After 6 years’ delay, govt gets cracking on teachers’ results

Nitya Nanda Timsina

KATHMANDU, Jan 10 – After six long years, the government will finally publish the results of a country-wide selection test for aspiring teachers within the next two months, say sources at the Ministry of Education and Sports. Some 86,678 teachers have been waiting for the results of their oral exam before hope came in the form of a Supreme Court judgement last month asking the authorities concerned to speed up matters.

The results of the oral interview conducted for higher-secondary and secondary-level teachers will be out next month, while the outcome of the exam for primary-level teachers will be known a little later, say the Ministry sources.

These 86,678 teachers are hoping to make it to the 14,397 vacant posts.

At the higher secondary-level, there are a total of 7,482 teaching posts vacant in the five development zones—1,840 in the Eastern Zone, 1,525 in the Central Zone, 2,334 in the Western Zone, 944 in the Mid-Western Zone and 839 posts in the Far-Western Zone.

The vacant posts for primary-level teachers number 6,915.

Following the Supreme Court order, the Education Ministry directed the two-year-old National Teachers’ Service Commission (NTSC) to gear up the process of announcing the results.

"NTSC is speeding up the process of tabulating the results in five computers and in a month it will be out. Records of around 1,500 teachers are being processed every day and we are doing everything that we can to publish the results," says Yubaraj Pandey, Spokesperson at the Ministry.

He also revealed that the CIAA (Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority) has been included in the selection panel to ensure fair and impartial selection.

"This is going to be one of the toughest selections," said an NTSC official.

Bishan Datta Bhatta, an NTSC member, said the results could have been published even before the two months’ deadline, if his chairman had not resigned last month.

The inordinately long delay in announcing the results is attributed to the controversy over the then Minister for Education and Sports, Govinda Raj Joshi, who was accused of rigging the exams. The Supreme Court ruling came last month in the wake of the accusations against Joshi.

Meanwhile, the Seventh Amendment to the 2001 Education Bill, proposing some structural changes in the country’s education system, is still awaiting Royal assent after being approved by both the Houses of Parliament.

Once the Bill becomes operational, the current five-member NTSC will be reduced to a three-member one, sources close to the Ministry said.

The proposed reduction in NTSC members and the resignation tendered by its Chairman Bishwanath Bhattarai, had earlier raised fears that the publication of results would be delayed.

But Spokesperson Pandey was firm in his stand that the absence of the Chairman from the selection panel and the proposed changes in the NTSC, will in no way affect the publication of results.

The proposed three-member body, officials say, will have two members with at least 15 years of experience in education, law and administration, while a high-ranking civil servant with five years of experience will be picked for the post of the Chairman.

Almost 3 dozen journalists in custody: FNJ

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KATHMANDU, Jan 10 : The Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) today claimed that almost three dozen journalists have been arrested by the government security forces since the state of emergency was imposed in the country one-and-half months ago.

In a press release issued here today, the FNJ claimed that four journalists, including Om Sharma, were already in custody before the state of emergency was imposed. The FNJ also flayed the government for "psychologically torturing" the detained journalists.

In a step to retain press freedom during the emergency, the Central Committee meeting of FNJ, which was held on Wednesday, constituted a three-member committee to look into government conduct towards the press.

The committee has been formed under the convenorship of FNJ Secretary Bishnu Nisthuri, with FNJ central members, Mahendra Bista and Dharmendra Jha, as its other members.

"The FNJ is both concerned and worried about the escalating threat to the press freedom."

Despite repeated commitments from the press to co-operate with the government’s mission of maintaining peace and order in the country, the security forces have been behaving with the press in a prejudicial manner, the release said.

Powell’s visit ‘highly likely’

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KATHMANDU, Jan 10 : If US Secretary of State Colin Powell does visit Nepal next week, then it will be to underscore the George W. Bush administration’s appreciation of Nepal’s stand against international terrorism in the wake of the terrorist strikes in the US on September 11 last year.

