Early parliamentary session crucial in several ways

By A Staff Reporter

The 18th session of the parliament is starting from coming Monday. The convening of the parliamentary session about a month ahead than usual, is primarily meant for the early presentation of the budget for the coming fiscal year.

An early announcement of the budget is being seen as a positive step for the timely disbursement and allocation of the budget for development programmes.

Earlier there was the practice of announcing the budget just a day or two before the fiscal year began. Economists had pointed out that as it took several weeks for the parliament to pass the budget there was a delay of weeks and even months in the release of the funds for development programmes.

Others have also suggested that the changing of the beginning of the fiscal year from the first of Shrawan (mid-July) to the new year’s day, on the first of Baishak (mid-May), would be a good idea.

This year’s budget will also be important because  the country is fast approaching the last years of the current Ninth five-year plan. This budget should also deal with the new priorities of poverty alleviation, creating job opportunities and promoting economic growth.

The budget may be presented in about 10 days after the start of the parliamentary session.

Meanwhile, there are also doubts that the coming parliamentary session may again see the disorder of the previous parliaments.

The CPN-UML, the main opposition party in the parliament, has said that it would carry on with its demand of the resignation of state minister Mohammad Aftab Alam. It has also warned until the demand is met it would not let the parliament function smoothly.                 The so-called talk between the Nepali Congress and the UML over the issue has failed to make any progress, though the two sides are meeting again today (Wednesday). If the UML sticks to what it has said the parliament may see the confusion in its very beginning portraying the UML in a very bad light.

Banstola visit: Important gains?

By A Staff Reporter

Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Banstola is completing his four-day official visit to India today (Wednesday), and the visit may yield some significant results. The major breakthrough has been the agreement to resume the stalled Indian Airlines flights to Kathmandu.

It may be mentioned this is the first high level contact between the two countries after the hijacking of an Indian Airlines Boeing 737 which had just taken off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport on December 24, 1999. IA had stopped all its flights to Kathmandu immediately after the incident.

In between there several other issues also cropped up, such as India’s imposition of the four per cent special additional duty on Nepal’s exports there and the issue of fully utilising the Fulbari-Banglabandh corridor route. 

During his talks with Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, Banstola asked India to keep open the Fulbari-Banglabandh route, abolish the 4 per cent special additional duty imposed on Nepal’s export to India and to resume Indian Airlines flights to Kathmandu.

The agreement on the use of the Fulbari corridor is expiring on May 30. The route gives Nepal an alternate access to the sea through Bangladesh.                  Similarly, the imposition of the additional duty has affected Nepal’s export to India. Nepal has been saying that it is against the trade agreement between the two countries. Officials say India has expressed a positive attitude to this demand of Nepal.

The Indian Foreign Minister has instructed the concerned department to take necessary steps for the continuation of the Fulbari-Banglabandh route. Regarding the special duty, he also told the Nepalese minister has he would apprise the Indian Finance Minister about Nepal’s request and Singh assured that he himself would take initiatives to end the confusion.

On the resumption of the IA flights the ministers of both the countries have instructed the respective authorities to finalise and publish the date of the same.

Recently, new security measures have also been taken at the Kathmandu airport with the formation of sterile departure area and the installations of new equipment. With these developments it can be expected that the Indian Airlines flight will be resumed soon.

The present visit of Foreign Minister Banstola is significant in several other aspects as well. During the talks he also put forward Nepal’s views on other bilateral issues such as the border problems, including Kalapani and also the 1950 Treaty and the plight of Nepalese in India including those who had taken Indian citizenship.

Similarly, Minister Banstola also held talks with the Indian Water Resources Minister C.P. Thakur on issues relating to the implementation of the Mahakali Treaty and other agreements and also the problems regarding flood control and the risk of inundation of land in Nepal because of the construction of embankments in rivers like Lalbakaiya, Bagmati, Kamala and Khado.

The present visit of the Nepalese Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Banstola has reopened doors for dialogue between Nepal and India at the highest level. There had been no high level contacts between the two countries since the Indian Foreign Minister visited Nepal in September last year. Several recent incidents, especially the hijacking of the IA plane and the suspension of flights by the IA, had posed new challenges to Nepal-India relations.

