Briefs (Spotlight Weekly)

People playing with colors to celebrate Holi festival

NEPAL AND BHUTAN HAVE agreed to promote business relationship between the two Himalayan kingdoms. Leader of a Nepali business delegation that visited Bhutan last week, Suraj Vaidya said that the 23-member delegation discussed a number of issues to promote economic relations between the two countries. The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) also signed on a memorandum of understanding on March 15 in Thimpu. Business leaders said there was immense potential to enhance trade between Nepal and Bhutan. Nepal's export to Bhutan stood at over Rs 24 million in the year 2000-01 while imports from Bhutan stood at Rs 52 billion.

AT A TALK PROGRAM organized in the capital on Saturday (March 15), representatives of the Bhutanese refugees said that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) should monitor their repatriation. "It is natural for UNHCR to monitor the repatriation of refugees to Bhutan as the latter, too, is member of the UN," said Pramod Kafley, refugee representative. The refugees have been expressing their high expectations to the upcoming ministerial meeting to be held in Thimpu next week. Around one hundred thousand refugees from Bhutan have been languishing at several camps in eastern Nepal for the last 13 years.

ACCORDING TO NEPAL LABOR Force Survey (NLFS), about 96 percent of 11 million-strong labor force in Nepal are employed by informal sectors of the economy. According to the survey, of the 2.26 million workers in the non-agriculture sector, 1.66 million (73.3 percent) are engaged in informal jobs, which includes 1.05 million male and 0.61 female. Likewise, those working in agricultural sector totals 7.2 million workers. The informal economy and activities are outside the government's tax frame and are characterized by unregistered and unorganized product, according to the report.

THE SUPREME COURT ON March 13 ordered the council of ministers and the board of Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) to formulate regulation to regulate the fund of the PADT and the expenditure of Bhandary and Bhatta ñ priests ñ of the Pashupatinath temple. After the hearing of the writ petition filed against the PADT, the special bench comprising of Chief Justice Kedar Nath Upadhyaya, Justices Arabinda Nath Acharya and Bali Ram Kumar issued the mandamus order to formulate the regulations and regularize the expenditures. The priests of Pashupatinath temple enjoy 75 percent of the total money donated and offered by devotees and provide only the remaining 25 percent to the PADT. The apex court also ruled that the expenditures by the priests was against the provision of the PADT Act 2044.

NEPAL'S TOTAL EXPORT SHRANK by nearly 11 percent to Rs 23.5 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal year compared to a decline of over 6 percent during the same period last year. According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), export to India declined by 21.5 percent to Rs 13 billion while export to third countries declined by over 37 percent to Rs 10.6 billion. On the other hand, total imports increased by over 10 percent to Rs 57.7 billion in contrast to the decline of 8 percent during the same period last year. Due to the decline in exports and increase in imports, the trade gap widened by over 31 percent to Rs 34.2 billion, the central bank said.

NEPALESE AUTHORITIES HAVE released journalist Badri Prasad Sharma, the editor of Baglung Weekly on 13 March 2003 after more than 15 months of the detention in the presence of local journalists and social workers. Sharma was arrested by the security forces on 25 December 2001 after the imposition of "state of emergency" in the country and was detained in the Baglung district without fair trial. Center for Human Rights and Democratic Studies (CEHURDES) welcomes the release of journalist Sharma and also urges the authorities to release all remaining journalists in the detention respecting universal press freedom and freedom of expression.