His Majesty the King graced the ritual of the Basanta Shrawan ceremony amidst a special function Friday morning at the Hanuman Dhoka Royal Palace on the occasion of Basanta Panchami popularly known as Saraswoti Puja.
His Majesty the King Gyanendra (File photo)
His Majesty the King Gyanendra (File photo)
Bada Guruju and Chief Priest offered ‘tika and prasad’ to His Majesty the King on the occasion.
Chief Justice, vice chairman of the council of Ministers Kriti Nidhi Bista, Ministers, and senior royal palace officials were present on the occasion.
People celebrated this festival across the kingdom by offering prayer to Saraswati, the Goddess of learning.
On the occasion, devotees honour the deities of knowledge and learning. Hindus honor goddess Saraswati and the Buddhists god Manjushree.
On the occasion of the holy day, a huge number of devotees were seen gathered at Nil Saraswatisthan Lazimpat, Manjushree of Swyambhu and Lele of Lalitpur waiting for their turn to offer their prayers to the goddess.
This is a day when people from schools, students to scholars worship their pens and books and artists worship their instruments to please the Goddess and expect her favor in their studies so they become wise and knowledgeable.
Basanta Panchami announces the advent of spring, with official ceremonies organized at Hanuman Dhoka Square.
This day is regarded as a very auspicious day for marriages too as it is believed that Goddess Saraswati herself blesses the couples.
The United Nations Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal has accused the government authorities of not initiating effective efforts to curb incidents of human rights violation in the country.
OHCHR officials said this while addressing a programme organised by the mid-western regional office of OHCHR on Thursday, according to reports.
“The OHCHR has been assessing the human rights situation in the country. We have sought information about the investigation into cases of human rights violation by the Home Ministry, Royal Nepalese Army and Nepal Police. However, in recent days, district administration offices and the police have cooperated in these matters,” they said.
Expressing dissatisfaction over recent attacks of Maoists, they also asked the Maoists to be clear on their stand about the protection and promotion of human rights.
Speaking at the programme, spokesperson for OHCHR, Kiran Dieyer said both sides engaged in war are involved in incidents of human rights violations and urged both the State and Maoists to be sensitive towards human rights and humanitarian law.
Chief of Nepalgunj Office of OHCHR, Andrew Mc Gregor said they had raised the issue of disappearance of people by state authorities in Bardiya with the RNA chief of Bardiya, who has committed to help in the matter.
He said, “Those arrested are tortured in jail,” adding, intervention in the peaceful demonstrations and Maoists act of abductions is also condemnable.
The OHCHR office also informed the murder of Umesh Thapa on February 8 in Dang is also under investigation.
Maoist rebels set fire to a vehicle bringing medicine and medical equipment to a family planning camp at Busti area of Namdu VDC along the Lamosanghu-Jiri road on Thursday.
Earlier, the rebels had seized a land cruiser (Ba1Ja 3453) of the District Health Office, Ramechhap on Wednesday, reports quoted eyewitnesses as saying.
The rebels, however, took out the medicine and gave them to the health workers before destroying the vehicle. The three health workers traveling in the vehicle are safe, according to the eyewitnesses.
Meanwhile, the Maoists handed over sub-inspector Pawan Jung Karki to rights activists affiliated to the Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) and Human Rights and Peace Society (HURPES) Thursday afternoon.
An informal meeting of Nepali Congress (Democratic) Central Working Committee has decided to appeal to the Maoists to abide by the 12-point understanding in its “letter and spirit.”
An informal meeting of the party that concluded on Thursday made the decision in this regard after discussing the incidents of continued violence from the Maoist side, according to reports.
The seven agitating political parties and Maoists reached to an agreement on last November to restore complete democracy in the country and to bring Maoists into the mainstream of politics.
Party president Sher Bahadur Deuba underwent criticism from some party leaders for making public his reservation on the 12-point understanding.
The party also decided to mobilize all its organizations actively to intensify the ongoing people’s movement to restore lasting peace and complete democracy in the country.
Similarly, the party has reiterated its stand for ‘honorable’ unification between Nepali Congress and NC (D).
The number of people leaving the country in search of foreign employment has increased by about 41 percent in the first seven months of the current fiscal year, reports said.
