KATHMANDU: Populace in rural area is still deprived of banking facilities. Of 79 local levels in Karnali province, only 64 have got direct bank service.
Bank services are yet to reach a total of 42 local levels of the country. According to the latest economic details made public by Nepal Rastra Bank, branches of commercial banks have opened in 711 units of total 753 local level in the country.
The government plans to extend banking services to all the local levels within this fiscal year.
KATHMANDU: Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Chairman, Puspa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ is leaving for the USA this evening for the treatment of his wife, Sita.
Dahal is also accompanied by his daughter and daughter in law.
Dahal’s wife suffers from sugar, high blood pressure and parkinsons.
KASKI: Students at Gandaki Medical College and Hospital withdrew their protest programs after over one and half month. They opened the padlock of the college and hospital yesterday.
The students had locked the college since January 31 protesting against hike in educational fee by the college. Their demands had entered into a legal process and the agitation has been put off till the report of regulatory body is made public, the agitating students said.
Anil Sinha, an agitating student, said there was no obstruction to the educational and hospital services. The students agreed to remove the padlock to allow MBBS students to sit in examinations beginning from coming April 4.
The protesting students had registered a complaint over a forgery case against college operators and employees on March 5th after the college administration did not heed their demands. After the complaint, the police arrested 11 concerned persons including college chairperson, Khuma Prasad Aryal.
QALA-E-NAW: Over 50 militants were killed and scores of others injured in Bala Murghab district of Afghanistan’s western Badghis province over the past 24 hours, said a statement released by the army on Saturday.
Government forces in the crackdown against militants, according to the statement, have used aircraft and artillery since Friday. So far 51 armed insurgents were killed. The statement did not provide more details and Taliban militants have not commented yet. Meanwhile, local news agency Pajhwok reported that the Taliban had tightened the noose around Bala Murghab district.
KATHMANDU: Nilamber Acharya, in the capacity of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Nepal, presented his letters of credence to the Indian President, Ram Nath Kovind at Rastrapati Bhawan, New Delhi, this afternoon.
President Kovind welcomed and congratulated Acharya. On the occasion, Ambassador Acharya conveyed cordial greeting and best wishes on behalf of the President, Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister, K. P. Sharma Oli as well as from the people of Nepal for the personal health and happiness of the President and continued progress and prosperity of the people of India, reads a press release issued by Nepali Embassy in New Delhi.
EJERE, Ethiopia: Black box of the crashed Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 jet is recovered, said the airlines officer. However, it is not sure whether data could be retrieved from the black box since it is ‘partially damaged’ according to the officer.
Meanwhile, the airlines has grounded all of its Boeing 737 Max 8 air crafts to what it says is a precautionary measure. The reason of the air crash is still a mystery since the weather condition at the time of accident was clear.
(Agencies)
DHARAN: A 11-member network headed by Lekhmani GC was formed for the development and expansion of adventurous sports tourism in which Indra Rai and Prakash Thakuri are the vice-coordinators.
The network will will play a coordinating role for the development, expansion and management of adventurous and sports tourism in the State-1, said Govinda Bhattarai, Chairperson of Mountain Sports Federation.
He further shared the network would work to contribute to achieving the target of Nepal Tourism Year 2020.
The network came into existence following an interaction initiated by Dharan sub-metropolis on mapping the potentials of adventurous tourism sports in the urban area.
In cahoots with the Mountain Sports Federation, the Dharan sub-metropolis organized the interaction on adventurous and sports tourism to explore measures for attracting tourists in Dharan.
Dharan has seen the potential of adventurous sports such as cycling, paragliding, canyoning, flying jeep, boating, race and bike race.
Manju Bhandari, acting mayor of Dharan sub-metropolis, said these sports would help bring 100,000 tourists to the State 1 every year.
KATHMANDU: Nepal Communist Party (CPN) leader, Bhim Rawal has expressed dissatisfaction over the deal between the government and CK Raut and termed it as ‘faulty.’
Rawal made the remark speaking at the House of Representative (HoR) meeting today.
“Though it is commendable to bring secessionist, CK Raut into the main steam politics, the deal is against the independence and freedom of Nepal given the language used in the agreement,” he said.
“CK Raut has been working vehemently against the unity and integrity of Nepal. However, he did not withdraw his stand during the program announcing his entry in the main stream politics, last Friday,” he said.
Raut needs to issue a statement saying that he will forge his journey ahead by embracing the spirit of the constitution and the independence of Nepal, demanded Rawal.
