Princess Anne arriving today

Kathmandu, Nov. 22 (RSS): At the invitation of His Royal Highness Prince Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah, Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, the Princesss Royal of the United Kingdom will pay a five-day official visit to Nepal from November 23.

On arrival, HRH Prince Gyanendra will welcome HRH Princess Anne at the VVIP Bay of the Tribhuvan International Airport.

Their Majesties the King and Queen will receive in audience HRH the Princess Royal on November 24.

The same evening, Their Royal Highnesses Prince Gyanendra and Princess Komal will host a dinner in honour of HRH the Princess Royal.

On November 24, HRH the Princess Royal will visit Anandaban Leprosy Hospital, British Gurkha Nepal, Lalitpur and inaugurate the British Council building at the British Embassy premises.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Chakra Prasad Bastola will pay a courtesy call on HRH the Princess Royal.

HRH the Princess Royal will visit Baglung, Nalibang, Pokhara, Bhutanese refugee camp at Beldangi and Maiti Nepal Primary Health Care and Rehabilitation Centre (Hospice) at Kakarbhitta.

On November 28, HRH the Princess Royal will visit the National Human Rights Commission.

On the same day, HRH the Princess Royal will visit British School, DFID Office and Changunarayan.

HRH the Princess Royal will also attend a reception and dinner hosted by the British Ambassador.

HRH the Princess Royal is scheduled to leave Kathmandu on November 28, it is learnt from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Princess Anne to open British Council Centre tomorrow

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Nov 22: The British Council, an institution that has helped many Nepalese to get a better insight into the modern trends of educational and professional development over the last four decades is set to widen its reach through its newly built premises in Lainchaur, next to the British Embassy.

The official opening of the centre will be performed by Her Royal Highness Princess Anne the Princess Royal on Friday at 1:00 p.m.

The Princess Royal, the second child and only daughter of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh was born at Clarence House, London, on August 15, 1950, when her mother was Princess Elizabeth.

She received the title Princess Royal from the Queen in June 1987; until then she was known as Princess Anne.

The Princess Royal has been the President of the Save the Children Fund since 1970 and is President or Patron of some 222 organisations.

"The event in the offing holds a great deal of prominence since it is the first new building that the British Council has commissioned anywhere in the world in over ten years," Brigid O’ Connor, British Council Director in Nepal said.

The British Council is organising the ‘Britain in Nepal’ Week, which will be observed from November 24 to November 30 to commemorate the special event and to celebrate the historical and cultural links between Nepal and Britain.

Connor said the primary objective of the event is to let young people in Nepal know about the upgraded facilities of the British Council in its new premises and have a wider reach.

The facilities of the new premises include state of the art information, education, examinations and English language teaching resources.

The clean light and flexible design of the new building attempts to reflect modern Britain, emphasising high service standards, the integration of information technology into all operations responsiveness to customer needs.

The British Council Centre aims to offer the best available facilities and services to its customers using the most innovative technologies and resources in English language learning, information access and professional development, Connor told a press conference.

The Britain in Nepal Week is going to be marked with a ‘Best of British’ Film Week, two music concerts by two highly regarded groups of musicians, Network of Sparks from the UK and Prem Autari of Sur Sudha from Nepal, as well as a Human Rights Films and Cartoon Festival.

The International Convention Centre has been selected as the venue for the concert, which is to be performed on Friday. The concert will be formally opened by the Vice Chair of the British Council, Virginia Bottomley, MP, a former UK government minister. The concert on Friday and Saturday will entertain over two thousand music fans.

The Best of British Film Festival will screen five films over five days to over thousand cinema goers at the Russian Cultural Centre.

The Human Rights Film and Cartoon Festival will be held at the Hotel Himalaya.

Nepal Lever Limited, manufacturers of Close-Up, is the principal sponsor of the Britain in Nepal Week. The Hyatt Regency Kathmandu is the co-sponsor.

Britain in Nepal Week has also been supported by J Walter Thompson, Yak and Yeti Hotel, Nepal Grindlays Bank Limited, Kantipur FM, Himalayan Bank Limited and Radio Sagarmatha. The British Embassy is the sole sponsor for the Human Rights Film and Cartoon Festival, a British Council press release said.

Unhindered access to information mooted

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Nov. 22: Department of Information (DoI) today organised a one-day interaction programme on "Dissemination system of government notices and advertisement" to discuss existing problems faced by the press and the spokesmen of the various ministries.

At the programme various speakers felt the dire need of change in the attitude of government regarding the disbursement of government notices and advertisements to the press.

Chairman of Nepal Press Council and noted journalist Harihar Birahi from the chair of the chief guest of the function said that the government has not been supportive regarding facilities to be provided to the press. He also said that the government could not prove itself responsible towards its people until and unless it becomes transparent through the press. He urged the government officials and policy makers to properly use the media while going about with its task of informing the public.

