Stakeholders divided over capital gains tax row

BY ARHAN STHAPIT

Kathmandu, July 22: Stakeholders of the capital market here are divided over the recently introduced capital gains tax (CGT). Brokers, investors, and government agencies concerned with the capital market regulation and operations differ over the three key issues: the appropriateness of the time of tax imposition, procedures and tax coverage. These developments have cast haze of doubt and chaos in the investment and business environment of the nascent securities market in the country.

The budget-2001/02 has announced the CGT of 10 per cent on the sale of securities and shares, assuming the share price of the companies on July 16 (Shrawan 1) as the ‘base price’. From the current fiscal year, the capital gains are taxed at the source when trading of the securities takes place at Nepal Stock Exchange Ltd.

For the calculation of the CGT, the investors' buying price of the shares on July 16 has been assumed to be the base price. The excess income of the investors’ selling price over their buying price (base price) of the shares results in capital gains, and hence, is taxable.

Broker with Nepal Stock Exchange and an FCA Jagdish Agrawal said the CGT has come at a wrong timing as the securities market has been experiencing a slump.

Agreeing with Agrawal, another broker Parmeshwor Malla said,"It’s too early to levy such a tax, as the capital market in Nepal has not grown satisfactorily yet, but it is good for the institutional investors, who are paying 15 per cent tax as yet."

"The capital market should not be viewed in isolation, the government that has the responsibility to guide the economy in the right direction naturally goes for making revenue collection a broad-based one, so in this line should the capital gains tax have come," clarified Damber Dhungel, chairman of the Security Board, the regulatory body of the capital market.

"When one generates income, he ought to pay tax: this also applies to the capital gains," said investor Jeetendra Dangol.

"For the CGT imposition to be complete, however, there must be provisions for tax savings too, so as to adjust the capital losses, which are also equally likely in this business," added Dangol, who also teaches accountancy and finance in a university campus.

But, as the CGT is being levied on the current transactions at the source itself, it seemingly does not provide for adjusting capital loss if any and thus for calculating the long term capital gain of every individual investor round the year.

When the determination of share prices is based on the July 16 prices, it cuts down the tax obligations of those investors who have bought the shares after July 16 at the ‘real buying price’ lower than the July 16 prices. But the investors buying shares before July 16 at higher prices than the base price of July 16 and selling them after July 16 even at lower prices have to bear the brunt of capital loss.

"There are so many problems being pronounced as a result of the CGT determination against the ‘assumed’ base year price, so tax should be based on the current real selling price instead of the ‘assumed’ price, which is also an internationally accepted income tax norm," Agrawal said.

"If the tax is to be levied at the source, each individual investor should be provided with a separate account number," Malla argued.

"Now that this has not been done, the Stock Exchange will have the burden of keeping all the individual transaction records and tracking and verifying transaction prices and all that," he said adding that it has also given some onus on brokers.

Murari Raj Sharma of Nepal Stock Exchange Ltd., the operational level body, agreed with Malla.

"The Stock Exchange keeps only brokers’ records, not individuals records, so that the adjustment of the tax savings (including gains and losses) at the end of the year is not feasible," Sharma said.

"Many other issues in the execution part are also not clear yet, particularly about the base year fixation of newly listed companies, and CGT calculation in reference to the benefits of bonus shares and right shares."

He, however, expressed his hope that the Income Tax bill-2001, which is on anvil, will have the provisions to resolve these problems.

Apart from the CGTs made in the securities market, the Income Tax bill also has proposed to include capital gains from disposal of business assets or liabilities and those from the disposal of non-business assets of investment of an individual in CGT. This will bring formal transactions of the real estates and those business deals involving capital appreciation under the tax net.

"The Stock Exchange had no tailor-made preparations to handle the CGT levying but to enhance work efficiency, it is now making all arrangements for the same including computer software, human resource development and other procedures," he said.

He said Nepal Stock Exchange has already started collecting CGTs from July 17 following the government directives.

