SYRIAN opposition representatives took the country’s seat for the first time at an Arab League summit that opened in Qatar on Tuesday, a significant diplomatic boost for the forces fighting President Bashar Assad’s regime. In a ceremonious entrance accompanied by applause, a delegation led by Mouaz al- Khatib, the former president of the main opposition alliance —the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition—took the seats assigned for Syria at the invitation of Qatar’s emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. The decision for the opposition to take Syria’s seat was made at the recommendation of Arab foreign ministers earlier this week in the Qatari capital, Doha. The Arab League in 2011 suspended the Syrian government’s membership in the organisation in punishment for the regime’s crackdown on opponents. The Qatari ruler, who chairs the summit, said the Syrian opposition deserves “this representation because of the popular legitimacy they have won at home and the broad support they won abroad and the historic role they have assumed in leading the revolution and preparing for building the new Syria.” Addressing the gathering, al-Khatib thanked the Arab League for granting the seat to the opposition. “It is part of the restoration of legitimacy that the people of Syria have long been robbed of,” he said. He lamented the inaction of several foreign governments, which he did not name, toward the Syrian crisis and spoke emotionally of the suffering of the civilians in his country.
OUR
private schools in Kathmandu Valley have been found to be flouting the
provisions of the Private and Institutional Schools Operation Directives
(2013) and a Supreme Court order. Separate teams from the District
Education Offices of Kathmandu and Lalitpur, led by their respective
District Education Officers (DEO), had conducted surprise checks at the
schools. They found that the schools had charged entrance fees around
five times higher than the rate fixed in the directives and the SC
order. Paragon School and Pathshala Nepal from Kathmandu and Suvatara
School and Rato Bangla School from Lalitpur were monitored on Thursday.
According to Kathmandu DEO Baikuntha Aryal, Pathshala Nepal was found to
have charged Rs 500 for admission form and the entrance fee while
Paragon, which was imposing the same amount till Wednesday, had
decreased the fees to Rs 125 after getting a clue about the inspection.
“Both the schools were found to be flouting the legal provisions,” said
Aryal. “They have given written commitments not to repeat their acts.”
The schools have also agreed to return the overcharged sum to the
respective student. Similarly, Suvatara School was charging Rs 500 and
the DEO Lalitpur has sought a written clarification from the school a d m
i• i s t r a t i o nð “Documents from the Rato
Bangla School have been seized and further study is going on,” said
Suprabhat Bhandari, chairman of Nepal Guardians’ Association, who is a
member of a monitoring team. Following reports about the extortion, the
Department of Education had directed the respective DEOs for the
monitoring and to enforce the directives and the court order. A division
bench of Justices Tahir Ali Ansari and Baidya Nath Upadhaya on May 23
last year directed all the concerned bodies not to charge more than Rs
25 for admission form and Rs 100 for the entrance test fee. It also
directed the Prime Minister’s Office, the Council of Ministers and the
Ministry of Education to monitor the compliance of its order. Based on
the verdict, the Department of Education, with consent from the
organisations of private schools, had incorporated the provision in the
new directives issued on February 19. However, owing to a lack of
monitoring, most of the educational institutions are collecting hefty
sums from students. The DoE had also directed the DEOs to book the
offenders under the clause 17 (2) of Education Act.
THE
Department for International Development (Dfid), Nepal’s ‘largest’
bilateral donor, has refuted charges that the British government aid
agency has been slow in adapting its projects to fit the evolving
political situation here. Failing to adapt to political changes was one
of the criticisms levelled at Dfid by the Independent Commission for Aid
Impact (ICAI), which reviews UKfunded projects. In its report published
in February on Dfid-Nepal’s Peace and Security Programme, the ICAI
found Dfid-Nepal lacking in oversight of its delivery partners and in
its use of adequate tools for cost-benefit analysis of its projects.
