Nine buried alive in landslide in Gulmi

Gulmi, Aug. 20 (RSS): Nine members of two families at Aglung VDC-5 of Gulmi district were buried alive in a landslide triggered by incessant rains on Aug. 18.

According to the district police office, the deceased are Tej Bahadur Chand, his 22-year-old wife Sabitra, and five-year-old daughter Reeta and sons Prakash Chand and Madhu Chand.

Seema Chand, Rani Chand, Sapana Chand and Pasina Chand are members of the second family who perished in the landslide.

A rescue team along with necessary relief materials from the district administration has left for the site.

Nepal Bhasa prizes presented

Kathmandu, Aug. 20 (RSS): The Executive Council of Nepal Bhasa Parishad has decided to present the "Chittadhar Sirapa", the "Thakurlal Sirapa" and the honorary "Bhasa Yuba" award to the Liza Nepal Bhasa Kabita Dabu, an institution which has been making a significant contribution to the promotion of poetry in the Nepal Bhasa literature, prose writer Mangal Prasad Shrestha and litterateur Madhav Lal Karmacharya respectively.

Similarly, the Parishad has decided to present the "Motilaxmi Upasika Sirapa" award, instituted in memory of the first woman story writer in both Nepal Bhasa language and the Nepali language Mrs. Moti Laxmi Upasika, to Mrs Subarna Keshari Chitrakar who has been making special contribution to the promotion of Nepal Bhasa language, culture and literature.

The Motilaxmi Upasika Sirapa award is given every two years.

The parishad also presented auspicious items (Sagun) to Mr. Laxmi Das Manandhar and Dr. Rupjyoti Kansakar for being elected to the National Assembly and to Pt. Hemraj Shakya and novelist Sashikala Manandhar for being the recipients of the National Talents award this year.

President of Nepal Bhasa Parishad Purnakaji Tamrakar presided over the meeting.

Butwal to be declared caste discrimination free city

Butwal, Aug. 20 (RSS): The national workshop seminar entitled "information campaign against caste discrimination" organised in connection with the Emancipation Day here on Sunday has issued a 28-point "Butwal declaration" stressing the need to spearhead the anti-racial discrimination movement as a human rights movement by making the downtrodden and oppressed community people aware and educating them through the mass media.

The declaration states- the government should regularly publicise that the practice of "untouchability" is a punishable crime and that the problem of the oppressed class people was not just their problem but a problem of the entire nation in order to do away with the existing inequalities and caste-based discriminations.

The declaration also stresses that the government as well as the private sector media should prepare publicity materials and investigative news about the sufferings of the oppressed community people.

The declaration also points out that publicity of any form of discriminatory materials should be stopped over the government and non-government media, any mass media taking effective steps for promotion of racial equality should be rewarded, training should be given at the governmental and non-governmental levels for increasing the number of people from the Dalit communities in the mass media and that information should be given for modernisation of the various caste-specific professions traditionally assigned to a certain Dalit community by prioritising their labour, skills and arts.

Likewise, it is stated in the declaration that the press council should include the publications of the dalit community in the audit bureau of circulation on a priority basis and provide them with the due facilities and that the discrimination based on caste which still exists in the police, the army and other government offices should be done away with.

Meanwhile, in the 11-point recommendation for declaring Butwal into a city free of caste discrimination, it has been suggested that the municipality thrash out immediate and long-term measures towards attaining the goal.

Speaking at the concluding function of the seminar, vice-chairman of the Rupandehi District Development Committee (DDC) underlined the need for attitudinal change among the people for ending caste-based discriminations in the society.

Mayor of Butwal Municipality Bhoj Prasad Shrestha pointed out that the Dalit Emancipation movement should be rescued from undue interventions. He said steps would be initiated soon to declare Butwal Municipality as a model town free from caste discrimination after discussing the matter with the local people’s representatives.

The three-day workshop was organised under the joint auspices of Nepal Press Institute and the Jagaran Media Centre.

Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) Rupandehi district president Binod Pahadi, president of the Jagaran Media Centre Subash Kumar Darnal, journalist Himanshu Chaudhari, convenor of Nepal Press Institute, Nepalgunj branch Rajan Chhatkuli and others spoke on the significance of the seminar.

Ailing Shastri wishes to donate his dead body

Kavrepalanchowk, Aug 20 (RSS): Senior educationist and former headmaster Durga Prasad Shastri, 68, a resident of ward No 1 of Dhulikhel Municipality, has pledged to provide his dead body to the b. P. Memorial Hospital, Dharan for research work.

Mr Shastri, who dedicated about four decades of his life to the education sector, has been awarded the National Education Medal and Gorkha Dakshin Bahu medal for his commendable services.

Mr Shastri expressed his desire to donate his dead body to the B. P. Memorial hospital through the NC Kavrepalanchowk district committee.

At present Mr Shastri is undergoing treatment for asthma at his residence.

UML meeting
Nepal briefs party about his meeting with Prachanda

Kathmadu, Aug. 20 (RSS): CPN (UML) General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal informed the party’s emergency meeting held at the Central Office at Balkhu today about the discussions between himself and chairman of the CPN (Maoist) Prachanda on the present political situation in the country.

According to a press release issued by Party Spokesperson Pradip Nepal at the end of the meeting, the discussion was held between the CPN (UML) and the CPN (Maoist) bearing in mind the serious political situation of the country.

