Kathmandu, 2 October: The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a case against Chief Divisional Engineer (CDE)Suresh Kumar Sharma of Hydro Resources and Irrigation alleging him of amassing property illegally.
CIAA found that Sharma, while working in various projects under the Department, amassed property worth Rs.35.6 million which had no legal sources. CIAA, in a press statement stated that Sharma was in a temporary post of section officer- engineer, in Magh 2052BS and become permanent a year later. Calculating his income and expenditure trend till 2076/77BS, the income was unexpected.
Pinnacle of historic Balgopaleshwor temple located at the centre of Rani Pokhari was successfully installed today, marking completion of the reconstruction of the cultural heritage, which was destroyed by the 2015 earthquakes.
Concerned government authorities, priests and locals installed the 123 kilogram gold coated pinnacle. Raju Man Manandhar, an expert hired by the National Reconstruction Authority, said that with pinnacle installed atop the temple, reconstruction works of the temple and the pond were now completed. “We just need to work on security issues and install some colourful lights before we go for the formal inauguration of the temple.”
Formal inauguration is likely to take place after a couple of weeks due to Malamas or the occurrence of an additional month in the lunar calendar, which is considered impure for special religious activities, according to Manandhar. “The temple will be open for the general public this Tihar.”
Before the 2015 earthquake, Balgopaleshwor temple was opened for public once in a year during the day of Bhai Tika during Tihar, where people without brothers or sisters offered their prayers.
Idols of deities were placed inside the temple a few months ago. The temple was in the Gumbaz style before the 2015 earthquake. But, after the demand of local activists and cultural conservationists the government agreed to reconstruct the temple in Granthakut style. Archaeologists had concluded that the temple was built by King Pratap Malla in 1760 in Granthakut style. The original style, however, was remodelled into Gumbaz style after it was destroyed by the 1937 earthquake.
Reconstruction of Rani Pokhari underwent various obstacles in the past five years.
The 163 metres by 126 metres emptied pond was recently replenished up to a height of 5.2 feet.
A version of this article appears in e-paper on October 2, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.
LONDON:Arsenal squeezed past Liverpool 5-4 on penalties to advance to the League Cup quarter-finals on Thursday after a goalless 90 minutes.
With the Premier League champions making several changes to the team that beat Arsenal in the league 3-1 on Monday and their opponents also rotating, it was always unlikely to be a high-class encounter.
Liverpool had the better chances and should have been awarded a 44th-minute penalty when Diogo Jota was brought down in the box.
The resulting free kick eventually led to Takumi Minimino finding space and smashing his close-range shot onto the crossbar.
Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno made two consecutive saves to stop Jota and Marko Grujic and the visitors responded with a chance of their own as Rob Holding’s header was punched away by Adrian in the 70th minute. The Gunners also appealed for a penalty in stoppage time when James Milner fell and handled the ball.
The referee Kevin Friend did not point to the spot and there is no VAR in the competition.
Arsenal, however, celebrated in shootout when Joe Willock’s spot kick crept under keeper Adrian to send them through.
Kathmandu, 2 October: The Nepal Samskrit University, Agriculture and Forestry University and Pokhara University have got vice-chancellor after the three leaders get a share.
PM Oli’s man Yadav Lamichhane has been assigned as the VC of the Nepal Sanskrit University, Pushpakamal Dahl’s man got an assignment as the VC of the Agriculture and Forestry University and the main opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deuba’s man Prem Aryal has been appointed the VC of the Pokhara University.
The post of the vice-chancellor is purely academic and expected to be the appointment of qualified academicians but the leaders are sharing the posts based on their relations.
Kathmandu, 2 October: After Prime Minister and chairman of the ruling Nepal Communist Party KP Sharma Oli took a decision to promote Shankar Bairagi as the chief secretary and decided to appoint Yubraj Khatiwada and Lokdarshan Regmi as the ambassador, another party chairman Pushpakamal Dahal Prachanda has become furious.
The cabinet meeting on Thursday afternoon had taken the above decision in Oli’s personal interests.
After the government decision, expressing his dissatisfaction, Prachanda didn’t take part in the already set meeting between him and Oli.
Oli has violated the recent agreement ending the prolonged dispute in the ruling party, said party standing committee member and also the member of the six-member task force constituted to find ways for ending the dispute, Bhim Rawal.
However, Subhas Nembang, deputy chief of the parliamentarian party, said that the prime minister doesn’t need to consult with the party while functioning the government.
