Her Majesty opens meet, exhibition

Kathmandu, Nov. 19 (RSS): Her Majesty Queen Aishwarya Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah inaugurated a handicrafts exhibition and a workshop seminar on "the challenges of fair trade in the new millennium" organised by the fair trade group-Nepal amidst a function here today.

Handicraft items produced by various handicraft industries are on display at the three-day exhibition.

On the occasion, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ramkrishna Tamrakar said that we were still not able to do much, on a commercial basis, for the utilisation and marketing of the skills and technology available in a small and culturally rich country like Nepal.

Currently some 5,000 households are engaged in the handicraft business in Nepal, he said and expressed the government’s commitment to assist in promoting the handicraft industry and its commercialisation.

Chairperson of the fair trade group-Nepal Mira Bhattarai said the handicraft industry had not been able to foster well because Nepali consumers had not cultivated much preferences for Nepali goods.

Her Majesty the Queen observed the exhibition after the inauguration.

The workshop is scheduled to start on tuesday, according to the organisers.

Govt for reforms in financial sector: Sharma

Kathmandu, Nov. 19 (RSS): On the occasion of the 64th anniversary of the Nepal Bank Limited (NBL), the NBL Employees Union and the Nepal Financial Institutions Employees Union jointly hosted a symposium on the challenges for NBL in the changed situation.

Inaugurating the symposium, National Planning Commission (NPC) member Dr. Shankar Sharma said that the present government is committed to reforms in the financial sector.

Underlining the need for organised institutions such as trade unions to extend cooperation for the development of the financial sector of the country, he said that if the economic growth rate could be raised to 8 per cent no citizen will remain unemployed.

There should not be political interference in any organisation, NPC member Dr. Sharma said and disclosed that a new law relating to the functioning of commercial banks is on the anvil.

Nepal Trade Union Congress president Laxman Bahadur Basnet said that management, the government and labourers should join hands and move forward to protect and nurture the rights and interests of labourers.

Deputy governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Ram Babu Pant and NBL deputy general manager Abanath Upadhyaya also expressed their views at the function chaired by NBL Employees Union president Kiran Kumar Khrestha.

Interaction on effectiveness of primary education

Bhadrapur, Nov. 19 (RSS): A team of the World Bank, the European Commission (EC), Finland, Norway and the Ministry of Education, which came here to study the effectiveness of the basic and primary education project, held interaction with the school inspectors, the chief of the project resource centre, teachers and other persons here yesterday.

At the interaction, suggestions were made for making the resource centres which are established with the objective of school inspection and supervision more effective, providing all the teachers with the teacher’s manual, freeing education from politics and enhancing the supervisory task of the district education office.

The programme was organised by the district education office, Jhapa.

Likewise, stress was laid on the need to start kindergarten classes at every school before starting primary education classes with the provision for one teacher, and on the need to revise the primary school grade one curriculum and reward teachers with good track record in order to make the teachers’ training more effective.

On the occasion, district education officer of Jhapa Sushil Pandey said that although there has been a good deal of progress in terms of physical infrastructure and the educational status of the district with the launching of the primary school project, the number of students was decreasing, people were not taking interest and the drop- out rate was increasing.

He disclosed that there were 91,806 students including 45,221 girls at the school level and there were 3,201 teaching staff.

Section officer at the education branch Tanka Gautam said the Primary Education Project helped raise the educational standards of Jhapa district and expressed the view that the second phase of the programme would open new vistas in the development of the primary education in the district.

From the chair, chief district officer Sushil Jung Bahadur Rana pointed out the need for collective efforts to bring about reforms in the education sector.

He said although a lot of investment had been made in the education sector, it was yet to produce the desired results.

The team comprises world bank representative Dr. Rajendra Joshi, representative of the government of Finland Johannes Imans, representative Alen Karm of the government of Norway and high level officials of the Department of Education and the Education Ministry.

Some 60 persons including the official of the project resource centre at Jhapa and the school inspectors took part in the interaction.

