CLASSES RESUME MONDAY AFTER FORCED CLOSURE OF SCHOOLS BY TEADHERS

CLASSES RESUME MONDAY AFTER A DAY’S CLOSURE BY TEACHERS
Kathmandu, 12 March: Classes resume Monday after a forced closure by
two teacher unions Sunday to press 47 demands, including giving permanent status of thousands of temporary teachers who have been pushing unsuccessfully
for permanent status.
Government and teachers sought five more days to settle the demands by
Wednesday in a four-point agreement between education ministry and teachers in the presence of Speaker Subash Nenwang and whips of the Big Three as
teachers dragged opposition parties dragged parties into the dispute with the government,
Education Minister Dinanath Sharma said a fast track approach will be
adopted to meet demands by amending an education act.
Teachers came under heavy criticism for opting for a strike as annual
SLC examinations were approaching the end of this month.
The threat of the resumption of a strike ahead or during the annual
examinations still looms.
nnnn
NEPAL PLAYS TURKMENISTAN
IN AFC CHALLNGE CUP 20012 MONDAY

Kathmandu, 12 March: Nepal plays Turkmenistan Monday in its third and
last match in the AFC Challenge Cup 2012 at Dashrath Rangashala at five
in the afternoon although the hosts are out of the tournament after two losses to Palestine and Maldives.
Along with Nepal, India is also out of the tournament—the biggest being
hosted by the Himalayan state.
North Korea Sunday was first team to enter the semi-final.
Maldives meets Palestine in the second match at Halchowk stadium Monday.
Nnnn

PACHAND SUB-COMMITTEE MEETS MONDAY
Kathmandu, 12 March: A Prachanda sub-committee on resolution of
differences on themes for inclusion in a proposed constitution by 28
May meets Monday after a long delay
and one day ahead of a special committee headed ex-officio by the prime minister in another attempt to complete delayed peace and constitution drafting processes by 27 May.
A 10-day extension sought by the Big Three to resole differences and break a prolonged headlock made no headway.
“The three leaders reported no progress [at a meeting with other [patrties]..They probably didn’t speak for more than one minute each. This o was one of the
shortest meetings I ever attended,’ said Rashtrya Janashakti Party
Vice-chairman Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohini.
Differences have to be resolved by Wednesday for a breakthrough.
‘I told them to work day and night and not to leave the capital. I ever asked Charman Prachanda to score a goal, [political],” Speaker SUbash Nemwang said on Sday’s meeting wth here parties.
A familiar patters is being repeated.
No work when there is time. Sudden round of meetings and activity to
give appearance of effort as a deadline approaches.
Nnnn

MEDIA GOOGLE

“:The statute of the 1990 could be revived by omitting the term 'King' and amending some of its articles. Inclusion of secularism and new electoral system to the old constitution is likely to end animosity and bitterness seen among the
Ninety per cent work of the Maoist integration is yet to be completed and given the situation, the promulgation of the new statute sounds meaningless
“
(Sher Bahadur Deuba, The Himalayan Times, 12 March)
nnnn


“If peace process and constitution drafting do not conclude in time, NC and UML must take the responsibility,”

(DPM Bijaya Kumar Gachedhar, Republica. 12 March)
nnnn


AWAITING DEATH AS CHILDREN CHASE AMERICAN DREAM
Kathmandu, 12 March : When their eldest son Anup got a visa for the USA 20 years ago, both Badri and Chandrakala Khanal felt on top of the world. It was a matter of geat pride for the entire family and meant a promising future, AnjaliSUbedi wriites in Republica.

To their added joy, the Khanal couple, residents of Kalanki, Kathmandu soon saw their second and youngest sons also heading for the ´land of opportunity´.

“Though we sometimes felt like seeing them or talking to them in the flesh, overall we were simply happy about our children residing in America,” said 63-year-old Khanal. “But once, around a year ago, both of us were bed-ridden with high fever. We needed intense care from somebody and there was no one else at home. I need not exaggerate how it feels when your children are overseas during such moments” he added.

