Royal Assent

Kathmandu, Dec. 6 (RSS): His Majesty the King has given assent to two bills already passed by both Houses of the Parliament.

According to the Parliament Secretariat, the bills receiving assent are the bill designed to amend the Cooperatives Act-2048 B.S. and the bill designed to amend the Nepal Water Supply Corporation Act-2046 B.S.

Top priority to economic diplomacy, says Bastola

Kathmandu, Dec. 6 (RSS): His Majesty’s Government has accorded high priority to economic diplomacy for foreign investment, setting up industrial firms with joint venture and investment for development of water resources, tourism and business sectors.

HMG has issued directives to the Royal Nepalese Embassies and Consulates abroad to focus on economic development programmes for the all-round progress of the country.

The Royal Nepalese Embassies and Consulates have been playing an important role in consolidating the economic condition of the country, and encouraging foreign communities to extend development assistance to the country.

The Royal Nepalese Diplomatic Missions abroad have been working with dedication to ensure joint investment in hydropower and industries and making available the opportunities of tourism promotion and foreign employment, Minister for Foreign Affairs Chakra Prasad Bastola told RSS.

With the political stability in the country, the atmosphere is conducive for bringing in foreign investment in the hydropower and tourism sectors, according to economic experts.

Various countries have benefited from the "economic diplomacy" endeavour which began after the end of the cold war while Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has been laying special emphasis on the need to move ahead the medium of economic diplomacy for the economic development of the country, at the same time resolving mutual problems through "peaceful diplomacy".

Peaceful diplomacy has been adopted in the Bhutanese refugee issue and the Bhutanese friends have been acquainted with the problem of Nepal, according to Minister for Foreign Affairs Bastola.

The Bhutanese refugee issue has been taken to the international arena and the European and the American friends have shown interest in resolving the problem, Mr Bastola added.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs is of the view that peaceful diplomacy refers to presenting a clear view of the issue to the concerned party and not making it a topic of public discussions.

According to Mr Bastola, talks are being held with the concerned member countries through peaceful diplomacy to resolve the Bhutanese refugee issue and convene the stalled conference of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and resume the SAARC activities soon as possible.

Nepal has been conducting trade with India, China, New Zealand and other countries but the trade deficit has not decreased to the desired extent, Mr Bastola said, adding that economic diplomacy has been moved ahead to balance the trade deficit.

Attempts are being made to bring in economic and technical cooperation, foreign investment in order to reduce the trade deficit, he said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working with sensitiveness to bridge the gap of trade deficit with the concerned countries, he added.

It has become absolutely necessary to carry out works to make the diplomatic missions and embassies physically well-equipped.

In response to the problems encountered by the Royal Nepalese Embassies abroad, Minister Bastola said "the pay scale of the embassy employees is not at par with those of other countries. Economic and physical facilities have not be provided in proportion to inflation but the ministry is making all possible efforts in this regard".

At present Nepal has diplomatic relations with 113 countries and the country has embassies of 20 nations. The latest embassy to be set up in Kathmandu is that of Norway while the latest Royal Nepalese Embassy set up abroad is in Qatar.

Royal Nepalese Consulates are functioning at Hong Kong and Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China while Nepalese permanent missions to the United Nations are in based Geneva and New York.

The cooperation offices of USA, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark and Canada as well as offices of the U.N. agencies, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and SAARC have been opened in Kathmandu.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has an average annual budget of Rs. 620 million while it costs about Rs. 30 million to establish an embassy, according to the ministry.

The Royal Nepalese Embassy has a post for four employees including ambassador, attache and officer and assistant level employee but the number of staffs may be more depending on the work load of the embassy.

There are more than four staffs at the Royal Nepalese Embassies in India, China, USA and Switzerland as a result of the work load.

As Royal Nepalese Embassies have not been opened in all the countries, the royal Nepalese Ambassador has been accredited to more than one country.

Vice President of Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Former Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani said that the foreign policy of Nepal should be directed towards safeguarding national interests and fulfilling the aspirations of developing the Nepalese society.

Nepal’s image should be enhanced in the world as a peace loving and progressive country, Dr. Lohani said, adding it is necessary for the body concerned to carry out works very seriously.

As relations with the neighbouring countries India and China have great importance for national interest of Nepal, Dr. Lohani said Nepal needs to further strengthen her relations with China and India.

Expressing the view that the Royal Nepalese Embassies and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should work actively for the social and economic development of the country, Dr Lohani said the financial assistance received from donor countries should be utilised properly.

There is the need for creating a mechanism to properly utilise the assistance received from donor countries.

Dr. Lohani said that no problem should be made an issue but should be resolved through peaceful diplomacy.

