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Nepal Airlines to sell five Chinese-made turboprops

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BY RILEY PICKETT — Nepal Airlines will sell five Chinese-made turboprops for a loss. The aircraft in question are unfit to fly and have been grounded for years. The airline previously tried to lease them out but has had no takers. They have been a financial burden on the airline, which is already grappling with enormous debt. The airline accepts that demand for these aircraft is low and will have to sell them for far less than it paid ten years ago.

Financial burden
The Nepalese Finance Ministry owns the five aircraft. They were initially procured for the airline to be used on underserved mountain routes. The planes listed for sale include two MA60 aircraft and three Y12e aircraft. The aircraft were not in service for long before they were grounded. The airplanes have had an unusually high number of maintenance issues for their age, and spare parts are hard to come by for this aircraft. On top of maintenance dilemmas, the airline has struggled to find enough qualified pilots to fly the planes and even fewer flight instructors that can teach other pilots to fly the aircraft.

In July 2020, the airline’s management announced that it would ground all Chinese-made airplanes. In December 2020, the airline petitioned the Nepalese Civil Aviation Ministry in hopes that they would receive permission to part with the aircraft. After being grounded for two years, the airline finally received the authorization.

Farewell attempts

For these reasons, the Financial Ministry approved Nepal Airlines’ request to lease the aircraft to another air carrier. The airplanes were put up for lease on September 14th. The only parties eligible to bid for a lease must have a valid air operator’s certificate and at least one aircraft in their fleet. If another air carrier were to lease the planes, it would be a dry lease, meaning that the lessor would be responsible for supplying the flight and cabin crew.

The bidding period was scheduled to close on October 31st. However, no party has seriously considered leasing the aircraft leading the airline to put them up for sale this week. Before the aircraft became available for lease, the Financial Ministry told the airline to sell the aircraft for a loss if a lessor should not arise, as they have been burning a hole in its wallet for years. Both parties recognize that the longer these planes remain unairworthy, the less they will be worth. A former board member of Nepal Airlines, Ashok Pokhrel, stated,

“No doubt, the planes can fly. It was a management problem that the shiny new planes never flew for the purpose they were brought,

“Now, years after they were acquired, it is wise to sell them rather than keep them in storage,

“If the planes begin to rust, they will become scrap.”

Several of the aircraft have already begun showing signs of corrosion. The next owner will likely use the planes for parts instead of going through the trouble of making them airworthy again. The airline’s experience with these planes has shown that aftermarket support is limited, leading many operators to opt to acquire aircraft produced by well-established western manufacturers. ( From : Simpleflying)

Mulayam Singh Yadav, founder of Samajwadi Party in India, dies at 82

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New Delhi — The founder of the Samajwadi Party and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav, died of illness on Monday, 10th October 2022 at the age of 82.

Yadav was admitted at the Medanta Hospital in Gurugram, Haryana, due to ill health where he breathed his last.

The news of the death of Mulayam Singh Yadav was confirmed by his son Akhilesh Yadav.

Mulayam Singh Yadav was born on November 22, 1939, in Saifai village, Etawah district, Uttar Pradesh, India, to Murti Devi and Sughar Singh Yadav. He entered politics after meeting Sarvashri Madhu Limaye, Karpoori Thakur, Ram Sewak Yadav, Raj Narayan, and Janeshwar Mishra. He was inspired and motivated by Dr Ram Manohar Lohia’s socialist ideas and beliefs.

Mulayam Singh Yadav was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly for the first time in 1967. In 1989, Yadav was elected Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the first time. Yadav created the Samajwadi Party in 1992. He joined up with the Bahujan Samaj Party to win the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in November 1993.(Agencies)

India facing a pandemic of resistant superbugs

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By Soutik Biswas —  At the 1,000-bed not-for-profit Kasturba Hospital in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, doctors are grappling with a rash of antibiotic-resistant “superbug infections”.

This happens when bacteria change over time and become resistant to drugs that are supposed to defeat them and cure the infections they cause.

Such resistance directly caused 1.27 million deaths worldwide in 2019, according to The Lancet, a medical journal. Antibiotics – which are considered to be the first line of defence against severe infections – did not work in most of these cases.

