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HM extends term of office RSS KATHMANDU, Apr. 8: His Majesty the King, in accordance with the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 2047 and at the recommendation of the Judicial Council, has extended the term of office of judge of the Appellate Court Jumla Maheshwarlal Mishra by mid November ( by the end of Kartik 2060) and additional Judge of Appellate Court Dipayal Parasuram Jha and additional Judge of Appellate Court Surkhet Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana for two years.This is stated in a notice issued by the Press Secretariat of His Majesty the King today. Her Majesty opens floriculture trade fair KATHMANDU, Apr. 8: Her Majesty Queen Komal Rajya Laxmi Devi
Shah inaugurated "Floriculture Trade Fair 2003" organised by Floriculture
Association Nepal amidst a function here today. Govt adopting plans on indigenous people:PM RSS SAKHUWA PARSAINI (Parsa), Apr. 8: Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand has said that His Majesty's Government has been moving ahead adopting various policies and action plans for resolving the problems and challenges relating to the indigenous people and the nationalities. Inaugurating the 18th National General Convention of the Tharu Welfare Assembly in Auraha Panchgawama of Parsa today, he said the government has adopted the policy of identifying the varied culture, languages, traditional skills and knowledge of the indigenous communities and nationalities as well as promoting and preserving them. The Prime Minister added that the government has the policy of pursuing programmes targeted to the indigenous peoples and the nationalities, including the Tharu Community, in a special way as well as giving entry to these communities in technical subjects in the higher education. The interest shown by various social classes, communities and ethnic groups in the identification, promotion and preservation of their rights and interests by organising themselves after the restoration of multi-party democracy in the country has been laudable, he said and suggested the various institutions and organisations that have been carrying ahead their activities to work as pressure groups in the formulation and implementation of programmes for the development of these communities. The Prime Minister opined that as a majority of the people of the Tharu Community were engaged in agriculture and as the agriculture profession has not been diversified and developed in a professional way, the Tharu Community has not been able to make rapid progress. He said His Majesty's Government was fully committed to rehabilitating the freed Kamaiyas and providing urgent facilities to their families in view of their present condition. Prime Minister Chand remarked that the views expressed by His Majesty the King at the civic reception accorded to Their Majesties the King and Queen in Dhangadhi that the people should be able to feel the people's real governance marked by responsibility towards them and that no community or group should feel neglected as well as the commitment shown by His Majesty the King to multiparty democracy and the call for dedicated efforts for a durable peace are points to be welcomed unreservedly. Chairman of the Raj Parishad Standing Committee Parasu Narayan Chaudhari underlined the need for social revolution for the indigenous communities and the nationalities at present, stating that it was necessary that we moved ahead in keeping with the times for building an equitable society in Nepal which is an amalgamation of various ethnic and religious groups and communities. Assistant Minister for Population and Environment Gopal Dahit said that the people of the indigenous and nationalities had to bear the brunt of the damage and untold of agonies due to the people's war that flared up in the past. He expressed the view that arrangements for the education and employment should be immediately made for the uplift of the communities that are lagging behind due to the economic and social condition. National vice president of Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) Laxman Lal Karna pointed out the need for identifying the various culture, language and traditional knowledge and skills related to the Tharu Community and promoting the same. On the occasion, the speakers said amendment should be made in the existing laws if they are hindrance to language and culture of the indegenous people including the uplift of the Tharu Community. At the programme presided over by assembly chairman Narendra Chaudhari, various other speakers including Nagendra Chaudhari of CPN-UML, Rajeswor Tharu of Tharu Shakti Samiti of UP, India also expressed their views. On the occasion, Prime Minister Chand felicitated Raj Parishad Standing Committee Chairman Chaudhari who was active in the Tharu uplift, ex-Attorney General Ramanand Prasad Singh and various other talents. Tharu cultural programme was also presented on the occasion. The three-day conference is participated in by 300 representatives and observers from 23 district of the Kingdom. Prime Minister Chand also today inaugurated a two-room building of the proposed Ne. Ra. Secondary School at Rangapur in Gadi VDC of Parsa. The building was constructed at a cost of Rs. 400,000 with
the grant assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), said school
management committee chairman Puspa Gaire. Inaugurating the golden jubilee celebration and 43rd annual meeting of Janakpur Chamber of Commerce here today he said the private sector has extended positive cooperation to the government and there is the need of peace for the development of industry and commerce. Prime Minister said we cannot be aloof from the trend of the globalisation therefore we all should unitedly face the challenges of globalisation. The present government has stopped the economic anomalies and we are slowly moving towards positive direction, he said. There is the need of cooperation from all sectors to maintain an environment of permanent peace in the country he said adding that the government is committed to create such environment in the country. There is no positive response of the political parties even
to maintain peace in the country and the parties have given importance to the chair rather
