His Majesty inaugurates KIDS GUERNICA - 2000

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Dec. 25:His Majesty King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev inaugurated the KIDS GUERNICA-2000 by ringing the traditional bell amidst a special function organised in Tundikhel Parade Ground this morning. On the occasion a couple of pigeons were also released as symbol of peace.

Her Majesty the Queen was also present on the occasion.

After the inaugural ceremony, Their Majesties the King and Queen observed the 53 murals, in the Parade Ground, painted by the children of 19 countries appealing for a violence free home and world.

Delivering the welcome speech, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Tarini Datta Chataut said Nepal, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, the apostle of peace and who is also referred to as the Light of Asia, had the privilege of getting the opportunity to organise such a type of exhibition that could spread the message of peace throughout the world.

Hailing the artistic creations of children, Minister Chataut said that the works indicate what kind of world the children desire in the days to come. He further said that the country needed an art academy for children so that they could express their feelings and emotions through art, the ancient but the most effective medium of expression.

Nepal is hosting the week-long International Children’s Peace Mural Exhibition entitled KIDS GUERNICA-2000 with the support of the Global Movement for Children and at the proposal of Japan Art Network, which initiated the programme in 1995 through the Internet by inviting children of every country to express their messages for peace on huge murals. The exhibition is expected to ‘send a message of peace from children to people around the world in the global community in the 21st century.’

As part of the week-long International Children’s Peace Mural Exhibition: KIDS’ GUERNICA-2000, children’s mural workshops at Bhaktapur, Lalitpur and Kathmandu Durbar Squares were held for three days from December 21. Children from abroad and others from different schools of Nepal had participated in the workshop.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, National Organising Committee chairman Baikuntha Man Shrestha said, "In addition to completing ‘10,000 series’, to be drawn by 10,000 children from different parts of the world, seven murals are created by Nepalese children".

In 1995, Art Japan Network had developed the idea of KIDS GUERNICA, influenced by the celebrated mural paintings of Pablo Picasso, to engage children of every country in mural painting for the promotion of peace.

Each mural painting in the exhibition is done in the size of 3.5 x 7.8 metres and is painted by groups of children working on different parts that eventually form a complete picture. The size of the murals is modeled after Picasso’s masterpiece ‘GUERNICA’, painted in 1937 in commemoration of Spanish town of the same name which was totally devastated by bombing during the civil war there.

Appreciating the works done by the children, representative of the UNICEF/Nepal Stewart McNab said that the paintings were their dreams for the world of the future full of peace and beauty and against all the existing activities which are gradually destroying the beauty of the world.

"The idea is to convince leaders to take actions, inspire and engage all sectors of the society, and listen to what young people have to say about their future," he said.

During the inaugural function of the exhibition, children representatives from Nepal, Japan and France also expressed their views regarding the present situation of the world and their wish for a world free of violence, hunger, discrimination and disparity.

The movement is expected to create a Global Agenda for Children at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session in September 2001, allowing children to make themselves heard at a time when world leaders chart the course of development in the 21st century.

As part of the KIDS GUERNICA-2000, there will be a symposium on "Art education for children in the 21st century" on Tuesday and the children’s peace gathering at Tundikhel will be organised prior to the closing party on Wednesday.

Crown Prince to open Chitwan Festival today

Kathmandu, Dec. 25 (RSS): On the occasion of the 56th Auspicious Birthday of His Majesty the King, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev is scheduled to inaugurate the Third Chitwan Festival at Narayangadh tomorrow.

The festival organised by Narayangadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chitwan District Development Committee, Bharatpur Municipality, Ratnanagar Municipality and Ratnanagar Chamber of Commerce and Industries will continue till January 2.

Special programmes will be conducted to disseminate information on present situation and prospects of tourism industry at the festival to be hosted with the objective of boosting tourism.

Provisions for about 40 stalls have been made at the fair complex for the promotion of agro-based industries to display agricultural produce of the farmers within and outside the district.

