The number of tourists visiting Nepal increased by 27 percent in March as compared to same period of last year. A total of 25,553 tourists visited Nepal in March as compared to 20,137 of the same month last year, reports said.

The arrival of tourists had increased by 14 and 12.5 percent respectively in January and February, this year.

The number of Indian tourists went up by 77 percent reaching 7,161 up from 4,041 of March 2005. The number of tourists visiting Nepal from third countries also went up by 14 percent to 18,392 from 16,096.

Of the tourists from third countries, the number of Japanese tourists increased to 2,624 as compared to 1,262 of last year. The number of American tourists increased by 30 percent, reaching 1,597 from 1,223.

However the number of British tourists declined by 22 percent. A total of 2,222 British tourists visited Nepal during the period as compared to 2,842 tourists the same period of last year.

According to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, the arrival of tourists increased by 18.5 percent in the first three month of 2006 as compared to same period of last year.

A total of 63,136 tourists visited Nepal in the first three months of the fiscal year 2006. The number was 53,170 in the same period of last year. nepalnews.com pb Apr 03 06

The Nepalese team, boosted by two goals from rookie midfielder and striker Pradeep Maharjan, grabbed the all important win over rivals Bhutan to start their campaign in the AFC Challenge Cup Sunday.

Nepal was in control from early in the game, but were unable to break the deadlock till after the interval. Basanta Thapa and Tashi Tsering were on the target, but proper finishing prevented them from opening the score. The match took an unexpected twist towards the end of the half in the 41st minute when the floodlights suddenly went out. There was some panic in the stadium with the lights coming back on only after 12 minutes. However, the game resumed and both teams played to a 0-0 tie till the interval.

After the lemon break, Shyam Thapa made a tactical change fielding Raju Tamang for Rajesh Shahi. This was a good move with Tamang creating fluent passes to support the attacking line. Finally, Shyam’s men were rewarded in the 53rd minute when Pradeep Maharjan netted with a superb header off Surendra’s corner kick. After that, it was all the Nepalese team, holding ball possession and threatening the Bhutanese zone continuously.

Pradeep Maharjan showed his utmost caliber scoring the tournament’s most superb goal so far in the 70th minute to ensure a deserved victory for Nepal. Maharjan guided the ball from the mid line where he dribbled past as many as three opponents before firing home from the edge of the box.

Shyam Thapa was happy with the win and told the media, “I am not fully satisfied, but I am happy with the team’s performance.” He further said, “The Bhutanese Coach (Khare Basnet) fielded great tactics which denied us many chances.”

Bhutanese Coach Khare Basnet praised the Nepalese side saying, “I was aware of Nepalese football talent, so we marked Basanta, Surendra and Bishan Gauchan. We knew they played good football, so we tried a defensive game at the start, but failed in the second half.”

Nepal will play its second match against Sri Lanka on 4th April. Sri Lanka defeated Brunei 1-0 in other match played at same venue. nepalnews.com bt Apr 03 06

A study report has said that the import surge of agricultural products in Nepal has been adversely affecting agricultural sector of the country.

A study research entitled, “Import Surge in Nepal, a case study of Rice” has said that increased cost of production and lack of competitiveness of the domestic agriculture sector and Indian decisions with respect to their domestic agriculture are the main factors for the surge in agricultural products in Nepal.

“Given the increasing cost of production per hectare, the relative competitiveness of the Nepalese agriculture sector is very weak. This is an important issue since Nepalese agriculture has to compete against Indian agriculture, which receives subsidy in most agricultural inputs, including that of electricity in some states,” the report adds.

“Cheap Indian agricultural products easily find market in Nepal both thorough formal and informal channels, thus posing a serious challenge to the Nepalese agricultural sector,” the report said.

The report further said there is high presence of imported rice in the urban markets of Nepal. “In case of Bhairahawa particularly, 60-80 percent of the total rice sales was of the Indian variety. Similarly, 20-40 percent of the rice sold in Nepalgunj came from India,” the report adds.

The main reasons for import surge are low productivity, open border with India and no qualitative restrictions.

According to statistics, adequate food is available in only 10 districts of the country while 21 districts have food surplus and the rest of the districts have food shortage.

Stating that Nepal neither has the capacity nor the expertise to prove injury resulting from imports, the report said, “Countries like Nepal have to be provided with practical policy option to deal with such negative impact.”

Speaking at the report launching ceremony, vice-chairman of National Planning Commission Dr Shankar Sharma said that though import surge is a serious problem for the domestic agriculture market, there has been no report of injury to the domestic market from the import surge of rice.

The import surge will affect those who has surplus food, so it will not have a large impact in Nepal, he said. He however stressed on the need of further study in the area of injury caused to national industries.

Under secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Dr Krishna Prasad Pant, said, “If the problem is creating serious impact in the local agriculture industry, we will be able to adopt safeguard measures as per the provision of World Trade Organization (WTO).” He however said that there were not such impacts in Nepal till date.

Dr Shibish Chandra Regmi, country director of Action Aid Nepal said that the import surge will have adverse effect in food security and price of goods.