High level diplomatic sources told The Kathmandu Post today that Powell’s visit "will basically be a goodwill visit in which the US wants to show its appreciation for Nepal’s support for the war against terrorism."

However, sources also cautioned that the visit is still undecided though it is highly likely that the US Secretary of State will come to Nepal. "Things are being worked out at the official level," an official familiar with the planning said. "We do think the visit will materialize."

Powell is primarily visiting India and Pakistan in South Asia to try to cool down tensions between the two nuclear-capable regional rivals. He is also flying to Japan to attend an international donor’s meet on Afghanistan, but is likely to visit other Asian countries, including Nepal along the way.

The Powell visit, if it does materialize, will be the first high level US visit to Nepal since then First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton landed here in 1995. The US has rarely sent a Secretary of State to Nepal, though former Secretary of State Madeline Albright almost made it to Kathmandu in the last days of the Clinton administration.

Emergency has lost its relevance, says Nepal

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BIRTAMOD, Jhapa, Jan 10 :The main opposition CPN-UML leader, Madhav Kumar Nepal today said that the state of emergency declared by the government one-and-half- months ago to tame the Maoist rebels has lost its relevance now.

The opposition leader made this remark while addressing a two-day Mechi Zonal-level training programme for CPN-UML cadres, Thursday.

"The government declared the emergency on a whim, but now it has lost its meaning," he said.

Nepal also said that the government could have found a way out without imposing a state of emergency, and instead allowed the National Defence Council to call in the army for cracking down on the insurgents.

On the matter of constitutional rights of the people being suspended, Nepal expressed the fear that this could be misused to target opposition parties as well.

Nepal also lambasted both the ruling Nepali Congress and the Maoists, holding their "authoritarian and fascist views" to be responsible for pushing the country to the brink. He claimed that the government and the Nepali Congress leaders have lost their credibility among the Nepali people and the international community.

The opposition leader, taking a dig at NC President Girija Prasad Koirala’s "broader democratic alliance", said that he did not understand what Koirala meant. "I simply do not understand his proposal for a broader democratic alliance. What does he have in his magic bag?"

But he was quick to add that his party was ready to forge a national consensus if it were based on a "concrete agenda".

The former deputy prime minister also expressed his concern over the diversion of development budget to meet security expenses.

On the issue of the on-going unification process between the UML and its breakaway party, CPN-ML, Nepal said the unification process was underway based on the decisions made at the party’s sixth national convention.

More hitches before ‘inevitable’ reunion

By Utpal Raj Misra

KATHMANDU, Jan 10 : Betraying signs of more hitches and more bargaining before the "inevitable" reunion with its parent party, the meeting of CPN-ML politburo today sent the ball back to the UML saying that ML had expected a more "official" approach.

"We have now asked the UML to officially bring its unity proposal to our party," said Siddhi Lal Singh, a senior ML leader. He also informed that today’s politburo meeting rested all the decision-making powers with the party’s General Secretary Bam Dev Gautam.

"Since our dialogue committee has already been dissolved, the party has given all the responsibility to Gautam. He has all the powers to take anybody from the politburo for the dialogue with the UML," Singh said.

UML on Tuesday had officially drafted a "unity proposal" at the end of its Standing Committee meeting, and had assigned a dialogue team headed by Bharat Mohan Adhikary to take the proposal to the ML.

A meeting between the UML dialogue committee and ML General Secretary Bam Dev Gautam had followed the same day at Adhikary’s residence.

Gautam had then pledged to return after discussing with his party, and had taken the proposal to the ML for endorsement. But today’s meeting decided that the meeting was not official and asked Gautam to now go ahead with the official talks.

Although all this might seem like more stumbling blocks on the way to unification, today’s decision taken by the ML politburo gives clear indication that most of the terms mentioned in the UML proposal have been more or less accepted by the ML leadership.

According to reports, UML’s unity proposal mentioned, among others, that the party would not budge from the mandates endorsed during its fifth and sixth conventions. One of the mandates was that the ML would be given 7-11 seats in the Central Committee, and that the name of the reunified party would remain UML.

