Japanese assistance to FAN, Kavrepalanchok DDC

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Aug. 21: The Embassy of Japan in Nepal has decided to extend grant assistance to the Fire Fighters Volunteer Association of Nepal (FAN) for the implementation of the 'Project for the Supply of Equipment for Fire Fighting and Ambulance Service in the municipalities and Village Development Committees (VDCs) of Sunsari, Moarng and Kavrepalanchok districts during Japan's 'FY 2001 under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Projects (GGP) scheme of the Government of Japan, says a press release issued by the Embassy of Japan here today.

A grant contract to this effect was signed here by Mitsuaki Kojima, Ambassador of Japan in Nepal, and Kewal Kumar Chapagain, President of the FAN.

Under the Project, Dharan and Itahari municipalities in Sunsari district will each be provided with one ambulance vehicle and one fire fighting engine, and Belbari VDC in Morang district and Panchkhal VDC in Kavrepalanchok district will each be provided with one ambulance vehicle. These fire engines and ambulances are used ones and are donated from local governments in Japan. The Government of Japan is providing support for the transportation of these vehicles from Japan to Nepal.

The Embassy of Japan is providing US$ 49,401 to implement the Project. The FAN, the municipalities and the VDCs will bear the operating and maintenance costs of the Project. Each year, the municipalities and VDCs in Sunsari, Morand and Kavrepalanchok districts receive numerous requests for fire fighting and ambulance services. Outbreak of fire is especially common in those districts during the dry season. However, as available emergency equipment has been limited, people in those municipalities as well as in outlying VDCs have had to wait for hours for fire fighting or ambulance services in the event of emergencies. This has caused huge losses of lives and property each year.

Implementation of the Project will provide the people in these three districts with timely transportation services to hospitals and with fire fighting services during emergencies.

The Project is also expected to lessen pressure on the existing equipment in the municipalities, thus providing additional service in those VDCs where ambulance and fire fighting services have not been readily available. The Project is expected to improve the welfare of the people in those districts by helping them overcome unforeseen disasters.

Similarly, the Embassy of Japan has decided to extend grant assistance to the District Development Committee of Kavrepalanchok (DDC) for the construction of Mangal Jan Bijaya High School at Mangaltar in Japan's FY 2001 under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Projects (GGP) Scheme of the Government of Japan.

A grant contract to this effect was signed and exchanged here today between Mitsuaki Kojima, Ambassador of Japan to the Kingdom of Nepal, and Krishna Prasad Sapkota, Chairman of Kavre DDC.

Mangal Jan Bijaya High School is located in Mangaltar VDC, about 75 km. from Kathmandu. The school provides education to about 1300 students from Class one through Class ten who live in seven nearby VDCs, and benefits about 1800 households. At present, inadequate classrooms, poor physical facilities and a generally poor learning environment are hindering the provision of quality education to the students, who will bear the responsibilities of developing their communities in the future.

Considering these facts, the embassy has decided to extend grant assistance of US$51,483 for the construction of a school building with well-equipped physical facilities in order to provide a better learning environment for the students. The new school building will have 18 classrooms, including library and laboratory, as well as a sufficient number of toilets.

The total estimated cost of the Project is about US $68,600. Of this about one million, two hundred and seventy-eight thousand, five hundred Nepalese rupees (NRs 1,278,500) will be borne jointly by the local communities, Kavre DDC and local authorities of the seven VDCs. Kavre DDC will also provide the technical and managerial support for the successful implementation of the Project.

The Embassy of Japan places great importance on public well-being through active participation and self-help efforts of local communities. This Project is a noteworthy example of self-help activities, in which communities take on the responsibilitiy of assuring a bright future for their children.

Kojima expressed his gratefulness at extending this grant assistance with the participation of the people of the local community in order to provide better facilities to the students of this remote area. He also expressed his belief that awareness and active participation of the communities in the development efforts are the key factor in their own community development, thus to make at successful and sustainable. Furthermore, he said, this Project will prove itself to be yet another step in strengthening the existing friendly relationship between the people of Japan and Nepal.