KATHMANDU: The government is signing an 11-point agreement with CK Raut, a secessionist, this afternoon at the Rastriya Sabhagriha in Kathmandu.
By signing the agreement, Raut will announce that he will give up his secessionist movement to join mainstream politics.
Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa on behalf of the government and Raut himself are scheduled to sign the agreement .
Raut has agreed to abandon his separatist movement and abide by the national integrity.
A PhD from Cambridge University and a computer scientist, Raut had been demanding a separate and independent Madhesh through his organization named Alliance for Independent Madhesh.
Raut, as sources claimed, held one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister KP Oli at the latter’s official residence, Baluwatar, this morning. Raut was released on Thursday after the Supreme Court’s verdict.
A highly-placed party source told Khabarhub that party senior leaders Bamdev Gautam and Narayan Kaji Shrestha have serious objections over the use of language in the 10-point agreement. “The language has been used in such a way that the agreement has been made between two countries rather than a Nepali signing an agreement with the government,” a source said.
According to party insiders, Home Minister Thapa and Prime Minister K P Oli’s chief adviser Bishnu Rimal were involved in holding talks with Raut.
Who is CK Raut?
CK Raut (Chandra Kant Raut) is a PhD holder from the Cambridge University, United Kingdom, is a formerly US-based computer scientist, author and political leader.
Raut had been demanding a separate Madhesh country for the Madhesi people. Born in Mahadeva Village in the Saptari districtof Nepal was often placed under house-arrest by the Government of Nepal.
He had done his schooling from a high school school form his village Katti before he went to study at Tribhuvan University, Nepal, and Tokyo University, Japan.
He is also the recipient of Young Nepalese Engineer Award, Mahendra Bidhya Bhusan, Kulratna Gold Medal among others.
KATHMANDU: New proposed laws relating to social media use in Nepal are intended to stifle dissent and silence critical voices, say global and regional human rights groups.
Global civil society alliance, CIVICUS and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) say they are seriously concerned that new legislation, which has been tabled in parliament by the Nepalese government, are meant to create a chilling effect on freedom of expression in the country.
A new law being introduced by the government gives the authorities sweeping powers to block social media platforms and remove or criminalize defamatory posts, states a press release issued by CIVICUS and AHRC today.
The government has also tabled legislation that restricts civil servants from sharing their views in the media including via social media sites.
On February 20, 2019, Nepal’s government tabled the Information Technology bill in parliament, which would impose harsh sanctions for “improper” social media posts. Under the proposed law, the government would have the power to block social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, unless the owners registered their platforms in Nepal.
The government can also instruct social network site operators to remove posts. Failure to do so could lead to a three-year jail term and a fine of 30,000 Nepalese rupees. Those responsible for social media posts deemed defamatory or against national sovereignty could be punished with up to five years behind bars and a fine of 1.5 million Nepalese rupees.
“We are extremely concerned that this bill is overly broad and restrictive and, if passed, could be used to block or criminalise reporting on government misconduct and the expression of critical opinions by civil society and citizens,” said Josef Benedict, CIVICUS Civic Space Researcher.
“Any efforts to genuinely regulate online content must be approached in a transparent and consultative manner, and avoid criminal restrictions on free speech,” said Benedict. “We call on the Nepalese government to ensure that the legislation is in line with international law and standards in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which it has ratified and that vague provisions around protecting national sovereignty should be removed” .
CIVICUS and AHRC are also concerned about a new bill, tabled on February 13 2019, that prohibits civil servants from sharing their views through media including their micro-blogging sites, even after their retirement from government service.
The law also prohibits speeches and writing that are considered “contrary to the policies of the Government of Nepal or to undermine mutual relationship between the Government of Nepal and the people or the relationship with any foreign country”.
“It is extremely worrying to see such laws being introduced by the authorities that will further shrink civic space in Nepal,” said Basil Fernando, Director of AHRC. “Criticism and dissent are essential attributes for an open and democratic society. We urge the authorities to pull the plug on such regressive legislation and instead take steps to create an enabling environment for freedom of expression to flourish,” said Fernando.
Freedom of expression in Nepal continues to face serious threats. Journalists have been arrested and charged under the Electronic Transaction Act 2008 for their reports and dozens have been attacked or threatened. Police have also used excessive and lethal force at demonstrations, with impunity and laws have been proposed to curtail the work of NGOs.
The CIVICUS Monitor, an online platform that tracks threats to civil society in countries across the globe, rates civic space – the space for civil society – in Nepal as obstructed.