TIKA R PRADHANKATHMANDU, OCT 3

The CPN-UML on Sunday concluded its first ever three-day statute congress, an event largely aimed at elevating current chair KP Sharma Oli to the leadership position once again with sights set on the upcoming elections.

Grandiosity and chest-thumping were in full display at Godavari in Lalitpur. But underneath the veneer of bravado there seemed to lie some kind of unease among the representatives, around 6,000 who came to the Capital from different parts of the country to participate in the party jamboree.

Multiple participants the Post spoke to on Sunday, including those who are said to be close to Oli, said that their party is not in a comfortable position

when it comes to elections. The party is under attack from

multiple fronts, they said. The UML is currently the

largest party. It had swept the last elections in 2017 as it had formed an alliance with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre). Both had later in May 2018 merged to form the Nepal Communist Party (NCP), the largest communist force Nepal had ever seen. Oli was the

No 1 leader. The Supreme Court, how-ever, in March this year invalidated the merger. And on August 26, Madhav Kumar Nepal, a long-time UML leader, decided to walk away to form the CPN (Unified Socialist).

A representative, who is a lecturer at one of the colleges in Kathmandu, said that the reason behind organis-ing this pompous and expensive gath-ering is to show the party’s strength.

“There are concerns that some might join Madhav Nepal’s party and this can be a huge setback during elections,” said the representative who spoke on condition of anonymity. “What the leadership is trying to do at this time is—stopping people from defecting to Nepal’s party and boost-ing the members’ morale.”

According to the representative, the leadership is trying to ensure that the party must win the next polls anyhow, especially after seeing a split, as tough times are ahead.

After Oli was ousted by the Supreme Court, the UML leadership is trying to convince its members that the world has turned against it.

“Attempts are being made to weak-en our party,” said Oli while address-ing the representatives. “But we are growing in strength by the day.”

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Behind the facade of UML’s pomposity lies some unease and discomfortParty’s statute congress ends setting sights on polls, but representatives say they have a big battle to fight in the form of elections, as everyone has turned against them.

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A man riding high on a swing pictured at The Cliff resort at Balewa in Baglung. Playing on a swing is considered an essential Dashain activity.

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KRISHANA PRASAINKATHMANDU, OCT 3

As the Nepal Electricity Authority started cutting the internet and cable television wires from its electricity poles on Saturday, Sugat Ratna Kansakar, the former chief of Nepal Telecom, was quick to react.

“...on any pretext, especially when there is an issue over transactions between two organisations, consumer services should not be closed,” Kansakar wrote on Twitter.

“It’s a universal law because the internet has become an essential ser-vice worldwide.”

The state-owned power utility, in a dispute over unpaid fees by Internet Service Providers (ISPs), on Saturday snapped the internet and cable wires in nearly a dozen places across the country.

The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)’s argument is: the ISPs have been using the electricity poles but failed to pay the rental charge.

The NEA had warned the service providers to “face the consequences” from Saturday if they failed to pay the rental fee for using its poles. The service providers did not pay heed to the warning.

Consumers were the ultimate sufferers.

Whether Nepal’s ISPs have been up to the mark when it comes to provid-ing service to the consumers has always been questionable, but a state agency troubling consumers because of its failure to make the entities fall in line has raised some new debates.

Consumers and consumer rights

activists argue that the NEA has com-pletely failed in its duty by punishing the citizens for committing no crime.

Consumer rights activists said that neither the government nor any other organisation has the right to deprive consumers of services, even for a min-ute, and when services that are listed as “essential” are affected, it amounts to a crime.

Using the right under the Essential Services Operation Act, 1957, the government on May 28 listed the inter-net as an essential service. As per the law, essential services should not be halted or banned in any way and if anyone does that, the law has provi-sion to punish.

“Interrupting the essential service is a crime,” said Bishnu Prasad Timilsina, general secretary of the Forum for Consumers’ Rights, Nepal. “The electricity authority’s inability to collect payments from ISPs on time and ISPs not paying their rental fees on time should not lead to trouble for consumers.”

According to him, the electricity authority should have taken action one by one against the defaulter inter-net and cable service providers.

“Cutting the wires to punish service providers and causing sufferings to consumers are not only a lack of effi-ciency on the part of government agencies but also a crime,” said Timilsina.

Most of Nepal’s ISPs have been using the electricity authority’s poles to carry their cables to the subscrib-ers. For using the NEA’s poles, the ISPs pay rental charges.

>> Continued on page 2

Consumers bear brunt of fight between internet companies, power utilityTo punish internet providers, Electricity Authority cut wires and cables after a longstanding dispute over rental fee in a move that curtails people’s basic rights, activists say.

PoSt file Photo

Power utility chief has suggested multiple service providers use cables that can be shared.

Flow of returnees increases but Covid-19 testing goes downNEPALGUNJ: On September 30, a group of five migrant workers reached Jamunaha border point in Nepalgunj from India, seeking entry into Nepal. The health workers deployed at the border point ran antigen tests on them. One of the returnees tested positive for Covid-19 but the group was still allowed to enter Nepalgunj. Health workers deployed at the bor-der points in Lumbini Province run antigen tests on Covid-19 suspects and those with no proof of vaccina-tion but there are no restrictions on those testing positive for Covid-19. Like the youth who tested positive on September 30, most walk across the border and into busy markets without adopting any health safety measures, said one of the security personnel deployed at the Jamunaha border point in Banke district. (Details on Pg 2)

Pregnant women are at high risk from Covid-19 but are no priority for vaccineKATHMANDU: At least 354 maternal deaths have been reported since May 24, 2020, the day the country went into its first lockdown to control the spread of the coronavirus. Of them, at least 44 pregnant women had Covid-19-like symptoms. “Some of the deceased were confirmed from labo-ratory tests to have contracted the virus and some had symptoms,” Nisha Joshi, a senior public Health administrator at the Family Welfare Division under the Department of Health Services, told the Post. “The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a toll on pregnant women.” The first lockdown continued for four months. Doctors say pregnant and lactating women are highly vulnerable to dying from Covid-19. However, despite them being in the highly vulnerable group, the Ministry of Health and Population has not yet listed the women of the said groups as its prior-ity for vaccination. (Details on Pg 3)

Farmers encouraged to grow basmati rice commerciallyKATHMANDU/BAJHANG: The govern-ment has been persuading farmers in far western Nepal to grow Hansaraj basmati rice commercially because of its export potential. The indigenous aromatic rice is not grown on a large scale despite swelling demand, and Nepal has been importing it from India to satisfy the palates of urban consumers with growing incomes. The Agriculture Knowledge Centre, formerly known as the District Agriculture Office, has launched a special project to encourage paddy farmers to grow the fragrant grain commercially from this fiscal year which began mid-July. Demand for aromatic rice has jumped manifold among Nepalis who have become more discerning along with higher earnings, particularly in large cities like Kathmandu and Pokhara. (Details on Pg 5)

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Post Photo: manoj Paudel

Women carry leafy branches on their back to feed their cattle at Srinagar, Kapilvastu.

>> Continued from page 1

Publishing a notice on September 14, the NEA had warned internet, tele-phone and cable television companies using its utility poles to clear the out-standing rental fees or their wires would be removed from October 1.

The state-owned power utility said that some internet service providers, phone companies and cable TV opera-tors had been using its infrastructure without permission while others had not submitted documents providing details of the global positioning sys-tem coordinates, map and distance.

The authority had said that it would remove the optical fibres and other equipment installed without agree-ment by service providers and to avoid this they should make the payments.

No one, however, paid heed.Then suddenly the NEA swung into

action on Saturday.The Federation of Computer

Associations Nepal, on Sunday, react-ed, condemning the power utility’s act.

The federation said that the inter-net wires have been cut in Bharatpur, Butwal, Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Dharan, Dhankuta, Taplejung,

Khadichaur and Dhangadhi. The ISPs have been saying that the

price of broadband internet will rise by Rs150 in urban areas and up to Rs300 in rural areas if they abide by the new rental fee of the authority.

According to the ISPs, the power utility had been charging Rs205 per pole until 2018-19 and then revised the tariff on a per km and per pole basis. With the revision, the rental fee has been hiked to Rs750 monthly, which is more than 20 times the origi-nal rate, it said.

“We have not said that we will not make the payment,” said Sudhir Parajuli, president of Internet Service Providers’ Association Nepal. “If we have to pay the hiked pole fare, the burden of the increased price will be passed on to the customer.”

The ISPs have sought permission to increase the price of the internet with the Nepal Telecommunications Authority. But the telecommunication authority has said that the internet price should not be increased and they are holding discussions with the gov-ernment to resolve the issue, said Parajuli. “We have been waiting for the government’s word.”

“So we are not the culprit,” Parajuli told the Post.

As of mid-July this year, there are 31.08 million internet subscribers using fixed broadband wireless and mobile internet, as per the report of the Nepal Telecommunications Authority.

The telecommunications authority issued a statement on Saturday expressing a deep concern about the move of the electricity authority.

Under the Telecommunication Act, 1997, if anyone tries to interrupt the service, they will be liable to punishment.

Manoj Silwal, deputy managing director at the Nepal Electricity Authority, told the Post that Saturday’s move was just “symbolic” to make service providers liable for the conse-quences of not paying the rental fee.

“Our intention is not to create prob-lems for the customers. We have selected some small areas so that it may not affect many customers,” Silwal told the Post. “We did not cut the wires today [Sunday]. We are not going to take this action for another few days as we believe the issue will be resolved soon.”

According to Silwal, the electricity authority was forced to take the dras-tic step because service providers did not respond to the authority’s calls to adjust rental fees even though they were given a year or so.

The power utility issued a state-ment on Sunday saying that it had implemented the new rent fee in mid-June, 2018 which came into effect on August 17, 2020. The power utility defended that it was not an overnight decision to cut wires.

As per the new rent fee structure, the service providers should pay Rs14,000 [excluding tax] per kilometre for using 33 and 11 kV poles, annually.

