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VOL. 28, NO. 21, Feb 05, 2009 (Magh 23 2065 B.S.)
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PRESIDENT DR. RAM BARAN YADAV'S proposed India visit has been postponed for a few days because of the bad health of Indian Prime Minister, sources at the President's Office, Shital Niwas, said on Monday (Jan 26). Though the visit date had not been fixed officials were working on an early February schedule, it has been learnt. India media reports meanwhile said it would be a few weeks before Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh becomes alright following the successful cardiac bypass surgery. President Yadav has been invited to New Delhi by his Indian counterpart Pratibha Singh Patil. It will be Yadav's first trip to the southern neighbour after being elected as the first president of republican Nepal.
WOMEN IN THE WORLD'S least developed countries (LDCs) are 300 times more likely to die in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications than women in developed countries, according to a press communiqué issued by UNICEF in the capital on Thursday (Jan 29). The communiqué also states that a child born in a developing country is almost 14 times more likely to die during the first month of life than a child born in a developed one. The 2009 edition of UNICEF's flagship publication, The State of the World's Children highlights the link between maternal and neonatal survival and suggests opportunities to close the gap between rich and poor countries. "Every year, more than half a million women die as a result of pregnancy or childbirth complications, including about 70,000 girls and young women aged 15 to 19," the communiqué quoted Ann M. Veneman, UNICEF Executive Director, as saying. Since 1990, complications related to pregnancy and childbirth have killed an estimated 10 million women, it is learnt. While many developing countries have made excellent progress improving their child survival rate in recent years, there has been headway in reducing mortality, states UNICEF.
CHAIRMAN OF NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION (NHRC) Kedar Nath Upadhyaya Wednesday (Jan 28) said the government has failed to establish rule of law in the country. Speaking at an interaction program organized at the NHRC office in Dhangadhi district, Upadhyaya said, "There is no rule of law at the recent time as impunity is escalating in the nation." He said cases of human rights violation continue increasing unless the tradition of impunity ends. Expressing his concern over withdrawal of the cases filed by the government, Upadhyaya said the criminals should not be left free in the name of peace and transitional process. He also said the NHRC is facing difficulty to work as the government is not implementing its recommendations to take action and investigate the cases filed in the commission.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COMMITTEE (CC), which is the main committee under the Constituent Assembly, formed five sub-committees on Tuesday (Jan 27) in order to speed up the constitution-making process. The sub-committees formed during a CC meeting held at the CA secretariat in Singha Durbar are related to the preamble of the new constitution, constitution-drafting, constitutional provision on political parties, constitution amendment and provision on transition period. Khim Lal Devkota heads the preamble sub-committee while Sapana Pradhan Malla, Nilambar Acharya and Laxman Lal Karma head the sub-committees on constitution-drafting, provision on political parties and transition period, respectively. Likewise, Nilam Burma heads the constitution amendment sub-committee. The chairpersons of the sub-committees have been asked to submit their concept papers by February 11. Speaking at the meeting, CC chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal said the political parties should narrow down their differences and cooperate in drafting the constitution within the stipulated time.
THE GENERATION CAPACITY of the proposed Upper Tamakosi hydropower project has been upgraded to 456 MW. With the additional cost of Rs 3 billion, 147 MW extra capacity has been added. Calculations have shown that electricity generated from this project will be most economical. The project director Mrigendra Kumar Shrestha said that decision to add capacity was taken after it was found out that by investment of additional Rs 3 billion, capacity of more than Lower Marsyangdi project could be added into it. With the additional capacity, the total cost of the project is going to be around Rs 42 billion. Of the total, Rs 30 billion will be raised as loan and Rs 12 billion as equity. It is estimated that the cost could come down by 30 percent when it comes for tender process. In this cost, the per unit cost of its power will be $ 1000 compared with $ 5000 of Middle Marsyangdi. "The Upper Tamakosi is going to be the most economical hydro project," said Shrestha.
