Along with the conclusion given by the government to shut down National Trading Ltd (NTL), government’s plan to set up a new route to trade fuel has affected.
This situation lead as per government had earlier planned to allow NTL to enter into petroleum trading with China by making NTL a subsidiary company of state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC).
However, the government’s settlement to shut down NTL has not only end up the age-long legacy of NTL but has also deferred the country’s plan to enter into fuel trade with the northern neighbor.
Following acute shortage of petroleum products in the country in 2015-16 following trade disruptions caused by the border blockade in the southern plains of the country, the then government had initiated the process to start fuel trading with China and diversify the country’s petroleum industry.
As government-to-government talks between Nepal and China concluded with the possibility of starting fuel trade, the government had started the process to allow NTL, which had been incurring heavy losses since many years, to begin fuel trading with China.
The Cabinet meeting on Monday had given a nod to a proposal of the Ministry of Supplies (MoS) to shut down NTL citing that the government enterprise was not performing as expected.
MoS had tabled a proposal to this effect under the recommendation of the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
Moreover, MoS had then sought permission from MoF to allow NTL to import petroleum products from China. However, the Finance Ministry recently recommended MoS to shut down NTL instead of reoperating it.
Meanwhile, Supplies Secretary Anil Kumar Thakur said that the government’s decision to shut down NTL and the government’s plan to enter into petroleum trading with China should be viewed through separate lens.
“Allowing NTL to start fuel trade with China was one of the many options to revive NTL. NTL’s closure does not mean that the government is against diversifying the country’s petroleum industry,” stated Thakur.
He further said that though making China the country’s second fuel trading partner is in the government’s plan, both the countries have to work on developing new infrastructure and upgrading existing infrastructure accordingly for the plan to materialise.
“The government can assign the responsibility to any other state enterprise, including NOC itself, to start fuel trade with China. However, fuel trade with China is not possible with the current infrastructure,” he said, adding that there should be emphasis on connecting to Chinese fuel industry through petroleum pipeline like that with India.
A move to stop newly-wed brides from a nomadic tribal community having to take a virginity test has trending in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. The campaign is set up to stop such “humiliating” practice.
Anita*, 22, says the ordeal of her wedding two years ago still reduces her to tears every time she thinks about it.
This test is seen as an integral part of any wedding conducted within the community and is enforced by the highly influential panchayat (local village council).
The couple that is to be wed are given a white sheet and taken to a hotel room rented by the village council or one of the families. They are suspected to consummate the marriage while the two families and council members wait outside. If the bride bleeds during intercourse she is seen as a virgin, and if she does not, the consequences can be severe.
Grooms are allowed to annul their marriages if their wives have not “proven” their purity, and the women in question are publicly humiliated and even beaten by family members because of the “shame” they have caused.
This continues despite many experts having debunked the theory that a woman always bleeds the first time she has intercourse.
Like the other women in the Kanjarbhat community – made up of around 200,000 people and mostly found in Maharashtra – Anita was forced to undergo a “virginity test” on her wedding night in order to ascertain whether or not she was “virtuous”.
“There can be many reasons a woman will not bleed the first time she has sex,” Dr Sonia Naik, a Delhi-based gynaecologist,.
“If the woman in question has done a lot of sports or has masturbated there is a chance she will not bleed. Also a gentle partner can help prevent bleeding even if it is the first time the woman is having penetrative sex.”
In Anita’s case, she always knew that the virginity test would be a sham, as she already had a sexual relationship with her husband before their marriage. But she said she was not prepared for what happened next.
“I thought my husband would stand up for me in front of the village council, but when they asked if I was ‘pure or impure’, he pointed to the unstained sheet and called me a fake,” she said.
“I was stunned. I had been in an intimate relationship with him for six months on his insistence.
“The village council pronounced me ‘impure’ and went away and I was left alone. I just could not stop crying.”
Anita’s husband, who had initially wanted the marriage annulled because she had “failed” the test, was forced to continue with the marriage after some social workers who had heard about the incident got the police involved.
But she claims that he made her life a living hell, beating her regularly and humiliating her.