To install optical fibre on an elec-tricity distribution line of 33 or 11 kV or lower, the service providers should pay Rs9,000 and Rs7,000 per km annually in metropolitan cities and municipality/rural municipalities, respectively.

“Some service providers have been using our infrastructure without pay-ing the rent fee for the last five years and have also been including these charges on the customer bill,” accord-ing to the power utility.

Santosh Paudel, director at Nepal

Telecommunications Authority, said his office has requested the line minis-try to resolve the dispute.

“The electricity authority did not come for discussion to find an amica-ble solution to the problem,” Paudel said. “We could have already given permission to hike the price for ser-vice providers but this is not an appro-priate time,” he said.

Last week, Kulman Ghising, manag-ing director of Nepal Electricity Authority, said that the city’s beauty had been marred by mismanaged wires.

If service providers use 96 core fibre optic cable wires which is a sys-tem to allow common sharing, it will be cheaper for them and help bring down internet costs, he said.

Each internet service provider has been stringing its own wires on every pole and there is no sharing. According to him, 95 percent of the cable wires on the poles were not usable. Many old poles are about to fall due to the weight of the tangled wires.

“To avoid this kind of mess, new cable wires can be connected and shared by everyone, and the cost will also drop,” he said.

Officials said that making the inter-net expensive is against the govern-ment’s initiative of Digital Nepal, a framework which was prepared in 2018 to make the internet reachable, accessible and affordable to all people.

Consumer rights activists say con-sumers are suffering because no stakeholders are serious about this issue. While ISPs are not paying the rental fee, the Nepal Telecommunications Authority does not want to increase the internet cost and the power utility is failing to bring the concerned party to the negotiating table, according to the activists.

“The internet service providers should be aware of their responsibili-ties and make rent payments on time as they have been charging custom-ers,” said Timilsina. “The ISPs are equally responsible. They cannot defy the notice.”

According to him, customers are being taken for a ride.

“Nobody is thinking about custom-ers’ rights,” said Timilsina. “Their services are being interrupted in the tug-of-war between the two state-run utilities.”

Consumers bear brunt of fight between internet companies, power utility

Flow of returnees increases but testing goes downThe sheer volume of people entering Nepal through Nepal-India border points has made it difficult to test all returnees, health workers say.RUPA GAHATRAJNEPALGUNJ, OCT 3

On September 30, a group of five migrant workers reached Jamunaha border point in Nepalgunj from India, seeking entry into Nepal. The health workers deployed at the bor-der point ran antigen tests on them. One of the returnees tested positive for Covid-19 but the group was still allowed to enter Nepalgunj.

Health workers deployed at the border points in Lumbini Province run antigen tests on Covid-19 sus-pects and those with no proof of vaccination but there are no restric-tions on those testing positive for Covid-19.

Like the youth who tested positive on September 30, most walk across the border and into busy markets without adopting any health safety measures, said one of the security personnel deployed at the Jamunaha border point in Banke district.

Every day, 1,500 to 2,000 migrant workers from India are entering Nepal from the border point, accord-ing to the record kept by the security personnel at the border.

The sheer volume of people enter-ing Nepal through the border point has made it difficult to run tests on each individual crossing the border, says Chiranjibi Gyawali, a health worker deployed at the health desk in Jamunaha.

“We provide consultations to the infected and send them home with suggestions to stay in isolation. It is not possible to test everyone. We run tests only on those suspected of hav-ing Covid-19,” Gyawali told the Post.

Until August 26, the Nepal Red Cross Society had deployed ambu-lances to carry Covid-19-infected individuals to their respective dis-tricts from the border point.

“But the agreement between the Red Cross and the District Covid-19 Management Centre has ended. These days, Covid-19-infected indi-viduals are free to go home without any restrictions,” said

Gyawali, adding that he has been informing the concerned stakehold-ers about the situation but to no avail.

At the Krishnanagar border point in Kapilvastu, 300 people cross into Nepal every day, according to the data kept by security personnel at the border. Mayor of Krishnanagar Municipality in Kapilvastu Rajat Pratap Shah says the health desk at the border point operates from 8am to 6pm every day.

“Health workers at the desk take the body temperatures of returnees and inquire about their health condi-tion. They also run antigen tests on Covid-19 suspects. Then the return-ees are free to enter Nepal,” he said. “There are no quarantine measures for returnees who could be possible carriers of the virus.”

According to him, the municipali-ty will soon start deploying health workers to the border point on night shifts.

In Rupandehi, the District Health Office is preparing to expand antigen testing at Sunauli border point.

Dr Rajendra Giri, chief at the District Health Office in Rupandehi, says his office is planning to expand testing at the border since the flow of returnees for the upcoming festive season has increased in recent days.

Until a few weeks ago, as many as 160 antigen tests were being conduct-ed on people entering Nepal through the border point but now the number has dwindled to 50 despite the increasing flow of returnees.

The isolation facilities set up near the Sunauli border are almost empty.

According to Rishiram Tiwari, the chief district officer of Rupandehi, the returnees who test positive for Covid-19 are sent to their destina-tions in coordination with the respec-tive local units.

“We have a vehicle on standby near the border point. With the assistance of the Nepal Red Cross Society, we

send Covid-19-infected returnees to their homes in the vehicle,” said Tiwari.

According to the District Health Office in Rupandehi, out of 576 peo-ple who underwent antigen testing at the Sunauli-Belahiya border point, only two tested positive for Covid-19 in the past week.

Krishna Prasad Aryal, the inspec-tor at the Armed Police Force border outpost in Danda, said that while it is mandatory for foreigners seeking to enter Nepal to furnish a Polymerase Chain Reaction test report, it is not the case for Nepali returnees.

Meanwhile, in Kanchanpur, the isolation facility set up at the Community Health Institute in Mahendranagar is still in operation. Returnees entering Nepal through the Gaddachauki border point are sent directly to the isolation facility if they test positive for Covid-19. Currently, 11 people are staying at the facility.

According to the District Health Office in Kanchanpur, an ambulance of the Mahakali Provincial Hospital is being used to carry the infected people from Gaddachauki border point to the isolation facility.

“Some of the infected go home after staying at the isolation facility for 14 days while others who prefer home isolation are sent home on the recommendation of the concerned local unit,” said Siddaraj Bhatta, the public health inspector at the health office.

Of late, the number of people returning home from India is on the rise, as Dashain, a major Hindu festi-val, is round the corner. According to the security personnel deployed at Gaddachauki border area, around 700 people enter Nepal through the bor-der point on a daily basis.

A total of 788 people entered Nepal through Gaddachauki on Saturday. Health workers conducted antigen testing of 756 people; of them, one tested positive.

Similarly, a total of 424 people entered Nepal through the Gauriphanta border point in Kailali district on Saturday. The health work-ers conducted antigen tests on 225 people. No one tested positive.

On the other hand, an isolation centre has been set up at Urma in Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City-15 for the returnees infected with Covid-19.

According to Dinesh Thakulla, in-charge at the health desk set up at Gauriphanta border point, out of 1,000 people who underwent antigen testing in the past week, not a single person tested positive for Covid-19.

“More than 500 people cross the border point on a daily basis. We are unable to conduct testing on all returnees due to a lack of manpower and other resources,” said Thakulla.

(With inputs from Bhawani Bhatta in Kanchanpur, Mohan Budhaair in Kailali, Manoj Paudel in Kapilvastu and Madhav Dhungana in Bhairahawa.)

>> Continued from page 1

Oli also directed the representatives to make an all-out attempt to get 51 percent of the country’s population to side with the UML.

“[Our opponents] are trying to create confusion. More and more people are join-ing the UML. It is possible that 51 percent of Nepalis can be brought into the party,” said Oli. “I request all of you to bring all our friends, from the centre to the local level, who are confused, to our fold.”

As is his wont, Oli put on a brave face and tried to inspire confidence in the stat-ute congress representatives. But as soon as the congress began, voices had started to grow, no matter how feeble, that attempts were being made to build a personality cult around Oli. And not many seem to be happy with that.

Participants say even though they don’t appreciate the culture of deification of an individual leader, they tried not to express their criticism, given the apprehensions and concerns about the upcoming polls.

“We are at war,” Bhanubhakta Dhakal, a Central Committee member and former minister, told the Post at the congress venue on Sunday afternoon. “Yes, there are questions over deification, but our sights are set on the upcoming polls. For now, our focus should be on how to win rather than questioning the leadership.”

The unease in Dhakal was apparent in many other participants the Post spoke to.

Most of them said they are in for a big battle as the party has split and most of the parties have banded together against the UML. “We have to maintain our unity and strength until the polls,” said Dhakal. “Our leadership, as well as the party members, is well aware of the fact that everyone is trying to weaken us. We need to stick to what our leadership decides.”

Ishwari Rijal, also a Central Committee member, said the current political scenario was akin to the UML versus everyone else in the country.

“Everyone is attacking Oli. But despite that, he [Oli] is committed and he has not let the party down,” said Rijal. “So we believe our party will be in a safe position if it is led by Oli.”

Ever since Oli was defenestrated from office, he has launched a vitriolic attack on his opponents. He has branded the current government an outcome of an unholy alli-ance. Oli never misses an opportunity to describe the incumbent government as something “created through the court’s mandamus order”.

Oli, however, is not wrong. While over-turning Oli’s May 21 House dissolution, the Supreme Court on July 12 ordered appoint-ment of Nepali Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba as prime minister. In the parliamentary system, a prime minister is elected from the House.

But Oli’s ouster was in the making for quite a while and many, including some within his own party, believe that only if he had not engaged himself in misadven-tures, he could have governed for the full term. But that the largest communist party once he led and his UML have split, con-cerns are growing among party members how they will fare in the elections.

Gunaraj Kafle, a member of the party’s Province 1 committee, said that the UML had to organise a pompous event like this as there is the need to boost the morale of party members. “It’s quite concerning that the party has seen a split,” said Kafle. “No matter what the leadership says, it’s us at the grassroots who know how a split can affect members’ mindset.”

