News stories by Mallika Aryal, page 2

Dhan Bahadur Chaudhary, an ornithologist, grew up with vultures in his native Nawalparasi in western Nepal. He and his neighbours were used to seeing vultures flying overhead, feeding on the carcasses, and sunbathing near the rivers.

Just 40 kms away from the capital Kathmandu, in Thasingtole, Lalitpur District, Kalli Kumari B.K., 46, a local Dalit woman, was mercilessly beaten up. She was accused of being a 'witch', imprisoned in a shed and forced to eat her own excreta

Bhagwati Adhikari was a teenager when she was married off to a village boy of the same caste. Just a few years later when she was in her early 20s, she became a widow. Her husband, who worked as a security guard in Kathmandu, was murdered. Adhikari was left alone to support her family.

As the new federal republic of Nepal forges ahead with writing a new constitution, activists are demanding that environmental rights be enshrined in this important document.

Khyati Shrestha, a 17-year-old high school student in Kathmandu, was abducted and brutally murdered last month. 17 days later, her body parts were found in the outskirts of the valley. The accused, Biren Pradhan, later chillingly revealed that she was killed within 24 hours of kidnapping.

Eighteen army deminers are hard at work in the minefields of Wami Taksar in central Nepal. The deminers start out early in the morning, before the sun is too hot. They move meticulously from one mine to another, carefully excavating each one, and they take breaks to stay alert.

Maoist hammer and sickle graffiti from last year's constituent assembly (CA) election is still fresh on the walls all around Gorkha Bajar. This historic town, some 150 km west of the capital Kathmandu, used to be a Maoist stronghold during the 'peoples war' from 1996-2006.

Despite loud opposition, the Maoist-led coalition government of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has vowed to push through an ordinance to resolve the cases of hundreds of people ‘disappeared’ during the decade-long people's war waged between Maoist rebels and the forces of the former monarchy.

Impoverished Nepal has dramatically reduced maternal mortality cases from 540 per 100,000 live births in 2001 to the present 280 -- a feat experts attribute chiefly to the legalisation of abortion.

When Kunda Dixit, editor of the ‘Nepali Times’ and 12 other staff members of the Himalmedia publishing house were attacked and injured by supporters of Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M), a week ago, it was a sign that Nepal’s ruling party intends to influence the media through intimidation.