4th national Hindi meet from March 24

Janakpurdham, Jan. 31 (RSS): The Fourth National Hindi Conference is to be held in Nepalgunj from March 24-25.

The conference to be organised by the Janakpur Intellectuals Society will be participated in by 200 Hindi litterateurs.

Fifteen Hindi litterateurs will be honoured during the conference, according to president of the Janakpur Intellectuals Society Rajeswore Nepali.

It may be recalled that the first, second and third Hindi national conferences had been convened at Janakpur in 2052, Birgunj in 2054 and Bhairahawa in 2056 respectively.

$ 1 M for Bhutanese refugees from US

BY NAVIN SINGH KHADKA

Kathmandu, Jan.31: Bhutanese refugees in Nepal will receive around US$ one million out of the US$ 22 million sanctioned for refugees around the world by the immediate past US President Bill Clinton at the twilight of his term in the White House, a US official told The Rising Nepal.

"The breakdown of the total amount sanctioned shows that around US$ one million will go to the Bhutanese refugees," said Robert Kerr Director at the American Centre.

The allocation now confirms that a part of the sanctioned budget is indeed meant for the Bhutanese refugees. The press statement of the White House earlier this month, however, had not specified whether a chunk of the assistance would go to the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal.

The White House Press Secretary, on January 18 this month, had issued a Presidential Determination addressed to the US Secretary of State. The determination had quoted Clinton as having said this: I hereby determine that it is important to the national interest to make up to US$ 22 million from the US Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund available to meet unexpected urgent refugee and migration needs, including those of refugees, displaced persons, conflict victims, and other persons at risk, due to crisis in the Balkans and Nepal.

That said, it was still unclear if Bhutanese refugees would share the assistance approved by the Clinton Administration. The reason: Nepal also hosts many other refugees, Tibetans being prominent among them.

United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), according to Kerr, had requested the US for an aid of US$ three million to continue the management in the Bhutanese refugees’ camps in eastern Nepal. The world body’s commission for refugees has been co-ordinating the seven camps in Jhapa and Morang districts in eastern Nepal that have lodged around 100,000 Bhutanese refugees for some 10 years now.

Of late, there have been indications of donor fatigue in these camps, though. Oxfam and Save the Children Fund, UK, two INGOs that had been funding the refugee camps in the past, pulled out last year.

Amidst the gloomy scenario, the US assistance comes as a rekindled hope for the refugees. This was the first time the US directly announced assistance for the Nepali-speaking Bhutanese population forced to leave in exile in Nepal. Underscoring fact was that the assistance came directly from the White House.

Which means, it wasn’t the matter of money alone. The American official assistance has also been dubbed as recognition, won by the Bhutanese refugees, in the US officialdom. Backing that belief are the developments in the last two months.

It all started with a US proposal in December last year. Two former US assistant secretaries, Julia Taft and Karl Inderfurth, during their farewell trip in the region last month, proposed an idea to break the ice between Nepal and Bhutan on the verification process.

The two Himalayan Kingdoms had stiff differences, as Nepal wanted to verify the refugees with the help of the family heads while the Dragon Kingdom insisted on identifying each and every refugee. The US Secretaries had come as a mid-pathfinder to end the impasse.

After proposing the verification idea, Clinton sent a letter wishing luck to the 10th round of talks between Nepal and Bhutan – that ended in an agreement to verify the refugees last month. Then came the announcement that the World’s Super Power is opening its purse for the Bhutanese refugees.

The move threw weight behind the increasing international pressure on Bhutan to address the refugee issue it had caused more than 10 years ago shooing out the Lhotsampas (southern Bhutanese) at gunpoint.

The European Community and the United Nations Human Rights Commission have time and again voiced their concern on the plight of the refugees.

Call it a coincidence, as the international pressure mounted — with the US having appeared on the scene of late — the Druk Yul agreed to go to the camps to verify the refugees.

After preparing the groundwork and logistics until early this week, officials from Nepal and Bhutan have agreed to begin the verification from February 3rd week.

Peace indispensable for growth, stability: Deuba

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Lalitpur, Jan. 31: Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today said that peace was indispensable for social transformation, economic growth and political stability and urged the civil society to come forth to restore peace in the country.

