Dhurmus-Suntali finally handovers flood survivors through Prez Bhadndari
President Bidya Devi Bhandari inaugurated the Santapur Integrated Settlement constructed by Dhurmus-Suntali Foundation at Rautahat today at Chandpurpur-8 on Tuesday. The victims had been living in the makeshift houses on the bank of Santapur-based Bagmati River.
The settlement at Santapur-8 comprises of 50 buildings, of which 47 are earthquake resistant homes, community halls, temples, club houses and view tower. The infrastructures are child and disability friendly.
Governor Ratneshwor Lal Kayasta, and famous comedy actors, Madan Krishna Shrestha and Hari Bansha Acharya had also participated in the program.
The houses were constructed by the Foundation with a cost of Rs 59.48 million.
President Bidya Devi Bhandari handed over the key of the integrated settlement to Settlement Management Committee Chairman Jaya Narayan Yadav amid a function in Rautahat today.
Before handing over the key, the head-of-the-state inaugurated and monitored the settlement.
According to Arjun Neupane, Project Manager at the Dhurmus-Suntali Foundation, 47 families of Musahar, Dusad, Chamar, Lohar, Teli and Tharu communities, are the beneficiaries.
The integrated settlement has 47 houses, a community hall, a school, a club hall, a view tower and two temples.
Nepali comedian duo, Madan Krishna Shrestha and Hari Bansha Acharya, among others, attended the programme chaired by Sitaram Kattel (Dhurmus) and Kunjana Ghimire (Suntali), chairpersons of the Dhurmus-Suntali Foundation.
Finally to execute ban process of 22-year-old public vehicles countrywide
The government has decided to ban public vehicles that are 20 years or older across the nation from March 15 onwards. Such vehicles were banned in Kathmandu Valley last year.
The Department of Transport Management (DoTM), under the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, said the rule will be strictly enforced with an objective to curb vehicle congestions, controlling air-pollution emanating from vehicle emissions and reduce road accidents that might happen with old vehicles plying on the roads.
This is not the first time that the government has made such a commitment, though. The decision was made in January 2015 to take vehicles which are older than 20 years off the roads.
On February 28 last year, the Cabinet banned public vehicles older than 20 years from operating inside Kathmandu Valley, but the decision was not implemented strictly.
The department has booked less than a dozen such vehicles in the past year.
“Such old vehicles are one of the many causes for congested traffic and pollution. Once we are able to phase out all vehicles above 20 years of age, it will ease vehicular movement in city areas and minimise pollution,” said Pandey.
As per DoTM’s estimation, there are almost 5,000 20-year-old vehicles plying the roads of the country and almost 2,500 such vehicles were being operated in the Valley. However, Pandey claimed that almost all 20-year-old vehicles have already been phased out from Kathmandu Valley.
“Operating 20-year-old vehicles in the country after mid-March will be against the law and DoTM will take action against transport entrepreneurs if they are found operating such old vehicles after the given deadline,” said Pandey.
Citing that such old vehicles are not technically fit to be operated and are also prone to accidents, Pandey informed that DoTM will cancel the route permit of all such old vehicles from mid-March.
However, transport entrepreneurs have been seeking incentives from the government before phasing out old vehicles citing that prohibiting transporters to run their vehicles will put their investments at risk.
“Transport entrepreneurs have injected huge investment while procuring their vehicles. The government should first take the responsibility of transport entrepreneurs’ investment before enforcing the ban,” said Saroj Sitaula, general secretary of the Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs Association.
Director of DoTM Tulsi Ram Aryal said that they wanted to remove all kinds of old vehicles but they did not have proper law to carry out the action. Aryal further stated,
“We do not have authority to ban all kinds of vehicles that are hazardous to the environment and we are bound by vehicle and transportation regulations 1997 that will not allow us to make decisions on private vehicles.”
DoTM officials suggested that using old public vehicles made people prone to accidents and they were also one of the main causes of pollution.
Public vehicle operators are not satisfied with the new rule. Rail Bahadur Tamang, a taxi-driver said that he had invested a lot of money to buy a taxi and he would be out of work once it was scrapped.
“I have been driving this taxi for the last 15 years, and I have taken good care of it. I am confident that this can last 15 years more. But, if I have to scrap it in the next five years, I will be unemployed at the age of 40, and will not be able to start a new profession.”
