Crown Prince to inaugurate conference

RSS

KATHMANDU, Nov. 24: His Royal Highness Crown Prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev is scheduled to inaugurate the 23rd Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRC) at the Birendra International Convention Centre, Naya Baneshwar today.

More than 400 experts on remote sensing, geo-information system and survey from 40 countries are taking part in the conference being organised under the joint aegis of the Ministry of Land Reforms and Management, Department of Land Survey and the Asian association of Remote Sensing.
Two hundred technical working papers are to be presented at the conference that will last for five days.

Similarly, 23 science exhibition stalls would also be put up at the conference venue, according to the organisers.

It is believed that the conference would assist in formulating land reform development plans and resource management.

50 rebels killed in Lamjung operations

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Nov. 24: At least 50 terrorists were killed during the search-and-destroy operations carried out by the security forces at Fulungiri of Lamjung district in the Western Nepal on Friday and Saturday. Ministry of Defence has said today that a number of terrorists could also be injured. The forces have found attack plans and other terrorist documents from the site.

The Ministry also said that one soldier was injured and he has been rescued for treatment. The forces had recovered guns and a huge amount of bullets. The security forces had encountered the terrorists at the border of Gorkha and Lamjung districts while they were on their way to attack Besishahar, the district headquarters of Lamjung.

Meanwhile, in Kathmandu, the terrorists attacked and set fire to the old VDC office at Naikap after sprinkling kerosene at about 3:45 P.M. this afternoon. All official papers and furniture were destroyed in the fire.

A fire engine from Kathmandu and the local people helped put out the fire. In Kapilbastu, a western terai district, the Maoists are reported to have vandalised and burnt down 15 VDC offices. With the recent acts of vandalisation of VDCs, the number of VDC offices torched by the Maoists have crossed 1500. The country has 3915 local government offices.

Meanwhile, in Kapilvastu incident, according to RSS, all documents and furniture of the VDC offices of Udayapur, Bijuwa, Biruwa, Bishunpur, Lalpur, Shivanagar, Bidyanagar and Bhagawanpur were gutted.
Likewise, the other VDCs incurring damage were Shivapur, Tilaurakot, Jahadi, Ajigara, Ramnagar, Sisawa and Kajarhawa, Kapilbastu DDC informed.

Earlier, the Maoists had vandalised and set Ablaze 31 VDCs of the district in the second week of November bringing the affected VDCs to 46 out of the 77 VDCs and one municipality in the district.
Meanwhile in Mahendranagar, Maoist terrorists have killed Antaram Bhatta, 35, of Nayabasti Ratanpur, Rampur Bilasipur VDC ward No. 9 Saturday night by slitting his throat.

According to the Ilaka Police Office Belauri, two Maoists came to his house at about 8: 00 pm Saturday and took him away and killed him near a canal five kms from his house.

The body was sent to Mahakali Zonal Hospital Mahendranagar for post mortem after necessary supervision of the incident site by police today.

Schools grapple with Maoist fear

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Nov. 24: Both public and private schools throughout the Kingdom have been operating in constant fear since the Maoists and their sister organisations started using them as their shelter or bargaining tools for fulfilling their petty demands.

While the public and private schools in the hilly areas of the country are gradually closing down for an indefinite period of time due to the insurgency, the schools and colleges in the Kathmandu Valley seem to be closing down, following the threat by the student wing of the Maoists, the All Nepal Free Students Union (Revolutionary).

"If they do not come to the negotiation table and if the call to shut down institutions is not called off, there is no choice for us but to close down our institution," said the principal of a college, requesting anonymity. He called on both the government and the ANNFSU (Revolutionary) to unlock their horns.
Putting forward their 13-point demands related with the country's education sector, the ANNFSU (Revolutionary) a week back had threatened to close down the educational institutions for an indefinite period of time.

Only three weeks remain before the ANNFSU (Revolutionary) calls the strike. It is likely to affect hundreds of thousands of students across the country, just weeks after a general strike called by the Maoists shut down all institutions for three days.

"The government has not yet taken any initiative in this regard, but we are trying our best to solve the problem by consulting amongst ourselves and the parents," director of PABSON (Private And Boarding Schools Organisation of Nepal) Rajesh Khadka said.

He also disclosed that some rounds of meetings had taken place with the representatives from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu University, Purbanchal University and Paschimanchal University along with other school organisations and schools of Kathmandu to put pressure on the concerned bodies.

PABSON is forming a 7-member task force consisting of academicians, school and college principals and parents to help facilitate dialogue with the government and ANNFSU (Revolutionary).
"Because they are underground, it has become very difficult for us to hold dialogue with them," Khadka said.

The task force is expected to meet the Minister for Education Devi Prasad Ojha tomorrow.

Khadka fears that the upcoming programme of the revolutionary students will put a heavy burden on all sectors of the society.

"While children are already suffering psychologically for fear of being attacked, the parents are in double trouble.

"We spend the whole day in fear until the children return. And we have no choice. We can't keep them idle at home, and the idea of sending them abroad is expensive," a parent told this reporter.

