Wangmet festival

Lalitpur: Around 50 members of the Aathapahariya Rai today offered puja to their family deity on the day of Wangmet festival at a Kiranti temple in Hattiban. The Kirants consider Hattiban a sacred place. “We observed Wangmet festival in the capital for the first time,” said Pradip Rai, chairperson of the Aathapahariya Kirant Rai Society. According to an estimate, there are 14,000 Aathapahariya Rais in the country. Most of them live in Dhankuta. The 15-day puja begins on the full-moon day in the month of Kartik. Members of the community dance to the tune of Chabrung, a trumpet. — HNS

Bijukchhe’s appeal

BHAKTAPUR: President of the Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party Narayanman Bijukchhe has called on the society not to discriminate against the Dalits. He also called on the Dalits to give up conservative attitudes and beliefs. Distributing scholarships to 50 Dalit students of various schools of Bhaktapur district at a programme organised here on Saturday, the NWPP president said: “Dalits are also an integral part of the society.” The Nepal National Dalit Society Welfare Organisation had organised the programme. District Education Officer of Bhaktapur, Rajyalaxmi Nakarmi, said education and awareness can pave the way for uplift of the Dalits. — RSS

Shun violence: Badu

KATHMANDU: Minister for Information and Communications Dilendra Prasad Badu has urged the Maoists to shun politics of murder and violence for politics of peace. He called on all political parties and religious groups to work for sustainable peace. Badu was inaugurating a day-long seminar on Self-management and Leadership Skill, organised by the Bramhakumari Raj Yog Sewa Kendra. — RSS

Classes to resume

Kirtipur: Classes of the Central Department of Education at Tribhuvan University, which have been closed after an arson attack at the Department on August 31, will resume on Sunday. Masters’ level students of the department had set the department on fire to protest the alleged irregularities in the checking of examination answer sheets. — RSS