On Tuesday, Minister Banstola met with India’s Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani and Defence Minister George Fernandez. Nepal ambassador to India Dr. Bhek Bahadur Thapa and Indian Ambassador to Nepal K.V. Rajan were also present at the meetings. He also had a luncheon  meeting with the members of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Meanwhile, the visit also dwelt on the expected tour of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala to India. The two ministers have also instructed their ministries to finalise the date of the visit on the basis of the three options as proposed by Nepal.

The visit of Prime Minister Koirala will also be significant in that it will be the first such contact between the heads of state of both the countries in three years.

The last Nepalese Prime Minister to visit India was Sher Bahadur Deuba in 1996 and one year later the then Indian Prime Minister I.K. Gujral had visited Nepal.

Cabinet expansion in the offing

By A Staff Reporter

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala is all set to expand the cabinet of ministers. Political observers feel it has become a compulsion for PM Koirala to adjust more NC men within the government, so as to not allow any disenchantment to brew against him and the government.

According to Nepali Congress insiders, the Prime Minister has made up his mind to appoint at least four new full ministers and some state ministers along with a few assistant ministers. This would mean the total strength of the cabinet would easily exceed thirty.

At present, some Nepali Congress MPs and their supporters within the party, have been spreading word that several of the MPs who supported the Prime Minister to become the new Parliamentary Party leader, are now deserting him and going to the Sher Bahadur Deuba camp. The opposition party media have been only too glad to play up such “information” from within the Nepali Congress.

It is true that Koirala faces a threat, if he cannot keep some “powerful” ministers and also other supporting MPs happy. Therefore, the present step to appoint more ministers could be a pre-emptive strike by a wily Koirala.

What people expect from new budget

By A Staff Reporter

At a time when the Ministry of Finance and members of National Planning Commission (NPC) are busy preparing for the upcoming budget estimate for the Fiscal Year 2000/2001, politicians, economic experts as well as a wide cross-section of the general public have expressed concern and also curiosity on what the new fiscal plan for the nation may contain.

In its bid to present the budget almost a month earlier than the previous year, the Ministry of Finance has already started preparing the fiscal report. In the process, it had also urged a wide cross-section of populace to advise it on various issues to be included in the budget.

In the present context of increasing poverty and social insecurity, the majority of people have raised concern over the issues of unemployment and poverty alleviation programs. They point out that since the Maoist insurgency problem in the country is basically due to abject poverty and unemployment, the government must give priority to bring in programs to address this problem.

“The budget should include special programs to address the Maoist insurgency problem. It should aim at creating employment and bring in plans and projects to boost the economy of the backward people,” they say.

The main opposition party CPN-UML, and other parties have also reiterated their views on the need of programs that directly deals with the grass root level of our society where the poverty has its deepest roots. They have also highlighted on the need of controlling price hikes, reduce dependency on foreign loans and financial aids and help promote decentralization, among others.

Dr. Mangal Siddhi Manandhar, UML MP and former vice-chairman of NPC, in a recent interview to a vernacular weekly, has highlighted on the need of effective measures to address the unemployment and poverty of the populace. “The government should bring in plans to involve more private participation rather than privatization of public institutions,” he also pointed out.

“Economic growth is the only way out to solve our problems,” Dr. Manandhar said and added,  “The government should develop plans and programs that ensure economic growth as well as alleviate poverty.”

However, many people believe that just announcing  new plans and programs do not bring in economic prosperity. Many of them have also expressed concern over the effective and sound implementation of the plans and programs that the government would bring about in its yearly budget speech.

“Every year the government vows to curb price hikes and to relieve general public by throwing a number of new programs, but at the end nothing new will happen,” said Bishnu Gopal Shrestha, a lecturer of Management at National Higher Secondary School, Lalitpur.

“Our life standard has taken a nose-dive in comparison to our neighbors, and poor people have became poorer despite the governments yearly plans and programs to alleviate poverty” he said.

Like Shrestha, majority of the people had considered the budget estimate for the present fiscal year as a good one when it was announced, but later when it came to its implementation, the government totally failed.