India is one of the countries worst hit by what doctors call “antimicrobial resistance” – antibiotic-resistant neonatal infections alone are responsible for the deaths of nearly 60,000 newborns each year. A new government report paints a startling picture of how things are getting worse.

Tests carried out at Kasturba Hospital to find out which antibiotic would be most effective in tackling five main bacterial pathogens have found that a number of key drugs were barely effective.

These pathogens include E.coli (Escherichia coli), commonly found in the intestines of humans and animals after consumption of contaminated food; Klebsiella pneumoniae, which can infect the lungs to cause pneumonia, and the blood, cuts in the skin and the lining of the brain to cause meningitis; and the deadly Staphylococcus aureus, a food-borne bacteria that can be transmitted through air droplets or aerosols.

Doctors found that some of the main antibiotics were less than 15% effective in treating infections caused by these pathogens. Most concerning was the emergence of the multidrug-resistant pathogen called Acinetobacter baumannii, which attacks the lungs of patients on life support in critical care units.

“As almost all our patients cannot afford the higher antibiotics, they run the real risk of dying when they develop ventilator-associated pneumonia in the ICU,” Dr SP Kalantri, medical superintendent of the hospital, says.

A new report by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) says that resistance to a powerful class of antibiotics called carbapenems – it defeats a number of pathogens – had risen by up to 10% in just one year alone. The report collects data on antibiotic resistance from up to 30 public and private hospitals every year.

“The reason why this is alarming is that it is a great drug to treat sepsis [a life-threatening condition] and sometimes used as the first line of treatment in hospitals for very sick patients in ICUs,” says Dr Kamini Walia, a scientist at Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and lead author of the study.

Things are so worrying that only 43% of the pneumonia infections caused by one pathogen in India could be treated with the first line of antibiotics in 2021, down from 65% in 2016, the ICMR report says.

Saswati Sinha, a critical care specialist at AMRI Hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata, says things are so bad that “six out of 10” patients in her ICU have drug-resistant infections. “The situation is truly alarming. We have come to a stage where you are not left with too many options to treat some of these patients.”

Resistance to antibiotics says doctors at Kasturba Hospital, is widespread even among outpatients from villages and small towns with conditions such as pneumonia and urinary tract infections. Since most don’t carry prescriptions and can’t recall the drugs they were prescribed, doctors find it difficult to get records of their past exposure to antibiotics.

Managing such patients is an ordeal. “The situation is desperate, and desperate measures – ordering more and more antibiotics is likely to result in more harm than benefits,” says Dr Kalantri.

Public health experts believe many doctors in India prescribe antibiotics indiscriminately.

Antibiotics, for example, cannot cure viral illnesses like the flu or the common cold. Patients with dengue – a viral infection – and malaria – caused by a single-celled parasite – often receive antibiotics. Antibiotics continue to be prescribed for diarrheal diseases and upper respiratory infections for which they have limited value.

During the chaotic treatment of Covid-19, patients were treated with antibiotics which resulted in more adverse effects. Last year, an ICMR study of 17,534 Covid-19 patients in Indian hospitals found that more than half of them who acquired drug-resistant infections died.

Yet prescriptions for broad-spectrum antibiotics – drugs that should be reserved for tackling the most serious, hard-to-treat bacterial infections – comprise a whopping 75% of all prescriptions issued in India’s hospitals, studies have found.

To be true, doctors are not to blame entirely. In large, crowded public hospitals, they are starved of time to see patients, diagnose their illnesses, sort bacterial from viral diseases and design treatment plans, says Dr Kalantri.

A widespread lack of knowledge about antibiotics means that most patients – rural and urban – are not aware of antibiotic resistance. Even the rich and educated take antibiotics if they fall ill or pressure doctors to prescribe antibiotics.

As prices of antibiotics fall and diagnostics remain expensive, doctors prefer to prescribe drugs rather than order tests. “Doctors are sometimes not sure what they are treating, and they want to treat everything by using broad-spectrum drugs,” said Dr Walia.

