Many children of the eastern hilly districts are facing the most difficult situation in their lives after they were forced to leave their villages due to the insurgency, a report said on Thursday.
Children displaced from various places in the eastern hilly district of Okhadhunga to Kathmandu are living under extreme miseries without shelter and food in the chilly season, Nepal Samacharpatra daily reported.
They had to leave their houses and live as internally displaced people (IDPs) to evade the Maoists after they were forced to join the Maoists.
The minors abandoned their places after the rebels approached each household, asking the guardians to send one family member to join their military.
At least 25 children are known to have been displaced from Okhaldhunga villages namely Katunje, Chyanam and Harkapur, but none of them know where to go and what to do to manage food and shelter.
“One displaced child, Basudev Dhamala, 15, has gone missing for some time. Persons known to him said that he is out of contact after a construction company expelled him off the job,” the paper said.
Conflict expert Dr Bishnuraj Uprety concludes that the number of persons being displaced from eastern hilly districts is quite high this time. “It would be quite difficult to return home when you are displaced more than once. The situation is getting complex and it may just get worse in future,” he observed.
The paper quoted Okhaldhunga based journalist Mahajit Rai as saying that the rebels caused closure of 24 community schools in the district depriving nearly 10,000 students of right to education.
Pashupati Shumsher JB Rana (File Photo)
The establishment side of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) headed by Pashupati Shumsher JB Rana has filed a writ petition at the Patan Appellate Court against the special general convention of the dissident faction of the RPP.
The petition demanded a stay order from the Court not allowing the dissident faction to use the party flag and party office.
Home Minister Kamal Thapa
Home Minister Kamal Thapa (File Photo)
The dissident faction comprising most of the members earlier expelled by the party had expelled party president Rana from the party’s top post and elected Home Minister Kamal Thapa for the post by holding a special general convention.
The dissident faction had said that the special general convention only changed the party’s top post not the party structure, claiming that they are eligible for using party flag and headquarter.
The special general convention took the decision to participate actively in the municipal polls slated for February 8 next year.
Talking to Nepalnews immediately after filing the case at the Appellate Court, RPP joint general secretary Khem Raj Pundit said that they moved to the Court to save the party flag and party office as the so called special general convention and the decisions taken by it are illegitimate according to the party statute.
Pundit further said they had also filed an application at the Election Commission (EC) to inform them that the change in party leadership the dissidents brought about is illegitimate and Rana is still the president of the party.
Earlier, the dissident faction submitted application to the EC for official recognition to the decisions of the special general convention.
He informed that the hearing in the case will start from Friday.
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) members on Thursday held discussion with secretaries of home and defence ministries on involuntarily disappeared persons.
During the discussion at the commission’s office in Pulchowk, the NHRC officials informed defence secretary Bishnu Dutta Upreti and home secretary Bal Krishna Prasai, about the complaints registered by the families and relatives of persons who have gone missing, a statement issued by the NHRC said.
The secretaries assured to provide necessary help to the NHRC in future and said they were ready to provide information about the involuntarily disappeared persons.
NHRC members and administrative officials were present during the discussion with the secretaries-duo.
While government has disclosed the conditions of hundreds missing persons in various phases, the NHRC believes there could be many persons in security detentions.
Thousands of people turned up in a major pro-democracy rally followed by a mass gathering organised by the seven agitating political parties in the southern town of Janakpur on Thursday.
Reports from Janakpur said rallies were taken out from various parts of Janakpur. Thousands of activists and ordinary people from surrounding districts also participated in the demonstrations, which later converged into a mass meeting at Bahra Bigha.
Security forces stopped dozens of buses carrying the protesters at various checkpoints but there were no untoward incidents, reports added.
Addressing the mammoth gathering, Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala said the pro-democracy parties were poised to wage a decisive battle against ‘royal autocracy’. “We cannot afford to fight for democracy over and over again. The ongoing movement is going to be decisive,” he said.
CPN (UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal also said stressed that the parties were gearing up for total democracy.
Nepali Congress (Democratic) vice-chairman Gopal Man Shrestha, People’s Front Nepal chairman Amik Sherchan, chairman of Nepal Peasants and Workers Party, Narayan Man Bijukchhe, and Bharat Bimal Yadav of Nepal Sadbhawana Party (Anandi Devi) also addressed the gathering.
Sanjiv Puri,
Managing Director of Surya Nepal (P) Ltd., a joint venture of Nepali investors with India’s ITC and Britain’s British American Tobacco (BAT), sheds light on the near-term plans of his company and shares ideas about some of the present and the future issues in front of the tobacco industry in the country.
Recent corporate communications from SNPL indicate further business diversification of the company. Would you like to elaborate on this?
