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Gandaki Province Chief Minister Khagaraj Adhikari is seeking a vote of confidence today.

According to the Gandaki Province Assembly (PA) Secretariat, the Chief Minister is scheduled to seek a vote of confidence at 3 pm today.

He was elected to the post on April 7 with the support of the CPN-UML, CPN (Maoist Center), and one independent PA member.

As per the Constitution, the Chief Minister is mandated to obtain a vote of confidence from the PA no later than thirty days after the date of the appointment.

Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha and other officials of the Foreign Ministry welcome her at the Tribhuvan International Airport.

She arrived in Kathmandu at the cordial invitation of her Nepali counterpart Narayan Kaji Shrestha.

During the visit, Minister Kamikawa is scheduled to meet with President Ram Chandra Paudel and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

She will meet and hold bilateral talks on various matters of mutual interest and concern with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Shrestha today, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This is Kamikawa's first visit to Nepal since being appointed as the foreign minister of Japan.

Japan remains as one of the leading countries that provide continuous support to help with the development endeavors of Nepal.

Diplomatic relations between Nepal and Japan were established on September 1, 1956.

Nine years after the establishment of diplomatic relations, Nepal established its embassy in Tokyo in 1965. Three years later, Japan opened an embassy in Nepal.

Japan has been supporting Nepal in the fields of education, health, communication, agriculture, infrastructure, energy, civil aviation and other sectors.

This high-level visit by the foreign minister of Japan is expected to make a significant contribution to strengthening the close and friendly relationship subsisting between the two countries.

Following the visit, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan will depart from Kathmandu today itself.

Ujjwal Prasai, a writer and educator based in Kathmandu, has written a biography, translated two books, including fiction, and contributed hundreds of articles to Kathmandu-based newspapers and magazines. As an avid reader with eclectic interests, he has navigated several worlds of academic and literary inquiries with the help of the books he has read. Here, ApEx presents an edited version of our conversation with Prasai on books.  

What book are you currently reading, and what was your last book? 

I usually start reading two to three books at a time; some I race-read and finish, others I go slow and take some time to complete. The last few books I completed reading are Environmentalism from Below: How Global People’s Movements are Leading the Flight for Our Climate by Ashley Dawson; Salman Rushdie's Knife: Meditations after an Attempted Murder; and The Cooking of Books: A Literary Memoir by Ramachandra Guha. I took considerably longer to finish the first one by Dawson as I took copious notes from the book; it did not take much time to finish the other two memoirs written in a lucid flow. I am currently rereading Annie Proulx’s novel Barkskins, and the other book I have just started reading is Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein. 

How often do you switch genres or mostly stick to one kind of writing and accidentally read other genres? 

Genre-wise, I am very eclectic. I read as much fiction as I read academic and literary non-fiction. However, I always look for exciting blends like rigorously researched but written with the style of literary fiction or adopting the approach of popular writing, hardcore political writings written with poetic flair, and historical details written in very lucid prose like the writings of Ranajit Guha. After reading many academic, jargon-laden, or challenging writings, I pull poetry anthologies from my shelf. I have collected a few dozen of them in several languages: English, Hindi, Nepali, and some Urdu. 

Though a colossal number of academic writings continue getting published, it is said that very few people read them. Do you love reading academic stuff, or is it the compulsion driven by your academic job?  

I don’t judge a book based on its pages, number of footnotes or endnotes, bibliography or mechanics, etc. There are lovely books that are thick, and there are others that look like pamphlets but are fascinating and significant. For example, Paulo Freire's ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ cannot be dismissed just because it is relatively thin, or maybe Simon De Beauvoir's ‘The Second Sex’ cannot be discarded for not having pages of references at the back. Again, how can you say people don't read thick books like ‘Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover’, a biography of the writer Agyeya written by Akshaya Mukul, for being dense, having a lot of references, and hundreds of endnotes? Indeed, some books have specific audiences trained in certain areas of scientific inquiry, and they understand those books more than others. The books written by anthropologist Mark Liechty, like ‘Suitably Modern’ or ‘Far Out’, tell fascinating stories of Nepal and have all the required academic paraphernalia, including some jargon and technical terms. These books are being read by many who want to know Nepal better. Since I have learned a lot from academic books, I read them with admiration and respect. 

How often do you rely on reviews published in the popular press or the bestseller lists they publish weekly or monthly? 

I always scroll the news and magazine outlets for book reviews, and even in academic journals, I read book reviews first, and then I go to other articles. They help me a lot in deciding which books to pick and which not to prioritize. However, I am cautious about literary and academic echo chamber reviews. Reviews published as promotional materials don’t help much. I usually don't read bestseller lists, and they are not the guides I rely on. I typically list readings from the titles I collect as I read well-written and researched books; for example, I have prepared a long list of readings from the references of the books and articles I read in the last few months. The first one from the list I am starting in a few days is ‘The Value of a Whale’ by Adrienne Buller. 

It is often said that people are not reading much with the proliferation of digital media and social media platforms. Is it true? 

I have not read any properly done survey or robust research making this kind of claim. Well, this could be based on how people perceive the proliferation and impact of digital media, and maybe there are people who have started devoting more time to scrolling X or Facebook than to reading lengthy stuff. But I don't think reading will cease or dwindle to become negligible in the near future. Instead, digital platforms have added some advantages for the readers; people find several ways to get hold of e-books. I have seen many people reading many books in Epub and PDF formats on their electronic devices. Since we face many crises, including climate change, it is becoming increasingly important to read, think and interact more. I believe that, pushed by the crises, people will read more and think hard; some digital platforms may aid this process. 