than creating an environment of peace he said. Assistant Minister for Local Development Dr. Asarfi Shah said all should seriously think the remarks of His Majesty the King during the address to the people of the Far Western Development Region in Dhangadhi last week. Former minister Prakash Chandra Lohani said Janakpurdham should be developed as the centre of Maithili language, arts and culture. Prime Minister Chand gave away letters of appreciation to122 businessmen making significant contributions in the business sectors for the last 50 years. The function was held under the chairmanship of chairman of Janakpur Chamber of Commerce Ramnaresh Shah. Civic felicitation should not be objected: Badal By Our Correspondent BHARATPUR, Apr. 8: Politburo member of the Communist Party of Nepal - Maoist (CPN-Maoist) Ram Bahadur Thapa (Badal) has said that there should be no objection to the civic felicitation of His Majesty the King. It is the right of His Majesty to receive the felicitations if the people so desire, said Badal at an interaction programme organised here by a forum of young journalists. "The King's personal rights should not be violated by anyone," said he. "In the present context, neither of the two sides - the Maoists and the government - can win on the basis of fire power. Therefore, we came out of hiding to find a new outlet to the present situation," he said. Badal, expressing the belief that the existing problem would be solved through talks, called on the parliamentary political parties to help with the peace talks. He also asked journalists to oppose the wrong-doings of the Maoists and support only their good deeds Pace of development up after ceasefire By Krishna Sharma KATHMANDU, Apr. 8: Following the announcement of the cease-fire and enforcement of a code of conduct for the peace talks between the government and the Maoists, development activities in the rural areas are speeding up. A delegation of the Ministry of Local Development (MLD) to Achham, a hilly district in mid-west Nepal, told The Rising Nepal that the situation had returned to normalcy and that the Village Development Committee (VDC) secretaries were allowed to do their jobs. Achham saw a gruesome attack on its headquarters Mangalsen and Sanfebagar in February last year. The delegation, which also included officials from NORAD, the Norwegian agency for development, visited the site to see if development activities could be carried out in the district. Under secretary at the MLD Mahesh Raj Sharma, in charge of the local body support section of the ministry, said that all the line agencies in the districts have been instructed to speed up the delivery of public services and bring about transparency in their activities so that good governance could be maintained in the country. He said that they were discussing the issue of rehabilitation, reconstruction and reconciliation among the people in the areas marred by the Maoist insurgency. International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) have also taken the recent peace between the government and the Maoists positively as they can now carry out their task of improving governance in the country. However, they say that they are putting on hold their local governance-strengthening programme, among others, because of the dissolution of the local bodies. "We welcome the cease-fire as the window of opportunity to intensify efforts to address some of the underlying problems that led to the insurgency, many of which relate to failure in governance," said Stephen Sharples of the Department For International Development (DFID) of Britain. He also said that development activities and good governance would make a leap forward once the cease-fire turns into a permanent peace and local body elections are held. The DFID is currently developing a country assistance plan over the next couple of years. The plan will be based on the government's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper which includes good governance as one of its four major pillars. Rajiv Upadhyay of the World Bank's country office in Kathmandu said they were assisting the government's efforts at improving public financial management for the medium term expenditure framework (MTEF), budgeting and reforming the banking sector. The financial sector has been one of the most hard-hit areas in the past few years due to the Maoist insurgency. Many branches of commercial banks in the rural and sub-urban areas have been closed down, leading to a slowdown in the economic activities. The National Planning Commission these days is holding a dialogue with government officials and experts on good governance and decentralization. A high-level official at the NPC said the reconstruction of the insurgency-hit areas and rehabilitation of the people could cost about Rs. 20 billion. "The government has requested the INGOs and donor
agencies to help in its bid to reconstruct the areas. The World Bank, DFID and JICA have
responded positively in this regard," the source said. Since lack of good governance is the root cause behind the increase in the number of anomalies and aberrations in the country, the issue of good governance must be a priority of the state," a political scientist at Tribhuvan University said. Oli questions Maoists' plea for constituent assembly By K.P.Gautam KATHMANDU, Apr. 8: CPN-UML Standing Committee member K.P. Sharma Oli has said that since the CPN-Maoist came to the peace talks by accepting Constitutional Monarchy and multi-party democracy, it makes no sense to disagree with the preamble of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal. "The Maoists want publicity by questioning the unchangeable provisions of the Constitution. "How can they raise this issue after having accepted its fundamental spirit?" questioned UML strongman Oli while talking to this daily. He said that the Maoists' demands for a round table
conference, an interim government and a constituent assembly have lost significance after
they agreed to solve the problems through consensus and peace talks. "The Maoists
themselves are not clear about their demands." In the absence of the Lower House, there are three
alternatives. First is the formation of a new constitution as the one written in 1990 it
has lost its relevance, second the formation of a constituent assembly and third, the
