BODY OF SHIBA SENA NEPAL ACTIVIST ALSO RECOVERED IN DARJEELING Kathmandu, 3 Jan.: The body of Chandra Chudal, Shiba Sena Nepal leader, was found by Indian police along the Teestha river in Darjeeling, West Bengal. Saturday. Chudal was found dead in the Indian state. He accompanied Birtanagar industrialist Ganga Bishan Rathi, whose body was also traced Saturday. Family of Rathi identified the bodyof Rathi 23 days after his abduction. Nnnn LOAD-SHEDDING REDUCED TWO HOURS Kathmandu, 3 Jan.: Daily load-shedding was reduced by two hours Sunday by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) which said India has restored export of 30MW of electricity Daily power outage will now last 12 hours. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai got angry tweets from public when cuts were increased to 14 hours two weeks ago. nnnn HANUMAN DHOKA TEMPLES NEED RENOVATIO Kathmandu, 3 Feb.: Half a dozen historical temples within the Hanuman Dhoka World Heritage Site are awaiting a facelift since a long ago. However, the authorities do not seem concerned about the fading beauty of the ancient structures, Niranjan Sharma writes in Republica.. Gorakhnath Temple, built by King Prithvi Narayan Shah, is on the verge of collapse due to a Peepal tree growing from its roof. The king is believed to have been blessed Gorakhnath that he would rein any place he set his foot on. The temple has a footprint, believed to be of Gorakhnath, which is also a under threat of ruin. There is an ancient tradition of worshipping the footprint with a long procession led, by a band playing traditional musical instruments, heading to Gosain Kunda of Rasuwa district from the Gorakhnath Temple on the occasion of Janai Purnima. The Krishna Temple, situated opposite to the Hanuman Dhoka Museum, once enjoyed equal importance as the Krishna Temple at Patan Durbar Square. Its roof was also adorned with 21 artistic pinnacles just as the Patan temple. However, its importance diminished after the temple collapsed in the devastating earthquake of 1934. The locals say the then government had built a small temple at the same place after it collapsed. But the 6.8 Richter scaled earthquake that occurred in 2011 again destroyed the temple. “The wooden pillars have several cracks. They can fall anytime,” said Rajan Maharjan, a local. It puts the safety of visitors in jeopardy. The idol of lord Krishna was shifted to the nearby temple of Chyasing Deval, after the latest quake, Maharjan added. Similarly, Laxmi Narayan temple, the tutelary deity established by Joshi people of Newar community, has become weak at base and has tilted. The Hanuman Dhoka Conservation Area authority has used supports on all four directions to prop up the wooden pillars of the temple. Likewise, Kasthamandap, also famous for housing Lord Shiva´s image (Bhuteshor Mahadev) is also in a dire need of renovation. The Simha Sattal, built during the reign of Malla King Laxmi Narsingha Malla , has become badly damaged with continuous water leakage creating several holes on the roof. Bhagwati Temple, built by Jagajjaya Malla, is also in a sorry state. Though the authority paved the basement last year, the tree growing from its roof still remains a threat. The roots spreading underground can still damage the pavement after a few years, says another local Uddhav Karmacharya, adding, “The tree would have never been a problem had we cut it in the beginning.” Around 400 tourists from India and other countries visit the site daily, according to the Hanuman Dhoka Area Conservation Program of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). The office has collected Rs 10 million in revenue in four months from mid-August to mid-December. The Department of Archaeology (DoA) and the KMC every year revises the entrance charge for the foreigners. The authority has set Rs 750 each for non South-Asian visitors and Rs 350 for the tourists coming from South Asian nations. The officials admit that the threat prevails in the cultural heritage sites of Bhaktapur and Lalitpur as well. Sensitive to handle due to involvement of multiple authorities: Hari Kumar Shrestha, Program Officer of the Hanuman Dhoka Area Conservation Program under the KMC The DoA, Guthi and the KMC collectively handle the area, which sometimes create technical problems in coordinating efforts among all the authorities. The DoA has estimated around Rs 40 million for renovation of Krishna Temple. Similarly, the process to estimate the renovation cost of Laxmi Narayan Temple is also afoot. The Simha Sattal is in the worst condition among all the temples. But the Guthi had rented the ground floor of the temple and the tenant has refused to leave despite our requests. The archaeology office had initially prepared an estimate for its renovation, but works did not move ahead. We have asked for re-estimation on current rate. The KMC itself is not authorized to run any project without receiving consent of the DoA, which has also caused a delay. No renovation project since long: Rajan Maharjan, member of Jyapu Guthi Samaj The cultural heritages are getting older which need regular renovation and reconstruction. The ever increasing visitors, most of whom do not care about the sensitivities of the sites, are themselves a threat. The government has not repaired any of the temple and infrastructure in the area in the running fiscal year. The Gakuti temple is under construction since the last two months. Its construction has also been halted citing budget deficit. We have been demanding that the government use all the revenue collected from the site for the renovation. Nnnn EARLY MARRIAGE ROBS DOM GIRLS OF CHILDHOOD Kathmandu, 3 Feb.: Parbati Marik, of Chhinnamasta VDC-1 in Saptari, just turned 14. She was married three years ago and has already given birth to a daughter, who is one-year-old now. The teenage girl from marginalized and illiterate Dom community