Their Majesties grace reception

Kathmandu, Oct. 19 (RSS): His Majesty King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev and Her Majesty Queen Komal Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah graced a reception hosted in honour of Their Majesties by Speaker Taranath Ranabhat and National Assembly Chairman Dr. Mohammad Mohsin at Parliament premises today on the occasion of the conclusion of the 20th session of Parliament.

His Royal Highness Prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah and Her Royal Highness Princess Himani Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah were also present on the occasion.

Also present at the function were the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice, the Chairman of the Rajparishad Standing Committee, former prime ministers, ministers, the leader of the Main Opposition Party, leaders of various political parties, MPs, heads of diplomatic missions, heads of constitutional bodies as well as distinguished persons from various walks of life.

Worship offered

Kathmandu, Oct. 19 (RSS): His Majesty King Gyanendra Bir Birkram Shah Dev and Her Majesty Queen Komal Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah today visited the Bhairavi temple of Nuwakot district and offered worship to the deity.

Their Majesties also visited the Manakamana temple of Gorkha district and paid homage today.

Their Majesties were accompanied by His Royal Highness Prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah, Her Royal Highness Prinecess Himani Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah and Her Royal Highness Princess Prerana Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah.

On arrival at Bhairavi temple of Nuwakot district, Their Majesties were accorded a warm welcome by Finance Minister Dr. Ramsharan Mahat, MPs Rajendra Prakash Lohani and Mahendra Bahadur Pandey.

On the occasion a large number of students and sportmen were also present to accord Their Majesties a warm welcome.

Likewise, Their Majesties the King and Queen were accorded a warm welcome by chairman of Manakamana village development committee Rajkumar Joshi and the people’s representatives on arrival at Manakamana temple of Gorkha district.

Their Majesties the King and Queen returned to the capital today.

Maoists extort money, NC cadre kidnapped

Dhading, Oct. 19 (RSS): The CPN-Maoist activists have been extorting Rs. 2,000, Rs. 1,200 and Rs. 1,000 from the teachers and employees of the secondary, lower secondary and primary schools of the northern areas in accordance with their salary.

The teachers who have been regularly providing donations to the CPN-Maoist activists since the past three four years have expressed surprise over the Maoists activists asking donations from other teachers and employees who have not been providing any donations.

Meanwhile, the employees working in the fields are afraid of going to the fields as the Maoists have started asking for donations from them.

The local businessmen also acknowledge providing donations to the Maoists.

A businessman asking anonymity said that the CPN-Maoists activists were asking him for huge amount of donation as Dashain expenditure even when he had been giving donations from time to time.

Meanwhile in Syangja, the Maoists have kidnapped Chhabilal Pokharel, 68, an active Nepali Congress cadre of Haripala, Putalibazaar Municipality-6.

The Nepali Congress Syangja district working committee has, in a meeting, denounced the abduction of Mr. Pokharel.

The meeting asked the government as well the Maoists to set free Mr. Pokharel as early as possible.

Meat of PPR-infected goats safe, say doctors

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Oct. 19: Veterinary doctors have refuted reports saying eating meat of goats infected with PPR or those vaccinated with PPR are harmful to human health.

Deputy Director of the Department of livestock, Dr. Shubh N. Mahato, today told The Rising Nepal that the reports coming out in several newspapers saying that eating meat of goats infected with PPR or those vaccinated against PPR affect the human health are ‘completely baseless’.

These reports have created fear, without any base, about PPR have put many people in a dilemma on whether or not to consume goat. The Deputy Director called such fear as unwarranted and totally false.

Still to ward off the fears, the Department has established two special check points at Pathalaiya and Ramnagar of Chitwan where each and every goat are checked before they enter into the Kathamandu Valley and Pokhara. These two are the major consumption centres of goats during Dashain.

Mahato also said any goats showing even the slightest symptoms are barred from entering the valley and even other healthy ones are compulsorily vaccinated on-the-spot.

There are also 20 quarantine posts in the border areas to prevent any infected goats from coming to Nepal and also sufficient vaccines have been sent to those posts, he said.

Gyanendra Nath Gongol, zoonotic disease expert and Chief of the Centre of Veterinary Epidemiology, also said eating goat meat, whether they are infected or are vaccinated against PPR, are completely safe to consume and they don’t have any side-effect or ill-effect on human health.

But he pointed out it is not only the meat but also the environment that should be sanitory. He advised the consumers to eat only cooked meat and not to contaminate the intestine, stomach or other inner parts. Still, he suggested the consumer to check the goat before buying and not to buy goats, which look sick or are secreting through nasal chambers.

The virus cannot live in the open environment outside the host and moreover, when the meat is cooked the virus will die, he said.

Meanwhile, the Directorate of Veterinary Science has asked Dr. Braja Kant Jha, veterinary advisor of the 3rd Livestock Development Project for making comments regarding his statement in a newspaper about eating meat of goats infected by PPR. Jha, however, said he had only said that one should not eat meat of diseased animals because they might affect human health and brain. He also said the newspaper misquoted him on the PPR issue.

