PM, PRESIDENT MEET MONDAY

PM, PRESIDENT TO MEET MONDAY

Kathmandu, 14 Nov. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai is briefing
President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav later Monday on the outcome of the 17th
SAARC summit and recent political developments.
The president is expected to raise with the prime minister a cabinet controversial recommendation to the ceremonial head of state to amnesty a Maoist lawmaker convicted by supreme court to life imprisonment with confiscation of property for murder.
Opposition party leaders Sushil Koirala and Madhav Kumar Nepal Sunday rejected Bhattarai’s request for cooperation to implement the recommendation.
Bhattarai said the government won’t roll back a government recommendation for amnesty.
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PRACHANDA SUB-COMMITTEE ON STATE RESTRCTURING
MEETS MONDAY

Kathmandu, 14 Nov.: A sub-committee to resolve differences on
themes to incorporated in a proposed constitution meets later Monday.
The sub-committee under a main constitution drafting committee chaired by Nilambar Acharya is headed by Maoist Chairman Prachanda who
returned after visits to USA and UK Sunday.
The sub-committee meets ahead Wednesday’s meeting of parliament
which is expected to approve the 11th amendment of the interim
constitution.
A committee of experts is being following the 11th amendment to
Give recommendations for a federal state structure instead of a state reorganization commission.
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CONVICTED MAOIST LAWMAKER DHUNGEL DENIES
HIS INVOLVEMENT IN MURDER





Kathmandu, 14 Nov.: Constituent Assembly member Bal Krishna Dhungel, against whom the Supreme Court had two years ago slapped a sentence of life imprisonment with seizure of his all properties, Sunday denied his personal involvement in the murder of Ujjan Kumar Shrestha, The Rising Nepal reports.
Dhungel said that the murder was carried as per the party decision during the armed conflict period.
The government recently decided to recommend to the President for amnesty to Dhungel.
Dhungel expected that the President would consider his case as he had already served a period of eight years sentence, from 1999 to 2007, in the prison for the same and other related cases.
Referring to the amnesty provision by the President in the Interim Constitution (IC), Dhungel said adding, "The Provision is inserted in the assumption that even the SC’s verdict can be fallacious."
"I was arrested in 1999 and released in 2007 after the Rajbiraj Appellate Court issued a verdict in my favour. Previously, I was detained as per the Okhaladhunga district court verdict on that case, and during that period I was made to disappear for nearly a month. Due to that my right kidney is damaged, among other ailments," Dhungel said at a press meet organized at Jana Sanchar Abhiyan.
He also said that the SC verdict had also ignored the provision in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), wherein it is stated that both the warring parties would withdraw cases against any of them. The CPA is a part of the IC.
"What I feel is that the verdict has been made without reading the petition

properly as the petitioners have clearly said that the murder was carried out for political revenge and that it took place in 1999, when there was armed conflict in the country," he said, "How could a case related to insurgency be handled when the CPA guarantees the withdrawal?"
Dhungel, also a Maoist leader, claimed that the protest against the cabinet decision to provide him amnesty was a part of design to disrupt the whole peace process. "Everybody should know that 750 cases related to insurgency were withdrawn during the premiership of late Girija Prasad Koirala and 350 during that of Madhv Kumar Nepal."
He also accused human rights activists of being unfair as he said, "Can we believe that the rights activists are fair and not politically motivated when there are people like Subodh Raj Pyakurle who compete for chairmanship of CPN-UML and continue with their jobs of being a rights activists of INSEC after losing the party election?."
When asked about the circumstances about the murder, Dhungel said, "Ujjan Kumar had been working as an informer to the security forces. He had a wheat mill and every time the police went in the area for operation would be sheltered in his mill. After the Likhu operation, when 47 innocent people were arrested because of his guidance to the security forces, our party had decided to annihilate him."
Dhungel said that the case was given so much emphasis as the district, Okhaldhunga, from which he won the CA election, was an NC stronghold previously while UML general secretary Ishwor Pokharel was trying to base his politics in his district of origin.
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PARENTS PREFER ENGLIGH LANGUAGE TO MOTHER TONGUE


Kathmandu, 14 Nov.: The Multilingual Education Programme (MLE) initiated by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in a bid to provide education in mother tongue for all by 2015 has faced implementation difficulty as most of the parents want English as the language of instruction in schools, Manjima Djkaal writes in The Rising Nepal..
The ministry introduced the MLE policy and programme with the aim of addressing the problem of students dropping out of school due to language problems.
With the introduction of MLE, it was expected that every school going child up to grade Three can learn in their first languages.
However, school management committees, teachers and guardians were not interested to teach in mother tongue saying that the students would face problems later in life to develop their skills in Nepali and English languages.
The Department of Education has no data of schools imparting education to their students in mother tongue. However, it has printed textbooks in different 18 languages.
Jaya Lamsal, Director at the Inclusive Education Section of the education department, said if any school wants to teach students in local language, DoE provides training to teachers. The department also provides economic support to the schools to print textbooks.
However, only a few schools visit the education department seeking permission and help to run classes in mother tongues. Lamsal said that many schools do not teach in the mother tongue of the students due to the negative attitude prevalent among the guardians.
School Sector Reform Programme (SSRP) had planned to launch classes in mother tongue in 7,500 schools by 2015 for basic level education. But it is unlikely that the goal will be met.
The Interim Constitution of Nepal- 2063, the Education Act-2028 and other legal provisions ensure opportunity for the students to learn in their mother tongue.
Likewise, MLE Direcotry-2066 supports and encourages district education offices and schools to provide education in students’ first language.
However, Nepal Teachers Union has opposed the government policy to impart education to the children of primary level schools in mother tongue.
Tirtha Khaniya, an education expert, said that local political party leaders were also against programme because of the popularity of English language.
Khaniya said that the implementation of inclusive education scheme can’t be effective if the authorities do not take any initiative.
He added the government has no data of students and schools, which need education in mother tongue.
The students of Kanchanpur are obtaining primary level education in Ranatharu language, of Palpa in Magar, of Rasuwa in Tamang, of Dhankuta in Aathpahariya Rai, of Sunsari in Maithali and Urau and Jhapa in Santhal and Rajbanshi languages.
The government has provided supported 21 government schools to run classes in mother tongues so far.
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