Kathmandu, Dec. 15 (RSS): The Government of the Kingdom of Norway has agreed to provide a grant assistance of Norwegian Kroner (nok) 195 million (approximately Rs. 1,664.6 million) to His Majesty’s Government for implementation of the basic and primary education programme, Phase II.

The grant includes the Norwegian contribution of nok 183.3 million to the joint donor funding of Core Investment Programme (cip) component and the rest as technical assistance to the programme over the period July 16, 1999 to July 15, 2004.

An agreement to this effect was signed here today between His Majesty’s Government of Nepal and the government of the Kingdom of Norway.

Mr. Madhav Prasad Ghimire, Joint secretary at the Finance Ministry and Ms. Ingrid Ofstad, Minister Counsellor, Royal Norwegian Embassy in Kathmandu signed the agreement on behalf of their respective governments.

It may be recalled that the basic and primary education programme II(bepep II) has been implemented from the current fiscal year with the aim of expanding access and improving primary school enrollment of children, specially of girls and socially disadvantaged children in school or in alternate schooling programmes, improving learning achievement and strengthening institutional capacity at the national, district and community levels to plan, monitor and improve the performance of primary schools.

On completion of besep II, the net enrollment rate in primary education is expected to increase to 90 per cent from the present rate of 79 per cent and average test score for grade 3 and 5 children raised to 75 per cent from the present level of 45.

His Majesty’s Government has expressed its sincere appreciation and thanks to the government of the Kingdom of Norway for its continued assistance in the socio-economic development of Nepal.

On 8th December 1985, the Heads of State and Government of South Asia signed the Charter of the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation and the Dhaka Declaration to accelerate the process of economic and social development in South Asia through optimum utilisation of human and material resources in the seven countries. The leaders were conscious that peace and security were essential prerequisites for the realisation of these objectives.

The Fourteenth Anniversity of the Signing of the Charter establishing SAARC was marked at the SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu on December 8, says a SAARC press release.

Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, was the Chief Guest. On the occasion, he said: “ The SAARC Charter embodies the lofty goals of peace, stability, amity and progress in South Asia and provides a framework of cooperation for their realisation. We consider the SAARC Charter as a vital instrument for the promotion of regional identity and solidarity and remain fully committed to this objective.”

The Prime Minister was of the view that our region contains the largest number of poor in the world. Indeed some efforts have been made towards poverty alleviation, our success in this field is still a long way off. He added that time has come to seriously think as to how we could promote a genuine partnership and mobilise resources, both national as well as regional, in liberating South Asia from the vicious circle of poverty.

The Prime Minister expressed satisfaction that cooperation in substantive areas has received priority under SAARC in the recent years.

Secretary-General Nihal Rodrigo read out a message received from the current Chairperson of the Association, the President of Sri Lanka, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. In her message, she briefly reviewed the achievements and shortcomings of the Association in the context of the acceleration of profound social, economic and technical changes that have taken place regionally as well as internationally in the last fourteen years.

She looked forward to the Eleventh Summit in Kathmandu to consolidate the achievements of preceding Summits and to work out practical strategies for the future development of the region.

“What progress we have managed to achieve should not lead to complacency; our shortcomings should not encourage pessimism and cynicism”, she said in her message. The first copy of a publication of the Secretariat entitled, The SAARC Mosaic: An Introduction to the Nations of South Asia was presented to the Prime Minister

From Reijo Harkonen in Helsinki Thangka artist Lok Chitrakar from Kathmandu recently opened an exhibition in the Finnish capital Helsinki. More than 20 thangkas – or poubhas – were shown in the Klobben gallery. The exhibition concluded on December 12.

According to a press release of the Nepal Tourism Board PR representative in Finland, Lok Chitrakar had earlier taught thangka painting in a summer art school in Southern Finland and has had three exhibitions in Helsinki.

Disasters like floods, droughts, cyclones, storms, earthquakes, landslides, road accidents, riots and communal violence still pose the same hazards to the people in South Asia as it did a hundred years ago. The victims of these calamities are mostly the poor. Researches show that there are many social and economic causes as well as certain degrees of human contribution which translates the latent hazards into full blown disasters.

The government, the media and the society as a whole remain largely ignorant of the nature of disaster, its underlying causes and its management.

Duryog Nivaran (meaning disaster mitigation in Sanskrit) is a network of individuals and organisations working in South Asia. Committed to promoting the alternative perspective on disasters and vulnerability as a basis for disaster mitigation in the region, this forum is a pioneer effort in the region to present varying perceptions of disasters in the search of alternative, lasting and constructive ways of addressing this problem.

