NEPALI NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM RETURNING FROM ASEAN TOUR SUNDAY

NEPALI FOOTBALL NATIONAL TEAM RETURNING FROM ASEAN TOUR
Kathmandu, 30 Oct.: Nepali national football squad is returning home Sunday after playing friendly patches in four ASAEAN countries to prepare for the SAF Championship beginning in New Delhi 2 December.
The Nepali team beat a Cambodian side 1-0 in its last match in Phnom Penh.
Nepal is ranked behind Bangladesh by FIFA world soccer governing body after bad performances during the ASEAN tour.
nnnn

COUPLE MISSING WITH BOAT ON BHERI RIVER.
Kathmandu, 30 Oct.: Yam Bahadur Oli, 28, and his wife of Salkot-2 have gone missing with the boat they were sailing while crossing the Bheri River in Butighat on Friday, RSS reports from Surkhet..

Police got the information about their missing on Saturday only.

The duo was crossing Bheri on boat at 9 of Friday morning, according to police.

A police squad has been deputed from the temporary police post, Tatipani, to hunt for the whereabouts of missing couple.
Nnnn

ECONOMISTS DOUBT GOVT. POVERTY CLAIM
Kathmandu, 30 Oct.: Economists have cast doubt over new statistics issued by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), which claimed a substantial decrease in poverty in the country. The CBS report last week showed decrease in the poverty rate by six percent pushing down the poverty level to 25 percent, The Kathmandu Post reports.
Speaking at a face-to-face programme organised in the Capital on Saturday, economist Chiranjivi Nepal said the statistics about decrease in the percentage of poverty are difficult to believe, especially in the context of increasing inflation. He also said that the government statistics now consider a family with a daily income of over Rs 53 as ‘rich’.
He said any statistics made public without determining clear parameters of measuring level of poverty would only mislead the people. Another economist Chandramani Adhikari echoed Nepal. He claimed that the CBS data on the reduction of poverty was not reliable in light of the findings of the UNDP survey on the topic. He added that the UNDP report based on the survey showed the poverty level in Nepal at 65 percent.
He argued that poverty should be measured in terms of education and health indicators whereas the CBS adopted a wrong process of measuring poverty on the basis of calorie.
Vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission Dipendra Bahadur Chhetri, however, defended the statistics released by the CBS saying it was gathered in a scientific way. He put forth the logic that the level of poverty has decreased due to increase in wage and remittance.
Nnnn

CONSTRUCTION OF ROAD TO TIBET IN RASUWA NEARING COMPLETION

Kathmandu, 30 Oct.: With the construction of the Syafrubesi-Rasuwagadhi International Kerung Transit Point reaching its final phase, the trucks carrying consumptive goods from Kathmandu and Trushuli are plying to Timure, which is about 150 km north from Kathmandu, RSS reports from Dhinche.

Daily essential goods such as salt, oil, lentils, rice, and gas, among others have been made available in a convenient manner and reasonable price, after the loaded vehicles reach Timure from major commercial hubs, informed Komi Nurpu Tamang, a local.

It has now become easier and accessible for the locals of Timure and the adjoining villages like Khaindi, Ghattekhola and Dalgaun area of Thuman, to purchase daily food items.

Meanwhile, the Nepal Army (NA) deputed for the security of Langtang National Park has brought the checking machine in use to scrutinize illegal goods if are being smuggled via the Pasang Lyamu route.
Nnnn

NEPALI MEDICAL CENTERS OPPOSE GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL RULE
Kathmandu, 30 Oct.: Nepali medical centres providing health check up services to migrants have decided to protest against Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Nepal Health Professionals Federation is staging peaceful protests from November 6 to end GCC monopoly in health check up of migrant workers, The Himalayan Times reports.

GCC countries are not abiding Nepali laws to appoint medical centres, therefore we are protesting against them, said Khadag Bahadur Shrestha, president of the federation that represents 170 medical centres. Those medical centres had registered under Foreign Employment Act 2007 to provide medical services to migrant workers.

However, GCC countries– Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain– have appointed 12 medical centres without endorsing members of the federation. Latest decisions of Qatar and UAE about acceptance of GCC approved medical certificates have worried them about their business. Qatar has decided to accept GCC medical requirements three months ago while UAE took the decision on Wednesday. Gulf countries major job markets for Nepal.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait have been providing jobs to over 70 per cent Nepali migrants since last two years. Around two million Nepalis are believed working in Gulf countries and 1.4 million are documented.

“We can’t survive without Gulf bound migrant workers, so we are protesting against GCC monopoly,” said Prabin Tiwari, general secretary of the federation. According to him, they are protesting also the monopoly of GCC. GCC couldn’t appoint medical centres without respecting Nepali law, he said.

The federation has filed a case in Supreme Court asking the government to protect medical centres registered for medical check up of migrant workers. “A bold decision from the government to protect laws of the land can change the situation,” he said. The federation has asked the government either to protect them according to laws or close them. “We are ready to close our medical centres but the government has to compensate to our investment,” said Shrestha. About two billion have invested in 170 medical centres.
nnnn