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Lt General Anil Chauhan (retd) appointed as new Chief of Defense Staff of India

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NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi government on Tuesday appointed Lt General Anil Chauhan (retired) as the new Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) of India.

He had retired as the Eastern Army Commander in May last year and was serving as the Military Advisor to the National Security Council.

This is the first time that a retired officer has been appointed at this position for which a gazette notification was issued to announce the change in rules for the appointment. In a career spanning over nearly 40 years, Lt Gen Chauhan has held several command, staff and instrumental appointments and had extensive experience in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and northeast India.

He will also function as Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Military Affairs with effect from the date of his assumption of charge and until further orders, an official release said.

Lt General Anil Chauhan (retired) will be the second CDS of the country after Gen Bipin Rawat who died in a helicopter crash in December last year in Tamil Nadu. Born on 18th May 1961, Lt Gen Anil Chauhan was commissioned into the 11 Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army in 1981. He is an alumnus of the National Defense Academy, Khadakwasla and Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. In the rank of Maj General, the officer had commanded an Infantry Division in the critical Baramula sector in the Northern Command.

Later as Lt General, he commanded a corps in the North East and subsequently went to become the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Command from September 2019 and held the charge until his retirement from the service in May 2021.

In addition to these command appointments, the officer also tenanted important staff appointments including the charge of Director General of Military Operations. Earlier, the officer had also served as a United Nations mission to Angola. He superannuated from the Indian Army on 31 May 2021. Even after his retirement from the Army, he continued to contribute to national security and strategic matters.

For his distinguished and illustrious service in the Army, Lt General Anil Chauhan (retired) was awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Uttam Yudh Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Sena Medal and Vishisht Seva Medal. The CDS is the most senior uniformed officer in rank, the first among equals — the only four-star officers in the country are the CDS, the chiefs of the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force.

The post was lying vacant since December 8 last year after the death of General Bipin Rawat. When General Bipin Rawat was appointed CDS by the Narendra Modi government within six months of coming back to power in 2019, it was hailed as one of the biggest reforms in the higher military structure of the country.

The CDS is also the single point of contact for the government for giving military advice and is the senior-most bureaucrat in the defense ministry which has four major departments. The appointment comes amid efforts by the government to give a big push to indigenization in the equipment for defense forces. (ANI)

17-year-old Nepali girl Prajita turned four chairs in the Voice, USA

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Maryland — 17 years old Prajita Bastola the first Nepalese artist on The Voice gets all four coaches to hit their buttons. The Episode 4 of ‘The Voice’ Season 22 was aired on September 27 In USA.

The Severna Park, Maryland singer grew up watching The Voice with her family, who closed their restaurant on Monday nights so they could watch the show together.

Parajita explains that she’d like to to incorporate her Nepalese heritage into her singing and music. But her favorite genre is R&B and soul. “The best artists are able to bring the music of their culture and their roots into the wider global landscape of music,” says John Legend, who reminds everyone that he turned his chair first. “I think your voice is that kind of transcendent voice.”

Blake Shelton admits “I know good and well that I’m in over my head here,” adding, “But it doesn’t mean that I’m also not as big a big fan of yours as everyone else here.” He teases that there is nobody else like her on his team. He jokes, “I have also been on a singing competition show,” which cracks Camila up. “Have you been in a girl group too?”

Before Parijita chooses her team, she gifts each coach with a string of rudraksha beads from Nepal.

Who Is Parijita Bastola From The Voice?

Parijita, the first-ever Nepalese-American contestant on the program, wowed the coaches and audience members with her powerful singing and captured their hearts.

Four-chair turning performances are incredibly uncommon in such prestigious shows. Blake Shelton waited for Parijita to strike a high note to be persuaded. At the same time, judges John Legend, Camila Cabello, and Gwen Stefani made their decisions within the first 20 seconds. 

However, it was a spectacle to behold as all four judges acknowledged being persuaded by the little vocalist following an amazing four-chair turn.

Parijita Bastola was born to her parents in Severna Park, Maryland, the United States. They are of brown ethnicity and follow Hinduism.

Her father’s name is Pankaj Bastola, and her mother’s name is Bira Tiwari. She has a sibling named Priyankana Bastola, whom she grew up with when she was a child.

The Voice has always been the program that her family watches together, according to Parijita. The small eatery owned by her family is intentionally closed on Mondays so they can watch The Voice.

Likewise, in her early years, she attended Severna Park High School and is now completing her college graduation at the Private Colleges of Maryland.

Being up in a large family with many musician friends, Parijita Bastola was immersed in music from the age of 7. When she was four years old, Parijita Bastola began showing interest in singing.

In addition, one can stalk her on Instagram, where she constantly updates her. She has also posted her traditional Nepali attire along with Nepali cousins and family.

Popular American singer-songwriter Parijita Bastola is the band Soul’s primary vocalist.

Bastola is renowned for her incredible voice and stage presence. She was heavily involved in middle school plays but never had the opportunity to play in a band before a guitarist saw her during one of the shows.

The synergy between the band members on stage develops over time as they get to know one another’s styles and abilities, according to Parijita Bastola, who specializes in lead singing and has contributed her talents to two bands over the years.

The current lineup of Parijita Bastola’s band, soul, has been together for a year and is a flexible ensemble that also performs R&B, funk, and new music covers. The well-known songs by Bastola are Cry and Yeah.

Body of missing US skier Hilaree Nelson found

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Kathmandu — The body of renowned US big-mountain skier Hilaree Nelson has been found in the Manaslu mountain. She was missing since last Monday. American citizen Nelson, found dead this morning by the rescue team of Sherpas deployed by the tourism authority of Nepal.
She went missing from Bhimathang area while skiing in Manaslu mountain.

