Tarai violence surges post election

Use of arms becoming chronic: Police

BY THIRA L BHUSAL

KATHMANDU, May 10 - Incidents of murder, kidnapping, looting and other criminal activity have seen a resurgence in the eastern and central tarai districts after a brief hiatus during the Constituent Assembly elections.

The trend comes with a clear escalation of violence by various armed groups operating in the tarai in the post-CA election period. The government had mobilized special task forces in the tarai districts and security agencies in Nepal and India worked hand in hand to curb violence and criminal activity along the border areas during the CA poll. The Nepal-India border was also sealed for a few days during the poll.

Following relaxation in security after the election, at least 14 persons have been killed, more than 30 abducted and scores of other sustained injuries in separate incidents in the 13 eastern and central tarai districts. Fifteen incidents of bomb blast also took place in these districts.

In the eastern region alone, and mainly in Siraha and Saptari, nine people were killed, 18 abducted and a bank robbed after April 10. Ten persons sustained bullet and other injuries and four bomb explosions took place, according to police records. Similarly, two other cases of robbery and 14 incidents of looting were reported in these districts during the same period. Police in the region seized three weapons in connection with the incidents.

Likewise, in the central region, at least three people were shot dead in separate incidents after the CA poll. Nepal Police in the region recorded 11 cases of abduction, 14 incidents of bomb explosion and four bomb disposals. At least four of the abducted persons were rescued by police. Several people were injured in six other separate attacks in several of the districts.

In Janakpur, an accountant at Janakpur Cigarette Factory, Shrawan Kumar Shrestha, was found shot dead Wednesday morning at Icchyapur along a river bank. Shrestha, 52, had been abducted four days ago. Abinash Mukti of Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha (Rajan Mukti Group) has owned up to the killing. In Rupandehi, a group of armed and unidentified assailants shot and killed a construction worker at Bodhbar-1 Bishnupura, Wednesday midnight. The deceased has been identified as 38-year-old Arjun Bohara of Krishnapur, Chitwan.

Deputy Inspector General Ravindra Pratap Shah informed that criminal elements have begun to rear their head again in Siraha and Saptari. "The present situation is comparable to what it was till a week before the election," Shah said.

According to DIG Kiran Gautam, the Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha (JTMM) and other armed groups have begun creating trouble lately. "It is mainly the issuing of threats over the phone to exact money that is increasing," he informed.

Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Nepal Police, Keshav Baral, said small arms imported from India are being used in killings, kidnappings, looting and other criminal activity.

"People have learnt to make improvised bombs and other homemade weapons and the use of these is increasing," said Baral, adding, "Our society will suffer for a long time from this chronic problem." AIG Baral said that a political decision is needed and the government should come up with concrete policies and legal provisions to resolve the problem for good.

Posted on: 2008-05-09 19:00:13 (Server Time)

Only surviving Dura speaker keen to teach

BY THIRA L BHUSAL
KATHMANDU, March 28

Kiu means water. Rilu means cow. Gosay means ox. And, railo means nanny goat in the Dura language, octogenarian Soma Devi Dura explained.

Eighty-three-year-old Soma is the only surviving native speaker of this indigenous language of Nepal, which falls under the Tibeto-Burman group, according to linguists and researchers. It used to be spoken in parts of Lamjung and Tanahun districts in western Nepal.

According to the experts, without Soma, this indigenous language would have been as dead as the dodo.
However, Soma the only resource person with primary knowledge of the language, Soma, is keen to teach it to others.

“How can a once vibrant language die out. It will not,” a very confident Soma said, adding, “It’s so good. It’s better than Nepali and other languages. I can teach it to anyone.”

However, she lamented that though she tried to teach it to several members of her family, relatives and neighbors, no one paid attention. “Every time I spoke in our mother tongue, everyone would frown at me and become annoyed,” she said, adding, “How can you continue with language, when there is no one to listen to it being spoken, and speak it back to you.”

These days, she is teaching Dura to one of her grandchildren. “Though I tried to teach many, only one’s learning it seriously,” she said. Though Soma can’t remember exactly when she last held a conversation in Dura with anyone she says it’s been decades.

She learnt the language from her grandmother. Locals from not only the Dura community but also from other ethnic groups spoke in this language. “Even people from other castes used to speak Dura,” she says recalling her childhood days.

