WI THOUT F EAR O R F A V O U R Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXIX No. 173 | 10 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 35.0 C 14.5 C Tuesday, August 10, 2021 | 26-04-2078 Nepalgunj Jomsom Once power-starved, Nepal now aims to export electricity The country now is energy surplus after an increase in total installed capacity, and the realisation of the plan to sell power to India would mark a milestone. PRITHVI MAN SHRESTHA suppliers chosen by Punjab’s power KATHMANDU, AUG 9 utility body to potentially supply elec- tricity .” For decades, Nepal has been touted as This is the first-ever effort by Nepal a water-resource rich country with an to export electricity to the Indian mar- immense potential to generate ket through a competitive bidding pro- hydro-electricity—up to 83 giga- cess, even though certain power is watts—at least on paper. But Nepal being exchanged through the cross-bor- lived in the dark ages for more than a der transmission line currently. decade—from 2006 to mid-2017, with The state-owned power utility, how- power outages lasting up to 18 hours a ever, is yet to get a response from the day. power body of Punjab whether it No major hydropower plants were would procure electricity from Nepal. developed during the decade-long “We have not received a Letter of Maoist insurgency, which ended in Intent from Punjab’s electricity utility 2006. During the revolt, Maoist insur- body to supply electricity. Even though gents attacked infrastructure scaring we are chosen as a potential supplier, investors away. it is up to the Punjab State Power With improved management, leak- Corporation to decide whether to pur- age control and more power genera- chase from us or not,” said Shakya. “If tion, ‘load-shedding’ now has become things materialise, we will have the a thing of the past, and the country first experience of exporting power to now has surplus energy, technically, India through the exchange market mainly during the wet season. and also pave the way for selling more POST PHOTO: ELITE JOSHI And with a view to selling power.” A police officer puts a mask on an elderly woman at Hanumandhoka, Kathmandu on Monday. The government started Nepal Mask Campaign on electricity, the Nepal Electricity If the Punjab power utility agrees to Saturday, a day after the Covid-19 death toll crossed the 10,000 mark. Authority in May this year par- buy electricity from Nepal, it will be ticipated in a bid, seeking to sent via Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur 400 export 40MW to the Punjab state KV interstate transmission line. of India. In April, India officially allowed “We participated in an auction Nepal entry to its power exchange called by the Punjab State Power market. The Indian Energy Exchange INSIDE SEE results once again Corporation Limited to supply (IEX) announced the “commencement electricity to Punjab for the peri- of the Cross Border Electricity Trade” od from July to October,” said on its platform, allowing Nepal, Over a year since Covid-19, Hitendra Dev Shakya, managing Bangladesh and Bhutan to participate show effect of centralised director of the Nepal Electricity in power trading. government still assessing Authority. “We are one of the >> Continued on page 2 medical supply needs KATHMANDU: After Nepal was hit by education system the first wave of the Covid-19 pan- demic in April last year, the Health Ministry, based on the number of hospitalisations, started estimating Federal authorities say local units lack competency to the amount of medical supplies the country would need in the event of a oversee school education as prescribed by the constitution, second wave. This was a joint project between the Covid-19 Crisis but experts argue that has to be tested first. Management Centre (CCMC) and the ministry. “It was agreed that 50 per- cent of the supplies would remain in stock, while the rest would be distributed as per the need to different hospitals,” states a govern- ment document titled Responding to Covid-19: Health Sector Preparedness, Response and Lessons Learnt, which was released early this year. (Details on Pg 2) One man’s quest to prove he is alive and to undo his death on government records BIRATNAGAR: Subhash Tamang, aged 39, has been running from pillar to post for the past three years to prove that he is alive and not dead as declared by the registration of death certificate he holds. Subhash, a native of Shadananda Municipality in Bhojpur, lives in Belbari POST FILE PHOTO Municipality, Morang with his wife Experts say the hangover of the School Leaving Certificate exams continue even at present. and two children. He had gone to Saudi Arabia in 2003 on foreign BINOD GHIMIRE was also dubbed the “iron gate”. It was