THREATENED VULTURES STAGING COMBACK

TWO KILLED, INCLUDING CHILD, IN NAWALPARATI OVERNIGHT-
Kathmandu, 27 Oct. Two persons were killed overnight, in a direct collision between a truck and a two-wheeler, on a highway in Nawalparasi.
The mishap took place on the Dumkibas-Jyamire highway.
They died while undergoing treatment.
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MOTHER, CHILD SWEPT AWAY BY TAMAKOSHI IN DOLAKHA
Kathmandu, 27 Oct. Sita Devi Karki and her child daughter were swept away by Tamakoshi river in Dolakha Wednesday.
The girl was herding domestic animal when she fell into the river.
The mother was swept away she jumped into the river to rescue the daughter.
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PM BHATTARAI INDIA VISIT ON INDIAN INTEREST

Kathmandu, 27 Oct.:: President of Nepal Workers Peasants Party (NWPP), Naryaan Man Bijukchhe has alleged that Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai’s visit to India was for fulfilling the Indian interests, RSS reports from Bhktapur.

Speaking at a reception organized by the Basu Higher Secondary School and Prabhat English School on the occasion of Tihar and the Nepal Sambat New Year 1132, he said the prime minister’s visit to the southern neighbour only fulfilled Indian interests.

The Indian capitalists are trying to spread their monopoly in the Nepali market in a planned manner and the prime minister has become a tool in that objective, Bijukchhe alleged.
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THREATENED VULTURES STAGING A COMEBACK .
Kathmandu, 27 Oct.: Nepal's vultures -- decimated by medicine fed to the livestock they call dinner -- are making a comeback thanks to their own chain of healthy-eating restaurants, AFP reports..

The drug-free diners have been set up across the country over the last four years to counter the use of diclofenac, a painkiller commonly administered to the cattle that are a mainstay of the scavengers' diet.

The latest, launched last year near the Annapurna mountain range in central Nepal, has led to a five-fold increase in the local population of the critically endangered bird, conservationists said this week.

Before the turn of the century, an estimated 300,000 vultures cruised the Nepali skies, but scientific studies say their numbers declined by more than 90 percent in just a few years.

Vultures feeding on carcasses treated with diclofenac die of kidney failure, often within 24 hours, said Hum Gurung of Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN), adding: "This is the principal cause of the vulture decline throughout South Asia."

Three of Nepal's six indigenous vulture species are now listed as "critically endangered" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

The loss of a major scavenger has led to a rise in rotting carcasses and a consequent increase in feral dogs and the spread of rabies, anthrax and tuberculosis, according to the government's Vulture Conservation Action Plan.

BCN came up with the idea of "restaurants" where the birds could eat uncontaminated carrion, the latest of them set up in Kaski district.

"Before its establishment, there were around 50 vultures in that area but now around 250 vultures have been recorded during the feeding at the restaurant," Gurung told AFP.

In Hindu-majority Nepal, cows are considered sacred and killing them is strictly prohibited.

BCN buys old and terminally ill cattle and takes the animals to the restaurants' farms in community-owned forests where they are treated, if needed, with another, vulture-friendly painkiller.

They are allowed to die naturally and, once declared free of diclofenac, are skinned and taken to nearby jungle where they are left out to become the vultures' main course.

Similar schemes have been run successfully in South Africa and Europe but the Nepali project is unique as it is being driven by the local communities involved rather than by external specialists.

With around 860 bird species in a landscape that varies from fertile, semi-tropical plains to snowy Himalayan peaks, Nepal is a paradise for bird watchers.

It now has six vulture restaurants, and BCN says one project set up two years ago at Gaidahawa Lake, in the southern Terai plains, has seen numbers increase from fewer than 40 to as high as 282 at meal times.

As well as providing a place where the birds can get clean meat, BCN has successfully campaigned for the veterinary painkiller to be banned in Nepal -- although it is still being widely used.
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TIA OFFICIAL CAUGHT UNAWARE TAKING RS.100,000 BRIKE AFTER HARASSING WOMAN TRAVELING TO USA

Kathmandu, 27 Oct.: Corruption is endemic at the Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport, if a video expose is anything to go by, The Himalayan Times writes.

