Following agreement by the government to rehabilitate freed Kamaiyas in specific time, the latter have decided to end their agitation.

According to the agreement reached between the government and the freed Kamaiyas, they will be rehabilitated within mid-January next year in Dang; by mid-April in Banke and Kanchanpur; and by mid-July in Bardiya and Kailali districts.

The agreement adds that as far as possible, freed Kamaiyas will be provided the land they are currently using.

The nine-point agreement also promises 35 cubic feet of wood, Rs 10,000 cash and 5 kattha of land for every family.

The agreement was signed after weeklong agitation by freed Kamaiyas in Kathmandu. nepalnews.com sd Jul 26 07

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The Maoist-affiliated Samyukta Ganatantrik Dalit Morcha has announced its programme of agitation by forwarding 10-point demands.

Tilak Pariyar, coordinator of the Morcha, addressed a press meet at the Maoist parliamentary party office, Wednesday, announcing the agitation. He said Dalit were continuously being marginalised.

“We are fighting for the rights of Dalit. We are clear that without uprooting monarchy, progress of Dalit people is not possible,” said Pariyar.

The Morcha also submitted a memorandum at the Prime Minister’s Office. They plan to send delegations to political parties, hold protest rally in Kathmandu on July 29, and hold countrywide torch-lit demonstrations on August 10. The Morcha has also announced to impose Chitwan bandh on August 18 and Kathmandu valley bandh on August 22.

At least five persons have died while a teenage girl has gone missing after being swept away by flashfloods caused by heavy rainfall in many districts of the country for the last couple of days. Floods and landslides have also crippled normal life in many districts as vast swathes of land and various settlements have been inundated due to heavy rainfall.

According to various reports, Sabitri Gharti Magar, 40, of Sewar in Dhikpur VDC, Dang district died after being swept away by a river Wednesday afternoon. Her body was found some 400 meters away from her house. Similarly, Nimraj Khanal, 24, a resident of Matera VDC-3 in the same district was swept away by a flashflood while crossing the Kala stream in Tulsipur Tuesday evening. His dead body was recovered some distance away from his house Wednesday morning.

In another incident, 29-year-old Geeta Pulami of Rauta VDC, Udaypur died when she was buried under a landslide in Tarkhola Wednesday. While 25-year-old Angira Khadka of Ratnabati was swept away and died while crossing the flooded Sokhu river, a teenage girl has gone missing when the river also swept her away, reports said.

In Kohanpur of Banke district, Sashi Poudel, 35, was killed after being trapped in her house in Kohalpur-4 as it collapsed due to flood on Wednesday.

The Kathmandu Post reported that hundreds of local have been rendered homeless in Mahottari as rainfall continue to wreak havoc in the district. Many thatched-roofed houses in the villages have collapsed. Similarly, over 300 houses of Birgunj sub-metropolis have been inundated while scores in other villages in Parsa district have also come under water due to flashfloods. Normal life in Sunsari, Saptari, Chitwan and Surkhet districts has also been affected due to rainfall and flashfloods.

A team from the Area Police Post Narayanpur rescued passengers and salvaged a bus that was on the verge of being swept away by the Patre stream on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, as flashfloods and landslides continue to affect life in many districts, experts at the Department of Water Induced Disaster Prevention (DWIDP) fear that things can get worse as this is just the beginning of monsoon. However, the department has taken no measures to prevent disaster in inundation-prone areas.

“The India-built Laxmanpur, Khurdalautan and several other dams and structures at many border points along rivers flowing from Nepal to India are part of the reason behind the inundation,” Khom Raj Dahal, Deputy Director General of DWIDP told the Kathmandu Post.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have said that the situation of food insecurity has worsened in Nepal in recent times.

A series of natural disasters in 2006 and 2007 have severely impacted on crop production in Nepal, placing a significant number of people at risk of food insecurity, according to the joint report released this week by the two leading UN bodies on food relief and agriculture.

The joint report states that a combination of prolonged drought, hailstorms, and flooding in areas traditionally most agriculturally productive have resulted in an estimated 225,000-metric-ton food grain shortage for 2006/2007, compared to a food deficit of only 23,000 tons last year. An estimated 42 out of 75 districts are reported to be food deficient.

The report is based upon the findings of a joint FAO/WFP crop and food supply assessment mission conducted in March and April of 2007.