During the talks, Mr Nepal on behalf of the party put accross his views about the massive social, political and economic reforms, constitutional amendment, free and fair election, formation of an all-party government and radical land reforms to find an outlet to the present crisis.

Stating that the party had stressed the need of the broad-based left unity and the issues such as interim government, new constitution, constituent assembly and the establishment of the republic are likely to endanger the country’s independence, weaken the entire communist movement and there is also a danger of us losing the gains of the 1990 movement, the press release underlined the need for both sides to arrive at a meaningful conclusion through honest and responsible talks.

The meeting also appealed to the Maoists to contribute to the communist movement by coming into the mainstream of peaceful politics, abandon the path of violence and anarchism , and work in favor of people, it is stated.

Similarly, the meeting also requested the Maoists not to force the resignation of the people’s representatives, demand donations and beat up people, etc.

Haemophilia Society holds convention

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Aug. 20: The ninth annual general meeting of Nepal Haemophilia Society (NHS) was held here recently.

Inaugurating the meeting, Dr. Ranjan Singh, founder chairman of the society, said that the guardians of the victims of haemophilia and health workers have to work together.

Vice-chairman of the society Dibya Mani Dixit announced that he would provide Rs. 3,000 to the hemophilia treatment fund every year during his lifetime. Similarly, founder member of the society Mrs. Surya Kumari Shrestha extended Rs. 1,000 to the society.

The society’s chairman Dr. Kalyan Raj Pandey handed over a centrifuge refrigerator to Dr. Manita Rajkarnikar, medical officer of Nepal Red Cross Society. The machine was made available to NHS by Denmark Hemophilia Society.

On the occasion, Dr. Deepak Shakya and Rohini Neupane spoke on behalf of the guardians and the victims of hemophilia respectively.

A total of 130 victims of hemophilia from 33 different districts of the country have been registered at the society.

The general meeting elected an eleven-member central working committee of the society under the chairmanship of Dr. Kalyan Raj Pandey for two years. Other members of the committee include Dr. Deepak Shakya, Dr. Kiran Manandhar, Dilli Raj Adhikari, Anil Shrestha, Bed Raj Dhungana, Shyam Pandey, Nirmal Poudel, Hareram Jojiju, Barun Khakurel and Sridhar Dhungana.

Unsafe pregnancy kills 12 mothers a day: Study

Kathmandu, Aug. 20 (RSS): Twelve mothers die due to unsafe pregnancy at childbirth each day in Nepal, resulting in the deaths of more than 4 thousand women due to the same reason every year.

A total of 2,657 women become pregnant in Nepal in a year and of them, 399 are found facing problems related to pregnancy. Out of those who died from unsafe pregnancy, 46.3 per cent of such women die due to excessive bleeding.

I t is said that of the women who die due to unsafe pregnancy, 80 per cent die at their own residents or on the way to the hospital.

This was informed at an interaction programme on "skilled attendance at birth" held by the safe motherhood network here today on the occasion of Teej.

According to a report distributed at the programme, some 380 women become pregnant in a minute in the world. Of them, 110 women face pregnancy related problems, 40 suffer miscarriages and a woman dies in a single minute.

Honorary chairman of the network Arzu Deuba said although safe motherhood is a component of human rights of every woman, such an environment does not exist in our country.

She disclosed that in Nepal one out of 32 pregnant women die due to unsafe pregnancy.

The participants of the interaction programme upheld the view that there is a clear need to raise voice to lobby the government, especially policy makers to give serious attention to the concept of safe motherhood, which directly concerns nearly all women of child bearing age in Nepal.

The participants were informed that of 100,000 cases of successful delivery, 539 pregnant women lost their lives and that 24,000 women become disabled one way or the other.

The right of quality and comprehensive services for pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period for women and children is also a human rights issue and must be guaranteed for every women and child in Nepal, they stressed.

The participants also emphasised on the need for the media persons to get rid of superstitious beliefs about pregnancy prevailing in the rural areas and to foster awareness on safer motherhood among the uneducated families so as to save the newborn from being orphaned.

At the programme, director of maternal and Child health service division L. R. Pathak, members of the network Roshan Karki, Surya Kumari Shrestha and Dr. Ava Darshan Shrestha spoke on the importance of safe motherhood.

Upper House passes bill to control power leakage

Kathmandu, Aug. 20 (RSS): The Upper House meeting today passed the proposal seeking consideration on the Power Leakage Control Bill-2058 B.S. presented by Minister for Water Resources Bijaya Kumar Gachchadar.

Earlier, taking part in the discussion on the proposal, MP Rameshnath Pandey suggested that the government should not hurry in formulating the bill and it should give due consideration to the recommendations of the MPs.

NC’s Gangadutta Joshi said power leakage is taking place knowingly as well as unknowingly. So special effort should be made to consolidate the implementation aspect of the laws formulated to check power leakage.

MP Dr Rup Jyoti said plugging of half of the current leakage of power alone could lessen the present electricity tariff by 17.3 per cent and pointed out the need to include the private sector in power transmission and distribution.

CPN-UML’s Mohan Bahadur Bam also pointed out the need to give more attention to the implementation side of the bill.

CPN-ML’s Dr Ramman Shrestha expressed surprise over the ignorance of Nepal Electricity Authority towards taking action against the individual or bodies indulging in illegal consumption of electricity, even after being proved guilty by the authority itself.

Responding to queries raised by the MPs, Minister Gachchadar said the bill will be finalised by incorporating the suggestions and recommendations of the MPs.