Here are today's top stories you may not want to miss.
In latest attempt to squeeze media, government seeks journalists’ payroll details, violating the constitution
Last month, the Department of Information and Broadcasting under the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology issued a circular asking media houses to furnish a copy of the payroll and bank details—including the account number—of each journalist to the department. The circular, as per the department, is part of its move to ensure that journalists’ minimum wage was implemented by the media houses.
But there is something amiss in the government’s directive, according to proponents of press freedom and people from the media fraternity, who say demanding personal information in the name of implementing minimum wage is against the constitution.
Government tells chief district officers to grant citizenship by descent to those whose parents are citizens by birth
Amid uncertainty surrounding the passage of the Nepal Citizenship Amendment Bill, the Home Ministry has issued a notice to chief district officers across the country asking them to grant citizenship by descent to those individuals whose parents are citizens by birth.
According to Article 11(3) of the constitution, a child of a citizen having obtained the Nepali citizenship by birth shall acquire the citizenship of Nepal by descent if both mother and father are citizens of Nepal.
After disaster, Bara and Parsa villages face risks of disease outbreak
In the aftermath of the windstorm disaster, survivors in villages of Bara and Parsa districts are at risk of diseases, according to doctors who visited the disaster zone.
Sunday night’s windstorm killed 28 people, 27 in Bara and one in Parsa, destroying 940 houses and causing varying degrees of damage to 955 others. Thousands of people have been rendered homeless.
Survivors who have been living under the open sky for the past several days may contract diseases if no immediate action is taken, doctors told the Post.
Nepali children born today will have their lives shortened by 30 months
According to the report, Nepal has the highest levels of air pollution—100 μg/m3—in the world where annual exposure to PM2.5 particulate matter can cause breathing difficulties and cardiovascular issues. The three other countries in the region with dangerous levels of pollution are India (91 μg/m3), Bangladesh (61 μg/m3) and Pakistan (58 μg/m3).
In the past few years, pollution levels have peaked at unhealthy and hazardous levels in the Kathmandu Valley, increasing health risks for citizens. Particulate matter can be both solid and liquid particles—smoke, dust, soot and others—that are suspended in the air, the most dangerous of which is PM2.5.
City starts cleaning streets with broomer machines, but is clueless about managing collected dust
Kathmandu Metropolitan City has already started operating its five new broomer machines on the streets of the city, but it is clueless about how it should go about managing the dust it collects.
Spokesperson at the metropolis Ishwor Man Dangol said in the past one week the KMC has collected over 90 tonnes of dust from five different routes, but when asked how the collected dust was being managed, he couldn’t paint a clear picture.
The metropolis has been operating the five broomer machines brought from Italy from 8pm to 4am every day. Dangol added that on an average day, the machines collect 17 tonnes of dust.
28.12°C Kathmandu
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