Kathmandu Utsav begins

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Sept. 28 : The Kathmandu Utsav 2001 kicked off at the Exhibition Hall of the Bhrikuti Mandap today.

The 10-day long event was jointly inaugurated by FNCCI President Ravibhakta Shrestha, President of Nepal Chamber of Commerce Rajesh Kazi Shrestha, Presidents of the Bhaktapur and Patan Chambers of Commerce and Industry Krishna Prasad Tamrakar and Kedar Lal Joshi respectively, senior industrialists Basanta Bahadur Shakya, Ishwor Lal Shrestha, Tola Ram Dugar, young industrialists Rajendra Kumar Khetan, Chandiraj Dhakal, and Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnicar, Managing Director of Everest Exhibitions, the organiser. It will last till 7th October.

This year, there are altogether 165 stalls at the exhibition. The Nepalese companies and enterprises participating in the Utsav include Dabur Nepal, Hero Honda, Kawasaki Bajaj, and Suzuki exhibiting products from Japan, Korea and several other countries. There were 25 stall from India exhibiting products like handicraft, clothing and jewellery, utensils and two Indian restaurants serving Indian foods.

Speaking at the function as chief guest, FNCCI President Ravibhakta Shrestha said that holding of the event was itself an achievement when the country is reeling from economic slowdown and insecurity in the industrial sector.

Rajesh Kazi Shrestha, President of Nepal Chamber of Commerce said the exhibition should also include tourism-related things as it also coincides with the start of the tourist season.

Speaking on behalf of the organizer, the Everest Exhibitions, its Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnicar said the event is proof of the joint commitment of all industrialists and entrepreneurs.

At the function today, three senior personalities of the country’s industrial and commerce sector Ishwor Lal Shrestha, Tolaram Dugar and Basant Bahadur Shakya and two young entrepreneurs Rajendra Kumar Khetan and Chandi Raj Dhakal were honoured.

Apart from the exhibition of industrial, commercial and other household goods, there will also be inter-school painting competition, musical show and karate and kick-boxing competition.

Kumar Pokharel, an official of Everest Exhibitions, said the main aim of exhibition to introduce new products and have low price shops for the Dashain and Tihar. He also said that they expect between 100,000 and 150,000 visitors at the exhibition.

The Everest Exhibitions has been organizing the Kathmandu Utsav since 1995 before the Dashain and Tihar festivals.

Unsettled accounts cross Rs. 26 B mark

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Sept. 28: The unsettled account of the government agencies by the end of the last fiscal year has reached a whopping Rs. 26.4 billion, an increase of Rs. 8.11 billion over Rs. 18.28 billion of the previous years.

However, if one adds the unsetled accounts of Rs. 12.1 billion of other bodies such as committees, other government organisations and the District Development Committees, the country's total unsettled accounts reach to a mind-boggling Rs. 38.42 billion.

This year’s Auditor General’s Report, the 38th in the line, has also shown a bleak picture of the settlement of the arrears. Of the unsettled accounts of Rs. 25.71 billion of the previous years, only 28.80 per cent of the amount have been cleared. Of them, Rs. 5.57 billion was settled by the govt departments and Rs. 1.85 billion was done by the committee formed to settle the unsettled accounts.

All the above mentioned figures accounts for Rs. 122.86 billion audited by the Office of the Auditor General There are Rs. 2.85 billion rupees of 2,709 units yet to be audited.

The Report has said that the ten ministries with the highest percentage of arrears this year are – Finance, Water Resources, Local Development, Health, Agriculture and Co-operatives, Works and Physical Planning, Defense, Home, Education and Sports and Foreign. All of them account for 93.9 per cent of the total unsettled accounts.

The Ministry of Finance accounting for 38.79 per cent, Ministry for 10.03 and the Ministry for Works and Physical Planning 10.47 per cent. The lowest among the ten is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with 1.61 per cent.

