Unwanted action

It is unfortunate that Industry and Commerce Ministry took a departmental action against the Director General of Department of Industry just because he attempted to stick to legal proceedings and refused to comply with the minister's order. It is a shameful act, which could leave a deeper impact on the business world. For, the case has emerged over issuance of trade mark not registered here to a Nepali company. The minister ordered the department to cancel it for Indian companies, while the chief of the department refused on legal grounds. If the DG is proved wrong, none of the companies that have registered trade marks and designs would feel secure that their intellectual property will be protected.

Intellectual property right is protected through complex legal terms. Like every other cases, its battle has to be backed by a solid investigation. Cases related to counterfeiting of the property require proper investigation, and cannot be decided through minister's direct order. In the case that surfaced here, Sun brand of pipe fittings and Rajanigandha brand of pan masala were registered by the Nepali companies, whereas the companies that originally produced it bothered not to register here. So, the department's ruling that Nepali product is authentic and should be protected goes with the law. Now once the case was brought to the notice that the Nepali companies had counterfeited the Indian brands, the process should have been to conduct thorough investigation and deal with those legally. However, all that spirit of legal protection was flouted in the case.

However, Post's support for the legality of the case is not to undermine the ethics businessmen and companies must follow. Given that Nepal and India are not signatory of Madrid Convention that ensure global protection of marks once registered there, it is the responsibility of Indian companies to register their trade marks here. And it was also equally desired that Nepali companies stick to business ethics. Copying the trade marks of popular Indian and overseas brands just because those are not registered here is against business ethics. It is also cheating the consumers. Hence, the government must beef up the inspection process while granting trade marks to the companies. Strong mechanism should be developed to ensure that companies do not get hold of trade marks and designs of other companies. There must be hearing cells at the Department of Industry to facilitate original trademark holders to fight for their rights. Also the decades old Trade Mark, Patent and Design Act must be amended. Above all, the government must allow cases related to intellectual property rights to be addressed through due legal and administrative course rather than through discretionary decisions.

Source: The Kathmandu Post, May 25, 2007

Focus On MDGs

EVER since Nepal expressed its commitment at the United Nations Millenium Summit to meet the basic needs of the people by 2015, the government has taken a number steps to meet the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) within the stipulated time frame. The Millenium Summit set eight different development goals to be met by the developing world. These goals include, among others, alleviating poverty, ensuring universal primary education, reducing child and maternity mortality, ensuring gender equality and fighting the AIDS epidemic. Although the poverty alleviation programme and other issues contained in the MDGs have been the priority of the government for long, Nepal has been making extra efforts to achieve these targets since 2000. Poverty is the highest priority of the government. All economic and development programmes have been integrated with the poverty alleviation strategy, and Nepal has achieved significant progress on various fronts. Nepal is well ahead in reducing child mortality, which has been a lesson for other developing countries. In other sectors, too, Nepal's progress has been satisfactory. But resource crunch has put tremendous pressure on the government in carrying out programmes related to the MDGs. Moreover, the decade-long conflict seriously marred the development activities, which caused negative growth in some sectors. However, it did not deter the government from pursuing programmes designed to meet the basic needs of the people. The literacy rate has gone up, and student enrollment in the schools has been satisfactory. The poverty alleviation strategy is also gaining momentum and the efforts at gender equality and fighting AIDS have also been encouraging. All these developments have shown that Nepal is on track to achieving the Millenium Development Goals.

Nepal is a country with limited resources. But it needs huge funds to rebuild the infrastructure damaged during the violent conflict. For this, Nepal needs strong and meaningful support from the international community. So far, support from the donors has been encouraging. But such efforts should be enhanced if Nepal is to achieve its goal for development. In the light of progress and constraints towards meeting the MDGs, vice-chairman of the Nation Planning Commission Jagadish Chandra Pokhrel, at a meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council for Asia and the Pacific (UESCAP) in Kazakhastan recently, expressed Nepal's commitment to achieving the MDGs and called upon the international community, in general, and the United Nations, in particular, to increase the level of assistance to Nepal. As observed by vice chairman Pokhrel, Nepal would march ahead in achieving the development goals set by the United Nations in time only if the international community actively supports Nepal's bid.

