TEACHERS CLOSE DOWN PRIVATE SCHOOLS

BISHNU PAUDEL ASSUMES OFFICE

Kathmandu, 9 March: Bishnu Paudel assumed office Wednesday as defence minister.
Paudel, who represents UML in government, said Nepal Army is the country’s pride and he’ll prioritize its modernization.
UML standing sent him to government to take charge of the home ministry but Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal appointed Pauidel defence minister after Maoists continue demand the home portfolio.
Paudel’s appointment as defence minister has created a fresh controversy in UML.
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TEACHERS’ UNION CLOSE DOWN SCHOOLS

Kathmandu, 9 March: Striking teachers’ union nation-wide Wednesday closed down schools amid charges private schools weren’t implementing assurances to increase salary and perks.
All classes from primary to higher secondary level were affected.
Maoist trade union Tuesday closed down industries in Hetauda demanding higher salary.
Some multi-national companies have been hit.
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MJFN CONDITIONS TO JOIN GOVT.

Kathmandu, 9 March: MJFN Nepal Chairman Upendra Yadav Wednesday presented preconditions to Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal and Maoist Chairman Wednesday to join government.
UML and Maoists are wooing smaller parties to expand government to give ita broader character.
The two parties have an absolute majority in parliament but want to give it a national character.
MJFN said the Khanal government must take up Madesh issues and complete integration of Maoist former combatants and resettlement.
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MADHAV KUMAR NEPAL RETURNS HOME THURSDAY

Kathmandu, 9 March: Former Prime Minister and senior UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal returns home Thursday after addressing a peace seminar in Hiroshima, Japan, Tuesday, party sources.
He flew for Japan Sunday on his maiden foreign trip after quitting as premier.
Others who participated in the seminar were former Speaker Damannath Dhungana, former Army Chief Gen. Rukmangud Katawal anf former Peace Minister Janardhan Sharma (Maoists).
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FORMER KING AGAIN VISITING INDIA

Kathmandu, 9 March: Former King Gyanendra Shah is visiting India for the second time, Naya Partika reports.
He’s going Thursday to attend a wedding and is preparing for political meetings with Indian leaders.
The visit was arranged when former prime minister and Chairman of RJP is in India.
“The India visit was finalized Tuesday,” the source said.
Shah fliee Thursday for Varanasi Thursday with former Queen Komal Shah and is returning via New Delhi.
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AMITA KAPALI OUSTS SUSHIL KOIRALA

Kathmandu, 9 March: “You shouldn’t be here. Stay downstairs,” Amita Kapali, an aide, told NC President Sushil Koirala who hade gone to the ashram of Krishna Prasad Bhattarai to offer condolences, Janaastha reports.
Koirala was stunned with the order.
NC General Secretary Prakash Man Singh’s wife Sirjana Singh,” No. Let’s bring a chair for Sushil Da here.” Kapila didn’t oblige.
Kapali repeated: “Not here. He should be taken downstairs.”
Bhattarai’s body kept inside the ashran; Kapali was mad with rage.
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FORMER KING GYANENDRA DENIED NTRY INTO DASHRATH RANGHASHALA

Kathmandu, 9 March: Citing security reasons, former King Gyanendra wasn’t permitted entry into Dashrath Rangashala to offer his last respect to Krishna Prashad Bhattarai, Ghatana ra Bichar reports.
It’s learnt he was denied entry because the president was going there.
Instead of the king, Secretary Pashupati Bhakta Maharjan went later instead and offered tribute on behalf of the royal family.
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MARSHAL JULUM SHAKYA DENIES PM CLAIM HE TORE DRAFT OF CONSTITUTIONPROPOSED BY ROYAL PALACE

Kathmandu, 9 March: Marshal Julum Sakya, minister in the 1990 interim government of Prime Minister Krishna Bhattarai, denied a claim of Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal he tore a copy of a constitution sent by the royal palace for discussion at a cabinet meeting.
Khanal claimed Bhattarai appreciated the action later at a meetng withhimin the PM’s chamber.
“The palace then had prepared a draft. Kishunji gave it to Nilambar Acharya [minister for law] for study. It s published the next day in Gorkhapatra. It’s now come out some minister tore it in the cabinet. That didn’t happen,” Sakya said in Annapurna Post.
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BODIES OF NEPALIS UCLAIMED IN SAUDI ARABIA
Kathmandu, 9 March: Over 50 dead bodies of Nepali migrant workers are waiting in Riyadh to be ferried to Nepal. The workers had died of various reasons in the past one year and more, Kamal Raj Sigdel and Anil Giri write in The Kathmandu Post..

