Tension has risen in Biratnagar after cadres of the Unified CPN (Maoist) and CPN (Maoist) led by Matrika Yadav clashed with each other Wednesday night.
The local administration has imposed prohibitory orders in areas surrounding Sirauchiya of Biratnagar to take the situation in control.
Reports say over a dozen people including two policemen have been injured in the clashes that began from about 10 pm Wednesday.
According to police, there was two-way firing between the cadres of the Unified Maoists and its dissident faction. Satya Narayan Ray, Gyanu Bhattarai and Kishor Chaudhary have been injured in the firing.
According to media reports, cadres of Matrika Yadav led Maoists attacked the cadres of the Unified Maoists alleging them of violating the code of conduct of the by-elections. They also vandalised a van used by the Unified Maoists.
Matrika Yadav led Maoists have claimed the clashes started after a group of people vandalised their office. nepalnews.com Apr 09 09
Following the controversial decision by the organisers to allow the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to participate in the fifth national games, which began on Monday, Nepal Army has withdrawn its participation from the games.
The PLA teams had been included in the last hour with direct intervention by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. The Maoists had threatened to interrupt the games if the ex-combatants were not included. The PLA have been allowed to contest in four games, out of 32.
Nepal Army players left Dashrath Stadium Tuesday morning where they were scheduled to contest in athletics track and field events. Two of the players had even completed their events.
The games have been temporarily halted following the boycott by the army personnel. The Nepal Police and Armed Police Force (APF) are still to decide whether they will participate or boycott to support Nepal Army as no direction has been given from the higher authorities.
Nepal Army players also boycotted the events of cricket, weightlifting and chess scheduled for today. Senior army officers had reached the stadium to call back the players.
After the decision by the Nepal Army, the game organisers have begun urgent meeting to decide on how to go ahead. nepalnews.com ia Apr 07 09
Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam has said Nepal Army should not boycott the National Games just because People’s Liberation Army is allowed to participate.
Talking to Avenues TV Tuesday evening, Gautam said it is everyone’s right as citizen of Nepal to participate in the games. A team should not boycott the games to protest the participation of another team, he added.
NA had recalled its players after National Sports Council changed the tie-sheets of some games to allow PLA to participate in the games.
The tie-sheets were reportedly changed as per direct orders from the PM to include PLA Nepal Sports Club. PLA had not participated in the inauguration of the games on Monday.
Contests in six games including volleyball, football and badminton have been affected after NA boycotted those events. nepalnews.com Apr 07 09
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Monday renewed his commitment to take the constitution drafting and the peace process into a “logical conclusion” under any circumstances, adding that for this integration and rehabilitation of the former Maoist combatants is a main pre-requisite.
Prime Minister and Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal waves to supporters at Khula Manch in Kathmandu where the party organised a mass meeting as part of its nationwide rallies commemorating the Democracy Day, on Monday, Apr 06 09. nepalnews.com/NPA
Prime Minister and Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal waves to supporters at …
Addressing a mass meet organised by the Unified CPN (Maoist) at the Open Air Theatre of the capital city to commemorate the popular movement of 1990, PM Dahal, who is also its chairman, said that those who oppose army integration are not “true democrats”.
Main opposition Nepali Congress and top coalition leaders argue that the integration of Maoist combatants into the Nepal Army will not be in the best interest of the country, even warning that it will lead to civil strife.
Appearing in dark suit with his dark hair combed backwards in his first public appearance after arriving from his visit of Norway and Finland, PM Dahal also requested political parties not to obstruct the normal proceedings of the House as it would only hamper the constitution drafting process. Clearly hinting at the Nepali Congress, he said “few power centers” are intent on not allowing the new constitution to be drafted on the leadership of the Maoists and asked all to remain ever aware about this. The Maoists are organizing mass assemblies in the capital city including Pokhara, Biratnagar, Janakpur, Nepalgunj, Dang, Kalaiyaa and Kanchanpur to mark the day when the 1990 popular uprising reached its peak which eventually led to fall of the oppressive Panchayati regime. Likewise, few central committee members of the Maoist party also addressed the assembly at the Open Air Theatre. However, the participation of the people in the assembly was less than expected due to the nationwide general strike called by few left parties.
Similarly, Maoist Parliamentary party deputy leader Narayan Kazi Shrestha and Secretariat member Lila Mani Pokharel addressed the assembly in Pokhara and Biratnagar respectively.
Meanwhile, PM Dahal intensified consultations with political parties today as well following threats from major parties like UML and Nepali Congress that they would disrupt normal business of the House. The two parties accuse Maoists of continuing with their excesses and trying to impose totalitarianism.
In the course, PM Dahal held discussions with the Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party (TMLP) in the afternoon and assured that the government is seriously considering their demands which include implementation of the party’s 13-point demands.