Hailing the DoI for providing the platform to both the media people and government spokesmen to discuss their problems and air their respective views, President of Federation of Nepalese Journalist Suresh Acharya claimed that the government was not very supportive to the press. He said that government had to be serious, especially when National Trading Company, the government body that supplies printing paper to the Nepalese press at subsidised rates, has not been able to supply the paper to the press on a regular basis.

Various speakers felt an urgent need of central information network system in the country so that the government notices and advertisements could be allocated impartially.

They also expressed their views regarding the provision of government advertisements to the various newspapers.

Furnishing queries raised by some speakers regarding the duties and roles of spokesmen of various ministries and other government offices, spokesman of the Ministry of Information and Communicaitons Hem Raj Poudel said that the spokesmen could have been evasive or silent in many cases not because they wanted to evade their responsibilities but because they themselves are not informed about their limitations. He also said that the government ministries still have yet to come up with modalities as to how the news related to the respective ministries be disseminated.

The second session of the interaction programme, chaired by Nepal Press Union President Kul Chandra Wagle, held discussions regarding the idea of central information network system and a new provision to distribute government advertisements to the newspapers. The programme was attended by spokesmen of various ministries, departments and constitutional bodies, high ranking officials, journalists and officials from the DoI.

T.U. students felicitated

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu Nov. 22: Minister for Education and Pro Chancellor of Tribhuvan University, Aamod Upadhyaya felicitated the students on the twenty-seventh Convocation Day amidst a function here today.

More than 3,500 students of different levels and faculties— ranging from graduation to Ph. D.— were honoured on the occasion. "I hope these students will bear good character in the days to come."

The Chief Guest of the function Prof. K. A. Padmananbhan, Director of Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, asked the young graduates to be prepared to face the challenges before the harsh realities of the modern world.

Referring to the two countries’ —Nepal and India — committed for the noble goals and ideals for mankind, Prof. Padmannabhan said "I do hope that in the future too, the men and women coming out of great institutions like Tribhuvan University in Nepal, will ensure that our two nations work together for the common weal".

"Rather than being a coffee house revolutionary or an armchair critic, one should aim at becoming a real leader of change," he told the felicitated students.

There are more than 12,000 students of all levels — graduation, post graduation and Ph. D.—who have completed all requirements to have the certification of their respective levels this year.

Vice Chancellor of the Tribhuvan University Dr. Nabin Prakash Jung Shah, said that the university is committed to perform its responsibility to make quality education accessible to the general public with the social justice at the centre-stage.

"We are committed to make every activities of the university transparent and give equal opportunity to every member of the institution. Our efforts are being directed to update the university curriculum and also to ensure the academic calendar of operation," Dr. Shah said.

Dr. Shah also said that the institution has a humble tradition of honouring the national and international distinguished scholars. There are some four hundred students doing their Ph. D. research, according to Dr. Shah. "We have the tradition of honouring national and international outstanding personalities with high academic recognition,he said.

Maintaining this tradition, Tribhuvan University this year honoured Prof. Naya Raj Pant, a noted astrologist and historian, with the Doctor of Letters (D. Litt).

Other four personalities also received the Ph. D. certificates on this occasion. Kashi Kant Mainali and Gopal Bahadur for history, Janardhan Lamichhane for culture and Shambhu Prasad Khanal for political science were also honoured.

PM lambasts violent acts

Kathmandu, Nov 22 (RSS): Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has said it is a criminal attitude to dream of victory by following the path of violence and terror in today’s democratic and open environment.

In a message sent to the tributary meeting held in Baglung today on the 13th day of the murder of Nepali Congress member Bharat Sherchan (Tul Prasad Sherchan) he said though the terorists killed our beloved friend the party and government will honestly make every effort to end violence and murder in the country.

Paying tribute to the late Sherchan, Prime Minister Koirala has extended deep condolence to the bereaved family members and friends.

Tributes paid to late Sherchan

Baglung, Nov. 22 (RSS): A function was organised to mark the 13th day of the death of member of the Nepali Congress General Convention and member of the NC Baglung district committee Tul Prasad Sherchan (Bharat Sherchan) at Pala VDC-2 Baglung district today.

Addressing the meeting Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Paudel pointed out the need of standing in favour of truth and justice and to engage in the task of nation building.

Stating that though the Maoists are engaged in anti-people activities, the government has kept open the door for talks, Mr Paudel remarked that the government is making every effort to provide security to the people and the politics of killing and murder will never be successful.

Various other speakers including MPs Tanka Prasad Sharma Kandel, Arjun Prasad Joshi and Dilliram Sharma also spoke at the function chaired by NC Baglung president Hari Prasad Shrestha.