World AIDS Day to be marked

KATHMANDU, Nov 23 (PR) - With the upcoming World AIDS Day to be observed on December 3, the National Center for AIDS and STD Control (NCASC) is planning to organise a mass rally to mark the day, said a press release received here today from NCAC.

According to the cumulative data provided by the (NCASC), 2100 people are infected with HIV positive and 527 people are infected with AIDS. However, estimation says about 36,000 people are currently infected with HIV/AIDS in Nepal.

In a press statement issued here, the mass rally seeks to be a medium to create awareness, generate publicity and as a means of advocacy towards the serious issue to growing AIDS and HIV in Nepal. The rally will at the same time, spread the message with cultural songs and with placards and banners.

Several politicians, diplomats, representatives from the government and non-governmental organisations, army and the police personnel, municipality officers and members from all walks of life are supposed to be participated actively in the rally.

Education officials blamed for inaction

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KATHMANDU, Nov 23 – Representatives from teachers’ associations at an interaction programme here today criticised education officials for their inaction against the teachers who are holding fake certificates.

They also blamed the officials for giving protection to the fake certificate-holders in teaching profession. They demanded stern action against such certificate-holders and also against the officials who appointed them.

They were speaking at an interaction programme on Teachers Holding Fake Certificates: What to do now ? organised by Education Journalists’ Forum.

Madhav Adhikari, President of the Nepal National Teachers’ Association, demanded that government should take action against those teachers reported to have fake certificates.

General Secretary of Nepal Teachers’ Association Mohan Gyawali blamed the government education officials of giving refuge to the fake certificate-holders in the teaching profession by taking bribe while appointing them.

He further said that the present education system was responsible for the fake certificates in the profession.

However, government officials were not ready to accept all the charges against them. They maintained they were doing at their best to check the fake certificates.

"We have not got any such officials who are giving refuge to the fake certificate-holders by taking bribes," said Yubaraj Pandey, Spokesman at the Ministry of Education and Sports. "We will certainly take action against those persons who accepted bribes from the fake certificate-holder teachers if found any, " he said.

However, advocate Drona Dahal did not subscribe Pandey’s views. "There is no law to take action against the fake certificate-holders". "We should now formulate new law to solve the problem," he added.

Ram Bahadur Bakhati from Tribhuvan University Curriculum Development Centre said the present system to allocate marks was a cause of the fake certificates since people intend to get certificates securing high marks.

Leaders vow to fight against AIDS

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KATHMANDU, Nov 23 – Leaders of Nepali Congress today vowed to gear ahead the momentum against drug abuse and HIV/ AIDS.

Speaking at a seminar on "Statement of Nepali Congress Party on Drug Abuse Reduction and HIV/AIDS Prevention" organised by Youth Power Nepal and Nepal Tarun Dal, General Secretary of Nepali Congress Sushil Koirala said that the party is taking these two issues seriously regarding its social and poitical impacts.

A 29-year-old AIDS patient Rajiv Kafle stressed on the need to take immediate measures to inform the vulnerable youth about drug abuse and the consequent impact of AIDS and HIV. Kafle also pointed out the need of rehabilitation centers for HIV/AIDS victims.

Director of of NCASC Shyam Sunder Mishra said, "We are currently working on for the formation of AIDS council under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister which we feel will push the issue to substantial heights ". The year 2002 would be a year of advocacy for the fight against HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse and the year would be declared as the HIV/AIDS prevention year, Dr Mishra said.d

TU partnership with American varsity

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KATHMANDU, Nov 23 - Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal and The State University of New York at Albany, New York, USA have entered into a three years partnership through the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation of USA with partial support from the University Grants Commission of Nepal, for joint research investigations in the areas of Physics.

According to a press release issued here today, the research projects involve both experimental and theoretical investigations and are being carried out at the Universities in both Nepal and USA, utilising facilities in both countries.

The US team is led by Professor Tara Prasad Das of the State University of New York at Albany, USA who is the principal investigator of the project from the US side.

The other members of the US team are Professor Lee Chow, Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA, Ralph Hendrik Scheicher and Junho Jeong.

The Nepalese team is led by Professor Devi Dutta Paudyal, Head, Central Department of Physics, Tribhuvan University, who is also the principal investigator of the project from Nepalese side. The other members of the Nepalese team are Professor Devendra Raj Mishra, Professor Sekhar Gurung, Professor Mukunda Mani Aryal, Dr Sitaram Byahut and Nanda Bahadur Maharjan.

The projects are involved in Environmental Sciences, ozone depletion in the stratosphere and ozone-ultraviolet interaction and in Materials Research involving optoelectronic devices and optical communications, recently developed glasses important in X-ray imaging and photo-copying, and nano-structured materials important in solar photo-voltaic cells.

Members of the US team will be visiting Nepal and the members of the Nepalese team will be visiting USA periodically during the course of the three-year project for intensive discussion on the procedural aspects and the results of the investigations.

Shooting of Basai film launched

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KATHMANDU, Nov 23 - Makalu Films Private Limited today did the auspicious launching of motion picture ‘Basai’, based on the popular novel by Lil Bahadur Chhetri amidst a function here today.

