PM initiates Pashupati Chariot procession
Spiritual awakening stressed  

Kathmandu, Jan. 3 (RSS): Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai initiated the Kathmandu-Mount Abu “Lord Pashupatinath Jyotirlingam Rath Yatra” (chariot procession) organised by the Bramha Kumari Rajyoga Sewa Kendra, Nepal, amid a special function here today.  

Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai  at open Theatre, Tundikhel on the occasion of the initiation of Kathmandu-Mount Abu Lord Pashupatinath Chariot procession organised by Brahma Kumari Rajyoga Sewa Kendra,Nepal on Monday.

On the occasion, Prime Minister Bhattarai also performed worship and paid obeisance to the Shree Pashupatinath Jyotirlingam chariot.

At the function, Rajparishad Standing Committee chairman Dr. Keshar Jung Rayamajhi inaugurated a religious talk programme on the topic “Entering into a new age through spiritual empowerment.”

Addressing the talk programme, Dr. Rayamajhi expressed the wish that the twenty-first century would be an age of spiritual thinking  and an age devoid of war, violence and nuclear weapons.

He said spiritual thinking was necessary in the political and social spheres and that religion guided mankind on the path of righteousness.

Science should foster world peace and human welfare in the twenty-first century, not destruction, he emphasised.

Dr. Rayamajhi, on the occasion, gave the banner of Lord Pashupatinath to the chief of the Rath Yatra sister Rajyogini Bramhakumari Rajdidi, an urn to Bramhakumari Kiran and cloth strap and badge of the Rath Yatra to the Bramhakumars and the Bramhakumaris.

Cpn-uml general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal pointed out the need for guiding the human society on the path of material and spiritual progress by imbuing morality, good conduct and pious deeds while at the same time freeing it of demonic forces.

Because national progress cannot be attained without character development, mankind should learn to live his life in good faith and benevolence, he observed, expressing the hope that the Rath Yatra would help spread the glory of Nepal, the country of Lord Pashupatinath, in the world.

Minister for General Administration Siddha Raj Ojha said that although Nepal is poor in terms of wealth, it is rich in spiritual heritage and that religion promotes happiness, progress and prosperity of all beings.

Calling upon all the religions to move ahead in ending the suffering, pain and tribulations of mankind, Mr. Ojha said that knowledge on spiritualism should be imparted at an early age.

Minister for Youth, Sports and Culture Sharat Singh Bhandari observed that with the advancement of science and technology has come progress and development as well as wars and destruction.

Activities that have come in the name of modernisation have eroded religious values, cultural norms and moral standards, he opined.

He said although a Hindu country, Nepal has given equal importance to all the religions and warned that no any faith should try to take advantage out of the poverty and the compulsion of the people and convert them into other faiths.

At the programme, Minister of State for Information and Communications Govinda Bahadur Shaha released a song album “Mero Hajur” by Ananda Karki. On the occasion, Mr. Shaha called upon the entire humanity to adopt the path of righteousness and imbibe moral values so as to make the 21st century a golden age.

He said we should engage in good deeds and pious ways for one gets to know the fruits of his/her deeds in this life.

President of the cpn-ml sahana Pradhan emphasised imparting of moral education for character development and said we should all strive together to banish poverty, illiteracy, violence and hatred from the country at the dawn of the 21st century.

Member of the Rajparishad Standing Committee Swami Dr. Prapannacharya said that while religion preached peace, science invited violence and destruction.

Founder of the association for character building, Shree 1008th Swami Sachchidananda Bisuddhadev stressed that the twenty-first century should be an age of mutual trust and goodwill and said coordination should be maintained between science and religion.

At the programme presided over by director of the Brahma Kumari Rajyoga Service Centre, Bramha Kumari Rajdidi, president of Nepal Anubrat Samiti Mr. Hulas Chand Golchha, founder of the World Peace Academy Dhammachariya Bhikshu Gyan Purnik Mahasthavir,   senior vice-president of the World Hindu Federation International Committee Bharat Keshari Singh, Bramhakumars Ram Singh Ayer and Surat Bahadur Ayer, industrialist Jeevan Lal Piya and others spoke on the importance of spiritualism for national development.

The chariot procession will conclude in Mount Abu, India, on February 8 after passing through various towns in Nepal and India.

 ‘Foreign Ministry activated’

Kathmandu, Jan. 3 (RSS):  Foreign Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat at a meeting of the House of Representatives Foreign Relations and Human Rights Committee today apprised the committee of the activities of the Foreign Ministry and the bodies under it, and the progress made by them so far.  On the occasion, he said in an effort to enhance Nepal’s image in the international arena the organizational structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been changed and a provision has been made for the Royal Nepalese Embassies and missions abroad to report to the Foreign Ministry every month on the efforts they are making in promoting tourism, foreign assistance, employment, trade and foreign investment.  Efforts are also under way to construct the buildings of Royal Nepalese Embassies abroad, he added.  Speaking about the progress made so far in resolving the Bhutanese refugee problem, he said that relations with Bhutan have become much better than before and that the forthcoming ministerial level meeting is likely to be able to find a way out of the problem.   Replying to committee members’ questions regarding the Indian External Affairs Minister’s statements on Nepal in the context of the Indian Airlines plane hijacking and the involvement of a Nepal-based Pakistani diplomat in the fake Indian currency racket, Foreign Minister Dr Mahat said His Majesty’s Government is very sensitive to these matters.  Once all necessary facts are found they will be brought to light, he added.  The meeting was chaired by committee chairman Som Prasad Pandey.   Meanwhile, the House of Representatives State Affairs Committee met twice today.   At the first meeting, Minister for General Administration Siddha Raj Ojha and secretary at the ministry Ramananda Prasad Singh apprised the committee of the activities of the ministry and offices under it, and Civil Service Act and Rules.  As decided by the meeting, the committee members made surprise inspection of Tribhuvan International Airport to acquire information about the security and immigration system and various other aspects of the airport.  The second meeting of the committee analysed the present condition of the airport on the basis of their on site observation.  The meeting also decided to discuss their findings with the Minister for Civil Aviation, the Home Minister, the Assistant Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation, the Home Secretary, the inspector general of police and the officers of National Investigation Department at the committee meeting tomorrow. 

