FNJ elections conclude
Kathmandu,
Aug 21: Voting for the new leadership of the Federation of Nepali Journalists
(FNJ) has concluded.
The
voting started at 10 am today ended at 4 pm. Of the total 1,508 voters, a total
of 1,449 votes were cast in the elections, said the Election Committee
Coordinator Chiranjivi Khanal.
The
Vote counting will start some time later at Nepal Academy, he shared.
Govinda
Acharya, Tirtha Koirala, Ujir Magar, Indra Rawat and Bhawana Bidhrohi are vying
for the FNJ's top post.
Acharya
is backed by the Nepal Press Union and Press Centre Nepal while Koirala is
supported by the Press Chautari Nepal. RSS
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21- Parliament concludes deliberations on
amendment proposal
Kathmandu,
Aug. 21: The Legislature-Parliament concluded deliberations on second amendment
bill on Constitution of Nepal-2073 BS. The bill was registered in the
parliament on August 16.
A total of 54 lawmakers took part in
the deliberations and each of them was granted three minutes to deliver the
views regarding the proposal. A total of 50 amendment proposals have been
registered over the bill which is scheduled to be presented before the meeting
for a decision today itself.
Lawmakers
from the ruling Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Center) gave their views in
defense to the proposal while the main opposition and some other political
parties termed the document to be against the people's interests.
Federal
Socialist Forum Nepal's Upendra Yadav questioned the purpose of the amendment
bill. He said though his party was in favour of the proposal, it was not enough
to address the issues of Madhesi indigenous people.
CPN
(UML)'s Tikaram Chemjong said the ruling parties introduced the amendment
proposal before the parliament at a time when they were fully aware that it
would not be endorsed.
Likewise,
Sher Bahadur Tamang from the same party said the proposal was theoretically
wrong while Harkabol Rai demanded its withdrawal.
-: 13 :-
Chitra
Lekha Yadav of Nepali Congress, stating that the amendment was essential to
ensure its acceptability, urged all lawmakers to vote for it.
Nepal
Workers and Peasants' Party's Dilli Prasad Kafley argued the amendment proposal
was likely to serve the interests of the political parties not the people.
Responding
to lawmakers' queries raised during the deliberations, Minister for Law,
Justice and Federal Affairs Yagya Bahadur Thapa said the endorsement of the
amendment proposal would help ensure greater acceptability of the country's
main law and contribute to the implementation of federalism. He took time to
urge all political parties to vote for it. RSS
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22- Aftershock felt
Kathmandu,
Aug. 21: An aftershock of Gorkha Earthquake measuring 4.6 in the Richter scale
occurred at 5:58 this evening, according to National Seismological Centre of
Department of Mines and Geology.
Chief
of the Centre Lok Bijaya Adhikari said the epicenter of the aftershock was near
Jugu in Dolakha district.
The
aftershocks of the Gorkha Earthquake are still occurring and a total of 485
aftershocks of four and above four in the Richter scale have taken place so far
after the Gorkha Earthquake that rattled the country in April 25, 2015. RSS
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23- CIAA nabs official from Attariya
Dhangadhi,
Aug 21: A team from the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority
(CIAA) arrested a government employee red-handed while taking bribe from
Kailali district on Monday.
Non-gazetted
first class officer Rajendra Saud at Revenue Investigation Office was held for
taking a bribe of Rs 45,000, said Inspector of Nepal Police Anil Kumar Upreti.
A team led by Upreti from the Kanchanpur-based Far Western Regional Office of
the CIAA arrested Saud based on a tip off. RSS
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24- PM Deuba embarking on state visit to
India on Wednesday
Kathmandu,
Aug 21: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is leaving here for India for a State
Visit from August 23 to 27 at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Narendra
Modi.
PM
Deuba's spouse Dr Arzu Rana, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign
Affairs Krishna Bahadur Mahara, ministers, lawmakers, government secretaries
and high-ranking officials would accompany the PM, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs said.
-: 14 :-
During his five-day trip to the southern neighbour, Prime
Minister Deuba will attend a ceremonial reception on August 24 and inspect a
Guard of Honour at the Rastrapati Bhawan in India. He will visit the Mahatma
Gandhi Memorial at Rajghat to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi. On the same day, he
will pay separate calls on Ram Nath Kovind, President of India, and M Venkaiah
Naidu, Vice President of India.