A team of Sherpas was mobilized to search for her after she went missing .  The team has reported  that they had found the body and  a helicopter was sent. She will be brought to Kathmandu via Samagaon in Gorkha by helicopter, DSP  of Gorkha Lilaraj Lamichhane stated to media.

Nelson and her partner, Jim Morrison, had scaled the 26,781ft peak of Manaslu mountain on Monday morning. Jiban Ghimire of Shangri-La Nepal Treks, which organised the expedition, told Outside Magazine that the pair reached the summit at 11:30am local time before she went missing.

On Thursday, Nelson wrote on Instagram of the challenging conditions she and Morrison were facing on Manaslu, with heavy rain and humidity making the climbing difficult.

“I haven’t felt as sure-footed on Manaslu as I have on past adventures into the thin atmosphere of the high Himalaya,” she wrote. “These past weeks have tested my resilience in new ways.”

US Secretary for Global Public Affairs Trudeau arrived to Nepal

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KATHMANDU — Acting Assistant Secretary for Global Public Affairs Elizabeth Trudeau has arrived in Nepal on Wednesday.

During her brief visit, Trudeau will meet with Embassy officials, US Embassy Youth Council Nepal, and civil society to discuss and learn more about Nepal’s media landscape and countering disinformation, according to the US Embassy in Nepal.

In Kathmandu, Acting Assistant Secretary Trudeau will also visit Nepal’s beautifully restored cultural sites through United States’ cultural preservation programming.

Nepal is one stop on her multi-country tour of the region, which also includes visits to the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and the Kyrgyz Republic.

ADB to provide USD 14 billion to ease food crisis in Asia Pacific

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Kathmandu — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Tuesday announced plans to provide at least USD 14 billion over 2022-2025 in a comprehensive programme of support to ease a worsening food crisis in Asia and the Pacific, and improve long-term food security by strengthening food system against the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss.

The assistance expands ADB’s already significant support for food security in the region, where nearly 1.1 billion people lack healthy diets due to poverty and food prices which have soared to record highs this year, according to a press statement of the ADB.

The funding will be channeled through existing and new projects in sectors including farm inputs, food production and distribution, social protection, irrigation, and water resources management, as well as projects leveraging nature-based solutions.

The ADB will continue to invest in other activities which contribute to food security such as energy transition, transport, access to rural finance, environmental management, health, and education.

“This is a timely and urgently needed response to a crisis that is leaving too many poor families in Asia hungry and in deeper poverty,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa, in remarks at ADB’s 55th Annual Meeting.

“We need to act now, before the impacts of climate change worsen and further erode the region’s hard-won development gains. Our support will be targeted, integrated, and impactful to help vulnerable people, particularly vulnerable women, in the near-term, while bolstering food systems to reduce the impact of emerging and future food security risks.”

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has disrupted supplies of food staples and fertilizer, straining a global food system already weakened by climate change impacts, pandemic-related supply shocks, and unsustainable farming practices. Asia and the Pacific is vulnerable to food shocks, as some of its countries depend on imported staples and fertilizer. Even before the invasion of Ukraine, nutritious food was unaffordable for significant portions of the population in many ADB low-income member countries.

As well as supporting vulnerable people, ADB’s food security assistance will promote open trade, improve smallholder farm production and livelihoods, ease shortages of fertiliser and promote its efficient use or organic alternatives, support investments in food production and distribution, enhance nutrition, and boost climate resilience through integrated and nature-based solutions.

A key focus will be to protect the region’s natural environment from climate change impacts and biodiversity loss, which have degraded soils, freshwater, and marine ecosystems.

Assistance under the programme will start this year and continue through 2025.

It will be drawn from across ADB’s sovereign and private sector operations, and seek to leverage an additional $5 billion in private sector co-financing for food security, said ADB.

British Asian achievers honoured and winners announced at Annual ceremony

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London — The UK’s most prominent and longstanding celebration of British Asian achievement across multiple fields. Asian Achievers Awards, paid tribute to Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II at the annual ceremony, which took place on Friday 23rdSeptember at Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London. Dame Arlene Foster DBE PC, Former First Minister of Northern Ireland, led the tribute with a one-minute silence to inaugurate the ceremony.

The evening was hosted by actor, Nitin Ganatra OBE, and entrepreneur, philanthropist and documentary filmmaker, Deana Uppal, and welcomed a guest list of celebrities, public figures, VIP’s and dignitaries including Love Islandcontestant, Priya Gopaldas; TOWIE stars, Dani Imbert and Junaid Ahmed; comedian, Tez Ilyas (Man Like Mobeen); actors, Raj Ghatak, Nisha Aaliya and Yanick Ghanty; music artists, Bambi Bains, Rumer and H Dhami; Premier League presenter, Manish Bhasin; former Miss England, Hammasa Kohistani; Rajesh Agrawal, Deputy Mayor for Business London; Dr Kartar Lalvani OBE, Founder and Chairman, Vitabiotics;Subaskaran Allirajah, Founder and Chairman, Lyca; Head Teacher, Katherine Birbalsingh;businesswoman, Sheetal Mafatlal; and lead researcher for the COVID vaccine, Maheshi Ramasamy, Oxford Vaccine Group.

South Asians in the UK today occupy leadership positions across a range of fields, including politics, business and civil society. The Awards recognise the outstanding work of such individuals from across the South Asian community. Now in their 20th year, Asian Achievers Awards are recognised as the most prestigious and longstanding celebration of the leading figures of the UK’s South Asian community and their achievements, initiated by public nominations. Established in 2000, the Awards returned this year following the pandemic, presented by global advisory firm, EPG, and supported by media partners, Asian Voice and Gujarat Samchar, Zee TV, Sunrise Radio and Luxury magazine.