Hospital infections are also to blame. Patients are often pumped with antibiotics to compensate for poor hygiene and sanitation, “because no doctor wants to lose a patient because of an infection”.

“It is a perfect storm as far as India goes. There are lots of infectious diseases in the background, lack of infection control and a lot of unnecessary consumption of antibiotics,” Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the One Health Trust, a global public health think tank, says.

Experts believe India needs to invest more in and beef up diagnostic labs, produce more infectious diseases physicians, reduce hospital infections and train doctors on the usage of antibiotics based on tests to tackle the rising threat of superbugs. Otherwise, “resistance to antibiotics has the potential of taking the form of a pandemic in near future,” warns Dr Walia. ( BBC )

Indian gov’t launches task force to monitor cheetah introduction project

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NEW DELHI — The Indian government said on Friday that it has formed a task force to monitor a cheetah introduction project in the central part of the South Asian country.

“The ministry of environment, forest and climate change has constituted a task force for monitoring Cheetah introduction in Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh and other suitable designated areas,” an official statement said.

The task force consists of officials of forests and tourism of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, and Inspector General of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in New Delhi Amit Mallick.

According to the environment ministry, the NTCA will facilitate the work of the cheetah task force and render all necessary helps. “The task force shall be in force for a period of two years,” it added.

Last month cheetahs were reintroduced in India decades after their extinction from Indian habitat.

Eight cheetahs — five females and three males — were flown from Windhoek in Namibia to the Madhya Pradesh state in a customized cargo plane. They have been kept at the Kuno National Park.

“Cheetah restoration is part of a prototype or model for restoration of original cheetah habitats and their biodiversity. This will help to stem the degradation and rapid loss of biodiversity,” the environment ministry said.

-Xinhua

Nepal Election: EC making voters well informed

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KATHMANDU, RSS

The Election Commission has published the details of all voters-their serial number, voter number, voting place, polling station, name of father, mother, husband or wife.

The EC published the details of voters in its website-www.election.gov.np. The EC, however, would send sealed voter name-list with photo and contact number at the office of the Election Officer later.

It has published the final voter name-list on September 16 for the election of the House of Representatives and Province Assembly scheduled for November 20. The EC has postponed the task of collecting voter name-list after announcement of HoR and Province Assembly election until the election.

EC Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Poudel shared that the EC would make efforts not to let anyone deprived of voting rights just because of minor errors in the voters details.

As per the details of voters name-list approved by the EC, there are 17.988 million voters for the coming HoR and Province Assembly election.

There were 17.733 million voters in the local-level election held on May 13. The EC has determined 10,891 polling centres and 22,226 polling station under this.

Similarly, the EC would address any questions of voters regarding election related curiosity and confusion in toll free number after Dashain. It has set up and brought into operation a press office at Bahadur Bhawan from September 30 to facilitate with media and to disseminate fact and effective information about election.

The EC has forwarded a plan to run voter education programme by using maximum digital means for the election.

The EC has continued election activities during public holidays on Dashain festival. According to the set election calendar, under the proportional representation system, the same group can nominate another candidates to the vacant places that would remain because of the withdrawal of candidacy between October 6 and 8 (until 3 pm). And, the political party concerned should submit the name list to the EC.

Publication of the closed list of candidates will take place on October 8. Similarly, claim and complaints over qualification of the candidates in the closed list will happen from October 9 to 15. The EC would look into the claim and complaints and take a decision on October 16. The notice about the removal of candidates’ name from the closed list would be published on October 25, and the closed list of candidates would be given a final touch on October 26.

Similarly under the first-past-the-post system, the registration of the nomination of candidates and the publication of the list of the nomination would take place on October 9. The submission of the complaints against candidates would occur on October 10.

And, the EC would take a decision after looking into the nomination and complaints between October 10 and 11. The name list of candidates will be published on October 11, and candidacy withdrawal on October 12. Similarly, the publication of the final name list of candidates and the distribution of election symbols would occur the same day.

