- Epaper

kathmandupost
Temperature: Max: 31.4°c Min: 15.5°c
the
capital edition
l
Coldest: Jumla: 7.4°c Hottest: Nepalgunj: 39.0°c
kathmandupost.ekantipur.com
printed simultaneously in kathmandu, biratnagar, bharatpur and nepalgunj
Stand Price rs 5.00
Thursday,April 7, 2016 (25-12-2072)
N E PA L’ S L A R G E S T S E L L I N G E N G L I S H D A I LY
Vol XXIV No 49 | 12+4 Pages
Life & style
page 5
world
page 12
money
Know your Miss
Nepal contestants
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi gets new
role as special adviser
Suarez double gives Barcelona
slim lead over Atletico Madrid
in Champions League
NOC not applying auto
fuel pricing
page 8
sports
Don’t do transactions with
shell companies, BFIs told
Financial Intelligence Unit asks them to inform it if such dealings have ever taken place
PRITHVI MAN SHRESTHA
KATHMANDU, APRIL 6
Government’s
Financial
Intelligence Unit (FIU), which
monitors the receipt and analysis of suspicious transaction
reports as well as other information relevant to money
laundering, associated predicate offences and financing of
terrorism, has directed banks
and financial institutions
(BFIs) not to do transactions
with shell banks or shell companies and inform it if any
such transactions have ever
taken place.
tion carried out by the
International Consortium of
Investigative
Journalists
(ICIJ), that shows the myriad
ways in which the world’s rich
and powerful use secretive offshore tax regimes to hide
their money. According to
bankers,
the
FIU
on
Wednesday wrote to the BFIs,
reminding them of the fact
that transactions with shell
banks or shell companies are
punishable as per the Money
Laundering Prevention Act
2008. Section 3, Clause 7 of the
Act states that Nepali BFIs
should not do any transaction
with shell banks or
financial and non-financial institutions.
As per the definition of
transaction in the Act, BFIs
cannot establish business
linkages, open accounts,
deposit collections, make payments, use lockers or establish fiduciary relations based
on contract-based liabilities.
“Although the Act has not
mentioned “shell company”,
some investors have been
found making attempts to take
loans from companies based
panama papers
A shell bank is a term that
describes a financial institution that does not have a physical presence in any country
and a shell company is a
non-trading company used as
a vehicle for various financial
manoeuvres or kept dormant
for future use in some other
capacity.
The FIU directive comes in
the wake of the Panama
Papers exposé, an investiga-
Exposé effect
The Financial Intelligence Unit
has written to bank and financial institutions reminding
them of the fact that transactions with shell banks or shell
companies are punishable as
per the Money Laundering
Prevention Act 2008
nThe Department of Money
Laundering Investigation
(DoMLI) held a meeting with
the FIU, Nepal Police, the
Ministry of Finance and the
Department of Revenue
Investigation to discuss the
issues related to money laundering and terrorism financing
nThe meeting decided to step
n
in tax havens and those companies can be categorised as
shell banks,” said an NRB offi-
up surveillance on the foreign
direct investments (FDIs)
based on their origin and
individuals involved in bringing
in the FDIs
nA meeting of the High Level
Coordination Committee on
Money Laundering to be called
as soon as possible
n Parliament’s Finance
Committee to call government
authorities to discuss the
Panama Papers and progress
made so far in the investigation of those who were earlier
reported to have deposited
money in HSBC’s Swiss private
banking arm in 2006-07
cial. The FIU has also sought
information from the BFIs
whether they have any link or
transactions with companies
mentioned in the Panama
Papers. Along with the FIU,
other government authorities
have also initiated discussions on ways to control
money laundering.
On
Wednesday,
the
Department
of
Money
Laundering
Investigation
(DoMLI) held a meeting with
the FIU, Nepal Police, the
Ministry of Finance and the
Department of
Revenue
Investigation to discuss the
issues related to money laundering and terrorism financing. Damodar Regmi, director
general of the DoMLI, said the
meeting decided to step up
surveillance on foreign direct
investments (FDIs) based on
their origin and individuals
involved in bringing in the
FDIs.
The concerned government
authorities will try to find
whether any Nepal linkage is
mentioned in the Panama
Papers,” said Regmi. “There
has been an understanding to
share information among ourselves.”
>> Continued on page 4
Deuba trounces Poudel
to become NC PP leader
Cements control over party with second big win
KAMAL DEV BHATTARAI
KATHMANDU, APRIL 6
Maintaining his winning
streak in the party with two
victories in a month, Sher
Bahadur Deuba has consolidated his hold over the Nepali
Congress like never before.
Deuba, who defeated senior
NC leader Ram Chandra
Poudel to become the party
president in March, defeated
Poudel again on Wednesday
with a big margin to become
the Parliamentary Party (PP)
leader. The post of PP leader
was lying vacant after the
death of Sushil Koirala in
February.
Helped by defection of over
two dozen leaders of the erstwhile establishment camp,
Deuba trounced Poudel by a
margin of more than double.
Out of 206 total votes cast,
Deuba secured 139 votes while
67 ballots were in favour of
Poudel. In the election of
party president, Deuba had
secured 1,822 votes out of 3,120
votes cast in the run-off while
Poudel secured 1,296.
Compared to the PP leader
election in 2015 in which he
was defeated by 16 votes,
Deuba’s win on Wednesday
comes as manifestation that
Holding sway
Out of 206 total votes
cast, Sher Bahadur
Deuba secured 139
votes while Ram
Chandra Poudel
got 67
n Compared to the PP
leader election in 2015
in which he was defeated by 16 votes by Sushil
Koirala, Deuba’s win on
Wednesday comes as
manifestation that he
has managed to turn
the table in the party
big time
nIn the election of party
president in March,
Deuba had defeated
Poudel by 526 votes
n
he has managed to turn the
table in the party big time. In
2015, then party president
Sushil Koirala had edged out
Deuba by 16 votes.
Deuba managed to garner
comfortable majority after
more than two dozen lawmakers who had voted Koirala in
the previous election switched
to the Deuba camp.
More responsibilities have
come with the victory, Deuba
said after he was elected new
PP leader. He reiterated that
he
would
take steps to
r e s o l v e
Madhes crisis.
With his
victory as the
PP
leader,
Deuba
has
automatically become the NC’s prime
ministerial candidate whenever the party gets a chance to
lead the government.
>> Continued on page 4
C M Y K
thekathmandu post 02
news
Thursday, April 7, 2016
Pvt med colleges
‘breaching’ NMC
admission rules
its a long wait
MANISH GAUTAM
KATHMANDU, APRIL 6
n
Aspirants throng the District Education Office, Lalitpur, to submit their applications for vacancies for teaching positions.
news digest
Former Army chief
Rana no more
KATHMANDU: Former
Chief of Army Staff
Gadul Shamsher Rana
died at Nepal Army
Hospital in Chhauni on
Wednesday. He was 80.
Rana served as the chief
of the then Royal Nepal
Army from May 15, 1991
to May 4, 1995. Born on
March 20, 1936, Rana
had joined the national
defence force at the
age of 20 in 1956.
Chief of Army Staff
General Rajendra
Chhetri and other top
Army brass paid their
last respects to Rana
at Pashupati Aryaghat
where his final rites
were performed in
the afternoon. He
is survived by his
wife, two daughters
and two sons.
Malaysian varsity
gives scholarships
to quake-hit pupils
KUALA LUMPUR: A
Malaysian university
has provided scholarships amounting to
1 million ringgit (Rs 27m
approx) to five Nepali
students from districts
worst-affected by last
April’s earthquake.
Sunway University
extended the scholarships to the students,
currently pursuing
degrees in the institute,
from Nuwakot, Kavre,
Sindhupalchok and
Chitwan last Thursday
under “Nepal Relief
Fund”, according to
Nepali Embassy in
Malaysia. (PR)
Post Photo: surbindra kumar pun
Plan to add 34 more
municipalities halted
consensus
eludes over
FSU poll
GAURAV THAPA
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, APRil 6
With the formation of a constitutional organ to determine
the number and sizes of local
bodies in the country, the government has halted its plan to
add new municipalities.
The Ministry of Federal
Affairs
and
Local
Development (MoFALD) had
tabled a proposal at the
Cabinet to add 34 new municipalities, but the Cabinet has
rejected the proposal.
According
to
Joint
Secretary Gopi Krishna
Khanal, chief of Municipality
and
E nv i r o n m e n t
Management Division at
MoFALD, all the proposed
areas had fulfilled the criteria
to become municipality, but
the government decided that
the Local Body Restructuring
Commission formed last
month will look into the matter. The government had
formed the Local Body
Restructuring Commission on
March 14 under the leadership of former secretary
Balananda Paudel, as per the
constitutional provision for
formation of a mechanism to
determine the number and
boundaries of Village and
Municipal Councils in the
country after the adoption of
federalism. Article 295 of the
constitution states that the
tenure of the commission will
be of one year.
According to Article 56 of
the constitution, the state will
be restructured into three levels--federal, provincial and
local. At the local level, the
constitution outlines Village
Rundown
May 2014 After a hiatus of 18
years, the government created 72 new
municipalities
Dec 2014 61 more municipalities were added
The government
2015 announced 26 new
municipalities
As of today: There are 217 municipalities (1 metropolitan city, 12 sub-metropolitan city and
204 municipalities)
and 3,1577 VDCs
Current criteria
Tarai An administrative
area is declared a
municipality in the
Tarai if it has a population of 20,000 and
a minimum annual
income of Rs5 million, along with other
development criteria
Hills and
mountains The required population is 10,000 and
minimum annual
income Rs500,000
Councils, Municipal Councils
and District Assemblies
which will replace the existing Village Development
Committees, municipalities
and District Development
Committees, respectively.
As the country has opted
for a federal administrative
model, restructuring of the
state, including local bodies,
is one of the major tasks.
The government has come
under constant criticism for
its plans to haphazardly add
municipalities in the country
without proper planning.
According to fiscal decentralisation expert Khim Lal
Devkota, more than 70 percent
of local bodies in the country
are not financially secure and
have to rely on grants for even
covering their administrative
expenses. Devkota said that
instead of increasing the
number of local bodies, they
have to be brought down for
their efficient management.
After a hiatus of 18 years,
the government in May 2014
had created 72 new municipalities. Again in December same
year, 61 municipalities were
added. Last year the government declared 26 new municipalities, taking the total number to 217. Altogether, there
are one metropolitan city, 12
sub-metropolitan cities, 204
municipalities and 3,157 VDCs
in the country.
An administrative area is
declared a municipality in the
Tarai if it has a population of
20,000 and a minimum annual
income of Rs5 million, along
with other development criteria. For the hills and mountains, the required population
is 10,000 and minimum annual
income Rs500,000.
MoFALD, in January, had
asked all District Development
Committees in the country to
propose the names of existing
VDCs which could be merged
to get municipality status. In
total, it received 47 such proposals and found 34 of them to
be eligible.
“It is unlikely that these
will become municipalities
soon,” Khanal conceded.
“The government decided
that it was not the right time
technically..”
KATHMANDU, APRIL 6
A dispute among politically
affiliated student unions over
the age limit to contest
has
kept
Tribhuvan
University from announcing
the dates of the Free Student
Union election.
A meeting of the Nepali
Congress-affiliated
Nepal
Students Union (NSU), CPNUML student-wing All Nepal
National Free Students Union
(ANNFSU)
and
UCPN
(Maoist)-affiliated All Nepal
National Independent Student
Union-Revolutionary
(ANNISU-R), held in the presence of TU officials, failed
to agree on whether to
impose the age limit on
student leaders.
The TU has amended its
regulation to make it mandatory for a student to be below
35 years of age to be a candidate for FSU.
The NSU is against the provision claiming that the failure of TU in conducting the
poll for last seven years has
barred dozens of student leaders from participating in
the election. The NSU urged
the TU officials to re-amend
the regulation and allow all
student leaders irrespective
of their age to contest.
The ANNISU-R is against
NSU’s request, claiming that
the amendment would delay
the election.
“We cannot announce the
date unless major parties
come to a consensus,” said
Sudha Tripathi, rector at TU.
“TU is for holding the election
before May 2.”
Private medical colleges
have been admitting students
into graduate programmes
on ad hoc basis even before
they are allocated seats by
the Nepal Medical Council
(NMC).
Sources at the NMC said
National Medical College,
Birgunj and Gandaki Medical
College, Bhairahawa, among
other private medical institutes, have been taking in students without waiting for a
council’s decision about the
number of seats.
“We have allocated the seats
for colleges. But we will wait
for 72 hours before making it
public,”
said
NMC
Spokesperson Dr Krishna
Adhikari. The council is
expected to allocated seats to
the colleges on Thursday.
Any medical college defying NMC directives should be
responsible for any consequences on part of the students, the council states.
“NMC will not recognise registration of those students
who enrol into colleges/universities before the finalisa-
Sources say some
colleges have been
taking in students
without waiting for a
council’s decision
tion of number of seats and
merit list.”
In terms of the MD/MS programme, the Kathmandu
University has a relatively
systematic admission process.
The KU first takes its entrance
and doctors selected for graduate studies can choose a college. The KU then admits the
students into various medical
colleges under its affiliation
charging a free of Rs2.25 million. The private medical colleges under the KU have no
right to admit students on
their own.
But the colleges operating
under
the
Tribhuvan
University (TU) face no such
restrictions, giving way to
anomalies. There are suggestions that the National
Medical College have been
charging students over Rs10.5
million for master’s in radiology programme.
The NMC says they are
receiving similar complaints,
with the colleges charging
exorbitant fees anywhere
between Rs5 million and R8
million for various specialised courses, including internal medicine, gynaecology,
orthopaedics.
One student, who says she
has paid Rs3 million to a medical college, now fears if he
would get the money reimbursed after it dawned upon
him that the admission process is not clear.
The National and the
Gandaki are said to have
“booked’ seats for the MD/MS
programmes even before the
Institute of Medicine (IoM)
entrance exams. Only successful MBBS graduates in the
IoM entrance are eligible for
admission into MD/MS programmes at the TU-affiliated
medical colleges. With around
2,500 MBBS graduates vying
for around 500 seats available
for the MD/MS programmes
each year, the competition
among the colleges is fierce.
Officials of the National
and the Gandaki were not
immediately available for
comment.
courtesy call
n Pakistani Ambassador to Nepal Mazhar Javed (top left) meets KMG Chairman Kailash Sirohiya
(top right), Editor-in-Chief of Kantipur daily Sudheer Sharma and Kantipur TV AGM Bhusan Dahal
at the KMG office in Thapathali, Kathmandu on Wednesday. POST PHOTO: Sanjog manandhar
45 temporary shacks cleared
POST REPORT
BHAKTAPUR, APRIL 6
The Metropolitan Police
Circle Bhaktapur has removed
45 temporary shelters of the
earthquake victims from
Bhalukhel ahead of this
year’s Bisket Jatra celebrations. The festival starts on
April 29.
The District Administration
Office made the decision
to clear the area which
has been the venue for erecting a lingo (wooden pole)
on the opening day of the
festival. The pole is pulled
down in the first morning of
Nepali New Year’s day on
April 14 in a symbolic destruction of evil.
The victims of last April’s
devastating quake have been
shifted to the shores of
Hanumante River and the
Siddhi Playground. “Some
of them have gone to their
place,”
said
relatives’
Superintendent of Bhaktapur
Police
Circle
Kiran
The shacks have
been removed as
part of this year’s Bisket
Jatra celebrations
on April 29
Bajracharya. “The decision
was taken after consultations
with locals and concern
authorities such as CDO
and municipality in the
district,” she said, adding
that the victims can return
to the place after the festival
that is celebrated for eight
nights and nine days in
the district.
3 Tuins replaced
with bridges
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, April 6
The government has replaced
three ropeway crossings,
locally known as Tuin, with
suspension bridges since its
announcement in October
last year to replace over
350 Tuins.
Considering the poor state
of Tuins joining remote villages and markets in mid-hills
and mountainous districts
due to lack of proper design
and maintenance for years,
the first Cabinet meeting
under Prime Minister KP
Sharma Oli had announced
the ambitious plan to replace
all the Tuins with appropriate
suspension bridges.
The Suspension Bridge
Division at the Department of
Local
Development
and
Agricultural
Roads
has
set a target to complete the
project of replacing 171 Tuins
with suspension bridges by
this October, said Kumar
Thapa, project chief at the
division.
“We will meet this year’s
target and will replace the
remaining Tuins next year.
The plan is achievable as the
The government
last October
announced to replace
over 350 Tuins
with suspension
bridges
country has developed its
expertise in manufacture,
construction and management of suspension bridges
over the years,” Thapa said.
According to Thapa, nine
wire crossings are in the process of being replaced, tender
has been called for the construction of 42 suspension
bridges and preparations of
Detailed Project Report are in
final stage for 101 more.
The Tuin is an indigenous
technology used for river
crossing and it has been in
practice for transportation
and movement of people in
remote villages where the construction of bridges is almost
impossible due to high cost
and difficult terrain. An estimated 2,000 people still use
wire crossings on daily basis
in the country.
C M Y K
03
thekathmandu post
news
Oli for all 3-level polls
under his leadership
Thursday, April 7, 2016
Suspended
lawmaker Sah
masterminded
the murder:
Police
jaywalking
SHYAM SUNDAR SHASHI
Local, provincial, parliamentary elections need to be held by Jan 2018
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, APRIL 6
The KP Sharma Oli-led government has sought to make a
case to hold all three-level of
elections under its own
leadership in accordance with
the provision of the new
constitution.
In a political report presented in the ruling UML’s
ongoing Politburo meeting,
Prime Minister and UML
Chairman KP Sharma Oli has
put a strong emphasis on
holding elections-local, provincial and parliamentary—
by January 2018.
As per the constitutional
provision, election for the
Federal Parliament should be
held by January 2018, and the
government needs to hold
local and provincial elections
before that. “The government
will expedite preparations for
all three-level elections,” PM
Oli has stated in a 12-page
report presented in the party
meeting.
PM Oli has argued that
timely elections are a must for
the implementation of the
constitution and ending political void in the local level.
Stating that the government
has already started preparations for holding local body
elections, Oli instructed the
party leadership to focus on
starting preparations for local
polls.
As part of its preparations,
uml politburo meeting
Leaders read riot act to PM
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, APRIL 6
Miffed at what they call
“poor performance” of KP
Sharma Oli-led government, leaders from the ruling CPN-UML came down
heavily on Oli and UML
ministers
during
Wednesday’s
politburo
meeting of the party.
Leaders, mainly from the
rival camp led by senior
leader Madhav Kumar
Nepal, criticised party
Chairman and PM Oli as
well as UML ministers for
failing to expedite postquake reconstruction and
curbing black marketeering. They also accused Oli
of abusing state authority
to sideline the rival voices
and promoting factionalism
in the party.
“The formation of reconstruction authority itself
can be taken positively. But
the way post-quake reconstruction and rehabilitation work is being carried
out is not satisfactory,” said
UML leader Prakash Jwala.
the government had last week
decided to forward a draft law
to amend the Local Bodies
“The pace is too slow.”
