Lalitpur, Feb. 26: Environmental scientist at the american agriculture department and professor bruce a. Kiemthal gave a lecture on “Plant Growth and the Increasing Carbon-Dioxide Levels” at the Nepal Agricultural Research Council here on Friday.

Professor Kiemthal said that since carbon-dioxide plays an important role in the photosynthesis process, it helps a great deal in enhancing plant growth and crop yield.

Based on his study and experiments, it was found that increased levels of carbon- dioxide on tomato and paddy crops increased the production by 50 and 43 percent respectively. Currently researches are being carried out on the impact of increasing carbon-dioxide levels on the temperature of the soil, its humidity, evaporation, use of irrigation and light, humus content of the soil, microbes content of the soil, soil fertility and other factors.

It has been found that the level of carbon-dioxide has increased from 310 P.P.M. In 1960 to 370 P.P.M. In 2000 and studies have been conducted on the impact of increased carbon-dioxide levels on the cotton, orange, rye and wheat crops.

According to the Agricultural Research Council, the lecture was very insightful, useful and timely as well for agricultural research workers, planners and policy-makers in the light of the global climate changes and increasing carbon-dioxide levels in the earth’s atmosphere.

In Nepal also, a programme has been  formulated by the Agricultural Research Council for studying the impact of increased carbon-dioxide level on the country’s agriculture. The lecture was coordinated by senior agriculture scientist Dr. Kishor Kumar Sherchan of Nepal Agricultural Research Council.

Ramechhap, Feb 26: Teachers of Ramechhap boycotted a talk programme on ‘norms of education – employment, development and humanity’ organised by the District Education Committee on the occasion of the 25th Education Day.

The Nepal Teachers Association, the Nepal National Teachers  Organisation and Nepal Teachers Council failed to take part in the programme.

Though the teachers who were sitting in groups a little distance away from the venue of the function were called repeatedly  to attend, no teacher participated.

President of the District Teachers Association Ramechhap Laxman Kumar Ghimire said  they  were obliged to boycott the function because of  failure to implement the agreement reached between the government and the teachers.

At the function presided over by District Education Committee chairman Kailash Prasad Dhungel, various speakers including ex-MP Dev Shankar Poudel, DDC Vice Chairman Ramesh Basnet, DDC member Taranidhi Subedi,  assistant CDO Harihar Dahal and representatives of various political parties expressed their views.

Meanwhile in Mahendranagar, various programmes for improvement of the physical facilities  at schools have been launched in Kanchanpur district under the district basic and primary education programme with funding from the grant assistance provided by the government of Japan.

As part of the programme, the government of Japan has provided grant assistance  for construction of a total of 130 class rooms at various schools in the district, it is learnt from the District Education Office, Kanchanpur.

For this purpose depots have been established at local krishnapur, belauri and mahendranagar for implementation of the programme. Schools entitled for the grant can collect the construction materials required for improving their physical infrastructure from these depots.

In this connection, an introductory seminar was also organised for the headmasters and the school management committee chairmen of the schools  selected for the programme for the supervision of the construction works.

Kathmandu, Feb. 26: Some generous people have come forward to put up the money needed for the treatment of Deepak Puri, a 13-year-old boy from Pipaldanda VDC, Sindhupalchowk district who is suffering from some actuarial disease.

A number of individuals and social service organisations contacted the National News Agency (RSS) to show interest in sponsoring treatment of the boy following dissemination of a news item about his plight despatched by its district reporter and published in different newspapers. The boy had been unable to receive the needed surgical treatment for lack of the requisite Rs. 15,000.

Some people are also said to have gotten in touch with the boy’s family.

Ratna Children’s Trust has shown readiness to extend full cooperation for the treatment and has asked all persons and organisations interested in extending support to contact its office at Bhrikuti Mandap, phone No. 227959.

Kathmandu, Feb. 26: Former Minister Bimalendra Nidhi has said that the present government should be given sufficient time to display its work

Dhangadhi, Feb. 26: Some 597 incidents of human rights violation occurred in the Far Western Development Region in 1999 and some 936 persons were victimised, according to the informal services centre (INSEC) Regional Office, Dhangadhi.