‘Media has lead role in ensuring gender equality’

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Nov. 19: Advocates for women’s cause think the media have not been giving due importance to issues related to women and gender. For them, this lack of gender sensitivity in the media has often resulted in gender-based stereotyping and continuation of the portrayal of negative and degrading images of women in the media communications.

The accusation is that media, both print and electronic, have failed to provide a balanced picture of women’s diverse lives and their contribution to the society. Focussing on key gender concepts and CEDAW (Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women) and its relevance to Nepal, a one-day consultative workshop was held in Kathmandu today. The theme of workshop was ‘Mainstreaming Gender in the Media’. The workshop was organised by the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), Mainstreaming Gender Equality Programme of the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare and UNDP and Sancharika Samuha.

As the main speaker at the workshop, Minister of State for Women, Children and Social Welfare, Kamala Pant, said media is the main tool for change, but it has often failed in positive discrimination for women’s cause. There are times when media have falsely projected women cause and development. She said the ongoing 9th five-year plan has fulfilled some commitments towards women as laid out in the international convention on women but a lot still remains to be done.

Minister of State Pant expressed the view that communications media can play a lead role in increasing social awareness of women’s empowerment and gender equality.

She said as no development of the country is possible unless the upliftment ofl women isl achieved, there is a need for implementation of the constitution of the country and laws and international conventions without limiting ourselves to slogans.

As resource person Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba said most of the times women’s issues are taken more as problem.

Suresh Acharya, President of FNJ, said the programme was meant for journalists and the media to give more focus on gender issues and to bring gender issues to the fore. National progarmme manager of the Mainstreaming Gender Equity Programme, Indu Pant Ghimire said the programme aims at sensitising the gender issue in the media in line with one of the plans of action adopted in the Beijing +5 Conference held in July this year.

Chief Secretary of His Majesty Government, Tirtha Man Shakya, as another resource person, in his paper, said the CEDAW, adopted by the United Nations in 1978 is a major document to make women stand side by side with men in all - political, social, economic and cultural – spheres.

He said although the Constitution of the country has encompassed the basic features of the Convention the implementation aspect has been almost dismal both in legal and practical terms. Thus, he said, the media can play a vital role in disseminating information regarding the Convention as well as in raising awareness about women’s rights and women equality.

Meanwhile, one participant at the workshop commented that sometimes women themselves are the cause of women’s oppression and discrimination. The struggle for gender equality has not yet reached to such women.

Govt firm to go ahead with dev work: Paudel

Rampur, Palpa Nov. 19 (RSS): Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ram Chandra Paudel laid the foundation stone of the Balauteghat suspension bridge at Rampur today.

The bridge, which will connect Rampur of Palpa district and Shatwar of Syangja district, is to be constructed at a cost of Rs. 3.2 million with grant assistance from the Swiss Government, His Majesty’s Government, the district development committee and the village development committee.

On the occasion, Deputy Prime Minister Paudel said in spite of the obstruction created by anti-democratic and anti-development forces the government will not deviate from its commitment to forwarding development work in a very speedy manner.

Stating that no one will benefit from murder and violence, he said that the government has been thinking very positively in terms of declaring Rampur a municipality as per the demand of the local people.

Chairman of Palpa DDC Jhapendra Bahadur Gaihre said the construction of a road is very important for the development of the district.

A host of other speakers including chief district officer Janardan Nepal, chief of the suspension bridge department Niraj Shaha and Dev Raj Dhakal also spoke at the function held under the chairmanship of chairman of Rampur VDC Tirth Pangeni.

Likewise, Deputy Prime Minister Paudel, speaking at a mass meeting at Rampur, said the government has a positive attitude towards declaring Rampur a municipality, establishing an area administrative office and constructing the Ramdi-Pipaldanda road.

Stating that anti-democratic forces are emerging in the country, he said Nepali Congress workers should not be afraid of such forces.

The government has taken initiative to end murder, violence and terrorist activities but the demands of such elements have not become clear, he said adding the liberal attitude of the governmetn should not be taken as weakness.

Chairman of the Nepali Congress Palpa district Rajan Pant said Nepali Congress workers have to be active as the anti democratic forces are trying to raise their heads.