Political analysts say the UML has put up a great show by organising the statute congress as it had become necessary given its fall despite being the largest party.

“But one thing is clear. The louder Oli speaks, the more it becomes apparent that there is unease in the party,” said Uddhab Pyakurel, who teaches political sociology at Kathmandu University. “The UML has been trying to establish a narrative for its members that it has faced a split but it is still the strongest party.”

According to Pyakurel, the UML’s stat-ute congress is a pompous facade aimed at masking internal despair.

Hari Roka, a political commentator, said that the statute congress of the UML was solely aimed at projecting Oli as the ulti-mate leader. “Oli wanted to show that he is the one who rules the roost in the party,” said Roka. “He wanted to give a message to the international community and political parties in the country that he is still powerful.”

Behind the facade ...

Post Photo: manoj Paudel

around 300 people cross into nepal from the Krishnanagar border point in Kapilvastu every day.

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Pregnant women are at high risk from Covid-19 but are no priority for vaccineOf 354 maternal deaths reported after March, 2020, at least 44 were due to coronavirus.ARJUN POUDELKATHMANDU, OCT 3

At least 354 maternal deaths have been reported since May 24, 2020, the day the country went into its first lock-down to control the spread of the coronavirus.

Of them, at least 44 pregnant women had Covid-19-like symptoms.

“Some of the deceased were con-firmed from laboratory tests to have contracted the virus and some had symptoms,” Nisha Joshi, a senior public Health administrator at the Family Welfare Division under the Department of Health Services, told the Post. “The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a toll on pregnant women.”

The first lockdown continued for four months.

Doctors say pregnant and lactating women are highly vulnerable to get-ting serious and dying from Covid-19. However, despite them being in the highly vulnerable group, the Ministry of Health and Population has not yet kept the women of the said groups in its priority list for vaccination.

“We recommended the vaccine for pregnant and lactating women long ago,” Dr Bhola Rijal, chair of Fertility Society of Nepal, told the Post. “Authorities have even started provid-ing vaccines to people above 18, so they should prioritise the people from highly vulnerable groups like preg-nant women and lactating mothers.”

Studies show pregnant women infected with Covid-19 are at more risk of severe illness, complications and deaths than non-pregnant women. Many pregnant women generally have medical conditions, which put them at further risk of getting seriously ill and dying.

“Studies on the impact of the coro-navirus infections have not been per-formed in our country but several studies carried out in Europe, USA and India show that vaccines are safe and the benefit of vaccination out-weighs the risks,” said Rijal, who is also a senior gynaecologist.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday recom-mended Covid-19 vaccination for all aged 12 years and older including women who are pregnant, breastfeed-ing, trying to get pregnant now or might become pregnant in the future.

“Evidence about the safety and effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccination during pregnancy has been growing,” reads the CDC’s recommendation. “These data suggest that the benefits of receiving a Covid-19 vaccine out-weigh any known or potential risks during pregnancy.”

In Nepal only 21 percent of the pop-ulation have been fully vaccinated so far and most of the pregnant women have not taken the jabs, due to confu-sion persisting among health workers as well as the pregnant women them-selves about whether the jabs are safe.

The CDC report said there is cur-rently no evidence that any vaccines, including Covid-19 shots, cause fertili-ty problems in women or men.

Pregnant women are more likely to get severely ill with Covid-19 com-pared to non-pregnant women.

Doctors in Nepal said that severity and deaths from Covid-19 infections among pregnant and lactating moth-ers could increase as the highly infec-tious Delta variant has been spreading throughout the country.

A whole-genome sequencing car-ried out recently shows that the Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 is responsi-ble for the current infection in the country. Though there has not been any genome sequencing on new sam-ples of late, of the 42 swab samples of the infected people, collected between mid-August and September, the Delta variant was detected in 41.

The Health Ministry has already warned people about the presence of the Delta variant in society.

“Pregnant women have weak immu-nity and other medical conditions as well, which make them more vul-nerable to getting serious and dying from coronavirus infections,” Dr Aruna Karki, a consultant gynaecolo-gist, told the Post.

“The government should prioritise all pregnant women and lactating mothers in the vaccination drive.”

Nepal Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, an organisation of gynaecologists, also recommended authorities concerned to give priority to pregnant women and lactating mothers in vaccination.

“We not only recommended the vac-cine for pregnant and lactating women but also asked for a press release from our society [Nepal Society of

Obstetricians and Gynaecologists] urging authorities concerned to pro-vide vaccines to the said groups, who are highly vulnerable.”

The Health Ministry had first prior-itized the vaccine for frontline work-ers including health and sanitation workers, hospital staff, security per-sonnel deployed on the front line, and people residing in old age homes and prisoners.

Later, vaccines were provided to journalists, people working in diplo-matic missions, refugees, bureaucrats, lawmakers, local level employees and bank workers. In the second phase of the vaccination, vaccines were provid-ed to all people above 65 years of old.

Officials said the vaccine was prior-itised for the elderly as Covid-related severity and deaths were high among them. Later all essential workers, and those above 54 years were immunised. Currently, vaccines are being provid-ed to all students above 18 and some districts including Kathmandu and Lalitpur have been inoculating every-one above 18.

“Earlier we did not prioritise preg-nant women and lactating mothers for vaccination for lack of clear recom-mendation by the World Health Organisation,” said Dr Jhalak Gautam, former chief of the National immunisation Programme. “But a recent meeting of the Vaccine Advisory Committee has recommend-ed the government prioritise vaccine for pregnant and lactating women.”

Despite recommendations by vari-ous agencies to prioritize pregnant women and lactating mothers for vac-cination, they are still not getting the jabs as confusion persists among preg-nant women and health workers about the possible side effects of the vaccine.

Experts say along with giving prior-ity to the said age groups, authorities should also raise awareness drives to clear the confusion and rumours about the side effects.

“We do not have any problems pri-oritizing vaccines for pregnant women,” said Dr Bibek Kumar Lal, director at the Family Welfare Division under the Department of Health Services. “But due to confusion about the side effects, priority was not given to them.

We will provide the jabs to them in the coming days.”

Directly elected prime minister idea floated at UML conventionObservers warn against the idea saying that it will make the executive more autocratic.BINOD GHIMIREKATHMANDU, OCT 3

The debate for a directly elected exec-utive head isn’t new in Nepali politics. It was the CPN (Maoist Centre) which raised the issue strongly even before the first Constituent Assembly vote.

The party lobbied for a presidential system and even projected its chair-man Pushpa Kamal Dahal as the coun-try’s first president with executive authority before the 2008 Assembly elections. It continued to advocate a presidential system of governance until the major parties in June 2015 forged a 16-point agreement to contin-ue with the existing system with a prime minister elected by parliament and a ceremonial president. The party, however, wrote a note of dissent against the provisions related to form of government in the new charter.

The Madhesi Janadhikar Forum also contested the first assembly advo-cating a directly elected president and a fully proportional electoral system.

Before the promulgation of the 2015 constitution, the CPN-UML was in favour of a directly elected prime min-ister and ceremonial president. As the Nepali Congress strongly stood for continuation of parliamentary sys-tem, the UML and the Maoist Centre abandoned their demands in the 16-point deal. Hence, the Constitution of Nepal adopted the system with the prime minister being elected from parliament and the President being the ceremonial head of the nation.

Six years after the promulgation of the statute, the main opposition has started a debate for a directly elected prime minister. The representatives in the ongoing statute convention of the UML on Sunday recommended the party revive the agenda of a directly elected executive head. Though the convention didn’t put it on the agenda, representatives from Province 2 and sister wings want the party to include a directly elected prime ministerial system on the party’s agenda.

Jwala Sah, who summarised the suggestions from of Province 2, and Sunita Baral, who presented the rec-ommendations from the sister wings, said a directly elected prime ministe-rial system was crucial for stability.

“The party should carry the agen-

da,” Baral, chair of the All Nepal National Free Students Union, said at the convention. The issue of directly elected executive has been raised at a time when UML chair KP Sharma Oli was criticised for running the govern-ment autocratically during his three and a half years as prime minister.

Political analysts say Nepal should never go for directly elected execu-tives saying that will harm democracy. They argue that Nepali prime minis-ters, who occasionally show autocrat-ic tendencies bypassing parliament, will become more autocratic if they are directly elected.

“I had long been an advocate of directly-elected executive head, main-ly a presidential system. However, I now realise how wrong I was,” Lok Raj Baral, a former professor of Political Science at Tribhuvan University, told the Post. “We cannot stop a directly elected executive from taking a dicta-torial path.” He said that Nepal, like India, should work to strengthen the existing form of governance.

Baburam Bhattarai, chairperson of federal council of Janata Samajbadi Party who also is a former prime min-ister, is a strong lobbyist of direct-ly-elected executive. He often writes on Twitter in favour of a directly-elect-ed presidential or prime ministerial system. Criticising the UML leaders and cadres who have been claiming that the current Sher Bahadur Deuba government was formed by the court and not by the popular mandate, Bhattarai on August 11 tweeted, “We are hearing Oli and his supporters ranting that court order trumped the

popular mandate. In a system where the prime minister is elected by par-liament, isn’t it natural to see the prime minister change with the change in parliamentary math? If not, let’s switch to a system of directly electing president or prime minister. But they don’t agree to this. How can you have the cake and eat it too?”

Political commentators say every form of governance has its strengths and weaknesses. However, going by the tendencies of the parties and prime ministers, adoption of a direct-ly-elected presidential or prime minis-terial system would open the doors to autocratic rule.

Geja Sharma Wagle, a columnist with Kantipur, the Posts sister paper, said the UML is trying to revive the issue that was rejected during the con-stitution making process. He said attempts to adopt a new form of gov-ernance will only invite instability.

“Parliamentary democracy is best suited to our country,” he told the Post. “Directly elected presidential or prime ministerial system will give rise to totalitarian tendencies.”

