When the big three parties and the Madhesi Morcha struck a seven-point deal early this month to push the stalled peace process forward, what could have been an eighth point was dropped at the last minute.
As the month neared its end the “eighth point” is in danger. There is an air of uncertainty over the informal understanding of the four signatories. It had to do with yet another extension of the constituent assembly.
The informal understanding was to give another six months to the constitution-making body. Accordingly, the government registered a constitution-amendment bill in the parliament last Friday to extend the CA’s term by six months.
Prime minister Baburam Bhattarai appears confident of pushing through the bill. He says, all major parties will come on board to ensure the two-thirds vote required to pass the bill.
While the ruling coalition partner Madhesi Morcha’s leader and the deputy prime minister Bijay Kumar Gachchhdar has gone public to throw his weight behind Bhattarai, the major opposition parties have spoken out against the bill -- after remaining silent for two days.
The UML Chairman, Jhalanath Khanal, ruled out the extension of the CA unless the prime minister resigned.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Politics
Others
Urmila (name changed), 28, a resident of Oli Gaun of Accham district, lost her husband four years ago. Rawal, a mother of two children, is infected by HIV. A dalit, Urmila has to face all kinds of discriminations in the village. Out of 3,504 people, there are 1,514 (43%) males, and 1990 (57%) females.
Urmila of Oli Gaun is not the only woman suffering that plight. A large number of women, particularly poor dailts, are the worst affected by HIV infections.
Despite several efforts of the government and non-governmental organizations, migrant workers continue to bring HIV infection and transmit it to their spouses. According to a recent report, 120 people have already died in Accham due to AIDS.
Little progress has been made in the isolated communalities in the remote areas as most of the uneducated people migrate to urban areas and Indian cities for greater economic and employment prospects leaving married women home. When these migrants return, most of them bring HIV to their wives. Women living with HIV of dalit community begin to face double discriminations.
As husband dies, the Women Living with HIV have to bear all kinds of economic burdens in the household. They have to go from house to house to seek support from all to save their children.
With the Human Development Index of Achham District at 0.325 and ranking of 69 among 75 districts of Nepal, Gender Development Index (GDI)) of Achham is 0.275, which one of the lowest of Nepal.
Others
Minister for Population and Health RAJENDRA MAHATO is one of the known politicians with capacity to work. After taking the charge of the Ministry of Population and Health, minister Mahato, a leader of Madhesh based party- Nepal Sadbhavana Party- has already started to clean up the health sector institutions, including the country’s old Bir Hospital. As Nepal is celebrating the world HIV/ AIDS day, minister Mahato spoke to KESHAB POUDEL on government policies on HIV/AIDS. Excerpts:
What is the strategy of the government on HIV/AIDS in the context of celebrating the World AIDS day?
As this year’s World AIDS Day slogan ‘Getting to Zero - Zero New HIV Infections. Zero Discrimination and Zero AIDS Related Deaths,’ the government is directing all its programs towards these goals. Our national policy and program is guided by National Policy on AIDS and STD 2011. We will activate the National AIDS Council, National HIV/AIDS and STI Control Board and National Center for AIDS and STD Control (NCASC).
What are your special efforts?
Our effort is to ensure universal access to quality treatment, diagnostics, care and support services for infected, affected and vulnerable groups in Nepal within a context of a comprehensive response to HIV and AIDS.
Others
As India’s largest and politically most crucial state Uttar Pradesh (UP) gears up for its 2012 assembly elections, a new leader in the making is buckling up to take the centre-stage in Indian politics.
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi kick started his party’s election campaign earlier this month from Phulpur town. Amid posters and banners depicting his large pictures, the Amethi MP slammed the ruling Mayawati government for ‘misgovernance, corruption and moving the state backwards’. He said, “a hope will arise for the UP only if they vote for a change”.