Officials said the situation is precarious as neither the Nepal government, which supplies a large number of unskilled labourers, nor the Saudi government, which receives them, has proper legislation in place to protect the rights of the migrant workers. Moreover, the victims’ families in Nepal are having a tough time receiving compensation for the deaths as many of them were illegally trafficked to the Gulf country.

Officials at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoFA) and the Nepali Embassy in Riyadh said it may take more than eight months before the bodies could be ferried to Nepal, as “many of the corpses reveal illegal residency status.”

“It is a very complicated job. We don’t have the exact data, but our rough estimate is that there could be around 50 bodies waiting to be given to their families in Nepal for the past one, and in some cases, more than two years,” an official at the Nepali Embassy in Riyadh said. “The death rate is alarming. It is estimated that around 200 Nepali migrant workers die every month.” Statistics with the embassy in Riyadh show the office issued “No Objection Letters” to 12 dead bodies in just seven days in January. “Workers’ legality is always at stake. Once you change your first employer without permission, you are rendered illegal,” the official said.

Under the Saudi kafala law, it requires 13 different documents in Urdu and English, including police and postmortem reports, for a dead body to be given an “exit visa.”

“This is probably the only country which requires exit visa for even the dead bodies,” Charge d’ Affaires of the Nepali Embassy in Riyadh Paras Ghimire told the Post.

The same legal system is said to have been trapping most of the 90,000 Nepali workers, who want to return home, but are denied “exit visa” (see Page 1 Post story of Tuesday).

Manpower crunch at the Nepali embassy is said to be adding to the woes when it comes to transporting the dead bodies. “Our mission in Riyadh is facing severe crunch of manpower and resources. As such, we are unable to respond immediately,” a MoFA official here said. The embassy is operating with just five staff under Ghimire after former Ambassador Hamid Ansari was sacked in February over allegations of misuse of compensation money meant for families of migrant workers.

Logistics is another problem. “Saudi Arabia is a big country. Some die 3,000 km away from Riyadh and locating the place and getting the dead person’s details is a difficult task for our officials,” said a foreign ministry official.

“In most cases, we also have pressure from the family back in Nepal to secure the compensation money. As such, it takes months to settle such issues.”

In a bid to facilitate the process, the government has set up a cell at MoFA that exclusively deals with complaints of the victims’ families. It receives at least one complaint every day.

Statistics at the embassy in Riyadh show that only few of the deaths have been compensated and depending on the kind of insurance, the amount disbursed to the victims’ families range from 600 to 25,000 Saudi Riyals. “We can do little unless the Saudi government relaxes its strict laws,” Ghimire said.
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TREELINE SHIFTING UP IN NEPAL

Kathmandu, 9 March:The signal of climate change in tree-line vegetation has been observed in the mountainous part of the Manaslu region in the country with the timberline moving upward in recent decades, says a new report of National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), Pragati Shahi writes in The Kathmandu Post..

The timberline can be considered a visible ecological boundary and shows a strong link between the various climatic parameters.

The tree-line vegetation in high altitude is highly sensitive to climate change and can be used as a suitable indicator to detect changes of past and recent climate variability.

The findings of the preliminary study carried out on two dominant tree species in the upper range in the mountain part of Manaslu Conservation Area showed that the tree species namely Abies spectabilis (East Himalayan Fir) and Betula utilis (Bhojpatra) were shifting upward at a faster rate than the maximum natural rate in the last 10 years.

The study on ‘Treeline Dynamic with Climate Change: A study in Manaslu Region, Nepal Himalaya’ carried out by researchers at NAST from May 22 to June 11, 2010 showed that Abies Spectabilis is shifting at a rate between 1.5 metres and 3.4 metres a year.