It is now understood that the ML is still going to push for more seats in the Central Committee, but has settled for three seats in the Standing Committee.

ML leader Singh also said that it is now certain that Chandra Prakash Mainali, a senior member of ML, will not be part of the reunion process while the fate of some other leaders depended on how matters progressed.

Despite claims made by some senior UML leaders that the "differences in principle" cited by ML leaders were not much more than a bargaining tool, Singh claimed that the most important thing to agree upon were "policies and principles" of the reunified UML. Bargaining for seats is a secondary matter, he said.

"Unification is today’s necessity and now both parties have to move ahead without any preconceived notion," Singh added.

Bam Dev Gautam, who now holds the bat for ML, sounded very keen on reunion but declined to speak much, only saying that there were a few things yet to be agreed upon and that the dates for official talks would be set after consulting with the UML. However, it is all too evident that two of the biggest left parties of the country are set to reunite after four years of separation. It is now just a question of when. Senior ML leader R K Mainali put it aptly, "It is just a matter of time, unification is certain."

TU policy guidelines adopted

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KATHMANDU, Jan 10 : The General Assembly of the Tribhuvan University (TU) adopted a basic policy guidelines for the tenth five year plan at a meeting held here, states a press statement issued here by the TU Thursday.

The TU information centre said a 16-point policy guidelines was adopted taking stock of the national needs and to producing internationally competitive and high-quality manpower.

Among others, the meeting decided to introduce M.Phil programme at various study centres, university management, making use of latest science and Information Technology (IT) in standardizing examinations and generating internal resources of the university.

Minister for Education and Sports Amod Prasad Upadhyaya, chairing the meeting said, it was necessary to lifting the TU from financial recession towards self-sufficiency through the combined efforts of all.

Though Eastern University and Pokhara University were established under a separate act, they are important for lessening the burden facing TU. "These universities must not be confined to the regional level alone," said Minister Upadhyaya.

Nabin Prakash Jung, Vice-Chancellor of TU said during the closing session that the present university’s resources have been unable to support the increasing number of students. The university has suffered through for the want of additional resources to meet the requirements of increasing number of students, he said.

RPP still for broad national consensus

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KATHMANDU, Jan 10 : The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), the third largest party in the Parliament, made public its "revised" concept of the "broad national consensus" which the party had come up with seven months ago.

In a press conference here today called by the party President Surya Bahadur Thapa, he said that a few changes have been made to the concept due to the "change in circumstances".

"At this point all the parliamentary political parties have in principle agreed that there has to be some consensus among the political forces of the country," said Thapa. He also said that an agreement on this regard had already been thrashed out in a meeting of senior political leaders called by Nepali Congress President, Girija Prasad Koirala, some time back.

Thapa, answering journalist queries, denied that the concept of broad national consensus was a "ladder to power". Instead, he said, this was the requirement of the time.

Defending Koirala and a similar proposal brought up by him, Thapa said, "During my meeting with Girija Prasad Koirala, he did not give me any reason to believe that the consensus would be used to get back into power. We all think that it is the only way to get the country out of the mess it is in now."

The RPP President said that any consensus among the political parties will have to be forged within the framework of the present Constitution. He said that after all the party leaders arrive at a "minimum common agreement" on issues and procedures, a draft of their programmes will be submitted to the Prime Minister.

RPP has suggested six points to be included in the minimum common agreement: a) working plan to solve the Maoist problem; b) progress in economical, social and political sectors; c) improvement in electoral procedures and introduction of an interim government; d) making code of conduct for political parties; e) corruption alleviation programme; and f) base and terms for good governance.

Among the prominent terms suggested by the RPP under the six points include introduction of progressive taxation on fixed properties and the fund collected thus used for soft loans to the landless and poor farmers; introduction of quota system for dalits and ethnic people for education and jobs; and further empowerment of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).

The concept paper brought forward by the party also explicitly emphasizes on "wining the confidence" of the constitutional monarchy, saying that it is possible to do so by staying within the framework of the Constitution.

