Khadka, Nepal ‘battle royal’ in Rautahat

-By Dhana Thapa

The parliamentary by-elections  in three constituencies takes place tomorrow (Thursday). The seats in the three constituencies were vacated by three top leaders of the ruling Nepali Congress and the opposition CPN (UML), who each had won in two constituencies.

Nepali Congress party president and former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala had won in Sunsari No:6 and Morang No: 1. Similarly General Secretary of the CPN (UML) Madhav Nepal had won from Rautahat Constituency No: 2 and Rautahat Constituency No: 4 and UML’s former Home Minister K.P. Oli had won from Jhapa’s Constituency No: 6 and Constituency No: 1. According to regulations of the House, such winners can keep only one seat and a by-election has to be held within six months for the vacated seats.

Khum Bahadur Khadka

If nothing, all the three constituencies are “prestige seats” for the parties concerned. If  Morang No: 1 is the constituency from where a former Prime Minister and the current president of the ruling party has  won, then Rautahat and Jhapa also boast of having sent to the Parliament, the top two leaders of the main opposition. Furthermore, while Morang is considered the home of the Nepali Congress, Jhapa is well known as the bastion of the communists. It is the region from where the communist movement in Nepal started.

However in the meantime, it is the Rautahat constituency, which has gone on to become the most talked about one in the run-up to the current by-election. This has happened not only because late BP Koirala’s son Prakash Koirala is contesting the election there, but also because UML’s Madhav Nepal considers Rautahat his home turf. Glamourous actress Manisha Koirala, daughter of Prakash Koirala, has also significantly contributed in making Rautahat’s by-election an interesting one. In fact it is said thousands of people come to the Nepali Congress election rallies, just to gawk at her.

But apart from just the cursory interest because of a well-known name and glamorous screen idol’s presence, politically also Rautahat has gone on to become a keenly contested battle between two heavyweights in the ruling and opposition parties.

While Madhav Nepal himself is leading the battle from the UML side, it is Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka, who played a decisive role in creating an NC wave in the Far Western region of the country in the last General Election, is spearheading the ruling party’s battle.

Madhav Kumar Nepal

An observer who just came back from the district told this reporter that Minister Khadka has entrenched himself in Rautahat and he is going all out to ensure a victory for Prakash Koirala. It may be mentioned that Khadka is considered one of the ablest leaders in the second generation of NC leadership.  He is respected widely within the party for his organisational skill and also for his ability of leading from the front. This is something which cannot be said of most of the NC leaders, including Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and also party president Koirala.

On the UML’s side, Rautahat is the district from where the UML General Secretary won the first ever general election he contested.  So, he is concentrating to protect his “turf”.

Insiders predict that due to the able planning and tough stance taken by Minister Khadka, Congress candidate Prakash Koirala is ahead in the race for now. Moreover, his opponent is an unheard of name at the national political level.

RA: A good decision at last

-By A Staff Reporter

Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) is buying a new plane. This was probably the best thing to happen to the country’s flag carrier in almost ten years.

Although the Executive Chairman of Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation Bharat Bahadur Karki called it a ‘regular’ one, the press meet on Monday at Hotel Annapurna, instead of the corporation’s meeting hall, signified something different. In the last several years almost every news about RNAC was bad news. But at Monday’s meeting with the press, all the top officials of the Airline were almost beaming with pride and showed confident faces to the media.

The board of directors of the airline has decided that it plans do away with the much criticised practice of leasing an aircraft and this time it had decided to lease purchase a wide-bodied Boeing 767-300ER directly from the assembly line for its long-range flights to Europe and Japan.

The airline has also decided to buy two other short range aircraft for domestic trunk routes. The choice of these aircraft have not been decided, but  the two aircraft under consideration are Dash-8 and ATR.

Additionally, the Executive Chairman of the Corporation Bharat Bahadur Karki claims that the reliability of the airline has improved to almost 100 per cent and the punctuality is also more than 90 per cent. There are also similar improvements in the domestic sector, he said. The executive chairman also said attempts have also been made to maintain fiscal and financial discipline within the corporation. The corporation has paid Rs. 150 million out of its overdraft loan of Rs. 650 million and an additional Rs. 250 million will also be paid within days. That means income is growing. Similarly, the corporation has recouped Rs. 20 million out of its Rs. 400 million debt and attempts are being made to get the remaining amount.

