India’s NDC team in capital

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Sept 18 : A eighteen member team from the National Defence College (NDC), India, is presently on a four day visit to Nepal from September 16 to 19, 2001, a press release issued by the Indian/Embassy said.

National Defense College of India is an apex institution engaged in the study of the higher direction of policy at the national and international level which senior military and civilian officials may be called upon to handle in the course of their careers, the press release said.

The course is attended by senior officers of the Indian Defence Forces and Civil Services as well as Armed Forces of friendly foreign countries. At present, Brigadier General Om Bahadur Pun of the Royal Nepalese Army, is also attending this prestigious course.

As part of their curriculum, the College organisers tours to neighbouring and other foreign countries to enable student officers to interact with their counterparts and to acquaint themselves with the socio-political, economic, defence and foreign policy aspects of the countries they visit, the press release has stated.

With this objective in view, the members of the NDC team will be exchanging views with senior civil and military officials during their current visit to Nepal. The visiting team will pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Chief Secretary Tirthaman Shakya, Foreign Secretary Narayan Shamsher Thapa, Defence Secretary Padam Kumar Acharya, Vice Chariman, National Planning Commission Prithvi Raj Ligal, SAARC General Secretary Nihal Rodrigo and also meet Chief of the Army Staff of the Royal Nepalese Army, the press release said.

A similar visit had taken place in 2000. The visiting NDC team is headed by Air Vice Marshal Raghu Ranjan, Senior Directing Staff (Air) of the College. Besides Indian military and civil officers from Bangladesh, Brunei, Oman, Myanmar and Nigeria, according to the press release.

NEWSROOM CHATTER

Ripple-Effects

US PRESIDENT George Bush has already issued a "Death or Alive" wanted notice for the Saudi national Osama bin Laden. The notice came about after American FBI investigators narrowed down the list of possible suspects responsible for the September 11 bombings of America’s economic and military symbols, the World Trade Center’s twin buildings in New York and the Washington D.C. based Pentagon complex. Osama bin Laden, along with his die-hard Al Queda followers, are currently the guests of the Taliban leadership lording over 95 per cent of war-ravaged Afghanistan.

Since President Bush had earlier vowed to take to task the terrorists responsible for the mayhem in the USA as well as all those who harbour them, the US has already issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the Taliban leadership to hand over bin Laden to the US or face the forthcoming consequences. Non-compliance on the Talibans’ part—which is very likely—will be akin to Afghanistan going at war with the USA. Considering US’s awesome military might and reach, the consequences will be devastating for Afghanistan. And undoubtedly, their ripple effects will be felt as far away as Nepal—which currently derives a considerable portion of its forex from tourism.

But tourism is an industry that is susceptible to any trouble in the region. Nepal’s tourism sector, already reeling from the ongoing Maoists’ insurgency’ s effects, could go into a tailspin if war erupts between America and Afghanistan. Isn’t it high time for our concerned tourism authorities and organisations to come up with contingency plans to offset the impending slump in Nepal’s tourism sector? (GR)

Witch Bashing

MANY of the Nepalese women were grieved to hear a news item on witch bashing in many parts of the nation lately. It may be recalled that witchcraft exists not only in Nepal but also in other parts of the today’s modern world. Many of the people in their tender ages might have heard horrified stories on witches during the bedtime from mothers and dear ones.

But this ink-pusher was shocked to see that even at the jet age, people seem to be clamping down on witches believing them as the real culprit for having cast bad omen. If the witches had that much power, then they could have lived a decent life and would have preferred to ride sleek limousine rather than living a poverty stricken life in a poor village.

The people if have any faith on god should first see that one is not carried away by baseless rumours, until and unless one sees with their own eyes. If people join hands for the equal property right of women, then why not the same people go to the villages and bring the bitch-bashing to an end? (ASR)

Waiting Game

NEPAL is known in the region for having reliable and skilled manpower in the medical sector. There is no denying that Nepalese doctors have through their diligence earned a good name in the region and even in other parts of the world. Anybody visiting famous medical institutes in India is reminded of the experts back home. He is questioned as to why he took the trouble to travel so long when able doctors are found in Nepal itself. All this is quite true. The disheartening fact is that the Nepalese who wish to get themselves examined by reputed doctors have to wait for months. One who gets an appointment to be examined by a renowned doctor is perhaps the luckiest person. Either you have to be able to pull the strings or you have to be a relative to get immediate appointment. Those who do not fall in both the categories have no choice other than to keep waiting until the illness worsens further. (AM)