For the first time the parents felt sad and helpless and the father could not help sending long emails to all three of their children as soon as he was able to sit before the computer. “They also felt sad and phoned us. But coming over here and seeing us as and when we needed them was not an option,” the mother recalled. After going to the US, the younger sons have never visited Nepal even once while the eldest could make it back just once 10 years ago.

This is a commonplace story for a huge number of households in present-day Nepali society. With educated youngsters lured by the Western dream and the less educated masses seeking employment in the Gulf, the number of ageing parents living on their own is well on the rise. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the absentee population in Nepal stood at 1,917,903 in 2011, or more than double that of 2001. And the highest proportion of absentees is from the capital.

“Once they go, they hardly ever come back,” notes Rupa Joshi, communications specialist at UNICEF. “And not being able to meet each other during special moments is equal to missing everything in life. The pleasure of togetherness is all lost, and forever,” adds this mother of children who are also not in the country.

The Khanal couple went through the same experience when they could not attend their eldest son´s wedding, nor could they be with the family when their grand daughters were born. Thanks to the internet, they later saw all that on the computer screen. They also went to America themselves later to meet up with the family, but that was not the same thing as attending those important occasions. What grandparents strongly miss nowadays is the company of their grand daughters.

“My eldest grand daughter needs a friend to play with, someone who would listen to her, enjoy with her. But in America, people hardly have time. During my short stay there, we became friends and she was so fond of me,” recalls the grandfather. Grandparents would love so much to see their grand daughters growing up before their own eyes, but the girls are too far away.

“If life is all about happiness and satisfaction, you need to have your grandchildren near you. After meeting my eldest grand daughter for the first time in the US, I realized what her company meant to me,” Badri Khanal said, sounding sentimental. “Sometimes, though not always, we tend to feel very lonely and restless, basically when we are not well,” the grandmother added.

According to Mita Rana, a senior clinical psychologist at Teaching Hospital, emptiness, anxiety and, most dangerously, the feeling of insecurity seriously affect the health of the elderly. “The number of the elderly whose children reside abroad is rising. While they feel empty and unhappy about not being able to see their children more often, they tend to become quite literally depressed, especially when they are not very well,” she maintains.

Recently, Rana was treating an elderly woman who had some health issues. “But her psychological problem was even graver. She thought that she could die any time and her children would not be with her in her last day,” Rana said.

A senior official at the Curriculum Development Center termed his own situation as "waiting for death". He was simply not happy about his children being unlikely to return to the country. “They have their own life there. Here we are just waiting for death.”
nnnn



________________________________________

CIAA TELLS GOVT. TO SYSTEMATISE RUNNING OF CIVIL
SERVANT TRADE UNIONS
Kathmandu, 12 March: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) today [Sunday] directed the government to systematise the formation and operation of civil service trade unions.

“The CIAA will write to the secretary at the Ministry of Labour and Transport Management (MoLTM) to monitor the civil servants’ trade unions and ensure that members of one trade union are not involved in others,” said the anti-graft body in a statement.

CIAA has also directed the government to gear up for the formation and operation of authorised trade unions of the civil servants at the earliest.

The anti-graft body took this decision in response to a case filed on Friday that stated that the number of members in trade unions is disproportionate to the total number of civil servants.

According to a source at the ministry, only six of the 18 registered civil servants’ unions are active at present.

The CIAA is to write to the secretary at the Ministry of General Administration to coordinate the work. The anti-corruption body also decided to inform the Council of Ministers through the Chief Secretary of the government about the directive.

As per a legal provision, a civil servant union that has a 20-member working committee and 5,000 members can be recognised as a national-level civil servant trade union after registration at MoLTM.

Civil servants upto gazetted third class level can be members of the union. However, an authorised umbrella union of civil servants is yet to be formed. For formation of an authorised trade union, there should be an election among the national level trade unions under a proportional system.
nnnn
NEPALI CURRENCY BEING SMUGGLED ABROAD
Kathmandu, 12 March: A Finance Ministry official claimed a bulk of Nepali currency has been smuggled from the country, Shiromani Dhungana reports in The Himalayan Times..