Likewise, various politicians and prominent economist expressed their views on the contents of the upcoming budget at a face-to-face interaction program on Sunday organized by Reporters’ Club. Speaking on the occasion, Former Finance Minister and Nepali Congress leader Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat said that the government should learn from the past experiences and act accordingly to check its past mistakes. He also pointed out that even though there were schools established at every village, there were no sufficient teachers working there.

“There are health posts, but no doctors and no medicines. Corruption is rampant at various levels in the government and so is the economic leakage. The government should also include private school in its tax net. Though privatization is not bad, the government should be careful enough while privatizing the public institutions. Despite the healthy competition in aviation sector, the government should also pay attention in the security of the passengers,” he said.

Prithvi Raj Ligal, vice-chairman of NPC: We know very well about our priority sectors and the budget should be prepared according to it. We have seen many hurdles in effective implementation of our plans and programs in the past, they should be singled out this time. The prime challenge of the upcoming budget is alleviation of poverty and the budget must consider this as the chief aim while developing all its programs.

Himalaya SJB Rana, economist: Economic policies brought about by a political party don’t last for a long time. All party consensus should be developed while formulating economic policies. The issues including privatization and foreign economic relation should be based on consensus among political parties. Estimation of revenue and expenditure should be determined according to sources. Solid programs should be developed for alleviation of poverty and unemployment.

Narayan Singh Khatri, economist: The government should look for increasing revenue generation. Economic policies should be kept aloof from political influence. Past programs should be given continuity. Causes of poverty must be found out before developing programs to alleviate poverty. The administration should follow the policy and not the political leaders.

Mohan Man Sainju, former vice-chairman of NPC: In the past few years, the governments had showed tendency of bringing deficit budget. Deficit in budget estimate must be controlled. Ongoing projects have markedly affected on the sound implementation of new projects. The budget allocated for MPs is being increased every year. This should be stopped. The budget should be designed to provide momentum for economic growth and alleviation of poverty. Non-agriculture sector is responsible for almost 60 percent of Nepal’s GDP, but more than 90 percent of our population depends on agriculture. Therefore long-term agricultural plan should be effectively implemented. A commission should be established for the alleviation of poverty.

Dr. Mangal Siddhi Manandhar, UML MP and former vice-chairman of NPC: The budget must address the cross-section of all societies. It should bring about programs of curbing price hikes and increasing income to relieve the people. The chief objective of the 9th Five Year Plan is to reduce poverty and the upcoming budget must give programs towards this direction. Similarly, the budget should promote private sector participation rather privatization of public institutions.

Rabindranath Sharma, former Finance Minister: Effective implementation of a budget is far more important that the program contents of the budget. The budget should be according to the 9th Five Year Plan. Programs like Bisheswar with Poor has more negative aspects than positive. The government must learn from its past mistakes and plan accordingly.

Independent chairman bereaved

By A Staff Reporter

Srimati Ganga Devi Chaudhary, wife of Sri Lunkaran Das Chaudhary, philanthropist and the Chairman of the Chaudhary Group, and mother of Basant Kumar Chaudhary, Chairman of The Independent, passed away yesterday morning at her residence due to prolonged illness. She was 73.

The last rites of Srimati  Chaudhary were performed at the Pashupati Aryaghat yesterday.

Late Srimati Chaudhary was associated with various social and religious organisations.

The Lunkaran Das-Ganga Devi Chaudhary Academy for Art and Literature, in a press statement, has expressed deep sorrow  to the bereaved family  over the sudden death of Mrs. Chaudhary. She was the patron of the Academy. The Academy has also prayed to Lord Pashupatinath for the eternal peace of the departed soul.

The Independent also expresses its heartfelt condolence over her sad demise and prays to the Almighty to give strength to the bereaved family.  She is survived by her husband, three sons - Binod, Basant and Arun Chaudhary - and daughter Mrs. Kusum Agrawal.

Bureaucrats and politicians: Bad guys par excellence

By A Staff Reporter

Government employees top the list among the most corrupt in Nepal, followed very closely by the parliamentarians and leaders of the political parties.

An opinion poll conducted by the Media Services International (MSI) in the second week of January this year had 21% of the respondents pointing fingers at the bureaucrats and a slightly less (20%) deciding that the parliamentarians and leaders of political parties were the most corrupt.

