BRIEFS (Spotlight Weekly)

FOUR HUMAN RIGHTS ORGAnizations have demanded that the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) also be involved in the verification process of Bhutanese refugees. The governments of Nepal and Bhutan have set up a Joint Verification Team (JVT) for this purpose. In a memorandum submitted to Foreign Minister Chakra Bastola and Bhutanese Foreign Minister Jigme Y. Thinley separately, Human Rights Watch, Lutheran World Foundation, Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, and Refugee International have expressed apprehension about the procedures for joint verification. These groups have questioned what they said was lack of clarity regarding the documents required for the verification, absence of any independent appeal process and absence of provisions for refugees to be accompanied to their verification interview, if any. The JVT visited seven refugee camps in eastern Nepal in late January but is yet to agree upon a mechanism to kick-start the verification process. Nearly 100,000 Bhutanese refugees are languishing in these camps for more than last one decade.

NEPAL PRODUCED MORE than 400 tonnes of seeds in 2000, up from 270 tonnes in 1998. According to Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nepal (SEAN), seeds of radish comprise nearly 50 percent of total seeds produced in Nepal. According to fortnightly magazine NEPAL, in the last fiscal year 1999/2000, Nepal exported more than 250 tonnes of radish seeds to Switzerland, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Japan. Seed producers have alleged the government of ignoring this important sector. SEAN has demanded concessional loans and duty concessions in the imports of packaging materials for seed producers, among others, with the government.

AT LEAST 26 CHILDREN have died of measles in remote northern district of Kalikot, authorities said. According to local VDC officials, the epidemic started sometime last week, and had severely affected children aged one to 12, mainly in Chhapre, Pankha and Chilkhaya village development committees. Officials at the District Health Office in Manma said they were unaware of the measles outbreak. Chief District Officer of Kalikot, Mukunda Dhakal, however, said he had directed concerned authorities to dispatch paramedics to the affected villages.

THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH has dispatched a team of medical doctors to Jhapa to make necessary arrangements for preventing the recent outbreak of mysterious fever epidemic in Siliguri and surrounding areas in India from spreading to bordering areas on the Nepalese side. According to director at the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division at the Department of Health Services Dr. Mahendra Bahadur Bista, the team will collect and test blood samples of the people of some VDCs in eastern district of Jhapa. So far, there is no indication of the disease spreading to the Nepalese side, the division said.

ROYAL NEPAL AIRLINES CORporation (RNAC) suffered a loss of over 80 million rupees due to the wide body Lauda Air jet during the one and the half months period ending mid-January this year, Kantipur daily reported. According to the statistics provided by RNAC to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the parliament, the corporation had earned a profit of over Rs.90 million during October-November last year before the B-767 Jet arrived. But in the following months, losses mounted to over Rs. 29 million and Rs. 120 million respectively. RNAC had leased the aircraft from Lauda Air, an Austrian company, for a period of 18 months beginning December 2000.

A MONTH AFTER THE DEVASTATING earthquake-hit Gujarat state of India, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has said it will conduct a study on Earthquake Disaster Mitigation in the Kathmandu valley. The 12-month long study will be conducted in close association with Nepali officials, reports said. Experts say if a large-scale earthquake occurs, Kathmandu valley will suffer immense damage to human lives and property. They warn that Nepal is ill prepared to face a massive quake that is likely to hit this Himalayan kingdom in the foreseeable future.

IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE current fiscal year 2000/01, total government expenditure has decelerated due mainly to the deceleration in development as well as freeze in expenditures despite a significant growth in regular expenditure. According to a report published by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), during the review period resource mobilization grew by 18.2 percent as a result of higher growth in both revenue receipts and foreign cash grants. However, because of high government spending, budgetary deficit widened. The rate of inflation, on point-to-point basis, was recorded at 2 percent, mainly because of the decline in the prices of food and beverage group. In the external front, a robust growth of exports accompanied by a comparatively slower growth of imports helped narrow down the trade deficit during the review period.

A TEAM OF JUNIOR FOREST officials has seized timber worth Rs 1.2 million from a forest in mid-western district of Banke on Sunday night. The forest officials had gone on a surprise check at a time when District Forest Officer (DFO) of Banke had gone out of the district. Reports had alleged that smuggling of timber was taking place at a huge scale from the forest across the border into India but the DFO had not taken any action. One of the 35 people arrested on charge of illegally cutting trees said they used to pay the government officials certain percentage of their income on a regular basis.

PRODUCERS OF NEPALI CINEma have demanded that the government recognize them as a 'manufacturing industry.' President of Nepal Film Producers' Association and noted actor Neer Shah said 200 percent customs duty, need to obtain license for the import of film making equipment and bureaucratic hassles, among others, have discouraged producers from making further investment, said Shah. According to entrepreneurs, the Nepali film industry presently has an investment of over Rs 160 million but occupies only 5 percent of the total film business in the country. The Bollywood films occupy the rest, Kantipur daily reported.

THE FINNISH EMBASSY IN Kathmandu has extended a grant assistance wroth Rs 4.4 million to launch ' Democratic Education and Library Development Project' in Palpa and Kavrepalanchok districts. Nepal-Finland Society (NFS) will implement the project. An agreement to this effect was signed by Charge d' affaires at the Finnish embassy, Asko Luukkainen, and President of Nepal-Finland Society Ram Thapaliya amidst a ceremony here Friday. The project will help establish 10 well-equipped libraries and impart democratic education to high school level students through interactions at the village as well as national level. Established 10 years back, the society now has nearly 500 members.