Users of Internet cautioned

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Feb. 4: Users need to be more conscious about the credibility of websites before using them, said Rebecca McDuff, Regional Information Resource Officer of US Government.

Addressing a talk programme ‘Assessing websites’ at the Kathmandu-based American Center today, Ms. McDuff said that since both honest as well as unscrupulous persons and organisations have introduced their websites, users must try to know about the promoters of websites.

"A website will be questionable if it has no information about its promoter," Ms. McDuff, who has been involved in the IT sector for the last 25 years, said.

She emphasised the need for the users to know whether the website is updated or not.

She further said that the Internet now has a programme that helps one to know about the promoters of the concerned website.

She also asked the users to take permission from owners of websites before copying them.

Auditor General back from Pretoria meet

Kathmandu, Feb. 4 (RSS): Auditor General Bishnu Bahadur K.C. returned here today after leading a Nepalese delegation to the meeting of the working group constituted by the governing board of the international organisation of highest auditing institutions to submit suggestions after undertaking detailed study of the working paper on tasks to be carried out by the institution and submit a report in this regard. The meeting was held in Pretoria, South Africa, from January 30 to February 1, 2002.

At the meeting, leader of the Nepalese delegation KC presented a working paper on transparency and accountability in the management of public resources in Nepal and the possible helpful role of the donors.

The working paper states that as all forms of foreign aid do not fall within the purview of the budget, there is no assessment of how much foreign aid the country received and what was the achievement made. Consequently, public accountability and transparency are not enhanced and the economic indicators are also not accurate.

The working paper proposes that all foreign aid should be brought under the purview of the budget and audit carried out by the highest auditing institution of the aid receiving country or the donor agency.

The Nepalese proposal was accorded priority in the agenda of the group. It has been agreed that Nepal will present a proposal in this context at the 50th governing meeting of the international organisation of the highest institutions to be held in October.

The meeting participated in by 11 out of the 13 members of working group constituted with Norway as the convenor has also constituted five sub-committees.

National Theatre set for new block

By Bishnu Gautam

Kathmandu, Feb. 4: A worn-out and broken sofa set sits in a corner, two rickety chairs stand in another corner and an old cupboard has an old fan and a heap of old newspapers lying on top of it.

Near the chairs is seated a lady at the reception, giving information to visitors. Opposite to the reception is a peon busy preparing tea.

That is Scene One: Harihar Sharma, the General Manager of the Nepal Sanskritik Sansthan (NSS), a government undertaking for the promotion of culture, has his office here.

The administrative building of the cultural establishment, instituted 27 years back, is no doubt dilapidated.

In fact, the entire premises of the important institution, which also houses the National Theatre (Rastriya Nachghar), appears poorly managed — compound walls are filled with weeds, heaps of soil litter the ground and moss covers the building walls, i.e. Scene Two, where the story takes a turn for the good..

"All this is meaningful," General Manager Sharma said. "We are going to construct a new and modern building for the National Theatre by demolishing the existing blue-roofed old building," he told The Rising Nepal.

Pointing to the mounds of soil, he said, "We have already tested the soil for the purpose."

The NSS is a government corporation established in 2029 B. S. In the beginning, its office was at Singha Durbar. Following the fire in Singha Durbar in 2030 B.S., the NSS office was shifted to Jamal where it constructed its own building in the premises of the National Theatre in 2031 B. S.

The National Theatre, established in 2016 B. S, was renovated by retaining the old structure, which was later destroyed by fire in 2019 B. S.

Now four decades later, a new and modern building will be built for the National Theatre – thanks to the efforts of NSS officials, who, however, will be housed in the same old administrative building and managing the theatre.

Why is it necessary for the NSS to spend money in new buildings?

"The activities of NSS are at its peak now," Sharma claimed. "Recently we organised the sixth National Cultural Festival on the occasion of the National Unity Day. Soon we will organise a festival of classical music and in April we will have a drama festival," he added.

According to Sharma, the NSS provides training for the artistes and organises cultural festivals. "We used to train 80 artistes every year through a year-long course in the past, but now we have double that number of trainees for six-month courses and we need a new building," said Sharma.

The NSS had been organising the National Cultural Festival every year since 2039 B. S. However, after the sixth festival in 2044 B. S., it failed to continue with organising festivals for nine consecutive years.

When actor and playwright Sharma took the rein of NSS in 2053 B. S. it resumed the tradition of organising national cultural festivals.

Despite the increasing number of dance schools in the capital and the increasing interest of the people to celluloid films and TV channels, the National Theatre is still an ideal school for blooming artistes and lover of dramas.

"The interest of the people in the National Theatre has not reduced. However, the number of audiences especially those of dramas and stage programmes has decreased," Sharma said and added that the drama festival organised in April last year lasted for a week. "But we are not sure if the upcoming drama festival will have the same audience appeal."