KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress, the main opposition party, has demanded the government to make public the report prepared by the National Education Commission.
Speaking at the special hour of the National Assembly (NA) today, Nepali Congress lawmaker Radheshyam Adhikari asked the government to apprise the House about the issues incorporated report. He expressed surprise over the government’s delay in publicizing the report, which he said was an issue of public concern.
Stating that the report was expected to be unveiled when it was submitted to the government, Adhikari said even the House is still ignorant about it.
KATHMANDU: The National Assembly (NA) has unanimously endorsed the ‘Payment and Clearance Bill, 2075 BS’ on Tuesday.
Finance Minister Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada had presented the proposal seeking its endorsement.
Likewise, the NA accepted the proposal presented by Minister for Forest and Environment, Shakti Bahadur Basnet, seeking the consideration over the bill to amend (first) the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora Control Act.
The document was passed unanimously. The NA is to meet next on February 14.
KATHMANDU: Prime Minister KP Oli today said the National Police Academy would be shifted to Panauti from the current location at Maharajgunj.
The Academy would be shifted to a spacious location considering the ‘insufficient space’ at the present place to conduct various activities, he said. Addressing the 178th convocation of the police inspectors, PM Oli the land for the same has already been purchased at Panauti. According to thim, India has assured of assistance to construct the Academy building in Panauti.
On the occasion, he brushed aside rumors that the shifting of the Academy were baseless saying that the issue has been unnecessarily politicized. He said that some elements were hell-bent on defaming the President by alleging the Head of State of trying to encroach upon the Academy compound.
As much as 822 ropanies of land has been bought for the Academy at Panauti of Kavrepalanchowk district.
KATHMANDU: The impression of police administration — the custodian of law and order – has been diminishing in the past few years, thanks to the misdemeanor of its personnel.
There have been quite a few glaring instances of police administration failing to carry out its duties, including the Nirmala rape and murder case, and the unsolved mystery in the disappearance of 30 kg of gold.
Added to the list is the recent revelation that more than 300 police personnel, in a bid to get promotion to higher ranks, are found to be indulged in fake certificate scandal.
Ugly reality
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a case at the Special Court against the assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of police, Hom Bahadur Khadka Chhetri stationed at the Area Police Office Mainapokhari, Bardia on December 9, 2018.
The anti-corruption body alleged Chhetri to have possessed a fake certificate of high school level, which he obtained from the Secondary Education Council in Uttar Pradesh, India.
Police constable Chhetri had presented the fake certificate to get promoted to the post of ASI.
Prior to this, the CIAA had also filed a case against Sub Inspector of Police, Nir Bahadur Adhikari at the District Traffic Police Office on November 5, 2018 alleging him of producing fake educational credentials. A similar case was filed against Technical Sub-Inspector of Police, Ram Bahadur Singh Bhandari Chhetri at Naxal on October 28, 2018.
Both the accused have been alleged to have obtained fake certificates from different universities in India.
During the fiscal year 2017/18, CIAA filed cases against 14 police personnel charging them of possessing fake certificates. Fake certificate scandals have been a regular affair within the police administration.
There are instances of several high-level police officers possessing fake certificates. Even now, there are a number of police officials possessing fake certificate and its tentacles spread to the higher echelon complicating attempts to curb it, according to Rameshwor Dangal, the spokesperson at CIAA.
Sordid fact
Unfortunately, Nepal’s Tribhuvan University (TU) has been enmeshed in such scandals in recent times. Gangs thriving on fake certificates are active in different parts of the country, according to Niraj Bahadur Shahi, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP) at the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police.
Despite some legal actions, business of fake certificate is thriving due to the lack of stringent criminal law.
Educationist Dr Dip Prakash Bhatta says, “Fake certificate is not only associated with an individual’s career. It does not only tarnish the image of bureaucracy but discourages educated talents. Thus, the offense should be declared a heinous crime with strict penal measures.”
At least 17 people died and several others injured when a fire broke out at a hotel in the Indian capital New Delhi on Tuesday, reports said.
According to agencies, the hotel, which is located in the congested Karol Bagh area, is thronged by tourists.
Police said some 35 people were rescued in the wee hours after fire tenders were rushed to the area. Reports said most people were sleeping, and several of them died due to suffocation. (Agencies)
KATHMANDU: A total of 27 jailbirds died in the last six months across the country due to various diseases.
Director General at the Department of Prison Management, Hari Prasad Mainali, informed that most of the deaths were due to old age.
The central jail in Kathmandu has been providing healthcare services to inmates inside the prison. Patients, who are in need of further treatment, are referred to government hospitals such as the Bir, TU Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Mental Hospital and Shahid Gangalal National Heart Center.
Currently, there are some 21,000 inmates throughout the country. Around 3,000 are being detained in the central jail.
SAN FRANCISCO: Immigrants from Nepal have filed a lawsuit alleging the Trump administration unfairly ended a program, a temporary protected status (TPS), that lets them live and work in the United States. Similarly, immigrants from Honduras have also filed a lawsuit claiming that the decision taken by the Trump administration is ‘inappropriate’.
