Koirala's mission to revitalise ties

By a staff reporter

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala is presently in New Delhi, India, in what he has called as a mission to build bridge of contacts with the Indian leaders. This is the first visit of the Nepalese Prime Minister to India in the last four years.

The Nepalese Prime Minister had left Kathmandu for a week-long official visit to India on Monday.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Koirala was officially received at the Rastrapati Bhavan by Indian president K.R. Narayanan. He also met with the Indian President and attended a lunch hosted by the Indian President in his honour. The Nepalese Prime Minister also met with Indian Vice President Krishna Kant. Also on Tuesday Prime Minister Koirala went to Rajghat and laid a wreathe on the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi.

Today (Wednesday) Prime Minister Koirala will hold private talks with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, the first face-to-face talk between the heads of government of the two countries in four years. Prime Minister Koirala will, then, head the Nepalese delegation for an official talk with the Indian delegation headed by Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee. Prime Minister Koirala will also attend a dinner given in his honour by the Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee. Prime Minister Koirala will also meet with the Vice President of India, leader of the main opposition party Sonia Gandhi and other political leaders, including former Prime Minister and other political leaders, and vice chairman of the planning commission of India.

Prime Minister Koirala is also scheduled to meet separately with India’s home, defence, finance, water resources and human resource development ministers.

Talking to the media at the Tribhuvan International Airport prior to his departure, Prime Minister Koirala said that the visit would revitalise the ties with India that has witnessed slackness during the last four years. He also said he would return with the faith and confidence of the Indian government and the people.

Prime Minister Koirala has said that he was making the visit to fill up a vacuum-like situation in Nepal-India relations.

He had said he was carrying the feelings and the aspirations of all Nepalese and the government and that he was not carrying any specific agenda, but looking forward to discuss with the Indian leaders the relations between the two countries in ‘totality’. PM Koirala emphasised on giving a new shape and a new dimension to Nepal’s relations with India.

"The 50-year-old basis for relations between our two countries has gone rather obsolete with the world changing so drastically in the last fifty years, so we need to find and form new bases for our relations in the next century," Koirala had told a media-gathering in Kathmandu on Saturday.

On his arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at New Delhi, on Monday Koirala was welcomed by Assistant Foreign Minister of India, Ajit Kumar Panja. Also present at the airport to welcome the Nepalese Prime Minister were Dr. Bhekh Bahadur Thapa, Nepal’s ambassador to Delhi, Dev Mukherjee, Indian ambassador to Nepal and other officials. The Prime Minister is housed at the Rastrapati Bhawan, in New Delhi.

During his visit the Prime Minister will also address a meeting of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and attend a lunch hosted in his honour.

Tomorrow (Thursday) the Prime Minister will leave for Bangalore, where he will be received by the Governor of the Karnataka state of India. There he will observe the IT centre and meet with industrialists and the members of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Koirala’s visit is being taken in Nepal as very important in warming up the relations which has chilled in recent years and in bringing the relations back to track. Although, the Prime Minister himself had said that this was only a goodwill visit and not to expect too much from it, but it is expected that it will start up process of finding solution to outstanding issues between the two countries in political, diplomatic and economic sectors.

A 37-member delegation of the Nepalese industrialists, led by the president of FNCCI Pradeep Kumar Shrestha is also accompanying the Prime Minister.

Even the Indian Prime Minister has sounded very optimistic about the Nepalese Prime Minister’s visit. In an interview to the Nepal Television prior to welcoming the Nepalese Prime Minister, the Indian Prime Minister said that the nature of our relationship is such that regular interaction at the highest level is desirable to facilitate strengthening and understanding of relations and cooperation. He said India gives high priority to its relations with Nepal and that new areas of cooperation should be sought and such cooperation in water resources and energy holds out the best promise.

Meanwhile, being very close neighbours, Nepal and India have very intimate relations and also several irritants in their relations. Furthering of the relations for the future depends mainly on finding solution to those irritants and solving the outstanding issues some of which dates back to five decades.

Visits at the highest level will help easing of the tensions, but such visits are successful in the true sense only if they can help in finding solutions to bilateral problems that has beleaguered especially Nepal because of its size and geographical position.

RA misses opportunity

By a staff reporter

The bickering and indecision within Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation, has cost it dear once more. The struggling Flag Carrier of the country had a good opportunity to start a new route with much fanfare, but it has had to miss the opportunity because of shortage of aircraft.