India probes deaths in Gambia linked to Indian-made cough syrup

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New Delhi — India is investigating the deaths of dozens of children in The Gambia that the World Health Organization (WHO) said may be linked to a cough syrup made in the South Asian nation, two people from India’s health ministry have told the Reuters news agency.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday told reporters the UN agency was investigating the deaths from acute kidney injuries with India’s drug regulator and New Delhi-based cough syrup manufacturer Maiden Pharmaceuticals.

The agency informed the Drugs Controller General of India of the deaths late last month, after which the regulator launched an investigation with state authorities in tandem with the WHO probe, the people said.

Maiden Pharmaceuticals manufactured and exported the syrup only to the West African nation, the people said.

Calls from Reuters to a listed telephone number for Maiden Pharmaceuticals went unanswered, as did an emailed request for comment. Calls to the Drugs Controller General of India outside of office hours also went unanswered.

India’s government has asked the WHO to share its report linking the deaths with the cough syrup and says it will take “all required steps in the matter,” the officials said. ( Agencies )

IMF chief highlights “fundamental shift” in global economy

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WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief said Thursday there is a “fundamental shift” in the global economy, urging countries to bring down inflation, put in place responsible fiscal policy, and jointly support emerging market and developing economies.

The global economy is moving “from a world of relative predictability – with a rules-based framework for international economic cooperation, low interest rates, and low inflation… to a world with more fragility – greater uncertainty, higher economic volatility, geopolitical confrontations, and more frequent and devastating natural disasters,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a curtain raiser speech ahead of the 2022 Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank scheduled next week.

Stressing the urgency to stabilize the economy, Georgieva noted that global outlook has darkened by multiple shocks, among them a war, and inflation has become more persistent.

The IMF has downgraded its growth projections already three times since October last year, to only 3.2 percent for 2022 and 2.9 percent for 2023, the IMF chief said, adding that the global institution will downgrade growth for next year in its updated World Economic Outlook next week.

“We will flag that the risks of recession are rising,” she noted. The IMF estimates that countries accounting for about one-third of the world economy will experience at least two consecutive quarters of contraction this or next year.

“And, even when growth is positive, it will feel like a recession because of shrinking real incomes and rising prices,” she added.

Overall, the IMF expects a global output loss of about 4 trillion U.S. dollars between now and 2026. This is the size of the German economy – a massive setback for the world economy.

The IMF chief urged policymakers to stay the course to bring down inflation, and to put in place responsible fiscal policy – one that protects the vulnerable, without adding fuel to inflation, while calling for joint efforts to support emerging market and developing economies.

“A stronger dollar, high borrowing costs and capital outflows cause a triple blow to many emerging markets and developing economies,” said Georgieva, noting that the probability of portfolio outflows from emerging markets over the next three quarters has risen to 40 percent, which could pose “a major challenge” to countries with large external financing needs.

More than a quarter of emerging economies have either defaulted or had bonds trading at distressed levels; and over 60 percent of low-income countries are in – or at high risk of – debt distress.

The IMF chief urged countries to work together to address issues such as food insecurity, which is now affecting a staggering number of 345 million people, and climate change, the existential threat to humanity.

Since the pandemic began, the IMF has provided 258 billion dollars to 93 countries. Since the Ukraine-Russia war, it has supported 16 countries with close to 90 billion dollars. This is additional to last year’s historic 650 billion Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocation. ( Xinhua)

16 killed, 36 injured in bus accident in Nepal

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By Krishnaram Pariyar, Makawanpur — As many as 16 people died and 36 others were injured in a road accident at Jitpur Simara Sub-Metropolis-22 of Bara district along the East-West highway today.

The accident took place as a bus (Bagmati State 06-001 Kha 0110) heading towards Birgunj from Narayangadh of Chitwan, somersaulted on the road due to high speed, according to the Superintendent of Police at the District Police Office, Makawanpur, Bamdev Gautam.

Ten persons died on the spot while two at Hetauda Hospital were in course of treatment. The injured ones are receiving treatment at Hetauda Hospital, Churehill Hospital, and Makawanpur Cooperative Hospital. Similarly, those injured seriously have been taken to Chitwan for further treatment.

