Dance restaurants refused permission

-By a Post Reporter

BIRATNAGAR, Feb 11 - Morang District Administration and District Police Office have decided to refuse permission to open dance restaurants in Morang district.

The decision was made in light of increasing incidents of scuffles and crimes around dance restaurants in places like Kathmandu, Sunsari and Jhapa.

Chief District Officer Tulsi Prasad Bhattarai told The Kathmandu Post he was not in favour of granting permission to run dance restaurants in Morang district because it would not only bring Nepali art and culture under western domination but also disturb law and order and promote crime.

So far four business parties have submitted applications to local administration and police to run dance restaurants, but none has been granted. Three night dance programmes were held here previously with clashes occurring at each.

Visitors to Biratnagar express surprise at the lack of even a single dance restaurant in Nepal’s second biggest city. Superintendent of Police Kalyan Kumar Timsina explains that permission was refused due to dance clubs’ history of perversion in Kathmandu, Jhapa and Itahari.

Biratnagar Sub-Metropolitan City welcomed the local administration’s decision to reject operation of the clubs in Biratnagar. Mayor Ramesh Chandra Poudel said, "The police’s decision not to permit dance restaurants to operate here is praise-worthy as they tend to increase degradations and crimes."

Nepalese hand paper industries in crisis

-By a Post Reporter

JAJARKOT, Feb 11 - Fourteen Nepali paper industries registered with District Cottage Industry are facing a crisis due to the shortage of its raw material, "lokta".

Lokta is a well-known and high quality raw material for producing Nepali hand paper. It is the bark of a vegetation found in the hilly regions of Nepal. Its rampant destruction by villagers and lack of promotional activities has been responsible for its acute shortage in recent times.

Skilled people used to derive hand paper from this raw material In Nepal since ancient times and it was sold at the market. It is very durable and of good quality and it is also not destroyed by moth. Therefore, this paper has become compulsory in the courts of Nepal. To keep the record for a long time, countries like the United States, Germany, Australia, the United Kingdom are importing this paper in different size and weight from Nepal these days, Cottage Industry Development Officer Yadav Prasad Sharma told The Kathmandu Post.

Revenue totalling 21 thousand rupees was collected last year from lokta. As it was available in plenty in the forests of Dadagaon, Dhime, Painyu, Nayakbada, Shakla, Khagenkot, Talegaon, Archhani, Ramidanda, Rodapgaon and Lahan VDCs, 14 industries have been established here providing employment to 92 people. These industries have earned two million rupees from their production.

A total of 500 people depend on lokta for their livelihood.

The plant flowers in the month of Mangsir (November-December) and the seed falls on the ground in the month of Chaitra (March-April). Therefore, if it is collected before March-April,the seed will not fall on the ground and it will have a devastating impact on the vegetation as new plants will not grow. Ignorant farmers have been destroying the plant before the seed falls on the ground on the one hand and they are also uprooting the plants completely demolishing the vegetation on the other. The entrepreneurs of lokta should therefore be conscious of this crisis situation of lokta and save the plant from being completely destroyed, according to Ranger Ramchandra Chaudhari.

Hari Bahadur Shahi, one of the main exporters, suggested that villagers should be trained about the time of collecting lokta. Unemployed people should be trained and used in expanding the lokta forest. Moreover, the lokta forest should be divided into different pockets and each pocket should be harvested by turn after an interval of few years.

The Cottage Industry Development Officer said either the industry people should collect lokta under their direct supervision or they should discourage people not to uproot lokta plant by not buying lokta if it is pulled along with its roots.

Training was given to the villagers to cut down lokta 9 inches above the ground, but they are cutting down the plant at random.

Everything set for Mr and Miss 2000

-By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Feb 11 - Nepali models are finally the big stage.

Come Sunday and they will rub shoulders with guest celebrities from Bollywood in the capital at the inaugural of Mr and Miss 2000 Contest that takes place here at the Royal Nepal Academy. Femina Miss India 1999 Gul Panang, scheduled to arrive Sunday morning, is expected to be the biggest crowd-puller.

Eighteen participants, nine male and nine female, are contesting for the title where the winner walks home with a prize money of Rs 16,000. The organizers say the contest will launch Nepal’s low-profile models into the big-league of international modelling.

"I am proud to be in the only Hindu state of the world... I feel at home with all the friendly Nepalis around," declared actress Rupali Ganguli, who is slated to act in a Prakash Jha’s movie under the direction of Adur Gopal Krishna soon, at a press meet today.

Ganguli, singer Dimple and MTV VJ Niharika Dalal are amongst the celebrities who will be teaming up with Nepali stars including renowned singer Anand Karki and actress Anupama Koirala. The show is backed by people who have had similar experience in India.

The fashion sequences is jointly choreographed by Bunty Sharma -- of Miss India 1997 fame -- and Shrijana Singh Yonjan, prominent figure in the Nepali fashion scenario. Artistes Neer Shah and Rabindra Khadka are among the three Nepali judges among a total of five judges in the jury.

Entrance tickets range from Rs 500- 1000 at the programme that is being organized by Dreams, a school of modelling.

Bandh passes off peacefully

JHAPA, Feb 11 (PR) - The Jhapa bandh called for today by All Nepal National Free Students Union (Revolutionary), a student body linked with the Maoists, ended peacefully.

The one day bandh was called to oppose the police intervention and the arrest of students during the Union’s seventh district conference on February 3-4.

Ninety percent of the district’s main markets, Birtamode, Bhadrapur, Chandragadhi, Dhulabari, Kakarbitta, Damak, Surunga and Gauradaha, remained closed. Public transport also remained closed but there were bicycles and cycle-rickshaws commuting. Occasional motorbikes were also on the move.

Mgmt course discussed

-By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Feb 11 - The importance of introducing specified fields in Business and Management in order to produce more manpower that can compete in the international level were discussed here today in a conference programme "Management in Higher Education, a Proposal to Nepal" organized by the students of Kanya Multiple Campus.

Experts stressed on the need to start a sectoral education that allows the students to compete in the international level.

No curriculum for expertise has been introduced until now to the students of Bachelors in Business Studies (BBS) and Masters in Business Administration (MBA) who study Accounts, Marketing, Economics and other such topics.

"Education must now be focused on subjects like Hospital, Financial Institution and Environment Management," said Kundandatta Koirala, the Dean and Professor of Management, Tribhuwan University (TU).