The government drafting a bill which curtails press freedom has been featured in most national dailies along with the news of Anushka Shrestha being crowned Miss Nepal 2019.
Here is a summary of important, ignored and interesting stories from the front pages of national broadsheets:
Important
Govt drafts bill to curtail press freedom
The Himalayan Times, Republica and Kantipur report that the government has pushed new legislation with harsher provisions to further tighten control on the media, including a provision of up to Rs 1 million penalties for publishing content in violation of the media code of ethics.
The Bill to Amend and Integrate Media Council Act registered by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology at the House of Representative secretariat on Thursday also proposes a structure for keeping the media council under the government’s purview.
Similarly, the council may make the media house concerned provide compensation to a victim if any content published by it violates the code of ethics, causing damage to any individual or institution. Existing media law doesn’t allow the media watchdog body, Press Council Nepal (PCN), to slap monetary penalties against media or journalists for violating the code of ethics.
Anushka Shrestha crowned Miss Nepal 2019
Annapurna Post and Gorkhapatra report that Anushka Shrestha was crowned Miss Nepal World 2019 at the 24th iteration of the Miss Nepal pageant organised by The Hidden Treasure on Thursday evening. Shrestha beat 24 participants from all over Nepal to win the coveted title, and will represent Nepal at the Miss World pageant in Thailand later this year. Pradeepta Adhikari, Riya Basnet and Meera Kakshapati were crowned Miss Nepal Universe, Miss Nepal Earth, and Miss Nepal International respectively. Following Miss Nepal’s affiliation with Miss Supranational since last year, Rose Lama was crowned Miss Supranational Nepal.
Cholera caused by coliform in water
Republica reports that the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD).has said that Coliform present in water is the main cause of the cholera case in the capital. Cholera was recently detected in a man living in Ward No. 13 of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). The 45-year-old from Tahachal was diagnosed with cholera positive.
The EDCD collected three samples of water from different sources at the house of the cholera-infected man and started its investigations. The samples contained a high level of coliform, according to an EDCD report.
Ignored
Annapurna Post reports that a family from Bara districted have been driven out of the village for not completing rituals following the last rites of a dead family member. The family completed the last rites of their father in Kavir Pathi style however the villagers didn’t like that they did so. The villagers had demanded that the family follow proper Hindu style, however, the family refused to do so. After the family refused, all nine members were driven out of the village.
Govt taking action against those with illegal property and money
Rajdhani reports that the Department of Money Laundering Investigation, which had been sitting idle for a while, is now looking into around 200 complaints. Director General Rup Narayan Bhattarai, who was responsible for taking action against the transport syndicate, has started taking action upon taking office. Bhattarai said that action will be taken against those who have put together illegal property.
Pay due or face action says NEA to industrialists
The Kathmandu Post reports that two days after industrialists accused the Nepal Electricity Authority of illegally charging them, the power utility’s managing director on Thursday said that the big consumers colluded with former NEA heads to secure 315 megawatt electricity for their industries through dedicated feeders and trunk lines while the public faced outages up to 18 hours a day until a few years ago.
NEA head Kulman Ghising said that former head of NEA bypassed legal requirements to unilaterally approve industries power through dedicated feeders and trunk lines without forwarding their applications to board members.
According to the electricity authority, 298 consumers are being supplied electricity through dedicated feeders and trunk lines. Among them, 184 pay premium rates.
Interesting
VVIPs causing trouble to locals both on roads and sky
Nagarik reports that the local citizens have been facing problems anytime a high-level official travels abroad. The government has been giving extra security to the ‘VVIPs’ causing a traffic jam on both the roads and the sky. Locals have been asked to wait for hours on the due to the President and the Prime Minster travelling on a state visit. Airplanes have also been diverted for hours so that the President and Prime Minister can fly without hassle. Domestic flight to Bhairawa flew five hours later than scheduled because PM KP Oli was flying to Vietnam.
Industrialists being threatened from jail
Naya Patrika reports that preliminary police investigation has found that prisoners from the central jail were responsible for calling industrialists and threatening to kill them if they don’t pay a ransom. Sujan Paudel, Samir Man Singh Basnet, and Yog Dhakal have been found calling industrialists threatening to kill them.
Public service commission calls for application
Rajdhani reports that the Public Service Commission will be calling for application to fill out the vacant posts at the local level. In order to fill the posts, the commission will be taking 11,492 staff this term. As of now, the local level needs around 16,000 employees. The Ministry of General Administration and Federal Affairs had asked the local level to send details about the staff they require. Four hundred and thirty-seven local levels responded to their request and asked for 11,492 employees.