Dfid’s Peace and Security Programme is one of the projects under
governance and security in Nepal. The programme covers five projects,
such as rehabilitation of former Maoist child soldiers, access to
justice for women and Madhesi people, and police reforms. “We continue
to adapt and check all our delivery programmes... We want to deliver the
outcome whatever the political situation is... We call it delivering at
the face of uncertainty,” said Dominic O’Neill, head of Dfid-Nepal,
responding to the criticisms. The ICAI report is also critical of Dfid’s
Police Modernisation Project, which after two years of approval was
cancelled following the ICAI review. The project was designed to support
the Nepal Police. “The balance of the final proposal was towards
highlevel technical assistance,” said the Dfid-Nepal chief. “This was a
service delivery project.” “And I don’t think the [Nepal] government
wanted us to bring expensive international technical assistance.”
Although the Nepal Police Modernisation Project has now been terminated,
the UK government is developing another police reform project for
Nepal.
PHARMACEUTICAL
companies have been rushing to acquire World Health
Organisation-General Manufacturing Practice (WHO/GMP) certification as
the Department of Drug Admini-stration (DDA) is preparing to take action
against those failing to do so. GMP certification is an assurance that
the products manufactured by a certified company are consistently
produced and controlled to meet quality standards set by the WHO. Under
this system, drug manufacturers are required to follow a standard format
during the manufacturing process to ensure the quality of their
products. Certification of WHO/GMP is mandatory to export drugs.
According to the DDA, the regulator of the pharmaceutical industry, nine
drug manufacturing companies were granted WHO/GMP certification in the
first eight months of the current fiscal year. This has brought the
number of pharmaceutical companies acquiring the certification to 33.
There are altogether 45 allopathic drug manufacturers in the country.
Among the GMP certified companies, Bhaskar Herbaceuticals, Manoj
Pharma-ceuticals and Maruti Pharma are the latest to be awarded
certification. The DDA plans to issue a Drug Manufacturing Regulation to
ensure that quality standards are met during manufacturing. “The
companies are rushing to acquire certification as we are tightening the
screw on those failing to obtain it by introducing a regulation,” said
Vijaya Laxmi Shrestha, senior pharmacist at the DDA. “The planned Drug
Manufacturing Regulation will contain a provision regarding the kind of
action to be taken against companies failing to get this certification.”
Currently, the country’s drug market is being administered by Drug
Manufacturing Code 1984. It only covers the expiry date of drugs and
their storage and misuse and dœs not deal with quality assurance of the
manufacturing process. Senior DDA pharmacist and a member of the
drafting committee Narayan Prasad Dhakal said they were introducing the
regulation to replace the Drug Manufacturing Code which will also cover
quality issues during manufacturing. According to him, the regulation
has planned to give drug makers six months from the date of enactment to
obtain certification. “If they still ignore the directive, we will take
action against them as per the Drug Act 1978,” said Dhakal. The DDA had
directed drug manufacturers to acquire certification by mid-April 2012.
However, one-fourth of the companies are still operating without it.
“In the absence of any provision regarding the action to be taken
against those not fulfilling the requirement, a new regulation has
become necessary,” said Dhakal. “Henceforth, drug companies will have to
obtain WHO/GMP or face action.” The DDA said it had started discussions
with the private sector including the Association of Pharmaceutical
Producers’ of Nepal (APPON) to give final shape to the Drug
Manufacturing Regulation.
UNAVAILABILITY
of space at Butwal Industrial Estate has deprived many industrialists,
including aspiring youth entrepreneurs, from setting up industries and
expand the existing facilities. With a relatively lower rent, better
power supply than outside the zone, increasing number of entrepreneurs
are looking to set up their base inside the industrial estate. But the
industrial estate management has failed to avail them space, claiming
that the area has been congested with existing industries. However, it
has hardly stopped people from demanding space inside the area.
Applications at Butwal Industrial Estate Management Office seeking space
to start a fresh business have piled up since the last seven years. The
authority has not provided space to anyone to set up a factory over the
period. “There isn’t any space left inside the industrial estate. We
are forced to accept applications and keep it in our record,” said
Prakash Khadka, manager of Butwal Industrial Estate Management Office.
