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Believe it or not, the King of Nepal enjoyed all the perks and privileges enjoyed by the monarchy. By this month he may lose the throne, when the newly elected assembly holds its meeting. By then he will be a commoner, tasting life as a Nepalese, without any fringes or benefit. But look at the mess he is going to leave behind:
Against this, is the background of Nepal:
Nepal is among the poorest and least developed countries in the world with almost one-third of its population living below the poverty line. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, providing a livelihood for three-fourths of the population and accounting for 38% of GDP. Industrial activity mainly involves the processing of agricultural produce including jute, sugarcane, tobacco, and grain. Security concerns relating to the Maoist conflict have led to a decrease in tourism, a key source of foreign exchange. Nepal has considerable scope for exploiting its potential in hydropower and tourism, areas of recent foreign investment interest. Prospects for foreign trade or investment in other sectors will remain poor, however, because of the small size of the economy, its technological backwardness, its remoteness, its landlocked geographic location, its civil strife, and its susceptibility to natural disaster.
So how do you think the people of Nepal going to treat Gyanendra, his family and his relatives. One obvious solution, send them to the fields to work until all the debts are paid - knowing Nepal is an agricultural land. But then the royalty must have stacked up enough money elsewhere, and will continue to live as royals. Royalty is not a license to spend and spend, uncaring for the needs of the people, and sometimes I wonder why royalty when they don’t think of the people. They are there to rule or whatever because of the people. They can’t rule an empty land.
On the verge of being unseated from the throne from where his forefathers ruled Nepal for over two centuries, Nepal’s cornered King Gyanendra has received another rude shock - from his utility bills.
The royal family, who has been asked by the former Maoist guerrillas to quit the royal palace in three weeks’ time, owe the state nearly NRS75 million (over $1 million) over their electricity, water and phone bills, a report said.
The Narayanhity royal palace - that is likely to be turned into a museum once the Maoists form the government - owes the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) over NRS47 million for power bills.
Last month alone, the palace ran up a power bill of over NRS1 million though the king and his queen Komal spent long periods in their summer resort in Nagarjuna forest on the outskirts of Kathmandu valley, the Naya Patrika daily reported Sunday.
Citing unnamed sources in the NEA, the tabloid said the palace stopped paying its electricity dues in 2005, the year the king seized absolute power with the help of the army and triggered a national uprising that led to the downfall of the royal family the following year.
Despite the king keeping a studied silence on the developments following a historic election last month that gave victory to his bete noir, the Maoists, the phones in the palace have been busy, especially the king’s mobile telephone.
According to sources in Nepal Telecom, the state-run telephone agency, the king owes it over NRS 10 million while his mobile phone bill alone accounts for more than NRS 1 million.
Though Nepal has till last month been reeling under an acute power crunch that forced the NEA to impose a weekly 42-hour power outage in the country and led to the closure of dozens of industries, the royal family, despite defaulting on their utility bills, receive uninterrupted power supplies.
The NEA runs a substation with 11 employees inside the palace to ensure round-the-clock supply.
Though the state agencies sent letters to the palace repeatedly asking for payment, the letters were stonily ignored, the daily said.
Besides the royal palace in Kathmandu, the dynasty has also not paid utility bills run up by three more palaces in Hetauda, Pokhara and Nagarjuna, the report added.
Living under the palace’s patronage, other relatives have also disdained to pay their power bills, it added.
They include the king’s sister Princess Shobha, whose husband was earlier blacklisted for not paying back bank loans, and two of his nieces, Princess Dilasha and Sitashma.
Earlier this year, an investigation found that the king’s son, Crown Prince Paras, had misappropriated funds from a nature fund and carted away vehicles and a computer owned by it to his own residence for personal use.
Though Nepal’s parliament proclaimed the country a republic last year and said prior to that that the royal family no longer enjoyed any legal immunity, the government has yet not been able to make the obdurate royals pay tax or their bills.
Nor has it been able to revive any of the alleged cases of murder and manslaughter involving members of the royal family and their associates.
The drooping fortune of Nepal’s Shah dynasty of kings is expected to get the death blow this month when the newly elected constituent assembly holds its first meeting and formally abolishes monarchy.
Mothers, do you know that in India you can’t have an ultrasound check to discover the gender of the baby you are carrying. This practice has been in force from 1994. It is estimated that 10 million unborn female babies have been aborted over the last 20 years. Frightening but true. I don’t have maternal instincts but as a father I don’t understand:
I cannot fathom any of this. Please help me.
