NEW ARMY CHIEF VISITS DIVISIONS, BATTALIONS IN MID AND FAR-WEST Kathmandu, 4Oct. New Army Chief Gen. Gaurav Shumsher Rana visited Nepali Army divisions and battalions in the mid and far West regions, Public Relations Department said. Gen. Rana visited facilities in Darchula, Baitadi and Dhangadhi and addressed the NA personnel deployed there during a four-day visit. He visited Dipayal, and other battalions based in Bhajhang, Bajura, Achham and Surkhet. Gen. Rana returns Friday. nnnn LOADS LIGHTENED FOR PRE-SCHOOL KIDS Kathmandu, 4 Oct.: Pre-school kids now can have loads of fun as they go to learn; they don’t need to carry heavy sachels on their backs. And for Grade I-XII students, a standard weight for bags has been prescribed. The move is sure to earn accolades from school-goers and parents alike, The Himalayan Times reports from Bhaktapur.. A committee formed under the Department of Education to determine new standards for institutional schools has proposed that pre-primary children should not carry bags to schools and fixed the maximum weight of bags primary and secondary schoolchildren carry. Weight of school bags and number of textbooks students carry to school have always been a major concern in view of possibility of schoolchildren acquiring backache as they grow, but no substantial measure had been taken so far. Experts say schoolchildren are carrying avoidable excessive load in their school bags and suggest that heavy school bags can result in spinal abnormalities, including disfiguring curvatures known as scoliosis. With today’s proposal, parents also can soon heave a sigh of relief. Nirmala Koirala, a parent of a kindergarten pupil, says her child has to carry as many as 14 books (and notebooks) to school everyday. “It’s overload for a five-and-a-half-year-old kid, and he cannot carry his bag on his own. I have to carry the bag all the way to school,” says Koirala. “I hope now my kid, and myself, will be relieved of the burden.” As per the committee’s proposal, the maximum weight of school bags should be 4 kg for Grade I-V, 6 kg for Grade VI-VIII and 8 kg for students above Grade IX. However, the committee, which plans to submit its proposal to the Ministry of Education for approval in a few days, has stopped short of explaining whether its prescribed weight includes water bottle, tiffin box and other stuff students are asked to carry. The committee has also decided to propose the maximum distance students have to cover while reaching the school on buses. Nnnn NEPAL SEEKS FAIR SHARE OF TOP UN JOBS KATHMANDU: Nepali officials urged top UN officials, including the Secretary General, to ensure that Nepal gets a ‘fair-share’ of top berths in UN peacekeeping missions, Lekhnath Pandey writes in The Himalayan Times.. Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha sought appointment of more Nepali Army officers to top positions such as Force Commander, during his meetings with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Under Secretary-General of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations Hervi Ladsous, in New York on Tuesday. “As one of the largest troops contributing countries, Nepal deserves more senior positions both at the headquarters and in the field,” DPM Shrestha is learnt to have told Ladsous and Ban. The Nepali Army apparently complained that its officers were barred from appointment to prestigious and lucrative UN jobs for many years, despite Nepal’s significant contribution to UN peacekeeping . In his address to the UN General Assembly last week, DPM Shrestha had said, “We stress the importance of equitable representation of countries contributing troops at the leadership level.” Nepal has already contributed over 92,000 professional and dedicated peace keepers to the UN since 1959. According to Nepali Army, 58 personnel have sacrificed their lives in the line of duty and an equal number have been disabled for life. Ladsous assured that due consideration would be given to Nepalis while selecting candidates for senior posts, Nepal’s Permanent Mission in New York mentioned in a statement. The UN Headquarters is responsible for entrusting command responsibilities to top peacekeeping officers, including that of Force Commander –– a post which has not been held by an NA official ever since Maj Gen Paban Jung Thapa was appointed Force Commander to the UN Mission in Sudan in May 2008. In response to Ban’s concerns about the peace and constitution process in Nepal, Deputy Prime Minister Shrestha said the technical part of the peace process was going to be completed very soon. He further said that dialogue and consensus among national stakeholders would come up with a positive solution to all constitutional problems, according to the Nepali mission. Deputy Prime Minister Shrestha also said Nepal was committed to the development of Lumbini and informed that the High-level Steering Committee for development of Lumbini was at work to give momentum to the project. In this respect, the support of the Secretary-General and his active participation in the international conference to be organised in Lumbini in the near future would remain invaluable, he said. The Secretary-General, on his part, said that it was important that Nepal should be playing the leading role in development of Lumbini, added the statement. nnnn