Across ten categories including Art & Culture; Business Person of the Year; Entrepreneur of the Year; and Community Service, Asian Achievers Awards received more than 500 nominations, from which the judges shortlisted four per category, evenly divided between male and female candidates.

This year’s judging panel was reflective of the diversity and experience of the nominations received. It included Former Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Bas Javid; Former President of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Dr Mayur Lakhani CBE; COO of Monzo Bank, Sujata Bhatia; music producer, Bally Sagoo; Welsh Assembly Member, Natasha Asghar; and Artistic Director of Darbar Festival, Sandeep Virdee OBE.

Asian Achievers Awards 2022 Winners:

Art and Culture:

Namit Malhotra – Chairman and CEO of industry-leading, visual effects and animation company, DNEG, and Founder and Non-Executive Director of DNEG’s parent company, Prime Focus Limited. As a film producer, Namit’s credits include Bollywood epics Brahmastra and the upcoming Ramayana;and the animated feature film Garfield, which will be distributed by Sony Pictures.

Business Person of the Year:

Shamil and Kavi Thakrar – Founders of Dishoom, one of the UK’s most successful, Indian restaurant companies. The company was ranked fourth in the 100 Best UK Companies To Work For list in 2021 and first in Hospitality and Leisure. In addition to growing Dishoom from one, London branch to a nationwide chain and a globally-recognised brand, they have published the cookery book, From Bombay with Love.

Community Service:

Dr Zareen Roohi Ahmed – Founder and CEO of Gift Wellness and Chair of The Halimah Trust, a charity established to fulfil the dreams of her daughter who was tragically murdered in 2007. Zareen is also a coach with Dent Global, where she has the privilege of helping other entrepreneurs realise their business dreams.

Entrepreneur of the Year:

Sherry Vaswani – Founder and CEO of Xalient, a global provider of IT services to large enterprises, specialising in cloud networking and cybersecurity. Xalient is Sherry’s second business venture, with its rapid growth recognised in the 2022 Sunday Times One Hundred and FT Europe 1000. Sherry has been a finalist in EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year and the FT’s 30 Women to Watch and is a strong advocate for improving gender balance in the tech industry.

Lifetime Achievement Award:

Dr Kartar Lalvani OBE – Founder and Chairman of Vitabiotics, the first and now most successfully specialised vitamin supplement firm in the UK, with presence in over 100 countries. He is also the Founder of Meyer Organics, one of the largest nutraceutical companies in India, with a presence in over 30 countries.

Media:

Naga Munchetty – Known nationwide as one of the presenters on BBC Breakfast and hosting a prominent radio show on BBC 5 Live. In addition, Naga presents Claimed and Shamed for BBC1. She is passionate about golf and plays off a handicap of 8. In 2013, she was crowned the winner of Celebrity Mastermind on the subject of The Ryder Cup.

Professional of the Year:

Professor Sir Shankar Balasubramanian(University of Cambridge) – Shankar created Next Generation DNA Sequencing, a technology that enables fast, accurate, low-cost and large-scale genome sequencing. The technique has transformed biology and medicine by allowing researchers to read human genomes a million times faster and at a fraction of the cost of early approaches. He was knighted in 2017 for Services to Science and Medicine and is a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Special Award for Business Leadership:

Puneet Gupta – Co-Owner and joint CEO of PG Paper, an award-winning company based in Scotland, UK and one of Scotland’s largest and most successful exporters, with a presence in 55 countries. A solution-driven paper company, PG Paper works with mills and their prime, side-run and stock capacity, supplying end-users in local markets from order to delivery. The company’s achievements have previously been recognised with awards from various chambers of commerce, Ernst & Young, The Herald Family Awards, Scottish Export Awards, Scottish BQ Awards, Scottish Asian Business Awards, BDO British Indian Awards and the Scottish SME Business Awards.

Special Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship:

Bankim Chandra – Bankim left his job as a programmer for TCS in 1996 in India and came to the UK to work for RBS as a programmer for their CRM Systems. He soon moved to Bradford to do programming for Abbey National’s Car and Home Insurance Products and the next year came to Brighton with one suitcase to take on the challenge of fixing the Y2K bug at American Express. Today, he is the Founder and CEO of Dotsquares, with offices in France, Australia, the US and the UK as well as three development centres in India. They have over 800 staff members in a business that provides creative digital design and development services.

Sports Personality of the Year:

Karenjeet Kaur Bains – The first female Sikh powerlifter to represent Team GB. She became the 2019 Commonwealth Champion, winning three gold medals and two silver medals in Newfoundland, Canada. She also became the first British Sikh female to represent Britain in the World and European Championships, placing in the top 10.

Uniformed and Civil Service:

Captain Harpreet Chandi – Army officer and physiotherapist also known as ‘Polar Preet’, she has created history by becoming the first woman of colour to complete a solo, unsupported trek to the South Pole. She has also completed a 156-mile ultramarathon across the Sahara Desert in 2019.

Woman of the Year:

Rt Hon Suella Braverman KC MP – UK Home Secretary and former Attorney General. Suella was first elected to Parliament in 2015 for Fareham, Hampshire and re-elected in 2017 and 2019. She served on the Education Select Committee for two years and was made Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union in 2018 prior to rising in ranks to the position of UK Attorney General and current Home Secretary.