According to Sharma, the capital gains of the investors will be taxed only on the net amount after deducting brokers’ commission (1.5%).

He said efforts are afoot to make uniform ownership transfer fee at Rs. 5 per share certificate instead of the differing rates provided in the Company Act-2053.

"Despite these provisions, the investors are hit hard by the CGT imposition and this will further deteriorate their confidence in the market," Agrawal argued.

But according to the Finance Ministry sources, if one lodges a complaint with proof of having incurred a capital loss from the shares he bought a long back, they might consider the loss by taxing the net capital gain.

The officials at the Ministry said the fixation of base price of July 16 aimed at lessening tax burden on investors.

But, brokers disagreed with the officials. They said it was with a good intention of lessening the tax burden on the investors that they had to make some sort of deliberate manipulation in the share prices recently.

"We forged a good understanding with the investors to do so," broker Agrawal acknowledged. But, he denied the charges that they had inflated the prices before July 16 and unnaturally floored them after that.

Brokers drew flak from media over the recent price manipulation. However, Damber Dhungel of the Security Board denied that only brokers price manipulation to evade CGT was the factor for the price fluctuations before and after July 16.

"The demand and supply forces in the market, optimism in the budget including policy reforms, performance of the listed companies are also responsible for that"

He however does not deny that there was no money game played by the market intermediaries either. "I don’t believe they badly manipulated the prices."

"To check unwanted price manipulations and other distortions in the capital market, we have initiated the efforts to make the market broad-based and formulated the Guidelines for the Brokering Business," Dhungel said referring to the Board’s latest move geared towards capital market reforms.

Deuba appointed new Prime Minister
'Top priority to solving Maoist issue'

BY KRISHNA SHARMA

Kathmandu, July 22: His Majesty King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev appointed Sher Bahadur Deuba as the country’s new Prime Minister today.

His Majesty granted audience to Deuba this evening after the latter was elected leader of the parliamentary party of the ruling Nepali Congress.

According to the Principal Press Secretariat of His Majesty the King, appointing Deuba as the country’s new Prime Minister, His Majesty the King thanked the outgoing Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.

After his landslide victory as the party’s new leader in the parliament, the visibly exulted Deuba told the media that his first and foremost priority as the head of the government would be to address the Maoist problem, which has caused a great loss to the country.

He attributed his victory to the grace and goodwill of the party’s senior leader duo -- Girija Prasad Koirala and Krishna Prasad Bhattarai.

"Despite enjoying majority in the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party (NCPP) our respected party President Koirala stepped down from the government to give a new direction to the country. Since it is a great sacrifice we should learn from this," the newly appointed Prime Minister said.

Deuba called the Maoist insurgency issue as one of the major problems faced by the country and said that before tackling the issue he would seek consensus from among the political parties – both within and outside the Parliament.

Stating it would be difficult to solve the problem without consent from all sectors of the society, he said, "I will try to evolve a common approach among the political parties. After that, we will be holding dialogues with the Maoists for the peaceful solution to the problem."

It may be recalled that the CPN-Maoists had launched their "People’s War" in 1996 when Deuba was the Prime Minister of a coalition government.

Prime Minister Deuba, meanwhile, said he would also pursue the 14-point agenda for national consensus of former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and try to take the agenda to conclusion.

Earlier, Deuba was elected as leader of the NC’s parliamentary party defeating party General Secretary Sushil Koirala by an overwhelming margin of 32 votes.

Deuba was voted by 72 out of the 113 members of the NC in the House of Representatives. Koirala, the other contender, received 40 votes and one vote was invalid. The election was held at the party’s parliamentary office at Singha Durbar this afternoon.

The election result was announced by Basu Risal, coordinator of the Election Committee formed to elect the party’s new parliamentary leader.

Appreciating the practice of voting to elect the leader of the NCPP as democratic, Deuba thanked his contestant Sushil Koirala.

