News, Views From Nepal

Yuba Nath Lamsal Nepal has been deeply shattered and shocked by the devastated earthquake that struck the country on April 25. The magnitude of the earthquake was 7.9 in the Richter scale with epicenter in Barpak village of Gorkha district. But there are still debates on the magnitude of the April 25 earthquake. National Seismological Center has recorded it 7.6 in the Richter scale, western media call it of 7.8 and 7.9 magnitude , while Chinese media have termed   the April 25 earthquake of the magnitude of 8.1 in the Richter scale. Whatever the debate on its magnitude, the earthquake was powerful and massive, which has caused colossal damage to Nepal in terms of both collateral as well as psychological level. Even almost three weeks after the first powerful quake hit, fear has not disappeared from the mind of the people. It is because aftershocks continue to hit. Since then hundreds of smaller tremors have been felt. The earthquake killed more than 8000 people, injured...

Yuba Nath Lamsal It seems as though the constitution writing process has taken a back seat as political parties are heavily preoccupied in power sharing. Now political parties and their leaders are making their own calculation to reap maximum benefit out of the present situation of crisis and take the reign of power at their hands. In this race are the two largest parties namely the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML. The UCPN-Maoist and other smaller parties, too, are not an exception. Although it has not come into surface, the two ruling parties themselves are at odds internally.   Their discontent is related to the leadership of the government and not the constitution. The CPN-UML has already raised the issue that the time for the Nepali Congress to lead the coalition government is up and Sushil Koirala should quit to hand over the reign of the government to CPN-UML chairman KP Sharma Oli. The UML is citing the agreement reached with the NC in general and NC chief Sushil Koir...