Upadhyaya wishes scouts success

Kathmandu, June 26 (RSS): Chief Scout and Minister for Education and Sports Amod Prasad Upadhyaya has said that the social workers should dedicate themselves in the interest of scouts organisation and not involve in selfish activities.

Inaugurating the National Council meeting of Nepal Scout here today, Minister for Education Upadhyaya noted that the scouts would succeed in pursuing the democratic norms and values, enliven the organisation and enhance the image of Nepal in the international arena.

Nepal Scouts founder member and former national commissioner Dr. Trailokya Nath Upreti called on all concerned to be alert of those forgetting the main objective of the Scouts and engaging in financial irregularities, and extend cooperation by words and deeds to retain its past image.

Officiating member-secretary of the Nepal Scout governing body Ananda Prasad Khatiwada presented the annual report.

Ninety members of the national council from 62 districts are taking art in the meeting to held until tomorrow.

MPs demand transparency, impartiality

Kathmandu, June 26 (RSS): Discussions on the appropriations head concerning the Home Ministry began Sunday at the House of Representatives.

Taking part in the discussions, Buddhiman Tamang of RPP, Lila Mani Pokharel of United People's Forum, Chitra Bahadur K.C. of National People's Forum and K. P. Sharma oli of CPN-UML proposed a reduction of rs. 100 on the budget apportioned for the Ministry.

Buddhiman Tamang of RPP, presenting the budget reduction proposal on behalf of his party, said that the government should make the National Investigation Department effective and transparent though amendments in its existing law if need be.

He said the department should not be used to keep watch on the activities of the political parties.

He underlined the need for maintaining impartiality and transparency in the police administration, deploying the police only for ensuring law and order, ensuring impartiality in transfer of police personnel and their promotion and providing training and incentives.

He further said that attention should be devoted towards the physical facilities at jails, procedure for issuing visa from the Department of Immigration simplified, strict surveillance maintained on the trafficking of narcotic drugs and irregularities taking place in the name of the ganeshman peace campaign stopped.

He also stressed the need for consultations with former and incumbent chiefs of security bodies while devising national security policy.

Lila Mani Pokharel of the United People's Forum who put forth a similar proposal for reducing the budget by Rs. 100, said that the government had failed to identify the root cause of the law and order problem in the country and it was only claiming that improvements are on the way.

He said that different opinions were emanating over the proposed talks with the maoists and misleading remarks about the talks being held were also surfacing.

He further mentioned that legal facilities have not been provided to persons under arrest, social crimes are on the rise due to protection from the Home Ministry, investigations into crime are being carried out on a makeshift basis, culprits have been allowed to cross the border without any checks, and the department of immigration has been turned into a place of corruption.

He also spoke of corruption in transporting Maoists victim by helicopters, lack of attention towards improving the condition of the jails and profiteering from natural calamities.

Meanwhile, Hridayaram Thani of the NC said that the forces of the people's movement should find a way to resolve the Maoists issue which should be considered as a national problem; the police should be well-equipped to boost their morale and there was need of armed police force in the country.

Mahendra Bahadur Pandey of the CPN-UML said that attention had not been given to provide necessary training to the police in the budget; and there was need of transparency in political sufferers fund and Ganesh Man Singh peace campaign.

Shiva Prasad Humagain of the NC said that as the maoists problem had not only panicked the people, it had also affected the economic development and tourism promotion, there should be national consensus to resolve the issue.

Hitkaji Gurung of the CPN-UML said that distribution of money from the political sufferers fund should be stopped and it was necessary to improve the condition of prisons.

Shiva Raj Joshi (Dailekh) of the NC said that the root cause of the Maoist problem should be identified to resolve it and it was necessary to improve our economic, social and cultural habit in the changed context.

Suresh Kumar Karki of the CPN-UML alleged that the government was encouraging maoists activities in the Terai districts and the false cases were fabricated against the activists of the opposition parties.

Laxman Prasad Mehta of the Nepali Congress said that the home administration should be made people-oriented, transparent and responsive, and the state should provide services to the people in simple and impartial manner.

Asta Laxmi Shakya of the CPN-UML said that the home administration under the Nepali Congress government was was ineffective in combating girl trafficking.

Ram Kumar Chaudhari of the NC said that murder and terror have been unleashed to end democracy restored with the mandate of the people; the human rights activists have not uttered even a single word against violence; and the political parties should not provide shelter to the terrorists.

Arjun Prasad Joshi of the NC said that with the political change in the country, the structure and thinking of the home administration which had become an integral part of the life of the people, should also be changed and made capable of facing the present challenges.

Krishna Prasad Dahal of the CPN-UML asked how could the country sustain the budget of national security in the coming days when a huge sum had been allocated for the Home Ministry and alleged that the Nepali Congress itself was behind the breach of peace and security.

Savitri Bogati of the NC said that the performance of the home administration which is the main body of the government will have an impact on all development and administrative works. Special police should be mobilised to check corruption, he added.

