Kathmandu, Apr. 17:Minister for Commerce and Industry Ramkrishna Tamrakar said the works carried out by the ministry and departments under it should be effective, result-oriented and as per the aspirations of the people.
Minister Tamrakar was issuing directives to the chiefs of different department, projects and development committees under the Commerce Ministry at the second quarterly progress evaluation meeting here today.
He also urged the office-bearers concerned to come up with detailed report of the development and proceedings of the projects.
National Planning Commission (npc) member Dr. Shanker Sharma suggested that the works executed should be listed, priority sectors identified, the risk on basis of the development of projects identified and repetition of works among bodies under the ministry avoided.
Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Narendra Bikram Nemwang and commerce secretary Mohan Dev Pant were also present on the occasion.
Initiating the meeting, joint secretary at the Commerce Ministry Lilamani Poudyal said exports and imports maintained a high growth rate during the evaluation period, trade deficit reduced and the trade between Nepal-India increased.
Pokhara, April 17: Reiyukai Nepal, established here 23 years ago as a chapter of the international organisation which works to identify the inner self, promote the spirit of love, instil respect for one’s ancestors and foster world peace, is to extend its cooperation from this year onwards for raising agriculture yields.
As 60 percent of the 460,000 Reiyukai members in the country are dependent on agriculture and many of them live in rural areas, the organisation recently held a national level two-day basic training concerning agriculture.
The training programme was organised with the objective of transforming 48 farmers from the 47 Reiyukai branches and sub-branches across the kingdom into instructors. The trained instructors will contact the agriculture offices and service centres in every district and start their work in line with stated objectives.
It is not possible for the country to increase the area under cultivation to keep up with the increase in population and meet the growing demand for foodgrain.
The Central Bureau of Statistics had projected the population of Nepal for last year at 22,367,048, it is learnt.
The quantity of foodgrain necessary to feed nearly 22.5 million people is about 4,286,000 metric tons a year.
The total output of paddy, maize, wheat and millet last year was only about 4,100,000 mt, it is learnt from Nepal Agriculture Research Council (narc). Narc has categorised these five crops as main cereals.
Looking at the figures for last year, the output of foodgrain fell short by about 1,000,000 mt.
The Population Census of 2048 Bikram year states that 8.1 percent of the population is dependent on agriculture. Intellectuals express concern at the import of foodgrain to meet the deficit in a predominantly agricultural country like Nepal.
On the other hand, data collected last year reveals that the total cultivable land in the country is 2,968,017 hectares.
Only 886,249 hectares of cultivable land (30 percent of the total) has irrigation.
As the population continues to grow at the rate of 2.4 percent per annum and the deficit in foodgrain goes on increasing, it becomes necessary to enhance the productivity of the cultivable land to increase agricultural output.
It is felt here that the time has come to pay attention to irrigation, soil nutrients (fertilisers), improved seeds and appropriate technology to increase productivity and output.
The private sector and the Agriculture Inputs Corporation (aic) together were able to supply only 156,828 mt of chemical fertiliser last fiscal year which, on the average, is equivalent to only 30 kg per hectare. This is one of the reasons for the decline in output, according to farmers concerned.
Agricultural loans of over five billion rupees were disbursed last fiscal year and aic supplied 1,905 mt of improved seeds, according to the data.
The excessive use of chemical fertiliser and an unscientific agriculture system have caused rapid decrease in the fertility of soil. It is time to pay attention to blending the use of compost fertiliser with chemical fertiliser to consistently improve the soil fertility, according to the concerned experts.
Considering the area under paddy cultivation and the expected yield in the current fiscal year, productivity is expected to be the maximum as compared to each of the last 30 years, according to narc.
Realising that there should be not only a green revolution but also an evergreen revolution to increase foodgrain output, narc has initiated research accordingly, says senior scientist and head of narc’s publicity and documents division Bhola Man Singh Basnet.
An integrated pest management programme should be carried out to increase productivity, according to scientists.
Likewise, the concerned authorities should also pay attention to agriculture markets, cold storage, credit at low interest rates, accessibility of technical services, construction of rural roads, etc. to motivate farmers to raise farm output.
Many people are of the view that the agricultural sector should be revolutionised through commercialisation and mechanisation. The misconception that educated people should not do physical or manual work should be discarded.