It may mean Royal Nepal Airlines is beginning to rise again after a period of bad management and wrong decisions.

However, the executive chairman failed to satisfy the inquisitive journalists about the real cost of the aircraft and how it plans to pay for them. The long haul aircraft alone is said to cost about US$80 million with its two engines costing US$ 6 million each.

Chairman Karki said the actual cost of the plane will be known only after the order has been placed with their requirements and specifications. That is where many suspect the kick-backs and commissions are involved. But the executive chairman tried to play down the suspicion saying that the anti-bribery law of the United States prevents any such thing to happen.

Still, the decision to buy an aircraft is the right decision made by the RA, which has already paid more than US$ 50 million for leasing planes to meet its flight requirements.

Nonetheless, this and other steps on financial and managerial improvements can be called a good beginning by the new management. The only thing is that it should live by and carry out its decisions. 

Privatisation: Steady progress

-By Neeraj Vajracharya

About two decades back, people of the developing countries used to say that privatization was a policy developed in the developed countries of the West and it is not appropriate for the developing countries. They said their country faces a unique set of insurmountable problems in implementing privatization and it is not possible to make progress.

Many developing countries, in the past, including the South Asian region accepted privatization as a strategy of compulsion rather than that of the choice for economies.

But, it seems that things are changing quite a lot. Today, almost all member countries of this region claim that privatization is bringing about a good result and success in their countries.

Now people in this region have started to believe that privatization not only prompts the government channel resource, but they also say that it could be the answer to a host of economic challenges.

Delivering his inaugural speech at the recently concluded South Asian Privatization Summit held here in Kathmandu from December 2-3, 1999, Minister for Finance Mahesh Acharya, said that private sector-led development strategy had elevated many of the economies from the phase of under-development to a position of sustained prosperity.

“However, the control-oriented economic and political regimes have suffered from dangerous spectrum of economic backwardness, poverty, unemployment and indebtedness,” he  added.

Similarly, other participants at the Summit  expressed confidence that privatization can work in South Asia and bring very strong benefits to the economy. Some of the South Asian countries have also shown that even the most difficult economic problems can be overcome through privatization, they pointed out.

In Nepal, though there seems to be lots of difficulties to be sorted out, the government officials have said that the country’s privatization programme has been a reassuring success. “With majority of privatized enterprises performing better than they did under the government ownership, Nepal’s privatization programme has been a reassuring success,” says “Monitoring Privatized Enterprises”, a report issued on the eve of the Summit by Ministry of Finance.

“This report finally demolishes the frequent complaints that Nepal’s past privatizations have failed. In fact, they have been successes,” said a Ministry spokesman at a briefing in the Finance Ministry last week.

“Of the ten major enterprises privatized, nine have increased investment and in only one has investment decreased,” said Peter Young, International Director of London-based Adam Smith Institute which is working in a close association with the Privatization Cell of the Ministry.

Peter further added, “six have increased production, one remains about the same, and three have had reductions in production. Seven have increased sales and one has had little change. Five have shown profits.”

In Nepal, overall 16 former state-owned enterprises were privatized since the early 1990s. The report compiled by the Ministry concentrate on 10 major state-owned enterprises that have had time to establish a track record of success or failure, it is learned.

The Summit was organized jointly by Ministry of Finance and Adam Smith Institute and was participated in by almost 100 representatives from South Asian countries and organizations.

Media politics at its best

-By A Staff Reporter

The just concluded election for the office bearers of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), the apex body of Nepalese media people, clearly reflected the high level of politicisation within the journalism sector here.

Apart from the fact that the two main candidates belonged to the ruling party and the main opposition, the actual political infighting at the national level, could also be seen during the election.

For example, though the Publicity Committee of the ruling Nepali Congress announced Tej Prakash Pandit as its candidate for the prestigious post of the president of FNJ, Kishore Nepal, the Press Advisor to the Prime Minister, openly gave his support to “independent” candidate Suresh Acharya. If this is not a reflection of the tug-of-war that has been taking place between the government and the party, then what is?

