Kathmandu: The Kasthamandap Reconstruction Committee has stated that the reconstruction process of Kasthamandap was moving ahead in a very satisfactory pace. According to the Committee, so far 12 per cent of the reconstruction of this wooden structure has been completed.
The works relating to the construction of first floor would be completed by the end of the current fiscal year while it would take the damaged three-storey Kasthamandap regain its lost glory in three years, shared Committee President Rajesh Shakya.
The Committee has received altogether 814.52 cubic feet wood and cash amount totaling Rs 50.5 million for the reconstruction so far. Among the old wood used in this 7th century monument, around 10-15 percent were reusable following the damage caused by the 7.6 magnitude Gorkha earthquake, informed Shakya, according to chief of the Hanumandhoka Durbar Herchah Adda Aruna Nakarmi.
Cultural expert Prof Dr Sudarshan Raj Tiwari said the way Kasthamandap reconstruction process was progressing, it was safe to say that it was setting an example for the reconstruction of other quake-damaged historical monuments that were still in ruin. The artisans were summoned to inspect the making of the monument believed be built using timber from a single tree. Bricks and woods were being procured to avoid stagnancy in the reconstruction process while four major pillars were targeted to be erected by Jan 29. Locals have voiced for timely repair and retrofitting of such monuments to save them for the future generations.
Jajarkot : Jajarkot, the district in Karnali province, has been out of telecommunications services since the past three days with a lightning striking the Nepal Telecom’s repeater tower located at Machhain. The lightning damaged the tower of GSM Namaste and Sky services three days ago, disconnecting the district to the communications world.
The Machhain-based tower is being used to relay information other towers based in five points including in Ghetma, Ratankot and Garaila. According to NT Jajarkot chief Lokendra Bhandari, though a team of technical human resources has been working to fix the problem for the past two days, no success is yet attained.
As he said, additional human resources will be called in from Nepalgunj if the problem remained unsolved till Friday. The disruption of telecommunications facilities which have been indispensible part of the present human society has caused problems for the Jajarkot folks. No private telecom companies have reached the district yet and people have no alternative to depending on the NT network which encounters problems frequently.
KATHMANDU: The government has started constructing big water supply projects in 10 dry areas. Such projects are being constructed in settlements designated as ‘water scarcity areas’ by the government at various times.
The projects to be constructed include the Yasok large-scale pumping water supply project, Panchthar; Agna Mauwa Large-scale pumping water supply project, Panchthar; Halesi area large-scale pumping water supply project, Khotang; Timal large-scale water supply project, Kavrepalanchok and Chaurikhola Dhokadanda large-scale pumping water supply project, Kavrepalanchok.
Such projects are also being constructed at Pakarbas of Ramechhap district, Daraundi of Gorkha district, Tansen of Palpa district, Bijeshwari Chaurajahari of Rukum district and Harre Tunibote of Surkhet district.
Out of these 10 projects, the construction of four – Yasok large-scale water supply project, Pakabas large-scale water supply project, the Ramechhap large-scale water supply project and Timal large-scale water supply project, Kavrepalanchok – had been started four years back.
Chief of the Dry Area Water Supply Project, Ram Chandra Ghimire said that although the construction of the four projects had been started four years back it has not yet completed.
According to him, it took time to complete these four projects as they are large scale projects with an investment of more than Rs 200 million. The government has designated areas without water source within the range of 250 metres vertical distance and two kilometers horizontal distance as the ‘dry area’.
Similarly, the areas in which the inhabitants have less than 10 litres availability of water per day from the traditional water source, which receive less than 1200 millimetres annual rainfall or snowfall in the hilly region and the areas in the Tarai region where the ground water level is more than 50 metres deep are included as ‘dry area’.
Information officer at the Department of Water Supply, Ratna Prasad Lamichhane said that the Project is implemented in areas with a population of 5,000 in the mountainous region, of 10 thousand in the hilly region and of 30 thousand in the Tarai (southern plains) region. Lamichhane said that the government has delegated the authority for the construction of small and medium-scale water supply projects to the province and local levels.
Moreover, the government is constructing deep-boring water supply projects in most places of the Tarai region.
Solukhumbu: Snowfall in mountainous Solukhumbu district on Wednesday has taken its toll. Solukhumbu-Kathmandu road has been disrupted cutting the district’s direct road connection with the federal capital Kathmandu and provincial capital of Province 1, Biratnagar.
