Chand distributes relief aid to landslide victims

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KATHMANDU, Dec. 10: Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand distributed cash, clothing and foodgrains as part of the relief package to the families of the landslide victims of Bamtibhandar VDC ward No 1 Thapragaun of Ramechhap district here today.

A total of 41 were buried in the landslide in the village on August 21 this year.

On the occasion Prime Minister Chand expressing sorrow over the loss of lives and property in the landslides extended heartfelt condolences to the members of the bereaved families.

It will help develop the feeling of cooperation throughout the country when the local people and the social workers form natural relief committee and collect and distribute the relief packages to the victims, he said.

Stating that there is the need of mutual cooperation in the country today Prime Minister said and appreciated the contributions of the people who helped collect the relief package.

A total of Rs. 642,000 was distributed in A, B and C three categories with Rs. 23,000, 15,000 and 6,000 respectively on the occasion.

The Prime Minister distributed the relief package to the landslide victim of "A" category while member of the Raj Parishad Standing Committee Lamu Pasang Sherpa and former minister Tsering Lama distributed relief package to the "B" and "C" categories respectively.

On the occasion, Prime Minister Chand gave away letters of appreciation to those providing over Rs. 10,000 to establish a revolving fund to establish Siddheshwor Higher Secondary School.

The programme was held under the chairmanship of Ang Tsering Lama.

National vigilance centre starts its work

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KATHMANDU, Dec. 10: National Vigilance Centre formed by His Majesty's Government has begun its work since Monday.

The centre office is in the Singha Darbar premises at the office of former special police department.

The centre was set up by His Majesty's Government on November 25.

According to the chief officer of the centre, Mohan Bahadur Karki, necessary employees including specialists have been demanded with the government and the preparation for the infrastructures of the center is underway.

Indian envoy calls on Sharma

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KATHMANDU, Dec. 10: Indian Ambassador Shyam Sharan called on Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Kuber Prasad Sharma at the latter's office today.

On the occasion, Minister Sharma said Nepal and India have been enjoying close relations in cultural and religious terms since ancient times and expressed the view that exploration of new avenues in the field of tourism in the two countries could help strengthen the relationship and benefit both the countries.

Matters relating to easing the arrival of Indian Tourists Via Air to Nepal and the existing provision of identity cards for Nepalis entering India were also discussed.

The Indian Ambassador on the occasion pledged to make every possible effort to ease the procedures without causing any adverse affect on the security of the two countries.

Also featuring in the discussions were expansion of a "Buddhist Circuit Road" linking Sarnath-Kushinagar-Bodhgaya in India to Lumbini in Nepal and construction of a Dharmashala in Pashupati and a Museum in Lumbini.

Also today, the 11-member delegation led by general secretary of the Foreign Cultural Exchange Association of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China Zhang Chongyin met Minister Sharma.

On the occasion, Minister Sharma thanked the Chinese Government for including Nepal in its list of tourism destinations and made a special request for running of bilateral air services and opening up of an additional transit point in the bordering regions of Nepal like Kerung of Rasuwa, Sangpala of Solukhumbu or in the far western development region.

Food safety issues being discussed

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Dec. 10: A two-day South Asian regional meeting on modernising food control systems began here today to deliberate on critical food safety issues in the region.

The meet will discuss the latest food safety tools and food control systems, according to the organisers. The focus will also be on ways to enhance regional cooperation in areas of food safety and nutrition.

The meet being jointly organised by the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the ILSI South Asia, Nepal Committee will create a common understanding of the latest developments in food science, including international food safety norms, harmonisation of regulatory food quality and safety measures.

"The issue of genetically modified foodstuffs and its implications for the poor farmers in developing countries needs to be critically examined in the South Asian context," said Q.A.M.A Rahim Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) at the opening of the regional meeting.

The meeting should move ahead in streamlining and instituting modern regimes of monitoring food standards and safety while "we are still struggling with many of these issues, exposing population to risks and uncertainties of safety food", said the SAARC Secretary General.

Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Mahesh Lal Pradhan said, more than 90 per cent of the population in the developing countries are suffering from disease due to lack of safe food. The government is committed to the WHO-Good Manufacturing Practice, good laboratory practices and quality control, he said.

Making an observation of the international economic situation, D. H. Pai Panandiker, chairman of ILSI-India, said that the SAARC region with a population of more than 1.3 billion produces a GDP of $600 billion and exports $ 65 billion worth of goods. "It is a sizable economy and is growing at a rate of 5 to 6 per cent a year at a time when the global economy has slowed down."