Drawing attention towards cultivable land with irrigation left fallow throughout the year, some intellectuals suggest that law should be enacted under which land owners cannot keep cultivable land fallow.
More land tax should be levied on such fallow land. And if land tax could be reduced on land cultivated throughout the year, it will go a long way towards increasing agricultural output, according to chairman of Kaski district development committee Punya Prasad Paudel.
The government has already formulated and introduced the 20-year agriculture perspective plan. However, central member of Nepal Peasants Association Keshari Raj Parajuli laments that farmers are still in the dark about the plan.
From 1960 till now, 163 strains of 28 different crops have been released in Nepal for various areas, registered and recommended for use with a complete technology package, according to narc.
Among those recommended for the rainy season are 44 paddy strains, 15 maize strains, three millet, four groundnut, six soybeans, two bean, two lentil and two jute strains.
The desired productivity and output levels will be achieved only if the complete technology package recommend after necessary research is applied, according to scientists.
Kathmandu, Apr. 17: The Bagmati area sewer construction and improvement project implementation and monitoring committee today initiated the construction of a tunnel from Tamraganga to Tilganga.
Construction of the 522 meter-tunnel, which was first initiated in 053/054 B.S. through Khumbu Construction, had turned into a fiasco as the contract with the construction company had been terminated in 2055 B.S. due to some technical reasons. The company had dug about 185 meter-tunnel at that time, according to committee member secretary Ramdip Shaha.
Now, as per the government decision a contract has been signed with China Sangdong International technical and economic cooperation corporation to construct the remaining 337m-portion of the tunnel.
According to information given at the function held to initiate the tunnel construction, the Rs.89.33 million project will be completed in 14 months.
At the function, the general manager of the Chinese Construction Company expressed his determination to complete the project on time and hand it over to His Majesty’s Government.
From the chair, committee chairman Bidur Prasad Poudel described political instability and lack of a development vision among politicians as an impediment to development and construction works.
Since the Bagmati River cannot be cleaned without cleaning all the rivers in Kathmandu Valley, it is imperative on the part of the government to formulate a legislation for cleaning up the river banks, he observed.
Committee member Yadav Kharel, referring to various cases of the river banks being sold, demanded that the government take stern action against those involved in such illegal activities.
Kathmandu ward No. 8 chairman Narottam Vaidya pledged every possible cooperation of the ward in the construction of the tunnel.
On the occasion, member-secretary at the Pashupati Area Development Trust Chetonath Gautam, committee member Bharat Sharma and others spoke about various aspects of implementing and monitoring of the project.
Formed in 2052 B.S. the Bagmati area sewer construction and improvement project implementing and monitoring committee has designed the project work in four phases.
It has already initiated the construction of sewers from Gokarna to Tamraganga and from Mitra Park to Tamraganga, a tunnel from Tamraganga to Tilganga, a sewage treatment plant near Guhweshwori and eight meters wide road and 12 meters wide green belt along the Bagmati river banks from Gokarna to Tamraganga in the first and second phases.
The committee has already completed the construction of 1,446 meter-sewerage in Mitra Park, Gaurighat and Tamraganga section.
The sewage treatment plant, currently under construction, is expected to be complete by the end of Fagun, 2057 B.S. some 61 per cent work has already been completed.
Likewise, about 95 Ropanis of land has already been acquired for construction of the treatment plant and a road up to the Centre, while work is under way to acquire the land required to develop the green belt.
Kathmandu, April 17:State Minister for Commerce and Industry Narendra Bikram Nemwang today said that the government would extend full co-operation to the private sector to systematise and promote the exhibition enterprise.
“The government will support wholeheartedly the private sector initiatives that help enhance the national economy,” Nemwang said addressing the closing ceremony of the 10th Himalayan Expo 2000 here this morning.
Nemwang said that the Himalayan Expo – the annual trade fair – had given a new dimension to industry and commerce during the last ten years.
Such fairs not only open up new avenues in the field of trade and commerce but also generate employment and help promote tourism, he added.
“Trade fairs can be an effective means of promoting export,” Nepal Chamber of Commerce’s newly elected President Rajesh Kaji Shrestha said. “They serve as information exchange platforms between the producers and also contribute to marketing of the goods.”
Shrestha appealed to the government to assist the private sector to construct an international standard exhibition centre to fare better in the competitive environment created by the global trade.