In his response Koirala, the defeated candidate, said he would extend his full cooperation to the party’s new leader in the parliament both personally and as the general secretary of the party.

The election for the new NC leader in the parliament was held after the outgoing Prime Minister and NC President Girija Prasad Koirala resigned as the head of the majority government on July 19.

The election fervour today had suddenly changed when one of the expected candidate Ramchandra Poudel announced last night that he would not be contesting. Similarly, Chakra Prasad Bastola, whose name had also come up as a possible candidate, also remained quiet.

In today’s election, the nomination of Sushil Koirala was proposed by Govinda Raj Joshi and was seconded by Dr. Rambaran Yadav.

Deuba’s candidacy was proposed by Khum Bahadur Khadka and was seconded by Chiranjibi Wagle.

Meanwhile, this is Deuba’s second tenure as the country’s chief Executive. He had headed the coalition government of the Nepali Congress, Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Nepal Sadhvabana Party for 18 months in the 1995/96 period. But the coalition government was toppled by two of his own party’s MPs who had abstained the crucial vote of confidence in the parliament.

Prime Ministers after 1990

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, July 22: The chronology of Prime Ministers of the country after the restoration of democracy in 1990:

Krishna Prasad Bhattarai

Bhattarai, one of the founding members of the Nepali Congress, became the first Prime Minister of the country after democracy was restored in 1990. He was appointed Prime Minister of the interim government in 2047 Baisakh 6. Bhattarai was then the acting President of the party. The first general elections and the promulgation of new constitution are regarded as the biggest achievements during his premiership.

Girija Prasad Koirala

Girija Prasad Koirala was appointed as the Prime Pinister of the country in Jestha 12, 2048 B.S. leading the majority Nepali Congress Party in the parliament for the first time after democracy got reinstated in 1990.

At that time Koirala was the General Secretary of the Party.

Manamohan Adhikari

Late Adhikari was appointed as the first Prime Minister from the communist party in Nepal in 2051 Mangsir 13 B.S. After no political parties could win the required majority of 103 seats in the 205-men House of Representatives late Adhikari was appointed as the Premier of the country for his being the leader of the largest political party in the parliament. In the mid-term elections held in CPN-UML was the largest political party. Late Adhikari was the Party President at that time.

Sher Bahadur Deuba

After ruling the country for nine-months the CPN-UML failed in the no-trust motion and got stepped down to see Sher Bahadur Deuba as the Prime Minister of the country.

Deuba headed the coalition government for about 18 months from 2052 Bhadra 26 with the help of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP). Deuba was the leader of the NCPP by then.

Lokendra Bahadur Chand

Lokendra Bahadur Chand of the RPP was appointed the Prime Minister of the coalition government consisting of RPP, NSP and CPN-UML in 2053 Falgun 29 B.S. when Deuba government failed the no-trust motion in the Parliament.

Writer politician Chand was the leader of the RPP at the time.

Surya Bahadur Thapa

After the Chand's coalation government was ousted through a no-trust motion, leader of the RPP Surya Bahadur Thapa became the Prime Minister of the coalition government comprising of RPP, NC and NSP in 2054 Aswin 20 B.S. Thapa was the president of his party at that time.

Girija Prasad Koirala

After Surya Bahadur Thapa resigned as PM of the coalition government in 2054 Chaitra 29 Girija Prasad Koirala became the Prime Minister of the country leading an NC-led coalition with ML after the split.

The Nepali Congress Party had become the largest party in the parliament when of CPN-UML split in 2054 Falgun 21. Koirala was not only the NCPP leader but also the Party president when he was appointed Prime Minister of the country for second time in 2054 Chaitra 30.
Girija Prasad Koirala

Koirala was re-appointed as the Prime Minister of the country in 2055 Poush 8 when the NC fell in the minority in the parliament and was asked to handle the joint government, which also included the CPN-UML.

