Govt, ADB sign pact to reduce poverty

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KATHMANDU, Oct 21 - His Majesty’s Government of Nepal and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) today signed a multi-million dollar Poverty Reduction Partnership Agreement (PRPA) which aims to reduce the proportion of people living below poverty line to less than 10 per cent from the current 38 per cent by 2017.

Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat and Vice President of ADB Myoung-Ho Shin signed the document on behalf of His Majesty’s Government of Nepal and ADB respectively.

FM Mahat expressed the views that the signing of the agreement signifies the emerging relation between Nepal and the ADB. He said that following the signing of the agreement, there needs to be some adjustments in the coming Tenth Five Year Plan.

The ADB and the government have similar objective of reducing poverty and the government has set a target of increasing macro economic growth, gross domestic product (GDP), health services and literacy to achieve the goal, said the FM.

He also thanked ADB for contributing to the development efforts of Nepal through extending the concessional loans and expressed hopes that the bilateral relations would grow further in the days ahead.

Vice President Shin said that the ADB is fully committed to support His Majesty’s Government of Nepal for its efforts on poverty reduction, financial sector reforms and good governance.

Under the agreement, ADB will provide concessional loans to Nepal totaling about US $ 306 million within the next three years, based on the performance-based assessment (PBA). In addition to the amount, ADB will also provide technical assistance worth US $ 4 million in the form of grants to prepare different sectoral projects and assist capacity building.

The agreement sets out a shared vision for reducing poverty in Nepal and prioritizing joint development cooperation. The partnership agreement focuses on the government’s objective of reducing poverty in line with the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy (IPRS) and the Ninth Five Year Plan, states a press release distributed during the signing of the agreement.

The government and the ADB recently finalized ADB new country strategy programme (CSP) for Nepal following a mutual consultation. The CSP gives high importance to sustainable poverty reduction by generating employment and increasing rural incomes through a faster and broad-based economic growth, which remains a thematic priority of ADB operations. Core poverty and poverty intervention projects constitute 75 per cent of the total programme during the period of 2002-2004 for Nepal.

PM, too, concerned over Cabinet size
Says guidelines would have helped

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KATHMANDU, Oct 21 – Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba blamed the internal situation in the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) party that "compelled" him to form a large Cabinet.

"It was the internal situation in the party that forced me to form a big Cabinet. It was very difficult to decide who is going to be in the government and who is not," Deuba told the NC Parliamentary Party meeting held at Baluwatar today.

Deuba, who was elected the Prime Minister in July, had expanded his cabinet on Thursday, boosting the strength of his council of ministers to a whooping 41. Deuba’s move was even criticized by his predecessor and NC President Girija Prasad Koirala.

As expected many lawmakers who had helped Deuba in his campaign to be the Prime Minister had been expecting a ministerial berth as a reward. Many of them were awarded while some of them were left out.

It had been a difficult decision for the Prime Minister to accommodate all his supporters and at the same time try and pick out a few from the lot who are not too close to him. The result was a large Cabinet that earned him criticism from both inside and outside the party.

"We are yet to set a standard on who are eligible to be ministers so how can we say who can be minister and who can’t. It is the right of every lawmaker to be a minister," Deuba said.

Deuba was referring to the comments made by Koirala on Sunday when he said there was a possibility of introducing a Bill in Parliament to govern the size of the Cabinet so that the number remains a manageable one.

The additions in the Cabinet were made immediately after the Budget Session of Parliament had been prorogued. Deuba also urged the party lawmakers for support and said the party needs to move ahead as a united force or else the consequences could be catastrophic.

Party General Secretary Sushil Koirala assured Deuba that the party would fully support the government and there was not room for any doubts.

Former Deputy PM Ram Chandra Poudel criticized Deuba for expanding the Cabinet without consulting with the party. He said the Prime Minister should take steps only after consulting the party first and the party president is to do the same consulting with the government to bring in coordination between the two bodies.

Just last month, Party President Koirala had made important appointments in the party filling most if not all the position with his close aides and supporters, totally ignoring the other camp in the party led by Deuba.

Deuba’s unilateral decision to expand the Cabinet is being seen as a "tit-for-tat" for the induction in the important party positions.

Meanwhile, party sources said that Dilliraj Sharma who had refused to take the job as the Assistant Minister for Land Reforms is likely to take the oath of office after Deuba reportedly assured him that he would be promoted as a Minister for State soon.

Interim govt possible if rebels contest polls: Minister

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KATHMANDU, Oct 21 – A senior cabinet minister today declared that interim government was a possibility if the Maoists accepted the constitution and came into mainstream politics to contest elections.

"The constitution has provisions for interim government for the purpose of holding elections. But first, the Maoists should be prepared for that," Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, Minister for Water Resources, said at an interaction programme today organized by the Reporters’ Club. He also said that the government had clear views on monarchy, and parliamentary democracy and was not about to compromise on those issues.

Gachchhadar, who has emerged as a trusted lieutenant of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, also denied that the government was delaying the third round of peace negotiations with the rebels.