NEW DELHI: A longer jail sentence along with a higher financial penalty and a 24-hour toll free number to record complaints against doctors conducting sex determination tests are among a slew of measures planned by the health ministry to tackle the hideous practice of female feticide in India.
Other measures include having designated courts to hear cases against violators of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, appointing special public prosecutors to efficiently file court cases against the guilty and sensitising the judiciary to ensure faster conviction rates.
MTNL has granted the health ministry a 10-digit toll free number 1800110500 which will be managed by a call centre. Once a complaint is received, the call centre will forward the information to the state concerned which, assisted by the National Monitoring Cell, will then conduct raids, carry investigations and prepare the legal case against doctors and institutions found to be conducting such tests.
The ministry is planning to amend the PC and PNDT Acts and introduce a graded punishment system according to which individuals found conducting sex determination tests will face a jail term of three months to three years.
The penalty, which is at present between Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 lakh, is being enhanced to anywhere between Rs 3-7 lakh. The ministry is also planning to bring in a mandatory clause which will only allow gynaecologists, obstetricians and radiologists with a DNB degree to use ultrasound machines.
Concerned about India’s dismal rate of convictions — 450 cases filed with just 15 convictions, the ministry wants designated courts set up to specially hear cases relating to violation of PNDT rules. Workshops to sensitize the judiciary — judges of the Supreme Court and high courts with the help of the Chief Justice of India — are also being held.
Help will be sought from special public prosecutors whose sole responsibility will be to file cases and carry out investigations against those found guilty of carrying out sex determination tests.
Health minister A Ramadoss said: “India’s conviction rates are shockingly low. That’s because doctors who carry out the search and seizure operations aren’t good with filing legal cases and presenting a foolproof probe, the lack of which allows violators to go scotfree.”
Govt plans to crack down on sex determination tests-India-The Times of India
Read here and here of this religious department chap. It is a timely warning for existing civil servants to toe the line of the new State Government or lose their jobs. In my opinion the royalty should not get involved before investigating the case thoroughly. There may be other civil servants waiting to use influence to get things done.
Jamry Sury has not won anything. He gets back his job, that’s all. For all intends and purposes he is unwelcome as a civil servant of the Perak State in his old capacity. It would not take long for the Mentri Besar, to put him in his place and I am sure Jamry will regret coming back. That’s how the Civil Service operates.
IPOH: Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin had reason to transfer Datuk Jamry Sury, state senior executive councillor Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham said yesterday.
“I trust the menteri besar will present a proper case to the Sultan as to why he (Jamry) had to be transferred to the state secretariat.”
Ngeh said the state government deferred to the Sultan as head of Islam but admitted that in Jamry’s case, the Ruler was not consulted before the decision was made.
He said the state government had encountered several civil servants who were not co-operating with the new administration.
“I call on them to respect the democratic decision of the rakyat who voted us into government. All civil servants who don’t want to co-operate should resign so that the policies of the state government can be effectively implemented.”He added that the state government would take action against those who were sabotaging the policies of the new state government. This included transferring them or, in extreme cases, terminating their service.
In Penang, DAP chairman Karpal Singh said the Sultan of Perak did not have a say in the transfer of the religious department director.
He said the palace could not order the state government to reinstate Jamry.
“The Perak Pakatan Rakyat government has every right to transfer Jamry since he is a state government servant,” he said when commenting on the order by the Sultan.
“Rulers should seek legal advice from their respective state legal advisers before descending into an arena which is not within their domain,” Karpal said.
Meanwhile, Pangkor assemblyman Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir welcomed the decree to reinstate Jamry as a fair and wise decision.
“What sort of justice is being championed when a civil servant is denied any opportunity to speak and defend himself?”
Perak Umno Youth chief Zainol Padzi Paharudin said Mohammad Nizar should look into the Barisan Nasional’s record which emphasised good relations with the palace.
Look who is talking. Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo, the ex-Mentri Besar of Selangor is a man noted for clearing land and making it barren to facilitate development. He did this beautifully in Selangor and the devastation is an eye-full for visitors to Kuala Lumpur. Remember, even Badawi, the Prime Minister chastised him for clearing land indiscriminately while on an inspection tour by helicopter over Kuala Lumpur. He is a tyrant who did away with green lungs in Kuala Lumpur and should not talk of agriculture.
KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 (Bernama) — A mega project in the form of agricultural infrastructure should be developed in Sabah as a means to overcome hardcore poverty, said Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo.
The former Selangor menteri besar said the available infrastructure in Sabah needed to be identified so that it could be used as a catalyst to develop agricultural activities in the state.