PM Oli’s special affection with Khatiwada and Shankar Bairagi may invite another crisis in the party, say political observers.
The ongoing 13th Indian Premier League (IPL) has been the talk of the town in Nepal also. Eight teams are participating in the league, of which 11 out of 56 matches have already been played.
The IPL had been famous for being a melting pot of world-class cricketers playing together in different teams, stripping off their national jerseys for a change. Likewise, in Nepal, the IPL got even more popular after the star cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane was signed by the Delhi Daredevils [now Delhi Capitals (DC)] in 2018, becoming the first Nepali cricketer in IPL.
Lamichhane is once again listed among the Delhi Capitals players. However, in all three of DC’s matches played so far this time, he has not stepped into the field. He is considered an outstanding bowler in any league, but why was Sandeep Lamichhane benched for all three matches in this edition of IPL?
Here are three possible answers:
1. Quota on international players
Each team in the IPL can sign up to eight international players. In a match, the team can have only four international players. To manage the combination, international players are listed in different playing sets.
For DC, South African fast-bowler duo Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis, and Guyanese batsman Shimron Hetmyer have already made their appearances. In the meantime, Australian Alex Carey and Daniel Sams, along with Guyanese Keemo Paul and Lamichhane have been benched.
For the want of Indian players, batsmen and all-rounders, Delhi Capitals are compelled to use international players, exhausting the available quota. In addition, Stoinis and Nortje have performed outstandingly securing their position in future matches too.
2. Strong Indian spinners
Lamichhane is a leg-spinner. The DC have actively chosen to make Indian spinners play as they have three other Indian spin bowlers–Amit Mishra, Axar Patel, and Ravichandran Ashwin–with more experience than the Nepali start player. Patel is also a batsman, so his chances to be chosen grows.
Ashwin and Patel had played against Kings XI Punjab. In the game, Ashwin got injured and it seemed that Lamichhane would replace him. But, the DC chose Mishra as the replacement. For the second and third matches, the DC continued the same duo. If Lamichhane plays, the DC will have no option but to choose an Indian fast-bowlder instead of an international bowler.
3. Weak pace bowlers
The club have Rabada, a world-class fast bowler. Meanwhile, this season, Nortje got into the field from the very first match. The DC, of course, have Indian spinners Ishant Sharma and Mohit Sharma, but Ishant got injured just before the league. Mohit played the first match for the DC while Avesh Khan played the second and Ishant played the third match.
The DC have been playing with three fast-bowlers and two spinners with other international bowlers–fast-bowler Sams or all-rounder Stoinis–as replacements. Two pace bowlers in one game hint that the DC have a weak hand in the quota and are unable to make a balance with the foreign players. But if the club decides to play with three spinners at once, Lamichhane can get a chance.
When will Sandeep Lamichhane play then?
The DC have played all three matches with four international players in each. Out of the foreigners, Rabada and Stoinis have shown stellar performances whereas Nortje and Hetmyer have not fared well so far. Hetmyer has not been able to replicate his Caribbean Premier League performance and the DC have been in loss.
So far, it seems that Lamichhane will get to play if the DC decide to change the batting order or completely change the international players.
In both of Lamichhane’s previous IPL seasons too, he was on the bench in the earlier matches.
Delhi Capitals will play next against Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday, October 3.
As the world celebrates the 30th International Day for Older Persons on this Thursday (October 1), the global population of the elderly citizens aged 65+ surpassed the population of children below five years globally in 2018. The UN has reported that there were 703 million persons aged 65 or over in 2019 and estimates that in the next 30 years, the number of older persons worldwide will double, reaching more than 1.5 billion and with 1.1 billion of them living in less developed countries.
According to the ‘World Population Prospects: the 2019 Revision’, by 2050, one in six people in the world will be over 65 (16%). The ratio was one in 11 in 2019 (9%).
We live in the 21st century. We all agree that all individuals have an inherent right to a dignified life, and all human rights should be respected for all individuals. Principles of human rights never expire. In the highly consumption-based lifestyle currently, there is an increasing trend of treating elderly people as a social group which is unproductive, frail, and incapable. There is a larger possibility of forgetting the need for respecting and guaranteeing elderly peoples’ rights simply because of oversight.
According to the World Population Aging Report 2019, Nepal currently has 1.654 million people (5.8 per cent of the total population) above the age of 65 years, which is estimated to grow to 4.538 million (12.8%) by 2050. The dependency ratio in 2019 stands at 10.8 per cent, expected to grow to 19.8 in 2050. Likewise, economic dependency will grow from 12.8 % in 2019 to 23.8 % in 2050.
