Her Majesty inaugurates building

Kathmandu, Mar. 5 (RSS): Her Majesty Queen Aishwarya Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah inaugurated a newly constructed building of the Nepal Country Office of the Child Haven International Canada at ward No. 7 Arubari of Jorpati VDC today.

His Royal Highness Crown Prince Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev was present on the occasion.

The Child Haven International Canada/Nepal, which has been working in Nepal since 1993, is taking care of and providing education to 76 orphans and helpless children.

The 24-room new building, which can accommodate 150 such children, is constructed on 2 Ropani and 8 Anna of land out of which 1 Ropani and 4 Anna was donated by Dr Yantamani Pradhan.

Director of the Child Haven International Canada/Nepal Fred Cappuccino, his wife Boni Cappuccino, the American Himalayan Foundation and various other donors have contributed to meeting the building construction cost, which is about Rs. 12 million.

The organisation is providing health services, and computer and cutting and tailoring training to the local communities.

After the inaugural ceremony, Her Majesty the Queen inspected the building and granted audience to the donors.

At the inaugural function, Minister of State for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Krishna Sitaula expressed gratitude to the Canadian Government, people and organisations for their cooperation in Nepal’s development efforts.

Charge d’ Affaires of Canada Robert Andrigo said Canada is willing to promote children’s education in Nepal.

Child Haven International Director Cappuccino said conversion of the religions of the children taken care of by the organisation will not be allowed. The organisation aims to groom the children as qualified citizens of Nepal, he added.

Richard Blum of American Himalayan Foundation, donor Dr Yantamani Pradhan, volunteer Mary Bowrin and coordinator of the Child Haven Arjunmani Guragain highlighted the activities of the organisation.

Destruction of Lord Buddha’s statues in Afghanistan denounced

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Mar. 5: Minister of State for Information and Communications Pushkar Nath Ojha today said that the United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has been playing an important role for the preservation of the ancient heritage in Nepal.

State Minister Ojha, who was addressing an award giving ceremony organised jointly by International Association of Educators for World Peace (IAEDP), Nepal Chapter, and Nepal Institute for United Nations and UNESCO, distributed awards and certificates to Lama Gangchen and four ladies working for Lama Gangchen World Peace Foundation.

He also condemned the destruction of the statues of Lord Buddha in Afghanistan. He urged the Taliban government to stop the destructive activities.

The award was distributed to Lama Gangchen on the occasion of the UN International Year of Dialogue among civilians. Gangchen has been promoting peace globally and working in the field of environment conservation for the last several years.

Addressing the function, Lama Gangchen emphasised the need of religious harmony to establish peace in the world.

Delivering his welcome speech, Lhundub Dorji Lama, National Chancellor of IAEDP, said that establishing peace is the need of the hour to replace conflicts world-wide.

Lama also denounced the Taliban government for destroying the statues of Buddha in Afghanistan.

The function was chaired by Dambar Bir Thapa, President of Nepal Institute for United Nations and UNESCO.

Meanwhile, in other report, a meeting of the representatives of various religious, social and ethnic organizations was held here Sunday at the call of the Dharmodaya Sabha to prevent the approximately 2,000 years old historic statue of Lord Buddha located in Bamiyan Province of Afghanistan, which is considered to be the tallest Buddha statue in the world, from being destroyed and desecrated by the Taliban rulers.

The meeting denounced the possible unethical act of the Taliban militia and decided toorganise a rally in protest against such a mean decision of the Taliban government.

It also decided to request the Pakistani Ambassador to urge the Government of Pakistan and exert its influence on the Taliban Government to prevent the unparalleled world heritage monuments from being destroyed.

The representatives of various religious, social and ethnic organisations from across the country will hold a gathering at local Basantapur on Wednesday and take out a massive protest rally to denounce the inhuman act of the Taliban Government.

The meeting held in the presence of Minister of State for Health Tirtharam Dangol was chaired by the senior vice-president of the Darmodaya Sabha Asha Ram Shakya.

Bhikshu Kaudanya, Bhikshu Sudarshan Mahasthavir, Harsha M uni Shakya of the Youth Buddhist Group, Pabitra Bahadur Bajracharya of the Youth Buddhist Mandal, Secretary of the Association of Indigenous Communities Angwang Sherpa, President of the Jyapu Mahaguthi Mohan Dangol, representative of the Sherpa Association Laxmi Das Manandhar and various Lama scholars also expressed their views at the meeting.