This, he said, could help increase productivity and improve the standard of living.
“The current poverty will become more severe the next time there is an increase in the price of essential food items like rice, sugar and flour.
“Sabah is only able to produce 30 per cent of its population’s rice consumption.
“With the increase of between 40 and 50 per cent on the cost of rice, its hardcore poor would have to severely cut down on their intake,” said Dr Mohd Khir in his blog entry at www.drkhir.com
The Umno Supreme Council member, who visited Sabah recently, noted that the irrigation systems in the Kota Belud padi fields left a lot to be desired as compared to the Barat Laut project in Selangor.
Dr Mohd Khir, who was a government dentist in Sandakan (Sabah) from 1990-1991, said although the people of Sabah were hardworking, they were unable to increase their agricultural produce and income because the current infrastructure was unsuitable.
Overcome Hardcore Poverty By Developing Agriculture Sector - Dr Khir :: Bernama.com
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim has hit the nail squarely on the head. I suggest the consent must be in written form, done in duplicate, with the parents retaining a copy and the woman travelling given the original. He can even go further by instructing the Immigration, Customs, Police, the Airport authorities to check on this document, which I call ‘Parental Approval’ for want of a matter name. So now for all travelling women, they will carry besides the International Passport, the Parental Approval certificate or PA. For fear the PA may be misused, it is suggested, the telephone numbers of the parents be included in the PA; there will be woman trying to forge the PA or buy a PA, the authorities can refer back to the parents to confirm the document is authentic.
Secondly, we can have snoop squads like JAIS, RELA, and Concerned Citizens, stopping woman at all border points, as usual our Police, Customs and Immigration have close one eye problems, to ensure the success of PA.
To give more muscle power to the use of PA I also suggest, Parliament gets involved, and a law is gazetted for official use of PA. It will be ideal for a new Ministry of PA (don’t confuse it with AP, Miti or Rafidah) to be created and some poor soul who was left out as a Minister in the new set up be given the chance to host this new Ministry. It will be ideal for the VIP now involved in tickling a woman’s torso. While on this, I cannot understand why Police must investigate this incident, obviously this VIP is attracted to anything being rounded, or perhaps he was rubbing away the cigar ash of his own on the woman’s bottom. What a butt joke.
Even before introducing the PA, I can imagine the system being a hit to prevent woman from going astray. Can this be extended to all women, please Sir, Foreign Minister, can you do the needful. These woman have too much of freedom, going to the movie they say and eventually find them chit-chatting with friends. PA will stop this. We can extend this even to school girls and ultimately, all women are covered. Going out, where is your PA. How effective.
There is the possibility that woman would cheat by giving false information, can this PA’s be notarised in front of a Magistrate or JP or Commissioner-of-Oaths. How about printing official PA booklets, some can become rich. Nasimuddin the Naza King did so with the AP’s.
This PA thingy can be introduced for men, but come on, do men go astray - unheard of.
KUALA KLAWANG, May 3 (Bernama) — Local women intending to travel alone abroad may need family consent in a bid to prevent them from being used as ‘drug mules’ by international syndicates.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said a proposal to this effect would be made soon, following several incidents where the women were used to smuggle drugs overseas.
Out of 119 cases of Malaysian women hauled up before foreign courts, he said his ministry detected 90 per cent as being linked to drugs.
“Last night, my ministry, together with the home ministry, have jointly forwarded a report to the Cabinet on the matter.
“Both ministries agreed that factors like family, religion, immigration laws and preventive measures need to be considered before a Malaysian woman goes abroad alone,” Rais told reporters after officiating the Malaysian Silambam Association’s Jelebu branch here Saturday.
On the proposed requirement of family consent, he said it would enable the woman’s family to monitor her departure and serve as a preventive measure against being duped by international drug syndicates.
Rais said a family should know the purpose of a woman’s trip as to whether it was for study, business or other reasons.
“We are not sure the call will be taken up but we think it is an early necessary step to protect our citizens and safeguard the country’s image,” he added.
Asked what assistance his ministry could provide if local women were caught, Rais said: “We can only give advice and guidance to their families as we cannot interfere in or influence the laws of the country concerned.”
Cases of local women caught in foreign countries for drug smuggling after being duped by international drug syndicates have parents worried here.
Recently, local newspapers reported that two Malaysian women, Norfaizura Azura Md Lias, 28, and Dayang Sakienah Mat Lazim, 20, were detained in Malta for allegedly smuggling drugs.
Foreign Ministry Proposes Local Women Get Family Consent To Travel Abroad Alone :: Bernama.com
