English Made Easy with Royal Zenith

  Govt should employ proactive measures to control population of stray dogs in the Valley   Street dogs are as inextricable part of the Kathmandu landscape as temples. The most recent data from the Kathmandu Metropolitan City estimates Kathmandu’s street dog population to be around 30,000 strays, although the number is likely higher. Sustaining themselves off garbage and scraps put out by people, these mixed-breed dogs live in groups in neighbourhoods across the Capital, often times in close proximity and contact with humans. However, the unregulated swell in their numbers in the past few years is becoming a matter of growing concern. According to the Teku-based Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, five people died last month from rabies following dog bites. The hospital’s records show the incidences of dog bites are on the rise in Kathmandu, with 36,089 patients visiting the hospital for anti-rabies vaccinations in 2017, a rise from ...

When the government  broke up the telephone system  in 1984, the fact that AT&T could count most citizens as customers and that it was arguably the best-run telephone company in the world was not deemed compelling enough to preserve its monopoly power. The breakup would unleash a wave of competition and innovation that ultimately benefited consumers and the economy. Facebook seems to be in a similar position today — only with far greater global reach than Ma Bell could have imagined. Facebook’s two billion monthly active users, and the way those accounts are linked and viewed by users and by third parties, have made it the most powerful communications and media company in the world, even if its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, insists his is a technology business. And that power is being abused. As  The New York Times reported  Tuesday, Facebook shared data with at least four Chinese electronics firms, including one flagged by American officials as a...

We are at a serious juncture where environmental problems are spiralling in dangerous proportion and related consciousness has fallen low or got suppressed to the inferior level. That is why our development projects treat the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) just a ritual for formality, and in some instances, the idea is disregarded and discarded at all. Existing tree lines are eliminated on the pretext of road expansion and the damage done to the source of fresh air and cool shade is never compensated with re-plantation. Tree plantation activities get news coverage during special occasion like World Environment Day where important persons plant saplings in the glare of TV cameras. Once the ritual is done, necessary follow-ups rarely happen to ensure the care taking and full growth of the planted trees. The government plan in paper has made it necessary for every office to plant and grow trees within its premises. But one should not be surprised if s/he finds a government or corp...

Millions of copies of textbooks printed by JEMC have been shelved, thanks to lack of coordination between govt agencies Since its establishment in 1966, the Janak Education Materials Centre (JEMC) has always been at loss due to its own mismanagement and unnecessary interference from the Ministry of Education and its departments. However, the government-run publishing house, which also prints government’s sensitive documents as well as ballot papers for the Election Commission, had expected to make profit for the first time in the last 12 years as it had revamped its management and installed colour printing press to print textbooks for primary level students of the public and community schools. The government distributes a set of prescribed textbooks free of cost to each of the students studying there. The JEMC looks set to face losses this year as well, as around five million textbooks of Grade VI to X worth around Rs 250-300 million and one million copies of colour textbooks for ...

Kalu Devi Bishwokarma, Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal parliamentarian from Kailali, on Monday took to the floor to inform the House about her ordeal finding a rental apartment in Kathmandu. The MP lamented that she failed to find a suitable apartment in the Capital for over a month because of the casteist and discriminatory mindset of the landlords she approached. It is jarring that over five decades after caste-based discrimination was criminalised, people from the Dalit community, including elected representatives, continue to suffer from various forms of bigotry and marginalisation. According to the 2011 census, Dalits comprise 13.13 percent of the total population of Nepal, although this figure is often contested as researchers feel the figure is underreported. The political transition in Nepal after the 1990s, and especially after 2006, brought about many political and social changes, including bringing issues of identity and representation to the fore. However, the Dalits co...