HM's China Visit
Home Thoughts Abroad

By Shankar Man Singh

THEIR MAJESTIES King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev and Queen Komal Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah are on a state visit to the People's Republic of China at the invitation of President Jiang Zemin. The State Visit is aimed at broadening contact, developing goodwill and forging new areas of cooperation. This is the first state visit of His Majesty King Gyanendra to the People's Republic of China after he ascended the throne last year. In the view of Ambassador Wu Congyong "The visit will bear great significance and have far reaching impact on Sino-Nepal relations in the new century."

Cordial Friend

China and Nepal are cordial friends separated only by a strain of mountains, and the friendly interaction between the two countries can be dated back to time immemorial.

Nepal's topography is the most important factor to which King Prithvi Narayan Shah, the architect of modern Nepal, had comprehended more than two hundred years ago. He called Nepal as a yam between two huge boulders. While studying Nepal's unique geo-physical situation, King Prithvi Narayan Shah the Great had two countries in mind: China and India. No Nepali ruler could ignore this reality as the guiding principle of Nepal's foreign policy.

China is Nepal's ancient neighbour. But the relationship between Nepal and China had remained cool because of closer interactions with British India. In 1955, Nepal-China relations were given new footing and the two countries established diplomatic relations on the basis of Panchasheel, the five principles of peaceful coexistence. The recorded history of Nepal-China relations dates back to the 7th century.
The exchange of high level visits greatly contribute to strengthening the friendly relations existing between the two countries. Such visits provide opportunities of broadening cooperation in the fields of trade, agriculture, sports, tourism etc. The last visit by His late Majesty King Birendra to China was the second after the restoration of Democracy in Nepal. The official goodwill visit by late B.P. Koirala in 1960 and the visit of Chinese Premier Zhou En Lai to Nepal had taken place during the sixties. The visit to China by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala in 1992 gave new dimension to Nepal-China relations. Nepal enjoys excellent relationship with its northern neighbour and is committed to further promoting and consolidating bilateral political, economic and trade relations. In the changed political context in Nepal, the new government wanted to affirm that the relations between Nepal and China would continue to receive priority attention and be pursued with warmth, sincerity, frankness and understanding. Nepal-China

bilateral economic relation reached a new height when Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, visit China in March 1996. The visit of the Nepali Premier was followed by the visit of President Jiang Zemin, to Nepal in December 1996, and this laid the foundation of reinforcing the lasting friendly relations. A look at the Nepal's China trade including the trade with Hongkong and Tibet shows that the trade deficit is widening each year.

Foreign investment is a relatively recent phenomenon in Nepal Although some traces of policy provisions concerning foreign investment can be found in the industrial policies of 1961, 1979 and in the Foreign investment and Technology Act of 1982, it was not until 1992 a new and comprehensive policy was adopted to facilitate foreign investment in Nepal. Under the new policy, up to 100 per cent foreign participation is permitted in all medium and large-scale industries (i.e. industries with fixed capital investment of at least Rs. 20 million) with the exception of defence, cigarettes and alcohol.
The sectoral distribution of projects shows that the Chinese investment is concentrated in the manufacturing and services sections. As can be seen, manufacturing sector is on the top in terms of number of projects. Of the total Chinese investment, 47 per cent is accounted for by the service sector, 32 per cent by the manufacturing sector, and 11 per cent by the tourism sector. The agricultural sector has one project but there is no financial involvement Construction, energy, and mineral-based activities have not yet benefited from Chinese investment.

Measure to promote trade between Nepal and China would be to officially fix exchange rate between Chinese Renminbi and Nepalese Rupees in the banks. The recently signed agreement to make the Chinese currency Yuan convertible will lead to further the growth of trade and tourism between the two countries. The agreement signed in this regard is the embodiment of sincere co-operation conducted by the two sides. The willingness to accept RMB into the bilateral bank settlement by the Chinese side demonstrates their sincerity to develop bilateral relations. According to the Chinese Government, Chinese people can only travel to countries that are under the category of Approved Destination Status under the rules and regulations. Till now China has listed only 22 countries in this list, Nepal has recently been included in this list. Hence, if proper marketing could be developed, there is a tremendous scope of attracting the Chinese tourists.

Significant Role

Chinese assistance and the co-operation occupy a prominent place in the economic development of Nepal. The extensive co-operation has played significant role in the field of development of transport and industry.

The Concepts Of Building

By P.Gopakumar

THE word budget is derived from the old French bougette, which means little bas. Thus, when the minister makes his statement, he is said to present his budget, receptacle of documents and accounts. The beginning of budget making date goes back to that hallowed document, the Magna Carta. With the weakening of feudal bonds, taxpayers demanded the right to be consulted before being taxed. This clause was incorporated into Magna Carta when it was prepared in 1215 A.D.; ensuring that sovereigns would henceforth have to seek the consent or at least the nobility before stinging them, with more taxes. The battle for budgetary turf between the British Sovereign and parliament raged on for several centuries more. After the revolution of 1688, parliament acquired the power to grant appropriation. But it had to wait till 1861 for the power to determine how the money had been spent when the House of Commons created the committee of public accounts.

General Budget

At heart, the budget is an annual statement of the government's receipts and expenditure is called general budget. But it is also an important policy document, apart from being a snapshot of the country's economic health. Contrary to what you might have thought, this is not an excuse for finance ministers to recite poetry into television cameras.

Something the government never has enough of proceeds of taxes and other duties levied by the center, interest and dividends on government investments, fees and other receipts for services rendered by it.

Money spent on the normal running of government departments and various services, interest charges on government debts, subsidies etc is revenue expenditure. Broadly speaking, expenditure not resulted in the creation of assets is treated as revenue expenditure.