In the year 2058 B.S. the Ministry of Education and Sports has the highest amount of unsettled accounts of over Rs. 2.50 billion, followed by Local Autonomous Bodies with over Rs. 1.09 billion, Ministry of Water Resources with over Rs. 819 million and Ministry of Works and Physical Planning of over Rs. 531 million.

However, the ten ministries with the highest amount of unsettled accounts in terms of the amount are the Ministry of Education and Sport, Ministry of Works and Physical Planning, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Ministry of Local Development, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation and the Supreme Court.

The Ministry of Education and Sports tops the list with 26.97 % of the total unsettled accounts followed by Ministry of Works and Physical Planning (20.76 %), Ministry of Health (17.72 %) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (9.18%).

Meanwhile, the Report has pointed out that total general expenses in the last year’s budget was 97.56 per cent with Rs. 34.52 being spent out of the total budget of Rs. 35.38 billion.

Similarly, in the development expenditure, the total expense was only 75.86 per cent with Rs. 31.74 billion being spent out of the total amount of Rs. 41.85 billion.

The Report has also mentioned that the country’s estimated foreign grant last year fell short by 34 per cent with the country receiving only Rs. 5.71 billion worth of foreign grant out of estimated Rs. 8.65 billion. Meanwhile, the Report has also pointed out that Rs. 1.95 billion (34.24 per cnet) of the total foreign assistance remains to be audited.

Simililarly, the foreign loan was short by almost 7 billion with only Rs. 11.81 billion received against the estimated amount of Rs. 18.56 billion.

Domestically, the revenue collection has also fallen short by about Rs. 1.5 billion with the collection of Rs. 42.89 billion instead of the estimated Rs. 44.51 billion. But percentage wise, the revenue collection showed a growth of 2 per cent with 96.35 of the target achieved.

Meanwhile, the Report has said that the country's total foreign loan has reached to Rs. 190 billion-an increase from Rs. 172 billion last year. In the last fiscal year, the country received Rs. 11.81 billion foreign loans and an additional amount of Rs. 9.89 billion in debt servicing.

'Priority on tea, tourism will deciver'

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Sept. 28: With a view to disseminate information about new theories of marketing management in the rapidly changing world economy, Kathmandu University, School of Management (KUSOM) - a pioneer university in the private sector organised an interaction programme here today.

Speaking at the programme Prof. Robin Peterson said that Nepal could reap much benefit if it accords top priorities on tea and tourism industry. However, various things have to be taken into consideration to gain maximum benefit out of them. Art of marketing is very essential and it is not static too. It often changes dramatically, sometimes slowly and frequently in ways that are difficult to predict. Those businesses, which are able to detect and predict changes, are in a superior position to prosper and grow. Firms such as Microsoft have used marketing as a recipe for success, said peterson.

Marketing is becoming present everywhere. It can be found in all societies because all are desire of taking advantage of its promises, he added.

Peterson who is also visiting senior Fulbright Professor noted that there could be some variation of strategies.

Bijay K. C. Dean of KUSOM highlighted the objectives of the talk programme. Registrar of Kathmandu University (KU) Sitaram Adhikari had chaired the function.

Nepal-India border work still incomplete

BY KRISHNA SHRESTHA

Kathmandu, Sept. 28:Even after 20 years of joint commitment to update and modernise the existing 1,880-km-long Nepal-India border, the Nepal-India Joint Technical Committee for Border Regulation (NIJTCBR) has not yet been able to complete its task.

In a joint press communique, the then Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and his Indian counterpart in the year 2000, had said that they would encourage their respective parties for the preparation of a complete Nepal-India border strip map by 2003. Now with the little over one year remaining, the joint committee has an uphill task to finish the challenging work at hand.

"So far, we have completed about 80 per cent of field work. Out of the existing 1880-km-long border, we are trying to update nearly a 300-km stretch in Far Western Nepal," said Tirtha Bahadur Pradhananga, Deputy Director General at the Topographical Survey Branch of the Department of Survey.