The way disaster issues are portrayed by the media indicate our poor awareness, lack of understanding and coordination in disaster preparedness. As a result our attitude towards disasters, we tend to look at it from a fatalist point of view. Something that makes news headlines, creates sensation for sometime and then is no longer news worthy.

We can make a difference by educating ourselves to see beyond an event and the immediate aftermath. Mass media should be called upon to bring the causes and forces behind an event to the fore. Disaster preparedness must be an integral part both in planning and performance.

These issues were highlighted during a media meet recently organised by Duryog Niwaran.

Paintings by four young talents  are on display in Siddhartha Art Gallery, Babar Mahal starting today. Erina Tamrakar’s paintings are expressions of the female form in which she finds a wealth of mystery and passion. She seeks to reveal their emotions on canvas and thereby partake in their dreams.

Sarita Dangol’s love for nature is exhibited by her focus on forests. She draws her inspiration from the sun soaked greenery, overhanging tree branches, leaves and roots with deep shadows. Her paintings are sans people.

Binod Pradhan paints beyond landscapes. He portrays the feelings that impact on him when he sees the lanes, medieval houses and the street temples through the language of colours. His paintings border on the surreal.

Pradip K. Bajracharya love for people and events express themselves vividly on the canvas. He says he often includes himself as a part of his subjects while painting the festive themes. He enjoys adding on details of their expressions and aspects of their daily lives. The very fact that an acrylic on canvas painting by of a street festival sold out on a pre-view day speaks for Pradip’s talent.

Mediums used are oil on canvas, mixed media on paper and acrylic on canvas. The prices range from Rs.6000- Rs.15000. The exhibition by the Kasthamandap Group, founded by the late artist Prashanta Shrestha will remain open till 3 Jan 2000. Gallery hours- Sunday through Friday- 11am to 6 pm.

The Nepali Congress made a clean sweep in the recently held by-elections, winning all three seats at stake.

In Jhapa-6, NC’s Dr. Gopal Koirala polled 28,066 votes against second placed Devendra Dahal of the CPN-UML, who got 21,958 votes. In Morang-1, NC’s Aamod Prasad Upadhyaya received 26,501 votes to 12,601 of the UML’s Ram Kumar Rai.

Similarly, in Rautahat-4, Prakash Koirala of the Nepali Congress polled 34,979 and UML’s Ram Kumar Bhattarai could get  only 18,639 votes. The UML has said it does not accept the polling verdict of this constituency.

While the polling in Rautahat was marred by violence in some places, those of Morang and Jhapa were relatively peaceful.

In Rautahat polling in one centre was postponed when a mob clashed with police resulting in the death of one person, and some injured.

The results were particularly embarrassing to the CPN-UML, the main opposition party in the parliament. It is more so because the party has been defeated in two of the places, where its two top leaders, Madhav Kumar Nepal and K.P. Oli, had won by comfortable margins in the last general elections.

Initially it was thought that the Nepali Congress will have an easy time only in Morang-1, from where NC president Girija Prasad Koirala had won earlier. The Congress’s win in the other two constituencies has been called a pleasant surprise by even Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai.

Looking at the by-elections, one could easily guess that there are several determinants to the results.

The first is the majority government of the Nepali  Congress, and the voters in those areas may have thought that a ruling party candidate could be a better bet for the development of their constituency.

The second is the choice of candidates. In all the constituencies, observers felt NC candidates were better known.

The Congress candidate in Jhapa is an intellectual and is better known than the UML candidate.

In Morang, Koirala’s influence and the choice of another Koirala clan as the party’s candidate had become an almost certain winner even before the election.

However, in Rautahat, the party’s choice of an outsider still won the bet. Mainly because the legacy of late B.P. Koirala also worked on his son Prakash. Additionally, many believe it was supplemented by his daughter, Manisha Koirala. The Bollywood based heroine was able to create a big wave on ‘her’ side. The influence of showbiz and cinema still works here like in most other countries. But the UML blames the heavy handedness of Congress Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka for its loss. Khadka had virtually stationed himself in the constituency throughout the election.

However, the UML betted on relatively weak candidates, and more importantly it could not assure the voters what it would give to them if its candidates won in the by-elections. Being in the opposition has its disadvantages.

Meanwhile, there is little reason for the Nepali Congress to be overly euphoric with the wins. For, the wins have not come because of the government’s or the party’s good work. At the most, this is only the reflection of the people’s hope that the party in power will do something worthwhile for them.