Shrestha also stressed on the long term industrial policy for the growth of this sector.
Organised by the House of Rajkarnicar (HoR), the five-day Expo brought together over 180 exhibitors from Nepal, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Portugal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
The Expo attracted 85,000 visitors – 41,000 of them business ones.
HoR’s managing director Birendra Rajkarnicar said that Himalayan Expo was consolidating itself as a business event over the years. He said about 70 per cent of the participants were business exhibitors.
“The next Expo will focus more on industrial themes,” Rajkarnicar said. “The thrust of the 11th Expo will be to increase export.”
The major sponsors of the event were Shree Distillery, Radisson Hotel, Gorkha Brewery, Kwality Ice-cream and Bottlers Nepal. Other sponsors included Gulf Air, Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, Biman Bangladesh, Pakistan International Airways, Standard Nursery and Nepal Samacharpatra.
Kathmandu, Apr.17:A six-day international course on small hydropower development kicked off here today.
Inaugurating the course, Ram Bahadur Gurung, State Minster for Water Resources, said that the development of hydropower results into increasing utilisation of local resources, rural electrification, among others.
“The government has given top priority to the hydropower development and for the private sector participation in this sector,” he said adding, “Small hydropower is good for isolated community.”
Since most of the small hydropower projects are located in remote areas and are also prone to sedimentation, said Gurung, they should be tactfully assessed.
Arun Kumar of Alternate Hydro Energy Centre under the University of Roorkee, India, said that the course was the result of the interaction of the university with the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) and Alternative Energy Promotion Centre.
“This course with a moderate duration has several chapters like planning, designing, automation, among others,” he said. “During the course, we will visit small hydropower project sites. The case studies we have included in the course are from Nepal, India, and the United Kingdom.”
Said Binayak Bhadra of International Centre of Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), “Micro hydropower projects can mitigate the global warming and threat to climate change.”
According to P.K. Pandey of University of Roorkee, Nepal was selected as the venue for the international course for two reasons: First, due to Nepal’s potentiality to establish itself for remote hydropower development. Secondly, due to close association of Nepalese scholars with Roorkee university.
Above 40 trainees from Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will undertake the six-day training – tagged with Rupees 5,000 for each participant from the seven countries in the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation including Nepal.
Small hydropower developers have already begun to either produce power or construct hydel projects in Nepal. Not to talk about the increasing number of micro power developers across the Kingdom, growing number of small hydropower developers are signing the power purchase agreement with Nepal Electricity Authority.
The government’s policy requires the NEA to buy 50 MW of power from small power developers by 2003.
Kathmandu, Apr 15: The residents of Sirubari VDC, Syangja district and Thuloparsel and Deurali VDCs of Kabhrepalanchowk district have shown that tourists can be attracted by giving them a taste of village delicacies such as Gundruk and Dhindo (a porridge-like dish made of millet or corn flour) at local village resorts as an alternative to five star hotel treatment.
About 50 households of the Gurung community in Sirubari VDC have won the hearts of tourists by serving them Nepalese dishes according to local traditions and decorating their courtyards, gardens and toilets in an attractive manner.
The Tamangs of Thuloparsel and Kattike Deurali have also enchanted the tourists by decorating their localities in Tamang style.
Tourism experts have been stressing the development of village tourism to popularise the cultural, natural and social heritage lying in the nooks and corners of Nepal which can be said to be a playground of nature.
The National Planning Commission has given priority to the concept of village tourism in the Ninth Plan in view of increasing tourist arrivals and their attraction to the villages as well as to social, natural and archaeological activities.
The Ninth Plan mentions extending the benefits from tourism to the rural areas, providing tourism related physical facilities at one VDC in each zone, enabling the participation of local residents in the management and protection of tourism resorts and developing geographically viable rural areas as model tourism villages for purposes of both internal and external tourism.
Tourism expert Dr. Surendra Bhakta Pradhananga says that he has presented the National Planning Commission a village tourism concept andthough HMG had allocated Rs 4,000,000 for this in fiscal year 053/54 B.S. and Rs 5,400,000 in fiscal year 054/55, the money had not been utilised. He complains that the government seems not very concerned as no budget has been allocated in the current fiscal year.