Pokhara hoteliers’ threat to shut down

BY NARAYAN UPADHYAY

Pokhara, Dec. 6: In the wake of the hotel employees’ earlier warning to the hoteliers that they will go on strike if their demand for levying a 10 per cent service charge on the hotel guests is not met, the hotel owners of this tourist town of Pokhara today have decided to close down their hotels if the workers persist with their demand.

"We have decided to close down our hotels from December 11, 2000 and stop booking rooms for new customers if the hotel workers go on strike to press for their demand for a 10 per cent charge on services", said Sundar Kumar Shrestha, President of Pokhara’s Regional Hotel Association. The Association is an affiliate of Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN).

The Regional Hotel Association’s President said that hotel owners would be forced to close down their hotels because they could not guarantee their guests’ safety. "The agitating workers may harm our customers", he said.

There is yet another reason why hotel owners want to discourage the workers’ move to go on strike to enforce their 10 per cent service charge demand. According to them, the workers’ demand for the 10 per cent service charge is "illegal" and is "against the rights of the consumer".

They further claim that the demand for extra benefit would further harm the "already poor state of the Nepalese tourism industry".

"Compared to other South Asian or European tourist destinations, Nepal is already an expensive spot for the tourists", said Anand Batas, treasurer of HAN, Pokhara.

Batas further said that the workers’ demand is not wholly wrong but it has come at the wrong time. "They can claim the service charge only if we have services and infrastructure comparable to developed nations and the tourist flow is massive", he said.

But workers claim that while Nepalese hotel owners charge customers prices that are equal to that charged by hotels in Thailand, Singapore or other developed nations’ hotels, they still provide poor services.

The hotel employees also charge that the hoteliers do not want to comply with their demand because "it will force them to show up all the bills and vouchers to the tax authorities and this will stop them in engaging in any tax evasions".

"It will be unfortunate if the nation’s tourist industry which is stable and accounts for over 24 per cent of forex earning on a permanent basis suffers a jolt from the hotel workers’ strike", said Deepak Behal of the Phoolbari Resort.

Behal said that the strike would not only put the poor workers of 65 big hotels, other smaller 250 hotels as well as tourist-related bars and restaurants but also their families in the soup.

Park animals on the prowl

BY KOMAL BHATTA

Kathmandu, Dec. 6: The residents living in the vicinity of the Royal Langtang National Park (RLNP) in Rasuwa district often become the victims of wild animals. The wild animals not only attack the locals but also damage their crops.

Recently, a bear severely attacked Hom Nath Ghimire, resident of Laharepauwa Village Development Committee (VDC) of Rasuwa district, while going to the farm to harvest paddy. Due to the attack of the bear, he has lost one of his eyes and the skin of his face. His condition is said to be critical. Currently, he is undergoing medical treatment at Bir Hospital.

Dayanidhi Ghimire, eldest brother of the victim, is very much worried about the future of his brother. He said he has already taken Rs. 61,000 from the villagers promising to pay Rs. five per hundred each month as interest for the treatment of the victim.

"It will be very difficult for me to pay back the loans as I have no income source," he says.

"Since we have no other alternative source of income and the wild animals destroy all our crops, how can we survive?"

He is also of the opinion that wired fence should be installed between the park and the farm and residential areas or the locals should be shifted to other safe areas.

He demanded that the government provide life insurance facility to the local residents.

He also called on the government to provide necessary funds for the treatment of the victims.

The local people accuse the concerned bodies such as District Forest Office, RLNP, District Development Committee (DDC), District Administration Office and VDC of not paying any attention to the problems created by the wild animals.

Bharat Prasad Neupane, chairman of Bhadaure Society Improvement Committee, said that the wild animals like leopards, bears, wild boars and monkeys come out of the park and rampantly destroy the crops and fruits.

Responding to a query regarding the attack of the wild animals near the park areas, Chief District Officer of Rasuwa Dik Bahadur Gurung said that the problem has been there for years. Gurung further informed that hunters have often been sent to the area to free the locals from the terror of wild animals.

"But the laws do not allow us to kill the wild animals. It is the responsibility of the national park officials to stop wild animals from coming out of the park," Gurung said.

Ranger of RLNP Laxman Poudel accepts that the people of Laharepauwa VDC have been facing the problem of wild animals as the area lies in the buffer zone of the park.

Poudel further said that since 33 to 50 per cent of the park’s income goes to the local VDCs, they have to take initiative to install wired fences to control the movement of the wild animals outside the park.

He said that the park management could provide certain amount of money to the victims if they submit an application demanding the same.

The management committee includes chairpersons of 21 consumer committees, one representative each from each Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Sindhupalchowk districts and warden as member secretary.