Surya Nepal constantly explores sustainable value creation opportunities for all stakeholders to enhance its economic engagement with society. However Surya Nepal will only venture into areas where it can establish a sustainable leadership position leveraging local resources, manpower and its own/parent company’s competencies and technical know how. While we are looking at various options there is no firm plan at the moment.
The four different logos that SNPL has brought out relate to social development activities. How are they going to be compatible with the fundamental corporate objective of maximising profit and enhancing shareholder value?
Corporate social development activities are often equated to a bolt on philanthropy, which take the form of various community development initiatives unrelated to the company’s business. While these do contribute to creating societal value, they by their very nature are limited in scale, scope and hence their impact. Supporting community development initiatives is only one facet of corporate social responsibility.
Enterprises are important economic organs of the society and their fundamental objective is to create stakeholder value by enriching and preserving the human, environmental and financial capital that the company deploys in its operations. Robust financial performance is important and provides the platform for deeper engagement on societal and ecological dimensions.
Thus corporate social responsibility is about the Triple Bottom Line, the choice of business models and company’s strategies. Examples within SNPL includes the Surya Nepal Masters – which not only enhances corporate equity but is also leveraged to promote golf and golf tourism; the commitment to backward integration thereby enhancing value retention and competitiveness of the value chain of which we are a part; as well as our abiding commitment to all environmental health and safety issues. The National Safety Award and British Safety Council Award are testimony to this.
What specific activities are planned for the near future under these different fields?
SNPL has been supporting social development initiatives since its inception when we donated around 3.5 bighas of land to Simra village to establish the market (present Simra bazaar). Then we supported the development of rural infrastructure such as road constructions, repair and maintenance, land donation for road construction in order to connect interior villages. Community development today is ingrained into the SNPL system and we do work on several fronts. Our current focus includes:
# Surya Nepal Asha – Community development & empowerment initiatives such as construction & maintenance of schools, adult literacy programmes, training camps for underprivileged women, farmer training on modern sustainable & productive practices, micro irrigation etc.
# Surya Nepal Suswasthya – Community health initiatives such as free health camps, eye and dental camps for the underprivileged, ambulance donations, blood donation camps etc.
# Surya Nepal Prakriti – Environment preservation initiatives such as afforestation and tree plantation drives, adopting environmentally safe industrial practices and training farmers on sustainable practices.
# Surya Nepal Khelparyatan – Promotion of sports, tourism and culture. This includes our initiatives towards nurturing Nepali talent, providing Nepali talent with international exposure and a platform such as the Khukuri Cup to showcase their talent. We also contribute towards the maintenance of heritage sites, towards the promotion of art and towards promoting tourism into the country.
These activities seem to be inspired by the successful experience of SNPL’s parent organisation ITC in India in working with the rural communities. But considering the constraints posed by the present security situation in rural Nepal, how do you plan to reach the Nepali rural communities with these initiatives?
While we do make use of ITC’s experience and technical know-how, our specific initiatives are designed to make meaningful impact here. This is evident from the examples I have just shared.
How has been your company’s experience so far with the recent diversification into readymade garments? What learnings are there for the other readymade garment units in particular and for the entire Nepali corporate world in general?
We are proud to have been able to establish one of the most efficient garment manufacturing units in the region. This unit is equipped with state of the art technology like Lectra CAD & CAM , Duerkopp Adler, Macpi automates and operates on the Toyota sewing system. Our workers are extremely well trained.
Our brand John Players, in a short span of time, has been able to generate high appeal, recognition, loyalty among consumers and trade partners within the fashion industry in Nepal and India. I am happy to state that the quality of garments has attracted the attention of other potential buyers in India and some have in fact placed orders in Nepal.
We remain committed to achieving a leadership position in the apparel market in Nepal and also being recog-nised globally as a reliable cost efficient supplier of superior garments.
At this point, it is also prudent to mention that for the apparel industry to become globally competitive investment in infrastructure and simplification of the regulatory regime are imperative to reduce operating costs. This significantly erodes competitiveness of the apparel industry.
What is going on with your company’s other initiative e-chautari? What are the hurdles in implementing this concept?
This initiative is under review and at appropriate time we will take it forward.
With the entry into readymade garments, your company proved that this sector in Nepal still has a good future provided the right business model is adopted. Now the tourism industry too is facing similar problem as RMG. As your parent company ITC has successful experience in running tourism industry as well in India, is there something being considered for SNPL to enter tourism industry in Nepal?
As I have mentioned earlier we continue to explore various opportunities. As and when we do find a suitable opportunity SNPL will take it forward.
