CHITWAN MEDICAL COLLEGE BUS TORCHED

CHITWAN MEDICAL COLLEGE BUS TORCHED
Kathmandu, 10 June: A bus of Chitwan Medical College transporting students and staff to the campus from hospital was torched by a group of motorcyclists Friday morning at Thorikhot.
Arsonists forced the students and staff out of the bus before torching it.
Identity of nine to 10 arsonists wasn’t immediately known.
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GOVT.DOLING OUT FUNDS TO PARTY CADRES

Kathmandu, 10 June: As the government is trying to duck controversies that have been dogging it for ‘politically motivated’ budget transfer at the end of the fiscal year, it has been revealed that the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works has ‘created’ new development plans worth Rs 900 million, Bishnu Prasad Aryal writes in The Himalayan Times.

Government officials doubt that the budget, which has been allocated for some projects that have been ‘created’ out of the blue, will be properly utilised and smell a rat that the move is intended at doling out funds to cadres of the ruling political parties.

The ministry came up with 393 new road plans worth Rs 220 million about a month ago. The Ministry of Finance and National Planning Commission have already given the green signals to the plans, according to MoPPW.

The projects were approved under direct pressure from Minister for Physical Planning and Works Top Bahadur Rayamajhi. Interestingly, if what government officials told this daily is anything to go by, the ministry is planning to spend some 35 per cent of Rs 220 million in Minister Rayamajhi’s home district Arghakhanchi and 20 per cent in Rautahat, the home district of Law Minister Prabhu Sah. Rayamajhi represents the UCPN-M and Sah the CPN-UML in the government.

The officials even wondered how the government was going to spend the funds when there are only two weeks remaining for the fiscal year to end.

In addition, the allocation and approval of Rs 220-million plans spurred cadres of other ruling partners, including CPN-ML and Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum-Nepal, to press MoPPW to create more new programmes worth Rs 680 million.

The government officials’ skepticism seems justifiable, as they say it is unlikely that the government will be able to spend more than 80 per cent of the regular budget allocated for the current fiscal. “It’s impossible to implement the new budget; but what is possible is this can be easily ‘used’ by party cadres,” they said.

A parliamentary Public Accounts Committee meeting on June 7 had directed MoPPW and MoF not to transfer budget to smaller projects.

NPC Vice-chairman Dinesh Chandra Devkota admitted that the commission approved MoPPW programmes worth Rs 220 about a month ago. “We only approve the programmes. MoF and MoPPW are responsible for budget implementation,” said Devkota, adding, NPC won’t approve new Rs 680-million programmes which are being talked about.

Minister Rayamajhi, who was in Gulmi, told this daily over phone that the implementation of Rs 220-million programmes had already started and the projects were under way. “The government is yet to approve Rs 680 million. We will not let development funds to be misused,” claimed Rayamajhi.
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CIAA OFFICIAL INCOMMUNICADO
Kathmandu, 10 June: Bhagawati Kumar Kafle, Secretary at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, who has drawn a lot of flak for prosecuting only police officials and letting politicians off in Darfur scam case, has been incommunicado since early this morning, Ananta Raj Luitel writes in The Himalayan Times..

CIAA on Tuesday had filed a corruption case at the Special Court against 36 persons but had dropped charges against former home minister and former home secretary. Kafle went ‘out of contact’ shortly after sending his personal security officers back from his Gairidhara residence. The PSOs had arrived at Kafle’s house at around 9:45 am to escort him to his office, but he sent them back, saying ‘he was busy at a pooja’ and that he would not attend the office today.

THT’s repeated attempts to track down Kafle went in vain. His cell phone was switched off and calls made on his landline phone were not attended throughout the day. CIAA officials said there was no ‘pooja’ at his home. Kafle, at yesterday’s press conference, had revealed that he had faced tremendous pressure in relation to filing of the Darfur scam case and taken the task of chargesheeting the accused at the earliest as his single mission.

Nonetheless, CIAA officials today gave contradictory information, indicating that they had little or no information about their boss.

“He called me up on my cell phone at 10:35am and told me that he wanted to take rest and would not attend the office today,” Ishwori Prasad Paudel, CIAA spokesperson, told THT, adding he had no clue whether Kafle would resume office from tomorrow. According to Paudel, Kafle had also asked him not to call him as he wanted to take ‘complete rest’.

Kafle’s decision to ‘hibernate’, and his absence, will mean CIAA won’t be holding any board meeting, as he is the sole authority to make crucial decisions of the rudderless anti-corruption watchdog, with no chief commissioner and commissioners. “He was under tremendous pressure for the last few days, especially since a section of the media dragged him into controversy alleging that he had received bribe from former IG Ramesh Chand Thakuri,” said a high ranking official at CIAA. The controversy has dashed Kafle’s hopes of being appointed the chief commissioner.