"If they want to hold the talks tomorrow, the government is prepared for that too," he said. "The next round will focus on their demands, but we have already rejected the demand to abrogate the constitution."

The Water Resources Minister also pledged that the government would release all jailed Maoist rebels in stages if the rebels stopped their continued violent campaign.

The minister’s comments come on the day a top Maoist leader again argued for an interim government. In an article published today in Kantipur newspaper, top rebel leader Dr Baburam Bhattarai urged an interim government as the first step towards forming a new constitution and eventual republicanism. The Deuba government has repeatedly rejected demands for a new constitution and republicanism.

Meanwhile, speaking in a village in Morang district today, the president of the ruling Nepali Congress party Girija Prasad Koirala urged the government to stop the peace negotiations until the rebels lay down their arms.

"The rebels say they will not sit down for further talks until the government agrees to their demands. The government should also be able to say that it will pull out of talks until the Maoists lay down their arms," Koirala said. "When the talks started, the rebels were in an advantageous position. But due to the new international situation, the government has its hands up. It should capitalize on the situation."

Koirala said that he was not against the peace talks but he did not like the rebels sitting on the negotiating table with their weapons. He also urged common village folk to form resistance committees in the villages to combat Maoist "terror."

Donors allocate US$ 550,000 for peace

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KATHMANDU, Oct 21 - A donor-established peace fund has allocated US$ 550,000 for maintaining peace and carrying out development activities during this year starting October-end, said a highly placed official at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The Project Review Committee of the fund titled "Trust Fund for Peace and Development" that was set up in mid-September, will review the proposals received so far from various local non-governmental organizations (NGO) and will decide NGO(s) for the implementation of the project, the official told The Kathmandu Post.

The trust fund was set up under the lead of UNDP with support from the British government’s Department for International Development (DFID), the Canadian government’s Canadian Co-operation Office (CCO), the Swiss government’s SDC, the German government’s GTZ, the Netherlands government’s SNV and the Norwegian government.

According to the UNDP official, others contributing to the trust are the World Bank, and the Japanese government’s Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) is mulling contribution to the trust. "Any donor can contribute to the fund; it is open for all," said the official.

When asked if the trust fund was established to quell the Maoist insurgency through peaceful means, the official said, "It is not meant particularly for quelling the insurgency, but aims at giving continuity to the development activities."

Ever since the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) initiated its bloody "People’s War" in 1996 to outlaw Monarchy and make Nepal a republican state, various donor-funded development activities, especially in the rural parts of the country, have faced serious set-backs.

The official said altogether 26 organizations have submitted proposals and 500 organizations have taken forms to initiate projects by Thursday.

Machchhenarayan festival ends, Dalits’ woes begin

By Kiran Chapagain

MACHCHHEGAON Kathmandu, Oct 21 : The month-long Machchhenarayan Mela brought an oasis in the life of Bhakti Bhujel, 15, and her family. As the village was busy observing the annual festival, which saw hundreds of people from different walks of life converging in Machchhegaon, the Bhujels and many other Dalits here did not notice any such thing as caste-based discriminations existing.

"The Bahuns and Chhetris or people from so-called upper caste often discriminate against us; we people (Bhujels) are often looked down upon as untouchables," a shy Bhakti said as she walked past her vegetable garden on her way to the stone spout where she usually washes clothes and dishes. "But that did not happen during the entire Machhenarayan Mela days."

Her point: As her village on the outskirts of the capital city remained crowded with pilgrims and visitors during the Mela days, nobody bothered about people’s caste, creed or religion. Tens of food-stalls and teashops had been opened by the locals in the vicinity of the centuries-old temple of Machchhenarayan or an incarnation of Vishnu, the Hindu god who is supposed to take care of the God’s creatures.

"There was no untouchability, no discriminations and no hatred; it was a good fun," Bhakti adds, recalling the Mela days. The festival, which is observed once in every 32 months during the Purushottam Mahina of the oriental lunar calendar, attracted between 700,000 to 800,000 visitors from across the country, according to Gyan Bahadur Gopali, the village chief.

The festival came to an end last week. Bhakti comes from a traditional tailor community, and they are popularly known as the Damais. Just like the Sarkis, the traditional cobblers, and the Kamis, the traditional blacksmiths, or the Sunars, the traditional goldsmiths, the Damais are discriminated against by the upper caste Hindus as untouchables.

And it is not just Bhakti, who held her head high during the festival. Says Ram Chandra Pandit (Sunar) of the same village, who is also a central member of Jatiya Mukti Samaj, a Dalit NGO, "For a short while the world was just beautiful, there was no caste-based discrimination and it was a better place to live in. But no more...Now that the festival has ended the problem is back to square one."

Pandit is a surname, which traditionally belongs to the Brahmans, the upper caste-Hindus. But because his upper caste brethren continually discriminate against the Sunars and call them untouchables, Ram Chandra Sunar has changed his surname. Now he is Ram Chandra Pandit. "Now my surname is Pandit and nobody creates any problem," he proudly says.