Immediately after the meeting began, leaders took
turns to criticise Oli and
his government.
UML Vice-chair Yubaraj
Gyawali, Deputy General
Secretary
Ghanshyam
Bhusal
and
leaders
Beduram
Bhusal
and
Ganga Lal Tuladhar among
others expressed their dissatisfaction over government’s performance.
The leaders also accused
the party chairman of paralysing the party’s organisation. “Hundreds of party
cadres have become jobless.
It is mainly because of
party chair’s indifferences
towards addressing the concerns of party rank and
file,” said Jwala.
Party’s 31 departments
are yet to get full shape due
to disputes. Oli’s rivals are
also protesting against his
recent decision to give full
shape to the organisational
department,
arguing
that only those close to
UML chair were picked
as members.
(Election Procedure) Act. It
has also begun the process to
endorse the legislation, a
move that will clear the way
for holding the long overdue
local polls.
Local bodies are running
without elected people’s representatives for the last 13
years.
Given tight election cycles
before January 2018, the EC
had forwarded a draft law to
amend the Local Bodies
(Election Procedure) Act right
after the promulgation of the
new constitution some five
months ago.
Nepal’s climatic condition
offers only two windows—
spring and autumn—for elections at once throughout the
country. If that window is
missed, the election could be
held only in the spring of 2017.
That leaves just three windows to hold elections for
three tiers of the government
before the country runs into
“another constitutional crisis”, EC officials warn.
Given the limited window
of opportunity, election officials are worried that government’s indifference towards
the election body would make
it difficult to complete election cycle before the term of
the incumbent Parliament
expires.
If, for some reason, parties
fail to find consensus on holding elections for one or the
other tier of the government
in any of three remaining
windows, this would mean a
major crisis.
One held in connection with Tikapur incident
POST REPORT
TIKAPUR, APRIL 6
Police have arrested a local
from Beluwa settlement in
Narayanpur VDC, Kailali, for
his alleged involvement in the
Tikapur incident in which
nine persons, including
a senior police official and
an 18-month-old boy were
killed.
Police in civvies detained
Bishram Chaudhary from his
shop in Tikapur on Tuesday
evening.
The suspect owns the shop
near the office of Tikapur
Chamber of Commerce.
A murder and robbery case
has been against Chaudhary.
Nine persons were killed in
August last year during a
clash between demonstrators
and police in Tikapur.
Deputy
Superintendent
of Police Gautam Mishra
said
the
arrested
has
been taken to Dhangadi,
the
district
headquarters of Kailali, for
investigation.
JANAKPUR, APRIL 6
Dhanusha District Police on
Wednesday said suspended
lawmaker Sanjaya Kumar Sah
masterminded the murder of
media entrepreneur Arun
Singhaniya.
n Despite an overhead bridge, people dodge the traffic as they cross the road near Bir Hospital on
Wednesday. Many pedestrians continue to risk their lives by crossing roads in undesignated places. Post Photo: Dipen ShrestHa
n
Morcha, Janajati parties
in bid to form alliance
Want to exert pressure on govt to address demands
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, APRIL 6
Ahead of their planned protest, the Madhes-based parties
are reaching out to Janajati
communities,
including
Tharu groups, to form an alliance in a bid to put collective
pressure on the government
to address their remaining
demands.
Leaders from different parties said that discussions were
underway to launch protests
across the country, including
in Kathmandu, from May.
Earlier, the central secretariat of the Samyukta
Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha,
an alliance of seven Madhesbased parties, had suggested
the leadership that the
Morcha seek closer ties with
other disgruntled groups.
More than a dozen regional
parties representing the
Madhesi, Janajati and Tharu
communities have been
demanding greater autonomy
in the state restructuring.
“There is growing realisation
among Madhesi and Janajati
communities,
including
Tharus, on the need of launching a unified protest as these
are our common agendas.
Discussions are underway,”
said Ashok Rai, senior leader
of the Sanghiya Samajbadi
Forum Nepal.
However, it is not the first
time the agitating groups are
holding discussion for a
broader alliance.
Several talks held in the
past had failed to bear fruits.
Despite their common grievances, each group has been
raising conflicting demands.
While the Madhes-based
parties have been demanding
two provinces along the
plains, majority of the Tharu
group insist that there should
be more than three provinces.
Regional parties like Bijaya
Gachhadar-led
Madhesi
Janadhikar
ForumLoktantrik and Raj Kumar
Lekhi-led Nepal Nagarik have
been demanding separate
Tharu provinces in the East
and West.
Madhes-based
parties’
demand for two provinces
also contradicts the demand
for Magarat and Limbuwan
provinces.
Lekhi said that his party
has been demanding more
than four provinces along the
plains as it would end disputes for good.
“There are considerable
differences among us when
it comes to agendas. But an
alliance of the agitating
parties is necessary to pile
press on the government,”
said Lekhi.
Sanjaya Kumar Sah
Organising a press meet on
Wednesday, Superintendent
of Police (SP) Ramdatta Joshi
claimed that the suspects had
hatched a plan to kill
Singhaniya at Sah’s house at
Kadam Chowk. Sah was also
involved in the Janakpur
bomb of 2012 in which five
people were killed.
Elected from Dhanusha-4 to
the
second
Constituent
Assembly, Sah was suspended
after the government opened a
probe into the blast. “Sah had
provided weapons and money
to the assailants to kill
Singhaniya. After the incident, he provided shelter to
the suspects in his own office
and took them to Kishannagar
in his government vehicle
along the East-West Highway
the following day,” said SP
Joshi. Singhaniya, the chairman of the Janakpur Today
Communications Group, was
shot dead at Shiva Chowk in
Janakpur on March 1, 2010.
Police
claimed
that
Singhaniya had disputes with
Sah over some news contents.
According to the police,
Chandradeep Yadav, the main
suspect, said Sah and his
aides Ram Govinda Yadav and
Om Prakash Yadav had provided Rs1 million for the
crime. Chandradeep was held
from last week.
C M Y K
NEWS DIGEST
Reconstruction
works begin
in Kavre
KAVRE: The National
Reconstruction
Authority (NRA) has
started its works in the
earthquake-hit Kavre
district from Wednesday.
The NRA established a
sub regional office in
Kavre to work in Kavre
and Sindhupalchok. NRA
Joint Secretary Kali
Prasad Parajuli said they
will begin distributing
the first phase of reconstruction aid from
Rabiopi VDC on April 10.
Chief District Officer Bal
Krishna Panthi said 970
quake survivors will
receive government aid
to construct houses. (PR)
Swaraj felicitates
Deuba on PP
poll win
KATHMANDU: Indian
Minister for External
Affairs Sushma Swaraj
on Wednesday congratulated Sher Bahadur
Deuba on his election to
the Parliamentary Party
leader of the Nepali
Congress. Deuba, who
also chairs the party, was
elected as PP leader after
defeating senior leader
Ram Chandra Poudel by
72 votes. Swaraj called
Deuba immediately his
election to the post, said
Bhanu Deuba, an aide to
Deuba. (PR)
Missing man
found dead
DARCHULA: Prem Singh
Bohara, who went missing three days ago, was
found dead in a forest at
Rapla VDC on Tuesday
evening. Forty-two-yearold Bohara, a permanent
resident of Api
Municipality-8, had left
his home to collect
Satuwa, a medicinal
herb. It is suspected
that he might have
fallen off a cliff. (PR)
WEATHER WATCH
FORECAST: Mainly fair throughout
the country but chances of becoming
generally cloudy in the hilly regions.
PLACES
MAX MIN RAINFALL
TEMP (0C) TEMP (0C)(MM)
Dadeldhura23.3 10.7 1.4
Dipayal 31.6 16.6Traces
Dhangadi 37.6 17.2Traces
Birendranagar
36.616.00.0
Nepalgunj39.017.70.0
Jumla 24.47.44.4
Dang 37.018.50.0
Pokhara 31.517.30.0
Bhairahawa41.5 13.7 0.0
Simara 39.519.20.0
Kathmandu31.4 15.5 0.0
Okhaldhunga28.6 17.0 0.0
Taplejung 25.515.50.0
Dhankuta 27.718.00.0
Biratnagar34.523.80.0
Jomsom 22.08.014.0
Lumle 24.514.54.2
Source: Meteorological forecasting Division, Department of
Hydrology and Meteorology, Kathmandu
Maintain security,
confidentiality:CVCP
DEWAN RAI
LALITPUR, APRIL 6
Conflict victims have asked
the transitional justice bodies
to be extra cautious regarding
confidentiality, safety as well
as emotional aspects of individuals who want to register
their complaints.
The
Conflict
Victims
Common Platform (CVCP), an
alliance of 17 organisations
representing the victims who
suffered at the hand of rebels
and the state during a decade-long insurgency, has reiterated its support for the commissions on the conditions
that victims are convinced of
security, both physical and
psychological, and the confidentiality of their cases are
maintained.
Addressing an orientation
class conducted for secretaries of Local Peace Committees
(LPCs) in Kathmandu on
Wednesday, CVCP Chairman
Suman Adhikari said registering the cases should not be
considered a technical task.
“It is psychological and emotional matter,” said Adhikari.
“Giving hope and security
can win the confidence of the
victims.”
The
Investigation
on
Enforced
Disappeared
Persons (CIEDP) had organised the orientation class for
all 75 LPC secretaries and
computer operators on the
procedures of registering
complaints and dealing with
individuals. The Truth and
Reconciliation Commission
(TRC) is also organising orientation class for them on
Thursday and Friday.
Although the victims have
no complete faith on the commissions to deliver justice, the
CVCP has decided to support
the transitional justice pro-
registering war-era crimes
Parents of deceased insurgent learn
about his death after 13 years
PARBAT PORTEL
ILAM, APRIL 6
Dal Bahadur Limbu, who
was the section commander
of the then Maoists People’s
Liberation Army, was killed
in a battle with the Nepal
Army in Khara, Rukum, on
27 May 2002. His family,
however, learnt about his
death only last year through
the
Inter national
Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC).
Dal Bahadur’s parents,
who live in Chulachuli,
Ilam, were shocked when
an ICRC team visited them
with the news about their
son’s death that had taken
place 13 years ago. Not only
did they not know about the
death of their son, they
were also unaware that he
was a Maoist combatant.
“He used to visit us every
now and then, stay for a few
days and leave. We thought
he was employed in western region of the country,”
said Gajendra Phago, Dal
Bahadur’s father.
His mother, Dhanmaya,
said they have not received
any assistance from the
cess in the complaint registering process, which is set to
begin from mid-April. They
want guarantee of security of
individuals as well as information given to the commissions.
“Many of the victims will
be recording of their testimonies for the first time,” said
government or the Maoist
party so far. She blames the
state and the Maoist party
for neglecting them.
“We have decided not to
perform the after-death rituals of our son until the
government offers us compensation for our loss,” she
said. Former Maoist fighter
Rajiv Ghimire, who knew
Dal Bahadur, claimed the
Ministry of Peace and
Reconstruction and the
District Administration
Office, Ilam, have already
been notified about the
situation of Dal Bahadur’s
parents.
Today, Ghimire is a district UCPN (Maoist) leader
of Baglung. According to
him, Dal Bahadur had
joined the Maoist rebellion
at the age of 25.
“He was the section commander of the PLA number-7 platoon in Baglung at
the time of his death,” said
Ghimire.
Dhan Bahadur Sunuwar,
Ilam district leader of
UCPN (Maoist), said: “We
have been pressing the government to provide relief to
his family,” Sunuwar said.
Ram Bhandari, president of
National Network of Families
of Disappeared and Missing,
Nepal. “So we want sensitivity from officials in dealing
with individuals while registering their cases.”
Bhandari, who is also the
CVCP general secretary, said
the victims’ support depends
Teenager leaves home to
escape ‘forced marriage’
BHUSAN YADAV
BIRGUNJ, APRIL 6
Nineteen-year-old
Rinku
Thakur of Chhapkaiya in
Birgunj-2 left her house on
Wednesday morning after her
parents reportedly forced her
to marry against her wish.
Her father Nagendra had
arranged her marriage with a
man from Ghodsahan in
India.
Rinku, who works as a news
reader at a local radio station,
said her father had reportedly
offered Rs 130,000 as a dowry
to the boy’s family.
“I just don’t wish to get
married right now. I didn’t
refuse to marry because I am
having an affair,” she said.
thekathmandu post 04
news
Thursday, April 7, 2016
Rinku also had filed applications at the local office of
Maiti Nepal Office, a women
and child rights organisation,
and local police units, requesting them to convince her parents not to marry her off
against her wish.
Superintendent of Police
Rajubabu Shrestha said they
have even discussed with the
girl’s parents to settle the
problem at the police office.
“Nagendra did not take our
advice. Instead, he locked
Rinku in her room for four
days,” said Shrestha.
Rinku is currently taking
shelter at the office of Maiti
Nepal. Coordinator of Maiti
Nepal Sangita Puri lauded
Rinku’s move as courageous
and exemplary for many
young girls and women who
are in a similar situation.
Rinku’s father Nagendra
said he was hurt by his daughter’s decision.
“She did not understand us.
We can only hope that her life
will become successful,” he
said.
Rinku Thakur, 19, is currently taking shelter at the local office of
Maiti Nepal. POST PHOTO
n
on the commissions’ activities. “We decided to engage
with the process to make the
commissions responsible,” he
said. “We hope we will not
have to confront you in this
process.”
The victims have raised the
issue of confidentiality of testimonies and security of individuals with the National
Human Rights Commissions
(NHRC) as well. The national
rights body has registered
around 4,000 conflict-era
cases. The transitional justice
bodies have asked for those
cases from the NHRC, invoking the Transitional Justice
Act. As per the law, all conflict-era cases, except sub-judice ones, come under the purview of the TRC and the
CIEDP.
As per the Act, the commissions should provide security
to individuals who receive
threats for registering complaints. However, the commissions seem to have failed to
assure victims of their security and confidentiality of the
cases so far.
Ishwari Poudyal, secretary
at the Ministry of Peace,
instructed the LPC secretaries to coordinate with their
respective local administration to maintain the confidentiality of the cases. “Breaching
confidentiality of the cases is
criminal, and will be dealt
accordingly,” he said.
Poudyal also told them not
to bow down to political pressure. “If you do, you will fail
the nation,” he said.
Bishnu Sharma, LPC secretary from Salyan district,
appealed all sides not to doubt
their intention. “Since most
of the secretaries are conflict
victims as well, they will give
their best to help this process,” she said.
DEUBA TROUNCES
POUDEL TO
BECOME NC
PP LEADER
>> CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Asked about the possibility
of
government
change,
Deuba,
however,
said:
“We are in the opposition
now; the role of
the
opposition
is
vital
to
maintain
checks
and
balances.” On appointment of
justices at the Supreme Court,
Deuba said there should be no
political interference in the
judiciary.
Admitting defeat, Poudel
congratulated Deuba and said
win and loss are part of democratic process.
It is learnt that some of his
strong supporters had advised
Poudel not to contest for
the PP leader saying “it was a
losing battle”.
But, Poudel maintained his
stance, saying that a faction
led by him needs to be kept
intact.
Party General Secretary
Shashank Koirala and CWC
member Shekhar Koirala had
advised Poudel to allow unopposed victory for Deuba, who
had earlier failed in his two
attempts to become the PP
leader. Before losing to the
late Sushil Koirala, he had
lost to the late Girija Prasad
Koirala.
The NC is holding the election for the PP Working
Committee on Friday.
BFIs told not to do ...
>> CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Regmi added that a meeting
of the High Level Coordination
Committee
on
Money
Laundering would be called
after the concerned authorities gather information about
potential Nepal linkages of
the Panama Papers. Headed
by the finance secretary, the
committee has secretaries of
various ministries formed
under
the
Anti-money
Laundering Act. “We plan to
hold the meeting of the committee as soon as possible,”
said Regmi who is the member secretary of the committee. According to data of the
Department of Industry (DoI),
20 per cent of the total FDI
commitments that Nepal
received last fiscal were from
the countries that are considered tax havens.
Officials and experts say
that some of the FDIs coming
from tax heavens could be the
money that Nepalis had
siphoned off.
Besides the government
authorities, the Finance
Committee of Parliament is
also planning to call concerned government authorities to discuss the Panama
Papers and progress made so
far in the investigation of
those who were earlier reported to have deposited money in
HSBC Switzerland.
An earlier report by the
ICIJ titled the “SwissLeaks”
had revealed that eight
Nepalis had stashed $54 million in HSBC’s Swiss private
banking arm in 2006-07.
According
to
the
SwissLeaks, Nepali nationals
had used 36 bank accounts to
deposit black money.
Prakash Jwala, chairperson of Finance Committee,
said that it would seek details
of Nepal linkages of both the
Panama Papers and the
SwissLeaks.
panchare jatra
People of Newar community in Kathmandu carry a palanquin of various Hindu goddesses on the
occasion of Panchare Jatra in Sundhara, Kathmandu, on Wednesday.
POST PHOTO: DIPEN SHRESTHA
n
Govt wakes up to UK paper
claims after three days
The Sun on Monday reported that child survivors of
last year’s earthquake ‘being sold’ to rich Brit families
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, APRIL 6
Three days after a British
newspaper claimed that child
survivors of last year’s Nepal
earthquake among other vulnerable children were being
sold to British families to
work as domestic slaves, the
government here said on
Wednesday that “it has called
a meeting on Thursday to discuss the matter” in what
seems to be too lackadaisical
and sluggish response to a
matter of utmost concern.
Britain’s the Sun newspaper on Monday reported that
its investigation found that
“boys and girls as young as 10
are being sold for just £5,300
(Rs800,000) by black market
gangs operating in India’s
state of Punjab”. The paper
said that the gangs were preying on the children who survived Nepal’s earthquake and
those from destitute Indian
families.
According to Radhika
Aryal, joint-secretary at the
Ministry of Women, Children
and Social Welfare (MWCSW),
the ministry will hold a meeting with various line ministries, including the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and the
Ministry of Home Affairs,
and development partners on
Thursday to discuss the issue.
The Ministry of Women,
Children and Social Welfare
(MWCSW) says it has
called a meeting today to
discuss the issue
Meanwhile, police said they
have beefed up security at the
border areas.
Immediately after the Sun’s
revelations, British Home
Secretary Theresa May had
urged police to investigate
claims that child survivors of
the Nepal earthquake and
other vulnerable children
were being sold to British
Schoolboy’s child
labour project gets
national platform
REUTERS
MUMBAI, APRIL 6
It began as a school project,
became a citywide campaign,
and is now a national social
media campaign aimed at getting communities to address
child labour in India.
Kunaal Bhargava, 17, a
student at the American
School in Mumbai, picked
child labour for a classroom
project.
He
approached
Salaam Baalak Trust, a charity that works with street children, for help with material.
The Mumbai police were so
impressed with the poster
campaign he created that it
was adapted for billboards
across the city earlier this
year.
This week, a citizen
engagement
platfor m
LocalCircles, which connects
its more than 1 million
members in discussions on
governance and other matters
of public interest, created a
discussion group on child
labour to seek input on the
issue.
