Australia chapter of the International Nepali Literary Society (INLS) has been formed under the chairmanship of Deepak Bista.

According to press release issued by Bhuwaneshor Sharma, coordinator of the chapter, the meeting of the Nepalis living in Australia and have interest in Nepali literature, decided for formation of the chapter.

The first meeting of the chapter also pledged different initiatives to widen the scope of Nepali literature and its promotion in southern hemisphere.

The meeting initially decided to coordinate towards instituting INLS committees in other Australian cities and New Zealand to ultimately build a recognised INLS network across Asia Pacific region.

Sharma said INLS Australia would coordinate with Nepali organisations in other Australian metropolises to identify Nepali writers, including emerging aspirers and form separate INLS state committees.

“We believe that the initiative will help to identify Nepali talents in arts and literature in hibernation and make known each other among Nepali Diasporas across the region and the world,” he said.

The chapter also decided to launch a literary blog. The blog would be a first step towards providing a common platform for aspiring and established Nepali writers writing in Nepali and English to encourage writers to write and help recognise each other work towards producing literary journals in future.

The INLS said it would also work towards establishing a small library of Nepali books in future intended to help Nepali migrants to read and know about Nepali identity, literature and culture. The organisation has also plans to translate Nepali literature into English, teach Nepali language, culture and literature to foreigners and second generations of Nepalis and establish an annual literary conference.

The meeting held in Adelaide had unanimously elected Kamala Bhandari (Timilsina) as Vice President, Reena Rai as Treasurer, Santosh Koirala as Secretary, Navaraj Dahal as Program Coordinator and Bhuwaneshor Sharma as Coordinator.

nepalnews.com ia Feb 09 08

The Nepal government has handed Dr Amit Kumar, the alleged kingpin of a multi-million dollar kidney racket, over to Indian authorities.

He was flown to New Delhi by a regular flight of the Indian Airlines (IC 814) Saturday evening, it is learnt.

Indian media reports say the Ministry of External Affairs of India has confirmed his handover.

However, government authorities are yet to speak on the hasty handover of Dr Amit Kumar nicknamed ‘Dr Horror’ and ‘Kidney King’.

Earlier in the afternoon, Peace and Reconstruction Minister Ram Chandra Poudel had said that the notorious Indian kidney doctor, who was arrested by the Nepal Police from a hotel in Suaraha of Chitwan district Thursday evening, would soon be handed over to India after completing necessary procedures.

“The Indian government has written a letter seeking his handover. He will be handed over to India because he is an Indian national and he committed crime in India,” Poudel said speaking at the Reporters Club.

He also revealed that no case was being initiated against him in Nepal.

The minister also informed that the next cabinet meeting would discuss the kidney racket and the arrest of its kingpin. He added that though Nepal and India were yet to renew the extradition treaty Dr Amit Kumar would be handed over on the basis of mutual understanding between the two governments.

Earlier, the police officials had hinted at the possibility of initiating a case against Dr Amit in Nepal for illegal possession of foreign currency and some fake documents.

Though he has confessed conducting more than 3000 kidney transplants to patients especially from America, Canada and European countries, but has insisted that he never duped the kidney donors.

A number of Nepali accomplices of the kidney racket have been identified, but it is yet not clear if Dr Amit Kumar conducted transplants in Nepal. nepalnews.com mk/ia Feb 09 08

Three Madhesi parties today formed a new alliance, United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), and announced a protest movement.
Organising a press conference in Kathmandu, leaders of three agitating regional parties – Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF), Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party (TMLP) and Sadbhawana Party (SP) – said they had joined forces to take the movement of Madhesi people to a decisive stage.

The UDMF has put forth six demands, which include guarantee of an autonomous Terai state with right to self-determination, and proportional representation of Madhesis, Janajatis, Dalits and other marginalised groups in state organs including the Nepal Army.

The Front has planned protest rallies across Terai on February 11 and 12 while an indefinite strike will be imposed from February 13 throughout the country followed by a shutdown strike in government offices on February 16 and blockade and non-cooperation protest from the next day.

Addressing the press conference, TMLP chairman Mahantha Thakur said the Madhesi parties were ready for dialogue with the government over their demands even when the agitations would go on.