Can you recommend some works of contemporary fiction for our young readers? 

I can give you a list of some of the interesting novels I have read in the last few months. Vivek Shanbhag’s ‘Sakina’s Kiss’, written originally in the Kannada language, tells a story of a complex (a reviewer called it dated) masculinity that represents a considerably large number of South Asian men. Another fiction that I recently read was ‘Chinatown Days’ by Rita Chowdhury; I picked this name from Amitav Ghosh’s recent book ‘Smoke and Ashes’. This novel tells the story of the uprooting of a small community of Chinese living in Assam during the war of 1962. Another fascinating work of fiction I read was Teju Cole’s third novel, ‘Tremor’; I call it a rich tapestry of ruminations on art, literature, colonialism and different yet interrelated human experiences. Those interested in thinking about the climate crisis may pick up ‘The History of Bees’ by Maja Lunde; the collage of a dystopian future with enough elements of historical fiction makes us think about the declining population of bees and its causes and alerts us to the alarming impacts it may have on the climate. 

Three houses were gutted in a fire that broke out in Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality of Bajura on Saturday afternoon.

The fire that started from the shed of Amar Kattel spread to the houses of Prakash Kattel and Padam Kattel in Jukot, Ward No. 3 of the Rural Municipality, according to the District Police Office. All the belongings of the three houses were damaged in the fire.

The fire was extinguished by the locals and police.

Last Thursday afternoon, the house of Mohan Nepali of Ward No. 4 of the municipality was burnt to ashes by the fire that spread from the wildfire in the community forest in Budhiganga Municipality.

Although the incidents of fire are increasing daily, the victims have alleged that the District Disaster Management Committee and the local municipality have not shown any interest in disaster response and have not helped them either.

Two persons died and two others were injured in a tractor accident in Dadeldhura on Saturday.

The deceased have been identified as the tractor driver Dhiraj Thapamgar (40) of Gajuri Rural Municipality-7 of Dhading and Bishnu BK (27) of Rodang Rural Municipality, Kusum Nayak, the Information Officer at the District Police Office, Dadeldhura, said.  

The tractor (Bagmati Pradesh 01-001 Ka 9651) met with an accident at Sirod of Navadurga Rural Municipality-4 last night.

Sudeep BK (31) of Rodang Rural Municipality of Dhading and Hikmat BK (28) of Navadurga Rural Municipality-4, Dadeldhura, who were injured in the accident, are undergoing treatment at Dadeldhura Hospital, police said.

Five people have been arrested for setting the forest on fire.

Those arrested are Maite Tamang (31) of Mandandeupur Municipality-11, Bikas Bhujel (25) and Savin Sunar, who have been charged of setting fire to community forest in Panchkhaal Municipality-5, and Aitimaya Tamang (80) on charge of setting fire to Kaskot Community Forest of Namobuddha Municipality-1 and Lalkumar Sen Thakuri (49) on suspicion of setting fire to the community forest in Arubot Community Forest of Chaurideurali Rural Municipality-6, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police of the District Police Office, Rajkumar Shrestha.

Meanwhile, wildfires that spread to human settlement have damaged property in various places of Roshi, Mahabharat and Khanikhola Rural Municipalities. Property worth Rs 2.6 million was gutted when 15 houses of Sanopota village in Roshi Rural Municipality-4 were burnt in the fire.

The weather remains cloudy in the hilly areas and clear in the remaining part of the country today. This is due to partial influence of westerly winds and local winds, says the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology.

According to the department, there is a possibility of light rainfall with thunder and lightning in some places of Koshi region. Light snowfall may take place at one or two places in the high hilly and mountainous areas of Koshi, Gandaki, Karnali and Sudurpaschim Provinces.

There is a possibility of storms in some places of Tarai in Lumbini.

Tonight, the weather will be partly to mostly cloudy in the hilly parts of the country and clear in the rest of the country. Light rain with thunder and lightning is likely to occur at one or two places in the hilly regions of Koshi, Gandaki and Karnali.

In the next 24 hours, light rainfall with thunder and lightning is likely to occur in some places of Koshi region and one or two places in the rest of the hilly areas of the country.

At the cordial invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Yoko Kamikawa is arriving here today on an official visit to Nepal.

During the visit, Minister Kamikawa is scheduled to meet with President Ram Chandra Paudel and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

She will meet and hold bilateral talks on various matters of mutual interest and concern with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Shrestha today, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This is Kamikawa's first visit to Nepal since being appointed as the foreign minister of Japan.

Japan remains as one of the leading countries that provide continuous support to help with the development endeavors of Nepal.

Diplomatic relations between Nepal and Japan were established on September 1, 1956.

Nine years after the establishment of diplomatic relations, Nepal established its embassy in Tokyo in 1965. Three years later, Japan opened an embassy in Nepal.

Japan has been supporting Nepal in the fields of education, health, communication, agriculture, infrastructure, energy, civil aviation and other sectors. "There is no such sector of Nepal, where the Japanese support has not reached. Japan is helping Nepal with a focus on its economic and social development," says Nepali Ambassador to Japan Dr Durga Bahadur Subedi.

This high-level visit by the foreign minister of Japan is expected to make a significant contribution to strengthening the close and friendly relationship subsisting between the two countries.

Following the visit, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan will depart from Kathmandu today itself.