Science 13 June 2008:

Vol. 320. no. 5882, p. 1411

DOI: 10.1126/science.320.5882.1411

News of the Week

ASIA:

Nepal Counts on Science to Turn Struggling Country Around

Jerry Guo

KATHMANDU--Nepal's new leaders have a surprising strategy for making the poor Himalayan nation's transition from monarchy to republic a success: They plan to shower money on science. High on the agenda of Nepal's new legislative body, the Constituent Assembly, is to approve next month a $125 million budget for the Ministry of Environment, Science, and Technology (MEST)--a whopping 12-fold increase over 2007. "This is so much money that scientists may not [be able to] spend it all," says science ministry senior adviser Devi Paudyal.

Perhaps most remarkable is the source of the promised windfall: the Maoists, a group once labeled as terrorists…[more]

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/320/5882/1411

Nepe