Krishna Prasad Bhattarai

Leading the 113-men Nepali Congress party in the second general election Krishna Prasad Bhattarai became the Prime Minister of the country in 2056 Jestha 13 B.S. It was his second time as the Prime Minister of the country in his life. For the first time in his life Bhattarai had won the election from Parsa Constituency No. 1 and was made the leader of the NCPP, which is still enjoying majority in the parliament. But he could not serve the full term of five years. He had resigned from the post in 2057 Chaitra 4.

Girija Prasad Koirala

After Koirala was elected the leader of the NCPP, which was held for the first time in NC's history, Girija Prasad Koirala became the Prime Minister of the country replacing Krishna Prasad Bhattarai in 2058 Chaitra 7. Koirala resigned as PM in 2058 only last week on Shravan 4.

Sher Bahadur Deuba

Sher Bahadur Deuba became the Prime Minister of the country today after winning the Nepali Congress Parliamentary party elections by a landslide 72 votes out of 113. He is the 11th Prime Minister of the country after the re-establishment of democracy in 1990.

Koirala offers full support to Deuba

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, July 22: Former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has said that he would provide full support and cooperation to the newly elected leader of the ruling Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party (NCPP) Sher Bahadur Deuba and help him resolve the problems the country is facing at present.

Prime Minister Koirala had resigned last week saying that the country needs a new leadership in the government.

Both the outgoing and the newly elected Prime Ministers have identified Maoist insurgency as the country’s biggest problem now.

Congratulating Deuba after the results of the election for the leader of the NCPP, Prime Minister Koirala hoped that with his leadership the country would find a new pace.

Another senior leader of the Party Krishna Prasad Bhattarai expressed happiness over Deuba’s victory and said that he was the right person to shoulder the country’s present problems and solve them.

Likewise, former deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel said he was glad that the mantle of Congress leadership has come to the second-generation leaders.

As to his inclusion to the cabinet under Deuba’s leadership he said that he would wish not to become the cabinet member. "I would rather help Deuba and his government by remaining outside." This is also an opportunity for Deuba to solve the Maoist problem," he added.

Meanwhile, another leader of the ruling NC Chakra Prasad Bastola took Deuba’s victory as the mood of the Congress people in the parliament. "It is a very good democratic practice within the Nepali Congress," he said. As to the new government’s priority he said that Maoist should be the main agenda at hand.

Similarly, Nepali Congress MP Chiranjibi Wagle said this has started a new chapter in the NC history. Wagle said the new government should give stability to the government by remaining non-partisan to the groups and differences within the party to bring stability in the country.

Another Congress MP Bijay Kumar Gachhedhar said the first responsibility of the new government is to bring all the political forces of the country into the mainstream.

Two cops killed in Maoist attack in Tehrathum

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

Myanglung (Tehrathum) July 22: Two policemen were killed and five others were injured when the Maoist insurgents attacked the Poklabang Police Post at Simle Village Development Committee (VDC) of the district last night.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Shiv Prakash Dhakal (Khotang) and policeman Man Bahadur Moktan (Tehrathum), who were working at the police post, were killed on the spot. Those injured in the incident include Sub-Inspector Devendra Kumar Bogati and policemen Baidhnath Yadav, Tilak Tamang, Tanka Bahadur Giri and Bhim Khatri.

Out of the injured ones, Bogati's condition is critical. The injured police personnel were taken to the B. P. Koirala Memorial Health Sciences in Dharan for treatment this morning.

There were 35 police personnel at the post that is situated five miles away from Myanglung Bazaar.

According to eyewitnesses, about 400 Maoist insurgents had told the police to hand over their arms and weapons to them. But as the police personnel did not do so, the insurgents attacked the police post with the help of weapons and bombs. The post is completely destroyed in the incident.

The insurgents also looted 20 weapons and two sets of communication equipment from the post. The district police office sent additional force to the site. But the Maoists created obstruction for the helicopter carrying police personnel to land in the area.

The clash between the insurgents and police continued for three hours. Locals said that some four insurgents were also killed in the incident. And the other insurgents dragged away the dead ones.