Matters were made worse because the village council had banned the “fake” couple from attending any community events. “Things did not improve even after I got pregnant. My husband kept asking me repeatedly: ‘Whose child is this?’ The council members still ask him that as well,” Anita said.
Two months ago she was thrown out of her marital home along with her newborn son and is living again with her parents. But she says the stigma of failing the virginity test has impacted her whole family, with her sisters unable to find husbands because of it.
Vivek Tamaichekar, 25, started the campaign among youth in his community to reject the virginity test. He insists that the “regressive” practice must end.
“It’s a complete violation of a couple’s right to privacy and the way it is done is very crude and traumatising. They are forced to consummate the marriage with many people sitting outside the room, and the groom is often given alcohol and shown pornography in order to ‘educate’ him,” he says.
“The next day he is called for a ceremony and is asked in very derogatory terms to answer if his bride was pure or impure.”
When he was 12, Mr Tamaichekar attended a wedding where suddenly people began attacking the bride with their shoes and slippers. “I didn’t understand then what was going on,” he says. “It was only when I was much older I realised what had happened.”
Due to get married later this year, Mr Tamaichekar and his fiancée have already informed the panchayat in the city of Pune, where they live, that they will not undergo the test. But he also wants other youth from his community to take a similar stand and break what he calls the “conspiracy of silence”.
He has started a WhatsApp group called “stop the V ritual” which has around 60 members, of which roughly half are women. Together, they try and convince other people in the community to put a stop to the practice.
But this stand has come at a heavy social price.
Some members of his group were attacked by irate wedding guests when they attended a community wedding in Pune. The panchayat has already warned that families of the group’s members will be subject to a “social boycott” unless the group is disbanded and they apologise for trying to “defame” the Kanjarbhat community.
But Mr Tamaichekar is determined to continue with his campaign. The attack on his group received wide coverage in Indian media, and as a result, the virginity test itself has become a topic of discussion in the country.
He now hopes that the spotlight on the issue will help put an end to it once and for all.
On 31st January, Wednesday, the country would have chance to witness the phenomenal view of Super Blue Moon and the total lunar eclipse after 152 years. The same lunar event had last occurred on March 31, 1866.
Nepalis across the country would get to witness the phenomenal triad of supermoon, blue moon, and total lunar eclipse on Wednesday, January 31.
“The moon will rise at 5:37 pm in Nepal. The eclipse will start at 5:33 pm as per the local time and end at 8:57 pm. The total lunar eclipse will occur at 6:36 pm and will last for a span of one hour sixteen minutes,” said the Chairperson of Nepal Astronomical Society, Suresh Bhattarai.
“During the partial phase, the moon will be seen blood red,” he added.
BLUE MOON
“People call NASO and ask whether the moon will be seen blue in colour. That is not true. It is just two full moons happening in a single month,” expressed Bhattarai.
Blue moon is a lunar event that normally occurs once every two and a half years. According to the Gregorian calendar, when two full moons occur in the same month it is termed as blue moon. Earlier, the full moon was on January 1 this year.
The supermoon is seen in Istanbul, Turkey November 14, 2016. REUTERS/Umit Bektas TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
SUPERMOON, BLOOD MOON
While revolving in its elliptical path, the moon would be at a distance of 384,000 kilometres. It would look 30 times brighter and 14 times closer than the average full moon, hence providing a visual treat to the skygazers tomorrow.
It is also a ‘blood moon’ because the portion of the moon will be seen blood red when covered by the shadow of the Earth.
ECLIPSE
The lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes in the earth’s shadow.
“It is also a good opportunity for the astrophysicists to research. Also, for the general public, it will be a treat to witness the rare phenomenon,” stated Bhattarai.
The eclipse can be observed with naked eyes as well. We do not need binoculars, telescopes and other equipment to see the celestial event, claimed the NASO Chair. “You can just go to your rooftop and gaze at the north-east direction to watch the lunar event.”
Some parts of the eclipse can also be seen from the US, Europe, Australia, Canada and the northern Polar Regions.
