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JANAI PURNIMA BEING OBSERVED

Kathmandu, 21 Aug.;: The "Tagadhari" or those who wear the "Janai" (sacred thread) around their bodies change the sacred thread on Wednesday after having a haircut and a bath on the occasion of "Janai Purnima," also known as "Rishi Tarpani", RSS reports..

This festival observed by the Hindus, especially of the Shaiva sect, on the full moon day in the Nepali month of Saun is also popularly known as "Gunhu Punhi" in the Newar community.

According to time-honoured tradition, the people receive the ´Rakshya Bandhan´ thread, which is tied around the wrist as an amulet. The yellow thread is purified through the chanting of mantras by Brahmins as a symbol of protection from fear and disease. They also observe the occasion as "Kwanti Purnima".

Kwanti, a soup prepared from nine different beans, is a special delicacy added to the Nepali menu today.

The "Kulabarna Tantra" Tantrik text says that the soup is highly nutritious and keeps diseases away.

In the Terai region, there is a tradition in which sisters tie an attractive "Rakhi" around the wrists of their brothers wishing them long life and prosperity.

Today, thousands of devotees worship lord Shiva at Pashupatinath in Kathmandu and at Kumbheswor in Lalitpur and take holy dips in ponds and lakes.

Religious fairs are held at Gosaikund, an alpine area in Rasuwa District, and at Dansanghu, Triveni in Jumla district to observe the festival with offerings of worship to Lord Shiva.

A big religious fair takes place at the Gosaikund Lake and pilgrims come from faraway places to take a holy dip in this lake and other lakes nearby.

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CPN MAOIST PUHES TALKS AND PROTESTS KKathmandu, 21 Aug.:: While concluding that both the government and the High Level Political Committee (HLPC) were not honest toward its demands through negotiations, the agitating alliance of over three dozen parties led by the CPN-Maoist has decided to intensify protests against the upcoming Constituent Assembly (CA) elections, KIran Pun writes in Republica.. During a review meeting held at the CPN-Maoist head office in Buddha Nagar, Kathmandu on Tuesday, the meeting also said the talks with the government have not been productive and decided to sit for one or two more rounds at most. "We have come to the conclusion that the government and the four parties are not serious about resolving the problems through talks. So, we hae decided to stage more stringent protests," K B Gurung, standing committee member of CPN (Unified), told Republica. Earlier, the alliance had decided to sit for talks only with President Ram Baran Yadav arguing that the government and HLPC are unconstitutional but later it changed its stance and decided to negotiate with the government. So far the alliance has held two rounds of talks with the HLPC and three rounds with the government. The alliance has flouted 18-point demands. The next talks with the HLPC is scheduled for Thursday. The last talks between the government and the alliance held on Monday failed to make any headway as the government side insisted on holding polls on the scheduled date of November 19 while the alliance strongly objected to the government´s stance. The agitating alliance accused that the talks couldn´t move in positively as the government remained rigid over the election date. "The talks are not heading positive way so we have decided to sit for one or two more rounds at most," Mani Thapa, general secretary of Communist Party of Nepal, told Republica. According to him, the alliance will hold talks and stage protests simultaneously for now. The alliance has alleged that the government and HLPC are showing inflexibility during the talks. "We are ready to participate in the scheduled November 19 elections but the elections should be held only after forging national consensus through a roundtable of all political parties," added Thapa arguing that the new CA should be acceptable to all. "That is our bottom line." According to Gurung, the alliance will accept November 19 for election date if it is the decision of the roundtable.
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UCPN MAOIST RANKS PUZLED

Kathmandu, 21 Aug,: UCPN (Maoist) rank and file at local levels are in confusion as the party has issued two contradictory circulars in connection with recommending names of possible candidates for the upcoming CA electionm Kiran Pun writes in Repblica.. The party has sent out representatives to the 240 election constituencies with a mandate to suggest five possible names of candidates with an order of preference. At the same time, the party central committee has also sent a circular to the party district committees and state committees to suggest possible candidates. The state and district committees and the representatives sent by the centre have been directed to submit the names for candidates by August 26. "The party decision is contradictory;" Suk Bahadur Roka Magar, who was sent to Kaski constituency 1, told Republica. And the representatives are in a dilemma whether to recommend names or not. "We will counteract if our recommendations are not accepted. We want candidates who can win elections," said another representative. According to the representatives, they will be arguing that their recommendations are based on facts, and they will also furnish the reasons for their recommendations. The UCPN(Maoist) had decided to send representatives to the 240 election constituencies in different districts, arguing that the leaders of the districts concerned would only come up with partial reports [for purposes of the election], including the recommendation of candidates. But in reality, the representatives were sent to the different districts to neutralize criticism by lower ranks of the decisions of the party´s top leadership. It may be recalled that the party´s last plenum had exceeded the mandate of the Hetauda general assembly in dissolving its top body of office-bearers and also in deciding not to form the politburo and the standing committee. According to representatives, they have recommended possible names in accordance with seniority, activeness, contribution to the movement and also likelihood of winning elections. "There is no point recommending names for candidates at a time when a meeting of the district committee is going to be held [on Tuesday] and its decision will be forwarded through the state committee to party head office," said another representative, arguing that they are being sent out just to keep them engaged. "We are on the outside. How can we know the realities of a particular constituency? We have formed our views in accordance with what the local leaders said," said another representative. They also said that there will not be any problem if two different recommendations turn out to be the same. But if they are not the same, it will create problems.
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