Singaporean envoy meets PM

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KATHMANDU, Nov. 24: The newly appointed ambassador of the Republic of Singapore Chak-Mun See called on Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand at the Prime Minister's residence in Baluwatar this morning.

Matters of mutual interest were discussed on the occasion.

Committee formed to observe birthday

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KATHMANDU, Nov. 24: A 55l member auspicious citizens main committee and a 35 member work execution committee have been formed under the chairmanship of Rajesh Kazi Shrestha to celebrate the 32nd auspicious birthday of His Royal the Crown Prince.

The vice chairmen of the committee are Surendra Bir Malakar, Rajesh Khadka and Krishna Malla with Suresh Kumar Basnet as general secretary and Hikman Bahadur Mali as treasurer.

Gita Bhakta Joshi, Kalyan Krishna Tamrakar and Ashok Kumar Upreti are secretaries while Nil Kanth Chaulagai is joint treasurer.

TU, MSU teachers stage protests

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KATHMANDU, Nov. 24: Office bearers and teachers affiliated to Nepal University Teachers Association (NUTA) central committee, Tribhuvan University Teachers Association central committee and Mahendra Sanskrit University (MSU) Teachers Association central committee held a demonstration in front of the msu office at Basantpur from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. under the auspices of NUTA central joint action committee.

The demonstration was staged to press demands submitted to the administration, TU and MSU which are said to be indifferent towards the deteriorating educational, academic and economic condition of the universities.

NRB plans steps to rectify lapses in note printing

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KATHMANDU, Nov. 24: The Nepal Rastra Bank has taken seriously the rectification of lapses in the quality of the new Rs. 5 denomination currency note in view of the comments being made by the general public. The bank has initiated measures for testing the quality of the notes.

Eighty (80) million of the Rs. 5 currency notes have been printed by Dilaru Company in the UK which made the lowest bid in a tender.

Ten million of the notes have been brought into use so far and the remaining 70 million were withheld even before Tihar.

In case of shortcomings and errors in the note quality, the company will have to provide a compensation of Rs. 88,000,000.

At a press conference organised here today by Nepal Rastra Bank, Notes Department executive director Upendra Keshari Poudyal said action has been initiated to determine the quality through foreign institutions as RONAST and the Nepal Police Science Lab did not have the necessary technology for testing the note paper quality.

He said no adverse comment had been made on the printing of notes by Dilaru Company between 2016 to 2048 B.S.

The Bank's spokesman Tularaj Basyal said if the quality is found poor, the company can be removed from the Banks' list and black-listed, addeding that the contract is clear about the loss incurred to the Bank.

Chief of the Department of Law at the Bank Bhaskar Mani Gyawali said NRB is sensitive about not losing the confidence of the Nepali money market and it is also looking at what the banks in India and Bangladesh do when such problems are seen in note printing.

Before printing new notes, the Bank presents before the Board of Directors an approved design recommended by the designing committee which has experts from the concerned sector.
After the design is approved it is sent to His Majesty's Government Council of Ministers and the process of printing is started after it is approved by the cabinet.

Present crisis due to power game of parties'

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KATHMANDU, Nov. 24: Minister for Labour and Transport Management and Population and Environment Kamal Chaulagain has said that the Royal address of October 4 was the product of the irresponsible activities of the major political parties since 1990.

Minister Chaulagain speaking at a function organised in his honour by Human Rights Communication Foundation here today said the main reason of the present crisis is due to the power game of the politcal party leaders.

The minister made it clear that His Majesty's address was in accordance with the clause-127 of the Constitution and there was no alternative to this.

The country is suffering from violence and murder and people are being suffocated but the major political parties are trying to be out from the responsibility, he said.

The political party leaders have used the Maoists problem as the ladder to grab power, he said.

Election can not be held unless the law and order situation improves but the political party leaders are not cooperating to resolve the problem, he added.

There is no possibility of grabbing the power by Maoists through violence and they should seriously think how long they will make the suicide goal.

Human service amounts to service to god: PM

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KATHMANDU, Nov. 24: Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand has said that one can change oneself and society if one is able to put into practice the teachings imparted by the Satya Saibaba.
Addressing the 77th special birthday function of Saibaba organised by the Satya Sai Kendra Purba Kathmandu, here today, the Prime Minister said that one should devote one's life in the service of others in the belief that human service amounts to service of god.

On the occasion, Nayab Badaguruju Dr. Madhav Bhattarai spoke of the importance of love and affection at a time when society is plagued by murder, violence, unrest and division.

Former minister Mahesh Acharya said one should be steeped in love and respect to have a darshan of the almighty.