Identities of the deceased have not been ascertained. (RSS)

34 people including 22 children killed in a gun rampage In Thailand

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Bangkok— At least 34 people have been killed and others injured in a gun and knife attack by a former police officer at a pre-school daycare centre in Thailand.

Police say he killed himself and his family after a manhunt following the attack in Nong Bua Lamphu province.

Children and adults are among the casualties at the nursery – police say the attacker shot and stabbed his victims before going on the run.

A motive is unclear. Police say the officer was dismissed last year.

The victims of the attack are reported to include children as young as two. At least 12 people have been wounded.

“The shooter came in around lunch time and shot four or five officials at the childcare centre first,” a local official Jidapa Boonsom, who was working nearby, told Reuters news agency.

“At first people thought it was fireworks,” she said, adding the gunman then forced entry to a locked room where children were sleeping.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha described the shooting as “a shocking event”.

Police named the attacker as Panya Kamrab. He fled the scene in a white-four door Toyota pick-up truck with Bangkok registration plates.

A senior police officer in Nong Bua Lamphu province said 23 children were among the casualties, AFP news agency reports.

He said Kamrab, a police lieutenant colonel, had been dismissed last year for drug use.

Mass shootings in Thailand are rare although gun ownership rates are relatively high for the region. Illegal weapons are also common in the south-east Asian country, according to the Reuters news agency.

The nursery attack comes less than a month after an army officer shot dead two of his colleagues at a base in Bangkok.

In 2020 a soldier killed 29 people and injured dozens more in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima. ( BBC )

King Charles III, Queen Consort host members of UK’s South Asian community in recognition of contributions

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LONDON: King Charles III and his wife Camilla, the queen consort, hosted guests of South Asian heritage in Edinburgh on Monday in recognition of their contributions to British society.

The royals welcomed around 300 people at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh to recognise the contribution that South Asian communities in the UK have made to the National Health Service, arts, media, education, business and the armed forces.

The king has been involved with British Asian communities for many years through his work with the British Asian Trust which he founded in 2007 with a group of British Asian business leaders.

The royal couple are visiting Scotland as part of their first joint public engagement since the end of the royal mourning period to remember Queen Elizabeth II.

They were visiting to formally give city status to Dunfermline, the birthplace of King Charles I.

Dunfermline was among eight towns that won city status as part of Platinum Jubilee celebrations earlier this year to mark Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne.

SpaceX heads off for international space station with US, Russian, Japanese astronauts

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Florida —- Billionaire tycoon Elon Musk-led Space X blasted off from Florida on Wednesday and headed for the International Space Station (ISS).
The mission included a Russian cosmonaut and a Japanese and two American astronauts.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina onboard on October 5 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, according to the press statement released by NASA.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 is the fifth mission of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the ISS as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
The crew members assigned to NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission are in orbit now
The international crew will serve as the agency’s fifth commercial crew rotation mission with SpaceX aboard the orbital laboratory.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the Dragon Endurance spacecraft into orbit carrying NASA astronauts Nicole Mann as mission commander, and Josh Cassada, pilot. JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina, also aboard the Dragon, will serve as mission specialists for their science expedition in microgravity aboard the space station, according to a statement.
“Missions like Crew-5 are proof we are living through a golden era of commercial space exploration. It’s a new era powered by the spirit of partnership, fueled by scientific ingenuity, and inspired by the quest for new discoveries,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
During their stay aboard the ISS, Crew-5 will conduct more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations, including studies on printing human organs in space and better understanding heart disease, he said. “While our eyes are focused upward on the heavens, let us never forget these missions will also better life here on Earth,” he added.
Such a mission is the first spaceflight for Mann, Cassada, and Kikina. While for Wakata, this is the fifth spaceflight. This is the sixth SpaceX flight with NASA astronauts – including the Demo-2 test flight in 2020 to the space station – as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
“Dragon will dock autonomously to the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module around 4:57 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6. NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website will provide live coverage of docking and hatch opening. NASA also will cover the ceremony to welcome the crew aboard the orbital outpost at about 8:15 pm,” the statement reads.
Crew-5 will spend several months in conducting new scientific research in areas such as cardiovascular health, bioprinting, and fluid behaviour in microgravity to prepare for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and to benefit life on Earth.
“The International Space Station continues to serve a critical role in helping NASA and our partners understand and maximize the unique attributes of the microgravity environment,” said Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate in Washington.
“I am grateful to the many people who worked to ensure a safe Crew-5 launch despite the recent hurricane so the crew can fulfill their mission to the orbiting laboratory.” (ANI)