Nepal, very clearly, has substantial comparative advantages in tourism and this industry has a huge multiplier effect on the economy. It can create a large number of jobs and is a vital component of the economy. Hence, we will certainly examine opportunities in this sector.
Tobacco majors the world over are diversifying their business into non-tobacco areas and this phenomenon is attributed to the growing anti-tobacco sentiment led by global agencies like the WHO. What is your evaluation of the anti-tobacco sentiment in Nepal? How long is it likely to take for this perception to grow here to the proportion that may force the cigarette companies out of tobacco business?
In Nepal, less than 50 percent of the tobacco is consumed in the form of cigarettes whereas globally it is more than 90 percent. With the growth in the economy and the changing lifestyle, we expect consumers will upgrade from bidis/chewing tobacco to cigarettes. Incidentally while cigarettes account for less than 50 percent of the tobacco consumed it accounts for 99 percent of tobacco revenues collected by the government.
It is thought that the recent amendment in the company related laws (that allows companies to issue shares on premium) has made it attractive for well performing companies like Surya to raise capital from the general public. Will SNPL now let the general Nepalis to buy its shares? Or are there still some additional regulatory issues to be resolved before SNPL can go to the public?
Our objective is to create enduring value for all stakeholders and we do this by adopting business models and strategies that maximise value creation within the society. The fact that there is over 80 percent value retention in SNPL’s business is a testimony to this.
It is said that the government’s plan to introduce excise stickers on the packets of cigarettes is getting delayed as SNPL has raised objections about the plan on the grounds of its practicability. What is the reality?
Surya Nepal has always welcomed reasonable and pragmatic legislation and has always proactively complied with the same. Over the last 10 years, cigarette volumes have been largely flat while the tax paid by the cigarette industry has doubled from Rs.150 – Rs. 300 crore per year.
However, the tax collection from other forms of tobacco consumption like bidis and chewing tobaccos continues to be insignificant despite being an industry of about Rs 200 crore.
Any tax compliance system should be simple, transparent and auditable. We believe there is an effective system currently in place. As in the past, we have proactively shared our views with HMG. Any new system requires a detailed technical evaluation and establishment of clear specifications and operating policies. For this purpose, a technical team involving stakeholders is suggested.
The power plant of Chilime Hydropower Company resumed operation from Thursday evening after the company and Chilime Hydropower concern committee reached agreement to end the row.
A public notice issued by the Chilime Hydropower Company Limited said the company and the concern committee have agreed to resume the operation of the power plant on Thursday.
The notice further said a meeting of the hydropower company and concern committee is scheduled on Saturday to discuss the demands of education, health and electricity put forth by the concern committee.
The company also expressed gratitude to the concern committee for their cooperation to resume the operation of the power plant.
The power plant remained closed after the row between the company and the concern committee after the committee submitted its demands to the company.
Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Narendra Bikram Nemwang speaking at an interaction programme in the capital on Thursday, Jan 11 07. He said the government would soon publicise the report of the Rayamajhi Commission. nepalnews.com/ANA
Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Narendra Bikram Nemwang…
At a time the government is facing criticism for not taking action against suppressors of the April movement, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Narendra Bikram Nembang has said that legal action would be taken against the King as the then chairman of the council of ministers for suppressing Jana Andolan (People’s Movement) II.
Addressing a programme in the capital on Thursday, Nembang said that the Rayamajhi Commission’s report would be made public at an “appropriate time”.
The High Level Commission formed headed by former Justice of the Supreme Court Krishna Jung Rayamajhi recommended action against 202 people including the King at the capacity of then head of the government for suppressing the April movement.
“Action will be taken not only against those who followed orders, but also against those, including the then chairman of the council of ministers, who ordered to suppress the Andolan,” said the minister, adding that the five-member committee headed by deputy prime minister KP Oli would submit its recommendation report to the council of ministers for the action against those found guilty by the Rayamajhi Commission.
King Gyanendra
King Gyanendra (File Photo)
He said that the Rayamajhi Commission’s report has stated that the then King-headed government committed human rights violation, misused the state coffers and state authority and committed crimes against humanity in suppressing the Andolan.
He also assured that the Rayamajhi Commission report will not be kept in shelves just like the Mallik Commission. The Mallik Commission was formed to investigate excesses committed during the 1990 agitation against the then government but the report was not implemented and no action was taken against the people recommended in the report.
Speaking at the same programme, CPN-UML leader Ishwor Pokhrel said that the way the government is functioning is against the mandate of the People’s movement. He expressed strong reservation over the government’s passivity to publicise the report of Rayamajhi Commission and take action against the culprits.
