News Notes (Spotlight Weekly)

Supreme court

Supreme Court Clarifies On Its Verdict

The Supreme Court on Saturday clarified that it had not issued any order to the government so as to make it mandatory for the Indian nationals to take work permit.† In a statement issued on the public holiday, the apex court said that it had quashed the writ petition filed by the management of the Nepal Battery Company that was against the order given by the one- member tribunal formed under the convenorship of Mr. Kashi Raj Dahal. On Thursday, a three-member bench comprising justices Govinda Bahadur Shrestha, Top Bahadur Singh and Kedar Prasad Giri had upheld the decision of the Dahal tribunal that maintained that Nepalese employees were entitled to receive equal salary and benefits vis a vis the foreign nationals for doing same job. Compiled from reports July 28.

Deuba No Longer In The Party : NC

The GP Koirala led Nepali Congress has informed the Election Commission (EC) that Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was expelled from the party with due process of the party's statute. Responding to a notice from the EC, the NC said Mr. Deuba was expelled after he failed to furnish satisfactory answers to the show-cause issued by the party on dissolution of parliament against the party's directive. "He (Deuba) did not tell about it (dissolution) at the Central Working Committee (CWC), at the meeting of the party's Parliamentary Committee (PC) and at the Parliamentary Party (PP) meeting. This was the reason why he was expelled on May 26 after the explanation too failed to impress upon the central disciplinary committee," the party said. The EC on Thursday had sought reasons for Deuba's expulsion from the party. Since Deuba has been expelled from the party he stands to lose his seat in the CWC, Parliamentary Party and all units of the party, the NC said. Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner Achyut Narayan Rajbhandari has alleged both the factions of the NC of trying to "influence" the EC on the issue of recognizing one of them as genuine NC. In an interview with the state-owned Nepal Television Saturday, the CEC asserted that the Election Commission had much more important issues to deliberate on than deciding upon the internal feud of a political party. Compiled from reports July 28.

US-Japan Assistance For Health Sector

Representatives of the United States and Japanese government signed on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) here† Thursday with a view to provide support to Nepalese government's long-term health sector plan. The program is part of the two leading donor countries' global partnership to help poor countries in health sector. Nepal is the third country in Asia, after Bangladesh and Cambodia, to be selected for such assistance. A joint US and Japan mission is currently in the Nepalese capital to formulate joint programs in consultation with the Nepalese government and other stakeholders. Both the countries have agreed to support Nepal in the areas of child and maternal health, tuberculosis and prevention of HIV/AIDS. The amount of assistance and period of assistance is yet to be worked out, officials said. Compiled from reports July 26.

Donors Express Concern Over Local Bodies' Fate

Representatives of major donor countries and organizations based in Kathmandu have expressed their strong concerns over the fate of the 4000-plus local bodies with the Nepalese government. In their meeting with Prime Minister and Finance Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba at the Finance Ministry here Monday, the donor community inquired about the fate of services delivered by the local bodies and if the elections for the local bodies could be held together with general elections slated in November this year. According to officials, Mr. Deuba told the donor community that as a caretaker Prime Minister, he could not announce dates for local elections but assured them that the elections (for local bodies) would be held within one year. The government's recent decision not to extend term of elected representatives in office and, instead, hand them over to its own employees has drawn strong flak from major political parties as well as the local community. Compiled from reports July 24.

Dr. Thapa

"Indo-Nepal Border Should Be Open For Trading"

Royal Nepalese ambassador in New Delhi, Dr. Bhekh Bahadur Thapa, has called for making the border areas between Nepal and India totally open for trading. In an interview with a leading Indian daily, Dr. Thapa said a decades-old law for quarantine of raw materials, livestock, vegetables and fruits (that was enforced two years ago) has disrupted border trade because neither India nor Nepal has the mechanism to test the materials. Of course, other countries have quarantine but they first develop the labs. This is putting the cart before the horse, said the envoy. Dr. Thapa, a leading economist, said the trade treaty (between Nepal and India) that was concluded recently must remove some of the barriers reintroduced in comparison to the 1996 treaty. Nepalese traders are finding it extremely difficult to sell handicrafts and other legitimate goods. If you close your market and tell us to develop our market that is tantamount to denial of opportunity. Talking about harnessing Nepal's water resources for mutual benefit, Dr. Thapa - a former Minister and ex-envoy to the US- said if there was any one area of major failure in the dialogue between India and Nepal in the last 50 years, it was this area. Times of India daily July 23.

Nepal And Bhutan Likely To Sign Trade Treaty

The Nepalese government is working on to sign a trade treaty with Bhutan and the two governments will shortly hold negotiations on the issue, reports said. The Nepali government has agreed in principle to establish formal bilateral trade relations with Bhutan under the Most Favored Nation basis,† Xinhua news agency reported quoting local newspapers. "The Cabinet has given a go-ahead signal to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS) for expediting negotiations with Bhutan," the official noted. On Wednesday, the MoICS submitted a draft containing proposal and stances on the treaty to the Foreign Ministry in an attempt to seek the opinion and response from the Bhutanese counterpart, the report said. The bilateral trade treaty, once in place, is expected to further enhance the trade relations between Nepal and Bhutan, despite a decade-long impasse on the issue of Bhutanese refugee in Nepal that has ruffled the two countries' relations. In the absence of a treaty, Nepal and Bhutan's bilateral trade is full of hassles, adding that Nepal's exports to Bhutan are subjected to the Bhutanese Sales Tax running from five to 75 percent, which has been affecting the competitiveness of the commodities imported from Nepal. Currently, the Nepal-Bhutan trade volume stands at merely 81 million Nepali rupees (about 1.04 million US dollars) and Nepal has a trade deficit of some 24 million Nepali rupees (about 307,000 dollars). Compiled from reports July 27.

Medical Officers Withdraw Strike

Medical officers at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) have withdrawn their three-day long strike late Sunday after a police officer beg written apology for manhandling a medical doctor on duty last week. All the services at the hospital in the country had come to a halt except the Emergency and indoor services. According to KANTIPUR daily, Inspector Bishnu Lamichhane of Armed Police Force threatened to kill a medical officer at the hospital after his wife Mathura Lamichhane, a 38-year old chronic cancer patient, died late Wednesday. The police officer and his son threatened and physically abused† medical officers, according to hospital sources. Dr Manoj Nepal, President of Nepal Resident Doctors Association, had said the doctors would not return to work unless the police officer in question files a written apology for his alleged misbehavior. The premium health institution in the capital offers medical services to nearly 800 patients every day. Compiled from reports July 29.

World Bank Clarifies its Stand

The World Bank (WB) office in Kathmandu has clarified that the letter it sent to Bangladesh, China and India regarding the Power Development Project (PDP) which is under consideration of the WB funding was simply an expression of intent to support the project. It was in no way intended to seek consent of the upper and lower riparian countries for the proposed project, the Bank said. Reacting strongly to the newspaper reports and apprehensions expressed by water resources expert in Nepal that the WB's sending such a letter to the riparian countries could jeopardize hydropower development in Nepal, the World Bank said that the apprehension was based on misconception. "The WB has simply notified of its intent to support the project." The notification by the WB is an internal matter. Being an international co-operation agency, the WB takes great care to ensure what it supports in one member country does not affect in an adverse way any other country.† The WB's strong reaction came in response to a news report published in a Kathmandu daily saying that the Washington D. C.-based Bank had sought permission from the lower riparian countries before funding in Nepal's PDP. Compiled from reports July 27.