About new Premier

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, July 22: The newly elected Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was born in 2003 B.S. at Asigram Village Development Committee of Dadeldhura district, far-west Mahakali Zone.

Deuba, 55, started his political career as president of the Far West Students’ Committee in Kathmandu from 1965 to 1968.

He was also the founder member of Nepal Students Union, the student wing of the Nepali Congress.

He had played an active role in the promotion of multiparty democracy in the country during the national referendum of 1980. Similarly, he had worked as the convenor of the political consultative committee of the Nepali Congress from 1982 to 1988.

In 1972, Deuba completed M.A. in Political Science from Tribhuvan University and in 1975 he also did Bachelor of Law from the same university.

Prime Minister Deuba was imprisoned for a total of 9 years during 1966 to 1985 period. For two years from 1989-90, he was a research fellow for Political Science at the London School of Economics. He had also lobbied for democracy in Nepal in the western countries during the Popular Movement of 1990

During the general elections in 1991 he was the political-in-charge of the Nepali Congress for the Far Western Development Region. It was largely because of his role the Nepali Congress had swept the first general elections in that part of the country.

Subsequently, he became Home Minister from 1991 to 1994 in the first democratically elected government of the post-1990 period headed by former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. He has been elected to the parliament in all the last three general elections from the Dadeldhura constituency.

After the mid-term election of 1994 and the nine-month minority rule of the CPN-UML which fell following the Supreme Court’s decision of August 28, Deuba headed a coalition government of the Nepali Congress, Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Nepal Sadhvabana Party for 18 months in the 1995/96 period.

About two years back the then Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai had formed a high-level recommendation committee under Deuba for the resolution of the Maoist problem.

Last year he had also contested election for the leader of the NC’s parliamentary party but lost to former Prime Minister Koirala.

Deuba, the newly elected Prime Minister, has visited countries like China, India, United Kingdom, USA, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Japan, Germany, France and Sweden. He had also represented Nepal in the Non-Aligned Conference in Cartagena, Columbia.

Man learns how to make needles at home

Kathmandu, July 22 (RSS): Gunaraj Poudel, 25, a resident of Dangsing VDC-3 in Nuwakot district has proven false the saying that Nepalese are not capable of even producing a needle by producing needle at his home.

Poudel who had been making efforts to produce a needle since Asar, 2048 B.S. finally succeeded in producing a needle after 10 years.

He has so far produced 50 such needles and it takes him between 20 and 30 minutes to make a needle.

He uses iron wire, flint stone, hammer, pliers, candle, matches, table lamp, nails and sandpaper for making the needles.

He demonstrated his skill at making the needle at the RSS office on July 17.

I can even make a machine if I receive necessary cooperation from all, he adds.

Poudel’s area of interest is not only limited to making needles. He takes an equal interest in literature also. So far he has two poetry anthologies to his credit and he has the scripts of seven other books including poetry and novels.

His respect and reverence for the King and the Royal Family is equally deep. He never fails to send greeting cards on His Majesty the King’s birthday.

I have many aims but am being confined due to the lack of time and cooperation, he laments.

Late Pushpa Lal Day
Leaders stress left unity

Kathmandu, July 22 (RSS): The 23rd Memorial Day of founder general secretary of Nepal Communist Party late Pushpa Lal was observed here today under the auspices of the Unified Marxist front by organising a morning procession and the garlanding of his portrait.

The procession with a life-size portrait of the late Pushpa Lal started from local Sahid Gate and converged into a memorial meeting after reaching Sahid Gate again.

Addressing the memorial meeting, president of CPN(Marxist) Prabhu Narayan Chaudhari castigated those who pay only lip service to the late leader, saying that they were only misleading the people by discarding the late leader's political ideals and deviating from the same.

He said the true progressive forces should identify such hypocrites and always be on their guard against such elements.