For the film the Dhunkharka village at Kavrepalanchowk and the villages of Lamjung are selected. According to Sudhir Poudel, presenter of the movie the shooting will start from Sunday.

"We will try our best to present what is in the novel without dramatizing the reality of the story," says Subash Gajurel, Director and scriptwriter of the movie, who has spent 20 years of his life in acting.

In the movie the popular character like Rikute, Jhuma, Maina, Dhane and Mote Karke will be played by Uttam Pradhan, Ranjana Lamichhane, Mithila Sharma, Ganesh Upreti and Mukunda Shrestha repectively.

"There will be six songs in the movie, of which Shakti Ballav will be the music director," says Poudel. Singers Uditnarayan Jha, Deepanarayan Jha, Ramkrishna Dhakal, Sapana Shree, Anand Karki, Sarmila Bardeba, Manila Sotang and Rajesh Payal Rai have song in this movie of which the recording has been finished.

In the movie Pasang T Sherpa has done Art Direction, Dance Direction by Basanta Shrestha, Cinematography by Raju Thapa and screenplay by Nayanraj Pandey.

Addressing the function Nir Shah, Chairman of Nepal Film Producers’ Association said, "The choice of Nepali viewers toward movie full of adapted culture should be changed, which will help in promotion of Neplai Movies."

Artificial shortage of vaccine affects patients in hospital

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MORANG, Nov 23 - Although the Koshi Zonal Hospital claims to have enough stocks of anti-rabies vaccines at its disposal, patients are forced to buy expensive medicines from private clinics.

According to hospital chief Dr. Rameshwor Lal Karuwa, the hospital has enough stocks of the medicine.However, the staff at Anti-Rabies Vaccine Department ask patients to buy the vaccines from private clinics. A dose of anti-rabies vaccine costs 460 rupees in local markets.

This practice at the hospital came to public notice on Friday when seven rabies patients were told by technicians to purchase the expensive vaccines from outside the hospital. Jitun Miya from Dainiya VDC who was bitten by a mad dog had to purchase all the required medicines from a private store after the technicians denied having such medicines available free of charge at the hospital.

When asked, Dr. Karuwa expressed his ignorance why the vaccines were not available to the needy people. A hospital source requesting anonymity said that the people in the department sell them to patients from Indian State of Bihar or provide only to their near and dear ones. The source also said that there is a nexus between private clinics and technicians.

The owner of a private pharmacy said on condition of anonymity that the technicians of the hospital provide vaccines to them and the profit is shared between the two parties.

25 pc children remain out of school in Rupandehi

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BUTWAL (Rupandehi), Nov 23 - About 25 per cent children of this plain district do not go to school, according to the District Education Office. Last year, the figure stood at 39 per cent. Rupandehi is believed to be one of the most advance districts in terms of human resource and infrastructure development.

The office recently completed its district level education mapping which showed the poor state of education especially among the backward communities and
rural areas.

District Education Officer Bishnu Prasad Sharma said that out of the total students enrolled in primary level, 30 per cent repeat the same class and only 40 per cent complete the primary level. One of the major causes behind not attending schools by the children has been blamed for poor economic condition of their parents. Around 35 per cent of children do not go to school due to poor economic condition of their parents.

Likewise, the education mapping showed that 36 per cent of the children drop out from the primary level education due to unspecified household reasons, which is also related with financial condition of their families.

The mapping also revealed that people of the Terai origin are less aware of education as compared to that of the migrated people from hill areas. A total of 1,066 children do not go to school because of financial condition in the Lumbini area whereas 72 children remain at home because of the same reason, the education mapping stated.

Sharma said that the enrolment of the children of Tharu, Musalman, Musahar and Chamar communities, who live in the Nepal-India border area, is very low. He further said that half of the total schools in the district lack basic physical facilities and are unable to impart minimum quality of education to the children.

Five abducted Nepalis still in custody

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GULARIYA, Nov 23 - The five Nepalis abducted by the armed police of India on September 13 are still kept in custody in Baharaich District Prison.

The five abducted were Surya Lal Chaudhary, Harchandra Chaudhary, Chanku Chaudhary, Holiram Chaudhary and Hariram Chaudhary, all of Bhimapur VDC-8 of Bardia district. All the arrested have been charged of murder of two persons in Katraniyaghat forest in August and smuggling timber from the forest.

According to Raj Kumar Regmi of Ishworiganj VDC, despite the order of District Court Baharaich to release Holiram and Hariram on deposit of IC Rs 16,000 each, the police have not set them free and have asked for IC Rs 100,000 as deposit.

The locals said that the three would not be released on deposits. However, Pratap Singh Thapa, Superintendent of Police at District Police Office Bardia said he knew only that the court had ordered them to release on deposit of IC Rs 16,000 each and nothing more.

In the mean time, according to VDC personnel of Ishworiganj, Indian police have intensified their patrolling in the forest of Katarniyaghat to capture 18 others who are alleged to be involved in the murder case. The village is only 400 metres away from the Indian border and the locals fear of abduction by the police on false charges.