The ministers, police, justices, corporation employees, NGO workers, journalists and teachers were deemed corrupt by 19%, 18%, 11% 8%, 3%, 0.7% and 0.3% of the respondents respectively.

The opinion survey which dealt with a sample size of 1197 individuals in 12 districts in the mountains, hills and terai of Nepal found that the land revenue office was regarded the most corrupt among all the state-run organisations with 19% of the interviewees thinking so.

Close on the heels of the land revenue office in terms of corruption as perceived by the respondents were the customs (17%), police (17%), courts (12%), local administration (10%), tax (9%), forest (5%), electricity (3%), telephone (2.3%), municipality (2%) and roads (2%). Less than 1% of the respondents thought drinking water office, hospital, army, survey department and land reform office were corrupt.

On the important question of who after all is mainly responsible for corruption in Nepal, 30% of the respondent said the politicians were the ones responsible for corruption in the society. By the same token, if 28% said the government employees were the culprits, 15% believed the businessmen were responsible.

No fewer than 13% of the respondents blamed the political system for rise in corrupt practices. Quite interestingly, though, 6% thought the public itself was responsible and 4% attributed the responsibility (of corruption) on the existing social norms. The NGOs and international organisations were not spared. Those who thought these bodies too were corrupt constituted 3% and 2% of the respondents respectively.

Asked what could be the reason for corruption, 33% of the respondents identified money-making motive as the reason whereas 21% said low income was the reason. If 17% said the corruption had increased because of decline in moral values, 15% identified greed and 13% identified social competition as the main reasons.

Given this sad state of affair, the interviewees were asked what needed to be done to discourage, if not totally stop, this phenomenon of rising corruption in Nepal, most of the respondents (33.3%) said legal instruments should be reinforced and applied vigorously against the corrupt.

Those who thought the corrupt should not be given any political protection accounted for 19% of the respondents and those advocating salary hike for the employees, enhancing public awareness about the negative impact of corruption and social boycott of the corrupt constituted 18%, 16% and 14% of the total respondents.

The opinion survey conducted from January 12 to 21, 2000, with a grant from the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, London, covered Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Morang, Jhapa, Chitwan, Kaski, Rupendehi, Parsa, Kailali, Kanchanpur and Banke districts.

Prashrit in English

By A Staff Reporter

Artist Shashi Shah recently inaugurated In Exchange, the poems of Modhnath Prashrit translated into English by Pallav Ranjan at the Spiny Babbler premises. The book is a part of Spiny Babbler’s programme to present 2,500 Nepalese poems in the English language, says its press release. The works of Madhav Ghimire, Mohan Koirala, and Usha Sherchan have already been published and Iswar Ballab, Biaragi Kaila, Bhuwan Dhungana, Tulsi Diwas, and Toyo Gurung are also to be presented in formal publications this year.

During the launching Shah said that poetry demands writing that is concise and powerful. Modhnath Prashrit, former minister of education is presently member of parliament and a polit-bureau member of CPN-UML and has twenty-nine books to his credit. He has been awarded the Madan Puraskar and has Master’s degrees in three subjects. His poems tell stories of Nepalese life. They bring clear and vivid pictures to the minds of readers and reach out to their hearts.

“The human needs life, not death, the earth needs sweat, not blood,” sums up his title poem In Exchange. The story in this poem is that of a poor man born to a raped mother and his search for self identity and the answers that his mother cannot provide, “My life is lost in tears,” he says when talking of his mother.

The collection In Exchange provides a highly entertaining and teaching fare both to the Nepalese and to the international English speaking audience. The poems are taken from Prashrit’s Manav epic and the book is available from Spiny Babbler arts and literature organisation.

85 million newborns protected from Iodine deficiency every year

By A Staff Reporter

Salt iodization protects 85 million new-borns every year from a ten per cent loss in learning ability. Iodine deficiency affects intelligence and the ability to learn. It is the world’s single greatest cause of preventable mental retardation. At the opening ceremony of Salt 2000, the 8th World Salt Symposium, UNICEF Executive director Carol Bellamy told participants said that this is a tremendous accomplishment. “It means that children are smarter. It means they are finishing school.... Where people are suffering from iodine deficiency, average intelligence can spiral down by approximately ten IQ points. This has serious implications, not only for individuals, but also for the social and economic development of entire nations.”