House deadlock continues
Ranabhat urges MPs not to suppress others' voice

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Aug. 21: The House of Representatives was again disrupted for the fourth day today after the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and Nepal Sadbhawana Party (NSP) lawmakers protested against the government decision to freeze land sales and transfers by chanting slogans against the Prime Minister thereby obstructing the regular proceedings of the House.

Just before the proceedings of the House was to commence today, Speaker Taranath Ranabhat asked the lawmakers’ co-operation for conducting the House meetings smoothly.

Let’s not create a situation in Parliament that suppresses the voice of an MP, he reminded and added, "The voice of every MP deserves the same importance," he added.

He said that it was natural for lawmakers to either protest or support the government’s programmes and policies but the dispute should be resolved through a certain procedure.

He further said that there had been irreparable loss of life and property due to the incessant rains and floods that have occurred in the various parts of the country in the past few days.

"The House must be sensitive to the woes and pains of the people since it is a place to articulate the feelings of the people," the Speaker noted.

He also reminded the MPs to maintain the dignity of the speaker and respect the rights of lawmakers to speak in the House. He requested them to speak according to their respective turn.

As he was expressing his views, the RPP and NSP MPs demanded that the speaker call the Prime Minister to the House session. In reply, Ranabhat said that he could invite the Prime Minister to the House if the situation demanded it.

Afterwards, Speaker Ranabhat granted time to Nepali Congress lawmakers to put forth their views in the House. At this the agitated legislators went to the well chanting slogans against the PM which ultimately led to the adjournment of the meeting today.

Meanwhile, RPP stalwart Pashupati Shamsher J. B. Rana, talking briefly to the press outside the House Chamber today, said that Prime Minister Deuba’s announcement of the proposed land reform programme was against the Constitution.

Rana said that the government should introduce the law as per the spirit of the Constitution to implement the land reform programme.

He claimed that the proposed land reform would not bring the desired changes in the lives of the exploited class of the Terai region since they were deprived of the citizenship papers and there was not enough land to be distributed among them.

He emphasised that RPP was not against land reform. "A mere ceiling on the land holdings is not land reform," claimed Rana, adding, " A revolutionary land reform means to provide resources and desirable technology to the poor peasants."

But the government has not given due attention in this regard, he said.

Rana also demanded that the government should impose ceiling on the movable and immovable property of the people living in the urban areas.

However, another senior RPP leader Buddhiman Tamang said that they welcomed the government’s move as regards the landmark land reform programme. "Our protest is directed towards the ban imposed on the transactions concerning land. It is quite anti-constitutional," he said.

He also said the RPP election manifesto clearly proposed a new ceiling on the land-holdings.

Completely disagreeing with Rana, the RPP strongman Tamang said that there could not be ceiling on the property. "It is impossible and not in practice in the world," added Tamang.

Horticulture farmers encouraged by Sindhulimadhi-Khurkut road

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

Jalakanya, Aug. 21: The 39-km Sindhulimadhi-Khurkut sector of the Sindhuli-Banepa Highway, which is under construction with the assistance of the Government of Japan, has proved to be encouraging and helpful for the farmers involved in horticulture in the area.

The construction of the road has attracted many farmers toward horticulture, as they do not have to face any problem of market. The road has benefited people living near the Mahabharat range.

"The construction of the Sindhulimadhi-Khurkut sector (B.P Highway) has encouraged the horticulture farmers living in the southern parts of the Mahabaharat range," says Ramesh Gautam, a fruit farmer at Simpani VDC of Sindhuli district.

The VDCs lying in the southern parts of the Mahabharat range include Jalakanya, Ratanchura, Bhimashowrt, Bagashowr, Tinkanya, Sitalpati, and Ghajhali Ratmata.

Among these VDCs, Jalakanya, Ratanchura, Bagashwari and Tinkanya are famous for orange farming.

"The farmers had the problem of market in the past. But now do not have face this problem after the construction of the B. P. Highway," Gautam says.

"Market was our major problem as we could not get reasonable prices of our products due to lack of transportation facility", says Padma Nath Sharma, another local farmer, who plants pears.

According to him, the farmers, who were not associated with horticulture in the past, are now planting fruit trees in their uncultivated land to generate income after a few years.

The local people used to go India to find jobs in the past. But now horticulture has become their source of income to support to their families.

