VICE-PRESIDENT JHA RETURNS FROM CHINA SUNDAY Kathmandu, 9 June: Vice-president Parmananda Jha returns home Sunday after concluding an official China visit. He held discussions with his counterpart in Beijing where he went after attending an expo in Kunming, central China. Nnnn MORE ON MAOIST CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEET Kathmandu, 9 June: UCPN Maoist organization department meets Sunday morning to finalize agenda for the meeting of the party central; committee. New members of the central committee, formation of the party's standing committee, politburo and different departments ate being appointed.. "Discussions were held to give a final touch to the political report endorsed by the Seventh General Convention to move forward the political programmes to make the party more systematic. ization department to hold tomorrow morning will finalize the remaining issues," he ad LOCALS UNHAPPY WITH INDIAN, NEPALI OFFICIALS MONITORING GANDAK Kathmandu, 9 June: People suffering from the Gandak canal have blamed the concerned authority that a joint monitoring team comprising the officials from Nepal and India pretended the monitoring of the construction activities under the Nepal Benefit Scheme, RSS reports from Parasi.. The joint technical team had visited the Gandak area after complaints rife about the irregularities in the construction activities under the Nepal Benefit Scheme and the subsequent pressure from the Gandak River Control Struggle Committee. However, the victims angered more after the joint team included employees involved in the irregularities for monitoring. Struggle Committee secretary Dudhnath Gupta said the monitoring conduced with the involvement of a tainted persons would not be fair but meaningless. Although secretary-level meeting had decided to check the progress and quality of the works, an Indian technologist of the monitoring team said the team was not given authority to check the quality but only review the progress. Struggle Committee Vice-Chairman Krishna Bahadur Thapa said the monitoring team just dramatized in the name of monitoring, as it did not monitor entire activities. The monitoring team including director at the Western Regional Irrigation, Rajendra Prasad Adhikari, Hari Ram Shrestha from Irrigation Department, and Chief of Western Regional Irrigation Development Division No. Prachanda Dev Bista from Nepal while chief engineer Sachchidanand Prasad Singh from India. The Struggle Committee further said more than a dozen officials directly involved in the irregularities were in the monitoring team too. They informed and interpreted the project as per their wish and need, the Committee argued. Nnnn LEGALIZATION OF ABORTION HAS HELPED IMPROVE HELATH OF WOMEN Kathmandu, 0 June: The government's decision to legalise abortion in 2002 proved to be 'landmark' in securing women's' reproductive right and improving maternal health in Nepal, GIta Saptoka writes in The Rising Nepal.. The abortion law allows any woman to terminate her pregnancy by the 12 weeks of conceiving. Similarly, if any woman conceives due to rape or incest, she can abort her fetus in the 18th weeks. Again, if pregnancy poses threat to woman's life, she is also allowed to abort. However, the law has prohibited the sex selective abortion. With the enforcement of the law a decade back, Nepal is now likely to achieve the Millennium Development Goal regarding the maternal mortality rate. The current maternal mortality rate of Nepal is 172 in per 100,000 live births which was 539 per 100,000 live births in 2000. Before the legalization of abortion, around 5-25 per cent maternal deaths were resulted due to unsafe abortion. Nepal has received appreciation from the international forums for its bold move to legalise abortion and secure the reproductive rights of the women. Arju Rana Deuba, president of Safe Motherhood Network Federation, presented "A case study from Nepal: Success full advocacy to obtain and expand safe abortion" citing the progress made by Nepal in the maternal health in the past one decade at the recently held Women Deliver Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. According to his study, after the introduction of the law, more than 1500 health care providers were trained in Safe Abortion (SA) care, 532 sites were authorized for SA service, all 75 districts including those in the remotest areas of Nepal have SA sites, According to national status, around 500,000 Nepalese women have already received SA care services during 2004-2011. Around 50 per cent women received post abortion contraception during the period. The study revealed that only 2 percent women experienced complication due to abortion. However, still many women of the poor community were compelled to conceive unwanted baby because of their inability to afford abortion service. Stakeholders have stressed that abortion should be made free to the poor and the needy people who could not bear even a minimal cost. One should pay Rs. 1,000 to receive abortion service in the government institutions and around Rs. 1,500 to Rs.2, 000 in Marie Stoppe. Several cases are still reported from the rural parts of the nation that women conceived unwanted baby due to their inability to pay the required charge. Among 800,000 total pregnancies every year, 30 per cent are unwanted and 250,000 need safe abortion service, according to the Family Health Division under the Department of Health Services. The Supreme Court has declared abortion as an individual right, and the interim constitution has identified the reproductive right as a fundamental right of the citizens. Nnnn BRAIN DEATH BEING DETERMINED Kathmandu, 9 June: A committee formed to formulate clinical criteria for donation of brain-dead patients’ organs has almost completed its task and will submit its report to the Ministry of Health and Population this week. The Himalayan Times reports.. Prof Dr Mod Nath Marhatta, a committee member, said this is the first time the country is preparing ethical medico-legal documents to legalise donation of brain-dead patients’ organs to save lives. He said the committee has finalised the criteria and is holding a meeting with the ministry. The criteria based on international practice are also compatible with social, legal, ethical and cultural norms and values of the country, said Marhatta. “Thousands of patients may die due to the inability to find donors,” he said, stressing the need for donation of brain dead patients’ organs to