Meanwhile, some geographers here say that the joint committee will have to go through a detailed study before demarcating the borderline in the debated Mahakali river area.

After Nepal and India realised that their over hundred-year-old open border needed to be reviewed, they had sat for that purpose in 1981. Nepal had already thought of updating its southern border with India in 1980, after it completed its 1400-km-long northern border with the Peoples Republic of China in 1978. The Nepal-China border was reviewed in 1963 for the first time. But an elaborate and scientific strip border mapping between Nepal and China was completed with slight changes only in 1978.

The NIJTCBR came into effect when both the countries decided to completely review and modernise the long stalled border for the best interest of the people of both the countries.

The joint committee is preparing the strip-map (a detailed map of the no-man’s land along with 500-metre land on either side) throughout the southern borderline, renovating the border pillars and constructing the pillars where necessary.

The ongoing strip mapping is important also because there is no official borderline that stretches between Nepal and the Indian state of Sikkim since the Sugauli treaty does not talk anything about the borderline there.

So far, the committee has studied and prepared the strip map from Taplejung in the east to Kailali in the west. It has constructed nearly 2000 mini-pillars and reconstructed some 300 old pillars known as ‘Junge pillars’.

Likewise, the joint committee has also been asked to keep the record of encroachment of the no-man’s land and help keep the border zone clean.

But according to some officials at the Topo office, some debatable places have been left undecided due to land encroachment from the farmers of both the countries.

"We have a record of land encroachment and have also been asking the local authorities (CDO Offices of the respective districts in Nepal and local magistrates in India) for the cleaning and reconstruction of the border pillars," informed survey officer Purna Bahadur K. C.

"However, the task of regularly looking after the border encroachment and make the border area clean is not our responsibility, local authorities have to do those things," DG Pradhananga told The Rising Nepal.

As to what were problems the joint committee was facing while fixing the borderline, Survey Officer K. C. said that it was the rivers and the land near rivers that created a problem while they were doing their job.

"It is the ever-changing direction of rivers and the registered land near rivers which makes it difficult for us to settle the problem," K. C. pointed out. Of the 1880-km-long Nepal-India border, 640-kilometre border is made up by rivers.

"In some places the borderline divides the land of a person and that becomes problematic because he would not allow us to construct the pillars. There is 400 bighas of land which has such a problem."

"The recent meeting of survey officers of Nepal and India held here a month back is learnt to have sat for discussing and settling down the problems related to land," K. C. said. He opined that the problem would be solved if both the countries take such land and compensate the landowners.

Scientific mapping and regular border inspection is what is the most sought after activity for the strengthening of the long standing friendly relations existing between the two countries.

And at a time when the world is warming up against global terrorism, especially after the September 11 attack on America, the issue of border demarcation and relocation has surfaced as one of the major tasks for discouraging the mobility of the terrorists.

"When Indian authorities have started tightening the traffic along the open border between the two countries keeping in mind the possibility of misuse of free access by the terrorists, the early completion of the border mapping could be a great help for both the countries, said lawmaker and geographer Dr. Mangal Siddhi Manandhar.

NRB gives green light to three more banks

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Sept 28:Nepal Rastra Bank has issued the letters of intent for the establishment of two commercial banks on September 14 as per their applications which were submitted before 1995(2052 BS).

According to NRB, Siddhartha Bank Limited has been given permission. Its head office will be in Kathmandu with the authorised capital of Rs one billion and paid up capital of Rs five hundred million.

Similarly, Laxmi Bank Limited has also obtained the letter of intent to start banking transactions with the authorised capital of Rs 240 million and paid up capital of Rs 120 million. The head office of the bank will be based in Birgunj.

As per the NRB regulations, banking transactions must be started within one year after the issue of the letter of intent. On top of that, equity shares have to be floated to the public within one year after the banking transaction comes into effect.

