YOUTH SUMMIT FROM 3 MAY Kathmandu, 25 April: ‘The South Asian Youth Summit’ is to be held in Nepal from coming 3 TO 5 May, RSS reports. The summit is to be organised under the Youth Employment Promotion Campaign and at the joint initiative of eight youths’ associations aligned with various political parties. Information about this was shared at a press meet here on Tuesday. The Associations organizing the summit are Terai Madhesh Youth Front, Nepal Tarun Dal, Progressive Youth Association Nepal, Madhesi Youth Forum Nepal, Madhesi Youth Forum Nepal ( Democractic), Sadbhawana Youth Front, Youth Association Nepal and the Young Communist League. Representatives from all the SAARC member countries- Nepal, India, Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan- will be participating in the summit. The regional- level event is expected to focus on promoting cooperation, coordination and mutual relations with the bodies concerned, minimizing challenges faced to increase employment opportunities in region. Political leaders, industrialists, entrepreneurs, media workers and civil society leaders from the respective countries are also scheduled to attend the summit, said Tarun Dal President Udayjung Rana. nnnn PRESIDENTIAL APPRECIATION OF APPA SHERPA OF EVEREST FAME Kathmandu, 25 April: President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav has congratulated record-holder mountaineer Appa Sherpa and the team members of the Great Himalayan Trail for the successful completion of their 99-day trekking, RSS reports. At a programme organized at the President’s Office, Shital Niwas, on Tuesday, President Dr. Yadav hailed the laudable task of the team for the country and pledged to continue his support for such creative works in the days to come. Prior to leaving for the trek, the President had handed over the national flag wishing the team success. On the occasion, mountaineer Sherpa shared his experience of the trek. Appa, who has scaled the world’s highest peak Mt Sagarmatha or Everest for a record 21 times, went on the 99-day trekking with a view to drawing attention of the international community about the impact of climate change on Nepal’s mountains and explore the importance of mountainous tourism and trekking in Nepal. The 1,450-km-long trekking that started from Taplejung had ended at the altitude of 5,500 meters in Darchula via Kanchanjunga, Gaurishanker, Manaslu and Annapurna mountain range. nnnn PARTIES AGREE ON ELECTORAL SYSTEM Kathmandu, 25 April: The meeting among the three major parties and the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) Tuesday made agreement on one more out of remaining three contentious issues of the new constitution, Nandalal Tiwari writes in The Rising Nepal. The meeting made agreement on electoral system deciding on the number of memberss in both of the Upper and Lower Houses. As per the tentative agreement, the Upper House would be 60-member while the Lower House will have 325 people’s representatives. The parties also agreed that the ratio of proportionate representation (PR) and first-past-the-post (FPTP) would be 45/55 per cent for the House of Representatives. As such, there would be 180 seats for FPTP while 145 seats would be reserved for PR. The total number of members of central parliament will be 385. As per the agreement, the number of existing 240 constituencies will be reduced to 180. In the 60-member Upper House, 50 seats would be for representatives from the provinces while 10 members will be nominated by the Cabinet. The 50 seats will be divided equally among the provinces. Out of five long standing disputed issues, the parties had on Sunday settled dispute over judiciary by agreeing that Constitutional Court would be established. On Monday, they had resolved dispute over citizenship deciding that principle of equality would be adopted for distributing citizenship. As such, citizenship certificate would be issued even in the name of mother. The parties have slated their meeting for 8 am on Wednesday as they could not hold meeting in the evening as the meeting of the 32 parties represented in the CA went on till nearly 8 pm. After their morning meeting, the major parties had made schedule to meet in the evening following the all party meet. "The meeting has made a sketchy agreement on electoral system by fixing tentatively that the Upper House would be 60-member, the Lower House would be 325-member," Nepali Congress leader Dr Ram Sharan Mahat informed the reporters after the meeting at the Constituent Assembly building in New Baneshwor. Dr Mahat, however, argued that the agreement was not final as the parties could adjust their positions following internal discussions about the agreed upon issues. "Therefore, I would say that there has not been any final decision." CPN-UML chairman Jhala Nath Khanal informed that the parties also dwelt on the form of governance and state restructuring, the remaining two contentious issues which are yet to be resolved. "On number of federal constituents, we may agree on 7/8 provinces. Discussions are underway over proposals of our party and the report of the taskforce (formed to resolve the issue involving representatives from all the major parties and the UDMF)," chairman Khanal said. Nepali Congress vice-president Ram Chandra Paudel claimed that the parties had agreed to bestow executive power to the prime minister elected by the parliament. "There is no debate that the PM will be executive and elected by the parliament. The debate is what amount of executive power should be provided to the president. This means, we have not given up parliamentary system," Paudel said. "The leaders briefed that naming, number, and boundary with regard to federal units was yet to be agreed," chairman of Rastriya Jana Morcha Chitra Bahadur KC said after the all party meeting. He said that Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ had briefed the all party meeting about the progress of the meeting among the major parties and the UDMF. nnnn NEPAL HOPES TO ERADICATE MALARIA BY 2026 Kathmandu, 25 April: Following a successful track record on malarial control in line with the Millennium Development Goal, the government has taken up an ambitiou s vision to make Nepal malaria free by 2026, The Rising Nepal reports.. According to independent external evaluation of the National Malarial Control Programme, Nepal has already achieved MDG 2015 and Rollback Malaria goal. It has been advised to launch pre elimination programme from 2011. For malaria elimination, the government is all set to launch Micro-stratification to update the stratification (comprehensive study) of malaria endemic areas and align activities outlined in the strategic plan accordingly in different strata by 2012, Dr. GD Thakur, director of the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division under the Department of Health Services, said. Similarly, the government is set a target to achieve 90 per cent screening of all suspected malaria cases for parasite diagnosis and 100 per cent effective treatment of all confirmed malaria cases according to the national guidelines by 2016, Dr. Thakur said. On the eve of World Malaria Day Tuesday, the government declared its plan to eliminate the mosquito communicated disease and further policy and programmes. The World Malaria Day is being observing Wednesday (25 April) with the slogan of Sustain Gains, Save lives: Invest in Malaria globally. According to a 1994 study, around 20 million people of 65 districts were at risk of catching malaria. Among them, 31 districts were found with malaria and 13 Terai border districts, namely, Jhapa, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Bardiya, Dhanusha, Morang, Kavre, Mahottari, Sindhuli, Dadeldhura, Ilam, Nawalparasi, and Banke, were malaria prone areas. The government had conducted a National Malaria Control Strategy 2007/8 to 2011/012 with the aim to control the disease. As the cases of malaria had declined notably after the government intensified its programme, the government changed its strategy and aimed to bring down the malaria transmission to zero by 2018 and eliminate malaria by 2026, according to the EDCD. The government had set a target to halve the 7,981 malaria cases registered in the year 2000, by 2015. It is committed to reduce malaria deaths by 15 per cent from the figures of 2000. According to EDCD, around 3,335 malaria cases were reported in 2009 while in 2010, the reported cases were 3,115. "Malaria deaths in 2008 and 2009 were recorded at 7 to 8 people," said Tek Raj Pathak, programme officer of malarial control programme. However, in the last two years (2010 and 2011), no malaria deaths were recorded, he said. nnnn