Oli calls all-party meeting, expecting support, but gets vitriol insteadLeaders of the political parties represented in the federal parliament say that the failure in governance has invited the ongoing protests against the republican system.

TIKA R PRADHANKATHMANDU, DEC 8

The last time Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli convened an all-party meet was in May after his government had registered a bill in Parliament to amend the constitution to update the political map of Nepal in the national emblem.

Although Parliament is not in ses-sion and there is no international issue to discuss, there is another par-allel with May for the scheduling of the meeting on Tuesday.

Then Oli was facing intense pres-sure from within his party to resign. It is a similar scenario now and this pressure has only grown.

The meeting, according to a tweet from Oli’s press adviser on Monday, was to discuss “contemporary nation-al political issues”.

The issue that has been of concern

is the anti-federalism and pro-monar-chy demonstrations that have been going on in different parts of the country.

If Oli had hoped for some support, like he did in May to amend the constitution, to counter the ongoing anti-constitutional activities and safe-guard the political achievements from the party leaders he had invited, he must have been disappointed, going by what transpired in the all-party meet-ing, according to the participants.

“During today’s meeting also, par-ties criticised the government’s activi-ties as always,” Jhala Nath Khanal, a senior leader of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP), told the Post.

Senior leader of the main opposi-tion Ram Chandra Poudel vehemently attacked the government during the meeting, having been detained by the police last week when he went to Tanahun to inaugurate a bridge.

“We brought the new constitu-tion, which is the source for the changes, but the prime minister has failed to understand this change,” Poudel said at the meet-ing, according to him.

“The role of the prime minis-ter should have been to coordi-nate among the political forces but you did not coordinate.”

Leaders of smaller parties like Rastriya Janamorcha, which has one seat in the federal parliament, corroborated this

narrative. “All the party leaders speaking at

the all-party meeting had lashed out at the government’s failure on all fronts including proper implementation of the constitution,” said Janak Raj Sharma, general secretary of the Rastriya Janamorcha. “They had also blamed the government for inviting protests out of frustrations.”

In his opening remarks at the meet-ing, Oli said anti-constitution and vio-lent activities would not be tolerated and urged the parties to unite. He was also referring to the activities of the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal, which killed a teacher in Morang district on Tuesday.

Other “anti-constitutional activi-ties” have been the anti-federalism and pro-monarchy rallies.

Concerned about the rallies, includ-ing one held in Kathmandu on November 30, the Kathmandu District Administration Office issued a notice on December 3 warning the demon-strators that the authorities would take action as per the laws if they continue to violate the government’s directive not to organise gatherings.

However, authorities remained mute spectators when another such demonstration was held in the Capital two days later.

“Leaders have also questioned whether there was any connection between the communists and royal-ists,” said Upendra Yadav, presently the chairman of Janata Samajbadi Party, and whose Madhesi Janadhikar Forum had led protests in the plains in January 2007, which ensured that the country would adopt a federal system.

Observers had blamed the failure in governance for the growing frustra-tion of the people against the system.

On Tuesday too leaders of the polit-ical parties blamed the government for inviting rallies calling for the end of the federal system and the return of constitutional monarchy.

“Due to the government’s anti-con-stitutional activities, frustrations have been expressed in various ways and the royalists are trying to cash in the failures to attack the system,” said Prakash Sharan Mahat, joint general secretary of the Nepali Congress. “We have told the government to correct its activities as per the constitutional provisions.” >> Continued on page 2

SANGAM PRASAINKATHMANDU, DEC 8

8,848.86 metres.That’s the new official height of Mount

Everest Nepal announced on Tuesday. The new announcement puts an end to the decades-long debate on the height of the world’s tallest mountain.

The precise height of Mount Everest had been contested ever since a group of British surveyors in India declared the height of Peak XV, as it was initially called, to be 8,778 metres in 1847.

The new height was announced as per the joint measurement efforts by Nepal and China, the two countries the 8,848.86-metre mountain straddles. This new height converts to 29,031. 69 feet. The ear-lier accepted height was 8,848 metres or 29,028 feet.

The official height was announced simultaneously in Kathmandu and Beijing amid a programme attended by Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

“This is a historic day,” Foreign Minister Gyawali said, making the much-awaited declaration on Tuesday. “The new height of Mt Everest is 8,848.86 metres.”

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang too announced the mountain’s height to be 8,848.86 metres immediately afterwards.

Nepal had been working on the meas-urement of Everest since 2011.

“The measurement is within centime-tres of accuracy,” Sushil Dangol, the national coordinator of the Mt Everest Height Measurement Secretariat at the Survey Department, told the Post. “The data of the survey conducted by Nepali and Chinese measurement teams was processed to calculate the height. The margin of error is within centimetres.”

The “rock height” has not been announced.

A range of methods including traditional ones and those based on the latest technology were used to come up

with the figure. “There have been several surveys con-

ducted in the last 170 years by different countries but Nepal has never measured its own peak,” said Padma Kumari Aryal, minister for land management, coopera-tives and poverty alleviation. “This sur-vey will end debates on the height of Everest once and for all. This will be a commonly accepted height.”

Between 1849 and 1855, the Survey of India made observations from Dehradun, India base to Sonakhoda base in Bihar. During these triangulation observations, the Himalayan peaks of Nepal were also observed. At that time it was not known

that this peak in the Himalayas was the highest in the world.

During computations, the mean com-puted height of Peak XV came out to be 29,002 ft, or 8,839.80 metres, and it was later named after Sir George Everest, the ex surveyor-general of India.

The widely accepted height of 8,848 metres or 29,028 feet was determined by the Survey of India in 1954 from Bihar using the trigonometric method. It was the third survey conducted by India.

The second highest mountain in the world is K2, at 8,611 metres (28,251 ft) and is located in Pakistan.

The height of Everest has never

been precise. A Chinese survey in 1975 obtained the

figure of 29,029.24 feet (8,848.11 metres), and an Italian survey, using satellite sur-veying techniques, worked out a value of 29,108 feet (8,872 metres) in 1987, but ques-tions arose about the methods.

In 1999 an American survey, sponsored by the National Geographic Society and others, took precise measurements using a global positioning system, or GPS, equipment. Their finding of 29,035 feet (8,850 metres) was accepted by the society and by various specialists in the fields of geodesy and cartography.

Nepal had welcomed the revelations

but continued to use the height of 8,848 metres determined in 1954.

“Their finding of 29,035 feet [8,850 metres], plus-minus 6.5 feet [2 metres] more than the accepted height, was accepted by the American society and by various specialists in the fields of geode-sy and cartography. But Nepal did not accept it,” said Ganesh Prasad Bhatta, former head of the government’s survey department.

Nepal said it would like to carry out its own measurements.

In 2005, the Chinese State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping re-measured the peak utilising the ice-penetrating radar system in conjunction with GPS equip-ment and declared 29,017.12 feet (8,844.43) metres to be the Everest rock-height.

Chinese and Nepali officials had then disagreed over the height of the iconic peak over whether the snow height or the rock height should be accepted.

Nepal disputed the Chinese figure, pre-ferring what was termed the “snow height” of 29,028 feet.

Nepali mountaineering officials say that the height was one of the key reasons why Nepal had been drawing Everest aspirants in droves.

Ang Tsering Sherpa, former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, said that the number of Everest aspirants in Nepal started to swell from 2007 when China started issuing Everest climbing certificates stating the height as 8,844.57 metres against 8,848 metres in certificates issued by Nepal for the same peak.

The lower height was not recognised by various international organisations, including the Guinness World Record that tracks and documents record-breaking facts and achievements, he said.

Since 2016, China started issuing climb-ing permits stating the height as 8,848.13 metres.

“Now, there will be a common height which will end all debates,” said Sherpa about Tuesday’s announcement.

But it will give China a huge advantage in the Everest climbing industry.

>> Continued on page 2

C M Y K

W I T H O U T F E A R O R F A V O U RNepal’s largest selling English dailyPrinted simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj

Vol XXVIII No. 281 | 8 pages | Rs.5Wednesday, December 09, 2020 | 24-08-2077

27.4 C -1.9 CBhairahawa Jumla

O O

8,848.86 metres. That’s the height of Mt Everest nowThe new height announced jointly by Nepal and China puts an end to the one constantly asked question: How tall is the world’s highest mountain?

1847 British-India surveyors found it to be 8,778m (28,799ft)

1849-1850 British-India team remeasured at 8,840m (29,002ft)

1880-1883 British-India team measured at 8,882m (29,140ft)

1946-1954 India established height as 8,848m (29,028ft)

1966-1968 China found height from north to be 8,850.32m (29,036ft)

1975 China’s new measure was 8,848.13m (29,029ft) on rock surface

1992 China and Italy survey found rock height as 8,846.27m (29,023ft)

1998-1999 US and China established snow height at 8,850m (29,035ft)

2004 Italy said rock height was 8,848.5m (29,030ft)

2005 China found rock height to be 8,844.43m (29,017ft)

2020 Nepal and China announce new height as 8,848.86m (29,031.69ft)

(Source: Department of Survey)

PHOTO COURTESY: PM’S SECRETARIAT

Political leaders voiced displeasure at government’s performance at the Baluwatar meeting.

C M Y K

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2020 | 02

NATIONAL

POST PHOTO: SANJOG MANANDHAR

A girl wearing a face mask holds her dog as she sits on a bench at Basantapur, Kathmandu on Tuesday.

>> Continued from page 1“Climbing Everest through the northern

side is much cheaper than climbing from the southern side,” he said.

Everest is Nepal’s biggest cash cow when it comes to tourism.

An Everest permit costs $11,000 for for-eigners but most hopefuls end up spending an average of $50,000 on gear, room and board, and hiring guides and porters. The government collects $4 million from permits alone, according to the Department of Tourism.

“But the cost of climbing from the north is almost half of that. The package from China costs an average $25,000. As people are price sensitive, China will have a big advantage now,” said Sherpa. “However, in Nepal, the money spent by a climber mostly benefits Nepal’s rural economy.”

But climbing from Nepal, home to eight of the 14 highest mountains in the world, has many other advantages.

Sherpa said rescue from Nepali side is prompt, it enables trekkers to enjoy a com-plete adventure--trek for weeks to reach the base camp and then the adventure of climb-ing from south is a life changing experience, said Sherpa.

As for climbing from the Chinese side, there is a motorable road right up to the base camp and this has the additional hazard of altitude sickness.

Around the world, Nepal is known by two words—Everest and Sherpa. But that too is about to change.

“China is producing a lot of high altitude climbing guides. The government trains them for at least two years,” said Sherpa. “Within a few years, China will not require Nepali Sherpa climbing guides although the majority of climbing guides on the Chinese side are Sherpas now.”

According to the Sherpa, hiring Sherpa guides costs an extra $8,000 for a foreigner climbing from the north.

Ruan Zongze, executive vice president of the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Monday that reach-ing a consensus on the issue reflects the two countries’ mutual respect and willingness to extend cooperation by promoting informa-tion sharing.

“Mount Qomolangma [Everest] could be seen as a symbol of friendship between the two countries,” the Chinese government’s mouthpiece Global Times quoted Ruan as saying. “Rather than surveying the height separately, China and Nepal agreed on a uni-fied result, similar to the mountain’s area division.”

Nepal had announced in 2011 measuring the mountain’s height as a “national pride” project but the project could not move for-ward because of political instability and a lack of funds.