COINCIDING WITH SWASTHANI PURNIMA
This rare celestial phenomenon has coincided with the concluding day of Swasthani Purnima, one of the greatest festivals among Hindus in the country. The festival begins on Poush Shukla Purnima as per the lunar calendar and lasts for a month.
This year, the concluding day befalls on the eclipse day, which has raised doubt among the general public reciting the holy book of Swasthani regarding concluding day of the month-long festival.
Talking to THT Online, Associate Professor at the Nepal Sanskrit University Amoda Acharya, who holds a PhD in Vedic Studies said, “Well, there are no such restrictions mentioned in the Vedic principles. But, one can conclude it on ‘purvanga’, the eve of Swasthani Purnima. “Purvanga is the time when even Sutak(the period of abstention observed by the Hindus after the death or birth of a family member) does not come into effect.”
However, according to astrologer Dil Raj Padhyaye, the ‘Sutak’ period starts from 8:22 am tomorrow and lasts till the eclipse at 8:57 pm.
“Eclipses are a good time for performing puja, reciting ‘paath’ (holy scriptures), and donating goods among others. One can easily recite the holy book. But during the eclipse, they cannot receive tika and prasad as the Sutak period begins,” he added.
The eclipse will not hamper elderly, children and people with ailments, he stated.
Many might believe that devotees are not allowed to receive the tika and prasad on the concluding day of the Bratakatha due to the eclipse. However, Padhyaye assured that after the penumbral eclipse ends, the devotees are allowed to carry on with the normal proceedings of the Bratakatha including the tika and prasad as it will not have any adverse effect on them.
Meanwhile, if some of the devotees do not feel comfortable with concluding the Bratakatha on the day of the eclipse, then coming Monday, panchami of the lunar calendar, will be favourable to conclude the one-month long festival.
On the occasion of Martyrs’ Day, the statues of martyrs Shukraraj Shastri, Dharma Bhakta Mathema, Gangalal Shrestha and Dashrath Chand, who fought for our democracy and against the then Rana regime were tribute by putting garland.
The visitors on memorial today, shared that the nation should not only respect and honour the contribution of the martyrs in bringing democracy to the country for the benefit of the people, but should also focus on the conservation of Shahid Gate
The formal programme organized at the historical site, where between BS 2018 and 2063, more than 200 nation and government heads had visited and offered their respects. The memorial, designed by Engineer Shankar Nath Rimal, was inaugurated in BS 2018.
Shastri, Mathema, Shestha and Chand were executed in 1997 BS for their fight to bring democracy in the nation. On the initiation of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Office, the second week of Magh (of the lunar calendar) is observed as Martyrs’ Week and Magh 16 as the Martyrs’ Day, a public holiday. Various organisations, institutions, and individuals have been paying tributes at Shahid Gate on the said date.
Shahid Gate, which was originally called ‘Nepal Smarak’, has late King Tribhuvan’s statue on top with the statues of the four martyrs below. Laxman Singh Khadka has been involved in taking care of the memorial.
Ministry of Energy has initiated a necessary homework to establish Nepal Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), are nod by Ministry of Finance.
With this plan, the idea to set up a new tariffs and implementing a National Grid Code to govern power sector in the Country has come alive after 16 years since its inception of forming a high level body that would regulate generation and transmission of electricity.
On August 2017, the parliament had endorsed the Electricity Regulatory Commission Bill, now as an Act, presented by the former Energy Minister Janardan Sharma with an acknowledgement with the need of an independent regulatory body to regulate electricity market for its further development.
Ministry of Finance, after the amendment of the financial and liability aspects, the regulations proposed by the Energy Ministry gave an approval allowing the energy ministry to seek further counsel from other ministries prior to formation of NERC.
As per Ghimire, the regulator after its inception will develop a National Grid Code to begin the power entities in the Country.
Moreover, the Commission is said to administer the power purchase agreements, fix tariffs and transmission-network charges and initiate license-compliance monitoring in the beginning and work for creating a competitive market in power sector later on.
“The Ministry will soon call upon applications from interested candidates to take up the posts of Chairman and other members of the Commision,” Ghimire said.
