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The sixth day of Bada Dashain is being celebrated by Hindus across the country today by worshiping Goddess Katyayani Devi.

Goddess Katyayani is described in Hindu scriptures as a symbol of beauty. It is mentioned in the scriptures that Goddess Katyayani came to this world to prevent obstacles from demonic demons while doing good deeds including charity.

There is a religious belief that worshiping Goddess Katyayani on the occasion of Navratri brings strength, prosperity and knowledge.

The devotees have thronged the Hindu shrines across the country.

In Kathmandu Valley, devotees throng Guheshwori, Jaya Bageshwori, Maitidevi, Kalikasthan, Naxal Bhagawati, Bhadrakali, Kalankimai and several other temples from early morning.

Likewise, Palanchwok Bhagawati, Nala Bhagawati, Kamalamai, Ichchhakamana, Manakamana, Gadhimai, Pathibhara, Dantakali, Baglung Kalika, Bindhabasini, Tal Barahi and other shrines have also received a large number of devotees on the sixth day of the Bada Dashain today.

On a small farm in Nepal, a weeping father mourns the lost dreams of his 25-year-old son, among the 10 Nepali agriculture students massacred in the Hamas assault on Israel.

It was only last month that Ashish Chaudhary’s family had been celebrating his hopes of building a better life, after he joined Israel’s 11-month ‘Learn and Earn’ work-study scheme.

“I thought... it would be good for him and his bright future,” his father Bejhulal Dangaura told AFP with tears in his eyes. “If I had known about this danger, I would have stopped him.”

Chaudhary was among the 10 Nepali students killed when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched its Oct 7 attack on Israel, stabbing, shooting and burning to death more than 1,400 people. The attack—the worst in Israel’s history—sparked a retaliatory assault on Gaza that has killed around 3,000 people there, most of them civilians.

At Israel’s Kibbutz Alumim, close to the Gaza border, Chaudhary was among the 10 Nepali farming students killed by Hamas’s grenade explosions and intense gunfire.

Four other Nepalis were injured, and one student is missing. Distraught relatives in Nepal—a majority-Hindu Himalayan nation over 4,500 kilometers (2,795 miles) from the bloodshed—are reeling from the loss.

Chaudhary had planned to return home next year. His dream was to use his savings and the skills learned from Israel’s high-tech agriculture to launch a farming business in Nepal’s western Kailali district.

More than 3,000 Nepalis have joined the Israeli programme since its 2013 launch, being paid more in a year than what it would take a decade on average to earn at home.

Remittances are crucial for Nepal’s economy, equalling nearly a quarter of the country’s GDP last year, the ninth-highest rate globally, according to the World Bank.

‘River of blood’

Before the attack, around 4,500 Nepalis were estimated to be working in Israel, many as caregivers. About 200 students were on the ‘Learn and Earn’ program, which allows them to learn new skills while working on farms in Israel.

Parents who poured their life savings into educating their child—hoping they could then bring the whole family out of poverty—have had their dreams crushed.

“I did not let anything go missing from his life since his childhood. All love their children and want to give them a good education. We brought him to this point,” his father Dangaura said.

Dangaura had taken out loans to send his son to college, using his home and small shop as collateral. Students like Chaudhary expect to earn up to $15,000 for their work in Israel, a lucrative opportunity with Nepal’s annual average income just $1,400.

His death came just as “he wanted to earn and take care of us”, Dangaura said.

“He was happy. He had many dreams... He used to tell me: ‘Don’t worry, I will take care of everything,’” his sister Amrita Devi Dangaura said, as she burst into tears while consoling her parents.

“We are left with neither any business nor farmland nor our family’s son.” Durga Neupane, aunt of another student Narayan Prasad Neupane killed, said she would struggle to comprehend his death until she saw his dead body.

“It feels like it’s not real,” she said. “He used to say that he would return home and build a concrete house. Now, even his body is not here.”

Nepal last week sent a rescue flight for 254 citizens, with 200 others waiting to return.

Dhan Bahadur Chaudhary, 26, injured by a grenade blast, was among those who returned. He saw his friends shot dead and others bleed to death. “I can’t sleep well at night,” he told reporters as he arrived at the airport in the capital Kathmandu. “I dream of my friends. I only see blood, I see a river of blood.”

AFP

The number of complaints registered at the Press Council Nepal regarding the violation of the journalist code of conduct has risen significantly in recent times.

The Press Council Nepal has received a total of 132 complaints pertaining to the violation of journalist code of conduct in the last three months.

Among the complaints registered at the Council, 93 are related with defamation and character assassination, 25 with spreading rumors, two with bargaining and two with plagiarism.