But urgency was felt after some geologists speculated that the height of Everest could have changed due to the 2015 earthquake with a possible shift in its position, accord-ing to Nepal’s survey department.

The project finally kicked off in 2017. Nepal used early traditional as well as new

technologies to measure the mountain’s height.

Dangol, the national coordinator of the Mt Everest Height Measurement Secretariat, said that the Nepali survey was a mixture of the traditional and latest technologies con-ducting five sets of surveys: precise level-ling, trigonometric levelling, gravity survey, global navigation satellite system, or GNSS, survey and summit observation.

The GNSS survey, a constellation of satel-lites providing signals from space transmit-ting positioning and timing data, was con-ducted at the top of Everest and the data was collected for 1 hours 16 minutes and ground penetrating radar survey was also conduct-ed at the time to find the snow depth, he said.

According to the department, the precise levelling is conducted to find height from the southern plains of Nepal to the selected con-trol points. Trigonometric levelling is per-formed from selected control points (points to which height is carried by precise level-ling); gravity survey is conducted to define the local geoid around the Everest; and GNSS based survey is conducted for deter-mining locations of gravity points, bench-marks as well as the summit of Everest.

Nepal’s own survey team led by Khim Lal Gautam climbed Everest on May 22, 2019, and installed global positioning system equipment and ground-penetrating radar at the summit.

Chinese surveyors had reached the top of Everest on May 27, 2020 for their own survey.

The Chinese team used China’s BeiDou navigation satellite system and Chinese sur-veying instruments. This seventh round of survey in May achieved multiple technologi-cal breakthroughs, including the use of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, and real-scene 3D technologies to obtain a relia-ble, accurate result and the status of natural resources on the mountain, according to Chinese media reports.

China’s domestically developed BeiDou Satellite Navigation System, or BDS, and second-generation Geostationary Meteorological System, the Fengyun-4, as well as the Zhongxing-6A communication satellite also significantly contributed to the completion of the mountain quest. GNSS was also carried by the team to the peak, Chinese media reports said.

“In the 2005 quest, GNSS satellite meas-urement mainly relied on the US GPS sys-tem. But this year, we shall reference data from all four existing GNSS systems—the GPS, Europe’s Galileo, Russia’s GLONASS, and China’s own BDS. And the BDS data will be at its centre,” Li Guopeng, an official with the Ministry of Natural Resources, was quoted as saying in the Global Times report.

It was during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit in October last year that Nepal and China agreed to jointly announce the height and settle once and for all the dec-ades-long debate over the height.

A total of 6,507 mountaineers have climbed Everest from the Nepal side since Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and New Zealander Edmund Percival Hillary first set foot atop the world’s highest peak in May 1953.

8,848.86 metres. That’s the height of Mt Everest now

Construction work gains pace on stalled development projectsConstruction companies claim project works were delayed due to prolonged lockdown.GHANSHYAM KHADKAMYAGDI, DEC 8

The construction work of most devel-opment projects left unattended for the past nine months has gained momentum in Myagdi district of late.

The contractors of 17 big develop-ment projects of road, hydroelectrici-ty, transmission line, sub-station, bridge and buildings in the district who had left the project sites during the nationwide lockdown have returned to work. They had stopped work and left the projects incomplete for months citing difficulties caused by the pandemic.

“The contractors of those big pro-jects worth around Rs13.16 billion had left their works and gone out of con-tact since the lockdown was enforced in March. Around half of them have come into contact and a few of them have started work on the site,” said Chief District Office Umakanta Adhikari.

The district administration office, people’s representatives and various offices under the local, provincial and federal governments had pressurised the contractors to come back to work.

The district administration office organised an interaction programme a few weeks ago which was attended by the chiefs of several government offices, representatives of several local units and civil society leaders, among others. The partici-pants discussed the issue of unfin-ished development projects and underscored the need to exert pres-sure on the contractors to complete work on time.

“Some contractors of small develop-ment projects have returned to the site and resumed work. The contractors of big projects are yet to initiate work in full swing,” said Debendra Bahadur KC, chief of the District Coordination Committee.

According to him, the contractor of

the Galeshwor-Bhagawati road is yet to resume work while the works on the Beni-Darbang road, Beni-Jomsom road upgradation and Pokhare-Chitre road are yet to go in full swing.

Lama-Samanantar JV, the contrac-tor of Beni-Darbang road project, has been mobilising a dozer in the Singa area for the past few days. The project deadline was extended to October 16 for the second time. Only around 40 percent work of the project has been completed so far.

“The construction work of the Beni-Darbang road resumed two weeks back. Though there are not enough workers and equipment mobilised for the work, we are hopeful the project work will gain momentum,” Kharmaya Bitalu, the vice-chairperson of Malika Rural Municipality. “The road had to be widened and blacktopped last year. But progress is slow.”

Almost all the major development projects in the district have been delayed. The construction companies

claim that the project work was affect-ed due to the prolonged lockdown.

“The work was halted due to the lockdown and a shortage of workers. We have returned to work now,” said Gautam Bhusal, a representative of Motidana-Jayamata JV. The company has resumed upgradation work of the 18.5km-long Pokharebagar-Chitre road. It has mobilised technicians and workers in the project site for the past two weeks.

Similarly, the construction work of three motorable bridges in the district has started after Tihar. Works on the Beni-Jomsom-Korala road project have also begun.

“Development works are gathering momentum now that the nationwide lockdown has ended and major festi-vals like Dashain, Tihar and Chhath are over. Workers are also available,” said Sata Prasad Roka, the chairman of Mangala Rural Municipality. “We are hoping that development projects will complete on time.”

POST PHOTO: GHANSHYAM KHADKA

The contractors of 17 big development projects who had left the project sites during the lockdown have returned to work.

>> Continued from page 1Such criticism came despite Oli’s

attempt at the start of the meet to urge the parties to be conscious while criti-cising the government without any basis as that could defame the whole political system.

Prime Minister Oli has been criti-cised for acting against the spirit of federalism for various decisions like pressuring provincial lawmakers to agree on Dang Deukhuri as the capital of Lumbini, and allegedly instigating provincial lawmakers in Karnali to table a no confidence motion against the chief minister of his own party who belonged to the rival faction.

Federal laws on the hiring of provin-cial civil servants are yet to be legislated.

“Our point is the ongoing protests are nothing but [an expression of] the frustrations at the government’s fail-ure and anti-federalism activities,” Yadav told the Post.

However, opposition parties are also to blame for failing to play their role in holding the government to account, according to leaders and observers.

Leaders within the party have accused Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba of having an understanding with Oli on power sharing issues for the party’s failure to play a meaningful role as the main opposition in a democratic set-up.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Poudel warned against any such understand-ing between Oli and Deuba.

“If you and our president agree and fill up these [vacant constitutional] posts, I will oppose such appoint-ments,” Poudel told the meeting, an indication of the extent of division within the main opposition party.

Deuba attended the meeting but left before it ended and even without put-ting forth his views.

The Janata Samajbadi Party, the third largest party with 32 seats in the House of Representatives, has its own teething problems to become a politi-cal party with clear ideology and roadmap, according to observers.

Leaders who attended Tuesday’s meeting told the Post that Oli plans to hold such meetings in future too.

“On behalf of the ruling party, the prime minister spoke briefly saying such meetings would continue,” said Khanal.

But what purpose such meetings hold is a question that leaders of the opposition have raised.

“What I understood is that the prime minister was saying there is no alternative to this government and therefore the leaders should give their suggestions,” said Prem Suwal, leader of Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party, which has one seat in the federal parliament.

Factionalism within the ruling Nepal Communist Party was not lost on the opposition. “I told the leaders of the ruling party that the letters of the two chairmen speak volumes about the existing situation [in the party] and we have nothing to say,” Bimalendra Nidhi, vice president of the Nepali Congress, told the Post.

The assessment of Poudel, the senior Congress leader, was even more blunt.

“This government has lost the moral ground to rule,” Poudel told the Post.

Anil Giri contributed reporting.

Oli calls all-party meeting, expecting ...

C M Y K

03 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2020

NATIONAL

POST PHOTO: ELITE JOSHI

Young priests play football on Pashupatinath Temple premises in Kathmandu on Tuesday.

Power sharing cases pile up at constitutional benchBINOD GHIMIREKATHMANDU, DEC 8

The Province 2 government last week moved the Supreme Court against the federal govern-ment saying it interfered with its constitution-al authority to execute irrigation projects.

Jitendra Sonal, the province’s minister for Physical Infrastructure Development, filed the petition against bids issued by the Department of Irrigation, which falls under the ambit of the federal government, to implement the Prosperous Tarai Madhes Special Irrigation Programme.

This is the sixth writ petition the provincial government has filed at the Supreme Court seeking its intervention to stop the federal government from allegedly breaching the pro-visions of the constitution.

However, the court hasn’t issued its final verdict in any of the petitions so far.

The constitutional bench, which has remained indifferent towards resolving consti-tutional issues such as those raised by Province 2, is comparatively prompt when it comes to matters related to political figures.

Responding to the writ petition filed against the nomination of Nepal Communist Party’s leader Bamdev Gautam to the National Assembly, the constitutional bench held three hearings, that too within a month. Though the final verdict in the case is due, the bench has given its consent to Gautam’s nomination through an interim order.

Raju Prasad Chapagain, chairperson of Constitutional Lawyer’s Forum, has a similar observation. “It’s a fact that the entire judici-ary, including the constitutional bench, is prompt when it comes to cases related to polit-ical figures,” he told the Post. “But it has to demonstrate more urgency in cases related to constitutional issues.”

Constitutional experts say while every case needs to be finalised promptly, cases related to implementation of federalism should be prior-itised over political issues that don’t have

much legal implications.The Supreme Court has the authority to

interpret the provisions of the constitution and its constitutional bench can also resolve disputes over the jurisdiction of various tiers of government. Its verdicts on the interpreta-tion of the constitution and resolution of dis-putes between provinces set precedents that have a standing equivalent to the legisla-ture-made laws.

Experts say the indifference of the Supreme Court towards passing verdicts on writ peti-tions such as those filed by Province 2 is the reason behind delay in devolution of power.

During the constitution drafting phase, a large group of lawmakers were in favour of a separate constitutional court with limited ten-ure to resolve disputes between the three tiers of government. However, parties agreed to form a constitutional bench within the Supreme Court, instead.

But the bench has become largely ineffec-

tive, observers say.Ram Krishna Timilsena, former registrar at

the Supreme Court and executive director at National Law College, said the constitutional bench suffers from a serious managerial prob-lem that needs to be resolved at the earliest. As five justices from the Supreme Court con-stitute the bench, they can’t focus only on cases presented before the constitutional bench. “Also, it took time to set up the bench

and the Covid-19 pandemic has further slowed things down,” he told the Post.

Provincial governments say the Supreme Court is their only hope when it comes to claiming their constitutional rights, and delay in verdicts worries them.

“We don’t know when the provinces will get justice,” Gyanedra Yadav, Province 2 minister for Internal Affairs and Law, told the Post. “We expect the judiciary shows some urgency in the constitutional matters.”

It was on August 1, 2019, that the Province 2

government filed the first writ petition against the federal government. It had challenged the decision of the Ministry of Forest to merge Sagarnath Forestry Development Project with Timber Corporation of Nepal. The constitu-tional bench had issued an interim order in the Provincial government’s favour, but the final verdict is due.