Bangladesh starts probe into national grid failure

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Dhaka : An investigation committee of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) started its probe on Wednesday to identify the reasons behind the blackout for 7-8 hours.
The grid which failed at 2:04 pm local time on Tuesday caused the widespread blackout, barring some northern parts of the country, Dhaka Tribune reported.
Chief of the investigation body and executive director (P&D) of the PGCB, Yeakub Elahi Chowdhury said, “We started our probe this morning to identify the possible causes behind the national grid disaster and also the exact point of the incident.”
The PGCB formed a five-member investigation committee, headed by Yeakub Elahi Chowdhury, following the national grid failure, reported Dhaka Tribune citing UNB.
Later, an experienced individual who had been working as a consultant with grid systems locally and internationally was co-opted into the committee.

According to Dhaka Tribune citing official sources said the investigation committee was given three days to complete the probe.
Meanwhile, State Minister Nasrul Hamid instructed the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources to form two more investigation committees to identify the cause of the grid failure and also gave recommendations to avert any further disasters in the future.
After relentless efforts, the power supply was restored in the entire country, starting from the Kalyanpur grid sub-station and then restored power supply to the president’s official residence, Bangabhaban, and the prime minister’s official residence, Ganabhaban, at 5 pm.
Gradually, power supply was restored in other parts of the area, and within 10:30 pm the entire country had electricity, reported Dhaka Tribune.
On Tuesday, the transmission line tripped somewhere in the eastern part of the country, especially in districts east of the Jamuna river, according to the officials at Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB).
Bangladesh’s biggest national power grid failure incident happened on November 1, 2014, when the entire country was without power for 17 hours.
Even in May 2017, a similar incident of grid failure happened in 32 districts. (ANI)

Dashain Being celebrated by Nepali around the world

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Kathmandu —  Vijaya Dashami, the 10th day of the Bada Dasain festival, is being celebrated by Nepali people across the country  and the world with great enthusiasm by receiving ‘tika’ and blessings from elders.

The worship of Sri Durga Bhawani at Dasainghars for nine days concludes formally on the day of Vijaya Dashami after the abhishekh or sprinkling of holy water takes place which marks the beginning of tika. People receive tika and jamara till the full moon day.

Tika and jamara are considered the auspicious gifts of the goddess Nawa Durga and they signify prosperity. It is believed that one need not seek an auspicious hour if one undertakes any new assignment, campaign or journey on the auspicious day of Vijaya Dashami.

The Vijaya Dashami festival is considered as one of the biggest festival of Nepalese Hindu. It is celebrated in commemoration of the victory of truth over evil and the victory of divine forces over demonic forces.

India inducts Light Combat Helicopter into the IAF

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London –  The Indian Defence Ministry has announced that they have inducted the  first batch of indigenously-developed Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) into the Indian Air Force.

The helicopter, named Prachand (The Fierce One), was inducted into the IAF on Monday in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The induction ceremony was held in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur. Newly appointed Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Anil Chauhan was also present.

“For a long time, there was a need for attack helicopters and during the 1999 Kargil war, its need was felt seriously. The LCH is a result of research and development for two decades and its induction into IAF is an important milestone in defence production,” Minister Singh said.

The new chopper inducted into the force is capable of aerial combat and will help the force combat slow-moving aircraft, drones and armoured columns during conflicts, the Indian Defence Ministry said.

“LCH is capable of dodging the enemy, carrying a variety of ammunition, and delivering it to the site quickly. LCH perfectly meets the needs of our armed forces in various terrains and it is an ideal platform for both our Army and Airforce,” the Minister added.