Indian Prime Minister Modi will host a banquet in honour
of Prime Minister Deuba and his delegation. During the visit, some senior
members in the Indian Cabinet will call on Prime Minister Deuba.
Likewise, the Prime Minister is scheduled to attend a
reception to be hosted in his honour by the Embassy of Nepal, New Delhi, and
have a separate interaction programme with Nepali community. Furthermore, he
will interact with intellectual circle and business community in New Delhi
during the visit.
Likewise, on the same occasion, the Prime Minister will
also visit Telangana, Andra Pradesh and Bihar states of India. He will return
home on August 27.
This is the first foreign visit of PM Deuba after his
election to the post June 6. RSS
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25- VYCCU launches ATM, member insurance and tablet banking service
Gaindakot , Aug 21: VYCCU Savings and Credit Cooperative
based in Gaindakot-8, Nawalparasi has for the first time in its history started
Automated Teller Machine (ATM) service.
On
the occasion of its 27th anniversary today, the VYCCU SACCOS has launched
member insurance programme along with ATM and tablet banking service.
With
the ATM service coming into operation, the users can withdraw their money from
any place of Nepal, India and Bhutan. The member health insurance programme has
been initiated as part of member security in collaboration with the Siddhartha
Insurance Pvt Ltd.
Likewise,
tablet banking service has come into operation so as to make the daily savings
collections tech-savvy. Sharing the launching of new services, VYCCU President
Keshab Prasad Sapkota said the cooperative organization would work innovatively
for the welfare of the members.
Speaking
on the occasion, NEFSCUN Chairperson DB Basnet appreciated the member-friendly
services launched by VYCCU especially the health insurance.
-: 15 :-
Gaindakot
municipality deputy mayor Bishnu Kumari Kandel shared that the social security
allowance that has been distributed from the municipality office would be
distributed through VYCCU from now onward.Vijaya Development Resource Centre
(VDRC-Nepal) President and VYCCU founder president Khem Raj Sapkota stressed
the need to launch more initiatives for member security.
Also
speaking on the occasion, CTEVT Butwal Chief Bal Krishna Poudel shared that the
institute in collaboration with VYCCU has been imparting different technical
and vocational training to the members of the cooperative.
VYCCU
has the strength of 35,000 share members with total capital of around Rs 2.5
billion and has been providing its services through 10 service centres, shared
VYCCU chief officer Madhab Poudel. Earlier, the cooperative had organized
secondary school level quiz contests in two phases and open blood donation
programme to mark its anniversary, according to its secretary Govinda Rimal.
RSS
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(20:00)
26- Two infants die of
viral fever in Jajarkot
Jajarkot, Aug 21: Two children have
died of viral fever and typhoid at Barekot Rural Municipality-3 in Jajarkot,
local people said. The deceased have been identified as Dhirendra Rokaya,
11-month-old son of Bir Bahadur and 9-month-old Man Bahadur Raokaya, son of
Jaya Bahadur.
Scores of local people have taken
ill following an outbreak of the diseases since some days ago, said local
teacher Ram Bahadur Shahi.
Lack of a health facility within
their convenient reach has added to their problem. "People of all ages
have fallen ill. It takes hours to reach a nearby health institution," he
said. Nearby health care centre is some three hours walk away at Aathbiskot
Municipality in neighbouring Rukum district, he said. RSS
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27- Temporary teachers'
protest ends
Kathmandu, Aug 21: The agitating
temporary schoolteachers ended the hunger strike on Monday after Ministry of
Education agreed to take their examination after the amendment of the Education
Bill.
With this, the scheduled examination
of temporary teachers for August 26 has been postponed.
There are above 2, 600 teachers
working on temporary basis. RSS
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-: 16 :-
28- ML boycotts voting process on constitution amendment bill
Kathmandu, Aug 21: The CPN (ML) has boycotted today's
voting process on the constitution
amendment bill. The constitution amendment bill was presented in today' parliament meeting.
Five lawmakers representing from the party have boycotted
the process soon after the speaker Onsari Gharti announced the voting process.
