Kumudini’s group to perform in capital

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KATHMANDU, Nov 4 – Eleven member group of Kumudini Lakhia, classical dancer and one of the best known choreographers of India will be performing at the Royal Nepal Academy Hall on Monday, November 5. The performance is being jointly organised by the Embassy of India, Kathmandu and The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), it was informed during a press conference held at the Indian Embassy premises today.

According to Lakhia, the presentation that her eleven-member group will be making tomorrow will be the story of Kathak technique and how it can be designed to modernity. Kathak that consists of stories mostly of Radha Krishna of the Indian mythology has been Kumudini’s passion since a very young age.

She has been associated with the Kathak dance for the last 56 years in different capacities, which demonstrates her intense love, concern and commitment. She has performed in more than forty countries and she finally gave up her career as a performer in 1982. She set up the Kadamb dance centre in Ahmedabad where she trains students in the art of classical Kathak dance.

Kumudini has her academic qualification in Agriculture Science but never intended to build her career in the field, but instead chose to make dance her interest and her career where she excelled.

Kadamb, her institution is nationally and internally known and many of her students are well-known dancers and choreographers today.

The show will be performed by her team of ten dancers namely, Prashant Shah, Salomi Shah, Richa Chinoy, Anar Shah, Ishani Shah, Parul Purohit, Urja Desai, Nandini Mehta, Nilima Thakrar and Anindita Banerjee. The music will be coordinated by Atul Desai.

House demolished at Sundhara

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KATHMANDU, Nov 4 - Early in the morning, a score of people Saturday demolished a house, being resided by around a hundred people, following a 10-minute warning of evacuation at Sundhara, in the heart of the capital.

The people dismantled the front half of the two-storey long house built on half ropani of land, claiming it to be theirs while a van-ful of policemen watched the scene without intervening. It was done on Saturday when the government offices remained closed for two days.

The witnesses said the group of people forced the dwellers to evacuate the shade by 6.30 a.m. right before bulldozing the hosue located beside the historic tower of Dharahara at Ward No 22 of Kathmandu Metropolitan City.

"Our children were still asleep when a group of people came and threatened us to quit the house with all our belongings within 10 minutes," said Imtiyaz Aalam Ansari, one among the dwellers who has been living there for generations.

The dwellers, mostly Muslims, said that they were allowed by a Rana prime minister to live there so long as they do meat business there.

"We don’t claim it our house. Since the government has given us the authority to live here, nobody should play a fowl game to dislodge us," he said. They are ready to leave the house only if the government claims the land.

The locals say the land was goverenment’s and anybody who claimed of "obtaining" and "bying" of the land are either liers or have paid a thick bribe to turn the public property in personal.

On the other hand, the "owners" of the land said they must acquire the land as the government has passed the land to them legitimately and they paid be more than Rs 10 million for it.

Sabitri Timilsina of Gotikhel VDC Lalitpur and Bhesh Raj Neupane claim they bought the land in March 1997 from one Narendra Bikram Rana who told them that the land was his and all the dwellers living there were his tenants.

Shivram Timilsina, the husband of Sabitri, said they later realised that it was quite tough to acquire the land even after getting the land acquisition card from the government. He is a taxi driver by profession.

"Since Rana had the card we trusted him and bought the land. After paying so much of money, trying to get back what is ours is not objectionable," he said. They said they had won the case in courts many times. The last time being in the last week of 2000 June.

Joint effort sought for HIV/AIDS awareness

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BHAKTAPUR, Nov 4 - All governmental and non-governmental organisations along with the donor agencies should work hand-in-hand to create awareness on HIV/AIDS and educate youngsters on this, experts said here today.

It is high time for all concerned organisations to work together to create awareness about the HIV/AIDS that in recent days is spreading like wildfire in the world, claiming more lives each year, said Dr Keshar Jung Rayamajhi, Chairman of Rajparishad Standing Committee.

Speaking at a one-day workshop on the role of media in controlling HIV/AIDS, organised by the Sanothimi UNESCO Club, Dr Rayamajhi said, "The main cause which is making the situation worse in South Asian countries is poverty, lack of education and unemployment. So awareness is essential for this."

He further added, media should play important role in creating awareness throughout the country. As Nepal is one of the 189 members of the United Nations Organisation, many foreign countries and donor agencies have shown their interest to contribute to various package programmes aimed at curbing HIV/AIDS in Nepal.

The HIV (Human Immuno-deficiency Virus), which was first detected in 1981 in Africa and causes AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome), has so far claimed 2 1.8 million lives only during the year 2000, and now 5.3 million people are infected with this virus globally.

Ramesh Nath Joshi, the general manager of Janak Education Material Centre Limited, said that the international meeting of INGOs and NGOs held in United Nations on September 10 concluded that the youngsters should be mobilised world-wide to curb AIDS.

According to data provided by the National Centre for AIDS and STD Control (NCASC), the government’s official only body to control HIV/AIDS in the country, among the people coming there for medical check-up, 2,097 were HIV positive. Among the total HIV positive people, AIDS has caught 533 of which 149 have already died.

However, the officials say the real scenario of HIV/AIDS in Nepal is far more than those coming to the NCASC.

‘Maoists spreading violence’

DAMAULI (Tanahu), Nov 4(RSS) - Leader of the Nepali Congress and former Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel has alleged the Maoists of spreading a reign of violence and terror in the country in order to fulfill their vested interests, curtail the rights of the people and disturb the pace of the country’s development that has picked up following the restoration of democracy.