33 suspects held, large cache of arms seized

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KATHMANDU, Jan 10: Royal Nepal Army personnel arrested 33 suspected persons and seized a large cache of arms in their cordon and search operations against the outlawed Maoists across the country yesterday.

The Defence Ministry said the army arrested one "terrorist" and 15 suspected Maoists, and one "terrorist" was killed in army operation at Babiya Chaur area in Myagdi district.

The army also defused a bucket bomb reportedly left behind by the militants while attempting to damage the Salle airport in Rukum district yesterday. However, our local reporter said that the Maoists partially destroyed the airport and also a hospital at Chaurjahari run by the Evangelical Alliance Mission. Some of the doctors were injured and have been brought to Kathmandu for treatment.

The Maoists also looted cash and other valuables from a branch office of the Rastriya Banijya Bank and destroyed an area police station located at the same place.

The Defence Ministry added that people in Sankhuwasabha district handed 42 country-made guns over to the security forces.

Meanwhile, the Home Ministry said that 18 suspected people were taken into police custody throughout the country. It also said that 44 Maoists surrendered in 11 districts yesterday.

Our reporter from Rautahat added that a joint operation of the army and the police on Wednesday arrested five suspected persons and two guns from two different villages.

Meanwhile, our reporter from Surkhet said that the area commander of the Maoists who was injured with his own bomb last Monday succumbed to his injuries today. The bomb went off suddenly when a group of Maoists led by commander "Sushil" was beating locals in Rakam VDC-2.

Similarly, our reporter quoted the security forces as saying that the army seized a large pile of arms and ammunition, socket bombs and Maoist literature from various villages of Syangja district on Wednesday. The security forces also confiscated 23 sacks of rice from Kuwakot in the same district.

UML committee meets Gupta

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KATHMANDU, Jan 10 : A delegation of the main opposition party UML’ s Emergency Monitoring Working Committee today met with Minister of Information and Communications Jaya Prakash Gupta and made him aware of various issues

According to a press release issued by the committee the delegation led by the coordinator of the team MP Rajendra Prasad Panday informed the minister about journalists being assaulted and tortured and demanded that Sankhar Khanal, a journalist from Sankhuwashava be released.

The delegation also informed the minister about the fact that every individual killed in operation by the security forces were being branded terrorists, that documents belonging to law abiding communist parties were also being branded as terrorist documents and that circulation of newspapers were being denied from several districts

The release adds that the minister promised to give necessary orders so that all the mentioned problems were solved.

Likewise, the delegation also met with the Secretary at the Home Ministry and made him aware of the atrocities inflicted upon the local people and members of various political parties by local authorities in Sankhuwashava and Taplejung.

Police accused of helping Tibetan national escape from custody

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BAHRABISE, Sindhupalchowk, Jan 10: Eye-witnesses today accused that a Tibetan national was allowed to escape from custody by some policemen at the area police office here.

But the police handed over 750 grams of gold worth half a million rupees to the Tatopani customs office. The gold was found with the Tibetan national whose identity could not be immediately confirmed. He was arrested on Monday.

Eye-witnesses said the policemen themselves assisted the Tibetan national to cross the Nepal-China border at Tatopani. The accused was seen strolling at Khasa Bazaar in Chinese territory, according to witnesses.

Officials at the Tatopani customs office said the policemen handed over to them 750 grams of gold wrapped in a plastic bag with a statement that the valuable was found unclaimed in a car which, according to the police, was left behind by the accused.

A police source, however, said the policemen had also recovered Rs. 2.5 million from the Tibetan national.

But it could not be verified whether or not the accused was allowed to take this amount with him. The arrested Tibetan and his two accomplices are suspected to be gold smugglers.

When asked, Inspector at the Bahrabise Area Police Station, Balkrishna Thapa, declined to comment on the matter. "I have already informed the District Police Office," he said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police at the District Police Office here confirmed that only gold was seized from the Tibetan national, and admitted that two of his accomplices who had entered Nepal without visa were promptly deported to Tibet.