Technology developed and the progress made by the entrepreneurs sector will be displayed, and competitive exhibition held on the foodgrains, fruits and vegetables grown and livestock raised by the farmers of the district.

The products and technology of the industries, achievements made and opportunities available in the health and education sectors along with costumes, customs and culture of the district will be on display at the exhibition.

Nepal, Bhutan clarify positions

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Dec.25:Going by what Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Banstola had to say after the first day of the 10th round of Nepal-Bhutan talks on Bhutanese refugee crisis today, the issue is where it was during the ninth round of talks in April earlier this year.

"We tried to remove the Bhutanese suspicion that they would have to take back the Nepalese population," Banstola told newsmen after the behind-the-closed-door session with the Bhutanese delegation here today. "We assured them that all we want is that the Bhutanese population should go home."

If that is what Banstola had to stress during the bilateral talks today, it should not be hard to figure out what could have been Bhutan’s opening note. Akin to its stand during the ninth round of talks, the Bhutanese side chose to stuck with its refugee verification modality – identifying each and every refugee in the seven camps in eastern Nepal, a source present during the talks said.

"Today’s most of the time they consumed to reiterate their stand that they had expressed during the ninth round of talks," the source said. "It looks like they are going to take fair amount of time to mull and consult over the issue. On the basis of what they said today, it would be too premature to gauge their motive."

What also hints that is Bhutanese Foreign Minister Jigme Y Thinley’s saying: The idea of verification is the goal of the meeting, he said after the meeting today. "And the documents we are using for the verification is the expression of the substances (for the verification of the refugees) that will be agreed upon."

The agreement would be a distant goal if Bhutan still stands its grounds as it did during the ninth round of talks. And, here comes in the clouds of suspicion factor. It is with its suspicious eyes, Bhutan has been disagreeing to Nepal’s idea to verify the refugees on the basis of family unit.

Guided by the doubts, the Dragon Kingdom has been harping on identifying each and every Bhutanese refugee. While doing that, it would be going against its own rule since it distributes citizenship and other official documents to its citizens in the name of their family heads. As a mid-pathfinder, the United States of America earlier this month had proposed an idea to overcome the stand-off on the refugee verification issue. Two Assistant Secretaries of the US, during their visit here earlier this month, floated the idea of validating the refugees on the basis of their families before the actual verification.

In today’s meeting between the Nepalese and Bhutanese delegations, however, the US proposal did not find any place. "It was not in the agenda," said the source. The talks will continue tomorrow.

The ongoing 10th round of talks is the result of the inconclusive nine rounds of talks between Nepal and Bhutan since 1993. That was the year when the Joint Ministerial Level Committee of Nepal and Bhutan was formed to solve the Bhutanese refugee problem.

It was the same committee of Nepal and Bhutan that agreed to categorise Bhutanese refugees into four groups – Bonafide Bhutanese, Bhutanese who have emigrated, Bhutanese who have committed crimes, and Non-Bhutanese.

Around 100,000 Bhutanese refugees have been languishing in the UNHCR-managed refugee camps in eastern Nepal since 1991. The refugees entered Nepal after being forcefully evicted by Bhutanese authorities.

Bhutan resorted to ethnic cleansing in 1985 after making changes in its Citizenship Act 1958. As a result, the Nepali-speaking Bhutanese (Lhotsampas) had to flee their homelands in the late Eighties and the beginning of Nineties.

Maoists creating obstacles to development, accuses Nepal

Tanahu, Dec. 25 (RSS): Main opposition party CPN-UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal has said that the terrorist activity of the Maoists, their tyrannical character and constricted political thinking and their inability to listen to criticism are never in the interest of the country and the people, rather they are a big obstacle to the country’s development.

General Secretary Nepal, who was inaugurating the CPN-UML second Tanahu district council meeting at Damauli today, however, attributed the Maoist problem to growing aberrations and corruption in the country.