CPN-UML's Ganga Prasad Nepal and Shiva Bahadur Deuja said Home Ministry is inefficient, people have lost confidence in the police, home administration has not been able to function democratically, police have lost self-confidence, the state of law and order in the country is alarming and that the ministry should concentrate on maintaining law and order in the country.

MPs Ramhari Dhungel and Janakraj Giri of Nepali Congress said we have been wasting time in accusing one another, majority of the problems in the country have not been resolved due to political differences, everyone should assist the commission constituted under the chairmanship of ex-prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba before introducing any concrete programmes to improve the state of law and order in the country and the reason behind the rise in the Maoist problem should be sorted out.

CPN-UML's Bir Bahadur Lama, Lalbabu Pandit and Dan Bahadur Chaudhary said lack of a clear policty to run the home administration has led to the rise in hooliganism and irregularities in every sector of the society, the law and order situation is deteriorating in the country as a result of impartial and honest working of the home administration; the national investigation department in not working, and the daily public life has been terrorized. The government should withdraw all cases filed with political prejudice, they added.

MPs Haribhakta Adhikari, Mahendra Yadav and Kailashnath Kasaudhan of Nepali Congress expressed the view that the Maoist problem cannot be solved without national consensus, the main opposition party has been playing a double role, the police should be equipped with training and resources, and the commission for investigation of abuse of authority should be reformed. They also lauded the new programmes introduced for the Home Ministry.

Likewise, CPN-UML's Jagannath Khatiwada and Damber Singh Sambahamphe said the Home Ministry has been playing a disappointing role in maintaining law and order and checking widespread corruption and irregularities taking place in the country. The government's discouraging policy has let down the morale of police and the general public are alarmed of their life and property, they added.

Fatik Bahadur Thapa and Sohan Prasad Chaudhary also of the same party were of the view that nepotism in appointment, transfer and promotion in home administration has led to the current situation of law and order in the country, the district level budget for addressing natural calamity is insufficient and the home ministry has been congressised and is working to suppress the opposition which has given rise to widespread corruption in the country.

Prevalence of new strain of parasite on rise: report

Kathmandu, June 26 (RSS): The prevalence of a new strain of parasite called the cyclospora cayentenensis has been detected in increasing numbers in a number of cases during a stool test of persons with gastrique disorders this year also like at the start of the monsoon season in the previous years, parasitologist Dr. Jeevan Bahadur Sherchand told RSS.

Dr. Sherchand, a university Reader, who has been doing research study on the parasite since 1995, said that many people suffer from various gastric disorders caused by this particular type of parasite during the summer season especially in the months of May, June and July.

According to him, the number of annual deaths due to the parasite is however not known. He said not all deaths said to be due to gastroenteritis in the previous years were due to gastroenteritis alone, several of those deaths might have been due to the new parasite.

Dr. Sherchand, who is also the director of the infectious and tropical disease control and research center, has been doing a joint research on this new strain of parasite with Prof John Cross, a researcher of the uniformed services, university of health sciences-usa at the TU Institute of Medicine health sciences laboratory.

The cyclospora cayentenensis was found in stool samples of altogether 1,260 persons out of 3,433 stool samples tested in the course of the research in the last five years.

Similarly, the parasite was found in 285 persons out of 910 persons who underwent stool tests since the beginning of the summer season till mid-June this year, Dr. Sherchand said.

In Itahari, Rudal Saha, a resident of Laukahi VDC-6 and his associate vegetable sellers have been arrested for selling coloured Parwal. The parwal is a green pod vegetable.

The businessmen were arrested while they were dying the vegetable green in chemical dye used to colour textiles at the chaudhari colour industries Sunday.

Saha said that he couloured the vegetable so as to enhance its colour and make the vegetable look fresh since consumers in cities like Kathmandu and other places preferred greenish Parwal.

The nearby "Sri Lanka" island on the Koshi river in Prakashpur VDC is famous for Parwal farming.

Saha said he dyed the Parwal in order to compete with the Parwal imported from Calcutta and sold at Kalimati vegetable market. He alleged that the imported Parwal was also coloured.

Consumption of the coloured Parwal is said to be harmful to health, the chemical used in colour acting as a slow poison to the body and causing jaundice.

Training program  for teachers

Inaruwa, june 26: Chairperson of the Sushma Koirala Memorial Trust, Miss Sujata Koirala inaugurated a training programme for the women teachers of primary schools at Laukahi, Sunsari on Sunday.

The training was organised under the joint auspices of the Sushma Koirala Memorial Trust and the Pre-Primary School Project-Nepal.

Speaking on the occasion, chairperson Koirala said that such teacher training have been started in the rural areas of the district with a focus on educating the rural folk in view of the lack of educational opportunities there.

She said that it would not be appropriate on the part of the politicians to harbour prejudice in development programmes.

Nepali Congress Sunsari district acting president Ram Bahadur Basnet and Nirbikar Shrestha, the national coordinator of the pre-primary school project, also expressed their views.

Twelve lady teachers from eleven primary schools in the district are attending the 15 days long training.