Briefs (Spotlight Weekly)

King Gyanendra at the "Basanta Shrawan" ceremony in Hanumandhoka

IN A MESSAGE KING GYANENDRA has said the murder of then APF chief Krishna Mohan Shrestha, his wife Nudup and bodyguard Surya Bahadur Regmi, by a group of unidentified gunmen was the most critical form of terrorist activity and the worst example of human rights violation. His Majesty has also urged the APF personnel to remain even more conscientious and dutiful in their field of work and not at all distracted by such cowardly act.

THE SWISS GOVERNMENT has agreed to provide grants worth Rs. 460.6 million for various development and environment programs. Of the total assistance, assistance worth Rs. 438.9 million will be financial assistance while the rest will be in the form of technical assistance. Three separate agreements to this effect were signed by Nepalese and Swiss officials in Kathmandu on February 10. Under the first agreement, Rs. 257.4 million will be used for the implementation of the second phase of the Soil Management Program. The program aims at increasing the production of crop in farmland. The four-year program will be implemented in 12 mid-hill districts of the country later this year. The second agreement relates to road improvement projects and the third agreement will be used for transfer of technology of chimney used in brick kilns.

NEPAL RASTRA BANK (NRB) has given green signal to a new management team led by Bruce Henderson to manage the loss-making Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB), reports said. The five-member team has Gopal Rajbahak (Chief Financial Officer), Sudarshan Raj Pandey (Audit Manager), Charles Sterling, a British National as Chief of Treasury and Run Crafty, a Canadian national as the Information Technology manager. As per the agreement, the new management of the team will have to submit a detailed management and financial plans to the central bank by mid-March this year. The new team will also be responsible to reduce the high non-performing assets of the state-owned bank to an acceptable within two years.

THE SUPREME COURT HAS issued a stay order against a government decision to remove the treasurer of the Social Welfare Council (SWC) Jyoti Pyakurel from her post. The former Sher Bahadur Deuba government had appointed Pyakurel as the treasurer for a term of four years, but the Chand administration sacked her prematurely appointing rights activist, Pratibha Subedi, in her place last week. Pyakurel was removed from the post after serving for ten months. Hearing the writ petition filed by Mrs. Pyakurel, Supreme Court Justice Sushila Singh Shilu handed down the stay order on Thursday. The order also directs the government to reinstate Pyakurel until a final decision is reached in the case.

EVEN AFTER THE declaration of the cease-fire between the government and Maoists, the rebels are still engaged in activities like kidnapping and collecting ransom in the mid-western district of Surkhet, reports said. The insurgents have kidnapped Juthe Nepali and Durga Bahadur Nepali, two brothers from their residence at Dhugkhahare VDC on February 3. According to the locals, their whereabouts are still unknown. An armed group led by Bhabiram Acharya, the local Maoist commander, kidnapped the Nepali duo. Likewise, the Maoists are still engaged in collecting donations in the eastern part of the district. They are collecting donations from the local business community, teachers and local people since last week, reports said.

NEPAL'S TOTAL EXPORTS to India and third countries have gone down by 18.5 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, a Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) report said. According to the central bank, exports to India have gone down by 28.5 per cent while third country exports declined by 2.7 per cent. Total imports increased by 7.3 per cent during the same period. Nepal's total exports during this period were worth Rs 14336.2 million. To India alone, Nepal exported goods worth Rs 7671.2 million and worth Rs 6665.0 to third countries. Nepal registered a total trade deficit of Rs 22553.1 million during this period.