The press release further states that NRB, under the Development Bank Act-2052, has decided to issue letter of intent to Export Import Bank of Nepal Limited. The bank's head office will be based in the capital. The authorised capital of the bank will be two billion and paid up capital will be one billion rupees, the press release states.

NRB expects that the establishment of new banks help gear economic activities in the country, it is said.

'Chamber law should be formulated'

Pokhara, Sept. 28 (RSS): A national conference on "Chamber Management, Promotional Services and Financial Management in the 21st Century" kicked off here today.

The conference aims at creating employment opportunities for the impoverished segment of world community through propagation of small and medium-scale enterprises.

About 50 representatives from 17 district Chambers of Commerce and Industry of 'A' class, president of Tanahu, Lamjung, Banglung and Neighbouring districts' chambers of commerce and industries affiliated to the partnership programme under Pokhara Chamber of Commerce and Industry and office bearers of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) are taking party in the two-day national conference.

Inaugurating the conference, special member and ex-chairman of FNCCI Ananda Raj Mulmi said the government should put forth its clear-cut resolution on open economic policy and political parties should be firm in their commitment to HMG's economic policy.

Mr Mulmi also pointed out that the government should strive for formulating "Chamber Law" in order to actively involve the private sector in the process of economic development of the country.

First vice-president of FINCCI Binod Bahadur Shrestha observed that the time has come to forge relations with regional forums such as SAARC, ASEAN and OPEC taking into consideration the development of global economy.

President of Pokhara Chamber of Commerce and Industry Basant Udas, from the chair, said the private sector's role and involvement in the national economy seems to be encouraging in the recent years as a result of the high priority given to strengthening private sector and exploring markets for adjusting into the global economy.

Pokhara Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice-president Shiv Lal Malla and its general secretary Ramesh Karmacharya underlined the need for an innovative technology in the present context of deteriorating environment and depleting natural resources.

Lower House ruling on Malechhiya’s death

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Sept. 28:Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Ms. Chitralekha Yadav today today made a ruling to the government to inform the House about the death of a woman in Mahottari district in the next session of the House. The Deputy Speaker had chaired the session of the parliament today.

The women, Malechhiya Devi, 58, of Ekdara Bela VDC of the district was accused of being a witch and was severely beaten and was also forcefully fed with human faeces. She was blamed for killing a five-year-old boy by using black magic. She had died of serious injuries, sustained in the beating, at the premises of the district administration office Thursday afternoon.

The ruling came after the lawmakers from the ruling as well as opposition rocked the House meeting demanding the clarification on the event and stern action against those responsible for the death of the woman.

Nepali Congress MPs Kamala Panta, Sabitri Bogati, Ram Kumar Chaudhari and Ram Chandra Yadav and CPN-UML MPs Sushila Nepal, Pradeep Gyawali, Tirtha Gautam, Yadav Bahadur Raymajhi, Raghuji Panta, Rantan Prakash Neupane and Rajendra Lohani were among those who denounced the beating a woman on the charge being a witch and demanded action against the culprits.

Meanwhile, speaking at the Special Hour of the meting of the House of Representatives today, NC’s Joint-General Secretary and lawmaker Govinda Raj Joshi said that the government should inform the Parliament about the deadlock regarding the government-Maoist talks. "The environment of confusion on the government-Maoist talk should not be lengthened for a long time," Joshi said.

Expressing doubt over the sincerity of the Maoists towards the people and the talks, he said that confusion must be cleared in the third round of talks between the government and the Maoist.

He also noted that the present time has been favourable to wipe out terrorism in the country, as there has been global campaign to fight against terrorism.

UML MP Gokarna Bista flayed the government for allowing the United States to use the country’s air space and refuelling facilities in the case of US attacks in Afghanistan.

Citing the decision as highly objectionable and serious for the country like Nepal with its sensitive geo-politics, he demanded that the government to withdrew the decision immediately.

