SETO MACHINDRANATH BEING TOWED SATURDAY

SETO MACHINARANATH BEING TOWED SATURDAY

Kathmandu, 31 March: The extended festival season begins Saturday in the Valley first as the a chariot with Seto Machindranath is being towed through the capital from Sanskrit Pathshala to Lagon through Ason, Indrachowk and Lagon.
The journey to Lagon in likely to take three days.
The chariot will be rested during the nights at Ason and Hanuman Dhoka before the journey of the Goddess of Rain ends at Lagon.
The Bisket Jatra then begins in Bhaktapur
Coinciding with the Nepali New Year 13 April.
The extended festival season in the Valley ends after Rato Macindranath is pulled from Pulchowk to Jawalakhel in another chariot.
The monsoon will begin with the end of the Rato Machindranath jatra , described as the country’s longest.
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MMC MEETS THREE STAR CLUB IN 14TH BUDASUBBHA GOLD CUP FOOTBALL FOURNAMENT FINAL

Kathmandu, 31 March: Madesh Marshyangdhi Club (MMC) meets Three Star Club in the final of 14th Budasubbha Gold Cup Football Tournament in Dharan Saturday.
MMC and Three Star Club are both two time champions.
The winner will collect a Rs.250,000 prize money and the supper-up Rs150,000.
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JAPAN LIKELY TO RESUME ODA TO NEPAL
Kathmandu, 31 March : The Japanese government is considering resumption of official development assistance (ODA) to Nepal, claimed Radhesh Pant, chief executive of the Investment Board, a three-and-half-month-old body that acts as a facilitator for investors planning to enter Nepali market, Republica reports.
Pant told a investment promotion seminar in Kathmandu Friday that the commitment was expressed during his recent trip to Japan.
Japan provides ODA in terms of bilateral aid, in which assistance is given directly to developing countries, and multilateral aid, which is provided through international organizations, the website of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) says. Nepal has been denied this assistance since 2001 through which around 50 projects, ranging from energy, communications, transportation and hydropower to health, education, agriculture and drinking water were implemented.
“Japan stopped providing ODA due to fear of unpredictable political situation in Nepal. And it cannot be extended until there is improvement in the political climate,” Kunio Takahashi, Japanese ambassador to Nepal, told a seminar on investment promotion held in Kathmandu on Friday.
Citing fluid political situation as one of the primary reasons that was stalling entry of foreign investment in Nepal, the Japanese ambassador urged all to work toward building a political consensus. “This could unleash imaginations, ideas and recommendations to attract foreign investors to Nepal,” he said.
Renowned Japanese Professor Ryokichi Hirono of Seikei University, who was a keynote speaker at the event said every country that strives to attract foreign investment should focus on four key areas of ensuring political and policy stability, raising investment in human capital, formulating sound government policies for private sector, building efficient and clean bureaucracy.
“Although liberal international trading regime is also necessary to lure foreign investment, this is sometimes beyond any country´s reach to change,” the professor said.
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118 HELD WITH FAKE PASSPORTS IN 2 MONTHS
Kathmandu, 31 March: The Department of Immigration (DoI) has seized 118 fake Nepali passports in the last two months alone, indicating that handwritten passports continue to be misused both by Nepali nationals and foreigners, Shreejana Shrestha writes in Republica..

According to a data obtained by Republica from DoI, 67 people, including 11 Indian nationals, were found in possession of fake Nepali passports in January, 2012. DoI officials had also arrested a Sri Lankan national in January at the Tribhuvan International Airport for using fake passport.

“The trend of using fake passports is on the rise,” said Sudhir Kumar Shah, director general at DoI. He informed that most of those arrested for possessing fake passports had tampered with the original photographs.

“The trend is on the rise as those using such passports are mostly illiterate and unaware about the consequence of such a grave offence.” Most of those arrested were workers who had returned from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Similarly, 51 people were arrested for using fake passports at TIA in February alone. Of them six were Indian and two Chinese nationals. The two Chinese were arrested in possession of fake Japanese passports.

This is the second time DoI officials have arrested Chinese nationals for possessing fake passports. Prior to this, DoI officials had arrested seven Chinese nationals for possessing fake passports.

A DoI official said that the Chinese nationals are in police custody. Likewise, DoI has already filed cases against those found possessing fake passports at the Kathmandu District Court.
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