HOLI BEING CELEBRATED

UPDATE HOLI BEING CELEBRATED
Kathmandu, 7 March: The spring festival Holi in beong celebrated in the Himalayan and hill regions since Wednesday morning.
Thirty-five youth throwing balloons mainly targeting girls unwilling to celebrate the festival, were arrested in the capital.
Nearly 2,200 policemen and women have been deployed to mark subdued celebration.
Police is discouraging throwing lolas and drunken driving.
Celebrations end Thursday morning with the burning of the chir or the bamboo at Tundikhel at four in the morning; the pole was erected at Basantapur one week ago
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SAUDI ARABIA TO OPEN EMBASSY IN NEPAL
Kathmandu, 7 March;: Saudi Arabia has decided an embassy in Nepal.
The decision of the Saudi government was conveyed to the Nepali embassy in the oil rich country Tuesday, Nepal embassy reported to government in the Nepali capital.
Migrant Nepali workers who have to travel. to Bangladesh through India to collect visas stand to benefit.
Currently, 600,000 Nepalis work in Saudi Arabia.
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KUWAIT TO INVEST IN BUDI GANGA HYDRO PLANT
Kathmandu, 7 March: Kuwait will finance the construction of the 30MW Budi Ganga Hydro Power Project being built at estimated cost of Rs.4 billion.
Finance Minister Barshaman Singh Puns said this Tuesday on return home after investment talks in Kuwait.
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TWO DEAD, THREE INJURED IN VEHICULAR ACCIDENTS
Kathmandu, 7 March: One person died and another was injured in a vehicular
accident Wednesday near Alekhgunj in Bara Wednesday.
One motorcyclist died and two pillion riders died on a Morang highway when
hit by a tractor on a highway in Morang.
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GOVT., TEACHER ACCORD
Kathmandu, 7 March: The Ministry of Education (MoE) and the agitating teachers reached an agreement on major issues including permanent status to the temporary teachers and create posts for staff in the schools on Tuesday, The Kathmandu Post reports.
A meeting of the MoE panel led by Education Minister Dina Nath Sharma and representatives from the teachers’ unions on Tuesday forged an agreement on major issues while remaining ones are scheduled to be sorted out on Thursday. As per the demands of the protesting teachers, the ministry has agreed to call internal competition among the temporary teachers to give them permanent status and offer a golden handshake to those who don’t want to take part in the competition. Those temporary teachers who opt for the voluntary retirement will be given an incentive package based on the number of service years under three categories. Over 20,000 temporary teachers from primary to secondary level will be benefited from the agreement.
According to MoE Spokesperson Janardan Nepal, the ministry has agreed to count the service years of such teachers and provide one mark for each year of service in the internal competition. “We have also agreed to create staff posts in every school on the basis of the number of students enrolled,” he added. The deal also envisions to reinstate or compensate those teachers who were compelled to quit their jobs during the decade-long conflict. General Secretary of Nepal Educational Republican Forum (NERF) Upendra Yadav, who was in the meet, informed that they have agreed to double the salary of teachers under Early Childhood Development quota to Rs 5,000.
The government called the teachers for dialogue after they threatened not to cooperate with the School Leaving Certificate examinations scheduled to start on March 20. Around two dozens teachers’ unions organised under Nepal Teachers Union, Nepal Teachers Association and NERF have been staging protests for over a month. Their 47-point charter of demands include permanent status for temporary teachers though internal competitions, appointment letters to the teachers from private schools and salaries on a par with their government school counterparts and reinstatement or compensation to the conflict victim teachers, among others.
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7-POINT AGREEMENT BASIS FOR UNITY
Kathmandu, 7 March: The National Represen-tatives’ Council of the CPN-UML has asked the government to take immediate steps to integrate PLA combatants and vacate the cantonments in accordance with the seven-point agreement, Bhadra Sharma writes in The Kathmandu Post..
Such a call comes as the army integration process continues to be bogged down in political wrangling even five months after the signing of the seven-point pact. The UML jamboree endorsed a document stating the Maoist noncompliance of the past accords have made the integration process more complex.
“Contrary to the sprit of the past agreements, the Maoists have been demanding higher posts for their combatants in the Nepal Army,” stated the proposal. “Such deeds have not only created complexities in keeping professional and non-political characteristics of the Nepal Army intact,
but also lead to politicisation of the Army.”
The meeting warned the government not to make irresponsible and anti-national statements. “We want to criticise any remarks that are against the national interest, unity and sovereignty and ask the concerned not to give anti-national statements anymore,” added the document.
The proposal censured the government for “promoting corruption, signing controversial Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement (BIPPA), inviting Monsanto, misusing the budget allocated in the name of combatants and haphazard release of relief to conflict victims”. “Cabinet members found involved in corruption are walking scot-free. So we want them to be booked.”
The three-day meeting also endorsed a proposal to launch a nationwide campaign to press for the completion of peace and constitution within the May 27 deadline. For this, senior leaders are expected to visit major cities of the country to crate pressure from the local level.
Similarly, UML leaders expressed serious concerns over weakening security situation across the country. The government has been told to take
immediate action to improve security arrangements and save innocent lives.
UML has formed a 14-member election commission to deal with internal activities related to the elections, including the nomination of candidates for the upcoming central, provinces and local elections in line with the Butwal General Convention.
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