These are some of the best stories from The Kathmandu Post (February 14, 2020).

Oli administration is ignoring a key component of democracy during lawmaking

The Land Management Ministry on April 29 last year registered a bill in the National Assembly to amend the Guti Act which proposed nationalising all the guthis, both public and private. Locals, particularly from the Newar community, took a serious exception to the bill and started demonstrations from June 9.

Two weeks later, the government withdrew the bill from the federal parliament. The government had drafted the bill without adequate consultation with experts and the people from the Newar community, prompting one of the largest protests against the KP Sharma Oli government.

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In two years, Oli administration’s foreign policy has been largely one-sided, say analysts

When KP Sharma Oli returned to power two years ago, on February 15, 2018, after the 2015 Indian blockade, his government made a number of promises vis-a-vis foreign policy.

The Nepal Communist Party (NCP), riding a nationalist wave in the wake of the blockade, had announced that all unequal treaties signed with India and other countries would be replaced and that Nepal’s foreign policy would be conducted on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and respect, as per the principles of Panchasheel.

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Concerns over quarantine centre in Bhaktapur stem from lack of trust in government

Gyan Bahadur KC, chairman of Changunarayan Municipality of Bhaktapur Ward No. 7, is enraged and concerned, just like other residents of his ward and those in Ward No. 6. Their worry stems from the government plan to quarantine Nepalis to be evacuated from Hubei Province of China, the epicentre of the new strain of coronavirus, at the training centres of Nepal Electricity Authority and Drinking Water Corporation.

According to KC, residents are anxious about putting those Nepali nationals in quarantine in their locality.

KC has extended moral support to the protests launched by locals against the government plan to convert the two training centres into quarantine facilities, terming their concerns over the possible spread of the virus as genuine.

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Visit Nepal is holding an ice skating event on Gokyo but it is unclear whether authorities have consented

On Friday, Nepal will be hosting a friendly ice hockey match and ice skating event on the pristine Gokyo lake in the Everest region.

The event, the first of its kind in Nepal, is being organised as promotional activity for the ongoing Visit Nepal Year 2020 campaign. The hockey match and ice skating will feature international players, including former Olympians, from countries like Canada, Russia, India and the United States. Nepal hopes to set the world record for an ice hockey match at the highest altitude and inaugurate the world’s highest ice skating rink on frozen Gokyo.

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