KATHMANDU, Sept 1 - The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) is now collecting street names for the eastern sector of the Capital so that it could give them new systematic house numbers next month.

The eastern sector, one among the six sectors divided with a view to providing new house numbers and street names, comprised of ward Nos. 6, 7,8, 9, 10, 34 and 35 – that is the area east of Dhobikhola.

"We have sent circulars to respective ward offices so that they could hold meetings with the local people to discuss which street should be given which name. They are asked to submit their proposal for street names by the next week," said Dwarika Shrestha, the infrastructure engineer of Kathmandu Valley Mapping Programme (KVMP).

He said this period is especially important for the local residents because the new names of the local streets depend on the local residents’ suggestions.

According to him, after the names are drafted, it is forwarded to the board, consisting of mayor, deputy mayor and some other relevant officers.

"It becomes quite difficult to change the names after the names are passed because it is computerised and it gives clues to future development plans for the locality."

In two months the Kathmandu Valley Mapping Programme, the section of KMC, gave name to over 450 streets and scientific numbers to the houses located in those streets. Mayor Keshav Sthapit launched the programme on June 25 from Kings Way.

" Among the ward Nos. 1, 5, 11, 31, 32 and 33, we have finished distributing street names and house numbers in the Central Sector except in ward No 33. And some more works are left in Ward No 31," Shrestha said.

This system distributes house numbers to the houses according to their distance in metre from the originating point of the street to the main entrance of the houses. The houses on the right handside get even numbers and those on the left-hand sides get odd number. The North-South streets have their originating point on their South end and those of the East-West streets have it on their East end.

Media asked to maintain conducive environment

KATHMANDU, Sept 1 - Minister for Information and Communications Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta today asked the press to help maintain the present conducive environment for peaceful talks between the Government and the Maoists.

He said that the press could play a vital role to make the talks successful.

Minister Gupta made this remark while speaking at the Tenth Anniversary Programme of Chandeswori Publications (P) Ltd.

"Government wants to solve every problem through peaceful ways and is very hopeful that the talks with the Maoists will also end successessfully," said Minister Gupta, who is also the spokesperson of the Government.

Dharanidhar Khatiwada, Director of Department of Information, said that the press should always be objective, not subjective. He also asked the print media to use pen to preserve rich culture of the nation.

Harihar Birahi, chairman of the Press Council, underlined the need of peaceful environment for the prosperity of the press.

General Secretary of Federation of Nepalese Journalists, Tara Nath Dahal asked the Government to solve the problems of the weekly newspapers since their role to inform people is very important.

Editor of Saptahik Janasatta, Ram Chandra Neupane said that the press did not encourage the Maoist insurgency as claimed by previous governments. Chairman of the publications, Krishna Prasad Gautam condemned the Maoist attack in his office few months ago.

Nepalese law in the net

KATHMANDU, Sept 1 - A web site started by some of the lawmen includes many of the Nepalese laws and other law-related information on the site, said Ram Krishna Timalsena, Joint Registrar of the Supreme Court.

Talking to The Kathmandu Post today, Timalsena said the site lawsofnepal.com will be updated and made more comprehensive in the near future providing access to Nepalese laws in the Internet.

Delivering a foreword for the site Chief Justice Keshav Prasad Upadhyay has lauded the efforts as it would contribute to the development and consolidation of Nepalese legal system. " I also call for the legal community of Nepal to join in the process of promoting the legal system of Nepal," Upadhyay said.

The general index of the site includes a country profile of Nepal, an outline of Nepalese legal system, Nepal and common law tradition, constitutional law of Nepal, sectoral legal regimes, international treaty regime, human rights and international obligations, courts and judicial system, law profession, legal education in Nepal, official case reports, legal journals and periodicals and bibliography of legal publications in Nepal.

Besides, the site also includes UK update of the laws. They are – current issues in British law, new British statutes, new precedents established by House of Lords, What is going on at the Lord Chancellors Department, legal business at the UK Parliament and legal article from the British press.

Bipin Adhikari and Ram Krishna Timalsena are co-ordinator and associate co-ordinator of the management team to conduct the site.

Pashupati area wears a new look

KATHMANDU, Sept 1 – Pashupati area wears a new look nowadays. It looks cleaner than it was in the past. It is beggar-free too. No shops can be seen on the pavements of the roads within the periphery of Pashupati area. Thanks to the Pashupati Region Development Fund (PRDF), which has taken initiatives to upgrade the world heritage site.