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who is on an official visit to India at present, winds up his programme in the IT capital of India, Bangalore, on 5th August. RNAC was to have started a scheduled flight from the Indian Silicon City last year, but it was postponed for reasons only the RNAC officials know.

However now, a source at the Foreign Ministry informed that Prime Minister Koirala was to return from Bangalore in the first scheduled flight of RA from that City. The Airline would have received much publicity and it could have been a very good beginning for it.

In fact, even the Indian government had acted quickly to push matters so that the flight could take place. But sadly, RA could not manage an aircraft and once more the scheduled Bangalore flights have not been able to take off. Now PM Koirala will fly to Benares and then come home on a Necon Air flight.

Valley bandh today

By a staff reporter

The Kathmandu valley is seeing a bandh today (Wednesday) after quite a time as called by the nine Left parties, which also include the CPN-ML, the breakaway faction of the CPN-UML.

The political parties, especially the Left ones, were quite frequent in calling bandhs for every trifle issue in the early 90s. But lately, they have been a bit hesitant in resorting to this form of protests after much disenchantment from the people.

Even if the roads remain empty and people remaining indoors no political party has been able to win the people through this form of protest.

Treat India in "matter of fact" way Media Comment

By Dhana Thapa

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala is in the midst of his official India visit at present. Many people here gave a thumbs down to the visit even before it began. A few, on a more positive tone, described the visit as "an achievement" just because it has taken place.

Skirting aside the nitty-grity of the official visit itself, what this writer would like to dwell upon, is the virtually childish manner in which the Nepalese media and also officials tend to treat India.

The first mistake occurs when the media drums up an anti-India stance, without first properly understanding many of the issues. One can look at a litany of protests that have been drummed up here in the past ten years. Mostly, journalists have been shooting from the hip without knowing their facts first.

Yes it is true, the Indian media people also have not been responsible in their reporting of different incidents in Nepal. Specially during the Indian Airlines hijack drama, the reports had been outlandish and greatly irresponsible.

An Indian journalist tried to blame his government for such wrong reports, but any responsible journalist must first verify such news, specially those which can be damaging to bilateral relations.

Meanwhile in Nepal, issues are politicised to a great extent. For example even the present Laxmunpur Dam controversy. There is no newspaper which hasn’t written about it, but perhaps very few journalists have gone to the spot and taken stock of the actual situation. In fact, many officials also don’t seem to have a clear view of the facts.

At a time when the country’s Prime Minister was about to visit India, newspapermen should have been more responsible in their reports on the whole incident. Creating bad blood just for the sake of politics is not good for any one.

Political leaders also don’t seem to care about the consequences when they spout populist slogans. In fact they can be blamed to a great extent for leading on media people to write extreme views.

Sadly, our bureaucrats too seem to be ill-prepared to deal on a bilateral basis. The gross failure in dealing with the Bhutanese refugee crisis is a glaring example.

While dealing with India too our hakim sahebs don’t seem to be well prepared. Right from the planning of the trip to who will be included in the entourage, there are last minute adjustments, which completely give away how efficient the government machinery is. Then in the real issues at hand also, the officials don’t seem to have done their homework.

For example on the Special Additional Duty (SAD) applied by India on goods imported from Nepal, what strategy does our government have to convince India this is against the spirit of the Trade Treaty it has signed with Nepal? What about various border problems and even the Laxmanpur dam? What is it going to tell India?

Thus, more than creating animosity through the local media, it will be more prudent to make a realistic approach and deal with India on a matter of fact basis.

Nepal cannot wish away India, neither geographically nor economically. Furthermore, one has to also understand that India with its resurgent economy and one of the biggest conventional armed forces, is a significant player internationally. Of course it does not mean Nepal should be servile in its attitude, but it should also not be adamant.

It can be hoped this time Prime Minister Koirala and his team will be able to deal more pragmatically with the Indians and come back with mutually beneficial agreements. Not beg and not be taken undue advantage of.

Landfilling is a wrong concept

By a staff reporter

Garbage problem in the Kathmandu Valley has raised several questions. The first and the most alarming one is the perennial problem of dumping site for 400 tonnes of solid wastes that the Kathmanduites produce every day.

Garbage in Kathmandu have yet to find a permanent resting place.

