Indo-nepal border to be sealed ahead of Nepal civic polls

MAHRAJGANJ: India’s border with Nepal will be sealed tomorrow, 48 hours before the municipal polls in the neighbouring country, to prevent anti-social elements from crossing the international boundary and vitiating the election atmosphere.

This was decided at a highlevel meeting of a coordination committee, said V K Singh, District Magistrate, Maharajganj, here on Sunday.

The meeting was attended by officers of the local administration, police, border guarding force Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Army, customs, immigration and other departments of both the countries.

SSB, which works under the command of the Union home ministry, guards the 1,751 km long Indo-nepal border.

Uttar Pradesh shares a 599.3 km long open border with Nepal touching seven districts - Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Bahraich, Sravasti, Balrampur, Sidhharthnagar and Maharajganj.municipal elections will be held in Nepal on June 28. Some Madhes-centric parties have opposed the elections seeking that the Constitution is amended to accommodate their demands for more representation in parliament and redrawing of provincial boundaries. The Nepal government has tabled a new Constitution amendment bill in Parliament to address the demands of the agitating Madhesis.

Madhesis, mostly of Indianorigin, launched a prolonged agitation between September 2015 and February last year against the implementation of the new Constitution which, they felt, marginalised the ‘Terai’ community. NEW DELHI: No decision on advancing class X and XII board exams will be taken without consultations with various stakeholders including schools, the CBSE has said.

This comes against the backdrop of concerns being raised by various schools over the CBSE’S plan to study the idea of advancement of board examination by over a month.

“The purpose is to have more time for evaluation and bring quality. However, there will be no decision on the advancing the exams without taking stakeholders on board,” a senior CBSE official said.

The CBSE is mulling advancing class X and XII examinations to February from the existing schedule of March. The idea has cropped up following complaints of faulty evaluation process prompting the board to set up two committees to analyse the process and suggest measures to rectify the loopholes. NEW DELHI: The Army has decided to fast- track procurement of UAVS, infantry combat vehicles and other military platforms for use by its troops in UN peacekeeping missions after the global body expressed unhappiness over poor quality of equipment used by the Indian soldiers.

A report by the UN pointed out poor maintenance and serviceability of equipment and platforms used by the Indian troops and held back a reimbursement amount of Rs 338 crore, official sources said.

Following the report, Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt General Sarath Chand has been given full financial powers to procure the required equipment and platforms so that they can be given to Indian troops serving in various conflict-ridden places including in Congo and South Sudan.

Currently, more than 7,600 military personnel from India are part of the UN peace operations in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Lebanon, Liberia, the Middle East, South Sudan, Sudan and the Western Sahara.

The troop-contributing countries have to provide weapons as well as other required military platforms and equipment to their forces in the locations identified for deployment as “wet lease” while the world body provides weapons and other required equipment in “dry lease” areas.

The UN reimburses the troops contributing countries as per categories of deployment.

The UN report said money was being paid to India for equipment and hardware which were in poor condition and recommended cutting the payment.

Sources said a total of 58 cases of procurement, which will cost around Rs 120 crore, have already been processed while supply order for 11 items have been placed.

The Army is also procuring new kits for the troops which will cost it around Rs 103 crore annually. The UN pays around Rs 1,000 crore to India for its contribution to the peacekeeping missions.