'Act Will Benefit Only 10 % Of Child Workers'

-By Our Correspondent

Last week, the Parliament passed the much awaited Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act-2056 B. S. to address the problem of about 2.6 million under-aged labourers working throughout the country.

The Bill was the first one to get ratified in the 17th session of Parliament.

Registered at the Parliament Secretariat last year, the Bill was under consideration with the Population and Social Committee under the House of Representatives.

The newly introduced law is expected to be instrumental in doing away with the growing trend of child labour in Nepal. But those working in the field of child labour and human rights express the views that the new Act may not be sufficient to address the problem.

Gauri Pradhan, Executive Director of Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN), says that the passing of the Bill related to child labour is positive step but it is not complete.

Pradhan says that the new Act will be able to eliminate only 10 per cent of the total child labour in the country as it has provisions just to interfere in the formal and organised sector.

"More than 90 per cent under-aged labourers are found in the unorganised and informal sector. So, it will not be fully unable to solve the problem of child labour," Pradhan says.

With the passing of the Act, now the Labour Office can look into any organised enterprise, factories and industries.

Pradhan, however, sees the possibility of the Act being misused, unless there is a strong monitoring and supervision mechanism.

According to Pradhan, the Act leaves the unorganised sector largely untouched.

However, he says that the Act has been introduced as per the ILO Convention for All the Elimination of the Worst Form of Child labour- 1998.

Some of the positive aspect of the Act is that it has clearly defined the age of children. Besides, it has also defined the area where children may risk health hazard areas and has prohibited the under-aged children from working in those areas.

Under the act, employing children under the age of 14 is considered a child labour, and it prohibits such children from going hard and health-hazardous jobs.

According to the recent report of the National Planning Commission and Population Studies, Tribhuwan University, the number of child labour in both the organised and unorganised sectors is about 2.6 million. The age group of these children ranges from five to 14.

The under-aged children are found working in different fields. They work for brick kilns, carpet and garment factories. They are also found working as porters, domestics, bonded labour, tea gardens, as cleaners in tempos, buses and mini buses, in mines and agriculture sector. Besides, many under-aged children are working as commercial sex workers (CSWs).

The report says 60 per cent of the total under-aged labourers or 1.4 million children are believed to be actively involved in economic activities.

Similarly, Sharad Sharma, chairman of the Child Development Society (CDS) and former chairman of the Child NGO Federation, says that although the Act may not be able to eliminate completely the child labour from the country, but it could have positive steps forward towards reducing child labour.

The Act also has the provision of monitoring mechanism. But like in any other law, the crux of matter lies in implementing it effectively. Otherwise, Sharma says, it will have no impact.

Meanwhile, one direct impact of the passing of the bill is that, laws related to children’s right may now be implemented accordingly.

MP Tanka Prasad Rai says the law alone is not enough, what is needed is its strict enforcement and generation of public awareness.

Sharma, however, hopes that after the passing of the Child labour Act, the laws related to child rights may be implemented accordingly.

Losing Weight: At What Cost?

-By BMD

Rama Sharma (name changed) had always been worried about the 106-kg weight. Sharma, 53, saw an advertisement on the Nepal Television's newly aired TV Shop programme.

The TV Shop is the first of its kind in Nepal, which not only advertises, but also sells goods they advertise.

It was an advertisement on a medicine— Premier Reducing Fat with Chromium Picholonet. Thinking of finding a cure for her overweight, she contacted the distributor, TV Shop Nepal.

She took to the course of 90 tablets which cost Rs. 5,000. On the very first day she felt a change. However, it turned out to be not what she had expected. After using the medicine for 7 days, three tablets a day, she began suffering from urine stoppage and constipation, and her blood pressure came down dangerously. Worse, she had to be hospitalised in a near death condition. Since the last three weeks, she has been in the bed at the Teaching Hospital. Different parts of her body are still in swollen condition and she developed wounds on her hands and chest -- a direct effect of the weight losing medicine she has consumed.

