Kathmandu, June 2: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal called on President Ramchandra Paudel this morning. The personal secretariat of the President said that during the meeting held at Rashtrapati Bhavan Sheetal Niwas, current issues were discussed.
People’s News Monitoring Service.
Kathmandu, June 28: The Manab Sewa Foundation and Nepal Aadi Samaj, among others, are jointly organizing a month-long Kotihome at Bankali, Pashupatinath premises, from July 16 to August 16 (Saun 1 to 32 according to the Nepali calendar) for the welfare of the Nepali people, Nepal nation and the global peace.
The month of Saun is considered a holy month for worshipping God Shiva.
This Kotihome is being organized for the first time at holy Pashupatinath premises.
Above 155 gurus (teachers) will be involved in Havan, reciting four Vedas, 18 Purans and 5100 Kalas Pooja. Koti Deep Prajwalan, Koti Parthiv Shiva Linga Poojan etc. will be performed during the Kotihome.
Renowned sages from the country and abroad are attending the Kotihome.
People’s News Monitoring Service.
Kathmandu, June 27: The National Examination Board (NEB) has made public the results of this year’s Secondary Education Examination (SEE) today.
The Board has stated that out of 444,785 students who attended the examination, 47.86% have passed and 186 students scored a GPA of 4.
Only 242,920 students are eligible to study in Grade 11.
Among the examinees, 52.14% were non-graded (NG).
Results were published in accordance with the guidelines of the Letter Grading Guideline-2078 for students who took the SEE exam under the new syllabus for the first time.
Students can see results on different websites recognized by the NEB.
People’s News Monitoring Service.
Kathmandu, June 27: Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) General Secretary Mukul Dhakal has reported that his party is continuously losing popularity and it may meet an accident if it does not correct the course on time.
Dhakal prepared a report after a field visit in 32 districts and handed it over to the party chair Ravi Lamichhane on Wednesday, June 26.
Dhakal has sum-up the report for taking immediate actions to secure the party’s future.
Dhakal has suggested developing an alliance with the independently elected mayors, including Balen Shah.
Otherwise, Dhakal has warned, it may not secure its position as a national party in the next elections.
People’s News Monitoring Service.
Kathmandu, June 26: SAARC Secretary General Md. Golam Sarwar held a meeting with the Secretary General of Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) Dr. Pornchai Danvivathana on the sidelines of the 19th Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Member States of Asia Cooperation Dialogue held in Tehran, Iran.
During the meeting, the dignitaries exchanged views on enhancing cooperation and collaboration between the two regional organizations in the areas of mutual interests and priorities.
Sharing about the SAARC, the Secretary-General stated that the organization was created with a vision of promoting the welfare of nearly two billion people in the region and improving their quality of life through collective actions and joint initiatives. South Asia being the most populous region in Asia and in the world, any advancement in the living standard of the people there would contribute significantly to the success of larger global development initiatives, the Secretary-General stated. He further added that since most of the SAARC Member States are also ACD members and the priority areas of the two organizations coincide, there is ample scope for working together.
The Secretary General of ACD thanked Ambassador Sarwar for accepting the invitation to participate in the ACD Ministerial Meeting and stated that the ACD Secretariat looked forward to working closely with the SAARC Secretariat in promoting cooperation.
People’s News Monitoring Service.
By L.D. Pulami
What a quagmire the country seems to be stuck in right now. The people are very apprehensive about what may happen next, on the other hand, the political leaders and top decision-makers seem least bothered about most problems the ordinary citizens are facing almost daily just to survive.
The disturbing pattern and the easy manner they have seen among the high-ranking government leaders while dealing with the serious problems in the country, does not give any comfort during this difficult period.
Furthermore, at present, they don’t seem to have an easy and soft target to blame for the mistakes, which actually they have made and are still making. But still, they seem adamant about continuing in their usual manner and not responding to the needs of the people as long as they are in power, amassing more money through corrupt means and also looting the nation through ill-intentioned decisions they make while spending government money in projects that are faultily sketched out.