Earlier, the Abies treeline was found to be at 3,907 metres above seal level while now the upward shift of these tree species has been found at 3,984 metres. Meanwhile, the findings of the study on similar Abies spectabilis tree species carried out in Sankhuwasabha district in 2009 showed that treeline vegetation is shifting at a faster rate—at 23 metres in ten years in the southern aspect while it was 17 meter in the same period in the northern aspect.

Dinesh Raj Bhuju, chief of Science Faculty at NAST, said the impact of climate change is more pronounced and sensitive in the high altitude regions especially in the mountainous environment.

“Due to climate change, shifting of treeline is becoming a global phenomenon and Nepal can’t be an exception. The upward migration of Abies spectabilis might be due to climatic warming observed in the past decades,” he said. The final findings on whether the changes observed in tree-line vegetation in the upper forest due to climate change or precipitation variability or both will be soon published in a month period, Bhuju said.

Meanwhile, the study shows that the regeneration of Abies spectabilis is found higher and better while regeneration of Betula utilis is very low, which means the dominance and adaptability of Abies species is favourable compared with Betula species.

Studies have shown that the alpine species which are adapted to survive in cold conditions are underscored by the change in global temperature. The species from the lower elevation are extending their territory to higher altitudes; in fact it brings competition to high altitude species.

The preliminary results of the study also shows the invasion of Abies treeline in the area which was earlier habituated by Betula utilis.

The Betula treeline is slowing, being invaded by Abies treeline, which means increasing temperature is less favorable to Betula tree species than to Abies, according to Narayan Prasad Gaire, researcher at NAST.

The final findings will be shared after the dendrochronological analysis of tree species studied in Manaslu area that will be completed next month, he added.
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REPRIVE FOR NAC IN DELHI

New Delhi. 9 March 9: After coming into controversy over occupancy of office space, Nepal Airlines Corporation’s regional office in New Delhi has now
obtained a stay order from Delhi High Court, thereby saving itself from the embarassment of getting evicted, Akanshya Shah writes in Republica.

“The court order was received on Saturday and we have solved the problem temporarily at least,” Shyamdhowj Silwal, the Regional Director of NAC, confirmed to Republica, adding, “We will now have to wait for the final verdict from the court.”

NAC has claimed that the earlier court ruling to vacate the office space was an “erroneous judgment.”

NAC has claimed that the person who barged into its office on February 26 is only one of the ten persons who own the property and thus can claim only 1/10 of the property. On that day, the house owner and his henchmen had evicted NAC from its office at Janapath and vandalized NAC property.

“When all the other nine owners have no problems with the NAC staying put in the office complex, how can the court make a ruling in favor of just one
owner?” an NAC official questioned seeking anonymity. “That is why the stay order has come,” the official added.

NAC has leased the space in Janpath for over 25 years. The lease agreement was inked between NAC and Srishti Properties on behalf of the landlords for the use of the ground floor and the first floor of the building. This is a prime office location in the Indian capital.

This particular owner (name undisclosed) has accused NAC of paying meager IRs 1,100 till date whereas rent amount has actually skyrocketed over the years. However, the office complex has been under ownership dispute constantly for many years.

“It is true that the rent has not been increased over the years, but this is an issue which has to be decided by the management itself,” Silwal, who along with his employees have gone through a rough time in the past week, shared with Republica.

Although the case is subjudice, the question arises as to why the NAC management in Nepal is silent about the problem it has faced for almost a decade now.

Blaming the management for its indecision, an NAC staffer in Delhi regional office said, “The management should have settled the rent issue a long time
back,” adding, “Had the management been responsible we would not have had to go through such humiliations.”









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INTERVIEW
Revolt, LAST RESORT; MAOIST VICE-CHAIRMAN SHRESTHA
Kathmandu, 9 March: Vice Chairman of UCPN-M and deputy parliamentary party leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha “Prakash” promotes a moderate line in the party. Born in Jaubari village of Gorkha, Shrestha joined the communist movement in 1980 and fell out with Pushpa Kamal Dahl in 1996 over the then CPN-Unity Centre’s decision to wage armed revolt as CPN-Maoist. He, however, remained underground and helped the movement from outside as general secretary of Unity Centre, in an interview with Ajaya Bhadra Khanal and Tika Ram Pradhan of The Himalayan times.