The Commission will have one chair, and four members and the appointments are said to be made on the basis of principle of proportional inclusion.
Earlier, an Energy Crisis Prevention Action Plan was issued by the government on February 18, 2016 incorporating a provision on the formation of a high-level Electricity Regulation Commission.
China’s influencing environment against the west are concerning as Russian subversion.
Mike Pompeo, the director of the CIA told the Chinese “have a much bigger footprint” to do this than the Russians do.
As an instance he has cited efforts to steal US commercial information and infiltration of schools and hospitals – and this extended to Europe and the UK.
Last year, a former CIA officer was arrested China on charges of retaining classified information in a case thought to be connected to the dismantling of the agency’s spy operations.
About a couple of years before Jerry Chun Shing Lee’s arrest cited some 20 informants had been killed or jailed – one of the most disastrous failures of US intelligence in recent years.
But officials did not know at the time whether to blame a mole or data hack.
Russian interference has been the focus of political debate in Washington with allegations of hacking and releasing information as well as using social media to sow division.
But the CIA director’s surprising claim to me was that China has a more wide-ranging ability to exert influence and more needs to be done to confront it.
China’s reach, the CIA director says, ranges from traditional espionage (human and cyber) through allegations it has used stolen intellectual property to helps its businesses.
But it also includes the way in which it uses its economic weight to influence American companies seeking access to its market.
Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) has drafted a plan to establish institutions in all the seven provinces of the country. CTEVT announced to be all the Model Technical College in an event organized in Bhaktapur.
As per Prof Dr. Geeta Bhakta Joshi, member of National Planning Commission, it is difficult to align CTEVT in federal structure due to instability circumstances. He shared that it would be better to reform existing institutions rather than forming new ones and the government is carrying on financial planning and policy formulation for the establishment of Model Polytechnic Centers all over the nation. He also pinpointed enormous number untrained workforce in Nepal. , “Every year, 5,00,000-strong youth workforce is produced in the country but only 1,14,000 of them are trained.” he asserted.
“CTEVT would highlight systematic and transparent monitoring and evaluation of technical education in the country. We want to improve the technical and vocational training in the country.” said Pushpa Raman Wagle, a member secretary at CTEVT. He further expressed that the plan to establish a model multi-technical college in every province is the major motive of CTEVT.
With the medial of Magh, the temperature in Kathmandu Valley is to see further decline in the temperature. The minimal temperature of the capital valley has to 2.3 degree Celsius on Sunday. Since, it was 3.3 degree Celsius on Saturday. As the minimum temperature is going down, colder days are ahead, said Meteorologist Raju Pradhananga.
For few days, the minimum temperature would remain stable to three degree Celsius in the next few days.
Similarly, the western Tarai belt was covered with thick fog today morning.
Earlier on January 7, the mercury of the Capital had plummeted to zero degrees Celsius. Most of the places of the country had witnessed rainfall while hill and mountain areas experienced snowfall on January 24.
According to the Division, Jumla recorded the lowest temperature of minus 5 degree Celsius today while Dipayal recorded highest temperature of 23 degree Celsius.
Nepali Leg Spinner, Sandip Lamichhane, becomes the first Nepali Player to play in IPL 2018 for Delhi Daredevils, which is set to start 4th April, 2018.
Lamichhane was bought at the base price of 20 lakhs INR. Glen Maxwell was bought by Delhi Daredevils in the Day 1 for 9 crore and Gautam Gambhir was bought for 2.8 crores.
Gautam Gambhir is likely to lead Delhi Daredevils in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League as notified by the Coach Ricky Ponting.
Michael Clarke was seem rooting for the Leg Spinner and mentioned that he would pick Lamichhane if he was a part of team.
Brilliant to see mate, if I was apart of a team I would pick him up quick smart. Wonderful talent and little champion???? https://t.co/vITPy9Mkf0
National Reconstruction Authority, lead by Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government published a notice offending not able to grant of Rs 100,000 as per announced.
NRA has set a target of rebuilding at least 60 per cent houses of earthquake victims this fiscal, which means 50,000 houses should be rebuilt this fiscal.