However, not everyone agrees. Shree Krishna Aniruddh Gautam, a columnist with Kantipur, said it is necessary to separate the legislative from the executive. He said the legisla-ture should remain aloof from form-ing and toppling governments and instead focus on making laws. “Our existing system hasn’t worked. We need a directly elected prime minister or president,” he told the Post. “The parliament with powers to impeach can keep the prime minister in check.”

Post Photo: AngAd dhAkAl

CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli and other leaders welcome newcomers to the party on Sunday.

C M Y K

MONDAY, OCTOBER 04, 2021 | 04

OpiNiON

“How is the Deuba government doing?” I asked a friend who had just returned from a month-long visit to Nepal. “Okay, I suppose,” he said. “You know there is not much expectation from Deuba. He has been there, and people know him.” The cynicism beckons to Sher Bahadur Deuba’s past record, four times as prime minister—opportunist, controversial, ineffective and ethically compromised. Is anything going to be different this time around?

Deuba’s cabinet consists of a ragtag coalition of squabbling politicians from parties with conflicting ideolo-gies. They came together purportedly to “protect” democracy and the consti-tution from Oli’s repeated dissolution of Parliament. Oli’s overreach had to be challenged, and he had to be pushed out. Thanks to the Supreme Court, that happened. The court ruled Oli’s adventurism unconstitutional, and based on Deuba’s majority support in the House, validated his claim to the prime ministership.

Nearly three months have passed since Deuba’s ascent. Yet his govern-ment has done nothing of substance. His cabinet remains unfilled. His coali-tion partners are still busy arguing which party should get plum cabinet posts. No one talks about protecting and strengthening democracy, as if it has been done. That agenda appears to have fallen by the wayside. Democracy is strong when people feel they have a stake in it; when people trust that it serves their interest. The return of Parliament alone does not do it. The concern is that people are losing trust in democratic institutions and their leaders. Restoring trust requires iden-tifying the primary affliction that is causing its erosion, and taking legisla-tive and executive actions to rebuild it.

Political corruptionSo, what is the primary affliction? Ask any Nepali, and the unanimous answer is corruption, political corruption in particular. Politicians using political power for personal and partisan gains is the problem. The business-politician nexus, the destruction of public insti-tutions by their politicisation, undue political interference in routine bureaucratic work—the realities of today’s Nepal—are all manifestations of political corruption. These growing maladies have destroyed people’s trust in the government, in democracy, in public institutions, and in political

leaders. They must be fought to strengthen democracy.

Social traditions, lax ethical stand-ards, and election spending by candi-dates are primary drivers of political corruption. Social traditions include unquestioned submission to and rever-ence of the rich. They allow the rich to ignore legal and ethical constraints to serve their personal interests and per-petuate corruption. The impact of elec-tion spending is evident both in the developing and developed countries. Take, for example, the United States and Canada.

Elections in the US are significantly more expensive than in Canada. In 2020, the US spent about $14 billion in federal elections; Canada’s latest elec-tion (September 2021) cost about $500 million. Even after accounting for the difference in population, per capita election cost in the US translates into about three times more than in Canada.

In the US, each candidate is responsi-ble for raising funds for his/her elec-tion campaign, not much different than in Nepal. There is no limit in campaign spending. Big business and lobbyists donate large sums of money to candi-dates. This gives them the leverage to influence legislation impacting their business. Generally, the more money a candidate raises and spends, the better his/her chances of winning. In Canada, election spending by candidates and political parties is regu-

lated and strictly enforced. The govern-ment covers a significant portion of the parties’ and candidates’ election expenses. Money is not a determinant in winning.

In Nepal, to cover their election expenses, individual politicians and political parties make financial deals with businesses, promising them a favour when they are elected. But this is not all. They also lean on the bureau-cracy to augment their collection. Rent-seeking—the practice of manipu-lating public policy for personal profit—is common. How do these dif-fering election practices impact the level of corruption in these countries? In Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2020, Canada ranks 11, the US 25, Nepal is at 117. The Corruption Perception Index ranking is surely influenced by a multi-tude of factors, but a detailed analysis shows that the influence of money in elections is overwhelming.

Deuba’s opportunitiesSocietal traditions take a long time to change, but election spending and ethi-cal transgressions by politicians can be controlled in short order through legis-lation and enforcement. Deuba should urgently legislate an act to control elec-tion spending. Another act of equal importance is similar to what the Canadians call the “Conflict of Interest” Act. Other countries have

similar laws under different names. Under this act, an independent office reporting directly to Parliament investigates potential conflict of inter-est cases and unethical conduct by parliamentarians. Such acts are standard in European democracies and in Canada.

On the face of it, the makeup of the Deuba coalition does not lend hope for a consensus on any legislation which will constrain politicians to (ab)use power. But if protecting and strength-ening democracy is the purpose of the coalition, the coalition partners must cooperate on all legislative and execu-tive initiatives intended for that pur-pose. If they don’t, Deuba should take a stand and refuse to compromise even if it risks the fall of his government. The public will be on his side.

This is an opportunity for Deuba to redeem himself from his controversial past. But to make it work, he should be prepared to change himself—to be what he has not been all these years, a leader guided by high ethical standards, cour-age, commitment and national pur-pose. He needs to use the leverage he has as prime minister to do what is right for democracy, for the country. He has to decide whether he wants to fade away as another humdrum, lacklustre politician, or a man of history.

Koirala is a geotechnical consultant in Vancouver, Canada.

Germany has voted, and its seemingly eternal chancellor, Angela Merkel, is finally stepping down after 16 years. In fact, that is the only certainty that the election has offered. Everything else remains ambiguous.

Unlike their neighbours on the left bank of the Rhine, the Germans are no revolutionaries. The latest federal election has proven that once again. Far-left and far-right parties have been further weakened. Political sta-bility and continuity are a near-essen-tial constant for Germany, owing to its history, size, and location in the heart of Europe, and they are values that a majority of German citizens obvious-ly hold dear. Had Merkel decided to run again, she almost certainly would have been re-elected.

And yet, the same majority had become fully aware that Merkel’s approach could not go on. Her method of “driving by sight,” waiting things out, and dithering was tantamount to a complete renunciation of a strategic vision for Germany and Europe. Germany needed a break with the past—a new start—and that is what its electorate has now voted for, even while still ostensibly opting for rule from the centre.

On the surface, it seems that noth-ing much has changed. As always, the fight for the chancellorship—the head of the future federal government—will be between the country’s two tra-ditional mainstream parties, the

Social Democrats and the Christian Democratic Union (with its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union). Each won only around a quar-ter of the vote, with the SPD holding a slim lead over the CDU/CSU.

The outright dethronement of the two erstwhile big-tent parties would have seemed too much like revolution and therefore didn’t happen. Support for the Greens did not rise enough to give them a claim to the chancellor-ship, probably because a similar mes-sage of change could be delivered in a less ostentatious fashion.

The real change—which by German standards can almost be called a small

revolution—lies in the sudden transi-tion away from the two-party coali-tions that were previously the norm at the federal level; a future of three-par-ty coalitions now awaits. Though they still came out on top, the SPD and the CDU have been severely weakened. That fact alone will fundamentally change the balance of power in any future coalition government.

True, the two main parties still have the option of continuing their “grand coalition” under the leadership of an SPD chancellor. But that arrange-ment—unlike a three-party coali-tion—would imply a continuation of the previous years’ inertia, rather

than a new start. No one could seri-ously wish for that outcome.

Moreover, as Bertolt Brecht once wrote, “The great do not stay great, nor do the small stay small.” This year’s election shows that the two smaller potential coalition partners are not so small anymore. The Greens won 14.8 percent of the vote and the Free Democratic Party took home 11.5 percent, making for a combined total of 26.3 percent (compared to 24.1 percent for the CDU/CSU and 25.7 per-cent for the SPD). If, despite their substantive political differences, they were to agree on matters of policy, personnel, and power, they could

make things very difficult for a coali-tion led by the SPD or the CDU. The chancellorship would be of only limit-ed significance.

A three-party coalition comprising two blocs of equal size would amount to a fundamental remodeling of the German party system. And if the Greens and the FDP were to manage it wisely, they could usher in a new eco-logical, technological, and social dynamic as well as a more active European policy, which could signifi-cantly improve the Old Continent’s prospects in an era defined by the revival of great-power politics. The tranquillity and self-contentment of

the Merkel years would be consigned to the past. And though this new con-stellation would be difficult for the protagonists to manage, that is always the case with any meaningful renew-al. Achieving a fresh start requires the skilful reconciliation of seemingly contradictory elements and impuls-es—a fusion of conflict and compro-mise, and of dynamism and stability.

Statesmanship in the post-Merkel era demands nothing less. For all Europeans, the great, overriding ques-tion of our time is whether we will rise to the challenges of the twen-ty-first century. What will become of us in an age of climate crisis, viral threats, and disruptive technological change? What does the impending conflict between this century’s two superpowers, the United States and China, hold in store for us? Huge chal-lenges await Germany’s next coalition government in both domestic and for-eign policy, and, particularly, in the areas where the two meet.

This year’s election also signals a generational change. The new crop of politicians is generally younger and necessarily less experienced. But nobody was forced to run, and nobody can say they didn’t know what they would be up against. The world is undergoing a comprehensive, radical rearrangement, and neither Europe nor Germany will be spared the effects.

The German electorate has spoken, and by the looks of it, it hasn’t decided too badly. It has opted for a departure from inertia. By the end of the current decade, Germany and Europe will live in a completely new reality. Germany’s next government will be measured by how it handles the country’s transi-tion through this time of change. The task will be to minimise the damage to the social fabric. Like it or not, Germany and Europe face interesting times ahead.

Fischer, Germany’s foreign minister and vice chancellor from 1998 to 2005, was a leader of the German Green Party for almost 20 years.

— Project Syndicate

Germany’s new beginning

NARESH KOIRALA

Do what is right for democracy EDiTORiAL

Festive chaosThere is no room for complacency as most people haven’t had access to vaccines yet.

Post file Photo

This is an opportunity for Prime Minister Deuba to redeem himself from his controversial past.