It was also alleged in a Nepali Congress leaning vernacular weekly, that Kishore Nepal even joined hands with some extreme Left journalists, just to ensure the defeat of official candidate Pandit. Eventually, it was “independent” candidate Suresh Acharya who won. But insiders say Left-supporting journalists, were also enticed to vote for him when it looked like Pandit would win.

Meanwhile, in an interview with another newspaper on Tuesday, losing candidate Pandit has said that he will file a case in the court, as he had proof that proxy votes had been cast during the election. He alleges that out of the total number of 536 eligible voters, 37 were absent, yet it was announced that 526 votes were cast. “I am going to the court with proof of foul play during the election,” Pandit told in the interview.

Earlier, he had openly accused Kishore Nepal of going against him for personal reasons. Pandit had said, “How could I win when the Press Advisor of our own party’s Prime Minister, went against me and sided with the Leftists?”.

Not that there were no rivalry within the Left Front. Like the wide differences that exist at the political level within the Left parties, the journalists are also divided. Yet, just before the election, they got together, the UML supporting scribes, the ML supporters and even extreme Left leaning ones. However, this “unity” proved to be a superficial one, with groups and individuals going their own ways when the actual election took place.

The Left presidential candidate was badly drubbed, allegedly because a group of his supporters voted for winning candidate Acharya at the behest of Kishore Nepal. Similarly, the Front’s candidate for the General Secretary also lost when he was ditched by his own group. The Leftist could get satisfaction only in the election of the executive members, where four of their candidates won. It is some sort of a message that from the Left side, Maheswor Dahal, who won the contest for secretary, received the highest votes from their side - 224 - and the candidate for president, Gopal Thapaliya got the lowest number of votes - 138. Kishore Shrestha, who also lost got  181 votes.

How much real professional scribes can expect from the motley crowd of “political” journalists, is a serious question, yet, as mentioned by a senior journalist who was not a voter, “Just the fact that all the candidates were speaking of professionalism, is a step forward”.

Life isn’t a party, after all

Being a diplomat’s wife and a working mother as well can be quite a juggling act that flies in the face of the notion that embassy wives have it good all the time.

When most of us are still groggy and not quite all there, Rita Thapa is on her way to office. Work at the World Health Organisation starts at 8 a.m., but Thapa, a director at its South-East Asian regional Office in New Delhi, is at her desk a good half-hour earlier so that she can plan her day better. But in the evening after a long day in office, she slips into an entirely different persona-that of an ambassador’s wife. Her husband, Bhekh B. Thapa, is Kathmandu’s man in the Capital.

Rita Thapa with her ambassador husband Dr. Bhekh B. Thapa.

Far from being ladies of leisure, they lead turbo-charged lives, a world removed from the impression we carry back with us from the cocktail circuit.

As Rita Thapa puts it: “No doubt, juggling both fronts has been tough. So tough that none my three children wanted to be come a doctor like me.”

Still, being a diplomat’s wife as well as a working mother is not that easy. Says Thapa: “From the very beginning of our marriage, I made it quite clear that I did not want to waste my education. I must say that my husband respected by views and never interfered. In fact, I had moved to New Delhi because of my work even before my husband was posted here.”

If you’re still not convinced that there’s more to being a diplomat’s wife than manicured nails and knowing which glass goes with which wine, here’s what Rita Thapa has to say: “You could be looking very well turned out at a reception, but five minutes before being there, you could be smelling of garlic and ginger because don’t forget, most diplomats’ wives do their own cooking or at least supervise the kitchen.”

Then she brings you down another notches or two closer to reality. “I would fall dead if I went partying every day!” she says. “As I like to be in office by 7.30 a.m., I can only manage one party a week.” There’s one helluva independent woman, who drives her own car to work and “completely forgets home” when she’s in office, just as she leaves “thoughts of office the minute” she reaches home.

A juggling act, therefore, is a constant in the life of a working wife of a diplomat, but it seems to be doing good to their married life. r

(Though there are also other diplomats’ working wives, for the interest of Nepalese readers only Nepali diplomats portion has been reproduced here.)

—Humra Quraishi

Shed that excess baggage

-By Sushma Amatya

Not the shopping extravaganza at the airport counter but the result of indulgence in food and not being active enough. Now, the good news is, you need not set aside an hour extra for a daily rigorous workouts anymore. Brisk walking 45 minutes a day everyday is enough to make you lose weight slow and steady and keep it off. You can easily lose your extra fat and keep it off, if you make a habit of it and pay attention to what you eat.