Bellamy added that the first major task is to reach the 30% of the world’s population that does not have access to iodised salt; and the second is to sustain the progress already achieved.

Bellamy stressed that iodine deficiency is an ever present threat to the development of children. She called on the salt industry to support implementation of the iodisation legislation - now on the books in most countries. She urged all producers to help improve the production, quality and availability of iodised salt in the developing world, through such initiatives such as encouraging salt production in developing countries.

Communist stalwart Nirmal Lama passes away

By A Staff Reporter

Nirmal Lama, one of the last surviving communist leaders of the democratic movement of 1950 (2007 B.S.) died yesterday after a prolonged illness. 

He was undergoing treatment of chest infection at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital since one month. Recently, he was treated for cancer of oesophagus at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. He was 71.

Although he was currently associated with the Nepal Communist Party (Unity Centre), he was considered one of those communist leaders who remained true to the ideology till his last breath. However, he had also fallen into controversy because of his words and opinions. He was also a member of the Constitution Reforms Advisory Committee of 2047, which formulated the present constitution.

A commemorative function was organised   yesterday at his residence at Mhepi. Today a procession will be organised in his honour before he is cremated.

Child prodigies

Quality begins to blossom from childhood as has been proved by young Dilli Raj Poudyal. At fifteen years of age,  he has been able to bag the national level Bir Ganesh Man Bal Pratibha Puraskar 2056. The award was established in the name of Supreme Commander of the People’s Movement 1990, late Ganesh Man Singh. Dilli Raj is a student of class 9 and he has been given this award for his unique talent in literature.

He is from the remote village of Baglung District, western Nepal. Even early on, he was selected for scholarship to study in the prestigious Budhanilkantha School, Kathmandu. As he was unable to arrange financial support to come to Kathmandu, he took loans from the villagers to come here and now he has established his own independent identity as a intelligent student in the school. Young Poudyal has proved that intelligence exists even in the poverty, but there should be true heart and a confident mind. Now he edits the school magazines called “Bhanu Smriti” and “Bhanjyang”.

Tall and tough looking, he won the heart of many when he gave a speech thanking the organisers during the award distribution ceremony. He has been inspired by his mother who took care of him and his brother though his father has separated from them. Poudyal expressed the view that his experience with poverty and superstition has taught him to do something in life for himself and for the society and the country. He also said he wants to make his own identity among the 6 billion people of this world.

Jeshan Shrestha of Kalanki, another young talent from Kathmandu also received the award. He is a good player of Siteriyo Karate. And at the age of 14, he is studying in L.R.I High school, Kalanki, Kathmandu. He informed that he started his training when he was nine and now he has a Brown Belt in the game.

He has won several international and national awards and medals in karate. With moral support and encouragement from his parents and teachers he is determined to devote his future in this very field and  gain high pride for the nation. He also takes part in other sporting events like Marathon.

Jeshan ranked third in International Secondary School Siteriyo Karate and Kick Boxing Tournament ’96; first in fourth International Secondary School Siteriyo Karate and Kick Boxing Tournament ’97; third in fiifth Panatholan International Secondary School Siteriyo Karate and Kick Boxing Tournament ’98; first in International Karate Tournament (Gujrat, India) ’97; first in Second India-Nepal Karate and Kick Boxing Tournament (Janakpur) ’98.

Arvin Timilsina from Pokhara, who dared to make an attempt on the mighty Mt. Everest  is another receipent of the award. The young mountaineer aspires to do something new and bring glory to the nation. He is now studying in class 10, but he was younger when he tried to be the youngest climber of the tallest mountain of the world.

Chief Guest Taranath Ranabhat distributed the awards to the winners. r

By Raj Kumar Ray

Minister Khadka's remarks cause confusion

By A Staff Reporter

A clear division within the present government on how it must deal with the Maoists, has surfaced with Minister for Water resources Khum Bahadur Khadka saying the problem must be resolved through talks. Minister Khadka made such a remark while speaking with journalists and party workers in his electoral base in Far Western Nepal.