With barely two weeks left for Dashain, throngs of people have been crowding marketplaces. The festive mood has gripped the nation once again. After a damp season of festiv-ity last year, people seem to be going out of their way to ensure that nothing plays spoilsport this time around. Not even the dreaded virus. But it appears that caution has given way to complacency. There seems to be no fear amongst peo-ple as they interact with one another to go about their daily business. Public transport runs at overcapacity, and yet, everything seems to be in working order for now.

It is not just the season of festivities; it is also a season of change in the weather pattern. Cooler mornings and evenings have caught a lot of people off guard. There has been an increase in the incidence of seasonal flu in the country which, coupled with the existing Covid-19, has put health experts in a spot in distinguishing one from the other as both the flu and Covid-19 exhibit similar symptoms. This is all happening when the authorities in most districts have opened up the schools allowing pupils to attend classes physically.

Slightly over a month ago, the authorities had extended restrictive orders to deter people from eating and socialising past 8 pm. With the restrictions now withdrawn after stern protest from affected businesses, clubs and bars have reo-pened their doors to revellers who have begun to flock in increasing numbers. With daily Covid figures on the decline, people have now resumed their old ways of doing things. But a leaf from the second wave should serve as a reminder of how things can go downhill in a matter of weeks.

There is nothing much the authorities can do now except issue caution and advisory. Movement across the bor-der with India means a higher risk of the prevalent Delta variant making its way to innumerable towns and vil-lages in Nepal. With India still recording significant daily cases that may threaten the stability of the vaccination success, it is vitally crucial for Nepal not to let down its guard. The influx can also mean the outbreak of various other diseases causing added strain to the fragile health infrastructure.

The vaccination process has provided an undesired boost of confidence in people’s attitudes concerning abiding by Covid protocols. The thought of another festive season con-fined to one’s home can be disturbing, but the bigger picture should be the safety of our loved ones. We can still enjoy ourselves, keeping our social interactions to the minimum. There should be no room for complacency when most people in the country haven’t had access to vaccines yet. With numerous other festivals in the offing, which will see increased social participation, the need of the hour is to rise above our selfish acts and provide a safe and secure environ-ment to give continuity to the unrestricted freedom we are now seen to enjoy.

By the end of the current decade, Germany and Europe will live in a completely new reality.

JOSCHKA FISCHER

shutterstock

C M Y K

05 | MONDAY, OCTOBER 04, 2021

MONEY

gAsOliNE wATCh

FOREX

US Dollar 118.89

Euro 137.86

Pound Sterling 161.07

Japanese Yen 10.70

Chinese Yuan 18.44

Qatari Riyal 32.46

Australian Dollar 86.28

Malaysian Ringit 28.45

Saudi Arab Riyal 31.70

Exchange rates fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank

BulliONPRiCE PER TOlA

SoURCE: FENEGoSIDA

Fine Gold Rs 89,800

Silver Rs 1,160

Nepse2,577.49pts

-2.12%

HPPL HIDCL AHPC SHPC SMB UPCL-7.57% -7.53% -7.49% -7.26% -7.13% -7.04%

GMFIL RRHP MHNL CHL UMHL UNHPL-9.19% -9.13% -8.55% -7.99% -7.87% -7.79%

highEsT lOsERs

MERO NICGF UIC GWFD83 NSLB NICSF0.38% 0.45% 0.68% 0.8% 1.34% 1.37%

NBF2 MEN PIC SABSL SMFBS MKJC1.44% 1.56% 1.73% 2.08% 6.05% 9.97%

highEsT gAiNERs

MODERATE gAiNERs

MODERATE lOsERs

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Farmers encouraged to grow basmati rice commerciallySANGAM PRASAIN IN KATHMANDU & BASANTA PRATAP SINGH IN BAJHANGOCT 3

The government has been persuading farmers in far western Nepal to grow Hansaraj basmati rice commercially because of its export potential. The indigenous aromatic rice is not grown on a large scale despite swelling demand, and Nepal has been import-ing it from India to satisfy the palates of urban consumers with growing incomes.

The Agriculture Knowledge Centre, formerly known as the District Agriculture Office, has launched a special project to encourage paddy farmers to grow the fragrant grain commercially from this fiscal year which began mid-July.

Demand for aromatic rice has jumped manifold among Nepalis who have become more discerning along with higher earnings, particularly in large cities like Kathmandu and Pokhara.

Long grain basmati rice holds a unique charm in global markets including Nepal, and this has resulted in a growth in rice imports although the country produces surplus grain which is of improved variety, agro experts said.

According to Nepal Rastra Bank, the country imported rice worth Rs50.48 billion in the last fiscal year, up a whopping 51.4 percent year on year. Basmati rice accounted for most of the shipments, insiders said.

“As per the project, the Agriculture Knowledge Centre will help farmers in packaging, bagging, labelling and marketing the rice,” said Tek Bahadur Bista, chief of the centre. “It is unfor-tunate that Nepal has for a long time failed to market such rich rice.”

He added that achieving success in marketing the rice variety would con-sequentially lead to huge demand. “In the first year, the Agriculture Knowledge Centre will support farm-ers to market their products by launching various schemes,” said Bista.

The centre plans to package the rice harvested in November and sell it in urban areas like Mahendranagar, Dhangadhi and Kathmandu in the first phase.

The government has started to real-ise the potential of indigenous and exportable rice after India applied for a geographical indication (GI) tag to

basmati rice in the European Union (EU) in July 2018. Nepal submitted an opposition letter along with proof of origin, diversity, cultivation and use values of basmati rice on December 9, 2020.

GI is intellectual property rights that have a specific geographical ori-gin and possess qualities or a reputa-tion that are due to that origin.

Basmati is long grain aromatic rice grown for many centuries in a specific geographical area, mostly in the Himalayan foothills of the Indian sub-continent.

This rice has extra-long slender grains with a soft and fluffy texture

upon cooking, delicious taste, superi-or aroma and distinct flavour.

According to a journal entitled Intellectual Property Right on Basmati Rice: Current Scenario and Evidence of Origin, Diversity, Cultivation and Use Values of Basmati Rice in Nepal, authored by nine researchers and pub-lished in July, many countries have been attempting to get intellectual property rights, mainly geographical indication tag, on basmati rice because of its high market value at the global level.

The journal said that a total of 133 basmati type rice landraces are grown in 60 districts of Nepal. Basmati rice has been traditionally grown and sold and consumed in geographi-cally localised areas of Nepal since ancient times.

International and national scien-tists have defined the lower altitudes of Nepal as one of the centres of ori-gin of basmati rice.

Many Nepali basmati rice landraces have been characterised and evaluat-ed using morphological traits, isozymes and DNA markers. Four bas-mati types of rice landraces have been registered at the National Seed Board. They are Pokhreli Jetho Budho rice registered in 2006, Lalka basmati reg-istered in 2010, and Suddhodhan Kalanamak and Kalonuniya, both reg-istered in 2020.

The journal said that many commu-nity seed banks maintained different types of basmati rice landraces. The National Agriculture Genetic Resources Centre and international genebanks have collected more than 80 basmati landraces and conserved 68. Basmati rice landraces have geo-linked traits.

The historical culture of produc-tion, consumption and marketing of

native basmati rice in Nepal should always be favoured by both national and international rules and regula-tions, according to the journal.

Nepal has ample and valid evidence to get geographical indication right on basmati rice, the journal said.

As a pilot project, the government has started to grow the rice commer-cially to stem imports and reduce the trade deficit, according to experts.

Hansaraj is grown in Bajhang, Baitadi, Darchula, Dadeldhura, Jhapa, Kanchanpur, Morang, Palpa, Pyuthan, Salyan, Sunsari, Surkhet and Syangja. The aromatic rice is grown at alti-tudes ranging from 60 to 1,100 metres.

Farmers in Bajhang have expanded their paddy acreage this year after receiving assurances from the centre. They have transplanted Hansaraj basmati on 2,000 hectares out of the 7,500 hectares under paddy cultivation this year.

“Following the centre’s assurance, farmers who had almost abandoned cultivating Hansaraj basmati have transplanted this variety,” said Paru Rokaya, a farmer in Thalara, Pikhet. Thalara is the key Hansaraj basmati producing area in the district.

“If we get markets and good prices this year, we have decided to transplant this variety on all the avail-able land next year,” she said. The district produces 22,000 tonnes of paddy annually.

“Most indigenous paddy varieties like Hansaraj basmati are heading towards extinction as farmers have been using improved varieties of seeds to get higher productivity,” said Ram Prasad Joshi, president of the Federation of District Farmers Group. “Due to high pest infection and low productivity, farmers give indigenous varieties the lowest priority.”

The aromatic rice is not grown on a large scale, and Nepal has been importing it from India. The rice import bill stood at Rs50.48 billion in last fiscal year.

PoST PHoTo: BASANTA PRATAP SINGH

Farmers and an agro technician visit a field planted with Hansaraj basmati rice variety in Bajhang. The indigenous aromatic rice is not grown on a large scale despite swelling demand.

Tesla vehicle deliveries hit another record in Q3REUTERSCALIFORNIA, OCT 3

Tesla Inc said on Saturday it had deliv-ered a record electric cars in the third quarter, beating Wall Street estimates after Chief Executive Elon Musk asked staff to “go super hardcore” to make a quarter-end delivery push.

Tesla has weathered the chip crisis better than rivals, with its overall

deliveries surging 20 percent in the July to September period from its pre-vious record in the second quarter, marking the sixth consecutive quar-ter-on-quarter gains. In China, rising exports to Europe and the introduc-tion of a cheaper Model Y helped boost Tesla’s production, analysts said.Musk said Tesla suffered an extremely severe parts shortage earli-er in the third quarter and had urged

employees to make quarter-end deliv-ery push, Reuters reported last month, citing an internal company email.

