Here are some of the top stories from The Kathmandu Post (May 30, 2019).
Rs1.53 trillion: Ambitious and unrealistic
With an ambitious economic growth target but few tangible bases, Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada presented the federal budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 in Parliament on Wednesday.
The Rs 1.53 trillion financial plan bets on achieving economic growth of 8.5 percent, more bullish than the current year’s target, while generating half a million jobs by the next fiscal year, which begins in mid-July.
The budget, which is 17 percent bigger than the current plan, has earmarked Rs 957 billion for recurrent expenditure, Rs 408 billion for capital expenditure, and Rs 167 billion for financing provisions.
However, some economists were circumspect about the government’s new growth target, calling it “overly ambitious” with there is no reliable basis presented in the budget.
Superstition drives women out of homes—again— into Chhau sheds in Achham district
Superstitious beliefs are driving menstruating women and girls in Achham out of their homes and into Chhaupadi sheds in Achham paying no heed to the government’s move of making the practice illegal in 2005 and criminalising it in 2017.
What propelled the villagers’ superstitious belief of menstruating women and girls being impure was an incident that took place last Friday. A heap of dry wheat husks caught fire and destroyed six houses including that of three local Dhamis (shamans) in Dhakari, Achham.
Allocation of Rs 60 million to parliamentarians for their constituencies draws public ire
Despite much protest from a section of lawmakers and the public against providing Members of Parliament with millions of rupees and a free hand in spending, Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada bowed to political pressure, increasing the budget for the Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Programme.
The federal budget, presented in Parliament by Khatiwada on Wednesday, provided a 50 percent hike for the programme—from Rs 40 million to Rs 60 million.
The Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Programme, along with its previous incarnations, has long been controversial for providing federal lawmakers with little oversight in spending. Millions of rupees were found to have been misused in the past, when the programme was divided into two separate programmes—the Constituency Infrastructure Special Programme and the Constituency Development Programme.
Fleeing persecution, Ahmadi Muslims find safe haven in Nepal
The Ahmadiyya Muslim community was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, an Indian religious leader, in 1889. The Ahmadis believe him to be the promised messiah, or messenger, a belief that puts them at odds with other mainstream Muslims, and has resulted in their persecution in several countries, including Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia.
In Nepal too, the community whose history can be traced to the mid-1990s, has faced some backlash. Older members recounted to the Post how they were subject to harassment at the hands of their neighbours who deemed them ‘infidels’. But they are also quick to point out that these incidents are a thing of the past and they no longer have issues with any other community.
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