At a press meet held in the Capital today, Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities, Nepal Sherpa Association, Nepal Sherpa Women’s Association and www.sherpaworld.com made public the video tape showing Purna Bahadur Basnet, a non-gazetted officer at the immigration office, haggling with Ang Kaji Sherpa(25) of Khumjung, Solukhumbu, over kickback before settling for Rs100,000 to ensure her a ‘hassles-free travel’ to the US.According to Ang Kaji Sherpa, the NEFIN general secretary, Basnet had made Dechen, about to board a Qatar Airways flight bound for the US via Doha, at the TIA at 11.30 pm on October 8, cancel the flight, saying she was not a Nepali citizen even after the woman produced her citizenship certificate and the passport.

Basnet then made the woman cough up Rs 10,000 and urged her to visit the Kathmandu District Administration Office to obtain a recommendation ascertaining her identity as a Nepali citizen.

Even after the woman procured the recommendation letter, Basnet did not release her documents. “On October 12, Basnet called Dechen at the Department of Immigration in Kalikasthan and started bargaining for the release of all her documents. With no option left, the woman handed over Rs 100,000 at the Kalikasthan Chowk,” Ang Kaji informed.

All along, the corrupt official was not aware that Dechen’s kin was taking a video grab of the deal from a mobile phone set. The tape shows Basnet clad in black jacket receiving one lakh rupees in Rs 500 denominations and counting them under a banyan tree at the chowk. He had turned up at the spot in a private car numbered Ba 7 Cha 9051 at around 11 am.

Freeing herself from the trappings of Basnet, Dechen (citizenship certificate no. 29765 and passport no. 3532502) managed to fly to the US on October 12. In a live video conference, the woman, who is in New York, told THT she had decided to seek her relative’s help to covertly film the scene and thus help the government bring the corrupt to book. THT has the video tape.

Dechen has submitted a memorandum dated October 20, 2011 to the Prime Minister through the Permanent Mission of Nepal to the United Nations in New York, seeking action against Basnet.

In the wake of the expose, Sherpa communities have demanded that the government stop discrimination against the indigenous communities.

Responding to their demand to dismiss Basnet and others involved in the scam, the DoI has suspended Basnet and formed a two-member panel with senior DoI officer Shiva Prasad Lamsal as its coordinator and legal officer Yuvaraj Mathat as a member to investivate the case.
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NEW INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES ACT BEING ENFORCED
Kathmandu, 27 Oct.: With the new Industrial Policy already in place, the Ministry of Industry (MoI) is gearing up to introduce a new Industrial Enterprises Act (IEA). The ministry has intensified its efforts for the new act in order to incorporate the provisions of the Industrial Policy 2010, The Kathmandu Post reports.
The ministry has recently submitted a draft of the act to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (MoLJPA) for theoretical discussion. MoI Spokesperson Yam Kumari Khatiwada said the new IEA is necessary as the country’s industrial sector has not been able to receive facilities from the state as defined by the Industrial Policy. “The new Industrial Policy has introduced broader provisions for the upgradation of Nepali industries, but they can’t be implemented with IEA-1990 which is narrow in its scope,” said Khatiwada.
The ministry has formed a committee headed by Joint-Secretary Begendra Raj Poudel for the drafting of the new IEA. Once the act gets approval from the Law Ministry, it will be sent to the parliament for final endorsement.
Poudel said the draft has been prepared in such a way that yearly provisions related to the industrial sector introduced by the government’s budget won’t contradict any of the proposed programmes once the IEA is approved by the parliament. “Apart from tax and revenue policies, no other promises of the proposed act will be violated or changed by the government’s annual program,” he added.
According to Poudel, there should be supremacy of the industrial policy and Industrial Enterprises Act 2010 for the promotion and development of industrial sector. He added that the upcoming act will make mandatory provisions over the issues related to industrial reformation, establishment of Industrial Promotional Board, High Level Investment Board, establishment of Company Registrar’s Regional Office, operation of activities under social corporate responsibility (SCR) by the industries and business firms, including others.
Poudel said the country’s industrial sector has already seen enough apathy from the government due to the obsolete IEA. “Once the proposed act will be approved by the parliament, the sector will directly benefit,” he added.
MoI officials said that the ministry conducted discussions with the private sector and stakeholders and also made some amendments to the draft paper before submitting it to MoLJPA.
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