Nabil Three Star Club (NTSC) easily defeated Friends’ Club 3-0 to top the league with 41 points while Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) Army trashed Jawalakhel Youth Club (JYC) 4-0) and Armed Police Force (APF) rallied to lock horns 2-2 with Rani Pokhari Corner Team (RCT) in the Martyrs Memorial San Miguel “A” Division League Football Tournament today.

In the first match played at the Dasrath Stadium, TAC rode the crest on Chakra Tamang and Janamat Karki to rip off JYC. Chakra Tamang netted twice in the 12th and 65th minute respectively.

The Army team seemed superior in every department and didn’t leave any room for their opponents. JYC custodian Mohamad Nizamuddin was slumped with poor form as his three blunders dearly cost them.

Tamang’s superb free header opened the account in the 12th minute and extended his personal tally in the 62nd minute capitalizing the cross off Shiva Chowdhary.

Janmat Karki was lucky to score in the 65th minutes when JYC goalie Nijamuddin lost his balance while controlling the ball. Bishwo Bairag Samal didn’t have any mercy while scoring the fourth in the 73rd minute. Samal’s bullet shot penetrated a sea of defenders before finding the inside of the net

The second match saw a comfortable win for Nabil Three Star Club who topped the tally leapfrogging Tribhuvan Army Club and Mahendra Police Club.

Santosh Shahukhala continued his form scoring the first in the 12th minute off Surendra Tamang’s corner kick. Sahikhala fired home a brilliant header utilizing the sleeping defense line. The defending champions continued their rampage and scored the second through Vishan Gauchan who dived to connect the cross off Surendra Tamang from right flank.

Later in the 76th minute, Vishan ensured a deserved victory scoring the third goal in the 76th minute off Surendra Tamang’s cross.

Elsewhere at Halchwok Stadium, Armed Police Force (APF) rallied from two goals down to lock horns with RCT Club. RCT took a lead in the 10th minute through Sajan Shrestha while Rishi Rai scored the second. APF came back through goals from Dhanbir Chowdhary and Mani Pundit to collect one point in their home ground.

India’s Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) have extradited three Maoists to Nepal from Baharich district of India on Thursday, report said.

The SSB had arrested three Maoists in the Indian district of Baharaich bordering Nepal’s Bardiya district on Wednesday.

They were handed over to District Police Office, Bardiya.

Some explosives and cash worth IRs 64,000 and NRs 11,000 were also recovered from them.

Nine Maoists including area committee member (ACM) and district committee members (DCM) have surrendered to the security forces expressing dissatisfaction over the Maoist activities.

A press statement issued by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) on Friday said that seven Maoists surrendered in the far western development region on Wednesday.

Those, who surrendered in the far western region are ACM Janak Thapa alias “Elaka”, section commander Leg Bahadur Rokaya alias “Pramod” and Maoist cadres Bashanta Rokaya alias “Bijaya”, Hima Rokaya alias “Reshmi”, Chandrika, Namrata and Pema.

The statement further said that they surrendered to the far western divisional headquarter of the Royal Nepalese Army.

“They were later handed over to the representative of Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) Bashant Ojha,” the statement adds.

Likewise, Maoists’ DCM Tilak Bahadur Raut and ACM Dolma Raut of Sindhuli surrendered to the District Administration Office (DAO) in Kathmandu on Friday, the statement of MoD said.

Tilak also submitted a pistol, 25 rounds of bullets and one cordless set to the DAO.

The DAO gave eight thousand rupees to Tilak, who surrendered with the weapon.

Remembering good people and their good deeds is a good idea

By Kanak Mani Dixit
Life is valuable only if we keep a memory. Forget deep history, it is good even if we manage to remember the recent past. Today’s English-speaking classes are so rushed – as the much vaunted ‘middle class’ – raking in the benefits of economic globalisation that they hardly have the time to look up and notice how things have changed in just the last few decades.

While the poor may not have seen a lot of transformation in their lives one way or the other, things are galloping for the rest, in ways mundane and sublime. But in the rush of partaking of the goodies in products and services, we are forgetting the flavour of the past.