A total of 93,000 houses have been built with the NRA’s assistance so far, and 230,000 houses are under construction.
Chief Executive Officer of National Reconstruction Authority Yuba Raj Bhusal told that NRA needed another Rs 100 billion to provide grants of Rs 300,000 to quake victims, but the government had allocated only Rs 53 billion this fiscal. “If we provide additional Rs 100,000 to quake victims, that will increase financial burden of Rs 100 billion on the NRA and I do not think we will be able to provide such a huge amount to victims this fiscal,” Bhusal added.
Bhusal said although the government made provisions for bank loans to quake victims, only 659 people took the loan, which was not even one per cent of quake victims who had to rebuild their houses.
“Only those victims who have taken Rs 300,000 grant from the government are eligible for bank loans. Bhusal said quake victims needed to meet technical requirements to get the second tranche of the grant but since many victims had not received technical assistance, they were unable to get the second tranche.
Bhusal said 100,000 houses were damaged by the quake in Kathmandu, but only 4,300 houses had been reconstructed and 15,000 houses were under construction. “Owners of 80,000 quake-damaged houses have not started reconstruction yet and I believe the victims have not been able to do so mainly due to financial crunch.” He added that he would hold a meeting with the banks tomorrow to discuss how they could provide loans to quake victims. “In urban areas, a grant of Rs 300,000 may be just enough to demolish a quake victim’s house,” he argued.
CEO Bhusal said his office was collecting data of quake victims who were unable to rebuild their houses due to their age, social and physical conditions. “I am planning to rebuild the houses of victims who are above 70 and single women above 65,” Bhusal said, adding that his office would rebuild houses of orphans below 16 and quake victims with physical disability. “Old people, juvenile orphans and quake victims with physical disability cannot rebuild their houses even if the government gives them one million rupees,” Bhusal said and added that once his office collected data from all ward offices of local levels, his office would request Red Cross and other organisations to rebuild their houses.
There are 767,705 households that are eligible for housing grants.
As government-to-government talks between Nepal and China concluded with the possibility of starting fuel trade, the government had started the process to allow NTL, which had been incurring heavy losses since many years, to begin fuel trading with China.
The Cabinet meeting on Monday had given a nod to a proposal of the Ministry of Supplies (MoS) to shut down NTL citing that the government enterprise was not performing as expected.
MoS had tabled a proposal to this effect under the recommendation of the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
Moreover, MoS had then sought permission from MoF to allow NTL to import petroleum products from China. However, the Finance Ministry recently recommended MoS to shut down NTL instead of reoperating it.
Meanwhile, Supplies Secretary Anil Kumar Thakur said that the government’s decision to shut down NTL and the government’s plan to enter into petroleum trading with China should be viewed through separate lens.
“Allowing NTL to start fuel trade with China was one of the many options to revive NTL. NTL’s closure does not mean that the government is against diversifying the country’s petroleum industry,” stated Thakur.
He further said that though making China the country’s second fuel trading partner is in the government’s plan, both the countries have to work on developing new infrastructure and upgrading existing infrastructure accordingly for the plan to materialise.
“The government can assign the responsibility to any other state enterprise, including NOC itself, to start fuel trade with China. However, fuel trade with China is not possible with the current infrastructure,” he said, adding that there should be emphasis on connecting to Chinese fuel industry through petroleum pipeline like that with India.
This continues despite many experts having debunked the theory that a woman always bleeds the first time she has intercourse.
Like the other women in the Kanjarbhat community – made up of around 200,000 people and mostly found in Maharashtra – Anita was forced to undergo a “virginity test” on her wedding night in order to ascertain whether or not she was “virtuous”.
“There can be many reasons a woman will not bleed the first time she has sex,” Dr Sonia Naik, a Delhi-based gynaecologist,.
“If the woman in question has done a lot of sports or has masturbated there is a chance she will not bleed. Also a gentle partner can help prevent bleeding even if it is the first time the woman is having penetrative sex.”