But, gradually the language became endangered as a new generation grew up not speaking it. According to her. “They felt uneasy speaking this language.”

She can speak Nepali, Dura and Gurung languages. According to her, many words in this language are similar to Gurung language.
“Water and nanny goat is same in both languages. But, ox is different,” she said. It’s not only language but also several other customs and practices that are similar between the Dura and Gurung communities, according to her.
Her memory is very sharp. She speaks Dura more fluently than Nepali.

Soma’s health condition has become of special concern not only to her own kin but also to society in general.
One has to shout to make her hear. But, her eyesight is still sound.

Some linguists, researchers and university professors are happy that Soma’s health has not shown any serious problem so far. Soma is more energetic and lively than one would expect at that age.
According to the government, the Dura population is nearly 5,000. “But, our study has showed that the number of Dura people is actually 5,676,” said Sakha Dura, central member of Dura Sewa Samaj.
Currently, they live in 12 districts - Lamjung, Kaski, Tanahu, Chitwan, Nawalparasi, Rautahat, Okhaldhunga, Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Doti, Kailali and Banke.

Researchers recently brought Soma to Kathmandu for their study. Kedar Bilash Nagila of Central Department of Linguistics of Tribhuvan University is doing a PHD in the Dura language.
“She is the only person who can be defined as an ideal Dura native speaker,” Nagila said.

Migration, mixing with people from other communities, and the sway of Nepali language are some of the major factors that have jeopardized the Dura language.

226 Nepalis deported in one year

BY PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE
KATHMANDU, Feb 29

Fed up with the Maoist insurgency, Ganga Bahadur Kshetri of Laharepeepal, Baglung district made his way to Belgium in November 2004, in search of greener pastures.

Kshetri, a 36-year-old college graduate and permanent teacher at a secondary school, managed to get political asylum on the basis of which he received a residence permit. The permit expired in January 2007.

"Suddenly, police raided my grocery shop at Ostende in November 2007, and arrested me when I failed to produce a residence permit," he said.

"I fought a legal battle to get a permanent residence permit, spending more than Rs 1 million in the process," he said. "But I lost the case."

He was deported from Belgium on January 17, 2008 after being detained at an "illegal center" for two months.
He currently lives in Kathmandu with his Belgian girlfriend with whom he getting married so that he can qualify for a permanent residence permit in Belgium where he has already made a business investment of more than Rs 4 million.

Kshetri's tale is not an unfamiliar one. At least four Nepalis are sent back every week from different countries for different reasons.

Navin Kumar Ghimire, Director General of the Department of Immigration (DoI), said Nepalis were deported mainly for overstaying their visas, engaging in criminal activities or being refused entry on arrival.
Most of the deportations take place from Western countries where a huge number of Nepalis are thought to be overstaying their visas because of the allure of handsome salaries and a brighter future.

According to data compiled by DoI, 226 Nepalis were sent back from more than two dozen countries in 2007, as against 297 deported in 2006.

The United Kingdom tops the list of countries deporting Nepalis, with 145 and 61 Nepalis returned from there in 2006 and 2007 respectively.

Singapore and Germany sent home 47 and 27 Nepalis respectively in 2007. In 2006, the numbers were 45 and 33.

Belgium, the USA and Malaysia are also among top countries for deporting Nepalis for various reasons.
"The main reason for deportation is overstaying of visas or non-possession of documents to prove their identity," said Dr. Madan Kumar Bhattarai, Nepali ambassador to Germany.

According to Bhattarai, the German authorities ask the German mission in Nepal to verify the identity of detainees before approaching the Nepali mission to obtain travel documents for them.

The number of Nepali workers leaving for foreign lands is far higher than the numbers reported arriving, according to DoI data.

According to the figures, in 2007 a total of 476,456 Nepalis left for overseas countries while only 367,494 were reported to have reached their destinations. In 2006, the number of Nepalis departing and arriving stood at 420,396 and 311,281 respectively.

According to him, immigration officials will investigate the passports, other travel documents and citizenship certificates of deportees after releasing them on bail ranging from Rs 5,000 to 95,000 depending on the reason for deportation.

Source: The Kathmandu Post

"They will be acquitted once their documents are verified to be genuine," Ghimire of DoI said, "We will take action as per existing laws if the documents they were carrying are found to be fake."