Take wood smoke. Most families above the motorbike-ownership threshold no longer experience the particular aroma of burning firewood, something that has been part of the human olfactory sensibility since prehistory. Household heating and cooking is now through the medium of electricity, kerosene or gas and while the nose gets more than its share of diesel smoke these days, the flavour of daal is just not the same. Before long, a Southasian entrepreneur will have to introduce a room freshener with woodsmoke aroma, just to remind us.

Who remembers the DC-3 Dakota, that twin-engined wonder that flew all over Southasia in the three decades immediately following the Second World War? It was the Dakota that developed our airways, piloted by pioneering buccaneers such as a Polish pilot, Capt Bujowski, who flew out of Calcutta for one of the first private airlines of the Subcontinent, Himalayan Aviation. That was when airports were still called aerodromes and when many aircrafts such as the DC-3 were ‘tail draggers’. Which meant that once you got in, you walked up a slope to get to your seat.

The drone of Dakota’s piston engines is no longer heard today, amidst the whine of turboprops and the roar of jets. You can still see grounded specimen, though, if you are looking. The next time you are flying into Delhi’s aerodrome, whether from Lahore, Dhaka or Kathmandu, be sure to take the right window. Coming from the east over the Jamuna, landing on the southern runaway, you will notice a couple of parked Dakotas, conspicuous in their haughty nose-up attitude even when not airworthy.

While still on transport, the narrow gauge ‘choti line’ is fast disappearing from the Southasian railway network, as the broad gauge continues to squeeze life out of other tracks. There used to be a trans-subcontinental chhoti line which started out in Agra, wended its way to Gorakhpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh and then hugged the Bihar-Nepal border past the Bhojpuri and Maithili regions to enter West Bengal, ending at Siliguri. The metre gauge was allowed to service parts of India which remained poor and the Agra-through-Siliguri line cut through the poverty-stricken north Ganga plain. Not that the poverty index has changed, but even this region is now succumbing to the invasion of King Broad Gauge and railway history buffs will have to hurry if they want to experience the last of the choti line – not polished museum pieces but the grimy people’s traveling machine.

All over the Subcontinent’s railways, the sharp tang of burning coal is now lost to us with the conversion from steam engines to diesel. The smell of stations and marshalling yards are quite different from what they were even up to the 1970s. Knowing passengers no longer report ‘signal up’ and ‘signal down’, referring to the mechanical signal along the tracks that have been replaced by traffic lights. Air-conditioned travel means one less attachment to the passing landscape and its humanity. And for the child, there is no straining against the window bars to take in one of the most amazing sights of an earlier childhood – the engine and bogeys in front as the train takes a bend on the tracks.

Historian and author Ramachandra Guha is one who revels in memory and he uses the social scientist’s tools to dig into the lives of people we should not forget, whether it is BP Koirala or Verrier Elwin. He reminded readers in The Hindu that it was Madhu Dandavate, the authentic socialist and the minister of the short-lived Janata government of 1977-78 who did away with the wooden benches in the lower class compartments of the Indian Railways and replaced them with rexine upholstery. Hundreds of millions benefited.

Remembering good people and their good deeds is a good idea because it hopefully provides some standards to judge ourselves by. Meanwhile, it is important to remember good machines of the past as well. Do check out those Dakotas the next time you fly into Delhi aerodrome.

Courtesy : Nepali Times

(Editor’s Note: Nepalis, wherever they live, as well as friends of Nepal around the globe are requested to contribute their views/opinions/recollections etc. on issues concerning present day Nepal to the Guest Column of Nepalnews. Length of the article should not be more than 1,000 words and may be edited for the purpose of clarity and space. Relevant photos as well as photo of the author may also be sent along with the article. Please send your write-ups to [email protected] and your comments/suggestions to [email protected])

Dr. Bimal Koirala looks back on his experience in implementing economic reforms as the Secretary and Chief Secretary of His Majesty’s Government. He retired from the civil service a few months ago and is at present the Chairman of the Management Development Centre of the Management Association of Nepal. Excerpts:

What were the problems behind the slowdown in economic reforms in Nepal?

Bringing economic reforms is not easy. Strong political commitment assumes the key role. Bringing reforms means achieving a change from the existing state. But our tendency has been not to opt for change so as to be safe from risks. If you opt for reforms, you have to wait for results from the reforms and meanwhile you have to face the protests. That is why you don’t get the required support for the reforms. Technocrats or bureaucrats have to create ‘political space’ for politicians to go ahead with the reforms. My experience is that it takes time to create such a political space. This is why even the most urgent reforms are not being implemented fast enough.