Deputy general secretary of the NCP(United) Ganesh Shaha said that the late Pushpa Lal's staunch faith towards the country and the people and his revolutionary zeal make him the source of inspiration for both the democrats and the communists.

We have to follow the path shown by the late leader if we are to liberate the country and the people and build a society based on equality, he added.

Politburo member of the NCP(Marxist) Tilak Parajuli spoke of the inevitability of a serious dialogue and the need for forging a minimum national consensus between the leftist forces and the democrats to bail the country out of the present crisis-like situation.

Another politburo member of NCP(Marxist) Lok Narayan Subedi said that the late Pushpa Lal was in favour of a complete change in society with the people at the centre.

Meanwhile, CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal has said that the contributions made by founder general secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal the late Pushpa Lal to the youth, women and farmers movements has significantly contributed to the country’s communist movement as a whole.

Nepal, who was speaking at a colloquium on "Comrade Pushpa Lal and left unity: The need of the day" organised by Pushpa Lal Memorial Foundation on the occasion of the 23rd Pushpa Lal Memorial Day today, stressed the need to explore how an working alliance can be fostered among all communist parties.

He also spoke of the need to rise above constricted mentality and keep the communist movement away from mutual recrimination if the communist parties are to be made a focal point of the people’s faith.

A host of other speakers stressed the need to imbibe the late Pushpa Lal’s belief that it is the policy not a leader which is important in politics. They also underlined the need for a United Left Front.

Struggles based on ideology is more important than armed struggle to bring about social transformation, they said, adding the concept of New People’s Democracy espoused by the late Pushpa Lal is equally relevant in the present context.

From the chair, president of Pushpa Lal Memorial Foundation and CPN-ML president Sahana Pradhan called for left unity and asked all communists to shun mutual recrimination.

All Nepal Women's Association (ANWA) central committee organised an interaction programme on "Pushpa Lal and the Movement for the Liberation of Nepalese Women" here on Saturday on the occasion of the 23rd Memorial Day of the late Pushpa Lal Shrestha, founder general secretary of Nepal Communist Party.

At the programme, president of the CPN-ML Sahana Pradhan shed light on the contributions of the late Pushpa Lal in the women's liberation movement of Nepal and said that equality should not be confined in principles only, it should be put into practice.

CPN-ML politburo member C.P. Mainali expressed the view that women's liberation was not possible without a complete change in society.

CPN-ML politburo members Trilochan Dhakal, central members Sushil Shrestha, Kamal Koirala and Tanka Karki, senior litterateur Shyam Prasad Sharma, Bishnu Prabhat and advocate Bishwakant Mainali also spoke on the occasion.

ANWA president and CPN-ML central member Radha Gyawali presided over the programme.

In Gorkha, an afforestation programme was organised by the CPN-UML district committee at Chhepetaar ward No 9 of Prithvinarayan Municipality on the occasion of the memorial day of founder general secretary of the Nepal Communist Party Puspalal Shrestha this morning.

On the occasion secretary of the district CPN-UML Baburam Thapa, deputy secretary Ramsharan Basnet, mayor of the municipality Bisweswore Kattel and other party leaders and workers threw light on the contributions by the late Puspalal Shrestha.

In Nepalgunj, on the occasion of the 23rd Memorial Day of founder leader of the Nepal Communist Party, CPN-UML hosted a symposium on "The Communist Movement of Nepal and Pushpa Lal" here today.

Speakers at the symposium said that though the communist movement has been divided into various streams due to various factors, the path shown by late Pushpa Lal is still relevant.

Members of the Bheri Zonal Committee of the CPN-UML Devi Raj Bhat and Govinda Bandi and a host of other speakers expressed their views at the symposium chaired by Banke district committee of the party Badri Prasad Koirala.

Initiate talks with Maoists, new govt urged

Kathmandu, July 22 (RSS): Participants at an interaction programme organised by Jagaran Media Centre (a media centre of Dalit communicators) stressed the need for the new government to initiate dialogue with the Maoists, withdraw the Public Security Regulations, protect the rights of the Dalits and banish poverty and unemployment.