Most of the residents living near the park are poor and illiterate. Their main source of income is animal husbandry and agriculture. But now they have stopped involving in such activities due to the growing influence of the wild animals.

The most wild animal-affected villages of Rasuwa district are Laharepauwa, Dhaibung, Ramche, Bhorle, Yarsa and Samarthali that lie in the buffer zone.

Govt mulling reform in education: Minister

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu Dec. 6: Budhanilkantha School marked its 28th School Day amidst a special function today. The school celebrates School Day on December 6 every year to mark its establishment as a national school of Nepa, 28 years ago.

Minister for Education and Sports Amod Prasad Upadhyaya, who was the Chief Guest of the function, distributed prizes to students who performed well in academic as well as extra-curricular activities last year. Minister Upadhyaya honoured two teachers V. Shrestha and R. Tamot for their long service to the school.

Addressing the function, Minister for Education Amod Prasad Upadhyaya said that as the present system of education has only produced certificate holders rather than skilled human resource, the government was seriously contemplating to bring about reforms in the entire education system of the country.

"Objective of education is to create skilled and competent human resource and make the man self-reliant, but our education has completely lagged behind in this objective," Minister Upadhyaya said.

He said that the government was bringing about reforms in the education system giving more emphasis on vocational and technical education.

"A Bill has already been presented in parliament for the reforms in the education system. It also aims to hand over the responsibility of school management to the civil society," he said adding that people also have to share the responsibility of monitoring of the school.

He was of the opinion that teachers should not be involved in politics and education system be made free from politics, for which the present government is doing a homework.

Lawmaker and chairman of Budhanilkantha School Bal Bahadur KC said that schools like Budhanilkantha School should be established in each development region in order to impart quality education.

Principal of the Budhanilkantha School N.P. Sharma said that the performance of the school is quite satisfactory over the years and pledged to make the school better in the future. He, however, said that although the government is always supportive and positive towards the development of school, the government needs to provide additional support for the infrastructure development of the school and the professional development of teachers.

According to the Principal, there are 900 students, of whom one-third are being provided scholarship. The school selects one-third of the students who are intelligent and poor from all over the country under scholarship scheme of the government.

Secretary at the Ministry of Education and Sports Khagendra Basnyat said that the governemnt is always positive towards the development of the Budhanilkantha School and added that such school should be established in each development region.

Chairman of the Friends of Budhanilkantha School, Organisation of Parents, Dr Megh Bahadur Gurung, said that Budhanilkantha School is the best school in Nepal in imparting education to the children and making significant contribution to the quality education of the country.

In the function, students performed varieties of cultural and extra-curricular activities to mark their school’s 28th anniversary.

SNV Anniversary

Development ownership debated

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Dec 6: Various panelists at a debate programme on "Ownership: Myth or reality?" opined that although the discussion on the issue of ownership was dangerous it could be a major factor for the development process in the country or in the global context.

The panelists were having dialogues at a programme organised by SNV/Nepal on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of SNV - Netherlands Development Organisation in Netherlands, here today.

The SNV is marking its 35th anniversary in various parts of world, including Nepal, where it has been extending its development co-operation.

Addressing the function from the chair of chief guest Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gyan Chandra Acharya said that the technical and other assistance of the Netherlands to Nepal since the ’70s has now blossomed into an active partnership and cooperation in many important fields of national endeavour.

Nepal and the Netherlands have been enjoying excellent relations ever since the diplomatic ties between the two countries were established in 1960.

The Netherlands has been assisting Nepal in many areas of development efforts like hilly area development project, bio-gas support programme, community development programme and the programmes to uplift the quality of life of disadvantaged people of the country. Among many the Mechi Hills Development Programme and Bio-gas Support Programme are the two success stories for the ownership of which the SNV is supposed to have opened the panel discussion held today.

The SNV is focusing on capacity building, service oriented approach and new funding strategy in its development cooperation programme.

Speaking on the occasion Joint Secretary Acharya said that the SNV’s new strategy would be given a full support by the government.

Addressing the function Director of SNV/Nepal Mr. Jan de Witte shed light on the relevance of having a debate regarding the ownership of the development activities. Quoting Dutch Minister for Development Co-operation Mrs. Eveline Herfkens’ remarks while addressing the Netherlands’ Ambassadors on why ownership issue was raised, he said though the concept of "ownership" was new and still rather vague and the Department for Development Co-operation of the Netherlands was not entirely clear with the idea as to what it entails in practice, it was designed to respect the governments and civil societies and build on each other’s role.

Citing that the civil societies were very fragile in most developing countries he said that international co-operation also depended on inputs from both the government and civil societies. He said that that could foster a strong, legitimate state as well as a strong society.