While Suella was unable to attend on the night and her parents, Uma and Christie Fernandes, collected the award on her behalf, in a video message of acknowledgement she said, “A huge thank you to the Asian Achievers Awards for awarding me the prize of Woman of the Year. I first of all want to pay tribute to the phenomenal and inspirational women who joined me in this category for the shortlist. They are all role models to thousands of girls in our own country and also around the world.

My mum and dad came to this country from Kenya and Mauritius in the 1960s. They’ve been proud members of our Asian community and I was born in Wembley, the heart of the Asian community, and to be elected to serve in the UK Parliament and now to serve our phenomenal and amazing and welcoming country as Home Secretary is the honour of my life. I hope to do you proud.”

Outstanding Achievement in Healthcare:

Prema Subaskaran – Entrepreneur and philanthropist, who founded LycaHealth in 2015, overseeing the operational and strategic development of the business. This includes leading on the opening of its Canary Wharf clinic in 2015 and Westminster Healthcare in Chennai in 2016, which was endorsed by Prime Minister Theresa May. LycaHealth acquired KIMS Hospital in Kent last year, which is one of the largest and most successful private hospitals in South East England. She plans to acquire additional hospitals in other UK cities. Prema also spearheads Lyca Group’s CSR initiatives.

Speaking on the night, Dame Arlene Isabel Foster DBE PC, Former First Minister of Northern Ireland said, “I was really honoured and privileged to be asked to lead a minute’s silence to reflect on the service and duty of Her Majesty The Queen, who of course visited India on three occasions; 1961 was her first visit, where she spoke to a huge crowd when she arrived in New Delhi. But it was just a time of reflection and remembrance at the start of what is a wonderful evening of celebration and I’m really pleased to say it was looked at in a very positive way, so really pleased to be here and to be a part of this wonderful award ceremony.”

Pratik Dattani, Managing Director, EPG said, “Tonight we celebrated truly the best in the South Asian community in Britain today and I see the next 20 years bringing even more success for our diaspora. The AAA will continue to be the platform to identify, recognise and support the innovators, visionaries and community giants that will build Britain and make the world a better place.”

L George, Director, EPG Events; former CEO, Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar said, “The Asian Achievers Awards night is always special because it serves as a platform for the community to come together. And, of course, it’s a great place to network with a room full of the most successful people from the British Asian community. But, more importantly, it’s amazing to know and to celebrate how successful the community has been today in every field.”

The awards ceremony was interspersed with live performances on the night including Brit Award-nominee, Rumer; cellist and pianist, Alison Gabrielle; and star of TV’s Man Like Mobeen, stand-up comedian Tez Ilyas; with Lord Jeffrey Archer conducting the charity auction in support of the chosen Charity Partner, Pardada Pardadi.

Experts discuss terrorism, effects on human rights in South Asia at UNHRC

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Geneva — Experts and human rights activists discussed the proliferation of terrorist organizations in the region of South Asia during the 51th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The event was organized by the European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS)

Fazal Khan, a human rights activist and member of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) spoke with a reference to his son, who was killed alongside 146 others during the Peshawar school attack in 2014. He noted in a statement that “it is natural that such a devastating terrorist attack would have devastating effects of the families involved” and that the attack, perpetrated by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), had been facilitated by Pakistani security agencies.

The evidence of this involvement, however, has been ignored until now. The families affected by the attack have sought justice within Pakistan’s judicial system, including through the filing of motions to the Pakistan High Court and the Supreme Court, leading to the Supreme Court ordering the formation of a commission investigating the attack. Khan stressed that the Pakistani military establishment has been “creating, harbouring, and sponsoring terrorist groups” that have targeted minorities throughout Pakistan and have been supported diplomatically and judicially by State authorities.

“The security apparatus has further sought to equate Pashtuns with terrorists despite terrorist proxies killing up to 60,000 Pashtuns and bodies disappearing and extrajudicially killing Pashtuns”, said Khan in the statement. He called on the international community to “stop the Pakistan Army and its proxies”, further noting that the recent negotiations between state authorities and the TTP have been highly controversial in the tribal areas.

Malaiz Daud, formerly Chief of Staff of Afghanistan’s former President Ashraf Ghani has stressed that South Asian politics have become increasingly contentious in recent years, producing particularly perilous effects for minority populations in the region. “The withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s return to power have created major ripple effects that have been exacerbated by Imran Khan’s removal from office in Pakistan and his subsequent political campaign, the growing clout of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Pakistan’s tribal areas, and the countermobilization of anti-TTP groups,” he said.

He outlined that the growing presence of the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) in Afghanistan and Pakistan has challenged Pakistan’s leverage over the Taliban. Daud additionally described the recent assassination of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul as a “major turning point in the relationship between the Western world and the Taliban”. The political fractures South Asia witnessed in recent years, Daud suggested, foster opportunities for a variety of social movements, including non-violent movements such as the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM).

Contemporary challenges for the Pakistani state and the Taliban regime include Imran Khan’s reelection campaign, violent and non-violent ethnic movements in Balochistan, the PTM, terrorist organizations targeting Pakistani state interests, female popular resistance in Afghanistan, and the anti-Taliban National Resistance Front (NRF). Bashir Gwakh, a journalist at Radio Free Europe and an expert on terrorism has extensively focused on the Pakistani tribal areas, specifically regarding questions of human rights and presence of terrorist organizations.

Gwakh argued that the human rights of ethnic minorities in Pakistan are violated by both the military, whose abuses have become more visible over time, and terrorist groups such as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), and Lashkar-e-Taiba. The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan has emboldened Pakistan-based groups and has stoked the belief that other countries and regions could be ‘conquered’ in the way the Taliban has ‘conquered’ Afghanistan. Pakistan, Gwakh averred, has failed to criminalize torture in violation of its agreements under international law.

