party meets continue

UML MJFL MEETS CONTINUE

Kathmandu, 18 July; A meeting of UML secretariate meets for the second consecutive day Thursday.

The party has proposed a adopting new agenda for the 19 November assembly elections.

MJFL central committee also continues its central committee meet for the

second day Thursday.

Nnnn

BUSINESSMAN MURDERED IN SIRAHA

Kathmandu, 18 July: A businessman was murdered  by an unidentified

group of six persons by slitting his throat at his house at Mirchaiya in Siraha

Thursday morning.

Guru Sharan Shah,55, was murdered  while sleeping at his house in

Ramnagar Mirchaiya -2 at around 1 am, police said.

Several family membershave been arrested for questioning.

Nnnn

ELECTORAL CONSTITUENCIES LIKELY TO BE RETAINED

Kathmandu, 18 July:: The Constituency Delimitation Commission is likely

to recommend the government to keep the existing 240 first-past-the-post electoral constituencies intact.

At present there are 116 constituencies in Tarai districts and 124 in the hill region.

A source privy to developments at CDC said the commission had decided to keep the existing 240 seats unchanged and that it would recommended the government to this effect.

CDC officials, however, declined to confirm that they would suggest the government to retain the existing constituencies.

But CDC member Netra Dhital said the members could not recommend addition of seven constituencies in the Kathmandu Valley (five in Kathmandu and one each in Lalitpur and Bhaktapur), as claimed by some on the basis of population growth. “If we decide to increase FPTP seats in the Kathmandu Valley in view of increase in the population, we will have to do the same in other districts as well for population has risen significantly there also. We cannot take this step without amending the constitution,” Dhital said.

The Interim Constitution has conflicting provisions which have but complicated the CDC’s task.

Article 154 (A) (8) of the constitution states that the election constituencies shall not be delimited in such a way that they go below the number of electoral constituencies that existed at the time of the commencement of the constitution, whereas Article 63 (3) stipulates that Madhes will have constituencies based on the percentage growth of population there. There were 205 constituencies at the commencement of the Interim Constitution.

CDC has nine more days to present its recommendations to the government.

CDC member Dambar Chemjong said they had apprised the members of the High Level Political Committee of the difficulties they were facing. CDC’s decision not to tamper with the existing number of constituencies and advise the government to keep 240 seats intact is because it wants to steer clear of any controversy.

Delimitation of constituencies is one of the major issues that may force parties to rack their brains even if they successfully resolve other contentious matters.

nnnn:

GOVT. KEEN TO PRESERVE INTANGIBLE HETIGAGE SITES

Kathmandu, 18 July:: With Intangible Cultural Heritage Council (ICHC) going defunct, the government has again shown interest in preserving intangible cultural
heritages with renewed efforts, The Himalayan Times reports..

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) has prepared a draft and forwarded it to other ministries to start the work on preserving the living culture.

“We have prepared a draft to form a body under the Intangible Culture Heritage Council through a Cabinet decision,” said Jaya Ram Shrestha, under-secretary at the MoCTCA. “The draft has been forwarded to the Ministry of Parliament, Law and Justice, and the Ministry of Finance to seek suggestions,” he said, adding, “It will take about a week to get feedback from the ministries.”

According to the MoCTCA, the guideline includes standards and policies to maintain the intangible cultural heritage and their preservation as per UNESCO provisions.

The government has already formulated a national cultural policy in line with the UNESCO Convention in a bid to preserve and promote the cultures of Nepal. The government in 2010 had ratified the UN Convention designed to safeguard intangible cultural heritages, such as folklore, oral traditions, social rituals and the performing arts, according to the MoCTCA.

“We will prepare an inventory and database of the heritages district-wise, domain-wise and community or group-wise by identifying the issues,” said Shrestha. “We will prepare a calendar and work accordingly,” he added. “We will also examine the past studies carried out on folklores in order to avoid duplication of work so that we can save time and money during the study.”

Intangible Cultural Heritage Council (ICHC), formed about two years ago to preserve intangible cultural heritages, has become defunct without delivering any output due to vagueness of defined roles. In the absence of the body, heritage preservation work has taken a backseat. Nepal is a signatory to the UNESCO Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritages. There are about 90 ethnic communities with about 120 languages and different living traditions. The nine-member ICHC, with culture minister as its chair, has culture expert Satya Mohan Joshi as its vice-chairman.

The main purposes of the convention, which UNESCO Member States adopted in 2003, are to safeguard intangible cultural heritages, to ensure respect for the same, to raise awareness on their importance and mutual appreciation, and to ensure international cooperation and assistance in those fields. Signing the convention binds governments to acknowledge their roles in international cooperation and responsibilities towards implementing the provisions of the convention through adoption of necessary legislative, regulatory and other appropriate measures, according to the MoCTCA.

nnnn

MEDIA GOOGLE

Shrestha (Aviation Mnister Ram Kumar) said that the interim government

will not stick to power if the four major political parties -- UCPN-Maoist, Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML and United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) -- forge consensus on the disputed issues.

(The Himalayan Times 18 July)

“Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Wednesday pointed out a need for a 'single communist centre' in order to lead the country.

”Welcoming four leaders of CPN-UML including former lawmaker Tek Prasad Pokhrel amidst a function in party’s headquarters, Paris Danda on Wednesday, former Prime Minister Dahal claimed that the country could witness progress only if such a centre was formed.”

(Report in The Himalayan Times 18 July)

nnnn