The period when you were the Chief Secretary of the government was politically very cataclysmic. How do you recall your experience in guiding the implementation of the economic reforms programme in Nepal during those crucial days?

The reforms started in 1990, which I regard as the first generation reforms, were designed to bring about macro-economic stability. It focused on eliminating the unnecessary restrictions seen in our economy and creating ‘fiscal space’ so as to address the problems such as poverty. So, it provoked opposition only from the policy makers’ level.

The second-generation reforms that we initiated in 2000 are more about institutional reforms. Such reforms by definition affect the individual; hence it demands managing an individual’s resistance to reforms. If politics cannot grant the reformers enough power to face that resistance, the reform process becomes weak. I had the opportunity to work under many finance ministers committed to reforms. They had their own good vision. Backed by their committed approach, it was easy for us to create space for the same and we were able to go about addressing the risks associated with such reforms.

However, in several instances, the handling of reforms and the associated risks was weak due to the lack of political commitment. This delayed the reforms. For example, the state-owned corporations have been adding burden to the national coffers. Though it is realised by all that the government should be free from the responsibility of running public enterprises, various interest groups are opposing any progress in this direction. Consequently, it took more time to manage those oppositions. And as the political gut needed for this was not expressed clearly, various economic reforms felt necessary were slowed down.

Look at the issue of decentralisation which requires the centre to share the authority with the districts. This is affected by the silent agenda of the centre to retain as much power as possible. The centre fears that if all the powers are shared, it will have to remain powerless.

Though it is realised that the bureaucracy should be made accountable, the steps needed to increase the accountability are not taken due to fear among the bureaucrats that this will limit their available space to manoeuvre. Therefore, institutional reforms too have taken a long time to materialise.

Would you mind sharing some examples from your own experience?

In order to make the civil servants accountable, we came to the conclusion that the role and duties of the government employees and the politically appointed leaders should be clearly defined. With this, it will be easier for the political leaders to measure the job performance of the individual bureaucrat against different performance indicators. But such delineation of duty couldn’t be effected due to some trivial issues like employee transfer. This reform has not been effected till now. If you give a target to the bureaucrat to be achieved in a certain time, you should also give him some authority on the human resource that he uses to achieve the target.

The logic is that a bureaucrat should be held accountable for failure or success of the work. Those who deviate from their work should be punished. If a minister and a secretary blame each other for the failure of a work, the administration should not be held accountable. The person should be held accountable.

I made such a plea to the government about three years ago, but nothing has progressed so far towards that direction. There are plenty of other initiatives like this that have lost track due to different vested interests.

It is also said that the major hurdle in implementing reforms is the government bureaucracy while the political leadership is committed to the reforms. How do you comment?

Political leadership initiates the reform programmes and the government employees take the responsibility of the management and implementation. There are many examples of delay in reforms due to the political leadership and the employees. When employees do not carry out reforms promptly and the people do not get the desired result in time, people develop an aversion towards such reforms agenda. The political leadership should take the ultimate accountability for this. It is also true that in many cases, employees are passive towards implementing reforms.

In several instances, bureaucrats have disowned the economic policies and the reforms programmes. They try to stay away from implementing the reforms reasoning that these programmes are initiated by the politicians and donor-driven. Moreover, we have not trained employees on how they should go about the reforms and what their responsibilities are. Only a small proportion of the employees are committed to reforms. Most of them want to rule rather than to serve.

However, though both the political leadership and bureaucracy are responsible for delayed reforms, more important hurdle is the lack of the political commitment.

Another problem has been that the spirit of reforms has not been understood well by the bureaucrats. Every ministry should lose a certain extent of power in order to fully implement decentralisation, but no one is ready to do this. When every secretary is hell bent on retaining his empire, political leadership should come out strongly against this tendency. I had started amending 16 laws and regulations that were found as posing hurdles in implementing decentralisation, but they are still not changed.

What is the major problem with the bureaucracy in this regard? Why couldn’t bureaucracy remove these hurdles?