All political parties should join hands to resolve the problem ideologically, he said.

CPN-UML wants all parties within and outside of the parliament to help initiate a process of amending the constitution from within the parliament so as to improve the election procedures, control corruption, bring about socio-economic changes in the country.

Amendments to the constitution is essential also to resolve the Maoist problem and do away with the existing aberrations, he observed.

He criticized the government for making arrangements for appointing Chhetrapal and constituting armed police force through an ordinance instead of getting a bill in this regard passed through the parliament.

Mr Nepal also expressed his displeasure at the idea of handing over the management of some Nepalese banks to foreigners.

President of All Nepal Peasants Association and CPN-UML central member Keshav Badal accused the government of failing to bring any programmes for the socio-economic upliftment of the poor and backwards masses.

MP Kashinath Adhikari attributed the aberrations in political sector, growing corruption and other anomalies to the weakness of Nepali Congress and said that should the situation continue unabated the CPN-UML should explore an alternative measure.

MP Tukaraj Sigdel accused the government of failing to protect the life and property of the people.

At the function presided by CPN-UML district secretary Ek Bahadur Rana a host of other speakers also highlighted various problems facing the country.

Also today, CPN-UML General Secretary Nepal laid the foundation stone for the district party office building at Damauli-2.

He also inaugurated the Madan-Ashrit bus stop built by the Mothers’ Group at Byas Municipality-1.

NPC evaluates Ninth Periodic Plan

Lalitpur, Dec. 25 (RSS): National Planning Commission (NPC) has started working on a plan of action regarding the technical aspect of the 10th Five Year Plan while evaluating the Ninth Plan.

The NPC is doing detailed evaluation of activities carried out so far to achieve the Ninth Plan’s overriding goal of poverty alleviation, problems encountered in the implementation of poverty alleviation programmes, and individual, national and international commitments to the attainment of this goal, and is working at the same time on the preparation of a technical framework of the forthcoming Tenth Plan.

Meanwhile, a two-day national seminar on sustainable development began here today to discuss ways to effectively implement the commitments made by Nepal at the Earth Summit that concluded in Rio De Janeiro and the Rio+5 conference.

The seminar organised jointly by NPC and the World Conservation Union (WCU) has brought together more than 40 representatives of local bodies, NPC, World Conservation Union, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and lawyers.

NPC member Dr Jagdish Pokherel, who inaugurated the seminar, said as the participatory approach to development adopted by the governments since the restoration of democracy has significantly contributed to poverty alleviation, it is imperative to consider the ways to implement that approach more effectively.

Stating that special attention needs to be given to the future while meeting the needs of the present, he said NPC has adopted the policy of giving priority to the plans that have been formulated and approved by the local bodies.

NPC joint secretary Laxmi Maskey said the seminar was organized to review the existing plans of action regarding sustainable development and work out new ones.

WCU representative Dr Mahesh Baskota said as development and environment are complementary to each other efforts should be made to maintain coordination between them.

From the chair, Lalitpur DDC chairman Madhav Poudel demanded implementation of the Local Self-Governance Act-2055 B.S.

As informed at the seminar, as part of the implementation of the commitments made at the Rio summit the government had with the cooperation of UNDP launched sustainable development pilot programme in the most backward communities in Surkhet, Dang and Kailali. Inspired by the success of the programme, it has been expanded to Humla, Myagdi and Okhaldhunga.

NPC is scheduled to make a presentation on this success story and the suggestions from this seminar at the summit meeting in Bolivia in February 2001.

At the second session of the seminar, CPN-ML politburo member Radhakrishna Mainali, Dr Devendra Chapagain, Dr Tirtha Bahadur Shrestha, Prakash Raj, Dr Yagya Bahadur Karki and Dr Badri Dev Pandey presented working papers on various topics such as development concept, biodiversity, tourism, education and population.