Students Demonstrate Against Education Bill
Students demonstrated across the country on Saturday (December 2) protesting the new Education Bill. In the capital, they burnt tyres and blockaded traffic at many places demanding revocation of the bill. The House of Representatives, on Friday, had passed the bill which automatically turns temporary teachers into permanent. “The bill has ended entry of people into teaching profession through competition,” claimed Ramesh Thapa, coordinator of TU agitation committee. Due to sit-in campaigns and agitation by temporary teachers, the government had, a month ago, decided to make them permanent. Leading dailies report.
UML Favors Republican Front
The UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal has said that there is a need to float a republican front in order to ensure democratic republic in the country and to defeat attempts by certain elements to derail the elections of Constituent Assembly (CA). Addressing the sixth national convention of Democratic National Youth Federation (DNYF) – youth wing of the party – at Biratnagar on Saturday (Dec 2), Nepal said that since there has been agreement to decide the fate of monarchy through the first meeting of CA, there were efforts by certain elements to derail its elections. Leading dailies report.
Women Leaders Demand 33 Percent
Women leaders have warned that they would be compelled to launch agitation if the House of Representative’s May 18 Declaration about allocating 33 percent reservation to women is not implemented when forming the interim parliament. Enraged at failure of parties to implement the reservation till now, women leaders of various parties have vowed that they would continue to press their party leaders for the purpose. Urmila Aryal, Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare, said the political parties must keep the promise of providing 33 percent seats to women in the interim parliament. Likewise, UML leader Bidya Bhandari called on the leaders to allocate 33 percent seats to women in all organizations including district committees of the party. Uma Adhikari of Nepali Congress (Democratic) said that they were prepared to go to streets to implement the decision of allocating 33 percent seats to women. Likewise, Maoist leader Pampha Bhusal claimed her party would allocated 40 percent of its seats in the interim parliament to women. Compiled from reports.
Baidya And Gajurel Released
Mohan Baidya aka Kiran and Chandra Prakash Gajurel aka Gaurav, two senior Maoist leaders, who were languishing in jails in the West Bengal state of India, have been set free on Thursday (November 30) after the authorities dropped all charges against them. A week after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) along with which the Maoists have formally ended their decade-long People’s War in Nepal, the two leaders were released. Both the leaders rank quite high in the Maoist hierarchy. Baidya is considered to be political Guru of Prachanda while Gajurel ranks high in the party’s foreign policy section. They were facing charges under the Indian Penal Code for conspiring against India . Gaurav had recently been transferred to the jail in Jalpaiguri after he completed his three years of jail sentence in Chennai and was released on September 18. However, he was immediately re-arrested by West Bengal police who slapped fresh charges of treason against him and moved him to a jail in their state. Gajurel was arrested on August 20, 2003 from Chennai airport as he was about to board an airplane to London . He also faced charges of using fake passport. Another senior Maoist leader Mohan Baidya has been languishing in an Indian jail in Siliguri for the past few years. Compiled from reports.
Menon Busy In Consultations
Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon met with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and deputy prime ministers duo KP Oli and Amik Sherchan on Thursday (Nov 30). “We discussed prospects of bilateral relationship,” Menon said after his meetings with Koirala and Oli. During his meeting with Koirala, Menon expressed India ’s willingness to support decisions taken by Nepali people in every aspect, according to Dr. Suresh Chalise, foreign affairs advisor to Koirala. He also held discussions on the ongoing peace process and the interim government and interim legislature to be formed. Menon is also reported to have informed that Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee would visit Nepal on December 17 to invite PM Koirala to the 14 th SAARC Summit scheduled to be held in New Delhi in April. Leading dailies report.
Students Clash, 40 Injured
Student activists of Nepal Students Union (NSU) affiliated with Nepali Congress and the All Nepal National Free Students Union (ANNFSU-Revolutionary) affiliated with the Maoists clashed on Thursday (Nov 30) at Public Youth Campus. Around 40 students were injured in the incident and motorcycles parked at the campus premises were set ablaze. According to Pradeep Poudel, vice president of NSU, the clash erupted after the Maoist students organized a welcome program without informing the Free Students Union (FSU). Both student unions have hurled accusations against each other for inciting the situation leading to the clash. Poudel has urged to all student organizations to control hooliganism in all educational institutions. He said the Maoists are repeating their activities, “which could create problems in the political development in the country.” Student leader of NSU Gagan Thapa, who was also injured, said, “We were trying to settle the problem through talks but they started attacking people in the college.” The NC has issued a statement voicing serious concern over the incident. It has said the armed group of Maoist students attacked the students of NSU. Leading dailies report.