He also said the government must address the issues raised by Madhesi people if it expects them to take part in the constituent assembly election. nepalnews.com mk Feb 09 08

People who get admitted to hospital for some ailment wish and pray that they don’t have to stay there for long, that they get a quick discharge after being treated of their disease. But, shocking as it may sound, an elderly woman has been staying at the Anandaban Mission Hospital in Lele, Lalitpur district, for the past 44 years for treatment of a disease that tainted her whole life, reports Kantipur daily.

Maisani Tamang, who is originally from Ichwok of Sindhupalchowk recently celebrated her 82nd birthday in the same hospital. After contracting leprosy at the age of 38 she left her husband and son to come to this hospital for treatment, never to leave it again. Since then some 10 thousand patients have returned home after being treated at the hospital which was built some 50 years ago.

She is the only patient who has stayed in this hospital for so many years, Gopal Pokharel, a hospital staff, told Kantipur daily. Patients at this hospital are provided with free treatment and food.

And unlike other patients, one doesn’t find only medicines scattered at the side of her bed in the women ward of the hospital. She has a bible by her side (she converted to Christianity after she started living at the hospital), while few cooking utensils, gifts and decorative items adorn the table at the other side of her bed. A small tape-recorder left by a foreign doctor sits safely against her pillow. This keeps her amused all the time while she ceaselessly weaves sweaters and other woolen items. For her toil she gets Rs 300 a month from the hospital.

She also has a wooden cabinet, a suitcase and lots of clothes, and because of this the hospital has arranged for her a separate room so that she could safely put away all her belongings.

At the age of 38 dry spots started appearing all over Maisani’s body. Soon her sister-in-law found about it, and fearing that it would taint the family prestige, she separated Maisani from her husband and son and told her to shift at the cow stable.

“Their treatment towards me started getting worse even after I decided to divorce my husband,” she said.

After she could no longer bear the constant taunts of her family and the society she had no option but to leave her village. Then a sympathetic neighbor brought her to the Anandaban hospital and since then she never had to look back.

At the hospital she received the kind of love and care, she says, she never even imagined and soon she started recovering and gaining her health. Now 44 years later one can hardly say that she had ever suffered from leprosy.

But because she gets boils in her hands and legs from time to time and possibly out of sympathy for her that the hospital has thought it better to let her stay in the ward.

But then where would she go even if she leaves the hospital. She rarely thinks of her home, she doesn’t even care what happened to it after she left. She says her three-year-old son died soon after she came here and her husband and sister-in-law died through natural causes.

Her chief responsibility at the hospital is to sing religious songs to women patients coming here for treatment. Besides she also teaches other women patients how to weave sweaters the wool for which is provided for by the hospital.

I learned to read and write here, Maisani said while continuing to weave the sweater deftly. I also try to cheer up those who come here after contracting leprosy. nepalnews.com ag Feb 09 08

Maoist chairman Prachanda has accused that ‘foreign forces’ were hatching conspiracies to derail the Constituent Assembly (CA) election.

Addressing a programme of Butwal Jaycees on Friday night in Butwal, Prachanda said reactionaries were plotting to turn Nepal into ‘Pakistan or Bangladesh’ – referring to the military-backed regimes in the two South Asian countries.

Prachanda claimed that since Maoists were going to win the election, foreign forces were working overtime to sabotage the polls. He said that the election faced threat more from forces from outside the country than from forces within the country.

The Gorkhapatra daily adds that Prachanda also made claims that on Friday morning itself, ‘power centers from India, United States and Britain held a meeting in Kathmandu and were trying to spoil the election environment by mobilising army.’

The Maoist chief threatened that his party will make every kind of sacrifice to defeat such conspiracies. nepalnews.com sd Feb 09 08

The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Bhojraj Pokharel has criticised the parties for engaging in wall-painting against the election code of conduct.

Speaking at a programme organised by General Election Observation Committee (GEOC), on Friday, Pokharel warned of action by the Election Commission (EC) against such activities.

“If need be, the EC will remove such paintings and charge the expenses on the respective parties,” he said.

