NINE EAST DISTRICTS HIT BY BANDH

NINE EAST DISTRICTS HIT BY A BANDH

Kathmandu, 12 Sept. Samkyukta Janatantrik Morcha Monday closed down nine districts east of Arun river in the east.
First reports said normal life has been disrupted particularly in the hill districts like Dhankuta and Taplejung.
The Morcha is demanding implementation of past government assurances while protesting failure to promulgate a constitution in more than three years and six months.
Organizations affiliated with UML and Maoists have threatened to challenge the bandh while asking the Morcha to withdraw the forced strike.
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NEPAL BEATS QATAR

Kathmandu, 12 Sept.: Nepal beat Qatar 21-10 Sunday in the 3x3 world basketball championship at Rimini, Italy.
The win is the first for Nepal is the tournament.
Nepal lost to Guam 7-19 in a playoff.
Nepal lost all matches with other countries in previous encounters.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“The party will bear the helicopter expense while going for party work. Otherwise. I’ll pay the bill personally.”

(PM Bhattarai, Kantipur, 12 Sept.)
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DELAY IN SELECTING ADDITIONAL MINISTERS FROM MADESHBADI FRONT

Kathmandu, 12 Sept.: There’s been more than a week’s delay in selecting additional members of the council of ministers from the Madeshbadi Front in government, Kantipur reports.
Names haven’t been selected because of differences between the MJFL, TMLP and TMLP-Nepal.
“Chairmen are worried the parties may get embroiled in difficulties with the selections,” one unnamed member of the front told Seven more members of the front joined government last Sunday..
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GTZ’s TRAINS FORMER MAIST COMBATANTS





Kathmandu, 12 Sept.: Maoist combatants staying in the various cantonments have started to see a ray of hope in their lives, thanks to the various skills development and vocation training programmes run by the German bilateral development agency GIZ (previously known as GTZ), CP Khanal reports in The Rising Nepal.
Balaram Jaishi, a Maoist combatant staying at Dirga Memorial Brigade located at Sangram of Dang district, expressed his immense pleasure as he got the opportunity to learn basic computer course in the cantonment.
"I believe that the computer knowledge that I have learned from the cantonment in support of GIZ would be supportive in my future whether I would be involved in army integration or rehabilitation," said Jaishi, who was born in a village of Rukum district.
Chandra Oli, a lady combatant who had recently passed her SLC during her stay at the cantonment, took part in English language class inside the cantonment in Sangram.
She said that various vocational trainings organized by the GIZ had made their lives busy and meaningful while staying at cantonments.
The vocational trainings provided by the GIZ has enhanced the confidence and exposures of combatants staying at the cantonments, Hira Lal Chaudhari, Commander of the Dirga Memorial Brigade told a team of journalists.
Besides computer and language trainings, GIZ is organizing tailoring, carpentry, CMA, electrical wearing, plumbing, and rescue trainings to the Maoist combatants living at various cantonments throughout the country. The agency has also been supporting coaching classes for SLC students of the cantonments.
GIZ has also helped the combatants who had sustained major injuries during the insurgency.
Shree Bahadur Khadka, a combatant who is residing at the PLA third division at Shaktikhor, is one of those receiving treatment with the assistance of GIZ.
Khadka had got wounds at his back due to the bullet hit during a war in Okhaldhunga district. "I have got a new lease of life after the treatment from GIZ," said Khadka, who was unable to walk by himself before the treatment.
While the government was not supporting the basic needs of PLA and treatments of the inured combatants at the cantonments, GIZ has helped the cantonments in various aspects for the betterment of the combatants, said Janak Bahadur Bista, deputy commander of PLA third division at Shaktikhor.
GIZ has been working at the Maoist cantonments to facilitate their stay and enhance their skills in diverse fields since the early establishment of cantonments under its ‘Support of Measures to Strengthen the Peace Process (STPP)’ programme.
GIZ is the only international agency other than UN, allowed to work in the Maoist cantonments perhaps due to the impression made by the bilateral agency through its ‘Food for Work programme’ in the Mid-West and Far West regions during the time of the Maoist insurgency.
"During the early establishment of cantonments, we had focused on infrastructure development and health programmes to facilitate those living in the cantonments. Now we have been supporting in skills development and vocational training to enhance the capacity of combatants," said Sushma Bajracharya, senior programme officer of STPP, GIZ.
During the establishment of cantonments, GIZ had supported in the areas of drinking water, sanitation, and heath facilities including establishment of health posts, providing health equipments and ambulances.
"We are not offering our assistance only inside the cantonments. We are providing support to various communities in the periphery of cantonments. Such communities are getting benefits from our infrastructural and skill development training," she said.
According to her, ZIZ has been spending around 7 million Euros under its STPP programme between 2007 and 2013.
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