Why Mandarin Airlines did not fly

By Damakant Jayshi

KATHMANDU, Oct 8 – A huge chunk of Nepal’s foreign exchange earnings comes from tourism, particularly from tourists who arrive by air and spend freely on goods and services in Kathmandu and elsewhere.

And yet, at a time when the industry needs a much needed boost, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) last week unexpectedly cancelled chartered air services from Taiwan which planned to do just that by flying in more tourists to this Himalayan Kingdom. The reason cited for the decision: "unavoidable circumstances".

Many eyebrows were raised when that happened last week on the eve of the long-planned flight to Kathmandu by Mandarin Airlines, a subsidiary of Taiwan’s national carrier China Airlines. The discussion at cocktail circuits within the tourism circle, from five star hotel executives to restaurant managers to travel and tour operators, all focussed on just what went wrong.

The immediate suspicion fell on officials of the People’s Republic of China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province of mainland China. The theory was that China had somehow pressured the government to bar the Taiwanese airlines, and Nepal agreed since it does not - never has and never will - grant diplomatic recognition to Taiwan.

But later, other information began to emerge that pointed to some sinister hand high up in the Ministry of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Culture (MoCTCA). This information, rumours at best, said that the Taiwanese carrier’s plans were stumped by "corrupt officials" within the Ministry who had taken sides in the fight between several local agents representing Mandarin Airlines in Nepal.

The issue was complex to begin with, but became more complicated when The Kathmandu Post began to search for answers. In several meetings with high officials of the Ministry, CAAN, as well as travel and tour operators connected to Mandarin Airlines, it emerged that no one really knew – or did not want to share - why the Ministry put its foot down at the 11th hour.

CAAN officials simply passed on the buck to MoCTCA officials for ordering them to bar Mandarin’s flights, despite the fact that the agreement between CAAN and Taiwanese Civil Aviation authorities to allow Mandarin to operate to Nepal had been concluded in March this year. That was followed with the issuance of the all-important Air Operator’s Certificate to Mandarin Airlines by CAAN.

"We were not given any reason by the Ministry for the decision. So we just wrote to Mandarin Airlines to hold their flight due to ‘unavoidable reasons’," Vinod Giri, the Deputy Director General at CAAN told The Kathmandu Post.

On the other hand, Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation and Culture, Bal Bahadur K.C. even washed his hands off the whole affair. "I am hearing about this for the first time," said K.C., when he was asked about it what exactly scuttled Mandarin’s plans.

But other senior MoTCTA officials did give some sketchy explanation. When asked to define "unavoidable circumstances", Yagya Prasad Gautam, Joint Secretary at the Ministry, quipped, "The reason is just ‘unavoidable circumstances’. I can’t say further." Asked exactly who had issued the orders, he merely said it was the government decision, without clarifying.

"Until another decision, the air service cannot commence," said Subarna Lal Shrestha, the Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Ministry. "A situation occurred and that’s why the flight had to be cancelled."

On the surface, the story so far appears to be just another lack of co-ordination between various government ministries, departments and agencies which did not know what the others were doing – though in this case all the players are within the same Ministry.

But it is now emerging, that was not the case. If anything, it was indeed a highly co-ordinated effort by the government to keep the real reasons of Mandarin’s cancellations under wraps.

After running around pillar-to-post for days, a breakthrough finally emerged this week when high-ranking government officials, after persistent questioning, finally admitted that it was indeed Chinese authorities who had asked the government to halt Mandarin Airline’s flights to Nepal.

"Chinese authorities made it clear to us that they did not want a Taiwanese carrier flying into Nepal," one of these top officials said on condition of anonymity.

But hadn’t the agreement be signed in March? Why did China wait for so long before it registered its complaints? "They said they did not know about it then. They said they found out only when preparations for the inaugural flight was well underway," he said. The immediate question is: "why?" Knowledgeable sources speculate that given China’s sensitivity towards Taiwan, the pressure it put on Nepal to halt the flights is not surprising.

Whatever the case, it does appear that the tourism industry has been dealt a severe blow by the cancellation of Mandarin’s flights at China’s behest. But officials hope that the setback would be temporary. They point out that China would now be more inclined to put Nepal on its "outbound destination" list to reward its small neighbour for helping to abort the plan of the Taiwanese.

