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A documentary on the adverse impact of climate change in Nepal has been screened at the 27th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27) currently underway in Sharm el-Sheikh of Egypt. COP 27 commenced on November 6 and will conclude on November 18. The documentary titled 'Women's Voice from the Himalayas' was shown at a COP 27 side event organized on Wednesday by the Rural Reconstruction Nepal and the Institute for Sustainable Development. The documentary film on damage caused by climate change was made by Sathsathai Foundation. It was screened at a program on the theme – the role of women cooperatives in climate finance. The documentary especially talks about the impact of climate change on women and children in the Himalaya region. Foundation President Prajita Karki said the attention of national and international agencies has been drawn to the urgent need of implementing the 'Kalapaththar Declaration' by means of the documentary. A group of 40 women from various sectors made a joint journey to Kalapaththar on the base of Mt Everest on the occasion of the International Women's Day last year and organized a special program there.  The 'Kalapaththar Declaration' was adopted there drawing the attention of the international community to the adverse impact of climate change and the urgent need of tackling it. The Foundation had organized this program. The documentary shows the damage caused by climate change in the high Himalayas and from the mid-hills to Tarai plains of Nepal, and the impact it is having on women's livelihood. It vividly shows the melting of snow in the Himalayan mountains including Mt Everest, the increasing rate of glacier melting, growing incidences of flood and landslides and their effect in the hilly region and the damage to crops and life and property caused by unseasonal rains in the Tarai region. The documentary presents the heart-rending scenes of floods and landslides in Helambu and Melamchi areas of Sindhupalchok as well as the damage caused by natural disaster in Dolpa this year. Dr Madhav Karki, the climate advisor to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, LDC Watch's Arjun Karki, Lydie Neckpill of APMDD and Arati Poudel of Institute for Sustainable Development put their views on the effect of climate change on women's life and addressing the issue at the program.

Security agencies have stepped up security surveillance in view of the elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly scheduled for November 20. Around 300,000 security personnel of three security agencies have been deployed for the twin elections. Among them 71,693 personnel are of Nepal Police and another 115,000 are temporary police personnel. Similarly, a total of 75,000 personnel of Nepali Army (NA) and 35,000 of Armed Police Force (APF) are being deployed to ensure the elections are held in freely, impartially and peacefully. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, this time a huge number of security personnel have been mobilized for election security on the need basis. Spokesperson at the Ministry Phadindramani Pokharel said that the election security was tightened, evaluating the challenges in the polling stations. An integrated security plan has been implemented according to which security agencies will provide security in three different layers. In the first ring, Nepal Police will provide security while Armed Police Force and Nepali Army in second and third respectively. Nepal Police's Spokesperson and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Tek Prasad Rai said that the election security plan is good and reliable. "Voters can cast their vote without any fear," he said. According to him, some 28 small groups have announced to boycott the elections. The security agencies are closely monitoring them, according to Spokesperson Rai. Nepal Police has mobilized its personnel in those areas which were not considered from the election point of view in the past. Police, learning from past experience, have also devised security plans for contingencies, added Rai. Police conclude that it has become easier now that the Election Commission of Nepal has been actively following the compliance of the election code of conduct itself. The Armed Police Force (APF), deployed in the second cordon in election security, has already mobilized the required number of personnel while some are in stand-by position to deploy on a need basis. APF will mainly provide security to the election offices, election officers and chief election officers among others.  Spokesperson of the APF and Senior Superintendent of Police Purushottam Thapa shared that election security bases were set up in various locations and security personnel were mobilized in plain uniform. Furthermore, mobile patrolling is also being carried out by the APF security personnel while surveillance has been stepped up in bordering areas as well. The Nepali Army has already started monitoring in all districts as per the mandate given to it by the integrated security plan, said NA Spokesperson Brigadier General, Narayan Silwal. Prison, airports and other important infrastructures, earlier guarded by APF and Nepal Police during the election, are being guarded by the Nepali Army this time. Moreover, the NA has been entrusted with responsibility to guard the printing of ballot papers and its transportation. Spokesperson Silwal shared that the Army had already made preparations for aerial surveillance disposing the bomb or neutralizing suspicious objects and explosives during the election. Also, the NA have set up separate base/unit in those places uncovered by the already set base/units, he said.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari has been in Iceland to attend the Reykjavik Global Forum-Women Leaders being held in Reykjavik on November 8-10. The President reached Iceland on Tuesday. She was welcomed by Ambassador Ms Estrid Brekkan, Chief of the Protocol at the Iceland Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tirtha Raj Aryal, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Nepal in Denmark, the Embassy of Nepal in Copenhagen, Denmark said. Earlier in her transit at Doha, the Head-of-the-State was received by Naresh Bikram Dhakal and other officials of the Embassy of Nepal in Qatar as well as protocol officials of Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the airport. Likewise, in Frankfurt, the President was welcomed by Ramkaji Khadka, Nepal’s Ambassador to Germany and protocol officials of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The President is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at the Reykjavik Global Forum co-hosted by Women Political Leaders (WPL) and receive WPL Trailblazer Award 2022 today.  

Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has expressed his sorrow over the demise of Province 1 minister Shekhar Chandra Thapa. The minister and NC leader Thapa was the candidate from Morang constituency 3 for the upcoming elections under the Province Assembly (1). Thapa, who was struggling with pneumonia, died at Noble Medical College this morning, said the family. Shortly, PM Deuba took to a social site, and offered his sorrow over the demise of Thapa, the sitting minister of province for Forest, Environment and Soil Conservation.

Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has condoled the death of six persons in the Doti earthquake and expressed his deep sympathy to the bereaved family. An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale with its epicenter in the Khaptad National Park in Doti hit the area at 2.12 am today. PM Deuba has instructed the agencies concerned to be mobilized in rescue and relief works in the affected areas and manage appropriate treatment for the people injured in the disaster. "I pay tribute to those killed in the earthquake with its epicenter in the Khaptad area of the far western region and extend deep condolences to their family members," PM Deuba stated in his social site. Six persons, including three of a same family, died when a house collapsed due to the tremor at Gairagaun, Purbi Chauki Rural Municipality-3 in Doti district.  

Some media are found disseminating biased news in favor of a single party or candidate as the day of election draws closer. It is said a single media outlet is disseminating news of the same party or candidate frequently. These media were found not giving space to other parties or candidates. This fact was found from an election special monitoring carried out by the Press Council Nepal (PCN) in connection with the compliance of the election code of conduct by the mass communication media in the context of the November 20 elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly. PCN had started the media monitoring since October 14 to check whether the mass communication media were abiding by the election code of conduct or not. The code of conduct came into effect nationally from September 27. The PCN's monitoring also found that materials including articles likely to cause harm to the candidate of a particular party were disseminated by the media. It is found the media selected for the monitoring were disseminating news and articles stating that a particular candidate has 'high chances' of election victory in a certain constituency and they also 'boosted up' in the social sites news related to a certain candidate. A trend of the media presenting a candidate of a particular party as 'weak' while exaggerating another candidate was also found in course of the monitoring. PCN has taken action against 28 media on the basis of the seriousness of the violation of the code by them and based on the facts and data collected in course of monitoring. The Press Council has sought clarification from a radio, a television, a newspaper and seven online news portals in this connection. The PCN has also banned two online portals from publishing and broadcasting within Nepal. Likewise, it has called attention of five online portals, reprimanded five online, a television and two newspapers and directed two online news portals to abide by the journalists’ code of ethics and the election code of conduct, PCN's Information Officer Ram Sharan Bohara said. PCN had selected a total 225 sample media including 68 newspapers, 88 online portals, 37 radio and 12 televisions for the purpose of the monitoring. It carried out monitoring on the media trend as well.