Talking about the similarity of culture, food habits and exposed health risks among the SAARC countries, he said that it is possible to evolve common systems of food safety management in the region.

The meeting is expected to encourage food industries to follow sound nutrition principles in food manufacturing and display clear labels about the nutrient content of the food products.

At the programme, a message sent by Badri Prasad Mandal, the Deputy Prime Minister, was read out. In the message, Mandal stressed reliable and hygienic food manufacturing systems to prevent microbiological contamination - the major cause of today's food-related diseases.

B.K Chaudhary, president, ILSI-South Asia Nepal Committee and managing director of Chaudhary Group, Ezzeddine Boutrif, Senior Officer at the FAO also expressed their views.

'Big dams bring miseries to people'

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Dec. 10: The International Consultation on Water Resource Development in South Asia and the Report of the World Commission on Dams have demanded a legally enforceable right to information regarding planning, decision-making, implementation, operation and decommissioning of all water and energy resource projects.

Speaking at the end of the regional meeting today, Megha Patkar, member of the World Commission on Dams and renowned environmental activist, said, "Having reviewed and discussed the situation in the South Asian countries, we recognise that many of the existing development policies in the region are undemocratic, anti-people, anti-environment and anti-life. They favour the elite and corporate interests."

South Asia has the largest number of existing and planned big dams, reservoirs and irrigation channels in the world. These have brought untold misery to the people and extensive and irreversible environmental destruction beyond compensation, says the declaration paper. Worldwide, according to a report, 40-80 million people have been affected by the construction of dams.

Despite such a critical condition against human beings, various human rights activists are only concerned with holding seminars, workshops and press conferences, spending large amounts of money, accused Ram Prasad Luintel, an expert on flood disaster management.

"Although INGOs and NGOs can play a vital role in formulating policies, they are involved in advocacy work and cheating the donors," Luintel said.

Bilateral aid failed to reach the target audience due to lack of monitoring, he added.

The meeting concluded that land and other natural resources of the indigenous and tribal people, dalits, ethnic and national minorities are being targetted and exploited through policies and legislations depriving them of their life and livelihood while building projects.

About 200 participants from mostly Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka had gathered in Kathmandu to review water resource policies and projects.

Jeremy Bird, coordinator of Dams and Development Programme of the United Nations Development Programme presented a paper concerning the impact of destructive rivers.

The meeting was organised by the Water and Energy Users' Federation- Nepal (WAFED).

Sharing knowledge on mountains

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Dec. 10: As one of the final events to mark the International Year of Mountains 2002, a book exhibition opened in Lalitpur today to bring mountain knowledge into attention.

The exhibition carrying the theme of "Booking the Mountains" organised by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), will run till December 12 at the ICIMOD complex in Jawalakhel.

Sixteen NGOs and INGOs, including ICIMOD, are displaying their latest publications containing a wide variety of information on mountain life. The exhibition remains open from 10 am to 5 pm every day.

Participants at the exhibition include the Centre for Rural Technology (CRT), Helvetas Nepal, Himal Association, IUCN, Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS), King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC), Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) and the Participatory District Development Programme (PDDP).

Other organisations displaying their mountain-related publications are Soil Conservation and Watershed Management, Spiny Babbler, South Asian Watch for Trade and Economy and Environment, the Mountain Forum, the Mountain Institute (TMI), Winrock International and the WWF Nepal Programme.

The theme "Booking the Mountains" was specially chosen to bring attention to the mountain information and knowledge that exist on a common platform, said an ICIMOD official. The objective of the book show is to impart education, share information and raise awareness.

The inaugural comment of the ICIMOD Board of Governors Professor Sun Honglie was, "This is about presenting together the knowledge and experiences from the mountains."

Some of the latest ICIMOD publications on display include two workshop reports, seven special editions, a book, four discussion papers and a CD-ROM.

The latest book published by ICIMOD is Smallholder Dairy in Mixed Farming System of the Hindukush Himalayas. The CD-ROM is on PARDYP in the Hindukush Himalaya. The two workshop reports include Participatory Forest Management in Myanmar and Water Induced Diseases in the Hindukush Himalayan Region. The discussion papers include Potential for Conflict: Community Forestry and Decentralisation Legislation in Nepal, Poverty in the Mountain Areas of the Hindukush Himalayas, The Politics of Cooperative Forest Management - the Kangra Experience, and Land and Forest Rights in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh.