"Nepali currency notes are illegally being exchanged in several money exchange outlets of Dubai," according to director general at the Department of Revenue Investigation Shanta Bahadur Shrestha. "It is learnt that there are Nepali rupee exchange centres in Singapore, Qatar and UAE too."

Foreign currency exchange outlets in Dubai were ready to exchange even Rs 1 million, he claimed.

The department suspects migrant workers were used as mules to carry Nepali notes, he said, adding that smugglers might also have used the open Indian border to carry Nepali notes to Gulf countries.

Mostly, Nepali migrant workers exchange dinars they with Nepali currency notes in Dubai and send the same home via their friends. This trend will hit dollar inflow remittance, according Shrestha. "It will also hit the national economy."

The re-routing of the Nepali currency will hit the US dollar inflow as remittance. The US dollar is important to pay the import bill of the country and the current trend, if increases, will make it difficult for the country to clear import bill, as its US dollar reserve will deplete.

Recent months have witnessed increase in remittance inflow by 37.1 per cent to Rs 162.37 billion in the sixth month of the current fiscal. This is also due to weak Nepali currency against the dollar. In US dollar terms, remittance inflow increased by 26.7 per cent to $2.07 billion compared to 14.8 per cent growth for the same period last year. But smuggling of Nepali currency will hit remittance inflow hurting foreign exchange reserves essential for imports.

Nepali currency exchange facility in Dubai has provided ground for suspicion that big traders could be involved in illegal import of under-invoiced goods from third countries, Shanta Bahadur Shrestha said.

An official at the Ministry of Finance suspected terrorist financing may be behind this. "The currency might have reached there to pay ransom in abduction cases," he said. "Department of Money Laundering Investigation should take initiative to address the issue."

Nepal Rastra Bank should carry out a survey to assess the real situation of bulk cash smuggling, according to him. The central bank should also assess the problem and take appropriate measures to control cash smuggling, he suggested.
nnnn

PARTIES TO FOLLOW INTRNATIONAL NORMS IN INT’L BILL
Kathmandu, 12 March The three major political parties -- UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML -- have agreed in principle to follow international norms and practice while drafting the bills on Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and enforced disappearances, Republica reports.
During a meeting at Singha Durbar on Sunday, the Maoists, according to participants, pushed for general amnesty for most of the conflict-period serious human rights violations, except for cases of rape. On the other hand, NC and UML argued that international norms and practices should be followed.
“At last, the Maoist Chairman [Pushpa Kamal Dahal] agreed to follow international norms while drafting the bill. We are against granting amnesty to those convicted of serious crimes against humanity,” said UML leader Shankar Pokharel who participated in the meeting.
UCPN (Maoist) and NC were at loggerheads over the definition of “serious crimes”. Pokharel said UML and NC are for categorizing instances of rape, murder of civilians, and enforced disappearances under “serious crimes” while the Maoists only want instances of rape to be listed under the category. The next three-party meeting will deliberate on the issue in detail.
At the meeting, the Maoists had emphasized on finalizing the bill on TRC. But NC and UML brought up the issue of PLA integration and criticized the Maoists for delaying the process. The Maoists then agreed to hold a meeting of the Special Committee on Tuesday and drive the process ahead.
“We will discuss the issue in our respective parties on Monday, hold a meeting of the Special Committee on Tuesday, and then hold a three-party meeting to asses progress,” said Maoist leader Posta Bahadur Bogati, adding that the PLA integration process will take a momentum soon.
But NC and UML leaders say they are not very much hopeful about the Maoists taking the integration process ahead.
“I feel the Maoists deliberately want to delay the process, though they have promised to advance the process after holding a meeting of the Special Committee,” said Pokharel.
NC leader Krishna Sitauala said the meeting ended on a positive note. “We have decided to sit again with the taskforce members [members of taskforce formed to finalize the TRC bill] and resolve differences on TRC and enforced disappearances,” said Sitaula.
nnnn