IT directly benefiting masses will become mainstream product

By Neeraj Vajracharya

With the advent of new technologies especially in the field of Information Technology, the world is witnessing a major change in this field, specially regarding the services that are being provided. In the very near future, the world may have to scrap the conventional method of long distance calls because of the upsurge of a new technology called “Voice Over IP”.

Hello !: With new Internet services telephone calls internationally could be much cheaper, provided government give permission.

This method not only lets people make telephone calls through the Internet service to others living in places as far as the USA at no cost at all, but it is also becoming more reliable a medium for long distance calls. Many commercial websites including dialpad.com and hottelephone.com are providing this service worldwide through the Internet.

In spite of its bright future, Nepal Telecommunication Authority, the government-owned regulatory body in the communication sector, has tried to put a stop in the use of this technology in Nepal citing a loss of revenue generated from long distance calls that have to go through it.

Last month, the Authority had sent letters to the Nepalese Internet Service Providers (ISP) stating the use of voice communication through Internet as against the agreement reached upon between the Authority and the ISP according to point 15.2 (7) mentioned in the license it had issued. Presently, there are eleven ISPs in Nepal. However, all of them have not received this intimation of the government agency.

“This technology directly benefits the mass population,” said Allen Tuladhar, CEO, Unlimited Numedia Pvt. Ltd, “and if it becomes more reliable in the future then I think this will become a main stream product.” “The government should not and cannot put a stop in its use,” he further added.

When the Indian government took a similar step in the use of this technology, the Indian ISPs and consumers both made a serious protest. In Nepal, the pro-technology people and ISP providers may also go for a serious protest if the Telecommunication Authority keeps on pressing for this regulation.

The world is becoming more pro-technology. Just a couple of months before, there were only a handful of countries where the people could make telephone calls through this technology. The number of countries have now risen to 25 in a short span of time. Many countries may join this service very soon. As a result of that, this technology is soon going to be the first choice in the long distance calls.

Many Internet savvy people believe that if the government is really committed to control the negative impact of Internet, it should also initiate to stop use of many other sites which were very harmful. Pornographic sites and other sites which give information on preparation of bombs, etc. have a negative impact on our society. Such anti-social sites have become a serious problem in many parts of the world.

Likewise, in Nepal people involved in the Maoists’ Movement are also found to be using their own web sites for communications. “The government should not try to stop it only because of the commercial reason. People must be given advantage of the new technology,” Tuladhar said.

Maoists to now attack industrialists

By A Staff Reporter

The Maoists have escalated their attacks against the police personnel and also against activists of different political parties in recent days. In the past month or so, more than a dozen policemen have lost their lives in attacks carried out by the insurgents at different places in the country.

Just recently, two workers of the ruling Nepali Congress were mercilessly hacked to death when they were on their way to participate in the mass meeting organised by their party at different places in  Mid-Western Nepal. But it is mentionable that party president Girija Prasad Koirala was able to make a whirlwind tour of different affected districts and also hold all party meetings, besides some public gatherings.

However now, this group which has been carrying out a violent “Peoples’ War” for the last couple of years, is to start attacking Nepalese industrialists, a source disclosed. From next week onwards (13th February), the Maoists are making plans to attack industrialists, specially those who belong to the business Marwari clan”, the source said.

Is PM Bhattarai really well?
Just going to office is not enough

By Siddhartha K.C.

The last thing the government wants, when it is receiving flak from its own party as well as from outside, is the Prime Minister being confined to his bed. But that is what has happened to the present Nepali Congress government.

The 76-year-old Prime Minister is indeed a sick man, at least that was what people presumed when they saw him on TV on Monday evening. That was the day when the PM was to have healthily walked to his office, as trumpeted by the government media. But even for the simple ceremony where his Deputy was to be sworn in, the PM looked a frail man in need of physical support.

In the last two weeks or so, the Prime Minister was virtually bed-ridden. One unmistakable proof of the ill-health of the prime minister is that the newly appointed deputy Prime Minister Ramchandra Poudel had to wait for one whole week before he was sworn in on Monday.

Attending doctors, which include Dr. Madhu Ghimire and Dr. Ashok Banskota, say the Prime Minister is suffering from back problem and also a problem afflicting one of his legs. He was advised to take rest for more than a week. Doctors recommended physiotherapy saying there is nothing much that could be done. The health of the Prime Minister has been a matter of concern for those who are aware a sick and negligent PM could be a setback for the nation.

For example, the Prime Minister’s health is also blamed for the delay for several decisions to be taken. For example, the swearing in of the newly appointed deputy prime minister could take place only after a week. Lately, the appointment of the governor, which created such a fuss was also delayed for too long. Again, the appointment of the Chief Commissioners of the Commission for the Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) is being awaited since the last two weeks. Besides such routine matters not being done, what has the PM actually been doing?

