HELLO NEPAL

The Himalayan Times 19 April 2013 It was not surprising to read the news report “Books shortage hits students in mid-west” (THT, 17 April, Page 6) that becomes one of the prime news on national dailies every year towards the beginning of new session of schools situated in the remote hill districts of Nepal. However, none of the concerned authorities seem(ed) serious. Their gross negligence have been hitting hard to the students who suffer much from not getting the textbooks on time. All the schools and stationery sellers in these districts which are unable to bring and provide textbooks to their students on time do seem equally responsible for not being responsible. The actual demand of the textbooks in the districts is 3.7 million, whereas, so far, only 1.1 million books have reached 10 districts of Rapti and Bheri Zones. The other districts of Banke and Dang are yet to purchase the textbooks from the regional office of Janak Education Materials Centre (JEMC) Ltd. W

Recently, I was invited to a political event where the birth of a new political party, “United Peoples Party, Nepal ”, was announced. It was very encouraging to see the young members of the party who seemed optimistic and promising to play crucial and productive political roles in the ongoing political uncertainty. Looking closely at the irresponsible and insensible political activities of the four major parties, there seems an urgent need of a new political force that speaks the voice of the people and acts as per the needs and wish of the people. I wish this new party all the best in its new venture.

The Himalayan Times 5 April 2013 Listening to the Election Commission (EC) officials over the radio talk program, I found them to be indirectly conceding that the next CA would not be possible in June if the outstanding issues (such as the issuance of citizenship certificates to the eligible voters, the compilation and completion of voters registration, and amendment to some laws related to the election) were not be addressed immediately. Now, the EC has started officially considering deferring the poll date from June to November as reported in “EC mulling over Nov poll date” (THT, 3 April, Page 1) All the senior leaders had, until a few days ago, been saying that the next CA election would be held in first week of Asad (i.e late June). Now, they have started changing their tune, publicly saying that the November is the right time to hold the polls as reported in “CA polls in November, says UML Chairman” (THT, 3 April, Page 5). However, the people had already envisag