RSS
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29- Gold
smuggler Pant nabbed
Kathmandu, Aug 21: Nepal Police has arrested Rajan Prasad Pant, the main
accused behind the smuggling of 33 kilograms of gold, from United Arab Emirates
(UAE) and was brought to Nepal. Nepal
Police Interpol Section brought him under control with the help of UAE
Police.
Earlier, Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police had arrested
12 others for their alleged involvement in the gold smuggling from Tribhuvan
International Airport in January.
Pant was absconding after the episode. According to SSP Santosh Kafle at
the CIB, the police has forwarded the case against Pant in the court as the Interpol
handed over Pant to CIB for further actions. RSS
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30- SC
orders EC to register, provide election symbol for RPP-Democratic
Kathmandu, Aug. 21: The Supreme Court
(SC) has issued an interim order in the name of Election Commission (EC) to
register the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Democratic) without implementing its
earlier decision to re-verify the signature of the leaders.
A single bench of Justice Tej Bahadur KC
issued the verdict on Monday not to implement the EC's decision regarding the
registration of the RPP-Democratic.
Chairman of proposed RPP-Democratic
Pashupati JBR had filed a writ petition in the SC on Friday against the EC
after the latter decided to re-verify the signatures though all processes were
completed for the registration of a political party.
The EC has directed the EC to take
required decision in regard to registration of the political party and election
symbol by following other legal processes for the registration of the proposed
RPP-Democratic. RSS
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31- NMA
demands scrap of affiliation granted to NMC
Kathmandu, Aug 21: The Nepal Medical
Association (NMA) has demanded a scrap of the affiliation granted to the
National Medical College, terming the act against the agreement reached with
the NMA earlier.
-: 17 :-
The government's move to grant
affiliation to the college has challenged one of the demands of Dr Govinda KC,
who launched strikes time and again, demanding reforms in the medical
sector.
The NMA has been protesting the
government's move to grant affiliation to the college, saying this move was
against the agreement. "The NMA concludes that the government's
irresponsible decision has tainted the dignity of the whole nation," said
General Secretary of the NMA Dr Lochan Karki talking to Rastriya Samachar Samiti.
A meeting of the Tribhuvan University
Senate and Executive Council on Friday had granted affiliation to the college.
RSS
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32- Experts
suggest PM to implement past agreements
(Bhisma Raj Ojha/ CB
Adhikari)
Kathmandu, Aug 21: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's
upcoming State Visit to India should
focus on ensuring the implementation of the past agreements and further
consolidating bilateral relations and assistance, experts on foreign affairs
said.
The Prime Minister, at the
friendly invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is embarking on a
five-day state visit to the southern neighbour beginning from April 23.
Besides, foreign experts
suggested the Prime Minister for an utilisation of his visit as an opportunity
to indentify new sectors for mutual assistance and cooperation.
Coordinator of Eminent
Persons' Group (EPG) Dr Bhesh Bahadur Thapa, terming the upcoming Prime
Minister's visit a goodwill one, said it would be better to focus on the visit
on enforcing agreements reached between two close neighbours.
He expressed his hope that
the visit would create an atmosphere to build further mutual trust so as to
meet aspirations seen among the Nepali people from India, following the Indian
Prime Minister Modi's Nepal visit.
Serious talks on the ways of permanently addressing the
problems of inundations and floods frequent
along the Nepal-India border were
expected from the visit, he said, adding that
the visit would become successful if an atmosphere was build to smoothly
enforce the bilateral agreements reached so far between two countries.
Earlier, foreign affairs experts had suggested PM Deuba for
seeking solutions of current burning bilateral issues by keeping the peoples'
aspirations and national interests in centre.
-: 18 :-
Similarly, former ambassador Dr Jayaraj Acharya opined for
doing adequate homework for implementing the previous treaties and agreements
reached between two countries. He
further stressed on diplomatic and administrative preparations before entering
in political agendas in such official visit.
He further suggested sorting out the inundations and floods
problems seen in plain Tarai and border areas with the consent of both
countries implementing effective measures.
Similarly, the Council of Ministers has also prepared the
talks schedule including implementing previous agreements on constructing
Laxmanpur barrage and conducting a study on damages caused by the Koshi
barrage.