“Child labour is an issue I
think about a lot, as these are
kids as old as me, younger
than me, working instead of
going to school like me,” said
Bhargava.
“We encounter it every day,
so getting the community
involved is an effective way to
check child labour,” he told
the
Thomson
Reuters
Foundation.
There are 5.7 million Indian
child workers aged between
five and 17, out of 168 million
globally, according to the
Inter national
Labour
Organization.
More than half are in agriculture, toiling in cotton,
sugarcane and rice paddy
fields, and over a quarter
work in manufacturing,
embroidering clothes, weaving carpets or making match
sticks. Kids also work in restaurants and hotels, washing
dishes and chopping vegetables, and in middle-class
homes.
The Indian government
wants to amend a three-decade-old law which bans children under 14 from working
in 18 hazardous occupations
and 65 processes including
mining, gem cutting, cement
manufacture and hand looms.
However, children who help
their family or family businesses are permitted to work
outside school hours, and
those in entertainment or
sports can also work, provided
it does not affect their studies.
Members
of
the
LocalCircles group can, in
addition to offering suggestions, post pictures and report
instances of child labour that
the police and NGOs can act
on, said founder Sachin
Taparia.
families to work as domestic
slaves, The Guardian reported
on Monday. Calling child trafficking a “truly abhorrent
crime”, May had, according to
The Guardian, urged the
British
National
Crime
Agency to investigate the Sun
newspaper’s findings and the
newspaper to “share its disturbing findings” with the
agency.
According to the Sun’s
report, the desperate children
“are being sold to wealthy
British families to be used as
unpaid domestic servants”.
Identifying an Indian national
named Makkhan Singh as the
person who was “selling children”, the Sun quoted Singh
as saying: “We have supplied
lads who have gone on to the
UK. Most of the ones who are
taken to England are Nepalis”.
According to estimates, millions of people across the
world are victims of modern
day slavery, trafficked across
borders and forced to work in
servitude.
DHADING VDC
SECYS REFUSE
TO WORK IN
15 VILLAGES
POST REPORT
DHADING, APRIL 6
The VDC secretaries in
Dhading have refused to take
responsibilities for other
VDCs in the district that have
no secretaries.
They submitted a memorandum to Local Development
Officer Bhagawan Aryal on
Wednesday, stating that
they refuse to take additional
work burden of 15 VDCs
without pay.
Quake victims worry the
already delayed recovery
works could draw out even
longer due to the protest
The VDC secretaries under
the banner of VDC Secretary
Rights Protection Centre,
Dhading, also handed over the
documents, keys and stamps
of the 15 VDC offices that do
not have secretaries.
The VDC secretaries have
warn of intensifying the protest if the authorities concerned fail to address their
demands by mid-April.
The protest started by the
VDC secretaries in Dhading
could affect the post-quake
recovery and rehabilitation.
The earthquake victims are
worried that the already
delayed reconstruction works
could draw out even longer.
C M Y K
world
kathmandu post
the
PG 05 | THURSDAY,APRIL7,2016
Netanyahu looks to changing Africa
Four decades after his brother was killed
during a rescue operation in Uganda,
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is
embarking on an African mission of his
own -- but with very different aims.
Netanyahu has put a fresh focus on
improving ties with African nations.
kathmandupost.ekantipur.com
Talon sworn in as Benin prez
Japan’s Abe ‘may visit Russia’
Businessman Patrice Talon was sworn in as
Benin’s new president on Wednesday after
winning last month’s elections in the tiny West
African country. The wealthy 57-year-old was
sworn in at the Charles de Gaulle stadium in
the capital Porto-Novo. He had met earlier on
Wednesday with outgoing head of state.
Japanese PM Shinzo Abe may visit Russia in May
for a long-awaited meeting with President Vladimir
Putin, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. “Such a
possibility is being considered,” Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Abe
has sought to make progress in a dispute over Russian-held islands.
Offshore funds ‘no use for Brit PM’
Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resigns, the first casualty of the leaked documents
REUTERS
LONDON, APRIL 6
Panama firm: Data hack was external
Prime
Minister
David
Cameron, his wife and their
children will not benefit in
future from any offshore
funds or trusts, a spokesman
said on Wednesday as the
British leader faced more
questions over family tax
affairs.
Cameron’s late father, Ian,
was among the tens of thousands of people named in
leaked
documents
from
Panama law firm Mossack
Fonseca which showed how
the world’s rich and powerful
are able to stash their wealth
and avoid taxes.
After having at first
described it as a private matter, Cameron’s office said on
Tuesday that he and his family did not benefit from any
such funds at present.
Cameron also said he did not
own any shares or have any
offshore funds.
But his failure to say whether he or his family would benefit in future only intensified
media speculation, with the
story splashed across many
newspaper front pages on
Wednesday.
“There are no offshore
funds or trusts which the
prime minister, Mrs Cameron
or their children will benefit
from in future,” a spokesman
for
Cameron
said
on
Wednesday.
Cameron has cast himself
as a champion in the fight
against tax evasion, particularly
in
British-linked
territories such as the British
Virgin Islands and Cayman
PANAMA
CITY:
The
Panamanian lawyer at the
center of a data leak scandal that has embarrassed a
clutch of world leaders said
on Tuesday his firm was a
victim of a hack from outside the company, and has
filed a complaint with state
prosecutors.
Founding partner Ramon
Fonseca said the firm,
Mossack Fonseca, which
specializes in setting up
offshore companies, had
broken no laws and that
all its operations were
legal. Nor had it ever
destroyed any documents
or helped anyone evade
taxes or launder money,
he added in an interview
with Reuters.
Company
emails,
extracts of which were published in an investigation
by
the
US-based
International Consortium
of Investigative Journalists
and other media organizations, were “taken out of
context” and misinterpreted, he added.
“We rule out an inside
job. This is not a leak. This
is a hack,” Fonseca, 63,
said at the company’s headquarters in Panama City’s
business district. “We have
a theory and we are following it,” he added, without
elaborating.
“The Conservative Party
could be talking about something where they are strong,
like crime or the economy,
where it would help them win
votes. Instead they’re not,
they’re talking about something that’s really bad for
them where Labour have
something to say.”
Finance minister George
Osborne, who also comes
from a wealthy family, was
asked whether he had any offshore funds.
“This
Conservative
government has done more
than any Labour government
or any previous government
to tackle tax evasion, to
tackle tax avoidance, to get
money into the exchequer
that is owed to the public,”
he responded.
Iceland’s leader resigns
NEWS DIGEST
EU proposes
reforms to
asylum rules
LONDON: The European
Commission has come
up with alternatives for a
“more humane and efficient” way of handling
asylum in response to
the migrant crisis. The
current EU system is
widely thought to have
failed because of the
influx of a million people
through Greece. Among
the options is a plan to
scrap a rule for refugees
to claim asylum in the
country they arrive in.
The so-called Dublin regulation proved unworkable when Germany
opened the door to
Syrian refugees last
August. European
Commission Vice
President Frans
Timmermans argued the
current system had to
change, saying: “We need
a sustainable system for
the future, based on common rules, a fairer sharing of responsibility, and
safe legal channels for
those who need protection to get it in the EU.”
As most irregular
migrants in the past
three years have arrived
in the EU in Greece and
Italy, the two countries
have been left with the
majority of cases.
Mumbai blasts
‘mastermind’
given life in jail
MUMBAI: A man found
guilty of masterminding
a series of bomb blasts
in Mumbai between
2002 and 2003 has been
sent to jail for life.
Prosecutors had sought
the death penalty for
Muzammil Ansari, who
was accused of planting
explosives. A special
anti-terrorism court in
Mumbai also found nine
of the 13 accused guilty
for their roles in the
attack. The bomb blasts
killed 12 people and
seriously injured
(AGENCIES)
another 27.
Islands, but the opposition
Labour Party have said the
“Panama Papers” show the
government has failed to tackle the issue.
Labour lawmaker Wes
Streeting, a member of parliament’s
Treasury
Select
Committee, told BBC Radio
the latest statement from
Cameron’s
office
was
welcome but there were still
questions about whether he
benefited from offshore funds
in the past.
“The question will be when
our prime minister says he is
serious about tackling it
(tax evasion) ... are we absolutely certain he doesn’t have
a vested interest? And if he
does have a vested interest,
will he be up-front with us
about it?” he said.
The Telegraph reported
that Ian Cameron’s fund
moved its operations to
Ireland in 2010, the year
Cameron became prime minister, as the directors believed
it was about to “come under
more scrutiny”.
Asked whether the prime
minister considered Ireland
an offshore jurisdiction, his
office repeated that Cameron
had made clear he had no
shares in any company and no
offshore funds.
The “Panama Papers” add
to a difficult few weeks for
Cameron in which one of his
senior ministers resigned, his
government was forced to
drop a key element of its
budget and he has faced accusations of failing to protect
Britain’s industrial sector
after Tata Steel put its entire
UK operations up for sale.
Anthony Wells, a director at
pollsters YouGov, said that
while the Panama story
may not be that damaging
for Cameron, it has stopped
his Conservatives focussing
on their strengths ahead of
local and regional elections
next month.
It has also diverted government attention away from a
June 23 referendum on
Britain’s membership of the
European Union.
“People already think
Cameron is very posh,
very rich and very out of
touch. I expect most of the
public probably assume he’s
got some huge steaming pile
of cash stored away somewhere,” he said.
Cruz, Sanders in decisive
Wisconsin poll victories
EXECUTIONS HIT
‘HIGHEST LEVEL’
REUTERS
There were more executions
worldwide in 2015 than in any
year since 1990 and almost 90
percent occurred in three
countries—Iran, Saudi Arabia
and Pakistan, human rights
watchdo g
Amnesty
International
said
on
Wednesday.
At least 1,634 people were
executed last year, the organisation said, adding that the
actual number was probably
significantly higher given that
there are no definitive numbers for China.
“The number of known executions rose by more than 50
percent compared with 2014 this development is unsettling
and alarming,” said Oliver
Hendrich, an expert on capital
punishment at Amnesty
International in Germany.
At least 977 people were executed in Iran last year, mostly
for drug crimes, Amnesty
said, while more than 320
death sentences were carried
out in Pakistan and at least
158 people were executed in
Saudi Arabia.
MILWAUKEE, APRIL 6
Republican Ted Cruz scored a
decisive victory over Donald
Trump in Wisconsin, giving
him momentum at a crucial
time and putting pressure on
the front-running Trump to
show he can absorb the shock
and bounce back in upcoming
primary states.
Cruz, a US senator from
Texas, dominated the vote in
Wisconsin on Tuesday, a sign
that he is increasingly viewed
as the main Trump alternative by those Republicans who
cannot bring themselves to
support the billionaire. His
win increased the chances of
a rare contested party convention in July.
“What an incredible victory
tonight,” Cruz said in his victory speech in Milwaukee,
joined by Wisconsin Governor
Scott Walker, a former rival
who had endorsed him.
“Tonight is a turning point. It
is a rallying cry.”
Cruz’s victory injected
n US Republican presidential
candidate Ted Cruz with his wife
in Milwaukee.
REUTERS
fresh energy into what had
been a flagging anti-Trump
movement and showed that
Trump has work to do to
repair damage he brought to
his campaign with remarks
about abortion that hurt
him with Republican women
voters.
On the Democratic side, US
Senator Bernie Sanders of
Vermont easily defeated
front-runner Hillary Clinton
LONDON/REYKJAVIK: Iceland’s
Prime Minister Sigmundur
David Gunnlaugsson resigned
on Tuesday, becoming the first
casualty of leaked documents
from a Panamanian law firm
which have shone a spotlight
on the offshore wealth of politicians and public figures
worldwide.
The Panama Papers showed
the premier’s wife owned an
offshore company with big
claims on Iceland’s banks, a
undeclared conflict of interest
for Gunnlaugsson, infuriating
many who hurled eggs and
bananas in street protests calling for him to step down.
The banks collapsed as the
global financial crisis hit in
2008 and many Icelanders
blame politicians.
Myanmar’s Suu
Kyi gets new role
as special adviser
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
YANGON, APRIL 6
Myanmar’s president on
Wednesday signed a bill giving Aung San Suu Kyi a
new role of state adviser,
shoring up her influence
across all branches of government despite vehement
opposition
from
the
still-powerful military.
Suu Kyi is determined to
rule the former junta-run
nation regardless of an
army-scripted constitution
that bars her from becoming president, as she strives
to meet the aspirations of
millions of voters who gave
her pro-democracy party a
landslide election victory
last November. She is foreign minister and met her
Chinese counterpart for
talks on Tuesday, prioritising Beijing in her first foray
into international diplomacy since her National
League for Democracy officially took power last week.
The bill outlining her
advisory role, which mentions the Nobel laureate by
name, enables Suu Kyi to
wield influence over parliament as well as in the cabinet in a position officially
called “state counsellor”.
It was signed into law by
President Htin Kyaw, Suu
Kyi’s longtime aide and
effective proxy, following
debates in both houses of
parliament that have seen
protests by the army’s legis-
n Aung San Suu Kyi
lative representatives.
“The president has
signed the state counsellor
bill today,” president office
deputy director-general
Zaw Htay told AFP.
He declined to give further details on the legislation, which sped through
both houses of parliament
thanks to the NLD’s huge
majority. In a dramatic
lower house session, unelected military MPs — who
make up a quarter of the
legislature because the constitution reserves seats for
them — stood up to register
a protest that suggested
amendments were being
ignored. The bill was then
sent straight to the president without a vote in the
combined
legislature
because no clauses had
been altered. One army MP,
Brigadier General Maung
Maung, complained to
reporters after Tuesday’s
session that the passage of
the bill was “democratic
bullying by majority”.
illuminated blossoms
REUTERS
BERLIN, APRIL 6
in Wisconsin, adding to
Clinton’s frustration that she
has not been able to put away
her rival and march to the
Democratic presidential nomination.
But despite winning six of
the last seven states, Sanders
still faces a difficult task to
overtake Clinton as the presidential nominating race
moves to New York on April 19
and to five other Eastern
states on April 26. Still, his
victory was another sign that
a sizable group of Democrats
are not sold on the viability of
Clinton’s candidacy.
For Trump, the pressure is
on to respond with some decisive victories in upcoming
states to show he is still on the
way to assembling the 1,237
delegates needed for the
Republican presidential nomination.
Trump was heading to
favorable
turf
in
the
Northeast and was already
predicting victory in New
York. It is now critical that he
do well in these states.
n Visitors enjoy illuminated cherry blossoms in full bloom along the Chidorigafuchi Moat in Tokyo, Japan on
Wednesday. REUTERS
EARTH’S LAST WILDERNESS
Antarctica: International relations in a cold climate
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
VERNADSKY RESEARCH STATION, APRIL 6
Winter is coming, and like many
scientists posted in Antarctica,
Bogdan Gavrylyuk is looking forward to going home.
It has been a year since the
43-year-old Ukrainian geophysicist
started his latest posting, monitoring climatic phenomena on an
island off western Antarctica.
“Everybody misses home.
Everybody has a family or a girlfriend and of course we miss
them,” he says. “But here, there is
a job we have to do.”
He will ship out from
Vernadsky Research Station in
early April to make way for his
replacement, before the sea freezes over. Scientists call Antarctica
the Earth’s last wilderness. For
some, it is also a paradise of international cooperation.
It is home to thousands of
researchers and technicians from
various countries who share the
territory under the Antarctic
Treaty. In Gavrylyuk’s office,
blinking computer screens show
graphs of data from meteorological instruments deployed around
the wind-swept base.
“We share a lot of important,
interesting information between
different Antarctic countries —
data on the ozone layer, meteorological information, geophysical
information. All the countries
here are doing the same,” he says.
He also shows off a pair of keyboards on which he plays rock
music in his free time.
“I have a guitar, a flute, harmonica, keyboards. It helps me
relax when I’m working hard on
my project,” Gavrylyuk explains.
Diplomats cherish the Antarctic
Treaty that has governed this
n Gentoo penguins pictured on the shore of Vernadsky Research Base, a
Ukrainian Antarctic Station on Galindez Island, Antarctica. continent since 1959. “It has
lasted for over 50 years. It brings
us all together,” says Ray
AFP/RSS
Arnaudo, who was formerly the
US State Department’s top official
for Antarctica.
“If you extended the boundaries of Antarctica by five degrees
every couple of years, in 50 years
you would have world peace,” he
says. “Some say I’m a dreamer.”
But when it comes to protecting
the region, the Antarctic Treaty is
prey to international politics
beyond its icy shores.
“Antarctica has traditionally
been a place where people have
been able to cooperate more than
they would on other issues.
However there is an outstanding
list of to-dos,” says Claire
Christian, acting director of the
Antarctic and Southern Ocean
Coalition, a grouping of environmental NGOs.
Run by Britain until it was sold
to Ukraine in 1996, Vernadsky
Station was one of the research
bases whose atmospheric readings
revealed the hole in the ozone
layer in the 1980s, Gavrylyuk says.
Now the focus is on climate
change. Antarctica’s western peninsula has warmed by three percent on average over the past
half-century, according to environmental groups.
They hope the Antarctic
Treaty’s environmental commission, CCAMLR, can agree on
measures to protect the continent.
“There are a lot of political
obstacles,” says Christian. “It’s
been very difficult, for example,
for countries in CCAMLR to agree
to marine protected areas.”
At Argentina’s Almirante
Brown Station, biologist Rocio
Fayo and her 10 colleagues lead an
isolated life.
“There is no Internet connection, so the group has a strong
bond,” says Fayo, 31, standing
under gray skies of Paradise Bay
outside the red wooden hut where
the team sleeps.
C M Y K
Testing times
Since 1993
ED I T OR I A L
Volte-face
General view is if late-night mugging can lead to a good performance, other performances become immaterial
Free-visa-free-ticket issue should address
the costs of all the aspects of recruitment
I
n making its big announcement last year to implement a free-visa-free-ticket labour migration to
Nepalis, the government surely had a very noble
intention. Understandably, it raised the expectations
of both the current and aspiring migrant workers
considerably. Less than a year later, the government is
prepared to make a U-turn on its promise and is likely
to allow recruiting agencies to charge some processing
fees. But the intervening period has not been easy for
migrant workers. Ambiguity on a low-cost regime that
the government promised complicated and delayed the
processing by recruitment agencies. In large part, the
problem arose from the government’s failure to reach
an agreement with receiving countries, except Qatar
and Bahrain, on ensuring charge-free recruitment.
This case is emblematic of Nepal’s policy environment; often new policies are announced without proper
homework. Clearly from a migrant’s point of view, a
low-cost employment process is good. But it is also necessary to take into account the perspectives of thousands of private recruitment agencies, which sustain
their operations from recruitment fees.
This is not to suggest in any way that migrant workers need to pay, only to argue that a middle way could be
found that does not exploit the migrant workers, while
allowing the recruitment agencies to make some profits. The government could, for example, negotiate with
labour destination countries to ask the employers to
bear the cost of processing for their workers.