Assassination Bid On SC Judge
A miscreant, on Thursday (Nov 30), attacked the seniormost judge of the Supreme Court (SC), Justice Kedar Prasad Giri, with a knife after barging into his house at Ghattekulo in the evening. “He attacked my father with a knife after forcefully entering our house at 6.30 pm,” said Justice Giri’s son Sudip Giri, who is a DSP at Police Headquarters. The assailant has been identified as Prabhat Kumar Gupta of Birgunj. Gupta gained entry into Justice Giri’s house saying he wanted to deliver him a letter. However, when justice Giri appeared, he attacked him. Justice Giri sustained injuries on hand and face while fending off the attack. Gupta was overpowered by the family of the judge and handed over to the police. Justice Giri was taken to Bir Hospital and discharged after first aid. DSP of Kathmandu District Police Office Hanumandhoka said that Gupta had confessed before the police that he wanted to kill the judge. Gupta, who has been sent to Hanumandhoka Police Office, told the cops that he had downloaded the photographs of SC and Special Court judges from a website. The police have recovered the paper with judges’ photos from him. In his statement to the police, Gupta said he had lost a case in the SC regarding a dispute with a tenant and wanted to pressure the judges to resign. However, the judges, whose photos he was carrying, were not involved in the judgment in that particular case. SC spokesperson Dr. Ram Krishna Timalsena said there was an urgent need to provide personal security to the judges. The Himalayan Times daily reports.
Turn Outstanding Dues Of Rs 10 Billion To Loan: Nepal
Nepal has requested the Indian government to turn Rs 10 billion of outstanding dues that Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) needs to pay back to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) into loan. This request was made by Hridayesh Tripathy, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies to the visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon on Thursday. During the meeting with Tripathy, Menon is learnt to have assured that he will put forth Nepal ’s request regarding IOC’s dues and facilitation of Nepalese trade at Indian cabinet. An official at the Ministry said that Nepal had requested to turn the dues into ‘soft loan’ since its financial position was not sound. Nepal Samacharpatra daily reports.
Bista Returns To Thapa’s Fold
After over one decade, the former Pancha (Panchayat) politician Keshar Bista has returned to the fold of former prime minister Surya Bahadur Thapa’s party. Although he had joined Thapa’s Rastriya Prajatantra Party in the aftermath of 1990 change, he quickly shifted his allegiance to Nepali Congress. Subsequently, he left the NC and later on popped up as a minister in the royal cabinet. And now nearly eight months after the April change, Bista has returned to Thapa’s fold. The Prajatantrik Nepal party headed by Bista has formally merged into the Rastriya Janashakti Party (RJP) led by Thapa. Bista who was agriculture minister during the royal government, said that the merger was necessitated by the change that emanated from the people’s movement and with the need to strengthen the multiparty politics and sovereign state. Meanwhile, Thapa has said that unity among like-minded political forces was necessary. “It is the need of the hour that there should be unified and organized force,” he said. Thapa said his party can cooperate with any one who concludes that February 1 royal step was wrong, who embraces the House of Representatives Declaration and who sheds extremist thoughts. Leading dailies report.
Prachanda Promises 80 Pc Seats To Indigenous Community
Maoist chairman Prachanda has said that 80 percent of Maoist representatives in the upcoming interim government would be from ethnic and indigenous communities. Speaking at an interaction organized by the Broad Democratic Republican Front in the capital, Prachanda said that nearly 80 percent of Maoist MPs in the interim legislature would be from indigenous and ethnic communities. The Maoists will have 73 seats in the 330-member interim parliament to be formed after the introduction of the interim constitution, perhaps within a week. A taskforce led by senior Maoist leader Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’, which was formed to recommend names for the interim parliament and interim government, is said to have already finalized the list of the party’s representatives. At one point of his speech, Prachanda said he would like to be known by his nom de guerre ‘Prachanda’, as his real name Puspa Kamal Dahal is evocative of bahunbad (Brahminism). Claiming that the aim of the decade-long war waged by his party was to turn the oppressed class into a ruling class and sideline the handful of ruling class people, Prachanda said the New Nepal would essentially be a republic. “Republicanism is the identity of the Maoists. Autonomous regions will be the characteristics of New Nepal,” he said. Nepalnews.com reports.
CBS To Take Stock Of Employment
With a view to making the national planning process easy and effective, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), which works under the National Planning Commission (NPC), is going to conduct a national survey on labor force. For the labor survey, which is going to start from 2007, CBS will mobilize its workforce across the country. This is the second time that CBS is conducting a survey on labor force. According to CBS officials, the survey will cost Rs 50 million. According to labor survey conducted in 1999, the number of employed person were 9.4 million. That number is most likely to have increased by 2006. Meanwhile, the SAARC Regional Poverty Profile 2005 states that employment growth of Nepal in the 1990-2000 stood at 2.1 percent in the agriculture and 5.9 percent in non-agriculture sector. The Himalayan Times daily reports.
German Embassy Rejects NSC Allegations
Following allegations by Nepal Sports Committee (NSC), that German coach Gunter Lange was responsible for administering illicit drug to runner Rajendra KC, the German Embassy in Kathmandu has rejected it. “The Nepalese and the German governments had agreed on a common Athletics Long-Term project which started its activities in May 2003 and since then has been operating with great success. Since mid-2005 allegations were raised against this bilateral project and in particular against the German manager. Recently the German manager was blamed in addition to be the main culprit in a doping scandal. The National Sports Council Probe Committee published a report, alleging the involvement of the project and especially its German manager in the doping scandal without providing any proof. Therefore, the German Embassy in Kathmandu urges the National Sports Council Probe Committee to either produce hard evidence or to immediately withdraw the allegations which so far seem to have been fabricated in order to find a scapegoat for the doping scandal.” The press statement by the Embassy adds, “The Embassy rejects allegations raised in the Committee’s report insinuating that the German government conducts a sport doping research program through the above-mentioned bilateral sports project.” Compiled from reports.