Rumours even flew around on Friday that Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai had resigned on health grounds. However, Kishore Nepal, the Prime Minister’s press advisor, was quick to deny the rumour at a hastily called press conference saying the Prime Minister’s health condition has improved and that he would attend office from Monday.

Although Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai joined office on Tuesday after more than a week of rest, no one can say when he may be bedridden again.

In such a situation it is a pertinent question as to whether the Prime Minister should keep on staying in office? There are rumours that Bhattarai is willing to retire, but he is being stopped by his advisors and those who ‘surround’ him.

For the country and the people a sick and debilitated prime minister is a liability. So, in this situation, it would be better for Bhattarai to ‘honourably’ retire as he had wished some time ago.

Meanwhile, for those who consider themselves close to Bhattarai, if they think the making of Ramchandra Poudel the deputy prime minister, would make up for the ill-health of Bhattarai, they are completely wrong.

On the other hand, the story of party president Girija Prasad Koirala is different. Koirala returned home on Monday after making a trip to several Maoist-affected districts. This can be called as somekind of a feat for a person who is as old as Bhattarai and where no other political leaders had dared to go in the last four years, since the Maoists’ ‘People’s War’ began.

Meanwhile, the story will not end even with Koirala taking over. Koirala himself is 76 and is over the hills. But at least before a new generation of leaders are willing and strong enough to take over, Koirala is a better candidate to be PM than a weak and sick Bhattarai.

Was Shital Niwas sleeping while Clinton visit was being planned?

By A Staff Reporter

The announcement of US President Bill Clinton’s long awaited visit to South Asia has grown into a major diplomatic row between Islamabad and Washington.

The US president will start his week-long visit to the subcontinent from March 20, and the two countries Clinton is officially scheduled to visit are India and Bangladesh. Pakistan, its strongest ally in this region in the past, surprisingly has not been included in the official iterinary of the US president. This is a major diplomatic victory for India. Specially so after its effort to get closer with the only super power of the world and try and declare Pakistan, its enemy as a “terrorist state”.

Although, according to the US State Department, other stop-overs are yet to be announced, but the non-inclusion of Pakistan has ired Islamabad and its new military rulers for losing in a diplomatic battle with India.

Pakistan has taken it as a major embarrassment and has reacted almost angrily. Despite, Pakistan’s anger it seems the US President may, at the most, only make a brief stop-over in Islamabad.

President Clinton’s visit was postponed last year after the nuclear tests by both India and Pakistan. That time both these countries were the focus of the US presidential visit in more than twenty years. The last US president to make a visit to South Asia was Jimmy Carter, when he visited India in 1978.

For Nepal also, this is a major diplomatic setback. A visit to this Himalayan Kingdom by a US President, would go a long way in not only getting international exposure, but also political credibility after the re-ushering in of democracy, which the US had backed.

Observers here point out that the American diplomats in Nepal are now seen as not that dynamic, in spite of their country’s Super Power status. They argue that if the US really wants to project itself as a leader of the Free World, then the Embassy and its staff here must be more active and not remain “closeted” with only those whom they feel are sycophants to them. The Us will not gain any sympathy among the local intellectuals and people this way. The same holds true for the smug babus at Shital Niwas, were they sleeping when the US President’s visit was being planned? Meanwhile, during his visit President Clinton is presumed ask India to sign the CTBT.

Vaccine for Jaundice under study in Kathmandu

By A Staff Reporter

A new vaccine developed against jaundice due to hepatitis E virus has been approved by the Nepal Health Research Council for study in Nepal, to determine if it can prevent the disease. The vaccine was developed by United States National Institute of Health.

“In the United States, jaundice is not common. That’s why efficacy test of this vaccine cannot be tested there. It should be tested in the area where it prevail,” said Dr. Nrigendra Shrestha of Walter Reed Afrims Research Unit, Nepal, while speaking at a press conference last week.

According to Dr. Shrestha prevalent rate of jaundice in Nepal is very high and almost 90 percent of jaundice in this country is due to Hepatitis E.

Jaundice has long been a problem for the people of Nepal.  Each rainy season we read in the Newspapers about the annual epidemic of jaundice occurring in Kathmandu. Jaundice itself is not a disease, but it is a symptom of liver disease, which may be caused by many things.

Hepatitis E occurs in annual epidemics during the rainy season and is transmitted in contaminated water. It affects all socio-economic groups and in the Kathmandu valley, one or two out of every one hundred people become ill with hepatitis every year, a press release said.