Bal Kumari Kharel, 45, who has been running a cosmetic shop at the Pashupati premises for five years, shares the changes in the Pashupati thus: "I’m happy to see the holy Pashupati area cleaner. I’m happier to see my yard beggar-free whom I had to scold time and again as they used to harass my customers".

She also points to the changes inside the temple. She feels comfortable to enter the temple since she has no longer to hear the calls of Brahmins nowdays to accept tika from their hands in return of dakshina, money to Brahamin.

The PRDF started action against encroachers of the roads within its premies by deploying a team of ten patrol guards from last May, according to the spokesman at the PRDF, Shyam Shekhar Jha. Under these initiatives, the PRDF has prohibited all types of businesses on both sides of the roads within the Pashupati area and even beggars are not allowed to walk begging, Jha added.

The initiatives have started to yield good results in the recent days after much hard efforts on the part of the PRDF. Now 10 guards patrol the area from 7 am to 7 pm daily to see no beggars and Brahmins violate the PRDF's prohibition.

As the street businesses and begging have been strictly checked, the streets of the area look cleaner now, the spokesperson added.

However, this move of the PRDF, has badly affected the beggars and the Brahmins who are living in and around the Pashupati temple for their livelihood.

Yagya Prasad Sapkota, 45, who has been maintaining his livelihood by begging since he lost his left hand to a machine in 1986 when he was a labour at Shakti Rubber Industry at Patan Industrial Region, vehemently criticises the PRDF’s move. He says," It is the violation of our rights to beg. They should let us resume our "business". If they want to send us away from here, they must think even for our lives". He also shared his hardship thus: "I sometimes do not make even a single Suka, a forth of a rupee, and sleep with my empty stomach".

The guards on patrol even say that the number of beggars is also decreasing as they are finding it hard to maintain their lives by begging in the area. Even the spokesman at the PRDF accepts it. He adds," They have started to go away in other places of the valley as they found themselves in a difficult situation to live by begging in and around the Pashupati premises.

Now the beggars have been forced to live at Jamkeshori and Taxi Park of the Pashupati premises. However, they have not been allowed to roam begging there.

Other sufferers of the PRDF are the Brahmins who make their livelihood by offering tika to the pilgrims to the Pashupati temple. The PRDF has also prohibited the Brahmins to sit with a view to offering tika.

"We are now forced to leave our profession since we are not allowed to offer tika in the vicinity of the temple. We do not make even a rupee some day", says Upendra Ghimire, who has been living at the temple for five years. He also says, some Brahmins have left the temple as they found their profession insecure to sustain their lives.

Now they have been forced to live only in two Yagyashalas situated within the temple premises. They are not making money as the pilgrims rarely visit the Yagyashalas.

However, the PRDF is thinking of addressing the problem of the beggars and Brahmins systematically, the spokesman at the PRDF informed.

Filing of cases declines after the announcement of land ceiling

SIRAHA, Sept 1 - Following the news that the ruling party the Nepali Congress has fixed the ceiling on land holdings at 11 bighas, including land for farming and house under the proposed Special Land Reform Programme, there has been a sudden drop in filing of cases related with property right in this area.

Only a very few cases were filed in this prime agricultural district of eastern Nepal on Friday, a day after the ceiling on land holding was announced by the Nepali Congress.

When Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had announced the decision to reduce land holding ceiling and suspended all land transactions and registration, he had mentioned the Badal Commission Report prepared when the CPN (UML) was in power. Therefore, the farmers had panicked and started filing cases related with division of property within the family in the courts of Terai areas in an unprecedented manner with a view to keeping their land within the family.

According to advocate Shekhar Kumar Joshi, the advocate tackling the largest number of such cases in Siraha, farmers who had come to the court to file cases started to return home after they heard the decision over radio at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday. Only 123 cases, which were already being processed, were registered on Friday. "I think, no such cases will be filed here from Sunday."

The Badal Commission report proposes that the land ceiling be fixed at four and a half bighas in rural area and two and a half bighas in urban area. Farmers who were aware of this proposed ceiling panicked with the fear that the government was going to snatch their land from them and therefore had started registering cases in the court as quickly as possible.

"The decision of the Nepali Congress has, to some extent, allayed any fears the farmers had," Joshi said and added that 921 property-related cases have been filed in this district alone.

Although there is a possibility that the filing property division cases will ebb now, the farmers still worried by the government announcement to reduce ceiling on land holdings as part of its land reforms programme said they are now less confident and are taking more interest in landed properties.