While shedding light on the exploitation by recruitment agencies, the government also needs to introspect
its responsiblity for adding to the financial burden of
migrant workers. Take passport for instance: The government buys one for Rs400 from the printing company
and sells for Rs5,000. For many, there are other attendant costs like travel to and accommodation in district
headquarters and Kathmandu (for rapid processing of
the passport). By some estimate, individuals from
remote districts may end up spending up to Rs30,000 to
obtain a passport.
The government is not leading by example
either. For countries such as Korea and Israel where
there is government-to-government agreement to send
labourers, it currently charges up to Rs100,000 for visa,
ticket and other fees.
There may be several steps on the way to a migrant
destination where the government could assist in reducing the cost for migrant workers. The emphasis should be
on making the whole process inexpensive, safe and reliable. Dogged insistence on a policy that is clearly difficult to implement does more harm than good.
The government should look at systems other countries have put in place to protect migrant workers from
exploitation by middlemen—before reviewing its current position. The Indian government, for example,
allows recruitment agencies to charge up to 45 days’
salary in processing fees. Rather than simply posturing, our government needs to establish a clear framework that works in favour of the migrants.
W OR L DV I EW
One cannot help wonder how many
teachers are remembered by their
students decades afterwards
AS I LIKE
DEEPAK THAPA
T
he annual ritual of the SLC exams is
with us again and everyone is affected
by it since loadshedding hours have
been reduced a wee bit giving us some
relief from the long, dark hours and
enabling students for some last-minute
catching up. More than half a million households across the country are waiting with
bated breath as someone in their family tries
to get through an examination that is seen as
key to entering the world of higher education and everything that comes with it.
And, of course, from this year on, no one
is going to ‘fail’ the SLC exams. All the
615,553 students appearing for the exam will
be given letter grades to signify their grasp
of the subjects. There have been plenty of
discussions and debates on the merit of the
system being introduced at this juncture.
One persistent criticism has been that it has
been done without proper planning. If so,
and there is no reason to believe otherwise,
as with many things in Nepal, all these students are being asked to take part in an
experiment, the outcome of which is not
quite clear.
It beats reason why this should be so since
it has been obvious from various government reports dating back to the early
2000s that letter grades would replace
marks while assessing students’ performance. And, unlike the one-shot SLC to
determine someone’s proficiency in any subject, it would be based on ongoing evaluation
year after year.
The general understanding continues to
be that if some late-night mugging can lead
to a good performance in SLC, both past and
future performances become immaterial.
Even the fact that loadshedding was reduced
by an hour during the SLC exams buttresses
that point. And, with good reason, too, since
all that the authorities are going to do is
convert marks obtained through the traditional evaluation system into grades from
A+ down to E.
There also seems to be a disconnect
between all the academic reasons for why
the new system has been put in place and
what has sometimes come out in the public
domain. When first introduced last year for
the technical and vocations streams of the
SLC, the Executive Director of the
Curriculum Development Centre was reported as saying that the primary reason for
introducing the letter grade system was to
do away with the concepts of ‘pass’ and ‘fail’,
presumably in order to avoid stigmatising
those who come up short in the examination.
Admirable as the attempt may be, it hardly
does anything to improve the quality of the
students who get through the SLC.
Not so different
In an article a few days ago, researchers
Pramod Bhatta and Sudip Nakarmi provided an analysis of what the SLC has attempted to assess so far. Using Benjamin Bloom’s
taxonomy of congnitive domains that consist of (going from the simple to the complex) knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation,
they looked at the questions asked over the
past seven years in the seven SLC compulsory subjects of Nepali, English, Social
Studies, Science, Mathematics, and Health,
Population and Environment. Their finding
was that the SLC required a high degree of
memorisation, with questions testing recall
power comprising between 52 and 65 percent
in various subjects. Their conclusion, sadly
unsurprising, was that the SLC best trains
students for rote-learning and its corollary,
regurgitation.
The 2006 report, ‘Study on Student
Leaked files reveal an industry that flourishes
in the gaps and holes of international finance
A
Striking teachers
Enough has been said and written about the
politicisation of education, and all that goes
with it such as the incompetence of teach-
More discussions and better comprehension of the impact of sports on development are needed
T
he first reaction to the leaked documents
dubbed the Panama Papers is simply awe at
the scope of the trove and the ingenuity of
the anonymous source who provided the
press with 11.5 million documents—2.6 terabytes of data—revealing in extraordinary detail
how offshore bank accounts and tax havens are
used by the world’s rich and powerful to conceal
their wealth or avoid taxes.
Then comes the disgust. Mossack Fonseca,
the Panama-based law firm whose internal documents were exposed, piously insists it violated
no laws or ethics. But the questions remain:
How did all these politicians, dictators, criminals, billionaires and celebrities amass vast
wealth and then benefit from elaborate webs of
shell companies to disguise their identities and
their assets?
And then the core question: After these revelations, will anything change? Many formal
denials and pledges of official investigations
have been made. But to what degree do the law
and public shaming still have dominion over
this global elite?
Offshore banking is not in itself illegal, and
not all those named should be presumed to have
done wrong. But it is clear that the secrecy of
the sort Swiss banks formerly provided and now
lawyers in Panama offer is a magnet for ill-gotten fortunes and tax evaders.
The papers chronicle a global industry developed to enable an international elite enriched
by corrupt or illegal means to conceal its wealth
and dealings from taxation, prosecution and
public wrath. They expose the questionable
riches that public officials have concealed.
Above all, the Panama Papers reveal an industry that flourishes in the gaps and holes of
international finance. They make clear that
policing offshore banking and tax havens and
the rogues who use them cannot be done by any
one country alone.
Lost tax revenue is one consequence of this
hidden system; even more dangerous is its deep
damage to democratic rule and regional stability when corrupt politicians have a place to stash
stolen national assets out of public view.
Performance in SLC’, authored by a team led
by the former Tribhuvan University ViceChancellor, Kedar Bhakta Mathema, noted
of the process of providing letter grades:
‘Attempts are made to demonstrate relationship between Grades and achievement with
the help of descriptors that define precisely
what a student with a particular Grade has
achieved or has not. This system treats the
learning process as a continuum with no
terminal point.’
There is hardly any chance that the question papers this year were any different,
particularly if the whole exercise will result
in a simple conversion of marks to grades.
Hence, the intention behind the introduction of a more advanced form of evaluation
has been completely undermined, with the
SLC certificate continuing to be the one and
only end-all.
ers, their absenteeism, and even prejudice
against groups such as Dalits. To give one
recent but disturbing example, on the day
before the SLC exams began, the newspaper
My Republica had a story that said all the
teachers, including the headmaster, from a
school in Dang had refused to take up the
responsibility of serving as the Superintendent
of the examination centre based in their
school. The reason was that they were under
pressure from teachers’ unions and political
parties to not do so. That was not because
the unions and political parties felt that
those teachers were morally depraved and,
hence, unfit to supervise the SLC exams but
because the union and party bosses wanted
their cronies to be in charge so that, as the
report said, they could ‘help certain students
or group of students to get better score in
the SLC exams by hook or crook’.
If that is what teachers’ unions and willing accomplices of teachers are capable of,
one wonders about the kind of education
they are imparting in school to begin with.
But, one also wonders about the thousands
of upright teachers who do a decent job of
getting students through one level to the
next, and nothing else. How many of these
are teachers their students will remember
decades afterwards?
This brings me to a lecture given by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, a well-known
advocate of science education, besides the
many other accomplishments he has had.
Speaking at a college in the US (accessible
thanks to YouTube), he asked the audience,
of the scores and even hundreds of teachers
they may have had, ‘How many teachers in
your entire life have had a singular influence on who and what you became? How
many teachers truly influenced you?’
Tyson asks people for a show of hands
asking if they can think of one such teacher,
then two teachers, then three, then four. By
then, he reports that about three quarters of
the audience have been covered. By the time
he reaches six teachers, all hands have been
raised. Tyson believes that these teachers
are remembered not ‘because they gave an
awesome exam or because their problem sets
were fun. You remember these teachers
because you felt their enthusiasm.’
From my own experience, I could not
think of enough teachers to cover one hand,
and having myself worked as a school teacher, I do wonder how well I would do in the
estimation of my own students. But it did get
me thinking: Isn’t that the kind of teacher
you would want for the letter grade system
to truly work? In fact, infection of enthusiasm for any subject would make all kinds of
assessments rather redundant.
Not just a game
Web of corruption
Street
talk
thekathmandu post 06
editorial
Thursday, April 7, 2016
SIMONE GALIMBERTI
W
hile watching a badminton match or a
cricket game, only a few of us might
think of the transformative impact
that sports can have on people’s life.
Rooting viscerally for a team is something that can bring people together, helping for example a youth to find new friends.
Most importantly, this passion can push
people to practice and pursue sports.
Unfortunately, in Nepal a very small fraction of youths are practicing sports. While
many follow sports, only a few of them can
‘talk the walk’ by not only watching the
English Premier League games at night but
also by actively kicking the ball on the
ground. This is a pity because practicing
sports can increase your life span, ensuring
a healthy way of living.
There is certainly an urgent need to
launch a national campaign to promote
sports at the school level starting from kindergarten up to the higher secondary education. The recently established National
Youth Council could partner with the Nepal
Sports Council and the Ministry of
Education to start a campaign for children
and students to actively embrace sports.
Yet, if this campaign were only to promote the positive impact of sports in the
future generations of this country, we
would miss a very important point.
Diplomacy through sports
Yesterday, April 6, was designated by the
UN General Assembly as the International
Day of Sports for Development and Peace.
PAWAN BHATTA
fter getting off work, I walk some
distance from my office towards
Sankhamul to get a tempo. It feels
good walking down the narrow
lanes between big houses at
Old Baneshwor. They are beautiful, decorated and well designed. But
sometimes, something spoils my day.
I see small boys, maybe 10 or 12 years
old, smoking cigarettes—inhaling
death even before understanding life.
And the shopkeeper watches them
until they finish. I do not know what
is going on actually, and why they
The United Nations did not consider
sports just a public health tool to
improve the living conditions of millions of
persons around the world. The focus is
instead on looking at sports through a
much bigger lens, with a new perspective
that can bring peace and achieve sustainable development.
Indeed the Declaration of the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development, the
bedrock of the recently launched
Sustainable Development Goals, assigns a
special role to sport, acknowledging that
“sport is also an important enabler of sustainable development, and recognising “the
special contributions that sports can make
to the empowerment of women and of
young people, communities and individuals
as well as health, education and social
inclusion objectives.”
Only a few countries have fully understood the role that sports can play for development and peace. In terms of best practices, Australia, the outdoor nation par excellence, has a comprehensive ‘sport for development’ strategy. Very recently, the
Badminton World Federation, with the support of Australian government, launched a
new initiative to promote sports among
schoolchildren.
On Monday, Malissa Tapper, an
Australian table tennis player, was involved
in an exhibition match in Basantapur
Durbar Square where she played against
Digam Singh Chemjong, an avid sport player and one of the leaders of the wheelchair
basketball movement in the country.
The US also has a strong tradition of
public diplomacy through sports. Currently,
Lorrie Fair and Tracy Ducar, two former
professional football players who for
many years were part of the national team,
are currently in Nepal to share
their knowledge and expertise by holding
clinics and other awareness programmes at
smoke; but that is totally wrong. The
way they were taught, the way they were
raised, there’s something not good in it.
Do their parents ever care about what
their children are doing? Why do they
smoke? And the shopkeeper, does he
even think for a second before selling
them cigarettes?
Everything we are doing, everything
we intend to do and everything that we
set out for, that’s all for money. We barely
care about our responsibility. The shopkeeper never imagines that those small
boys could be his or her children. And
the schools, they are all money-making
institutions where rules are imposed,
successful bid to host the Tokyo Olympic
Games in 2020. A few months ago, a delegation of Sport4Tomorrow was in Nepal not
only to conduct sport clinics in different
disciplines but also to explore the feasibility
of launching new ideas and initiatives to
create new innovative people-to-people links
between Japan and Nepal based on sports.
different schools. It is interesting that they
are here in their capacity as US Sports
Envoys, a testimony of how much the US is
investing in sports for positive change
around the world.
The Center for Sport, Peace, and
Society based at the University of
Tennessee in the US has become a hub of
worldwide excellence to research on and
expand the positive links between sports,
development and peace.
Even Japan has launched
Sport4Tomorrow as a cornerstone of its
not taught. The sense of making
society better starts with us, and the
term ‘better’ is the future for us, and
the future are those children who
still have a lot to learn, who still
have a long way to travel instead of
choking to death on
poisonous smoke. All
parents should ask
themselves what they
have got to give their children so
that they can become someone to be
proud of. Not some loafer snatching
purses from pedestrians. When you
teach someone not to do something, it
arouses curiosity. So the proper way of
teaching those naïve minds is to be an
example yourself, to show them what it
can do and why they shouldn’t try it.
Society is a great lab to show examples
and experiments. Be good and goodness
will develop in them too.
So if everyone in
society cares about the
wrong things happening
around
them
and tries to correct them, society will
become better every day, and the sense
of discipline will develop in children.
The future of society and the
country will take its pace. Start with
your home, it will eventually change the
postplatform
Sports for everyone
There is an increasing number of organisations in Nepal that are working very hard to
promote inclusive development through
sports. Among them, organisations run by
the disabled play a big role. In the field of
inclusive sports, the country can be a real
pioneer in developing a new strategic
framework that can be seen as a best practice not only in South Asia but also within
the Asia-Pacific region.
Last Saturday, Prem BK and Lali Tamang,
both wheelchair basketball players, broke
all the records in a 5km wheelchair run
organised by Nepal Healthcare Equipment
Development Foundation.
Within this month of April, the first ever
Wheelchair Basketball League is being
organised. A first attempt to promote and
scale up disability sports in the country, it
is expected to offer a powerful platform to
change people’s perspective towards disabilities. We hope that such events will help policymakers, activists and politicians to
invest more in sports for development and
peace. The National Planning Commission
should show innovation and commitment to
introduce new practices like sports for
peace and development that will lay the
foundation for the next periodic plan.
More discussions and a better comprehension of the impact of sports on development are needed.
Galimberti is Co-Founder of ENGAGE
and Editor of Sharing4Good
country. Small amendments made
in our daily life lead to a lot of changes
in the life we live. So, tell your children
not to smoke, never order them, but
show them how giving up will be the
best thing for them. Every retailer
should be careful about not being the
one to ruin other people’s lives. And
every school should dig out the best in
their students, inspire them and commend them so that they don’t fall for
something that will not love them back.
And make society a better place, so that
when a pedestrian like me takes a walk
down the street, there should only be
reasons to smile and boast.
C M Y K
07 thekathmandu post
LATHA JISHNU
‘Bharatmata’ bonanza for BJP
N
ationalism is swamping
India as never before. It is
pouring out of every orifice
and crevice, assaulting the
senses and deadening the
ability to think sanely. Not
even in the times of war and very
palpable threats to its integrity
has the issue of nationalism
gripped the country as now.
As a resurrected Bharatmata
strides across the country, newly
reinvested in the imagination of
the Hindu supremacist BJP as the
prescribed icon of patriotism,
most Indians are gasping for air.
In the mishmash of mythology,
nationalism and politics that’s
been shrewdly cobbled together
by the Hindutva ideologues who
pull the strings of the Narendra
Modi government, rational and
secular India has been neatly
trapped in its saffron chador.
Almost everyone and his uncle
are now dilating on what constitutes nationalism/patriotism.
Even the ideologues of the
Maoists who would normally
steer clear of such issues are now
given to expatiating on what
nationalism means to them. The
BJP’s wily ploy of insisting that
Indians must shout ‘Bharatmata
ki jai’ (Hail Mother India) to
prove their patriotic credentials
has had the desired the effect.
What has been the reaction to
the farrago of pseudo-nationalistic claims propounded by the saffron brigade in the wake of
its failed assault on leading campuses in February? The more
devious and convoluted the
claims put forth by the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the
Hindu cultural organisation that
spawned the BJP, the more fantas-
Thursday, April 7, 2016
India is immersed in vacuous debates on nationalism while the economy slides further
tical has been the response from a
host of its critics.
To begin with, there was RSS
supremo Mohan Bhagwat, using
the organisation’s trademark tactic of whipping up national
hubris, proclaiming that the time
had come “to tell the new generation to chant Bharat Mata ki Jai.”
That was clearly intended to
teach the seditious upstarts in
Jawaharlal Nehru University
where they got off. But in India’s
predictable politics, an opposite
and equal reaction was not long
in coming. Playing to his own
gallery, the president of the hardline All India Majlis-i-Ittehadul
Muslimeen (AIMIM) Asaduddin
Owaisi declared that he would not
chant that slogan even if Bhagwat
put a knife to his throat.
Owaisi’s statement has had the
effect of turning the issue into
another Hindu nationalists versus anti-national Muslims, rendering
ordinary
Muslims
extremely vulnerable to demonisation if not outright attacks, as
has happened in Delhi. This
polarisation is being used to good
effect by the BJP in the election
campaigns in several states going
to the polls in the next month,
especially in Assam.
An unexpected bonanza has
been the reaction of the DarulUloom Deoband, India’s leading
Islamic seminary, which issued a
fatwa issued to Muslims not to
chant Bharatmata ki jai because it
is against Islam and tauheed or the
“oneness of Allah”. In what seemed
a non sequitur, the seminary has
also argued that the constitution
guaranteed the right to all citizens
to practise their own faiths.
It is hard to understand why
the Deoband seminary believes
the chant is synonymous with
worshipping the motherland—it
adds, rather gratuitously, that
Muslims love Bharatmata—but
its fatwa is a godsend for the BJP
which is desperate to capture
What drives productivity?
Productivity
is a long haul, a
marathon without
a finish line
AMITAVA KAR
W
hat exactly are we asked
to do when we are told to
be more productive? Are
we asked to merely produce more? What if we
are producing lousy stuff ?
The question suggests that
productivity cannot and
should not be measured in
terms of output alone. What
then is productivity?
I think the most complete definition was
given
by
Asian
Productivity Organization
(APO): “Productivity is an
attitude of mind. It seeks to
continually improve what
already exists. It is the
belief that one can do things
better today than yesterday and better tomorrow than today.
Productivity can be
a common object of
everybody. It aims
to make life better
for all.” The Tokyobased
APO,
an
inter-governmental body
for the Asia Pacific region, has
20 members among them
Bangladesh, Pakistan, India,
Japan and Singapore.
How can the attitude of people be changed? Well, Japan
did it thorough a productivity
movement back in 1955 with
three guiding principles: job
security and expansion of
employment, cooperation of
labour and management
through joint consultation,
and fair distribution of the
fruits of productivity. The
third principle forms the foundation of any productivity
movement particularly in
overcoming and resolving the
various contradictions inevitable in market economies.
Following Japan’s example,
Singapore started taking inter-
est in productivity in its early
days of independence in the
1960s. In the early 80s, the government launched a productivity movement, aiming at
mindset change in all sectors
of the economy. Factors that
led to its huge success were:
commitment of top leadership,
a country-wide campaign
combined with company-based
consultancy, tripartite cooperation among the government,
industry and labour unions;
and developing management
consultancy capability in the
private sector by designing
systems and incentives for
trained human resources.