The provincial government had last month filed another writ petition against the federal government’s handling of provincial police-re-lated issues. Similarly, in June, another writ petition was filed against some of the provi-sions of Federation, Provinces and Local Level (Coordination and Inter-relations) Act. However, the court is yet to pass verdicts on all these petitions.

Officials at the Supreme Court say the court gives equal priority to all cases, but some take longer than others to hear. “Issues related to constitutional matters are sensitive and seri-ous in nature. It takes time to follow the due process,” Bhadra Kali Pokharel, spokesperson for the Supreme Court, told the Post. “I don’t think the constitutional bench has given undue priority to political cases.”

Kishor Poudel, communication expert at the court, however, agrees that the constitu-tional bench has been running slow. He said over 250 cases have been filed before it so far. “However, final verdicts have been passed only in very few cases,” he told Post.

Meanwhile, experts on federalism say the provincial government should focus on resolv-ing disputes over jurisdiction through politi-cal dialogue, rather than move the court. Khim Lal Devkota, who writes extensively on feder-alism, said the provinces should press the fed-eral government to convene the Inter Provincial Council led by the prime minister to resolve such issues. “Our judiciary is very political in nature,” he told Post. “The provinc-es will not have any options left if the constitu-tional bench gives a verdict against them. So, moving to the court should be their last resort.”

Reopening of schools in Kathmandu Valley, a Covid-19 hotspot, raises alarmARJUN POUDELKATHMANDU, DEC 8

Schools in various municipalities of Kathmandu Valley, a hotspot for Covid-19 infection, have started reo-pening after months of remaining shut due to government restrictions.

While schools and local govern-ments say they have fully implement-ed measures to prevent the transmis-sion of the contagious disease, doctors have warned reopening of schools could spell disaster, especially for sen-ior citizens. Although children are at relatively low risk of developing a severe form of the infection, they could act as a medium for the virus to pass on to their grandparents, who are highly vulnerable, they caution.

“We have allowed schools to restart classes by implementing all safety measures,” Uddhav Prasad Kharel, mayor of Budhanilkantha Municipality told the Post. “Private schools have already restarted classes, and some community schools are pre-paring to do the same.”

The situation is similar in Tarkeshwor Municipality. “We have granted permission to schools to resume classes, as per recommenda-tions from respective ward offices,” Rameshwor Bohara, mayor of Tarakeshwor Municipality, told the Post. “Schools came to us after hold-ing meetings with parents, local resi-dents and other stakeholders.”

The Ministry of Education Science

and Technology has authorised local governments to decide when and how to resume schools, which were shut-down in March as part of government efforts to contain the virus.

New cases of infection have spiked after reopening of schools in Europe and America, and authorities there have shut down the schools again to control the spread of the infection.

Even as local level representatives claim permission to resume classes was granted only to schools that ful-filled all safety requirements, experts are sceptical about it as Kathmandu Valley remains a hotspot for Covid-19 infections and the disease claims more senior citizens. The exact situa-tion of the spread of coronavirus remains unknown as authorities have given up on contact tracing.

Schools in Chandragiri Municipality have also resumed, said Lisha Nakarmi, deputy mayor. “We have allowed schools to run classes in shifts since November,” Nakarmi told the Post. “We have asked our staffers and ward representatives to check if social distancing measures are adopt-ed in schools or not.”

Dr Mingmar Gyelgen Sherpa, for-mer director general at the depart-ment of Health Services told the Post that the biggest risk of opening schools is that students could take the virus to their grandparents. Government figures show that more than 60 percent of people who have died of Covid-19 are above

60 years of age.“Allowing schools to resume can’t

be termed a good decision, as we hav-en’t seen any proof that the infection rate is slowing down,”, told the Post. “Death rates among the infected elderly people are very high in our country, and even if nothing happens

to children, they can pass the virus on to their grandparents.”

The decision to reopen schools has proven costly for even Humla, one of the remotest areas in Nepal, he said. “Coronavirus has spread in schools of Humla, one of the remotest and least populated areas in the country,” added

Sherpa. “Allowing schools to resume could be costly for the Kathmandu Valley as it is a major hotspot for coro-navirus infections—hundreds of peo-ple are still testing positive everyday.”

Other experts have also questioned the effectiveness of safety protocols being followed in schools. “Maintaining social distancing in schools is a tough ask,” Dr Sher Bahadur Pun, chief of the Clinical Research Unit at the Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, told the Post. “Children will come together while playing, while going to the toilet or eating lunch.”

But local level representatives, the Post talked to, downplayed the risk posed by coronavirus.

“Weddings are taking place, people are organising feasts where hundreds are gathering in one place,” Budhanilkantha Municipality’s mayor Kharel, said. “People are behav-ing as if the pandemic is over.” He said that the municipality will allow everything open in the coming days.

Tarakeshwor Municipality’s mayor Bohara too said he is taking part in feasts organised in the municipality. “Due to fear of losing votes in the com-ing election, I have been accepting invitations from the public to attend wedding feasts,” said Bohara. “People are drinking, singing and dancing without thinking about the risk of infection. Over 500 people gather in one venue and use the same ladle.”

Doctors, however, say only those

who become seriously ill and reached hospital beds or those who have lost their family members to the disease know better about the risk the virus poses.

“We should not take the risk of infection lightly,” Dr Prabhat Adhikari, infectious disease and criti-cal care expert, told the Post. “Authorities should have waited for some time to reopen schools. They should strictly enforce safety meas-ures, if they are allowed to resume schools.”

The number of new cases of infec-tion has declined only after authori-ties reduced testing and started charg-ing asymptomatic patients for tests, doctors said. They argue that underes-timating the risk without proof will be costly for everyone. “We still have a queue of people waiting to go to inten-sive care units and get ventilator sup-port, and death rates have not declined. So the risk of transmission can’t be downplayed,” Adhikari added.

Meanwhile, Lalitpur Metropolitan City held a meeting of stakeholders on Tuesday to decide whether or not to let the schools open in the metropolitan city. Ishwor Man Dangol, spokesper-son for the Kathmandu Metropolitan City said that the metropolis is also holding discussions with the stake-holders and will take decisions within a few days regarding to let the school open. “We are also holding meetings with school operators and other stake-holders and will take a decision soon.”

Construction of waste processing facility starts in RupandehiAMRITA ANMOLBUTWAL, DEC 8

The government has started the construction of a waste processing centre in Sainamaina Municipality of Rupandehi district.

The investment in the project is said to be around Rs 1 billion. According to authorities, the waste processing centre will be able to pro-cess 400 tonnes of garbage on a daily basis.

Waste management is a major problem in Rupandehi district. Due to the absence of proper waste management plants in the district, the majority of the local units have been dumping waste on river banks and open areas. To solve the garbage management problem in Rupandehi, the federal government has enlisted waste man-agement projects in the district as one of the national priority projects.

To address the garbage issue in the district, authorities had earlier initiated the construc-tion of a waste disposal centre in Butwal but the project could not move forward due to locals’ disagreement with the proposed location. The proposed waste management centre in Butwal was said to be constructed with financial sup-port from a donor. But locals and leaders of var-ious political parties protested against the pro-posal and the plan was cancelled.

“The construction of a waste management centre in Butwal came to a halt due to obstruc-tion by the locals. Therefore, a waste manage-ment centre is now being constructed in Ward No. 10 of Sainamaina with the government’s investment, ” said Shivaraj Subedi, mayor of Butwal Sub Metropolis.

In the first phase of the project, garbage from Sainamaina, Butwal and Kanchan Rural Municipality will be processed at the waste man-agement centre.

“In the second phase, we plan to process waste from all 16 local units of Rupandehi and also from four local units of Kapilvastu district,” said Chitra Bahadur Karki, mayor of Sainamaina Municipality. “All solid waste, including medical ones, can be processed at the waste processing centre. We plan to utilise the by-products as com-post fertiliser.”

According to him, they are also looking into monetising the plan in the future.

“We have selected an area far from human settlements to minimise conflicts with the local residents,” he said. “The centre will be handed over to the private sector for operation after completion of the construction work.”

The proposed waste processing centre is spread in three bighas of land in Ukash Chhetra of Khormor Khola. It is five kilometres away from the East-West Highway and two kilometres from a human settlement.

According to Mayor Karki, the project was started after conducting an Environmental Impact Assessment in the proposed area.

“The report showed that we could go ahead with the construction of the waste processing centre at Sainamaina,” he said.

The federal government has provided Rs 100 million as grant for the construction of the waste processing centre. In the last fiscal year, the government had allocated Rs 30 million for the project.

Suraj Neupane, the project chief of Sainamaina Municipality, said, “The Ministry of Urban Development has also allocated Rs 4.5 million for garbage management in the district. The amount will be utilised to repair and upgrade the side roads that link the highway to the waste processing centre.”

The Ministry of Finance has also vowed to provide an additional budget for the construc-tion of the waste processing centre after the project was included in the national priority projects list.

“A Detailed Project Report has been prepared for the construction of the project. We will send additional budget on the basis of the work per-formance,” said Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel, adding that he has directed the project officials to complete the construction of the waste processing centre within two years.

Constitutional experts say devolution of power between various tiers of government has been hampered due to bench’s failure to issue verdicts.

While local governments and schools say safety measures are in place, experts warn children may carry the disease to their grandparents who fall in the most vulnerable category.

POST FILE PHOTO

Social distancing is a tough ask for school children as they come together while playing, going to the toilet and eating lunch, health experts say.

POST FILE PHOTO

The Supreme Court has been issuing verdicts in high-profile political cases, but it hasn’t issued a verdict in six cases filed by the Province 2 government against the federal government over encroachment of its jurisdiction.

C M Y K

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2020 | 04

OPINION

After a long hiatus, the Pashupatinath temple is all set to open its doors for devotees from December 16, 2020. One of the holiest shrines of South Asia and a much-frequented place of wor-ship for Hindus from all over the world, the premier Shaivite temple had never remained closed for so long in its recorded history.

The onset of the Hindu nuptial sea-son has revived the business of so-called party palaces that serve as convenient venues for wedding recep-tions. Attendants in face-shields serve drinks with gloved hands at large gath-erings where it’s almost impossible to maintain the required social distance of two metres between attendees. Guests pull their masks to the chin to eat and drink with friends, family and fresh acquaintances.

Except for gyms and movie theatres, most commercial enterprises are up and running. Industries were already in operation—once the initial confu-sion of the lockdown guidelines in March were cleared. Business may not be booming, but some spas and beauty parlours have also begun to welcome clients. The usual crowd of customers is still missing, but restaurants remain open till late in the evening.

Life seems to be coming back to nor-mal in Kathmandu for those that don’t have a Covid-19 victim in their immedi-ate families. In private conversations, optimistic observers in South Asia have begun to expect what analysts call a ‘V-shaped recovery’ that sometimes occurs after a recession. Even though such a simplistic sanguinity is a reflec-tion of wishful thinking rather than of realistic hopes, the process of revival in a relatively weak economy isn’t impossible to kick-start.

In the initial phase of the pandemic, migrant workers had begun to trek back to their far-flung villages for safe-ty. In a bid to escape rural poverty, workers have since started to come back to urban centres where service industries are humming once again. Public transport has resumed. Small eateries selling noodles and momos are back onto the streets with pots, pans and plastic plates.