The centre revealed that out of the total, some 780 were victims of 555 cases of non-state rights abuse while 183 persons were victims of 42 cases of abuse by the state.

The number of victims in non-state cases include two persons each in cases of murder, infringement of economic rights and terror, 49 in threats of murder and Manhandling, 10 in supression of the right to speak and organise, 19 in girl trafficking, 8 in murder by family members, 8 in abortions, 5 in child rights violations, 4 in community discrimination, 34 in individual murders, 61 in beating up, 4 in cases of unclaimed bodies and one disappearance.

Similarly, the number of victims in cases involving abuse by the state comprise 8 in murder and shootings, 89 in arrest and torture, 15 in threat of murder and Manhandling, 1 involving the right to speak and organise, 1 in girl trafficking and 68 involving landless settlers.

Meanwhile in Chautara, General Secretary of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Pashupati Shumsher Rana, MP, Friday paid his last respects to chairman of local Syaule VDC Ash Bahadur Tamang by draping his body with the party flag.

Tamang, who was elected the VDC chairman in the last local elections on a rpp ticket, was killed by the so-called Maoist terrorists on Thursday.

The body of Tamang which was brought to the district hospital in chautara for post-mortem was taken back to his home village by his relatives for the last rites.

Meanwhile in Sarlahi,   Tika Prasad Dhamala, a resident of Khayarmara VDC, Ward no. 2 in Mahottari district was found dead in dubious circumstances inside the premises of the local Indu Shankar Sugar Mills in Hariaun village, Sarlahi district last night, according to the district police office, Malangwa.

Surya Prasad Dhamala, the elder brother of the deceased, said that Tika Prasad had left for Hariaun Thursday afternoon on a tractor for selling sugarcane.

According to eye witnesses, the watch worn by the deceased showed 11:55, its cover was broken and there were marks of severe beating on his body.

Police have ordered an investigation in this connection and the body has been sent to the district health office for post-mortem.

Janakpurdham, Feb. 26: CPN-UML general secretary and leader of the main opposition party Madhav Kumar Nepal has said that the Maoists are fundamentalist ultra-leftists out to do no good, adding that they would not succeed through violence and terror.

Mr Nepal was addressing a get together with journalists here today.

As multiparty democracy is in a critical situation, the gains of l990 should be safeguarded, he said.

Pointing out that the CPN-UML is taking the challenges facing the country seriously, he said it would seek a way out through parliament and through street action.

Asked by the journalists about left unity, he said such unity is necessary.

Meanwhile, general secretary of the CPN-UML and main opposition party leader Madhav Kumar Nepal has underlined the need of a revolutionary land reforms programme to provide irrigation facility, fix suitable prices for agri-products and give due wages to workers.

Addressing a protest rally organised by the party’s Dhanusha district committee at Tirahutiya today, Mr. Nepal said the country’s economic situation is dismal, prices of commodities have shot up, and factories and industries are on the downward slide.

In-charge of the party’s zonal committee and mp mahendra raya and others also spoke at the function chaired by party district secretary shital jha.

Butwal, Feb. 26: The Rice Mills Association, Rupandehi handed in a memorandum to the district administration office demanding a halt to the import and export of rice from and to India in view of the crisis this was causing to local rice mills.

The seven-point demand put forth by the association includes waiving of custom duty on the import of paddy from India, imposition of custom duty on the rice imported from India to bring it in line with the Nepalese rice market, granting of permission for rice import in conformity with the local demand, and rebates on electricity tariff for the rice mills.

The memorandum also refers to attempts to cheat consumers through the sale of rotten rice from India on the one hand and the creation of more obstacles to local rice mills on the other hand. The association has also demanded that the government take this issue seriously since a number of rice mills are on the verge of collapse.