Many varieties of citrus fruits such as orange, lemon, mango, and litchi are produced in the areas. They, however, have to carry the products to the district headquarters to sell.

"Fruits are in the garden. But we do not have money as we cannot sell them due to lack of market," says Ratna Shrestha, another farmer of Ratanchura VDC.

He emphasised the need to build a chilling center in the area to store the fruits.

"Once we have a chilling center, we can generate a lot of money from horticulture as we can save the fruits from rotting," he says.

Hearings on writ over land sale freeze to begin Aug 31

Kathmandu, Aug 21 (RSS): A special bench of the Supreme Court has decided to start hearings on August 31 on writ petitions chellenging the constitutionality of the government decision to freeze all land related transactions until a relevant law is enacted for the purpose of implementing a progressive land reforms programme.

Announcing the court decision today, a single bench of Chief Justice Keshav Prasad Upadhyaya demanded that as a verdict on the writ petitions should be reached soon given the gravity of the issue, His Majesty's Government, the speaker and the chairman of the National Assembly submit separate replies to the court in writing by August 29.

The bench also made it clear that as a five-justices' special bench is to hear the petitions on August 31 there is no need to issue any interim order.

Advocates Madhav Kumar Basnet, Sudip Poudel, Namas Karki, Surendra Mahati, Uttam Shrestha and Krishna Prasad Bastola had filed separate writ petitions at the Supreme Court challenging the legality of the announcement that the Prime Minister made at parliament on Aug. 16 bringing to a halt all land related transactions until a new law is enacted.

Senior advocates Kunja Bihari Singh and Krishna Prasad Bhandari and advocates Dhruba Lal Shrestha, Mithilesh Kumar Singh, Abadhesh Kumar Singh, Madhav Kumar Basnet, Artha Bahadur Malla, Hari Raut and others pleaded on behalf of the petitioners, who in their writs demanded a stay order against the government decision until the court decides on the writs.

NRB chief says banks have huge gluid fund
Monetary policy changes not likely

Kathmandu, Aug. 21 (RSS): The NRB has said that there is no need for the depositors to get panicky as the commercial banks have a huge fluid fund.

Monetary economists have spoken of the need for the Nepal Rastra Bank to increase its investment to make use of the fluid fund. They are of the view that law and order is a precondition to create the environment for such an investment.

As regards the news reports published in various newspapers that the financial condition of the country is getting deteriorated every day and the depositors are not likely to get back their amounts deposited in the banks, NRB Governor Dr Tilak Rawal, talking to Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS), said the commercial banks have now an amount of Rs 46 billion in the fluid fund.

Stating that Rs 14 billion has been invested in securities, Dr Rawal made it clear that the NRB and commercial banks can easily supply up to Rs 60 billion.

The commercial banks have a total deposit of Rs 157 billion out of which Rs 105 billion has been issued as loans.

Speaking of the need to minimise the fluid fund by issuing loans, the NRB governor remarked the commercial banks can make use of the fluid fund by issuing loans on demand of businessmen, entrepreneurs and farmers.

The banking system is in order and the only problem with us is how to invest it, he further said.

Fears that there will be a freezing or ceiling of property in the financial sector as has been done to the land are baseless, the NRB Governor made it clear that the bank has not thought of making changes in the monetary policies right now.

Meet on natural resources management held

Kathmandu, Aug. 21 (RSS): A thematic group meeting on environment and natural resources management was convened here today to inform the donor community about the progress in implementation of agenda 21 since 1992 and formulation of the Sustainable Development Agenda for Nepal (SDAN). The meeting was jointly organised by the National Planning Commision (NPC), the Ministry of Population and Environment (MOPE) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

This meeting was also intended to intiate preparations of the country report for the forthcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) which will be held in mid 2002.

SDAN aims to provide a framework for analysis and a focus for debate on the sustainable development process of negotiations and consensus building.

Participants from government donors and concerned experts duscussed the strength and shortcomings of the existing sustainable development policies and strategies of Nepal.

Hari Shankar Tripathi, member of the National Planning Commission, said that Nepal has faced several environmental problems in both urban and rural areas. To mitigate such problems, HMG in partnership with various stakeholders successfully implemented community based sustainable development activities such as community forestry, leasehold forestry and a Sustainable Community Development Programme (SCDP) that have demonstrated impressive results for sustainable development.