“The Army’s use of torture as a political tool has thus far prevented criminalization providing legal protection to journalists and human rights activists. Pakistan’s legal framework has enabled widespread human rights abuses, including the enforced disappearance of 45,000 Baloch. In the Pashtun tribal areas, Islamist terrorists have started to enforce Taliban-inspired social norms, with Taliban control in Afghanistan consolidating the TTP’s influence in tribal areas”, he said at the event. The audience and speakers also exchanged views in a debate on dozens of issues including the future of peace in South Asia, the rise of terrorism, need of the strengthening democracy and state effectiveness in countries of South Asia, especially in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, and the role of the Pakistani ISI in perpetrating terrorism as a state policy in the region. (ANI)

Nepal lacks necessary public health preparedness to address latest surge in dengue cases- ICJ

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Kathmandu: The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), a nongovernmental organization defending human rights and the rule of law worldwide, has deplored the lack of public health preparedness in Nepal necessary to address the latest surge in dengue cases.

Reports indicate that the impact of increased infection has been deepened by the unavailability of beds in public hospitals, blood shortages, and scarcity of basic medicines such as cetamol, ICJ has stated. “The ICJ stresses that failure of Nepal to provide adequately for the most basic medicines and health services has remained chronic.”

The ICJ notes that some of the medications and health services needed to respond to the dengue fever outbreak are the same as those necessary to treat Covid-19, the statement reads.

Stating that the government’s responses and preparations to combat dengue fever remain wholly inadequate, ICJ has restated its calls for Nepal to comply with its domestic law and international legal obligations to prepare and respond effectively to disease outbreaks by ensuring that people have adequate access to health services including medicines.

According to the updated data (as of September 26) from the Ministry of Health and Population, as many as 25,543 cases have been recorded in the last three months. The disease has already claimed the lives of 32 people across the country. The disease has spread to 76 out of Nepal’s 77 districts, according to the ministry. ( Nepal Live Today)

Ethics of mind-reading

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By: Jared Genser, Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D. C.

Tapping into someone’s thoughts may soon be technologically possible. Our institutions are ill-equipped to deal with the resulting human rights violations.

It was once science fiction but brain-machine interfaces — devices that connect a person’s brain to a computer, machine, or to another device, such as a smartphone — are making rapid technological advances.

In both science and medicine, brain-machine interfaces have revolutionized communication and mobility, helping people overcome immense mental and physical challenges. Brain-machine interfaces helped a man who is paralyzed and non-verbal to communicate at a rate of 18 words per minute with up to 94 percent accuracy; a person who is quadriplegic to drive a Formula One race car; and a person who is paraplegic to make the first kick of the World Cup using a mind-controlled robotic exoskeleton. And in the realm of consumer products, CTRL-Labs developed a wristband for consumers that controls your computer cursor with your mind, and Kernel’s Flow wearable helmet maps brain activity with unparalleled accuracy.

While these developments are promising, brain-machine interfaces also raise new human rights challenges. Other technology uses algorithms to extrapolate and collect data on users’ personal preferences and location, but brain-machine interfaces offer something completely different: they can directly connect the brain to machine intelligence.

Because the brain is the site of human memory, perception, and personality, brain-machine interfaces pose challenges not only for the privacy of our minds but also for our sense of self and for free will.

In 2017, the Morningside Group, a group of 25 global experts, identified five “neurorights” to characterize how current and future neurotechnology (methods to read and record brain activity, including brain-machine interfaces) might violate human rights. These include the right to mental identity, or a “sense of self”; the right to mental agency, or “free will”; the right to mental privacy; the right to fair access to mental augmentation; and protection from algorithmic bias, such as when neurotechnology is combined with artificial intelligence (AI). By protecting neurorights, societies can maximize the benefits of brain-machine interfaces and prevent misuse and abuse that violates human rights.

Brain-machine interfaces are already being misused and abused. For example, a US neurotechnology startup sent wearable brain activity-tracking headbands to a school in China, where they were used in 2019 to monitor students’ attention levels without consent. Further, at a Chinese factory, workers wore hats and helmets that purported to use brain signals to decode their emotions. An algorithm then analyzed emotional changes affecting workers’ productivity levels.

Although the accuracy of this technology is contested, it sets a disturbing precedent. But the misuse and abuse of brain-machine interfaces could take place even in democratic societies. Some experts fear that non-invasive, or non-surgical and wearable, brain-machine interfaces may one day be used by law enforcement on criminal suspects in the US and have advocated for expanding constitutional doctrines to protect civil liberties.

The rise of consumer neurotechnology emphasizes the need for laws and regulations that reflect the technology’s advancement. In the US, brain-machine interfaces which do not require implantation in the brain, such as wearable helmets and headbands, are already marketed as consumer products with claims including that they support meditation and wellness, improve learning efficiency or enhance brain health. Unlike implantable devices, which are regulated as medical devices, “wellness” devices are consumer products and are subject to minimal to no regulations.

Consumers may be unaware of the ways in which using these devices may infringe upon their human rights and privacy rights. The data that consumer neurotechnology collects may be insecurely stored or even sold to third parties. User agreements are long and technical, and they have concerning provisions that allow companies to indefinitely keep users’ brain scans and to sell them to third parties without the kind of informed consent that protects individuals’ human rights. Today, it is possible to interpret only some of a brain scan, but that will only increase as brain-machine interfaces evolve.