The lawsuit filed late Sunday in federal court in San Francisco alleges that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s decision to end so-called temporary protected status for the countries was motivated by racism.
The suit — which was filed on behalf of six immigrants and two of their American-born children — also alleges that the department changed how it evaluated conditions in these countries when determining whether immigrants could return there.
“We bring evidence the Trump administration has repeatedly denigrated non-white non-European immigrants and reviewed TPS designations with a goal of removing such non-white non-European immigrants from the United States,” said Minju Cho, a staff attorney at Asian Americans Advancing Justice in Los Angeles.
The group is one of several representing the immigrant plaintiffs, who live California, Minnesota, Maryland, Virginia and Connecticut. A message seeking comment was left for the Department of Homeland Security. The lawsuit is the latest in a series of court filings challenging the Trump administration’s decision to end the program for a cluster of countries whose citizens have lived and worked legally in the United States for years.
Last year, a federal judge in San Francisco temporarily blocked the U.S. government from halting the program for immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan. The suit filed by citizens of those countries, much like this one, cited Trump’s vulgar language during a meeting last year to describe African countries. The U.S. government grants temporary protected status, also known as TPS, to citizens of countries ravaged by natural disasters or war so they can stay and work legally in the United States until the situation improves back home.
The status is short-term but renewable and some immigrants have lived in the country for decades, raising American-born children, buying homes and building careers. Critics have said the program was meant to be temporary and shouldn’t be extended for so long.
The Trump administration announced last year that the program would be ending for Honduras and Nepal. Honduras was designated for the program after a devastating 1998 hurricane and about 86,000 immigrants from the country have the status, according to the lawsuit.
About 15,000 immigrants from Nepal — which was designated following an earthquake in 2015— are covered, the suit said. Together, these immigrants have more than 50,000 American children who would be affected by an end to the program, which lets those who are already in the United States stay in the country and obtain work permits, the suit said.
One of them is the 9-year-old daughter of Honduran citizen Donaldo Posadas Caceres, who came to the United States shortly before the hurricane in 1998. After Honduras was designated for the program, he obtained the status, and now works as a bridge painter and owns his home in Baltimore. He said he doesn’t want his children to return to a country they don’t know and where life is so dangerous. His elder daughter, he said, is in college studying to be a lawyer while the 9-year-old has plans of her own.
“She has the dreams of a child: she wants to be president,” he told reporters in Spanish during a telephone conference. “And I want to be here in the United States to support them, and see their achievements.” (Associated Press)
LALITPUR: Mental Hospital in Lalitpur is struggling to render services to its growing number of patients due to severe manpower crunch. Whereas the hospital is supposed to have total eight specialists as per the government regulation, only five specialists are providing the service.
“A specialist needs to attend 50 out going patients daily,” said Ananta Adhikari, the chief consultant psychiatrist at the hospital. The Out Going Patient (OPD) section of the hospital receives 150 to 200 patients daily.
KATHMANDU: The government has announced the Prime Minister Employment Program in a bid to create massive job opportunities for Nepali youths in the country, thereby discouraging foreign employment.
According to the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security, the government is introducing programs to create 200,000 jobs in the fiscal year 2018/19 and 700,000 jobs in 2022/23.
The government will provide subsidized loans to youths to start up their own business.
The much-hyped Prime Minister Employment program will begin from February 13.
Under this program, the government can issue loans to students based on their educational certificates as collateral, provide up to Rs one million to foreign employment returnees based on their skills and Rs 500,000 seed money to start up their own businesses.
The ministry is making a study how the culture of entrepreneurship can be fostered among Nepali youths. Though it is a challenging task to stop foreign employment, the government is working towards achieving the goal by managing the internal labor market, said Dahal stated.
Minister for Labor, Employment and Social Security Gokarna Bista said that the government has established an information center in all the seven provinces under the Ministry of Social Development to achieve this goal.
“Creating as many jobs as possible by managing internal labor market is the latest goal of the ministry,” said Minister Bista, adding, “We should focus on the youth-friendly programs to stop the exodus of Nepali youths into the foreign lands for abroad jobs.
KATHMANDU: The second group of 20 officials of the Ministry of Finance of Nepal has joined their training course on ‘Global Perspectives on Public Financial Management’ at the Institute of Government Accounts and Finance (INGAF) on 11 February.
The training is being held under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) program of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, according to the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu.
“This is a special tailor-made training course on Public Finance Management designed at the request and as per the requirement of the Ministry of Finance of Nepal for a total of 62 officials,” a statement issued by the Embassy here said.
According to the Embassy, the training will enhance the capabilities of these officials in global practices dealing with e-payment system, accounting & cash management, public burrowing system, accounting of foreign loans or grants and repayments, pension payment system, internal audit, fiscal responsibility and budget management, etc. The first group of 20 Nepali officials had successfully completed their 10-days long training on 24 January 2019.