Two incidents last week brought to the fore the stark reality that the situation in the campuses of the Tribhuvan University has not been improving.

The Tribhuvan University and its campuses had been out of media scrutiny for quite some time with almost no news of strikes and disruption of classes. That led to a false notion that things were actually getting better in the campuses.

But apparently, this is not true. Recently, a fight between two groups of students over a case of eve-teasing at the Ramswaroop-Ramsagar Campus in Janakpur led to the injury of several students. After the fighting the campus was closed for an indefinite period.

However, a more serious incident occurred in the Prithivi Narayan Campus in Pokhara. Millions of rupees worth of materials, including furniture, window panes and computers were vandalized, destroyed and burned by some agitating students in the pretext of police entering the campus and disrupting a meeting of the students’ union affiliated to the Maoist communist party.

The students also set fire to the administrative office of the campus which destroyed almost all the student records, other documents, examination papers and others.

The Campus Chief was also severely beaten up by the students, who  accused him of letting the police inside the campus. The students were holding the 13th district level meeting of the union inside the campus, when the police made their entrance.

The scuffle between the students and police led to the injury of at least three policemen, one of them seriously. While the police baton-charged and tear gassed the students, the students fought back with brick, stones and whatever they could lay their hands on.

The students accuse the police of ‘violating’ the sanctity of the academic institution, but an observer queried, “weren’t the students’ themselves misusing the campus for their political purposes?”.

This has again led to the issue of whether cadre-based political activities should be allowed in the academic institutions or not. Everybody accepts and have realised that politics and politicisation have been the biggest stumbling block in building a  sound academic environment in the academic institutes, especially the public colleges.

The student unions think it is their right to carry out their political activities, but in doing so, they may be quelling the rights of many students who think their studies are more important than politics.

Most feel, after the advent of democracy 10 years ago, giving political freedom to all colours and ideologies, it is time for partisan politics to make an exit from the campuses.

At a time when the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) party has proved its mettle in the recently concluded by-election by wining all three seats in the House, many economists and businessmen have started criticizing the government for its unability to provide momentum to the country’s economy.

After a host of economists blasted the economic policies of the government, now its the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) that has alleged the NC government led by Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai has been unsuccessful in addressing the sluggish economy of the country.

In a press conference held on Sunday, the apex body of the Nepalese private sector business houses and industries charged that the present government despite its majority in the Parliament has failed to provide necessary momentum to boost the economy.

After more than four years of unstable coalition governments, the country saw the present NC government almost seven months back. At that time, the majority government was instantly welcomed by the business and economic sector of the country on the grounds that the stability of the government will provide momentum to the economic growth.

However, in the past eight months, the country’s economic condition hasn’t shown any positive indication. The high price hikes, inflation and sluggish economic growth continued to overshadow Nepal’s economy. In the past eight months only a nominal growth was seen in the revenue administration front.

“We hoped that the majority government of the Nepali Congress would be able to address the problems in the economic sector, and provide momentum for economic development. But, it didn’t happen,” said Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, president of FNCCI, while addressing the press conference.

“The government has paid no attention towards maintaining economic discipline and in bringing about measures for the control of corruption,” he further complained. If the same situation continues, lots of industries will have to be closed down, the FNCCI President warned.

The government should be committed to implement its policies and programmes in order to encourage the business and the industry sector, a press release issued on the occasion said. It should also maintain transparency in the implementation process and at the same time the rules and regulation should be readily understandable, the press release noted.

Talking to the journalists, the FNCCI President also pointed out that after five months of presentation of the budget for the present fiscal year, the government had not taken initiative towards implementation of programmes that it announced to provide support for the economic growth.

On the occasion, FNCCI office bearers also informed about the “Millennium Round of Events” to be held next year. Likewise, the FNCCI officials also said that an economic policy with the “Vision 2010” is also in the process of formulation.

Just trading charges will not solve problems

By Dhana Thapa

The main opposition party, the CPN-UML, started its agitation against the Krishna Prasad Bhattarai led government in earnest from Tuesday (yesterday). Even as the Special Session of the House of Representatives requested for by the UML was about to start, UML supporters staged a sit in protest at Bhadrakali, which is right in front of Singha Durbar. The Parliament is within the Singha Durbar complex. Virtually all the UML MPs were also present at the protest programme.

Later in the House of Representatives, the Special Session began and with the permission of the House Speaker UML leader Madhav Nepal spoke about the justification of the UML move. The House now will meet on December 20 for discussions to start.

