Development on Past Articles

FOLLOW-UP.In this page, we report on significant developments and new ideas relating to articles which appeared in past issues. What follows concerns Hi ma I´ s coverage in the prototype issue (May 1987) and premiere issue (July 1988)OZONE HOLE OVER HIMALAYA? (July 1988).There is now even more evidence to suggest that the decline in atmospheric ozone is larger than had been expected at the beginning of the year, and scientists are now certain that the ozone hole over the Antarctic might be a precursor to similar depletions elsewhere. While no new research has come to light about the impact of ozone depletion in the high mountain regions in the temperate latitudes, there is fear of a significant ozone decline in the Arctic region, where depletion is accelerated by a cloud of ice crystals that develop in the stratosphere during the frigid, months long winter night. The possibility that gaps in the ozone layer may be opening in ihe relatively populous Arctic regions of Canada, Scandinavia and the Soviet Union and perhaps even over temperate regions of the globe, has heightened fears that human beings and wildlife may soon face grave health hazards. While elsewhere scientists are studying chlorofluorocarbons and wind vortexes around the poles, as far as Soviet scientist Nicolai Korovyakov is concerned they are barking up the wrong tree. He proposes in the magazine Sputnik that the ozone hole in the Antarctic is due to the uneven rotation of the Earth. He says there is a "two minute lag" in rotation of the earth in the southern hemisphere with respect to the northern hemisphere, which produces the gap in the ozone layer. His thesis is unique and has not been studied elsewhere..SWAPPING DEBT FOR NATURE {July 1988)Advocates maintain that debt-for-equity or debt-for-nature swaps are win-win arrangements in which commercial banks, transnational interests, debtor nations and environmental conservation all benefit. However, the Center of Concern, a watchdog group in the United States, warns that the existing Third World debt is unpayable and immoral and that the swaps are nothing but "palliatives to safeguard the present system". Debt swapping, it maintains, transfers ownership and a significant measure of control of assets to foreign hands and represent "a pattern of attempted cooptation" which will ultimately hurt the poor in developing countries. Structural conditions responsible for international imbalances must be the focus of private groups in the west, which must work at reducing the level of Third World debt rather than transferring ownership of the debt from commercial banks to themselves, says the group.. HIGHER EDUCATION IN CRISIS (July 1988)Responding to Himal´s investigative report, Chhabilal Gajurel, Member Secretary of the National Education Committee, says that improvement in Nepal´s higher education must start at the school level. He says HMG has already taken some corrective measures, such as raising the pay of school and university teachers by 25 percent. Of the four categories of teachers in the primary, secondary and high school levels, the highest level is now equivalent to a HMG First Class Officer. These measures, says Gajurel, will lead to better qualified teachers which will inevitably raise the standard of university entrants. Tribhuvan University has also restricted the number of student enrollments, hoping to graduate fewer but better students. Admissions to the intermediate level at Padma Kanya Campus, for example, is down from 1400 last year to 1100 this year. The introduction of the "10 plus 2" system is also expected to enhance quality by phasing out of the "certificate" level, allowing the University to concentrate on improving the quality of instruction at the Bachelors, Masters and PhD levels. , THE VALLEY CHOKES (May 1987)In order to carry out planned expansion in the three towns of Kathmandu Valley, the Kathmandu Valley Town Development Committee decided for the first time in June to begin "guided land development projects" in specific areas in the three town panchayats. No construction works were to be allowed in those areas till December 1988, after which it is expected that construction work will be sanctioned by the respective Nagar Panchayat, as authorized by the KVTDC. Meanwhile, the Asan market has cleaned itself up (see "Brief" section).TEHRI: TEMPLE OR TOMB? (May 1987)The anticipated costs of the Tehri Dam on the Bhagirathi has escalated almost 15 fold to IRs. 2930 crore since it was first mooted in 1972. The latest hike in estimates resulted from a suggestion to broaden the width of the proposed rockfill dam from 1100 m to 1500 m, taking into account region´s seismicity.These and other claims are made in a 139-page report by Vijay Parajypaye of Pune´s Ness Wadia College, who was sponsored by the New Delhi based INTACH group. Paranjypaye says the dam authorities have been able to get the Planning Commission´s sanction by "overstating the benefits and understating the costs". He says the useful life of the dam will be no more than 61 years; that while the installed capacity of the Tehri power plant was to be 1000 MW, only 346 MW of power could be produced on a continuous basis; and that the number of persons displaced would not be 46,000 as claimed, but 85,600, including 20,000 from Tehri town.M.M.L. Khanna, Chief Engineer of the Tehri Dam Project has accused Paranyape of "deep prejudice against high dams" and of faulty cost benefit analysis. He claims that the June 1988 figure for the dam was only IRs. 1464 crore and that the useful life of the dam reservoir, on the basis of silt data collected by the Ganga Discharge Organization, is 190 years. An alternative runoff scheme proposed by Paranjpaye would not be efficient, says Khanna. Additionally, Tehri Dam would go a long way in solving Uttar Pradesh´s power problem, he says.