First of all, it is necessary to specify the job responsibilities of the civil servants. Today a peon serving in Pyuthan needs to come to Kathmandu if he wants a transfer. With this type of centralised approach, it is not possible to deliver services properly. The elected local people’s representatives that are the front-line agencies for service delivery should be given enough powers. But today we don’t have elected people’s representatives in the village/municipality level. Moreover, they are without any authority. So they have to refer to the Secretary even for trivial matters.

Secondly, there is the need for entirely reorienting the civil service. The existing attitude of the civil service is that they are rulers. This has to be changed. The distance between the state and the citizens should be narrowed down by taking help from the civil society. The government should only act as the facilitator and providing the bare minimum services such as judiciary and security of the life and property of the people. The incentive system should be designed appropriately to encourage this.

One very high profile reform agenda during your tenure as the Finance Secretary and Chief Secretary was the financial sector reform. One crucial component of this reform was action against the wilful defaulters. But the central bank and the government failed miserably in this. Why?

It is the lack of political will. As the financial sector was in a very poor state we initiated such reforms. The question we asked ourselves before designing the reform was on whose behalf we should work: thousands of depositors who are losing their money or those few who are not paying their loans? It was agreed that the government’s responsibility was towards the depositors. And the reforms were designed accordingly.

But we couldn’t be bold enough in its implementation. The political leadership couldn’t dare take actions against wilful defaulters nor could it create a situation that would encourage the repayment of loans. Due to this the reforms could not be carried to the logical conclusion.

The financial sector reforms were started with a pious objective. The two state-owned banks were already in ruins. The government could have pumped in more money into them and reform. But it was neither practical nor a healthy thing to do. It could not pump in money because the government had no capacity to invest such a huge amount of money. More importantly, such an investment would rather mean supporting the defaulters. Moreover, it was necessary to break the conventional operation model of these banks to make them competitive in the present context. Though the operational of these banks is improving, there is still a lot to do about past wrongdoings. Therefore, the results have not been as expected, but I am optimistic. However, if we remain shaky as we are now, there will be less to expect from the investment on reforms.

Reforms in Nepal are perceived to be donor-driven. What is the truth?

I don’t agree that all reforms activities are donor-driven. It is also true that had we started the reforms on time, the donors wouldn’t have asked us to go for reforms. However, it is to be understood that there cannot be reforms by careless disbursement of money. So, when we ask for money to be used for these areas where we have not been careful, the donors will put conditions on how we should spend that money.

We opted for decentralisation not because the donors asked us to do so, but because the elected representatives at the lower levels demanded it. Also the civil service reforms were initiated by us, but it did not go ahead due to various vested interests and now the donors are asking us to go ahead with the same reforms. Likewise, we have responded to the civil society’s appeal and started the reforms for good governance. Yes, it is the weakness on the government’s part not to have publicised such policies and results of our own achievement. Here again the political leadership is to blame. Our failure to reform gives the space to the donors to dictate the policies to us. So, this is how reforms get donor-driven.

We should also understand that if we accept the suggestions of the donors we have to be responsible for the results from the implementation of such suggestions. Reforming NOC was initially our own agenda, and not that of the donors. But we did not go ahead with it, and later the donors started asking for the same and we also started listening to them. It implies that we do not own the reforms or we are not concerned about the reforms. Please note that the donors didn’t come to help us out of their own interest. We asked them to come and help us. And it is good that they have agreed to help. They have given us a blank cheque for funding poverty alleviation programmes. We can use this fund for the purpose we find appropriate, but we are not able to utilise that money wisely. So, we are letting them question our performance.

How is the situation now?

There is no option for the nation than to go ahead with the reforms. And we shouldn’t delay. Our financial state is in ruins. General expenses have increased dramatically so that the government may have to take loans to pay salaries. Security expenses have gone up alarmingly. To come out of this quagmire, we have to have reforms. The more we delay the formidable the challenges become.

By Pratibedan Baidya

Death of nine Nepali students in less than a month has raised serious questions about the safety of young Nepalis in the United States of America.

From left, Nishma Timilsina, 20, Utshav Basnet, 19, and Bedija Kharel, 20 (File photo)
From left, Nishma Timilsina, 20, Utshav Basnet, 19, and Bedija Kharel, 20 (File photo)

Seven young students who were pursuing higher studies in the United States to shape their future were killed in less than a week early this month in separate car accidents. As the news is very painful for every Nepali, His Majesty’s Government is yet to take notice of the tragedy let alone mobilise its machinery towards ensuring safety of the Nepali students.