Light Combat Helicopter Limited Series Production (LSP) is an indigenously designed, developed and manufactured state-of-the-art modern combat helicopter containing approximately 45 per cent indigenous content by value which will progressively increase to more than 55 per cent, officials said.

“This helicopter is equipped with requisite agility, manoeuvrability, extended range, high altitude performance and around-the-clock, all-weather combat capability to perform roles of Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR), Destruction of Enemy Air Defence (DEAD), Counter Insurgency (CI) operations, against slow-moving aircraft and Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPAs), high altitude bunker busting operations, Counter Insurgency operations in the jungle and urban environments and support to ground forces and would be a potent platform to meet the operational requirements of Indian Air Force and Indian Army,” said the Ministry of Defence.

Sri Lanka plans to earn 3 billion USD through indigenous medicine: official

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COLOMBO — Sri Lanka plans to earn 3 billion U.S. dollars in foreign exchange within three years by exporting indigenous medical products and services, State Minister of Indigenous Medicine Sisira Jayakody has said.

“This is one of the main areas where we can earn foreign exchange since a lot of foreigners are interested in the medical system,” said the official, quoted by local media on Sunday.

Laws on facilitating export of indigenous medical products have been drafted and would be presented at the parliament shortly, he said.

Around 75,000 people can be provided with direct and indirect job opportunities through these initiatives, said the official, adding that 1,200 people will be trained next year to treat foreigners who seek indigenous treatment.

The official said the government has earmarked 3.3 million dollars for the promotion of indigenous medicine aimed at foreign markets. (Xinhua)

Dashain : The biggest festival of Nepal being celebrated this week

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Kathmandu — Dashain is the biggest festival of Hindu Nepali.  Today is “Astami” the eighth day of the Dashain.  The festival is mostly popular for eating delicious foods, wearing new clothes, and engaging in recreational activities.

The nine days festival is celebrated in the month of Ashwin. During Dashain people worship goddess Durga for nine days. On tenth day of festival elders give golden barley shoots and put Tika on the forehead of younger members of the family and bless them for peace, progress and prosperity in the life. People within Nepal and abroad visits their native places to celebrate Bada Dashain festival with their family and friends.

Likewise, October 3 and 4 will mark Mahaashtami and Mahanavami respectively. Tika or Vijaya Dashami, the main day of Dashain will be celebrated on October 5 .

Though tika can be received and offered from the day of Vijaya Dashami to Kojagrat Purnima, Nepal Panchanga Nirnayak Bikas Samiti, the government body authorised to decide dates and times for Hindu festivals to be celebrated in the country, has informed that 11:51 am on October 5 will be the most auspicious time to receive Dashain Tika this year.

According to popular Hindu myth, Goddess Durga had killed the demon king Mahishasur on Mahanavami and Vijaya Dashami symbolises the victory of good over evil.

During Navaratra, devotees visit the temples of the goddess of power.

About 10 days of Dashain festival

The first day of Dashain is known as Ghatasthapana, on this day, people fill a vessel with sand and sow maize and barley seeds and is covered and worshiped for 10 days.

On the seventh day, Phulpati is celebrated which is also known as ‘Saptami’.

The eight day is regarded as Maha Aastami. On this day, animals like buffaloes, ducks, goats, hens are sacrificed to Goddess Kali and the meat is taken as ‘Prasad’ (holy food). The night of this day is called the dark night- ‘Kal Ratri’.

Maha Navami is the ninth day of Dashain. On this day, craftsman, mechanics, traders etc worship their equipment and tools by sacrificing different animals and offering it to equipment.

The tenth day is named as Vijaya Dashami which is the most important day of this festival. On the tenth day, younger ones in a family receive Tika (a mixture of yogurt, rice and vermilion), Jamara (planted on the first day of Dashain) and blessings from elders as well as respected people.

This festival is in fact the ceremony of reunion and fun. People living far away from home or homeland, revisit their home and get together with their families. Similarly, parents buy new clothes to their children. People enjoy eating mouth-watering foods and playing a lot of games including cards. People invite guests, organize feast, visit their relatives’ houses, fly kites, build bamboo swings and get involved in various entertaining activities.