Under-secretary at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation Kiran Dhungel says the budget was not utilised in past fiscal years as time was taken up by study and observation of village tourism development. The Department of Tourism was then abolished, leading to a lack of budget allocation this fiscal year.
Dhungel clarifies that the Ministry has been undertaking the protection of archaeological objects in rural areas through the tourism development fund, setting up information centres and constructing access roads with the participation of local residents. Work on big projects has been undertaken in coordination with other HMG bodies.
Dr. Pradhanang says that tourists can be attracted if trekking routes are developed from the airport or highway to the target villages, farmers’ houses and toilets are managed in such a way that they look attractive in their traditional style and the visitors are welcomed with traditional fare and culture.
The village tourism concept is considered to have been instrumental in economic uplift in developing countries as rural people can be spontaneously attracted to tourism business which gives high returns on low investment and assists in poverty alleviation, income generation and self-employment.
Manager of tTaragaun Development Committee Rabi Jung Pandey says the ministry told the Nepal Tourism Board to build infrastructure after a report was presented by the committee formed to carry out a feasibility study on developing sriantu VDC in Ilam district, Basantapur VDC in Terathum, Dhanushadham VDC in Dhanusha, Tanahu VDC in Palpa and the Khaptad region as Model Tourism Villages.
He says a study has been under way to develop Mahendranagar in the terai region, Jumla in the Himalayan Region and the headquarters of Ilam in the hilly region as tourism hubs from where transportation to nearby tourism sites is available.
Earlier, the committee had presented a report on a community tourism development programme for developing Lamatar VDC in Lalitpur as a tourism destination.
The report was approved and most of the work has been completed. But final approval from the Ministry of Local Development is yet to be received. Pandey confesses that the Community Tourism Development Programme has not been completed due to various reasons.
Chief executive officer of the board Pradip Raj Pandey said reports on feasibility of tourism development as well as the climate, crops, fruits, cultural activities and the exotic traditions of municipalities and VDCs have been received from 33 districts so far as requested by nepal tourism board.
He further said the board has a plan for building infrastructure, carrying out publicity and encouraging private industry to invest in rural tourism once reports from the remaining 42 districts are received.
Dr. Pradhanang says tourists stay two nights and three days in these tourism areas and each tourist spends Rs. 1,200, adding that there is a need to work out a law on commissions as trekking agencies charge more in commission than they spend in the local areas.
Taragaun Development Committee manager Pandey points out the need to make the local agencies more aware of what the foreign agencies do after completion of their contracts. Pandey opines that HMG has to make special endevours to prevent adverse environmental impact in tourism areas.
Kathmandu April 15:The Ambassador of the Republic of Myanmar hosted a reception at his residence on Friday, on the occasion of Thingyang” or the country’s New Year.
The people of Myanmar mark the occasion by spraying scented water on friends and relatives. The people in that country also go to different neighbourhoods and indulge in water throwing contests. Nepalese who have come from Myanmar and also citizens of Myanmar in Nepal, participated in the celebration of “Thingyan” by dousing water on each other on Friday. Diplomats from different countries were also present on the occasion.
Meanwhile, those more religious minded also went to Buddhist stupas and distributed food and alms to the monks at those places. This is a tradition practiced in Myanmar.
An official at the Embassy of Myanmar here in Kathmandu explained that “Thingyang” is almost similar like “Holi” observed by the Hindus. “We are also marking the arrival of Spring and also the new year”, he said.
Kathmandu Apr. 15: Vitamin ‘A’ capsules will be given to children from six month old to five years on April 18 and 19 under the national Vitamin ‘A’ programme launched by the Ministry of Health in 64 districts of the Kingdom of Nepal.
Under the national Vitamin ‘A’ programme, about 2,780,000 children will be administered Vitamin ‘A’ capsules by about 35,000 women health health volunteers at the ward level.
The National Vitamin ‘A’ programme is being launched by the Health Ministry since 1993 in accordance with the call made by the world health summit conference held in 1990 with the objective of reducing child mortality rate, checking eye related diseases caused by Vitamin ‘A’ deficiency and cultivating the habit of eating Vitamin ‘A’ balanced diet.
Vitamin ‘A’ capsules are admninistered to children twice a year in the months of Baishak and Kartik. The National Vitamin ‘A’ Programme is targetted to be implemented in all 75 districts by 2001.