Similarly, automobile dealers have been urging government to ban vehicles on the basis of their fitness rather than age.
Students-less school shuts down at Manang
Almost 6 schools in Manang district has shut down their operations as they are failed to enrolled a single student even at the last quarter of the academic session.
Primary schools in Tilicho, Tanki, Bharka, Dabal, Humde and Pisang have reported zero students in the current academic session.
The number of students in the community schools in villages has gone down drastically over the years as students enroll in schools that are based in urban areas.
According to Principal of Tilicho Primary School, Yam Prasad Timalsina, the locals have admitted their children in schools in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Besisahar among others leading to a fall in number of students at local schools.
In the previous academic session, Tilicho Primary School had 26 students. However, this year the number has fallen down to zero forcing the school to shut down operations.
Likewise, the classrooms are padlocked in Humde based Humde Primary School for the past two years.
Other primary schools in the area have also shared the same plight as locals continue to admit children in schools based in cities, officials in the district informed.
In the previous academic session, Tilicho Primary School had 26 students. However, this year the number has fallen down to zero forcing the school to shut down operations.
Likewise, the classrooms are padlocked in Humde based Humde Primary School for the past two years.
Other primary schools in the area have also shared the same plight as locals continue to admit children in schools based in cities, officials in the district informed.
NA election helving tomorrow
The National body of election management, Election Commission (EC) has completed all the preparations related to the election of members to the National Assembly (NA) that would be taking place in all seven provinces of the country tomorrow.
All preparations for the election have been completed in all the provinces and voting will take place from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm tomorrow, the EC said.
The Constitution of Nepal has stipulated for a bicameral federal legislature comprising the House of Representatives and the National Assembly. Election of members to the House of Representatives has already been held under two phases on November 26 and December 7, 2017.
Election of members to the National Assembly takes place tomorrow. NA will have 59 members. Out of them, 56 members are elected by the Electoral College at the rate of eight members, including at least three women, one Dalit and one person from among the disabled or minority communities, from each province.
The President nominates the remaining three members including at least one woman to the NA at the recommendation of the government.
According to the EC, voting will take place at the Office of the Chief Returning Officer in six provinces. The office of the chief returning officer has been established at the places where the High Court of each province is located.
The polling stations have been set up at public places near the Office of the Chief Returning Officer in Biratnagar (Province 1), Patan, Lalitpur (Province 3), Pokhara (Province 4), Dang (Province 5), Surkhet (Province 6), and Doti (Province 7).
Arrangements have been made for two voting booths at every polling station, EC’s Information Officer Surya Prasad Aryal said. According to him, the province assembly members will cast their votes at a first booth while the local level officials at the next booth.
There will be four separate ballot papers of green and red colours. The weightage of the province assembly members’ vote will be 48 while that of the local level officials would be 18.
Experts will be used for counting the votes. A five-member team from the Bureau of Statistics — three experts and two administrative assistants — for each province have been deputed for counting the votes under the single-transferable electoral system, Aryal said.
The EC has already given orientation training to the representatives of political parties who will be representing in the vote counting.
Aryal said that the Commission has planned to make public the entire election results by tomorrow if possible and by February 8 at the latest. The Joint Secretaries have been deputed to all the provinces for monitoring the election.
Meanwhile, all the members of the NA from Province 2 have been elected unopposed. According to the EC, out of 56 members to be elected for NA, 24 candidates have already been elected.
Six candidates including three women have already been elected unanimously in Province 1. Election is being held there for two positions.
Similarly, voting will be conducted for all eight posts in Province 3 while election is taking place for seven posts in Province 4. A candidate toward disabled and marginalised category has already been elected unopposed, said EC Spokesperson, Nabaraj Dhakal.
Likewise, voting is taking place for the remaining five posts in Province 5 as three women have been unanimously elected while there will be election for all posts in Province 6.
According to EC, election is taking place only for two posts towards Dalit and marginalised categories in Province 7 as other members have already been elected.
Now, 52 candidates are in the race for 32 posts in the NA elections, according to EC.
(with inputs from Rastriya Samachar Samiti)
Arrangements have been made for two voting booths at every polling station, EC’s Information Officer Surya Prasad Aryal said. According to him, the province assembly members will cast their votes at a first booth while the local level officials at the next booth.
