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Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa, the fourth prime minister of Nepal since the 1994 general elections when a hung parliament was declared, started the new year and his fourth month of leadership by announcing that he has consulted and asked His Majesty The King to dissolve parliament and fix a date for fresh elections.
PM Thapa’s move to seek fresh national elections
followed a call by Nepal’s main opposition party, the UML, for a special session of
parliament to debate a
no-confidence motion against the government.
The Himalayan kingdom’s three-month-old centrist government is the fourth since November 1994 elections produced a hung parliament. Thapa, a former royalist, was appointed PM on October 6th 1997 as the head of a three part colatition government.
Thapa, chief of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), replaced the RPP’s Lokendra Bahadur Chand, who had headed a communist-dominated government for the previous short lived government. Since being ousted from power, Chand has become an arch rival of Thapa’s government and the UML said it had Chand’s support in the latest political move.
HMG The King had consulted the Supreme Court for it's opinion on the recommendation made by PM Thapa and as per the latest news received from Supreme Court Registrar Office, Kathmandu, The Supreme Court has submitted its opinion on the recommendation of midterm-poll by PM Thapa and the special session of the parliament requested by 96 members of parliament, to the Royal Palace.
As per our reliable source, the opinion of the nine member special bench is divided. The source said that the opinion are as follows :
(For Special session)
Chief Justice Om Bhakta Shrestha, Justice Udaya Raj Upadhyay, Justice Krishna Jung
Rayamajhi, Justice Top Bahadur Singh, Justice Keshav Prasad Upadhyay, Justice
Harishchandra Prasad Upadhyay.
(For Midtern poll)
Justice Mohan Prasad Sharma, Justice Kedar Nath Upadhyay, Justice Laxman Prasad Aryal
With this, HM has called a special session of Parliament on 11th February
Adhikari, Nepal retain posts
The Sixth National Congress (SNC) of the main opposition CPN (UML) elected Manmohan Adhikari as the party president and Madhav Kumar Nepal as the general- secretary.
The party’s minority faction led by Bamdev Gautam did not field its candidates in any of the CC posts, saying they would rather work at the grassroots.
A total of 32 candidates had stood for election into the apex body which has 27 seats. Those who have been elected in the CC are Madhav Nepal, K P Oli, Manmohan Adhikari, Pradip Nepal, Bharat Mohan Adhikari, Ishwor Pokharel, Amrit Bohara, Mahendra Neupane, Suresh Karki and Kedar Neupane.
Others include Surendra Pandey, Yubaraj Gyawali, Modnath Prashrit, Jhalanath Khanal, Govinda Prasad Koirala, Ghanendra Basnet, Ashtalaxmi Shakya, Keshav Badal, Shanker Pokharel, Bidya Bhandari, Bachaspati Devkota, Bhim Rawal, Bishnu Paudel, Kashinath Adhikari, Subash Nemwang, Devraj Ghimire and Guru Baral.
Prince Charles in Nepal
Britain’s Prince Charles will fly to Nepal on February 6 on the second leg of his three-nation South Asian tour.
Prince Charles first came to Nepal in 1975 to attend the coronation of King Birendra. He toured the Himalayan kingdom again in 1980. The heir to the British throne, will be the guest of Nepali crown prince Dipendra, who visited Britain in 1997.
RPP is officially divided
The splinter group of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) led by former prime minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand won a formal recognition in the parliament as the New Rastriya Prajatantra Party (NRPP), a notice published by the Parliament secretariat says.
RPP’s former parliamentary party leader Chand, registered the notice at the parliament with the signatures of 10 out of 23 RPP MPs in both houses of parliament. That makes up the 40 percent requirement in the Anti-defection law for recognition as a separate parliamentary group.
The RPP lawmakers in the newly recognised group include Chand, Rajeshwor Devkota, Padma Sunder Lawati, Fatte Singh Tharu, Rajiv Parajuli, Prem Bahadur Bhandari, Ram Krishna Acharya, Khobari Raya, Mahendra Raya and Chanda Shah. The New RPP will now be treated as a separate political entity in the parliament but gaining recognition as a national party from the Election Commission may still not be easy for the new outfit."As per the Political Party Registration Act, the group needs 40 percent of the party’s central committee to get the status of a separate political party," said Birendra Prasad Mishra, commissioner at the Election Commission (EC).
Deuba to be next PM
It is now known from our sources in Kathmandu that with the ever increasing likeliness of the present government headed by PM Surya Bahadur Thapa coming to a end, members of Nepali Congress, UML and RPP are pushing for former PM Sher Bahadur Deuba to take the reins again.