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 25, 2007

Role Of Police

THE deteriorating law and order in the country has become a matter of immense concern. The country now after the post-conflict situation is in a transition phase. As such, due priority should be accorded to law and order or else the whole purpose of the Jana Andolan II could be derailed. Unless the law and order situation in the country improves it would be difficult to hold the Constituent Assembly that tops the agenda of the interim government. The police in particular have the onerous responsibility of maintaining law and order in the country. Thus, while inaugurating the "Senior Police Officials' Conference-2064" the other day, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has instructed the police administration to work with high morale taking into account the complex political situation obtaining in the country and the worsening law and order. No doubt, the police face an uphill task. As of now they are mostly involved in controlling dharnas, bandhs and strikes, thereby, obstructing them from carrying out investigations and in controlling crime. So that the morale of the police force remains high it is the need of the day to equip the police institution with new technologies and skills so that they may be able to deal with crimes, which are getting increasingly sophisticated day by day.

Prime Minister Koirala has assured the police of the support and full co-operation of the government to the extent that the government is ready to make the police administration more resourceful and effective so that they can maintain law and order. The security agencies are a vital pillar of the nation for the security needs stands among the first and foremost needs. It is highly essential to strengthen this body as per the democratic political system. The police force should work fearlessly and should receive all the support possible from the civil society too as they carry on with the task of maintaining law and order. The police personnel have distinguished themselves with many heroic deeds and even attained martyrdom, which is the ultimate sacrifice in the course of duty. The nation is indeed grateful to them and pays them homage. So that the police personnel are enabled to work with dedication and in an effective manner the need to keep their morale high cannot be overemphasized. The holding of the seminar should come up with suggestions as to how to make this possible in the greater interest of the nation. The people now want law and order for they have suffered enough.

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 25, 2007

Corporate social responsibility in Nepal

Siddha Raj Pant

Recently, a marketing manager of a distillery audaciously claimed to be evading tax to make up for extortion by various political outfits. Similarly, another owner of a popular low-cost liquor brand is absconding following charges of misappropriating millions from a bank against him. Likewise, the chairman of the FNNCI was arrested for fraudulent business practices.In this context, it was ironic that Kathmandu played host to “South Asian NGO Consultative Meet on Promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility”, a three-day regional conference from April 25 to 27. The message is loud and clear. Whether or not businesses abide by their responsibility towards the society, civil society represented by vigilante NGOs will continue to keep an eagle eye on the impact companies have on the society and other stakeholders. But without government help, NGOs can do no more than name and shame unscrupulous businessmen.

Originally, the companies were created by the governments to do essential public work. This practice gradually evolved into an economic model with enhanced efficiency and effective use of resources. This model of economic development is the best as it enlarges the size of the pie than seek a larger portion of a smaller pie. Philosophically too, a rational being will tend to go that extra mile only if there are incentives to do so.Even though political myopia in promoting unionism and barriers to entry into and exit from the market would remain for a while, it will be imprudent to think of life without private businesses for both their might and importance is increasing day by day (51 of the world’s 100 largest economies are corporations, not countries). The important task is to gauge socialdesirability of these institutions and determine the minimum acceptable ethical behaviour or social responsibility.

Caught in the dilemma of development imperative and amorality associated with private corporations, governments across the globe are changing their role from that of a competitor with private businesses to one regulating the private entities in favour of the consumers, the environment and the state.As the role of corporations is evolving from an immoral entity into a legal one, they will have to behave ethically as prescribed by the law. No country allows, by law, fraud and smuggling. This minimal level of ethics should be maintained irrespective of whether it makes an economic sense for a business. But some companies adopt high ethical standards if only to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

But does it pay to be an ethical business in Nepal? There is no definite answer. The level of ethical adherence depends upon societal expectations, institutional capabilities, economic freedom, awareness and education level of citizens. Other factors apart, in order to promote social responsibility of companies the state, along with watchdog NGOs, should strengthen the capacity to regulate businesses and benchmark good practices.

Source: The Himalayan Times, May 25, 2007

Hydropower: An Overview

Uttam Maharjan

Energy is one of the basic components of development. Without energy, no economic sector can develop. An instance of energy is fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are extensively used around the world. The far-reaching use of such fuels has contributed to destabilising the environment, causing, for instance, global warming. With fast-paced depletion of fossil fuels and the resultant effects on the environment, hydropower is being explored as a renewable source of energy. In the present scenario dominated by the deleterious effects on the environment of greenhouse and other noxious gases, moving towards the use of hydropower as a carbon-free energy source has been deemed viable and eco-friendly.