Migrants are queuing up at Gadda Chauki near Mahendranagar or Jamunaha in Nepalgunj to go back to their work stations in India. Aircraft fly day and night from Tribhuvan International Airport to ferry unskilled workers to West Asia. The remittances that they send back home fuel con-sumption that then help raise revenue and fund government expenditure.

However, the ‘V-shaped’ recovery doesn’t occur as easily as a ball bouncing up from the ground. When calamities wreak havoc with economic activities, the fall is often sudden and steep. The ascent from the bottom of the pit requires concerted effort, takes longer, and looks more like a trudge than a lift-off.

The government’s policies and prior-ities play an important role in bringing normalcy back to the political economy of the country. The central bank has to create confidence in lenders as well as borrowers with appropriate monetary strategies. The profit sector has to pull itself up and identify new opportuni-ties of investment.

Most of all, leadership quality dur-ing and after a crisis makes all the dif-ference. In the post-pandemic state of physical, mental and financial exhaus-tion, the world needs a team of unifiers everywhere and in every sector. What it has instead are a bunch of dividers that draw their strength from rabid polari-sation of politics and society.

A look at Supremo KP Oli’s flippancy is enough to show the kind of leader-ship several countries of the world are saddled with during the worst pandem-ic to hit humanity in over a century.

Populist surgeImplications of pandemic fatigue upon physical and mental health, weakening compliance with social norms, and safety considerations are widely dis-cussed and publicly disseminated. Somewhat less noticed is the propensi-ty of clutching at straws to escape the state of misery. One such indication is the unnecessary exuberance over the victory of Joe Biden in the US presi-dential elections.

While freedom from Trumpism any-where is indeed welcome, it will take a while for the new incumbent of the White House to reclaim the leadership of the free world. Meanwhile, right-wing populism is unlikely to abate any-

time soon.President Donald Trump has rightly

been described as the disruptor-in-chief that will continue to have a negative impact upon American politics. In Prime Minister Narendra Modi, appro-priately called India’s divider-in-chief, Trump has a political soulmate who rules by whims and fancies and draws his strength from insistent polarisa-tion. Despite monumental mishandling of the pandemic by his government, Modi’s popularity continues to rise.

In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro is going from strength to strength: it’s being said that as the Covid-19 death count rises, so does Bolsonaro’s popu-larity. Even as the pandemic rages, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s approval rating has been creating new records. Then there are quintessential strongmen such as the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo�an, to say nothing of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who consider themselves even more indispensable at a time like this.

President Trump is on his way out, but the force of Trumpism is so endur-ing that even President-elect Biden has been forced to declare an ‘America-first’ policy. The authoritarian wave is likely to outlast the pandemic for there is no antidote to rightwing proclivities. During times of crisis, people are look-ing for a self-assured saviour. Learned leaders are full of self-doubts. Swashbuckling politicos can take the masses round and round in circles to retain their central position. Unfortunately, science has no vaccine for the widespread credulity of eth-no-nationalists that lap up every lie of demagogues such as the Supremo of Nepal keeps spouting.

Pandemic geopoliticsJust as political strongmen use a crisis

to strengthen their internal legitimacy, diplomats of powerful countries devise stratagems to consolidate and enlarge their areas of influence. The Chinese claimed a lead in the race for the Covid-19 vaccine. The Russians were not far behind in displaying their virological prowess. The winner, however, seems to be the Americans; so far with at least two vaccines with con-siderable efficacy. Their long-term side-effects remain to be seen, but expectant countries are waiting for their share of the doses to check the pandemic.

It’s an axiom of geopolitics that friendship between unequal countries is fine, but financial or physical assis-tance to the poorer partner isn’t chari-ty. The recipient has to respond in a manner that the donor expects. The Chinese are a great benefactor of Nepal, but the government in Kathmandu has to keep swearing by its ‘One China’ policy at frequent intervals to display its unwavering loyalty.

Once Beijing begins to airlift mil-lions of doses of Sinovac Biotech vac-cines, the political leadership in Kathmandu will be morally bound to listen even more carefully to the constructive suggestions of overt and covert interlocutors from the northern neighbour. The Russians may come up with their own offers that Baluwatar may find impossible to refuse. Since there are no free lunches in international relations, the vaccine initiatives of powerful nations will pull Nepal in different directions. Such moves often strength-en the status quo, as few outside players are willing to bet on untested characters.

The defiant smirk of Supremo Oli may make Pushpa Kamal Dahal seethe, but the pandemic has failed to make a dent in the indispensability of the max-imum leader of the Khas-Arya eth-no-nationalists.

When the novel coronavirus first arrived in Pakistan in late February, there was widespread concern about the country’s ability to manage the increased disease burden. Covid-19 cases were rising quickly as people returned home from other regional hotspots, and the public-health system urgently needed to be reinforced.

In this moment of crisis, Pakistan turned to the team working to eradi-cate polio. Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan are now the only two countries in the world where wild poliovirus remains endemic, after Africa was recently declared free of the disease. The Pakistani govern-ment works closely with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative—a part-nership including Rotary International; the World Health Organisation; UNICEF; the US-based Centres for Disease Control and Prevention; Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—to vaccinate children in every corner of the country and track the virus to its remaining redoubts.

Pakistan has made major progress in combating polio since I returned to the country to begin my academic and public-health career some 35 years ago. At that time, children paralysed by polio would wait at nearly every traffic intersection and beseech passersby for support. Today, it is extremely uncom-

mon to find young people affected by polio—a testament to the eradication programme’s efficacy.

But this March, the Covid-19 pan-demic forced the polio programme to suspend its vaccination campaigns in order to protect the health and safety of its workforce and local communi-ties. The expertise and infrastructure that have been instrumental in com-bating polio pivoted quickly to stop-ping Covid-19, which has proved criti-cal in Pakistan’s response. This under-scores the importance of continued international investment in the polio

programme—not only to stop polio, but also to address other health prior-ities. Renewed financial commitment now could provide just the catalyst the country needs.

Crucially, the polio programme is helping to monitor the spread of the coronavirus using some of the same methods and tools it employs to track poliovirus, including collecting and analysing sewage samples. To slow the rate of both Covid-19 and polio infec-tions, the programme now tracks and tests for the two viruses in tandem. To date, more than 100 labs across

Pakistan have been adapted to test for Covid-19 and collect data on when and where the coronavirus is infecting peo-ple.

Although Covid-19 itself can have potentially devastating consequences, misinformation about the virus can compound the threat by eroding pub-lic trust in the pandemic response. Having had years of practice in responding to similar rumours and falsehoods, the polio programme is now using social media platforms, especially WhatsApp, to disseminate Covid-19 prevention messages and

engage trusted community influenc-ers and religious leaders to provide people with accurate health informa-tion. Within the first few months of the pandemic, the programme reached nearly 25 million individuals through social media channels alone.

The polio programme has also been creative in its use of other platforms to furnish the public with reliable information. For example, the Sehat Tahaffuz 1166 health protection help-line in Islamabad was originally designed to give parents and caregiv-ers information about polio and other

vaccines, but now fields up to 70,000 calls per day since the Covid-19 pan-demic began. The hotline provides advice about symptoms and preven-tive measures, as well as contact infor-mation for testing centres and connec-tions to hospitals for medical support.

Despite significant challenges, Pakistan has succeeded in keeping rates of Covid-19 cases and deaths rel-atively low, thanks in part to the rapid deployment of polio prevention infra-structure. In early September, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised the country’s pandemic preparation and response, while the US economist Lawrence Summers recently touted Pakistan’s Covid-19 control programme as an exemplar.

Unfortunately, the suspension of polio vaccination campaigns from March through August has undoubt-edly caused poliovirus to spread more widely throughout the country, in part prompting the WHO and UNICEF to launch an emergency call to action to help avert a potential epidemic. Campaigns have now resumed with added safety measures for vaccinators and families, while the programme remains committed to supporting the Covid-19 response. But these disrup-tions serve as a reminder of how quickly progress against polio and other diseases can be reversed.

By investing further in Pakistan’s polio programme, the world will ena-ble the country to tackle both long-standing and emerging global health threats more effectively. The Covid-19 challenge clearly shows that such sup-port has never been needed more.

Bhutta, chair in Global Child Health at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and co-director of the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health, is founding director of Aga Khan University’s Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health and Institute for Global Health and Development.

—Project Syndicate

The secret of Pakistan’s Covid-19 successThe rapid-response team of Pakistan’s polio prevention infrastructure dealt with Covid-19.

With no antidote for rightwing proclivities, the authoritarian wave is likely to outlast the pandemic.

ZULFIQAR A BHUTTA

CK LAL

Long and arduous journey back to normalityEDITORIAL

It’s 8848.86 metres—Nepal and China have finally reached an agreement over the exact height of Mt Everest, the world’s tall-est mountain that straddles the Nepal-China border. On Tuesday, the two countries resolved the decades-long dispute over whether to take the snow height or the rock height of the world’s tallest mountain. The new height was announced joint-ly by Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali and his Chinese coun-terpart Wang Yi amid a virtual press conference. The latest measurement has added 86 centimetres to the height of the world’s tallest peak.

The new official height also quells speculations by geologists that the height of Everest could have shrunk and the mountain had moved southwards following the 2015 twin earthquakes. The speculations, in fact, had rekindled the dispute, following which Nepal finally assigned a team for the first time to meas-ure the peak in 2019, dubbing it a ‘national pride’ project which was first envisioned in 2011. But the project soon became an international issue. In October last year, during President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Nepal, officials announced that the two countries would cooperate in resurveying the peak.

Amid the pandemic in May, a year after the Nepali team fin-ished its fieldwork, Chinese surveyors reached the top of Everest to remeasure the peak, following which both teams finally reached a conclusion on the snow-covered height based on the International Height Reference System. The revised elevation which has used both traditional and modern technol-ogy is within centimetres of accuracy, according to the Department of Survey. The announcement followed as President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping exchanged letters jointly announcing the height, according to Xinhua News Agency.

In his letter, President Xi is quoted as saying the joint announcement is of great significance in carrying forward the undertakings of the predecessors to the future and showcasing the high level of the continuous development of China-Nepal relations. ‘China is willing to join hands with Nepal to actively promote the cooperation in ecological and environmental pro-tection and scientific research, and better safeguard the pre-cious wealth and home of both peoples,’ Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.

While the new elevation following twin surveys by Nepal and China will attract scientific scrutiny in the days ahead, two things stand out. First, the ecological problems in the high alti-tude ecosystems are fragile and need urgent attention in the wake of unpredictable climatic conditions. Latest research has discovered that tiny, agile dust particles deposited at high alti-tudes in the Himalaya are contributing significantly to snow darkening more than black carbon, and could speed up snow-melt at a faster rate than previously estimated. An increase in glacial lake expansion is already a major threat for both coun-tries, begging joint efforts in ecological conservation, not just between the two countries, but across the region, which is prone to catastrophes induced by climate change. Now that the dispute around the height of the Everest has been put to rest, it is time for both the neighbours to work towards mitigating effects of human interference on the fragile Himalayas.

Second, China’s growing interest in Nepal’s political matters, its position on the border issues, and its concerns about the sluggish implementation of projects under the Belt and Road Initiative are grabbing international scrutiny. Nepal has long maintained its neutral and non-aligned position in the interna-tional arena, and it must follow a pragmatic foreign policy in the fast-changing geopolitical sphere. Given the tight rope we tread on, the leadership has to assess the country’s best inter-ests, given the increasing sensitivities in regional and interna-tional relations. Kathmandu has to sincerely pursue high doors in Beijing to ensure that trust, respect and integrity are foun-dations that partnerships are built on.