Prime Minister Dahal also met Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala Monday afternoon. Dahal requested Koirala not to obstruct the proceedings of the House. In reply, Koirala said, NC would not obstruct the house but the government should address the demands of the UML. PM Dahal also apprised Koirala of his Europe tour and urged NC to join the government. Koirala said, NC would support peace process without joining the government, according to a Koirala aide Dr Suresh Chalise. nepalnews.com ag Apr 06 09
Mr. Gunnar Andersen is the new Country Director of the unified Save the Children (SC), an organization that fights for children’s rights in over 120 countries. Recently, Save the Children organisations working in Nepal established one unified programme delivery structure called the unified presence (UP). In this regard, Mr Andersen talked to Anand Gurung of Nepalnews about uniting into a single entity and other aspects of the organisation. Excerpts of the interview:
Save the Children organizations working in Nepal formally united into a single entity from April 1. What is the main objective behind this move?
Gunnar Andersen, Country Director, unified Save the Children (SC)
Gunnar Andersen, Country Director, unified Save the Children (SC)
Not only in Nepal, but Save the Children organizations operating in various countries in the world have already united or are going through the unification process. The plan is that by 2012 all the countries where Save the Children operates will be under a single entity. It will not be working independently from country to country, as it did before. There will be one office of Save the Children in each country and it will have one programme. In a unified presence, one Save the Children member acts as a Managing Member (MM) on behalf of all Members operating in a unified country, and in Nepal’s case it will be Norway . Save the Children USA and Japan will be Participating Members while Save the Children Sweden, which has a regional office in Nepal, will be a Project Participating Member.
Of the 120 countries it is working in, Save the Children has a unified presence in countries like Angola, Nicaragua, Haiti, Mozambique, Bolivia, Peru, Haiti, Myanmar, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and now also in Nepal. Similarly, few more countries are also going through the unification process.
The purpose of the unification is to create a stronger voice for children in the countries where the organization is working. And the main idea behind the United Presence was that we wanted to work as a single entity, and in a combined, comprehensive manner so that we will be able to smoothly coordinate the different programmes in the country concerned and accomplish even more for children.
Why do you think a single entity is in the best interest of the organization?
See, if you look at different Save the Children organisations that had been operating side by side in Nepal, you find that one member might have more expertise on health, and another on education. Similarly, there might be another which might be doing good on organizational management.
So after unification we hope to put theses expertise together and work towards delivering immediate improvements to the lives of children in Nepal. Similarly, we also want to pool the resources into one place and hope to utilize it in a more coherent manner so that we don’t overlap in each other’s working areas or double up with resources in a single programme, as we sometime did when we used to work independently in Nepal.
But unfortunately, we have had to lay off some of our existing staffs while going about the unification process. However, we have accepted it as an unfortunate consequence in our effort to make our delivery structure and mechanism better and more efficient. Hopefully we will have some reduced administrative costs because of this and be able to utilize more resources for our programmes. This was also part of the purpose behind the unification.
Additionally, since we work very closely with the governments’ of the countries where we are working, the unification of Save the Children organizations operating in Nepal will also enhance our cooperation with the government here. It is indeed confusing for the government to relate to multiple Save the Children. Now after the unification, the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Central Child Welfare Board and other government institutions with which we closely work will need to deal with only one Save the Children. By doing this hopefully we will make things easy for the government and our donors as well.
What does the unified presence mean for children in Nepal? Can we expect to see dramatic changes?
No, I don’t think so. Because we are very clear regarding the areas we will continue working on in Nepal, and basically it would be the same – education, health & nutrition and protection. And under each area, for instance, when it comes to education, we will continue supporting the local education offices, we will continue our support to local schools where we are engaged in construction of school building and training of teachers. So in that sense there will be no changes in our programmes. It will be pretty much the same.
However, to adapt to the increasingly globalised world, there is lot of push towards making Save the Children a global unified entity, and this will obviously reflect not only on its programmes, but in its approach, the advocacy it does and the way it raises funds for its programmes.
What I want to say is that of the multiple Save the Children organizations working in Nepal, Save the Children Japan have had a very grass root approach into their work. I think that will be something which will influence the whole programme of the unified presence. Save the Children US have had a very strong reporting and monitoring mechanisms, and which I hope the whole organization can easily benefit from. Similarly, Save the Children Norway has had a very strong education programme. I hope this will also influence other parts of the programme, like, for instance, health and protection. So, I see only positive elements in this unification, I don’t see any problems with it. And ultimately the beneficiaries are the children.
We will continue to work closely with the government in the central level and local level. Our plan is to continue to reach out to the children as we did in the past and try to do even more for them. But there are no big changes as such in our plans and programmes. There’s won’t be any dramatic changes. But our ambition is still to do more by trying to be creative in our approach, be more efficient, and try to attract more funding.
But I hope Save the Children will take a leadership role in Child Rights sector. I think we already have, and in the coming days it will be more so since after the unification we have more resources in our disposal to immediately work towards improving the lives of Nepal’s children.
Since now you are working as a unified organization in Nepal, will there be any cutbacks in your programs?
Well, I hope not. One of the main objectives behind the decision to have a unified presence is actually to be able to further increase our programmes since we will have more resources. So we will of course depend on our donors and the interest of members of Save the Children. Our ambition is to grow, but things might not be as smooth as I am saying because our donors may reduce their funding because of the global financial meltdown. But still I hope we will be able to attract more donors, and we would have more combined resources to provide hope and opportunity to Nepal’s children and engage in advocacy for them.
