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TOURIST ARRIVALS FALL 3.5 PERCENT IN SEVEN MOTHS OF

2013  

Kathmandu, 3 Aug.: Tourism arrivals fell 3.5 per cent to 320,989 in the first seven moths of 2013  compared to the same period the previous year.. 
But 38,560 tourists visited in July—an
increase of 0.28 percent compared to the same month the previous year
 according to data released by  Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).
Arrivals from India continued to drop falling 15.84 percent.
 ..
Arrivals from  Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have increased 32.26  and
61.68 per cent respectively while arrivals from Pakistan declined 57.76 percet. .
Arrivals from China increased 17.91 percent.
India and China are Nepal’s immediate neighbours.

Arrivals from Singapore and Japan dropped 2.16  an 12.19 per cent
respectively.

European arrivals increased 6.59 per cent.

Arrivals from Canada and the United States of America also
increased 107.10 per cent and 5.10 per cent respectively.

Australian arrivals grewf 32.58 per cent.

Aggregate visitor arrivals decreased by 3.5 per cent to 320,989 for the period between Jan-July 2013 compared to the same month last year.

A total of 43,063 foreign tourists departed from TIA in July 2013. The number of Nepalese arrivals stood at 67,422 while 89,159 Nepalese departed from TIA in July.

NO ALTERNATIVE TO ELECTION BOYCOTT SAYS BAIDHYA OF CPN MAOIST

Kathmandu, 3 Aug.: CPN-Maoist chairman Mohan Baidhya ‘Kiran’ Friday said that his party had opened doors of dialogues even if there was no alternative to boycotting the Constituent Assembly (CA) election under the existing circumstances, The Rising Nepal reports..
Inaugurating the 1^st meeting of the central committee of All Nepal Teachers Association in Lalitpur, he alleged that the UCPN-Maoist was applying tricks against CPN-Maoist to sit for the parleys.
“We would not have boycotted the election had attempts to resolve contentious issues been made through consensus,” said Baidhya, adding that the High Level Political Committee was not in favour of holding talks with his party.
He said that the government and concerned stakeholders should stop election procedures if they were really sincere about holding talks with the CPN-Maoist.
“We have put forth clear-cut demands to hold round-table talks and form consensus government under the political leadership to go for the CA election,” he said, alleging that the syndicate of four political parties wanted to go for election in present circumstances under the influence of the foreign forces.
Speaking on the occasion, party secretary Dev Gurung said that the government must not go to the election in the name of promulgating th new constitution without holding parleys with dissenting political parties.
Meanwhile,. The four political parties associated to the High Level Political Committee (HLPC) are to hold separate talks with other parties, which have been putting forth differing views on election.
The meeting of the HLPC held today decided that the four political parties will hold separate meetings with dissenting parties in view of ensuring the participation of the dissenting parties in election to the Constituent Assembly (CA) by addressing their rightful demands.
Reiterating that making the CA election declared for November 19 a success at any cost was urgent for the country, the meeting also decided to forward the preparations in an expedited manner to make the CA election a success.
Talking to media persons after the meeting, leader of the UCPN (Maoist), Narayankaji Shrestha, said that the meeting came to the conclusion that the dissenting parties would be brought into consensus by holding further talks and discussions by strengthening unity of the HLPC to hold the CA election on the stipulated date.
Shrestha said that there were uniformity of views among the parties associated to the HLPC on moving ahead by addressing demands of those parties, which have been still putting forth separate demands on different issues including delineation of constituencies and election process.
Shrestha said that it was another thing if the dissenting parties did not come for election and talks due to political point of view and added that election was indispensible for the country.
Similarly, CPN (UML) leader Raghuji Panta said the meeting decided to hold separate meetings by the political parties associated to HLPC with the dissenting parties including CPN-Maoist, Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Nepal and moving ahead by addressing their demands with flexibility in the context of election.
The  HLPC meeting resumes Saturday..

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CHILDREN WALL THREE HOURS EVERY DAY TO SCHOOL IN SOLU

Kathmandu, 3 Aug.: Children of Pabai Village Development Committee, a remote village of Solukhumbu district have to walk for nearly three hours every day to reach their schools, The Rising Nepal writes from Solokhumbu.

Every day, children from Jukey village travel through a dense forest along the sloppy roads to attend their school on time. As the village does not have a secondary level school the students of the village are left with no option but to take long and at times dangerous journey to attend the classes.

“We cannot allow our young children to stay in rented rooms at the village where their school is situated. They cannot even cook food and look after them properly,” an irate guardian Datenji Sherpa said.

Sherpa said that she including many other mothers live in fear until their children return from school.

“We fear that our children might slip off the sloppy hills on their way to school,” she added.

According to her, most of the villagers have been attacked by bears while they have passed through the dense forest has terrorized the guardians.
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As the village consists of very few households, the concerned authority is being unable to upgrade lower secondary school to the secondary levels. “It is painful to see our children passing through such a miserable condition,” she added.

The locals complained that Jukey village surrounded by dense forest is without the access from the government provided facilities and the state has done nothing to ameliorate their present situation.

 The situation of the villagers is so miserable that they travel six hours to reach Sotang VDC for buying salt and rice. The locals stated that the state must extend its assistance to the villagers and children so that they could lead a relatively easy life.

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