ICYMI: Here are our top stories from Sunday, August 11
Here are some of the top stories from The Kathmandu Post (August 11, 2019). Construction workers work on a road construction site in Doha. Shutterstock
Here are some of the top stories from The Kathmandu Post (August 11, 2019).
Indigenous movement, once a champion for the rights of indigenous people, is losing steam
Nepal’s indigenous movement of late, especially after the promulgation of the constitution, has taken a back seat. But the recent Public Service Commission vacancy notice—a drive to hire more than 9,000 staff for the local bodies—has brought them together to demand that the state uphold the principle of inclusion.
But those who have led the country’s indigenous movements and those who have watched and studied these struggles say they doubt the efforts will sustain.
Government is working on Mass Media Bill with harsher provisions for media sector
After the controversial Information Technology and Media Council Council Bills, the government is working on a new media-related bill—the Mass Media Bill—which has some provisions that free press campaigners say are aimed at further tightening the administration’s grip on the media sector.
The draft bill, which is at the Ministry of Law and Justice for finalisation, proposes hefty fines and jail terms or both for journalists and media houses.
Nepalis join hundreds of foreign construction workers in Qatar to protest against exploitation
Kishor from Paanchthar went to work in Qatar nearly six months ago. To get a job in the Gulf nation, he had submitted Rs160,000 to a recruitment agency in Kathmandu to pay a supply company that outsources workers for various Qatari employers.
Kishor had gone in search of greener pastures. But upon reaching Qatar, which is hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022, Kishor, and tens of thousands of foreign workers like him, started facing various forms of exploitation at the hands of employers.
After being unpaid for months, Kishor and his other six friends from Nepal finally refused to go to work last week. They are among the thousands of construction workers who have been staging protests in the country since last week, complaining about continued inhuman treatments in the gas-rich nation.
Nepal’s largest under-construction hydropower plant mired by sluggish work
The installation of the first penstock pipe in the lower vertical shaft of the Upper Tamakoshi hydropower plant in Dolakha was supposed to get the project rolling, but works have slowed to a crawl and the project is likely to miss its February deadline in 2020.
A team of European, Indian and Nepalese engineers had finally made a breakthrough in June, after six months of bad luck, to take the largest hydropower plant in Nepal on the brink of completion.
Lalitpur city is taking local initiatives to restore Malla-era Nhu Pokhari
It’s a hot, languorous afternoon in Lagankhel. A group of women and men is busy working at Nhu Pokhu (Nau Pokhari), south-east from Patan Hospital, despite the summer heat—beads of sweat trickle down their foreheads.
Some are mixing surki, a concoction of brick powder, lime water and sand; some are going back and forth carrying construction materials. A few others are laying bricks on a retaining wall being constructed on the southern side of the pond.
They are reviving the historic Nhu Pokhu which dates back to the Malla era (12th to 18th century).
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