Meanwhile, Netra Lal Shrestha of the RPP demanded that the government allocate ten million rupees for each constituency.

This demand has come in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s verdict that the one million rupees presently allocated to each MP for their constituencies was illegal.

He also complained that the National Planning Commission has not been formulating the development projects in a proportionate manner.

Meanwhile RSS adds taking time from the Speaker, Chandra Bahadur Shahi of the CPN-UML informed the House that Prem Bahadur Shahi, a resident of a village near Ramgadi of Mugu district headquarters was killed and property worth about Rs. 1.6 million destroyed when his house was engulfed by fire around midnight of July 25.

Wishing for eternal peace to the departed soul, Shahi demanded that His Majesty’s Government provide necessary compensation to the sufferers.

Similarly, soon after the start of meeting of the House of Representatives today, Rajendra Mahato of Nepal Sadbhawan Party (NSP), seeking time from the Speaker, urged the government to immediately inform the House as to why the verdict of the Supreme Court that declared illegal the government restriction on the sale and purchase of land under the land reform programme announced by the Prime Minister has not been implemented yet.

The Home Minister had apprised the house of issuing citizenship certificates to some 30,000 citizens whose citizenship certificates had been invalidated by the Supreme Court by fulfilling necessary legal formalities, he said, and asked the government to issue citizenship certificates to those who are deprived of citizenship certificates to date.

As the government has not come up with any programme for imposing a ceiling on total property including land to ensure social justice and wipe out impoverishment, the NSP will boycott today's meeting, he declared.

Later all the legislators of the party walked out of the meeting.

Meanwhile, Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives Mahesh Acharya, during question hour at the House of Representatives today, informed the House that there was a programme to grow tea on 173 ropanis of land in Terhathum district in 2001-02 through the National Tea and Coffee Development Project of the National Tea and Coffee Development Board.

Furnishing replies to oral questions posed during question hours at the meeting of the House of Representatives today, Minister Acharya said that as there were no physical prerequisites for growing tea in Okhaldhunga, Solukhumbu and Khotang districts, these districts were not being declared tea growing areas.

Bijaya Subba of the CPN-UML and Homnath Dahal of the Nepali Congress had put questions to the minister.

Likewise, responding to questions concerning his Ministry raised by Bijaya Subba of the CPN-UML, Minister for Education and Sports Amod Prasad Upadhyaya said that provisions for permanent teaching posts had been made in accordance with the regulations of the National Teachers Service Commission 2057 constituted under the Teachers Act 2028 to impart education in the various languages.

Parliament Secretariat, Income Tax Bills approved

Kathmandu, Sept. 28 (RSS): The House of Representatives passed the Parliament Secretariat Bill, 2058 today.

Prime Minister and Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Sher Bahadur Deuba had presented a proposal seeking the passage of the bill.

The meeting also passed the insurance (second amendment) Bill, 2058 and the Income Tax Bill, 2058.

At the meeting, Prime Minister and Minister for General Administration Sher Bahadur Deuba presented the 42nd Annual Report of the Public Service Commission and the annual report of the attorney general for the year 2056/57 and the 38th Annual Report of the auditor general on behalf of the Finance Minister.

Chairman of the Finance Committee Smriti Narayan Chaudhary presented a report on the bill for recovery of loans of banks and financial institutions.

Today's meeting also passed a proposal seeking consideration on the National Education Commission presented by Minister for Education and Sports Amod Prasad Upadhyay.

Responding to questions on the occasion, Minister Upadhyay said the bill was brought for policy reforms in the education system from the primary to the higher level.

Taking part in the discussions were CPN-UML's Dr Mangal Siddhi Manandhar and Shankarnath Sharma Adhikari.

The House will meet at 11 am on October 1.