Human rights challenges posed by brain-machine interfaces must be addressed to ensure their safe and efficacious use. At the global level, the UN Human Rights Council, a 47-member state body, is poised to vote on and approve the UN’s first major study on neurorights, neurotechnology, and human rights. UN leadership on neurorights would generate international consensus on a definition of neurorights and galvanize new legal frameworks and resolutions to address them.

Expanding the interpretation of existing international human rights treaties to protect neurorights is another important path forward.

The Neurorights Foundation, a US nonprofit organization dedicated to human rights protection and the ethical development of neurotechnology, published a first-ever report demonstrating that existing international human rights treaties are ill-equipped to protect neurorights. For example, the Convention Against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights were drafted before the advent of brain-machine interfaces and contain terms and legal standards, such as “pain,” “liberty and security of the person,” and “freedom of thought and conscience” which must be further interpreted with new language to address neurorights. Updating international human rights treaties would also legally obligate states that ratify them, to create domestic laws protecting neurorights.

Another important step is the development of a global code of conduct for companies which would also help create standards for the collection, storage, and sale of brain data. For instance, making privacy of brain data an ‘opt-out’ default setting for consumer neurotechnology would help protect users’ informed consent by letting them decide when their brain activity is monitored. This type of standard is easily replicated in regulations at the national and industry levels.

Simultaneous effective multilateral co-operation, national attention, and industry engagement are all needed to address neurorights and to close “protection gaps” under international human rights law. Ultimately, these approaches will help guide neurotechnology’s ethical development and, in the process, reveal the strongest paths to preventing the technology’s misuse and abuse.

Jared Genser is an adjunct professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center and managing director of Perseus Strategies, and General Counsel of the Neurorights Foundation. This article was prepared with the assistance of Stephanie Herrmann, an international human rights lawyer at both Perseus Strategies and the Neurorights Foundation. Professor Genser declares no conflicts of interest.

Sugar tax could boost both health and economy

Posted on by SAT News Desk

LONDON , PTI  — In Fiji, the traditional diet of fresh tropical fruits, leafy vegetables and fresh seafood is progressively being replaced with imported, processed foods, high in fat, salt and sugar. The result is an epidemic of obesity (growing most rapidly across Pacific nations) and crippling levels of non-communicable disease (NCDs), such as stroke, heart disease and diabetes.

Since the government of Fiji implemented a tax on sugary drinks, the beverage industry has resorted to common push-back tactics, declaring taxes would hurt the economy of Fiji: jobs would be lost, communities would suffer.

However, in Fiji, one parent company owns 90 per cent of the beverage industry, with five sister companies producing all beverages, including water, and juice — meaning that a sugary drink tax will only minimally impact the company’s profits and employment, because consumers would buy substitutes for sugary drinks from the same company.

The tax also stacks up, when weighing up the economic benefit of reduced NCDs against any potential loss of prosperity from reduced consumption of sugary drinks.

Fiji’s case provides a lesson for policymakers around the world facing industry lobbying against health taxes.

There is strong political will and commitment to reduce NCDs, which remain the biggest cause of death globally. In 2021, they were responsible for over 40 million deaths – that’s nearly three quarters of total deaths. Of these deaths, 15 million occurred in the ‘premature’ 30-69 age bracket, people who would otherwise be leading productive lives.

Diet is a key risk factor for NCDs, so taxes on sugary drinks have proved a popular and effective intervention for reducing diet-related NCD risk factors. World Bank figures show that in 2020, more than 40 countries had various sugary drink taxes in place.

Some countries also tax unhealthy, low nutrient, energy-dense foods. Mexico taxes foods with high energy density, such as fried foods and ice-cream; Denmark, Dominica, Finland and Norway tax chocolate and sweet confectionery.

Researchers worldwide are looking into ways to group, and tax, foods based on how healthy they are, using scientifically based, non-discriminatory nutrient profiling.

Researchers at Imperial College London, UK, are designing taxes that don’t add financial burden to individuals or households, that get distributed equally across income groups, and that are administratively feasible.

The resulting policy could nudge consumers to adopt healthier diets without adding to the household food bill, and incentivise industry to reformulate their products to meet healthier nutrition standards. In a similar study into health taxes at Oxford University, UK, researchers are also estimating the planetary health impacts of various tax and subsidy scenarios.

While some policymakers fear these taxes could lead to employment loss and economic downturn, a global study found that most claims of economic downturn come from food and beverage industry-funded reports which used methods to estimate job and economic losses that do not (and cannot) take into account consumer response.

For instance, in Mexico, one study estimated that the combined sugar taxes and energy-dense food tax would cause up to 16,000 job losses — yet a peer-reviewed academic paper using appropriate economic methods found no significant net change to employment.

Similarly, in Philadelphia, USA, one study estimated 1,190 job losses from a sugary drink tax, while another gave a net estimate of no significant change in employment. The conclusion from reviewing studies across the world was that the more robust studies showed negligible job loss and, in some studies, small job gains.

While the food and beverage industry may see initial job losses as consumers’ spending shifts from taxed goods to other goods and services, employment increases in those sectors. Also, government revenue from the tax will subsequently increase government spending in other sectors. Revenue can also be redirected into programmes to improve the livelihood of those impacted by any job loss or into subsidies for healthier foods like fruit and vegetables.

A five-year Global Alliance of Chronic Disease project in Fiji and Samoa is exploring how to scale up food policy interventions to prevent two key NCDs: type-two diabetes and hypertension. The project is consulting development partners, policy makers and community groups about the factors that either support or undermine policies for NCD prevention.

NCDs inflict significant social and economic burden on people, households, communities, health services, employers and governments, leading to reduced labour force productivity and eventual downturn in national income and human capital investment.

