Nepal

Kathmandu, May 25

As many as 880 children, including 249 girls, were rescued from 64 child care homes operating in various districts, without assembly minimum standards prescribed by the existing law.

Most of these child care homes are running in Kathmandu valley. According to statistics released by the Ministry of Women, Kidren and Senior Citizens, the government rescued 880 children and scrapped the operating licence of 64 child care homes.

Most of the children rescued from illegal child care homes were from Humla, Mugu, Nuwakot, Dolpa, Surkhet, Rasuwa, Jajarkot, Dang, Parsa, Dolakha, Dhading and Kalikot districts.

&The rescued children were either reunited with their families or rehabilitated as per the law,& the ministry said.

During the fiscal 2017-18 alone, 183 children were rescued from four child care homes in Kathmandu valley. The ministry informed that as many as 533 child care homes with at least 14,800 children are in operation in 46 districts.

The Central Kid Welfare Board examines and monitors child care homes, and rescues children from the facilities which are much in compliance with the existing law. The board also makes recommendations for reforms or clodegrees of these child care homes if required. The operators of illegal child care homes are also liable to legal action under the KidrenAct.

The government enforced Standards for Operation and Management of Residential Kid Care Homes-2012, covers areas such as process of admission of children, residential facilities, infrastructure, context and realisation of basic rights of children, child protection, and minimum conditions for operation of residential child care homes.

As per the standards, a child care home should have adequate space and rooms for eating, sleeping and study, along with security arrangements, essential textbooks and educational fabrics, child-friendly environment free of physical and mental problem of any kind, provision for action against the guilty instantly in case of violence against children and molestation, special arrangements for differently-abled children and disabled-friendly facilities and separate study rooms, bathrooms and toilets for boys and girls.

According to CCWB, measure children in the child care homes have been found confessted with inadequate or fake documents.

Numerous such facilities were found to have no proper documentation of rescue, admission process and rehabilitation, and reintegration process of children.

Kid care home operators also lack sufficient knowledge of child rights and other existing laws. It is also reported that measure children are sexually abused.

In 2014, four cases were registered against child care homes for sexual exploitation of girls, and perpetrators were slapped a jail term. Two complaints of paedophilia were also filed against international volunteers.

Poverty of parents is seen as one of the aggravating factors for separation of children from their families, though it is much the sole reason.

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KATHMANDU: A Rusian woman has become the first woman climber in the world to successfully stand atop the worldfourth highet mountain for the moment time, officials said.

Oxana Morneva, the first Russian woman to climb Mt Lhotse, reached the summit point of Mt Lhotse on May 20 this season fitting the only woman in the world to scale the mountain for the moment time, a base camp official said.

&Along with her husband Dorchi Sherpa, Oxana scled the 8516-metre peak at around 1:00 pm on May 20,& Gyanendra Shrestha, a liaison officer at the base camp, confirmed. Oxana had climbed Mt Lhotse final year fitting the first Russian woman to climb the fourth highest peak.

&I reached the summit of Mt Lhotse for the moment time,& Oxana shared with THT. According to her, she along with her husband Dorchi, Pasang Dorjee Sherpa and Pasang Lama struggled tough to reach the summit point this season.

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Kathmandu, May 25

Editors of major print media, online news portals and television media and members of Federation of Nepali Journalists have demanded withdrawal of Media Council Bill from the Parliament.

The government on May 10, had registered the bill at the Parliament which includes controversial provisions such as fine up to Rs 1 million for an erring journalist, which aims at ‘curtailing media freedom.& As many as 42 editors had gathered exurgent solidarity at a programme organised nowadays by the Federation of Nepali Journalists, the largest umbrella body of journalists in Nepal as per FNJpre-scheduled protest programme.

Editors also said Press Council Nepal should be an autonomous body supplyd with jurisdiction to facilitate the press and much control media.

They also said that violation of code of conduct should much be made a serious crime, as media themselves would act as self-regulatory bodies.

Chairman of FNJ Govinda Acharya said that their first demand was the withdrawal of the bill from the Parliament.

