Panel for Prithvi Jayanti

KATHMANDU:

Academics have laid stress on the need to celebrate the Prithvi Jayanti with enthusiasm nationwide and not as a formality. Participants of the 243-member Prithvi Jayanti and National Day main function committee at a programme held at the Royal Nepal Academy on Friday said that it should be celebrated as a national day in diplomatic missions and added that big projects of national importance should be launched on the day. Calling for the constitution of a main committee under the chairmanship of the PM, they demanded that Dibyopadesh be rendered music and the languages and costumes of the mid and far-western regions be preserved as they resemble the times of Prithvi Narayan. —RSS

Ghazal training ends

Kathmandu:

A five-day long ghazal writing training organised by the Sahityik Vidhyarthi Manch of Mahendra Ratna Campus ended today. A competitive ghazal recitation programme was organised to mark the day. Creations by Bipin Kiran, Prakash Raj Sapkota and Pratikshya Regmi were selected as the best ghazals from the 44 ghazals recited during the programme. Senior ghazal writers Gyanuwakar Poudel, Krishna Hari Baral, Lalijan Rawal, Sharada R Nepal and Devi Nepal had also recited ghazals. — HNS

Parties sign white paper

Kathmandu:

Some 13 political parties on Friday made collective commitment against untouchability and caste discrimination. The issuance of white paper has come with an aim to celebrate the year 2005 as the Year of Elimination of Untouchability and the decade 2005-2015 as the Decade for Elimination of Untouchability. Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, NC-Democratic, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Nepal Sadbhavana Party-Anandi Devi, Janamorcha Nepal, CP N-ML, CPN-Marxist, Nepal Samata Party, Hariyali Nepal Party and the Nepal Dalit Sramik Morcha have shown the commitment. The programme was organised by LANCAU-Nepal and the Human Rights and Environment Protection Nepal (HUREP). — RSS