There will be four separate ballot papers of green and red colours. The weightage of the province assembly members’ vote will be 48 while that of the local level officials would be 18.
Experts will be used for counting the votes. A five-member team from the Bureau of Statistics — three experts and two administrative assistants — for each province have been deputed for counting the votes under the single-transferable electoral system, Aryal said.
The EC has already given orientation training to the representatives of political parties who will be representing in the vote counting.
Aryal said that the Commission has planned to make public the entire election results by tomorrow if possible and by February 8 at the latest. The Joint Secretaries have been deputed to all the provinces for monitoring the election.
Meanwhile, all the members of the NA from Province 2 have been elected unopposed. According to the EC, out of 56 members to be elected for NA, 24 candidates have already been elected.
Six candidates including three women have already been elected unanimously in Province 1. Election is being held there for two positions.
Similarly, voting will be conducted for all eight posts in Province 3 while election is taking place for seven posts in Province 4. A candidate toward disabled and marginalised category has already been elected unopposed, said EC Spokesperson, Nabaraj Dhakal.
Likewise, voting is taking place for the remaining five posts in Province 5 as three women have been unanimously elected while there will be election for all posts in Province 6.
According to EC, election is taking place only for two posts towards Dalit and marginalised categories in Province 7 as other members have already been elected.
Now, 52 candidates are in the race for 32 posts in the NA elections, according to EC.
(with inputs from Rastriya Samachar Samiti)
DNA test of rare plants found only in Nepal
Scientists from the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) have started deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) tests of plants from the flowers, leaves and peels of the plants that are found only in Nepal.
According to Dr Ram Chandra Paudel, scientist of NAST, the DNA test in the plants would be done based on the genetic characteristics of the plants.
“First the plants are tested in labs and their characters found in them are cross verified with the characters of the plants found in the record. Some characters could match with many others,” Dr Paudel said.
The plants with the highest number of similar characters can be categorized as the same botanical properties, he shared.
“This shall help preserve the endangered species in the long run. This would be stopped only if we could identify the smuggled plants and those collected unsystematically,” he added.
Poudel said that the DNA tests would help assists in making policy for sustainable use of the plants. Different countries have already maintained the details of the plants along with their species in the record.
Currently, the DNA test of endangered species and other plants found only in Nepal is taking place adding that new code is given to the plants having no prior records.
The government has given its emphasis on 22 kinds of plants that are categorized as endangered.
Among about 324 endemic vascular plant species that are found only at Nepal are (p. 111 of dpr.gov.np ):
Pleione coronaria (ARKive)
Bulbophyllum nepalense (Nepali Orchids)
Panisea panchaseensis (Species New to Science)
Oreorchis porphyranthes(asianflora.com)
Rhododendron lowndesii (Dr. K.A. Kron)
Allium hypsistum (flickr)
Delphinium himalayai (Plantes Botanique)
Saxifraga alpigena (SaxBase)
Clematis phlebantha (Rogers Trees and Shrubs)
Begonia nuwakotensis (RBGE)
Silene fissicalyx (Plantes Botanique)
Himalayacalamus porcatus (asianflora.com)
Meconopsis regia(flickr)
Meconopsis autumnalis (IISE)
Oxytropis williamsii (asianflora.com)
Aconitum bhedingense (Plantes Botanique)
Roscoea tumjensis (Wikipedia)
Iris staintonii (AIS)
Primula sharmae (Primula World)
Primula wigramiana (Primula World)
Discretitheca (formerly Caryopteris) nepalensis(Dave’s Garden)
Not a satisfied service by NTC: Communications Minister
Minister for Information and Communications, Mohan Bahadur Basnet has directed the Nepal Telecom Corporation (NTC) employee to guarantee the best quality services to their consumers.
Speaking at an inaugural ceremony of the Telecom’s 14th anniversary at the NT central office in Bhadrakali Plaza today, the Minister advised the company and its staff to seek solutions internally to company related problems and do their duty professionally.
“The ‘we-feeling’ was necessary to make the company capable to compete with private companies,” asserted the minister who is also the government spokesperson.
He was of the view that efforts should be made for identifying weaknesses and toward correcting them.