The punishment for violating Nepal's immigration laws is five years' imprisonment or a fine of Rs 50,000 or both.

Source: THE KATHMANDU POST

12 more TV channels in pipeline

Published in The Kathmandu Post

BY THIRA L BHUSAL
KATHMANDU, Feb 28

Indefinite bandas, chakkajams and curfews have taken a continuous toll on Nepali industry. Figures show that there has been no significant industrial growth as the country is still reeling under unstable political conditions even after the end of the decade-long Maoist insurgency.

However, the media industry, which in itself largely depends on other industries, is booming in Nepal.

Newspapers and FM radio stations are already in their thousands and hundreds respectively in the country. Latest statistics show that now it is the television industry's turn and Nepali society is entering the televisual age with a vengeance.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC), there are a dozen more satellite TV channels in the pipeline. Many of them are preparing to reach the market within months.
Seven TV channels -- Nepal Television (NTV), NTV-2, Kantipur Television, Image, Channel Nepal, Avenues, and Sagarmatha -- are already in operation. Nepal 1, though not registered in Nepal, is one more channel run for Nepali audiences. Image Channel has bought the license of Shangri-La Satellite Television and has been using it for satellite transmissions.

Almost all the TV channels in operation so far in the country are largely based on news and current affairs.

Media promoters have been concentrating on news-oriented channels as on average over 60 percent of the total revenue comes from advertisements aired during news and current affairs, according to Ranjeet Acharya, Chief Executive Officer of Prisma Advertising.

The situation in India is, however, just the opposite. Indian TV channels earn substantially higher from entertainment programs than from news products, according to Joydeb Chakravarty, Managing Director of Thompson Nepal.

A group of media and TV personalities including music director Shambhujit Baskota and film editor Narendra Khadka is preparing to launch NNTV (Namaste Nepali TV) within a couple of months. The channel will focus totally on entertainment, sports, idle-shows and talk-shows. "Main targets of this channel will be non-resident Nepalis (NRNs) and other Nepali communities spread over several countries," Khadka informed. It also has plans to establish collaboration with Indian or any other international channels.

Similarly, a group of engineers has teamed up to launch Moonlight Television that will mainly focus its programs on development activities, according to Director of Model City and Technology Development, Krishna Prasad Sharma, who is also one of the promoters of the channel. "We will initiate debates, through the channel, over issues like models of development in the days to come," he added. Housing and construction companies and I/NGOs active in the field of development will constitute its target audience and advertisers, according to Sharma. Beginning with six hours at first, the channel will later run round the clock.

Sanjay Adhikari of ABC TV, however, said, "Let us do something first before making publicity."
TV channels in Nepal are already walking a tightrope, as there has been no growth of other industries in recent days. "No new product has been launched in the market for the last 10 months," said Acharya. "New channels will have to share the same pie unless they come up with an innovative idea or find some fresh sector."

Unless there is a new revolution in the entertainment sector, there is no possibility of improvement in generation of more revenue from advertisements, according to Acharya.

Expansion of the cable network is not good news either for Nepali channels because foreign channels can reach Nepali kitchens and drawing rooms directly through cable. "Then multinational companies think there is no more a need to provide advertisements to Nepali channels," Acharya said. The increasing trend of using hoarding boards in urban areas is another headache for local channels as advertisers allocate money for that also from the same advertising budget, according to him.

Chakravarty hopes that an increasing number of TV channels would promote competition, quality of service and more scientific costing.

Pointing out shortcomings in Nepali media, he stated that at present Nepali TV channels lack diversity. "Their programs replicate each other," he added.

Presence of very few fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) in the market is a problem for Nepali media. Similarly, the same handful of old advertisers remain the big players in the market, according to Chakravarty.

Transmission charges for television channels seeking a license range from Rs 350,000 for 500 watt capacity to Rs 1.2 million for 10 KW.

The channels have to pay 110 percent of the amount as renewal charges annually. Also, both satellite and terrestrial channels have to pay 5,000 rupees as application charge to the government.

