Briefs (Spotlight Weekly)

King Gyanendra receives gift from Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa on the occasion of 57th auspicious birthday

FOLLOWING THE TRAIL OF SAJHA YATAYAT, the government has decided to restart the service of Trolley bus in the capital valley soon. The trolley bus service was closed one and a half year ago due to financial problems. Locals and commuters had been demanding the restart of the pollution-free electric bus service. According to the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management, the cabinet has decided about restarting the service. The ministry said that in order to restart the service within a couple of months; it has already begun to repair trolley lines from Sur Binayak, Bhaktapur to Tripureshwore, Kathmandu. The trolley bus used to provide service to 30,000 commuters everyday. This time, the government is looking into the option of mobilizing local bodies like municipalities to manage the Trolley Bus service.

THE 3-MONTH-LONG CHARIOT FESTIVAL of Lord Rato Machchindranath ended on Saturday in Bungmati, in southern Lalitpur with the exhibition of the Lord's Bhoto (vest). As this year marks the 12-year-cycle of the annual festival, the Bhoto was displayed in Bungmati as well. Otherwise, normally the festival ends with the Bhoto display in Jawalakhel, Lalitpur. Tens of thousands of people thronged at the traditional celebrations at the tiny hamlet of Bungmati on Saturday (July 5) to witness the festival. Lord Rato Machchindranath is considered as the god of rainfall.

THE GOVERNMENT HAS REACHED INTO AGREEMENTS with different donors for the external assistance worth Rs 35.26 billion till now in the current fiscal year 2059/60. According to foreign aid coordination division at the Ministry of Finance, this year the government reached into 47 different bilateral agreements with 17 donor agencies. This year, Asian Development Bank (ADB) topped the list of maximum foreign assistance by providing Rs 8.18 billion worth assistance on different programs. The World Food Program (WFP) with Rs 6.06 billion assistance, is in second place followed by Denmark (with Rs 3.02 billion). Japan became the country with the largest number of assistance agreements with nine different programs totaling Rs 2.52 billion.

THE UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR International Development (USAID) has agreed to Nepal with grant assistance worth US$ 7.5 million to strengthen the rule of law in the country and initiate anti-corruption measures. The assistance extending over three years will support Nepal's efforts at strengthening the rule of law, enhancing access to justice, and advancing accountability and anti-corruption initiatives, according to a statement released by the American Center. Of the total assistance, US$ 3.3 million will be provided for a comprehensive program called Strengthened Rule of Law and Respect for Human Rights to achieve key reforms and modernization outputs. The program aims to enhance administration of justice in the courts, prosecutor and public defense organizations, increase access to justice for the poor and disenfranchised, and improve advocacy and legal frameworks for rule of law and justice sector reforms. Another US$ 3.8 million is meant for another program called "More Transparent, Accountable and Effective Governance".

THE GOVERNMENT OF SWITZERLAND HAS agreed to provide a grant assistance of US$ 1.2 million to Nepal for the implementation of the Hill Maize Research Project phase II. The main objective of the project is to improve food security and livelihoods of farmers through increased productivity and sustainability of maize-based cropping systems in hilly areas of Nepal. The International Center for Maize will collaborate in the project.

THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE forthcoming fourth special meeting of the Standing Committee of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) have reached final stages, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In a press meet organized by the ministry on Wednesday (July 2), Dr. Madan Bhattarai, spokesperson, said that the standing committee meeting of the SAARC to be held on July 9-10, will go a long way in strengthening regional cooperation. The Kathmandu meeting, which will be participated by foreign secretaries of all the seven member states of the organization, is expected to endorse the report of the technical committee and regional centers.

THANKS TO THE DECISION BY NEPALESE PRODUCERS not to make available Nepalese films, the theaters in capital alone are losing half a million rupees a day. Though most theaters are showing Hindi movies to fill the void, their numbers are not enough to cater to all the theaters in the capital. On average four Hindi films are released every week and not all theaters get to show the newly released ones. And there is no market for old Hindi movies. After differences emerged between producers and theater-owners regarding the amount of renting a film to a particular hall, the producers have started not to provide their films at all since last one week. "The state of theaters is deteriorating. Many have already closed down," said Uddhav Poudel, owner of Gopi Krishna Hall. Kathmandu valley is the primary market of Nepalese films. The film industry had suffered tremendously in the last couple of years due to worsening situation of security.

On June the 30th 2003 a reception was organized by the Royal Nepalese Consul General to Toulouse, Mr. Gerard Baumont, to celebrate the auspicious birthday of His Majesty the King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev. Mr. Niranjan Man Singh Basnyat who is presently the Charge d'Affaires a.i. of Nepal in France, was present on this occasion. High personality of the South-west area did attend to this event such as the Deputy Governor of the Region, the representatives of the Mayor, Counselors of the City Hall, Members of the Regional Council and general Council, Military officers of high rank from the paratroopers Among the guests, we welcomed Colonel Tim Porter, Former Attaché at the British Embassy. Members of the Consular Corps based in Toulouse attended this function. They were from: Algeria-Albania-Brazil-Belgium-Canada-Denmark-Great Britain-Mexico-Morocco-peru-Portugal-Ukrain-Uruguay. Nepalese students of the Aeronautic and Spatial Institute in Toulouse attended the reception. Other Nepalese residents in the area also were present on this occasion. A special visit was organized in the morning at the Aerospatiale Airbus Industry works where Mr. Niranjan Man Singh Basnyat, Charge d'Affaires a.i. and Mr. Gerard Baumont, Royal Nepalese Hon. Consul General, were welcomed by the Chief of the Public Relations to honor the Nepalese delegation.