SHUTTERSTOCK

Higher than before The new height, which includes the snow height, is 86 centimetres more than the previous measurement.

SHUTTERSTOCK

SOUTH SIDE

C M Y K

05 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2020

MONEY

GASOLINE WATCH

FOREX

US 117.94

Euro 142.97

Pound 157.48

Japanese 11.34

Chinese 18.06

Qatari 32.39

Australian 87.63

Malaysian 28.96

Saudi 31.44Exchange rates fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank

BULLIONPRICE PER TOLA

SOURCE: FENEGOSIDA

Fine Gold Rs 94,100

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Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

Air Transport Capacity Enhancement ProjectSinamangal, Kathmandu, Nepal

Tel: +977 -1-4466665, 4466671, Fax: +977 -1-4477410, Email: tiaip-pd@ntc.net.np

Invitation for BidsFirst Date of Publication: December 09, 2020 (2077/08/24)ADB Loan No.and Title: 38349-031: South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Airport Capacity Enhancement Project

Contract No. and Title: OCB-01/ACE-SDP/TIA/2020: Extension of Parallel Taxiway to connect Runway-02 end at TIA and Associated WorksOCB-02/ACE-SDP/TIA/2020: Hangar Area Development at East side of Runway at TIA and Associated Works

Deadline for Submission of Bids: February 05, 2021, 12:00 hours (Local time)

1. The Government of Nepal has applied for financing from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) towards the cost of SASEC Airport Capacity Enhancement Project (ACEP). Part of this financing will be used for payments under the Contract named above. Bidding is open to Bidders from eligible source countries of the ADB.

2. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, Air Transport Capacity Enhancement Project (“the Employer”) invites sealed bids from eligible Bidders for the construction and completion of the following works: • OCB-01/ACE-SDP/TIA/2020, Extension of Parallel Taxiway to connect Runway-02 end at TIA and Associated Works• OCB-02/ACE-SDP/TIA/2020: Hangar Area Development at East side of Runway at TIA and Associated Works

3. Only eligible Bidders with the following key qualifications should participate in this bidding:

Package No.Annual Average

Construction Turnover

Financial Resources Construction Contracts of Similar Size and Nature

Construction experience in key activities

OCB-01/ACE-SDP/TIA/2020, Extension of Parallel Taxiway to connect Runway-02 end at TIA and Associated Works

Minimum average annual construction turnover of US$26 million calculated as total certified payments received for contracts in progress or completed over the last three (3) years.

For Single Entities – the Bidder must demonstrate that its financial resources, less its financial obligations for its current contract commitments, meet or exceed the total requirement of US$4.50 million.For Joint Ventures(1) One partner must demonstrate that its

financial resources, less its financial obligations for its own current contract commitments, meet or exceed its required share of US$1.800 million from the total requirement for the subject contract; and

(2) Each partner must demonstrate that its financial resources, less its financial obligations for its own current contract commitments, meet or exceed its required share of US$1.125 million from the total requirement for the subject contract; and

(3) The Joint Venture must demonstrate that the combined financial resources of all partners, less all the partners’ total financial obligations for the current contract commitments, meet or exceed the total requirement of US$4.50 million for the subject contract.

Participation as a contractor, Joint Venture partner, or Subcontractor, in at least two (2) contracts that have been successfully or substantially completed within the last ten (10) years and that are similar to the proposed works, where the value of the Bidder’s participation under each contract exceeds US$28.40 million. The similarity of the Bidder’s participation shall be based on:(1) Construction of taxiway or runway

pavement of length minimum 1,500 meter with airfield ground lighting in an international airport in a single contract.

(2) In case of Joint-Venture, similarity of Each Partner’s participation shall be based on:

Construction of taxiway or runway pavement of length minimum 350 meter with airfield ground lighting in an international airport in a single contract.

Construction Experience in Key Activities Requirement within the last ten (10) years (may be complied with by the Bidder or by Specialist Subcontractor)A minimum construction experience is required in the following key activities:Asphalt Concrete: Must have completed at least two (2) contracts within the last ten (10) years, each having at least 22,000 m3 of asphalt concrete for runway/taxiway pavement.Reinforced Earth Wall (Height>15 meter): Must have completed at least two (2) contracts within the last ten (10) years, each having at least 16,000 sqm of reinforced earth wall measured as facia of wall.Embankment fill: Must have completed at least two (2) contracts within the last ten (10) years, each having at least 600,000 m3 of embankment filling works.Airfield Ground Lighting: Must have completed at least two (2) contracts within the last ten (10) years, each having at least 100 nos. of taxiway or runway lighting works.

OCB-02/ACE-SDP/TIA/2020: Hangar Area Development at East side of Runway at TIA and Associated Works

Minimum average annual construction turnover of US$30 million calculated as total certified payments received for contracts in progress or completed over the last three (3) years

For Single Entities – the Bidder must demonstrate that its financial resources, less its financial obligations for its current contract commitments, meet or exceed the total requirement of US$5.20 million.For Joint Ventures –(1) One partner must demonstrate that its

financial resources, less its financial obligations for its own current contract commitments, meet or exceed its required share of US$2.080 million from the total requirement for the subject contract; and

(2) Each partner must demonstrate that its financial resources, less its financial obligations for its own current contract commitments, meet or exceed its required share of US$1.300 million from the total requirement for the subject contract; and

The Joint Venture must demonstrate that the combined financial resources of all partners, less all the partners’ total financial obligations for the current contract commitments, meet or exceed the total requirement of US$5.20 million for the subject contract.

Participation as a contractor, Joint Venture partner, or Subcontractor, in at least two (2) contracts that have been successfully or substantially completed within the last ten (10) years and that are similar to the proposed works, where the value of the Bidder’s participation under each contract exceeds US$32.80 million. The similarity of the Bidder’s participation shall be based on:(1) Construction of airfield pavement

of size minimum 70,000 square meter with airfield ground lighting and apron flood lighting in an international airport in a single contract.

(2) In case of Joint Venture, similarity of Each Partner’s participation shall be based on: Construction of airfield pavement of size minimum 15,000 square meter with airfield ground lighting and apron flood lighting in an international airport in a single contract.

Construction Experience in Key Activities Requirement within the last ten (10) years (may be complied with by the Bidder or by Specialist Subcontractor)A minimum construction experience is required in the following key activities:(1) Cement Concrete: Must have

completed at least two (2) contracts within the last ten (10) years, each having at least 20,000 m3 of cement concrete (Rigid) airfield pavement

(2) Asphalt concrete: must have completed at least two contracts within the last ten (10) years, each having at least 6,500 m3 of hot mix asphalt concrete for runway/taxiway pavement

(3) Embankment fill: At least two (2) contracts within the last ten (10) years, each having at least 600,000 m3 of embankment filling works.

Apron flood lighting: At least two (2) contracts within the last ten (10) years, each having at least 10 nos. of apron flood lighting works.

More details of qualification requirements are mentioned in the Bidding Document and the criteria specified in the bidding document prevail in case of any discrepancy.4. Open competitive bidding (International Advertisement) will be conducted in accordance with ADB’s Single-Stage: Two-Envelope bidding procedure and is open

to all Bidders from eligible countries as described in the Bidding Document.5. To obtain further information and inspect the bidding document, Bidders should contact:

Attention: Project DirectorAir Transport Capacity Enhancement Project, Project DirectorateSinamangal, Kathmandu, NepalTelephone: +977 4466665, 4466671Facsimile: +977 1 4477410E-mail: tiaip-pd@ntc.net.np, bhandarimurari123@gmail.com, dpndrs@yahoo.com

6. To purchase the bidding document in English, eligible Bidders should: • Write to the address above requesting the required bid document by quoting the contract number and title.• Pay a non-refundable fee of Nepalese Rupees 22,600/- (Twenty-two thousand six hundred) inclusive of VAT by a bank transfer or deposit to NABIL Bank Ltd,

Beena Marg, Teendhara, Kathmandu, Nepal, Account No. 0101011713001 of Air Transport Capacity Enhancement Project (Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal) by 04 February, 2021 within office hours (Nepal Standard Time).

7. Deliver your bid• to the address above• on or before the deadline: Date: 05 February 2021, 12:00 hours (local time)• together with a Bid Security as described in the Bidding Document

Bids will be opened immediately after the deadline for bid submission in the presence of Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend.8. A Pre-Bid Meeting will be held on 21 January 2021 at 12:00 hours (local time) at Air Transport Capacity Enhancement Project Directorate Office, Sinamangal,

Kathmandu, Nepal.9. When comparing Bids, ADB’s Domestic Preference Scheme will be applied in accordance with the provisions stipulated in the Bidding Document.

KRISHANA PRASAINKATHMANDU, DEC 8

Nepal’s quality watchdog has prepared a draft of compulso-ry quality standards for 12 types of legumes and milk products as per the Food Act, and put them to a discussion by experts.

The 12 items are whole bean/split bean lentil, while faba bean (bakula)/split faba bean lentil, whole cowpea/split cowpea lentil, whole faba (rajma) bean/split faba bean lentil, whole pea, split pea lentil, horse gram lentil, rice bean lentil, ice-cream, frozen dessert, khuwa/kurauni, chhurpi and dairy whitener.

Mohan Krishna Maharjan, spokesperson for the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, said the draft was prepared during a review of the first four months, and have been discussed by a tech-nical sub-committee.

The proposed standards will go to the Food Standardisation Committee comprising the secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development and concerned stakeholders from government bodies, the private sector and consumer rights activists.

Following approval by the committee, the new quality standards will be sent to the World Trade Organisation for Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures through the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development.

Maharjan said that if the World Trade Organisation does not send any notification for at least two months, they will go to the cabinet for approval and will be imple-mented from the date of pub-lication in the Nepal Gazette.

“After the quality stand-ards have been published in the Nepal Gazette, action will be taken under the Food Act against the manufacturers of products not meeting the

minimum requirements,” Maharjan said.

The new standards will ensure the quality and safety of the products besides mak-ing market inspection more efficient, he added.

“We follow the internation-ally recognised standards contained in the Codex Alimentarius,” said Santosh Dahal, food research officer at SPS National Enquiry Point of the department.

As per the draft standards, artificial colours should not be used in lentils and legumes and they should be clean and free of harmful chemicals.

They should not contain inorganic matters like sand, dust or mud. Organic matter content like chaff or other grains should not be more than 3.0 percent.

Internal damage to lentils and legumes due to heat and fungus or damage by insects should not be more than 5 percent and 10 percent respectively. The mycotoxin (including aflatoxin) content in food products prepared from a single or mixed leg-umes and lentils should not be more than 20 micrograms per kilogram. If the mycotox-in content is higher, it is harmful to human health.

Food items like ice cream, frozen dessert, khuwa/kurauni, chhurpi and dairy whitener should not contain any harmful matter.

Ice cream should have the proper composition of milk, fat, yeast and protein. The chemical and microbiological parameters need to be as per the newly set standard.

Food products should have proper packaging and label-ling and maintain hygiene as per the standard set by the Food Act. The maximum res-idue limit for 10 fruits and vegetables, and the maximum permissible limit of mycotox-in in different food items are yet to be published in the Nepal Gazette. The standards have also been submitted to the Council of Ministers.

