The all-party political mechanism, that was making decisions at the grassroots level, has, according to the Commission for the Abuse of Authority (CIAA), been illegally formed and it has asked the Ministry of Local Development to immediately scrap them within 15 days. There are many cases of irregularities by the all-party political mechanism with those calling the shots often engaging in corrupt and unethical practices. These were by no means conducive for development at the local level and the budget allocated for various development projects were misused and embezzled by the all-party polit...
Published On: 2012-01-05

Oh! No!!!!!.....” My parents exclaimed when I exposed my determination to take up psychiatry as a specialty of choice. “Why Psychiatry? You have good marks and you can really get any good (?) specialty in PG entrance exam. Don’t take that decision so abruptly….”, my friends suggested on hearing the news. This was the situation around five years ago, before I went to India for residency in Psychiatry.One of the interviewers, while I was being interviewed for Medical Officer, asked me which specialty I would choose if I was given the opportunity. I frankly said, &...
Published On: 2012-01-05

The thermal plants have come into focus in recent times. It is also a growing concern for our country. The government solely believes thermal plants are an ultimate solution to the problem of existing energy crisis in the country. Needless to say, the energy crisis could be reduced to some extent with thermal plants supplying electricity. On the flip side, the impact that they can have on the country’s economy is of great concern. The thermal plants require diesel, water, coal and coke or oil and natural gases for generating electricity. This would increase national imports of diesel an...
Published On: 2012-01-05

Himalyan News Service KATHMANDU: The foreign ministers of the seven South Asian countries during theinaugural session signed two conventions. One on preventing and combating trafficking in women and children for prostitution and the other on regional arrangements for the promotion of child welfare in South Asia. Trafficking of women and children, and child welfare, have remained a common problem to the South Asian region, home to one-fifth of the world population. Expressing hope that the signing of the conventions would contribute in welfare of women and children, Prime Minister Sher Bahadu...
Published On: 2012-01-05

I have been watching too much CNN ever since I was a kid. It was a compulsory channel. My dad forced us to watch it, he watched the current news and we sat waiting for the news to end. This routine got me interested into the current affairs. I have a special reason to favor CNN. Dr Sanjay Gupta! I think he was the first person that I followed on Twitter. He has been such an inspiration…Dr. Gupta is a registered neurosurgeon, academic and journalist. He is the senior medical correspondent of CNN and you have seen his work during the Iraq war, Haiti incidence etc… Nepal needs a S...
Published On: 2012-01-05

Conditions for high growth This is with reference to “High growth path” (THT, Jan. 4, Page 8). Investment climate and institutional reforms are definitely two important issues to attain higher growth rate. But, equal emphasis should be given to problems of slow-speed, lethargy and irresponsibility in decision-making and implementation of all on-going development activities. One often comes across grievances from project chiefs, departmental heads and PSU chiefs that are unnecessary and highly exaggerated publicity of the so-called “scandals” related to project cont...
Published On: 2012-01-05

The political parties had until yesterday to forge consensus on the forms of governance, as it was the last day as per the Constituent Assembly (CA) work schedule. However, being at odds over the forms of governance, the major three parties could not agree on any one form of governance. While the CPN-UML and UCPN (Maoist) are for a directly elected president and a prime minister chosen by a majority in the parliament, respectively, the Nepali Congress (NC) is for the president elected indirectly by electoral colleges and the election of the prime minister by the parliament. The discussions o...
Published On: 2012-01-04

In the last few months, there has been a great deal of public concern about the deteriorating exchange rate of Nepalese currency vis-a-vis US dollar. When we talk of maintaining foreign reserves for the purpose of meeting an imbalance in foreign trade, we mean imbalance arising out of the normal pattern of trade. Nepali rupee has been witnessing a series of depreciation in the past few months. It has depreciated by over 21.13 per cent since last winter, when it started depreciating from NRs. 71 to about NRs 86 per US dollar now. About two years back also the Nepalese rupee was depreciated, wit...
Published On: 2012-01-04

Picture this: loud music, flashy clothes, lots and lots of glittering gold and gossip. It was a typical wedding party in our very own K-town. It was the time to be jolly for some, because the wedding bells had been ringing. The month of Mangsir is a time for the bells ringing and uniting many a couples for life. But, somebody’s happiness has got to be somebody else’s misery too.This particular Mangsir, I was a spectator of a lot of such events and let me tell you the picture was not pretty. It depends how you look at it, but the human peception may vary from one person to another. ...
Published On: 2012-01-04

Jerome Gublin, a professional French photographer, has just returned from a trek to Kanchenjunga Base Camp. He says, “The walk to the two base camps of Nepali side of Kanchenjunga is like a 3 weeks circus where a new sideshow would be played every day. The uniqueness of this trek, not to mention the usual diversity of culture and scenery of Nepali walks, lies in its ‘high mountain’ nature: more than a week is spent over 12,000 feet with the perpetual sensation of being at the foot of these giants… Kanchenjunga can be made as a tea house trek (I did ) but I need to warn...
Published On: 2012-01-04