“The end of quarter delivery wave is unusually high this time,” he said in the email. Tesla delivered 241,300 vehicles globally in the July to September quarter, up 73 percent from a year earlier. Analysts had expected the electric-car maker to deliver 229,242 vehicles, according to Refinitiv

data. General Motors, Honda and some of its bigger rivals posted declines in US sales in the third quar-ter, hit by a prolonged chip shortage. GM’s third-quarter US sales fell nearly 33 percent to its lowest level in more than a decade. Tesla said it delivered 232,025 of its Model 3 compact cars and Model Y sport-utility vehicles and 9,275 of its flagship Model S and Model X cars to customers in the quarter.

C M Y K

MONDAY, OCTOBER 04, 2021 | 06

wORlD

Hong Kong trade union disbands as impact of national security law deepens

ReuteRsHONG KONG, Oct 3

Hong Kong’s largest independent trade union disbanded on Sunday, stoking concerns over the space for civil society groups as a national security law stifles dissent in the global financial centre.

Members of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) voted to break up because “political uncertainty” had made it difficult to continue, its vice-chair-man Leo Tang said, declining to

elaborate further.“In the meeting, all our affiliates

made the hard decision. It’s a heart-broken decision,” he added.

While anti-government protests in 2019 generated a wave of labour activism in Hong Kong and trig-gered a 35 percent jump in regis-tered trade unions, groups have been scrambling to disband since Beijing imposed the security law last year.

Fears of falling foul of the law and facing terms of up to life in jail have seen at least 29 trade unions

dissolve since the start of this year, according to a tally by Reuters.

HKCTU’s Tang said members of the group had received threats to their personal safety, without going into further details.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has denied that the government is crack-ing down on civil society, and authorities say all law enforcement actions have been based on evidence and have nothing to do with the political beliefs of those arrested.

Some activists say the landscape for unions in Hong Kong is increas-

ingly starting to resemble main-land China.

“Unions will be subject to greater scrutiny if they are not already. In that way, it’s very similar to the mainland where labour activism is considered threatening by authori-ties, where there is no independent labour activism organised,” Maya Wang, senior China researcher for Human Rights Watch, said.

Pro-Beijing media have suggest-ed the union was a “foreign agent” —punishable by up to life in prison under the security law.

AP/RSS

In this undated file photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, two Chinese SU-30 fighter jets take off from an unspecified location to fly a patrol over the South China Sea.

Washington concerned by Chinese military action near Taiwan

Agence FRAnce-PResseWASHINGtON, Oct 3

The United States on Sunday slammed China for “provocative” and “destabilising” military activity, after Chinese fighter jets and bombers made their largest-ever incur-sion into Taiwan’s air defense zone.

“The United States is very concerned by the People’s Republic of China’s provoca-tive military activity near Taiwan, which is destabilising, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

“We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan.”

Beijing marked its National Day on Friday with its biggest aerial show of force against Taiwan to date, buzzing the self-ruled democratic island with 38 warplanes, including nuclear-capable H-6 bombers.

That was followed by a new record incur-sion on Saturday by 39 planes, said Taiwan, which accused Bejing of “bullying” and “damaging regional peace.”

“It’s evident that the world, the interna-tional community, rejects such behaviors by China more and more,” Premier Su Tseng-chang told reporters on Saturday.

Democratic Taiwan’s 23 million people

live under the constant threat of invasion by China, which views the island as its ter-ritory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.

Beijing has ramped up pressure on Taipei since the 2016 election of President Tsai Ing-wen, who has said she views the island as “already independent” and not part of a “one China.”

Under President Xi Jinping, Chinese warplanes are crossing into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on a near daily basis. In the last two years Beijing has begun sending large sorties into Taiwan’s ADIZ to signal dissatisfaction at key moments -- and to keep Taipei’s ageing fighter fleet regularly stressed.

Xi has described Taiwan becoming part of the mainland as “inevitable.”

US military officials have begun to talk openly about fears that China could consid-er the previously unthinkable and invade.

Protection of Taiwan has become a rare bipartisan issue in Washington and a grow-ing number of Western nations have begun joining the United States in “freedom of navigation” exercises to push back on China’s claims to the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

Price reiterated that the United States would “continue to assist Taiwan in main-taining a sufficient self-defense capability.”

Chinese warplanes are crossing into Taiwan on a near daily basis.

Fears of falling foul of the law and facing terms of up to life in jail have seen at least 29 unions dissolve this year.

Algeria closes airspace to French military as row grows

ReuteRsPARIS/ALGIERS, Oct 3

Algeria has closed its air-space to French military planes, France’s military said on Sunday, escalating the biggest row between the countries in years.

A spokesperson for the French Armed Forces said Algeria had closed its air-space to two flights, but that it would have “no major consequences” for opera-tions in the Sahel region, south of Algeria.

Algeria’s government and military were not immediately available for comment on the closure of airspace.

On Saturday, Algeria recalled its ambassador to Paris citing comments attributed to French President Emmanuel Macron, who was quoted in Le Monde as saying

Algeria’s “politico-military system” had rewritten the history of its colonisation by France based on “a hatred of France”.

The Algerian govern-ment did not specify which Macron comment had prompted the recall of its ambassador, but it accused him of interfering in Algerian internal affairs.

Macron was also quoted questioning whether there had been an Algerian nation before French colo-nial rule. Algeria won its independence from France in 1962 after a bloody mili-tary struggle.

A source in the Algerian government said the com-ment about Algeria’s exist-ence as a nation had caused particular anger. Algeria’s ruling elite since independ-ence has been largely drawn from veterans of its war of liberation from France.

The Algerian government accuses Macron of interfering in Algeria’s internal affairs.

Delta tearing through some states despite high vaccination rates

AssociAted PRessVERmONt, Oct 3

Despite having the highest vaccination rates in the country, there are constant reminders for most New England states of just how vicious the delta variant of Covid-19 is.

Hospitals across the region are seeing full intensive care units and staff shortages are starting to affect care. Public officials are pleading with the unvaccinated to get the shots. Health care workers are coping with pent-up demand for other kinds of care that had been delayed by the pandemic.

“I think it’s clearly frus-trating for all of us,” said Michael Pieciak, the commis-sioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation who monitors Covid-19 statistics for the state. “We want kids to be safe in school, we want par-ents not to have to worry about their child’s education and health.”

Even though parts of New England are seeing record case counts, hospitalisations and deaths that rival pre-vac-cine peaks, largely among the unvaccinated, the region hasn’t seen the impact the delta variant wave has wrought on other parts of the country.

According to statistics from The Associated Press, the five states with the high-est percentage of a fully vac-cinated population are all in New England, with Vermont leading, followed by Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. New Hampshire is 10th.

According to the AP data, full vaccination rates across the six New England states range from a high of 69.4 percent in Vermont to 61.5 percent in New Hampshire.

Despite the relatively high vaccination rates — the US as a whole is averaging 55.5 percent — there are still hun-dreds of thousands of people across the region who, for one reason or another, remain unvaccinated and vulnerable to infection.

Now, a Rhode Island offi-cial said he didn’t think the 70 percent vaccination goal, once touted as the level that would help end the pandemic in the state, is enough.

“What we’ve learned with delta and looking beyond delta, is because that’s where our focus is as well, to really reach those levels of vaccina-tion, to give you that true population level protection, you need to be in excess of 90 percent,” said Tom McCarthy, the executive director of the Rhode Island Department of Health Covid Response Unit.

Officials throughout New England continue to push the unvaccinated to get the shots as well as bolster vaccine mandates.

“We have it in our power to end this needless suffering and heartbreak; a way to pro-tect our health and that of the people we love; a way to give our heroic doctors, nurs-es, and other medical profes-sionals a much-needed break; a way to protect our children – please get vaccinated today,” Maine’s Democratic Governor Janet Mills said recently.

Yet the head of UMass Memorial Health, the largest health system in central Massachusetts, said recently that regional hospitals were seeing nearly 20 times more Covid-19 patients than in June and there isn’t an ICU bed to spare. In Connecticut, the Legislature just extended the governor’s emergency powers to make it easier to cope with the latest wave of the pandemic.

Hospitals are seeing full intensive care units and staff shortages are affecting care.

C M Y K

07 | MONDAY, OCTOBER 04, 2021

SpORTS | MEDlEY

YESTERDAY’S SOluTiON

CROSSwORD

HOROSCOpE

SuDOku

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19) ****One more day of the mundane might drive you crazy. Let Monday’s skies lead you towards dreaming the dream that sits right outside of your comfort. It’s an ideal day to craft travel plans, immerse yourself in educational ventures.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18) ***

It’s difficult for you to allow your messier emotions breathing room. Let Monday’s skies gently guide you into the heart of any matter that’s been unsettling you. Aim to heal through therapeutic endeavors with close confidantes.

PISCES (February 19-March 20) **Monday’s skies summon your attention towards your intimate partnerships. Be they friends, lovers, or business associates—you’re being asked to examine the give and take in your closest one on ones. Protect your boundaries!

ARIES (March 21-April 19) ****Monday’s skies help you get down to business. Yet, you may find it challenging to tackle everything you set out to do. The alignment encourages you to devote time towards actively reconnecting with your health, craft, and workflow.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) ***

You tend to fall into a pattern of “all no work and no play.” Monday’s skies encourage you to ease up on productive action, as the alignment draws your focus towards romance and creative endeavors. Focus on your goals clearly.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21) **

It can be difficult for you to ground down. Monday’s skies remind you of the importance of having a solid home base. Monday’s skies calls for a low-key day, and may create a confusing fog around your current career ambitions.

CANCER (June 22-July 22) ***You’ve got something to get off your chest today. Don’t hold your tongue when your heart is aching to be heard! The alignment encourages you to immerse yourself in writing projects, important conversa-tions, or educational endeavours.