The government has been working with the objective of making computer education available at every rural school in the country and 14 districts have been chosen for the first-phase project.
Also speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Communications Tapta Bahadur Bista expressed that enthusiasm filled team work was required to further promote the company.
Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) Chair Digambar Jha said the company had been successful in terms of preventing customers from being cheated; it has yet to prove its ability to compete with the private sector though.
NT Managing Director Kamini Rajbhandari informed the mass that NT customers’ number had already exceeded 18,500,000, and its wireless and wired communication services are available in all 77 districts of seven provinces in the country. The company had around 420,000 customers when it was established 14 years ago.
On the occasion, 96 employees completing 20 years of permanent services in the company were honoured.
Drought and lack of snowfall slump the apple production
This winter, Mugu neither received the sufficient amount of rainfall, nor adequate snowfall. However this year, even with January wrapping up without any signs of rain or snowfall, farmers have been worried with the possibility of a smaller harvest. If the climate was to be more forgiving and bestowed rain and snow, the winter crops and apple production in the region would thrive.
The District Agricultural Development Office (DADO) has decided to distribute saplings of apple trees later than usual, while framers are trimming out branches of old trees, taking their time. Due to unfavorable weather conditions, those saplings at apple nurseries have not been in popular demand and have remained ever since in the nursery.
With no one to come for the saplings, nursery owners fear that the saplings might dry out before being planted in the orchards, said Sakka Bahadur Buda, a Nursary owner at Chayanath Rara Municipality Ward 5.
However, DADO officials claim that they have not been able to reimburse funds due to the process of state restructuring, causing delay in the purchase of saplings.
“We will coordinate with the local levels to purchase and distribute the saplings produced within the district at the earliest,” DADO chief Nunu Lal Urav said. “With the weather condition within the district, even a small amount of rainfall would be adequate the fuel the apple production. There is no need to worry that the yield of apples would fall.”
Hari Chandra Kulal, another farmer of Ward 5 of Chayanath Rara Municipality, added: “Although lack of snowfall would not have much effect in the apple production from trimming the branches of the tree, if there is no rainfall or snowfall, the production of apples would be less than anticipated.”
“Although there has been no advice from the DADO to trim apple branches, I have already done so, based on a decade-long experience and skill I have learned at Himanchal of India,” Kulal said.
‘Jatra’, finally on YouTube
A cast of Nepalese best comedians, Bipin Karki, Rabindra Singh Baniya, Rabindra Jha, Barsha Raut, Prakash Ghimire, led by director Pradeep Bhattarai is finally released to public on Youtube.
Jatra also pays equal attention to other details including the characters’ costumes and setting. What Jatra is clearly not is a parable, even with its theme of morality, earnestness and greed (this is perhaps, Bhattarai’s contemporary side). The only take away from the movie is that good work pays off!
This movie is produced by Singe Lama and Yadav Paudel and music directed by the famous stat Hari Bansha Acharya. On native box office, it has earned the amount 30 million NPR.
About a couple of weeks ago, this movie was used as a promo material of some online TV apps. This movie is released on YouTube with the collaboration of Highlights Nepal.
Karki, known for his role of villain Bhasme in Pashupati Prasad, has transformed himself into the honest, polite and innocent Fadindra with ease in Jatra, once again proving his acting calibre. Jha and Baniya appeal the audiences with their acts. The supporting cast, with their convincing roles, has added to the performances of lead actors.
Three men — Fadindra (Bipin Karki), Joyas (Rabindra Singh Baniya) and Munna (Rabindra Jha) struggle to make a living. Despite their continuous effort to earn money and live a dignified life, they fail. Then suddenly they get Rs 30 million, and their life takes an unexpected turn.
And the movie Jatra, that narrates the story of these three men, too takes an unexpected turn from this point onwards, unfolding one mystery after another.
As the film’s story moves ahead, the laugh riot also begins, thanks to the punch lines with right timing. And the comedy is not forced; it goes along with the story line. Dialogue delivery too is apt and natural.
Three men — Fadindra (Bipin Karki), Joyas (Rabindra Singh Baniya) and Munna (Rabindra Jha) struggle to make a living. Despite their continuous effort to earn money and live a dignified life, they fail. Then suddenly they get Rs 30 million, and their life takes an unexpected turn.
