PM Chand, Dr Bhattarai share single platform
Constitution is dead, it is time to build a new one: Bhattarai

Post Report

KATHMANDU, March 31 : As Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand and other political leaders echoed the popular desire for lasting peace in the country today, Maoist leader Dr Babu Ram Bhattarai attacked the constitution, terming it dead, and exhorting all political forces to come together to build a new constitution.

"There is no constitution at present, it is a constitution-less state. You (political parties) have already burnt down the constitution," Dr Bhattarai said at a rare meeting attended by ministers, representatives of almost all the political parties and members of the civil society at the Birendra International Convention Centre.

Dr Bhattarai also reiterated his party’s long-standing demands: of round table conference, of interim government and of the need to rewrite a new constitution through constituent assembly elections. That, he said, would go a long way toward ensuring "equal opportunity for all: the indigenous people from the hills and the terai, the dalits, and the women, who need to be represented equally in the government".

"Let’s not go into our model of new democracy, let’s sit down, discuss and devise a model that’s suitable for our country," he said. "The geo-strategic position and the situation are such that we can’t run away just like this. If the political parties can’t play the expected role, then the civil society should come forward."

Borrowing the term used by former prime minister Kirti Nidhi Bista, who earlier called for rapprochement and reconciliation between all nationalistic forces, Dr Bhattarai said that it was indeed a golden opportunity for the Nepali people, and called on all sides to "make hay while the sun shines".

"If we can utilise this golden moment, our nation can make a giant leap...our people can prosper and hold their head high," he said.

At the meeting, Dr Bhattarai was accompanied by Maoist military strategist Ram Bahadur Thapa (Badal) and leader Dev Bahadur Gurung. The Maoist leaders were seating next to Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand, Home Minister Dharma Bahadur Thapa, Speaker of the House of Representative Tara Nath Ranabhat and Chairman of the National Assembly Dr Mohammad Mohasin.

The event was the sixth anniversary celebrations of Reporters’ Club Nepal.

Clad in his usual bluish black suit and hat, Dr Bhattarai described today’s meeting of the leaders and members of the civil society as the start of the round table conference. "This is the kind of round table conference we are talking about," he said. "We are really serious, that’s why we are here. We just want to sit together and discuss what we can do together. And any body can host the conference."

About his meetings with Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala and CPN-UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, he said that "the outcomes are positive", and added that he would be meeting Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Chairman Pashupati Shumsher Rana and other leaders next.

At one point, the rebel leader also shared smiles with the Prime Minister and shook hands with him, as the audience cheered and many press photographers hastened to capture the moment.

Welcoming the cease-fire and the ongoing peace process, Prime Minister Chand said that the government was working to prepare the code of conduct for talks. "Things are moving ahead quite positively, and nobody is against peace in the country," a relaxed Chand said. "And I believe that we will rise above individual and party interests for maintaining lasting peace in the country."

Former prime minister Kirti Nidhi Bista described the present situation as a golden time, and urged all the political forces to create an environment for reconciliation and resolution of the conflict. "Or else it will be too late, and foreign powers could invade us and make our country their playground," he said.

Standing Committee Member of CPN-UML Bam Dev Gautam described the event as a historic turning point and urged all the political parties to "shoulder the historic responsibility responsibly".

He appealed to the rebel leaders to "forget the idea of going back to the jungle" and "work very much seriously" toward restoring peace and stability in the country. At the same time he criticised the government for failing to speed up the dialogue process.

However, Nepali Congress General Secretary Shushil Koirala urged everybody to think twice before "meddling with the preamble of the 1990 constitution". "The constitution is simply the best. And what we want is that we safeguard the achievement of the popular movement of 1990," he said.

RPP Chairman Rana urged all the parties to start preparations to make the dialogue process successful and called for measures to speed up the process of "reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconciliation". He also urged parties to rise above individual and party interests.

Hridayesh Tripathi of Nepal Sadbhavana Party urged the rebel leaders to make the dialogue process participatory, so as to address the root causes of all the problems such as deprivation and backwardness of various ethnic and dalit communities of the mountains and the plains. "Or else another ...ram will enter the jungle - even if Baburam gives up and comes back," he said.

Rajeshwor Devkota of Nationalist Front, which groups smaller parties, urged the rebel leaders to make peace "the basic human rights" as the main precondition for talks. "Now there is peace, and peace cannot be an issue of debate," he said.

Govt plans all children in school by 2009

Post Report

KATHMANDU, March 31 : The government plans to have all children in school by 2009 instead of 2015. It has finalised a ‘concept paper’ on fulfilling the objective of Education for All (EFA) by that date, an official said here today.

Donor countries have reaffirmed their support to Nepal’s latest move and have endorsed the ‘concept paper’ to realise the objective of EFA and are keen on increasing their financial aid in education sector, the official said.