His decision to prosecute only the police officials has been contested also by Investigation Officer Dilli Raman Acharya, who wanted more time for a thorough investigation before filing the case.
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DoA PLAN IN LIMBO
Kathmandu, 10 June: Due to the Ministry of Culture's reluctance to provide timely permission, the plan of the Department of Archaeology (DoA) to unravel two treasurer houses on the premises of Hanuman Dhoka Palace Museum is likely to linger further, Binod Ghimere writes in The Kathmandu Post.
DoA in the first week of February had written to the ministry seeking its permission to unlock the treasures that have remained a mystery for years.
Keeping in view the dilapidated condition of the houses, DOA had intensified groundwork to unveil them but the ministry has not yet given its nod. “As the treasure houses are fragile and likely to collapse any time, there should not be delay to open them,” said Shyam Sundar Rajbansi, former chief of the Palace Museum.
Although the DoA had planed to unravel the mystery ever since the country became a republic, the plan did not materialise for three years. DoA Director General Bishnu Raj Karki said they have completed the homework and are awaiting the ministry's permission. “We have submitted a proposal to the ministry. Once we are permitted we will start the work,” said Karki.
Jaya Ram Shrestha, under secretary at the ministry, said as Hanuman Dhoka has now come under Hanuman Dhoka Palace Museum Development Committee, the treasure can be unlocked if the committee decides on it. The palace area that was earlier under the purview of the government has come under the committee following a ministerial decision last April.
The treasure houses, which date back to the reign of late king Prithvi Narayan Shah, were used to deposit wealth for use at times of disaster. According to museum officials, the houses are said to have been built by the king to store the wealth he seized after defeating the then king of Kathmandu, Jaya Prakash Malla. The two houses were used as royal treasure houses until Shah kings shifted to Narayanhiti Palace. “It is said the treasure houses used to be opened during disasters and the rulers used to seal them again immediately,” said Ratna Adhikari, a museum official.
Rajbansi said that one of the two houses has the possibility of containing wealth. “Everybody is curious about what the houses contain,” said Karki. “The curiosity will be over once it is unlocked.”
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BHAT-BHATENI TO EMPLOY 50,000 IN 15 YEARS

Kathmandu, 10 June: Bhat-Bhateni Group, a leading supermarket and departmental store chain in Nepal, has said it would provide employment to 50,000 individuals in 15 years, Republica reports..

Speaking at a press meet organized in the capital to brief about the opening of its third store on 11th June in Koteshwor, Min Bahadur Gurung, executive director of Bhat-Bhateni Super Market and Departmental Store, said that the company which is currently employing over 1,000 individuals plans to provide employment opportunity to around 50,000 individuals in 15 years.

“The company plans to attain the objective of employing 50,000 individuals by creating employment opportunities for rural masses,” said Gurung.

Bhat-Bhateni´s third outlet at Koteshwor that is opening on Saturday is built with an investment of over Rs 500 million and will feature kitchenware, foot wears, apparels, electronic appliances, fresh fruits and vegetables, grocery items and furniture products imported from Thailand and Malaysia.

Gurung said that the group is also opening its other two outlets in Bouddha and Pulchowk on 12th July and 15th July respectively. The company has sought technical support from China for setting up the layout and service delivery at all the four stores.

“In the first phase, we are expanding our business in three different places in the valley and we plan to open our first outlet outside the valley in Pokhara by the end of 2011,” Gurung further added.

Bhat-Bhateni group started its operation in 1993 with a store spread over an area of 3,000 square feet and currently has a yearly transaction of Rs 4 billion by selling Fast Moving and Consumer Goods (FMCG).

The group sells fruits and vegetables worth Rs 300,000 on daily basis. Bhat-Bhateni´s two stores at Bhat Bhateni and Maharajgunj currently sell over 100,000 products from 700 local and international suppliers. According to the company, more than 10,000 people visit its stores daily.
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OPINION