As a part of election campaigning, parties have started to paint walls in different parts of the country, including in the capital.

The GEOC has started the orientation training for national and district level observers who will help in the observation of Constituent Assembly (CA) election to ensure it is free and fair.

The GEOC includes Nepal Law Society, Rural Development Foundation (RDF), International Commission of Jurists/Nepal, Ex-employees Service Council, Nepal Press Institute, Nepal Citizens Forum and Election Observation Foundation. nepalnews.com sd Feb 09 08

The first month of the year 2008 has revived the hope of expanding tourism industry with increasing inflow of tourists in the country.

In January, tourist arrival has increased by around 13 percent compared to the same month last year, up by 2,895 numbers.

According to Nepal Tourism Board, although the month saw decline in the arrivals from India (-12.2 percent) and Sri Lanka (-12.5 percent) that dragged down the total arrivals from SAARC region by 7 percent, the European and North American markets have registered robust growth of 33.1 percent and 34.3 percent respectively.

Chinese tourist arrival increased by 96.8 percent, South Korean by 5.1 percent, Thai by 23.2 percent and Malaysian by 12.1 percent.

Korean market contributed more than 10 percent in the total arrivals and it is due to direct flight between Kathmandu and Seoul, NTB said. In contrast, Japanese market is down by 15.3 percent, which could be due to irregular air service of national flag carrier, NAC, to Japan, the board said.

European markets have shown positive growth this month, except Austria (-7.5 percent). The UK registered 33.9 percent growth, France 78.5 percent, Germany 4.5 percent, Spain 28.5 percent, and Netherlands registered 36.5 percent growth in tourist arrival showing increased consumer confidence towards this destination. nepalnews.com ia Feb 01 08

The central committee meeting of the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) passed, unanimously, the political report presented by general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and party election manifesto presented by Jhal Nath Khanal, after extensive discussions.

“They have now been finalised. The party manifesto stressed on democracy and strengthening progressive march of the country. It talks about uprooting feudalism not only from political field but also from economic and social field,” Amrit Kumar Bohara, standing committee member of the party, said.

Bohara added that the general secretary’s political report has concluded that the Constituent Assembly provides a historic opportunity to bring about transformation in the country. “It also emphasises unity among political parties,” he said.

On the issue of forging electoral alliance with the Maoists, which is said to have created divisions among the party leaders, Bohara said that the central committee has decided to forge such alliance with all the like-minded parties in favour of federal democratic republic rather than ‘with any particular party.’

The meeting will continue on Saturday to discuss about election mobilisation. nepalnews.com sd Feb 08 08

A senior official of India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that the Indian government expects Dr. Amit Kumar – the alleged kingpin of kidney racket arrested by Nepal Police – will be handed over to India.

“Given the nature of the case and the close cooperation that exists between legal and security authorities between India and Nepal, we expect that Dr. Amit would be handed over to the Indian authorities at the earliest possible,” said Navtej Sarna, spokesperson of MEA, in New Delhi.

Sarna said that the matter has been taken up by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with the Government of Nepal through our Embassy in Kathmandu.

Dr. Kumar is alleged to have engaged in illegal organ transplant business and is also alleged to have ‘sold off’ around 500 kidneys of impoverished people to wealthy clients pocketing hefty profits.

He had fled India to escape the hunt by Indian police. He was nabbed by Nepal Police, on Thursday from a hotel in Chitwan.

In Nepal, he faces charges of illegally possessing foreign currency, and also possible organ transplant operation, which is said to have expanded across the border from India into Nepal, as well. He will be presented at the court on Sunday, say officials of Nepal Police. nepalnews.com sd Feb 08 08

A canteen operator was killed by a gang of men suspected to be cadres of Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM-Goit) in Rupandehi district.

Keshab Bahadur Gurung, 60, was killed at Bedipur of Badaha VDC of the district on Thursday night at around 9:30 pm, say reports.

In another incident, police have claimed that two cadres of JTMM-Jwala Singh faction were killed in an encounter in Saptari district.

Reports say Sher Singh and Ranjit were killed when the clash ensued between policemen and JTMM-Jwala cadres in Bedichamena VDC of the district. nepalnews.com Feb 08 08