How do you evaluate the work of Save the Children organizations before it became a unified entity?
Save the Children organizations have had a very strong presence in Nepal for more than 20 years and it will continue to have so in the coming days also. And interestingly if you go to many of the rural areas, we have been doing quite a lot of work in health, education and other related areas. And I think some of the results are quite good. But of course we also depend on our operational environment. The country went through a long period of conflict in the past and now there again there is some political instability. Though there are many grievances, still over the years we have improved children’s access to education and health facilities. So overall I think we have done a very good job.
One of the things which we are obliged to do is also to have external evaluations, and I am quite happy to tell you that those evaluations have been mostly very positive. We are very proud of having brought half a million children in Nepal into the education system. We have supported the government very closely on education and health. Yes, we are happy with what we have done and the results we have achieved so far. But we believe that we can always make things better. nepalnews.com Apr 06 09
Former king Gyanendra Shah
Former king Gyanendra Shah has started consultations with relatives from India and close aides in Nepal on strategies of enthroning the ‘baby king’, Nepal Samacharpatra daily reported.
Shah met three Indian relatives in presence of his close aides Pashupati Bhakta Maharjan, Dr Phanindra Raj Pathak, Madhusudhan Timilsina and Sagar Timilsina at his Nirmal Niwas residence Thursday evening.
The discussion was based on ‘baby king,’ the daily reports quoting Nirmal Niwas sources. The former king’s aides had advised him on how he could make his grandson the king.
The identity of the relatives from India was not disclosed. Shah recently returned from a month-long visit to India where he attended a family wedding and met top Indian leaders.
Maoist leaders had dubbed the former king’s India visit as a ploy to establish the ‘baby king.’
Earlier this week, a previously unheard of Singaporean woman Angella Cheng claimed to have high influences in Nepal’s politics and revealed her plans to enthrone the baby king. nepalnews.com Apr 04 09
A rhino which was found injured from bullet firing near Khorsor of eastern Chitwan has died on Thursday.
The rhino had received bullet on its temple and died due the lack of a technology to take out bullet in Nepal, reports said.
National park staff found the rhino in such condition on March 27 in eastern Chitwan.
This is the ninth incident where a rhino has died due to a poacher attack during the last one year.
One-horned rhino is a rare species available only in the jungles of Nepal and northern India. According to the latest statistics, there are some 400 one-horned rhinos in Chitwan National Park.
Two months ago a rhino was found with its precious horn missing-apparently plucked out by poachers. The rhino died of infection after two weeks. nepalnews.com Apr 02 09
Constituent Assembly Chairman Subhash Nemwang Thursday called on all not to have any doubts regarding timely drafting of the constitution, claiming that it will be drafted within the stipulated date.
After inaugurating Dolakha Festival that started in Dolakha district, he expressed confidence that the political parties will sort out their differences and engage in the task of writing the constitution.
“The political parties should forget past bitterness and engage in the task of constitution building,” Nemwang said, adding that the unity between the parties should not break until the new constitution comes into effect. nepalnews.com Apr 02 09
India has provided Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and ballot units for the use in by-elections to be held in six constituencies on April 10.
At a function in Kathmandu Thursday, Indian ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood symbolically handed over the EVMs to Secretary of the Election Commission in the presence of Chief Election Commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokharel.
In addition to 470 new EVMs, 1212 Battery Packs and 400 Ballot Units are being supplied to the EC.
The total value of the equipment being supplied now is Rs. 12 million, the Indian embassy said. India had also extended technical assistance in training of Election Commission of Nepal officials in use of EVMs. Other support provided to Election Commission of Nepal includes supply of a ballot paper-printing machine as well as vehicles for use during the CA elections in April 2008.
India had earlier supplied 200 EVMs and 600 additional ballot units for use in the CA elections of April last year. These had been used in a pilot project in Kathmandu 1 constituency, introducing the electronic voting system. nepalnews.com Apr 02 09
Minister for Physical Planning and Works Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar said the government plans to bring new rules to manage the booming real estate business in the country.
Minister for Physical Planning and Works Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar inaugurating the Real Estate Expo 2009 at Bhrikuti Mandap, Thursday, Apr 02 09. nepalnews.com/ANA
Minister for Physical Planning and Works Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar inaugurating…
Inaugurating the Panchakanya Real Estate Expo 2009 in Kathmandu Thursday, Gachchhadar assured the investors of a conducive environment in housing business, inviting further investment in this sector.
He said a new policy was required to regularise the urbanisation process to ensure it does not become unmanageable in future.
Recently, the Nepal Rastra Bank had issued directive to private commercial banks cautioning them of possible loss in housing if they did not revise their policy on loan issuance.
The real estate entrepreneurs on the occasion had expressed dissatisfaction for lack of clear policy on housing. The expo will run for four days. nepalnews.com ia Apr 02 09