The senior most candidate in the November 20 election to the member of House of Representatives, the lower house of the federal parliament, Tika Datta Pokharel has asserted that his candidacy is for protecting the country, preserving democracy and maintaining Nepal as the Hindu nation. Pokharel celebrated his 100th birthday on October 31. The senior citizen from Siranchok Rural Municipality-2, Gorkha district expressed his confidence that he would be victorious in the polls with majority votes and the overwhelming support of the people of Gorkha. "The voters of Gorkha carrying with it the identity of the land of the brave Gorkhalis who spearheaded the national unification campaign will give their vote to a senior citizen and a democrat over 100 years of age and create new history in this election. Thus my name will be recorded in the history as the senior most parliamentarian of the country," Pokharel said. He added that only a Gorkhali born in Gorkha would work for the welfare of the people of the district and also preserve the 'glorious' history of Gorkha. Pokharel said that he was contesting in this parliamentary election to protect the country and democracy and to create an environment in the country wherein the sons and daughters of the Nepalis will get employment within the country itself and will not have to toil in foreign land for livelihood. Describing Gorkha as his motherland and the place where he lived and worked his entire life, Pokharel said the people of Gorkha were campaigning in his support with the goal of making a 'son of land of Gorkha and the oldest candidate who is well-known to the people victorious in the election'. He claimed that his victory was guaranteed. Stating that the country is not anyone's dominion per se, the centenarian election candidate said the Gorkhalis should thoroughly evaluate how much and what works the candidate from the ruling alliance in the district has done for the district and its people. He believed that the 'educated and conscious' Gorkhali people will deliver their verdict on November 20 by means of their votes. He narrated that he had been jailed at various times in Birgunj and Raxaul in India while participating in the movement against the Rana oligarchy before 2007 BS. Pokharel also recalled that he spent about six years in jail in Gorkha and Lamjung in the course of opposing the Panchayati system. "My candidacy is for building a prosperous nation, a robust democracy and for establishing Nepal as a Hindu nation," said Pokharel who is contesting in the election from Gorkha constituency number 2 on behalf of the Nepali Congress (BP) party. His election symbol is 'Kalash', an urn. He is facing 11 contenders, including CPN (Maoist Centre) chairperson and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' and Abdus Miyan from the CPN (UML). Dahal is the common candidate from the ruling alliance in this constituency.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya has urged the private sector industrialists and businesspersons to help make the environment conducive for the November 20 elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly members. He said so while addressing a program entitled 'Interaction with Private Sector' organized at the Commission today. The program had the participation of leading private sector organizations and individuals. On the occasion, CEC Thapaliya urged the entrepreneurs and business sector to also disseminate the Commission's information and messages through their information mechanism as part of their corporate social responsibility. He asked them to connect to the Commission's social site and disseminate through their organizational mechanism and social sites the election-related resources as the voter education, election code of conduct and related messages and information produced by the Commission. Reiterating that the cooperation of the entrepreneurs would be important for the nation and democracy, the Chief Election Commissioner also urged them to facilitate so that the employees working in their organizations would be able to cast their votes on the voting day. He said that the country's economy was at a very difficult juncture at present and expressed his confidence the situation would change for the better after the election. "We are hearing about liquidity crunch, increment in interest rate and dwindling savings. This has created a situation that looks like the entrepreneurs will start leaving their businesses. This is also related to the election in one way or other. It is our hope that the election will help take the economy towards the positive direction after its conclusion," he said. Stating that the global practice shows the expenditure in election is mostly unproductive, CEC Thapaliya asked for forgiveness with the private sector business community if they have been inconvenienced by the Election Commission's efforts to making the election economical. He informed that home work was being done for allowing the essential service vehicles and other vehicles as well to operate on the day of the election in a systematic and regulated way on the basis of need and relevance. Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) acting president Chandra Dhakal expressed his happiness, saying the Election Commission has interacted with the private sector also in connection to making the election successful. He expressed commitment to implementing the Commission's request through his apparatus. FNCCI vice-president Anjan Shrestha urged the Election Commission to allow the entrepreneurs' vehicles to operate on the day of the voting and to give them the responsibility of election observation. Ramesh Thapa, President of Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATA), expressed the business community's commitment in implementing the Commission's request. He also urged the Commission to facilitate the smooth operation of transport services for tourists on election day. The other participants from the private sector on the occasion suggested the Commission to participate the entrepreneurs' mechanism in the conduction of the election.