prevent death of the needy for want of organs. Marhatta also highlighted the need to make people aware of the need to donate brain-dead patients’ organs to the needy. Brain death is defined as the irreversible loss of function of the brain, including the brainstem. Organs of brain-dead patients can be donated within 24 hours of death if the patients were not suffering from diseases like cancer, AIDS, hepatitis, last stage of diabetes and communicable diseases. According to the drafted criteria, two Nepali doctors should confirm brain death and one of them should be anaesthetist or intensivist, whereas the other should be a general physician, surgeon, nephrologist or neurologist. Dr Pukar Chandra Shrestha, executive director of the Human Organ Transplant Centre, said the team is working to amend the provision for live donor in which donation is possible within friends’ circles. But they should provide strong proof of friendship. For this, the team has asked the ministry to form a committee to monitor the provision. According to the existing organ donation law, only close relatives like father, mother, sister, brother and uncle can donate organs to the patients. In many cases, the organ may not match or may not meet the cross-match level of blood between the donor and the receiver. The law prohibits buying kidney from outsiders. In such a situation, patients should go to India for kidney transplant, which is costly and risky.Every year, hospitals in the Kathmandu Valley handle around 500 brain-dead patients. “In the absence of a legal provision, we cannot transplant kidneys from these patients to the needy,” said Shrestha. According to the ministry, about 3,000 people face kidney failure every year in the country, whereas 1,000 face liver failure per year. Nnnn THAKUR URGES MADESHI UNITY BEFORE VOTE Kathmandu, 0 June:: Chairman of Tarai Madhes Democratic Party Mahantha Thakur today urged Madhesi forces to unite and fight for their cause. The Himalayan Times writes.. Addressing an interaction organised by newly formed Madhesi Journalists Association (MJA) here today, Thakur said since the goals of all Madhesi parties are the same, they need to put up a united front to empower Madhesis. “Madhesis continue to be discriminated by the state and Madhesi people’s resolve to fight discrimination will ultimately bring Madhesi forces together,” he noted. Thakur said the mindset of the ruling class against Madhesis has not changed. “Madhes contributes 76 to 80 per cent of the national revenue, yet the government budget for Madhes has never exceeded 22 per cent,” he said. Sadbhavana Party Chairman Rajendra Mahato said electoral alliance was necessary in the upcoming elections, but such an alliance should be based on agendas and not just to make somebody a lawmaker. He said if an electoral alliance or unification was effected without proper home work, the Madhesi parties that split into 13 different parties in the past, would again split into 26 parties. Mahato said Madhesi parties might have made some mistakes in the past, but they certainly did some good work to protect the interest of Madhesis, and this should be appreciated. Chairman of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Republic Rajkishor Yadav said Madhesi issues are national issues and the nation’s overall development can be achieved only when Madhesis are brought on a par with other groups. He, however, said Madhesi voters should have no illusion that non-Madhesi parties will address their concerns. “We are in favour of a broader Madhesi alliance, but that should happen on the bases of the agendas and ideologies of Madhesi parties,” Yadav said. Former Vice President of Nepal Bar Association Surendra Kumar Mahato said national parties were trying to weaken Madhesi parties but if Madhesi parties lost the upcoming elections, a Madhes-friendly constitution might not be framed. Chairman of Tarai Human Rights Defenders Alliance Dipendra Jha said democracy was in peril and to save democracy Madhesi forces might need to make some compromises in the run up to the CA polls, but they should not compromise on the basic concerns of Madhesi people. MJA General Secretary Suresh Kumar Yadav announced the establishment of three journalism awards fund. Nnnn BOOST FOR MODI TO BE NEXT INDIAN PM Kathmandu, 9 June:: Controversial opposition politician Narendra Modi’s hopes of becoming India’s next premier could get a big boost this weekend when his party chooses its frontman for next year’s general elections. AFP reports from Panaji, India.. Modi, chief minister of the thriving western state of Gujarat for more than a decade, is widely expected to be named head of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) election panel at a two-day meeting that began today in the coastal state of Goa. The post is seen as a stepping stone to Modi being named the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, despite resistance from some colleagues who see him as an electorally divisive figure for failing to stop deadly anti-Muslim riots in 2002, while other senior party leaders would like the job themselves. Lal Krishna Advani, the 85-year-old party patriarch who mentored Modi, is now opposed to his elevation due to what some party officials say is the Gujarat politician’s arrogant style and fears that he could alienate Muslim voters. Party officials said Advani called in “sick” and skipped a crucial meeting on Friday — the first time in recent memory he has missed a national executive meeting, according to BJP officials. But observers say Advani might relent and attend the last day of the conference to symbolically validate Modi’s new expected role in a show of party unity. A senior party leader, Uma Bharti, who has voiced reluctance about naming Modi as candidate for prime minister, did not attend the meeting of some 300 party members while former BJP defence minister Jaswant Singh was another no-show. Indian newspapers quipped today that the absent BJP leaders were suffering from “Namonia” — a reference to Modi’s nickname “Namo”. Modi, whose political mantra is small government and strong governance, flashed the “V” for victory sign as he arrived at the meeting. The Hindustan Times in an article titled “Goa First Steps in Modi’s March to Delhi” said the right-wing politician was gaining ground. “The scales are tipping in favour of a clear picture that Narendra Modi will be the BJP’s face” in the run-up to polls, the mass-circulation English daily said. nnnn