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BRIEFS |
ON THE AUSPICIOUS occasion of
'chhaiti' (sixth day of the birth of His Royal Highness the Nava Yuvaraj) to
their Royal Highnesses the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess, 35 inmates serving terms
in various prisons across the kingdom have been pardoned their remaining prison terms and
set free in accordance with the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990, the Department
of Prison Management has stated. THE NEPAL RASTRA Bank (NRB) is
planning to hand over its responsibility of monitoring nearly one dozen
cooperative societies to Small Farmers Development Bank (SFDB), reports said. The central
bank had authorized SFDB six months back to undertake funding and govern the saving credit
cooperatives as well as other cooperatives at farmers level. Out of 34 saving and credit
cooperatives licensed by the central bank to carry out financial transactions, 11 are
working at the farmers level and were formed under the Small Farmers Development
Project(SFDP) of the Agricultural Development Bank, Nepal(ADB/N). THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE who lost their
lives due to flood and landslide caused by heavy downpour of monsoon last month
has crossed 300, officials said. The Home Ministry said 316 people have died in the
natural disaster in 46 districts of the country. The Home Ministry said seven more persons
died in Morang, Dhading and Rautahat districts in fresh incident of flash floods and
landslides. Three people were killed in Dhading while two persons each were killed in
Morang and Rautahat. THE EELCTION COMMISSION on Monday
has issued a directive to the Ministry of Information and Communications to
initiate action against the state-owned Gorkhapatra Corporation for repeatedly publishing
news reports that undermine the directives issued by it and create confusion at the
present moment when the date for mid-term elections has already been declared, RSS news
agency reported. The Corporation publishes government mouthpieces-Gorkhapatra and The
Rising Nepal dailies-among others. The Commission said the daily has been continuously
flouting its directives and not giving due priority to the communiquÈ issued by the
Commission. ROYAL NEPALESE AMBASSADOR to
India and Bhutan Dr Bhekh Bahadur Thapa has said the Bhutanese government has
positively taken the issue of gradually taking back the Bhutanese refugees now residing in
Nepal, official RSS news agency reported Monday. In a telephone interview upon his return
from a five-day visit to Bhutan, Dr. Thapa said he had visited Bhutan to provide momentum
to the talks between two Himalayan kingdoms in connection with repatriation of nearly
100,000 Bhutanese refugees residing in Nepal for the last 12 years. Dr Thapa said his
talks with Bhutanese Foreign Minister Jigme Y Thinley and other Bhutanese government
officials had been very positive. He did not elaborate. The verification process has been
completed in one of the Bhutanese Refugee camps so far. Talks have been held between the
two governments on taking concrete decision for gradually repatriating the Bhutanese
refugees to Bhutan, he said. Dr. Thapa said a final decision would be taken on this issue
at the ministerial level meeting to be convened in near future. TWENTY-NINE REBELS were killed
during separate clashes with security forces over the past three days, the
Defense Ministry said Saturday. According to the Ministry, 15 rebels were killed in
Dolakha district, to the east of capital Kathmandu, and three people, including a security
person, were injured during the encounter on Saturday. Twelve rebels were killed during
the on-going security operation at Rajkot in the mid-western district of Dang early
Thursday. Two more rebels were killed in Kavre district. The Ministry said that the
security forces also recovered arms and ammunition from the sites of encounter. In
separate incidents, suspected Maoist insurgents have killed three persons at Pataura
Village Development Committee (VDC) in Rautahat district in cold blood on Tuesday. Those
killed have been identified as Shambhu Prasad Shah, Bhikhu Shah and Ram Dev Shah. On
Wednesday night, a group of armed Maoist rebels shot dead Nara Bahadur Limbu at Libang VDC
in eastern hilly district of Taplejung and seriously injured his wife and brother-in-law,
Nepal Samacharpatra daily reported Friday. The motive of the assault could not be
known. SECURITY FORCES have taken into
custody Bishnu Pukar Shrestha, a member of the central 'people's government' of
the underground party on Tuesday, Kantipur daily reported Friday, quoting sources.
Shrestha was arrested from Thapathali area of the capital-- 48 hours after the
security forces took into custody his wife. A former general secretary of the Nepal
National Teacher's Association, Mr. Shrestha had been arrested two years ago and released
after ten months. Mr. Shrestha is also the general secretary of pro-Maoist human rights
organization, Jana Adhikar Sarokar Abhiyan. Marani Devi a victim of witch-hunting at
Simardahi Village Development Committee(VDC) in Mahottari district last year, handed
over the Prakash Human Rights Award to Basanti Devi Jha, who fought for the voting rights
of the women in the same district amid a function in the capital Thursday. Basanti Devi
had made a sort of revolution way back in 1971 by going to cast her vote in the elections
for local panchayat against the dictate of the male-dominated society. THE UNITED NATIONS Population Fund
(UNFPA) has agreed to provide a grant assistance equivalent to about Rs. 2769
million to the Nepalese government for the period from January, 2002 through December,
2006 to support the population activities in Nepal. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) in
this respect was reached between the government and the UNFPA at the finance ministry here
on Friday. According to the ministry, the objective of the MoU is to establish the
framework and conditions for population programs to be supported by UNFPA during the
project period. The activities under this framework include reproductive health services,
capacity building and integration of population related activities. THE WORLD HERITAGE Committee (WHC)
of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
has expressed concern over the demolition of ancient settlements in the
Pashupatinath temple area by the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) and said it would
severely deteriorate the World heritage values. In a letter sent to member secretary of
the PADT, Basant Kumar Chaudhary on July 23, the director of WHC, Francesco Bandarin,
warned that such demolition activities could seriously undermine the authenticity and
integrity of the Kathmandu Valley as the World Heritage site. Pashupatinath temple, one of
the Hindus' holiest shrines, is among the seven monuments declared as World Heritage Sites
in the Kathmandu valley in 1979. A copy of this letter was received by the UNESCO
Kathmandu Office on Monday. "If carried out, this activity will inevitably lead to
severe deterioration of the World Heritage values of which Pashupatinath and Kathmandu
Valley were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List," the UNESCO said. The PADT
is yet to respond to the UNESCO concerns. Local people and activists have been protesting
the Trust's decision to demolish ancient settlements in the middle of monsoon. REPRESENTATIVES OF the major political parties expressed concerns over the economic situation in the country and agreed for urgent action to revive the economy. Addressing the caucus organized by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI ) in the capital Wednesday on the occasion of its 36th AGM, Vice chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Dr. Narayan Khadka said there was a need to review past policies while continuing the economic reforms. NPC member, Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat, said our efforts should be directed toward building the country economically prosperous, physically sound and industrially superb. Opposition CPN (UML) leader and former Finance Minister, Bharat Mohan Adhikari, however, said the economy was on the verge of collapse. He blamed what he said wrong policies of the NC government for the economic ills of the country. Another former finance minister and Rastriya Prajatantra Party leader, Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani, said there was a need to opt for sequential industrial development and promote service-based industries. |
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