Photo: PickPik
These data clearly show Nepal will see a steady increase in the elderly population. Likewise, their economic dependency and overall dependency ratio of the population will see constant growth.
In this context, it will be worthwhile to delve into Nepal’s socio-cultural aspects surrounding senior citizens.
All theist communities in Nepal respect senior citizens equalling their status to that of gods and goddesses and pay obeisance, kneeling down and receiving blessings from them. Any cultural event, religious activity or festive celebration of any person is considered incomplete without the participation and blessings of senior citizens. Cultural traditions have thrived under the direct guidance of senior citizens as leaders of the communities. For example, Newars perform Janko, a celebration of old age, five times between the ages of 77 and 106 years. In other communities, the eldest member is considered the head of the clan and respected accordingly.
Like other senior citizens across the world, elderly people in Nepal strive for emotional wellbeing and tend to affirm to cultural worldviews to which they are accustomed to. This might be the reason they want to be with their families, being cared for, loved and their points of views respected.
However, with Nepal’s economic and socio-cultural fabrics quickly changing due to the adoption of modern value systems including liberalism, consumerism, individualism, rural-urban and international migration and other trends, the age-old traditions of respecting the elderly citizens and valuing their contribution to families and communities are being blurred.
Photo: Pikist
In more individualised societies, there is a deep divide in the ways the economically active young population tries to make sense of their emotional wellbeing as opposed to the economically dependent elderly population, providing a fertile ground for conflict.
Moreover, the changing economic scenario in Nepal has also had an impact on the elderly citizens. More and more youth are migrating within and out of the country in search of economically viable employment opportunities, leaving elderly and children in their homes to fend for themselves. This has resulted in drastic changes in the cultural values of the migrant labour population.
The beliefs that senior citizens have nothing more to offer to their country, community and family, that they are a burden to the family, that they only consume the scarce resources including precious time, and that the elderly persons are only fuelling traditional beliefs seem to be rooting deep in the younger population. This stereotyping of elderly citizens also negates their contributions to their families and communities.
Such myths find further growth as our family structures tend to grow more nuclear from extended and joint families. The reproduction of post-modern societal values has somehow left behind the needy elderly people at homes. The stereotyping of the elderly population has helped reinforce exclusion, discrimination and marginalisation of this group of people.
All this is making the elderly population more vulnerable to poverty, homelessness, malnutrition, unattended chronic diseases, lack of proper water, sanitation and hygiene. They are also being victims of emotional and sexual violence. They are also excluded from their communities. Elderly citizens are being more and more disproportionately impacted by disasters. Studies have shown that the 2015 earthquake in Nepal disproportionately affected senior citizens. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has also impacted elderly citizens in Nepal. Their support system has been disrupted. A large number of elderly citizens have been thrown into poverty.
Of late, Nepal has also adopted the rights-based approach to guarantee basic human rights of elderly citizens with the enactment of Senior Citizens’ Act, 2006, and the establishment of Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens with a mandate to look into policies and other issues related to elderly citizens. The state has guaranteed social security and provided for some protection procedures for elderly citizens, but they are far from adequate.
Mere legal provisions and protections do not help the elderly population from getting emotional and spiritual support. We might have to learn from our cultures and traditions and understand and respect the contributions by the elderly population to society and internalise the value of respecting and taking care of the elderly people.
While we observe the International Senior Citizen Day, let’s understand the value of spiritual and emotional wellbeing of our elderly citizens and start adopting extended family values which may restore happiness in homes and create an environment where we celebrate ageing gracefully and respectfully. We should not only see elderly people as free babysitters for their grandchildren, free workforce for different works and free mentors of their communities and start respecting the economic value contribution they do through these tasks. In addition to worshipping invisible gods and goddesses in temples, churches, mosques and other religious sites, we should start worshipping visible gods and goddesses at our homes–the elderly population—who have contributed to our wellbeing, by offering our love, compassion and care.
Kathmandu, 2 October: After Prime Minister and chairman of the ruling Nepal Communist Party KP Sharma Oli took a decision to promote Shankar Bairagi as the chief secretary and decided to appoint Yubraj Khatiwada and Lokdarshan Regmi as the ambassador, another party chairman Pushpakamal Dahal Prachanda has become furious.