Former MP Hari Nepal said the government should take action to make people free of fear.

Ram Prasad Bhattarai and Bijaya Ghimire also spoke at the function chaired by chairman of the Nepali Congress Rampur Lekh Nath Regmi.

Nepali Congress workers of Palpa and Syangja met with Deputy Prime Minsiter Paudel and demanded resolution of various problems of those districts.

In Pokhara, Deputy Prime Minister and Nepali Congress leader Ramchandra Poudel has said Nepali Congress, in keeping with its duty to establish and safeguard democracy, is striving to strengthen democracy.

Addressing a Nepali Congress workers’ meeting organised here today by Nepali Congress Kaski Unit, Deputy Prime Minister Poudel asked the Nepali Congress workers to bear in mind that as there were attempts to show the seeds of discontent with democracy through violence and terror, it was also the duty of Nepali Congress to resolve such problem.

"Ups and downs are quite natural in a democracy, but one should in no way be shaken by such things," Mr Poudel said.

The workers have to be quite alert to any circumstances which under the guise of revolutionary slogan might once again put the people in fetters and the workers should guide the people toward awakening, he added.

Pointing to the demands being made for amendment to the democratic constitution, the Deputy Prime Minister said a written constitution can be amended and the constitution clearly lays down the process for such amendment.

But a constitutional amendment should be the one that might strengthen democracy and remove hurdles for the sake of democracy, he said, adding that if the aim of an amendment was really to attain such goal them it should be taken positively.

"Why democrats should feel the pain when the Maoists are hurt," the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister wondered, asking democrats to be free from such state of affairs.

"Authoritarianism makes inroad through confusion and, therefore, the party workers and democratic-minded people need to understand what a confusion is about and educate the people about it," he said.

There is no reason why one should be carried away by a story published in a newspaper, he said, urging all to closely scrutinise the content of such a story before giving one’s reaction to it.

Maoists lays down conditions; the government agrees to it. But if the Maoists themselves go back on it, some others try to put all the blame on the government, the Deputy Prime Minister noted.

Once Dinesh Sharma has been released by the government it is his right to put forth his personal opinion on democracy; and it would be paradoxical to raise the issue to insult the government, he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Poudel said that in Nepali Congress, every one is free to take leadership through democratic and healthy competition, because it is an internal affairs and personal envy should not be a part of a competition.

He expressed the confidence that the workers of Nepali Congress Kaski unit would fulfil their historic responsibility to host the 10th mahadhiveshan of the party in a united and disciplined manner.

On the occasion National Assembly member and Kaski district development committee chairman Shukraraj Sharma said Kaski unit of the Nepali Congress was already bent on making preparations for the Mahadhiveshan and the workers should act with discipline for it.

Nepali Congress district unit secretary Yagya Bahadur Thapa and senior Nepali Congress worker Govinda Poudel shed light on the political condition of the district.

Speaker calls for renaissance of values

Kathmandu, Nov. 17 (RSS): Speaker Taranath Ranabhat has said that as development of modern science and technology is turning society materialistic and threatening our original culture, religion, language and lifestyle, a renaissance campaign has to be launched to preserve and nurture these values.

Stating that there is religious tolerance, communal harmony and goodwill among Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and all the other religions here and the culture of our country is worth emulation by all others, he said that the problems of conversion from one’s religion as a result of poverty and illiteracy has to be tackled.

Speaker Ranabhat made these remarks while releasing a special issue and a brief account ‘Yalaya Bauddha Vihar’ published on the occasion of the silver jubilee of the Bauddha Vihar association Lalitpur.

Our religion and culture have succeeded in attracting world-wide attention but due to the absence of commitment and innovation, they have been on the decline in their own place of origin, Speaker Ranabhat said, adding that the new generation should be made aware of and educated in these matters.

Prof Dr. Bajra Raj Shakya, Prof. Asha Ram Shakya, Surya Man Bajracharya and a host of other speakers noted that the main message of the Buddha concerning how to make hard life a happy one should be propagated among the masses.