And the movie Jatra, that narrates the story of these three men, too takes an unexpected turn from this point onwards, unfolding one mystery after another.
As the film’s story moves ahead, the laugh riot also begins, thanks to the punch lines with right timing. And the comedy is not forced; it goes along with the story line. Dialogue delivery too is apt and natural.
Nepal lifts its BTI
With the felicity of the government making the availability of the budget policy to raises and spends the public funds, Nepal’s rating on the list of global budget transparency index is improved.
As per the Open Budget Survey (OBS) 2017 — the international report published by International Budget Partnership (IBP) recently — Nepal scored 52 out of 100 points in budget openness and transparency, against 24 points that the country had bagged in the Open Budget Index (OBI) in 2015.
“Nepal’s score of 52 out of 100 is moderately higher than the global average, which means that there exist more chances for further improvement,” the report stated.
New Zealand and South Africa have been regarded as the top most nations in providing sufficient budget information to enable the public to engage in budget discussions in an informed manner. Both the countries have scored 89 out of 100.
IBP considers countries that score above 60 in the OBI as providing sufficient budget information to enable the public to engage in budget discussions in an informed manner.
The OBS 2017 has stated that many governments across the world, including Nepal, are making less information available about how they raise and spend public funds. In addition to transparency challenges, the OBS 2017 assessment of budget oversight has also found that most countries have limited or weak legislative oversight practices, though most have the basic conditions needed for auditors to perform their roles.
The OBS 2017 has suggested Nepal to adopt different immediate measures to improve budget transparency, public participation in budget and improve budget oversights.
As per the report, Nepal should produce and publish a pre-budget statement and a Citizens Budget and provide detailed data on the macroeconomic forecast as well as data on the financial position of the government to improve budget transparency.
Similarly, OBS 2017 has urged Nepal to actively engage with individuals or civil society organisations representing vulnerable and under-represented communities during the formulation and monitoring of national budget implementation to ensure public’s participation in the process. The report has also suggested Nepal to establish formal mechanisms for the public to participate in relevant audit investigations.
Likewise, OBS 2017 has recommended Nepal to ensure executives’ budget proposal is approved by legislators before start of budget year to make budget oversight more effective. Nepal has also been recommended to consider setting up an independent fiscal institution to further strengthen its budget oversight.
New Zealand and South Africa have been regarded as the top most nations in providing sufficient budget information to enable the public to engage in budget discussions in an informed manner. Both the countries have scored 89 out of 100.
IBP considers countries that score above 60 in the OBI as providing sufficient budget information to enable the public to engage in budget discussions in an informed manner.
The OBS 2017 has stated that many governments across the world, including Nepal, are making less information available about how they raise and spend public funds. In addition to transparency challenges, the OBS 2017 assessment of budget oversight has also found that most countries have limited or weak legislative oversight practices, though most have the basic conditions needed for auditors to perform their roles.
The OBS 2017 has suggested Nepal to adopt different immediate measures to improve budget transparency, public participation in budget and improve budget oversights.
As per the report, Nepal should produce and publish a pre-budget statement and a Citizens Budget and provide detailed data on the macroeconomic forecast as well as data on the financial position of the government to improve budget transparency.
Similarly, OBS 2017 has urged Nepal to actively engage with individuals or civil society organisations representing vulnerable and under-represented communities during the formulation and monitoring of national budget implementation to ensure public’s participation in the process. The report has also suggested Nepal to establish formal mechanisms for the public to participate in relevant audit investigations.
Likewise, OBS 2017 has recommended Nepal to ensure executives’ budget proposal is approved by legislators before start of budget year to make budget oversight more effective. Nepal has also been recommended to consider setting up an independent fiscal institution to further strengthen its budget oversight. NPC clinches Aaha Rara Gold Cup, defeating Ruslan Three Star Club
The Nepal Police Club (NPC) has defeated Ruslan Three Star Club with 1-0 goal to become the winner of the 16th edition of Aaha Rara Gold Cup held in Pokhara on Friday.
The match was extended more 20 minutes as additional time after both the teams played a goal-less draw in the allotted time.
The extended time for NPCian’s Ram Baji became a golden opportunity and claimed the victory in the first half. NPC has got a cash prize of Rs 70, 000 along with a medal.