“Though in the short run, the import surge reduces the prices of goods, in the long run, it makes countries dependent on their (exporting country) products ultimately resulting in the price hike of goods,” he added. nepalnews.com pb Apr 03 06

The investigation committee formed by the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) to probe the Rauteli Bichawa VDC incident in Kanchanpur district, where RNA personnel beaten over 150 villagers, recommended to the military court to take action against 13 soldiers, including a captain on Sunday.

A press statement issued by the far western divisional headquarter of RNA said the probe committee has recommended action against the soldiers of the Simhapur Post, who were responsible for the incident.

According to the RNA, these soldiers were deployed for the security of the Royal Shuklaphata Wildlife Reserve.

The soldiers recommended for punishment include a captain, a team head second lieutenant, 10 others including a Jamadar.

The recommendation was made after 72 hours of investigation by the probe committee headed by assistant brigade commander of the RNA’s number 25 Brigade in Mahendranagar, Ram Krishna Adhikari.

The statement further said the RNA provided additional relief materials to the 148 families who were manhandled by the RNA personnel.

Some amount spent on the relief assistance will be recovered from the culprits, the statement adds.

Two week ago, security personnel had summoned some 150 villagers to the army post after the Maoist rebels killed one of their men while on leave in the village.

The security men beaten up villagers accusing them of giving shelter to the rebels.

However the RNA statement said they were not beaten up seriously as publicized but manhandled after the villagers did not give information about the death of the soldier killed by the Maoists. nepalnews.com ia Apr 03 06

Notwithstanding their 12-point agreement with the seven agitating political parties, the Maoists on Sunday beat up dozens of party cadres of People’s Front Nepal in Banke district of mid western Nepal.

Maoists beat up them in Betahani village in Banke district, as the latter expressed their reluctance to participate in the rebels’ function.

Talking to Nepalnews, central committee member of PFN, Bed Prakash Acharya informed that the Maoists verbally abused and later beat them up with sticks after they did not participate in the function.

He said that all people who were physically assaulted by the Maoists are cadres of People’s Front Nepal.

The Maoists also seized four tractors from Holiya to ferry the locals to their program venue.

Acharya further said that the issue has raised serious question about the sincerity of the rebels in the 12-point agreement.

Though the very incident will not affect the understanding, the seven party alliance is taking the issue very seriously, he added. nepalnews.com pb Apr 03 06

One day after two Irish companies issued public notice and announced that they have canceled their air lease agreements with Cosmic Air, the airline issued a Public notice on Monday and warned to take legal action against the two Irish companies.

In a public notices carried in major broadsheet dailies, Cosmic Air said, “We, the Cosmic Air have obtained an interim order from the Appellate Court Patan on 27 February 2006, in relation to the aircraft and have been operating the aircraft accordingly. We therefore are in conformity and in adherence to the law of the Kingdom of Nepal and the order of the court in respect to the operation of the aircraft.”

In separate public notices carried in the front pages of major broadsheet dailies on Sunday, the AerCap Ireland Limited and AerCo. Ltd– owners of Fokker 100 aircraft– said the Cosmic Air (Pvt.) Ltd. had no authority to possess and operate their two Fokker 100 jets (9N AHO and 9N-AHN respectively).

In their notice, the Irish companies said they had leased two Fokker 100 aircraft to the Cosmic Air on 18 January 2005 and 1 April 2005 respectively.

“The Cosmic Air Pvt. Ltd. had for some time been in default under the above mentioned Aircraft Operating Lease Agreement which resulted in us terminating the leasing of the aircraft (with effect from) 15 March 2006.”

They said they had already informed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) of the termination of leasing and had requested for the safety of the passengers and the aircraft to ground the said aircraft.

They warned that any operation of those aircraft “would be the flagrant violation of the aviation law of the country and thus unlawful.”

However Cosmic Air in its public notice said, “We are in full compliance with the Nepalese Civil Aviation Airworthiness requirements and all other relevant Aviation Laws, which are mandatory for operation of all aircrafts in Nepal.”

Stating that the act of publishing such notices in the newspapers by AerCap and AerCo Ltd. is misleading, defamatory, derogatory and against the business repute of the company, Cosmic Air said, “We will be initiating legal action against AerCap and AerCo Ltd. in appropriate legal authority of Law in Nepal.”

The Cosmic Air also requested all concerned not to be misled regarding the operation of the said aircraft by Cosmic Air.

In October 2004, the Cosmic Air had acquired its first 105-seater Fokker-100 jet in lease from AerCap Ireland Ltd. Later, the number rose to four. Cosmic Air was operating its flights along domestic routes as well as to Dhaka, Delhi, Benaras and Kolkata with its planes. nepalnews.com pb Apr 03 06

Just three days ahead of the general strike and rallies planned by the Seven Party Alliance focusing in the Nepali capital, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has announced that it will observe unilateral ceasefire within the Kathmandu valley with effect from Monday evening until further notice.

