Kathmandu. May 10:Manang Marshyangdi Club’s Basanta Thapa hugged into the limelight after scoring hat-trick against the Friends Club to lift his team for the title hunt in the ongoing Martyrs’ Memorial League Champion at the National Dasharath stadium, Wednesday.
With third win in a row now Manang boys have virtually tightened their nose for to top the table , leaving behind other clubs far away. On the other hand, two draws and one loss have put Friends’ Club of Kupondole in a very tight spot. Friends’ Club boys will have to win all the upcoming matches in order to move into semis.
In the first half, despite taking the lead in the 11th minute by Manang both the teams were equally balanced but after the lemon break, Manang boys dominated the proceeding.
Though from the outset of the game, both Manang strikers Basanta Thapa and Rajan Rayamajhi had given a tough time for the Friends’ defenders and they were well supplied by Rajesh Shahi from the middle . In the 11th minutes Basanta Thapa gave his team a much needed lead with a right footer shot fired from the striking zone, giving no chance to the Friends’ keeper, Lalit Chand.
Even the Friends Club produced some good brand of football but were unable to break through in the goalmouth of MMC which were very well defended by Prakash Dewan and Anil Subba.
Suzeet KC, Bill Tamang and Suhsil K.C tried hard to level the score but due to the lack of coordination among them and poor finish, the attacks fizzled in the middle while the Manng boys looked more threatening as the game progressed.
After the lemon break, Manang boys continued to pressure Friends’ Club with well built moves coming from all sides of the ground. The goal seemed to be well on the cards in any moments. Finally, Basanta consolidated the lead in the 3rd minute of the second half through a pass of Kumar Thapa.
Friends’ Club tried hard to cut the lead but their efforts went all in vain. Friends’ Club had to face further blow after Sunil KC their main play maker was marched off from the ground after being booked two yellow tickets.
With tem men on the ground, Friends’ game further plunged while the rival’s made most out it. In the 84thminutes, Basanta enlarged the margins which saw his first-hatrick of the season. Within a minute Manang boys were lucky to add one. The ball touched the net when Naresh Thapa trying to clear the ball of Rajan Rayamajhi. The fourth goal buried the chance of Friends’ Club to fight back.
Kathmandu, May 10: A delegation of various donor countries and International donor organizations which have been assisting Nepal in its forestry development sector met Minister of State for Forests and Soil Conservation Mohammad Aftab Alam at the latter’s office recently. The team led by U.S. Ambassador Ralph Frank inquired about the implementation state of the present forestry policy and expressed his own views in this regard. Government efforts for establishing good governance, private sector participation and promotion of civil society also figured during the talks.
Minister of State Alam said the government is always ready to discuss its forest policy and its implementation aspect with donor countries and organizations and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to implement the policy. Secretary at the Ministry Rabi Bahadur Bista apprised the team of the government’s recent decision on forest management in the Terai, Chure and Inner Terai Region.
Pokhara, May 10: The Ministry of Works and Physical Planning is to establish urban observatory and indicators at Kathmandu Metropolis and, Biratnagar and Pokhara Sub-Metropolis. The indicators are being established with an objective to help prepare an integrated index of various aspect of the cities like the state of health, education, security, land cost, population etc. In order to compare in the future the changes in the state of cities.
Seventy countries so far have already established urban observatory and indicators in their cities. The UN commisson on Human Settlement (habitat) has been coordinating the programme worldwide through the world observatory and indicators stationed in Nairobi of Kenya.
This was disclosed at the concluding function of a workshop on Urban Observatory and indicators organised jointly by the Department of Housing and Town Development, Town Development Training Centre and the New Delhi-based society for Development Studies.
Three experts from the United Nations provided their service at the three-day workshop where participants were trained on various aspects relating to the urban observatory and indicators.
Altogether 17 persons including officers from concerning ministries and department, Kathmandu Metropolis, Biratnagar and Pokhara Sub-Metropolis, and Butal, Bharatpur, Byasnagar and Tansen Municipalities are taking part in the workshop.
Chitwan, May 10: Home Minister Govinda Raj Joshi has said that it is the common responsibility of all concerned to implement the policy on law and order, a healthy administration and good governance as desired by the people.