While many developed countries have already switched from landfill dumping to recycling of goods through the best possible method, many consider the recent row over a suitable place for dumping of garbage, as a nuisance. In the changed context, many experts have stressed on the need of recycling than merely dumping them at some place.

Another question that was raised is regarding the threat of epidemic outbreak that may occur in the valley due to the unattended heaps of garbage at every street corner.

Solid waste management is not a new problem for Kathmandu valley. But, it became visible only after the German operated solid waste management project of the Kathmandu Valley closed down. After the government chose Gokarna landfill site for the dumping of garbage, it became a perennial problem to both the Kathmanduites and the government.

But, now after several years of land filling, experts have begun to realise that the whole idea of landfilling is itself a wrong one. Many of them believe that the quantity of solid waste produced in every household could be reduced to a great extent by recycling items like plastic, bottles, papers, woods and metals. Similarly, other biodegradable stuffs can also be used in producing organic fertilizers, which will also help in reducing the quantity of garbage production in the city.

"The idea of landfill site is a wrong one," said Badan Lal Nyachyon, managing director of Multi Disciplinary Consultant Pvt. Ltd., to a recent vernacular newspaper. "We must give importance to recycling of goods," he was quoted as saying to that newspaper.

Likewise, Save the Environment Foundation (SEF), a non-governmental organization, in its press release last week urged the Kathmanduites to reduce garbage by producing organic fertilizers out of biodegradable stuffs. Members of the SEF marched through the streets of Kathmandu valley whole day on Wednesday calling on households to reduce garbage production and utilize the reusable solid wastes.

According to Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), twenty percent of the solid wastes constitute plastics and similar items while the rest constitute biodegradable wastes. This suggests that, if the concerned officials took necessary steps towards solving Kathmandu’s garbage problem not by dumping it at a landfill site but by reusing and recycling them, then the recent problem of solid waste management will not exist for a long time. However, the government should take the initiative to promote such activities.

Recently, Ministry of Local Development has asked the private sector to submit proposals on managing Kathmandu’s solid wastes. In response to that the Ministry has got almost a dozen proposals. If the government has decided in favour of recycling and reusing of waste materials, then it will be a new beginning for the Kathmanduites towards making their hometown more liveable than it presently is.

Intl. Award for Dr. Khadka

By a staff reporter

International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) has awarded Dr. Ram Bahadur Khadka an Individual Award for the contribution to Environmental Impact Assessment on its annual conference held in Hong Kong 2000. The award is given to Dr. Khadka for his continuous efforts made for the promotion of Environmental Impact Assessment in the South Asian Region, according to a press release SchEMS.

IAIA is World’s leading professional organization established in 1980 in USA in order to promote EIA in the countries of the World. IAIA has more than 25,000 members spread over 95 countries of the world. Dr. Khadka is the active member of IAIA since 1992. Dr. Khadka currently serves as a Dean of Environmental Management and Sustainable Development (SchEMS) under Pokhara University.

British Council organises, children's poetry competition

By a staff reporter

World Book day 2000, celebrated on 23 April saw the launch of a Children’s Poetry Competition in English. The competition, organised by the British Council was run for 3 age groups - classes 1-4, classes 5-8 and classes 9-12. There were 336 entries from 32 different schools from as far away as Bandipur, Tanahu.

The judges C K Lal, Pallav Ranjan, and Karen Harle Cowan used a variety of criteria, including orginality, use of English and impact to make some very difficult decisions. The final results and prizes were presented on 29 July at the British Council by Dr Abhi Subedi, head of the English Department, Tribhuvan University.

The prizes included free membership of the British Council library, free courses at the British Council Teaching Centre, books and dictionaries.

In the class 1-4 category Puja Thapa, class 4, of Rato Bangla School won the first prize. Ritu More and Garima Giri, both class 4 students of Shuvatara School, won the second and third prizes respectively. Rasu Shrestha a class 2 student of Notre Dame High School, Bandipur, Tanahu was given the consolation prize.

In the class 5-8 category Gina Lama, class 7, of The British School won the first prize. Neerja Prava Kansakar, class 5 student, of Malpi International School, won the second prize. Minu Goenka, class 8 student of Swarnium Higher School won the third prize. Bikash Kumar Gurung, class 7 student of Little Angel School was given the consolation prize.

Similarly, in the class 9-12 category Priya Joshi, AICE, of Rato Bangla School won the first prize. Isha Acharya, class 9 student of St. Mary’s High School, won the second prize and Puspa Baral, class 10 student of Arunima Higher Secondary School, won the third prize. Aditi Shrestha, an ‘A’ level student of Shuvatara School was given the consolation prize.