"The ongoing violence should come to an end for peace to prevail," Deuba told the inaugural session of a two-day workshop on Peace and Governance here this afternoon. He said dialogues were essential to restore order in the nation and showed reservations about the government’s changed stance regarding talks. "I don’t know why the government is maintaining a silence about holding dialogues with the Maoists to resolve the problem."

"The Maoists too should realise that violence is not the only way to resolve problems," said Deuba. "Instead, violence will ultimately harm the country at large."

Deuba said the dialogues between the government and the Maoists would be impossible in absence of trust, adding the civil society could play a crucial role to create a situation that would bring them to the table.

"The government, the Opposition, the Maoists and even the press can afford to be irresponsible, but not the civil society," said Deuba. "The civil society can dictate the course of politics."

Human rights activist Padma Ratna Tuladhar said that dialogue was the safest choice to resolve the Maoist problem and criticised the government’s move to set up an armed force to check the Maoist movement. "The government has not shown willingness to resolve the problems through dialogues. Instead it is preparing to mobilise an armed force," said Tuladhar adding, "it will lead the nation into civil war."

"It is our responsibility to avoid the country from going into the civil war," said Tuladhar and urged for a mechanism to mediate between the government and the Maoists for creating a dialogue-friendly environment. "It is our responsibility to pull the two parties to the table."

"It will be unfortunate if we fail to do this," said Tuladhar. "The interference of any foreign parties in the name of conflict resolution will harm the nation as they come with their interests," Tuladhar warned.

Briefing the highlights of three earlier workshops on the same issue, political analyst Dr. Surendra K. C. said inefficient and irresponsible political leadership, inappropriate economic policy, impartial judiciary and police atrocities were the factors fuelling violence in the country.

"The deteriorating social, economic and political situation during the last ten years and the ensuing frustration in people have indirectly aided to the Maoist movement," said Ashta Kumar Shrestha presenting an overview of the regional and district level studies on restoring peace. Like others, Shrestha said talks would be the best departure point to restore peace in the country.

Interaction programme held on Women’s Property Right Bill

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Jan. 31: The Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of the parliament is in the final stage of giving shape to the Women’s Property Right Bill. The Bill is expected to be presented in the coming parliamentary session for discussion.

The parliamentary committee, after doing a sample survey in 14 districts of the country, is holding a final interaction and survey programme in Kathmandu on Sunday at the Royal Nepal Academy hall.

"Only after this the Committee will make its findings public," said Prem Bahadur Singh, member of the Committee today.

He said disclosing the inferences of surveys of the district before the final survey could affect its outcome.

This is the first time such a survey has been sought for a Bill to be presented in the parliament, he said.

The questionnaire survey was done among the representatives of the political parties with representations in the parliament, officials of the District Development Committee, teachers of campuses and schools, representatives of NGOs, human rights organisations, women’s organisations and representatives of the ethnic and marginalised people.

The issue of women’s equal right to parental property as the sons has been one of the most debated one in the country. The issue is often linked to women’s right to equality and to the international convention on eliminating all kinds of discrimination against women. Nepal is also one of the signatories of that convention.

In line with that, the government had in the 16th session of the parliament proposed a Civil Code (11th amendment) Bill, containing several new provisions on women’s inheritance issue. One of the provisions regarding inheritance proposed in that Bill was that women can have equal right to their parent’s property, but they have to be returned after they get married.

When amendments to the Bill were registered, it was sent to the Committee for revision and for clause-wide discussions and also to look into the existing traditions and practices of the society and to look into other aspects including the directives given by the Supreme Court on this matter while preparing the bill to protect women’s property rights.

Meanwhile, two more bills currently under discussion in the Committee, which are a Bill regarding the parliamentary secretariat and another related to court reforms.

Chekhov’s birth anniversary observed

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Jan. 31: A programme was organised here by Nepal-Russia Literary Association and Russian Centre of Science and Culture on Monday to mark the 14th birth anniversary of great Russian short story writer and playwright Anton Chekhov.

Speaking on the occasion, former vice chancellor of Royal Nepal Academy Madan Mani Dixit said that the peculiarities of Chekhov’s short stories are to reflect the realities of social conditions.

Dixit said that Chekhov’s influence made its way into Nepali literature through B.P. Koirala’s short story "Doshi Chasma".