Similarly, an extensive gathering of various religious groups called at the initiative of the Nepal Buddhist Society expressed deep regret over the pulling down of the huge ancient statues of Lord Buddha by the Taliban Government in Afghanistan and passed a resolution requesting the Afghan Government and the United Nations to prevent the destruction of the world-class heritage.

The gathering also decided to request His Majesty’s Government to bring the huge ancient historic statue of the Buddha to Nepal for its protection and preservation.

The meeting also appealed to all the Nepalese and the peace-loving people from different parts of the globe to raise their voice for the protection of the ancient statues as His Majesty’s Government, the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML and other political parties and various religious groups have already passed separate resolutions strongly condemning the act.

FNCCI sets up National Excellence Award

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Mar. 5: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has set up National Excellence Award with a view to promote awareness of performance excellence for sustainable growth and development of an institution.

FNCCI sources said the Award would be given annually to the best performer in each of the three categories – large, medium and small-scale organisations.

Besides recognising business excellence, the award also aims at promoting information sharing of policies, strategies and benefits of the successful institutions, according to the FNCCI.

The award, FNCCI said, is based on a comprehensive model focussing on the organisation’s practices and performances under nine different criteria. They include institutional policy, planning and commitment, future plan, organisational structure and work plan, operational information dissemination and utilisation, employees development, work system and standardisation, customer satisfaction and relationship, employee satisfaction and performance results.

FNCCI said the award was not product or service specific and would recognise excellence in product/delivery standards through effective and well-defined work systems.

FNCCI said that any organised enterprise could apply for the award latest by March 18 this year. A team of assessors including academicians and professionals would examine the application followed by the announcement of award on April 10.

According to the FNCCI, there would be four levels of recognition: award, prizes, commendations for significant achievement and commendations for commitment to total quality management. The award winner would receive a trophy symbolising total quality management.

NSU demands halt to demolition of Buddha statue

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Mar 5: Nepal Student’s Union (NSU) has shown its deep concern over the decision of Taliban to demolish one of the world’s most precious Buddha statue in Bamsiyan, Afghanistan. The demolition of the two thousand year old statue of Buddha has deeply saddened all students across Nepal.

Issuing a press release, NSU has appealed to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to take immediate action to stop the barbaric steps of the Taliban. It is said that historical relics, regardless of where they are located and what religion they symbolise are part of the cultural heritage and faith of the whole humanity and they must be preserved.

A peaceful rally of nearly ten thousand students led by NSU president Bishwaprakash Sharma starting from Law Campus at Bhrikuti Mandap, went to Kathmandu based UNO office and submitted a memorandum demanding action to stop such acts.

NCPP concerned over destruction of Buddha’s statues

Kathmandu, Mar. 5 (RSS): Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party has expressed deep concern over the destructive campaign launched by the Talibans to destroy the world’s largest artistic statue of Lord Buddha, the apostle of peace, built more than 2,000 years ago as well as other ancient statues in Afghanistan and strongly deplored such activities.

In a press communique issued today, the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party said that the statues of Lord Gautam Buddha, the apostle of peace, are unparalled not only from the religious point of view but also from the point of view of they being the symbol of the ancient human civilisation and destruction of such culturally, historically and archaeologically important masterpieces of world heritage is a curse on the entire human civilisation.

The Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party has also urged the entire world community to unite and launch a campaign for the protection and preservation of these world heritage to stop this heinous act by isolating the Taliban who are involved in such despicable activities.

The communique signed by chief whip of the Parliamentary Party Binaya Dhoj Chand has requested His Majesty’s Government to immediately take appropriate steps from the government’s level to prevent the statues of Lord Buddha from being destroyed and to make arrangements for collecting the remains of the already dismantled statues to be brought over to Lumbini, the sacred birthplace of Lord Buddha.

469 persons so far got Nobel Prize

Kathmandu, Mar. 5 (RSS): Secretary general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Dr. Erling Norrby, speaking at a talk programme on a century of Nobel Prizes organised by Royal Nepal Academy of Sciences (RONAST) here Sunday, said that candidates for the Nobel Prizes in the fields of economics, medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace are selected on the basis of secret information collected from the experts in these sectors.

Dr. Norrby said that 469 persons have been awarded the Nobel Prize since its establishment in 1901. The maximum number of 106 Nobel Prizes have been received by United States of America, he added.

The secretary general said the task of selecting candidates for the Nobel Prizes has become challenging as remarkable development have taken place in the field of science in the Asian countries and the number of scientists involved in research works are increasing.

On the occasion vice-chancellor of RONAST Dr. Dayananda Bajracharya threw light on the objective of organising the programme.