HM grants audience

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KATHMANDU, Dec. 11: His Majesty the King granted audience to Australian Ambassador to Nepal Crispin Conroy at the Royal Palace today.Australian Ambassador is returning home after completing his term in Nepal.

Felicitation

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KATHMANDU, Dec. 12: His Majesty the King has extended cordial felicitations to Daniel T. Arap Moi, C.G.H., MP, President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kenya, on the occasion of the Republic Day of Kenya.In a message, His Majesty has expressed best wishes for the President's personal health and happiness and for the progress and prosperity of the people of Kenya.

RPP third general convention begins today

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POKHARA, Dec. 11: The third general convention of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) begins here tomorrow.

Party president Surya Bahadur Thapa is scheduled to inaugurate the general convention amidst a special ceremony at the Pokhara stadium while party leader and Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand will hoist the party's flag on the occasion.

Central leaders of the party, its district presidents and central general convention representatives as well as a large number of party workers have already arrived here to take part in the convention.
Altogether 1,302 representatives, including the central councillors nominated by the president, will take part in the general convention and they will elect the party's new working committee. On the occasion, Prime Minister Chand is scheduled to launch a book 'The history of RPP' authored by Govinda Khaniya and party president Surya Bahadur Thapa the party's souvenir.

After the inaugural function, the party will hold its plenary session at the Dipendra Auditorium Hall.
Meanwhile, general secretary Pashupati Shumsher J.B. Rana has stressed that the party needs to be run in a democratic and institutionalised way as per the party's statute so as to make its organisation strong.

Addressing an interaction programme organised by the Reporters' Club Kaski here today, he said the suggestions of party workers should be sought on each and every decision making process of the party and such decisions should be arrived at only after holding extensive discussions. He also pointed out the need for discouraging individualistic tendencies in the party and gearing ahead the party's organisation to build a new and modern Nepal and to cope with the modern challenges.
He said he was contesting for the post of the party president not because he wants to bask in the glory of the post but with a keen sense of leading the party and the country at the time of crisis.
If victory comes my way, I would develop the party into a 'election-winning machine', he said.
The programme was presided over by club Kaski district president Raj Bahadur Gurung. Meanwhile, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) meeting here today approved the annual reports of the party's general secretary Pashupati Shumsher JB Rana and of treasurer Parsunarayan Chaudhary.

Talking to journalists following the meeting, RPP spokesman Kamal Thapa said that the meeting decided to remain committed to the decision made by the earlier meeting in connection to the October 4 Royal address and the appointment of the party's leader Lokendra Bahadur Chand as the Prime Minister.

A special proposal on the incident of fire in Myanglung of Terhathum presented by the party's assistant general secretary Parsuram Khapung was also approved by the meeting. Addressing the meeting, party president Surya Bahadur Thapa urged everyone to work with high morale in order to take the party forward with new speed and enthusiasm.

RNA council passes resolution

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KATHMANDU, Dec. 11: The 22nd Academic Council of the Royal Nepal Academy held here today has passed a resolution to offer a request to His Majesty the King to accept the patron of the Royal Nepal Academy (RNA). The resolution was passed at a meeting held here today under the chairmanship of Prime Minister and Chancellor of the RNA Lokendra Bahadur Chand. The meeting also passed the proposal of awarding Mahendra Pragya Puraskar 2058 to senior litterateur Kamal Mani Dixit, who have made a remarkable contributions in Nepali literature through Nepali literature and culture for the last five and half decades.The Mahendra Pragya Puraskar is presented in every two year.

Likewise, the council meeting also passed the resolution to award Indra Rajya Laxmi Pragya Purasakar 2058 to senior singer Koili Devi Mathema. The meeting also expressed deep sorrow over the sad demise of senior literary figure Lain Singh Bangdel and life member of the RNA Naya Raj Pant and extended condolence to the members of the bereaved families.On the occasion Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand said we ourselves should safeguard language, literature, culture and arts of the country which symbolises nationality.We all should respect Nepali language, literature and science, the symbol of nation and nationality he said adding that we are still not in a position to respect the contributions of the literary figures and artists.Assistant Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Ravi Bhakta Shrestha stressed the need to proper utilisation of the property of the Royal Nepal Academy.

Vice Chancellor Mohan Koirala and member secretary Dr. Tulsi Bhattarai also spoke on the occasion.
The council meeting also discussed and passed the annual budget and report of the RNA.

Decision on SAARC summit date soon

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Dec 11: Foreign Minister Narendra Bikram Shah expressed hope that the new dates for the 12th SAARC summit would be worked out as early as possible.

Minister Shah said that the fundamental objectives of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) are timeless and of vital significance to the peace, prosperity and happiness of the people of the region. Guided by these goals, the SAARC has created a distinct regional identity and enhanced interactions at the government and civil society levels over the years, said Minister Shah while addressing the seminar on "Follow-Up of the 11th SAARC Summit" organised by the Institute of Foreign Affairs (IFA) in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES). The SAARC has also begun to evolve common positions on many of the international issues that are of importance to the region. And these are the solid foundations on which we can build stronger edifices of regional cooperation; Minister Shah said adding, "This is not a small achievement given the background and undercurrents of the region."