Bhadrapur, Feb. 26:The Nepal Trade Union Congress (ntuc) third national council meeting which concluded here recently has requested  that His Majesty’s Government take necessary steps to pass the bill on social security of the workers in the coming winter session of the parliament.

The meeting has pointed out the need to form a high level national labour commission so as to work out labour policies and programmes for the next ten years by evaluating the present labour status in the country.

The proposal passed by the meeting calls for approval of articles 29, 87, 105 and 182 of the international conventions passed by the International Labour Organisation, and for greater attention of the concerned bodies to the review of the policies as the deviation in the economic policies since the past ten years following the advent of democracy has seen the poor getting poorer.

As the incidents of murder and violence in the country does no good to anybody the proposal says, the murder perpetrated  in the name of Maoists should immediately be  halted.  It has  also demanded that problems be resolved   for  the full implementation of the international conventions on labour   ratified by hmg.

At the concluding function of the council meeting, president of the Nepal Trade Union Congress Laxman Bahadur Basnet said the ntuc is always effortful in the preservation and promotion of the welfare of the workers. About 400 representatives and observers from 60 districts of the kingdom   had participated at the meeting.

Kathmandu, Feb. 26: Indian president K. R. Narayanan conferred the honorary rank of general of Indian army on chief of the army staff of the royal Nepalese army General Prajwalla Shamsher JB Rana at an investiture ceremony held at the rastrapati bhawan yesterday.

Mr rana is now in India at the friendly invitation of Indian chief of the army staff general v. P. Mallik. According to the royal Nepalese army headquarters, the Indian vice president, chiefs of the army, navy and air forces, defense secretary, royal Nepalese Ambassador to India Dr. bhesh Bahadur thapa and other high-ranking officials were present on the occasion.

Kathmandu, Feb. 26: There has been a change in the habit of Nepalese consumers in the utilisation of goods and services in the last ten years and the trend is now increasing towards spending on education, health and housing sectors.

This is stated in a new consumer price index (CPI) based on the belated results of the third Household Budget Survey 2052/2053 B.S. conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank.

The survey was carried out in 2500 households in 21 different municipalities across the country over a period of 13 months between mid-July 1996 to mid-August 1997.

According to the survey, the commodity weightage for food and beverages in the Kathmandu Valley, the hills and Terai regions is 51.53 per cent, 53.04 per cent and 54.98 per cent respectively while the weightage of non-food commodities and services is respectively 48.47 per cent, 46.96 per cent and 53.02 per cent.

Likewise, in terms of the weightage as per the proportion of population of the study areas, the weightage of food and beverages in the national urban consumers price index is 53.20 per cent and 46.80 per cent for non-food commodities and services.

Similarly, according to the survey the average household size in urban areas of the country is 5.2 persons and 71.8 per cent of the total urban population aged six years or above are literate. Out of the (71.8 per cent) literate urban population, 83.3 per cent were males and 59.8 per cent were females.

The survey states that 71.1 per cent families had their own houses while 24.2 per cent lived on rent. Likewise, 51.4 per cent of the total urban population aged ten years or more were actively engaged in economic activities and the average monthly income per person in the country was Rs 1,426 on the basis of income per person in urban areas.

The survey put the rate of inflation in fiscal year 1997/1998 at 8.1 per cent, fiscal year 1998/1999 at 8.4 per cent and fiscal year 1999/2000 at 11.3 per cent. Similarly, the price fluctuation of food commodities and beverages for the years was put at 8.2 per cent, 6.9 per cent and 16.1 per cent respectively.

The price index for non-food commodities and services for the three fiscal years in reference was 8 per cent, 9.1 per cent and 5.8 per cent respectively.

The main reasons for the differences in the rate of inflation as shown by the price index has been attributed to the addition of more market centres, fluctuation in the number of commodities and the alteration in the weightage of commodity and services included in the price index and the weightage of goods in the new price index compared to the previous price index.

A similar household budget survey was carried out by Nepal Rastra   Bank    in     2040   B.S.   as per its programme of conducting such surveys at an interval of ten years.