Briefs (Spotlight Weekly)

NEPAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH Council (NARC) has formulated a 20-year program with a view to managing the country's agriculture and natural resources in a holistic and sustainable manner, officials said. Director of planning at NARC, Shambhu Bahadur Pandey, said the plan would be directed toward effectively managing Nepal's human as well as financial resources in order to help agricultural research to be both result- and production-oriented. Head of the information section at NARC, Bhola Man Singh Basnet, said much of the research would be conducted through international centers. The results would be utilized for increasing national production, he added. Over 80 percent of the Nepal's population depend on agriculture, which comprises nearly 40 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

THE REMOTE MID-WESTERN district of Jajarkot is facing a severe food shortage following Maoist-imposed restrictions on the movement of food items since late February. The Maoists have taken up positions along Jajarkot's major entry points and are preventing daily consumer items from entering the district. They have been threatening businessmen involved in the distribution and sale of food items and have used force against those not abiding by their demands. A Maoist activist admitted that they had blocked the movement of food items. However, he said the people had been allowed to get enough food for a week from Chaurjhari.

A GROUP OF Maoist insurgents bombed and destroyed a repeater station of the Nepal Telecommunications Corporation at Resungadada in the western district of Gulmi, Kantipur daily reported. All telephone connections in Gulmi and Arghakhanchi districts and in the southern part of Baglung district have been disrupted. On Saturday evening, around half a dozen Maoist insurgents destroyed the control room of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)'s sub-station at Chandrauta in the bordering district of Kapilvastu by exploding a bomb. NEA's acting manager at Butwal, Milan Bajrachaya, said the explosion had caused a loss of around Rs 20 million and had disrupted power supply in the entire district.

THE GOVERNMENT has decided to stop registering brick kilns that use the outdated "Bulls Trench" technology in Kathmandu valley from late 2003, reports said. A recent meeting of the Industrial Promotion Board (IPB) also decided to start legal and administrative measures towards encouraging polluting industries to adopt cleaner options. The IPB has ordered the Department of Cottage and Small Industries to close down the brick kilns that are operating without registration. Last December, the government had decided to close down six illegal brick kilns operating at Tikathali VDC in Lalitpur district and imposed fines. But all the kilns are still in operation, reports said. According to a study conducted by the World Bank last year, brick kilns are responsible for about 31 percent of the dust pollution in Kathmandu valley and are threatening the health of local residents. There are about 125 brick kilns in the capital out of which nearly 90 percent use the Bull's Trench technology.

TWO LEADING DONORS ó the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Danish co-operation agency, DANIDA ó have taken initiatives to change the curricula in order to bring massive reforms in the Nepal's education system, officials said. According to Dr Kedar Nath Shrestha, coordinator of the Secondary Education Development Division of the ADB, the initiatives have been taken to implement the plan within next ten years. "This is a part of the regular reforms process of the school curricula," Dr. Shrestha said. Initial estimates show that almost Rs 34,419 million would be needed to implement the project. For this purpose, both the ADB and DANIDA have verbally pledged to provide loan and grant assistance of Rs 5,390 million to begin the project. The government would have to find the rest of the money.

THE GOVERNMENT HAS set up a task force to draft a bill to control money laundering, officials said. Joint Secretary at the Finance Ministry, Narayan P. Silwal, said the government planned to submit the bill in the next session of parliament. Inaugurating a two-day conference on discouraging money laundering in the capital last week, Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat said nearly two percent of global GDP was laundered worldwide each year. He said efforts should be made at the national, regional and international levels, as the problem would affect social norms and values and increase financial crimes. Rick MacDonell, head of the Asia Pacific Group secretariat, said money laundered through illegal means was being used to finance criminal and terrorist acts. He urged Nepal to remain alert, as money laundering was taking the shape of financial terrorism around the world. However, he did not refer to the sources of funding of the Maoist insurgents.

AFTER THE MAIN opposition party in parliament CPN-UML threatened to disrupt House proceedings, the government pledged to expedite procedures to amend the constitution within a week. "Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has agreed to call an all-party meeting to form a task force to expedite the process of amendment," sources at the Prime Minister's Office were quoted as saying. Officials said leaders of three major political parties have agreed to place the amendment proposal for wide public discussions. During a meeting with the leaders, the premier reiterated that he was ready to conduct timely reforms in the constitution. Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala, CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and Rastriya Prajatantra Party president Surya Bahadur Thapa attended the meeting.

THE RULING NEPALI Congress has directed the government to go ahead with procedures to amend the constitution. The central working committee of the ruling party has recommended, among others things, that the post of prime minister be made stronger and effective and that the National Security Council be expanded with six more members. The Nepali Congress has recommended that the number of MPs be reduced from 205 to 155 MPs in the House of Representatives and from 60 to 35 in the National Assembly. The meeting recommended that a separate chapter be added in constitution to make local bodies more effective and autonomous. The meeting proposed that amendment be made to resolve the citizenship problem.