Prevention strategies for NCDs are critical, and require a comprehensive package of population level interventions with a whole-of-society approach. The global analysis and the example of Fiji show that there is little evidence supporting industry claims of economic downturn. Instead, in addition to health and productivity benefits, there are significant economic benefits through revenue raised and health costs saved.

Nepali staff participate at the Hillingdon Hospital Open Day

Posted on by SAT News Desk

London – Nepali staff and members of the local community made a special presentation at the Open Day organised  by the Hillingdon Hospital in West London on Saturday.

 

Kavita Gurung, one of the organisers of the event, said that Nepali staff working at the hospital set up their stall in the premises of the canteen next to the Diversity and Inclusion team. “Our aim was to provide information about how various faculties within the hospital are conducting their services,” said Gurung adding, “People from 78 countries are working in Hillingdon Hospital, but the stall set up by  Nepali staff was the one that attracted most visitors.”

 

Visitors were  drawn to the Nepali flag that was hoisted at the stall. The stall had many items reflecting Nepali art and culture including the statue of Buddha.

Attired in Nepali costumes,  some of the Nepali staff who worked the night shift were engaged in the program throughout the day. Social activist Anjana Gurung Tamang, one of the coordinators of the Nepali stall, said that both executive head of the hospital, Patricia Wright, and president of the hospital’s trust, Matthew Swindells, were very happy with encouraging presence of the Nepali community in the program. “Nepali costumes are amazing,” said Patricia Wright, and praised the unity and work ethics of Nepali staff at the Hospital. Sharing the new Hospital plan, Ms Wright said that  the planned hospital areas are nearly twice  bigger than the current hospital and will be completed in 7 years’ time.

 

The Trust chair, Matthew Swindells also praised the efforts by Nepali staff  to promote their national identity.  ‘Any new idea for the betterment of the Trust are always welcome,’ he said.

 

Keith Bartlett, the lyricist of the global environmental song ‘The Mother song’ and the actor who has played the role of heroes in various English movies, was also present at the program with his wife. Translated into 26 languages, the song is also in the Nepali language, which was sung by Anjana Gurung.

 

The event, which was open to the public, had large participation from the local community. Rasmita Darlami, who played a major role in celebrating Nepal Day at the hospital a few months ago, provided special assistance in the management of the program on Saturday. Rasmita and Anjana welcomed guests including Artemius Carsteins (Danny) and Keith Bartlett and offered them Nepali Dhaka Topi (Nepali hat) as a gift. Around 200 Nepalese work at this hospital.  

US Dollar at a record high against Nepalese currency

Posted on by SAT News Desk

KATHMANDU — The exchange rate  of the US Dollar (USD) has made a new contemporary record in Nepal with one USD trading for Nepali Rs 129.89 on Sunday.

The Central Bank, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), fixed the buying rate for one USD at Rs 129.29 and the selling rate at Rs 129.89 today.

According to the foreign exchange rate for Sunday, the buying rate of one dollar has been fixed at Rs 129.29.

The selling rate of the dollar has been fixed at Rs 129.89 on Sunday, which means that Nepali nationals will have to spend Rs 129 and 89 paisa to buy one dollar.

This is the first time that the US dollar has become expensive in the Nepali market.

Likewise, the buying rate on Sunday has remained at 129 rupees 29 paisa.

Similarly, one Euro is bought at 126 rupees 20 paisa and sold at 127 rupees 79 paisa.

The buying rate of one UK pound sterling today is 143 rupees 65 paisa and the selling rate is 144 rupees 31 paisa.

Similarly, the purchase price of one Australian dollar today is 85 rupees 10 paisa and the selling price is 85 rupees 49 paisa.

Nepal’s 2022 elections: a step towards democratic consolidation?

Posted on by SAT News Desk

by Sovit Subedi and Bishnu Adhikari

Nepal’s provincial and federal elections in mid-November are fast approaching. On the heels of successful local elections in May this year, the elections present a window of opportunity for the nascent federal republic to consolidate democracy.

Just a year ago, Nepal’s major political parties – the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist), the Nepali Congress, and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) – and other smaller parties divided into two coalitions, and engaged in a power struggle which required two supreme court interventions to reinstate the federal parliament. The impasse, which risked the deferral of the local elections to a later date, stirred doubts about the stability of Nepal’s new federal system and the decentralisation process.

However, while trust at the federal level eroded, local government made significant headway in garnering public confidence as one of the most trusted public institutions in Nepal. This was exemplified during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the federal government was marred by corruption and faced protests, while local governments provided effective frontline services. With local elections now concluded, it’s time for federal and provincial governments to invest effort in building trust in this new governance structure.

Results from the local elections indicate positive change in Nepal’s local politics. First, in four of Nepal’s 13 major cities, including the capital Kathmandu, independent candidates trumped those affiliated with political parties. This wave of independents marked a significant deviation from the norm, where traditional elites from high-caste male-dominated patronage networks determine candidate selection. Building on this success, a plethora of independents have already announced their candidacy for the upcoming federal elections, much to the concern of the major political parties. These developments suggest that Nepali urban voters, especially youth, are supportive of independent and newer candidates.

Second, the debate and excitement surrounding the local elections brought the priorities of local government to the forefront. Several candidates, including the independents, ran on platforms that prioritised citizens’ needs – health, education, access to clean drinking water, and sanitation services. This is a welcome shift away from the focus on ‘rapid development’, which usually means investing in construction projects like roads, and splurging on statues, observation towers and other excesses. The elections thus provided an opportunity for both leaders and citizens to reassess the development priorities of the last five years.