Human rights activists Krishna Pahadi warned that the elections of the constituent assembly would not be held in peaceful manner unless legal action against the king is taken on charge of crimes against humanity.
25 people were killed and thousands injured in excessive use of force by the security forces to suppress pro-democracy movement of the country.
Keith Bloomfield
Keith Bloomfield (File Photo)
British ambassador to Nepal, Keith Bloomfield, said on Tuesday that the seven-party alliance had decided to boycott the municipal polls due to failure of the government to assure them ‘free and fair’ election, reports said.
Speaking at a programme in the capital on Tuesday he said, “Election is going to take place according to the government and election commission,” adding, “whether it can be credible or not remains to be seen.”
He expressed doubt that the election will resolve the constitutional crisis and resolve the Maoist problems. Bloomfield also asked the government to find a resolution to the conflict through peaceful dialogue. “Confidence building measures are urgent between parties and Maoist forces,” he added.
The government is holding municipal polls on February 8 despite the call from alliance of seven opposition political parties and the Maoist threat to disrupt it.
Envoy Bloomfield, who expressed dissatisfaction over the Maoist decision to withdraw from the four month long unilateral ceasefire, said, “The government is not ready to find consensus with the political parties despite repeated calls from European Union and other international communities.”
He described the 12-point agreement between Maoists and the alliance of seven opposition political parties as a right direction to resolve the problems dogging the country.
The Maoists and political parties reached to an understanding for the restoration of complete democracy in the country and to give a peaceful outlet to the Maoist insurgency.
Referring to the Indian envoy’s recent interview, Bloomfield said, “I was struck by the closeness of our analysis in our policy prescription by Shiv Shankar Mukherjee’s latest interview. I do not say pointedly, but we are very close.”
He also expressed his displeasure over the royal move. “We regard the Royal takeover as a step backward for democracy. We have repeatedly being saying this. There are not many positive signs after Feb 1,” he added.
Bhutanese human rights leader Teknath Rizal
Bhutanese human rights leader Teknath Rizal (File Photo)
Bhutanese human rights leader Teknath Rizal has said that Bhutanese refugees will return to their motherland at any cost.
Speaking at a programme held at the Beldangi refugee camp on Tuesday, Rizal said the refugees will not bow down to the Bhutani King, adding, “We will go back to our motherland at any cost.”
About 30,000 Bhutanese refugees took part in the programme.
“Talks between Bhutan and Nepal alone cannot solve the refugee problem,” The Himalayan Times daily quoted Rizal as saying.
He also urged the Nepal government to take initiatives to make conducive environment for dialogue between the refugees and the Bhutani King.
Rizal further said that cuts in relief assistance are unfair, which have aggravated the problems of the refugees.
Over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees of Nepali origin are languishing in the seven UNHCR-maintained camps in eastern Nepal for the last 15 years. There have been over a dozen rounds of bilateral talks between Nepal and Bhutan in as many years but to no avail.
THE ARCHITECT OF MODERN NEPAL: His late Majesty King Prithvi Narayan Shah the Great. (Photo source : gorkhapatra.org.np)
THE ARCHITECT OF MODERN NEPAL: His late Majesty King Prithvi Narayan Shah the Great. (Photo source : gorkhapatra.org.np)
The 284th birthday of His Late Majesty King Prithvi Narayan Shah and the National Unity Day is being observed throughout the country amidst various programmes on Wednesday.
The day is observed as the National Unity Day as His Late Majesty built modern Nepal, which was divided into more than 50 principalities, and united all communities and religions.
His Late Majesty was born to King Nara Bhupal and Queen Kaushalyawati on the 27th of Poush, 1779 B.S. in Gorkha.
He began the crusade by first defeating Nuwakot in 1801 B.S, and defeated Kathmandu in 1825 B.S.
He treated the losers equally as his citizens without giving them any trouble, nurtured the prevailing traditions, culture and enhanced the religious trust.
The day also holds significance for mutual goodwill, and tolerance between communities.
The founder of modern Nepal, Prithvi Narayan Shah?s 284th birth anniversary ?Prithvi Jayanti? is being celebrated today. The rally began from Royal Nepal Academy, Kamaladi and ended after offering garlands at the statue of His Late Majesty Prithvi Narayan Shah in front of Singha Durbar, Wednesday, Jan 11 06. nepalnews.com/ks
Late King Prithvi Narayan Shah the Great Prithvi was not only a nation builder, but also a far-sighted King, which is evident in the ‘Dibyopadesh’ (great words) given in his last days in 1831 B.S. to the country.
In the messages, Late King gives priority to the people power, governance through popular will, corruption free society, social justice and encouragement to indigenous industries. These messages can still be taken as guidelines for the welfare of the state.