PRASIDDHA JUNG SHAH FAILS TO IMPROVE NATIONAL RECORD IN OLYMPICS Kathmandu, 2 Aug.: Prasiddha Jung Shah even didn’t the national record in the 50m freestyle swimming in London Olympics Thursday. Shah carried the national flag at the opening ceremony. The swimmer timed 26.93 seconds in the competition while improving a personal record. Chitra Bahadur Gurung holds the national record of 26.39 in the 50 meters freestyle swimming. nnnn CHINESE TEENAGER STABS EIGHT TO DEATH Kathmandu, 2 Aug.: A teenager has been arrested after killing eight people and wounding five others in a knife attack in northeast China, state media reported Thursday, AFP reports. The 17-year-old, which was identified only by his surname Li, barged into the home of his girlfriend armed with a knife following an argument and killed two relatives of the girl, the Legal Daily said. As he left his girlfriend's home in Liaoning province's Xinbin county, he stabbed six more people to death and wounded five, it said. He was arrested at the scene of the attack, late on Wednesday night, and was taken into custody, the official Xinhua news agency reported. No other details were immediately available. Calls made to local authorities and police in Xinbin county went unanswered. Violent crime has been on the rise in China in recent decades as the nation's economy has boomed and the gap between rich and poor has expanded at an alarming rate. Experts say the increase in assaults shows that China is paying the price for focusing on more than 30 years of economic growth while ignoring problems linked to rapid social change. Studies have described a rise in the prevalence of mental disorders in China, some of them linked to stress as the pace of life becomes faster and socialist support systems wither. However, authorities stress that murder, which carries the death penalty, remains far less common than in most Western countries Nnnn OPINION DANCING WITH HIDDEN AGENDAS Kathmandu, 2 Aug.: One of the prime demands of the silent majority of Nepali people concerns with the need for scrapping many of the public holidays that the government of Nepal has declared. We have too many public holidays in a country where files hardly move unless money changes hands under the table and work culture is extremely poor. This is neither loktantrik nor forward-looking and secular, Trikal Vastavik writes in People’s Review. The need for all of us is to start working. The very “intellectuals” and politicians who used to criticize previous regimes for drawing up a long list of public holidays have bounced onto the seat of power in the loktantrik years without doing anything about reducing the number of such wasteful holidays. In fact, they have lengthened the list of such holidays. The existing state affairs should indicate the narrow politicking and some groups’ hopes of increasing the potential of their vote banks whatever the consequences of polices they pursue. They bid adieu to principles they so loftily preach for others and are always on the lookout for personal power and profits, overriding the concerns of the nation and the welfare of the society in general. This is bound to grow worse because of the intense faction-fighting in virtually every political party. Foreign forces exploit factional disputes. The larger parties complain that foreign interference has increased. But the noise is meaningless considering that the party leaders forget the issue of foreign interference when things suit them, only to cry hoarse against the same when the going is no good for them personally. Their priority is not the welfare of the people and national integrity but their own self-interests. It is no surprise that some groups of youth make it a point to emphasize that the dubious INGOs should be packed off beyond the Indian Ocean to their own capitals instead of sowing seeds of discord in this once-peaceful country. Such voices have been echoed by a number of older politicians in the recent months, much to the consternation of dubious funding agencies that can stew in their money. In the coming days, Nepali public anger against foreign agencies with some bags of money can expect to be the target of worse wrath from the public, in which case they have only themselves to be blamed. The mushrooming INGOs in this country are not the outcome of any purely humanitarian consideration. In the last six years, Nepalis have been witness to the blatantly contemptuous helpline agencies. A government that is serious about the business of state affairs would have put in the right places the foreign agencies and also those working at Kathmandu-based embassies, including those along the Lazimpat-Maharajgunj stretch of road in the capital city. In the chronic absence of such a government, foreign agencies are running amuck and dictating “advice” and barging in at senior politicians’ residences, including the prime minister’s official place of rest. The Social Welfare Council, entrusted with the task of monitoring and evaluating the performance of social service organizations, functions below par, filled with party activists at the leadership positions. INGOs need no loopholes; they create loopholes on their own and treat the local bodies casually and even contempt. A group in the Mohan Baidya camp of Maoists is said to be planning a dossier on “NGO-ists” and their funding agencies for exposing how they have creamed off piles of money in the name of rendering services to Nepali people. Many retired personnel from security forces conclude that a strict surveillance of the funding agencies would bring about a qualitative change in the way their local fronts operate. It would also restore normalcy in place of the existing chaos created by different interest groups prodded by the hidden agendas of foreign donor agencies. Swiss Ambassador Thomas Gass in June met with Sushil Koirala of Nepali Congress, Jhalanath Khanal of CPN (UML) and Mohan Baidya “Kiran” of NCP-Maoist, reportedly reiterating “Switzerland’s commitment to support Nepal and the Nepali people in the development of the country.” He discussed how the Nepal Peace Trust Fund can further support the peace process. In other words, Gass emitted a lot of gas without any proper soul searching on his own as to how his own mission has been functioning and how the Swiss development agency here functions with what agendas. Nepal seems to be taking a dubious lead in the whole of South Asia where foreign envoys can simply their sure-shot Aladdin’s Lamp and get easy access to the political bigwigs through the shortest passage. That is why foreign agencies can play Nepalis against Nepalis for so long. Foreign groups need to be ordered to put the details of their functions and transactions on websites. It should be made mandatory for them to file quarterly report to the Social Welfare Council. But this can be effective only if the Council is ridden of corruption and developed as a democratically functioning body that is far from corruption and does not bend its knees at the sight of incentives and allurements dangled at its members by some rich funding agency. The details should include the total volume of funds for each project and how they are spent. The participants, resource persons and the outcome together with period reports on the projects should keep things in a transparent manner. Moreover, agencies that speak so much on democratic rule based on transparency and accountability should not be hesitant in meeting such criteria. Otherwise, they should be shown the exit gate. But this is another challenging task because many NGOs and run by political activists who make no bones about their political affiliations. Advisors and assistant to politicians, former prime ministers and incumbent prime minister and president are known to be drawing regular remunerations from NGOs. The source of the funds these NGOs and their operators is their potential for influencing political figures they are close to. Foreign agencies with hidden agendas are on the prowl for individuals with such potentialities and who could fall in line for the munificence provided in the form of “funds.” Here, petty interests clash with larger national interest. Often, the petty-minded ones in important positions get the upper hand at the cost of national interest. One cannot blame the foreign forces feeding on the faction-fighting prevalent in Nepali political scenario. To recall that timeless Nepali saying, “Dunces get looted when brothers fight.” (The writer can be reached at: trikalvastavik@yahoo.com ) nnnn