It is further learnt that most NC members will have some form of role in the new government as well as K.P Oli from RPP and Padma Sundar Lawati from RPP who will be given a high position role.
VNY ’98 launched by His Majesty
With the opening speech of "Peace, security and stability and clean environment are essential prerequisites for the development of tourism,’’ His Majesty King Birendra launched the Visit Nepal Year 1998 as part of an ambitious drive to attract half a million tourists. He also opened a specially decorated gate in front of his palace at Durbar Marg. Tens of thousands of Nepalese joined in carnival parades led by Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa, in which months of planning and preparations has gone into. "Visit Nepal Year is not a programme to end with 1998. It is only a beginning of the development of the entire country in the name of tourism," said Minister of State for Tourism and Civil Aviation Rebati Prasad Bhusal in a recent statement when asked about various matters in relation to VNY ’98.
The goal of the ‘Visit Nepal Year 1998’ event is 500,000 tourists with 12 days average stay against the current 11 and daily per-capita expenditure of $50 against $40 to net an estimated $200 million.
Officials said the number of tourists visiting Nepal rose to 393,000 in 1996 from just 6,100 in 1962, with earnings of some $117 million. It is worth remembering that in the history of Tourism, Nepal, the world’s only Hindu kingdom, was opened to the world in early 1950s after centuries of isolation.
The country has some of the loftiest mountains - eight of the world’s 14 peaks above 26,250, including Mount Everest, are within or around its borders.
GP inducts KP loyalists
The war between the two seniormost leaders in the Nepali Congress (NC) tilted slightly on Krishna Prasad Bhattarai’s favour when party president Girija Prasad Koirala partially granted his predecessor’s demands for reshuffle in the party’s central working committee (CWC).
Five new members, four of them known Bhattarai supporters, were inducted in the party’s apex body, after the former party chief publicly announced his dismay over the delay in accepting his demands for induction of 10 members in the committee.
The Bhattarai loyalists inducted are Yog Prasad Upadhyaya, Dhundiraj Shastri, Chiranjibi Wagle and Omkar Prasad Shrestha. The fifth new induction is Mrs Lila Koirala.
Meanwhile, Speaker Ram Chandra Poudel, a prominent second generation leader in NC, has come down heavily on the party’s ever-feuding seniormost leaders. "The two leaders should retire from active politics, paving the way for the second generation", said Poudel. Poudel, a member of the NC CWC, the party’s apex body, has time and again hit out at the party heavyweights, who many charge have virtually stalled the party dynamics.
Arguing that the NC is on the verge of leadership change, he added, "Conspiracy is being hatched to end the leadership of consensual established in the party and thrust the leadership based on dynasty." This, he said, is the root cause of the current conflict in the party.
Referring to the traditional groupism within the party, dating back to 1994, with 74 of then MPs in Koirala’s side and 36 in the Bhattarai camp, Poudel said when the reins was in the hands of the second generation leaders, the groupism within the party was non-existent. "We had completely wiped off the division of 36 and 74 when Deuba was the PM and I the Speaker," he said. "This division surfaced again after Koirala took over the parliamentary party leadership."
He stressed that the current dispute between the two NC leaders is nothing but their personal feud. "However, though the readjustment made in the party central committee by Koirala as per the Godavari accord is incomplete, it has eased some of the fears from the cadres’ mind".
HMG accepts resignations
His Majesty The King has accepted resignation of following ministers with immediate effect. They five ministers are : Fatteh Singh Tharu, Ram Krishna Acharya, Prem Bahadur Bhandari, Rajeev Parajuli and Mahendra Roy.
The five cabinet ministers, one including the defence minister, resigned from Nepal’s three-month-old coalition government with the country in political crisis and facing fresh elections.
The radio said the ministers had supported a move by the communist opposition to call a special session of parliament to debate a no-confidence motion against Thapa.
Nepal-Mahakali a mistake ?
Despite prolongment of the central committee meeting, dissident Communist Party of Nepal (UML) group led by Bam Dev Gautam also called the minority, demanded the majority group headed by UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal accept that the ratification of Mahakali Treaty was a mistake, term India as a regional hegemonist and United States as imperialist in their document and proportional representation of minority group in party leadership.
"If their demands are not accepted, then the minority members would retreat from party leadership positions and operate outside the party as a `shadow party’ by forming a network of organized activities", said a participating member who did not want to be identified.
"The majority group is attempting to draw party workers by calling their document as a revolutionary," said the deputy prime minister Gautam addressing the meet.
