A parliamentary committee directing the government not to hold IIFA Awards in Nepal has been featured in most national dailies along with the news of Dhanusha court slapping another life sentence on former minister Sanjaya Sah. News of the Public Service Commission receiving over 400,000 applicants has also been featured in some national dailies.
Here is a summary of important, ignored and interesting stories published on front pages of Kathmandu broadsheet dailies, both Nepali and English, on Wednesday.
Important
Govt told to not organise IIFA awards
Republica and The Himalayan Times report that the International Relations Committee under the Federal Parliament on Tuesday directed the government and other sides not to organise IIFA awards as it was motivated to badly influence the national culture and national interest. The committee said that the agreement draft held between Bizzcraft International Private Ltd and government of Nepal to allow organising the programme in Nepal was against the national prestige, national freedom, and national independence.
The meeting has also concluded that the amount to be provided by the Government of Nepal was unexpectedly high and inappropriate as well. Secretary at the committee Suraj Kumar Dura shared that the meeting has also decided to ask for the details of the programme from the government.
Over 400,000 apply to be civil servants
Naya Patrika, Republica reports that over 400,000 applications were received at the Public Service Commission (PSC) for 9,161 vacancies at 515 various local units across the country until a few hours before the final deadline.
Applications flooded in at the PSC at the last hour. Many aspirants for the positions were in confusion whether or not there would be recruitment exams as the vacancy announcement was being challenged in court.
The Supreme Court on Monday gave the go-ahead for the recruitment process in spite of five different writ petitions challenging the recruitment. Some petitioners had demanded to scrap the vacancies, claiming that these did not ensure inclusive representation.
Danusha court slaps second life term on former minister
Annapurna Post, Nagarik and Republica report that Dhanusha District Court on Tuesday slapped a life term on former minister of state for physical planning and transport Sanjaya Sah ‘Takla’ as the mastermind in the murder of media entrepreneur Arun Singhaniya.
Sah is already serving life for his involvement in the notorious Janakpur bombing that killed five persons. Singhaniya, the publisher of Janakpur Today, was killed in broad daylight on March 2011 at Shiva Chowk, Janakpur while celebrating the Holi festival.
Takla, who was elected a member of the second Constituent Assembly, was arrested in May 2013.
The former state minister, however, denied any role in the murder. A bench of Judge Radha Krishna Uprety on Tuesday slapped the life term on Sah. The bench also slapped a 10-year jail term on Manak Lama and Binod Lama for the murder. Ram Binod Yadav, another accused in the killing of Singhaniya, has also been convicted. The court has slapped three years’ jail on him. The court, however, acquitted Ansi Rain and Rajkaran Yadav in the case.
Ignored
Statues continue to go missing from Pashupatinath
Annapurna Post reports that in the past few decades many sculptures and idols have gone missing from the Pashupati area. This rate has been increasing even after the formation of the Pashupati Area Development Trust in 1989. The trust was formed to preserve the idols however since its formation more and more idols have been missing say sources close to the trust.
Transitional justice in limbo as top leaders fail to cooperate
Kantipur reports that the appointment of new officials for transitional justice bodies is in limbo as leaders from both ruling and opposition parties have failed to reach an agreement as to who becomes the chairman of the two bodies. Even though the government had a committee under the leadership of former chief justice Om Prakash Mishra, it has failed to appoint heads of the two bodies. PM KP Sharma Oli, Sher Bahadur Deuba and Pushpa Kamal Dahal for a long time have failed to reach an agreement as to who will lead the two commissions.
684 deaths caused due to family dispute in the past 4 years
Rajdhani reports that the police has recorded 684 deaths which occurred due to family disputes in the last four years. The deaths include husband killing wife, wife killing husband, father/mother-in-law killing daughter-in-law, husband and wife killing parents. Police officials say that they are quite shocked at the alarming rate of increase.
In fiscal year 2015/16 police recorded 157 deaths but the number increased to 177 in 2016/17. The trend continued to increase in 2017/18 as the police recorded 206 deaths due to a family dispute.
Interesting
Parliamentary committee and SC in dispute over staff recruitment
The Himalayan Times reports that the parliamentary State Affairs and Good Governance Committee meeting on Tuesday observed that the Supreme Court violated constitutional norms while paving the way for the federal government to hire employees at local levels.
According to Shashi Shrestha, chairperson of the committee, the panel invoked Article 103 (2) of the constitution to arrive at its decision. The statement comes a day after the apex court refused to issue stay order against the Federal Public Service Commission’s job advertisement seeking to recruit 9,161 employees at 515 local levels.
Although the apex court is yet to come up with a final verdict on the case, the refusal to issue stay order will enable the Federal Public Service Commission to give continuity to the process of recruiting employees at local levels.
Govt to bring new law which will bar multiplexes from showing foreign films
The Kathmandu Post reports that after social media and the press, the government is now preparing to prescribe what films Nepalis will be able to watch in cinema halls.
A new law, which is currently in its draft stage, will restrict the screening of foreign films in cinema halls to 185 days a year. During the remainder of the six months, only Nepali films will have to be shown at every multiplex and single theatre across the country.
The new act, which is under review at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, states that Nepali cinema halls ought to allocate a certain percentage of total screening days to exclusively Nepali films. The 180 days don’t have to be consecutive but almost half of the year’s screenings should be devoted solely to Nepali films, according to the proposed act.
Doctors baffled by new abortion law
The Kathmandu Post reports that doctors and health experts have expressed concern over a provision in a new abortion law that allows the termination of pregnancies at up to 28 weeks in certain special cases.
The new act allows women to terminate pregnancies of up to 28 weeks if a doctor decides that their pregnancy poses a serious risk to their lives or could seriously affect their mental and physical health, if the baby will be born with deformities, or if they are infected with HIV or similarly incurable diseases. Pregnancies resulting from rape or incest can also be aborted for up to 28 weeks.
General abortions can be conducted at up to 12 weeks, according to the act.
Officials at the division said that no other country in the world allows termination of pregnancy at 28 weeks, although Canada, some US states, and China have no limit.