And more recently, the
National Productivity and
Competitiveness Council of
Mauritius launched the first
phase of a campaign in 2001,
focusing on making Mauritius
Muda-free. Muda is a Japanese
word for waste, idleness or
uselessness. The Muda-free
Mauritius campaign was
launched for the education
sector promoting tools such as
5S, Gemba Kaizen, CATs or
Civic Action Teams modeled
after Quality Circles, knowledge centres and computer
proficiency. In 2012, another
campaign was launched by the
NPCC to focus on the term
productivity itself, to demystify the concept by popularising
different perspectives of productivity as experienced by
people in different sectors of
the Mauritian economy, ranging from agriculture to manufacturing, from corporate bodies to citizens at grassroots
level and from potential entrepreneurs to NGOs.
Bangladesh joined the APO
in 1982, and subsequently, the
National
Productivity
Organization was established
under the Ministry of
Industries in 1989. The
National Productivity Council,
the highest level multidimensional body to formulate
national productivity policy,
plan
and
programmes
has also been formed. Can the
success of productivity campaigns in these countries be
replicated here?
It certainly can with a
well-designed marketing strategy. Campaigns on sanitation,
family planning, and immunisation have achieved significant success under different
governments. Promoting the
idea of productivity, however,
is a totally different ball game.
It falls under the domain of
“social marketing”, which
aims at improving the quality
of life by bringing about positive changes in the society. The
primary aim of “social
marketing” is “social good”;
while in “commercial marketing” the aim is primarily
“financial”.
In 1951, the psychologist G D
Wiebe asked the question,
‘Can brotherhood and rational
thinking be sold like soap?’
In his paper, ‘Merchandising
Commodities and Citizenship
on Television’, Wiebe proposed
that organisations which successfully ‘sell’ intangible
social
objects—such
as
goodwill, respect for the environment or community development—would be more
successful if they sold their
social objects the way marketers sell sports cars or mouthwash. The more social campaigns
resembled
commercial marketing
practices, the better
their chance of success,
he
suggested.
And
that’s exactly what
Japan,
Singapore
and
Mauritius
have done.
The
NPO
in
Bangladesh, despite
having a paltry annual
budget of a little over Tk 3
crore and 67 staff, is
doing the best it can.
Md Abdul Musabbir,
Joint-Director
of
NPO, says, “Almost
half of our budget is spent on
salaries and benefits. We
organise several training programmes and provide consultancy services. There is a
proposal of expanding the
operation of NPO at the
regional level.”
Bangladesh faces significant economic and social challenges as it transitions from
dependence on trade preferences to open competition in
the global economy. A campaign is one of many tools that
can be used to promote productivity. “Productivity is a long
haul, a marathon without a
finish line,” Lee Hsien Loong,
the Prime Minister of
Singapore said when his country embarked on another
phase of the productivity
drive in 2014.
states that have long been beyond
its sphere of influence. With the
opposition Congress also deciding to join the Bharatmata bandwagon the ruling dispensation
has got the country exactly where
it wants on this futile debate.
Congress spokesman Abhishek
Singhvi has no problem in taking
up the RSS-BJP narrative. He proclaims that one should often
chant Bharatmata ki jai and
“would forcefully express my
right to raise the chant”. With
pride, of course; to oppose it was
mere
childishness.
Fellow
Congressman Rashid Alvi has a
more scholarly research for disapproval of the Darul-Uloom
Deoband’s stance. In Urdu and
Persian, he says, the slogan translates to Madre vatan zindabad. So
there should be no problem in
chanting thus.
While academics, secular
thinkers and a host of players on
the civil liberties stage have written reams to explain why the
country should reject the RSSBJP’s attempts to lay down the
law on nationalism, the BJP
might well have hit the jackpot—
as one party member gloated privately—with its latest strategy to
whip up passions and garner
votes. In fact, by adopting the
RSS’s rhetoric of nationalism as
its own, unlike in 2014 when
development was the catchphrase
that swept Modi to power, the
BJP has done two things. It
has pleased the saffron hardliners
in the saffron network, and
more vitally, it has taken the focus
away from the formidable economic challenges that face the
government.
Providing employment is the
toughest of all and so far the
Modi regime has failed to provide
a glimmer of hope to the millions
of young job-seekers. The report
card, in fact, has been depressing.
According to The Hindu, a number of jobs created in eight
labour-intensive industries has
dropped to a six-year low after
Modi came to power. In the first
nine months of 2015, just 155,000
new openings were created compared to double that figure in
previous years.
India’s industrial growth has
been declining and the report
said rationalisation of staff in the
corporate sector combined with
lack of recruitment by the government is a serious concern.
Other analyses of the economy
have been equally worrying. The
just-ended financial year has seen
growth rates lopped off sizably
from the targets set by the government. The 2015-16 budget had set a
nominal GDP growth target of
11.5pc. Instead, that rate has
turned out to be just 5.2pc. A serious concern is the deepening
rural distress.
That might explain why
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
was one of the cheerleaders of
the Bharatmata ki jai campaign.
As he put it rather grandly, it was
not merely a slogan, “it is the
heartbeat of a billion people
today. It is the reiteration of our
constitutional obligations as citizens to uphold its primacy”.
While the reference to the constitution is an outright fabrication—nowhere does India’s
statute enjoin its citizens to
chant thus to prove their loyalty—there are good reasons why
the BJP has turned to Bharatmata
for deliverance. Nationalism is
always the last refuge.
China and Myanmar
Two neighbors continue to attach great importance to bilateral
ties, and are seizing the opportunity to engage and connect
C
WANG HUI
hinese Foreign Minister Wang
Yi is paying an official visit to
Myanmar on Tuesday and
Wednesday at the invitation of
Myanmar’s new Foreign
Minister Aung San Suu Kyi.
Myanmar’s new government
was sworn in on March 30, turning
a new page in the country’s political landscape and sparking speculation about issues ranging from
domestic reform to foreign diplomacy, in particular, how the new
government will handle its relations with major international
players, including China.
Wang’s visit, which comes less
than one week after the inauguration of Myanmar’s new government, shows the two neighbors
continue to attach great importance to bilateral ties, and
both countries are seizing the
opportunity to engage and connect
with each other after Myanmar’s
political transition.
Nyunt Maung Shein, chairman
of the Myanmar Institute of
Strategic and International
Studies, believes Myanmar’s new
government will pursue friendly
ties with China, as good relations
with its neighbor are important in
the economic, diplomatic and
security fields.
Hong Liang, Chinese ambassador to Myanmar, said he is confident in the future of ChinaMyanmar ties and believes a stable
and economically developed
Myanmar contributes to China’s
economic and security interests.
On March 15, Chinese President
Xi Jinping was among the first
group of world leaders to congratulate U Htin Kyaw upon his election as Myanmar’s new president.
These show Myanmar will con-
n Foreign Minister Wang Yi greets Aung San
Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s new foreign minister and
leader of the National League for Democracy
party, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on Tuesday.
tinue to occupy an important place
in China’s peripheral diplomacy.
Since Myanmar embarked on
the road to democratization in
2011, some in the West have
drummed up the rhetoric that
“China’s clout in Myanmar is waning”. In recent years the suspension of several large Chinesefinanced projects in Myanmar,
especially the Myitsone hydropower dam in northern Myanmar, has
fueled such speculations.
Admittedly, problems have
cropped up between the two countries in the past few years.
China has endured economic
losses when Myanmar stalled
these projects, and last year, fighting in Kokang, northern Myanmar,
twice spilled over the border into
China. The airstrikes launched by
Myanmar’s government forces
targeting rebels killed five
and injured more than a dozen
Chinese citizens.
On the other hand, there is
anti-China sentiment in Myanmar
too, and bias against Chinese
investments is not rare due
to misunderstandings and for
historical reasons.
However, both countries need to
look beyond these incidents and
jointly usher in a win-win situation so bilateral ties can grow.
Sharing a border of more than
2,000 kilometers with Myanmar, it
is in China’s economic and security interests that Myanmar realizes
domestic political reconciliation
and boosts its economic and social
development.
Statistics show about one-third
of Myanmar’s foreign trade goes to
China, and Chinese investments
account for one-third of the total
foreign investment in Myanmar.
Obviously, China and Myanmar
have everything to gain from
engaging with each other. As Shein
of the Myanmar Institute of
Strategic and International
Studies rightfully pointed out,
there are broad prospects for bilateral cooperation in the future.
Apart from enhancing ties in
energy and infrastructure, the two
countries can also work more
closely in non-traditional security
fields, such as drug trafficking,
human trafficking, arms smuggling and cross-border crimes.
An agreement signed in 1997
between the two sides on management and cooperation in the border areas should be fully and
strictly observed. Issues that
threaten peace and stability along
the borders area should be
addressed through joint efforts.
Since 2013, Chinese enterprises
operating in Myanmar have
deemed corporate social responsibility a priority, and they have
tried to reach out to a wider
cross-section of Myanmar society
for better understanding.
We have reasons to believe that
with the efforts of both sides,
China and Myanmar will carry
forward their old tradition of
friendship and deepen their reciprocal cooperation.
MUSINGS
T
he following is a translation of the
Henshu Techo column from The
Yomiuri Shimbun’s March 25 issue.
* * *
Some elderly people probably remember Ryo Nakanishi. “Memories snuggle
to songs. Songs speak to memories,”
were colorful lines he used as
an announcer on an NHK radio music
program.
One night, a listener requested a military song. Out of respect for the listener’s memory linked to the song,
Nakanishi played it, although he said,
“This microphone takes no political
stance.” This became an oft-told tale.
The remark appears to be Nakanishi’s
way of expressing his belief that loving
songs does not mean taking a political
stance. A nonpartisan group of Diet
members, including those from the
Liberal
Democratic
Party,
the
Democratic Party of Japan and the
Japanese Communist Party, has been
formed to support enka and Japanese
pop songs.
“I can’t understand the lyrics. It is the
age of music, but not songs,” lyricist Yu
Aku lamented about 10 years ago.
“Holding on to people’s mercies,
stabbed by the broken branch of mercies” goes a line in “Naniwabushi dayo
Jinsei wa” (Life is a Naniwabushi ballad) written by Masato Fujita. It will be
great if the support group puts the spotlight on tasteful lines in songs.
These are the words left by lyricist
Kohan Kawauchi: “Enka is a ship that
carries people’s aspirations.” In Tokyo’s
Nagatacho, the nation’s political
center, recently only shamefaced misconduct and gaffes are conspicuous. Let
me add, though it may seem needless to
say, politicians’ aspirations should not
be forgotten.
C M Y K
life&style
kathmandu post
the
PG 08 | THURSDAY,APRIL7,2016
kathmandupost.ekantipur.com
GOT actor inspired by Ledger
BORN TODAY
Actor Iwan Rheon, who plays the role of
Ramsay Bolton in the HBO fantasy drama TV
series Game of Thrones, says he took reference from the Joker in The Dark Knight. “I’ve
got a couple of references that I used for
him. It was somewhere in between the Joker
and Dennis the Menace,” the actor said.
Chinese actor Jackie Chan is 62
Beyonce sues Feyonce
rammy-winning singer Beyonce is suing a
Texas-based company for selling several
products online bearing the “Feyonce”
name. The complaint, which was filed on
Tuesday at Manhattan federal court,
alleged that “Feyonce” was too close
to Beyonce’s trademarked name.
Australian actor Russell Crowe is 52
French footballer Franck Ribery is 33
English singer Duncan James is 38
American director Francis Ford Coppola is 77
miss nepal 2016
THE CROWN
AWAITS
DOCUMENTARY
FILM FESTIVALS
FEEL PUSH ON ACCURACY
As the number of films
grows, film festival
programmers face
more pressure to serve
as judges of fairness
and accuracy
MELENA RYZIK
D
octors and other public health
professionals may be relieved
that the controversial documentary Vaxxed, about the long-discredited link between autism
and vaccines, was yanked from
the Tribeca Film Festival. But its
expulsion has also highlighted consternation among other festival
organizers, who have been feeling the
burden of extra scrutiny. As documentarians multiply, pointing their
cameras at ever more esoteric, provocative and sometimes contentious
stories, there is increasing pressure
on programmers to act not just as
quality control but also perhaps as
judges of fairness and accuracy.
Especially since the films themselves
are more picked apart.
“I feel that pressure more and
more each year,” said Thom Powers,
the documentary programmer at the
Toronto International Film Festival
and the artistic director of Doc
NYC. “Because documentaries are
getting more ambitious, I think that
there is a healthy anxiety for any film
festival programmer to be worrying
over the works that they’re presenting. If I didn’t feel anxious, it would
be a sign that I’m really playing it
safe with the films I show.”
But filmmakers and programmers
are also split about what their responsibilities are, and how active they
should be in policing what is
onscreen. Should they be fact
checkers? And should there be guidelines about how much of a film must
be verifiable?
These questions are not necessarily new, said Patricia Aufderheide, a
professor at the Center for Media &
Social Impact at American University,
who has studied documentaries. But
with the expansion of the field and a
growing number of outlets for programming, from streaming services
to small festivals, “the volume is way
up,” she said.
Professor Aufderheide said that
her research showed that documentarians and presenters were generally united in their good-faith obligation to viewers and subjects.
“Part of their claim is: This is
important and true,” she said. “And
true not in the sense of its objective,
but it’s a responsibly portrayed reality that somebody understands, and
that will pass a smell test.”
Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to
Catastrophe was ultimately cut from
Tribeca because its filmmakers, who
also appear in it, were promoting an
Filmmakers and programmers
are also split about what their
responsibilities are, and how
active they should be in policing
what is onscreen
agenda--about the danger of vaccines--that doctors have said is false
and damaging to public health.
Retaining trust is especially important as audiences have come to
regard documentaries as a vehicle for
long-form investigation, the kind that
the news media may no longer do.
The strength of the Netflix docu-series Making a Murderer (which
Powers showed at Doc NYC) “is that
those two filmmakers could take the
10 years” to delve into the case,
Powers said. (Nonetheless, its reporting was also questioned.)
But David Wilson, a programmer
and co-founder of the True/False
Film Fest, a respected annual show-
case in Missouri, said it was a mistake to routinely treat documentaries
in the same way as journalism. “I
think documentary films are often
not the right way to lay out the complex case for and against something,”
he said. “They can tell great stories,
they can create empathy and capture
the messiness of the human condition.” But, he continued, “in no way
does documentary film stand next to
an article in Science magazine or The
Lancet,” the British medical journal.
Asked whether programmers
should accept a film if they are not
certain of its veracity, Wilson said,
“My answer is an emphatic ‘sometimes.’” Drawing on the director
Werner Herzog’s maxim that he is
after the truth of poets, not the truth
of accountants, Wilson added, “We
show films that many people would
look at and say, ‘How is that possibly
a documentary?’”
Among its most recent selections
was Tickled, a film that on its surface
is about a subculture of tickling fetishists but probes further to discover
possible threats and online bullying.
“We were receiving legal threats even
before we’d started production,”
Dylan Reeve, a director of the film,
wrote in an email, adding that they
were concerned that this would hinder its acceptance by festivals.
Though most organizers say festivals do not have the resources or the
mission
to
fully
investigate
everything, Powers does consider, for
example, whether films have all the
legal rights to their material. (Last
year, Aretha Franklin won a court
battle that resulted in the documentary Amazing Grace, which included
vintage concert footage of her, being
pulled from several festivals, including Toronto.)
One way to clarify what is acceptable in documentaries, especially
as technology has made it easier
for anyone to make them, is to create standards or industrywide best
practices. But that, too, is a divisive proposal. Wilson, of True/
False, was “categorically not in
favor,” he said, because he felt it
would be stifling to filmmakers.
For their part, festival organizers say it is also up to audiences to sniff out what is legitimate
and what is not. “I think we should
be teaching media literacy in
every high school in the country,”
Wilson said. At True/False, “we
encourage and push our audiences to
be critical viewers; we want audiences to take on the task.”
And, Powers added, moviegoers
need to be realistic about the limitations of cinema. “It’s kind of important to understand,” he said, “that
one film is not the fulfillment of the
search for truth.”
ASMI
SHRESTHA,
KATHMANDU
Age: 22
As the countdown begins for the
finale of Hidden Treasure Fanta Miss
Nepal 2016, the most prestigious
beauty pageant in the country, the
Post gives you a glimpse of the 19
contestants who are ready to set the
stage on fire and compete for the
most coveted beauty title of the year.
12
Shrestha firmly
believes that the main
essence of life is learning
and exploring. She is a
national netball player
and represented the country in the 8th Asian
Championship in Sri
Lanka. The face of Classic
Diamond 2014,Shrestha
loves adventure and dancing. She would like to be a
successful entrepreneur
someday.
13
ANITA
KARKI,
SOLUKHUMBU
KARUNA
KHADKA,
BUTWAL
Age: 21
Age: 20
For Khadka,
Miss Nepal is the
perfect platform
for grooming one’s
personality and
developing selfconfidence.
Her hobbies are
dancing and travelling to new places
with family and
friends. She also
loves playing football.
A keen social worker,
she aspires to
become an
airhostess.
A firm believer
that weaknesses
are strengths in
disguise as there is
only room for
improvement,
Karki, a hopeful
dietician, is determined to finishing
everything she
starts. She enjoys
travelling, knitting,
and playing
badminton and
basketball.
14
An aspiring environmentalist and
Politian, Lekhi has
achieved spreading
awareness among
women of their
ownership and
accessibility to
resources. A keep
trekker, she also
like to paint, travel and play volleyball.
BARSHA
LEKHI,
KATHMANDU
15
SANDIPA
LIMBU,
DHARAN
Age: 23
A firm believer that
Nepal needs to educate girls better,
Limbu enjoys engaging herself in volunteer work and
aspires to become
a humanitarian.
Also the 1st runner up in Miss
Purbanchal 2012,
she is a sportsperson
who also enjoys singing and traveling.
Age: 22
—©2016New York Times
POST REPORT
RADIANT
WOMEN NOW
SET TO HIT
TUNDHIKHEL
11
KATHMANDU, APRIL 6
R
adiant Women Now, Aajaka Ujjwal
Mahila, an event that fuses arts and
awareness on human trafficking, is
set to be held at the Tundhikhel, in
the Capital, on Saturday, April 9.
Organised by the by Planète Enfants
with the support of the Delegation of
European Union to Nepal, the concept
event will be a mix of the moving photography essay of Natalie de Oliveira;
the show will also feature artists from
different fields.
During the show, Radiant Women
Now will pitch its tent in Tundikhel for
a two hour creative event; on one end of
the perimeter the 47 exhibition panels
will welcome the audience, and on the
other end, on stage, musicians will play
in a concert sprinkled with a couple of
the survivor testimonies collected by
Natalie de Oliveira during the making
of her essay. Theatrical and circus performances, and a live painting, according
to the organisers, will provide the link
between the two ends of the perimeter.