Facing sagging sales, stores launch
schemes to lure back consumers

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Oct 8 – Worried by declining sales and eroding consumer confidence in the run up to the Dashain festival – traditionally a heavy spending time for Nepali consumers – department stores across the Valley have banded together to offer discount schemes to boost sagging business.

The Association of Nepal Supermarket and Department Stores announced here Monday that member stores are offering various attractive festival packages, including discounts, ahead of the Dashain festivities. Altogether, 28 department stores and supermarkets are taking part in the scheme.

At a press conference held today to unveil the schemes, officials of the trade grouping said discounts on consumer goods ranging from 5-50 percent are being offered to "provide consumers with relief."

Jeevan Shakya, general secretary of the association, said that members of the association are also launching different attractive packages including introduction of scratch cards, gift hampers and surprise gift for the consumers.

Raja Ratna Tuladhar, president of the association informed that beside providing some relief to the consumers through various schemes, the main aim of the campaign is to stimulate sales, which has been continuously sliding since last year. "The average sales of the supermarkets and department stores have plunged by around 50 per cent as compared to the same period last year," he said.

He also expressed his hope that the scheme, which has been launched for the first time by the association, will encourage the consumers to spend more and thereby thwart eroding consumer confidence.

The decline in sales has been precipitous this year, mainly due to political instability and reduced economic activity arising out of the Maoist violence, the royal massacre of June 1, and now global downturn in tourism due to terrorist threats abroad. Decline in tourist arrivals in Nepal, especially of Indian tourists, have also hit department store sales hard, as they have hit other industries.

Tuladhar reinforced that point by stating that the shrinking inflow of the Indian tourists is one of the major reasons behind such whopping decline of sales. "Indian tourists have been our potential consumers and the continued double-digit plunge in their arrivals has adversely affected our business."

Flood hit farmers to get relief schemes

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Oct 8 - Minister for Agriculture and Co-operatives Mahesh Acharya today announced relief programmes for flood and drought hit areas in the eastern region.

Addressing the House of Representatives, Minister Acharya said that a report prepared by officials said that 62,000 farmers in the region have been hit leaving at least 74 hectares land barren in the 16 districts.

As part of the relief efforts, farmers will be fully subsidised in the vegetable seeds during the winter while there will be 50 per cent subsidy in mustard, wheat and lentil seeds.

Irrigation and water supply projects would also be constructed.

The government has allocated Rs. 156 million for the relief programme, Minister Acharya said.

Meanwhile, the parliamentary Natural Resources and Means Committee has begun debate on the controversial Land Reforms Bill brought by the government. The Bill has been under severe criticism from lawmakers of smaller opposition parties while the government and the main opposition CPN-UML has been supporting it. Lawmakers have even suggested extending the time of the current session by few days so this Bill can be pushed through before the House is prorogued. Dashain festival begins next week.

Lack of sponsors, Maoist threat bring Miss Nepal pageant to a halt

By Ranjana Pradhan

KATHMANDU, Oct 8 – For once, the non-event is set to grab media headlines. The much-hyped annual beauty pageant, Miss Nepal World, will not be held this year.

A host of problems have plagued the country’s premier pageant as the organisers have now decided to cancel this year’s event, ruining the hopes of many aspiring beauties.

Miss Nepal 2001 has been de-ramped due to the lack of sponsors and primarily due to the threat from the Maoists. The recent agreement between the government and the Maoist-aligned women’s organisation had agreed to ban all fashion shows. Though nothing was mentioned about the beauty pageant in the agreement, the organisers seem to have taken a precautionary measure by cancelling the annual event.

"We have no sponsors," says one of the organizers Girendra Rajbanshi, managing director of the Hidden Treasure. Last year’s sponsors, the Everest Brewery, has refused to sponsor the event, according to Rajbanshi. "But we do understand their predicament as the whole country’s economy is in shambles."

Another reason is the fear of the Maoists, the women wing, which had threatened an agitation if the organisers held the event. "The security environment is very bad too," admits Rajbanshi. "In today’s situation, when the government itself is under threat from outside forces, we cannot expect it to give us protection."

The reigning Miss Nepal, Usha Khadgi, thinks that the exposure and recognition that she won after winning the title last year was an amazing experience. "It is a pity that someone has been deprived of this feeling this time," said Khadgi.

"I don’t think the event is going to take place," says Khadgi. "I really feel bad about it. Such programmes should not be stopped."

One of the popular choreographers Rachana Gurung said that the show should not have been cancelled. "The upcoming girls will really miss this opportunity," says Gurung. "The event basically focuses on grooming and educating the participants and show them the right track."

