BRIEFS (Spotlight Weekly)

THE YOUNGEST of the quadruplets undergoing treatment at a hospital in Pokhara has died, reports said. Rupa Shrestha Thapa, 28, gave birth to a son in her house last week and a day later, she delivered three more sons at the Western Zonal hospital. While the condition of two babies had improved, the other two were kept at the intensive care unit at the Manipal Teaching Hospital. The birth of identical male quadruplets is considered very rare.

AFTER NEIGHBORING India described them as a terrorist outfit, serious differences have cropped up within the Maoist rank and file on the issue of continuing their insurgent activities, Naya Sadak daily reported last week. According to the newspaper, party chairman Comrade Prachanda and other senior leaders are in favor of finding a peaceful solution through talks with the government. However, gun-toting guerrillas and militia are against any sort of agreement with the government and have threatened a revolt if the leaders struck any such deal.

TOTAL GOVERNMENT expenditure registered a growth of 80.3 percent to Rs 2967.7 million in the first month of fiscal year 2001-02, a monthly report published by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) said. Of the total expenditure, regular spending rose by 116.6 percent to Rs 942.9 million. Development expenditure rose by a whopping 241.8 percent to Rs 195.5 million. The flow of bank credit to the private sector increased by 0.5 percent to Rs 649.2 million. On the external front, a moderate growth of exports and a moderate decline in imports helped to narrow the trade deficit and, subsequently, the current account deficit during the review period, the central bank said. Foreign exchange reserve in the country was sufficient to cover merchandize import of one year, the report said.

AT LEAST TEN PEOPLE were killed and 32 others injured when a passenger bus fell some 200 feet off the road into a ravine in the mid-western district of Dang Sunday afternoon. According to police, the bus met with the accident at a place called Mashot, nearly 400 km west of the capital, Kathmandu. The bus was on its way to Nepalgunj, a mid-western town, from Tulsipur in the same region. Police said the injured passengers are undergoing treatment at hospitals in the vicinity.

THE REGISTRATION OF 955 industries that failed to renew their papers has been canceled in the far-western district of Kailali. According to the Cottage and Small Industries Office in the district, out of the 2,276 industries registered, only 1,321 have retained the permission. Out of those registered, only 40 percent are properly operating, the office said.

ABOUT 600 FORMER kamaiyas (bonded laborers) have been rehabilitated in the far-western district of Kailali, officials said. According to Khadga Bahadur Chapagain, convenor of the kamaiya rehabilitation and land registration committee, more than 600 bighas of land have been allocated to the former kamaiyas. Of the 5,679 families identified as kamaiyas in the district, 5,130 did not have any land. The government abolished the kamaiya system in the country in July last year.

THE JAPANESE EMBASSY in Kathmandu has provided a grant assistance of Rs 3.45 million to set up a Human Resource Center at the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI). Under an agreement signed Monday, the grant will be used to procure equipment for different projects being launched by the FNCCI. FNCCI President Ravi Bhakta Shrestha and Japanese Ambassador Mitsuaki Kojima signed the agreement.

ACTIVISTS BELONGING TO Nepal Peasants Forum, affiliated to the Terai-based Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP), last week burnt copies of the fifth amendment bill concerning land ceiling introduced by the government in parliament. The NSP activists also demanded that the government withdraw the bill, which they said was a "conspiracy against the farmers of the terai". The NSP has been boycotting parliamentary proceedings demanding that a ceiling on private property should also be introduced.

THE NEPALESE GOVERNMENT, the Nordic Development Fund (NDF) and the OPEC Fund for International Development have signed an agreement at NDF headquarters in Helsinki on September 18. The NDF and OPEC Fund have agreed to provide a loan assistance of SDR 7.2 million (approximately Rs 675.9 million) and US$ 13.7 million (approximately Rs 1207.7 million) respectively to Nepal for the execution of the Melamchi Water Supply Project. The loan assistance from the NDF will be used for the Melamchi Diversion Scheme component of the project. The loan from the OPEC Fund will be used for construction of access roads.

DUE TO COMPARATIVELY higher prices in Nepal, nearly 100,000 liters of milk is entering Nepal every day, entrepreneurs said. The Nepal Dairy Association has said higher cost of production and the policy of 'milk holiday' have added to Nepali farmers' burden. The association has demanded that a collective power plant be set up in the country to convert milk into powder, Aparanha daily reported.

ADDRESSING THE seventh annual general meeting of Nepal Courier Service Association here Sunday, Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat said although Nepalese tourism and industrial sectors are reeling from the global recession, the attack on Afghanistan by the United States would not affect SAARC countries. He, however, admitted that recent developments were not encouraging in terms of attracting investment. The minister said the government was ready to act against corruption, mismanagement and fraud, which, he said, were hindering the development.