As cases rise, European Central Bank prepares stimulusASSOCIATED PRESSFRANKFURT, DEC 8

European Central Bank is expected to unleash another blast of stimulus on Thursday to help businesses bridge the gap until the economy recovers from the pandemic—and to support gov-ernments that are ramping up spend-ing to cushion the blow as the winter wave of the virus worsens.

The bank could add a half-trillion euros or more to its existing bond pur-chases. That means the central bank will vacuum up much of the new debt being issued by hard-pressed govern-ments, lowering the risk of a new euro-zone debt crisis.

If pandemic pur-chases are expanded as expected, and combined with a pre-vious bond purchase program amounting to 20 billion euros per month, the ECB “will continue to absorb a very large part of gross debt issuance from euro area states,” wrote Frederik Ducrozet and Nadia Gharbi at Pictet Wealth Management. Bond purchases drive down borrowing costs in the market, where governments get their financing.

The proposed standards will ensure quality and safety of food items, officials say.

Quality watchdog comes up with standards for 12 food products

C M Y K

BRIEFING

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2020 | 06

WORLD

Asteroid sample arrives in Japan after six-year space odysseyREUTERSTOKYO, DEC 8

Samples of an asteroid 300 million km from Earth arrived in Japan on Tuesday to applause and smiles, the climax of a six-year odyssey by a space probe pursuing the origins of life.

Named for the peregrine falcon, the Hayabusa2 blasted off for the asteroid Ryugu in December 2014, overcoming an unexpectedly rough landing sur-face to collect samples of asteroid dust in a capsule.

That capsule plunged to earth in Australia on Sunday and was flown to Japan. The final stage of its journey was by truck to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency research centre outside Tokyo.

“The capsule has returned, I was out at the gate to see it,” project man-ager Yuichi Tsuda told a news confer-ence.

“The realisation that it had gone all the way to the asteroid and back came welling up, and I felt as if something had squeezed my heart.”

Asteroids are believed to have formed at the dawn of the solar sys-tem, and scientists say the sample may contain organic matter that could have contributed to life on Earth.

The Hayabasa2 orbited above Ryugu for a few months before landing, then used small explosives to blast a crater and collected the resulting debris, with the expectation that some 100 milligrams may have been gathered. After dropping off the capsule, it changed course, heading back into space.

Travel and landing restrictions posed by the coronavirus pandemic were another hurdle with researchers at one point considering whether to postpone the capsule’s return.

Next up is opening the capsule. By as early as next week it may be known if sufficient material has been collect-ed, said researcher Tomohiro Usui, noting the work will be extremely del-icate.

“We need to be careful not to break the capsule or knock it over,” he said. “Once that’s done, the stress will ease up a bit.”

Biden picks first Black Pentagon chiefAGENCE FRANCE-PRESSEWASHINGTON, DEC 8

Lloyd Austin, who led US troops into Baghdad in 2003 and rose to head the US Central Command, has been cho-sen by President-elect Joe Biden to be the first African-American secretary of defence, US media reported on Monday.

A veteran of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the retired four-star army general, 67, beat out the favourite for the job, former under-sec-retary of defence Michele Flournoy, amid pressure on Biden to nominate more minorities for positions in his cabinet.

CNN, Politico and the New York Times cited unnamed sources famil-iar with the decision, after Biden said earlier Monday that he had made his choice and would announce it on

Friday. Austin would require Senate confirmation to take up the post.

He spent four decades in the army, graduating from the West Point Military Academy and following a career with a wide range of assignments, from leading platoons to running logistics groups and oversee-ing recruiting, to senior Pentagon jobs.

In March 2003 he was the assistant division commander of the 3rd Infantry Division when it marched from Kuwait into Baghdad in the US invasion of Iraq.

From late 2003 to 2005, he was in Afghanistan commanding the Combined Joint Task Force 180, the principle US-led operation seeking to stabilise the security situation in the country.

In 2010 he was made commanding general of US forces in Iraq, and two

years later became the commander of the Central Command, in charge of all Pentagon operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Austin retired from the military in 2016, and joined the board of directors of Raytheon Technologies, one of the Pentagon’s largest contractors.

He would require special approval from the Senate due to federal law that requires military officers to wait seven years after retirement before serving as the Pentagon chief.

The waiver has happened twice — most recently for general Jim Mattis, the first defence secretary in the administration of President Donald Trump.

Biden would be the second presi-dent in a row to violate this norm.”

Austin would take responsibility for the 1.2 million service members, of which about 16 percent are Black.

India farmers intensify protest against new laws with strikeASSOCIATED PRESSNEW DELHI, DEC 8

A nationwide strike called by thou-sands of Indian farmers protesting new agriculture laws began on Tuesday amid new demonstrations in the outskirts of the capital.

The strike follows five rounds of talks between the farmers and the Indian government that have failed to produce any breakthroughs. Tens of thousands of farmers have blocked key highways on the outskirts of New Delhi, the capital, for nearly two weeks.

Protest leaders have rejected the government’s offer to amend some contentious provisions of the new farm laws, which deregulate crop pric-ing, and have stuck to their demand for total repeal.

Heavy contingents of police in riot gear patrolled the areas where the farmers were assembled on Tuesday.

At Ghazipur, in the outskirts of New Delhi, hundreds of farmers blocked all entry and exit routes. They chanted slogans such as “Long live farmers unity” and carried banners, some of them reading “No farmers, no food.” They allowed emergency vehicles including ambulances to pass through.

Darshan Singh, a farmer at Ghazipur, said the protesters would not back down. “We are determined to win this fight,” Singh said. “We will go back only after the (new farm) laws are dismissed.”

At Singhu, another area in the out-skirts of New Delhi where farmers have also blocked highways, demon-strators burned an effigy on which the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and some Indian cor-porate leaders were written, while chanting slogans including “Modi has died!”

Farmer leaders have threatened to intensify their agitation and occupy toll plazas across the country if the

government doesn’t abolish the laws.Azadpur Mandi, New Delhi’s big-

gest wholesale vegetable and fruit market, shut in support of farmers.

The two sides will meet for more talks on Wednesday.

The farmers are protesting reforms that they say could devastate crop prices and reduce their earnings. They say the laws will lead the govern-ment to stop buying grain at mini-mum guaranteed prices and result in exploitation by corporations that will push down prices.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s gov-ernment insists the reforms will benefit farmers. It says they will allow farmers to market their produce and boost pro-duction through private investment.

But farm-ers say they were never consulted.

T h e f a r m e r s are camp-ing along at least five major high-ways on the out-skirts of New Delhi and have said they won’t leave until the

government rolls back what they call the “black laws.”

Farmers have been protesting the laws for nearly two months in Punjab and Haryana states. The situation escalated last week when tens of thou-sands marched to New Delhi, where they clashed with police.

The laws add to already existing resentment from farmers, who often complain of being ignored by the gov-ernment in their push for better crop prices, additional loan waivers and irrigation systems to guarantee water during dry spells.

With nearly 60 percent of the Indian population depending on agriculture for their livelihoods, the growing farmer rebellion has rattled Modi’s administration and allies.

Modi and his party’s leaders have tried to allay farmers’ fears about the new laws while also dismissing their concerns. Some of the party leaders have called the farmers “misguided” and “anti-national,” a label often given to those who criticise Modi or his pol-icies.

Many opposition party leaders, activists and even some allies of Modi’s party have called the laws anti-farmer and expressed support for the protesters.

Arvind Kejriwal, New Delhi’s top elected official, was put under house arrest for supporting the farmers, his Aam Aadmi Party said in a tweet.

‘Go for it,’ says grandmother who got world’s first Pfizer vaccine in BritainBritain is the first Western country to start immunising its population in what has been hailed as a turning point in the battle to defeat the disease that has crushed economies and killed more than 1.5 million people.

REUTERSLONDON, DEC 8

Margaret Keenan, the 90-year-old grandmother who became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine outside of a trial in Britain on Tuesday, has a message for others: “go for it” to beat the devastating disease.

An early riser, Keenan, from Northern Ireland, received the Pfizer-BioNTech shot at her local hospital in Coventry, central England, a week before she turns 91.

A video showed her being wheeled out of the ward while nursing staff clad in protective gear lined the corri-dor to applaud and cheer, an echo of moving video clips released through the year when Covid-19 survivors left hospital.

“I say go for it, go for it because it’s free and it’s the best thing that has ever happened,” Keenan told report-ers as cameras flashed and television reporters asked questions.

“If I can do it, well, so can you,” she told any doubters.

Known as Maggie to her friends, Keenan said she had stuck by the rules and spent most of the year on her own as the pandemic took hold.

The vaccine means she can start to look forward to spending time with her family and friends again.

Britain is the first Western country to start immunising its population in what has been hailed as a turning point in the battle to defeat the dis-ease. It is the worst-hit country in Europe with more than 61,000 deaths.

“I wasn’t nervous at all,” Keenan said.

Video footage showed the former jewellery shop assistant wearing a light blue mask, a grey cardigan and a blue T-shirt with a penguin in snow and the message “Merry Christmas”.

She received the shot in her left arm from nurse May Parsons, who has worked in Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) for 24 years.

The mass inoculation will fuel hope that the world may be turning a cor-ner in the fight against a pandemic that has crushed economies and killed

more than 1.5 million.Parsons said the last few months

had been tough, but that there was now light at the end of the tunnel.

“I’m just glad that I’m able to play a part in this historic day,” said Parsons.

British Health Secretary Matt

Hancock and Stephen Powis, medical director for NHS England, said they had both found it emotional watching the vaccine programme rollout. Hancock wiped away tears on live tele-vision.

An 86-year-old British woman who

will also receive the shot on Tuesday was choked with emotion as she recounted on the radio how she had had to grieve for her husband alone after he died with the disease.

She is looking forward to going to the shops and taking the bus again.

Britain has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech shot. As each person requires two doses, that is enough to vaccinate 20 million people in the country of 67 million.

About 800,000 doses are expected to be available within the first week, with care home residents and carers, the over-80s and some health service workers the top priority to get them.

Keenan said she hadn’t made history before but was very proud to have played her part. For now, though, she said she planned to have a little rest.

UK-EU talks near collapse ahead of Johnson Brussels tripLONDON: Britain and the European Union warned on Tuesday that talks on a post-Brexit free-trade deal are teetering on the brink of collapse, with just over three weeks until an economic rupture that will cause upheaval for businesses on both sides of the English Channel. Officials downplayed the chances of a break-through when Prime Minister Boris Johnson heads to Brussels for face-to-face talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the next few days. With negotiators deadlocked on key issues after months of tense talks, German European Affairs Minister Michael Roth said the bloc’s confidence in Britain was hanging in the balance.

Thai activists report to police over lese majeste chargesBANGKOK: Three leaders of Thailand’s pro-democracy movement reported to police on Tuesday to hear charges that they defamed the king in their calls to reform the monarchy to make it more accountable. A fourth leader was charged with violating an emer-gency decree put in place to help fight the coronavirus. The leaders criti-cized the country’s lese majeste laws before entering a police station north of Bangkok, while around 100 sup-porters chanted “Cancel 112,” refer-ring to the section of the Thai Criminal Code that forbids defama-tion of the monarchy.