"I used the medicine after taking permission from my family and the distributor. I told the distributor that I was the patient of high blood pressure, diabetes and ovum cancer," she says.

She said, the distributed assured her that the medicine was safe for all except the heart patients and he did not say anything about the adverse reactions.

"Then, I believed him," she said. Ironically, she is a lecturer of Leadership Management and Community Health at the Teaching Hospital. Now, she is fighting with death at the hospital. She and the doctors are not certain about the long-term effect of the medicine.

However, Madhav Linthep, Chairman of TV Shop Nepal (P) limited, has different things to say. Linthep claims his company had not given the medicine to Sharma (who has been hospitalised) despite her several requests.

"She came to the shop for four times. We refused to give her the medicine as we came to know that she was the patient of several diseases," Linthep says.

"Our bill shows that one of her relatives took the medicine. So, we are not responsible for this."

Linthep’s company has been distributing the medicine for the last one and a half months in Nepal. He says more than 500 people have been using it.

He says his company has returned money to 12 patients, after the medicine failed to reduce weight.

Linthep defends himself saying that they sell the medicine to only those who are free from other diseases or only under the prescription of the doctors.

He also claims that the medicine, Made In America and being sold as Vitamin, has got approval from Food and Drug Agency (FDA) of America and that he has been distributing the medicine in more than 17 countries in the world.

He, however, said he has got only 'verbal' approval from the Department of Drug Administration of the Ministry of Health to sell the medicine, which he calls as a Vitamin.

Meanwhile, Dr. Govind Prasad Sharma, Director at the TU Teaching Hospital, says it is not a Vitamin and it does not help to lose weight.

Dr. Sharma also says that the Department of Drug Administration has to strictly control the current haphazard sale of foreign medicines.

"Considering the health of the people, the government has to totally prohibit the sale of unnecessary medicines. The quality should also be controlled," he says.

Similar are the views of Dr. Pramod Kumar Chhetri and Dr. Aruna Upreti. They say that there has not been any medicine discovered to reduce weight.

Dr. Chhetri says that the concerned government bodies and Nepal Medical Council have to be alert about the haphazard sale of such medicines.

Dr. Upreti strongly opposes the sale of different medicines being sold in the name of reducing weight of the body and the size of breast. "The use of such medicines may have a long-term negative impact on health of the consumers."

No therapeutic medicine is allowed to be advertised in Nepal. But the regulation has provisions that Vitamins and tonics can be advertised through the media. This provision of the law could have been misused by labelling other medicines as Vitamins.

Since no therapeutic medicine are allowed to be advertised. But vitamins and tonics are permitted to be advertised freely. This provision of the law could have been misused by labelling other medicines as Vitamins.

Regarding the initiative of the Department of Drug Administration to control the advertisement of medicines and quality control, Director General Dr. Aftaf Shekh informs that it has started to investigate the medicines that have been advertised in the country.But Dr. Shekh says that the distributor of the medicine to reduce weight has given warranty to the department.

RNAC Allowed To Buy Plane

-By Our Correspondent

The Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation has granted permission to the Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) to take steps for the purchasing a B-767-300 ER, a press release of the RNAC said.

However, RA will not get the plane before 21 months of placing the order.

So, the Airlines has again decided to re-retender for leasing a Boeing 767 plane to meet the stop-gap period. But RA's two previous efforts to lease a plane has failed.

A decision for the third tender was taken after none of the bidders met the conditions of the airlines. Now, the airline has now decided to go for a 35-day tender. The airline has now reduced the lease period from two years to 18-month lease on AMI basis. The airline has also extended the age of the plane from five years to ten years and a bid bond of US$ 25,000.

According to the press release, it might take about 3 months before the lease is finalised, so the airlines has forwarded the process to extend the lease of the China Southwest Airline's plane for three more months. Meanwhile, RA may also take a decision soon to buy two more short-haul planes. However, the government to stand guarantee and the airline will have to find the resources on its own.