SECURITY SECTOR REFORM

Yuba Nath Lamsal writes in The Rising Nepal




The concept of security is often vague. It was defined as a mechanism to defend the boundary of a country from external threats. However, with the march of time, the concept of security has changed drastically, and its scope widened. Now the concept of security touches upon multiple facets of the state and its
During the Cold War period, the focus of security was laid more on the security of the state. Thus, security cooperation among the states was guided purely by political motive aimed at strengthening the friendly regimes from the military standpoint. This was so because of the erstwhile international situation when the world was divided into two military camps, with each bloc trying to bring as many countries into their respective camps. Dictators of different kinds and colours took advantage of this international power politics and ruled with an iron fist, often denying the people their basic rights and freedom.
Citing external threats, the regimes spent heavily on weapons and modernising the armed force - money that could have been spent on building development infrastructure and uplifting the social and economic condition of the people, eradicating poverty and providing health and education to children. International powers also backed these dictatorial regimes and supplied and sold them arms to be used against the people, suppressing the genuine struggles of the people.
The regimes that either received grants in the form of military aid or purchased sophisticated weapons from international powers were generally not incline to defend the country from external threats but to retain their repressive rule by the means of force.
Military intervention
In the present inter-connected world characterised by information and technological revolution, no country can choose to occupy the territory of another country through military means. Instead, they try to invade through other means like economic domination, trade, cultural invasion and technological control. This approach has been adopted by the international powers to give them a soft power image.
The international powers resort to military interventions only when other options get exhausted. Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya are cases of direct military intervention after the West’s soft power strategy failed. Military intervention is often risky. In most cases, military intervention from outside has boomeranged. Vietnam is an example of national humiliation faced by the United States. The Russian occupation of Afghanistan and Vietnam’s aggression in Cambodia are yet other ugly instances of foreign military intervention in another country, all of which have proved very costly for the occupiers.
Even in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States has not achieved what it had earlier expected. In our own neighbourhood, the Indian military mission in Sri Lanka in the name of containing the LTTE was yet another fiasco. Based on these experiences, the international powers do not usually opt for military intervention but use alternative methods to ensure their control in other countries.
The regimes, instead, are facing threats from within their countries. Inter-state conflict has shifted to intra-state conflict. The conflict between the state and the non-state actors is intensifying in several developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The main threat to the regimes in the present context is from the oppressed, exploited, marginalised and discriminated people, who are struggling for their equal and just rights and share in the governance of the state and decision-making.
The regimes have responded to the struggle of the people with oppressive measures, which have resulted in violent conflicts. However, the regimes often try to equate a people’s struggle with either terrorist activities or a threat to national sovereignty and territorial integrity ostensibly to mislead the international community and get international support for their repressive measures.
With the change in the international power politics and the balance of power, the concept of security has undergone a paradigm shift. This is particularly so after the end of the Cold War that marked the collapse of the Soviet bloc, paving the way for the emergence of a unipolar world dominated by the United States - the only super power. In the present unipolar world, human security has topped the agenda of all countries.
It has been widely accepted that human security or the security of the people can be ensured only when there is a guarantee of freedom from fear and freedom from wants. Freedom from fear is ensured by maintaining effective law and order internally whereas freedom from want can be guaranteed only when the state provides its people with ample opportunities for meeting their basic needs like access to adequate food, shelter and clothing to live a dignified life.
It has been globally acknowledged that human insecurity is the root of all conflicts. The widening gap between the rich and the poor, as a result of the state policy of exploitation, repression, discrimination and marginalisation of the majority of the people, is the prime cause behind the increasing human insecurity in the world.
The root cause of Nepal’s conflict is also this human insecurity perpetrated by the feudal political system. The Maoist party raised this issue effectively which brought the masses into its fold and accordingly launched an armed insurgency against the feudal state under the monarchy. The Maoists demanded the abolition of all kinds of political, economic, cultural and religious exploitation and discrimination, and the establishment of a republican system with inclusive democracy, federal state structure and religious secularism.
Within a decade of their guerilla insurgency, the Maoists were able to control almost 85 per cent of the country whereas the state’s presence was limited to a few urban centres. Sensing the grave situation, an agreement was brokered between the Maoists and the rest of the parliamentary parties, in which most of the Maoists’ demands were met.
Although there was clarity on other issues, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed between the state and the insurgent Maoist party, did not clearly define the modality of managing the Maoist guerilla, which is, perhaps, the most pressing and important issue of the peace process. In the CPA, the terminology ‘army integration’ has been incorporated but not defined and elaborated. As a result, different parties and people have interpreted this terminology differently, which has created confusion among the people and delayed the peace process.
The CPA has treated both the Nepal Army and the Maoists’ People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on an equal footing, and it gives the impression that army integration means only the merger of the two armies. The Maoists have raised and demanded that this provision of the CPA on army integration be implemented in both letter and spirit.
In more recent times, the parties have become a bit flexible on the issue of PLA management. However, at the same time, attention has to be given to restructuring and reforming the entire security system and bodies of the country. As the concept of security has changed globally with the focus shifting from state security to human security, the emphasis has to be laid on addressing the security of the people while taking any decision on security sector reforms and restructuring.
National Security Strategy
The first and foremost necessity at this point is the formulation of a national security strategy and policy, which does not exist at present. The security strategy and policy alone would assess the nature of security threat and determine the security requirement to cope with it. Based on the security assessment, the size of the different security organs of the country can be properly and scientifically ascertained. This would facilitate the process of security sector reforms.

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