It is a “no speech” show. The exhibition, the written and read testimonies of
the Radiant Women, and the artists’
voices will stand by themselves against
trafficking.
Performing during the show will be
artists such as Natalie de Oliveira,
whose photos will be put on display;
Live painting by Shradda Shrestha;
fFlute and sarangi by Albertina
Barcelo & Kiran Nepali; artists Kim
Thakuri & Tara Tamang; a performance
by Circus Kathmandu; acoustic set by
Nattu Shah; Beat-box and live performance by Mahima Singh and Nishanta
Gauchhan; and the folk-fusion band
KANTA dAb dAb.
The event will start at 4 pm.
C M Y K
health&living
kathmandupost
the
PG 09 | THURSDAY,APRIL7,2016
kathmandupost.ekantipur.com
New networks
All that heat
For every pound of fat gained, you add seven
miles of new blood vessels. New tissue needs
blood supply, so your vascular system expands
to accommodate it. This also means your heart
must work harder to pump blood through the
new network, which may reduce oxygenation
and nutrient replenishment in other tissues.
Your body produces enough heat in only
thirty minutes to boil a half-gallon of
water. Your body is the epitome of a study
on the laws of thermodynamics. You
produce heat from all that is going on—
exercise, metabolizing food and as you
sweat, exhale, excrete, and urinate.
Taller in the morning
When you crawl out of the sack in the
morning you are at your tallest. On average, you are approximately one half inch
taller when you wake in the morning,
thanks to excess fluid between within your
spinal discs. While you are sleeping, these
fluids replenish.
WHEN PARENTS HAVE
A FAVOURITE CHILD
More obese people in the
world than underweight
It’s impossible not to have favourites, and the perception of favouritism is one of
the biggest factors in sibling rivalry so rife in households across cultures
PERRI KLASS
T
o my own mother, it was an
article of faith to show no
favouritism. If two of us
asked her whose drawing
she liked best, the answer
was predetermined: I like
them just the same. When I tried
to trick my mother by saying I
had done both drawings myself,
she saw right through me; she
understood that children are
constantly trying to elicit evidence of who is ahead and who
is behind. And to the end of her
life, if someone tried to draw my
mother out in public praise, by
saying, with reference to some
particular milestone or achievement, oh, you must be so proud
of your child, she would respond,
firmly, yes, I’m proud of all my
children.
Her parents, back in the 1930s,
had no concerns about treating
children equally; the boy was the
boy was the boy; the girls were
the smart one and the pretty one.
Dr Barbara Howard, a developmental behavioural pediatrician who is the president of
Total Child Health and an assistant professor of pediatrics at
Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine, often sees
behavioural problems that
stem from a child’s sense of not
being the preferred one. “It’s
impossible not to have favourites, and we do know that the
perception of favouritism is one
of the biggest factors in sibling
rivalry,” she said.
“Often the child is trying to
get the attention of the parent
who is rejecting them—the more
you push a kid away, the more he
will come at you,” she said. “So
if you see a kid coming at a parent, being aggressive or being
clingy or needy or overly attention-seeking, often the parent
doesn’t like the kid that much, or
the kid perceives it.” She may
ask the parent what that child’s
behaviour evokes; which other
family member does it make you
think of; what possible future
does it make you imagine? Often,
she says, the parent is aware of
feeling strained toward that
child, and feels terribly guilty
about it; finding ways to enjoy
Favourite Child said some families have a shifting favouritism,
where different children hold
the advantage from day to day or
week to week. That kind of rotation, she said, yields a healthy,
normal competitiveness. Ask the
children, she says, and they will
tell you. “The people who don’t
know are usually the parents,
who live in denial because
there’s a myth that to have a
favourite child is bad.”
The danger comes when the
favouritism is steady and persistent and becomes a lasting part
of the family dynamic.
Evolutionary psychologists
think of parental investment in
their offspring as the division of
Here may be real inequities—but what may matter more
is the perception of favouritism, and what everyone
involved does with it, both in terms of behaviour,
and in terms of memory and emotion
spending time together can help
them both.
Years ago I read a novel—
someone please tell me what it
was—in which a mother secretly
and privately assured each of
her children, don’t tell the others, but you have always been
my favourite. I liked that system,
and, as a mother, I think I could
do it with perfect sincerity—one
on one with each of my three
children, I think I could say it
and it would be true.
Ellen Weber Libby, a clinical
psychologist and author of The
a finite pool of resources, rather
than, perhaps, an infinity of
love. “I would argue that parents
do sometimes have favourites
and do invest unequally,” said
Catherine Salmon, an associate
professor of psychology at the
University of Redlands in
California, who studies relationships and is a co-author of The
Secret Power of
Middle
Children. Birth order can matter
here, she said, with middle children perhaps less likely to be
favourites, compared with first
children, who monopolise their
parents, for that first period, and
last children, who represent a
final chance to invest.
Dr Salmon pointed out that
the effects of parental favouritism may be much sharper in
families where there isn’t
enough to go around in the first
place, so the inequities may be
particularly harsh. On the other
hand, Dr Libby said, in a prosperous family, the favourite child
may grow up entitled, immune
from the rules that apply to the
other children.
“I think you can let people off
the hook from feeling guilty
about having a favourite—put it
right out there and say of course
you have a favourite, people have
favourites, it’s what you do with
it that matters,” said Dr Howard.
“You’ve got to find something
you appreciate about each kid
and build on that.” With children whose behaviour is problematic, she may suggest developing new rituals, like an early-morning cuddle before the
day gets going.
“Parents don’t appreciate the
difference between love and
favouritism,” said Dr Libby. “I
think it’s hard for parents to say,
I love my children the same and
from time to time there is a child
I do favour. I favour a child
because at that moment that
child makes me feel more successful as a parent.”
So yes, there may be real inequities—but what may matter
more is the perception of favouritism, and what everyone
involved does with it, both in
terms of behaviour, and in terms
of memory and emotion.
We all carry with us into adulthood a sense of where we stood,
how we were perceived and how
we were treated.
On a good day, the idea of the
favourite child can be a bit of a
running joke, which serves
as a reminder to parents to
play fair, and as a reminder to
children that while love is
infinite, parental approval and
esteem need to be earned,
and are worth competing for,
within reason.
When Dr Libby had to
put together her first Power
Point presentation, she said,
she found herself feeling
overwhelmed.
She
texted
her children: “Whoever gets
back to me first is my favourite
child for today.”
“Within
a
nanosecond
my daughter, who never has
time to call me, was on the
phone, and my son said, damn,
when your phone was busy I
knew my sister was on it!”
—©2016 New York Times
There are now more
adults in the world
classified as obese than
underweight, a major
study has suggested
T
here are now more adults in the world
classified as obese than underweight, a
major study has suggested.
The research, led by scientists from
Imperial College London and published
in The Lancet, compared body mass index
(BMI) among almost 20 million adult men
and women from 1975 to 2014.
It found obesity in men has tripled and
more than doubled in women.
Lead author Prof Majid Ezzat said it was
an “epidemic of severe obesity” and urged
governments to act.
The study, which pooled data from adults
in 186 countries, found that the number of
obese people worldwide had risen from 105
million in 1975 to 641 million in 2014.
Meanwhile the number of underweight
people had risen from 330 million to 462 million over the same period.
‘Crisis point’
Global obesity rates among men went up
from 3.2percent in 1975 to 10.8percent, while
among women they rose from 6.4 percent in
1975 to 14.9 percent.
This equates to 266 million obese men and
375 million obese women in the world in
2014, the study said.
The research also predicted that the probability of reaching the World Health
Organization’s global obesity target—which
aims for no rise in obesity above 2010 levels
by 2025—would be “close to zero”.
Prof Ezzati said: “Our research has
shown that over 40 years we have transitioned from a world in which underweight
prevalence was more than double that of
obesity, to one in which more people are
obese than underweight.
“Although it is reassuring that the number
of underweight individuals has decreased
over the last four decades, global obesity has
reached crisis point.”
“We hope these findings create an imperative to shift responsibility from the individual to governments and to develop and implement policies to address obesity.
“For instance, unless we make healthy
food options like fresh fruits and vegetables
affordable for everyone and increase the
price of unhealthy processed foods, the situation is unlikely to change.”
The research also found:
More obese men and women now live
in China and the USA than in any
other country
Women in the UK have the third highest
BMI in Europe and the 10th highest for men
Almost a fifth of the world’s obese adults
—118 million —live in only six high—income
English—speaking countries — Australia,
Canada, Republic of Ireland, New Zealand,
UK, and the US
By 2025, the UK is projected to have the
highest levels of obese women in Europe (38
percent), followed by Republic of Ireland (37
percent) and Malta (34 percent).
Being underweight remains a significant
health problem in countries such as India
and Bangladesh.
The team also examined the number
of people who are underweight, and
over the same time period the study suggested the rates had fallen from 14 percent
to 9percent in men, and 15 percent to
10 percent in women.
Prof George Davey Smith from the School
of Social and Community Medicine at the
University of Bristol writes in the same jour-
nal of the danger of becoming “a fatter,
healthier, but more unequal world”.
“A focus on obesity at the expense of recognition of the substantial remaining burden of
under—nutrition threatens to divert resources
away from disorders that affect the poor to
those that are more likely to affect the
wealthier in low income countries,” he said.
Other statistics from the study include:
China has the largest number of obese people in the world with 43.2 million men and
46.4 million women
The US has 41.7 million obese men and
46.1 million obese women
In comparison in the UK the study found
6.8 million obese men in 2014, and 7.7 million
obese women
Jamie Blackshaw, National lead for
The study, which pooled data from
adults in 186 countries, found that the number
of obese people worldwide had risen from
105 million in 1975 to 641 million in 2014.
This equates to 266 million obese men and
375 million obese women in the world in 2014
Obesity and Healthy Weight, Public Health
England, said:
“People who are overweight and obese suffer life—changing consequences and it costs
the NHS more than £6 billion a year. The
causes of obesity are complex and the environment we live in encourages poor diets
and low levels of physical activity.
“There is no single solution, we have to
address the many factors that drive up obesity levels. We all—government, industry, local
authorities and the public—have a role to
play in that. “That’s why we’re supporting
the government to develop its childhood obesity strategy, we’re running the world’s first
national diabetes prevention programme and
we’re currently piloting, with local councils
and Leeds Beckett University, a whole systems approach to tackling obesity.”
—©2016 BBC
C M Y K
variety
Thursday, April 7, 2016
thekathmandu post
10
TODAY’SHOROSCOPE
ARIES (March 21-April 19)
****
You’re usually not a very impetuous person, but would it do you
any harm to act more spontaneously? The answer is: Definitely
not! You can achieve your goals just as efficiently when you just
run out and act on them.
U
D
TAURUS (April 20-May 20)
***
You have a great insight into the major events going on
right now, and people will be depending on you for help. Be
prepared for unexpected responses, unusual attitudes, and odd
evasions.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21)
****
Right now, there is no point in sharing your deep thoughts unless
you share every single one of them, so don’t hold back! When you
tell it like it is, people are impressed and want to listen even more.
And it’s the right time to make a good impression.
CANCER (June 22-July 22)
*****
You will be firing on all cylinders today! Your brain is sharper than
ever right now, and you will be able to learn new and difficult
things extremely quickly. So skip the gym today and devote
yourself to more intellectual pursuits.
LEO (July 23-August 22)
****
Wanting change in your life and making change happen in your
life both have one thing in common—patience. And if you are
working at creating new change, just take a deep breath and wait
for the results patiently.
VIRGO (August 23-September 22)
******
Let your curiosity guide you today. Be open-minded and just follow wherever it leads you. This is a period of great opportunity for
you to learn new things about yourself. It’s so much fun to push
things in new direction, isn’t it?
YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION
S
O
K
U
C
R
O
WORD GAME
GRAFFITI
S
S
W
O
R
D
LIBRA (September 23-October 22)
*****
Your creativity has been on a roll lately, and all you have to do
today is just let it keep on rolling! Let your imagination ignite and
take you to new places! Now is the best time for you to put things
back together in an entirely new way. You will have a blast doing it!
SCORPIO (October 23-November 21)
**
Today, it’s important for you to devote serious energy toward
finding a balance between your home life and your public life.
Make sure you are faithful to both the responsibilities without
messing things up.
SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21)
****
Someone who has power over your schedule is willing to make
certain adjustments that will make you very happy—and today is
a great day to connect with them and make it happen. So get to it
as early as you can.
CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19)
***
The best way to ensure that you have more money later is to start
saving more of it! So today, start a new trend. When you are
tempted by a new goodie in a store, just say no! You have the
power to improve your spending habits.
DILBERT
RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT
AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18)
****
Your brilliance will always shine through, so why are you getting
nervous about that big speech or presentation you have to
make? So instead of using up all your energy getting stressed out,
use it to envision the standing ovation you will receive.
PISCES (February 19-March 20)
***
Sure, your energy may be lagging a little bit now, but so what? Give
yourself a break and stop pushing so hard to be so much to so
many people. All you really need right now is some rest. If you can,
take a nap today.
L
A
U
G
H
O
U
T
L
O
U
D
K
A
N
T
I
P
U
R
T
V
K
A
N
T
I
P
U
R
F
M
Fresh out of business school, the young man answered vacancy ad for an
accountant. Now he was being interviewed by a highly agitated, arrogant
little man who ran a small business that he had started from scratch. “I
need someone with an accounting degree,” the man said. “But mainly, I’m
looking for someone to do my worrying for me.”
“How’s that?” the would be accountant asked.
“I worry about a lot of things,” the man said. “But I don’t want to have to worry
about money. Your job will be to take all the money worries off my back.”
“I see,” the accountant said. “And how much will my position pay?”
“I’ll start you at eighty five thousand,” responded the owner decisively.
“Eighty five thousand dollars!” the accountant exclaimed. “How can such
a small business afford a sum like that?”
“That,” the owner said, “is your first worry. Now get to work!”
5:00
Bhaktisur/ Amrit
Bani
6:00 Jeevan Bigyan/
Jyotish MAnthan
6:40 Sky Shop
7:00 Kantipur Samachar
8:00 Kantipur News
8:30 Rise N Shine
9:00 Headline News
9:05 Marga Darshan
10:00 Kantipur Samachar
10:30 Market Updates
11:00 Headline News
11:05 Music Summit
11:30Uddhyam
12:00 Kantipur Samachar
12:30MNS
1:00 Headline News
1:05 Kilo Tango Mike
1:30 Ukali Orali
2:00 Kantipur Samachar
2:30 Rise N Shine
3:00 Headline News
3:05Sarokar
4:00 Kantipur Samachar
4:30 New Entry
5:00 Headline News
5:05 Call Kantipur
Reloaded
6:00 Kantipur News
6:30 Cinema Fest
7:00 Kantipur Samachar
7:30
8:00
9:00
9:30
10:30
11:00
11:30
12:00
1:00
1:30
2:00
2:30
3:00
3:30
4:30
00:00 Non-stop songs
01:00 Non-stop Hindi
songs
02:00 Non-stop Nepali
Pop/Adhunik songs
04:00 Non-stop Bhajan
05:00 Bhakti Anusthan
Janardan
06:30 Kantipur Diary
07:00 The Headliners
07:30 Surakchit Aawas
08:00 Kantipur Diary
08:05 Mid-week Music
09:00 Kantipur Diary
09:10 Traffic Update
09:30 Radio Talk
10:00 Kantipur Diary
10:05Bi-scope
11:00 Kantipur Diary
11:05 Taste Buds
12:00 Kantipur Diary
12:10 Music Box
13:00 Kantipur Diary
13:05 Ke chha Nepal
15:00 Kantipur Diary
15:15 Ke chha Nepal
16:00 Kantipur Diary
16:05 Happy Hour
17:00 Kantipur Diary
17:05 Education Talk
18:00 Bal Adhikar Ra
Sarokar
18:30 Kantipur Diary
18:55Khoj
19:00 Then Impression
20:00 Kantipur Diary
20:05 I Love It Hate It
21:00 Kantipur Diary
21:30Indreni
21:30Sanchai
Hunuhunchha
3:00 11th Hour
E
N
T
O
G
R
A
P
H
T
R
I
P
S
GARFIELD
KI AND KA
F
I
QFX Jai Nepal: 11:45/ 15:00
QFX Civil Mall: 12:00/ 15:15/ 18:15
QFX Kumari: 15:00
3D KUNG FU PANDA 3
QFX Civil Mall: 12:15/ 14:45/ 18:00
QFX Kumari: 12:15/ 15:15 Hrs
L 3D BATMAN V SUPERMAN:
M
S
DAWN OF JUSTICE
QFX Civil Mall: 11:45/ 15:00/ 18:30
QFX Kumari: 18:00
KAPOOR AND SONS
QFX Kumari: 12:00
KUNG FU PANDA 3
QFX Kumari: 18:15
Savour the cardamom and saffron spice,
slow-cooked kebabs and kormas at Indian
restaurant serving Awadhi cuisine.
contact: 427399, at Soaltee Crowne Plaza
Mako’s offers traditional Japanese food
served. Don’t miss out on Mako’s special
Tempuras, and green tea ice cream, Time: 11:
30-14:30 & 19:00-22:00, contact: 4479448
We serve nothing but the finest Arabica
coffees at great value prices at Barista
Lavazza Coffee Restaurant, Lazimpat,
Contact: 4005123/4005124
Rosemary Kitchen and Coffee shop,
Thamel, opening hours: 7:00 am to 10:00
pm offers an International cuisine in reasonable prices. Contact 01-4267554
Krishnarpan—a specialty Nepali Restaurant
at Dwarika’s, 6 courses to 22 courses Nepali
meal served. Opening Time: 6 pm-11 pm. Prior
reservations required, contact: 4479448
China Garden offers delectable dishes from
across Asia, including Japanese, Korean,
Vietnamese and Chinese. Timings: Lunch:
1230-1445 hrs, Dinner: 1900-2245 hrs,
contact: 427399 at Soaltee Crowne Plaza
Manny’s Eatery and bar introduces a special lunch package that is affordable, tasty,
nutritious and quick enough to fit your lunch
break, Jawalakhel, Shaligram complex,
5536919
Bourbon Room, Lal Durbar Marg is open for
lunch from 12 noon. Enjoy affordable and delicious meals starting from Rs 99! We are currently offering Indian & chinese combos along
with momos. Call: 4441703
Out-of-Africa Lunch amid rural splendor:
Sat & Sun from 1130 to 1630 hours at The
Watering Hole, Indrawati River Valley.
For prior reservation contact: [email protected]
Enjoy snacks and drinks from 4:00 pm to
11:00 pm every day and nightly live music
from “The Corner Band” except Tuesday and
Saturday from 7 pm to 11:00 pm at Corner
Bar, Radisson Hotel. Contact: 4411818
Set within the historic Garden of Dreams, the
Kaiser Cafe Restaurant and Bar, Thamel, offers
a continental menu and serves as an atmospheric
venue for anything from a quiet coffee or intimate
meal. Contact: 442534
Jasmine Fitness Club and Spa, Fully
equipped gym and spa; Zumba, aerobics and
cardio classes; therapeutic massage; beauty
parlour and men’s salon. Tripureshwor;
Contact: 4117120
The Italian restaurant serves authentic
Italian cuisines in an elegant ambience for
both lunch and dinner. Timings: Lunch:
1230-1445 hrs, Dinner: 1900-2245 hrs,
Contact: 427399, at Soaltee Crowne Plaza
Garden Terrace offers an authentic world
cuisine, providing diners with the unique
experience of observing their selected dishes being prepared by chefs. Contact:
427399 at Soaltee Crowne Plaza
The Toran, an ideal location for all day lounging and informal dining offers multi-cuisines.