Executive Chairman of RNAC, Bharat Bahadur Karki told Sunday Despatch that after the government's permission, his job will be to find the resources to buy the plane.

A base price of a Boeing 767-300 ER is over US$ 80 million and the cost rises according to the specifications.

Nepal-Bhutan Official Level Talks
Nepal Expects Breakthrough

-By Our Correspondent

The second official level talks between Nepal and Bhutan is starting today (Sunday) in Kathmandu and there is an air of optimism on the Nepalese side.

The relatively short hiatus of less than one month between the two talks is also considered by Nepal as a positive sign. The last secretary level talks was held in Bhutan from February 14 to 17.

Talking to the press on Thursday, Foreign Secretary Murari Raj Sharma said that the Nepalese side is expecting some concrete breakthrough, mainly in the modality on the verification of the Bhutanese refugees and on the pro forma already agreed on the 3rd Ministerial level meeting.

But he balances any sort of over optimism saying that the talks will be difficult and it is a complicated issue.

The press conference was one of the rare ones by the Nepalese Foreign Ministry before the impending talks. The Foreign Secretary attributes this to Nepal conforming to the Bhutanese wish. "Bhutan has been insistent on not having too much media interaction, and we were conforming with their wish in good faith," he said.

The meeting was originally scheduled, for March 8, but it was deferred on the request of the Bhutanese side as the Indian Foreign Secretary was visiting Bhutan.

Talking about the secretary level talks held in Thimpu from February 14-17, he said the talks had only focussed on concretising the agreements already transpired for a joint verification mechanism and Nepal’s effort was to make the verification mechanism as practical as possible.

But some of the problems faced during the Thimpu talks last month was that Nepal wants the secondary category refugees to join the first category which Bhutan is unwilling.

In the Third Ministerial meeting held about five years back, both Nepal and Bhutan had agreed to categorize the refugees into four namely. I) Genuine Bhutanese refugee II) Bhutanese who left Bhutan on their own will, III) Bhutanese involved in criminal activities, IV) Non Bhutanese.

Among them, refugees of the first category form a very small and the second category the biggest number of about 100,000 refugees living in the refugee camps in eastern Nepal.

Among the second category refugee, almost all of them were forcefully evicted by the Bhutanese government by forcing them to sign documents under the torture and threat and their documents snatched. The refugees have tales of terror, torture, fear and intimidation forcing them to sign papers saying they were leaving Bhutan on their own will and also documents about their being Bhutanese citizens were being seized by the Bhutanese government. However, surveys show majority of them have managed to keep some kind of identification proving them to be Bhutanese.

Meanwhile, the talks starting today could be crucial in taking some definite steps towards resolving the issue, and the Nepalese Foreign Secretary says the Nepalese side has made intense preparation.

"We are ready for even marathon discussions and we will try our best that the Bhutanese side devote more time at the negotiating table," he told the media on Thursday. If the present meeting is successful it will pave way for a ministerial level meeting and the start of the verification process.

Nepalese officials believe once the verification process begins, it could be the beginning of the end of the 10 year-long refugee problem.

But the issue has been stuck up at the verification issue, and also the Bhutanese side wants the verification process and harmonisation of the issue to go hand in hand.

Bhutan even seems to have changed its stance on the involvement of third party. During the ministerial-level meeting in September the Bhutanese side had shown some willingness to put the provision of a third party on the margin.

On a question of whether India should be involved in the talks, the Foreign Secretary said Nepal had always sought India’s involvement in the talks for a speedy resolution of the problem. However, one former diplomat had said that India’s involvement could complicate matters in the long run.

One senior official at the Foreign Ministry confided that as long as Bhutan is willing to talk, it is better to try to solve the problem bilaterally.

When one pressman talked about the Indo-Bhutan treaty, whereby India is responsible for Bhutan’s foreign and defence matters, the official quipped, "I don’t know how much it will help if we keep on harping on something which Bhutan itself wants to forget."