Home Minister Joshi was inaugurating a two-day seminar of chief district officers, police officers and officers of the National Investigation Department here recently.
Joshi said, “people should be made to feel that any government office functions in a fair manner and without any partiality.”
He also noted that the seminar would hold extensive discussions on the steps to be taken to curb the Maoists insurgency and provide concrete suggestions to the government.
He called upon administrators and office chiefs to pay attention to carrying out the appointment, transfer and promotion of employees in a fair and impartial manner.
On the occasion, secretary at the Ministry of Home Padma Prasad Pokharel said that employees should perform in a healthy spirit to maintain law and order and combat corruption.
Janakpurdham, May 10: Guthi management related Guthi Sansthan offices in Dhanusha organized an all-party interaction at Janakpurdham recently to find ways to check rampant encroachment on Guthi land.
All the participants were unanimous on the need to form a high level commission to look into the encroachment of Guthi land, which has increased in a alarming proportion.
At the programme, Minister of State for Land Reforms and Management Gopal Rai stressed the need to make the income and expenditure of shrines and temples transparent and regularize worshipping and preservation work in a planned manner so as to keep the religious heritage alive.
Secretary at the Ministry Yoddha Shaha was of the view that a legislation should be enacted to return the encroached Guthi land. MP Mahendra Raya stressed the need to improve Guthi management and update the record of Guthi land.
He also stressed the need to deposit the property of the shrines and temples taken to the central Guthi Sansthan in local bank accounts. Digambar Raya of Nepali Congress stressed the need to find out where the money earned from selling the lands belonging to shrines and temples is.
CPN-UML’s district secretary Shital Jha said at a time when the Guthi offices themselves have no updated record of the land under them, it is very difficult to check the encroachment on Guthi land.
Meanwhile in Mahottari, Minister of State for Land Reforms and Management Gopal Rai made an on-the-site inspection of an embankment being constructed on the Ratu River in Kolhuabgiya village of Mahottari district on other day. On the occasion, Minister of State Rai gave directives for completing construction of the embankment well ahead of the stipulated time and said His Majesty’s Government would provide the necessary assistance for the project.
The district irrigation office has provided a grant assistance of Rs 2 million, the district road office Rs 1.5 million, the district development committee Rs 1 million and 250 metric tonnes rice for construction of the 6.5 kilometre long embankment, chief of the district irrigation office Siddhi Pratap Khand said. The embankment would be completed by next month, it is learnt.
Butwal, May 10: Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ramkrishna Tamrakar recently inaugurated a hostel for blind students of Shanti Namuna secondary school at Manigram of Rupandehi district and also unveiled statues of educationists installed at the school on the occasion of its fortieth anniversary.
The 30-room hostel was built through the Nepal Blind Welfare Association at a total cost of Rs 1,139,616 including Rs 939,197 provided by the Tokyo Helen Keler Association. The rest of the cost was met through the internal resources of the school.
An integrated education program was started at the school with two blind students in 1990. At present classes from one to ten are being conducted and the number of blind students stands at 17.
The statues installed at the school are those of Sardar Rammani Acharya Dixit, Krishna Hari Dhital, Dayananda Swami Paramhansha and Mrs Krishna Kumari.
Sardar Rammani Acharya had donated 34 bigha of land to the school, Krishna Hari Dhital 100,000 bricks and Dayananda Swami Pramhansha 6 bigha.
On the occasion, Minister Tamrakar said that as returns proportionate to investment could not be received from the educational sector, unemployment was on the increase.
In view of the shortage of technical education, the government had been laying special emphasis on it at present, he said adding that a plan to encourage investors also has been presented.
Former MP and president of the Nepali Congess Rupandehi district committee Baburam Rana pointed out the need to change the education policy. Acting chairman of Rupandehi DDC Ram Chandra Dhakal said that as free education has not been satisfactory, educational management in the schools should be consolidated.
Director of the Helen Keler Association Hiroshi Fukukyama expressed happiness at being able to help the blind students.
At the function, Minister Tamrakar felicitated Prem Mani Acharya Dixit, Madhav Prasad Dhital and Jagadish Prasad Upadhyaya with shawls for their contributions to the school.
Chairman of the school governing body Bijaya Dhital presided over the function.
