CENTRAL REGION SECURITY MEET STARTSY

CENTRAL REGION SECURITY MEET KICKS OFF IN DHULIKHEL

Kathmandu, 22 June: Thirty-two senior officials, including three security chiefs, are participating in a security meet to prepare a strategy for the central region in Dhulikhel, Kavre, Wednesday.
Home Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara, home secretary, regional administrators, city chiefs, office chiefs of central region and regional police chiefs are participating,
The meeting’s agenda is promoting regional security and tackling ethnic and regional tendencies.
Home secretary is expected to address points raised at the conclave.
Such meetings are planned in other regions as well.
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RSS CHAIRMAN FORCED TO RESIGN

Kathmandu, 22 June: Chairman of national news agency RSS Bal Krishna Chapagain resigned Tuesday amid intense and long under employee pressure
He was charged for autocratic working style by three unions in the agency.
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15,000 TEMPORARY TEACHERS TO GET PERMANENT STATUS





Kathmandu, 22 June: The government is planning to give permanent appointments to 15,000 temporary teachers and promote 40,000 serving permanent teachers one level up, The Rising Nepal reports.
Talking to media people on Tuesday, Minister for Education Ganga Lal Tuladhar said that the ministry was planning to table a proposal to this effect and get it endorse by the cabinet within 20 days.
Temporary school teachers are protesting for a long time demanding they be given permanent status of service.
"First of all let us address the demands of the agitating teachers. If the protests continue even after that, a bold action will be taken against them," Minister Tuladhar said.
He said that the community schools were drawing criticism for their poor results and blamed the centralized examination system for the poor performance
"Teachers alone are not responsible for the poor performance of the community schools. The centralized examination system and other factors are equally responsible," he said.
Tuladhar regretted the fact that even the teachers were not cooperating to declare schools as the zone of peace.
Schools have been declared as peace zone after efforts of 10 years and no one need to suspect about its intention, Tuladhar said.
The education ministry has already issued directives to implement the school as peace zone. However; the impact of the declaration is yet to be felt as schools are still suffering from strikes, Tuladhar said.
Talking about the recently published School Leaving Certificate (SLC) results, Minister Tuladhar said that the results were poor, a result of the state lacking clear policies and sound education system.
Tuladhar said that the government was planning to organise an educational conference in the near future to formulate policies to improve exam system.
He also urged the private schools not only to boast about their good results but also meet their responsibilities towards other students.
Meanwhile, the education experts and other stakeholders have pointed out that the government is not taking the SLC seriously and limiting it to mere formality.
Gita Rana, President of National Private and Boarding School Organization of Nepal (NPABSON), complained that students were deprived of receiving their SLC results in time.
The government should develop such mechanism that the students can find out their results immediately, she said.
Education expert Dr. Tirtha Khaniya criticised the poor results of this year’s SLC and said that education was getting commercialized.
Educationist Mana Prasad Wagle said that the education system must be made more practical and effective

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RUBEL CHAUDHARY, SON-IN-LAW OF SUJATA KOIRALA, LINKED TO SUDAN SCAM
Kathmandu, 22 June: An email sent by London-based Assured Risks Pvt Ltd has given a new twist to the Sudan APC Scam. It has revealed that Rubel Chaudhary, the son-in-law of Nepali Congress leader Sujata Koirala, was also involved in the Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) purchase deal in which Rs 290 million was swindled, Bhadra Sharma reports in The Kathmandu Post.

Though there were speculations that Chaudhary had a hand in the scam, this is the first time an email has surfaced suggesting his involvement in the deal.

In the email sent to Shambhu Bharati, a local agent of the international supplier some four years ago, a senior company official has indicated that Rubel was not just a go-between, but actively involved in decision-making that ultimately led to the sealing of the deal.

In the letter, Michel Rider, the director of Assured Risks, asked Bharati to contact Chaudhary for the payment. “Assured Risks will not be paying $ 125,000. I will take it out your commission how about that? You have cost Assured Risks enough money on this project… any problem speak to Rubel don’t email me anymore,” the email reads.

Some police officials indicted in the scam made the email public with a view to exposing politically-protected individuals. The officials, who are miffed with the CIAA for giving a clean chit to politicians, have also made public other secret documents.

Bharati has admitted that the deal was initiated with Assured Risks only after an aide to Sujata Koirala introduced him (Bharati) to Chaudhary and Rider. “I first met Michel at Hyatt Hotel after Hari Dhungana, the personnel assistant of Sujata Koirala introduced me to him,” said Bharati.

“I met Chaudhary thrice in Kathmandu and London thereafter,” he said. Asked whether Chaudhary was involved in the deal, Bharati said he had no direct knowledge. “But Dhungana had informed me that Rubel is also a shareholder of Assured Risks,” he said.

Rider appears annoyed by the unstamped proposal forwarded by Bharati to Nepal Police. “I really cannot understand why you can’t get a stamped proposal. I know you are not very educated and your business is very poor but how difficult is this?” the email reads.

Controversial Bangladeshi national Chaudhary, who is under the scanner of Nepal Police for his alleged involvement in illegal VOIP operations, has already left Nepal.

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