For the past some years cases of Kamlaris, young girls sold as bonded slaves usually for a fixed annual sum, disappearing from the house they are employed in has seen a rise in mid-western Dang district, a report in Kantipur Daily said Wednesday.

What’s more, the report said that parents of these young girls don’t even file a missing person case at the local administration or police station due to fear of repercussions.

It has been more than six years that the daughter of Chaturbir Tharu of Dhorahi-2 has been missing from her employer’s house in Kathmandu. However, her status has not been known despite her father desperately searching for her everywhere.

According to the report, poor people of Tharu community in the district hand over their young daughters barely in their teens to middlemen who in turn put them up as a domestic help in the houses of willing families. Through this they hope to earn some quick cash. But in most cases neither they get any money nor get their daughter back.

Chaturbir Tharu had to suffer a similar fate. Expecting a fixed annual wage in return for his daughter who he sold as Kamlari, he got a shock of his life when he heard an unpleasant news of his daughter gone missing from her employer’s house.

Chaturbir had sold his 12-yr-old daughter Sharmila to Saraswati Pokharel of the same municipality in the winter of year 2002 for a fixed annual sum of 4,500. He hoped to pay up the debt of Rs 15,000 he had taken from the bank through the money. But leave alone money, he had to go in search for his daughter after he was told that she has run away from the employer’s house.

“I was waiting for the money to arrive when news came that my daughter is missing,” Chaturbir told Kantipur, “when I asked about the whereabouts of my daughter, the family who had employed her said she ran away and even warned me against making an issue out of it.”

Chaturbir has now paid the debt he owed to the bank by selling his land and house, but he is very worried about his daughter. He believes that the middlemen who had approached him for his daughter might have sold her somewhere else or may be they are just simply lying about his daughter being missing.

According to Saraswati Pokharel, Sharmila ran away from her sister’s home in Kathmandu and that she doesn’t know where she has gone.

Similarly, Sita Chaudhary of Hekula-6 of the district has also gone missing from the past 6 years. She was sold as a Kamalari during a winter festival of 2002 called Maghi when most poor people from Tharu community sell their daughters for a fixed annual sum. Sita’s age was only 11 at the time when she was sold.

But only five days later Sita’s family had to hear an unpleasant news about their daughter going missing. The family that had taken their daughter said they would give them a piece of land in return, but that they should keep their mouth shut about the missing daughter.

“They told us that our daughter has run away. They also gave us a piece of land saying that we better not file a missing person case,” Jhingu Lal Chaudhar, Sita’s father, told the daily.”Where should we poor people go to look for our daughter? We have mostly kept quiet about it till now.”

For the past many years Tharu girls have disappeared like this after being sold as Kamlaris. But till now not even one case has been filed at the district administration or the police.

Fakala Tharu of Friends of Neglected Children, an NGO which works in this sector, said there are dozens of such cases in Dang district.

“The middlemen buy and sometimes even threaten poor parents into keeping quiet about their missing daughters so as to suppress the case. We have uncovered many such cases in the district during our investigation,” Thauru said. nepalnews.com Nov 12 08

Prime Minister Puspa Kamal Dahal (L) talks to Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam at Tribhuvan International Airport before leaving for New Delhi to take part in the second summit of the BIMSTEC Wednesday, Nov 12 08. PM Dahal is scheduled to meet his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh in New Delhi today. nepalnews.com/rh

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (L) talks to Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam…
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal arrived in the Indian capital, New Delhi, Wednesday afternoon, to attend the second summit of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation).

India’s minister of state for Industry and Commerce, Ashwini Kumar, received the Prime Minister at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi where he landed at around 12:15 pm, reports said.

Briefly speaking to media persons at the Delhi airport, PM Dahal said he expected his visit to be fruitful in garnering Indian support for the peace process, economic development and constitution-making process. Dahal is scheduled to meet his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh in the evening.

He is set to address the summit on Thursday and will meet with the regional leaders on the sidelines of the summit.

PM Dahal is scheduled to call on Indian president Pratibha Patil and hold bilateral talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his stay in New Delhi. PM Dahal will return home on Friday.

PM Dahal is accompanied by Water Resource Minister Bishnu Poudel, chief secretary Bhoj Raj Ghimire and Water Resource Secretary Shankar Koirala.

Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav left for India Tuesday to attend the ministerial meeting of the BIMSTEC.

The BIMSTEC has seven member states – Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan. It is a regional initiative for economic cooperation. nepalnews.com Nov 12 08

The Constituent Assembly (CA) has accepted the resignation tendered by a member Mohan Baidya Kiran.