Four students Amrit Dhital, 21; Prahlad Gurung, 22; Puskar Acharya, 21 and Subash Gurung, 20; were killed when a car they were traveling in collided with another vehicle in Texas, United States, last Friday (Jan. 6).

Subash, Prahlad and Amrit were studying at San Jacinto College, Houston, while Pukar was a student at the University of Texas, Tyler, according to the Nepalese Association of Houston.

The Association added that all four had arrived in the US on January 2004 through the Nobel Institute, a Kathmandu-based education consultancy firm that advises students to study abroad.

Amrit was a resident of Banepa and Subash, Pukar and Prahlad were residents of Kathmandu.

Just two days earlier (on Jan. 4), three more Nepali students, Utsav Basnet, 19, Bedija Kharel, 20 and Nishma Timilsina, 21, were killed when their car was hit by another vehicle on a southern Minnesota highway.

All three– Utsav, Bedija and Nishma — were enrolled in classes at Southwest Minnesota State. The students were off school on winter break, reports said.

In Memoriam: The school where Subash Gurung studied recalls its former student.
According to the state patrol police, the three were not wearing seat belts, and their car was hit when the driver tried to make a U-turn from the right shoulder of a two-lane highway.

For a young student from a developing country burning with high ambition, America offers a vast ocean of opportunities. For many parents in Nepal, sending their kids to the US for higher studies is a lifetime ambition. But little do they realize that once out of a “closely guarded society” like that of Nepal, young students are least prepared to a life of freedom, hard work and technical advancement as in the US.

Talking to Nepalnews, Milan Dixit, principal of Rato Bangala School, a leading private sector-run school in Lalitpur, said, “Lack of proper orientation and discipline among Nepali students are main reasons for such accidents in the US.”

“We were shocked after the news that Nepali students were killed for not following traffic rules. So orientation should be compulsory for them before going there,” she added.

Officials don’t have data of how many Nepali students are currently studying in the US nor is there any mechanism—both from the government or private sector—to orient young Nepali students to what type of life style they will be exposed to once they land abroad.

Students need not get permission from the government for studying abroad, as they can directly contact the foreign university and start enrolment process. They only need recommendation from the Ministry of Education to buy foreign currency to finance their studies.

“Private educational institutions and consulting firms, which charge large amount of money for facilitating enrolment of Nepali students for foreign universities must provide them orientation about basic safety issues while studying abroad,” said Mrs. Dixit.

Most of the students remain unaware about safety issues like road safety and environment abroad. “Young students are usually unaware about lifestyle as an alien. So they need orientation to cope with the situation in a completely different place,” she added.

Dr. Saubhagya Shah, an anthropologist who studied at the prestigious Harvard University of the US, says latest accidents are a tragic and big news for Nepal but in the US they are normal incidents. “Thousands of people die in America every year in road accidents, in such incidents unfortunately some Nepalese were also killed this year. A small mistake by an individual can cost a number of lives as the speed of vehicles is usually very high in the America.”

Shah, however, points towards growing negligent behavior among Nepali students once they step out of their homeland. “Most of these students were residing in the US for more than a year. So, they must have had enough opportunity to apprise themselves about the lifestyles there,” said Shah. “More than orientation, the issue is negligence among young people, including Nepalis, to follow traffic rules and regulations,” he added.

The number of Nepali students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities grew by 11 percent last year to 4,861, according to a latest report published by the Institute of International Education (IIE).

When contacted by Nepalnews, an official at the US Education Foundation in Kathmandu said his office helps aspiring Nepali students to find out suitable universities and colleges. “Issues like traffic rules (in the US) usually don’t surface in such discussions,” he added.

Gandhi Pandit, a lawyer who practiced in New York before deciding to return to Nepal a few years back, told Nepalnews that if the accident had occurred due to the mistake of other people, family members of the deceased could claim for compensation. “If the accident had occurred due to the mistake of others, they can claim compensation on the basis of the impact of death upon family members,” said Pandit.

“Family members of the victims can also claim for insurance if the deceased had insured himself/herself,” he added.

But neither family members nor educational consulting firms advise Nepali students to buy life insurance policies.

“Nepali students are risking their lives in the absence of appropriate orientation. Though some educational institutions are starting to provide orientation, it is not sufficient and needs to be expanded,” said Mrs. Dixit.