Speaking at the programme entitled "The question of the violation of Dalit rights in the context of the Public Security Regulations 2058" ex-speaker Daman Nath Dhungana stressed the need for one and all to raise voice in favour of peace, and said that peaceful social movement and implementation of the relevant law are crucial for ensuring Dalits’ rights.

Nepal Bar Association president Sindhu Nath Pyakuryal was of the view that as the Public Security Regulation is against the constitution, the relevant act and fundamental human rights, it is likely to curtail the rights attained through the popular movement.

President of Nepal Utpidit Dalit Jati Samaj Padma Lal Bishwokarma stressed the need for all human rights activists, Dalits, freed Kamaiyas, the Terai people and the ex-servicemen to launch a joint movement against anti-people laws.

Centre president Subhash Kumar Darnal presided.

Five micro hydro schemes in Dadeldhura

Kathmandu, July 22 (RSS): With the commissioning of Makail Micro Hydro Demonstration Scheme (MHDS), the number of micro hydro schemes initiated by Rural Energy Development Programme (REDP) in Dadeldhura district has reached five.

The ten kilo watt electric power scheme consumes 90 litres per second of water through a height of 23.5 meter and serves seventy-five households of the Sirsha VDC with lighting facility.

The design discharge is fed to the turbine through a headrace canal of fifteen hundred meters.

But the scheme itself in the VDC is not new as a 22 kw Sirshagad MHDS has been operating successfully in the VDC after its commissioning in October 1990.

The scheme was completed with the financial assistance of REDP, VDC, DDC and ADB. The project had a total monetary in flow of 10,07,616 of which REDP, VDC and DDC contributed 5,03,808, 1,00,000 and 20,000 successively. The Agriculture Development Bank at Jogbuda provided a sum of 86,748 as loan and 297,060 as subsidy to the scheme.

The Makail MHDS is not only designed for lighting but also for agro-processing facility to the nearby community. The three units of agro processing mill viz. huller, expeller and grinder installed within the powerhouse provides community people with agro-processing facilities which terminates their journey to distance water mills, all the agro processing units are designed to be operated mechanically thus reduces the cost of extra housing and motor.

"The community people who had the responsibility of collecting and transporting construction materials like sand, stone, wood, cement and electro mechanical equipment to the site played a major role in making the project complete success", says Mahesh Khadka, technical officer at REDP, Dadeldhura.

"The community people also actively participated in various construction activities like construction of powerhouse and canal, laying of penstock pipe and erection of transmission pole and stretching of transmission cable," he added.

According to Mr. Khadka, other three micro hydro schemes with total capacity of 26 kw are ongoing in the district of which two are expected to be completed by October 2001.

The total power output by REDP schemes in Dadeldhura has now reached to 49 kw serving 364 households in the district.

Jirels' practice of special snacks vanishing

Charikot (Dolakha), July 22 (RSS): The "poldok" a special variety of snack of the local minority Jirel community which is taken at the time of planting millet is on the verge of getting extinct.

Poldok is the special food of the Jirel community that is consumed while planting millet. Poldok is a dough of wheat flour mixed with locally-brewed liquor which is distributed among the farm-workers during millet cultivation.

All the poldok is not consumed during the cultivation. The extra poldok which is left over is used by the young boys and girls for hitting each other.

This special snack of the Jirels which until the recent past was an integral part of their culture is now gradually becoming out of practice. Even a few years back, a family hiring people for planting his millet had to supply the farm workers with a good amount of poldok.

But this is not so at present. Poldok has been replaced by the more common beaten rice, cooked soybean curry and the packed noodles.

According to the people of the Jirel community, the declining use of poldok is because of the fist-fights among the farm-workers which often result after a good meal of the poldok and the local drink.

However, some Jirels are of the view that the tradition should be revived notwithstanding the minor troubles it entails.