In Anita’s case, she always knew that the virginity test would be a sham, as she already had a sexual relationship with her husband before their marriage. But she said she was not prepared for what happened next.
“I thought my husband would stand up for me in front of the village council, but when they asked if I was ‘pure or impure’, he pointed to the unstained sheet and called me a fake,” she said.
“I was stunned. I had been in an intimate relationship with him for six months on his insistence.
“The village council pronounced me ‘impure’ and went away and I was left alone. I just could not stop crying.”
Anita’s husband, who had initially wanted the marriage annulled because she had “failed” the test, was forced to continue with the marriage after some social workers who had heard about the incident got the police involved.
But she claims that he made her life a living hell, beating her regularly and humiliating her.
Matters were made worse because the village council had banned the “fake” couple from attending any community events. “Things did not improve even after I got pregnant. My husband kept asking me repeatedly: ‘Whose child is this?’ The council members still ask him that as well,” Anita said.
Two months ago she was thrown out of her marital home along with her newborn son and is living again with her parents. But she says the stigma of failing the virginity test has impacted her whole family, with her sisters unable to find husbands because of it.
Vivek Tamaichekar, 25, started the campaign among youth in his community to reject the virginity test. He insists that the “regressive” practice must end.
“It’s a complete violation of a couple’s right to privacy and the way it is done is very crude and traumatising. They are forced to consummate the marriage with many people sitting outside the room, and the groom is often given alcohol and shown pornography in order to ‘educate’ him,” he says.
“The next day he is called for a ceremony and is asked in very derogatory terms to answer if his bride was pure or impure.”
When he was 12, Mr Tamaichekar attended a wedding where suddenly people began attacking the bride with their shoes and slippers. “I didn’t understand then what was going on,” he says. “It was only when I was much older I realised what had happened.”
Due to get married later this year, Mr Tamaichekar and his fiancée have already informed the panchayat in the city of Pune, where they live, that they will not undergo the test. But he also wants other youth from his community to take a similar stand and break what he calls the “conspiracy of silence”.
He has started a WhatsApp group called “stop the V ritual” which has around 60 members, of which roughly half are women. Together, they try and convince other people in the community to put a stop to the practice.
But this stand has come at a heavy social price.
Some members of his group were attacked by irate wedding guests when they attended a community wedding in Pune. The panchayat has already warned that families of the group’s members will be subject to a “social boycott” unless the group is disbanded and they apologise for trying to “defame” the Kanjarbhat community.
But Mr Tamaichekar is determined to continue with his campaign. The attack on his group received wide coverage in Indian media, and as a result, the virginity test itself has become a topic of discussion in the country.
He now hopes that the spotlight on the issue will help put an end to it once and for all.
Bhusal said although the government made provisions for bank loans to quake victims, only 659 people took the loan, which was not even one per cent of quake victims who had to rebuild their houses.
“Only those victims who have taken Rs 300,000 grant from the government are eligible for bank loans. Bhusal said quake victims needed to meet technical requirements to get the second tranche of the grant but since many victims had not received technical assistance, they were unable to get the second tranche.
Bhusal said 100,000 houses were damaged by the quake in Kathmandu, but only 4,300 houses had been reconstructed and 15,000 houses were under construction. “Owners of 80,000 quake-damaged houses have not started reconstruction yet and I believe the victims have not been able to do so mainly due to financial crunch.” He added that he would hold a meeting with the banks tomorrow to discuss how they could provide loans to quake victims. “In urban areas, a grant of Rs 300,000 may be just enough to demolish a quake victim’s house,” he argued.
CEO Bhusal said his office was collecting data of quake victims who were unable to rebuild their houses due to their age, social and physical conditions. “I am planning to rebuild the houses of victims who are above 70 and single women above 65,” Bhusal said, adding that his office would rebuild houses of orphans below 16 and quake victims with physical disability. “Old people, juvenile orphans and quake victims with physical disability cannot rebuild their houses even if the government gives them one million rupees,” Bhusal said and added that once his office collected data from all ward offices of local levels, his office would request Red Cross and other organisations to rebuild their houses.
There are 767,705 households that are eligible for housing grants. 