He further said that the South Asia possesses a number of strengths, abundance of natural and human resources, and economic milieu. "We must look beyond the immediate present and set for ourselves far-reaching vision to uplift the status of the people," Minister Shah added.
Bearing this fact in mind the 11th SAARC summit expressed its commitment to make our activities more result oriented, cohesive and forward looking, he added.

"We are confident that the momentum generated by the 11th SAARC summit in Kathmandu will be sustained and accelerated by the 12th SAARC summit to be held in Islamabad. We are hopeful that the postponement is of a temporary nature," he added. Officiating Executive Director of the IFA Narayan D. Shrestha said that the seminar would help evaluate outcome of the 11th SAARC summit.

Deputy Executive Director of the IFA Nishchal Nath Pandey expressed belief that the deliberations would provideguidelines for future course of action. While presenting a working paper Prof. Mohan P. Lohani said that the regional cooperation in South Asia cannot make progress in achieving the objectives enshrined in its Charter unless serious efforts are made to promote mutual trust and understanding between and among member states through measures as fostering good neighbourly relations, and building confidence.

Prof. Guna Nidhi Sharma said that the SAARC as a process of regional economic cooperation has now become a reality than a simple hope, although its movement is quite slow for inherent administrative, political and psychological reasons. Prof. Bishwo K. Maskey said that the democratisation of most of the South Asian states has created a new environment where the rise of non-state actors engaged in activities within and across the national boundaries is creating new opportunities.

CIAA mulls nation-wide network

By Krishna Sharma

KATHMANDU, Dec. 11: Realising its greater responsibilities that lie ahead to free the country of corruption, the Commission for Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) is working to set up a network across the country and systematise the employees working under the constitutional institution.

"We have constituted a team to study the possibility of expanding our organisation in other parts of the country so that we can become strong, more organised and out reaching," Chief Commissioner at the country's constitutional anti-corruption body Surya Nath Upadhyaya told The Rising Nepal.
The constitutional body so far has no branches. Its one and only office is based in Kathmandu. "As part of our expansion process we have delegated the authority of probing into the corruption cases to the chief district officers of three districts and to the concerned regional administrators," said Upadhyaya.

He said that there would be 10 such model districts for now. The CIAA will strive to come up with its own organsational structures at a latter date. The model districts have yet to be finalised.
When Madhusadan Gorkhali was its Chief Commissioner, the CIAA had forwarded the proposal to expand its organisation to the then government. "Although the CIAA was in a position to appoint commissioners at seven different places with appellate courts, it could not materialise due to reasons unknown," a source at the CIAA told this reporter requesting anonymity.

Before the establishment of the Special Court, the appellate courts used to hear the corruption cases.
"With a little more than a hundred officials at the only office of the CIAA in Kathmandu, it is not in a position to bring all the corrupt people to book and take timely action," he added. If the government okays the proposal to expand its network, and a separate service act under the Civil Service Act is instituted to make CIAA employees more efficient and skilled, the anti-corruption body will become strong and be in a position to root out corruption from the country in the near future," an anti-corruption pundit from Transparency International said.

The CIAA is also expected to propose to the government to introduce the "Authority Service Act" under the Civil Service Act, so that it can train the necessary manpower capable of contributing to the anti-corruption drive. "We need people with specialisation to work with us and for that a separate civil service wing for the CIAA would be fruitful. But it has its pros and cons," chief commissioner Upadhyaya said.

It is yet to see whether the CIAA's other demand for a separate "Authority Service Act" will be okayed, as there are only a little more than a hundred people to manage the whole affair. But if the CIAA is expanded, the Act will be a must to make the body more effective and result-oriented.
Now that the CIAA has accelerated its job of bringing the corrupt to book, that too by raiding and filing cases against the top politicians and bureaucrats, people have felt the need of expanding its offices to other parts of the Kingdom where corruption is rampant.

"The anti-corruption drive is now getting momentum and we are determined to expand it in whatever good ways possible," Upadhyaya said.

Security forces recover bombs, explosives

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Dec. 11:The security forces on search missions have recovered bombs, explosives and other materials used by the Maoist terrorists in Kailali and Sindhupalchok districts on Tuesday.
According to the Ministry of Defence, bucket bombs, radio sets, multimeter, camera flash, electric wires, socket bombs, medicines and terrorist documents were recovered from the Darakh area of Kailali district in the far-western Nepal.

Meanwhile, explosives, different types of bombs and electric wires were found in the Melamchi area of Sindhupalchok district about 100 km northeast of Kathmandu, said the Defence Ministry statement.
The mobile health camp set up by the security forces in Gorkha conducted check ups on 175 local residents and distributed them medicines on Monday, the Defence Ministry said.