MPs’ secretaries have role: Ojha

-BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Jan 3:Minister for General Administration Siddha Raj Ojha inaugurated a five-day training for the personal secretaries of the members of Parliament here today.Ojha said that the training had special importance since it would enable the participants to be familiar with the routine works of the ministries and at the same time develop the skills to respond effectively to the problems of the people from the constituencies of the concerning parliamentarians.He said that the training should not be confined to a mere formality but should be used by the trainees to utilise it in the line of making their role more effective.The training is being held under the joint aegis of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and the Nepal Administrative Staff College.The training, which is being organised in three phases will train 34 personal secretaries of the member of Parliamentarians in each phase.Secretary of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Shree Krishna Gautam said that the training package had been devised in such a manner so as to make the role of the trainees more effective in their day to day work.Executive Director of the Nepal Administrative Staff College, Shambhu Sharan Prasad Kayastha said that the objective of the training was to make the tenure of the Parliamentarians successful through the dissemination of training for their personal secretaries.He said that the parliamentarians had not been availed with a fully equipped secretariat owing to the constraint of resources faced by the nation.In the backdrop of this reality, it is essential to train the personal secretaries of the parliamentarians so that they can handle the secretarial works in an effective manner, he said.Under Secretary of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Umakanta Parajuli said that the names of 102 personal secretaries had been provided by the Parliament Secretariat for the training.

Govt approves local bodies regulations

Lalitpur, Jan. 3 (RSS): His Majesty’s Government has in accordance with the Local Self-Governance Act-2055 B.S. approved the Local Self-Governance Regulations-2056 B.S. and Local Authority (Finance Administration) Regulations-2056 B.S.

According to a statement issued today by the Local Development Ministry, the approved Self-Governance Regulation-2056 B.S. includes provisions for classification of the local body, project formulation and implementation procedure, function, duty and rights of the local authority office-bearers.

Likewise, the regulation also includes a provision regarding the collection of vehicle tax under which the local bodies are authorized to collect such tax only along the roads which has been built by the local body or has been handed over to the local body and the amount collected should be used in renovation works on the particular road. But local bodies are not authorized to collect such tax on highways and sub-highways.

The regulation has, in order to strengthen economic resources of the local body, authorised the local body to collect land tax, entertainment tax, local collection and deposit tax, wealth tax, integrated deposit tax etc.

A clear provision has also been made for the establishment of subject-wise units in the DDCs which have the possibility of being declared a cultural town by His Majesty’s Government and the amount to be received by DDCs from revenue collected by the government.

Likewise, the Local Authority (Economic Administration) Regulation-2056 B.S. also includes a provision for the structures of records in the local body and initiation of a professional documentation system in the municipalities.

The regulations also authorizes the DDC to fix the wages for agriculture and other labourers in the district not less than the minimum rate fixed by the government.

His Majesty’s Government has also expressed confidence that the two regulations would have a positive role in the effective enforcement of the Local Self-Governance Act-2055 B.S.

Security situation at TIA discussed

Kathmandu, Jan. 3 (RSS):The Centre of People’s Awareness and Social Studies organised a programme here today to discuss the security situation at Tribhuvan International Airport and the alleged use of Nepalese territory in support of terrorism in the light of the Indian Airlines plane hijacking.

In course of the discussion, politician Sribhadra Sharma accused the Indian media of indulging in propaganda campaign against Nepal and spoke of the need to improve security situation in the airport.

Ex-minister Shailendra Kumar Sharma said although there are ample examples of planes being hijacked from even the countries which have very good security arrangement, the recently hijacking has brought the security arrangement at Nepalese Airport under question. Attention should be paid to this matter, he added.

Politician Kuber Sharma attributed the growing criminal activities to the porous Nepal-India border.

Former SAARC secretary general Yadav Kant Silwal was of the view that weak leadership is also responsible for growing criminal activities. He also stressed the need to take necessary initiatives to redress the possible negative impact of Indian media unleash on Nepal’s tourism sector.

Senior journalist Gokul Pokhrel said the general practice of transferring employees at the airport after every change of government has also affected the airport security situation.

Clothes given away to elderly people

Kathmandu, Jan. 3 (RSS): On the occasion of the 55th auspicious birthday of His Majesty the King, president of the auspicious birthday main  civic organising committee Mr. Lokendra Bahadur Chand distributed clothes to the elderly people at the Pashupati Biddhashram today.

The clothes were made available by the clothes distribution sub-committee of the auspicious birthday organising main civic committee.

On the occasion, Mr. Chand said that it was not only a humanitarian service but also a pious act to assist the elderly people.

At the programme, 180 bed-sheets were distributed to the elderly at the private expenses of Ms Durga Rana.

Office-bearers of the auspicious birthday celebration main civic committee and the sub-committee also expressed their views at the programme.