This sentiment was expressed at a closed-door meeting between the government and the donor agencies, which concluded recently. It is learnt that Department for International Development (DFID) and Save the Children Foundation (SCF) are also willing to join the race with eight donors, who are currently funding Basic and Primary Education Programme (BPEP-II), an ambitious primary education project, for fulfilling the Nepali version of EFA by 2009.

It has been learnt that the donors have expressed their conviction to increase their support in education sector but have insisted on the need to decentralise education, to realise the objective of universal education between now and 2009.

"The meeting with the donors focussed mainly on intensifying decentralisation of public schools," Ram Balak Singh, deputy director at the planning section, Department of Education told The Kathmandu Post.

He also said that the donors have committed Rs 40 million under the BPEP-II, for handing over of 1000 public schools to the local communities in next fiscal year.

UML, Maoists agree to form joint probe team

Post Report

KATHMANDU, March 31 : The Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) and the CPN-Maoist today agreed to form a joint investigation committee to build up friendly relation between the two parties to further facilitate the peace process.

This was agreed in a meeting between the Maoist negotiating team and Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of the UML, at the latter’s residence, Koteshwor on Monday morning.

Immediately after the meeting, Nepal told The Kathmandu Post that both the parties agreed to strengthen the relation disrupted for the past few years.

"The Maoists agreed to form a high level joint committee to investigate upon the misconduct meted out to the UML cadres by them in the past," Nepal said.

Dr Babu Ram Bhattarai, co-ordinator of the Maoist negotiating team, along with other four members of the team in their meeting with Nepal also asked the UML leader to get ready for progressive way out of the current political stalemate.

Nepal asked the Maoist leaders to realise the role of the political parties in the peace process. However, he denied of having talks on constituent assembly, one of the top demands put forth by the Maoists. "We will hold talks regarding the constituent assembly in our future meetings," said Nepal, adding that the parties decided to protest against the October 4 ‘regressive move’ of the king.

After the meeting, Dr Bhattarai said, "The meeting with the UML leader is one of our regular meetings with political leaders in order to prepare conducive atmosphere for peace talks."

He said that the UML was positive for the progressive move of the current crisis.

He also reiterated that the peace negotiation would in no way go further without the co-operation from all political parties. "We will not bypass the political parties in the peace process," Dr Bhattarai said.

Prince Paras releases newly-bred crocodile

By Manish Gautam and Prabhakar Ghimire

CHITWAN, March 31 : Crown Prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev and Chairman of the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC), today released the newly-bred crocodile, in Narayani river at Amaltari area.

The Crown Prince also inspected the rhinos that were to be translocated from Royal Chitwan National Park to Royal Bardiya National Park, the latter being the newly created habitat of the highly endangered mammals.

The Crown Prince, accompanied by Princess Himani and their daughter Purnima, also interacted with the representatives of the foreign partner organisations of KMTNC.

The Trust also released a book on Crown Prince Paras’ year-long involvement in the conservation of biological diversity. Speaking at the programme, Arup Rajouriya, member-secretary of the Trust, highlighted the conservation and development programmes being conducted in coordination with the local community.

"The government, partner organisations and local community have contributed significantly in this process," Rajouriya said.

Speaking on the occasion, Micheal E Malinowsky, US Ambassador to Nepal hailed the contributions of the royal family in nature conservation. He also expressed satisfaction for the involvement of locals in the preservation of the nature.

The Trust has a plan to release 35 ghariyal crocodiles in Narayani river, bred in Ghariyal Breeding Centre inside the Park. The baby crocodiles are usually released in river, which is their natural habitat, after they grow one to two metres long.

The Chitwan National Park initiated Ghariyal Conservation Project since 1978, with assistance from Frankfurt Zeological Society. According to the officials, the Park has already released about 500 crocodiles in Narayani, Babai, Mahakali, Koshi and Gandaki rivers.

The two species of crocodiles, which have already become extinct in Bangladesh, Bhutan and Burma are now found only in Nepal and India.

Memorandum against Iraq war handed over

Post Report

KATHMANDU, March 31 : A protest rally today handed over a memorandum to the British and American governments, through their embassies here today, demanding immediate end of war on Iraq.

The rally organised by Collective Campaign Against US-led War on Iraq (CCAUWI) went to the British Embassy via King’s Way and Lainchour and later arrived at the US Embassy to hand over its memorandum.

The rally chanted slogans accusing US president Bush of being a terrorist and called him to order the US army back home. In the memorandum, handed over to Nepali nationals working for the British Embassy, the protesters demanded the end of "war for oil" and withdraw the troops from the gulf of Arab.

The protesters could not hand over their memo to the US ambassador. "Instead it was received by First Secretary of the Embassy," said Shyam Shrestha of CCAUWI.

The Maoist negotiators for peace talks with the government, Krishna Bahadur Mahara and Matrika Yadav and CPN-UML leaders Keshav Badal among others, took part in the rally.