LEO (July 23-August 22) ****

This time of year helps you activate your voice and sharpen your mind. Let Monday’s skies remind you that it’s just as important to slow your pace and spend time dreaming as it is to act! Aim to open up to vulnerable, healing conversations.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22) ***You tend to take care of everyone else around you without even considering your needs in the process. Monday’s skies remind you that it’s important to honor your independence and identity. Defend your own space and personal needs.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22) ****Let yourself reclaim the peace you so desperately crave. Monday’s skies offer an ideal opportunity to postpone social engagements or work demands. Aim to prioritise your solitude and involve yourself in activities that offer release.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21) ***

Monday’s skies highlight the importance of feeling connected to the people you truly value. Spend some time reaching out to your pals to catch up! The day can create a romantic but equally deceptive haze around romantic interests.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21) ***You’re here to shoot your hopeful arrow towards far away horizons. Monday’s skies have you reviewing your larger aspirations and contributions to the world. The day encourages you to chip away at career plans.

Nepal take on Sri Lanka todayHIMESH BAJRACHARYAMALE, Oct 3

Elated after a 1-0 win over hosts Maldives in the opening match on Friday, Nepal will vie against Sri Lanka in the second match day of the SAFF Championship at the National Football Stadium in Male on Monday. Bangladesh will play against India in the early fixture.

A victory over the Sri Lankan side will strengthen Nepal’s bid for first final in the sub continental tourna-ment contested by five South Asian teams. The top two finishers at the end of the round robin league will secure a place in the final.

Goalkeeper and captain Kiran Kumar Limbu believes that Sri Lanka encounter was the most important game in the history of Nepali football. “It is a very important game for us and we would give our cent percent for three points,” said Limbu.

Nepal’s Kuwaiti coach Abdullah Almutairi, however, said that Sri Lanka would be tougher opponents for his side than the Maldives. “We want to forget our victory over Maldives and play against Sri Lanka as our first opponents. It will be more difficult for us to play Sri Lanka,” said Abdullah.

In the past, Nepal and Sri Lanka have played five matches in the SAFF Championship and Nepal have won only one encounter among them while Sri Lanka have won three. One match has finished in a draw.

The last encounter between the two sides took place in 2015 SAFF in Kerala, India, which saw Nepal con-cede an injury time goal and crash out from the group stage.

Meanwhile, the coaches of all four

teams seemed to have started ‘mind game’ ahead of match day 2. All four teams playing on Monday are led by foreign coaches except hosts Maldives.

India’s Croatian coach Igor Stimac is the high profile coach among them. He was a member of the Croatian squad that won third place in the 1998 World Cup and also briefly led their national team. He was assigned as Indian national coach in 2019.

Stimac has come up with the first choice player for SAFF and believes that India were the favourites to win the championship. He, however, did not speak much on the eve of his team’s clash against Bangladesh. Instead, he chose to speak against the wrong referee decision during the first match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka that the former won 1-0.

Bangladesh had scored through penalty and Sri Lankan central defender Duckson Puslas was slapped

a red card for handling the ball. However, Indian coach Stimac blamed it as a wrong decision by the referee and said the decision changed the game result.

Bangladesh’s Spanish coach Oscar Brujan defended the referee’s deci-sion. He was the former assistant coach of La Liga side Real Mallorca. Burjan also believes that Bangladesh was the strongest team in the South Asia region. He was of the opinion that Bangladesh captain and midfield-er Jamal Bhuyan was equally compe-tent as Indian star player and captain Sunil Chhetri.

Sri Lankan head coach Amir Alagic, the former assistant coach of Germany Bundesliga side Werder Bremen, also held a similar view as that of his India counterpart on the referee decision in the Bangladesh-Sri Lanka clash. He said that Sri Lanka had the potential to be one of the best teams of the South Asian region.

Sankhamul reach playoffs, Sabin Memorial see off Prabhatpheri Youth Club

KUSHAL TIMALSINAPOKHARA, Oct 3

Sankhamul Futsal climbed up to sec-ond in the ‘A’ Division National Futsal League standings with a comfortable 7-0 victory over the relegated Jharana Sports Club at the Pokhara covered hall in Pokhara on Sunday.

Jinesh Prajapati scored a hat-trick while Aruj Singh, Krijal Khadka, Yugesh Shrestha and Sabin Khadka were also on the scoresheet as Sankhamul confirmed their place in the top four.

Sankhamul have 18 points from eight matches with five wins and three draws, and with the last round remain-ing they can now focus their attention on securing at least second position and a Qualifier 1 clash against Sports

Castle before heading into the playoffs.

Sports Castle have already secured top-place finish in the league amass-ing 22 points—a four-point gap with now second Sankhamul.

Sabin Memorial, mean-while, boosted their bid for top four with a 8-4 win over Prabhatpheri earlier on the day thanks to a double hat-trick from Abhinash Tamang. Manoj Gurung also scored twice for Sabin Memorial.

Nabin Lama, Dona Thapa and Akhilesh Karki netted for third-from-bottom club Prabhatpheri.

Sabin Memorial are fifth with 13

points and still fancy a chance to squeeze into the playoffs but face a daunting task against unbeaten Sankhamul in their final fixture.

“I am happy with the result. We still have a math-ematical chance to advance,” said Sabin Memorial coach Rajendra Tamang, who was full of praise for Abhinash, who became the first player to score a double hat-trick in the league. He is also the highest scorer of the compe-tition with 18 goals so far.

“Abhinash was outstand-ing today. His presence makes a lot of difference,” the coach added.

“I played today after a four-day rest. I have not fully recov-ered yet. I wanted to do something for the team and I am happy I could,” said Abhinash.

Also, Dhuku defeated Sky Goals 7-5 courtesy of four goals from Bikrant Narsingh Rana. Urken Sherpa and Prasiddha Magar also scored.

Manoj Rai, Aashish Sunam, Sanjog Chamling and Amit Tamang netted for Sky Goals

A victory over Sri Lanka will strengthen Nepal’s bid for final in the SAFF Championship.

Sankhamul thump relegated Jharana 7-0 to move up to second while Sabin Memorial keep their top-four hopes alive with an 8-4 win over Prabhatpheri.

Sompal Kami’s men grab fourth straight win to secure qualifier spot with a match in hand.

Photo Courtesy: NsJF

Nepal coach Abdullah Almutairi (left) and captain Kiran Kumar Limbu during a press meet on Sunday, on the eve of their SAFF Championship football match against Sri Lanka.

Chitwan Tigers enter qualifiersSPORTS BUREAUKAtHMANDU, Oct 3

Sompal Kami’s Chitwan Tigers edged Lalitpur Patriots by five wickets to register fourth win in a row and secure a qualifier spot in the Everest Premier League T20 cricket tourna-ment at the TU ground in Kirtipur.

Pokhara Rhinos and Bhairahawa Gladiators’ playoff spots were also confirmed after bottom placed Biratnagar Warriors defeated Kathmandu Kings XI by seven runs in the day’s kickoff match to sign off with consolation victory.

The outcomes put Lalitpur, who were already assured of playoffs before coming into match, on top of the six-team table with eight points from four matches while Lalitpur are fourth with three points after playing all five league games. They could drop to fifth if Kathmandu, who have two points from three matches, win one among the remaining two matches.

Second-placed Pokhara have five points from four matches and Bhairahawa have four points from three matches. Kathmandu bowed out with two points.

In the early kickoff, Biratnagar, already out of the playoff race, scored 104-5 in a match delayed due to wet outfield and reduced to eight overs per side. Chasing the target, Sandeep Lamichhane-led Kathmandu managed 97 runs for the loss of three wickets.

Biratnagar’s middle order batter Anil Sah smashed unbeaten 45 runs off 16. The man-of-the-match cracked two boundaries and five sixes to post the challenging total. Opener Rayyan Pathan, 11-ball 30 and captain KC 11-ball 15 were the only other batters to contribute in double digits.

Canadian Pathan smashed two fours and three sixes before he was caught by Ashan Priyanjan off Gulshan Jha while KC hit a boundary and a six before being run out.

Apart from Jha, Ryan Burl and Sandeep Lamichhane picked one wicket each for Kathmandu.

In the run chase, Kathmandu open-er Rahmanullah Gurbaz contributed 15-ball 28 before he was caught by Karan KC off Pratis GC. He hit three fences and a six. His opening partner Raju Rijal remained unbeaten on 24 runs facing 15 deliveries.

Subash Khakural played a quickfire 10-ball 26 remaining unbeaten, but failed to make an impact on the out-come. He hit three sixes in his 10-ball knock. Burl contributed 15 runs.

Biratnagar’s Pathan grabbed two wickets while GC took one.

In the late fixture, batting first, Lalitpur posted a meager total of 108-9 before Chitwan scored 112-5 with 16 balls to spare.

Indian batter Jaykishan Kolsawala scored highest 42 runs for Lalitpur as

they lost other players cheaply. Kolsawala hit two fours and three sixes in his 33-ball knock. Sri Lankan opener Sandun Weerakkody and Surya Tamang were other batters to reach double figures scoring 14 and 11 runs respectively.

Kamal Airee was the pick of bowl-ing for Chitwan grabbing three wick-ets while Karim Janat and Sagar Dhakal pocketed two wickets each.

Chasing the target, Afghan opener Mohammad Shahzad scored 28-ball 35 that included four boundaries and two sixes. Bhim Sharki contributed 22-ball 27, Virandeep Singh 19-ball 13. Dilip Nath remained unbeaten with 16 runs.

Lalitpur’s Afghan bowler Azmatullah Omarzai and Rijan Dhakal grabbed two wickets apiece while Yogendra Singh Karki pocketed one.

Bhairahawa Gladiators are set to vie with Chitwan Tigers in the early match on Monday while Kathmandu will lock horns with Pokhara Rhinos in the late game.

Post Photo: hemaNta shrestha

Players of Chitwan Tigers (green) celebrate after taking a wicket of Lalitpur Patriots.

Post Photo: Keshav thaPa

Abhinash Tamang of Sabin Memorial became the first player to score a double hat-trick in the ‘A’ Division National Futsal League. He is also the highest scorer of the competition scoring 18 times so far.