The past winners of Miss Nepal title have played the role as cultural ambassadors of the country as they participated in many international pageants and functions. Says Prashant Tamrakar, one of the pioneer models, "This has been one of the simplest ways to popularise our country as the winners go out in the international level."

The Miss Nepal pageant has been organized by Nepal Jaycees and the Hidden Treasure since 1994 and the first and second winners of this pageant have been representing the country in Miss World and Miss Asia Pacific pageants since 1997.

There are dozens of youngsters in the country who aspire to participate in different beauty pageants held every year. Many of these girls believe that these pageants not only give them exposure in the media, but would also make them confident in the days ahead.

But a close society like ours has never hailed girls involved in this field. Females who choose this line have always been discouraged and modelling has always been looked down upon as a bad business. Therefore, it is yet to be developed as a profession like in other countries.

Regardless of all these odds and disrespectful cheers from the crowd at times, Nepali models have still strutted down the ramp with determination. But with the cancellation of the Miss Nepal pageant, many aspiring models in the country have been dejected. Thus the early footsteps of this Himalayan Kingdom to enter the international fashion world have come to a standstill.

‘Maoists keen on suitable environment’

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Oct 8 - The underground Communist Party of Nepal- Maoist today claimed that the party is keen to maintain suitable environment for talks with the government adhering to its declared commitments.

A press release undersigned by Prachanda, Chairman of the party stated that during a recent politburo meeting of the party a proposal was passed that the party make appropriate environment for talks with the government sticking to the declared commitments made by the party "despite the continuous efforts of the reactionary forces to disrupt the environment."

The proposal also condemned the announcement made by Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh a few days back claiming the Maoist party a terrorist organisation. " The party condemns the announcement made by the Indian Foreign Minister and understand the statement as the "Height of conspiracy against the Nepali people," the release states.

The release adds that the proposal strongly urged a combined struggle against Indian hegemonic attitude and warned the "reactionary ruling class of the country resting on American imperialism and Indian hegemony" of dire consequences if they continued acting against the will of the people.

The party also condemned the American decision of waging a war against "oppressed country and its people in the name of terrorism nurtured by itself." The party appeals to all the people of the world to start a revolution against the "American war of imperialism."

Siamese twins expected to leave Singapore this week

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Oct 8- Ganga and Jamuna Shrestha, the Nepali siamese twin girls whose heads were separated in a marathon operation in April are leaving the Singapore General Hospital this week, newsreports say.

Dr Kith Goh, the surgeon who led the surgery in April, told the BBC News October 5 that he expected Ganga and Jamuna to be discharged this week "because they no longer needed to be in hospital". The BBC News website also said that the 17-month-old girls - who were born with two brains intertwined in one large skull - were said to be in good spirits.

It was not immediately clear when the twin girls will leave Singapore for Nepal.

The Straits Times said, "Jamuna is now able to lift her head and is behaving increasingly like a normal child her age. But she still has some difficulty moving her right arm. Where Ganga, is recuperating more slowly." The girl’s father, Bhusan K.C told the newspaper that she has improved a great deal since the weeks immediately after the operation, and no longer cries all the time.

But their mother, Sandhya Shrestha is concerned about taking the children back to their provincial village of Salyan, which is a 24-hour bus ride from Kathmandu, according to the paper. There is no doctor in Salyan and she is afraid that if either child has problems, there will be no medical help nearby, it said.

The paper added, "However, Prof. Ho Lai Yun, head of SGH’s neonatology department, said that twins are unlikely to need more medical attention than normal children their age and they would probably need to return to Singapore next year to have their heads reshaped."

"Following the operation, we thought Ganga was not so good. But she is improving very fast. She used to be very irritable. Now she’s more relaxed and in control of herself," the English daily quoted him as saying.

"Jamuna makes noises to call people and sometimes, even to tease. But the twins need to leave the sterile hospital environment to grow, for they need the stimulation of a more normal one."

Bill on property right tabled in House

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Oct 8 - The much awaited Muluki Ain (11th Amendment) Bill was presented in the House of Representatives today amid protests both in the House and on the streets by opposition lawmakers and women rights activists.

The Bill, better known as property rights Bill, was presented at the House by the Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Chairman Mahendra Yadav.

The protests were against the government’s decision to reverse their earlier agreement that would have allowed women to retain their share of the parental property even after marriage.