Raghu Panta, another CCAUWI member, said similar rallies were going to be held in various districts to protest the US-led war on Iraq.

‘No Iraqi refugee here’

KATHMANDU, March 31 (PR)- The government today denied that any Iraqis have sought refugee status in the country contrary to reports in local media.

"No one has yet applied for refugees status," Foreign Secretary Madhu Raman Acharya told The Kathmandu Post today. A Nepali broad-sheet today said that some Iraqis who had fled their country had sought asylum in Nepal.

Acharya also said that officials of the Department of Immigration has caught some Iraqis with "false documents" and investigation into the affair was going on. He also said that he had no knowledge as to whether any Iraqis had fled their country and come to Nepal.

Even the chief of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Nepal, Abraham Abraham told The Kathmandu Post that he was not aware of how many Iraqis were seeking asylum in Nepal. He said he was in touch with the government here.

He also questioned whether those referred as Iraqi refugees in sections of the media were refugees in the first place. "We don’t know anything about them, who they are and what they want and whether or not they have sought asylum."

Abraham also said that he had not spoken to any media "specifically" on Iraqis.

Replying to a question, Abraham said it was for the Nepal government to decide whether or not to grant refugee status to the Iraqis if they apply for one. But he added that if the Iraqis ask for asylum and the government here agreed to their request, UNHCR would do its duty. "This is a question of humanitarian principle. We cannot refuse them or send them back to Iraq, where a war is going on," Abraham said.

Mandal expands party committee

Post Report

KATHMANDU, March 31 : Badri Prasad Mandal, the newly elected chairman of a faction of Nepal Sadbhavana Party today expanded his party’s central committee by adding two vice chairmen, two general secretaries, three joint general secretaries and a treasurer.

In the first expansion of the party’s central committee after its fourth general convention a week ago, Mandal, has nominated 15 members as the central committee members from among the general convention members.

Those nominated to the posts of vice chairmen are Laxman Lal Karn and Mrigendra Kumar Singh Yadav while two general secretaries are Devendra Mishra and Amreeta Agrahari.

Mandal has also nominated Ram Narayan Yadav, Bishwonath Singh Rajbanshi and Sitaram Mandal as three joint general secretaries of the party.

Durga Prasad Chaudhari has been nominated to the post of treasurer of the party while Mukti Nath Mandal, the existing spokesman of the party has been re-appointed to the post.

Need to bring science closer to rural milieu

Post Report

KATHMANDU, March 31 : Of the total scientific community in Nepal, only 15 per cent are women. Furthermore, a majority of these women are working in the field of agriculture, said Prof Dr Dayananda Bajracharya, Vice-Chancellor, Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (RONAST).

"It is therefore necessary to utilise these women scientists working in agriculture for poverty alleviation," said Prof Bajracharya.

Bajracharya was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the International Conference on "Women, Science and Technology for Poverty Alleviation". The three-day conference is being organised by the Women in Science and Technology (WIST).

The seminar will discuss the role of science and technology and women for poverty alleviation. Both national and international scientists are participating in this seminar.

"Women play a key role in the use of traditional and modern technology," said Ram Badan Pradhan, President, WIST. "It is found that most technologies used in the rural areas are male biased."

"Women are unable to access modern technologies often because their husbands do not approve of new ideas." Pradhan added that it was a challenge for scientists to be able to ensure technology reaches and is utilised by the rural people.

Furthermore, Dr Jayshree Mehta, Director, Science and Technology for Women and Children (SATWAC), India said that it was necessary to understand that science needed to be developed for the public.

"We need to be able to use science for the people," said Mehta. "The best way to reach the people is through women."

"More involvement of women scientists will mean that there will be better communication to women in all areas of society," she said. Quoting a study carried out during 1994 to 1996 on the number of women in science and technology, Mehta said "In Nepal only 40 per one million people are women scientists, while in a developed country the rate exceeds 3000."

Dr Upendra Devkota, Minister for Science and Technology said that science and technology needed to be developed in the country. "For effective use of science we need to identify our requirements," said Dr Devkota.

"We should not be copying other countries in the field of sci-tech but rather we should think what is appropriate for us," he added.

Devkota further said the service industry and natural products were the strengths of Nepal. "We need to concentrate on improving these fields through science and technology."

Similarly, Dr Yubraj Khatiwada, member of National Planning Commission said that the government has planned for the development of science and technology in the next five years.

"Involvement of private sectors and communities for effective use of new technologies is one of the key focuses of the plan," said Dr Khatiwada. He added that the best use of available resources, development of science and technology in higher education and expansion of information technology were some of the issues to be addressed.

The Ambassador of Israel, Abraham Nir also said the proper utilisation of scientific manpower was the key to development. "Money needs to be spent on research and development," said Nir. He added that it was necessary to create an environment for scientists to focus on research.