It further stated that people sick with hepatitis lose on the average about 2.5 months of their annual income because of this illness. Thus, for the Kathmandu Valley as a whole the annual cost is estimated in excess of 80 million rupees.

Hepatitis E kills 1-2% of its victims and hepatitis E disease in pregnancy is a major maternal and child health problem, as death is the outcome in up to 35% of pregnant women and/or their unborn babies.

Hepatitis E is one of the Nepal Health Research Council’s top priorities for research. The common interest of Nepal and the United States in controlling this disease resulted in The Walter Reed and WARUN, with the approval of the Nepal Health Research Council, investigating hepatitis E in Nepal for more than a decade. 

During this period the patterns of disease in the Kathmandu Valley were defined and groups were identified who would most benefit from a vaccine, such as women of child bearing age and soldiers.

Recently, in association with SmithKline Beecham Biologics, an international vaccine manufacturer, the candidate vaccine, was tested and shown to be safe and very well tolerated in Americans.  WARUN with the help of the YALA Urban Health Program, a community health network in Patan, that has been centrally involved in tuberculosis control and maternal and child health, have also demonstrated the safety of the vaccine in Nepalese. It was tested to 88 Americans and 44 Nepalese people.

To be licensed for use, the candidate vaccine must be scientifically proven to prevent hepatitis E disease. Studies of this kind must be done in places where hepatitis E is a common illness. With regular annual epidemics and information about the patterns of disease, which are prerequisites for such a study, Nepal has been privileged to be chosen as the venue.

Woody Strong no more

By Joanee Ditmer

Woddy Strong, the Coloradan who has helped provide education and medical care for thousands of Nepali in the Himalayans during the past 18 years, died Thursday at his home in Lake George after an extended illness.

Strong, 85, had insisted on making one last trip - his 33rd - in November to the land he loved to attend the five-day wedding of a girl he considered an adopted granddaughter, even though he was seriously ill.

Strong and his wife, Penny, returned from Nepal on Dec. 12, and he went from the airport directly to Penrose Hospital. After several days of treatment for cancer, he returned to his home. There, the walls are covered with hundreds of photographs of Nepali children, Tibetan rugs, Buddhist symbols and other memorabilia from Nepal. The house is surrounded by dozens of Himalayan prayer flags. 

Mrs Nepal: Beauty needs brains too

Mira Basnet, 29, the winner of the Mrs. Nepal beauty pageant 1999, is a school teacher. The pageant was organised by Silver Star Promotion Centre.She says beauty is the gift of God and it should be measured both in terms of physical beauty and a person’s intellectual capacity. She is representing Nepal in the Mrs. World beauty pageant to be held in Virginia, USA in August, 2000. She is very optimistic that she will leave her mark in the international pageant.

Mrs. Nepal Mira Basnet

Q. What message will you be carrying from Nepal to the Mrs. World Beauty Pageant?
A. The messages I will be carrying is that Nepal is the birthplace of Lord Buddha, the apostle of peace. It is also the country of Mt. Everest and a place of unparallel natural beauty, which reflect peace, knowledge and beauty. I will emphasize on peace and brotherhood among humankind and sharing of knowledge for the well-being of all the people in this planet.

Q. How did you feel when you won the crown of Mrs. Nepal?
A. I am very happy to have won the title and it is because the people, who have chosen me for this title, I share my happiness with them.

Q. How are you preparing for the World beauty pageant?
A. I am working very hard to make a mark for Nepal at the international event. Singapore Airlines is sponsoring my ticket, and I am thankful to them.

Q. How beautiful do you think you are?
A. I think I am beautiful, that is why I won the title of Mrs. Nepal. But I think physical beauty should be coupled with beauty of the brains too. Otherwise, it would be like a beautiful flower without any scent.

Q. How do you spend your days?
A. I teach in a secondary boarding school. At home, I am a normal Nepali woman taking care of my children and family and becoming a successful housewife.

Q. How can the status of Nepalese women be improved?
A. Women should be made aware of the importance of education, and educated women should have an important role in the society. The government should encourage and give facility for women’s education because only if women are educated the status of the family, society and the whole country can be enhanced.

Q. What is your opinion about the issue of equal property rights to women?
A. Equal property right is not the only solution to   improve the  status of women.

Q. What is you future plan?
A. I want to get involved in social work.

Greetings from Singaporean Star!

On Top of the World Let me first introduce myself, I’m Brigitte Ow, Mrs Singapore International 1998/99 and Mrs International 1999/2000, 2nd runner-up. Now you would think that with these two titles who wouldn’t be on top of the world. Well, this is where my story begins.

I had just returned from San Francisco after a few days of R & R when to my surprise a letter from Kathmandu arrived. Without any hesitation, but with much excitement, I tore opened the envelope to see what lay in store for me.