Media can be effective in conflict resolution

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Dec. 10: Only major reforms in the social, political and economic fronts can lead the country out of the present crisis and restore permanent peace, said participants at a workshop that began in the capital today.

The five-day workshop on 'Media on Human Rights and Governance' is being organised by Nepal Press Institute (NPI).

The workshop was organised to help Nepalese journalists cover issues of human rights violence, play an active role in conflict resolution prevailing in the country and improve the human rights status, said the Director of the institute Krishna Murari Timilsina.

Editor of the monthly, Mulyankan, Shyam Shrestha said that a political solution that is being sought through talks between the government and the Maoists would not end the on-going conflict in the country. The talks will bring short-term peace. Until issues of the backward and indigenous communities are addressed, we should not expect a peaceful environment for a long period.

Bringing the Maoists into the political mainstream is not the only desire of the Nepalese people. They want transformative change in the socio-economic status, he added. "For peace to prevail, there should be social justice, political reform, empowerment of the suppressed people and equality."

The workshop is being attended by more than a dozen representatives from various newspapers and the electronic media.

Improved health services to people emphasised

By A Staff Reporter

LALITPUR, Dec 10: Minister for Health and Science and Technology Upendra Devkota today called on the local bodies to involve themselves in the management of hospitals so that better health services can be delivered to the people.

"The state-run hospitals and other health institutions should be self-reliant and should gradually reduce their dependency on the government," Minister Devkota told a programme organised to mark the 20th anniversary of Patan Hospital in Lalitpur.

Stating that Patan Hospital has been providing good health services to patients from across the country, he informed that the hospital would be one of the 10 hospitals in the Kathmandu Valley to run post-graduate medical courses in near future.

Devkota said that the Hospital had been able to carry out activities in three facets of the medical sector: offering quality service, producing manpower and conducting research works. He also suggested that the Hospital Management run management courses.

"Patan Hospital still retains much of that goodness from the old Shanta Bhawan Hospital - a mission to serve with skill and compassion all who come to us; a special place for the poor and a spirit that makes extraordinary things to happen," said Dr. Mark Zimmerman, medical director of the hospital.

Ram Prasad Prajapati, Executive Director of the hospital, said that it provided health service to almost 900,000 patients free of cost last year. He informed that the hospital in fiscal year 058/59 earned more than Rs.15 million, which was all spent to run the hospital.

Dr Johan Dickinson, executive board member, said that the hospital had reached its current stage, thanks largely to the commitment of its staff. Bir Bahadur Khawas, outgoing executive director, said that the patients found improved medical care here.

Dr. Anu Amatya, convenor of the 20th anniversary organising committee, said that 20 years on, the hospital had doubled its original size and facilities to the patients - in beds to 300, in yearly out-patient visits to 330,0000, in admitted patients to 16,000 and in staff to nearly 600.

'Peace Pole' presented to SAARC Secretariat

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Dec 10: On the occasion of the World Human Rights Day a non-governmental organization - Goi Peace Foundation - established in Japan in 1955, presented to the SAARC Secretariat a - 'Peace Pole' for its commitment towards achieving peace. The pole is handcrafted wooden piece with the peace meassage -"May Peace Prevail on Earth" - inscribed on it all SAARC official languages. The foundation has presented similar poles to a number of other international/national organizations including UN, OAU, OAS, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the ASEAN Secretariat.

While addressing the dedication ceremony to unveil the Peace Pole, SAARC Secretary General Q.A.M.A Rahim said that the Goi Peace Foundation was dedicated to the noble objective of spreading the message of world peace and is engaged in a campaign for promotion of world peace. As part of this campaign, the Foundation has presented hundreds of thousands of Peace Poles to governments, parliaments, inter-governmental organizations.

He also expressed hope that the pole will serve as a constant reminder to all of us who work at the Secretariat as well as to all those who will visit the Secretariat of the need to act for world peace. Today is the 55th World Human Rights Day. Yet the objective of ensuring world peace remained illusive. We need to do more for the cause of peace at the individual level as well as at the groups and nations, SAARC Secretary General Rahim said.

Patrick Uwe Petit, representative of the Goi Peace Foundation, said that the peace poles just want to achieve that they are silent and simple peace monuments drawing people's attention towards world peace and inspiring them to find and apply peaceful solutions in thier daily lives.

Peace Poles are silent reminders of world peace erected in diffrerent parts of the world including Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. More than 200,000 Peace Poles carrying the message "May Peace Prevail on Earth" in almost all world's languages are planted in more than 180 countries in the world, he added.

Representatives from various diplomatic missions in the capital attented the programme.