Gautam and Nepal have been at loggerheads since the Mahakali Treaty was ratified by a joint parliamentary session in 1996. Nepal supported the treaty while Gautam and his supporters abstained from voting. The treaty was ratified but the episode left a rift between the two leaders in the party.
"It is astonishing that the ones who are attempting to split the party are accusing us of doing the same," Gautam told reporters. "If the party splits, then it would be because of the majority. I am ready to serve the party in any position given to me."
New MD in RNAC
Mr Madhav Prasad Sharma, the owner of Gulliver Travels and Tours is being appointed by HMG with immediate effect as the new Managing Director of Royal Nepal Airlines for a term of 2 years. Mr Sharma was a former Board Member of RNAC and has an experience of more than 20 years in the field of tourism.
As per latest information received from Kathmandu, Mr Ajit Narayan Singh Thapa has been appointed by HMG as Chairman of RNAC with effect from February 3rd.
Mr Thapa is a seasoned administrator.
UML okays Nepal’s policy
The ongoing Sixth National Congress of Communist Party of Nepal (UML) approved the political and working policy documents presented by party strongman Madhav Kumar Nepal with overwhelming majority, paving the way for the powerful post of party general secretary for the next five years. The majority faction led by Nepal was able to garner 598 votes from 852 SNC representatives present during the open voting for the political document presented by Nepal. A total of 605 representatives voted for the working policy document. His arch-rival Gautam received 244 votes in support of separate views and Keshav Lal Shrestha, Gautam’s close aide, received 242 votes in support of working policy document, according to SNC convenor, Iswor Pokharel.
The voting was carried out in accordance with parliament procedure, and was decided by the majority of the SNC delegates. Ten delegates abstained from voting in the working policy document. Likewise, five abstained from voting in the political document while one boycotted, protesting the open voting procedure.
"The majority faction has mustered overwhelming majority on the strength of its ideology. It won’t be proper for me to claim a position in the leadership," he said.
Gautam also informed that he had not thought about holding a separate meet at Kathmandu, as rumored here by many. "We have not discussed about it," Bam Dev Gautam said.
Karnali declared IDD area
Iodine Deficiency Disorder (IDD) is being reduced from 55% to 39% worldwide as per the WHO report. IDD causes number of suffering from mental retardation and lethargic to combat with this disease is the supply of iodine to human beings. The iodine can be obtained through different foods and salt. The quantity required in a lifetime is simply a teaspoonful of iodine and that costs only 5 rupees.
In Nepal people are still forced to consume salt without iodine because of their poverty. In Karnali Zone people are still using raw salt from mountain without iodine, causing the disease of goiter endemic. In this area having iodised salt is still a luxury.
Most disheartening is the unprepared ness on the part of Salt Trading Corporation of Nepal which is yet to assure steady supply of iodised salt into the areas and wean the local people away from rock salt which is not iodised marketed as it is cheaper. Despite of heavy government subsidy, the iodised salt costs more than 15 rupees per kilogram whereas it is only 4 rupees per kilogram of rock salt.
As per health ministry of Nepal, 14 hilly districts that includes Karnali Zone, have been declared as goiter endemic areas.
Sixth National Buddhist Conference
The 6th national Buddhist conference at Dhangadhi was organised by the Dharmodaya Sabha amidst a special function inaugurated by PM Surya Bahadur Thapa on January 3. The Conference was attended by ministers, envoys, distinguished guests and Buddhists from various parts of the country.
HM King Birendra had sent a message wishing all participants success in propagating the spirit of peace, good conduct and morality inherent in Buddhism from their respective quarters. The Royal message was read in the Conference.
Exploitation of Gurkhas
There are hundreds of Gurkhas are recruited in Brunei as security guards. But in reality they are used by Sultan of Brunei as soldiers and deputed in the border areas of Malaysia and Indonesia as guards. The International Conventions mentioned that there should be bilateral agreements between two countries for such use. As far as Nepal and Brunei is concerned, such bilateral agreements are not yet signed. It is feared that if there is any crisis in Brunei similar to Kuwait invasion by Iraq and if any Gurkhas died the question remains, who will be responsible for that ? Nepal or Brunei ?
Recently, 11 Gurkhas were terminated from their service and deported from Brunei for their query with their Commander Col. F.Scotsman about their rights for changing their duties other than mentioned in the recruitment paper. A group of Gurkhas formed a committee for their due rights and facilities. They approached their superior and questioned their real status and demand that they were equally entitled to facilities of the Brunei army if they were assigned as soldiers.