================================
New satellite channels in pipeline
================================

• Newsline Pvt Ltd, Kathmandu,National TV Network, Kathmandu
• Uplink International, Kathmandu
  
• Everest TV Network, Kathmandu
  
• Bodhigram, Kathmandu
  
• SK TV, Lalitpur
  
• Nobel Broadcasting, Kathmandu
  
• Citizen TV, Kathmandu
  
• Moonlight TV, Kathmandu
  
• Tarai Media Network, Birgunj
  
• ABC TV, Kathmandu
  
• Namaste Nepali TV Network, Kathmandu

Balaju, Darchula incidents, ominous indication

E-Zine REPORT
BALAJU, FEB 6

Despite the Tarai region becoming a hotbed of violent activities in the recent days, people in the rest of the parts of the country were taking a sigh of relief for couple of months.

But, the latest developments give some ominous indication-- the peace is not going to last for long. Police and Maoist youth wing the Young Communist League (YCL) cadres Wednesday once again started their past course—muscle-flexing right in the capital city.

Police today evening raided office of the Maoist youth-front, Young Communist League, in the capital Wednesday evening.

Following the police intervention, the YCL cadres have obstructed major streets in the capital by burning tyres and demonstration in protest following the raid at their office located inside the Balaju Industrial Estate in Kathmandu.

YCL leader "Sagar", talking to a TV channel late night, informed that the situation at Balaju is returning to normalcy as police backtracked from their camps.

Meanwhile, the YCL cadres had abducted three Nobel Academy students from their hostel in the capital this afternoon.

Bidhan Chunara, Bipin Khatri and Suman Shrestha were abducted from the hostel.
Issuing a statement, Nepali Congress has condemned the abduction and demanded safe release of the three.

Meanwhile, 17 persons including Nepali Congress lawmaker Dilendra Prasad Badu and a dozen policemen, who were injured in Maoist attack, were airlifted to the capital Wednesday for treatment.
The NC activists were injured in a clash that ensued after the Maoist cadres tried to foil the NC’s election campaign at Latinath VDC in Darchula district on Tuesday.

The injured were airlifted from Gokule, six-hour walk away from the incident site, to the capital this morning in a chopper.

Besides Badu, the injured activists have been identified as Narendra Dhami, Sher Shingh Dhami, Hemanta Bista and Harak Singh Dhami and are admitted at TU Teaching hospital in Maharajgunj.

According to doctors attending the injured, NC leader Badu has received critical injuries in lower parts of his body and other activists have been severely injured in the heads and legs.
12 police personnel who were injured in the confrontation were also airlifted to the capital for treatment.
The team of NC activists had reached Reel village for to campaign for the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections.
The Maoist cadres picketed the house of a local NC activist, Mohan Singh Dhami, where the NC team were having launch and pounced on them, said Darchula Chief District Officer Yagy Raj Bohara.

Two Maoist cadres were also reportedly injured when the police fired to contain the violent mob.
The situation of five police men mobilised for Badu’s security and few NC activists are still unknown.
During the scuffle, the Maoists torched 12 houses of the villages including Dhami’s apart from looting a rifle, a pistol and a communication set from the police, said police Inspector Amar Bahadur Bom.

Highest bridge in offing, raises safety concerns

BY THIRA L BHUSAL
KATHMANDU, Jan 4

Parbat district in the western region is likely to have the highest bridge -- and second longest at that -- of its type in the country. However, record-setting has also raised safety concerns.

The bridge will connect Kusma bazaar, district headquarters of Parbat to Katuwachaupari VDC.
The Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) is to start work on the bridge while the District Development Committee (DDC) Parbat has already done some preliminary work for it.

The suspension (trail) bridge to be built over the Madi river has its 116.67 meter free board height (that is the height from the level of water to the bridge's lowest level).

"This is the first suspension bridge (with no tower) with this much free board ever built in Nepal," said Engineer Badri Prasad Dhungel of Suspension Bridge Division under MoLD.

The length of the bridge is 344 meters, second only to the 350-meter-long Buwajor bridge that connects Khotang and Udaypur districts -- the longest in the country.

Senior experts and engineers have questioned its safety and utility given its height and length.
A senior engineer working with MoLD, preferring anonymity, said, "The relevance of its use may be questioned once it is constructed."

According to the expert, due to the height of the bridge, people may get dizzy and frightened.
Also, Dr Narendra Lal Joshi, a top expert in the sector, said that it might be problematic for some people. "Some may be frightened," he said.