They consider that this programme has come to throttle those who survive on agriculture, which remains deprived of all facilities.

They are worried that their products would further lose their competitive edge over those of the Indian counterparts after the enforcement of the new land reform programme.

Farmers have expressed their total disbelief at the assurance given by the government that productivity would increase after the government distributes excess land among the landless to gain cheap popularity.

The government had enforced the law in three phases when it decided the ceiling on land holdings while implementing the Land Act of 2021 in eastern Terai areas. Therefore, the landlords with large holdings had registered their land in the names of their relatives and trusted servants and the programme had proved a failure right at the initial stage. Farmers are similarly questioning the current proposal of land reforms.

According to an estimate, the government had obtained 100 to 200 bighas here even in 2021 BS but it had failed to distribute the land to the landless.

Meanwhile, the land has continued to become fragmented in course of this long interval and at present farmers possess relatively less land and only a few of them may have land above the ceiling. Therefore, the government is not going to get much land in this district

Advocate Hari Binod Joshi, who has been in the legal profession since 2023 BS says the landlords, who were also the land revenue collectors due to ‘jamdari’ and ‘patwari’ systems in those days could conceal their land in the names of relatives and trusted servants and subsequently recovered the same from them later. On the contrary, there has been a radical change this time. There is no indication, land reforms will be achieved merely on the basis of the ceiling announced by the Nepali Congress. Chandra Shekhar Lal, who spearheaded a movement at the local level to provide land to the tillers three decades ago, pointed out that the present land reform programme should aim to increase agricultural productivity.

He further added that the present need was to enhance productivity and irrigation facility and to facilitate farmers for improved farming.

Farmers have said it was unfortunate that the government was concentrating merely on ceiling of the land in its land reform efforts. They are unable to compete with their neighbouring Indian farmers and deem that it is not the size of their land but lack of facilities that is hindering them to compete with their Indian neighbours.

Shiva Nath Singh, a farmer who possesses 20 bighas of land in

Sothiyan VDC-7, said the price of paddy was almost the same for nearly two decades but the prices of other goods to be invested in land had soared hindering farmers from reaping benefit from paddy farming in proportion to the investment.

"I produce about 600 maunds of paddy from 20 bighas of land in a year. I get Rs 65,000 by selling it, but I need to invest around Rs 40,000 to produce this quantity. How can I educate my children, get them married and take care of their other needs with mere Rs 25,000 net income per year?," he asked.

Former Minister of State Padma Narayan Chaudhari said there was lack of consolidation of land and mechanisation as well as shortage of improved fertiliser and seeds. "Against the background of the failure of the Land Reforms Programme of 2021 BS, how can the new land reform programme based on ceiling prove successful in raising productivity in this area which remains deprived of irrigation facility?" he asked.

Farmers have not seen the prospect of their economic development from agriculture not only in Siraha, which is mostly deprived of irrigation facility but also in neighbouring districts of Saptari, Sunsari and Morang which are considered as the storehouse of foodgrain in Nepal.

Regarding the desire of the central leaders to distribute five katthas of land to each of the landless families and increase productivity, Chaudhari said, "It is the intention to distribute poverty."

Maoists administer ‘janakarvahi’

BIRGUNJ, Sept 1 - Although the government and the Maoists have agreed that there would be no ‘janakarvahi’ and other actions until the talks continue, Maoists here administered ‘janakarvahi’ to a local RPP leader, Saturday.

They asked RPP leader Laxmi Tiwari to perform 50 sit-ups as punishment. Tiwari, a heart patient nearly collapsed after he was forced to obey the order.

A member of his family said the Maoist workers went away after they were paid Rs 5,000, but Tiwari refused to confirm or deny it. Officiating SP Yogendra Bahadur Katuwal said police immediately went to the site and requested the Maoist workers not to take ‘janakarvahi’ (action) as long as the talks were not finalised. But they replied that they had come only to give a warning, and the police returned immediately, he added. Local people, however, said police arrived there only 3 hours after the incident and by that time the Maoist workers had already left the scene.

RPP central committee member Gopal Giri alleged that there was lawlessness in the country because police did not take any action on request to protect the life and property of people when Maoist workers carried out the ‘janakarvahi’ .

When police were reluctant to visit the site, local RPP leaders contacted their party leader Pashupati Shumsher Rana over telephone. Home Minister Chiranjibi Wagle happened to be there by chance and the police were ordered to visit the site,
according to RPP sources.