Govt to bring new citizenship bill: PM
Relevant inputs to be incorporated

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Oct. 15: The government would present a new Citizenship Certificates Bill in the Parliament on the basis of the national consensus reached between different political parties and also by incorporating recommendations and conclusions of various Commissions formed to solve all kinds of problems related to the citizenship issue in the country.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba informed this to the House of Representatives today.

Prime Minister Deuba said that the Cabinet has submitted its decision to His Majesty the King to bring another Citizenship Bill to resolve the problem of citizenship certificates and also to resolve the disputes that have arisen after the Council of Ministers was informed about the advice of the Supreme Court to His Majesty on the Citizenship issue.

The House of Representatives had approved the Nepal Citizenship (Sixth Amendment) Bill over a year ago and was submitted to His Majesty for the Royal assent. His Majesty then sent it to the Supreme Court on the basis of Article 88 (5) of the Constitution of the Kingdom seeking advice whether the Bill would corresponds with Article 8 and 9 of the Constitution.

Then the Apex Court then had decided that provisions and conditions fixed by the Bill for obtaining the citizenship were not mentioned in the Constitution since there were no provisions to get the citizenship except under Article 7 of the Constitution of Nepal-2019 B. S. and the Clauses 3 and 4 of the Nepal Citizenship Act-2020.

Likewise, Article 8 of the present Constitution has encompassed these provisions, and the Constitution, at the time of commencement, has clearly underlined the conditions for being eligible to become the citizens of the country.

"That is why, Clause 2 of the Bill proposing amendment of the Nepal Citizenship Act-2020 violates Articles 8 and 9 of the Constitution of the Kingdom," reads the decision of the Supreme Court.

The Bill was initially approved unanimously by the House of Representatives, but it was disapproved by the Upper House by a majority vote. It was again tabled in the Lower House for the approval without any changes, but that time, the main opposition party, CPN-UML, went against the Bill citing it undermined the interest of the Nepalese. Nonetheless, the Lower House passed the bill with a majority vote and was submitted to His Majesty for the Royal seal for making it the law of the country.

Even as the House approved the Bill, controversies surfaced with both the politicians and people from different walks of life discussing the pros and cons of the Bill. Many said that the Bill, if it becomes a law, would violate and overlook the spirit of the Constitution and that it was against the interest of the nation.

Amidst the ongoing debates, His late Majesty King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah sought the advice of the Apex Court on the Bill and the Court advised the late King that the Bill was against the spirit of the Constitution.

The issue of citizenship has been hot issue in the Parliament and mainly the Nepal Sadhvabana Party has been constantly raising the citizenship issue and pressing the government to end the deadlock of the citizenship bill.

Polio immunization scheme to be launched in two phases

Kathmandu, Oct. 15 (RSS): Polio drops are to be administrated to children below five under the nationwide polio immunisation programme to be held throughout the country in two phases on December 1, 2001 and Janaury 19, 2002.

This was announced by Health Minister Sharat Singh Bhandari at the national immunization programme 2001/02 proclamation function organised here today.

On the occasion Minister Bhandari said learning from past experience the national immunization programme this year is being organised on an intensive basis.

He also said that the programme this year includes mopping up in districts vulnerable to polio penetration and this will also be organised in two phases, on February 23 and March 23 next year.

Health Secretary Mahendra Nath Aryal, Director General of the Department of Health B.D. Chataut and director of the child health division Dr Hukum Dev Shaha shed light on the importance of the immunisation programme.

Some 74,000 volunteers are being mobilised under the immunization programme which targets some four million children below five. An additional 14,000 vaccination centres have been added to last year’s 23,000.

Every VDC Ward will have a vaccination centre with two volunteers. They will also provide door-to-door services to vaccinate those left out.

The nationwide national immunisation programme has been being carried out in Nepal since the past three years.

The general meeting of the World Health Organisation (WHO) held in 1988 had unanimously passed a resolution on eradicating polio from the world by the year 2000.

The total number of polio patients in the world in 1988 was around 35,000 and this number decreased by 90 percent over the next l0 years. Only 723 new cases of polio were detected in 2000.

As of the end of 2000 the total number of polio patients in the world was 723 of whom 272 lived in South East Asian countries. This year132 new cases of polio have been detected in the region as of October 1 and of these 114 were from the Indian states of Utter Pradesh and Bihar.

No new cases of polio have been detected in Nepal since the past 10 months. Even though the root cause of polio is said to have vanished from the country there is a possibility of the malady entering the country any time across the open border.

‘Feeder road construction, a priority’

Kathmandu, Oct. 15 (RSS): Minister for Physical Planning and Works Chiranjibi Wagle has said that His Majesty’s Government has the objective of operating transport services in Kanti Rajpath which is under construction as early as possible by expediting construction works.

Responding to the queries raised by MPs during question-answer hour at the meeting of the House of Representatives today, Minister Wagle said the feeder roads will be constructed gradually to link the highway on completion.

