Altogether Rs.49.5 million has been collected in the Prime Minister’s relief fund for the victims of Maoist violence, the PM’s office said. Donations are continuing to pour in. Guidelines have been prepared for the distribution relief to victims and families of those killed in the insurgency and sent to all 75 chief district officers.

India extradited five more rebels, including two women, to Nepal Thursday after picking them up from a nursing home in Bareily in Utter Pradesh where they were undergoing treatment for injuries sustained in fighting with security forces, official sources said.

Meanwhile, the All Nepal Rashtriya Swatantra Bidyarthi Union (ANRSBU) Revolutionary said 19 members, including 13 central leaders, have been arrested by security forces and asked for their protection. The organization is affiliated with the Maoists.

CIWIN, an organization working for child rights protection, said Wednesday 12 children have been killed, 22 others were injured and three have been abducted in the on-going communist insurgency in the first six months of 2002.

Security forces have arrested more than 100 children while 3000 have been orphaned and 1,500 others displaced. nepalnews.com br July

Nepal ranks 142 in human development index

The Human Development Report 2002 published by the United Nations Development Programme has ranked Nepal in the 142nd position out of 173 countries of the world.

Nepal ranked 129th among the 143 countries that had been listed in the Human Development Report 2001.

In this year’s report Maldives ranks at the top in terms of Human Development Index (HDI) among the SAARC nations. Norway as usual has coveted the top slot in the HDI, followed by Sweden, Canada, Belgium, Australia and America.

African nation Sierra Leon has ranked last in the Human Development Report. The HDI for the nations is worked out after making a comprehensive study of life expectancy, school enrollment, literacy and per capita income.

National Planning Commission Vice Chairman Dr. Narayan Khadka unveiled the report at a programme organized in the capital Wednesday. The report was released on the same day around the world and has focused on the topic ‘Deepening Democracy in a Fragmented World’ as its main theme.

Although Nepal’s human development is still low even among developing countries, it shows steady progress compared to the HDR last year in the composite index that include life expectancy, school enrollment, literacy and per capita income.