Poet Gyanu Walker Poudel and poet Manjul also shed light on literary personality of Chekhov.

‘42% Nepalese under poverty line’

Kathmandu, Jan. 31 (RSS): As much as forty-two per cent of the population of Nepal lives below the poverty line (BPL) at present. If the international norm of one dollar per person per day is to be considered, the per cent is 53.

According a data, 44 per cent of people of the rural areas and 23 of those in urban areas are below the poverty line. This shows that the people of the rural areas where 85 per cent of the population live are more affected by poverty as compared to their urban counterparts.

Development region-wise, the people of the eastern and central regions are comparatively less poor than those of the other development regions.

Community-wise, poverty is greater among the oppressed and indigenous people. While the per cent of literacy among the so-called upper castes is 47, that among the oppressed is 18. While the average life expectancy among the so-called upper castes is 57, it is only 51 among the oppressed.

The difference in percentage of literacy among males and females is 31. While the literacy rate among males is 56 per cent that among females is only 25 per cent.

Though most of the poorest people in the country depend on agriculture for livelihood, they cultivate low quality land with least irrigation and modern technology, resulting in very low yields.

Though there is lack of infrastructure for the entire Nepalese, the situation is even worse for the poorest. While only 15 per cent of the population has electricity, the poor account for only 3 per cent among them.

Likewise, only 22 per cent of the poor are literate while 40 per cent are literate among the population as a whole. Urgency of work, remoteness and inaccessibility are some of the reasons for children not being enrolled at school.

Nepal occupies 144th position among the 174 nations in the world in the human development index.

This information was disseminated at a discussion programme organised here today by the National Planning Commission (NPC) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) with the objective of raising the participation of civic society in poverty alleviation.

NPC members Jagadish Chandra Pokharel and Nirmal Prasad Panday, high ranking HMG and CIDA officials and civic society representatives participated in the programme.

Participants in the programme pointed out the need for coordination between various non-governmental organisations and donor agencies focusing on the same topic.

They noted that civic societies could play a very important role in the development of the country.

Stating that HMG had accorded priority to poverty alleviation for development, the participants said various programmes have been launched in recent years.

PURNAGIRI DAM
Rangoon Valley people against construction

Purnagiri (Dadeldhura), Jan. 31 (RSS): The people of local Rangoon Valley are worried by the plan to construct a dam at Purnagiri of Dadeldhura district under the Pancheshwor Multi-Purpose Project, which is part of the Nepal-India joint project. A survey is being conducted under the project.

The Rangoon valley which includes Shirsha, Jogbudha and Alital VDCs has a population of about 54,000.

Construction of a dam, with a maximum height of 158m and minimum height of 115 m, at the proposed site is most likely to cause a severe submersion problem in the three VDCs.

Purnagiri, which is 60km south of the Pancheshwor project site, is in Ward No. 3 of Jogbudha VDC.

According to Pancheshwor project civil engineer from Nepal’s side Baburaja Adhikari, a survey is being conducted at Rupaligadh and Purnagiri for the purpose of building a regulating reservoir, which is most essential for generating electricity under the multi-Purpose project.

However, the local people are panicked by the decision to construct the dam at Purnagiri instead of at Pancheshwor itself.

Jogbudha VDC chairman Mandir Singh Bhandari says if the dam is constructed at Purnagiri the local people will have a very difficult time. People have already stopped selling or buying land in the area, he added.

Meanwhile, a 62-member team led by president of the Democratic National Youth League Gokarna Bista returned to Kathmandu after completing an on site inspection of the proposed dam construction site.

Twelve MPs, who were members of the team, recently issued a joint press release appealing for immediate withdrawal of the decision to build a dam at Purnagiri.

The signatories to the press release were MPs Mangal Siddhi Manandhar, Pashupati Chaulagain, Gokarna Bista, Shiva Bahadur Deuja, Urmila Aryal, Ananda Pokhrel, Phatik Bahadur Thapa, Subhash Karmacharya, Krishna Lal Maharjan, Chandra Bahadur Shahi, Lal Bahadur B.K. and Krishna Dahal.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Water Resources has made it clear that an additional technical study is being conducted at Rupaligadh and Purnagiri of Dadeldhura only for constructing a re-regulation dam, not a main dam, under the Nepal-India Pancheshwor Multi-Purpose Project.

