Kathmandu January 27:

Minister for Information and Communication Krishna Bahadur Mahara today said

media houses were ignoring the issues of disadvantaged groups and minorities.

Addressing a function organised by Jagaran Media Centre to hand over “Meritorious Student Prize 2008” to Dalit students scoring highest marks in last year’s SLC examinations, Mahara regretted what he called objection from the FNJ to the government’s plan to provide Rs 30 million to Gorkhapatra daily to publish ‘New Nepal’ pages in different ethnic languages.

At the programme, Mahara, who is also the government spokesperson, handed over the prizes to Puja Pariyar of Little Angels School and Bishal Pariyar of Gladstone Academy of Madhyapur Thimi who had scored 88.13 per cent marks in SLC exams last year.

The prizes carry a purse of Rs 10,000 and a letter of appreciation to each of the recipients.

Speaking at the function, Bishal said he wished for more support from the communities in the future as well.

Dalit leader Padam Sundas said that some people were conspiring to grab the 15 per cent quota reserved for Dalit students to study MBBS. “The quota to study MBBS is the only facility provided by the government to the Dalit students so far. Instead of seeking more

opportunities for the disadvantaged group, the government itself is trying to scrap the quota,” he alleged.