S Asia meet on AIDS to begin Feb. 3 in capital

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KATHMANDU, Feb. 1: Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Carol Bellamy will arrive here tomorrow to participate in the high level conference on HIV/AIDS “Accelerating the momentum in the fight against HIV/AIDS in South Asia” to be held here from Feb. 3 to 4.
The conference is being hosted by His Majesty’s Government and sponsored by the UNICEF regional office for South Asia and UNAIDS.

High level delegations from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka comprising senior ministers, parliamentarians, civil society leaders, people living with AIDS, religious leaders and representatives of the South Asia Regional Forum for Young People on HIV/AIDS which met in Kathmandu on 15 to 18 December 2002 will attend the conference.
The UNAIDS Executive Director, Dr. Peter Piot and the special envoy of the UN Secretary-General for HIV/AIDS in Asia, Dr. Nafis Sadik are scheduled to address the delegates and actively participate in the sessions.

The minister in charge of the presidency from Uganda, and senior public health officials from Thailand will share the experiences gained in HIV/AIDS prevention and care in their countries.

During the visit Ms. Bellamy is to meet with His Majesty the King and the Prime Minister to get a better understanding of the situation of children in Nepal.

She will also hold discussions with civil society organisations, international organisations, development partners, media, children and young people to stress the urgent need to advance children as zones of peace in Nepal.

Meanwhile, welcoming the recently announced cease-fire, Ms. Bellamy has said, “this offers a unique window of opportunity to refocus on children and the human development agenda”.S Asia meet on AIDS to begin Feb. 3 in capital.

Awareness must to check heart disease

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BHAKTAPUR, Feb. 1: Central president of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) Narayan Man Bijukchhe released a book entitled ‘Our role in the diseases of the heart and blood system’ here yesterday.

At the programme organised by the Nepal Heart Disease Eradication Foundation Bhaktapur, Bijukchhe called for awareness to be protected from the diseases.

He also expressed hope that this book will be instrumental for the people and health workers alike.
At the function presided over by foundation ex-president and T.U. Education ex-dean Prof. Prithucharan Baidya, various other speakers including founding president of the Siddhi Memorial Women and Children’s Hospital Shyam Sundar Dhaubadel , foundation president Dr. K.B.’s Karmacharya, author Dr. Ratna Shakya, Dr. Uttam Krishna Karmacharya, Buddhist scholar Ratna Sundar Shakya, Janani Prasad Mul of the foundation , and Amar Ratna Bajracharya also expressed their views.

Meanwhile, inaugurating the fourth Bhaktapur town conference of the Nepal Revolutionary Youth Association Bijukchhe said the youths should be familiarised with the international and national knowledge and activities.

At the funciton presided over by convenor of the Nepal Revolutionary Youth Association Town Conference Preparatory Committee Shivaraj Shilpakar, president of the committee Ukesh Kawa and NWPP Bhaktapur town committee representative Rabindra Kharbuja also expressed their views.

Educationconcept paper eady: Khanal

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NEPALGUNJ, Feb. 1: A three-day regional workshop on annual action plan and budget preparation for schools for quality education began here, yesterday.

The seminar was participated in by 108 persons including district education officers, section officers, engineers, training chiefs, accountants and chiefs of secondary education development units of the Mid-Western and Far Western Development Region.

The discussion will focus on improvement on the traditional policies on action plan and budget.
On the occasion, Assistant Minister for Education and Sports Rabindra Khanal said the education development will have major rural participation and the suggestions from schools and communities will be very useful.

He informed that national education concept paper has been prepared for the Tenth Plan and suggestions have been called for from the schools to give it a final shape.

Director of the Department of Education Janardan Nepal said the formulation of the annual action plan and budget from the schools has been initiated this year and participation of the concerned sector has been sought by the Tenth Five Year Plan.

Education advisor Jesper Hoste said we can lose everything if we do not take initiative to create a healthy educational environment.

Deputy director of the Curriculum Development Centre Gopal Adhikari said the concept paper will reflect the needs of the schools.

Arbaja performance held at Hanumandhoka

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KATHMANDU, Feb. 1: Everyone present at the premises of the Shiva-Parbati Temple at Hanumandhoka this afternoon were overjoyed with pleasure when the original Nepali folk musical instrument ‘Arbaja’ was played.

The Arbaja is popular among the Gandarbha community and the instrument is played with the help of a long bamboo splinter.

Senior folk musician Khim Bahadur Gayak, who hails from Pokhara, played the Arbaja at the programme organised by the Nepali folk instruments museum today.

According to chairman and founder of the museum Ram Prasad Kandel the museum has been organising such programmes every new moon day to showcase these kinds of typical Nepalese instruments.

He says the museum aims at preserving the classic Nepali folk songs, folk music and musical instruments.

In today’s programme, the 11th in a series of such programmes organised by the museum, altogether 20 folk artistes performed in different genres of music in the Tamang, Gurung and Magar languages.
According to a study conducted by the museum, there are some 350 folk musical instruments in Nepal and of these 168 musical instruments are preserved at the folk musical instrument museum located at Bhadrakali.

The museum has also been teaching interested persons how to play these folk instruments and it is learnt interest on these folk musical instruments has been growing among the people.

Mainali Award to Govind Giri

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KATHMANDU, Feb. 1: The Literary Journalists Association has decided to award short story writer Govind Giri Prerana with this year’s Mainali Short Story Award.

The decision was made by the meeting of the working committee held under the chairmanship of association president Narendra Bahadur Shrestha.

Put up rights agenda in peace talks: AI

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KATHMANDU, Feb. 1: Amnesty International has urged the government and the Maoists to make human rights an integral part of the agenda for peace negotiations.

The London based human rights organisation has appealed to the government and the leaders of the maoists to ensure the practical measures to prevent further killings, “disappearances”, torture and abductions carried out by both sides during the Maoist “people’s war” are made part of the discussions, negotiated and promoted as soon as possible, according to a press release issued by Amnesty International.

It has also suggested the establishment of a mutually agreed human rights monitoring mechanism, including international human rights monitors with a strong human rights protection mandate; ensure independent investigations into all allegations of human rights abuses reported in the context of the “people’s war” by a body that has the powers and capacity to ensure full accountability for these abuses, and grant compensation to the victims or their relatives.     

Amnesty International also announced its intention to submit to all parties concerned a proposal to visit Nepal to discuss how the cease-fire and imminent peace talks can be used by both sides as a real opportunity to improve the human rights situation in the country, it said.