Govt starts consultations to draw new-media policy

Kathmandu, Jan 6, The government has started consultations among the concerned from the media sector to draft a new media policy to institutionalize the information and communications sector. The Information and Communications Ministry and Radio Nepal are jointly preparing the new policy with support from Japan International Cooperation Agency under the Media for Peace Project. Information and Communications secretary Shreedhar Gautam said that the new media policy would assess the issues of the media by incorporating the people’s voices. He said, "The new policy will resolve the issues of electronic media, print media, film industry and advertising." Speaking at an interaction about the new media policy in the capital on Friday, Gautam said that the media houses had the authority to introduce the new policy to promote the media sector of Nepal. On the occasion, participants stressed that the new policy should help increase national and international investment to promote the media sector. The first draft of the policy sought to involve the private sector in the management team to transform the Gorkhapatra Corporation. The policy also suggested that the government should increase investment for the corporation to transform it as a modern media house. The policy also recommended government support for new technology and restructuring of the corporation. It also suggested the government should support Nepal Television, Radio Nepal and RSS for modernizing their services. It advised further investment to these organizations to ensure the people rights to information and communication. The policy has attached priority to improve Nepali languages and modern technology in the media sector of Nepal. It aims at ensuring people’s right to information and communication and promote media education across the nation. The first draft policy suggested Independent Training Council, High Level Independent Media Commission, and respectful salary for working journalists to promote the media sector. Secretary Gautam said that the media houses were the concerned beneficiaries of the new policy and added that his ministry was ready to facilitate and support to implement it.

Security bodies to be mobilised to cope with wild tuskers

Damak, Jan. 6, A meeting of the district security committee of Jhapa Friday decided to mobilize security organizations, including Nepal Army, to cope with the menace of the wild tuskers after three persons lost their lives in an attack in a bordering village in Prithvinagar Village Development Committee Thursday morning. Two others were injured when the Indian wild beasts entered the human settlement in the southern part of the district. According to Chief District Officer Gehanath Bhandari, a meeting of the committee held immediately after a field visit to the affected area, took the move to save lives of the people by restricting the movement of the elephants and driving them away to their habitats. All security agencies were, with special security measures, mobilized to chase away the beasts from Thursday. He said that the meeting also decided to write the concerned government bodies demanding a special team to tranquilize the elephants and take them to wildlife reserves. Locals of Prithivinagar and Jalthal were living in terror after a rampaging elephant killed three people in Prithvinagar and moved towards Jalthal. A herd of elephants was also seen in Chandragadi-9, near the district headquarters Thursday evening. A joint team of Army, Armed Police Forces, Nepal Police and forest rangers led by CDO Bhandari followed the beasts until midnight. A team of Armed Police Force from its Pathibhara Battalion was also mobilized the whole night in Barhagothe area in Ilam after an elephant entered the human settlement. The border security office has directed all the concerned bodies to remain in high alert for restraining the movement of the elephants and kept a rapid response team standby in the office. The border security force has also ordered the concerned bodies to remain high alert round the clock and fire in air in case the elephants were seen. Deputy Superintendent of Police Balaram Lamichhane said that initiation to dispatch a special team to monitor the movement of the tuskers in Prithvinagar and other vulnerable areas was being taken. Police were dispatched in most of the identified routes. The locals of Prthivinagar said that the tuskers’ movement was becoming increasingly difficult to control as they used various routes to enter Nepal from India. Meanwhile, a task force formed to recommend the government suggestions for implementing effective measures to control the series of terror created by the tuskers has initiated its work in Jhapa. Mohan Sharma, member of working team and director of Eastern Regional Forest Directorate, said that the team would summit its suggestions within 15 days. Though there is no exact data of the number of deaths caused by elephant attacks till date, the record of district forest office Jhapa reveals that nine people were killed by the wild tuskers in two years. If the deaths of the two Bhutanese refuges of Beldangi included, the toll in two years increased to 11. The office started keeping records of the deaths from 2010 after the government introduced a provision to provide compensation to the victims of the family. Durga Poudel, 57, Ashmaya Rai, 75, and Gunmaya Basnet, 68, of Prithvinagar were killed by a tusker Thursday. Meanwhile, farmers in Bardiya district furious after the wild elephants caused damage to the standing crops and their houses. The beasts enter Bhimpapur of Shankarpur VDC and Shivapur and Hattisar of Thakudwar almost everyday and damage wheat, sugarcane and houses of locals. They damaged sugarcane and wheat grown in 20 bighas of land in Shanakerpu and Shivapur in the last one month. A herd of 15-16 elephants enter the villages almost every evening and the villagers apply traditional methods to chase them away, said Om Prakash Yadav of Shankarpur.

Inaugurating

Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai inaugurating the Gorkha Science and Technical Education Cooperative Ltd. in Gorkha, Friday

