Briefs (Spotlight Weekly)

Women observing Chhath festival in Kathmandu

CROWN PRINCE PARAS AND CROWN PRINCESS HIMANI have been blessed with their second daughter – their third child. King Gyanendra has declared the newborn daughter Princess Yubarajkumari, according to a statement by the Press Secretariat of the Royal Palace. The Princess was born at the auspicious hour of 08:33:55 pm on Thursday at the Narayanhity Royal Palace. According to the doctors attending on the Crown Princess, the Princess was born through caesarean section.

AS A PART OF TRADITIONAL EXCHANGE OF visits between the army chiefs of the two countries, General Mike Jackson, the Chief of the General Staff of the United Kingdom, arrived here on Saturday (November 1) on a five-day visit, at the invitation of General Pyar Jung Thapa, Chief of Army Staff, Royal Nepalese Army (RNA). According to the British Embassy, General Jackson will meet King Gyanendra, Prime Minister and other high ranking officials. He will also visit British Gurkhas Nepal and take stock of the British Welfare Scheme.

FOLLOWING THE TRAGIC SHOOT-OUT BETWEEN the Maoists and the security forces, which resulted in the death of four innocent students of Sharda Higher Secondary school of Mudhbhara village of Doti district more than two weeks ago, the schools of this village have not opened yet. Nine schools of the village have remained closed for the last 19 days out of fear of the incident. Teachers say that the schools could not open as students fear to come.

CONTRARY TO THE ANXIETY OF TOURISM ENTREPRENEURS, a large number of tourists have arrived in Pokhara – the popular tourist destination – this season. After four years of having to face the decline in tourists’ arrival, the hotels and lodges in the western city are now basking in the new found glory as the occupancy in the hotels here have shot up unexpectedly this season. The hotels and restaurants are re-calling the employees who were laid off due to decline in their business. “Tourists have come but this is temporary,” said Shri Lal Subedi, general secretary of the regional hotel association. According to the association since the beginning of October, the occupancy rate in the hotels has increased to 25-30 percent. The rate was mere 7 percent before October. Likewise, the rate has registered increase of 25 percent compared to last year. Around 1000 tourists have been coming to Pokhara everyday these days. Entrepreneurs have been surprised that the tourists have come in such a large number. “Because of the prevailing situation, we did not expect that so many tourists would come. I can only imagine how many tourists would have come had the ceasefire not been broken down,” said Basudev Tripathy, chairman of Nepal Travel Agents Association (NATA)- Pokhara chapter.

THOUSANDS OF WAITRESSES WHO WORK IN CABIN and dance restaurants are even victimized and exploited by police and restaurant owners. Poverty and unemployment forces thousands of girls into this profession where, at times, they are even physically exploited. According to a report prepared by the Restaurant Monitoring Committee, headed by Dhruba Raj Joshi, an official at the department of Small and Cottage Industries, these girls are exploited and need to be protected. The report was prepared by the 15-member committee after monitoring situation at 52 cabin restaurants in the city. According to the report, there are around 1000 such restaurants in Kathmandu valley employing 10,000 boys and girls.

INDIA WILL PREPARE THE DETAILED PROJECT REPORT (DPR) of the 600 MW strong Budhi Gandaki project within two years. According to Bishnu Bahadur Thapa, spokesperson of the Water Resource Ministry, the cost of preparing the DPR, which will be around Rs 1.42 billion will be borne by the Indian government. The understanding to this effect was reached at the end of three-day consultations between water resource officials of the two countries. Indian government has assigned the Water and Power Services Consulting Limited to carry out the DPR. Officials said that an MoU to this effect would be signed in near future.

THE QATAR AIRWAYS HAS INCREASED ITS FLIGHTS to Kathmandu from existing nine to eleven a week. Likewise, it has also increased its flights to Kuala Lumpur via Kathmandu from thrice a week to four times a week. Ever since it started operation in Kathmandu, Qatar airways has been steadily increasing its frequency of flights. Mostly the airways provides service to tens of thousands of Nepalese workers who are working in Gulf countries as well as Malaysia.

THE RIGHTS ORGANIZATION INSEC HAS reported that after the breakdown of ceasefire on August 27, 1083 people have been killed out of which 775 were killed by security forces and 317 by the Maoists. The INSEC has also expressed sadness over the non-implementation of the commitments pledged by Maoist chairman Prachanda to stop destroying physical infrastructures, unarmed security men, political workers and civilians.

THE UNIFIED MARXIST LENINIST (UML) PARTY HAS SAID that its attention has been drawn by the ongoing water resource meeting between the officials of Nepal and India. The party said that reaching into any agreement at a time when there is no parliament and when the government itself has lost its legitimacy would be unconstitutional as well as deplorable. The Indian and Nepalese officials are meeting to construct the 600 MW strong Budhi Gandaki project.

GREEN NEPAL PARTY IS LAUNCHING A country wide week long “National Unity Campaign” starting on the Constitution Day, 9 November 2003. The theme of the campaign will be “Stop killing each other and be ready for peaceful elections”. One group will start from the statue of Prithvi Narayan Shah at Singh Durbar and another will take off from Gorkha Durbar at Gorkha. Both groups will merge into one and will go up to Mahendra Nagar in West Nepal. The group will be led by Kuber Sharma, the party chairman. The group will make interaction with journalists and intellectuals all along the way. And the highlight of the campaign will be the cultural performance by artistes all through the tour singing party slogans against corruption and bad governance. Similar program will cover eastern Nepal later.

NRN Conference Concludes

The four day Non Resident Nepali (NRN) conference ended in the capital two weeks ago. “The government will welcome the NRN with open arms. The government will frame policies based on the recommendations forwarded by this conference,” said Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa addressing the closing ceremony.

Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani added, “The government will make policies to facilitate the NRN investment.” He said that the government will make framework for legislative support to the NRN community within the next four months based on their recommendations. He hinted of providing concessional 10-year visa as well as NRN/PNO card to them.

The conference with the motto of “For Nepali By Nepali” had kicked off on October 11 with King Gyanendra himself gracing the inaugural function. Over 200 NRN delegates from 30 countries had participated and discussed on varied subjects ranging from tourism and hydropower to infrastructure and IT. Around 40 working papers were presented during the conference by several individuals.

It was jointly organized by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and NRN-International Coordination Committee (ICC). The commitments made by the government came as sweet music to the NRNs.

“The conference has been very good and successful. We are encouraged by the positive reaction from the government towards our recommendations,” said Bhim Udas, international coordinator of NRN-ICC. “Especially, the response of the government on possibilities of providing NRN/PNO card and the promise of treating NRN at par with foreign investors and according similar facilities has encouraged us.”

Meanwhile, the NRN-ICC and FNCCI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to allow the federation to carry out the follow-up on behalf of the NRN to continue lobbying for legislative and policy support.