China condemns US sanctions on Chinese officials over Hong Kong crackdownBEIJING: China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office condemned US sanctions on Chinese officials over their role in a national security law for Hong Kong as “purely double standards”, state news agency Xinhua reported on Tuesday. The office expressed “strong indignation and condemnation” at the US State Department decision to sanction the 14 Vice-Chairpersons of the National People’s Congress, China’s legisla-ture. The United States on Monday imposed financial sanctions and a travel ban on the officials over their alleged role in Beijing’s disqualifica-tion last month of elected opposition legislators in Hong Kong. (AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI: India’s government regulator could grant a licence to some developers of Covid-19 vaccines in the next few weeks, the country’s top health official said on Tuesday. Six vaccines, including Astra Zeneca’s Covidshield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, are in trial stages, Federal health

secretary Rajesh Bhushan told a press conference. Bhushan said Bharat Biotech had sought emergency-use authorisation from India’s drug regulator for its Covid-19 vaccine. Pfizer and Astra Zeneca have already applied for emergency-use authorisation in India. (REUTERS)

India may authorise some vaccines in weeks

REUTERS

Margaret Keenan, 90, receives the Pfizer/BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine at University Hospital at the start of the largest ever immunisation programme in the British history, in Coventry, Britain, on Tuesday.

AP/RSS

Policemen stand vigil near protesters blocking a highway during a strike in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday.

C M Y K

07 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2020

SPORTS | MEDLEY

BRIEFING

American Kenin named WTA Player of the Year LONDON: American Sofia Kenin has been named WTA Player of the Year after winning her maiden Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open. Kenin defeated World No 1 Ashleigh Barty in the semi-finals and twice Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza in the final to claim the title at Melbourne Park. Kenin also reached the French Open final and finished the season ranked a career-high No. 4. The 22-year-old is the eighth American to win the WTA Player of the Year accolade, joining Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova, Lindsay Davenport, Tracy Austin, Chris Evert, Venus Williams and Jennifer Capriati. Iga Swiatek, who became the first Polish player to win a Grand Slam singles title, was named the WTA’s Most Improved Player of the Year.

Chinese university team forfeit game due to hair colour LONDON: A Chinese university wom-en’s football team was forced to forfeit a match after a player’s hair was deemed to be “not black enough”, local media reported on Tuesday. Several players from the women’s teams of Fuzhou and Jimei universi-ties were deemed to have violated a rule that prevents them from dying their hair ahead of their game at the weekend. “Athletes are not allowed to dye their hair, grow long hair (for boys), wear weird hairstyles, or wear any accessories,” according to Fujian Provincial Department of Education rules. “Otherwise, they will be dis-qualified from the competition.” Rules from the organisers, the National Youth Campus Football League, state that players must not have tattoos or dye their hair.

Leeds defender Robin Koch to undergo knee surgery LONDON: Leeds United defender Robin Koch is set to undergo knee surgery after he limped off in Sunday’s Premier League match at Chelsea, the club said on Tuesday. The German defender had first injured his knee on the opening day of the season against Liverpool but played every minute of the campaign until he was substitut-ed early in the 3-1 loss at Stamford Bridge. Koch, 24, also played three times in seven days for Germany dur-ing the international break last month. “Under the guidance of the club’s medical and science staff, (Koch) played a full part in all 10 Premier League games prior to Saturday and four national team games,” the club said in a statement. “Unfortunately, following a collision in the Chelsea game, he suffered further damage to the knee and the club have made the decision that surgery is required to remedy the problem.” (AGENCIES)

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION

CROSSWORD

HOROSCOPE

SUDOKU

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19) ****On days like today, when you may have to fight for some attention, you just have to approach the people you want to talk to and make them hear you. It is time for you to get more aggressive if you want to get anywhere.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18) ***

Your independence is important, but going your own way isn’t always the best way to get somewhere in life. Sometimes it’s much wiser to let yourself be led along by others as long as they’re going in the right direction.

PISCES (February 19-March 20) ***You are in total control today. Your practical side is out in full force, helping you avoid temptation and stick to your diet! You’re making real progress on a few goals, and you should be feeling a lot more spry than usual.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) ****You might get annoyed today by someone who just can’t get to the point! Why? Because they are too afraid to spit it out! It looks like if you want to get to the truth about what they think or what they want, you need to come right out and ask them.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) ***

Keep an eye on your temper today, and don’t let it get the best of you if someone is rude or inconsiderate. It isn’t going to help things if you chew someone out, and you will only end up looking self-righteous.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21) ****

Try to be a lot more opinionated today. You have so much to gain by speaking out and saying the right thing at the right time! If you have a question during the middle of a long meeting, go ahead and ask it. Don’t worry how it will sound.

CANCER (June 22-July 22) ***Your recent victory might make you feel like show-ing off a little bit today, and that’s okay. Just try to avoid doing it in front of people who might think wrongly of you. It’s important to be sensitive about people who haven’t had as much success.

LEO (July 23-August 22) ***

A confidence boost will not only do wonders for your reputation, it will also help you in the health depart-ment. And the best way to get the boost you need today is either to meet head-on a challenge you’ve been avoiding.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22) ****It’s good that you want to be organised, but you also need to let some things in your life fall to chance. If you have too much control over every aspect of your life, there will be no unpredictability and no fun! Today, give up some control.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22) ***You can’t help but get more in touch with your inner artist today. Unusual colours will get your creative juices flowing! Try to set aside some time to get out your ideas later in the day when things have quieted down a bit.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21) ***

The flattery you receive today is going to be com-pletely genuine, so why doubt it? Sometimes you have to hang up your skepticism and just accept what people say, especially when they’re telling you how fabulous you are!

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21) ***Risk is not something that you should be afraid of, especially right now when there’s an exciting oppor-tunity arriving. If you take away a little more security from your life, you will be led down a very exciting path.

Real and Zidane brace for crucial fixture AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE MADRID, DEC 8

Real Madrid value success in the Champions League above all else, but the 13-time champions head into Wednesday’s game against Borussia Moenchengladbach with their qualifi-cation hopes hanging by a thread.

Should they suffer a humiliating group stage exit, ending their remark-able run as the only team to ever avoid elimination at this phase, coach Zinedine Zidane’s future will be at risk.

A win for either side in the Spanish capital will guarantee them passage through to the last 16 from Group ‘B’. If Madrid draw and Shakhtar win or draw with Inter Milan in the other group match, the Spanish giants will be out.

Reports in the Spanish capital have linked Madrid with former Tottenham coach Mauricio Pochettino, currently without a club, should they part ways with Zidane, while Real Madrid Castilla coach Raul Gonzalez, a prolif-ic striker for the club in the past, has been touted as a ‘plan B’.

“I’m not thinking about that at all, I’m only thinking about winning and finishing top of the group,” Zidane told reporters on Tuesday when asked about the speculation.

“This match is important for the team to show what it’s made of. This club, these players are all used to play-ing matches under pressure ... we know what we’re playing for.”

The Frenchman’s predecessor Santiago Solari was sacked after the humiliating last-16 exit against Ajax in the Champions League in 2019, pav-ing the way for him to return just 10 months after his sudden departure.

Last season’s elimination at the same phase by Manchester City was mitigated by the team’s strong domes-tic performance, as they ground their way to the Spanish title, but another early failure in Europe may prove to be the final straw for trigger-happy president Florentino Perez.

“He has written the history of this club and he’s still writing it now. Last

season he won two trophies for us,” Casemiro told reporters.

“Often people forget what he has done and what he is continuing to do for this club. The team is 100 percent behind the coach.”

However, despite his success dur-ing two stints in charge, winning three Champions League trophies, two La Liga titles and two Club World Cups among other silverware, and his fine history as a player, a defeat could make Zidane Madrid’s eighth manage-rial casualty in 10 years.

He is at least boosted by the return of captain Sergio Ramos and right back Dani Carvajal. The Spanish duo are important parts of Madrid’s defence. Ramos in particular is essen-

tial, with Madrid having lost eight of their last 10 European games in which the 35-year-old has not played, includ-ing the Ajax and Manchester City eliminations.

“Just talking about Sergio is a hon-our for me. He’s our leader, our cap-tain,” said Casemiro.

“He is one of the best players of all time, we are very happy he is back in the dressing room with us.”

Zidane got a boost after a narrow 1-0 victory over Sevilla on Saturday, Real’s first Liga win since October.

Madrid almost fell to defeat in Germany in October but last-gasp goals from Karim Benzema and Casemiro helped them earn a 2-2 draw after Marcus Thuram’s double put

Gladbach ahead. A pair of wins against Antonio

Conte’s underwhelming Inter Milan got Madrid back on track but a dismal 2-0 away defeat by Shakhtar Donetsk at the start of December left Zidane desperately needing a victory this week.

Madrid then host league leaders Atletico Madrid in a derby clash on Saturday, another crucial match in a week which could define the Spanish champions’ season, and their coach’s future.

After the Shakhtar defeat Zidane insisted he had no intention of resign-ing, but if the team stumble against Marco Rose’s Gladbach, that decision may be taken out of his hands.

A win for either side—the 13-time champions and Gladbach—will guarantee them passage through to the last 16 from Group ‘B’.

AP/RSS

A file photo shows Real Madrid’s Martin Odegaard (centre) in action against Shakhtar during their Champions League match which they lost 2-0.

Armed Police and ANFA collaborate to run youth football academySPORTS BUREAUKATHMANDU, DEC 8

The Armed Police Force, which runs premier division football club APF Club, has signed an agreement with the All Nepal Football Association to operate a football academy for youth players.

As per the agreement signed on Tuesday, the APF will start the acade-my at its facilities from mid April (new Nepali year) in collaboration with ANFA, the country’s football gov-

erning body. ANFA President Karma Tsering Sherpa and APF Additional Inspector General Pushpa Ram KC signed the deal.

According to the agreement, ANFA will provide technical as well as finan-cial support to run the academy. The deal will be valid for two batches of players— at least for six years as Under-14 age group male players will be selected for academy until the high school level.

Sherpa said running the academy will fulfil one of the five major criteria

to obtain Asian Football Confederation club licence. “ANFA will help APF in the technical and philosophical aspects of the academy. It will also help the club develop the curriculum for its youth academy,” he said. Academies run by the ANFA in the past only served as a systematic setup to train grassroots and youth footballers.

APF Additional Inspector General KC said that the major motive of set-ting up the academy was to contribute to ANFA’s initiative for youth develop-ment programme.

The APF Club have been struggling at the Martyrs Memorial ‘A’ Division League in recent years despite being more resourceful than most other clubs. KC hopes the youth academy would help the club overcome its shortcomings in the future.

As per the agreement, 21 players of Under-14 age category will be selected for the academy. Seven academy play-ers will be selected from APF schools and the remaining 14 will be selected through a nationwide scouting pro-cess. ANFA and APF have also agreed

to provide scholarships for seven play-ers selected through the scouting pro-gramme. The other seven players will have to pay for their school tuition.

APF Inspector General of Police Shailendra Khanal said that the idea behind the youth academy was to take the education and sports together. “There is a misconception that a stu-dent who excels in sports is not good academically. We want to change that. Our priority is to develop well-round-ed individuals, who are good both aca-demically and athletically,” he said.

Australia avoid T20 whitewash despite Kohli blitzREUTERSSYDNEY, DEC 8

India captain Virat Kohli’s breezy 85 went in vain as Australia prevailed by 12 runs in the final Twenty20 International to avoid a series white-wash at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday.