Informing that survey of a road linking Bajura with Simikot is now underway, Mr. Wagle said the target is to construct a road up to Kimathanka of Sankhuwasabha district under a long-term plan that will link the Koshi highway with the Tibet autonomous region.

Necessary works will be carried out step by step in keeping with HMG’s policy of providing clean drinking water to all Nepalese people throught the country, he added.

There is no rationality in providing compensations to the local people as the previous route lying in Bhirkot portion under Puspalal Road has been changed, he said, adding that Ghyampedol-Wadabhanjyang Road will be operated in line with HMG’s policy.

He also informed that works on designing a bridge over Ankhu River in Dhading district is under way as part of the programme set for the current fiscal year.

MPs Gorakha Bahadur Bogati, Til Kumar Meyangbo, Parshu Ram Meghi Gurung, Pashupati Chaulagain,and Sushila Nepal had asked Mr. Walge questions.

Asian youth Cricket
Gauchan, Lakpa take Nepal into final

BY NARAYAN UPADHYAYA

Kathmandu, Oct. 15: They batted, bowled and fielded well today.

These are the words used by Nepal’s cricket coach Roy Dias to describe about the performance of his players in today’s Under-19 Asian Youth Cricket Cup semifinal match where Nepal outgunned the United Arab Emirates by 106 runs to set the final showdown with Malaysia

In today’s victory, half centurion Shakti Gauchan helped Nepal post a good-looking 209 for six. Later in the UAE innings, left arm spinner Lakpa Lama ignited the fall of UAE with his five-wicket haul that shut out the UAE for 103 runs. Both Gauchan and Lakpa stood apart from others teammates and jointly won the man of the match award for their match winning performance.

It was the second man of the match award for both Gauchan and Lakpa in the ongoing tournament.

Gauchan, who scored a sedate and chanceless 53 hitting just two fours in his 117-balls and 135 minutes stay at the crease, brought respectability to Nepal’s total and stability to its innings. His 135-minute stay at the crease gave his team a much-needed breathing space after the rapid fall of two wickets for just four runs.

After the fall of two top order batsmen, Gauchan and Kanishka Chaugai scored 39 runs in their partnership. But it was Gauchan’s 65 runs partnership in 22.4 overs with Basudev Thapa (26 runs in 65 balls) who came to bat after the fall of Chaugai, effectively saw off pressures from UAE seemers and spinners.

Captain Binod Das (12) tried to push ahead the scoring and provided important assistance to Gauchan before the latter fell to the UAE Aosaf.

However, Nepal could not have scored of 201/6, if it had not been the exhilarating batting performance from pinch hitter Manjit Shrestha and Sanjam Regmi, who was equally good at scoring runs at his will.

Shrestha came at the crease at 44th overs and smashed a quick-fire 32 off 28 ball with two four and one six struck at wide long-on fence off UAE spinner Md. Usman.

Regmi needed just 15 balls to hit 22 runs with two 4s and one six at square-leg. The victim was again captain Usman. Apart from good batting performance, Nepalese players were also greatly helped by undisciplined bowling as they conceded 52 run in extras which include 40 wides and two no-balls.

For the UAE, to reach to the victory target of 210 proved a daunting and uphill task and their batsmen were in difficulties in coping the combined pace and spin attacks of Nepal.. They were tied from the outset of their inning by Nepalese opening medium pace bowlers Manjit and Pramod Basnet. As they tried to chase the target in somewhat flat looking pitch, they found it very hard to score against the pace of Binod Das and spin of left arm orthodox bowler Lakpa Lama and Sanjam Regmi.

Up to the 15th over, UAE openers could amass just 27 runs. Pramod conceded just 10 runs in his 6 overs in which two were maiden. Manjit’s economical as he allowed just 19 runs in 8 over spell in which three were maiden ones.

But diminutive Lama ran through the UAE batting lineups and claimed five of UAE’s valuable wickets that ultimately turned the match in Nepal’s favour. Lama whose bowling figure read 9.2-0-32-5, broke the backbone of the UAE batting prowess as he made M. Abdullah, Imran Butt and Sameer Zia his first three victims. He also claimed last two batsmen—Md. Aosaf and Abdul Rehman.

Das claimed the wickets of opener Faisal Amin and captain Md. Usman. UAE’s openers Vevek Thoma socred 19 before being runout by Manjit and Amin and Md. |Abdullam made 15 each before falling to Das and Lakpa. Abdullah Hanif was left stranded at the pitch on 19. Das whose sent back Faisal |Amin and Naemuddin. The Nepalese victory was also due to some smart and sharp fielding Young Yashwant Subedi, Sanjam, Gauchan and Chalise were outstanding as fielders.

Swiss grant for community forestry

Kathmandu, Oct 15 (RSS): The Government of Switzerland has agreed to provide a grant assistance amounting to CHF (Swiss francs) 4.4 million to Nepal for the execution of the Nepal Swiss Community Forestry Project phase IV.

