Here are some of the top stories from The Kathmandu Post (September 6, 2019).
Chinese Foreign Minister to arrive on Sunday for a three-day visit
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be arriving on Sunday for a three-day official visit that many believe will set the stage for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s arrival, possibly in mid-October.
Though the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu remain tight-lipped on the visit, three different sources confirmed to the Post that Wang will be in Kathmandu for three days and will return to Beijing on Tuesday after gauging the possibility of the Chinese president’s stopover.
The Gurung language once had no written script. Now it has five
According to the 2011 Nepal census, there were 522,641 Gurungs in the country, but only 325,622 could speak the language and a majority of them live in villages. Despite this, the language has five scripts—Khema, Khe Prih, Shaman, Roman, and Ujjain.
Khe Prih and Khema are the two most widely used scripts, and although Khe Prih is older, Khema is much more popular, used in Nepal, India and Bhutan and also listed as the official script of the Gurung language by the Nepal Language Commission.
Central bank slashes daily cash withdrawal limit at ATMs to Rs 60,000
Nepal Rastra Bank has reduced the daily cash withdrawal limit at ATMs to Rs60,000, down from Rs100,000. Furthermore, ATMs will only dispense a maximum of Rs20,000 per transaction instead of Rs25,000.
Following the recent case of hacking by Chinese citizens who attempted to steal Rs18.9 million out of the ATMs of seven banks, the regulator has come up with the move.
It has also halted cross banking transactions at ATMs.
Amid environmentalists’ concern, tourism minister repeats he will build Nijgadh airport
Since assuming office, Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Yogesh Bhattarai has made building Nijgadh International Airport in Bara his one-point agenda. Or at least it so appears. Not even a single public appearance of his since becoming the tourism minister on July 31 has gone without the one refrain: “we will build Nijgadh airport at any cost.”
Environmentalists have been raising concerns regarding the airport’s construction since the environmental impact assessment of the multi-billion project was passed last year, calling the project disastrous for the environment, wildlife and people living around the area.
But Bhattarai said the proposed airport is “something that future generations will remember for a long time.”
The planned airport located 175 kilometres south of Kathmandu, will be spread over 80 square kilometres and is set to be the biggest airport in South Asia in terms of areas.
Government to train more health workers on mental illness
Nepal simply does not have enough experts to treat and cure mental health problems. There are only around 130 psychiatrists in the country, most of whom are based in urban areas; fewer than 30 of them work for the state-run hospitals. Concerned by the mental health crisis in the country, the government has started to train paramedics and staff nurses in mental health issues to bridge the gap in service delivery.
With the training, officials believe, the health workers may be able to address the needs of patients suffering from mental illness.
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