Briefs (Spotlight Weekly)

SEVEN MEMBERS OF A SAME FAMILY DIED in a landslide in Banketar, Surumkhim of eastern district of Taplejung on Thursday (August 7). Four adults and three children of a family perished in the heavy landslide that swept away their house. Two other members were injured and one escaped unhurt in the same incident.

THE HIGH LEVEL TECHNICAL TEAM OF INDIA AND NEPAL inspected few areas that suffered inundation ahead of crucial meeting on the same subject to be held in Lucknow, India on Monday (August 11). The technical team inspected inundated areas in Banke district on Saturday. The Nepalese team is being headed by Uma Kanta Jha, executive director of the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat.

THE DELEGATION OF TOP OFFICIALS OF TIBET Autonomous Region of China, are positive about Nepal's proposal of opening two more border points — Kerung and Nangpala - for tourism purposes, said Nepalese authorities. According to Shankar Koirala, joint secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Nepalese side has also put proposals for allowing Nepalese helicopters to make trips to Kailash-Mansarovar — a religious site — as well as allow Nepalese choppers to make cross-country flights for rescue purposes. The Tibetan delegation was led by Lobsang Gyalzen, vice chairman of Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

THE EXPORTS OF READYMADE GARMENTS to the United States have jumped by 43 percent in the month of July compared to the same period last year. Compared to the exports of apparels worth US$ 5.56 million in July 2002, this year the exports totaled US$ 7.98 million in the same month, according to Garments Association of Nepal (GAN). After decreasing by 22 percent in the year 2002, the garment exports have steadily increased since the beginning of 2003. Over 80 percent of Nepalese garments are absorbed by US market. Similarly, the GAN states that the exports to Canada also registered an impressive 14 percent growth in the month of July compared to the same period last year. However, the exports to European Union have declined by 23 percent in the month.

IN WHAT APPEARS TO BE A BLATANT VIOLATION OF THE peace code of conduct, three security personnel were killed and 28 injured in an ambush set by the Maoists in the eastern district of Paanchthar. The ambush was set near Nabi VDC, some 35 km away from district headquarters. Meanwhile, a helicopter dispatched to rescue the security personnel could not land in the area due to bad weather. The security personnel were on their regular patrol. The government has deplored the incident and has asked the Maoist leadership to take care not to repeat such actions, which could jeopardize the talks, in future.

AS MAJOR HIGHWAYS LINKING THE CAPITAL CITY with the rest of the country continue to remain blocked due to landslides, the supply of oxygen cylinders to the hospitals has been affected. All the big hospitals in the valley like Bir Hospital, Patan Hospital, Ganga Lal Heart Center, and Kanti Children Hospital are experiencing severe shortage of the oxygen cylinders. This has forced them to postpone all surgeries except emergency ones. The daily requirement of Bir Hospital alone is around 40 oxygen cylinders. ìDue to shortage we have cancelled/postponed a number of surgeries," said Dr. Manohar Lal Shrestha, director of Bir Hospital. On Monday, these hospitals requested helicopter to bring in 16 oxygen cylinders. Meanwhile, Minister Kamal Thapa, spokesperson of the government, said that the government will do everything to prevent such shortages in the hospitals.

CONTINUING WITH THE SPATE OF ATTACKS against security forces, Maoists have hit a police post in Ramechhap district injuring three policemen. Even as the rebels have agreed to sit for the third round of talks with the government, the Maoist cadres have not stopped their attacks, say security officials. A policeman was abducted by the rebels from Dolakha district on Monday (August 4). Meanwhile, according to reports, the Maoists had already made a decision to suspend Mumaram Khanal from the party and demoted the positions of Rabindra Lal Shrestha and Bamdev Chhetri. These three were the central leaders the government had released last week as per the pressure from the rebels. The actions against them were reportedly taken because they had worked against the interest of the party when in jail.

THE FIRST CENTRAL WORKING COMMITTEE MEETING of the newly elected members of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry has unanimously nominated four vice presidents. Chandi Raj Dhakal has been chosen as the first vice president. Diwakar Golchha and Suraj Vaidya are the second and third vice president. Likewise, Rohini Thapaliya is the ex officio vice president of the FNCCI. During the meeting, the federation decided to hold talks with the Maoists as well as major political parties regarding economic issues. The federation also decided to give away Rs 500,000 as relief assistance to victims of floods and landslides.

The Academy for Educational Development (AED) has developed an e-learning course on “Independent Regulation: Theory and Practice” under the aegis of USAID’s South Asia Regional Initiative in Energy (SARI/Energy) Program. In order to reach out to a much wider audience, AED is distributing the course CDs to energy sector professionals and various institutions and libraries around the region with active support from the administrative staff college of India. The roll-out of this CD in Nepal was launched on July 30. AED has launched similar e-learning course on “Environment Impact Assessments for Energy Sector Projects”. AED is also developing two more e-learning courses titled “Financial Models for Implementing Energy Efficiency Projects” and “Contracts Design for Energy Trade”, which will be available later this year.