'Private schools ready for nationalisation'

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Dec. 11: Rajesh Khadka, president of Private and Boarding Schools' Organisation, Nepal (PABSON) has said that private school operators are for nationalisation of their schools if they get duly compensated.

"If the school owners will be reasonably compensated, we are always ready for the nationalisation of the private schools and institutions," said Khadka speaking at an interaction programme for solution of existing educational problems.

Because of the political crisis for the last 7 years, 700 hundred schools have been forcefully closed down. And 99 per cent of the total students have been affected in one way or other. Khadka said that it was intellectual, physical and economic damage to the nation. The strike called by the student wing of the Maoists since last Monday has pushed the education sector to darkness. It is a big loss to the nation, Khadka said.

Talking about the demands put forward by strikers regarding the private schools, Khadka said that this sector can fulfill five of them concerning the private schools. The condition demanding a cut of 50 per cent fees at every private school, however, cannot be met. Such a term is not applicable in the case of every school, he added. The students are compelled to face the noise of bombs and guns in the school compounds. If the attacks on educational institutions continue, what will be the future of the country, questioned Khagendra Prasad Bhattarai, president of Nepal University Teachers Association (NUTA). Emphasising on the negotiation, Bhattarai said that the impact of the strike falls upon the poor students. He released that NUTA had called off strike to start on Thursday.

Appealing the protestors to shorten the period of the strike for more fruitful results, Babu Ram Pokhrel, representative of Higher Secondary Schools Association said, "It is the responsibility of the government to run the educational institutions smoothly. The only way out of the present stalemate is to come to the negotiation table."

Emphasising the quality education for all, Mohan Gyawali, general secretary of Nepal Teachers' Association said that the extremist students also need schools and teachers. But they are acting blindly and not being careful about the negative results. Expressing his objection over the violence unleashed by the Maoists against teachers said that the rights to live is more important than the right to education. So, solution of the problem must be found no matter how long it takes. The first priority should be to end the crisis though it may affect education calendar, he added.

Opposing the strike outright, Rajendra Rai, the central president of All Nepal National Free Students' Union (ANNFSU) said that the ultras are trying to exploit the vulnerability of education sectors for their political gain by creating anarchy and destruction. "Even if they are not called terrorists, they will not stop their terrorist activities," said Rai. He further said that there is a need to reform the system of education. However, no one should be allowed to use guns and bombs in educational institutions.
Stressing the need for solving the problems in common solidarity, Suprabhat Bhandary, president of Guardians' Association Nepal (GAN) said, "Despite the difference in ideology, we have to take the issue seriously and solve the problem peacefully.

Arjun Bahadur Karki, general secretary of the National PABSON, the organiser of the interaction programme, remarked that students should behave as students rather than breaching the norms.
At the interaction programme jointly organised by the National PABSON and the GAN, Saraswati Maharjan of Nepal Teachers' Council, Kishore Singh Rathour president of Nepal Students' Union (Democratic), Bhuparaj Khadka of Educational Journalists Association, Jeevan Gautam of ANNFSU-Integrated and Pradip Poudyal of Nepal Students' Union emphasised on the peace talk for the way out of the crisis.

Netherlands okays grant aid for bio-diversity

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KATHMANDU, Dec. 11: The government of the Netherlands has agreed to provide through SNV/Nepal a grant assistance of Euro 14,649,777 to His Majesty's Government including a sum of Euro l,533,777 as technical assistance, for the implementation of the biodiversity sector support programme would.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Finance, the programme would focus on poverty alleviation and productive biodiversity conservation through forestry sector development of the Terai, inner Terai and the Siwalik.

The programme will be carried out through the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation, and local government bodies. The initial programme concentrates on assisting eight Terai districts of the Central Development Region - Chitwan, Makwanpur, Parsa, Bara, Rautahat, Sarlahi, Mahottari and Dhanusa. After successful piloting, other districts can be assisted in a similar fashion. District stakeholders will plan and implement the programme.

Women's issues, advocacy of disadvantaged groups and poverty alleviation can be addressed through interest groups involved in programme planning at district and local level. Initial collaboration among the stakeholders will bring independent and self-sustaining implementation structure.
The aim of the programmes is to work towards a self-sustaining forestry sector in the Terai and Siwalik.

The Terai forests can produce for livelihood support and generate revenues for the nation, if a transparent institutional set-up is developed. The programme will enhance economically productive management of large forest areas in the Terai and low-level productive management in the Siwalik.
Forest conservation is important for soil conservation and stable water supply in downstream areas.
Developing economic opportunities will lead to an important incentive for sustainable biodiversity management. Productive forests will form ecological corridors between the existing national parks and other protected areas.

A memorandum of understanding for the grant assistance was signed in Kathmandu today by Madhav Prasad Ghimire, joint secretary at the Ministry of Finance on behalf of HMG and Jan De Witte, Director SNV/Nepal, on behalf of the government of the Netherlands. HMG has expressed its sincere appreciation and thanks to the Netherlands for providing continued assistance and support in the social-economic development of Nepal.