Khadka said if this uncertainty continues to rule the academic institutions, a large number of students will be going to other countries to pursue their studies. "And this is going to be a great burden on the country's economy," he added.

He said private schools have not raised tuition fees since the last three years. "We have also decided not to increase the fees in the coming year also," he said.

Accountability essential to check corruption

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Nov 24: High ranking government officials must be aware of and accountable to their duties and responsibilities if corruption is to be controlled.

Corruption has become a bane to the country and the people, and it is weakening democracy and demeaning the country's prestige, Auditor General Bishnu Bahadur K.C. told a seminar on National Campaign against Corruption, organised to mark the 7th anniversary of Swatantra Bichar Manch (Forum for Independent Opinion) today. "If the top rungs in the government are honest and responsible, corruption can be controlled," said K.C.

He said the government should severely punish those who are involved in corruption. "The government should keep an eye on its officials, and if they are found making mistakes, they should be dealt with according to the law."

He said the Office of the Auditor General has been pointing out what has gone wrong in fighting corruption and has been giving suggestions in its annual reports, but no government has given attention to remedy the problem.

The civil servants are not accountable and responsible to their duties, and only a few of them are afraid of the corruption control bodies such as the Commission for Investigation of the Abuse of Authorioty (CIAA) and the Judicial Commission for the Investigation of Property. "Corruption and kick-backs have not stopped in the government," said K.C.

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Kuber Sharma said that the government was committed to good governance and controlling corruption. "His Majesty's Government is preparing to bring about economic and social package in the Maoist affected areas."

The step taken by His Majesty the King is meant to flush out corruption, and not to finish off democracy, he said, adding that his ministry had begun looking into the past corruption scandals under his Ministry such as the Dhamija scam and others.

On the Maoist issue, Minister Sharma said the government is always ready for talks, and it it is for them to come for the talks.

President of Nepal Bar Association, Komal Prakash Ghimire, said the bodies for controlling corruption such as the CIAA have won only five per cent of the cases against corruption due to the weak investigation system.

Such bodies suffer from lax laws and rules, insufficent manpower and resources, he said.

Others who also spoke at the seminar were senior advocate Ramji Bista, Chatyang Master, Dinesh Trpathi, Bharat Jangam and Prakash Chandra Shrestha.

Sadbhavana opposes POL price hike

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KATHMANDU, Nov. 24. Nepal Sadbhavana Party has objected to the hike in the price of petrol and LP gas and urged the government to withdraw the price hikes.

In a press communiqué issued today, the party has said that at a time when the Nepalese people have been hit by one price hike after another the price hikes effected by Nepal Oil Corporation instead of bringing about reform in its functioning from the point of purchase onwards and ensuring transparency has affected the people hard.

Nepal should take steps to curb qruake damage

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Nov 24: The Fourth General Assembly of the Asian Seismological Commission, as well as the Symposium on Seismology, Earthquake Hazard Assessment and Risk Management kicked off in the capital today.

The three-day regional meet aims at enhancing the mitigation capacity of earthquakes and disasters by focusing on regional seismological issues, earthquake hazard assessment, and the impact of earthquakes on society.

It also stresses generating awareness on mitigating hazards of natural disasters among the people of Asia, the most disaster prone region in the world.

Inaugurating the meet, Minister for Health, and Science and Technology Dr. Upendra Devkota said that Nepal had started to take small, but sufficient steps, towards reducing the effect of earthquakes on the society. However, more efforts are needed in this sector, he added.

Stating that Nepal and other countries in the Asian Pacific region are highly vulnerable to natural disasters, especially earthquakes, Minister Devkota said: "It appears that the lessons such disasters and catastrophes teach us have not yet been fully learned. Too much emphasis has been placed on post disaster response while preventive measures have been limited."

Dr. Devkota said that risk management must not only be promoted, but also be expanded to include a formal prevention component.

We realize the magnitude of losses Nepal would suffer in the event of a devastating earthquake, which scientists predict is inevitable in the not too distant future, Dr. Devkota remarked.

Amod Mani Dixit, general secretary, National Society for Earthquake Technology- Nepal (NSET) said that the society had been carrying out a number of programmes aimed at reducing earthquake risk at very low cost.

Dixit informed that they were implementing the risk reduction plan, which includes development of earthquake damage scenario of the Kathmandu Valley and prescription of an action plan for managing risk, and the School Earthquake Safety Programme.

The NSET, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation, is assessing structural and non-structural vulnerability of the major hospitals of the Kingdom and has identified possible structural interventions that could ensure functionaries of the hospital system following a major earthquake, said Dixit.

Professor Dr. Krasae Chanawongse, Chairman, Board of Trustee, Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC), Bangkok, said that disaster were not new to any Asian country and do not know national boundaries.

Responding to the need of building up the capacity of the countries of the region, the ADPC was set up in 1986 with UNDP's assistance. It focuses on strengthening the capacity of local institutions for earthquake disaster risk reduction helping municipalities to have improved buildings audit, control and permit processes and construction guidelines for strengthened buildings among others.