This progress is tempered by the fact that most local units will be led by officials who won elections via fickle coalitions between parties. Such local-level coalitions unfortunately reflect and mimic the shifts in party positions at the central level, which cause downstream disruptions in municipalities. Local planning and budget processes are already gridlocked over resource allocation disagreements between elected officials of different parties. This underscores the overwhelming influence that parties will continue to have in Nepal’s political system. As such, independent candidates can only have a larger impact if their success exerts pressure on parties to ensure that they select candidates who are better attuned to citizens’ needs.

Women’s representation has also been curtailed due to manipulation. Nepal’s male-dominated major parties colluded within their alliance to ensure that more men got to positions of power than in earlier local elections. While parties are required to run a woman candidate for either the mayor or deputy mayor positions, most run women candidates only for deputy mayor positions. With coalition partners, parties can register male candidates for both seats by sharing mayor and deputy mayor positions between two coalition partners. As a result, the number of women candidates who ran for deputy mayor positions was reduced significantly, with the elected percentage reduced from 93% to 75%. At the same time, the number of women mayors increased from 18 to just 25 among 753 local units.

This manipulation of the provision for female candidates has been criticised across the board by civil society, media and women leaders within the political parties. The purported ambiguity in the provision has also been challenged in the courts. This demonstrates how affirmative action and inclusive representation measures to improve governance are constantly under threat from more powerful actors.

Nevertheless, the champions of inclusion have been making modest gains. For example, according to the National Federation of People with Disabilities, 124 candidates with disabilities contested the local elections, of whom 40 were elected. While much needs to be done to advance disability inclusion, the results reflect a major uptick from the negligible four seats won by disabled candidates in 2017.

In democracies, elections are self-enforcing. Regular elections are both a means and an end of maturing democracy. The local elections in 2022 were an important achievement for a post-conflict society with a bitter history of power transitions and political instability. With the federal and provincial elections now announced for November 2022, the local election experience provides pathways for improvement in both policy and representation in Nepali politics.

( This article was originally published in Devpolicyblog )

Qatar Airways has been named ‘Airline of the Year’

Posted on by SAT News Desk

Kathmandu — Qatar Airways has been named ‘Airline of the Year’ for 2022.

The international air transport organisation Skytrax made the announcement amid an event in London, United Kingdom on Friday. Along with the ‘Airline of the Year’, the Qatari carrier also won the titles ‘World’s Best Business Class’, ‘World’s Best Business Class Lounge Dining’ and ‘Best Airline in the Middle East.’

This is the seventh time the Airways has been named airline of a given year. It won this title, considered by industry professionals as the Oscars of aviation, for the first time in 2011 and then in 2012, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021.

As per a press release issued by the company, the airliner’s hub airport Hamad International was also recently voted the World’s Best Airport for 2022.

Qatar Airways flies to more than 150 destinations worldwide, including Nepal.

Palm oil Alliance formed by 5 South Asian Countries

Posted on by SAT News Desk

Edible oil trade associations from five palm oil importing countries in South Asia – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, announced the setting up of Asian Palm Oil Alliance (APOA). The idea is to gain collecting bargaining power and make imports sustainable.

“Through APOA, we aim at safeguarding the economic and business interests of the palm oil consuming countries and will work towards increasing the consumption of palm oil in member countries,” Atul Chaturvedi, President, Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) and first chairman of APOA, said. APOA held its first general body meeting on the sidelines of the Globoil Summit being held here.

He said that the industry associations of Asian palm oil importing countries, unlike their counterparts in Europe, are not involved in shaping the global discourse on sustainable palm oil in a collective way. “Asian countries, in the last two decades, were instead forced to follow sustainability standards that don’t reflect our market realities,” Chaturvedi stated.

According to the APOA statement, the alliance would work towards ensuring that palm oil is recognised as a high-quality, economical, and healthy vegetable oil and to change the negative image of palm oil. Chaturvedi said that membership of APOA would be further expanded to include companies or industry bodies associated with production or refining of palm oil across the continent. The next meeting of APOA is expected to be held in Indonesia early next year.

India’s annual imports of edible oil is around 13-14 million tonne (MT). Around 8 MT of palm oil is imported from Indonesia and Malaysia, while other oils, such as soya and sunflower, come from Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine and Russia. Asia accounts for around 40% of the global palm oil consumption while Europe accounts for 12% of palm oil trade. Indonesia and Malaysia are the biggest palm oil exporters in the world. India is the largest importer of palm oil in Asia, accounting for 15% of global imports, followed by China (9%), Pakistan (4%) and Bangladesh (2%). ( Agrncies )

UK may revoke about 570 EU environmental laws

Posted on by SAT News Desk

London — The parliament of the United Kingdom is studying the possibility of revoking 570 environmental laws from the national legislation system, UK media reported on Friday.
The UK parliament is studying the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill 2022 that is aimed at dealing with the pending EU legislation by either assimilating it into national legislation or abolishing it altogether.


“The Bill will sunset the majority of retained EU law so that it expires on 31st December 2023. All retained EU law contained in domestic secondary legislation and retained direct EU legislation will expire on this date, unless otherwise preserved,” the UK government said in a statement.


According to The Guardian newspaper, if the bill is adopted then the current 570 environmental laws as well as hundreds more covering different spheres could be removed or rewritten. This could leave key aspects of wildlife protection deregulated and unprotected, which goes against the post-Brexit promise of the government to halt the decline of nature by 2030, the newspaper reported.
Experts believe that the December 2023 deadline is too tight for the government to mitigate all consequences of the law-scrapping procedure, according to the newspaper. ( UNI )