Barbara Wickham, Director of the British Council said, "We were overwhelmed by the response to the competition and delighted at both the quality of the language and ideas shown in the poetry. This augurs very well for the future."

KEEP's fifth AGM

By a staff reporter

The Kathmandu Environmental Education Project (KEEP) held its 5th annual general meeting (AGM) on Sunday. At the meeting, Secretary General of KEEP P.T. Sherpa ‘Kerung’ briefed about KEEP’s activities and said it reached a record level last year.

Ravi Bahadur Bista, secretary at the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation, was the chief guest at the meeting.

He said KEEP is doing a very good job in imparting environmental education to tourists and tourism entrepreneurs especially trekking guides and others.

Similarly, Subash Niraula, director of human resources and product development of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) assured that NTB will forge more cooperation with organisations like KEEP. The meeting was presided by the Chairman of KEEP, Ukesh Raj Bhuju. The AGM also passed a proposed budget of Rs. 4.8 million for the next year.

The major activities of KEEP include creating awareness about tourism and environment through programmes like English language classes for trekkers and others involved in trekking business and Visitors’ Information Centre.

Certificate distributed to grandaunts

By Bibek Bhatta

Hari Shanker Tripathi, Member of National Planning Commission presented certificates, diploma certificate, book prizes and medal of excellence to the grandaunts of the Diploma in Hotel Management 1999-2000 jointly organized by Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) and Singapore Hotel Association (SHA)

On the occasion, Tripati said that government needs collaboration with private sector for the development of tourism industry. HAN president Narendra Bajracharya said that they have been conducting training programmes to produce necessary man power and to upgrade quality of the staff for the hotel industry.

Chief Executive of SHA, Pakir Singh stressed on the development of manpower in the industry. Joint secretary of Ministry for culture, tourism, and civil Aviation Shanker Prasad Koirala, Executive Director of Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel management Meena Kharel and HAN Secretary Ajaya Sthapit also expressed their views.

Natural disaster implementation in Chisapani

By a staff reporter

Vice chairman of National Planning Commission, Prithvi Raj Ligal inaugurated "The National Symposium on managing disaster: Chisapani Experience" programme organised by Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS), Department of Soil Conservation and Water shed Management (DSCWM) and JICA Nepal on 27 July.

On the occasion Ligal presented an appreciation letter to the land owner Chinimaya Gole and said that the Chisapani project has shown that much can be done with limited resources and with villager’s participation. He added that the government was impressed by the work of project and admitted that the government budget for natural disaster prevention is very little.

Japanese Ambassador, Koichi Yotsuya said that as Nepal is prone to natural disaster like Japan, every community should try to protect themselves.

Chairman of NRCS, Ramesh Kumar Sharma from the chair spoke about the role of NRCS in disaster management and Chisapani programme. Community based disaster management expert, Yuka Makino spoke about experience, difficulties and objectives of the project.

JICA resident representative, Ken Hasegava said that JICA has shown interest in the disaster management sector by assisting in the Chisapani programme. Director General of DSCWM, Mohan Prasad Wagley suggested that JICA and NRCS take this type of programme to other districts also.

Acting secretary general of NRCS, Sanjeev Kumar Thapa expressed that Nepal Red Cross Society is working nationwide to reduce the vulnerability of the people and improving their lives and is heavily involved in disaster prevention and relief activities.

Chisapani, ward No 4 of Agra VDC, Makwanpur was a major victim of natural calamity in 1993. NRCS has been implementing Chisapani community development and disaster management programme since March 1998 with the support of JICA Nepal office.

Transition to freedom difficult for Kamaiyas

By a staff reporter

There are evidences of former masters of the bonded labourers not taking the government’s declaration of emancipation of the kamaiyas (bonded labourers) lying down.

According to the committee for the freedom of the bonded labourers, 40 families have been kicked out of the houses by the former masters in Kanchanpur without their belongings. They are warned that their goods will be given back only after they pay their debts, called as sauki, which the government has waived through its declaration of emancipation.

Similarly, in Kailali district 146 families have been expelled from the houses by their masters. According to the committee there are also instances of the masters trying to revert the government’s decision by making application to the local government offices and police to either make the kamaiyas work for them or clear the debt.