Professor Zhu Chuanzhen, general secretary, Asian Seismological Commission (ASC), professor Serguei Balassanian, president ASC and professor Wu Zhongliang, Executive member, International Association of Seismology and Physics of Earth's Interior also expressed their views at the conference.

Participated in by 200 representatives from more than 75 organisations of 20 countries, the meet is being jointly organised by the NSET and the ADPC.

There will be three parallel sessions that will discuss about 100 papers pertaining to 10 different topics, ranging from the physics of earthquake process to the problems of earthquake risk reduction, including training, education and awareness raising.

About 28,981 people were while more than 140 million people were affected by disasters in Asia in 2001, according to a World Disaster Report. It cost about $13,487 million.

Nepal yet to tap tourism potential of honey harvesting

By Bhimsen Thapaliya

KATHMANDU, Nov. 24: Honey hunting, a traditional adventure, remains an untapped and neglected potential in Nepalese tourism.

The creative mind of Eric Valli in the late Eighties saw that it could be an attractive product and made a documentary about it. True, the world found in the Honey Hunters a unique magic of adventure in the wilderness.

Valli's work was, and still is, a great promotional advantage for Nepal to boost its image in the world arena, raising tourism prospects to new heights. On its own part, however, this country grossly failed to cash in on the potential.

This is a potential limited to only a few countries of the world, which have high yield honeybees in the wild. For doubters, Malaysia may offer a classic example where honey gathering has emerged as one of the major events in the tourism calendar. This Southeast Asian country has shown that this traditional adventure can be developed to the proportions of the tourism industry.

With Nepal being home to the high-yield Himalayan rockbees (Apis laboriosa), the country can offer the curious travellers the unique thing that others may not. This is the mountain bee found only in Nepal, China and Bhutan - naturally a bonanza with a difference for tourists. This is the species whose single honeycomb can weigh up to 70 kilograms. This is the wonder of the Nepalese wilderness that Eric Valli captured and showed the world.

Tourism entrepreneur Karna Shakya agrees that Nepal has failed to tap this attraction for the benefit of tourism. Shakya blames this on the lack of vision and innovative mind for the failure to sell the original products of Nepal. There are so many unique charms besides honey hunting that have yet to be cashed to boost the tourism industry. Only creative minds are wanting, he added.

Endemic tourism, which is based on country specific, original features, is seasonal, but it is very keenly pursued by a certain class of visitors. As they are country specific assets, there are few competitors, says Shakya.

Nepalese tour operators are stereotyped in approach. They tend to copy the foreigners, but fail to recognise the original products within the country, laments Shakya who recalls holding a honey hunting festival way back in 1998 as part of the Visit Nepal Year. The honey hunting expedition, held at Langdruk in the Annapurna area, remains the first and the last event. No one bothered to follow up on it.

Honey gathering may not be a regular tourism event, but is certainly an important part in supporting the business, said Shakya. "What is Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) doing?" he questioned. "This tourism facilitator should have prepared a complete inventory of such destinations. If you can circulate the calendar of events through travel agents abroad, prospective travellers would naturally be attracted.
Chief Executive Officer at NTB Pradeep Raj Pandey said that there was no concrete plan towards this potential so far. Definitely this product is attractive. But it is difficult to work due to lack of sufficient infrastructure, he said.

However, Karna Shakya said that when it comes to endemic tourism, lack of infrastructure could be a boon. "Many tourists are not after modern facilities. Instead they want to experience the unusual in the untrodden corners."

Dr. Surendra Raj Joshi, a mountain bee researcher at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), said that traditional honey harvesting could be developed as a part of eco-tourism. "If managed systematically, this venture can raise the economic status of the local people and contribute in conservation," Dr. Joshi added.

The wild honeybees of the mountain are facing threats from lost habitats, use of toxic chemicals and interference by imported European bees. When honey hunting becomes part of tourism, attention will focus on the conservation of these local species, said Dr. Joshi who has researched honey harvesting practices in Lamjung and Kaski districts.

There are so many cultural aspects associated with honey hunting that they could fascinate the tourists. The practice goes beyond reaping just economic befits and involves cultural, spiritual and conservation dimensions. By tradition, some honeycombs are left untouched. The mountain honey harvesters believe that there are two gods in the forest who must be worshipped with due rituals before starting the honey harvesting venture. Failure to do so may invite mishaps. Worship is accompanied by the sacrifice of goats, sheep or chicken. Tuesday is regarded as the best day for honey hunting while Wednesday is avoided. Mornings and evenings are considered to be the best hours of the day for honey harvesting which involves risky physical adventure.

In some areas, there is the practice of offering milk to the cliff before initiating honey hunting. Women are not allowed to go near and watch the event in the belief that the wild bees become aggressive in their presence. The chief honey hunter gets the head of the sacrificed animal, and it is he who first tastes the meat cooked during the event. One is forbidden to join the honey hunting expedition if his wife is having a period or if she is pregnant for more than six months.

Dr. Surendra Bhakta Pradhananga, a tourism expert, said that honey harvesting is an old heritage of the mountains but can emerge as a new product to bewitch the visitors. Due to lack of vision of the tourism people, this potential has so far not been exploited, he added. "So the visual media should bring such attraction to publicity."