Meanwhile, Minister Ramkrishna Tamrakar here said the terrorists involved in criminal activities should follow the teachings of Lord Buddha and make their life worthy.
Handing over a metal statue of Lord Buddha received from Thai Dharmaguru Sangharaj to the Kotihawa Mangi Monastery in Madhuliya VDC-4 of Rupandehi distirct recently, Tamrakar said the people trying to terrorize or divide the society should be neglected by the society.
Various other speakers expressed their views at the function chaired by Mangi Tamu Chozghi Madhauliya unit president Bhim Tamu.
Itahari, May 10: Nepali Congress central member and former minister Bijaya Kumar Gachchhedar has spoken of the need of mutual coordination and unity between the government and all the political parties for resolving issues of national concern.
Addressing a blood donation-cum-felicitation programme organised by the Itahari Taek-wan-do Dojang here on Tuesday, Mr. Gachchhedar said that resolution of such problems as poverty, unemployment, Maoist terrorist activities and corruption which are plaguing the country, was not within the reach of the government alone.
He said national consensus and coordination was essential between all the political parties and the government to tackle these daunting problems.
The level and pace of development which the people had expected would follow in the country in a span of ten years of democracy had certainly not been realised, the former minister said adding that this was mainly the result of the divisionist tendency that developed in the political parties during the period and the unstable governments.
Nepali Congress general council member Ambar Bahadur Gauli stressed coordination and working relationship between the political parties on matters of safeguarding of democracy and national development as per the popular wishes.
Mayor of Itahari Municipality Sarbadhoj Sanwa urged the political parties to live up to what they had promised in their respective election manifestos and to work to achieve the goals set therein.
Nepali Congress Itahari town committee president Birendra Karki, Anil Poudel and others also expressed their views at the programme presided over by chief instructor of the East Regional Taek-wan-do Dojang Nandu Rai.
On the occasion, Taek-wan-do player Rita Jimi Rai who bagged a gold medal in the discipline in the eighth saf-Games was presented a letter of appreciation and certificates to 49 blood donors.
Kathmandu, May 10: The two-day 17th meeting of the cpn-uml central committee has strongly denoucned the killing of Nepalese in the North-East India and demanded that His Majesty’s Government initiate diplomatic steps to stop such incidents of violence and murder.
The meeting also demanded that the government hold talks with India to resolve the problems arising out of the Rapti Dam constructed unilaterally by India which is some 300 m South West of Indo-Nepal border in Banke district and the 22-km embankment which is likely to submerge thousands of hectares of land and displace thousands of people.
The meeting seriously discussed a political report presented by general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal.
The committee also decided to further postpone the nomination of party president as a token of respect to the late president Manmohan Adhikari.
The nomination was initially postponed for one year.
An election department has also been formed with central committee member K. P. Sharma Oli as its head.
The meeting also designated central members Bharat Mohan Adhikari as chief of the economic department and industrial entrepreneurship department, Bishnu Rimal as chief of social service department, Pradip Gyawali as secretary of the party school and health department, Surendra Pandey as in-charge of students portfolio and Yubaraj Karki as in-charge of engineering section.
Similarly, Ghanendra Basnet has been designated as in-charge of private school portfolio, Mahendra Raya as in-charge of community portfolio, Ram Chandra Jha as in-charge of Janakpur Zone, Bhim Acharya as central office secretary and Bishnu Prasad Paudel as Lumbini Zone in-charge.
Kathmandu, May 10: Carpet industrialists have pointed out the need to take up various reform measures to further boost the carpet industry and promote international demand.
According to them, the main reform measures needed are resolution of the problems of child labour, environmental impact and use of inferior wool which have cropped up in the past few years.
Other measures needed are international promotion and baby care and educational arrangements for the children of carpet workers.
These issues were raised by a delegation from the Central Carpet Industry Association led by its chairman Eji Sherpa which called on chairman of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Pradeep Kumar Shrestha to discuss the problems confronting the industry and likely solutions.
On the occasion, fncci chairman Shrestha said both government and the industry itself should work to tackle the problems.
Carpet Industry Association chairman Sherpa presented the fncci chairman a set of demands worked out through extensive discussions within the association.