It takes a combination of regular exercise and a sensible diet to rev up your metabolism and burn off the unwanted fat on your body. If you only control your diet, it may work for sometime but what you lose could be more muscle than fat and the fat will come bouncing back as soon as you give up your strict diet. The body has a mechanism that holds on to its fat reserves as soon as it notices any sign of want, its way of preserving itself against starvation.

If you  hope to gain that svelte figure by exercise alone and continue to over eat or eat all wrong foods, the exercise may make you  feel better but it alone can not make a difference to your waist line or the unsightly deposits on your hips and thighs.

A sensible approach is to start slow and build up steadily on any activity that you may like and at the same time develop a habit of eating right. Working out an hour in morning does no good if after that you laze around the whole day munching on cheese and chocolates. Being active is important. So is learning to avoid empty calorie-rich foods, foods laden with calories but with little or no nutritional value.

If walking is not your idea, just buy   workout cassettes by Karen Voight, Jane Fonda, Cindy Crawford or one of those Australian exercise video cassettes that are available in our market now. You can alternate the videos to prevent monotony. If you are one of the rich with plenty of time kinds, just join up one of the health clubs. Aerobics, weight training, using the machines at the gymn do go a long way in shaping and toning your contours. The possibilities are endless, you just have to find an activity that works for you.

Once you build up your activity level and keep a check on your intake level, fat has to burn and it will burn depending on your age and your fitness level. It is better not to jump on  scales everyday, because if it is fat you are losing and muscles that you are gaining,  remember that muscles weigh more than fat. Measuring the inches or how easily you fit into that old pair of jeans would be a better way.

The old adage remains true, no pain, no gain. But take care to not to over do it. Learning the correct way to use a machine or an exercise routine is the second. It is no use blaming the video or others for the results of overlooking these basic steps. Find an instructor, or someone who already has a long experience in working out and get their advice. Getting it right is important.

At first the lazy body will come up with a variety of symptoms just to not to let you go for that another bout of sweating and stretching. So, your first battle will be to win your mind over your body. Once you throw yourself into a sensible regimen of re-creating a new you, you will gradually begin to enjoy it and soon form a habit of it. Sweat out the flab and build strong muscles. Muscles mean power, strength, vigour. Or, if you already have a lean mean body, start maintaining it. We can aspire to be the best that we can be taking all other factors like body type, genes etc into consideration. Let’s get started!

Asia-Pacific military leaders discuss region’s security

-By A Staff Reporter

The second annual Chiefs of Defense Conference concluded last month in Honolulu Hawaii. The three-day conference was hosted by Adm. Dennis C. Blair, U.S. Commander in Chief, Pacific, and built around the theme, Changing Roles of the Militaries and Defense Sectors in Asia. At the conference Nepal was represented by its chief of Army Staff General Prajwalla SJB Rana, says a Royal Nepal Army press release.

Sixteen of the top military leaders in the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S. attending the conference deliberated on such issues as economic, military and political scenario of the region, globalisation, future trends, international exercise and operations, modernisation, including the Y2K problem. The conference was designed to increase military-to-military cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.

Army General Hugh Shelton, Chairman of the US Joint Chief of Staff who delivered the key note address dwelt on the challenges facing the security Asia-Pacific region Millennium. “The security situation in this vital region is a dynamic one”, he said. “The traditional and non-traditional security issues, such as drug trafficking, terrorism, environment hazards, piracy and weapons proliferation will defy solution by any single nation,’ he pointed out. He also mentioned that Military-to-Military exchanges, security assistance programme and exercises are critical elements designed to increase stability and cooperation.

 It may be noted that the size of the Asia-Pacific region with its varied language and cultures makes it a logistical challenge. In addition to addresses by several chiefs of defense, other civilian experts also spoke as guest speakers and members of panel covering a wide range of subjects that have overlapping effects on the militaries and nations in the Asia-Pacific region.

U.S. Pacific Command, sponsor of the second annual conference and headquartered here, is the largest geographic command covering over 50 percent of the earth’s surface from the East Coast of Africa to California and north and south to the poles.