However, the Nepalese officials are convinced that until and unless there is political will on the part of Bhutan no matter how many rounds of meetings and at what level things are not going to move forward.

Expedition Teams For Spring

-By Our Correspondent

Thirty expedition teams from 11 different countries are vying for 12 peaks during the spring season (March 1st to May 31st) this year.

According to Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, 14 different teams with 71 mountaineers from seven countries, including Nepal, have been given permission to attempt on the highest peak of the world— Mt. Everest. Five teams from the US will be attempting to climb the Mt. Everest.

Similarly, there are also three Spanish teams for the world's highest peak.

From Nepal, Nepalese Women Millennium Everest Expedition to be led by Lakpa Sherpa will attempt the Mt. Everest. The four-member team comprises all the Sherpa women from Nepal.

Last year, eight expedition teams were permitted for climbing Mt. Everest.

A total of 34 teams from 18 different countries attempted on 11 peaks in spring last year.

Shankar Prasad Koirala, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, informed that the expedition teams for Mt. Everest generally take permission before the mountaineering season begins.

Koirala also said that some more teams might be applying for climbing mountains during this spring season.

Likewise, four teams from different countries have taken permission to climb Mt. Amadablam (6812m), two each to Mt. Annapurna I (8091m) and Mt. Pumori (7161m), one team each to Mt. Baruntse (7129m), Mt. Chamlang (7319m), Mt. Ganesh II (7111m), Kumbhakarna (7710m), Mt. Manaslu (8163m), Mt. Lhotse (8156m), Mt. Makalu (8463m) and Mt. Tilicho (7134m).

Annapurna Mandala Trail The World's Highest Race

Annapurna, the legendary 8000 meters high mountain was first climbed by the famous French climber Maurice Herzog in 1950.

To mark the golden jubilee of its ascent, the Himalaya's Racers Association of France and Mandala trekking of Nepal are jointly organizing the first edition of the Annapurna Mandala Trail, the highest stage race in the world along the famous Annapurna circuit trekking route, between 16-24 March 2000.

Since 1983, teams from various countries have been informally participating in such trails through the Himalayas. "Running around the Annapurnas, in the very heart of the Nepalese Himalayas, with the only assistance of one's own backpack such is, in short, the definition of the Annapurna Mandala Trail" says the Frenchman Bruno Poirier, the founder of the Himalaya's Racers Association and one of the precursors of these trails.

The Annapurna Mandala Trail, in other words, is a stage race 'around' the Annapurnas. It will start on March 16 from Besi Sahar and will end on March 24 at Birethanti, crossing the famous 5400 meters high Thorong Pass. This trail will be a kind of a trail-testing the physical capacity of human beings", says Padam Ghaley, technical co-ordinator of the trail.

Among the 30 runners, there will be 2 women and 3 Nepalese. The Nepalese participants are sponsored by Mandala Trekking. "We have good runners in our country but financial reasons are very often a barrier for them to participate in such competitions. We want to promote Nepalese runners and expose them to international competition", says Akal Tuladhar, the Managing Director of Mandala Trekking.

The spirit of a mountain trail will be preserved in its simplest form: "Running from one place to another without assistance", even though a technical team and a light medical assistance will be provided by Himalayan Rescue Association in collaboration with Fishtail Air. Moreover, each competitor should sign the Race Solidarity Assistance Chart, stipulating assistance to any injured fellow racer; which will be santionned by a Solidarity Trophy presented by the Yak and Yeti Hotel. Therefore, the Annapurna Mandala Trail is a real competition but in the spirit of solidarity of the mountain people.

XII ICDC Congress A Boost To Nepal's Insurance Business

-By Krishna Shrestha

This week will see a mega event in the history of Nepalese insurance industry. Nepal is hosting the XII Insurance Congress of Developing Countries (ICDC) in Kathmandu. The theme of Congress is 'Facing the Challenges in Emerging Insurance Markets in the 21st Century'. The three-day Congress starts today (Sunday) and it will be a good opportunity for Nepalese insurers to know about the latest developments in the field of insurance industry.