According to him, applications have been pouring in as talks on
expanding the industrial estate or opening a new one at another location
surface time and again. Various alluring features such as its proximity
to the Indian market across the border, establishment of the city as an
industrial hub of Western and Far-western Development Regions and
favourable working environment, among others, have made Butwal a
preferred place to start business initiatives. Unavailability of space
has even forced aspiring youngsters to go abroad for employment. Sujan
Shrestha, a youngster from Shanker Nagar, Rupandehi said that his
application has been pending since the past five years. “As there’s no
hope of getting space, I have no choice but to go abroad seeking for
employment,” Shrestha said, who had recently returned to Nepal. Besides
individuals, organisations like Rupandehi Chamber of Commerce,
Industrial Estate Industries Association and Butwal Chamber of Commerce
and Industries, among others, have also received a large number of
applications after a news that the private sector was preparing to open a
new industrial estate. Rubin Thapa of Golpark, Butwal, who wanted to
open a plastic factory, had submitted applications at three places
seeking space to start a factory. “I approached all three places as I
heard about the private sector developing a new industrial estate,” he
said. Since the price of land has rocketed in Butwal, industrialists and
entrepreneurs are finding it hard to begin business by buying or taking
land on lease in and around Butwal. Even if they open it, several
obstacles like environmental issues, electricity, security and proper
roadways make it difficult to sustain. Meanwhile, after the government’s
failure to address the issues, big industrialists from Butwal have
initiated to open a new industrial estate. They have also selected
several places for the purpose. But despite the selected locations being
proven feasible for an industrial estate, the plan has not got off the
ground yet. But the industrial estate management has failed to avail
them space, claiming that the area has been congested with existing
industries
MORE
than four dozens families of Soyak VDC-7 in the district have been
displaced in the past few years for want of water. As the nearest source
of drinking water is around three kilometres away, locals said they are
finding it difficult to live in the village. “We have to spend two
hours to fetch water. We are left with no option but to leave the
village due to water crisis,” said Sabitri Raut. She said migration is
on the rise only because of water crisis. Pushpa Acharya, another local
resident, said it is too difficult to manage water for special occasions
such as marriage ceremonies in the village. Acharya, who has shifted to
an area near the source of water, said villagers cannot even find
buyers to sell their farmland. He said most of the people in the village
have migrated to the Tarai region where water is easily available.
Ghanashyam Acharya and Dharma Bahadur Magar of the village said they
were also preparing to leave the village. Meanwhile, government offices,
including VDC office and a local sub health post, are also hit hard due
to shortage of water. Although 27 taps were installed in the village
some 22 years ago, they are in a dilapidated condition without running
water. Buddha Magar, a local resident, said their life is hit hard due
to a lack of water.
THERE
are lots of things that keep me wondering. Some of the burning
questions I live with are: why the problem of waste management is
getting costlier, unmanaged and complicated day by day and why do some
people do nothing and blame the government for everything instead? We
find these burning problems is not only in waste management but in each
and every aspect of developmental activities. In every nook and cranny
of Kathmandu, we can see dirty and unmanaged streets. Some street
vendors sell vegetables, food and other edible things sitting just next
to a mound of garbage. I recently did a general household survey in
every ward of Ilam Municipality for my university report. There, every
household burn their daily plastic and paper wastes. And some of the
households said they did so despite having knowledge that the burning of
plastics cause adverse effect to their health. Most of them said they
did not know how to manage the paper and plastic wastes. In Ilam,
municipal vehicles do not collect garbage everyday (except in Ward 1 and
2 and some parts of Ward 3). The case of Kathmandu Metropolitan City is
exact opposite. In Kathmandu, there are many waste collectors who
manage household waste daily. Yet, anybody can see the wastes being
dumped in nearby rivers. We are well aware of the problem, but unaware
of the solution. While watching some videos on Youtube, a video on a
garbage bank drew my attention. The video gœs this way. Mr Made Baglada
is the owner of the bank in Bali, Indonesia. He buys recyclable scraps
(especially paper, plastics) from household and students. Many young
people have been employed by him who help collect and segregate scraps.
In this way, the household themselves take part in waste management by
bringing the scraps to the bank and take home certain incentives. The
household are happy because, on one hand, they make some savings and on
the other hand, they are contributing for environmental conservation.