Issuing a statement on Wednesday, assistant spokesperson Ram Sharan Bohara said that the four media outlets, which had published the news materials about the cases pending in the court, have been directed not to publish any news materials that may cause obstruction in justice delivery

After a complaint was registered at the Council stating that despite being acquitted by the Chitwan District Court on February 7, the video content on the case of inciting suicide, which is under considering at the court, is still in the media and YouTube and has been affecting his daily life, a meeting of the Code of Conduct Monitoring subcommittee held on September 19, 2023 had directed the concerned authority to delete the content.

Similarly, the meeting has decided to write to the Department of Information and Federation of Nepali Journalists urging them to provide necessary information about the two journalists who were found guilty in the fake educational certificate case while carrying out an investigation on the basis of complaints lodged at the Council.

The Press Council has also urged the concerned authority to conduct an investigation into the Himal Pari Ko Awaz Weekly, Dainik. Com and an independent journalist whether they have a press representative certificate of the Information Department and a membership card of the federation.

After a complaint was lodged against him, the Council had written to the Department of Information and Broadcasting to provide details about a person who called himself as an independent journalist. According to the complaint, the person has been asking the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, Central Investigation Department and Foreign Employment Department among others to take action against the operators of incensed organizations and companies related to foreign employment under the guise of an independent journalist by spreading fake news.  

The decision was also made to hold a bilateral discussion on the issue.

Similarly, based on the complaints that the Halesipati.com was registered online by producing fake certificates and has been publishing exaggerated contents, the Council blacklisted the media. But after the Federal of Nepali Journalists Khotang chapter on September 21 had filed a complaint with the Council stating that it had resumed its business again.

Then the Council wrote to the Nepal Telecommunications Authority to make arrangements that the website cannot be opened in Nepal.

Similarly, two journalists—one for recording the phone conversation and broadcasting the same from other media and publishing contents that disturbs social harmony and incites communal violence through social media—have been warned based on the complaints.

The government has started granting Nepali citizenship to non-resident Nepalis (NRNs). As part of this initiative, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal provided NRN citizenship certificates to President of Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) Kul Acharya and Executive President Badri KC amidst a function organized at the PM’s official residence in Baluwatar on Tuesday.

The District Administration Office (DAO), Kathmandu had issued an NRN citizenship certificate in KC’s name on Monday, while DAO, Parbat had issued the certificate in Acharya’s name on Sunday. 

The issuance of citizenship papers to NRNs is in line with Article 14 of the Constitution of Nepal which states, “The non-residential citizenship of Nepal may be so granted to a person who has acquired the citizenship of a foreign country, has resided in a country other than a member-state of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, and who or whose father or mother, grandfather or grandmother was previously a citizen of Nepal by descent or birth but subsequently acquired the citizenship of the foreign country that such person may enjoy economic, social and cultural rights in accordance with the Federal law.”

The government had amended the Nepal Citizenship Act, 2063, to provide Nepali citizenship to NRNs for the protection of their economic, social and cultural rights.

Per the amended Act, those who have NRN citizenship cannot participate in politics, hold government positions and vote. But they can do business and also own property in Nepal.

The NRN citizenship can be revoked if the person acquiring the citizenship is found to have acted against the independence, sovereignty, geographical integrity and national interest.

Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Dinesh Bhattarai, informed that the government has made arrangements to distribute NRN citizenship certificates from all 77 districts. This means NRNs can apply for such certificates from today itself. NRNA had been demanding citizenship certificates for NRNs for a long time.

After receiving the citizenship, KC thanked the government and lauded the initiative themed “Once a Nepali, forever a Nepali”.

“Citizenship is not just a paper. It’s a responsibility. The Nepalis living abroad should also contribute to the motherland’s prosperity,” KC stressed.

Stating that the Nepali diasporas have played significant roles in the development of several countries, Acharya mentioned that citizenship has connected people residing abroad with the motherland.

Prime Minister Dahal said that granting citizenship to non-resident Nepalis is a great achievement, reminding that it had become possible after much struggle and effort.

Dahal recalled that he had tried quite hard to include provisions on granting citizenship to NRNs with economic and cultural rights in the Constitution of Nepal, adding that the President, as requested by his government, had authenticated the Citizenship Bill. “I believe that millions of non-resident Nepalis now well understand as to whose struggle and initiative has made all this (granting of NRN citizenship) possible,” he said, asking the Nepali community living abroad to spread the word.

Meanwhile, President Ramchandra Paudel has expressed confidence that the provision on granting citizenship to Non-Resident Nepalis will bring them closer to Nepal.