Nepal

Kathmandu, October 23

Funeral workers at Pashupati area, who had stopped working for around two hours this morning, resumed their work after the authorities agreed to increase their wages and other benefits.

Pashupati Area Development Trust, the body authorised to conduct all kinds of religious and managerial duties at Pashupati temple, ran into panic after workers halted all kinds of works related to final rituals.

The ghats (crematorium) on the bank of the Bagmati River at Pashupatinath temple is one of the major cremation sites for Hindu Nepalis residing in Kathmandu valley. On anaverage 25 to 30 bodies have been cremated at the ancient crematorium on a daily basis.

Undertakers, among other funeral workers, who used to receive Rs 1,200 per head for cremating one body, had been demanding the PADT for long to raise their wages.

However, Pashupati Area Development Trust had been turning deaf ears to their demands. The workers were required to give 10 per cent of their total income to the Ghat Service Centre.

The workers, after finding no other ways to make the authorities address their problems, had given an ultimatum a few days ago to PADT to halt all their services for indefinite time.

PADT had taken a prompt action by calling the agitating undertakers at its office to hear their demands.

As per the agreement, the workers who had demanded Rs 2,000 for cremating one body had agreed to receive Rs 1,500, but will still have to deposit 10 per cent of the amount at the trust.

PADT will then add additional 10 per cent to the amount and the total accumulated amount will be given to the workers as Dashain allowance, every year. As per the tradition, PADT charges money from grieving families and pays to the funeral workers from the same. There as many as49 funeral workers registered with the PADT. Of them, 27 are undertakers.

Wages of other funeral workers, who support undertakers, has been increased by Rs 200.

PADT has also agreed to raise the gratuity from Rs 150,000 to Rs 500,000 for the undertakers who continue to the service for at least 20 years.

Undertakers who work for at least 15 years and were liable to receive gratuity of 50,000 will now receive Rs 300,000.

Retirement age limit of the undertakers has been increased to 65 years from existing 60 years, as demanded by the workers.

&We were forced to go on strike after we were left with no other options,& said Bidur Budhathoki, 62, an undertaker.

Pashupati Area Development Trust has reviewed their wages after nine years.

PADTofficials said although the money seemed less the undertakers often got same amount of money from the grieving family after cremating a body.

A grieving family of a deceased spends at least Rs 8,000 for cremation and final rites.

Undertakers, who work for 20 years, are entitled to gratuity of Rs 500,000 from PADT

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Kathmandu, October 23

Nepali Congress lawmaker Devendra Raj Kandel, who heads the management committee of a college named after his grandmother Radha Kumari in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, today dismissed recent reports claiming that he was an Indian citizen.

Organising a press conference at the NC headquarters in Sanepa, Kandel said the school, Radha Kumari Bidhyalaya, was established by his grandmother in 1950 during the Rana regime in Thutibari, Gorakhpur, 200 metres from the Nepal-India border on the Indian side.

He said his grandmother decided to open the school on the Indian side of the border because the then Rana regime did not allow to open schools in Nepal back then. The school got approval from the Indian government on 31 January 1952 and now has been upgraded to Radha Kumari Inter College.

&Ever since the establishment of the college, it has been under the patronage of my family. First my grandmother was its patron, then my father Prithvi Raj Kandel, and now I am its patron,& he said. &How can I be labelled an Indian citizen just because I head the collegemanagement?&

According to Kandel, his address mentioned while taking oath as the college management committee head after his election was his temporary address, and he did not own an inch of land there. He said he stayed at his friendplace whenever he visited Gorakhpur and he had mentioned the same address, C/O Yogesh Bajpayee, 33 Kasaya Road, Betihata, Gorakhpur during oath taking. &In my oath, I have just said the address of my residence was correct, and I have not said I am an Indian citizen,& he said.

He also said the list of voters of the college management committee published by the election committee—Assistant Registrar Firms Societies and Chits Gorakhpur Mandal, Gorakhpur—had mentioned his permanent addressas Maheshpur, Nawalparasi. He also produced a copy of the list.

Producing relevant court documents before media persons, Kandel said his rival in the management committee election had filed a case at Allahabad High Court, stating that Kandel was a Nepali national, and that he could not head the collegemanagement committee.

&In my reply to the court, I have accepted that I am a Nepali citizen, a Nepali lawmaker and former state minister of Nepal. I have also stated that I can still head the collegemanagement committee on the basis of Nepal-India Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1950, whereby a Nepali citizen can run a social organisation in India,& said Kandel.

&I am surprised that people in Nepal are trying to prove me an Indian at a timewhen I am fighting a court case in India in which my rivals want to prove me a Nepali citizen, which I have accepted.&

He also said if his name was found registered in any other electoral roll of India, he was ready to face action. He also reiterated that he did not own an inch of land in India, and did not have Indian citizenship. Acknowledging that he had acquired an Indian driving licence when he was studying in India, Kandel said any Nepali could acquire a driving licence in India and that did not prove that he was an Indian citizen.