Meanwhile on Monday, calling a press conference, General Secretary of UML, Madhav Kumar Nepal had said, “Our party has decided not to accept the election result in Rautahat’s Constituency No. 4 as the polling was rigged with the misuse of administration”.

This response from the main opposition party, whose top leader Madhav Nepal himself had vacated the seat of that constituency, was expected. But it is doubtful anything much will come from this complaint. However the press conference became the first salvo to initiates the attacks against the government.

In the coming days, when discussions start in the Special Session, there is no doubt that the government will be put in a tight corner. For whatever the strengths or weaknesses of the opposition, the issue they have raised, is something with which the people can identify.

First there was the price hike of kerosene and diesel, both petroleum products which directly affect the people in general and also the commodities they buy. If most Nepalese use kerosene as cooking fuel, then diesel is used by the vehicles that carry all goods. So the sharp price hike of these two items, could be felt acutely by the common citizens.

Their woes did not end there. Soon after there was a 30 per cent increase in the electricity tariff too. Apart from the ordinary consumers, most industries too depend on electricity, so what this did to a common man’s budget and also market prices, is easy to fathom.

Thus it can be clearly seen that the government has not taken any popular decisions, as far as the people are concerned. So when these bitter facts are repeated by articulate speakers of the opposition parties regularly in the House, the government will definitely find it hard to defend itself.

But naturally the question arises whether just talking of the price hike in the Parliament is enough or not. Regarding this, UML General Secretary Madhav Nepal quite rightly said, “The Parliament is a place where the current problems of the country are discussed. And we are only trying to demonstrate the effectiveness of it. If the government does not pay attention, we will go to the streets.”

Nepal is definitely right in insisting that the parliament should discuss the price hike issue, which has been painful for the people. In this regard Speaker of the House Taranath Ranabhat also pragmatically expressed the opinion that the Parliamentary move of the main opposition is a positive thing as it has set a tradition of seeking the solution for various problems faced by the country in the House.

This is true. And also like mentioned by UML leader Nepal, the government must be serious about this issue which is making the life of the general people a hard one. Instead of talking of making the nation ‘like America’ in 15 years’ time, the Prime Minister should try to focus his attention on the present difficulties of the people. But the top level leadership in the government, has not shown enough concern to explain things to them.

The present NC government, which does not have to constantly tread on its toes, like the weak coalition governments before it, can seriously look at how the Neapalese, one of the poorest people in the world, have to pay the most expensive prices for basic essentials like petroleum products an electricity.

There must be something wrong somewhere. The government must consider it a duty to ensure the people get relief from such artificially put on burdens. It should not hesitate to pull up the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), the two public utilities that enjoy a monopoly in providing electricity and distributing petroleum products in the country. They must be made efficient institutions that cater to the needs of the people and not make profits to distribute as bonus to their employees. The image of these two institutions in the eyes of the people, till now is that of  “white elephants”, where only the employees that work there benefited. It is true that the workers both at NEA and NOC, enjoy attractive perks, which employees of other corporations don’t get.

But to come back to the issue in the Parliament, what would the UML itself have done about the present crisis? Just criticising the government is not enough. Constructive suggestions must also be given. Even the complaints about the election rigging in Rautahat would have been better, if the UML had accepted defeat, but yet insisted irregularities had taken place.

Trading charges in the House will be easy, but coming out as sincere in the eyes of the public after this, will be the difficult part for both the ruling party and the opposition.

The RPP and the RPP (Chand), the two factions which had split two years ago, have begun talks for reunification. According to a source, in the talks, which began recently, the RPP was represented by Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani, party’s spokesman Kamal Thapa and Rabindra Nath Sharma and the Chand faction was  represented by its spokesman Narayan Dutta Bhatta, Ram Krishna Acharya and Deepak Bohara.

In the talks the RPP side has proposed three agenda wich include the total acceptance of the decision of the party’s second national convention at Birgunj, no additional post should be created in the name of unification and the acceptance of the party’s constitution and norms.

The Chand side has demanded that Lokendra Bahadur Chand and Rajeshwor Devkota should be given some honourable position and the pursuance of the unification dialogue should be between Surya Bahadur Thapa and Pashupati Shumsher Rana from the RPP and Lokendra Bahadur Chand and Rajeshwor Devkota from the RPP (Chand).

The source has claimed that the  central committee meeting of the RPP on December 16 and the Chand’s central committee meeting one week later could be important for the unification of the two parties.

(Nepal Samacharpatra, December 12, Sunday).