Many people were taken aback with what Khadka said, because PM Koirala has been hinting that even the military might be used to deal with the growing threat of the Maoists. Similarly, Home Minister Govind Raja Joshi has also been saying that the insurgents could be controlled with more armed policemen.

Minister Khadka with a strong base of support among the ruling party’s MPs, can play a decisive role in either making or breaking of a government at present. NC top brass were of the opinion that it was because of Khadka, who was a minister in the Krishna Prasad Bhattarai led government as well, that PM Koirala was able to muster enough support.

At present, a political twist has also taken place with Minister Khadka saying the party president will be from the second generation of leaders in the NC. This remark also caused some uproar within the Koirala camp, because, it looked like Minister Khadka was backing the candidacy of arch foe and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Those close to Khadka say that he too is in the running to be the Prime Minister if not now, then after some years.

Even just before Koirala became Prime Minister this time, it was speculated that Khadka would be the Deputy Prime Minister. Though that did not happen, PM Koirala had to appease him by giving him two important ministries.

A lot of developments can take place after the new session of Parliament opens this Monday. While Koirala may be pushed to a corner by  a combined opposition and also opposing MPs within his own party, the role of Khadka could be vital for him.

Simmering differences as Gorkhapatra enters 100 years

By A Staff Reporter

The centenary celebrations of Gorkhapatra daily was observed amidst simmering differences between the workers of the Gorkhapatra Corporation and the political level decision makers.

The oldest daily of the country, which entered its 100th year last Saturday, has been going through a tumultuous period, specially after the entry of other vernacular dailies in the market. Workers in the Corporation blame the heavy-handed interference of politicians for the woes of the Corporation and its other publications. But others also blame the corrupt executives in the management section of the Corporation.

The present Minister for Information and Communication Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta, has been a strong proponent for the privatisation of the Corporation. During his previous tenure as Minister of State also, Gupta had started the process to privatise Gorkhapatra, the largest publication house of the country.

However, in spite of a strong “support” within the Corporation as well, that move could not be successful as Gupta himself was sidelined in a reshuffle and his right hand man within the Corporation was also sacked.

But again after he was made the Minister of Communications this time, Gupta once more publicly announced that Gorkhapatra would be privatised.  But right at the main function of the Centenary celebration of the Gorkhapatra daily on Saturday morning, speakers cautioned the government to not privatise the Corporation in a hurry.

Those present on the occasion speak of how a virtual war of words took place between the speakers, mostly from the Corporation, including the Chief Editor of Gorkhapatra and the Minister for Communication.

It is true that the Corporation has suffered a lot due to the blatant political interference and also the mismanagement within it. Insiders blame some of the officials there of being very corrupt and also toeing the political line for personal benefit. “Why can’t they take a stance if some political appointee makes a decision against the interests of the institution?” A journalist working there asked.

There is no doubt, the decision makers at the Corporation will have to pull up their socks if they want the institution to remain financially healthy in the present competitive environment. While the government may have made some mistakes, for the Corporation and its publications to bounce back, changes will have to come from within it.

Is this the last aircraft lease for RA?

By A Staff Reporter

The Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) has decided to lease the plane offered by Babcock and Brown - the lowest bidder in the global tender. Babcock & Brown had quoted a price of US$ 3576 per flight hour far below than its nearest competitor, the Annset company of Australia, which had quoted a price of US$ 4100.

The decision has come after a lot of rumour of conspiracies and commissioning and even the selling of RA’s two remaining Boeings.

The newly leased plane will be flying with RA’s ensign in about two months’ time after the extended lease period of the China Southwest Airlines plane expires.

With the lease deal finalised, it has given RA for the first time a long-range aircraft to fly to its destinations in Europe. Till now RA has been managing the routes with its 757s, which aviation experts, say were incurring huge losses in every flight.

The deal may also be the beginning of the end of the practice of leasing planes. The deal is for 18 months, and when the plane flies back, RA hopes to replace it with its own aircraft.

The deal may be the best bargain for RNAC for a long time, but RA will have to start working right away if it does not want to go through the chaos and confusion of the last several years.