As long as young Nepali students are not given proper orientation and practice risky behavior out of negligence or out of temptation, such tragic news will continue to pour in from across the seven seas. nepalnews.com Jan 13 06

Related News
– Three Nepali students killed in US
– Four Nepalis killed in US car accident

Response from our valued readers on the article (edited):

Sajan Gautam, Houston, TX, USA writes:

Dear Editor,

We do appreciate the concern the columnist has about the safety of young students who are studying here in the USA. But, we find the article a little tilted to put blames on the students for some of those accidents.

For the information, most of those incidents were not the fault of the student drivers but they were the victims. For instance, Amrit, Prahlad, Pukar and Subash were following the traffic rules when 72 year maniac drove at an extremely high speed breaking every traffic rules and took the life of these young people including her own. It is an involuntary manslaughter and lawyer is working on to get at least the financial compensation from the faulty party.

The columnist’s concern is very genuine but it does portray a different picture of some incidents than the ground reality.

Baikuntha B Thapa, Texas writes;

Dear Editor,

I am somehow disappointed for the news you just published regarding the topic “Are young Nepali students safe in the US? (nepalnews special)”.

I know there have been several tragic incidents happening in US recently. I agree with the writer that lack of orientation is one of the things that we need to consider. But let me make one thing clear that none of those three incidents were caused by lack of orientation. All of those tragic incidents were caused by other’s fault.

I have been involved in Nepalese communities’ activities for a long time. As a matter of fact we hosted ANA convention 2005 in Dallas, last year. I was chairperson of that convention. So we all are concerned for the safety and well being of Nepalese in US as well as abroad.

Rajesh Kumar writes;

Hello,

I was very shocked to read the news, entitled “Are you Nepali students safe in the US?” While reading the news, for me – it seems like you guys are trying to prove the fact that the Nepalese students who died in two different car accidents – was because of their lack of knowledge about the traffic rules and regulations.

To tell you the truth, before getting the driver license here in the United States, you must know all the rules and regulations.

I guarantee that more than 95% of Nepalese students who have US driver’s license, they know most of the traffic rules and regulations. It is obvious that if you negligent those rules, you may suffer by the accident.

It was not the fault of Nepalese students who died in the car accidents. In the first accident that happened in Minnesota: the driver was an American and the accident occurred because of the slippery road. In the second accident that happened in Texas: it was the lady’s (another driver’s) fault and the accident happened when she was trying to pass another vehicle and she was driving in the wrong lane.

If you have looked into both accidents news closely, in both accidents the car was hit by another car and both other cars were driving by old people (Minnesota – 82 yrs old man and Texas – 72 yrs old woman). It has been a big issue over here in the United States whether or not to give the driving permission to old people because old people are very slow to react on any action.

Pramod Pandey writes;

Editor,

Your article, Are young Nepali students safe in the US?, has added to our grief.

You should obtain the accident report before you comment on something that you don’t know about, just don’t write something that increase sale of you paper.

Twenty policemen are missing following clashes between the Maoists and the security forces in Dhangadhi, the district headquarter of Kailali district of far western region on Wednesday evening, reports said.

The clashes continued till late in the night. Unofficial reports say at least seven cops were killed in the attack.

According to security sources, the armed rebels who arrived in the district headquarters in various groups attacked the army camp near Boradandi, Ward Police Office, Zonal and District Police Offices, the district’s Election Commission Office, Nepal Rastra Bank and government buildings at around 6:30 in the evening by means of explosives and firings.

Of the 25 policemen in the ward police office, 10 have gone missing after the attack, reports quoted unofficial sources as saying.

The Maoists attacked again at the district prison and the district police office after 9:00 p.m., the source said. A few weapons have been looted from the ward police office.

The Maoists exploded bombs in most of those offices.

The Maoists fled after the encounter and a search for them is on. Security forces have been mobilised on a large scale against the Maoists.

The total damage caused to the security establishments and other government offices have not been ascertained so far.

Meanwhile, Maoists exploded two powerful bombs in the district development committee building at Bardiya Wednesday evening.

The Maoists blasted two bombs at 7:30 p.m., report quoted superintendent of police Ghananda Bhatta as saying. Three rooms were damaged in the explosion.