“The results of the report largely confirm WFP’s earlier estimates that many people, particularly those living in remote, chronically food insecure areas of Mid- and Far-Western Nepal are suffering the impact of consecutive years of drought and the lingering impacts of the 11-year insurgency,” said Richard Ragan, WFP Representative in Nepal.

The WFP Representative has promised help to address these concerns as the situation is particularly troubling during the highly sensitive post-conflict period. “The WFP will immediately address these concerns by targeting 1.2 million people through a new US$49 million Peace and Recovery Programme and urge donors to support our effort,” Ragan added.

According to a press statement by the WFP Nepal office, Nepal is a chronically food insecure, food deficit country, prone to natural disasters that can have serious consequences to agricultural production at both the national and local level. The report expresses serious concern over the estimated national undernourishment rate of 42 percent, with undernourishment rates in hill and mountain areas as high as 50 percent. Stunting rates in children are estimated to be as high as 60 percent in the Mid- and Far-Western Regions, and acute malnutrition rates of children at nearly 18 percent in the Terai.

“This is a really critical time,” said Henri Josserand, Chief of the FAO Global Information and Early Warning System. “The process of national reconciliation can only make headway if the whole country shares in improved access to food and markets, lower rates of malnutrition, and a determined risk management strategy for food security.”

The report concludes that “the confluence of high population growth, extremely limited scope of expansion of cultivated areas, under-developed irrigation infrastructures, continued high level of dependence on agriculture for livelihood and almost stagnant productivity of crops has resulted in acute risk of nation-wide food insecurity.”

The UN report warns that continued high levels of food insecurity could destabilize the peace process, and recommends that immediate efforts be put in place to improve household food security and livelihoods.

Recommendations to address Nepal’s food insecurity include a series of short and longer-term projects aimed at improving the availability of irrigation, construction of critical infrastructure, support and strengthening of government agricultural monitoring systems, and immediate food aid for drought and conflict-affected communities.

The talks between the government and the Chure Bhawar Ekata Samaj will take place on Friday.

Earlier, the talks between the two sides were scheduled to take place on Thursday. However, in view of busy schedule of chief government negotiator and Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra Poudel, the talk has been rescheduled for Friday.

Keshab Mainali, the chief of the Samaj, claimed that the government has assured to fulfill their preconditions on Thursday ahead of Friday talks.

The Samaj’s preconditions include withdrawal of murder charge against its nine activists and declaration of their slain cadre as martyr.

The Chure Bhawar Ekata Samaj has been demanding security and protection of rights of people of hilly origin living in Madhes region. They have also demanded autonomous status for Chure Bhawar region.

A woman who had sustained serious injuries when a bomb her son was playing with suddenly went off on Wednesday in Nuwakot breathed her last Thursday morning.

Januka Rai, 32, of Bidur Municipality-3, Nuwakot died while undergoing treatment at the military hospital in Chauni, Kathmandu, a day after her 12-year-old son, Suman Rai, was killed on the spot when a bomb he was playing with exploded on Wednesday.

The mother and son had gone to the Barahi community forest to collect firewood. Mithu Lamichane had also received injuries in the blast, however, she is believed to be out of danger.

The bomb is said to have been left behind by the army during the ‘state of emergency’ period.

Irate local residents had taken out a protest rally in the Pasang-Lhamu highway Thursday morning demanding suitable compensation for the family of the victims. They had also halted traffic for more than an hour.

Agitating Village Development Committee (VDC) secretaries said Thursday they would continue with their strike until the government ensures adequate security for them so they can do their work in a fearless environment.

Chairman of the VDC Secretary Rights Protection Centre, Bhawani Prasad Ghimire, said secretaries across the country were not returning to work because the government had continued to turn a deaf ear to their demands.

Demanding that the government provide security to secretaries working in Terai districts, life insurance worth 1 million rupees and ‘martyr status’ to secretaries killed by rebel groups, the VDC secretaries had halted all works in VDC offices across the country from July 18 onwards.

The secretaries, who have also been staging a sit-in demonstration in front of the Ministry of Local Development since Monday, also threatened launch decisive agitation in the capital if the government failed to respond to their demands.