USAID unicef have been assisting in implementing the national vitamin ‘A’ programme since 1993 while Australian-aid has been providing assistance to the programme since last year.
Rajbiraj, Apr. 15: Mahendra Saha and his wife Amirka, residents of Maubaha VDC-7, Tikaliya, Saptari district, are saddened because their little daughter has been afflicted by polio. Besides the Saha couple their neighbours are also worried that the disease might also have afflicted their children too just like it silently crippled Rima, the one and a half year old daughter of the Saha couple.
Couples of months ago Rima walked easily in the courtyard of the house without any difficulty but now she can’t walk with ease.
A few steps of walking makes her tired and she has to take rest before walking further. She only walks with great difficulty, says Mahendra Saha, the little girl’s father. Rima was taken to Laxmipur Bazaar in India for treatment by her parents after she suffered from cold and cough nearly two months ago. The Saha couple spend Rs 4,000 in her treatment but she was not well. Then a local health worker suggested Saha couple take Rima to a nearby health post. The medical workers at the health post suspected polio and referred Rima to the district public health office.
Eastern region surveillance officer of the polio eradication Nepal Dr. Gangaram Chaudhari, who examined Rima sent a sample of her stool to Thailand for tests. The medical reports from Thailand confirmed that Rima was afflicted with the “Point P-1 Virus”, a pathogen that caused polio.
Later it was confirmed that Rima was suffering from polio and the Ministry of Health also declared her a polio patient.
According to Dr. Chaudhari Rima is a polio patient and it is now wise to take precaution so that the polio virus doesn’t affect other children in the locality. Doctors say polio is a crippling disease and once a person is afflicted with it , he/she becomes disabled for life. They say polio is caused by three strains of polio virus. They say Rima carries the more poisonous strain of the virus which affects the patient more. She should have been paralyzed by now. But it is her luck that Rima is only slightly affected by the disease, says Dr. Chaudhari.
Nepalgunj, Apr. 15: Despite many years of efforts by the government and the non-government sector, the problem of landless squatting still remains unresolved.
Rather the problem is found to be getting more out of hand with more and more people becoming landless squatters.
One of the primary factors responsible for the increasing number of the landless squatters is that even those owning land are selling their land driven by the notion that the government provides land for free to the landless squatters.
The landless squatters problem has now become a national level problem. But it is more pronounced in the Terai belt of the country.
It is in this backdrop that the South Asia Partnership-Nepal (SAP-Nepal) office has come out with a report on the problem. The SAP-Nepal report among other things recommends that a national concept should be developed to check the rapid population growth, awareness programmes should be launched, a national inventory of landowners be prepared, politicization of the problem should be stopped and land provided only to the genuine landless squatters to resolve the problem.
Similarly, the report recommends creating job opportunities for landless squatters, stop the practice of providing free land to the squatters and provision of concessional loans to them to start self-employment enterprises.
The SAP-Nepal report is based on the study and a survey carried out by the office in landless squatters’ settlements in Sankhariya and Reshampur of Bardiya district.
The study found that most of the landless squatters population in Sakhariya is made of the migrants from Dailekh, Jajarkot, Salyan, Dang, Pokhara, Chitwan and other districts. The landless squatters in Sakhariya number 105 families with a total population of 600.
The landless squatters’ problem resolution commission had allocated land to these families in 2049 B.S.
Similarly, a total of 77 landless squatters households were settled at Reshampur, Ward No. 3 of Deudakala VDC. There are only 20 landless squatters families permanently settled there at present.
The landless squatters of this area are the migrant families from Dang, Salyan, Dailekh and Jajarkot, it is learnt.
It has been found that since these landless squatters happened to be settled there at the time when a particular political party was in the government, the areas have remained neglected in terms of development when another rival party is in government.
Moreover, the issue of the problems of the landless squatters is found to be highly politicized while the landless squatters continue to suffer from countless many problems.
The landless people have many social, economic and educational problems.
There is also public complaint that these landless families were settled down in Shankhari and Reshampur of Bardiya district without identifying the genuine landless settlers from others and without verifying their land holding as a result of which many fake landless settlers also became successful in grabbing public land.
Lack of suitable land for agriculture, migration, population growth, deterioration in production and unemployment are some of the main factors aggravating the problem in the country, it is learnt.