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Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Saturday that Ukrainian statehood is in jeopardy and likened the West’s sanctions on Russia to “declaring war,” while a promised cease-fire in the besieged port city of Mariupol collapsed amid scenes of terror, Associated Press reported.

With the Kremlin’s rhetoric growing fiercer and a reprieve from fighting dissolving, Russian troops continued to shell encircled cities and the number of Ukrainians forced from their country grew to 1.4 million. By Saturday night Russian forces had intensified their shelling of Mariupol, while dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said.

Bereft mothers mourned slain children, wounded soldiers were fitted with tourniquets and doctors worked by the light of their cellphones as bleakness and desperation pervaded. Putin continued to pin the blamefor all of it squarely on the Ukrainian leadership and slammed their resistance to the invasion, Associated Press reported.

“If they continue to do what they are doing, they are calling into question the future of Ukrainian statehood,” he said. “And if this happens, it will be entirely on their conscience.”

He also hit out at Western sanctions that have crippled Russia’s economy and sent the value of its currency tumbling.

“These sanctions that are being imposed, they are akin to declaring war,” he said during a televised meeting with flight attendants from Russian airline Aeroflot. “But thank God, we haven’t got there yet.”

Russia’s financial system suffered yet another blow as Mastercard and Visa announced they were suspending operations in the country, according to Associated Press.

Ten days after Russian forces invaded, the struggle to enforce the temporary cease-fires in Mariupol and the eastern city of Volnovakha showed the fragility of efforts to stop the fighting across Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials said Russian artillery fire and airstrikes had prevented residents from leaving before the agreed-to evacuations got underway. Putin accused Ukraine of sabotaging the effort.

The newly-elected 19 members of the National Assembly have taken the oath of office and secrecy.

National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Prasad Timilsina administered the oath of office and secrecy amidst a special function organized at the Federal Parliament Secretariat today.

Those taking an oath of office and secrecy as National Assembly members include Jayanti Devi Rai, Sonam Goljen Sherpa, Gopal Kumar Basnet, Urmila Aryal, Mohammad Khalid, Goma Devi Timilsina, Krishna Prasad Poudel, Kamala Panta, Bhuwan Bahadur Sunar, Suresh Kumar Ale Magar, Rajendra Laxmi Gaire, Tul Prasad Bishwokarma, Yubraj Sharma, Durga Gurung, Nar Bahadur Bista, Uday Bahadur Bohara, Madan Kumari Shah (Garima), Jagat Bahadur Parki and Narayan Dutta Mishra.

The election for 19 vacant posts of NA members was held on January 26. The term of the newly elected 19 members would be six years. On the occasion, NA Chair Timalsina handed over an emblem of the Federal Parliament to the newly elected members.

General-Secretary of the Federal Parliament Secretariat, Dr Bharatraj Gautam, on the behalf of the Secretariat, wished the newly-elected National Assembly members for a successful tenure.

Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Dilendra Prasad Badu, parliamentary party leaders, chief whips and whips of different political parties in the National Assembly were present on the occasion.

The Parliament Secretariat has scheduled a programme to impart brief information about the parliament and parliamentary practices to the newly elected NA members today itself. RSS

The Russian military is observing a ceasefire in two areas of Ukraine to allow civilians to evacuate, Russian state media reported Saturday, but there was no immediate confirmation from Ukraine. It would be the first breakthrough in allowing civilians to escape the war, Associated Press reported.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that it had agreed on evacuation routes with Ukrainian forces to allow civilians to leave the strategic port of Mariupol in the southeast and the eastern town of Volnovakha “from 10 a.m. Moscow time.” The vaguely worded statement did not make clear how long the routes would remain open.

The head of Ukraine’s security council, Oleksiy Danilov, had called on Russia to create humanitarian corridors to allow children, women and the older adults to get away from the fighting, calling such corridors “question No. 1.”

As Russian forces batter strategic locations, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has lashed out at NATO for refusing to impose a no-fly zone over his country, warning that “all the people who die from this day forward will also die because of you, according to the Associated Press.

NATO said a no-fly zone could provoke widespread war in Europe with nuclear-armed Russia. But as the United States and other NATO members send weapons for Kyiv and more than 1 million refugees spill through the continent, the conflict is already drawing in countries far beyond Ukraine’s borders.

Russia continues to crack down on independent media reporting on the war, also blocking Facebook and Twitter, and more outlets say they are pausing their work inside the country.

And in a warning of a hunger crisis yet to come, the U.N. World Food Program says millions of people inside Ukraine, a major global wheat supplier, will need food aid “immediately.”

Ukraine’s president was set to brief U.S. senators on Saturday by video conference as Congress considers a request for $10 billion in emergency funding for humanitarian aid and security needs, Associated Press reported.

Females make up 51.04 percent of Nepal’s population, but their representation in government bodies is much lower. This means their issues and concerns are rarely addressed.

Every year on March 8, various government agencies working on women rights and empowerment mark the International Women’s Day. They announce campaigns and programs for women rights and representation and yet they invariably fail to achieve the desired results.

Nepal’s constitution mandates a minimum 33 percent women representation in legislative bodies. As a result, the federal parliament fulfills the women representation criteria—33.7 percent in the House of Representatives and 37.28 percent in the National Assembly—and so do the provincial assemblies. 

But in executive bodies, women are heavily underrepresented. In the federal council of ministers, women representation is 26 percent; provincial ministries are also dominated by male ministers. 

This shows that significant (if still inadequate) women’s representation in legislative bodies owes solely to constitutional provisions and not a commitment to leveling the playing field.

Province 1 and Madhes have 14.28 percent women representation in their cabinets, whereas Bagmati and Lumbini have 22.22 percent and 29.41 percent women representation respectively. In Gandaki province, women ministers comprise eight percent of the cabinet and Karnali has no female minister. 

While Sudurpaschim province has 45.45 percent women representation in the cabinet, its legislative assembly has just 21.56 percent women. 

Bimala Nepali, lawmaker and member of Women and Social Affairs Committee of Parliament, says they have repeatedly urged the government to at least ensure a minimum threshold of women in the federal Cabinet, to no avail.

More men should take up women’s rights advocacy

Bimala Rai Poudel
Member of National Assembly

I ask for 51.04 percent women representation in every sector, in line with our population data. Currently, our legislative bodies have a decent number of female representatives, and we can raise our issues more effectively. But we also need men on our side. Gender equality should be a universal cause. To build an equal society, it is imperative that men take up the issues of women’s rights and representation.