Contact: Dwarika’s Hotel, 4479488
Enjoy a Barbecue Buffet at the Radisson
Hotel, wide selection of mixed fresh grills and
vegetables together with a choice of salads and
a delicious dessert buffet at a rate of Rs. 1,350
plus taxes per person. Contact: 4411818
Tibetan Gyakok for Lunch & Dinner every
day at The Mandarin, The Everest Hotel ph:
4780100 ext: 7811
Every Friday BBQ from 7:00 pm at Fusion
Bar & Pool side at Dwarika’s Hotel with live
band “Dinesh Rai and Sound of Mind”. Price Rs
1600/ includes BBQ dinner and a can of beer
or a soft drink. Contact: 4479448
Trisara offers food and drinks along
with good music and great times. Sunday- Live
Music by Barbeque Night, Monday, Wednesdayby Positive vibes, Tuesday, Saturday-By Jyovan
Bhuju, Friday-Live Music by Dexterous
Ayurveda Health Home has been providing
ayurvedic treatments/ massages,
sirodhara & counseling for stress, detox &
rehabilitation. Dhapasi, Kathmandu:
01-4358761, Lakeside Pokhara 061-463205
Every Friday evening enjoy Starry Night
BBQ from 7 pm onwards at Shambala
Garden Café at Hotel Shangri La with live
musical performance by Ciney Gurung.
Contact: 4412999
Kaiser Cafe Restaurant & Bar at The
Garden of Dreams, opening time: 9 am till 9
pm, offers an international cafe menu serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, specialty tea’s,
coffees and pastries, contact: 4425341
Weekends brunch @ Hyatt Regency—treat
yourself with a lavish buffet lunch, splash by
the swimming pool or laze around outdoor,
Jacuzzi, all for just Rs 2300 plus taxes per
person. Contact: 4491234
Latin—Gypsy Jazz at The Corner Bar,
Radisson Hotel, Kathmandu with Hari
Maharjan feat Monsif Mzibiri, 7 pm onwards,
Wednesdays & Fridays. Contact: 4411818
Make your weekend more exciting with
family and friends with sumptuous Satey,
Dimsums, Mangolian Barbecue and Pasta at
The Cafe from 12:30 noon to 4:00 pm. Call:
Hyatt Regency, at 4491234
Hotel Narayani Complex, Pulchowk, Lalitpur
presents Shabnam & Cannabiz Band every
Wednesday and Rashmi & Kitcha Band every
Friday, 7:30 PM onwards @ Absolute bar P Ltd;
Contact: 5521408
Enjoy Bubbly Brunch every Saturday from 11
am to 3 pm at Shambala Gardena and Club
Sundhara. Contact: 4412999
Embers Bar, Pulchowk, in all its sophistication and glory is happy to announce
Happy Hours every 6-7pm. It will be
hosting a Barbeque night every Friday from
6:30-9:30pm
Special Saturday Brunch at The Café &
Garden, The Everest Hotel 1200-1600 hrs; Ph
4780100
Sandwich and Crepes: Taste the sandwiches and crepes at The Lounge from 11 am to 6
pm everyday. For further details call Hyatt
Regency at 4491234.
The most delightfully awesome chicken
momos & yummy rich chocolate cake on this
part of the planet @ Just Baked Bakery &
Cafe, Battisputali, offering much more specialties at affordable price.
Starry Night BBQ—every Friday Evening from
7:00 pm at Shambala Garden Café, Hotel,
Shangri~La only @ Rs 1799 net per person
and live performance by Ciney Gurung.
Contact: 4412999
Revolution Cafe, AmritMarg, Thamel, away
from busy crowed street, offers great
music, fast wi-fi and wide menu with reasonable prices. Operation hours: 7 am to 10
pm, contact: 4433630
Learn cardio, gym, aerobics, zumba, spa,
boxing, kick-boxing, b-boying, bollywood
dance at Oyster Spa and Fitness Club,
Sinamangal. Time: Sunday to Friday from 5
am to 8 pm. Contact: 4110554
Experience The Last Resort, the perfect
place for family fun adventure and relaxation.
Special packages for residents. Contact:
4700525/ 4701247 or mail us at
[email protected]
Asia World Travel Pvt Ltd presents fascinating luxury escapades to amazing destinations:
Prague, Ladakh, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala
Lumpur, Mount Kailash and Panchpokhari in
North East Nepal. Contact: 6222604
Jungle Safari Lodge, Sauraha Chitwan
offers 2 Nights 3 Days package only for Rs
6500 per person. Suman 9851008399
Much needed getaway—1 night/2 day package
@ Hyatt Regency. Enjoy luxury stay of a five
star hotel for a couple with breakfast and
access to spa facilities for just Rs 9999 plus
taxes per person only. Contact: 4491234
Experience the Gyakok @ Shambala
Garden, Hotel Shangri~la only @ Nrs.1700
Nett per person and Nrs.3000 Nett for couple. For more details and reservation:
4412999
Enjoy Gourmet Saturday Brunch with
your family and friends at the Sunrise
Restaurant , Hotel Yak & Yeti from 12-7 pm
every Saturday. Contact: 4248999
Escape, relax and get in shape @ Hyatt
Regency. Embark on a personal well-being at
Club Oasis. Remember us for Tennis, sauna,
Jacuzzi, swimming, fitness centre and Beauty
Salon. Contact: 4491234
E
V
Market Updates
Kantipur Samachar
Harke Haldar
Tough Talk
Kantipur News
Kantipur Samachar
Market Updates
Call Kantipur
Kantipur News
Harke Haldar
Kantipur Samachar
Cinema Fest
Kantipur Samachar
Tough Talk
Harke Haldar
S PEARLS BEFORE SWINE
Enjoy live DJ nights, on every Sunday chill out/
ambient, Wednesday tech/ funk house & Friday
psy/ proggy/ full on from 6:00 pm to 10 pm at
garden and 7:00 pm onwards at club at Funky
Buddha Resturant & Bar, contact: 4700091
Yoga detox and Ayurveda treatments and
retreats every day at Himalayan Peace &
Wellness Centre, Park Village Hotel. Get 10%
discount on all Ayurvedic treatments.
Contact: 980106661
C M Y K
sports
kathmandu post
the
PG 11
SPORTS DIGEST
Departmental
teams triumph
KATHMANDU: The third
Naya Bazaar Cup
National Open Men’s
Volleyball Tournament
kicked off on Wednesday
with all three departmental teams and
Jawalakhel Volleyball
Training Centre (JVTC)
registering wins. Nepal
Armed Police Force
(APF) Club bet Naya
Bazaar Samajik Club
25-11, 25-11, 25-14, Nepal
Police Club overcame
University Team 25-20,
25-19, 19-25, 25-11 and
Tribhuvan Army Club
dispatched JVTC 25-16,
25-20, 25-16. JVTC later
beat Dhorpatan 25-23,
17-25, 25-16, 25-17. (PR)
NNIPA PoY Award
on Friday
BHAKTAPUR: Nepal
National and
International Players
Association (NNIPA) is
set to stage the Player of
the Year Award on
Friday. NNIPA will honour a best player each
from athletics, archery,
boxing, badminton, basketball, wushu, taekwondo, karate, judo, shooting, gymnastics, lawn
tennis, wrestling, soft
tennis, weightlifting,
cricket, table tennis, football, cycling, golf, sepak
takraw, swimming, triathlon, fencing and rafting and canoeing,
informed the organisers
on Wednesday. (PR)
NBA to aid
ailing boxers
kathmandupost.ekantipur.com
THURSDAY,APRIL7,2016
‘Leicester not getting carried away’
Bolt to run at Caymon Invitational
Leicester City are staying grounded despite requiring just 12 points from their final six games to complete an extraordinary Premier League title triumph,
according to goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.
Schmeichel, son of former Manchester United great
Peter, was part of the team that secured promotion
from the Championship in 2014.
Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt will run his first 100m
of the 2016 season next month when he races in the
Cayman Invitational Meet, it was announced on
Tuesday. The 29-year-old six-time Olympic gold medallist, who is building towards the defence of his titles in
Rio de Janeiro in August, will run at the Truman
Bodden Sports Complex on May 14 in Grand Cayman.
Wambach pleads not guilty
A lawyer for former US women’s football star
Abby Wambach entered a not guilty plea on
Tuesday in the player’s drunk driving case.
Wambach, 35, was arrested in Portland,
Oregon in the early hours of Sunday and
booked after being stopped as she drove
home from dinner at a friend’s house.
Dhami, Tamang enter final APF sign off
with victory
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, APRIL 6
Dipesh Dhami and Ratnajit
Tamang set an all-Tribhuvan
Army Club (TAC) title clash
of the 12th Krishna Mohan
Memorial Open Badminton
Championship on Wednesday.
In the semi-final matches at
the APF headquarters in
Halchowk, Dhami defeated
clubmate Bikash Shrestha
21-18, 14-21, 21-13 and defending champion Tamang overcame Bishnu Katuwal of
Nepal Police Club (NPC) 21-14,
21-9. Another TAC shuttler
Nangsal Tamang fixed the
women’s final date with clubmate Amita Giri.
Nangsal eased to a 21-17,
21-10 win over Shobha
Gauchan of Armed Police
Force (APF) Club 21-17, 21-10
and Giri sidelined Shikshya
Shrestha of APF 21-11, 24-22.
Sunil Joshi of Kanchanpur
and Rupesh Maharjan of TAC
made it to the U-17 boys’ singles final. Megha Chand of
TAC and Seema Rajbanshi of
Morang will meet in the U-17
girls’ singles final.
Chand defeated Ranjana
Bhatta of APF 21-18, 21-16 and
Rajbanshi ousted Sunaina
Mukhiya of TAC 21-13, 21-18.
Dhami and Tamang also
sailed into the men’s doubles
semi-final. Dhami combined
with Suroj Maharjan to beat
Irfan Ansari of Banke and
Ram Baniya of Kathmandu
21-10, 21-16, while Tamang and
Nabin Shrestha rallied from a
set down to beat APF duo of
Joesph Adhikari and Suman
Limbu 19-21, 21-10, 23-21.
POST REPORT
LALITPUR, APRIL 6
n Ratnajit Tamang (right) and Nangsal Tamang in action during the mixed doubles quarter-final match against Bimal Shrestha and Kabita Karki
at the Krishna Mohan Memorial Badminton Championship in Kathmandu on Wednesday. POST PHOTO
Bhandari, Pariyar to play for title
LALITPUR: Kumar Adhikari
and
Jitendra
Pariyar
entered the men’s singles
final of the eighth Sahabir
Memorial
Open
Lawn
Tennis Tournament on
Wednesday. In the semi-final
matches, Bhandari staged a
Deepak
Bohora
and
Katuwal of NPC beat APF
pair of Bimal Shrestha and
Bishal Pradhan 21-9, 21-15,
fine comeback to beat
Kumar Adhikari 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
and Pariyar knocked out
Samrakshyan
Bhusan
Bajracharya
6-4,
7-6.
Chhewang
Lama
and
Mahesh Shrestha reached
the veterans singles (abovewhile another APF duo Bijit
Thapa Magar and Bikash
Shrestha saw off clubmates
Pankaj Chand and Indra
35 years) final. Lama edged
Rohit Sunwar 6-1, 3-6, 10-5
and Shrestha beat Pratap
Moktan 6-3, 6-4. Krishna Raj
Ghale made it to the veterans singles (above-45 years)
final defeating Rajoj Man
Shrestha 6-2, 6-4. (PR)
Mahata 21-18, 15-21, 21-12 in
other quarter-final matches.
In the women’s doubles,
Shikshya and Puja Shrestha
of APF beat clubmates Sita
Rai and Shobha 21-2, 21-16 to
reach the last four.
Before their women’s singles final, Giri and Nangsal
will combine for the doubles
semis after beating Surja Rai
and Gyan Limbu of APF 21-7,
21-12. Nangsal and her brother
Ratnajit also beat APF pair of
Kabita Karki and Bimal
Shrestha 21-16, 21-17 in the
mixed doubles quarter-finals.
Bina Tulachan and Bishal
Pradhan of APF, Giri and
Saroj Maharjan also made it
to the mixed doubles semis.
Skipper Rubina Chhetri gave
an all round display as Nepal
Armed Police Force (APF)
Club signed off from the IndoNepal
Women’s
Cricket
Tournament with the only
victory on Wednesday.
In the one-day match at the
Pulchowk
Engineering
College grounds, APF eased to
a 74-run victory over hosts
Rising Cricket for Women
(RCW). A half century from
Rubina Chhetri lifted APF to
187 all out in 39.1 overs after
they were put in to bat first.
RCW, in reply, were bundled
out for 113 in 31 overs with
Chhetri
completing
a
five-wicket haul.
Chhetri returned the figures of 5-28 from nine overs
that included one maiden.
Sita Rana Magar also took 2-19
from five overs. RCW would
have crashed to the lowest
total of the tournament had
there been no half century
from Mamta Chaudhary.
Chaudhary made 51 off 62
balls with seven hits to the
fence. Nary Thapa contributed a 25-ball 18 with two fours.
Earlier, APF innings revolved
around Chhetri who struck a
composed 74-ball 60 with 10
boundaries. Karuna Bhandari
also contributed 24 off 44 and
Rana Magar chipped in 23 off
26. Both batswoman hit two
boundaries each.
Thapa was the pick of the
n Rubina Chhetri of Nepal APF
Club plays a stroke against
Rising Cricket for Women during
their Indo-Nepal Cricket match in
Lalitpur on Wednesday.
RCW bowlers taking 5-28 from
9.1 overs. APF had lost to visiting side All India Women’s
Cricket
Association
on
Tuesday. RCW will now take
on AWTCA in the Twenty20
matches on Thursday and
Friday. AWTCA have won both
their one-day matches against
the local side.
KATHMANDU: Nepal
Boxing Association
(NBA) is providing
financial assistance to
two ailing former boxers.
NBA will provide Rs
25,000 each to Indra
Bahadur Rana Magar
and Deepak Rai, who is
currently a coach,
informed NBA President
Rajeev Shrestha on
Wednesday. Both boxers
are undergoing treatment for cancer. (PR)
Jhapa shoot Three Star out Lama, Maharjan in final
SYDNEY: Australia’s elite
female cricketers were
handed a significant pay
rise on Wednesday to
make them the top earners of any women’s team
sport in the country.
Cricket Australia (CA)
said the maximum
retainers for contracted
players, many of whom
helped Australia reach
the final of the World
Twenty20 in India where
they lost to the West
Indies, had been boosted
to Aus$65,000. This is up
from Aus$49,000. (AFP)
The normal 90 minutes of
play had ended in a 1-1 draw
and as the 15 minutes of extra
time also did not break the
deadlock, the match headed
for a tiebreaker. The first five
spot kicks also ended in a 3-3
draw meaning, the outcome
was decided through sudden
death shootout. Jhapa skipper
Prawesh Katuwal converted
in sudden death penalty but
Saroj Dahal found the woodwork handing the hosts a
place in the final.
After a lacklustre first half,
the first semi-final match
sprung into life in the second
period with the Lalitpur-
CA increases pay
in women cricket
PARWAT PORTEL
POST REPORT
BIRTAMODE, APRIL 6
LALITPUR, APRIL 6
Hosts Jhapa-XI battled to the
final of the Jhapa Gold Cup
football tournament with a 4-3
win in tiebreaker here at the
Domalal Rajbanshi grounds
on Wednesday.
Himal Lama of Golden Gate
College and Sajin Maharjan
of Kamana Sacos set the
championship battle of the
Kamana Cup National Chess
Championship
here
on
Wednesday.
Lama defeated Suman Rai
of Thapathali Chess Park 2-0
whereas Maharjan pipped
Sumit Panta in sudden death
play to set up the title clash. In
the thrilling match, Maharjan
and Panta drew both their
games forcing tiebreaker,
played in a blitz format. After
the blitz also ended in 1-1
draw, the game was decided in
sudden death.
However, Maharjan had an
advantage over his opponent
as he needed just a draw, while
Panta needed an outright victory for a passage to the final.
Maharjan won the match in
less than a minute.
Meanwhile,
Chhitiz
Bhandari is on top of the lead-
jhapa gold cup
n Prawesh Katuwal (right) of Jhapa and Deepak Rai of Three Star vie for the ball during their Jhapa Gold
Cup football tournament semi-final match in Birtamode, Jhapa on Wednesday. based outfits going in front.
Shiva Shrestha scored on a
corner kick from Sunil Bal in
the 55th minute to silence the
local crowd. However, Jhapa
found the equalise in the 75th
minute as Karna Limbu
struck from a pass from
Khamir Kandangwa to force
the match into extra time.
POST PHOTO
Jhapa coach Bhagirath Ale
was a satisfied man. “It was a
team game and my players
deserve some praise for the
victory,” said Ale.
THE MASTERS
McIlroy, Spieth set for Masters showdown
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
AUGUSTA, APRIL 6
Top-ranked Jason Day, defending
champion Jordan Spieth, career
Grand Slam seeker Rory McIlroy
and a host of elite rivals have
sparked an exceptional level of
excitement for the 80th Masters.
A field of 89 will tee off
Thursday morning at Augusta
National in quest of the green jacket awarded a Masters champion,
but only one will slide their arms
inside the sleeves come Sunday.
Australia’s Day comes off triumphs
at Bay Hill and the WGC Match
Play. Northern Ireland’s McIlroy
has found his form at just the right
moment and American Spieth’s
record-tying wire-to-wire win from
last year still resonates in the
Georgia pines.
Add Aussie Adam Scott, twice a
winner last month, plus fourthranked Bubba Watson, a two-time
Masters champion, 2015 Players
winner Rickie Fowler and five-time
major winner Phil Mickelson and
the stage is set for a showdown on
golf ’s most acclaimed course. “I
would enjoy a Spieth, McIlroy,
Fowler, Scott Watson, Mickelson
n (From left) Bernd Wiesberger of Austria, Andy Sullivan of England and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland during a practice
round for the Masters golf tournament in Augusta on Tuesday. Sunday,” Day said. “That would be
a lot of fun.”
Day has won six of his past 13
events, including his first major at
last year’s PGA Champion-ship, to
overtake Spieth as world No 1. “I
feel comfortable with where I’m at,
walking around the grounds, No 1
in the world, it’s a good feeling,”
Day said. “But I know I can’t take it
for granted, because things can
change pretty quickly.” Day is trying to become only the fifth player
to win the PGA one year and the
Masters the next to join Phil
Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Jack
AP
Nicklaus and Sam Snead.