Once the Bill is converted into a law, the provision stated would allow women their stake at parental property once they reach the age of 16, but they would have to return it back to their parents and brothers once they are married.

The present law says that woman would have to be 35 and remain unmarried until then if she is to stake her claim on parental property.

"The government has left the limbs intact but taken out the heart of the Bill making it lifeless. This can never empower women," accused Astalaxmi Shakya of the main opposition CPN-UML.

"Marriage is the beginning of a new life for women and this would take away the rights of the women right from the beginning," said Urmila Aryal, another lawmaker from CPN-UML.

Just outside the boundaries of the Singha Durbar, protesters from the United Leftist Women’s Associations today held a protest rally demanding the government reconsider its decision.

The protesters, who tried to approach the no-demonstration zone around Singha Durbar, were briefly detained by the police. Traffic was disrupted for about an hour.

The umbrella group of seven left-aligned women’s associations have planned protests including burning of an effigy of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on October 15.

Meanwhile, the Forum for Women, Law and Development, protesting the government decision, has appealed to pressure the government to reconsider its decision.

"The decision is against the norms in the Constitution, human rights and Conventions to end all forms of discriminations against women," said Meera Dhungana of the Forum, who had filed a case in the Supreme Court seeking establishing property rights for women.

The apex court had ruled in her favour and the government was compelled to bring the Bill in the House. However, the prolonged debate on the issue had delayed the Bill for years.

She said that even during a survey taken by the committee, 85.2 per cent had favoured on women retaining the property even after marriage.

Committee members had held several conferences interacting with women rights activists and legal experts. They had also travelled to all the 14 zones and had solicited suggestions from people representing all aspects of life.

The government’s decision has been severely criticised and many have accused the Nepali Congress (NC) government of maintaining double standards and threatened take up protests against the decision.

During earlier meetings, committee members including NC lawmakers had agreed in principle that they would all support an amendment proposing that women be allowed to retain their share of the parental property even after they are married.

The Bill, once approved by the Lower House, will be passed on to the National Assembly, the Upper House, and then to the King to get the royal assent.

Several injured in scuffle, traffic halted for 2 hours

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Oct 8 - More than a dozen people injured when the police resorted to lathicharge to control the scuffle between the supporters of Nepal Rastrabadi Sangh (NRS) and the students of Trichandra College on Monday.

The scuffle broke out when the NRS rally reached in front of the Trichandra College at Ghantaghar. The Trichandra students tried to disrupt the NRS rally, which shouted slogans, calling an active role of the Royal Palace.

The rally had started from local Bhadrakali and went around the main thoroughfares of the city carrying national flags and demanding the active participation of monarchy in the country’s politics.

According to an eyewitness, the row broke out between the two groups after the students of TC started pelting stones at the rally participants in front of the campus. As a result of the conflict between these two groups, the traffic in the area came to a complete halt for more than two hours in city centre.

"Both the parties soon started flashing khukuris and swords after the fight began," said another eyewitness.

The police later intercepted and resorted to lathicharge to control the unruly behaviour from both the sides.

President of NRS Navaraj Dhakal claimed that the students of TC started pelting stones at them. He said, "The police started beating our people instead of stopping the fight."

However, president of Free Students Union of Trichandra College Suraj Kafle accused the police for being a mere spectator when the NRS supporters attacked the campus, injuring several of their students. "The police were there to protect the rally but they stood like a mere spectator."

Addressing the mass meeting held at Bhadrakali after the rally, pro-royalist Yuvraj Sumsher Rana said that the faulty Constitution in the country has called for its change. The present Constitution of Nepal should be changed to ensure the active role of the monarchy.

Left parties condemn US attacks

KATHMANDU, Oct 8 (PR)- Several left parties including CPN-ML, Masal and Unity Centre have condemned American and British attacks over Afghanistan on Sunday.

The separate press statements issued today by the respective parties also condemned the Nepali Government for "blindly supporting the United States" and strongly urged the government to condemn the attacks and focus on the country’s non alignment foreign policy.

At the same time the parties also reiterated that they identified September 11 attacks on the United States as acts of terrorism and urged the United States Government to act on eliminating terrorism and not attack an independent country.

Meanwhile, the press statement issued by CPN-Masal also mentions that the party does not agree with the 22-point proposal issued by the main opposition CPN-UML and that at the same time cannot have a working unity with the Maoists as long as they don’t stop victimising the party’s cadres.