A report released by the Department of Labor and Employment Promotion (DLEP) stated that a total of 105,223 persons left for 14 countries in the first seven months. The number was 74,636 in the same period last year. The report said that there was heavy increase in the number of people leaving for Malaysia and other Gulf countries. This year 53,392 Nepalis have chosen Malaysia as their labour destination compared to 37,373 last year during this period. Malaysia comprises about 50 percent of the total outgoing workers.
Similarly, the number of people leaving for Qatar has increased by about 54 percent. A total of 31,819 workers left for Qatar in the first seven months of the current fiscal year compared to 20,629 in the same period last year.
The report further states that the number of people leaving for Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) has increase by 32.3 percent and 35 percent respectively. 9,268 persons left for Saudi Arabia this year, compared to 7,006 last year while 9,226 left for UAE this year compared to 6,832 persons last year.
Similarly, 517 persons left for Israel, 401 for Kuwait, 292 for Bahrain, 126 for South Korea, 82 for Hong Kong, 28 each for Afghanistan, Macau and Oman, 13 for Saipan and 3 for Cyprus during the period.
Number of women leaving for foreign employment also has increased by 131 percent in this period. 691 women left Nepal for foreign employment this year compared to 299 for the same period last year.
The increasing conflict and declining job opportunities due to closure of industries have forced the Nepalis to seek jobs in foreign lands in recent years.
The Association of Families Disappeared by the State (AFDS) on Thursday, submitted a memorandum to the office of the vice-chairman of the council of ministers Kirti Nidhi Bista, demanding that the government publicize the status of over 1000 persons ‘disappeared’ at the hands of the state.
The memorandum also asked the government to stop series of involuntary disappearances, publicize the status of disappeared so far, form a probe committee that includes members of civil society and human rights activists, and annul the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Control and Punishment) Ordinance.
Earlier in the day, AFDS members converged at Maitighar Mandala displaying pictures of their disappeared kin. They also chanted slogans against the government.
The AFDS have been collecting signatures for submission at the upcoming UN rights convention in Geneva.
Meanwhile, the AFDS also organized a sit in protest programme in front of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to pressurize the NHRC to find the whereabouts of the disappeared ones. They said that they were compelled to take the move as the NHRC is yet to begin effective on the issue.
Earlier, the AFDS padlocked the NHRC on December 29 to pressurize the NHRC to speed-up search process to find the whereabouts of disappeared people, but later opened it after the officials of the NHRC assured them of full cooperation to find the whereabouts of the disappeared people.
The United Nations (UN) system in Nepal has strongly condemned explosion of two socket bombs at the premises of the World Food Program (WFP) sub-office in Damak, Jhapa district on Thursday.
A press statement issued by the UN information centre in Kathmandu said, “The UN strongly condemns such attack which violates international humanitarian law and the basic operating guidelines.”
The UN offices in Damak will remain closed pending an investigation of the attack, the statement adds.
In collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the WFP has been providing food assistance to over 105,000 Bhutanese refugees living in Jhapa and Morang districts
Suspected Maoists detonated bombs in the office of the World Food Programme (WFP) and three government offices in the eastern district of Jhapa Thursday morning.
This is the first time the rebels had attacked the UN office.
A report published by a group of NGOs has warned that Nepal cannot achieve the target set by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by 2015 unless there is a democratic government and improvement in the law and order situation in the country.
A shadow report entitled “Whose Goals? Civil Society Perspectives on MDGs” prepared by the Global Call to Action Against Poverty—Nepal, a coalition of NGOs — said that most of the goals could not be achieved in the stipulated timeframe as the progress for achieving the target is not satisfactory till date.
During the millennium summit of the UN, all member countries of the UN had pledged to meet the eight MDGs by 2015. The eight MDGs are: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV & AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development.
“Disparity between rural and urban areas and widening gap between the rich and the ultra poor makes it even harder for the MDGs’ attainment,” the report—that was launched in the capital on Thursday– said.
The report expressed serious concerns over the decrease in development expenses adding attainment of MDGs also looks rather dismal when the trend of the total expenditure of the government is taken into consideration. “The share of development expenditure, which comprised 51.58% of the total expenditure in 1997/98, has dropped down to 35.62% in 2003/04,” the report adds.
