CAPITAL’S MINIMUM TEMPERATURE FALL TO 1 DEGREES CELSIUS Kathmandu, 28 Dec.: The minimum temperature fell to 1degrees Celsius in the last 24 hours in the capital rising to 2 degrees Celsius Friday morning. Mercury is expected to shoot up to 17 degrees in the afternoon. Nnnn MMC PLAYS MACHINDA IN FOOTBALL LEAGUE FRIDAY Kathmandu, 28 Dec.: MMC plays Machindra in the Martyrs Memorial; A Division Football League Championship at Dahrath Rangashala Friday. Shankata plays Myadhapur in anither match. Nnnn WARMER WINTER TO AFFECT AGRICULTURE Kathmandu, 28 Dec : The country is likely to witness a substantial decline in winter crop production and an increase in pollution, mainly in urban areas, thanks to warmer winter and no rainfall even by the end of December, Anjali Subedi writes iin Republica... According to weather experts, it usually rained two to three times by the end of December which kept agricultural production at normal level and also checked air pollution to some extent. But as "western disturbance" has not reached Nepal, it is least likely to rain, particularly in the central region, even in the coming days. According to Shrestha, western disturbance or the low pressure system originates over the Mediterranean Sea and moves eastwards causing rainfall in the Indian subcontinent, including Nepal. • Six die of cold wave in a week “We had observed such winters in 2007 and before that in 1996,” said Rajendra Shrestha, senior meteorologist at the weather forecasting division of the department of hydrology. While Shrestha did not like to include it among the reasons behind the warmer winter, another senior meteorologist Mani Ratna Shakya stated that global warming or climate change could be a factor responsible for pushing out normal winter rains. “But only a thorough study can establish whether global warming is the real cause,” Shakya said. According to him, normally 3 to 4 winter disturbances passed through Nepal, but there are no signs of that this time around. “Due to the lack of rain, the weather is not as cold in Humla, Jumla or Mustang as it used to be. The dry spell is sure to reduce crop production,” he said. Shakya, however, hoped that some parts of the country might receive rain in a week or two. “It might rain in the western hills, though I am less sure about the central region. Then it will drag the mercury down and the cold spell will last a bit longer affecting agricultural production.” Nnnn PREPARATIONS AFOOT TO REPLACE HAND-WTITTEN PASPORTS Kathmandu, 28 Dec : Amid concerns that all the hand-written passports would become invalid on the same day after three years, the Department of Passports (DoP) has begun the process to replace the existing hand-written passports with machine-readable passports (MRPs), Republica reports.. DoP has forwarded a proposal to this effect to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) as nearly 2.5 million hand-written passports will become invalid on November 24, 2015 as per the deadline set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Only MRPs will be valid for travel after the ICAO deadline expires. Officials said DoP has asked MoFA to avail Rs 900 million for necessary infrastructure and software development to execute the plan to replace the hand-written passports. "We have sent a proposal to the ministry to replace the hand-written passports as soon as possible," said Acting Director of DoP Yadav Khanal. Nepal started issuing MRPs on December 26, 2010 -- nine months after the original deadline set by ICAO to stop issuing hand-written passports. However, the government has not yet started the process of replacing the manual passports issued till then. The manual passports have a validity of 10 years. DoP, which is the only government agency responsible for issuing MRPs, has issued some 750,000 MRPs so far. There are apprehensions as DoP has the capacity to produce a maximum of 2,500 passports a day. Khanal said they are working to replace the manual passports with MRPs in a phase-wise manner. "We have planned to develop a permanent system not only for MRP distribution but also for e-passports to be introduced in the future," he said. According to Khanal, the proposal aims at establishing at least 20 enrolment centers across the country in the first phase. The government officials deputed in such enrolment centers will take pictures of the applicants and help fill up MRP application forms online, avoiding the current practice of bringing application forms to Kathmandu. Nnnn ________________________________________