The logical questions, raised by the team troubled the Gurkha Recruitment Unit (GRU) Commander who in return penalised the 11 Gurkha security guards by sending them back home. The Gurkha issue brought changes in GRU management in Brunei. That also affected the British Army in UK. That made big news in international level. But Nepal government has no botheration for the welfare of their own people and are taking it easy. It is not 11 Gurkhas. But it is a matter of human rights. And Nepal government should immediately take proper action for the safe guard of own people.
Concession in Mt.Expedition
To promote mountaineering expeditions in Nepal in the wake of VNY ’98, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism has exempted the permit fees for 19 peaks located in different parts of Nepalese Himalayas for the period 1998 and 1999.
In Himalayan mountaineering expedition world this news is taken as great positive step to attract more tourists including mountaineering expedition teams. This is a first concessionary step offered by Nepalese government in mountaineering expeditions after introduction of higher fees in 1992.
390M Grant from UK
The Government of United Kingdom has agreed to provide a grant assistance of 390 million rupees for a project to upgrade a number of bridges and roads in Nepal. The project’s goal is to ensure all year use of two key roads in Nepal. Specifically 9 ageing wooden bridges on the Rangeli Road in the east of the country will be replaced and bridges will be constructed over 2 rivers on the Narayanghat-Butwal section of Mahendra Rajmarga currently crossed by causeways. The project will also fund some further deferred bridge maintenance.
Alpine Air to fly in Europe
Alpine Air, a privately owned airlines, has been granted permission to operate scheduled flight to Europe from this year.
The Ministry for Tourism and Civil Aviation gave permission to the airline, to operate scheduled flights to Rome, Italy and Munich, Germany via Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, from later this year.
The airline will also have four flights to New Delhi, India, every week and will be operating flights on a Airbus 310 or a Boeing 767.
This is the first time the Nepali government has given permission to a private carrier to operate flights to Europe. Last year, the government had announced its policy to let Nepali private airlines to operate on international routes.
Ex Servicemen unhappy with Ambassador
British Gurkha ex-servicemen association have expressed resentment over the refusal made by British Ambassador LB Smith on their demands. The association in its latest meeting decided Ambassador’s saying as unfortunate, over reaction and is of his personal view. The meeting also accepted that his version does not represent the verdict of the British Government. As the demands are channelled between the two sovereign governments and decisions are yet to be made.
In that situation the refusal by Ambassador is simply a misutilisation of the esteemed post and unethical. The association wonders why the Ambassador is try to do politics with the ethical demands of the British Gurkha Ex-servicemen at this moment. They have also decided to call a press conference soon to bring facts to the people.
In the mean time ,the association has decided to welcome the Prince Charles Nepal visit as gesture of British Monarch and British people towards Nepal and Nepalese.
Aruna Lama passes away
Famous singer of the Nepalese musical world, Aruna Lama passed away in Kathmandu recently. She was suffering from liver and kidney diseases from the past four months. As per her last wish, her body is to be taken to her home town Darjeeling for the last rites.
Aruna Lama was one of te most successful Nepalese singer. She had started her her singing career in Nepal through Raido Nepal in 1959. She was decorated by the prestigious Gorkha Sakshin Bahu medal and other honours.
Foreigners to revive Arun III
At least two corporate houses of international repute have shown interest to revive the Arun III hydel project cancelled in 1995 after the World Bank pulled out of the project at the last moment.
Japanese firm Marubeni and German ABB are already in the process of completing requests for qualification for the project while a number of American firms and Birlas of India have also shown interest in the 402 megawatt project in Sankhuwasabha district.
Water resources officials are understandably upbeat about the interest shown by international firms in the once abandoned project especially in light of the fact that the project requires major investments for the construction of access road running 117 kilometers.
A number of other requests for qualification are also expected by March when the three month time span for the same ends.
The government will start with the process of requests for proposals from selected corporations after it is done with the qualification process. Requests for proposals are expected to be completed in another couple of months which will be followed by final selection of the investor based on the party’s financial capacity and its engineering and technical knowhow.
As a matter of fact, the government at the moment is not sure on whether the proposals from the foreign investors will only be for the 402 MW Arun III project or for all the three Arun projects including the Upper Arun and the Lower Arun which together add up to a much bigger 1100 mw project.
Nepali customs’ ‘theft’
The Birgunj customs, finds itself mired in controversy as the victims of its ‘system’ are trying to make sure that no stone is left unturned to make the officials’ crime public.
A team of Spanish journalists who’ve come here to evaluate the projects run by Spanish Co-operation found out that a bus and cartons of educational materials have not reached its destination even after three years. The reason: they were not allowed inside the country by the Birgunj customs. In fact, they found out that the bus has been recently auctioned by the Customs Department.