EC registers 10 million people in e-voters’ list

Kathmandu, Jan. 6, Acting Chief Election Commissioner Neelkantha Upreti disclosed on Friday that the Election Commission (EC) has registered names of 10 million people across the nation in the electronic voters’ list. "It is their electronic voters’ identity card with photographs," he said. Upreti made this remark speaking at an interaction on ‘Prospects and Contests of Voter Registration and Representation Model in the New Constitution’ organized by National Election Observation Committee (NEoC). He said the concern that the well informed elite groups of city areas were found reluctant to enroll their names in the list. The Commission had reached 10,000 locations to collect the voters’ names. Urging the civil society to play constructive role to make the EC’s bid to reform electoral process a success, Upreti said that the Commission wanted to enroll the names of all eligible voters in the voters’ list. He said that the new identity cards with photographs would avoid duplication and fraud voting in the upcoming elections. Constituent Assembly (CA) member Agni Kharel said that the political parties had agreed on mixed model of electoral system. "However, the details are yet to be worked out in this regard," he said. He said that the lack of sincerity among the political leadership had delayed the constitution drafting process. Presenting a working paper, NEoC general secretary Dr. Gopal Krishna Siwakoti said that the voters’ list or names should be documented by considering the situation of migrated and internally displaced population, among others issues. Urging the EC to review its voters’ registration process, he also lauded the role of media to ensure people’s fundamental ‘right to vote’ by making the voters’ registration process more scientific. Former chief of the EC Bhoj Raj Pokhrel suggested that the election process should be simplified and economic so that the nation could easily hold the elections as per the need of the nation. Former chief of the EC Surya Prasad Shrestha urged active participation of youths and intellectuals in the process of making the electoral system fair and scientific. Civil society leaders Charan Prasain, Kapil Shrestha, Suresh Acharya, Ganesh BK, Pradeep Pokhrel, Bhawani Prasad Kharel, Dr. Netra Timilsina, Binita Yadav, senior advocate Krishna Bhandary, among others, participated in the discussion. Constitution expert Kashi Raj Dahal presented a working paper on electoral system.

CA amends statute-writing calendar

Kathmandu, Jan 6, The Constituent Assembly Friday amended the constitution writing calendar by giving 25 more days to garner consensus on the contentious issues of the constitution. CA Chairman Subas Nembang told the meeting that the calendar was amended as per the Constitutional Committee recommendation. Now the CC will have time to settle the disputed issues of the constitution by January 29, in place of the earlier deadline of January 5. According to the amended calendar, the CC will prepare the first draft of the constitution between January 30 and February 4 and issue an integrated draft by mid-February. The meeting also formed a draft committee to amend the CA regulation. Yekaraj Bhandari of UCPN-Maoist, Ramesh Lekhak of Nepali Congress, Agni Kharel of UML, Nilam Barma of Unified Democratic Madhesi Front and Jana Kumari Chalise of CPN-ML are members of the draft committee. ‘Speed up peace process’ The opposition lawmakers drew the attention of the government and the main ruling party, UCPN-Maoist, to the delay in pushing the peace and constitution writing processes forward at a meeting of the legislature parliament Friday. Nepali Congress chief whip Laxman Prasad Ghimire demanded clarification from the Prime Minister on why the peace process was not moving forward as expected and why the Maoist party was creating confusion. He said that the Maoist PLA commanders had threatened to obstruct the peace process by putting forth new demands even after the Army Integration Special Committee headed by the Prime Minister had decided on the matters. Ghimire said that the 7-point agreement was not implemented. Maoist sought group entry in the Nepali Army and promulgation of the new constitution under the shadow of weapons, he said. CPN-UML lawmaker Rabindra Adhikari questioned why the process of army integration was halted, why the budget was not allocated for the combatants opting for voluntary retirement and why Maoists were bargaining for high ranks in the Nepali Army. "Such bargaining was against the 7-point pact," he said. He suggested to not interpret the pact at one’s own interest and not obstruct the peace process. He also said Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai would have no moral ground to sit on the chair if he was not serious on the matters. Maoist lawmaker Pampha Bhusal said the problem was not about delaying constitution writing and limited time but it needed to go through a democratic exercise. She said the Maoists would not accept the parliamentary system. Bhusal also said that the present government was not taking the issue of national sovereignty seriously even as the media policy was being formulated by a foreign agency. Meanwhile, the meeting endorsed the intra-government level agreement on Trans Asian Railways Network. The proposal tabled by Minister for Physical Planning and Works Hridayes Tripathi was endorsed unanimously. The meeting also endorsed the International Nuclear Energy Agency’s Law. At the meeting, Minister for Science Kalpana Dhamala presented the regional agreement on Nuclear Science and Technology related research and instruction for discussion. The bill on civil service presented by Minister for General Administration Ram Kumar Yadav was also approved. The next meeting of the House is scheduled for Sunday.

New constitution by May 28-deadline, says PM Govt effortful to complete peace process in time

Gorkha, Jan 6, Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai Friday reiterated the new constitution would be promulgated by the present deadline of the Constituent Assembly (CA), May 28. Inaugurating the 13th convention of Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Gorkha district, the Prime Minister said, "The government is going all out for completing the peace process and delivering a new constitution by the deadline of the CA." On army integration issue, he said that those PLA combatants opting for voluntary retirement would be seen off within a few days. "There is no need to cast doubt in this regard." "Except for some differences over state restructuring and forms of governance, consensus has been made on almost all disputed issues related to the new constitution," Prime Minister Dr Bhattarai said. The Prime Minister claimed that CPN-UML had tentatively agreed to the presidential system as proposed by UCPN-Maoist and observed that Nepali Congress was sticking to its old stand. UCPN-Maoist has been advocating for an executive president directly elected by the people. "Nepali Congress has been creating hurdles to expedite the constitution writing process as it has been clinging to parliamentary system and even refusing to accept a mixed system," Prime Minister Dr Bhattarai remarked. Pointing out the need to take the private sector into confidence for economic prosperity; he urged the private sector to make investment and rest assured. "I have taken risk by sealing BIPPA with India so that financial investment went up. My risk taking is for the good of the country." Claiming that about 90 per cent people were in support of BIPPA, the Prime Minister said that he would work with the private sector. "As I have been giving my all to conclude peace and constitution writing process, I have not been able to focus on development works." Prime Minister Dr Bhattarai maintained that a national consensus government would be formed under his leadership soon and urged all to support the present government.