The ICDC was previously known as the Third World Insurance Congress (TWIC) and later it was named as Association of Insurers and Re-insures of Developing Countries.

"This is the first ever such meeting of insurance business in Nepal, in which over 230 participants from around the world and equal number of local participants are attending," said Lava Prasad Sharma, Chairman of the Insurance Board, a regulatory body responsible for the healthy growth of the insurance sector in the country.

So far 194 international representatives have confirmed their participation, Ramesh Raj Bhattarai, Secretary at the Board said on Thursday. Bhattarai was optimistic and said there would be more confirmation.

According to Sharma, the conference will hold intensive discussions on various contemporary issues. Some issues which will be dealt on at the conference are 'Impact of Theory of Market Economy on Insurance Markets of Developing Countries', 'Marketing and Selling Insurances in Emerging Markets', "Operating Insurance Organisation in Emerging Markets', "Training Insurance Personnel in Emerging Markets', "Regulations of Insurance Company operating in Emerging Markets' and 'Providing Stable Insurance Security in Emerging Markets' . Besides, country reports will be presented.

According to the Organising Committee, the congress will be a forum where insurers, re-insurers, regulators and surveyors of both the developed and the developing countries will exchange experiences in promoting the insurance business and solving their problems.

Nepalese insurers are also optimistic about the outcome of the Congress.

"The ICDC will be a milestone in the insurance sector of the country," says Om Singh, President of Nepal Insurer Association. It will give a big exposure to the Nepalese insurers and the country, besides providing the Nepalese insurers opportunities to make contact with re-insurers, find out prospects and problems of insurance business among others," Singh. Singh is also the President of National Life and General Insurance Company.

Singh is optimistic that the event will also help in promoting Nepalese tourism business.

Although insurance features in the world market since a long time the history of insurance business in Nepal is less than six decades old. The first Nepalese insurance company – Nepal Insurance and Transport Company, a subsidiary of the country’s oldest commercial bank Nepal Bank Ltd. – was established in 1947.

Prior to that, Indian insurance companies were doing transactions through their regional offices in Kathmandu and through branch offices in other cities of the country. Presently, the country has 13 insurance companies in Nepal. One of them deals exclusively in livestock. Meanwhile, foreign insurance companies like American Life Insurance have shown interest in opening branch in Nepal.

Chairman Sharma feels that the insurance industry in Nepal is going in the right direction but still needs perfection. He is very optimistic that the conference will benefit the country's insurance sector.

Some of the problems which have been a drag to the growth of insurance business in Nepal are: lack of interest, knowledge and awareness among the prospective clients.

"Even big industrialists, who do realise the importance of full value of insurance, are only partially insured," said Sharma.

According to Sharma, business houses choose to have their bank loans insured because the lending agencies ask for that. "If there have an option, they may also have ignored insurance for their loans also," he says.

Nepal's insurance sector is still at an infant stage. This business has been running in a traditional manner. New schemes as per market demand have not been introduced satisfactorily.

"Because of this the contribution of the insurance sector in the country's economy is very small in comparison to other SAARC countries," says Sharma.

Despite this, Nepal’s 1.25 billion rupees insurance market is growing by 20-25 per cent annually, according to Sharma, and the premium collection this year is likely to touch the 1.5 billion mark. "We expect the non-life part of insurance to rise to 1.25 billion rupees and life insurance to recover 300 million rupees by the end of the current fiscal year," he informed.

Sharma is optimistic that the Congress will give new impetus to Nepalese insurance industry.

Documents show that insurance in some form is as old as historical society. During the period of 4,000-3,000 B.C. there was a practice of insurance in the form of bottemry.

Bottemry was a maritime contract, now is obsolete, under which a ship owner used to take money for equipping or repairing the vessel for a definite period in condition that if the ship was lost in the specified voyage or because of any of the perils, the lender should lose his/her money. However, the history of life insurance is only about 200 years old.