Maoists have been continuing their violent activities following the termination of the four month long unilateral ceasefire on January 2.

Some one dozen policemen reported missing since clashes between the security personnel and Maoist rebels in far-western town of Dhangadhi have come into contact, security sources said.

At least four persons including three policemen and a woman were injured during the clashes that started Wednesday evening and lasted for more than three hours.

Officials at the District Police Office at Dhangadhi, Kailali said all 23 policemen stationed at the ward police office at Dhangadhi municipality ward no. 5 — who were reported missing since Wednesday’s clashes– have come into contact. Rebels have claimed that they have looted weapons from the ward police office. They have also claimed that there have been casualties on the side of the policemen.

Rebels opened fire simultaneously targeting a number of security installations, district prison and banks Wednesday evening. A senior army source in Dhangadhi said the rebels seemed to have targeted the district prison but could not break the security cordon.

Within days of the royal takeover, rebels had attacked the district prison at Dhangadhi in February last year and set over 160 inmates free. At least six persons including five security personnel were killed during the attacks. Government later reinforced security at the prison.

After withdrawing their unilateral ceasefire early this month, rebels have been targeting municipalities with a view to disrupt the municipal polls slated on February 8, this year.

Officials, however, say adequate security arrangements will be made to conduct the polls.

One Maoist was killed in a security operation in Liku area of Dolpa district on Tuesday.

A press release issued by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said a Maoist who hurled socket bombs at the forces patrolling the area was killed in an counterattack of the security forces.

Security forces recovered three socket bombs and Maoists documents from his body.

Likewise, Maoists abducted teachers and students of Shiva Jyoti Secondary School at Beluwa area of Bardiya district and took them to unidentified location in three tractors, the statement said.

The Maoists forced two schoolchildren to plant a pressure cooker bomb that exploded at the premises of the Election Commission’s district office in district headquarters of Bardiya on Tuesday, the statement added.

The explosion also damaged a private house in the vicinity.

The security forces, during their search operation, discovered explosives at Pokhara’s Nagdhunga area and safely disposed them, the release states.

The last rites and funeral services of four Nepalese killed in a road accident in Texas, United States on January 6 was performed on Monday.

Four Nepali, Amrit Dhital, 21, Subash Gurung, 20, Pukar Acharya, 21, and Pralad Gurung, 21 were killed, when a car, which was trying to pass another vehicle, hit the car they were in.

A press release issued by Nepalese Association of Houston said, “Family members of Pukar Acharya and Subash Gurung and family friends of Pralad Gurung, as well as their friends and Nepali brothers and sisters and distinguished guests from Houston, Dallas, Tyler, New York, California, Connecticut, and Alabama participated in the last rites.”

“The Royal Nepalese Ambassador in the US, Royal Nepalese Embassy, and Association of Nepalis in Americas (ANA) join us in offering deep, heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the family and friends of the deceased in the US and Nepal, at this very trying and difficult time,” the statement added.

The general assembly of the Tribhuvan University (TU), the largest and oldest university of the country, passed the ‘Rules regarding autonomous educational institutions or colleges under TU-2006’.

According to officials at the TU, the rules are expected to make the dissemination of quality education by the educational institutions or colleges under TU more effective.

The rules also aim at providing admissions to the maximum number of intellectually capable students in different higher education programmes of the university.

The information section also states that the rules expect to extend the areas of scientific knowledge by developing more innovative technologies and also make education more practical.

“It aims to make institutions or colleges financially sustainable, besides strengthening educational and administrative works by including all concerned stakeholders in the decision-making process of management of the institutions,” said a statement issued by Information Section of TU.

Minister for Education and Sports Radha Krishna Mainali

Minister for Education and Sports Radha Krishna Mainali (File Photo)
Speaking on the occasion, co-chancellor of the university and Minister for Education and Sports Radha Krishna Mainali pointed out the need of developing the TU as a more renowned centre for higher studies, research and quality education. Minister Mainali also lauded the TU bid to let affiliated institutions enjoy autonomy.

TU vice-chancellor Prof Dr Govinda Prasad Sharma, said, “It is not only our students in technical fields who are excellent but those in non-technical fields are also equally good.”

Registrar Professor Gitabhakta Joshi and Rector Professor Dr. Mahendra Singh shed light on different activities of the University.