HELLO NEPAL

The Himalayan Times 26 May 2014 Encouraging initiative It was astonishing to read the news “Minister tells cops to be courteous “ (THT, 22 May, Page 2) that might have been appreciated by all the readers. The orientation programme “Police Service with Smile” organized by the Nepal Police seems to be a very worthy programme in terms of making the police service friendly. So far, the relationship between the police and general people does not seem healthy for a number of reasons. This is definitely a very encouraging step in the police history when a sitting Home Minister directing police personnel to be courteous and asking them to demonstrate good conduct and behaviour with the general public. In fact, the general public find it uncomfortable in the presence of the police which indicates that they see them (the police) as intruders rather than helping friends. I have heard many times traffic police scolding taxi and bus drivers using foul words. Can’t they be more...

The Himalayan Times 20 May 2014 Doubts remain This is in response to the news report “Statute may not be delivered on time: Gyawali” (THT, 19 Mar, Page 3). This possibility does not seem palatable all the political parties had promised to promulgate the new constitution within one year. However, looking closely at the ongoing political activities of the senior leaders of major political parties, Gyawali’s saying cannot be easily rejected. In a recent meeting with the 5 Chairmen of various constitutional committees, CA Chairman Subash Nembang had even expressed his dissatisfaction over the absenteeism of senior leaders in the house and other CA deliberation. The slow pace of the coalition government on handling the state’s daily affairs, delay in nomination of 26 lawmakers, delay in nomination of chiefs and members of various constitutional bodies, delay in holding local election as promised to hold within six months and so on, leave ample room for suspicion. It ha...

The Himalayan Times 16 May 2014 A case for reflection The outbreak of jaundice in Biratnagar has already claimed the lives of ten people in the last two weeks and does not seem to be under controlled looking the increasing number of affected persons visiting the government and private hospitals. More than 1500 people have been found to be severely affected in different wards of Morang district. This is an unfortunate and unusual outbreak occurred in the urban areas where literate population reside in comparison to the rural areas with less accessibility of health facilities. The roles played by the government owned health institutions do not seem effective with regard to taking precautionary measures once few cases of jaundice were seen in the outskirts of Biratnagar. The local population have to be made aware of taking necessary measures to chase away jaundice. A massive awareness campaign has to be immediately initiated by the District Health Office and its sub ...

Computer Support Hotline We have noticed your Internet browser loaded www.blogger.com 34.26 seconds longer than the average. Have you been experiencing slow internet and broken websites? You may have unwanted adware. Call our toll-free number to get friendly support and make your computer fast again. Get Trusted Technical Support Experts For: Malacious Program Removal Virus Removal Adware Removal Call 1-855-970-2100 The Himalayan Times 14 May 2014 Stop foreign junkets now It was indeed encouraging to read “Nembang to clip CA members’ wings” (THT, 12 May, Page 1) at such a crucial time when the lawmakers are supposed to spend their valuable time on drafting a new constitution rather than go on foreign trips in the name of acquiring first hand knowledge about federal structures. It seems that the CA Chairperson has timely realized his past mistakes for letting members set out for foreign junkets hampering the completion of their major task. In fac...

  The Himalayan Times 9 May 2014 Well done The intervention of Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) for making aware all the private and public schools of the need not to haphazardly hike school fees and collect fees under various headings every year as reported in “CIAA tells schools to go by the book” (THT, 8 May Page 1) is laudable. In spite of following the Institutional Schools’ Operation Criteria (ISOC) 2013, most of the private schools seemed to be found hiking the fees unreasonably hitting the guardians hard. The Supreme Court (SC) had even directed, on May 23, 2012 , the schools not to increase their fees for three years after the last hike and even if that had to be done, prior approval from the concerned authorities was made mandatory. The private schools continued to increase the fees and collect additional fees under different headings undermining the ISOC and SC’s directives. What are the Ministry of Education and Departm...

The Himalayan Times 6 May 2014 NOTA vote makes sense The decision of Election Commission (EC) to introduce the provision of “right to reject” vote in the coming by-election is certainly praiseworthy step towards the implementation of highest exercise of democratic principles as reported in “Voters can enjoy “right to reject” in by-election” (THT, 4 May 2014) which will add a new dimension in the Nepal’s election process. It means that the voters will have the right to reject all the candidates by choosing “none of the above” (NOTA) vote. The EC has set June 22 for holding by-election in four constituencies. The provision in the Interim Constituent (IC) needs to be amended considering the logistic and financial burden to the state. It is a total waste of time and against the principle of democratic equality. The Supreme Court, acting on public interest litigation, had directed the government and EC on January 5, 2014 to ensure voter’s NOTA right in the ...

The Kathmandu Post 4 May 2014 COURT CONTEMPT The recent nomination of eight Justices to the Supreme Court(SC) has dragged the Judicial Council (JC) into controversy and is now the hot topic for the parliament (“Controversy lands in House” 30 April, Page 1) . The Nepal Bar Association has heavily criticised the JC’s act and urged the Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee (PHSC) to seriously take the media reports concerning bad reputations of the JC nominated Justices and act accordingly. Lawmakers from the ruling parties even raised concerns during the zero hour session on Tuesday about the tainted images of the nominated judges. It is a matter of concern also as to what compelled the JC members to nominate such tainted judges to the permanent position in SC. Why could the Chief Justice not use his authority to stop the nomination of such tainted judges? Are some unseen forces trying to politicize and destabilise our judicial system? Can the independence of t...

The Himalayan Times 2 May 2014 Of concern Kudos to the police team in Rupendehi who have arrested 21 persons including the tankers and recovered around 17,000 litres of stolen diesel from underground reservoir built on the private land as reported in “ 17,000 litres of stolen diesel recovered” (THT, 30 April, Page 1). In addition, police team also arrested 13 persons and 14 tankers in another place and recovered around additional 3,600 litres of diesel. This has happened when NOC has been claiming huge loss in its operation and the country is reeling under crisis of petroleum products. This is the first incident of its kind where the police have confiscated such a huge volume of petroleum products misappropriated by the NOC staff themselves. This kind of misappropriation of responsibilities by and unscrupulous activities of the NOC staff could be prevailing in other parts of the country. Who knows? This raises several concerns and questions as to whether the heavy...

The Himalayan Times 29 April 2014 Monarchy’s revival?                           It was not surprising to read the news “Deposed king hints at possibility of monarchy’s revival” (THT, 27 April, Page 3) while looking closely at the pathetic situation of the country due to irresponsible activities of so called major political parties. They were not able to draft the new constitution during erstwhile CA in spite of extending its period for another two years. However, the people once again enthusiastically participated in the second CA election with the hope of seeing new constitution in their hands within one year as promised by the major political parties. It is yet to be seen in the coming days whether they (political parties) will be able to fulfil their promises. The people seem worried about the slow action of the NC led government. It has ...