Brigitte Beatrice Ow

I was certainly not prepared for the invitation to be Guest-of-Honour at The Mrs Nepal Pageant. Was it for real I asked myself. The pageant seemed to be 2 weeks away, could it be true. I decided to find out.

I sent my first fax up to Silver-Star Promotion Art & Culture Centre and waited for a reply. It was the start of many faxes and phone calls and finally a confirmation arrived. I was finally going to Kathmandu.

Mr Lawrence Liew, General Manager of Singapore Airlines Kathmandu graciously sponsored my ticket and made it all possible. Singapore Airlines has always been an airline with a heart, I should know, having been a flight stewardess with SIA for 6 years. Did I also mention that my husband Patrick was also with Singapore Airlines for 30 year, first as a ground engineer then on to a flight engineer.

My husband and I arrived on SQ 414, me with my crown and gowns in hand. As we walked out of the terminal, Mr Ravi Rana and his wife Jyotsna greeted us with garlands and bouquets. Wow! What a reception.

We stayed at the Shangri-La and yes they lived up to their name. Our 5 days in Kathmandu seemed too short. We were treated like royalty, we went sightseeing, shopping (thanks to Mrs Liew) and yes even dancing but the thing I remember most about Nepal, are the people. The Nepalese don’t just welcome you, they open their hearts to you. Their warmth and hospitality certainly made up for the cold weather they were having.

The night of the pageant was a night of Dreams Come True. It brought back memories of the night I was crowned Mrs Singapore and Mrs International.

Only one would walk away with the title Mrs Nepal, but all were winners in my book.

I will definitely visit Kathmandu again, I now have family in Nepal.

To each and everyone who made my visit possible, THANK YOU, I didn’t need to climb Everest to feel On Top of The World.        

I am hoping to hear from you on this-as probably you will need to do something-as tomorrow is Monday already. Thanking you and wish you and the family all the best.

Nepalese mark Basanta Panchami tomorrow

By A Staff Reporter

Basanta Panchami marks the advent of spring. This day is dedicated to Saraswati, the Hindu Goddesses of music and learning. Temples housing Saraswati wear an especially festive look on this day. Devotees throng these shrines to seek blessings for the success of their ventures. The most joyous observances take place near Swayambhu, at the Saraswati temple courtyard to the west of the large stupa.

The faithful assembled there represent all sections of society. Artisans offer worship to enhance their skills and students pray for success in their studies. Buddhists worship the deity as Manjushree.

A grand ceremony is also held at the Hanuman Dhoka Palace in the presence of His Majesty the King.

IGP’s pre-emptive strike?

By A Staff Reporter

IGP Achyut Kharel was a very well known figure when he took over as the Chief of Nepal Police Force. He was made more popular by the then Deputy Prime Minister Bam Dev Gautam’s decision to sack him from office. At that time, Kharel had been IGP for just over a month.

Being a local from Kathmandu and also a well known footballer, Kharel drummed up immense support for himself after this. Virtually all the newspapers and also some NGOs, backed him and portrayed Bam Dev as the villain. And no sooner had the government changed, Kharel was again reinstated by a Nepali Congress Home Minister. Ironically this same person, who is none other than Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka, is now Kharel’s arch foe.

However the immense popularity of Kharel seems to have waned now. It may not be his fault, but several news grabbing criminal incidents have taken place during his tenure as the IGP. These include the sensational killing of MP Mirja Dilshad Beg in the heart of Kathmandu, murder of Fr. Gaffney and Monk Watanabe in Lumbini, recently the hijacking and also the increasing Maoist insurgency during which a DSP was kidnapped.

Furthermore, with the recent decision of the government to open an armed wing of the police and thus there being speculation in the media regarding the appointment of two IGPs with Kharel being ousted, the present IGP must have been paranoid with his confidence shaken.

That is why, after a considerable period of silence, it was surprising to hear from police sources and also the media, IGP Kharel giving strong directives to the men to maintain the law and order situation of Kathmandu. What has happened in Kathmandu, that is so serious that the present “directives” had to be given? Are we facing any kind of threat?

Thus the sudden “outburst” of the police chief has raised the curiosity of close watchers of Kharel and the police.

They have also questioned, how are the police officers supposed to show more vigilance after the orders from the IGP? By harassing the innocent people as they have done in the recent past when the Maoist threat was presumed to be there?

Meanwhile others also opine that maybe IGP Kharel is making a pre-emptive strike, when there is growing talk that the Home Minister may be changed. Whatever, the politicians would be better off if they allowed an institution like the Police function on its own, without any political interference and without police officers having to kowtow to political whims.

Asterix fete ses 40 ans