MASS FUNERAL OF 60,000 GURKHA SOLDIERS KILLED OR MISSING FIGHTING FOR BRITISH ARMY HELD Kathmandu, 22 Nov..: An extended three-day mass last rites for 60,000 Gorkhas servicing with the British army during World War I and II concluded by the bank of a river in Syanghja concluded Thursday. Gurkha Ex-servicemen Organization said the dear ones the soldiers from Nepal were never informed they were dead or went missing in wars fought for Bitish army in Asia, Africa and Europe. No compensation was paid either. A memorial is also being built for the geared soldiers without British government involvement. Gurkhas are still recruited in the British army and a contingent is fighting in Afghanistan. The 60,000 soldiers who died or are missing are from different ethnic communities. nnnn HANDICRAFT EXHIBITION STARTS THURSDAY Kathmandu, 22 Nov.: The five-day 10th edition of the Handicraft Trade Fair begins at Bhrikuti Mandap Thursday. Federation of Handicraft Associations of Nepal (FHAN) is organizing the promotional event. Pashmina, woollen products, silver jewellery, handmade paper products and wood crafts, will be on display at 200 stalls. .Products from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Jordan will also be on show. The exhibition theme is:Handicrafts For All. 5.1 PERCENT GROWTH EVISAGED BY GOVT. DIFFICULT TO ACHIEVE Kathmandu, 22 Nov.: The government did manage to avert the looming economic crisis on Tuesday with a two-third budget , but the country will struggle to achieve the economic growth of 5.1 percent as mentioned by the Finance Minister, The Kathmandu Post reports.. The delay in budget presentation (four-month behind schedule) and the government’s compulsion to limit the budget size to that of last fiscal year’s will hit hard the development work and economic growth. There are multiple instances of the country missing economic growth target even after full budget presentation in the past. And now, when a two-third budget has cut down the capital expenditure and there are only eight months left for this fiscal year to conclude, achieving the growth target will be a herculean task. Development projects may face shortage of resources as the government cannot spend more than the actual expenditure of the last fiscal year under the current budget ary arrangement. The development budget has already taken the beating with capital expenditure falling short by Rs 20 billion. The budget unveiled on Tuesday has allocated Rs 51.34 billion under capital expenditure head, against Rs 71 billion of the last fiscal year. Capital budget is basically the resources spent for development purposes. “All the existing development projects may not get the amount equal to what they spent last fiscal year as the resources will have to be spent on some new government initiatives started this year,” said Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi. According to Subedi, the government will have to arrange the budget for road expansion work in the Kathmandu Valley, spend additional budget for fertiliser imports and load shedding reduction plans, among others, that were started after the last fiscal year’s budget was introduced. “In such a scenario, all the existing projects will not get the budget equivalent to the amount they spent last fiscal year,” he said. Every year, the government has to spend increased amount for salary, allowance and pensions due to promotion and grade increment of government employees. That’s why the limited budget allocated this year will make it difficult for the government to arrange funds for additional expenditure. The recurrent expenditure allocated for the current fiscal is also less by Rs 20 billion compared to the allocation in the last fiscal year. “If the allocated budget is not sufficient to meet the increased cost under the recurrent head, we will have no other options, but to chop capital budget although capital budget is not transferred to recurrent head as per the existing mechanism,” said Subedi. He said as managing necessary resources for paying salaries to the government staff is the most important factor and resources from the donors’ heading cannot be transferred for the purpose, capital budget allocated under government’s resources may have to be utilised. On the other hand, foreign-funded projects are also likely to be affected with the two-third budget arrangement. Although the budget has stated necessary counterpart fund has been arranged for the foreign-aided projects, Secretary Subedi said it will be a tough job to manage such funds for projects finalised under new agreement. However, some Finance Ministry officials say the allocated budget could be just enough to spend in the remaining eight months, given poor track record of capital expenditure. “There is limited time for development budget expenditure and we can transfer budget for major projects from other capital budget heads where expenditure is poor,” said another ministry official. The official said as the budget for development projects that are added every year is not available this time, the allocated budget may be ‘quite enough’. “The government also has the option of introducing the ‘Ordinance to Recover Public Debt’, which allows the government to raise internal loans. The government can take overdraft five percent of last fiscal year’s revenue collection from the Nepal Rastra Bank,” said the official. However, other ministry officials admit in the absence a full budget , economic activities will slow down, affecting economic growth and revenue collection. “We have not set the revenue collection target for the whole year, but we may have to keep it based on possible slowdown in economic activities,” said Subedi. “I have directed my staff to prepare for the possible impact of the absence of a full budget .” During the first four months, revenue collection has been impressive. But Subedi said that was due to small growth in the first four months of the last fiscal year. nnnn HEALTH DIRECTORATES PADLOCKED NATION-WIDE Kathmandu, 22 Nov.: Six agitating health professionals' unions padlocked all five Regional Health Directorates across the nation on Wednesday. District Public Health Offices across the Kathmandu Valley also remained closed with protestors staging sit-ins outside the offices, The Kathmandu Post reports. The six health professionals' unions have been protesting the Ministry of Health and Population's (MoHP) recent transfer of civil servants claiming that the move is “illegal and unfair”. The MoHP, on November 15, had transferred 597 civil servants of the fourth, fifth and sixth classes under the Health Services Regulation Act which authorises the MoHP to transfer officials every year in November. The irate unions also padlocked the Family Health Division, Primary Health Care Revitalisation Division, Leprosy Control Division, National Centre for AIDS and STD Control, Logistics Management Division, Ayurveda Division, Management Division, Child Health Division, National Health Training Centre and the National Health Education, Information and Communication Centre, all of which are located inside the Department of Health Services (DoHS) at Teku. Ramji Ghimire, secretary of the Health Professionals' Organisation Nepal, said that they spared the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division and the Immunisation section of the Logistics Management Division given their sensitive nature of the services that they deliver to the public. However, Ghimire warned that they will shut down all services of the District Health Offices and District Public Health Offices throughout the country from Thursday if the MoHP does not scrap its transfer decision. Additionally, Mohani Sahi, the Post correspondent in Doti, reported that with the closure of the Far-Western Regional Health Directorate, over 200 candidates for the post of Auxiliary Health Workers were unable to appear for their examinations. "My parents had a hard time managing money for me to attend this exam," said Chandra Kanta Nath, one of the candidates who was in Dipayal on Wednesday. "If we were given prior notice, we could have saved the money." Meanwhile, talks between the six agitating unions and representatives from the MoHP and the DoHS failed to reach an amicable solution on Wednesday. Dr Mingmar Sherpa, director general of the DoHS, said that they will hold talks again on Thursday. While the agitating unions claimed that the protest is for the benefit of civil servants, many government officials said that the former were up in arms because a few “union people” did not get a better share during the transfers. However, Ghimire ruled out any vested interests behind the protest. The protest is to make health services more efficient and bring it within the reach of all Nepalis, especially the rural population, he said. nnnn