In July 2008, Shrestha was nominated to the CA as a member of Jana Morcha Nepal. His party, the Unity Centre, merged with CPN-Maoist in January 2009 as part of Dahal’s strategy to promote a more moderate line after the party decide to go for the peace process and draft a new constitution in accordance with the 12-point agreement. Being close to party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Shrestha is said to be in the know regarding political developments and activities in the CA. Shrestha talked to Ajaya Bhadra Khanal and Tika Ram Pradhan of The Himalayan Times about the latest political developments. Excerpts:

There seems to be a big gap between your party’s policy and practice. You talk about revolt with “People’s War” and “People’s Army” as its main tools in your policy. Yet in public you say you are for peace and the constitution. Why the inconsistency?

There is a tendency to distort our statements. Nepalis should not be forced to take the path of revolt. But there will be no option if the constitution is not allowed to be drafted and if the peace process is aborted. Everyone should be happy because the Maoists are saying they won’t allow a counter-revolution to take place.

What are the major obstacles in the constitution drafting process?

We are discussing major themes such as electoral system, state restructuring, and forms of governance. The question is whether we want a traditional parliamentary system with democracy as formality, or a genuine democracy that addresses people’s needs.

An undeclared agreement during the time the 12-point agreement was being worked out was that the parties would accept the middle path—neither the Maoists’ people’s new democracy nor the traditional parliamentary system. The new system should have three features. It should protect national sovereignty and make Nepal fully sovereign. Objectively, the 1950 treaty is unequal, but ultimately the political parties here should be able to resist outside intervention.

The second issue is political democracy which institutionalises the republican set up with all the democratic norms and values. But that’s not enough. Democracy should lead to real socio-economic transformation. It should uproot feudalism, end all forms of discrimination and provide social justice.

Is there an agreement on socio-economic transformation?

An agreement is elusive and only appears to be lip service. Things become problematic when we come to revolutionary land reforms.

How different is this from people’s democracy which allows competition only among communist parties?

We have already adopted two fundamental practices that communists generally do not accept— federal system and a formal multi-party democracy. We are not for a system like in China or one that restricts political parties. We have also dropped the idea of constitutional guarantee of leadership of communist party and also scientific transformation towards socialism through peaceful means.

Which electoral system are you proposing?

We want a system where elections are direct, but guarantees proportional representation. We are for multi-member direct proportionalsystem in which several members can be elected from a single constituency.

You have not included federalism in the seven-point deal with UML. Is there any meaning?

We thought of not using the exact words that we have been using as that would have negative implications. We have been using people’s federal republic.

Why so much debate on the word ‘peoples’?

It all lies in the essence of the word. Why do we need the word democracy when we have republic. Both words have been used in different instances including military rule. Hence, we need to use both words. With the use of the word people’s we mean the system should reach the people’s level and they should feel the heat.

Why are other parties against the word?

We are surprised. We have already agreed on multi-party competition. Where are we heading? It’s a serious issue. People fought against monarchy and the traditional parliamentary system as they failed to deliver. Thus, we are heading towards a unique type of republican set up that ensures all the fundamental norms and values of democracy and guarantees national independence and socio-economic transformation.

How will the peace process go ahead after Maoists join the government?

We will hold a meeting of the Special Committee for Supervision, Integration and Rehabilitation of Maoist combatants as soon as the government gets full shape and begin discussions on the modalities of army integration and the process of regrouping as per the procedure. Since we have no time, we want to complete the regrouping as soon as possible and it may be within a month.

Your party chairman has said the CA’s term could be extended by a few months. What is your opinion?

We have not thought of extending the CA’s term if we can resolve all the fundamental issues of the constitution and the peace process. People might tell leaders not to stop drafting the constitution just because the term has expired. We have not thought of extending the term yet. I think we can draft it on time.

Your party joined the government despite the UML’s ambiguous position on the seven-point agreement.

The UML CC endorsed the seven-point agreement and created the base for implementing it. The PM also committed to implement the agreement. On these grounds, we decided to join the government. We also saw that the elements we overcame to form this government were plotting to either dissolve or take hold of the government. Therefore it’s not a question of back tracking on the seven-point agreement. We have joined to implement the pact and the major intention was to make the constitution drafting and peace processes successful, ensuring national independence.
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