Capital receipts are the other sources of money (apart from revenue receipts) for the government. The principal capital receipts are market loans, borrowings from Nepal Rastra Bank and other parties through the sale of treasury bills and aids received from foreign governments and international financial institutions. Proceeds from divestment in public sector units also include.

Payments made for acquisition of assets like land, buildings, machinery, as also investments in shares are capital expenditure. Loans and advances extended parties also fall into this category.
Revenue deficit is the excess of revenue expenditure over revenue receipts, tell you how much the government is having beyond its means.

The number everyone eagerly awaits. Fiscal deficit is the total borrowing the government resort to. Every year , the finance minister makes pious resolutions about reining it in. The next year, he trots out long-winded explanations about why it could not be done.

Primary deficit is the fiscal deficit minus interest payments on previous borrowings. It tells you exactly how much fresh borrowing the government will have to resort to.

Finance Bill is the part where finance minister becomes Santa or scrooge. It contains government's proposals for new taxes and modification or continuation of existing tax structure. It is submitted for the parliament's approval along with the budget.

Personal income tax, corporate tax, gift tax and capital gain tax are direct taxes because you get taken to the cleaners directly.

Indirect taxes are levied on goods and services, which means you end up paying the government indirectly.

Gross domestic product, (GDP) is the total value of all the goods and services produced in a nation during a specific period - usually a year.

Counter availing duty is usually imposed after much wailing by domestic industry. A duty levied on imported products equivalent to the excise duty paid by the domestic producer. The idea is to provide an extra padding of protection to domestic industry.

Consolidated fund is made of all revenues received by the government, loans raised by it and recoveries of loans granted by it. All expenditure by the government is incurred from the consolidated fund.

Government uses contingency fund to meet urgent and unforeseen expenditure pending parliamentary approval. Subsequently, an equivalent amount is withdrawn from the consolidated fund.

Public account includes transactions relating to provident funds, small savings, other deposits etc.
Demand for grants is a statement of estimates of expenditure from the consolidated fund, which have to be voted upon by the members of the House of Representatives.

Appropriation bill are the government's formal request to the parliament to let it make a withdrawal from the consolidated fund.

A grant by the House of Representatives is vote on account The revenue and capital expenditure of the government on the central plan is plan expenditure.

Non-plan expenditures revenue and capital expenditure on nterest payments, defence expenditure, subsidies, police, pensions economic services and loan to public sector units.

Budget estimates should stand for 'bulls eye but mean the exact opposite. These are the estimates of receipts and expenditure for the coming financial year. Fortunately for the finance ministry, missing the budget estimates does not constitute breach of promise, or lawyers would have had a field day filing suits, especially when it comes to divestment targets.

Not Actual

Revised estimates the name says it all. The estimates of receipts and expenditure incurred during the financial year that is about to close. Revised estimates are not actual either, but at least they are not as far off the mark as budget estimates.

Nepali Folk Instruments

By Bhimsen Thapaliya

A COUNTRY'S cultural heritage has many a forms. Folk music is one of the genuine heritages as it represents the life of the people in the purest form. Folk music originated and developed representing the spontaneous sentiments of the people. Culture and music cannot be purer than the folk one because they originate not out of conscious training nor copying somebody. If folk music copies something, it is nature such as the sound of stream, the chirping of birds, the rustle of a breeze etc.
Folk musical instruments are the inalienable parts of folk culture. With the experience of generations, they are so designed to produce the sounds that most please our ears. Nepal can boast of its folk musical instruments for its wonderful variety, touching tunes and their deep cultural affiliations. The purpose of folk instruments is not limited to entertainment though its major function is to give pleasure. Let us take the example of a Khurpithyak. It is a wooden device used to hold a Khurpa (a sickle) worn around the waist by herders, fodder collectors and plowmen. A Khurpithyak designer chooses not only a hard piece of wood but the one that produces deep and piercing noise. As the person with this device walks in rhythm, a regular musical pattern is created. During nighttime, the noise tells the people and even beasts that the man is passing by.

We usually tend to think that bells are made of only metal. However, if we scrutinise the world of Nepali folk instruments, we will find a wooden bell. With the age long experience of the folks, a wood with impressive vibration and piercing sound has been chosen to make it. If you visit the Nepali Folk Musical Instruments Museum at Bhadrakali and play the wooden bell in its collection, you will have hard time to believe a wooden piece can produce such a pleasing sound.

Musical instruments of Nepal have wonderfully diverse utilities. A Dhyangro is used in faith healing by the witchdoctors in the villages. If one conducts research on this single instrument, a revealing facet of cultural life will come to fore. Similarly, Damaru a small drum and conch shells are used every day in Brahmin families to worship the family god Panchayan. These instruments are respected as sacred as gods used them. Damaru is the instrument of Lord Shiva while Basuri (flute) was the most favourite instrument of Lord Krishna. Scientific proofs are being established that the sound of conch shell has healing properties.

There are over a dozen types of cymbals, drums, pipes and string instruments with a variety of uses and sizes. Some are used to herald important messages to the communities. Some are used in folk dance and wedding music, others are used by different religious communities. Playing of some instruments is restricted to special occasions only. Materials from which the instruments are made are also diverse. A Temko drum is made of earthenware and leather and played with two short sticks. Binayo is made from iron while the string of a Sarangi is made from the intestine of a goat.

Witchdoctors use a certain pipe instrument made of human bone to drive the evil spirits away.

Interesting tales of Nepali folk instruments are abundant.

Many instruments have just disappeared. Jor Murali is one of the extinct species. Jor Narsinga or bifurcated horn is said to be found only in a museum of Britain now. It is the original instrument of Nepal, but one has to travel to Britain to have a look at it.