Meanwhile, speaking at the House of Representatives during special time today, Govind Raj Joshi of the Nepali Congress said that the government-Maoist talks have raised hopes that the people will be allowed to lead a normal life.

Stating that total peace means handover of all the weapons by the Maoists and restoration of law and order in the country, Joshi observed that as promised in the talks the government has released the Maoist workers gradually and withdrawn pending cases against them, but the Maoists against the agreement are collecting donations forcibly, kidnapping political workers and disrupting peace.

He also expressed fears that the talks would be used as a means to fulfill one's interests.

NC's Tanka Prasad Rai expressed deep shock over the death of the four members including Bimala Rai and Kamala Rai of a family in a village in Sankhuwasabha district and demanded that the government provide relief to the victim's families.

Strongly denouncing the killing of a woman on charge of witchcraft in Mahottari district and speaking of the need to bring about public awareness to remove superstitions, Mr Rai urged the government to pay serious attention to the growing activities of the Maoists like collecting forced donations, beatings, lootings, etc.

Gokarnaraj Bista of the CPN (UML) expressed grief over the loss of life and property in America on Sept 11 and said though voices being raised against terrorism are appropriate, the way the actions are being taken at present are serious in nature.

Stating that the rumor that Nepal is going to provide its land for use to the US troops is highly objectionable, Bista wondered if Nepal is attacked by terrorists for having kept the American troops, what our situation would likely to be.

Netralal Shrestha of RPP expressed the view that the yesterday's Supreme Court verdict is likely to bring about a chasm between the judiciary and the executive and spoke of the need for the parliament to become serious about this.

Gorakh Bahadur Bogati of the CPN (UML) protested against the appointment of a junior third class officer as officiating district education officer in Humla district and said activities of the national cadet corps are not so effective. Bogati also spoke of the need to provide drinking water to the people, irrigation and not to reduce the number of additional post offices in remote districts.

Tara Sam Yangya of the same party observed that it is because of feudal thinking that women are still forced to lose their lives on charge of witchcraft and discriminations against women in education and other economic activities still exist.

Meanwhile, as commanded by His Majesty the King, Minister for Works and Physical Planning Chiranjibi Wagley, on behalf of the Prime Minister and Minister for General Administration and Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, presented at the meeting of the National Assembly today the 42nd Annual Report-2000/01 of the Public Service Commission and the Attorney General's Annual Report for fiscal year1999/2000 while Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat presented the auditor general's 38th annual report-2001.

The Parliament Secretariat Bill-2058 B.S. approved by the House of Representatives was tabled at the meeting.

The National Assembly will meet again at 11:00 am on Sept. 30:

Contribution of craft industry appreciated

Kathmandu, Sept. 28 (RSS): Finance Minister Dr. Ramsharan Mahat, inaugurating the 22nd annual general meeting of the Nepal Handicraft Industries Association (HAN) here today, said that His Majesty’s Government is committed to promoting handcraft industries which makes significant contributions to the economy as well as introduces Nepalese culture and tradition in the international market.

Minister Dr. Mahat said that there is no reasons for the industrialists to express their grievances as the income tax bill has reached its final stages of implementation.

President of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) Rabi Bhakta Shrestha said that as exportable items contributes to the economic development of the country, a study should be conducted on profitable items which can be exported by a poor country like Nepal to the international market.

President of the Nepal Handicraft Industries Association Kalyan Krishna Tamrakar said that His Majesty’s Government should take steps for promotion of handicraft industries which is very beneficial for the country.

On the occasion Aseatic Traders was presented the handicraft export award for exporting the largest amount of handicraft goods worth Rs 140 million last year.

Nepalese handicraft goods worth about Rs 6.823 billion was exported to various countries during the last fiscal year 2057/58. Handicraft goods worth about Rs 7.162 billion had been exported in the fiscal year 2056/57.

Handicraft entrepreneurs have stressed the need to give top priority to handicrafts as His Majesty’s Government has declared 2003 as the export promotion year.