The committee, in its press release, has cited an incident where a former master in Dhangadi, Kailali has made an illegal agreement with a kamaiya to work for him till Magh (February) and the sauki be deducted from the wage he would get. It has even said the local authorities are helping the masters against the kamaiyas.

There are also reports of many kamaiyas after being expelled are also denied as waged labourers by their former masters. So, many former bonded labourers may be finding it very difficult to cope with the transition from a life of slavery to a life of freedom.

Unless the government and also others, especially the NGOs and INGOs, who fought for the abolition of slavery, does not do something immediately many kamaiyas may be enslavened again, which could be more difficult to abolish. This could even give rise to social vices such as crimes, prostitution and other form of discontent.

One more plane goes down

By a staff reporter

A clue to a crossword puzzle goes like this - country where plane crashes. Jumble up the word ‘plane’ and the answer is Nepal. If one takes the ratio of the frequency of flights to the number of accidents in the last two decades, the ratio could be quite high in Nepal. The last week’s accident was the latest of the series of 26 air accidents in the last 25 years.

Air travel is the best means of transport to remote and outlaying areas and Twin Otters are the most suitable planes for Nepalese hills and terrains. The only thing that is need is making air travel safer.

The plane, Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation’s Twin Otter crashed at a hill near Jogbuda village of Dadeldhura district in far western Nepal on Thursday killing all 25, including three crew members, on board.

The government has formed a probe committee under deputy attorney general and it will submit its report in two months time. However, there are several points based on the eye-witnesses report and the officials, which may be pondered upon to guess why and how the accident occurred.

The Twin Otter, 9N ABP, was manufactured in November 1979 and was brought to Nepal the same year. That means the plane is quite old. But an official, deputy director of the Flight Safety Department of the Corporation B.N. Shrestha said it was one of the five Twin Otters of the RNAC, which was completely overhauled with the fixing of new wing boxes and the body. The engines had reached only 2400 and 2200 flight hours, about half-way period for their overhauling. Twin Otter engines need to be overhauled at every 4,000 hours of flights. However, the plane’s Certificate of Airworthiness was valid till the day it had crashed. The plane was to be grounded the next day for an annual check-up.

But, Shrestha said, this does not mean the plane was not air worthy. The plane was as good as a new one and could have been flown for another 20 years after the change of the wing boxes and the body, he said.

This indicates the technical aspect of the plane was all right. That leaves the possibility of human error as the main cause of the accident.

The plane had taken off from Chainpur of Bajhang district at 10:11 A.M. for Dhangadi in Kailali district for about the 22-minute flight. It failed to contact Kailali from 10:14 to 10:26. At 10:26, the plane made contact to Kailali and said that it was flying at 12,500 feet and was given clearance for landing. Again at 10:31, about two minutes before it was due at Kailali, the plane contacted Kailali and said that it was heading towards Nepalgunj, east of Kailali. After that, nothing was heard of the plane. When it failed to make any contact to Nepalgunj and Kailali for several minutes, it was presumed to have crashed. A search operation mounted immediately found the wreckage of the plane at a steep slope of a hill. The plane had hit a pine tree before it burst into flames. The plane had crashed at an altitude of about 13,700 feet.

Eyewitnesses say the plane was flying west of the usual route. Villagers near the crash site said they normally see planes flying on their east, but this plane was flying on the other side. The weather was also very bad. So, a possible cause could be that the pilot had unknowingly strayed west of the normal course and had failed to see the hill ahead of him because of bad weather and thick fog.

Overloading has often been blamed for air crashes in Nepal. Passengers often taking more than the prescribed load, both as persons and cargoes, is a usual practice in many domestic flights. The ill-fated plane may be carrying more than the normal load. Twin Otters are meant to carry 19 passengers. But in that plane there were 22 passengers with three ‘infants’. But sources say only one of them was actually an infant and the two others were actually adults who had passed high schools. Although nothing has been said about the cargo, there is also a possibility that the cargoes could be in excess.

Meanwhile, the rescue and recovery operation was swift and effective. The plane was located within hours, the bodies collected quickly despite difficult terrain and bad weather. The RNAC even arranged the bodies to be sent to where the relatives of victims wanted to.

The clue to majority of the accidents in the past, which involve both the RNAC and the private airlines, have been human error. There have also been several near-misses. This means there is a need to improve and upgrade the quality of the planes as well as the person who fly them if air travel is to be made safer in the future.