PM's foreign affairs advisor Dr Dinesh Bhattarai shared that
the visit will be centred on strengthening bilateral ties, developing the
mutual understanding and implementing the past agreements. He further added the
visit would be centred on developmental issues as well. RSS
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33- NEA
signs PPA with People's Power
Kathmandu, Aug 21: The Nepal Electricity
Authority (NEA) has agreed to purchase power to be generated from the People's
Power Limited.
NEA officiating managing director
Jaldishwarman Singh and Bharat Bahadur Khatri on behalf of the company signed
on the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) amidst programme Monday at NEA.
The 4.96-megawatt project
is based in Ilam district and the NEA has agreed to purchase electricity to be
produced by it at Rs 8.40 per unit in winter and Rs 4.80 per unit in rainy
season. The project having a total cost of Rs 900 million will be completed by
the next two year, according to project provider company manger Bharat Bahadur
Khatri. RSS
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34- Parliament fails to endorse second constitution amendment bill
Kathmandu, Aug 21: The Legislature-Parliament Monday failed to
endorse the Nepal's Constitution (second amendment) Bill-2073 BS due to lack of
two thirds majority.
A meeting of the
Legislature Parliament could not pass the bill with failing to garner a
required two-thirds votes.
The House needed 395 votes
of the existing total 592 lawmakers to pass the bill and 553 lawmakers took
part in the voting process.
A total of 347 votes were
cast in favour of the proposal while 206 members voted against it. To approve
the bill, the parliament had to garner 48 more votes.
-: 19 :-
The government had
registered the amendment bill in the House as it sought to address the demands
of Rastriya Janata Party (RJP) Nepal.
The Nepali Congress, CPN
(Maoist Centre), RJP Nepal and Nepal Democratic Forum among others voted in
favour of the bill while the CPN (UML), Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Nepal
Workers and Peasants' Party voted against it.
The Rastriya Prajatantra
Party (Democratic) and CPN (ML) remained off the voting.
The bill was presented
before the meeting for a decision as per the RJP-Nepal demand for amending the
constitution before the local-level election in the Province Number. 2
scheduled for upcoming September 18. Prior to this, Minister for Law, Justice
and Federal Affairs Yagya Bahadur Thapa presented the bill before the meeting,
seeking its approval.
The amendment bill
includes the issues relating to the language, citizenship, representation in
the National Assembly and boundaries of provinces in the constitution.
A total of 53 lawmakers
took part in the clause-wise deliberations over the bill. RSS
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35- NEA
signs PPA with People's Power
Kathmandu, Aug 21: The Nepal Electricity
Authority (NEA) has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) to be generated
from the People's Power Limited.
NEA Officiating Managing Director
Jaldishwarman Singh and Bharat Bahadur Khatri on behalf of the company signed a
deal on PPA amidst programme at NEA on Monday.
The 4.96-megawatt project
is based in Ilam district and the NEA has agreed to purchase the electricity to
be produced by it at Rs 8.40 per unit in winter and at Rs 4.80 per unit in
rainy season.
The project having a total
cost of Rs 900 million will be completed by the next two year, according to
project provider company manger Bharat Bahadur Khatri. RSS
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36- Some
central committee members elected in FNJ
Kathmandu, Aug. 21: The results of vote counts of the
Federation of Nepali Journalists (NFJ) elections from Province No. 5 and 6, and
valley have been announced.
-: 20 :-
As per the announcement, Purushottam Subedi and Basanta Giri
have emerged victorious as the central committee members from Province No. 5
while Kalendra Sejuwal and Purna Prasad Chaulagain made through from the
Province No. 6 in the central committee.
Likewise, Govinda Chaulagain and Lekhnath Neupane won the
elections as the central committee members from the Kathmandu valley.
Likewise, Krishna Giri and Dwarika Kafle won the elections as
the central committee members from Province No. 3.
Meanwhile, presidential candidate Govinda Acharya has
obtained 119 votes while Tirtha Koirala has got 108 votes as per the report of
9:30 pm.
The voting was held on Monday to elect a 45-member working
committee in the FNJ from its 25th general convention. Of the total 1,508
voters, a total of 1,449 votes were cast in the elections. RSS
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(Time-22:30)
Editors : Mahendra Subedi,
Pabitra Guragain, Dipendra Adhikari & Pritam Bhattari
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