Since both Nepal and India, in connection with preparing a detailed project report (DPR) on Pancheshwor, agreeed to conduct some additional on site study/ survey work at the Pancheshwor dam construction site, and similar study/survey at Rupaligadh and Purnagiri for selecting a site for construction of a re-regulation dam, the Nepal-India joint Pancheshwor project survey office was established in Kathmandu, and a division offices at Tanakpur, India, the ministry said in a press release issued here today, adding that in this connection sub-division offices established at the project sites are carrying out field studies at the proposed sites.

If everything goes as planned construction of a re-regulation dam will be completed by the time a DPR of the Pancheshwor project is prepared on the basis of the ongoing study/survey. However, whether the re-regulation dam will be constructed at Rupaligadh or Purnagiri will be determined by various technical and financial factors, it is stated.

The factors include the technical/financial viability of the dam, its socio-economic and environmental impact, availability of funds for investment in such a high re-regulation dam and the propriety accorded to it, the market price of electricity to be generated from the re-regulation dam and the like, the ministry said, adding proper study of all these aspects is very essential.

Since a re-regulation dam constructed below the main dam site helps prevent loss of life and property, protects environment by regulating the flow of the river and facilitates regular power generation, it is essential to construct such a dam, the ministry said.

In course of a study carried out unilaterally by the Nepalese side in 1992 for construction of a re-regulation dam of this kind below the Pancheshwor dam site, Rupaligadh (25 km below the Pancheshwor main dam site), Sirsegadh (39 km below main dam site) and Purnagiri (61 km below that site) were identified as three alternatives for the re-regulation dam construction site. The ministry also made it clear that the preliminary study had further concluded that among the three alternative sites Rupaligadh was the most appropriate for such a dam from the economic, social and environmental view points.

The Water Resources Ministry has already initiated the process of conducting a detailed study on the possible socio-economic and environmental impact of the Pancheshwor Multi-purpose Project and a re-regulation dam to be constructed under it at Rupaligadh or Purnagiri, the ministry’s press release said, adding further that the ministry is committed to working in deference to the rights and well-being of Nepal and the Nepalese.

SNAKE BITES
Over 100 die yearly in Nepal

Kathmandu, Jan. 31 (RSS): More than 1,000 people suffer from snake bites while more than 100 people die of snake bites every year in the Kingdom of Nepal.

According to information received from the Ministry of Health, Department of Health Services and Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, many people die of snake bites every year because of the poor income of the people, non-availability of antidotes, lack of health and first aid education and transport facilities and the long time taken to reach the hospital for treatment.

Fifty species of non-poisonous and 20 species of poisonous snakes like cobra are found in the Terai, hilly and mountainous regions of Nepal, according to the division.

Majority of the people fall victim of snake bites because of the tropical climate, heavy rainfall and deforestation taking place for settlements in 24 districts of the terai and inner Terai region.

The people of Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Saptari, Udayapur, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Sindhuli, Rautahat, Bara, Parsa, Makawanpur, Chitawan, Nawalparasi, Rupandehi, Kapilvastu, Dang, Bardiya, Surkhet, Kailali and Kanchanpur districts are mainly affected by snakes bites.

According to director of the epidemiology and disease control division Dr. Mahendra Bahadur Bista, His Majesty’s Government has providing anti-snake vial free of cost to 33 health institutions since 2056/57 under its policy of providing free medical treatment to the people for snake bites.

Dr. Bista said that the anti-snake vials are being used unnecessarily because the health workers lack knowledge of making a distinction between poisonous and non-poisonous snake bites.

Of the total 12,330 anti-snake vials sent to the health institutions of the kingdom in the fiscal year 2056/57, 8,337 have been used already, he said.

One dose of anti snake vial costs Rs 575, Dr. Bista said, adding that an average of 16 vials is necessary for treating a person suffering from snake bite.

During the last fiscal year, of the 523 people who suffered from snake bites, 76 died.

His Majesty’s Government is organising a snake bite re-orientation training in Nepalgunj, Hetauda and Janakpur for the health workers of the hospitals, health centers and primary health centers and providing adequate anti-snake vials for free treatment of the people with the objective of reducing the number of deaths caused by snake bites.