Dr. Jagadish Chandra Pokharel, another NPC member, suggested the SDAN task force should come up with concrete ideas negotiable to all the sectors with agreeable indicators.

Mukti Narayan Shrestha, secretary at the Ministry of Population and Environment and Uday Raj Sharma, officiating secretarty at the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation, highlighted the development policy issues related to sustainable development and focussed on HMG's commitment to it. Despite having sound policies, the problem was of integration of all these policies for effective implementation, they remarked.

Henning Karcher, Resident Representative of UNDP, praised Nepal's sustainable development intiatives and shed light on the country level preparation for WSSD.

Joint secretary at the Ministry of Population and Environment Janak Raj Joshi made a presentation on the national progress on implementation of Agenda 21 in Nepal since the 1992 Earth Summit while Minendra Rijal, team leader of the SDAN task force shared the status and future plan of action for furmulation of SDAN and preparation of the country report for WSSD known as the Rio+10 Conference.

No attacks against friendly forces, says Prachanda

Kathmandu, Aug. 21 (RSS): The CPN (Maoist) have said that the allegations leveled by political groups including CPN (UML), CPN (ML), the Unity Center and the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) that the Maoist workers committed excesses against their workers have made the central party office serious in the present context when a broad-based united front of the country’s all leftist, progressive and pro-people forces has become a necessity.

Making it clear that forced resignation, forcible collection of donations, serving threats, beatings, etc are against the party’s central policy and plan, a statement issued by party president Prachand stated that the party has paid serious attention to ensure that no attacks in any form would be carried out anywhere against friendly forces in the present sensitive situation.

Stating that any incident involving force will be subjected to investigation and action will be taken against the guilty, the Party has appealed to all the leftist political groups to unite and fulfill the historic responsibility of bringing about radical changes in the country.

Interaction
'HMG's land reforms means of social transformation'

Kathmandu, Aug. 21 (RSS): Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives Mahesh Acharya has said that the progressive land reforms programme has been announced not as an exclusive agenda of a certain political party but as a means of bringing about social and economic transformation in the country.

Minister Acharya, who was speaking at an interaction organized by the Reporters Club here today, said the government does not intend to confine the land reforms programme to just fixing land ceiling, rather the programme is aimed at moving ahead with a scientific, modern and planned land use practice.

Stating that the Ninth Plan has stressed the need to revise the existing land ownership structure for poverty alleviation, he said the government has, accordingly, announced the progressive land reforms programme to implement various programmes for land related structural and technical reforms in an integrated manner.

It is essential to provide those who have skill and can work hard access to resources, training and employment opportunities so as to increase production and productivity, he said, adding the government is committed to protecting the constitutionally guaranteed people's right to property.

NC central member Dr Ram Baran Yadav was of the view that fragmentation of land does not help reduce poverty nor does it result in better agricultural production. What is needed is scientific classification of land based on the country's geographical condition and promotion of agro-based industries, he added.

CPN-UML central member Keshav Badal pledged CPN-UML's strong support for effective implementation of the recently announced land reforms programme and said that existence of feudal ownership over land is the major contributory factor behind our backwardness.

RPP vice president Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani said the Prime Minister's decision to halt all kinds of land transactions so as to fix land ceiling in the name of implementing a progressive land reforms programme is a violation of the constitution.

CPN-ML leader Radhakrishna Mainali expressed the view that as fixing of land ceiling alone will not help bring about revolutionary change in agriculture the government should move ahead with a new vision. Emphasis should be given to promoting employment-oriented industries and building structures accordingly, he said.

Ex-minister Jagannath Acharya spoke of the need for scientific land reforms for building an equitable society.

Ex-vice chairman of the National Planning Commission Mohan Man Sainju said that in the present context of national production and gross domestic product (CDP) recording downward trends what is most required is massive reform in the existing structure of the agricultural sector. Our efforts should be directed towards building an equitable, democratic and just society.

'Bhutan in no mood to speed up refugee verification'

BY NAVIN SINGH KHADKA

Kathmandu, Aug. 21: Bhutan is in no mood to speed up the Bhutanese refugee verification process, at least for now, Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat said of the development at the ongoing 11th round of Nepal-Bhutan talks in Thimpu.