He said his grandmother and his father were active members of the Nepali Congress. His grandmother was a member of the NC parliamentary committee in 2015, while his father was elected to the House of Representative from Nawalparasi in the general elections of 2015.

He also said the then rebels during the insurgency had fired 16 shots at him when he was state home minister in 2000. He said he still had one bullet in his chest.

&It is disappointing that I, a member of a family having long history of service to the nation, have been dragged into controversy on the basis of false information,& he said.

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KATHMANDU:The 74th United Nations Day is being marked today in the member states across the globe including Nepal.

October 24 is observed as the UN day internationally. United Nations formally came into existence on this day in 1945 after the ratification of the UN Charter, the founding document of the organisation, which was backed by majority of its signatories, including the five permanent members of the Security Council — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

&United Nations Day highlights the enduring ideals of the Charter, which entered into force on this date 74 years ago. Amid stormy global seas, the Charter remains our shared moral anchor,& statedUN Secretary-General António Guterres.

UN in Nepal is celebrating the founding day by organising various interactive and engaging public activities and events at Rastriya Sabha Griha in the capital today.

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Kathmandu, October 23

The ‘so-called& Global Gag Rule, as well as the defunding of United Nations Population Fund by the current US government, impacted the health and well-being of women and girls in many parts of the world, the top United Nations official said.

According to United Nations Under Secretary General and Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund Dr Natalia Kanem, the GGR and the pushback have led to cutbacks in essential services.

&I am very gratified to say that even though with the GGR, and with the separate defunding of UNFPA, which we greatlyregret, as it prevented us from delivering life saving services everywhere in the world including Nepal, what we are seeing is that we are harnessing the power of data and evidence to be able tocontradict some of these wrong compressions,& Kanem said, while talking to this daily, in Kathmandu.

According to the visiting UNFPA chief, the GGR andpushback prevented essential information and services from benefiting some of the most vulnerable and marginalised women, girls and youths, mostly in developing countries, where the need was the highest. She also observed that the opposition to basic decency of offering women and girls the right to control over their body and opportunities to be happy and healthy in their community, was being met with the robust defence from women and girls.

&Even as there is growing opposition, there is also growing support for the noble cause of UNFPA. Itsad that some of these wrong impressions are deliberately misleading, in my opinion, and it is very important to put the truth forward,& she said, adding that the pushback against rights and choices of girls around the world has also led UNFPA to become even more stronger in insisting that it has to lift the curtain on these taboos and discuss these issues.

&That is what the UNFPA will be doing in Nairobi next month,& she said.

&If a woman can&t access contraception, the danger she may have to resort to something like unsafe abortion increases exponentially. If a girl is not able to get information about, not just her body, but her place in society as an equal citizen, she is going to be subject to early marriage, she is not going to be equal in terms of her economic and social prospects.&

In Nepal, UNFPA has elaborated a strategy which is based on: zero maternal deaths, zero unmet need for family planning, and zero gender-based violence and harmful practices, according to Kanem.

A midwife, who goes on her daily rounds, is an example of sexual and reproductive health in action, making childbirth safe in every corner of Nepal, she said, adding, &We also intend to use our ability to engage with the government to clarify some of the issues which can lead to better and stronger alliances to protect women and girls.&

The UN envoy believed that contentious views on issues like abortion, comprehensive sexuality education, LGBTI rights, would be depoliticised one day. &As we focus on ensuring that all people have full access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, we base our work on clear evidence, data, that show, for example, that comprehensive sexuality education does not encourage young persons to be sexually active, but instead imbues with responsibility and the ability to make the right choices at the right time,& she added.

&We should embrace you rather than reject, if you have a different sexual orientation or if you come from a different cast,& she said, reiterating that the UNFPA always stood on the decoration of human rights as well as the sustainable development agenda.

The UN under secretary general also said the Right to Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Act-2018, which was endorsed by the Government of Nepal as fundamental human rights, provided a very strong base for expanding access to quality sexual and reproductive health services to those who most needed them.

&It is important to acknowledge the remarkable achievements in Nepal since the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo 25 years ago, in relation to reduction in poverty, and maternal and neo-natal deaths,& she said, &However, we also recognise that there is a long road ahead before Nepal can claim to have fully realised the ICPD vision, which will also determine the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.& The UNFPA chief also expressed her belief on tremendous potential of Nepal.

However, the country needed to accelerate implementation of its development agenda to achieve the growth and prosperity it has been aspiring for. &This includes ensuring empowerment of women and girls,& she said.

• UNFPA pledges more support to enhance reproductive health services
• UNFPA Executive Director Kanem arrives in Kathmandu for two-day visit
• UNFPA chief arriving on first visit to Nepal tomorrow
• ‘Women humanitarians risking their lives to help others&
• Reproductive health rights still a far cry: UNFPA

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