The overall goal of the project is to contribute through strengthened community forestry to the equitable improvement of rural livelihood in a sustainable way.

The main components of the project are support to the community forestry programme of the district forest offices, support to forestry activities of service providers and project unit support.

The project area consists of the districts of Dolkha and Ramechhap in the Central Development Region and Okhaldhunga district in the eastern development region.

The project has build upon the success story of the previous phases of the project. The present agreement will take effect immediately and will last until July 15, 2004.

An agreement to this effect was signed and exchanged between His Majesty’s Government and the Government of Switzerland at the Ministry of Finance today.

Joint secretary at the Ministry of Finance Madhav Prasad Ghimire and resident coordinator of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperations Anton Hagen signed the agreement on behalf of their respective governments.

His Majesty’s Government has expressed sincere thanks to the Government of Switzerland for its support to this project in particular and also for its continued support to Nepal’s development endeavour.

Street children confident individuals: Report

BY A STAFF REPORTER:

Kathmandu, Oct.15 "Street Diary", a research report on the exploration of the street children’s organization, published by Save the Children UK, was launched today.

The report has explored the street children’s perspective on their own practices, culture, rules, group functioning and interests and organisational mechanisms. The research was carried out by Pralhad Dhakal and Javis Rana.

Discussing the findings of the research, researcher Dhakal said that, "The groups that the street children live in, is highly united. There exists a great teamwork among them and they also live under certain rules and regulations that are clear among the members of each group."

Elaborating further, he said, "Living under these regulations they are the strict followers of the group leader who is often the eldest member in the group. They realize their need of interdependency and hence are very loving towards each other in the group and also take care of each other when in need."

Comparing the street children with other normal human beings, Dhakal said that according to his findings the street children were highly confident individuals who lived under self-developed discipline and motivation.

Dhakal also pointed out that the street children lived in what looks like an informal organisation where they earn their living by begging, rag-picking, looting the individuals, pimping etc.

Trying to explain the failure of various homes set up for the street children, Dhakal said, "They are free individuals who are used to living as they wish and doing what they want. They are incapable of adapting to the regulations at homes set up by the various organisations."

He also pointed out that the free-living conditions could also be one of the major factors in encouraging these children to take to the streets.

In the process of recommending the solutions to solve the problem of street children in the Valley, Dhakal said, "We should let street children manage their own daily life in the homes set up for them. As they seem more interested in the martial arts education for them should include training in such activities. Only then the homes set up for the children on the streets could prove to be more permanent."

House of Representatives
MPs raise development issues

Kathmandu, Oct. 15 (RSS): At special time of the meeting of the House of Representatives today, Chief Whip of the CPN-UML Bharat Mohan Adhikari urged HMG to cooperate in the development of the Rupatal (lake) which has tremendous potentials for tourism as well as fisheries.

Drawing the attention of the government, Adhikari said that the lake has been encroached and is in danger of extinction due to growing weeds.

Pashupati Shumsher J. B. Rana of RPP drew the attention of the government towards presenting the three bills on corruption control remaining with the Parliamentary committee and stressed the need to bring them in the next session.

Shivaraj Joshi ( Dailekh ) of Nepali Congress demanded relief assistance for the family of Man Bahadur Bista of Rawatpur VDC in Dailekh who was beaten to death by the Maoists.

Nawaraj Subedi of Rastriya Janmorcha said the image of the Parliament and the parliamentarian has been dwindling day by day and stressed the need to formulate laws for impeachment.

Lilamani Pokhrel of Samyukta Janamorcha said government has not fulfilled its commitment toward corruption control.

Pradip Gyawali of CPN-UML asked as to why the report of the high level committee formed to resolve the Maoist problem which was headed by the Prime Minister himself has been delayed for implementation.

Lekhanath Neupane of NC expressed concern over the increasing incidents of crimes in Bhaktapur district.

Pashupati Chaulagain of CPN-UML said various VDCs in Ramechhap and Dolakha districts have been locked by the Maoists and accused the CDO of collaborating with the Maoists when asked for controlling Maoist activities.

Rajendra Kharel of NC asked the Maoist leaders to create an atmosphere so that the Nepali people will be able to celebrate the Dashain festival peacefully.

Ishwor Pokherel of CPN-UML said corruption control has been hopeless and there is widespread irregularities in the Health Ministry and its departments.

He demanded the Minister to inform the House about the utilisation of the health tax fund.

Tarini Datta Chataut of NC said the people around the Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve have been in trouble as the warden has notified them to vacate the place by Kartik 15.

They are ready to shift but arrangement should be made for them, he added.

Lal Bahadur Pandit of CPN-UML drew the attention of the government towards the problem of the Biratnagar Jute mills.

Tara Samyangya of the same party said instead of talks for law and order in the country it has been law and order for the talks. The police administration has been silent over the looting in Gauradaha VDC -3 of Jhapa, he added.