Ghimire said in order to apply pressure on the government they would stage sit-in and demonstrations in front of Prime Minister’s residence on July 27, organise a programme in memory of Ram Hari Pokharel and other VDC secretaries killed by armed groups in the Terai on July 28, and take out a protest rally to gherao Singh Durbar on July 29.

Parliamentarians have drawn the government’s attention towards the problems facing the flood affected people in Terai.

Speaking during Thursday’s session of the Interim Legislature Parliament, lawmakers asked government to update the House regarding the efforts being made rescuing the flood affected people across the Terai area. They suggested the government to make a long-term plan to tackle problems created by the flashfloods before the start of rainy season.

MP Ram Kumar Chaudhary said government’s inability to devise long-term plans left Terai people high and dry during rainy season every year.

Other MPs from Terai also called for quick relief works in the flood affected areas.

Meanwhile, parliamentarians expressed mixed reaction over the ongoing efforts of the government to hold talks with the armed and unarmed agitating groups.

A few of them asked the government to stop dialogue with the armed groups that intend to disintegrate the nation while others urged positive response to the demands put forward by the agitating groups in Terai, Janajatis, Dalits and others.

On the other hand, the Maoist lawmakers sought explanation from the defence minister Girija Prasad Koirala regarding the activities of the Nepal Army if he was unaware of the recent controversial deployment of the army personnel for personal security of the Maoist ministers.

Maoist MPs Bam Dev Chhetri and Tilak Pariyar said Koirala must answer the parliament regarding the deployment and ensure that Nepal Army is fully under the control of the government.

Despite earlier report that they have put off their meeting for Friday, the government and Chure Bhawar Ekata Samaj met, Thursday afternoon in Godavari.

The meeting took place after 3 pm after the government indicated its willingness to fulfill Samaj’s preconditions. The Samaj’s preconditions include withdrawal of murder charge against its nine activists and declaration of their slain cadre as martyr.

After the talks, a member of government talks team, Minister of State Gyanendra Karki said that the two sides ended the dialogue amicably by agreeing to again sit within mid-August. “The Samaj has also agreed to withdraw their earlier agitation scheduled to begin from July 28,’ Karki said.

The Chure Bhawar Ekata Samaj has been demanding security and protection of rights of people of hilly origin living in Madhes region. They have also demanded autonomous status for Chure Bhawar region.

Flood caused by torrential monsoon rainfall has wreaked havoc in a number of districts in southern plains, particularly affecting Banke and Bardiya in the mid-west and Jhapa in the east. Four people have been feared dead in separate incidents.

In Nepalgunj, a large section of the city has been waterlogged. In some parts of the city, water level has risen to 4 feet forcing the people to flee their homes and seek shelter in school buildings. Electricity supply in the city has also been cut off due to inundation of local station.

In Banke and Bardiya districts, the overflow from the swollen Rapti, Babai and other local streams have inundated surrounding villages. After two days of incessant rainfall, thousands of houses have been affected due to gushing flood waters. Reports say around 2000 people have been displaced from there.

In Dadeldhura, a boy named Madan Bhatta was swept away by a swollen local river.

In Jhapa district, reports say that scores of people have been affected, particularly in Anarmani VDC near Birtamode. Bhutanese refugee camps including Goldhap, Khudunabari, Timai, Beldangi in Jhapa and Pathari in Morang district have also been affected by the flood waters.

Likewise, flash floods have also affected Mahottari, Dhanusha, Sarlahi, Saptari, Bara and Nawalparasi districts. In Saptari, the local Bhim dam has been damaged affecting thirteen VDCs. A girl named Mamata Kumari Das has been swept away by swollen Mahauli stream. In Bara, 300 houses have been inundated including 200 in Dharmanagar area alone. Furthermore, in Nawalparasi, flood from Dhanewa river has inundated parts of Khadewa VDC.

In Udayapur district, two people have been feared dead after being swept away by swollen Triyuga river in separate incidents.

Meanwhile, Thir Bahadur GC, an under secretary at the Natural Disaster Relief Division at the Home Ministry, told Nepal FM, that the government has swung into action for rescue and relief. He claimed that the center is coordinating with district disaster relief committees.

On the other hand, landslide in Tanahun district has obstructed a section of Prithvi highway in Yenapak.

The Department of Meteorology and Hydrology has said that currently monsoon is more active in Terai than in hilly region. Country has seen heavy rainfall for the past one week.