Renewable energy

Hydropower has been recognised as a renewable source of energy. The Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Third Water Forum (Kyoto) have both recognized hydropower as such. Other sources of renewable energy are solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, oceanic energy, cogeneration (use of a heat engine or a power station to generate both electricity and useful heat at the same time) and biomass.

At the end of the Third Water Forum held in March 2003, a new report was released on how developed countries should fund water projects. At the beginning of the 21st century, 33 per cent of the people were found suffering from water hardships as per the 54-page report of the Forum. In Africa, households spend 26 per cent of their time fetching water. As per the study by the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaboration Council, an independent body that endeavours to secure safe drinking water for the teeming poor in the world, Asian and African women have to walk around 6 kilometres a day to fetch water. Consumption of water per person per day in developing countries is estimated at 10 litres vis-୶is 135 litres in the developed countries.

About 1.1 billion people around the world are deprived of safe drinking water, whereas about 2.4 billion people are balked of good sanitation. One of the millennium development goals is to halve the problem relating to safe drinking water by 2015.Nepal is very rich in water resources. Despite this huge potential of water resources, the hydropower picture in the country is bleak. There is no denying that hydropower has multi-dimensional use, through which sustainable development can be notched up. Sustainable development in the economic sector would certainly transform the socio-economic status of the people, a daunting challenge for the poor countries.With the restoration of multi-party democracy in the 1990s, the hydropower sector in the country, like other economic sectors, has somewhat metamorphosed. The Water Resources Act 2049 and Hydroelectricity Act 2049 were promulgated, enabling the private sector to step in for investment in water resources. Foreign companies are interested in hydropower projects, but they prefer large-scale hydel projects.

Foreign aid for the development of water resources projects also comes but with harsh terms. Such projects are marred by lack of transparency, accountability, monitoring and financial discipline and by economic anarchy and malgovernance. The cost of such projects would also soar due to delay in completion, exchange rate devaluation and additional cost. It is essential to set up an Electricity Development Board and encourage small- and medium-scale hydel projects. For water resources to develop in a true sense, three things need to be in place: management of electric development and promotion, market management of electricity, and operation and maintenance of projects in a timely fashion. In developing countries like Nepal, large-scale hydel projects are a difficult proposition due to the high cost and sophisticated technical know-how required. Hence, small-scale hydel projects such as micro- and pico-hydel projects need to be encouraged and stimulated in addition to large-scale hydel projects. Micro-hydels produce upto 100 KW of power. Such hydels are often used in areas where there is plenty of water. They supply power to small communities. Micro-hydels can complement photovoltaic solar energy systems.

On the other hand, pico-hydels generate power below 5 KW. Such hydels are used for far-lying communities requiring very low power. Pico-hydropower does not pollute the air, so it is more eco-friendly than fossil fuels. Hydropower projects have elimination of the cost of fuel as their major advantage. As no import of fuel is required, hydel plants are free from price hikes normally associated with fossil fuels like oil, natural gas, coal and POL products. Besides, the operating labour cost of hydel plants is lower as plants are automated, requiring very few people on site during normal operation. Reservoirs built for the purpose of hydel operation may provide water sports facilities. Such areas may be used for wooing tourists, thus, developing the areas into tourist spots. In a similar vein, a hydel plant may be constructed at a lower cost around multi-purpose dams for irrigation, flood control or recreation, which may recoup the cost of the construction of the dam. Hydropower projects do not come with advantages only; they may pose a threat to aquatic ecosystems. Damming often poses an obstacle to the migration of fish, thus preventing them from reaching their spawning grounds upstream. Similarly, damming and redirecting the waters of a river may endanger native and migratory birds. Large-scale hydel projects may give rise to environmental snags both upstream and downstream. The reservoirs of hydel plants in tropical regions may generate a lot of noxious gases such as methane and carbon dioxide.

Disadvantages

Construction of hydel dams makes it necessary to relocate the people who are living where the reservoirs are planned to be built. In such a case, the question of compensation often crops up, leading to spats with the local people and causing a delay in completing the hydel projects. Besides, historically and culturally strategic places may be affected, sometimes leading to their complete loss, which is a great blow to heritage preservation. Construction of a dam in a geologically unsuitable area may give rise to disasters. One such example is the Vajont Dam in Italy, which killed 2,000 people in 1963. Failure of dams can be very serious. The failure of the Banqiao in China killed 171,000 people and rendered millions homeless. Even stronger dams built at a great cost are vulnerable to sabotage and terrorism.

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 25, 2007