Giving the closing remarks to the function Mr. Ric Hettina, acting SNV regional manager for Asia in The Hague, added that the Netherlands is always willing to help Nepal in its development endeavours.

Those who participated in the debate were secretary general of the Association of District Development Committee Nepal Dr. Shyam Krishna Bhurtel, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Local Development (MLD) Abhinandra Kumar Shrestha, women activist Arju Deuba private sector expert Reeta Thapa and general manager of Nepal Television Durga Nath Sharma.

The panelists were of the opinion that before the ownership issue could be translated into action the parties should rise from the level of ‘what is my/your share’ to what is negotiable and beneficial to the target group.

They also said that those whosoever become the owners of development activities must be honest, trustworthy and responsible to the target group.

Expressing the government’s view regarding the topic Joint Secretary at the MLD Shrestha said that the government has realised the failure of centrally controlled mechanism in development activities and has thus, introduced the decentralization system in the country. "The concept of local self governance which we have introduced can here be similar with the idea of ownership in development activities," he added.

The panel discussion was facilitated by Bandana Rana of Sancharika Samuha.

Tourism: Caught in the crossfire

BY NAVIN SINGH KHADKA

Kathmandu, Dec.6: For the still crawling tourism industry, it’s a nightmare coming true. And, the developments in the travel trade look decidedly ominous.

The spark of the unresolved 10 per cent service charge dispute between hoteliers and the hotel employees’ unions has turned into a wildfire – spreading fast and far, threatening the existence of the top forex earner in the country.

Tour operators have already begun to receive cancellations from their clients who had even packed their luggage to reach here. "We have received the cancellations," said Ashok Pokharel, Chairman of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Nepal Chapter.

"My travel agency alone has seen the cancellations of four middle sized groups and of around 10 Free Individual Tourists," said the young tourism entrepreneur who runs Shangrila Tours.

Narendra Dev Bhatta, President of Nepal Association of Travel Agents (NATA) did not have any good news either. "Many of our members and I myself have informed our clients about the shut down strikes and so we have received their cancellations."

Trekking Agents Association of Nepal (TAAN) is sitting for its urgent meeting tomorrow. So is the Board of Airlines Representatives of Nepal (BARN).

Surely, the two organisations will too have no pleasant news to tell their clients – while the tug of war continues between hoteliers and their employees’ unions.

Above all, Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) has already issued its notice stating that the hotels will be closed down December 11 onwards.

In response to the notice, travel agents briefed the situation to their clients. Result: The would-be visitors are now cancelling their trip to Nepal.

All because the hoteliers and their employees’ unions have locked horns. The apple of discord: 10 per cent service charge.

The labour unions have been claiming that they should get the 10 per cent service charge as their tips while hoteliers are in no mood to levy the extra charge.

Hotel owners counter claim that the 10 per cent additional charge will be too much for tourists. Other tourism entrepreneurs sided with the hoteliers fearing that their employees may too demand the service charge. Solidarity.

There is nothing wrong in that. But with both the hoteliers and the labour unions not budging from their respective stands, tourism – the only moving industry in the country – is caught in the crossfire.

Consider the timing: The peak season of the travel industry. And this is what the hotel employees’ unions had been waiting for.

"We chose this time to get our demand fulfilled," said Bishnu Lamsal, General Secretary of the United Central Action Committee of the two hotel workers’ unions. "We knew that during this period of the year, we can build pressure on the hoteliers to get our demand fulfilled."

Now, about tourism entrepreneurs. These were the same travel traders who dreaded shut- down strikes called by political parties. Today, they themselves have come to the fore to close down their shops as retaliation against the labour unions.

Both the warring sides have their own "justifications" for their moves. But, in the entire gamut of the story, if anything stands to lose, it is the national tourism industry that had steered its own course for the last three decades.

Notwithstanding to the upheavals the other industries suffered, travel trade all over these years had managed to survive against all odds.

But now that the trouble is brewing from within, the fate of the goose, that lays the golden eggs, definitely looms large.

On December 11, even if the labour unions do not go for the shut down strikes in the hotels, the travel industry will have suffered a major, if not fatal, blow.

The international tour market already knows the "mess" in the national tourism industry. And that means they have already begun to divert their clients elsewhere.

This will certainly have long term implications. For the clients having to cancel the trip in the last minute means giving an impression of being a troubled spot. Such experience will, by word of mouth, ultimately not be good publicity for the national tourism industry.

So much for the travel trade that expects to see repeat visitors. And so much for the tourism destination that has mega-events like Destination Nepal Year 2002 and International Himalaya Year lined up.

With tourism taken "hostage" by the uncompromising travel traders and the labour unions, the budget that could have otherwise been utilised for destination promotion will now have to be spent for a new purpose – damage control.