Nepal’s students go on warpath

October 3rd, 2009 KATHMANDU - Nepal's new constitution, which is expected to be promulgated in May 2010 and cement the peace negotiations that ended a 10-year civil insurgency that left over 16,000 dead, is fast becoming a mirage, with the country's major parties remaining at loggerheads. Though only seven months are left for the gigantic task, the constitution-writing process is in grave jeopardy with its ruling parties, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal's Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (UML), and former premier Girija Prasad Koirala's Nepali Congress (NC) remaining at odds with the former Maoist guerrillas, who are currently the largest party in parliament.

September 24th, 2009 LONDON - A recent report on the 'Patterns of Higher Education Institutions in the UK' has found that students from China and India have played a major role in almost doubling the number of foreign students at UK universities in the last decade. According to figures from universities in the UK, some 2,29,640 students were recruited from outside the European Union in 2007, compared to 1,17,290 students in 1998.

September 10th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Police had to face stiff opposition from students in Allahabad University Thursday when they tried to arrest the 12 students who Wednesday carried out violent protests on the campus while demanding restoration of students' union polls. Owing to the strong opposition of the varsity students, police managed to arrest only two of the 12 students who have been booked for Wednesday's vandalism on the campus.

August 23rd, 2009 BHOPAL - Sixteen students of Dr. Harisingh Gour University in Madhya Pradesh's Sagar town have been suspended for 15 days after being accused of ragging their juniors, an official said Sunday.

August 22nd, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - The Utkal University campus here was shut following clashes between two groups of students, police said Saturday. The clash was over students union elections, about a month away.

July 3rd, 2009 CANBERRA - Newly arrived international students could be given priority for on-campus accommodation as one way of boosting safety, according to a position paper released on Thursday by Universities Australia. University Australia chief executive Glenn Withers stressed that priority should also be given to domestic students from regional areas and interstate who have to move to attend university.

June 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Australian High Commissioner John McCarthy says every possible effort will be made to ensure that attacks on Indian students in Australia are not repeated, adding that the authorities will "pursue those responsible" for the assaults. In a letter to the Non-Aligned Students and Youth Movement (NASYM) that had staged a demonstration here June 18 against the attacks on Indian students in Australia, McCarthy said: "The Australian government will make every effort to ensure that attacks are not repeated and that Australia remains a preferred destination for students from around the world." He said that the Australian government is working closely with the Indian government on the issue.

June 17th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Even three weeks after assuming office, Nepals new Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Wednesday failed to reach an understanding with his major allies, being forced to induct only 10 new ministers after sharp criticism at home and mounting international concern. The protracted squabble with allies over power-sharing continued with the parties from the Terai not sending any new faces to the cabinet despite three days continuous negotiations.

June 17th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Nepals Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Wednesday expanded his 11-member cabinet to induct 10 new ministers. However, the protracted squabble with allies over power sharing continued even three weeks after Nepal assuming office with the parties from Terai not sending any new faces to the cabinet.

June 4th, 2009 CANBERRA - China has joined India in asking Australia to provide improved protection for foreign students after a series of violent racist assaults on Indian students Down Under. "There are over 130,000 Chinese students in Australia.

May 31st, 2009 KATHMANDU - Nepal's former ruling party, the Maoists, will go on the warpath from Wednesday and enforce 'token' strikes to force the interim parliament into calling a vote on a contentious issue that brought the fall of their government. The former guerrillas, who had fought a 10-year war to transform the feudal Himalayan kingdom into a federal republic, Sunday said they would also keep up their siege on the house till it agreed to a vote that is targeted against the republic's first president, Ram Baran Yadav.

February 26th, 2009 RANCHI - Twelve blind students are appearing in the ongoing class 10 board examination, an official said here Wednesday. 'This year we have given permission to 12 blind students to appear in the class 10 examination.

February 18th, 2009 PATNA - At least 31 students were injured when the wall of their classroom at a government school in Konch in Bihar’s Gaya district collapsed Thursday, police said. Over three dozen students were studying in the classroom when the wall suddenly collapsed.

February 6th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Once regarded as Nepal's food bowl, the fertile Terai plains along the border with India were hit Saturday by a two-day shutdown as the Tharus, an indigenous community who claim descent from the Buddha, began protesting against the government's quota policy that allegedly clubs them with people of Indian origin. The Tharus, who were among the first residents of the southern lowlands but were evicted from their own land by migrants and reduced to landless slaves, have called the closure that will affect over two dozen districts in southern Nepal to oppose the new state reservation policy that they say lumps them with Madhesis.

January 12th, 2009 RAIPUR - At least 14 students of a Chhattisgarh college were arrested here Tuesday for assaulting their juniors, the police said. The students of Government Science College were suspended Saturday by the college authorities, a day after the police registered a case against them for ragging their juniors at a hostel.