Landslides block Helambu-Kathmandu road

RSS

MELAMCHI, Aug. 28: Movement on the Helambu-Kathmandu Highway has come to a complete halt since Monday due to landslides triggered by incessant rainfall in recent days.

According to Helambu-Kathmandu transport services committee, the Melamchi-Pankhal portion of the road has collapsed and the Indrawati river has eroded its banks on both sides completely disrupting transport services along the route.

As long as a bridge over the Cha river is not re-constructed, transport services cannot resume on the highway, it is stated.Meanwhile, the Melamchi and Indrawati rivers swollen by heavy rainfall recently have eroded thousands of hectares of arable land with standing paddy.

The flooded Indrawati has also damaged a bridge at Larke that links Bhotang and Bahaba, another suspension bridge linking Melamchi and Jyamire VDCs and a reservoir dam of the Indrawati third hydro-power project. Landslides at different places triggered by the incessant rain has resulted in damage to the construction site of the Melamchi Drinking Water Project, swept away parts of the Melamchi road and affected more than 500 households of Jyamire, Melamchi, Banshbari and Badegaun VDCs, accordidng to Melamchi area police.In Charikot, twelve families of a Bhishowkarma locality in Khoronde, Shailungeshwor VDC-3, Dolakha district have been dislodged following a havoc making landslide triggered by torrential rain few days back.The landslide has damaged more than 60 ropanis of arable land too.Some 19 households had been having their permanent residences in the locality.Nepal Red-Cross Society Dolakha branch had provided some relief materials to the victims recently, said society president Tirtha Narayan Manandhar.

Seminar on natural resource management

RSS

JANAKPURDHAM, Aug. 28: A district level seminar on advocacy for natural resource management initiated with a slogan 'let's Move Forward for Sustainable Use of Natural Resources' organised by the Janahit Protection Forum ( Pro- Public), Janakpur.

The main objectives of the seminar was to implement effectively the management, use, and sharing of resources by discussing on various issues including problems of the users, implementation of the government programmes and policies and whether rights are exercised or not by the users and organisations.

The participants also made commitments to participate the local community for maximum benefit and called for group and personal responsibility to members of users.

At the function presided over by Janahit Protection Coordination Committee advisor Bhogendra Jha, various other speakers including CDO Ratna Kaji Bajracharya, member of the Community Forest Users Federation Dil Bahadur Lama, women community forest users group president Krishnaa Burja, Nepal National Irrigation Water Users Federation Dhanusha secretary Gyanendra Yadav also expressed their views.

12th Himalayan Expo concludes

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Aug 28: About 60,000 people visited the 12th Himalayan Expo that concluded Monday, the organiser, the House of Rajkanicar, said today. Altogether 125 companies from the USA, UK, Germany, France, Singapore and Malaysia took part in the expo, which ran for four days.

"One of the major attractions of the business fair was its bi-national pavilions such as Nepal-US pavilion, British pavilion, German products and catalogue show and French trade mart," said a statement of the House of Rajkarnicar Exhibition and Events (HREE).

The Best Display Award went to Space Time Network for its excellent presentation and décor. The Best Promotion Award went to Skynet Worldwide Express for its initiatives to promote the Expo through advertisements, while the Best New Product Award was given to the Small Hydro Power Promotion Project for putting together hydropower related organisations at the Expo.

"Although the country is passing through a critical phase, especially due to the economic recession and security problem, the Expo remained successful in its objective," said the HREE statement.

Hacker or cracker?

By Ritu Raj Subedi

An open door may tempt a saint. This is what seems to be applyied to the IT world. With the advancement of information technology, the world has seen a dramatic change in the working as well lifestyle of people. The IT has been now considered a key instrument of economic and social development of any country.

At the same time, this booming technology faces dangerous security problems.

Now the word 'hackers' have haunted the giant computers companies nationally and globally. They have emerged another kind of terrorists and become headache for private companies as well as for the government. This terrorism is known as cyber terrorism.

However, people have wrongly used the word 'hacker'. Even the some section of the Nepalese media has failed to properly use this. They have used hacker instead of cracker. According to the IT expert, one who has command over computer is known as hacker. Those, who misutilises this knowledge for certain interest, is called cracker.

With the booming IT in Nepal, the word hacker has hit the newsstand from time to time for a few years. In October 2001, some Nepalese hackers attacked websites of governmental institutions such as National Planning Commission and Nepal Police and destroyed their important information.

Some hackers damaged the computer system of Mercantile Communications, a leading Internet service provider early of this month. The Mercantile had to close down its servers fro soma days.
These hackers have identified themselves as the moniker "0 Security submission." Certain newspapers hailed the hackers works citing 'take Nepalese hackers seriously.'

Gaurab Raj Upadhaya, an IT expert, outrightly dismissed this interpretation of hackers by some media.

"They are not hacker but the crackers," said Upadhaya.

It is tantamount to a gang of thieves overcoming the security in a bank or even one's home, making copies of sensitive information, smashing up the rooms, disrupting normal operations and then telling the media to take Nepali thieves seriously, he said.

He said that the media have unnecessarily glorified them. "Destroying and stealing information of other's websites is dangerous crime. It is cyber vandalism."

With the development of new methods, new weakness of the computers system is found, he said. "Some people working in the field utilised loophole for their interest and destroyed important information. They break secrecy and steal valuable information."

It is a matter of ethic, he said. In the international front, when some hackers find out weaknesses, they immediately inform to the companies that quickly tighten their security, he added.

Now it has been imperative for many institutions either from the private or from the governmental sector, to adopt the latest IT in their offices to compete with their rival and exist in the market.

So many have adopted it to promptly run the daily business and keep their confidential information safely.

However, there is equally chance to be victim. They must be caution towards it.

Asking about whether the IT sector is equally prone to be victim of evildoers, Upadhaya said that one must watchful to protect own property. "There is nothing that ensures absolute security."

ICTs for development

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, August 28: 2002 - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and His Majesty's Government of Nepal have signed and agreed on a two-year pilot project titled "ICTs for Development".

The total budget contributed by UNDP for the project amounts to US$ 625,680. The Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) will execute the project under the overall guidance of a Steering Committee chaired by the National Planning Commission.

The project aims to address the need to provide rural communities with access to ICT's. The project will implement 15 pilot rural development telecenters in nine districts in order to provide communities with shared access to ICTs. Mechanisms will be developed to ensure that rural communities are able to articulate and prioritise their own information requirements and to to implement necessary strategies to meet those requirements. Tested methodorogies for implemention of rural telecenters suited to Nepali rural contexts will be demonstrated, documented and promoted. Also, arising from the pilots, suitable mechanisms and policy interventions will be designed for replicating successes and for achieving the national rollout of the rural development telecenters.

The project will assist in strengthening the National Information Technology Center's capacity to implement the pilot and the subsequent national rollout programme.

Measures to strengthen and sustain government capacity to formulate and review IT Policy, Strategy, Acts and Guidelines will also be implemented. Support in the formulation of legal and regulatory instruments which contribute to the development of e-commerce and e-governance will be extended.