As a result, vehicles heading to and from Solukhumbu have been stuck midway, said Sanjib Chaudhary, chief of the district traffic police office. Likewise, transportation on short and long routes has been also largely affected.
Although there is progress in part in weather condition, absence of sun has caused problems in resuming the road, he said.
Kathmandu: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health and Population Upendra Yadav has asserted that his first priority was to provide quality health services to the people by ensuring reforms in the medical institutions under his Ministry.
At a press conference organized by the Ministry of Health and Population here today, DPM Yadav pledged that there would not be any shortage of human resources, equipments, physical infrastructures and medicines in the health facilities.
Responding to the journalists’ query on agitating Dr Govinda KC, DPM Yadav replied that he had also stressed on the implementation of the agreements reached between government and Dr KC and the vacant position in the health facilities and in the Ministry would be filled at the earliest.
On the occasion, Minister of State for Health and Population Dr Surendra Yadav shared that all 753 local units would have 14-bedded hospitals. Furthermore, he however said there was a crunch of adequate budget to ensure free basic health services as enshrined in the new constitution.
MoHP’s Secretary Dr Pushpa Chaudhary had a presentation on the outstanding achievements made by the Ministry after the new leadership assumed its role. It was shared that the National Health Policy-2071 was submitted to the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers for considering amendment to formulate an integrated act relating to the Health Science Academy.
Similarly, it was shared that Public Health Act 2075, Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Rights Act-2075 were already enforced while amendments were being considered for various 24 Acts related to health and medical sectors. Services in the newly built 300-bed building of Karnali Health Science Academy had already started and the health insurance programme was launched in 340 local units of 36 districts. Insurance Regulations was submitted at the Council of Ministers, it was shared. It was also shared that the Council of Ministers had already approved the proposal to build an ayurvedic hospital in each provinces.
Ratnanagar: A total of 38 plaints have been received in the judicial committee of the Gaindakot Municipality in Nawalpur district during the first six months of the current fiscal year. Most of the cases have been settled through reconciliation, coordinator of the judicial committee and deputy mayor of Gaindakot Municipality Bishnu Kumari Kandel said.
“We are making efforts to resolution of those cases received in the judicial committee by sending in the ward-based reconciliation centres,” she said. Hearing of the cases continues once the ward offices failed to troubleshoot, it is said.
According to Kandel, a total of 32 cases are settled out of those 38 registered in the judicial committee.
Most of the cases from the local level are about land disputes, family feuds and some others, Deputy Mayor Kandel shared. In order to ensure timely and prompt justice to the people, the municipality has deployed 90 officials to facilitate the reconciliation process.
Davos (Switzerland) : Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has stressed the need for reviving multilateralism and rules law-based international trade system for promotion and protection of concerns and interests of the least developed and landlocked countries (LDCs) like Nepal.
PM Oli said this during the informal gathering of the world’s economic leaders the 49th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The Prime Minister attended the Informal Gathering of World Economic Leaders (IGWEL) and shared views on the theme of “The End of Global Trade as We Know It?”. On the occasion, he stressed the need for reviving multilateralism and rules-based international trading system that promotes and protects the concerns and interests of the least developed and landlocked countries like Nepal, according to the Embassy of Nepal in Geneva, Switzerland. PM Oli had an opportunity to interact on the theme of global trade with the leaders of G-20 countries as well as prominent business persons, it is said.
On the sidelines, Prime Minister Oli had a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Nguyen Xuan Phuc. The two leaders discussed various matters of Nepal-Vietnam relations. They underscored the need to enhance economic engagements in the areas of trade, investment, connectivity and tourism as well as the necessity to exchange high-level visits between the two countries.
Earlier, Chief Executive Officer of Swiss pharmaceutical production company Novartis Vasant Narasimhan and Chairman and CEO of KPMG India Arun Kumar also called on the PM Oli on the margins of the WEF Annual Meeting. Discussions about possible investment in Nepal’s priority sectors were held in the meetings.
Likewise, Finance Minister Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada attended a session on the theme of “More than GDP” at the WEF Annual Meeting. Dr Khatiwada also had a meeting with Director of the Netherlands-based company Arcadis Carolien Gehrels. Matters about investment in and development assistance to Nepal were discussed on the occasion, according to a press release from the Embassy of Nepal in Geneva.
