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The Newar community is observing the Sithi Nakha festival with gaiety and fervor as the last of their cultural festivals today.

The community celebrates the festival on the sixth day of the bright half of the Nepali month Jestha as per the lunar calendar. This day is also celebrated as Kumar Sashti.  

The Sithi Nakha festival holds special significance in the Newar community. This festival marks the beginning of the monsoon and is celebrated as the last festival because it coincides with the important agricultural activity of Sinya Jya (rice planting) for farmers.

Since it is also the birthday of the Hindu deity Kumar, on this day the Newar community worships Kumar and there is a tradition of eating special types of dishes called 'bara' made from pulses like, green gram, split black gram and lentils.

People also enjoy special bread made from 'mhuchhyamadhi' or the flour of the roasted wheat that is the year's freshly harvested grain. Other delicacies like 'chatamari', 'papad' and 'malpuwa' are also cooked at home on the occasion and the whole family eats them together in celebration. 

On the day of Sithi Nakha, the Newar community cleans water sources such as wells, ponds, and streams.

The tradition of cleaning the water sources is a way of keeping them clean because during the rainy season, it is likely that water sources and springs might become contaminated due to the drainage of rainwater and the runoff water. The purpose of this tradition of cleaning the water sources is to prevent water pollution.

This custom also carried significance because with the start of the monsoon the water would start to germinate from sources that were otherwise covered, blocked with vegetation or debris and gone dry in winter.

There is also the tradition of farmers transporting the cow dung and farm manure to their fields early in the morning on the day of Sithi Nakha festival due to the religious belief that farmers should not work in the fields on this day.

There is a religious belief that the soil of the farmstead should not be harmed on this day.

Upon completion of these activities, people clean their house and are busy marking the festival.

Culture expert Dr Purushottam Lochan Shrestha states that the Sithi Nakha festival holds special significance in the Newar community for two reasons. First, Sithi Nakha is the birthday of the deity Kumar, who is the elder son of Hindu god Mahadev and goddess Parvati.  Because of this, it is considered a festival of religious significance.

While the elephant-headed god Ganesh who is the younger brother of Kumar is considered the leader of the deities, Kumar is considered as the commander of the divine army.

According to Shrestha, the culture expert, the second reason is that it is believed worshipping the deity Kumar, who is the first to be worshipped among deities, will provide strength and energy to perform agricultural tasks like rice planting during the rainy season.

Therefore, this festival has a special significance to the farmer community.

Four girls from Lalbhitti, Belbari Municipality-2, Morang have been reported missing.

The missing are 13-year-old Jenisa Nepali and 15-year-old Sabita Pariyar, students at Mahendra Secondary School in Sundarharaicha-11, and 12-year-old Smriti Karki Doli and Anushka Karki Doli, studying at Kabir Secondary School in Belbari-2.

It is learnt that the girls had left home on May 29, saying that they were going to meet a friend.

Chief of the Area Police Office Belbari Police Inspector Krishna Bahadur Khatri shared that they are searching for the missing girls.

India on Saturday handed over a newly constructed building to Shree Mahendra Secondary School in Achham.

The building was built with the Indian government’s financial assistance of Rs 32. 40 million under ‘Nepal-Inda Development Cooperation’.  

Lalit Bahadur Kunwar, Chief, District Coordination Committee, Achham,  Rajendra Bahadur Kunwar, Mayor, Sanfebagar Municipality and  Shri Suman Shekhar, First Secretary, Embassy of India, Kathmandu jointly handed over the building.

Political representatives, government officials, social workers and teachers of the school, students and their parents were also present on this occasion.

The Government of India’s grant under ‘Nepal-India Development Cooperation’ has been utilised for the construction of the school building comprising class rooms, laboratory, computer room, staff room, administration section, principal’s room, library, accounts section and toilets for boys and girls, reads a statement issued by the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu.

The grant has also been utilised for the procurement of furniture and computers. The project was taken up as a High Impact Community Development   Project (HICDP) and was implemented through DCC Achham.

Shree Mahendra Secondary School was established in the year 1960 as a Secondary School and subsequently upgraded to Higher Secondary school.

Since 2003, Government of India has taken up over 573 HICDPs in Nepal in various sectors and has completed     495 projects. Amongst these, 43 projects are located in Sudurpashchim Province including Shree Mahendra Secondary School in Achham.

In addition to these, the Government of India has gifted 1009 ambulances and 300 school buses to various hospitals, health posts and educational institutions in Nepal. Amongst these,70 ambulances and 27 school buses have been gifted in Sudurpashchim Province. Out of these, 6 ambulances were gifted in Achham.