The OIE Manual, which is approved by 155 countries of the world and is taken as the main guideline for veterinary science, also says ‘there are no known health risks to humans working with PPR virus as no report of human infection with the virus exists’.

According to the manual: ‘PPR (Peste des Petits Ruminants) is an acute contagious disease caused by Morbillivirus. It affects small ruminants and goats are highly susceptible to virus. The clinical disease resembles rinderpest, but is usually acute and characterised by serious ocular and nasal discharges. The disease can last for 3-5 days with erosive lesions in the mouth, diarrhoea and pneumonia. The disease is often fatal to the animals with 100 per cent morality in severe outbreaks. But in milder outbreaks the mortality rate may not exceed 50 per cent.’

The disease was first identified in Nepal in 1995 and there have even been some major outbreaks. Only last year more than 30,000 sheep had died in Jumla and other districts of Karnali zone due to PPR and the government has launched a five-year master programme to fight this disease. The vaccine for the disease is also produced within the country. Although PPR is found in almost 60 districts of the country the disease has not yet been seen in the Kathmandu Valley. "This also means the goats which comes from within or enter the Kathmandu Valley are completely safe to be eaten."

Unite in adverse situation, NC workers told

Kathmandu, Oct. 19 (RSS): Former deputy prime minister Ram Chandra Poudel has said that those who want to take over the leadership of the party and the government have to embrace any kind of person when they feel insecure and become hostage to factionalism.

Paudel was speaking at a workshop concerning the structure, problems and prospects of Kathmandu Municipal Corporation (KMC) in the forthcoming local elections organised by the KMC committee of the Nepali Congress.

He also said that the leadership was trapped in the compulsion of making each and every person happy and that respect for party cadres depended on loyalty and disloyalty rather than any specified yardstick.

NC central member Narahari Acharya said that the mindset that elections could be won through preparations made during election time alone should be given up.

Another central member, Farmullah Mansur, said that the NC cadres should unite in the present adverse circumstances to face any kind of challenge.

MPs Lekhanath Neupanay and Teertha Ram Dangol also expressed their views at the programme chaired by Nepali Congress KMC committee chairman Surendra Mishra.

Dahal resigns over anti-graft bills case

Kathmandu, Oct. 19 (RSS): Chairman of the House of Representatives State Affairs Committee Homnath Dahal has resigned from the post of chairman on moral grounds as the bill designed to amend the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Act-2048 B.S. and the bill on corruption control could not get through the 20th session of Parliament and attempts to introduce the same through ordinance could also not succeed.

In a press statement issued today, Dahal has said despite his stand that bills that are not in conformity with the constitution should not be passed, various unseemly and mean allegations such as his blocking the passage of the bills in Parliament and patronising the corrupt were levelled against him.

In the statement Dahal has further said that inspite of such allegations, he had time and again requsted the Prime Minister and the ministers concerned that the bills should be passed without affecting the heads of constitutional bodies.

Children in 73 districts administered Vitamin A

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Oct. 19: A two-day programme for administering Vitamin A capsules to children from six months to five years concluded today in 73 different districts, except Rukum and Jajarkot districts, of the Kingdom.

During the two days, the National Vitamin A Programme (NVAP) had a target to administer Vitamin A capsules to a total of 3.15 million children through about 4,800 Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs).

Administering the capsules to children at Manmaiju Village Development Committee (VDC) of Kathmandu district yesterday, US Charge ‘d Affaires Larry Dinger said that almost 80 per cent of the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to Nepal has been utilised for the health sector.

USAID is the major funding agency for NVAP. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and AusAID have also been supporting the programme.

Dinger further said that the supplementation of the Vitamin A capsules has been helping to reduce the child mortality rate dramatically in Nepal.

"We have found everybody involving in this programme very enthusiastic to make the programme a success," he added.

The programme is one of the highly successful ones not only in Nepal but also worldwide. The NVAP, which started in Nepal in 1993, is said to help in averting the child deaths of 30,000 each year. Two large-scale studies conducted in the mid-western hills and eastern Terai found the child mortality rate reduced by as much as 30 per cent and the coverage levels of the programme ranged between 93 to 100 per cent.

Speaking on the occasion, Director of USAID Ms. Joanne T. Hale said that the programme has been successful significantly in Nepal.

"The credit for making the programme a grand success certainly goes to all the FCHVs, local bodies, government officials as well as all the Nepalese people," she said.

As part of inspecting the programme, officials from USAID, US Embassy and American Center visited Manmaiju VDC. The team also included Director at American Center Bob Kerr, Lab Dahal and others.

There are more than 1100 children between six months and five years in the VDC. To administer the capsules, a total of 28 FCHVs have been mobilised.

Ram Kumar Shrestha, Director of the NVAP, informed that the Vitamin A capsules would be administered to children in Rukum and Jajarkot districts from April next year.

Shrestha further said that USAID has extended support for the NVAP to conduct training programmes for the development of manpower.