in the district, is again pregnant for four months now. "Giving birth to a child is beyond our control," said Parbati shyly. "Parents married me off at an younger age, and I cannot describe what happened after that," she added. Parbati´s two sisters -- 9-year-old Lalita and 7-year-old Babita -- were also married off a few months ago, Jitendra Kumar Jha writes in Republica from Rajbiraj. . The three sisters who were gathered in their parent´s house last week to attend a family function were of the opinion that they had to marry at the early age due to the tradition of their community. "Marriage is the responsibility of our parents and they married us off whenever they thought appropriate," said 9-year-old Lalita. The Dom sisters, who are not able to fend for themselves, have been robbed of their childhood itself as they are forced to look after their family and fulfill their duties toward the in-laws. They said even though they love to play like other children, they cannot do so in the in-law´s house. "We cannot play with friends while in the in-law´s house," said 7-year-old Babita, who got married four month ago. "My mother-in-law says that a daughter-in-law should not play outside as she has to do the household chores," Babita added. Lalita said she goes out to play with her friends when the in-laws are away for work. "Sometimes, I become fed up with the work at home. I go to play with other children when my husband takes the piglets away for grazing," Lalita added. The three sisters are representatives of all girls in the Dom community who share the same fate and are robbed of their childhood by early marriage. The Dom community marries off children at an early age fearing that they may not find good match when the children grow up. "It will be difficult to find a match for a girl or a boy, if they are older," Tetar Marik, the father of the girls said. According to Kisanti Marik, of Maledh VDC-3, most of the girls live in their husband´s house even if they are under age. She also informed that she married off all her five granddaughters at an early age. "After careful consideration, I married off my all five granddaughters at an early age and now they are happily living with their husbands and in-laws," she added. She also recalled that she was just three when her parents married her off. "I was still suckling my mother´s milk when they married me off. I don´t remember my wedding, but still I am happy," Kisanti further informed. Little effects of the legal prohibition on child marriage can be seen on the backward Dom community in Tarai said Yuktilala Marik, a leader of the community. "Only a few in the community know that child marriage is illegal. As the community remains backward both socially and financially, child marriage in the community continues unabated," Yuktilal, who is also the chairperson of the Dom Upliftment Society in the district, said. While there are around 3,000 Dom people in the district, only 10 are SLC graduates. Bhola Paswan, a mediaperson, who is studying the Dom community, said that the situation of the women in the community is further degraded as none of the Dom girls have studied upto the fifth grade. According to government figures, the Dom community occupies 0.04 percent of the total population of Nepal and 1 percent of the Madhesi population. Nnnn PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO UN NOT TO BE OF AMBASSADOR RANK Kathmandu, 3 Feb.: If parties fail to reach consensus, the government will send its Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York without designating the appointee as ambassador, The Himalayan Times reports. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha said this “degradation” is intended to escape the constitutional provision of parliamentary hearing for ambassadors before appointment. Nepal’s UN Mission has been vacated since last September following the resignation of then PR Gyan Chandra Acharya, who quit his job to assume the new UN responsibility of Under Secretary General in UN Headquarters, New York. “Constitutionally, any ambassador must face parliamentary hearing before nomination, which is not possible in the absence of parliament,” Shrestha said. “In such a context, we are planning to appoint only a permanent representative to the UN, without designating ambassadorial rank to evade the constitutional provision.” He said Nepal could not be without a permanent representative in the UN for long, given the importance of the post in garnering international support and promoting Nepal in the UN Headquarters. In the absence of a PR, the government had to depute Foreign Secretary Durga Prasad Bhattarai for almost two months in New York to secure Nepal’s bid to be a UN ECOSOC member. Normally, the PR in the UN holds the portfolio of ‘Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary/Permanent Representative” and is concurrently accredited as Nepal’s Ambassador to Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. In case a person is appointed only as PR, the ambassadorial accreditation to these four countries will be withheld until parliamentary hearing is conducted or the constitutional provision is removed in a legal way. The most prominent diplomatic outpost, Embassy of Nepal in New Delhi, India has been without an ambassador for almost two years and the embassies in Thailand and Malaysia have been without a chief for more than one year. Shrestha hoped that political consensus would soon be reached among parties, at least to fill the vacated ambassadorial posts in Nepali missions abroad, and in constitutional bodies back home. The government had earlier proposed an ordinance to President Ram Baran Yadav to escape the constitutional provision of holding parliamentary hearings of all ambassadors, justices and members of constitutional bodies in the absence of Parliament. The president, however, did not endorse the bill. nnnn