"There is nothing to be optimistic so far," Mahat told The Rising Nepal over the phone. "We proposed the idea of verifying the refugees of all the camps in a time bound manner, but the Bhutanese side has indicated it would like to carry on with the ongoing verification of only one camp and get its experience first."

In the bilateral talks that began yesterday, the Nepalese side, according to Mahat, had floated the idea of gearing up the verification pace. "But they have not agreed with the idea so far and have shown the inclination to carry on with the slow process for now."

Leading a Nepali delegation, Mahat reached Thimpu yesterday to attend the 11th round of ministerial level talks on the refugee crisis. The meeting was the consequence of the excruciatingly slow refugee-verification process that has earned wide criticism.

In the last four months, a Joint Verification Team (JVT) of Nepal and Bhutan with five officials from each side was able to verify hardly 900 families of the more than 15,000 refugee families languishing in the seven UNHCR-maintained camps in Jhapa and Morang Districts. By that pace, the joint team would take more than five years to verify all the refugees. By then, new babies wold be born and many elderly refugees would pass away in the refugee camps, complicating the verification process.

That was why the country had taken up "speeding up the verification process" as its prime agenda in the ongoing talk with the Dragon Kingdom. "We had offered a concrete proposal to speed up the verification process that could ultimately facilitate for the early repatriation of the refugees, but Bhutan seems to be sticking with the way things are going now."

Indicating apart, Bhutan, however, has not spoken its mind formally. "It may do that tomorrow when we will once again sit for the ministerial talk."

Right now, the Dragon Kingdom is keeping its card close to its chest. In one hand, it endorsed the need to speed up the verification but on the other it did not okay Nepal's plan to accomplish the refugee identification process within certain time frame. As if to contradict what Dr. Mahat said, Bhutanese Foreign Minister Jigme Y. Thinley told this daily over the phone today that his country did agree theoretically with Nepal for the acceleration of the verification process. "We also agreed to simplify the verification and also to expedite the entire process."

Thinley, however, denied commenting on whether Bhutan had rejected Nepal's offer to begin the verification process in all the camps in a time bound manner -- as said by Dr. Mahat. "Since we are discussing these issues, I do not wish to speak."

The Bhutanese Foreign Minister denied that the verification of the refugees is going on too slowly. "I would not call it too slow because in this humanitarian issue we cannot define what is fast. No matter how faster we verify the refugees, it may still not be fast enough."

If Bhutan develops cold feet toward Nepal's idea of speeding up the verification process, the issue of the slow verification process may remain unaddressed for some time to come. At least till the 1200 refugee families of the Khudunabari Camp -- one of the seven camps hosting refugees in eastern Nepal -- are verified.

Nepal and Bhutan during the 10th round of bilateral talks on refugee issue last December had decided to begin the verification in one of the seven camps as a test case. The decision came as a major leap in the more than a decade as the two Himalayan Kingdoms had been disagreeing on their positions on the categorization of the refugees.

The two had agreed to categorize the refugees into four groups -- Bonafide Bhutanese, Bhutanese who have emigrated, Bhutanese who have committed crimes, and Non Bhutanese -- in 1993 when they met for the first time at ministerial levels to discuss the refugee crisis.

But, later they developed serious differences on their stands to deal with the refugee categories. Bhutan became rigid that it would take back only the first category refugees -- Bonafide Bhutanese, while Nepal claimed the Druk Yul should take all the refugees back except those found to be non-Bhutanese.

The conflicting stands kept the bilateral talks hostage for around three years after the two nations met in 1996. When they agreed to verify the refugees last year, the issue of harmonising their positions on the refugee categories took the back seat.

The Nepalese delegation had plans to raise the issue of categorisation of the refugees and the two countries' position on it at the 11th round of talks this time. But, with its very first agenda -- speeding up the verification process -- suffering a severe blow, the other issues have simply taken a beating.

The genesis of the Bhutanese refugees dates back to late 1980's and early 1990's when the Nepali-speaking Lhotsampas were forced to leave their homelands from southern Bhutan, the refugees claim. They hold the Bhutanese Government's ethnic cleansing campaign responsible for their plight of having to live as refugees in Nepal.