McIlroy is on hand to capture a
fifth major title and complete a
career Grand Slam at age 26, joining Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods,
Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Gene
Sarazen in having won all four
majors at least once. “It’s definitely
a motivation to be able to put your
name alongside those five guys,”
McIlroy said. “I haven’t been in a
situation where I’ve felt the pressure of it, really, because I didn’t
have a real chance to win last year.”
McIlroy dismisses the notion of
added tension impacting his game,
saying, “Pressure is for tires.” But
he knows it will increase every
year he does not add a green jacket
to his trophy list. “I feel like I’ve
got everything I need to become a
Masters champion,” McIlroy said.
“But I think each and every year
that passes that I don’t, it will
become increasingly more difficult,
so there’s no time like the present
to get it done.”
Spieth will try to become the
first back-to-back Masters winner
since Tiger Woods in 2002. Woods is
skipping this year’s event because
he has not fully recovered from
back surgery last year. “Going to
try and just use last year as
momentum,” Spieth said. “We’ve
already done it, so it’s not like I’m
chasing my first major.” Scott, bolstered by long-time Woods caddie
Steve Williams, will hunt for his
second Masters crown after a
breakthrough 2013 triumph.
kamana cup chess
n Himal Lama (right) and Suman Rai ponder their move during the
Kamana Cup Chess in Lalitpur on Wednesday. erboard with 6.5 points at the
end of the eight round of the
regular
league
games.
Candidate Masters (CM)
Bhandari beat Rijendra
Rajbhandari in the eighth
round.
CM
Bhupendra
Niraula and Ganesh Man
Duwal are within the striking
distance on six points each.
Niraula overcame three-time
national champion Badri Lal
Nepali and Duwal defeated
POST REPORT
Suman Lama. Lava Kumar
Shrestha,
CM
Keshav
Shrestha, Rabindra Shakya,
Raj Kumar Lama, Ranbhandari, Lava Kumar, Suman and
Janardan Shrestha were next
on 5.5 points. The regular
league is being played under
Swiss League format. After
the completion of seventh
rounds in regular league, top
four players had qualified for
the Super League.
Anfa set to reward
Sag champions
POST REPORT
LALITPUR, APRIL 6
The All Nepal Football
Association
(Anfa)
on
Wednesday decided to honour
the 12th South Asian Games
(Sag) gold medal winning
Nepali football team with Rs
500,000 each.
Nepal had defeat hosts
India 2-1 in the final of the SA
Games held in Assam and
Guwahati for their first gold
in the regional meet in 23
years. Their last gold came
during the 1993 edition held in
Bangladesh. The executive
committee meeting of Anfa
on Wednesday also endorsed
the decision to honour the
Bangabandhu Gold Cup football tournament winners with
Rs 500,000 each.
The women’s national
team, meanwhile, will be feted
with Rs 100,000 for claiming
silver in the Games. The
women’s team had lost to
India 4-0 in the final. The
award ceremony will be held
next month, informed the
football governing body on
Wednesday.
Likewise, the meeting also
decided to organise annual
U-16 Championship in the
memory of Anfa’s Late Acting
President Lalit Krishna
Shrestha who had died on
June 12 at his new house due
to electrocution.
Anfa is also set to launch
a pilot project in Mid-Western
and Far-Western Regions
by technically and financially
helping the District FAs
and clubs to increase
football activities. It has also
been decided to start the process of club licensing for
‘A’ Division clubs and potential ‘B’ Division clubs from
this year.
The initiation comes after
AFC made it mandatory for all
the member countries of club
licensing. To materialise the
plan, AFC officials will be
holding a seminar with Nepali
clubs on April 18. Meanwhile,
Wednesday’s meeting also
approved the yearly calendar
of the Anfa.
C M Y K
sports
Thursday, April 7, 2016
SPORTS DIGEST
Spanish League
slams insults at
Real’s Ronaldo
MADRID: The Spanish
League has denounced
anti-gay slurs directed
toward Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo
during Saturday’s match
at Barcelona. The league
says in a statement that
it will send a report to
the Spanish government’s committee
against violence, racism,
xenophobia and intolerance in sport. The league
specifically refers to antigay slurs against
Ronaldo and insulting
chants against Real
Madrid heard during a
moment of silence for
Dutch great John Cruyff
before kickoff. (AP)
Australia to tour
Sri Lanka in July
SYDNEY: Australia on
Wednesday announced
their first Test tour of
Sri Lanka in five years,
with the world No 1 team
embarking on a twomonth series from July.
Steve Smith’s side will
play three Tests along
with five ODIs and two
T20s, Cricket Australia
said on its website. Only
three members of
Australia’s most recent
Test side--Nathan Lyon,
Peter Siddle and Usman
Khawaja--have experienced the five-day game
in Sri Lanka. (AFP)
Le Roy takes
charge of Togo
PARIS: Togo have called
on Africa Cup of Nations
specialist Claude Le Roy
in a bid to salvage their
struggling 2017 qualification campaign. The
68-year-old French, who
has managed teams at a
record eight Cup of
Nations, has signed three
year contract. He faces a
tough mission to make
his ninth tournament as
Togo are placed third in
their qualifying group on
seven points, behind
Tunisia and Liberia with
two ties to go. (AFP)
Kouyate’s red
card rescinded
LONDON: West Ham
United midfielder
Cheikhou Kouyate is free
to face Arsenal on
Saturday after the FA
rescinded the red card he
received against Crystal
Palace in last weekend’s
2-2 Premier League draw.
The 26-year old was sent
off in the second half at
Upton Park for a challenge on Dwight Gayle,
with West Ham leading
2-1. This is the second
time this year that
Kouyate has had a red
card rescinded. (REUTERS)
Napoli to appeal
Higuain ban
ROME: Napoli are going
to lodge an appeal over
the decision to ban
Argentine striker
Gonzalo Higuain for four
matches after his red
card during last weekend’s 1-3 defeat against
Udinese in the Serie A.
After he was shown the
red card on Sunday,
Higuain started screaming and became physical
with the referee. He will
miss three extra matches
for putting hands on the
referee. (IANS)
(C.R.P.D.) - 3/052/053
thekathmandu post
Suarez gives slim lead to Barca
n Scores a double in a 2-1 victory over Atletico at Nou Camp n Bayern Munich pip Benfica 1-0 at home
SMALLING’S JOY
IN PARTNERSHIP
WITH BLIND
REUTERS
LONDON, APRIL 6
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Manchester United’s Chris
Smalling has described his
central defensive partner
Daley Blind as “a joy to
play alongside” and has
backed the Dutch international to continue his development in the role.
BARCELONA, APRIL 6
Atletico Madrid were left to
rue Fernando Torres’s firsthalf red card as Luis Suarez’s
double handed Barcelona a 2-1
lead on Tuesday heading into
the second leg of Champions
League quarter-final.
Torres got Atletico off to
the perfect start as he slotted
home Koke’s through ball for
a vital away goal on 25 minutes, but saw two quickfire
yellow cards to leave his side a
man short for over an hour. A
second-half onslaught from
Barca ensued and Suarez
turned the game on its head as
he bundled home to equalise,
before powering in a header 16
minutes from time. The sides
meet once more to decide who
will progress to the semi-finals at Atletico’s Vicente
Calderon on April 13.
“Obviously a sending off in
the first half will affect the
game, even more when it’s a
great player,” said Suarez.
“Everyone knows his quality,
but he made two strong fouls.
It was a pity, I would have
liked to come back against
11.” However, Atletico were
incensed as Suarez twice
escaped punishment for a
kick out at Juanfran and an
off-the-ball incident with
Filipe Luis.
“There were more than two
incidents involving Suarez,”
said Atletico boss Diego
Simeone. “I can’t say what I
think, but I am not angry with
Fernando for sure.” Luis went
even further by implying Uefa
are scared to see Barcelona
not reach the final. “I don’t
know what Barca players have
to do to get sent off just like
us,” Luis told Spanish TV station MEGA. “You can tell
there is fear that Barca will be
eliminated.”
Barca had been beaten for
the first time in 39 games
stretching back six months by
Real Madrid on Saturday and
were again far from their best
as Atletico looked comfortable
until Torres was given marching orders 10 minutes before
half-time. Lionel Messi was
12
n Chris Smalling
n Atletico Madrid’s Filipe Luis (left) vies with Barcelona’s Luis Suarez during their Uefa Champions League quarter-finals first leg match in Barcelona on Tuesday.
uefa champions league
looking for his 500th career
goal for club and country, but
was unusually wayward as he
pulled a shot beyond the front
post and then miscued wildly
on the volley from Jordi
Alba’s dangerous cross.
Atletico
boss
Diego
Simeone had been brave in his
search for an away goal by
naming Yannick Carrasco
alongside Torres and top-scorer Antoine Griezmann in
attack. And the Argentine was
rewarded
when
Koke’s
through ball exploited a huge
gap in the Barca defence
which Torres latched onto
before rifling home his 11th
goal in 17 games against
Barca.
Griezmann was desperately
close to doubling the visitors’
lead moments later when only
a brilliant save from MarcAndre ter Stegen prevented
the French international’s
low effort from drifting in at
the far post. Yet Barca were
handed a lifeline by two
moments of madness from
Torres as he lunged in late on
Results
Barca
Bayern
2-1Atletico
1-0Benfica
Neymar and then Sergio
Busquets within six minutes
to see red.
Atletico retained a threat at
the start of the second half as
Carrasco’s dangerous low
cross whistled across the
Barca goal. Barca’s superstar
front three of Messi, Suarez
and Neymar then came to life
as the hosts camped Atletico
inside their own half for the
final 40 minutes.
AFP/RSS
Bayern edge Benfica
MUNICH: Arturo Vidal gave
Bayern Munich a slender
1-0 lead for their Champions
League quarter-final return
leg at Benfica next week,
after hitting the winner just
109 seconds into first leg.
Bayern produced an offkey display at Munich’s
Allianz Arena and their
fifth straight appearance in
the Champions League
semi-finals is far from
assured. “Benfica’s back
four stood up well and we
missed out on that second
goal,” Bayern’s goalkeeper
Manuel Neuer told Sky.
Benfica can take plenty
of heart before the second
leg at the Estadio da Luz on
April 13, after subjecting
Bayern to a frustrating second half in Munich.
However, the Portuguese
league leaders will be without top-scorer Jonas after
the 32-year-old picked up a
second-half booking, his
third of tournament. (AFP)
United, fifth in the Premier
League, beat Everton 1-0 on
Sunday
to
register
a
league-leading 15th clean
sheet of the season, and
Smalling believes the stingy
defence has been key to the
side’s ongoing pursuit of a
Champions League berth.
Blind was utilised primarily
as a midfielder when he joined
from FC Groningen in 2014
but has spent most of the season at centre-back and
Smalling said the Dutchman’s
versatility and ease on the ball
made him a major asset.
“It’s great knowing he is
naturally a midfielder, so he
has that passing range and
ability down to a tee and
defensively he is very sound
as well,” Smalling told British
media. “He deserves more
plaudits and I think he will
get them if he carries on playing the way he is playing.
Everyone is standing up and
taking note that Daley is one
of the mainstays of this team
and he is keeping us ticking.”
Smalling identified a strong
level of trust between them as
one of the main reasons for
the burgeoning partnership.
“We know we can rely on each
other,” he added. United travel
to White Hart Lane to take
on second-placed Tottenham
Hotspur on Sunday.
Ground honour for West Infantino defends reputation
Indies captain Sammy
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
GENEVA, APRIL 6
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
ST JOHN’S, APRIL 6
Darren Sammy’s success in
captaining the West Indies to
the World Twenty20 title has
been recognised by his native
St Lucia after it was
announced that the island’s
main cricket ground would be
renamed in his honour.
The Beausejour Cricket
Ground will now be known as
the Darren Sammy National
Cricket Ground, with one of
the stands to be named in honour of fellow St Lucian and
Twenty20 winner Johnson
Charles. According to the
West Indies Cricket Board, the
announcement was made by
the Prime Minister of St
Lucia, Kenny D Anthony, at a
“welcome reception” on the
island on Tuesday.
“The West Indies Cricket
Board would like to congratulate West Indies captain,
Darren Sammy and opener,
Johnson Charles for the hon-
n Darren Sammy
our their home country St
Lucia has bestowed on them,”
the WICB added in a statement, issued from their St
John’s, Antigua, headquarters. Sunday’s victory over
England meant the West
Indies became the first team
to win World Twenty20 twice.
Sammy, 32, was also the
West Indies’ captain when
they beat then hosts Sri Lanka
in the 2012 final in Colombo.
But immediately after the
team’s latest triumph at
Kolkata’s Eden Gardens
ground,
the
allrounder
slammed the WICB for a “disappointing” lack of support,
saying the team felt “disrespected” by their own officials. Sammy’s comments
came on the back of a bitter
pay dispute that has dogged
West Indies cricket for years.
Dave Cameron, the WICB
president, responded by calling Sammy’s remarks “inappropriate”. However, Cameron
added the board would meet
players after the end of the
Indian Premier League (IPL)
next month to persuade them
to play for the West Indies,
rather than opt for lucrative
franchise Twenty20 leagues.
A pay dispute two years
ago led to the team flying
home in the middle of a tour
of India and the players only
reluctantly agreed to sign contracts for the World Twenty20
a few weeks before the tournament began.
Fifa
President
Gianni
Infantino has defended his
reputation after reports that
he signed a Champions
League broadcasting contract
in 2006 with an offshore registered marketing agency implicated last year in the Fifa bribery scandal.
The
contract,
which
Infantino co-signed as Uefa’s
then-legal director, was leaked
from the database of a
Panama-based law firm,
Mossack Fonseca, the British
daily The Guardian and the
BBC reported on Tuesday. “I
am dismayed and will not
accept that my integrity is
being doubted by certain
areas of the media,” Infantino
said in a statement published
by Fifa, which he was elected
to lead six weeks ago.
The Uefa contract reportedly co-signed by Infantino
sealed a three-year deal for TV
rights in Ecuador for the
Champions League to Cross
Trading. That company is a
subsidiary of a group owned
n Fifa President Gianni Infantino
by Argentine marketing executives Hugo and Mariano
Jinkis, who were indicted last
year by American federal
prosecutors investigating a
bribery and money laundering conspiracy in international football.
Infantino said on Tuesday
he “never personally dealt
with Cross Trading nor their
owners” in a tender process
conducted by an agency
retained by Uefa. “Moreover,
as media themselves report,
there is no indication whatsoever for any wrongdoings
from neither Uefa nor myself
in this matter,” Infantino said.
According to the British
reports, Cross Trading paid
$111,000 for the rights and sold
them for a $200,000 profit to
the Teleamazonas channel.
There was no suggestion
bribes or kickbacks were paid
at any stage of the deals. “The
rights were awarded to
Teleamazonas/Cross Trading
because they made the highest offer on the market,” Uefa
said in a separate statement.
However, Uefa did acknowledge it gave inaccurate information last year when stating
it had no commercial dealings
with people and companies
indicted in the United States
federal case. “At the time of
our initial response we had
not had the opportunity to
check each and every one of
our (thousands) of commercial contracts and so the
answer given was initially
incomplete,” Uefa said.
Infantino and Uefa separately said they have not
been contacted by law enforcement authorities about their
past dealings with the Jinkis
family’s agency. The father
and son are fighting extradition from Argentina to the
United States. “Of course,
if Uefa is contacted for
any reason then it will be
more than happy to cooperate,” European football’s governing body said.
U E FA E U R O PA L E A G U E P R E V I E W
Liverpool boss Klopp up against his former club Dortmund
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
PARIS, APRIL 6
n Borussia Dortmund players during a training session on Tuesday in Dortmund on the eve of their Uefa Europa League
quarter-finals first leg match against Liverpool.
REUTERS
Jurgen Klopp makes his eagerly
anticipated return to Borussia
Dortmund on Thursday when his
Liverpool side visit the German
giants in the first leg of their
Europa League quarter-final
heavyweight clash.
Klopp spent seven years at
Dortmund, guiding them to a
pair of Bundesliga titles as well
as the 2013 Champions League
final, but is now plotting the
downfall of his former employers
as Liverpool bid to add to their
haul of 11 European trophies.
The Reds have been plagued by
inconsistency this term but have
fared well against tougher opposition, and midfielder James
Milner is confident Liverpool can
stand up to Dortmund.
“We don’t fear anyone and
we’ve proved this year we can
beat anyone,” Milner told
Liverpool’s official website. “We
Having seen off eternal rivals
Manchester United in the last
16, Liverpool will hope to use
the Anfield crowd to their
advantage in the return leg
have to make sure we’re on our
game and if we do that we’ve got
every chance of going through to
the next round.” Having seen off
eternal rivals Manchester United
in the last 16, Liverpool will hope
to use the Anfield crowd to their
advantage in the return leg but
Milner knows that all depends on
securing a favourable result at
Signal Iduna Park.
“It all depends on the first
result, obviously. You can play
yourself out of the tie in the first
leg by not getting a good result,”
said the England international.
“With us being away first, the
away goal would be nice, and
then we come back and that gives
Fixtures
Braga vs Shakhtar
Villarreal vs Sparta
Bilbao vs Sevilla
Dortmund vs Liverpool
(All matches at 0050 NST on Friday)
you a bit of a cushion at home
where you want to keep a clean
sheet.”
Dortmund eased past Premier
League title hopefuls Tottenham
Hotspur 5-1 on aggregate in the
last round, and the club’s chief
executive Hans-Joachim Watzke
says his friendship with Klopp
will be set aside until the final
whistle. “We will be clear opponents on Thursday, there is no
need for mucking around in a
friendship,” Watzke told German
broadcaster ZDF. “My concern is
that he will bring the (home) fans
to his side and create a atmosphere like you get in a friendly.”
Unlike Liverpool, whose
Champions League hopes rest
solely on Europa League glory,
Dortmund sealed their return to
Europe’s premier club competition next season with Saturday’s
3-2 victory over Werder Bremen
in the Bundesliga.
Elsewhere, holders Sevilla continue their quest for a fifth title
in the past decade as they head to
Athletic Bilbao for the first leg of
their all-Spanish tie. Sevilla striker Fernando Llorente spent nine
years in Bilbao’s first team and
the Spain international admitted
it would be a night of mixed emotions at San Mames.
Villarreal tightened their grip
on fourth place in La Liga over
the weekend and welcome Sparta
Prague, conquerors of Lazio in
the previous round, to Spain for
Thursday’s first leg. Meanwhile,
Braga will look to shake off last
Friday’s 5-1 thrashing at Benfica
as the 2011 finalists host
Ukrainian outfit Shakhtar
Donetsk, the 2009 champions.
Published and Printed by Kantipur Publications Pvt. Ltd. Kantipur Complex, Subidhanagar, Kathmandu, Nepal, Phone: 5135000, Fax: 977-1-5135057, e-mail: [email protected], Regd. No. 32/048/049, Chairman & Managing Director : Kailash Sirohiya, Director : Swastika Sirohiya, Editor-in-Chief : Akhilesh Upadhyay