Take for example the Melamchi Drinking Water Project which has been in the pipelines for more than two decades while the public in the capital Kathmandu remains parched, thirsty and also frustrated by the corruption they see in the construction of this project. If it was not for the severity of the drinking water shortage the people of Kathmandu have to bear with, the fact that the arrival of Melamchi water in this overpopulated city would be some kind of a joke about which the present sufferers could laugh in mirth.
It is not only a shameful act, but also a big blow to the boasts of ‘good governance’ Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and members of his cabinet are seen making almost daily at any function which they attend, the people are also sick of the bunch of lies which these leaders utter, besides the commitments they have made for ending corruption in the country.
Not less than the chief secretary, the highest-ranked bureaucrat in the nation has been accused of corruption and he has already been suspended and a new acting chief secretary has been appointed by the government. Not only the chief secretary but, other individuals serving in vital positions have also been accused of embezzling more than three hundred million rupees while purchasing revenue stickers and some machinery.
It is further disheartening to know that corruption is rampant in the security forces as well, and this malaise has existed for a long time in both the otherwise trusted Nepal Army and more so in the Nepal Police which is supposed to maintain peace and law and order in the country.
More alarming is the exposure of information that many top officers both in the army and the police have also submitted papers in which their date of birth has been altered to qualify for promotions and training.
If the recent reports which have become viral in social media are to be believed, then a senior general could be promoted to the powerful post of chief of army staff (COAS), although he has been accused of forging his educational certificates these have been made public by the media. Now just weeks remain before the current COAS Prabhu Ram Sharma has to take compulsory leave for one month before he formally retires and the accused general takes over.
In the past former generals too have been accused of being involved in such activities and some have even been punished or forced to resign from their posts. The most recent case is that of a colonel who was Nepal’s diplomatic military representative in Washington DC, of the USA and he was severely punished by the authorities. He was not only barred from joining any government posting but he was humiliatingly handcuffed as soon as he arrived in Kathmandu from the US and sent to prison right from there. Many people have started questioning why there has been such discrimination while taking action against officers for being involved in similar crimes.
Similarly, those who don’t have high-level contacts and any sort of interaction with government authorities are also bewildered by the question of why the government has dealt most delicately by just transferring the accused chief secretary to the Planning Commission with the same pay and perks he received while he was the chief secretary. Some media outlets, including those in social media, have started to blame PM Dahal, who had appointed the accused chief secretary though there had been accusations of him being involved in different corruption cases in the past as well. It might be interesting to the curious public to know that this man had been promoted, though the then chief secretary had been discharged from the post months before the time he was to retire.
Corruption is so rampant in the country now that not just a few individuals have been accused of such criminal acts, yet they have gone ‘Scot free’ due to money and connections but also because of the discriminatory decisions of the government.
In the past, there were reports only about the involvement of big businessmen in influencing top-level political leaders and other high-ranking bureaucrats while looting government money for personal gains. But now accusers are also talking of business tycoons, specially, those who are family members of established business groups, of their involvement in active politics, which could negatively affect the whole economy of the nation.
Big names of the Chaudhari group, the Mittal family, Golcha, Kedia, Durga Prasai, Umesh Shrestha and also Sirohiya of the Kantipur media group, instantly come to mind, when talking of their influence in national politics. Some of them could be ministers, like Umesh Shrestha, who managed to change government regulations about private schools, which would be beneficial to his own teaching institutions only. He has also been accused of amassing unimaginable wealth beyond his income as an employee of a school which has been made into a public school now.
Whether it is in big government deals or in smaller exchanges of money for illegal works and even regular duties government employees have to provide to service seekers, corruption seems to be deep-rooted in all sectors, mainly in government institutions and security forces. As mentioned earlier, such acts are creating a huge divide in society and also in the outlook of most citizens, who recognize a person’s success only by measuring how much that person has earned, while they ignore the crooked acts he or she has been involved in. So it is high time ordinary people have to accept the bitter fact that corruption is bleeding the nation dry even while bringing more woes to the people who lead miserable lives because of this.
