Today's Chatpat: October 13th, 2023

1. According to media reports, 27,000 students have taken the No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Education in the past two months for further studies abroad. In the past year alone, more than 110,000 students did the same. More than Rs 1,100 crores was remitted outwards by the students in the past month alone.

According to government data, in the past twelve months, more than 33,000 students flew to Australia, 21,000 to Canada,10,000 to the United Kingdom and almost 4,000 to the United States of America. More than 21,00 students have also taken the NOC to study Japanese language in Japan. Students spent around a billion US$ in the past year to pursue higher education abroad.

2. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited Kalapani, an area also claimed by Nepal. The Oli goverment had a few years earlier published a new map of Nepal with an unicorn shape, claiming the area as a territory of Nepal. So far, not even one politician has managed to speak up about Modi's visit.

A few months ago, the Chinese had also published its new map claiming many parts of India as their own but had the disputed territory of Kalapani as belonging to India and this too did not receive any objection from the government of Nepal or our politicians.

3. Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayankaji Shrestha has vowed to end corruption as he believes that it is not possible to dream of a prosperous Nepal without eradicating corruption. The Home Minister was speaking at at a folk song festival as the chief guest. Sometimes our politicians do forget what kind of events they are attending and only know how to give a political speech rather than figuring out why they were invited to such events in the first place.

Maybe, the Tourism and Culture Minister should have been invited to such cultural events instead of a Home Minister, who so far has talked big but failed to protect doctors from violent attacks, or massive gold smuggling in the country or prevent religious clashes across the country.

4. Once again, the Kathmandu District Court is in the news for failing to hear the case of Sandeep Lamichhane, who has been accused of rape by a minor almost a year ago. The court has failed to assign the case citing lack of judges even though 21 judges were present while nine were on sick leave and six have yet to show up after being transferred there.

The rape case has been deferred time and again, allowing Lamichhane to participate in cricket tournaments around the world for the Nepali cricket team. The media had also reported that the cricketer's lawyers have been trying to defame the victim and have also tried many tricks to prove that the victim is not a minor as well.

5. According to the United Nations, Israel wants 1.1 million to move out of the northern Gaza strip to the southern end within 24 hours. Israel has already placed a full blockade and cut off water, electricity and supply of food and fuel into Gaza, creating a humanitarian crisis. 

Hamas had attacked Israel on Saturday, killing hundreds of Israelis and foreigners, mostly who were attending a music festival along the Gaza border with Israel while Israel has retaliated heavily, with the biggest bombing in 75 years of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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