In a statement issued on Monday, chairman of CPN (Maoist), Prachanda, said his party had taken the decision “to cease all of its military activities” in the capital valley keeping in view the requests made by the alliance and civil society groups and also to expose claims by the royal government that the Maoists were planning to infiltrate into the protest programmes organized by the SPA.

In his statement sent over e-mail, Prachanda alias Pushpa Kamal Dahal said his party would extend its “full support” to the programmes of general strike, rallies and non-cooperation announced by the SPA this week (April 6-9) as per the spirit of the second memorandum of understanding entered between his party and the SPA last month.

Prachanda also appealed to people from all walks of life to come out in the streets to rally behind the pro-democracy movement. He also alleged that the royal government was conspiring to what he called unleash “state terror” against the peaceful movement being launched by the opposition parties against the 14-month-old direct rule of the king.

The opposition alliance has said it will continue its agitation until the monarch gives up his absolute powers.

There has been no comment from the Nepali government as yet regarding the latest announcement of ceasefire by the CPN (Maoist).

Talking to early morning talk show over Image F. M. on Sunday, spokesman of the government and Minister of State for Information and Communications, Shris Shumsher Rana, said he had also heard of possible unilateral ceasefire from the Maoists. “But the government is not going to fall in their trap. We have seen in the past that they used their unilateral ceasefire to regroup and rearm their cadres,” he said.

The rebels withdrew their four-month-long unilateral ceasefire in January this year alleging the government of not reciprocating to their gesture.

Over 13,000 Nepalis have lost their lives in the decade-old Maoist insurgency. nepalnews.com by Apr 03 06

Just three days before the major protest programme announced by the seven opposition parties in the country, officiating head of the European Union (EU) in Nepal, Pauli Mustonen, has said there is a strong risk of political collapse in Nepal unless all involved moved quickly to address the country’s problems effectively.

Speaking at an interaction organised by the New Media Club in the capital, Kathmandu, on Monday, Charge d’ affairs at the Finnish embassy in Kathmandu, Pauli Mustonen, said, “The continuing inability of stakeholders to enter into constructive dialogue towards peace has wide-ranging repercussions on Nepal’s standing in the international community.”

Expressing dissatisfaction over the detention of leaders of political parties and rights activists and restrictions over media and freedom of expression in the country, Mustonen said, “In several statements, the EU has demanded the release of political leaders and other activists that have been detained arbitrarily and without trial and also removal of the severe restrictions that have been imposed by the government on media and freedom of expression,” adding, “These actions undermine the government’s credibility in its claim to restore peace and democracy and they deepen further the mistrust between different actors.”

The EU earlier welcomed the efforts of the seven political parties to bring Maoists into the mainstream politics.

“The EU recognises the efforts of the political parties to draw the Maoists into the political mainstream and welcomes the statements by the political parties urging the Maoists to renounce violence,” Mustonen said, adding, “On-going Maoist violence undermines the cause of peaceful movement and makes it easier for opponents of political engagement to justify their refusal to engage. We, therefore, urge the Maoists to resume a ceasefire, and to renounce violence permanently.”

“The EU policy towards Nepal aims at de-escalation of violence, transition of multi-party democracy and an inclusive and comprehensive peace process involving all stakeholders (especially the King, political parties and the Maoists),” he added.

He also urged the royal government and the Maoists to call ceasefire to build necessary confidence for a political solution to the conflict.

He also asked the Maoists to assure that their arms have to be put permanently beyond use if political settlement is to be achieved.

“Without such a demonstration nobody in the country or in the international community will give their claimed conversion to democracy any credibility. And if it becomes clear that the Maoist are unwilling to move forward into a meaningful peace process and an outcome based on multi-party democracy, all of us will have to draw the appropriate conclusions,” Mustonen added. nepalnews.com pb Apr 03 06

Their Royal Highness Crown Prince Paras and Crown Princess Himani returned home on Monday after visiting Vienna, capital of the Republic of Austria as well as France and UAE.

The royalties had left the country for Vienna on March 19.

Crown Prince addressed a programme organised to handover a pair of rhinoceros from Nepal to the Vienna Zoo on March 22.

The Royal couple also graced the launching of King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC) Austria Chapter.

En route home, the Royal couple also visited the Republic of France and Dubai of the United Arab Emirates. nepalnews.com pb Apr 03 06

10 people were killed and four others injured when a fire broke out at Ranichuri VDC in Sindhuli district on Sunday night.

Talking to Nepalnews, Chief District Officer of Sindhuli Gehanath Bhandari confirmed the incident and said that the fire that broke out at around 10.30 p.m. yesterday.

The blaze completely destroyed five houses and six animal shed, he added.

The incident site is 17 km away from Sindhulimadi, the district headquarters.

Of the injured the condition of one is serious. Three injured people are undergoing treatment at Sindhuli Distirct Hospital, while the critical one is undergoing treatment at Janakpur Zonal Hospital.

Bhandari informed that the District Administration Office has dispatched a team of health workers at the incident site, adding, “We will dispatch relief materials to the incident site on Tuesday morning after our team brings detailed information about the incident.”

He said that he is yet to receive detailed information about the incident. nepalnews.com pb Apr 03 06