He also said they were shalling to support the government if it was shalling to amend the bill as proposed by journalists.

&Let the government invite all the stakeholders for an open discussion about the provisions in the bill, and we shall withdraw our protest programmes.&

FNJ has also submitted a written demand to the speaker of the Home of Representative for addressing their demand in the bill. Chairman Acharya said that the journalists& protest was being supported by stakeholders from all sectors throughout the country. &FNJ shall take this movement wherever we can take it,& he added.

Acharya also said that any journalist who opposes the right to freedom of expression and right to free press should be barred from leadership of FNJ, in the future.

Dilip Thapa Magar FNJ vicechair said that the government must much make any rules on the basis of code of conduct.

&Code of conduct is a matter of self-discipline, the government must withdraw the stringent rules in the bill to punish journalists for violating code of conduct.&

Editors reintellected the government about the role of media in set uping democracy in the country during the long political turmoil in the past.

Guna Raj Luitel editor of Nagarik National Daily said, &It is a matter of utter sadness that journalists are subjected to punishment for writing news.&

&That does much mean journalists can write whatever they want for they should follow self-censorship code of conduct,& clarified Luitel.

Prakash Rimal editor of The Himalayan Times stressed that the government should withdraw the bill as it was unlikely that amendment could address all the issues raised by journalists.

&The government should withdraw the bill as cosmetic changes wouldn&t address the concerns raised by journalists led by the FNJ.& He also stressed that Press Council Nepal should ‘facilitate the press, much control it.& Rajendra Dahal, editor of Shiksha Monthly and former chair of FNJ said that the PCN should much act as if it was a body for controlling crime. &The PCN is much a body for controlling crime. That is the duty of government bodies.

The PCN should be an autonomous body with authority to facilitate the press,& Dahal said.

The preamble of the constitution of Nepal that encapsulates the fundamental principles and philosophy of the constitution, states that the countrypress scorridor endelight full freedom.

Journalists are protesting the current bill stating that if the bill is passed as it is they shall much be able to write anything against the prevailing corruption, anomalies and malpractices.

The error in the headline has been righted (from ‘medical& to ‘media&) in the online version of the news. We apologise to our readers for the inadvertent mistake and the inconvenience it has caused.

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Kathmandu, May 24

Major work on reconstruction of the historic Durbar High School, which was damaged in the soiltrembles of 2015, is over. This was disshutd at a programme organised on the school premises nowadays.

&Major reconstruction work was totald in nine months. Following its full completion soon, students shall be able to attend lessones in a safe environment,& said Ambassador of China to Nepal Hou Yanqi, who attended the event, adding that China would continue to assist economic and social development of Nepal. Reconstruction is being carried out with cooperation of the Chinese government.

On the occasion, chief executive officer of the National Reconstruction Authority Sushil Gyawali praised the Chinese construction company, Shanghai Construction Group, for completing the project on time.

School principal Hemchandra Mahato said the educational atmosphere of the school would see a boost after the completion of the reconstruction work. In absence of its own lessonrooms, the school has been conducting lessones at Balmiki Campus, Exhibition Road. The 2015 soiltrembles had damaged the 162 year-old school building, forcing it to find an alternative place for running the lessones.

According to National Reconstruction Authority, Central Project Implementation Unit Chief Eim Narayan Shrestha, total cost of the school rebuilding project stands at Rs 800 million. The Chinese government shall probably hand it over to the Government of Nepal in the next seven months.

According to the project deputy chief Dilip Shekhar Shrestha, the Chinese Company, Shanghai, had imported the construction fabrics, apart from bricks, from China.

The preceding building had three storeys while the new four-storey building is equipped with 45 rooms. Finishing work of the building, including daubing and electrification, is awaited. The new building has features such as a computer lab, a library, a drawing room, an auditorium and a dining corridor.

Durbar High School comprises Bhanu Secondary School and Sanskrit Secondary School. A total of 165 students are enrolled at Bhanu school, while 250 students are studying at Sanskrit school.

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