Paying Price

WITH tightening of the security, police and army patrols have become a common sight in and around the Kathmandu Valley, thanks to the Maoists now aborted September 18 and 22 mass meeting in the capital. The sense of peace and security in the capital has, however, come relatively late because most of the people in Kathmandu have already lost some of their valuables because of the forced extortion and intimidation by the Maoists. The insurgents’ demand reportedly ranged from chiura (beaten rice) and petroleum products to cash so that they could make their mass rally a success. The interesting thing here is—most of the people had known these activities of the Maoists the day they started collecting forced donations. But the authority acted very late that caused many difficulties to the people. Though we like to say ‘better late than never,’ the delay on the part of the authority this time to initiate action against the extortion spree of the Maoists forced many people to pay their prices—literally. (NU)

When There Lacks Motivation

THE SUCCESS of an organisation largely depends upon motivation factor. No organisation can go ahead with demoralised employees. Number of cases has already proved that employees with high morality are the real assets of an institution. But some people are reluctant to boost the morality of their fellow employees and do not want their organisation to go ahead. Instead of creating motivation factors they do not bother to discourage their subordinates.

How can an organisation grow if the parasite of de-motivation factors prevail? (RKC)

War of Bushes

IT MIGHT just be a coincidence but Bushes of the US are associated with wars. With Bush senior, it was the war of the Gulf. The junior Bush is now surrounded by circumstances in which, according to himself, the first war of the 21st century has already been declared. Interestingly, between the Bushes, there was Clinton whose tenure as superpower president was such where US was not directly involved in a major war.

Within less than one year of the arrival of the boy Bush, a fresh situation surfaced, enough to shock the US and the world. The unimagined terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre of New York and Pentagon in Washington, has only mounted conflict possibility. Just as in case of the father Bush, terrorist groups seem to be the target of America. (BT)

Bumpy Ride

MORE than five months have already passed since the maintenance works of the road stretching from Ratnapark to Bhadrakali were started. But the road is yet to acquire completion. The astonishing part is that the construction seems to be going on in low gear. Anybody who happens to pass through the half-finished road is left with nothing but a feeling of intense disgrace. The reason: the rider who forces his way through the rough road has a sleepless night with aches all over the body. You will find the dusty road fuming with dust and smoke choking the riders and drivers who fail to evade the big trenches and furrows.

The worse comes with the torrential downpours. The trenches are filled with water and your confusion reaches a maddening height. You just cannot decide where to drive your vehicle. It is advised that pregnant ladies should never make the mistake of having a jerky ride in the same road.. What baffles yours truly is that the construction has now come to a virtual standstill. Could the secret behind the abrupt halt be that the concerned department or agency will have the high handed hold on the allocated budget at the end of the current fiscal year if the construction is continuously postponed and delayed. (BMD)

Poor Mr. Zero!

Have you known the glory of Mr. Zero? If you talk about anything that has low value, you go to dub it as zero. In numerical world, it has great value. Either you add or omit the zero in the number game, it makes the sense creating significant changes in the matter.

But it is not that importance of Mr. Zero lies only in the world of mathematics, it has also made a noticeable presence in party politics too. If you have zero approach with the bigwigs of parties then you grab only a zero achievement in your political career. More interestingly, Mr. Zero makes even stronger presence in the daily proceedings of the Parliament. Here Mr. Zero assumes the role of Zero Hour in which lawmakers want to draw the attention of the House on the issue raised by them. But the irony is that as the Zero Hour of the House starts, the monotonous scene of the yawning lawmakers hits the chamber. Many MPs even leave the meeting during the Zero Hour thinking their issues would get only a zero value. This has become an incredible reality of the ongoing session of the Parliament. Poor Mr. Zero, don’t be worried. If the politicians discard you, one day the laymen will welcome you. (RRS)

Real Refreshment

AFTER the hectic works of a hot summer’s day, that too in a room directly facing the blazing sun and without any cooling system except for a irritatingly noisy and dusty old fan, how much one would wish to have a pint of chilled beer in a quiet restaurant! And, on top of that, if the restaurant is a rotating one that at a slow pace lets you enjoy a scenic view of the city from different angles. Aha, that would be the real refreshment! There is one such restaurant under construction in front of our office. Everyday we fix our eyes on it hoping for its speedy completion and dream of sitting on the rotating chairs with savoury food and soothing drink.

But to our dismay, the construction work is so painfully slow that we are about to lose our patience. Could the owner(s) understand our sentiment and act accordingly? (GB)