According to Javier Moro, a Spanish journalist, the bus was donated by SARFA Bus Corporation, a big vehicle manufacturing company to a local NGO Vicky Educational and Development Foundation (VEDF) and the educational materials for the Daleki Primary School run by VEDF for the poor children in 1994.
The customs refused passage to the bus and it remained there for three years. However, the officials auctioned the bus on January 19 which has outraged the donors in Spain as the bus was intended for the use of poor children in Nepal.
The Birgunj customs reportedly stopped the bus in late 1994 on grounds that it was more than five years old and that vehicles run for more than five years wouldn’t be allowed inside the country. "If that was the case, they should have returned the bus to Spain," says Moro. "But they auctioned it which is an act of `theft’, a case of injustice."
According to Moro, the donor company and the recipient had made repeated requests to the government to have the bus get through. When nothing helped they even approached the Queen of Spain, who took special interest in the matter, to solve the problem. "We have a copy of the letter sent by the queen’s office to the Spanish Ambassador in New Delhi asking him to look into the matter,"claims Moro.
The ambassador then forwarded the letter to Mrs Ambika Shrestha, consular of Spain to Nepal to solve it. "But she turned a deaf ear. She has done nothing to help the donations reach their right place," says an agitated Moro. Who claims they’ll make this a "big issue" in Europe if Nepal government doesn’t return the bus.
Kaligandaki - A crisis
A crisis that erupted at the site of Kaligandaki-A hydroelectric project following a violent protest by the locals is finally over. The crisis was resolved after a written agreement was signed by the concerned parties.
According to the agreement the project has to arrange a direct supply of electricity to Havichour Village within a week, provide compensation for the land taken over by the project and provide jobs as promised to the villagers. The construction work at the country’s largest project site had come to a standstill when a crowd of agitated villagers smashed a bulldozer. The protestors were demanding jobs as promised by the project.
Locals say that according to an earlier understanding reached with the project staff and the local office of Nepal Electricity Authority, one person from each household affected by the project was to have been employed by the construction.
No solution in DPR talks
Negotiations between Nepali and Indian delegations on sharing the waters of Mahakali river ended without the sort of breakthroughs senior government officials were hoping for.
In the end, the Indian side was willing to consider reviewing their long-standing water requirements for irrigating the northern plains of Uttar Pradesh, a factor which has stymied past negotiations on preparing a joint-Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Pancheshwar Project.
The project is the centrepiece of the Mahakali Treaty signed by the two governments in early 1996. It envisages constructing a 315 metre tall highdam to harness the Mahakali river, generate 6480 MW of power and irrigate large swaths of land, mostly in India. But preparing a joint-DPR for the project has so far been a herculean task.
Cancer hospital-final stage
Construction of B.P.Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital, the only centre for the study and treatment of cancer in the whole country is now at the final stage.
According to Chinese engineers who are involved in the construction of the 100-bed hospital building, 80 percent works have already been completed. The foundation stone of the hospital building was laid by Girija Prasad Koirala about a year ago. B.P.Memorial Cancer Hospital Development Board has been running the day care centre for the last two years and examining 30 to 40 patients a day.
Who is to blame for mounting road toll ?
A traffic law enacted to minimize vehicle accidents has inexplicably led to more deaths on the nation’s highways, charge critics. The law, Traffic and Transportation Management Act(TTMA) amended in 2049, mandates that the owner of a vehicle which kills a person on the road has to pay a total of Rs. 17,500 to the victim’s family for compensation and last rites.
However, the law also provides for treatment of the accident victim by the vehicle owner if the former is only injured but not killed.
But the driver’s share doesn’t exceed five percent of the total expenses, according to the law. These provisions, charge critics, encourage vehicle drivers to crush accident victims to ensure that they are not just injured but dead. The rationale: it costs only Rs 17,500 for compensating the dead’s family, but could cost much more to meet the medical expense if the victim is only injured.
"Why are accident victims killed in such a fashion by drivers?" laments Suresh Ghimire,a motorcyclist who frequently travels along the highways. "Even if the victim could survive, the driver returns with the vehicle and crushes him to death. The unstated rationale-it is after all only Rs 17,500".
Accusations of intentional killing are brushed aside by veteran government attorneys. The law, they say, is not to be blamed for road accidents. "The charges are mere rumors which are never proved,", says advocate in the Attorney General’s Office, Chetnath Ghimire. "I haven’t come across any such case in my entire career", says Ghimire who has advocated hundreds of cases during his more than one and half decades long career.