formation of a commission for constitution recommendation, he said. "There could be a controversy over the delineation of constituencies for the election of the representatives of the constituent assembly," he said. "We must be serious about the sensitive and objective realities of the country while talking about a constituent assembly," he says. The new constitution should be drafted on the basis of wider consensus between the Monarchy, political parties and the Maoists, he said. "For this, the formation of a constitution recommendation committee is an appropriate alternative." A people's assembly, comprising representatives of the political parties and different communities, should be formed since the House of Representatives has been dissolved. Stating that the present constitution was an outcome of the Popular Movement of 1990, he said it was not wise to blindly support or protest against the constituent assembly. "If a small group of protestors can throw the current constitution into disarray, what will happen when the different groups disagree over the formation of the constituent assembly?" he questioned. Talks on release of World Bank assistance held RSS KATHMANDU, Apr. 8: Talks were held here today between His Majesty's Government and the World Bank on the release of economic assistance worth approximately Rs 5.83 billion (nearly 75.4 million US Dollars) through the International Development Agency (IDA) for implementation of the electricity development project in Nepal. The term of the project to be carried out with the assistance would be five years and 20.5 million US Dollars of the proposed assistance would be made available in the form of grant and the remaining 50 million US Dollars as soft loan, according to the Ministry of Finance. The assistance fund would be utilised in the three major components of the project, i.e. for establishing an electricity development fund for increasing private sector participation in the development of medium and small hydroelectricity schemes, development of small hydroelectricity plants to enhance the availability of electricity in rural areas and expansion of electricity transmission lines, rural electrification and building of capacity at Nepal Electricity Authority. An electricity development fund would be established for hydroelectricity development, the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre would undertake the development of small hydroelectricity schemes and Nepal Electricity Authority would undertake works like the expansion of transmission lines and rural electrification in connection with implementation of the three major components of the project, it is learnt. The Nepali side at the assistance talks was led by Finance secretary Bhanu Prasad Acharya, with the Secretary at the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, the acting secretary at the Ministry of Water Resources, the executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority and other officials as the other members of the team. His Majesty's Government has thanked the World Bank for its involvement in the acquisition process of the proposed assistance. Protection of IPRs essential for economic growth By A Staff Reporter KATHMANDU, Apr. 8: There is a need for adequate legal instruments to protect the intellectual property rights (IPRs) in today's global competitive market. A country's economic progress is not possible without safeguarding the intellectual property rights of every citizen, said legal experts at a seminar on "Intellectual Property Rights" here today. Despite ample resources and historical artifacts, Nepal has yet not been able to develop an effective legal mechanism to protect intellectual property rights, said experts. The existing Patent and Trademark Act 1965 and new copyrights Act 2002 are not sufficient to protect the rights of ownership of an individual's creation, they said. However, experts during the seminar also raised questions about the role of developed nations in preserving the rights of poor nations on the issue of intellectual property rights. Nepal has already signed the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement, but the stakeholders are still uninformed about its essence, they said. Earlier, addressing the inaugural session, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Kuber Prasad Sharma said that legal mechanism to protect the intellectual property rights were essential to foster economic growth. He noted that effective legal mechanism to protect intellectual property rights would help attract foreign direct investments. On the occasion, he said he was scouting for foreign investors to take up Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation. "Poor countries have weak administrations and implementation mechanism, but poor countries alone cannot be blamed for encouraging piracy. No country should impose its views in the name of economic diplomacy," said Minister Sharma. Prof. James P Chandler, president of National Intellectual Property Law Institute (NIPLI), USA, noted that economic development is not possible without an effective intellectual property system. "There is no nation in the world that can achieve economic growth without effective intellectual property rights system," he said. Effective implementation of intellectual property rights is essential for a country like Nepal, whose neighbours such as India and China are doing good exercise in the field of intellectual property rights including copyrights, he added. On top of that, this issue has become more relevant as Nepal
is joining the world trade regime. Kanak Bikram Thapa, dean at the Faculty of Law at Tribhuvan University, pointed out the need for more laws to safeguard the rights on intellectual property. Victor R Stockinger, president of the SLRS, London, said awareness about property rights plays a vital role in bolstering economic growth. Although Nepal has more than a dozen legal provisions to ensure intellectual property rights, they are inadequate and not practical in the present context, according to an SLRS statement. Effective implementation of legal provisions for the protection of copyrights, and trademark and patient rights is not of a desirable level due to lack of required legal provisions and general awareness. No casualty in Tinkune tanker fire By A Staff Reporter KATHMANDU, Apr. 8: A loaded petrol tanker, with registration number Na 1 Kha 8758, caught fire this afternoon while it was about to unload petrol at the Bagmati Petrol Pump at Shantinagar near Tinkune, Kathmandu. "There were no casualties as the tanker did not explode. However, it took several hours for us to control the fire," police sub inspector Bijay Shah told The Rising Nepal. The petrol tanker, some parked motorcycles and a motor garage were completely damaged. "Had the tanker exploded and the petrol pump caught fire, the casualty could have been unimaginable," said Chandra Man Singh, the proprietor of the pump. He said that fire erupted all of a sudden when the tanker was about to unload fuel in the underground tank of the pump. The fire incurred a loss of about Rs. 3 million. As all the six fire brigades from Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and
Lalitpur failed to put out the fire, a fire brigade from Tribhuvan International Airport
with mechanical foam was brought to douse the fire. Sub inspector Shah said that as the water in drain was mixed with petrol, it kept exploding underground, terrorising the local people. |
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