Furthermore, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi called on Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali. They discussed matters related to refugees in Nepal as well as the Global Compact on Refugees.
Besides these engagements, PM Oli, Minister for Foreign Affairs Gyawali, Finance Minister Dr Khatiwada and other high-ranking officials of the delegation had informal interactions with various government and business leaders attending the WEF Annual Meeting. Issues pertaining to Nepal’s development policies, plans and priorities were featured prominently during those interactions. RSS
Kathmandu: Light rain is likely to continue today at one or two places of the western hilly region in the country, the Meteorological Forecasting Division said. Likewise, the Division has forecasted light rain in most parts of the western region and partly to generally cloudy on Friday. Similarly, snowfall in some of the parts in mountainous region is likely, it is said. Furthermore, light rain is forecasted on Saturday.
Of late, Indo-Pacific Strategy has gained currency not only in academia but in the sphere of people inclined to international politics. Indo-Pacific Strategy has been simply understood as a ‘renewed strategy’ of the USA to ‘counter China’s growing economic and political influence’.
The strategy seeks to strengthen the position of USA through an enhanced relationship with its allies in the Asia Pacific region. It includes nations stretching from Indian to Vietnam region. However, India, Japan, and Australia hold the major stake among the US allies in its strategy.
Donald Trump, who at times, shunned for his chauvinistic stance, is accused of idealizing the USA as a nation dominated by whites and who is harsh towards immigrants. Trump also issues threats on slashing the US budget for foreign aid.
Thus, he faces an allegation of trying to isolate his country. However, the Indo-Pacific Strategy, introduced by Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State at the Indo-Pacific Business Forum in 2018, is pushed forward by the Trump administration.
The Indo-Pacific Strategy is not a new concept. It can be considered as a new name to Indo Asia Pacific, a regional strategy USA had developed to counter the USSR during the cold war.
The expression Indo-Asia Pacific was in practice since the 1970s where the USA attempted to control the area in the Pacific and the Indian Ocean.
Wielding armory and military strength does not render much significance in this age of globalization propelled by advanced mediums of transportation, communication, and technology.
Riding on the tide of globalization, China is expanding its influence across the globe through its aggressive business and trade activities. China has its thick presence in Africa where Chinese businessmen are engaged in commercial farming.
The rising economic power of China is not only a matter of concern for the USA that is determined to remain the number one economy in the world. It is also a matter of threat for countries like Japan, Indian, and Australia.
India shares the greatest threat from China emanating from its shared border with the dragon country. China’s growing strength also means a serious challenge to India that is ambitious of maintaining supremacy in Asia and gradually in the world. India fears that its longtime foe, Pakistan equipped with nuclear power, may join hands with China.
The relation between Japan and China has remained sour in regards to the Senkaku islands in the South China Sea. Both the countries have been claiming the uninhabited island and the dispute remains unresolved for centuries.
Besides the trouble with the Island, the concern for the economic giant Japan, and also Australia is their freedom with the marine movement. China’s grip over the marine traffic and route could severely affect Australia’s trade and business interest.
It is also a matter of concern to the Island country, Japan. In fact, India’s other big concern is also regarding China’s increasing dominance in marine commercial activities.
It is for these reasons that the USA is able to rally around important countries in the Asia Pacific region like Australia, Japan, and India for its cause.
Though for a brief while, Nepal too got mired into a controversy of being a part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy during the visit of Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali to the USA in December last year.
Coinciding with Minister Gyawali’s visit, the State Department of the USA issued a statement stating that Nepal too had a central role to play in the Indo-Pacific region in regards to the free trade. This contradicted with a long-standing ‘non-alignment’ policy of Nepal. Upon return to Nepal, Minister Gyawali made it clear that Nepal had not made any formal decisions to join the USA led Indo-Pacific Strategy.
Even as the country shares centuries-old cultural and religious ties with India and Indian people, Nepal has been so far able to maintain a neutral position when it comes to the relationship between the two neighboring countries.
It has been thwarting protests attempts by Tibetan refugees in the capital city, Kathmandu with a constant reiteration that Nepal will not tolerate any untoward activities aimed its neighbors in its soil.