Apparently, the 41-year-old’s decision to launch the campaign from Phulpur is quite interesting and holds vital significance: it was from this very constituency that his great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru was elected to the parliament in the first Lok Sabha elections.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Chinese General Heads to India After Dalai Lama Spat Underlines Tensions
India and China, which have fought a war over their disputed border and compete for resources to feed Asia’s two fastest growing economies, will hold their highest level military talks in almost two years.
General Ma Xiaotian, the deputy chief of the People’s Liberation Army General Staff, will lead a delegation to New Delhi for meetings Dec. 9 with Indian Defense Secretary Shashikant Sharma and ministry officials. The previous round of defense dialogue was held in Beijing in January 2010.
The nuclear-armed neighbors, home to more than a third of the world’s people, claim territory held by the other and clashed during a brief border conflict in 1962. India has replaced China as the world’s top weapons importer, according to a study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, as it aims to modernize its armed forces and defend against security threats from Pakistan and China.
Ma’s visit indicates that China and India have for now “resolved a degree of their tit-for-tat diplomacy,” said Lora Saalman, a Beijing-based analyst at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy. “It does not signal that the overall tensions underpinning such disputes have been resolved.”
Military relations between the world’s two most populous nations were suspended in August 2010 after China issued a visa to an Indian army officer in charge of forces in Kashmir without stamping his passport, an act seen as questioning India’s rule over the disputed Himalayan territory. China has a close alliance with Pakistan, which has waged two wars with India over Kashmir.
http://www.spotlightnepal.com/News.aspx?ArticleID=2340
COP-17: Green Climate Fund ‘not enough’
THE proposed $100bn-a-year Green Climate Fund is not enough to address climate change mitigation and most of it should rather be spent on adaptation measures where more value can be obtained from the funds, Dennis Welch, executive vice-president and chief administrative officer of American Electric Power, said on Monday.
The structure and operating mechanisms of the proposed $100bn-a-year fund are being negotiated at the COP-17 climate change conference in Durban.
The aim of the fund is to provide finance for developing countries for climate change adaptation and mitigation projects, although much uncertainty surrounds the outcome of the negotiations at this stage.
American Electric Power is one of the US’s biggest power utilities and the largest operator of coal-fired power plants in that country. The $100bn was "woefully short" from the perspective of businesses having to invest in new power technologies, Mr Welch said at a business sector event being held alongside the COP-17 conference.
Dick Jones, of the International Energy Agency, said "no matter what we get out of the Green Climate Fund ... it is not going to be enough. We need to be able to mobilise domestic investors in developing countries."
Siemens sustainability director Kersten-Karl Bath said the fund should be viewed as a catalyst for private sector investment.
Mr Welch said there needed to be a mechanism that guaranteed a return for business when investing in climate change projects, and he cited projects undertaken by American Electric Power that required millions of dollars to establish, where the government authorities involved had walked away from commitments.
NewsDrops in HIV prevalence rate in Nepal
The prevalence of HIV among adults (age group of 15 to 49) decreased to 0.33 percent (47,645 adults of the total population of Nepal) in 2010 from 0.39 (59,984 adults of the total population) in 2009, according to a forthcoming report of the National Centre for AIDS and STD Control (NCASC).
To meet Millennium Development Goals (MDG), Nepal has to bring down the prevalence rate to 0.30 by 2015.
In India, the HIV prevalence among the adult population in 2007 was 0.34 percent and in 2008 it was 0.29 percent, according to UNAIDS reports Kantipur.
The drop in the prevalence rate in Nepal also implies that the estimated number of HIV infections in the country has decreased significantly. In 2009, the NCASC had estimated there were 63,528 HIV infections in Nepal. The number has gone down to 55,626 now.
The estimation is done using a computer software called Estimation and Projection Package (EPP). It is carried out through the collection and subsequent entry of surveillance data and estimates of the size and high and low risk population groups into the EPP software.
According to Kantipur, the drop also means that awareness among adults has increased significantly over the years, a major achievement of the HIV/Aids intervention programme in the country.
The NCASC says the decline in Nepal is part of the worldwide fall in Aids-related deaths.