Briefs (Spotlight Weekly)

KING GYANENDRA and members of the royal family have donated Rs. 2 million to two separate funds set up to provide relief to families of soldiers killed during the ongoing security operations and to the general public affected by the Maoist insurgency. State-controlled Radio Nepal said Rs.1 million each would go to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund and the fund set up by the organization of the wives of Royal Nepalese Army officers.

THE MINISTRY OF Education and Sports has issued a directive to all government-funded schools not to charge tuition fees from students. The directive was sent after parents and guardians complained that some public-sector schools were collecting tuition fees despite the government's provision of free education. The ministry also warned private and boarding schools not to collect admission fees from the same student every year, warning offenders of de-affiliation or a fine of Rs. 25,000. The latest government move is aimed at forcing some 26,000 private and government-funded schools in the country to comply with the recently amended Education Act, officials said.

SENIOR POLICE OFFICIALS of Nepal and India have agreed to work on a common strategy to combat cross-border terrorism. In a meeting held in the Indian city of Gorakhpur last week, the police officials from two countries discussed ways of combating Maoist insurgency in Nepal, girl trafficking and cross-border criminal activities. The meeting also constituted a joint cell to execute the decisions. Dr. Ram Lal Ram, police commissioner of the Gorakhpur area, told reporters that the Indian government would support Nepal's effort to combat the insurgency. He said Indian police were ready to help if they were given enough information. Nepalese police officers handed over the photographs of 38 top-level Maoists recently made public by the government. Nepal has sought India's help in arresting the leaders, who are thought to be are hiding in Indian cities. "We will publish the photographs in the newspapers, show them in the cinema halls and each police station in the area will be informed," Dr. Ram said.

MEMBERS OF THE FINANCE Committee of parliament have asked the government to curb unnecessary government expenditure by reducing the size of the cabinet and cutting down on foreign junkets. "The government should take stringent measures to control leakage in revenue collection and bring the income of personal services into tax net," said former finance minister and UML leader Bharat Mohan Adhikari. Dr. Roop Jyoti, a member of the Upper House, said the government should adopt both monetary and fiscal measures to save the economy from collapse. Responding to the members' concerns, Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat said because of soaring security expenses, regular expenditure was likely to exceed development expenditure in the next fiscal year.

THE PARLIAMENTARY Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has decided to forward the controversial tape recording presented by Space Time Networks (STN), a private television company, of a senior government official allegedly seeking bribes, to the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA). STN managing director Jamim Shah had presented the audiotape recording to the committee last month. It contains a 12-minute telephone conversation between Shah and the joint secretary at the Ministry of Information and Communications, Prabhakar Adhikari. On the tape, Adhikari is heard asked for at least Rs. 700,000 as bribe to expedite uplinking work the STN had sought for its TV Channel. The PAC has also drawn the attention of the ministry to initiate necessary action against the accused official. The government on Thursday decided to transfer Adhikari to the "reserve pool" of officials at the Ministry of General Administration, which is considered a form of punishment. Adhikari denies demanding any bribe from Shah, insisting that the recording was electronically concocted.

POLICE LAST WEEK raided the offices of Shrinkhala Offset Press at New Baneswore in the capital Monday and briefly detained eight people, including two journalists affiliated to 'Nava Yugvani' and "Nepali Awaj' weeklies, without producing a warrant. Those detained included reporters of 'Nava Yugvani' weekly, Kedar Bhattarai and Prakash Thapa 'Abhilasi.' The security personnel also detained six more employees at the printing press. They were released after three hours of interrogation at the Ward Police Office at Tinkune, Kantipur daily reported. In a separate incident, the local administration in the eastern district of Sunsari has released on bail P.B. Diyali, assistant editor of the Blast Times daily published from Itahari, at the weekend. Diyali was held at the local police office under preventive detention for 140 days on suspicions of pro-Maoist sympathies. Diyali was kept behind bars even after he issued a statement denying involvement in Maoist activities.

THE TASK OF ALLOCATING quotas on exports under the Nepal-India trade treaty protocol has started, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies said. As per the treaty, quotas have been slapped on the export of vegetable ghee, acrylic yarn, zinc oxide and copper products. The criteria for fixing the quota are equality, efficiency of exports, approved capacity of industries and value addition, while some part will be allotted to new industries. As for vegetable ghee, each of the 16 industries has been allocated of 1,078 metric tons. The quota will be allocated every three months. Eighty percent of the quota must be exported within six months of receiving approval. One hundred percent of the quota must be utilized before the allocations for the fourth time is fixed. Such goods should be exported from only six customs points, the ministry said. Meanwhile, Nepal Vegetable Ghee Manufacturers Association has criticized the ministry's quota allocations as impractical and unjustified.