Thanks to the Mela, which put a balm, at least for a month, in the hearts of the Machhegaon Dalits. According to Pandit, 24 families of Dalit, reside in the vicinity of Machhegaon alone. And members of the families have to face discrimination and hatred in such public places as local taps, hotels and bridge almost every day.

He says, "The Dalits of this village have to wait until the so-called upper caste people finish all their works at the local taps. Besides, they have to wait until the upper caste people cross the bridge," which lies in the premises of Machchhenarayan temple, in the heart of the village.

The Village Development Committee (VDC) Chairman, Gopali (who comes from upper caste), however, denies that any such thing as caste-based discrimination exists in his village. "No I don’t have any knowledge about such incidents," he asserted, when asked to make comments.

Machchhegaon is just a stone throw away from the capital city, but the age-old social malaise continues to exist. And it is unlikely to change overnight. However, the Dalits here say that the government should enforce whatever anti-caste-based-discrimination laws the nation has.

"The laws exist only in papers, they are never implemented," said Pandit in a disappointed tone. Added Bhakti’s sister, Kumari Nepali (Bhujel), "If the laws are to be enforced properly then every day will be like the day of Machhenarayan Mela everyday." But the truth is that the Mela comes once in only 32 months. Till then the Dalits here are bound to face discriminations.

Last quadruplet, too, passes away

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POKHARA, Oct 21 – The last and eldest of the quadruplet born to Rupa Thapa (Shrestha) passed away on Saturday, dashing hopes of all the parents and all the well-wishers.

The doctors attending the critical baby said that he too had died due to breathing complications.

Although the baby died at around 5 p.m., the hospital staff had been maintaining, even two hours later, that the baby was stable. "Even the parents were informed at around 11 p.m.," said the father of the child, Raj Kumar Shrestha. The parents performed the last rites of the baby on Sunday.

Previously, the youngest died on October 7, the second four days later and the third, last Friday. The quadruplets were born on September 30 and October 1, the first one delivered at the Shrestha’s home and the remaining three at the western region hospital. All the babies were underweight since birth. The aid and donation that were collected for the treatment of the quadruplets had crossed Rs 500,000.

New arrangement for increased sugar supply

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KATHMANDU, Oct 21 - Following the shortage of sugar in the market, the government has made an arrangement for the increased supply of sugar through the National Trading Limited, a press release from the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies said Sunday.

A total of 44 sales outlets have been established at the capital to meet the increasing demand of the consumers. The government has also fixed the price tag for sugar at Rs 28 per kg.

In order to meet the increasing demand of the consumer through the dealers in the district, government has also made a special arrangement for the distribution of sugar through various branches of National Trading Limited and Salt Trading Corporation Limited located in the districts, the release stated.

In order to make the distribution system fair and judicial, the National Trading Limited will apply the distribution system of Salt Trading Corporation.

The consumers are also asked to contact the National Trading Limited and Salt Trading Corporation Limited over phone for further information regarding the arrangement if and so desired, the release stated.

Phone: 244962 (National Trading Limited)

Phone: 282000 (Salt Trading Corporation Limited)

CPN-UML re-warns Maoists

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KATHMANDU, Oct 21 - The main opposition party in the parliament CPN-UML has once again issued a statement sternly warning the Maoists to keep away from abducting and murdering its party cadres. The party has also yet again appealed the Maoists to leave the path of violence and come to main stream politics, compete for power and work for the welfare of the Nepali people.

In the statement issued today by the party central office states that the Maoists have finally made public the names of people brutally murdered by them due to mounting public pressure and among them are names of UML cadres.

"Among the names made public by the Maoists are the names of Balram Sapkota, former vice chairman of Paachkhal VDC, who was a very dedicated member of the party; the party condoles his death," states the statement.

The statement adds that the Maoists have brutally murdered local leaders of the party from Yadu Gautam to Nimlal Rokaya and have tried to cover up their crimes. "The Maoists have also abducted our party member Chakra Bahadur Fadera from his home in Humla. They have intensified their criminal activities such as extortion, vandalism and forcing elected representatives to resign in several districts of Karnali Zone including Kalikot, Humla, Jumla and Mugu."

The statement further adds that the Maoists have in the past abducted and murdered UML cadres several times and in spite of being warned time and again are continuing with their activities. These action exposes their dual character. The party warns the Maoists to restrain from such activities in the future.

On the other hand, Madhav Kumar Nepal, General Secretary of UML, speaking at a public function in Morang today said that the Maoists were the outcome of present political and social corruption and that they had to be seen positively as well.

Nepal also said that the Maoist had to be practical while putting their demands keeping in mind the balance of power within the country and international scenario. At the same occasion, Nepal also criticised the Deuba government for massive expansion of his cabinet and said that huge cabinets have become burden to the country and the people.

Nepal also distributed prizes to students, sportsmen and female rikshaw pullers on the occasion.