Chairperson of CA, Subas Nemwang read out a letter informing of its decision to accept Kiran’s resignation.

A senior leader of Maoists, Kiran had resigned from the CA stating that he needs to concentrate on party affairs.

He was nominated as a CA member by the Maoists under proportional representation system.

He has, subsequently, been appointed as the chief of the party’s organisation department. nepalnews.com sd Nov 12 08

After the Prime Minister’s promise to fulfill opposition Nepali Congress’ nine-point demands, the budget of this fiscal year was passed by majority on Tuesday evening by the CA in its capacity as legislative parliament, reports Nepal Samacharpatra daily.

Even though the NC voted against the budget, it did not block the process of voting allowing, thereby, for its passage by majority.

Meanwhile, each of the CA member will now be entitled with Rs One million to carry out development in their respective constituencies.

A total of Rs 601 million will now be allocated under the Constituency Development Fund.

A CA member can spend the money through District Development Committee on development project of his/her choice.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda informed the parliament about the understanding to allocate the money. nepalnews.com Nov 12 08

A senior leader and former general secretary of Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) Madhav Kumar Nepal has said that the two ruling parties Maoists and UML have agreed to determine standards for making political appointments.

“There should be some standards and norms determined beforehand, after which the government can shortlist the possible candidates for political positions,” Nepal said, following the meeting of the high level coordination mechanism between UML and Maoists, Tuesday.

“Then we can have competition among the candidates,” he added.

His remarks have come amid criticisms about haphazard picking of names for political appointments by the parties in power. nepalnews.com sd Nov 12 08

A noted social entrepreneur and development worker, Mahabir Pun, has said Nepal must exploit information technology (IT) to transform the society and build ‘New Nepal.’

Pun giving his presentation.
Addressing a talk programme organised by London Chhalphal—a Nepal-facing discussion forum—last Wednesday, Pun said rather than sitting idle and waiting for political issues to settle, Nepalese should work towards bringing about socio-economic changes in the villages. “Expanding the reach of information technology should be the starting point,” he insisted.

Making a power-point presentation at the Limkokwing University (www.limkokwing.co.uk) at Piccadilly Circus, London, Pun – who was awarded Ramon Magsaysay award last year under the community development category— showed how the Nepal Wireless Networking Project (www.nepalwireless.net), which he is leading, has helped connect more than 20,000 people in 12 remote villages in western Nepal.

‘As I used to work in the field of community development and income generation programmes, I found that lack of communication was creating problems for those projects. It was necessary to bring in something that helped us communicate from one village to the other. This did not start because we had money to spend or out of interest. It was a necessity,” said Pun, who was awarded honorary doctorate degree by University of Nebraska, USA, in December 2007.

The Nepal Wirless Networking Project—that was launched in 2003, when the country was in the middle of a deadly conflict– has been replicated on smaller scale by some other organisations in Makawanpur, Dolakha, Lalitpur, Palpa, Bajhang, Achham, Ilam and Solukhumbu districts.

“Even if it is progressing at much slower pace than we would like it to go, we are moving ahead with a definite goal to provide the benefits of wireless technology to 80% of people living in the rural areas in the mountains and Terai regions of Nepal,” said Dr Pun.

‘One Dollar a Month campaign’

Mr Pun appealed all the Non-resident Nepalese, who are living in developed societies to donate one dollar a month (one pound a month, in case of UK) to help bring about revolution using Information and Communication technology (ICT) in rural Nepal in the field of education, heath care, e-commerce and communication to help people there.

“This campaign is not only about raising money, it is about showing the unity of Nepalese for good cause no matter where we live, no matter what ethnic background we have, no matter what political affiliation or religious faith we have. It is about establishing that there exists special “humane connection” between Nepal and its friends living abroad. Think about this seriously,” he added.

Responding to a query, Dr Pun quoted Non-resident Nepali Association (NRNA) saying that around two million Nepalese were living in different parts of the world other than India. “If we get just 5% of these Nepalese population sign up for this campaign, we will have 100,000 supporters. With this number of people supporting for the information highway project, we can easily connect most of the rural Nepal in five years.

Mr Pun told the audience you may become poorer by $1 or £1 a month but Nepal will get richer by hundreds of thousands and eventually by millions of dollar a year. He also urged various organisations of Nepalese in UK and abroad to help this campaign in whatever way possible.

Referring to Nepal’s recent political transition, Mr Pun said there were multiple examples of such political revolutions in the world history that have not worked well. “Therefore, I would like to ask for your strong support for building one of the basic development infrastructure to bring economic revolution,” said Pun adding “Your support can make this happen.”