At the function presided over by Kendra chairperson Indira Shrestha, various other speakers including Lok Darshan Shrestha and Rita Chhetri said Saibaba has aroused awareness in all by disseminating the message of truth, Dharma, peace, love and non- violence.

A documentary depicting the progress of the Kendra was also presented at the programme.

'Mountain tourism encouraging'

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Nov. 24: While other tourists have stayed away, there has been significant increase in the number of expedition teams and mountaineers in the last couple of years.

"With the increase in the number of expedition teams, there have been a remarkable increase in the income of the government," President of the Nepal Mountaineering Federation Tek Chandra Pokharel at its maiden interaction with the press.

The Nepal Mountaineering Federation was formed a few months ago, and Pokharel said, it aims at bringing together the scattered organisations working for the development of mountain tourism.

At present, there are about a dozen of organisations and associations related to mountain tourism.
The problems faced by mountain tourism are the problems of the country and need appropriate actions for their remedy, a press statement of NMF says.

Pokhrel said that the organisations working in this field should not concentrate only in the valley but rather focus on the mountaineering sites.

He said the improvement in village tourism would help improve mountain tourism.

The Federation, said Pokhrel, will work for the publicity of mountain tourism both within and outside the country. "When the tourism industry as a whole is on decline, mountain tourism can act as a cushion to lessen the impact."

Initiative must to harness hydropower

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Nov 24: Despite having the potential of 83,000 MW of hydro-electricity, and more than half of it economically feasible, Nepal has been able to utilise just about five per cent of its total capacity. Water experts and academia blame lack of initiative of the planners and decision-makers for the meagre utilisation of the vast resource. "There is a need for strong commitment for harnessing Nepal's hydropower," said water experts and academia here today.

"India as lower reparian country has reaped benefit from Nepal's rivers," they said at a programme organised by Nepal Water Conservation to facilitate renowned water expert Dr. Hari Man Shrestha.
Dr. Shrestha, while addressing the programme, blamed the policy-makers and the international organisations, including the World Bank, for undermining Nepal's interests.

Except a few projects like the Kulekhani, most of the irrigation and hydropower projects have been constructed for the benefit of the lower reparian country, he said. At the programme, Dr. Shrestha also released a book "Basic Water Science" written by hydropwer expert Ajay Dixit.

Speaking at the function Minister for Water Resources Dipak Gyanwali underlined the need for healthy deliberations between the civil society and the government for the effective utilisation of hydropower resource.

Shanta Bahadur Pun, former Executive Director of the Nepal Electricity Authority and a renowned water expert, while speaking about the book said that the book helps to understand the dynamics of Nepal's hydropower and irrigation.

Felicitating Dr. Shrestha, Dixit pointed out the need for serious study on Nepal's hydropower potentials.

Citizenship to downtrodden classes urged

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SIRAHA, Nov. 24: General secretary of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Pashupati Shumsher Rana has said that the people of the deprived, oppressed and downtrodden classes domiciled in the Terai should be provided citizenship certificates in a handy manner even if this requires amending the Constitution.

Addressing party workers of Siraha, Saptari and Udayapur districts in Lahan today, Rana said the government should make arrangements for reservations for downtrodden and economically deprived people.

The country is in dire straits owing to the complex situation at present, he said.

He reiterated that since the RPP believes in multi-party democracy, Constitutional Monarchy, liberalism and non-aligned foreign policy, it is committed to protecting and consolidating those ideals.
At the programme presided over by RPP Siraha district working committee president Lagan Lal Chaudhari, member of the Raj Parishad Uttam Kumar Pariyar, Krishna Charan Shrestha, Renu Yadav and party leaders also addressed the meeting.

Meanwhile, talking to journalists in Lahan today, general secretary Rana said that he has declared his candidacy for the party chairmanship at the RPP general convention scheduled to be held in Pokhara coming Dec. 12 and also expressed the hope that he would get elected to the post.

To a query, he said all the nationally recognised political parties should focus their attention on maintenance of peace and security in the country.

The government should pay attention to addressing the Maoist problem, he stressed.

ILO team to visit Nepal to study problems

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KATHMANDU, Nov. 24: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Central Office, Geneva has taken initiatives for finding ways of resolving problems faced by Nepali labourers owing to the Maoist problem.

In this connection, the ILO central office is despatching a delegation to Nepal within this month.
The ILO informed the Nepal Trade Union Congress that a decision to this effect was taken by the ILO on Nov. 22.

While in Nepal, the ILO delegation will hold meetings and exchange views with representatives of various national and international agencies concerned on the present problems resulting from the Maoist movement and the likely role the ILO can play in addressing these problems. It will also prepare an action plan.

It is learnt that the ILO took the decision to send a delegation to Nepal at the request of Nepal Trade Union Congress.