The government’s decision to cancelling the IIFA Awards after protest from all sides has been featured in most national dailies along with the news of 10 officials from Tribhuvan University’s service commission being booked for graft. Nepali and Chinese foreign ministers meeting in China has also been featured in a few newspapers.
Here is a summary of important, ignored and interesting stories published on front pages of Kathmandu broadsheet dailies, both Nepali and English, on Thursday.
Important
TU service commission chair and 10 other booked for graft
Naya Patrika and Rajdhani report that the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority on Wednesday filed a corruption case at the Special Court against ten Tribhuvan University officials for altering the scores of several candidates who had appeared in the tests conducted to fill vacancies at the university.
The anti-graft agency has implicated Chairman of the Tribhuvan University Service Commission Chaitanya Prasad Sharma, member Chintamani Pokharel, administrative chief of the commission office Parshuram Koirala, chief office assistant Bachchuram Pandey, staff member Indira Tiwari, professors Teknath Dhakal and Govinda Dhakal, and joint professors Rajeshwor Neupane, Tara Prakash Poudel and Ram Bahadur Chhetri in the case.
They have been accused of abusing their positions to appoint the relatives of the university officials to the posts of section officer, account officer, assistant legal adviser, chief accounts officer, chief office assistant and office assistant.
Nepali man’s penis cut off in India
Kantipur and Republica report that a Nepali working for an Indian in Jammu has allegedly been coerced into having his penis cut off in a bid to change his gender, according to police. Police said the incident involved one Surendra Singh Maal, 22, who was working as household help in Jammu.
SP Dinesh Acharya in Kanchanpur said that a medical examination has established that his penis was cut off. Police had sent Maal for a medical test at Mahakali Zonal Hospital after his family lodged a complaint demanding action against his Indian employer. Maal’s family had been taken by surprise when he returned home dressed as a woman.
Nepal and China agree to strengthen bilateral relations
Gorkhapatra reports that Nepal and China have agreed to further strengthen bilateral relations by holding regular high-level visits. During bilateral talks held between Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali and State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Wang Yi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday, the two sides exchanged substantive views on further strengthening and consolidating the ties of co-operative friendship and mutually beneficial partnership subsisting between the two countries, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ignored
India asks Nepal not to check vegetables
Nagarik reports that as the government plans to assess the quality of vegetables and fruits coming to Nepal from India, the Indian side is trying to push the government to refrain from doing so. The Indian embassy in Kathmandu wrote to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies not to carry out quality checks of vegetables coming from India to Nepal. Various officials from the embassy have also met officials from the ministry to pressurise them not to do so.
More financial irregularities in Melamchi project
Annapurna Post in its lead story reports that the government was wasting Rs 1 billion on the Melamchi Drinking Water Supply Project. According to sources, the total cost to complete the project was estimated to be Rs 1.5 billion, however, the project’s board has given the contract to a contractor seeking Rs 2.6 billion to complete the project. Italian contractors CMC had asked for 1.55 billion to do the same work. The contract was awarded to a new company without a contest.
Govt opening door for pvt sector to operate resorts inside national parks
Kantipur reports that the government is bringing a law which will make it easier for the private sector to operate resorts inside the national parks. The proposal to do so was made by Minister for Forest and Environment Shakti Bahadur Basnet. Basnet wants to use the national parks for tourism purpose and wants to install cable cars, ropeways and resorts in the next 20 years. Previously, the government had closed down seven resorts operating inside Chitwan national park.
Interesting
Rs 78 billion spent in 18 days
Karobar reports that over Rs 78 billion has been spent in the past 18 days in the name of development. The government like other years has been trying to spend as much as they can so that they finish the given budget before the fiscal year ends. The government which spent around Rs 10-20 million a day during the month of May-June has been spending around Rs 2-4 billion a day in the last month of the fiscal year.
Nursing institutes criticised as two-third fail exam
Republica reports that Nursing institutes across the country found themselves at the receiving end of a scathing criticism on Wednesday after nearly two-thirds nursing graduates vying professional career in nursing failed the license examination.
The results published by Nepal Nursing Council (NNC) show that nearly 65 percent of PCL and BSc nursing students who took part in this year’s license examination failed to obtain the license.
The results have sparked a fresh debate over the quality of nursing education with many blaming lax policy and mushrooming institutes for the decline in the quality of nursing education.
Stakeholders say that the result was just a tip of the iceberg of a bigger crisis facing nursing education in Nepal.
