THE HIMALAYAN UNIVERSE

Ex-King’s dinner diplomacy, President Yadav invited TGW Nepal’s last monarch Gyanendra Shah has sent a congratulatory message to the First President of the Republic of Nepal, His Excellency Dr. Ram Baran Yadav. As per the reports, Gyanendra Shah’s message to the President was delivered by Pashupati Bhakta Maharjan-ex-King’s Chief Secretary. Upon meeting President Yadav, Maharjan extended ex-King Gyanendra’s invitation for an exclusive dinner with Dr. Yadav. To add, latest reports have it that Gyanendra Shah has begun holding Business Consultations with some Indian businessmen. “Ex-King Gyanendra mainly discussed how to smoothly run his business ventures in Nepal”, writes the Samacharpatra Daily today, July 28, 2008. Excerpts of Ex-King’s message to the President follows: “I would like to congratulate you for being elected as the first president of Nepal by the Constituent Assembly...” “I hope that during your tenure as the president of Nepal, you will work towards strengthening Nepali ...

Are Christian evangelists worst that all the terror outfits? A beautiful review by Allen Carr on the controversial book "Peoples of the Buddhist World" by Paul Hattaway et. al. The following is taken from LankaWeb.com .. But this interesting reading is also available at Wisdon Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal Planning the Demise of Buddhism Peoples of the Buddhist World by Paul Hattaway, Piquant Editions, Carlisle, 2004. Reviewed by Allen Carr Some Western drug companies spend millions of dollars developing and marketing a new drug only to have the health authorities later discover that it has dangerous side-effects and then ban it. Needing to recover their investment and unable to sell their drug in the West some of these companies try to market their dangerous products in the Third World where public awareness of health issues is low and indifferent governments can be brought off. Some might say that Christianity is a bit like this. Having lost much of their following i...

There is a new interesting story that surfaced in Kathmandu recently. Charles Shobhraj, the convicted one, serving the 20 years jail term is 'seriously' in love with a 20 years St. Mary's student Nihita Thapa, daughter of a well connected, senior Nepali Lawyer Shakultala Thapa. The following text is copied from the www.newendpress.com . It is interesting why a lawyer's daughter should find love in Charles Shobhraj, known for his notority. Luck, perhaps! You can also see the young spirited lady's pictures at link called Email Bookmarking Blog Here is also another link at cbsnews.com . Mother of Sobhraj's fiancée defending him against bigamy charges Monday July 7 2008 11:02 IST Sudeshna Sarkar KATHMANDU, NEPAL: In the latest twist to the drama that started in Nepal and abroad after it became public that criminal mastermind Charles Sobhraj had become engaged to a Nepali woman 44 years his junior, the mother of his fiancée Nihita Biswas entered the fray in a bid to ...

On Tuesday, June 24 afternoon a child of 2.5 years age fell into the crevices of Seti River in Pokhara, valley famous for its Annapurna Range of Himalayas and the Lakes. Despite all efforts by different specialized rescue teams, including Nepal Army and Police squads, the child could not be brought out from the death trap. The crevice was simply too narrow and it was not possible for big guys to adventure any further from 20 ft. The child was believed to have rested at 65 feet from the surface outside. So, Kamal Nepali, 12 years old school boy, who liked gymnastics in his school, agreed to go down to take the child, up on his brother's request. Kamal's brother told him - that there is a child like our own sister, who needs help. After the rescue team's briefing on him and preparations with a bag, walki-talkie and torch, the boy descended, negotiated the narrow hole, reached the child, lifted her, put her in the bag, signalled the team he was ready and was pulled up. The b...

The following paragraphs have some more info on the context of Decentralization Support Programme in Nepal, taken from this link . Region: Asia Thematic Focus: Constitutional Reform, Popular Participation Country: Nepal Context UNDP has been supporting the process of decentralization in Nepal since 1982, initially supporting the formulation of the Decentralization Act. In 1989, UNDP project entitled "Strengthening Decentralization Planning" assisted the government in preparing the currently existing local government laws and national policies related to decentralization, rural development, and NGOs, including the District Development Act, Village Development Act, and the Municipal Act. The "Supporting Decentralization in Nepal" project, funded by UNDP and executed by the government through its national planning commission secretariat, was approved in January 1993 and is now completed. The "Supporting Decentralization in Nepal" project was formulated to add...

The following email note is publicly available. Here is a good discussion on the definition of governance. The information is taken from this link . From::::: paul.lundberg@un.org.pk To::::: magnet@undp.org Date::::: Fri, 19 Sep 1997 21:20:42 PKT Subject :: Re: Food for Thought - A Definition of Governance Dear Magnet, Some of our colleagues have argued, vociferously in one case, that defining governance is an academic exercise that should not concern us practitioners. I disagree with that view. I believe that it is essential that we understand what we are talking about and agree among ourselves about the nature of our subject. To start my comment, I would like to submit an alternate definition of governance. This definition was created by Dr. Elinor Ostrom, a professor of political science and a lifelong student of common property resource management issues. She defines governance quite simply as the "regularized ways of ordering human societies at all levels of organization...

The following number of articles have some insights in Decentralization. The link is here . Commune Councils By Molly Ball The Cambodia Daily The Feb 3 commune council elections were widely hailed as a major step toward grassroots democracy in Cambodia. But that goal won't happen overnight. "If people really think they're going to get 100 percent of local governments functioning right away that's never happened anywhere," said Scott Leiper, a UN adviser to the government on decentralization. The massive amount of work that must be done to get 1,621 commune councils up and running will be complicated by the fact that many details of how the councils will proceed are still unclear. "On election day, Cambodians went to vote for a system of government that has yet to be fully defined," said Eric Kessler of the National Democratic Institute. Critics say this uncertainty is ripe for exploitation by the central government. Participants in the process say the go...