The former Deputy Prime Minister, who was addressing a meeting following the inauguration of the Kotdurbar Multipurpose Community Building at Kotdurbar Village, Tanahu district, on Saturday, underlined the need for the people to make collective efforts to bring the Maoists, who are following a wrong path, on the right track.

He called upon the people to thwart those who are involved in the conspiracy to usher in yet another dictatorship in the country.

Ex-minister of state Amar Raj Kaini stressed the inevitability of peace for development, calling upon the Maoists to give up the path of violence and terrorism and partake in open politics.

The Kotdurbar Multi-Purpose Community Building was constructed at the total cost of Rs 1 million under the Local Development Ministry’s Rural Infrastructure Development Programme with the loan assistance of the Asian Development Bank(ADB).

Similarly, former Deputy Prime Minister Poudel also inaugurated the Bel Bhanjyang Multi-Purpose Community Building constructed at the total cost of Rs 1.9 million at Sabhangu Bhagawatipur Village yesterday.

The community building was also constructed under the Rural Infrastructure Development Programme of His Majesty’s Government, Ministry of Local Development with the loan assistance of the Adb.

It is learnt that so far five such community buildings have been constructed under the Rural Infrastructure Development Programme in Tanahu district while nine are under construction.

The community buildings will be used for selling of various locally-produced agricultural produce and for carrying out other social welfare programmes.

At the programme presided over by the Tanahu District Development Committee(DDC) chairman Bishwa Bahadur Adhikari, member of the Central Decentralisation Follow-Up Committee Ram Chandra Pokharel, Nepali Congress Tanahu District Constituency-2 regional president Jhul Bahadur Ale Magar and others also expressed their views.

Meanwhile, another report from Damauli add more activities of the congress leaders in the district. former deputy prime minister Ram Chandra Poudel has alleged the Maoists of continuing with their activities of extorting money, kidnapping people and forcing the people’s representatives to resign from their posts in the villages in clear defiance of the promise they had made during the peace talks with the government and has called upon them to stop such activities.

The former deputy prime minister made this remark while inaugurating the bhimad drinking water project in Bhimad of Tanahu district on Saturday. the drinking water project was undertaken by the rural drinking water and sanitation fund development committee.

Poudel said that in the context of terrorism being rejected by the people all over the world, the terrorists should give up thinking that they are all powerful and eternal.

The Maoists will not even get a hiding place if the people intensify the present scale of their retaliation against them, he added.

He regretted that the budget set aside for development purposes had to be diverted for defence expenses due to the poor law and order situation in the country at present and said the Maoists have betrayed from their commitment for peaceful talks.

Under the drinking water project, 68 public taps have been constructed in Bhimad Bazaar. A population of 3,822 from 531 households have been benefited from the project.

The drinking water project was completed at the total cost of Rs 5.2 million.

Acute shortage of ‘B’ positive blood

BIRATNAGAR (RSS) - Patients with ‘B’ positive group blood have been facing problems as a result of acute shortage of ‘B’ positive blood at the Eastern Regional Blood Transfusion Services Centre.

According to technician of the centre Bijaya Khatiwada, the shortage of ‘B’ positive blood took place as the Eastern Regional Blood Transfusion Centre had to supply ‘B’ positive blood to a hospital of a neighboring district a few days ago.

The patients with ‘B’ positive blood have been meeting their requirments by requesting other people with the same group of blood to donate blood as the centre does not have this group of blood in its stock.

About three to four ‘B’ positive blood patients visit the Eastern Regional Blood Transfusion Service Centre for blood. President of the Nepal Red Cross Society Morang district committee Mina Joshi said that the blood banks would be requested to provide ‘B’ positive blood to meet the local demand.

‘Press should not remain spectator’

NEPALGUNJ, Nov 4(RSS) - Former minister and member of the CPN-UML Standing Committee Pradip Nepal, inaugurating the 1st district convention of Press Chautari Nepal Banke district unit here today, said that the tendency of the journalists criticizing the politicians and vice versa would only push the country towards devastation.

Nepal said that the press should not remain a spectator and speak in favour of good deeds and against bad deeds. Stating that the CPN-Maoist lacked clear principles and programmes, the member of the CPN-UML standing committee said that the country will not exist if the existing opportunistic charactor of the Maoists are not exposed to the people by the media.

The Maoists have lost their political charactor, Nepal said, adding that if the Maoist problem cannot resolved through dialogue it should be resolved administratively otherwise the people would suffer injustice. Central president of Press Chautari Sambhu Shrestha stressed the need to develop the communications media in the remote areas of the country.

Member of the CPN-UML central committee Govinda Koirala said that the movement launched by the Maoists has created the danger of regression. The use of force has not succeeded in any part of the world, he added.

Mayor of Nepalgunj Municipality Dhawal Shumsher Rana expressed the view that the journalists should give up the tendency of only highlighting negative aspects and encourage positive aspects.

Central Vice-President of the Nepal Bar Association Govinda Bandi said that the movement for freedom of the press had not come to an end.

At the function chaired by president of the press chautari Nepal Banke district president Shiva Dotel, central member of the Press Chautari Nepal Resham Birahi, FNJ Banke district president Pannalal Gupta, convenor of the Forum for Nepal-India Journalists Purnalal Chuke, convenor of the Nepal Press Union regional committee Rajendra Singh Rathore and member of Press Chautarai Nepal Banke district committee Janak Nepal also expressed their views.