However, engineer Dhungel claimed that it should not be a problem for locals in hilly areas. "We can see Nepali people crossing big rivers on cables by tying a rope on their waists. So, why can't people walk along a well-built bridge?," Dhungel argued.

Although the engineers interviewed about the bridge differed over the issue of utility, they agreed at least on one point: that making a bridge longer or higher does not itself imply that it becomes technically weak. "It can be equally sound in technical aspects if there is no defect in its design, materials, and construction process," Joshi said. Other engineers agreed.

The division has already undertaken designing of the bridge and is set to invite bids for construction.
The DDC -- which had previously tried to construct the bridge on its own -- requested the ministry to undertake the task only after it realized its complexity, officials said. The ministry is at the last stage of reaching agreement with a construction company.

Dhungel claimed that in view of the perilous location, the division has done good groundwork. "Five main cables of 40 mm diameter will be used on both the sides (5+5 cables) as that is a better arrangement to withstand heavy weight for such bridges," he said. "Likewise, 11 meter-long anchorage blocks will be at both ends," he added. Life-span of such a bridge is 50 years.

The location was chosen as it can directly connect district headquarters Kusma to villages including Katuwachaupari, Pipaltari, Arthur, Thulipokhari, Khaula, Shankarpokhari, Thapathana, Karkineta, Bicharichautara and other adjoining villages far from a road head, according to the division. The estimated budget for its construction is 7.2 million rupees, which is funded by the government itself.

Published in: The Kathmandu Post

Nepalis lose Rs 1 billion worth cell phones a year!

Published in THE KATHMANDU POST

By Thira L Bhusal
KATHMANDU, Feb 2

Cell phone users in Nepal lose about one billion rupees worth of mobile sets every year!
Sounds implausible? Here is the calculation.
"We receive, on average, 300 applications a day for retrieving old registered numbers and sim cards," said Ravindra Jha, manager at the Mobile Service Directorate of Nepal Telecom (NT). He said a roughly four-month observation conducted by NT suggested that it receives about 9,000 such applications a month.
Spice Nepal Pvt Ltd, which operates Mero Mobile services, claims that it receives, on average, 200 applications a day from its centers across the country seeking recovery of old registered numbers and sim cards. Sanat Sharma, brand manager of the company, said, "We have not studied the data thoroughly. But we estimate the number of such applications is 200 a day."
If these figures are true, Nepalis lose 500 mobiles a day. This may appear too large a number but considering that NT and Mero Mobile have a combined mobile subscriber base of over 2 million, it is just 0.025 percent of the mobile phone user
population.
Wholesale and retail mobile businesses in the capital say the price of mobile sets range from Rs 2,000 to Rs 65,000 in Nepal. What is the price of a mobile set that an average Nepali carries? It's hard to pinpoint the average price. But a general consensus among businesses is around Rs 6,000.
At this price, Nepalis lose Rs 3 million worth of mobile sets a day and well above Rs 1 billion a year! None of the insurance companies in Nepal offer insurance coverage for mobile phones lost.
Though mobile users suffer a financial loss, it offers mobile operators and the government additional revenue.
Each NT customer needs to pay Rs 565 to retrieve an old number while Mero Mobile charges Rs 283 for the same service. This means Nepal Telecom earns over Rs 61 million a year from customers who opt to retrieve their old numbers and sim cards. Likewise, Mero Mobile earns Rs 20 million a year in the same fashion. Plus those who find their lost mobile sets often obtain new sim cards either for themselves or for family members, providing additional revenue to the mobile operators. The government receives 13 percent VAT on each service purchase.
Jha, however, claims that NT also loses when customers lose mobile sets as such customers do not make phone calls for a couple of days.
Interestingly, the number of applications to retrieve old numbers is high on Sundays. "This is partly due to NT's day off on Saturday. But our informal study shows that many people lose their mobile sets Friday evening while they are in a more relaxed frame of mind and enjoying their weekend," Jha said.
Both NT and Mero Mobile receive applications for such services at two centers each in the capital. Telecom provides the services from its Jawalakhel and Tripureshwor offices while Mero Mobile receives such applications at Krishna Towers at New Baneshwor and at its Pulchowk branch. Both the companies also collect such applications from major towns and zonal or regional centers across the country.