FIRE DISPLACES 1,579 BHUTANESE REFUGEE FAMILIES

MAOISTS, UML, MJFN INK DEAL TO EXPAND GOVT.

Kathmandu, 23 March: Ruling parties, Maoists and UML, Wednesday signed an agreement with MJFN on a common policy to run government.
The agreement between Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal, who is also UML Chairman, Maoist Chairman Prachanda and MJFN Chairman Upendra Yadav paves the way for the delayed expansion of government.
Khanal was elected 3 February with Maoist support and only an eight-member government with only representatives of the two parties have been formed.
Wednesday’s agreement opens the door for the entry of MJFN into government; three parties will be in government when the MJFN joins
Meanwhile, Maoist standing committee began Wednesday to select its second group to join government.
Eleven ministries have been set aside for Maoists who have sent only four representatives to government so far; UML also has four ministers in the Khanal government although seven ministries have been set aside for the premier’s party.
MJFN will get three ministries, including foreign ministry.
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ACTIVITY DETAILS OF VISITING CHINESE ARMY CHIEF (UPDATE)

Kathmandu, 23 March: Visiting Chinese Army Chief Gen. Chen Bingde will hold talks with his Nepali counterpart Gen. Chatraman Singh Gurung immediately after arriving Wednesday to begin a three-day visit.
The talks will center around expanding military cooperation between the two countries, Directorate of Public Relations said.
Gen.Chen will be briefed on the activities of the NA.
Two agreements on military cooperation will be initialed by the two army chiefs.
In his first public engagement, the visitor will lay a wreath at the Bir Smarak at Tundikhel Army Pavilion.
Gen. Toran Bahadur Singh will receive the Chinese army chief at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) when he arrives to begin a three-visit.
The British embassy protested when the second ranking NA officer received the British army chief on an official Nepal visit earlier charging he was involved in rights abuses during the 10-year Maoist insurgency.
NA has cleared him.
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FIRE DISPLACES 1,579 BHUTANESE REFUGEE FAMILIES

Kathmandu, 23 March: Altogether 1,579 Bhutanese refugee families were displaced by Tuesday’s devastating fire that completely destroyed the Goldhap refugee camp in Jhapa, police said Wednesday.
The refugees have been sheltered in tents inside a nearby jungle.
Forty firefighters were inured.
Damage was estimated at Rs. 10 million.
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ONE KILLED, 20 INJURED IN BUS MORANG ACCIDENT

Kathmandu, 23 March: A 70-year-old man was killed and 20 were injured when a bus overturned at Kerabari in Morang overnight.
Deadly vehicular accidents have become daily occurrences,
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Rs 2.40 BILLION SOUGHT FROM VoIP OPERATORS

Kathmandu, 23 March: Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police sought a hefty fine of Rs 2.40 billion as it produced before the court 45 illegal operators caught in raids on 20 Voice over Internet Protocol centres across the country over the past four years, The Himalayan Times reports.

Of the accused, 17 were Bangladeshis, said DIG Rajendra Singh Bhandari, in-charge of CIB, adding that telecom service providers’ revenue has gone up following the crackdown, named ‘Operation Voice Fox’.

As per the Telecommunications Act-1997, a person intentionally causing loss to the telecom structure may be fined an amount equal to the loss or sentenced to five years in jail or both.
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PRESISTENT TEXTBOOK SHORTAGE IN REMOTE AREAS





Kathmandu, 23 March: Most of students of remote villages are compelled to pass their whole academic year without getting sufficient number of textbooks, Manjima Ghakal writes in The Rising Nepal.
The concern bodies stated that more than 50 per cent of the students in Karnali district have not received textbooks till now, where the academic session has already started from mid- February. Likewise, in Manang and Mustang districts and all of Karnali zone, barring Kalikot district, the academic session has started from mid-February.
Talking with The Rising Nepal, Suprabhat Bhandari, president of Guardians’ Association Nepal informed that according to a report of the district level committee of the association, fifty per cent students have not received books though the academic session has started at the district.
Bhandari, also the member of Textbooks Distribution Management Central Monitoring Committee (TDMCMC), said the government has a policy to make available the books to all students but implementation is not so strong. The problem of books will not be solved even in the last of academic session.
The Janak Education Materials Centre (JEMC) and Sajha Prakashan’s
monopoly in the publication

and distribution of textbooks should end soon, if authority wants to make free and quality education a success, he said.
If the situation remains the same, the target students may not benefit from the government decision of providing books freely for community schools students across the nation.
However, Manohar Lamichhane, spokesperson of JEMC, claimed that they already made the textbooks available at the districts where the academic session starts earlier than other districts.
Till now, it has sent 14, 00,000 books to Biratnagar, 7, 09,000 to Janakpur, 34,74, 000 to Bharatpur, 14, 05, 000 to Pokhara, 35, 50, 000 to Nepalgunj, 22, 55, 000 to Dhangadi based JEMC regional offices and 2, 76, 000 to the central distribution office of Sajha Publication. The total units of books sent to different parts amounts to 1,30,69, 000, Lamichanne informed.
The demands of number of books at JEMC are 2, 44, and 00,000 for this year but it has possessed only 1, 78, 29,000.
However, JEMC is claiming that it would supply the demanded textbooks within the deadline. It is unlikely that the JEMC would be able to provide all the needed number of books before the start of the academic year, because more than 65, 71,000 text books are still left to be printed.
The private publishers have got a chance to publishing and distributing the textbooks at the 32 districts of the Eastern Region and Western Region. But they sell their books out of these districts providing high commissions to the books distributors.
Lamichanne said due to an unfair competition of private publishers, JEMC books have not been able to get market during last year. The unfair competition must end through an effective monitoring system, Lamichhane said.

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