Therefore, there is a need for not only stricter laws and more severe punishments for wrongdoers, but also for a drastic change in the outlook of the society as a whole before this national problem is wiped out for good for the development of the nation and the welfare of the general people.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.
Kathmandu, June 26: To observe former King Gyanendra’s 78th birthday, a 3578-member Civic Birthday Celebration Committee has been formed under the chairmanship of Bam Bahadur Sambahamphe, former member of the standing committee of the State Council.
The committee has decided to observe the King’s birthday nationwide by organizing different programs for a week.
The main function of the auspicious birthday of the King is being observed on Friday, Asadh 21 (July 5), informed Radheshyam Thapa, general secretary of the King’s birthday celebration committee.
According to Thapa, a 751-member auspicious birthday management committee has also been formed to observe the birthday ceremonies in an organized manner.
People’s News Monitoring Service.
By Shashi P.B.B. Malla
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal-Prachanda reiterated lately that despite multiple attempts to remove him from his position as executive head of the government, he was able to successfully fend them off because he possessed the magic number (the governing majority).
However, his majority is razor thin and his government is unable to undertake even basic policies, forget any grand projects.
Nepali Congress leader Shekhar Koirala has said that his party would not want to dislodge the government since the current Dahal-led government would fall due to its own contradictions (THT/The Himalayan Times, June 23).
Koirala also stressed that political instability had besieged not only the federal government but also the provincial governments.
Moreover, the NC-leader described the state of the Himalayan Republic as extremely dire.
He stated morosely that when criminalization increases in any country, that country ultimately collapses, adding that politicians, bureaucrats and business magnates were in collusive relations in the country now.
When there is a nexus between these three groups, the rule of law becomes victim and this is the situation in our country, Koirala added.
[This is similar to our own perception that our country is ruled by criminal gangs and their dons masquerading as so-called ‘political parties’].
As if to spotlight his fears, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Sunday filed a Rs. 386.7 million corruption case against a company and 11 people, including Chief Secretary Baikuntha Aryal over their alleged involvement in irregularities related to the printing of excise duty stickers (TKP/The Kathmandu Post, June 24).
Dahal is virtually surrounded by various rings of corruption!
Koirala’s analysis is well and good, but where is the actual reaction? The NC chief honcho, Sher Bahadur Deuba is interested only in himself and is just waiting in the wings to again become PM – to what end?
Why is Koirala not able to distance himself radically from Deuba and the anti-social and anti-national elements in his party and join hands with the genuine patriotic forces in the country? Is the party more important than the country?
Considering Koirala’s disastrous assessment of Nepali society and politics, it is incumbent on him to take drastic and immediate action.
As the great German dramatist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said: “The deed is all, the glory nothing.”
As things now stand, Koirala seems to be the only genuine leader capable of bringing the ‘grand old party’ out of the doldrums.
He should strike while the iron is hot!
The writer can be reached at: shashipbmalla@hotmail.com
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.
Kathmandu, June 24: Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Sun Weidong has arrived in Kathmandu today for a three-day visit. He was received by Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Krishna Prasad Dhakal at the Tribhuvan International Airport. Chinese Ambassador Chen Song was also present at the airport to receive Sun.
The Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister has come to Kathmandu to participate in the 16th meeting of the Nepal-China Secretary-level Diplomatic Consultative Mechanism. The mechanism meeting will be held on Tuesday. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, border management, trade, investment, mutual cooperation, and other issues will be discussed between the officials of Nepal and China during the meeting.
People’s News Monitoring Service.
Kathmandu, June 23: Sushil Pyakurel, who has been recommended as ambassador to South Korea, has expressed his displeasure that he did not have a pre-discussion. He rejected the post and expressed his surprise that there is no practice of pre-discussing the interests, abilities, diplomatic issues and information about the respective country of the person concerned while recommending him for the position of representing a country like an ambassador.
He has also stated by registering a letter rejecting the post at the Prime Minister’s Office. He said, “I see the need for a serious discussion on the standards set by the government in the past regarding the appointment of ambassadors, the justification of parliamentary hearings and the ambassador’s tenure.”
People’s News Monitoring Service.