Kathmandu, April 30, 2007

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala today appointed vicechancellors (VC) in three universities. Professor Dr Madhav Prasad Sharma, Professor Dr Ramaavatar Yadav and Reader Bidur Poudel have been appointed VCs of Tribhuvan University, Purbanchal University and Nepal Sanskrit University respectively.

According to Education Minister Pradip Nepal, the remaining key posts — registrar and rector — would be filled as per the VCs’ recommendations. “All stalled activities will resume from today,” Nepal said after a meeting with Koirala at Baluwatar. He said the appointment of chairpersons of the University Service Commissions will also be made by the prime minister. A four-member recommendation committee headed by the Education Minister today held a meeting at the Education Ministry and recommended the names for the VCs.

The key posts have remained vacant for the past 11 months. The VCs were appointed as per prior agreement between four major political parties — Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, Nepali Congress (Democratic) and Maoists. The parties had agreed on appointing their candidates in the four universities. CPN-UML’s candidates would take up the posts in the TU, Purbanchal University would go to the NC, Nepal Sanskrit University to the NC (D) and Pokhara University to the CPN-Maoist. A member of the committee, requesting anonymity, said the Maoists today did not recommend a name for the Pokhara University VC.

The newly-appointed TU VC, Professor Dr Madhav Sharma, is a former rector of the TU and has served for four years from 1994.

Govt identifies 18,924 IDPs

Kathmandu, April 30, 2007

The government has identified 18,924 internally displaced people (IDPs) as of now. It has also recognised 6,923 families as internally displaced due to the 11-year-old Maoist conflict. In 26 districts, only the number of internally displaced families are known and their members are yet to be identified.

The number of IDPs is expected to double after the CDO offices complete their registration in all the 75 districts. The government has not set any deadline for the registration of IDPs. “We have received the data of 18,924 IDPs, which will be sent to the concerned ministry within a day or two,” said a Section Officer at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA).

The new entry of the IDPs will also be given to the newly established Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MoPR), which is responsible for implementing relief programmes meant for the IDPs.

A total of 3,010 internally displaced families are in the current list of MoHA for providing “immediate relief” of Rs 5000 each. “The total sum the government has proposed for this is Rs 15,050,000. The proposal has been sent to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), which will release the amount soon,” an official at the MoHA said.