During his stay in UK, Pun took part in various programmes organised by a number of Nepali organisation within and outside London. nepalnews.com Nov 12 08

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ held bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart Dr. Manmohan Singh, at the latter’s official residence in New Delhi, India, on Wednesday evening.

According to reports, the two leaders talked about the ongoing peace process in Nepal and the process of constitution making. The Indian PM is said to have stressed on politics of understanding. The Nepali PM also expressed his commitment to complete constitution writing within stipulated time, reports add.

The issues of border problem and Kosi flood also figured in the talks.

Earlier, PM Dahal had reached the Indian capital to attend the second summit of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation).

India’s minister of state for Industry and Commerce, Ashwini Kumar, received the Prime Minister at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi where he landed at around 12:15 pm, reports said.

Briefly speaking to media persons at the Delhi airport, PM Dahal said he expected his visit to be fruitful in garnering Indian support for the peace process, economic development and constitution-making process.

He is set to address the summit on Thursday and will meet with the regional leaders on the sidelines of the summit.

PM Dahal will return home on Friday. nepalnews.com sd Nov 12 08

The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) has withdrawn its warnings to stage strong protests against the Maoist-led government.

The NC made the decision following the statement by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal at the Constituent Assembly (CA) earlier today where he promised to meet the nine point demands of NC.

Terming the fresh commitments made by PM as positive, NC vice president Ram Chandra Poudel said the NC will play the role of responsible opposition. Earlier the NC had threatened to obstruct parliamentary proceedings unless the government met its nine point demand.

PM Dahal had promised to fulfill the demand made by NC regarding returning the properties seized by Maoists during conflict.

PM Dahal promised that they will be returned within mid-December. He even said the government will make provision to provide compensation to those whose properties have not been returned yet. nepalnews.com sd Nov 11 08

Addressing the legislative session of the Constituent Assembly today, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the government is commitment to implement various agreements reached in the past.

Prime Minister Puspa Kamal Dahal arrives at International Convention Centre to address the legislative session of the Constituent Assembly on Tuesday, Nov 11 2008. nepalnews.com/NPA

Prime Minister Puspa Kamal Dahal arrives at International Convention Centre…
Responding to the 9-point memorandum submitted by the main opposition party Nepali Congress to him, the Prime Minister said that most of the issues raised by the Congress party were related to the implementation of latest agreement signed by the parties few months earlier, which included return of properties seized during the Maoist insurgency, scrapping of the paramilitary structure of the Young Communist League (YCL) as well as the dual security arrangement for Maoist leaders.

Although he admitted lapses in the implementation of the agreements, Dahal claimed some progress has been made in the implementation of some of these commitments and that the government would make further efforts to fulfill them. He also told the House that procedures for return of the sized properties would be done under the monitoring of a parliamentary body to ensure that works are done effectively.

The NC on Sunday had submitted the memorandum to the Prime Minister, demanding the government implement the past agreements including immediate return of properties seized by the Maoists. The party had demanded that the Prime Minister respond to the demands in the parliament.

Similarly, the Prime Minister said the budget session should be wrapped up as soon as possible to start constitution-making process, stressing that new constitution must be written in time.

Responding to objection raised by lawmakers to the Defence Minister’s clarification that he never met the suspected PLA commander who has been accused of murdering businessman Ramhari Shrestha, Prime Minister Dahal said the government was serious about initiating action against the culprits.

“We’ve taken Ramhari murder case very seriously and we believe that the culprits must be punished,” he said. “Culture of impunity does exist in the country, but the government is committed to end it.” nepalnews.com mk Nov 11 08

The two main ruling partners, CPN Maoist) and CPN (UML), today reached an understanding to reconstitute the special committee for army integration and try to convince the Nepali Congress to join it.

UML general secretary Jhala Nath Khanal speaking at a programme in the capital Tuesday revealed that a meeting of the high-level coordination committee of the two parties held earlier today took this decision. According to him, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has been given the responsibility to nominate the members of the special committee.

He said policy issues concerning the army integration have already been agreed upon and added that the ultimatum given by the Nepali Congress with demands including dissolution of the committee and immediate return of properties sized by Maoists during wartime would only make matters complicated.

Meanwhile, a member of the Maoist-UML coordination committee, said the two parties have agreed to carry out the army integration process as per the understanding signed by the seven parties that were part of a coalition.

The meeting of the coordination committee decided to make efforts to take the NC into confidence for army integration, Dina Nath Sharma, a Maoist leader and member of the two-party committee, told reporters. nepalnews.com mk Nov 11 08