DPM to open NSP convention

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RAJBIRAJ, Mar. 23: All preparations have been completed in connection with holding the Fourth General Convention of the Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) here from March 25.

Convenor of the general convention preparatory main committee and NSP joint general secretary Mrigendra Kumar Singh Yadav said that acting president of the party and Deputy Prime Minister Badri Prasad Mandal is scheduled to inaugurate the general convention at the local stadium.

During the convention discussions will be held on various matters including the main documents of the party, amendment of the party statute and other relevant matters, NSP secretary Devendra Mishra said.

BIWMP fund for income generating activities

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Mar. 23: Bagmati Integrated Watershed Management Programme (BIWMP) has established a revolving fund to conduct saving and credit programmes for income generation activities.
The programme has earmarked 100,000 euros for the purpose. The aim is to promote sustainable income generation activities, according to a statement issued by the project Sunday.
"Strategies for utilising the fund in a transparent way will be carved out later," said Niranajan Dangol, branch chief of the rural livelihood project being run under the BIWMP.

The BIWMP has been conducting programmes on land management, erosion control and environmental conservation in 23 watershed areas of Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Makawanpur, Kavre and Sindhuli districts, according to the project. The project had initiated the income generation activities in the rural areas in 2000. Dangol said that the project in the last two years has benefited 6,065 families through 279 income-generating groups and 1,143 small saving and credit cooperatives.
The BIWMP has provided direct loans to 543 saving and credit cooperatives. It has identified 12 groups as its financial partner to provide loans to the people of the rural areas. It has provided credits amounting to Rs. 15.9 million through 17 income generating groups, according to the statement.
Eighty per cent of the participants are women and 60 per cent of the beneficieries are from the backward classes. The project is jointly run by His Majesty's Government and the European Union. The agreement with the EU expires in April, and the participants have demanded that it be renewed.

Team consisting of Nepalese wins prize in Thailand

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KATHMANDU, Mar. 23 : A Nepalese MBA student studying at the prestigious Webster University (Thailand ) was part of a team that won first prize in the Bangkok Business Challenge held in Bangkok recently.

The four member international team, which included Dakshata Rana of Kathmandu, competed against 38 other iniversity teams from all over Thailand to bag the bhat 50,000 cash prize. They presented a marketing strategy for an innovative and novel concept to maximise the payload capacity of the pick-up truck called "x'tra carrier" by its US manufacturers.

By using the product, commercial owners can extend the pick-up bed size by nearly 60 centimeters, thereby resulting in more carrying capacity and less overhead costs.

Reports say Thailand has the second largest number of pick-up trucks in the world after the United States.

Man kills girl, attempts suicide

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Mar. 23: It was a ghastly murder in the wee hours of this morning at Bansbari, Maharajgunj.

Nisha Gurung, 21, a BBS student at the Kathmandu Institute of Science and Technology was going to her college at six in the morning when she was suddenly and unexpectedly attacked by Bishal Thapa, a man in his mid-twenties.

Police said she was hit repeatedly by a khukuri on the head and succumbed to her injuries on her way to hospital. Police said Thapa also hit and stabbed himself with the khukuri in a bid to commit suicide.

He has been injured on the chest and stomach. He even tried to slit his throat. He was brought to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in serious condition, where he is undergoing treatment.
Later in the afternoon, hospital sources said he had gained consciousness and that his condition was stable.

Police said Bishal Thapa, alias Binay, of Sindhupalchowk had been living in a house of Dipu Maharjan at Bansbari for the last 10 days. Sources said Bishal was unemployed after returning from the UAE. He was waiting to fly abroad for employment again. Police said the motive of the murder is still not known.

Nepal inaugurates convention of Press Chautari

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BIRATNAGAR, Mar. 23: CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal has stressed the development of journalism based on facts and truth in order to enhance the dignity and credibility of the profession.

General secretary Nepal made this remark while inaugurating the second district convention of the Press Chautari Nepal, Morang branch here today.

On the occasion, he said journalists should strive to eliminate social anomalies and malpractice by making the people well informed for the institutionalised development of democracy.

He said the progress of journalism depended upon the development of democracy and that people are the protectors of the Constitution.

He stressed the need of establishing the rule of law in the country.

Describing journalism as an 'Eye' and a mirror of society, he said His Majesty's Government should not control or obstruct the government and private media.

At the programme, president of Nepal Workers-Peasants Party Narayan Man Bijukchhe said that journalism has played a significant role in ushering in democracy in the country.

He said the time has come for journalists to make a choice between professional journalism and ideologically-oriented journalism.

On the occasion, general secretary Nepal honoured Yagya Sharma, advisor of the Morang district branch of Press Chautari Nepal, with a letter of felicitations.

At the programme presided over by Press Chautari Nepal, Morang district branch president Dipen Neupane , central president of the Chautari Shambhu Shrestha, central vice president of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) Yagya Sharma, senior journalist Kosh Raj Regmi, FNJ Morang district branch president Shiva Bahadur Karki and Press Chautari Morang district vice-president Ishwar Sedhai also expressed their views.

Climate change global concern: Devkota

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LALITPUR, Mar. 23: Minister for Health and Science and Technology Dr. Upendra Devkota says that climate change and depletion of water resources is a matter of great concern for the world.
Addressing a programme organised by the Society of Hydrologists and Meteorologists-Nepal (SOHAM-Nepal) on the occasion of the World Water and Meteorology Day today, he said all sides have an important role in minimising the possible disaster that might result from climate change.
He also lauded the role of the Nepali meteorologists in making the possible dangers resulting from environmental changes easily acceptable on the public perception.

On the occasion, Minister Devkota also honoured hydrological engineer Gokul Lal Amatya and senior meteorologist Dr. Sarad Prasad Adhikari.

SOHAM-Nepal general secretary Dr. Arun Bhakta Shrestha said that the society was working towards enhancing the professional conduct and contacts among the hydrologists and meteorologists.
Secretary at the Ministry of Science and Technology Mahesh Man Shrestha underlined the need for harnessing the vast water resources of the country for national development.

Vice president of SOHAM-Nepal Dr. Janak Lal Nayabha shed light on the objectives of the society. He disclosed that the society was going to publish a souvenir' weather and water' for the first time in Nepal.

At the programme presided over by SOHAM-Nepal president Adarsha Prasad Pokharel, secretary at the Ministry of Water Resources Keshav Bahadur Chand, engineer Gokul Lal Amatya and Dr. Sarad Prasad Adhikari also expressed their views.