Chasing 187 to sweep the three-match series, Kohli kept India in the hunt before falling in the penultimate over in the first full-capacity cricket match in Australia since the Covid-19 outbreak. Both sides were guilty of sloppy fielding and poor catching and Kohli was one of the beneficiaries. Steve Smith dropped him when Kohli was on nine, and Andrew Tye spilled a return catch when the batsman, who also survived a stumping opportunity later on, was on 19.

Leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson (3-23), who dismissed Sanju Samson and Shreyas Iyer in his final over to hurt India’s chase, was adjudged man-of-the-match.

Earlier, Matthew Wade smashed a career-best 80 as he and Glenn Maxwell powered Australia to 186-5. Skipper Aaron Finch returned from a hip injury to score a duck and Smith made 24 before becoming spinner Washington Sundar’s second victim.

Maxwell joined Wade the middle and started messing with the bowlers’ line and length by repeatedly playing the trademark reverse shots. The sloppy tourists did not help their cause either.

Maxwell was caught at 18 at mid-wicket but was recalled after a replay confirmed spinner Yuzvendra Chahal had overstepped.

Deepak Chahar dropped Maxwell on 46 in the deep and Chahal spilled another chance with Shardul Thakur being the luckless bowler on both occasions. T Natarajan eventually bowled Maxwell for 54 off 36 balls.

Australia had won the preceding ODI series 2-1. The teams will now lock horns in a four-test series start-ing on December 17 at Adelaide.

AP/RSS

In this file photo, Bob Dylan performs in Los Angeles. Universal Music Publishing Group is buying legendary singer Bob Dylan’s entire catalog of songs.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2020 | 08

CULTURE & LIFESTYLE

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The absent art critic in the Nepali art scene

SRIZU BAJRACHARYAKATHMANDU

N

ot long ago, Mukesh Malla visit-ed a gallery studio where an art-ist performed an act of sleeping as art. Malla was unable to com-prehend the art. He was stirred with the questions—how is this

art? What was he to think of this performance? As part of his performance art, the artist

had come into the room, tucked himself into bed and slept for about 15 minutes, recalls Malla. “And then he got up and the act was over; I was surprised and dismayed,” he says, who is no stranger to the art scene having been writing and critiquing art for over 45 years now. “But let’s suppose among the audience was someone younger with limited exposure to the art world. They would easily get confused about art and performance art. And this is where the role of art critics comes in,” he says.

An art critic’s job is to guide the conversa-tion of art beyond the art itself. If art is every-where, the role of the art critic is to insinuate reflection and give a depth to its understand-ing, said Malla. Needless to say, their role in understanding art is crucial.

But over the years, although more and more people are writing about art, there is still a dearth of art critics and serious art writing in the country, says Malla and other individuals from Nepal’s growing art community. And over and over, in discussions of why the Nepali art scene has not received much attention in vari-ous platforms, people in the art community have continually pressed how there are not enough people writing about art, moreover, writing significantly and seriously about art.

“There are just a handful of writers writing about art, and among them, the ones who are critiquing art are even less,” said Devendra Thumkeli, an art writer. Thumkeli, who is also an artist, has been writing about art for 20 years now. And according to him, the genre of art writing and critiquing has not progressed the way it should have in Nepal.

The idea of writing about art is still relative-ly very recent and its purpose has not grasped seriousness, he says. “I see a number of rea-sons why writers and journalists don’t contin-ue writing about art. One, they don’t see a career in it; two, they are not guided or men-tored; and three, art itself as a culture and a sectional beat is not emphasised and explored that much,” said Thumkeli.

If comparisons had to be drawn, people were talking more about art in the early ’60s to ’90s than now, say art critics and creatives the Post spoke to. “There were a lot of people writing about art, and there were more people talking about art. But now that sort of discussion and

interest seems to have gone missing,” says Sharareh Bajracharya, an arts educator and the current director of the Kathmandu Triennale, an art event.

If one is to trace the beginning of art criti-cism, Madan Chitrakar, a senior art critic and writer, says it could lead to Narayan Bahadur Singh. “He used to write in Gorkhapatra and discuss art and point out prominent art move-ments in the world and here in the country,” says Chitrakar. In those days, however, journal-ists and writers wrote more about the tradi-tional art of Nepal.

And then there were the likes of Abhi Subedi, columnist and critic, and Kedar Bhakta Mathema, former vice-chancellor of Tribhuvan University, who used to write about art as com-mentaries, says Sangita Thapa, founder and director of the Siddhartha Art Gallery. “We could see a gradual growth but it was never enough. Even writers like Sanjeev Upreti and Archana Thapa used to write and there were artists who were writing about art like

Kanchan Budhathoki, Sophia Pande, Kurchi Dasgupta,” she said. Thapa herself had started writing about art to give information about artists and give a deeper sense of their works.

But even with these interventions, there is still a long way to go to have Nepal’s art move-ments and histories documented. Many arti-cles briefly talk about art events and their impact but rarely have they been able to spark a momentum. Rather, many articles that have been written have all been lost to time. “There has been no investment in art-related studies. Which institution today has a collection of art writings and essays from Nepal?” says Malla.

Malla and Chitrakar both point out how many people still don’t know who the promi-nent artists of the country are and how few are acquainted with the history of a certain body of artwork. “Whatever is written now is more scattered and confusing than ever,” says Malla.

“But the job first is to give information, then an analysis of the work. They also have to be able to discuss its history, its roots—as we can’t

discuss art in isolation—and then it’s finally about judging the work of art,” says Malla. “But that is not really present in the Nepali art industry,” he says.

And many in the art community in Nepal say that writers and reporters, in general, only judge the work but dismiss the background of the work, of where it fits in the movement of art and history and its exploration.

“Writers have no basic idea of writing about art or the history of Nepali art, and so often-times they easily get swayed with the ideas of the artists, sometimes even with their propa-ganda,” he says. “They are unable to question the artists, their accountability or shed light on their works—especially when it’s an issue-based work.”

Around the world, however, art writers and critics are an integral part of a growing art scene. They are the ones backing artists and they are the ones helping to document the his-tory of the world and art. “These people are the ones who spur the conversation about art in

meaningful ways. They are the ones promoting art and pushing the art scene and engaging people,” said Chitrakar. “The role of art critics and writers are pertinent to the growth of art engagement and exchange and sadly here, that has not been worked upon earnestly.”

And although the art scene of the country has become more vibrant, there’s still a lot that needs to be done in terms of making sure that these works are remembered and discussed. “We don’t have art journals dedicated to seri-ous art writing, there are more newspaper articles but by random journalists. However, the question that we need to look at more seri-ously and invest in is how much do these jour-nalists understand art themselves to guide a conversation of art,” says Thapa.

But many also believe that the regression in the trend of writing about art could be tied to the larger background of how art institutions themselves fail to emphasise on the country’s own art history and art writing and documen-tation. “Art schools need to teach students about the country’s art history because that is how we can contribute to understanding the nuances of our art culture,” says Malla.

And what is also equally important to ensure a serious art writing culture is to have access to abundant art literature. “That is something that we are missing significantly and this is also what is creating a gap of knowledge. In these years of writing about art, I have made it a point to create an art library for myself to support my arguments and information. But the onus of creating such support for art writ-ers and even artists go to institutions and the state,” added Malla.

But there are hopeful developments to be positive about, say art writers and critics. “Yes, there’s a lot that we need to do but I am certain that things are changing. They are more writ-ers entering the art scene, who are curious and interested to discuss art more profoundly,” says Thapa. To keep the interest alive and thriving, under her leadership, the Siddhartha Art Foundation has started a mobile library with a good collection of art literature from South Asia.

Nepal Academy of Fine Arts has also been emphasising on art writing courses and the history of Nepali art. And Kathmandu University Art + Design has also been looking to start an art writing course, as an elective course with the understanding that this will develop the prospect of art and its discussion.

“Things are progressing definitely, but we still need to work from within institutions to break the barriers that stop us from discussing art,” said Thumkeli. “Because the more we write about art and culture, the more we will be able to develop our society—in insightful ways.”

To push the discussion of art forward and to see art in more meaningful ways, focus has to be on developing better art critics, artists say.

SHUT

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The Dylan catalog, a 60-year rock ‘n’ roll odyssey, is sold

DAVID BAUDER NEW YORK

T

o many music lovers, Bob Dylan’s songbook is price-less. Well, now he’s put a price on it.

The Nobel Prize-winning songwriter has sold pub-

lishing rights to his catalog of more than 600 songs, one of the greatest treasures in popular music, to the Universal Music Publishing Group, it was announced on Monday.

His collection includes modern standards like Blowin’ in the Wind, Tangled Up in Blue and Like a Rolling Stone through to this year’s 17-minute opus on the Kennedy assassination, Murder Most Foul. The body of work may only be matched for its breadth and influence by the Beatles, whose songs were re-acquired by Paul McCartney in 2017.

The price was not disclosed, but industry experts have suggested the sale is in the range of $300 million to a half-billion dollars.

The sale gives Universal the right, in perpetuity, to lease use of Dylan’s com-positions to advertisers and movie, tel-evision or video game producers, or anyone who thinks his words and mel-odies could enhance their product.

Dylan’s team cautioned anyone

against thinking this is a sign that the 79-year-old music legend is checking out. Rather, it seems like he’s taking advantage of a favourable business cli-mate to find a comfortable home for his life’s work.

In cultural terms, Dylan’s catalog is “quite literally priceless,” said Anthony DeCurtis, a veteran music writer and contributing editor at Rolling Stone.

“It has been 60 years and it’s still going strong,” DeCurtis said. “There’s no reason to believe there’s going to be any diminishment in its significance.”

Dylan topped the Rolling Stone list of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time in 2015 and

Like A Rolling Stone was named by the magazine as the best song ever written. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016, the only songwriter to receive the award.

Dylan’s songs have been recorded more than 6,000 times, by artists from dozens of countries, cultures and music genres. Notable releases include the Byrds’ chart-topping version of Mr Tambourine Man, Jimi Hendrix’s reworking of All Along the Watchtower and Adele’s cover of Make You Feel My Love. Events have conspired to make song publishing a more valuable asset. Interest rates are favourable for compa-nies looking to invest, and songs are

seen as a reliable source of long-term income in an industry where stream-ing has taken control and the live con-cert business has at least temporarily collapsed due to the coronavirus pan-demic, said Alan Light, a veteran music writer and host of his own SiriusXM show. Despite the sale, Dylan does not lose total control over his work, a longtime fear of many musi-cians. The Universal deal does not include rights to Dylan’s own record-ings of his material, so if Universal is approached to use Dylan’s recording of Lay Lady Lay, for example, that would have to be cleared by the artist.

Even in cases where Universal has control, the company is unlikely to risk doing something where Dylan would publicly object to how his work is being used. “It’s the kind of thing, if you want it done right, you want to take care of it yourself while you’re still at a stage in your life when you can do it right,” said Robert Levine, Billboard’s industry editorial director.

Dylan has performed regularly even as he’s aged, so much so that fans have joked he’s been on the Never-Ending Tour since the late 1980s. Only the pan-demic has grounded him. He continues to record, with this year’s disc, Rough and Rowdy Ways, being well-received critically.

— Associated Press

The price was not disclosed, but industry experts have suggested the sale is in the range of $300 million to a half-billion dollars.