The bank also earns by selling those scraps to industries or other big
scrap dealers. In this way the garbage bank is, to some extent,
controlling the unemployment problem the country is facing and helping
to make the city clean at the same time. We all know that in Kathmandu,
as in various other developing cities, organisational structures of
waste dealers are very informal in nature. Therefore, the household
don’t know where to complain and make them listen to their queries. By
establishing a garbage bank arrangements can be put in place to hear
grievances. The formal structure will also help the government in
providing proper ground for control and supervision. I am not
emphasising that the current waste management companies are not doing
enough to solve the waste management problem. There are good
organisations like NEPCEMAC, who are trying their best to make the city
clean and tidy. But still, the numbers are not enough. Waste collectors
may not be able to reach every corner of the city. Therefore, if a
garbage bank is set up in Kathmandu, it may make a world of difference.
It has been estimated that more than 200 tonnes of recyclables are
generated in the Kathmandu Valley everyday. Some schemes can be
introduced in pursuit of a clean Kathmandu. For example, in case of
students, whœver brings used books or paper scraps exercise books or
some stationery items could be given in return. Similarly, on the
household waste front, some household utensils or some other recycled
products could be given. However, all these ideas are subject to an
intensive research before setting to work. There should be researches on
the pricing of scraps and introduction of such schemes. Similarly, the
government should also give a tax subsidy for such initiatives. The
Solid Waste Management Act stresses the private sector’s participation
in waste management. Therefore, the government, being a major
stakeholder, should set the wheels in motion first. (Poudel is a
Master’s degree candidate in Technological Economics and Management at
Tongji University, China) METRO COLUMN
Be a Real Leader
- Be a reader
- Learn, do and teach
- Share courage, hide compulsion and circumstances
- Confirm for the victory
- Show pearl in eye drop
- Get you busy in work not in talk
- Get minimum new friend each day
- Get involved in seminar and social work
- Well-come to the problem
- Limit selfishness
Five parties agitation
reached high yesterday afternoon when their top leaders were injured in lathi-charge
by police protest processions of the
five parties against regression started from five different places NMKP proceeded from thamel CPN (UML) from
I often visited the lonely restaurant of my neighborhood at Tinkune.
‘Cakes and Bakes’ it was called. I had tea time there in one corner of the
restaurant every afternoon, at about 3 p.m., a young lady of 20 came there. She
sat beside me on another chair. Her long hair and charming face had already
troubled me. However, I had kept my patience.
The job that I do is very tiring some. I an often tired. I
reach the school at 9.30 am. I have to teach seven periods until the school is
over. No leisure, no rest. Moreover, different guardians come to meet me.
Before assembly, there are at least tw
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There are several disadvantages caused by the invention of
television. We have now realized that we have worsened our family environment
by bringing a television set. Most people have criticized this scientific
achievement.
To prove: Study = Fail
We know,
If we study we won't fail but
if we don't study we'll fail
Nepal
is facing severe electricity crisis due to supply constraint and it has already
been forecast that the load shedding is here to stay in the increasing
magnitude. In the past,
I will be waiting
for you!
I saw her in one rainy night. As I was looking out of the
window, I could see that she was drenched in the rain; she was cold and her
body gave a little shiver. She was neither of this town nor this universe. I
think she was so beautiful. Her eyes were aqua in color and it was like there
was a deep sea in it. Her cheeks as she was blushing all the time. She had a
perfect figure. She was fixed in my eyes.
It is said that childhood is a pleasant aspect of out life. It
is called base of our life. We can experience pleasure of playing games,
singing and dancing. It is the base of childhood education. However, I didn’t
have pleasant childhood.
It was 3 o'clock in the morning when the phone woke me up.
It was cold
And the warm
blanket was not easy to uncover. Yet I took out my right hand and
Extended to the
receiver.
"Uncle." a female voice spoke in haste, "father has been
seriously injured." I recognized the voice. It was my niece Dolly.
Since 1939 numerous scientific studies have been conducted
to determine whether smoking is a health
Tow Nepalese friends talking about a friend getting married.
Rajan: Hello! Are you going to the marriage?
Rohit: No, I don't. He's hurt my belief.
Rajan: How is it so?
Rohit: He used to say he would marry
without asking dowry.
Rajan: Truly. He had said so.