The report further said, “Though the National Planning Commission (NPC) (2004) has reported a decline of poverty by about 11% in between the periods 1995/96 to 2003/04 in the national context, there persists a disturbing disparity between the rural and urban areas. In comparison to the poverty incidences of 10% in urban areas, the rural areas lag far behind with poverty incidence at 35 % for the year 2003/04.”
“Unemployment, low level of income and exclusion of poor people from development interventions in rural areas appear to be the nest prime reasons for the prevalence of high level of poverty in Nepal,” according to the report.
Likewise, the report said that other MDGs could not be achieved in the stipulated timeframe due to socio-economic disparities and adverse geographical situation.
The second progress report of the government on MDGs released on September 5, 2005 did not portray the real scenario of the development and the official report ignores the current political crisis, the shadow report said.
The increment in security expenses has adversely affected social and economic services, which have been progressively going down in recent years.
“ The deteriorating security situation on account of escalating conflict, the present state of political crisis, non existence of people’s representatives at all level of the governance and absence of the state’s administrative, legislative and judicial structures in majority of the rural areas make it extremely difficult to implement development interventions,” the report concludes.
The report recommended that ending conflict, restoring democracy and democratic government, enhancement of public services and economic order, consensus among all stakeholders for a common development agenda, addressing income poverty by ensuring equitable distribution of resources could be instrumental to achieve the MDGs’.
The Report also stressed the need of guaranteeing inclusion of all in development initiatives, increasing the number of women at the decision making level, arrangement of adequate and financial and human resources and strengthening implementation, operational management and monitoring system to achieve these goals.
Speaking at the report release programme, General Secretary of the NGO Federation of Nepal, Shant Raj Mulmi said rule of law, initiation of the democratic process, people’s participation and elected government were essential to meet the goals of poverty reduction.
Birendra Pokhrel of the National Federation of Disabled Nepal urged all to give priorities to the problems of the disabled as the flaring conflict in the country was giving rise to the number of disabled. “Disabled are more affected from poverty, so proper attention should be given to uplift them from the poverty in order to achieve the MDGs,” he added.
A team of journalists and human rights activists have left Kathmandu for Sindhuli Friday afternoon to access the situation of media and journalists working in the district.
The team led by Bishnu Nisthuri, president of Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) includes Prushottam Dahal, chairman of Human Rights and Peace Society (HURPES), Purna Basnet, central committee member of FNJ and Ujir Magar, Lalitpur district president of FNJ. Two journalists, Krishna Hari Ghimire and Dwarika Kafle of Sindhuli, who have been living in Kathmandu for the last two months, are also accompanying the team.
There are been several reports from Sindhuli and Dailekh that security forces have treated the local media person inhumanly, general secretary of FNJ Mahendra Bista told Nepalnews. According to him, the team will hold talks with local security officers and the district administration.
Ghimire told Nepalnews on Wednesday that an army colonel warned to throw journalists into the nearby Gwang River if they acted against the ‘will of the army’. The journalists say their movement are closely observed by security personnel after last year’s royal takeover.
Most of the newspapers in districts remain closed and many journalists have been displaced.
Coinciding with the visit of American president George Bush to India, the foreign ministry in Kathmandu has reiterated its earlier stance of one China policy, the state owned news agency, RSS, reported.
Nepal considers Taiwan as an integral part of the People’s Republic of China, report quoted the foreign ministry as saying.
His Majesty’s Government veiws the recent decision of the leader of the Taiwan Authority to cease the function of the National Unification Council (NUC) and the application of the Unification Guidelines with serious concerns, the report added. Nepal explicitly condemns this initiative that will have far reaching implications undermining peace across the Taiwan straits.
The ministry statement said that Nepal has consistently supported one China policy and the peaceful reunification of Taiwan with the People’s Republic of China and believes that this is the only way to ensure peace, stability and security across the straits, in Asia and the Pacific and the world at large.
China has said Taiwan’s recent decision to dismiss the NUC was a part of seeking independence from the mainland and added the implications will be high if Taiwanese leaders move for independence.