Team P W D L GF GA PtsSports Castle (Pokhara) 8 7 1 0 44 12 22Sankhamul (Kathmandu) 8 5 3 0 35 17 18The Rising Club (Dharan) 8 5 1 2 44 38 16Futsal 5 (Dharan) 8 4 2 2 34 30 14Sabin Memorial (Pokhara) 8 4 1 3 36 29 13Sky Goals (Kathmandu) 8 3 1 4 35 31 10Dhuku Futsal (Kathmandu) 8 3 1 4 35 38 10Prabhatpheri (Kathmandu) 8 2 1 5 34 45 7Lumbini Futsal (Rupandehi) 8 1 1 6 19 37 4Jharana SC (Rupandehi) 8 0 0 8 15 54 0

MONDAY, OCTOBER 04, 2021 | 08

CULTURE & LIFESTYLE

Published and Printed by Kantipur Publications Limited, Central Business Park, Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal, P. B. No. 8559, Phone: 5135000, Fax: 977-1-5135057, e-mail: kpost@kmg.com.np, Regd. No. 32/049/050, Chairman & Managing Director: Kailash Sirohiya, Director: Swastika Sirohiya, Editor: Sanjeev Satgainya

(C.R.P.D.) - 3/052/053

Remembering a relentless publicist, never too proud to begJOCELYN NOVECKNEW YORK

S

ome 15 years ago, while working on a story about the New York Post’s famous Page Six column, I needed some perspective on the gossip industry.

So I sought out Bobby Zarem, who’d by then spent more than 30 years as a tireless, relentless entertainment publicist, with a client list that read like a Who’s Who of a certain era: Cher, Diana Ross, Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Costner, Michael Douglas, Ann-Margret, Al Pacino, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and more.

Zarem explained the delicate dance of getting gossip items placed—how one greases the wheels by offering juicy tidbits unrelated to one’s clients, just to keep the door open. “If you’re intelligent,” he said, “it’s never discussed.” But he told me how even that strategy didn’t always work, and sometimes, you just had to beg.

How, I asked, does one do that? He replied patiently: “Literally. I say, ‘I’m begging you’!”

Zarem may have been proud, but for his clients, never too proud to beg.

Robert Myron “Bobby” Zarem died on Sunday at 84, a decade after leaving one beloved city, New York, for the other, his native Savannah, Georgia, where he spent his final days at home, sur-rounded by friends and family. Longtime colleague Bill Augustin said the cause was complications of lung cancer.

Never a household name to the public, but a storied figure to many entertainment insiders, he earned a number of colourful descriptions over the years: Superflack. PR legend. Storyteller. New York booster. Never forgets a friend—and definitely not an enemy. Nurses a grudge.

Perhaps former tabloid gossip writer Joannna Molloy put it most colourfully: Zarem, she said, was “more connected than a set of Deluxe Lego.”

In an interview this week, Molloy described Zarem in a way that made her analogy, which she

first came up with in the ’90s, dou-bly meaningful. Lego bricks are connected, yes, but if you’ve ever tried to clean up a kid’s room, you know they’re also very hard to take apart. And Zarem, she said, was way more than superficially connected to the stars. “He was really friends with these people—Michael Caine, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson,” she said. “These were real friendships.”

For Pacino, Zarem was also a role model—by which we mean he played a role modelled on Zarem; a dishevelled, indefatigable press agent with a southern drawl in the 2002 film aptly titled “People I Know.”

“Sometimes an actor is lucky enough to actually get to know the person first-hand he is portraying in a film,” Pacino told The Associated Press this week

through his publicist, Stan Rosenfield. “I got lucky. I got to know Bobby Zarem.”

Zarem’s client list blended to such an extent with his friend list that it’s hard to separate them. A statement from the Gamble Funeral Service in Savannah described them all as friends, including also Lauren Bacall, Catherine Deneuve, Audrey Hepburn, Mick Jagger, Gregory Peck, George Segal, and Christy Turlington.

Zarem wasn’t only a booster of people; he was devoted to his two cities. He helped launch and pro-mote the Savannah Film Festival, sending endless pitches and perk-filled invitations to lure the media. And he worked to make the city a tourism destination through the fame of John Berendt’s 1994 true-crime novel “Midnight in the

Garden of Good and Evil.”But New York was the setting

for what Zarem considered his greatest triumph, often describing how, he said, he came up with the “I Love New York” slogan. Others played key roles in the famous ad campaign. But Zarem told the AP in 2010 that he had the original idea, after which an ad firm added the “heart” logo.

Fittingly, the anecdote involved the former celebrity hangout Elaine’s, on the Upper East Side, which he frequented religiously. “I was walking home from Elaine’s on a Saturday night,” he said. “You could have rolled a coin down the street and nobody would have stopped it. The city was dying. Something had to be done.” And so the idea was born, as he told it.

He was known as much for his own star-studded birthday gather-

ings as for events like the lavish party for the movie “Tommy,” starring client Ann-Margret, for which a midtown Manhattan sub-way station was procured.

He also took credit for introduc-ing Woody Allen and Mia Farrow—before it became something better off denied. It was also at Elaine’s, of course.

Born in Savannah on September 30, 1936, Robert Myron Zarem attended Andover and then Yale, and worked briefly in finance before getting into publicity with producer Joe Levine and then the PR firm Rogers & Cowan. He formed his own company in 1974.

He stayed in New York when others might have moved to Hollywood. Molloy attributes that in part to an instinct for what would best serve his clients: “He understood that the New York tab-

loids drove the morning shows.”Zarem was also a huge opera

and theatre fan. “Music and thea-tre sustained him,” said Molloy, who like many in media and enter-tainment, counted herself among his good friends. (Disclosure: After profiling Zarem in 2010 at his New York farewell party, I came to know him through close Savannah friends, sharing a few meals, and becoming part of a galaxy of acquaintances.)

Zarem’s amiable, dishevelled manner belied not only a will of steel but a propensity to hold a grudge. He famously feuded, bit-terly, with the late columnist Liz Smith. And there were others—even the funeral home statement noted that “his many feuds were the stuff of legend,” and also that “profanity and withering invec-tive” were part of his arsenal.

And Richard Johnson of the New York Post recounted at Zarem’s farewell party how he’d once received a furious call from the publicist after a gossip item had been delayed, “a withering tirade, full of so many four-letter words it would make a sailor blush.”

One might imagine that in nearly a half-century as a publicist in New York, Zarem might have had an anecdote about one Donald J Trump. One would not be mis-taken.

Zarem told South magazine about a call from Trump, in the real estate years. “He called me in August or September of 1978. It was six months after I launched the ‘I Love New York’ campaign,” he said. “I walked in and he said, ‘Bobby, every cent I’ve ever made is because of you.’”

“I didn’t think much of it,” Zarem added.

— Associated Press

Never a household name to the public, but a storied figure to many entertainment insiders, Bobby Zarem earned a number of colourful descriptions in his lifetime.

AP/RSS

(Left to right) Helen Mirren, Bobby Zarem and Jane Fonda in Los Angeles on October 9, 2017.

His client list blended with his friend list so much that it’s hard to separate them.

With humour, ‘Venom 2’ leans into relationships

LINDSEY BAHR

‘V

enom: Let There Be Carnage’ is best when it’s not trying to be a comic book movie.

That fact may not bode especially well for

future spinoffs and integrations within the so-called “Spider-Verse,” but one sens-es that director Andy Serkis, screenwriter Kelly Marcel and star/producer Tom Hardy are aware of this weakness. And they made the smart choice to lean into the oddball relationship between Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote Venom.

There is nothing remotely necessary about this sequel, which is itself a fruit-less line of judgment to get into when it comes to any movie let alone franchise building blocks. But that also seems to free “Venom 2” to get weirder and more irrev-erent than the first movie, when it seemed like no one could decide how seriously they were taking themselves. Turns out “not very” was the right answer.

Here we meet up with Eddie and Venom in what Serkis has called their “odd cou-ple” phase. Eddie is in full bachelor mode as his ex, Anne (Michelle Williams), has recently gotten engaged to Dan (Reid Scott, who is a perfectly game and unflap-pable punching bag).

Eddie and his symbiote live in his tiny San Francisco apartment near squalor and bicker all day long and it is really

quite amusing. Venom loves to give advice—relationship and otherwise. It’s like an ongoing inner monologue, just with an oily alien whose ideal meal is human brains (don’t worry, Eddie has instituted a chicken and chocolate only rule). In one scene set to “Let’s Call the

Whole Thing Off,” Venom decides the only way to cheer Eddie up is to make bacon for breakfast.

Unfortunately, because it is still a super-hero adjacent movie, we can’t just watch Eddie go about his days sweaty and both-ered with his chatty symbiote never giv-

ing him a moment of peace. There must be a villain and a threat and some ridiculous motivation as to why Eddie and Venom have to get involved at all.

This is where Woody Harrelson comes in, as the lovesick serial killer Cletus Kasady who wants Eddie (who is appar-

ently still working as an investigative journalist) to write his life story. Harrelson seems to be having fun as the psychopath murderer who only wants to get back to his true love, played by an offensively underutilized Naomie Harris.

Later, Cletus will get his own symbiote and become the titular Carnage. And even as the movie devolves into garish and non-sensical action (in Grace Cathedral of all places), it still retains enough awareness to have Carnage sincerely shout the title of the movie at a climactic moment.

It’s hard to overstate just how much the relative success of this film comes down to Hardy and his go for broke performances as Eddie and Venom. Perhaps the gimmick is a little one-note, but it’s still silly fun hearing Venom use the same intonation whether he’s saying, “Let me eat him” or “No! I get brain freeze” when Eddie says he’s going to get ice cream.

And Serkis was an inspired choice to take over the efforts from Ruben Fleischer. Who better than Golum to find the good stuff in a split personality mo-cap/CG performance? It’s just too bad it also requires the superhero hook to justify its weird existence.

There is nothing remotely necessary about this sequel, which is itself a fruitless line of judgment to get into when it comes to any movie.

Reid Scott

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

Directed by: Andy Serkis

Starring: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris

AP/RSS

A scene from ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’.