The demands include free availability of fncci publications and international carpet market information at the secretariat of the Carpet Industry Association, inclusion of representation from the association in trade delegations organised by the government and the fncci and help from the latter in this regard, and arrangements for day care and education.
Shrestha said the fncci would help with day care and education for the children of carpet workers as far as its resources permitted.
He also spoke of the need for the association to work with the Trade Promotion Center, the New Zealand Wool Board and the Commerce Ministry to promote carpet exports and for carrying out market studies.
He further said the time had come to think in terms of a special export policy, adding that external cooperation could be forthcoming if the industry is to go for a special production zone.
He pointed out that day care centers have been set up in all three districts in the valley with the cooperation of gtz.
Kathmandu, May 10:Journalists and media experts today said that creativity and professional honesty in the news publication were essential for the professional development of Nepal’s journalism.
Journalism and creativity are closely linked to each other, they said at a one-day workshop-cum-seminar on “Nepalese Journalism in the Twentieth Century: Towards the Direction of Creativity” organised here today by the Gorkhapatra Sub-Branch of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) on the occasion of Gorkhapatra Daily’s centenary and the Corporation’s 38th anniversary.
Presenting a paper on the topic, former prime ministerial press advisor Kishor Nepal said that a journalist’s mission is not complete without his or her professional skill. “A professional journalist should have clarity of language, commitment and enthusiasm, an ability of play with ideas, a skill to win other’s faith, a tendency to rely on facts, an interest in the modern technology, confidence and a matured vision, flexibility and a zeal to develop his or her professional skill,” he added.
He charged that the Nepalese journalists of having no creativity adding that many have become journalists only for their livelihood.
Attractive layout and colourful presentation alone would be insignificant without substantial and factual reports, he said.
Commenting on his paper, Reader Lal Deusa Rai said that creativity would lead to professional competition and would support the country’s development plans and policies. “The present mission of the national media should be to play a key role in protecting and consolidating democracy.”
Two other papers, one on “The Form of Gorkhapatra in the 21st Century” by senior journalist Dhruba Hari Adhikari and the other on “The Print Media in the 21st Century: Strategies and Challenges” by senior journalist Ram Krishna Regmi, were also presented at the seminar.
Adhikari said that the Gorkhapatra Corporation, which has a century-long history, should not be privatised on the grounds that a democratic government should not run a publishing house. “The concerned authority should seek out ways to enhance the efficiency of the Corporation’s publications so that they could be the sources of authentic news.”
Commenting on the paper, former chairman of the Corporation Shrish Shamsher Rana said that Gorkhapatra should continue with its role it has been playing for the last one hundred years. “But its journalists should be professional and abide by the media ethics.”
Regmi said that with the growth of literacy rate and economic activities the readership of print media would increase in the 21st century that would witness a global society of information.
“Creativity, presentation and technology would lead the print media to its professional development in the coming era,” he said.
Commenting on the paper, former editor-in-chief of The Rising Nepal Parshuram Kharel said that the emergence of multimedia would not mar the readership of print media.
He said that distribution would play a significant role in increasing the readership of newspapers in the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal, a country lagging behind in the road infrastructure.
The workshop session was chaired by Nepal Press Council President Harihar Birahi.
Inaugurating the seminar earlier, Nepali Congress General Secretary Sushil Koirala showed the necessity of making the Corporation’s publications, though state-owned, more objective and impartial in publishing news and views.
Lauding the Corporation’s role in consolidating democracy, he asked all the concerned to be accountable to people.
CPN-UML spokesman and former Information and Communications Minister Pradip Nepal suggested the government to take concrete initiatives towards improving the Corporation’s current situation.
Emphasising the need of professionalism, Nepal said, “If we think that colourful presentation is essential for improvement, then we are going away from the journalistic creativity and professionalism.”
The Corporation’s Chairman Prem Nidhi Gyawali, General Manager Benu Prasad Prasain, the Daily’s Editor-in-Chief Ramesh Tiwari, social worker Karna Shakya, FNJ President Suresh Acharya and Press Chautari President Bijaya Chalise also spoke at the function chaired by FNJ Gorkhapatra Sub-Branch President Pushkar Mathema.
Welcoming the guests and participants earlier, the Sub-Branch Vice-President Basanta Prakash Upadhyaya shed light on the objectives of the programme.