be corrupt but even under the present laws the judges are not immune to charges of corruption.

"We should be concentrating on improving the present laws and amending it if necessary but the spirit of independent judiciary should not be crushed," Aryal had said on Sunday. Another CPN-UML lawmaker Lalbabu Pandit went on to criticise the Supreme Court judge for the publicly stating that their activities should not be placed within the jurisdiction of the CIAA.

"How can the judges go on a public platform to suggest that a Bill currently being discussed in the Parliament is not right? Instead they should come to the committee and express their views if they want to," Pandit said.

Lack of sex education raises cases of teenage pregnancy

By Tashi Dolma Thinley

KATHMANDU, Oct 1– She is just thirteen years old but she is seven months pregnant. And she came to the District Police Office, Jawalakhel, on Saturday to lodge a complaint against her 14-year-old boyfriend.

Full of innocence and perplexed, the girl shies often and stops to lodge a complaint against her boyfriend. She has done it a couple of times and yet she is not anxiety-free. According to her, her boyfriend time and again denies having impregnated her and often tells her that he is not responsible for her pregnancy.

The boy is again too young to know the consequences of the "crime" he has committed but fearing the police he denies the accusations and frets with himself. "I don’t have a job so how can I look after the baby and her?" he told the police.

Both the minors are a live-in couple who eloped from the far-western region the country one year back. Both of them childlike and now parents-in-the-making, say they don’t even have a job and don’t have anybody to rely on.

This is not all. Today, teenage pregnancy cases like this are on the rise across the country, say experts, adding that much of the cases are either hushed up or remain under the carpet. Most of the cases are similar in that boys and girls elope at first and then "ruin not only their career but also the future, if not life, of the newborn babies," say those closely following the developments.

According to Police Inspector Durga Singh at the Women and Children Unit in the District Police Office, Lalitpur, teenage pregnancy especially out of wedlock, is on the rise and sadly there is no strict government policy towards preventing it or creating awareness.

"We have started to come across such cases once in a month these days," she says, adding, "Five years ago there were hardly such cases in the police record."

Inspector Singh says such reported cases at the police stations helps teenagers. "Unwanted teenage pregnancy is not punishable by law, and it’s not a crime. When they come to us we do give them a bit of counseling and tell them to make sure that both of them stay together in future," she adds.

A survey conducted among high school and college students in Kathmandu and Pokhara by a team led by Dr Rajendra Bhadra, showed the average age of first sexual intercourse at 15.5 years.

Similarly, in another survey conducted by Himal Khabarpatrika, 29 percent of the respondents admitted to have had premarital sex. And experts are especially concerned that such tendency among younger generation makes the youngsters vulnerable to the spread of HIV/AIDS and other STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases).

Says Yubaraj Timilsina, Programme Officer of STD and HIV/AIDS youth programme that conducted the survey last year, "With more and more teens going for casual sex, risk of teenage pregnancy and even HIV/AIDS and STDs is very high."

He adds, "Today there are numerous governmental and non-governmental organizations that are working to support children and women but non in particular to stop and raise awareness about teenage pregnancies and the trauma attached to it."

Although cases like this are increasing on a daily basis, only few schools in the capital city are imparting necessary sex education to children. Rato Bangala School in Patan is one of the few schools, which has been giving "basic and simple" sex education.

Says Shanta Dixit, Principal of the School, "We give our students knowledge about sex through elementary science education and another special class called character education. We don’t call it sex education here."

Better late than never. The government has just recently introduced the National Policy on Adolescent Reproductive Health, which, experts say, addresses the issue. "This policy aims to create awareness about sexual and reproductive health through advocacy, media campaigning and stakeholders’ participation and will be implemented by the Family Health Division," says Timilsina.

Accord to be alert across border

By Bikash Thapa

BIRATNAGAR, Oct 1 - Officials of the Indian State of West Bengal holding an informal meeting on Monday advised their Nepali counterparts to remain cautious about the undesirable activities of the Naxalites (Maoists) extremists within the 90 kilometres areas of the Nepal-India open border.

Both sides have also agreed to inform each other about terrorist activities, including the Maoist one. The informal meet was held in Arariya district in India.

The informal meet has been held between the authorities of the two sides a few days after the Indian External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, made a public statement terming Nepal’s Maoists as terrorists. Security has been beefed up in West Bengal, especially in frontier city of Siliguri, suspecting that top Maoist leaders were taking refuge in the area.

"Arariya is a Naxalite (Maoist) stronghold. Therefore, the Indian authorities want that no undesirable activities take place across the border area," said Dolakh Bahadur Gurung, the Chief District Officer of Morang, who led the Nepali team. Magistrate of Arariya district Shyam Sahaya led the Indian side.

It is learnt that officials of another Indian State of Bihar sharing its northern border with Nepal has also made a similar request with that of the Nepali counterparts to control terrorist activities aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the US.

Gurung said that both the sides would provide information to each other about the people involved in criminal and terrorist activities across the Nepal-India border. The authorities of both the sides have also agreed to protect the border pillars by evacuating the people from the no-man’s land area. Gurung said a joint technical team representing both the countries would inspect the border after the end of Dasain festival.

Maoists yet to free over 180 captives: Khadka

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Oct 1 – Home Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka today said the Maoists are yet to release 116 civilians and 69 policemen who are still in their captivity but said negotiations were still on and he was convinced they would all be released soon.

"We are convinced that the Maoists will release all these people held in captivity and then we will also fulfil our end of the bargain," Minister Khadka without elaborating.

The government side, who has claimed of releasing scores of Maoists in custody and taking back cases against them, has been demanding the Maoists too release policemen, supporters of various parties and civilians in their captivity.

"There are reports of sporadic incidents where Maoists have been involved but the number of these cases are on the decline. We are urging them to cease these activities too," Khadka said.

The Home Minister’s soft tone was in quite a contrast to the comments he made just a few days back at the same House of Representatives where he blasted the Maoists for continued widespread violence, extortion and abuse of people including rape of women and beating of children.

The Minister also assured that authorities were investigating the case in Mahottari where a 60-year old woman was severely beaten to death on the charges of practising witchcraft.

Malechhiya Devi, mother of three sons, was first dragged out of her house fed human fieces and was tortured by villagers.

"We have to work together to prevent such practices being repeated in the society again," said Minister Khadka. "The accused in the case will be severely punished for the crime."

Meanwhile, lawmakers continued to criticize the Supreme Court for its decision last week to scrap the Constituency Development Programme Implementation Procedure.

"The money allocated to the parliament members come through the Appropriation Act which is a law, the projects are reviewed by government technicians and funding allocated through the Village Development Committee which is later audited by the Auditor General’s Office," said CPN-UML’s Lalbabu Pandit.

Pandit said if this was to be considered outside perimeters of the present laws of the nation then all the funds allocated through the budget should be declared the same.

Parliament members were getting Rs. 1 million each from the government "to implement development projects" in their respective constituencies. The Lower House of parliament had appropriated Rs. 265 million for the same purposes through the Appropriation Bill.

The Supreme Court had issued a directive to the government to implement the programme through a proper Act instead of implementing through the present procedure. The court also ordered that the programme is not a law and members of parliament can receive such money only after making a proper law.