In order to run the programme in a sustainable manner, local bodies like VDCs and municipalities and District Development Committees (DDCs) have started to set up revolving funds at the local level. According to Shrestha, around 300 VDCs in different parts of the country have already set up such funds.

"The interest of the revolving funds will be utilised to provide some support to the FCHVs so as to motivate them to carry out their responsibilities in an effective manner," he said.

Shrestha also said that the trained manpower and FCHVs could be taken as infrastructure development for carrying out other health and development programmes.

Apart from reducing the child mortality rate and controlling night blindness of children, the programme has generated a massive awareness among the people from various walks of life about the importance of sanitation.

USAID/Nepal has mainly supported Nepal in health and family planning, women’s empowerment, agriculture and rural development and hydropower sectors. It has carried out various projects with the partnership of His Majesty’s Government of Nepal.

Training on pricing, tariff held

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Oct. 19: The Academy for Education Development (AED) organised a three-day training programme on "Pricing and Tariff Issues in the Reform of the Energy Sector". The programme was developed for senior tariff specialists and managers of electric and gas utilities and staff of regulatory bodies and other governmental agencies in the South Asia region who share responsibility for developing and approving tariffs.

The training programme was sponsored by the United States Agency for International development (USAID) under its South Asia Regional Initiative for Energy (SARI/E) Project. Mr. Vincent Esposito and Mr. Michael Slota of International Resources Group (IRG), USA conducted the programme. Mr. Donald Priestman, AED’s Chief of Party for the SARI/E Project, coordinated the programme with assistance from USAID and AED staff from throughout the region. During the training session various aspects of pricing and tariffs were discussed. The focus areas of the training were regulatory foundation, economic model and pricing issues, policy issues, accounting issues, cost of service tariffs, load profile, demand models, tariff formats, gas issues, and transmission and distribution of electricity issues, states a press release issued by American Centre.

During the function, Tara Bahadur Pradhanang, Chairman of Electricity Tariff Fixation Commission, Nepal gave an overview of the electricity tariff and power situation in South Asia region. He pointed out that "it is a misconception that a low power tariff is good for the economy if the quality and reliability of the service is given second place. Only the price of electricity is being talked about but the value of proper services to the consumer is often neglected." He also spoke briefly on the tariff structure of Nepal.

The SARI/E Project seeks to bring energy professionals together to promote regional cooperation around key energy issues. The South Asian regional partners include: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. There were extensive discussions between the trainers and the participants on the tariff and pricing issues important to each country and to the development of cross border and regional energy trade.

Educational materials  handed over

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Oct. 19: At a function recently organised by ORCHID-Nepal (Organisation for Children Development), members of CCWA, a Japanese social service organisation in Ehime, distributed scholarship and educational materials to the diligent, poor students in Gamchha village of the Chunikhel VDC.

Ms. Ikue Ikeda, leader of the CCWA team, confirmed that under the aegis of ORCHID-Nepal, CCWA would support an aggregate of 21 poor students from the remote Chunikhel village for the whole range of their educational needs.

She also expressed satisfaction for being able to support the poor, diligent students of the village and pledged CCWA’s continued assistance.

Highlighting the poor literacy situation and problems of the VDC, Chunikhel VDC chairman Juju Bhai Shrestha thanked CCWA and ORCHID-Nepal for extending support to students in Chunikhel.

Also on the occasion, the Japanese visitors also handed over various sports materials to Naulin High School, Gamchha.

ORCHID-Nepal—through its scholarship scheme funded by different individual donors—has been currently supporting more than 225 students from a number of remote villages in Bhaktapur, Kavrepalanchowk and Kathmandu to meet their full range of educational needs that include school uniforms, shoes, fees, books, stationery items, etc., it is learnt.

Foreign service cell necessary in ministry

Kathmandu, Oct. 19 (RSS): Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Arjun Jung Bahadur Singh has said that it is absolutely necessary to create the foreign service for enhancing the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Taking over office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today, Minister of State Singh said that he would make efforts to create the foreign service during his tenure.

Stating that continuous efforts would be made for promotion of national welfare, Mr Singh said that organisational unity and capacity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be augmented in order to face the diplomatic challenges created the under the changing world context and new incidents taking place.

The Minister of State said that economic diplomacy will be accelerated for promotion of foreign investment and employment, and development of tourism and trade for the economic development of the country.

Meanwhile, newly appointed Minister of State for Education and Sports Narayan Prasad Saud took charge of office yesterday.

On the occasion, Saud directed ministry employees to execute their works with focus on policies of the government and said if all of us maintain mutual cooperation and move ahead through consensus, we can resolve various problems.

Minister Saud also called on the employees to achieve the objectives of the ministry.

In another report, Minister of State for Agriculture and Cooperatives Laxman Prasad Mehata, addressing employees of the ministry and departments under it, said that the present government is dedicated to freeing the people from the cycle of poverty.

Stating that what the country need today is a well-disciplined bureaucracy, Minister Mehata observed that politicians and employees should work hand in hand.