employment. He was declared dead in KATHMANDU, AUG 9 considered the exit point of school 2015 while in Saudi Arabia after he education, but following the amend- and his three friends had a car acci- When the Secondary Education Exam ment to the Education Act in 2016 that dent on July 10 of the same year. Two results were out on Saturday, some included grades 11 and 12 as part of of his friends were pronounced dead questions were raised–that schools secondary education, grade 12 was while Subhash and Tejendra sent the grades for their students per considered the exit point. Bhandari of Dhorpatan in Baglung their will and the National Experts say the hangover of the were airlifted to Abdul Aziz Hospital Examinations Board has been reduced School Leaving Certificate exams, for treatment. Bhandari died the next to an agency whose job is just to rub- however, continue even at present. day at the hospital while Subhash ber stamp the results sent from “This has led to an unhealthy com- went into a coma. (Details on Pg 3) schools and publish them. Similar petition among schools. They are questions had been raised last year unnecessarily inflating the marks, too. But one important point is miss- which does not help the students in Shyam Kakshapati, pioneer of ing in all this process–whether Nepal the long run,” said Susan Acharya, a cafe culture in Nepal, dies at 70 has been able to upgrade the educa- professor of Education at the tion system in the changed context. Tribhuvan University. “Neither KATHMANDU: Shyam Sundar Lal Experts say to effect a change in Nepal’s bureaucracy nor the political Kakshapati, the architect of famed school education, local governments leadership is interested in reforming Nanglo Restaurants and one of the should be handed over the authority the school sector. That the authority pioneers of cafe culture in Nepal, has to manage schools, as laid down by the has not yet been delegated to the local died. He was 70. According to family constitution. As per the constitution, level is a clear example of a lack of sources, Shyam died in Bangkok on local governments hold the authority attention to reforms in the education Monday while undergoing treatment. to oversee school operations as well as sector.” “He had been suffering from cancer to prepare the curriculum and con- Schedule 8 of the constitution gives for the last four years,” Gopal Sundar, duct examinations. local governments authority to man- Shyam’s younger brother, told the Even more than five years after the age school education and take neces- Post. Shyam started Sam’s Grocery promulgation of the constitution, sec- sary measures to manage school-level Shop at Ratna Park at the age of 19 ondary school education continues to education within their jurisdictions. after his father’s death. The shop function under the centralised sys- They are free to hire teachers, conduct was popular among all groups, tem. And Secondary Education tests and even develop curricula based particularly young men and women Examination is just an example. on the national framework prepared of Kathmandu as it was the best Many say the whole idea of by the Curriculum Development candy shop in the Kathmandu Valley Secondary Education Exam, a new Centre. then. His business was flourishing. name given to the erstwhile School After the pandemic began in the But he wanted to scale up. So he Leaving Certificate, conducted for country last year, and the Secondary decided to run Café de Park in the Grade 10 students itself is flawed, as Education Examination was called off Ratna Park area. The Nanglo the education up to Grade 12 is consid- a day before it was supposed to start in restaurant was then born in 1976 ered secondary-level education. March, the federal government decid- with the joint effort of Kakshapati Until 2015, 10th graders used to take ed to let the respective schools send brothers [Shyam and Gopal], the School Leaving Certificate exams, the marks of their students to the which soon became a famous conducted nationwide by the Office of National Examinations Board. rendezvous. (Details on Pg 5) the Controller of Examinations. It >> Continued on page 2 C M Y K TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2021 | 02 NATIONAL SEE results once again Over a year since Covid-19, government show effect of centralised ... >> Continued from page 1 federal government’s authority to the still assessing medical supply needs Compared to previous years, the provincial and local levels,” said number of students scoring 4.0 Grade Dhananjaya Sharma, a former princi- Point Average shot up in 2020 and 2021. pal at Gyanodaya School, Bafal. Government’s failure to stock up on supplies resulted in shortage of oxygen, ventilators and hospital beds this April.