TAJA NEWS

Rajesh Hamal, a Nepali actor with so much notoriety people often call him “Maha-Nayak” which means “Great Actor,” needs to listen to his favorite radio drama and the rest of the actors and production crew join him.This is the promotional spot that has run on national and local TVs throughout Nepal for the past month as scores of people have started to tune in to what Hamal calls his favorite show. The radio show is Mai Sari Sunakhari (“Orchid, Like Me”). It launched in April and will run for two years (208 episodes) in the Nepali language. It’s produced by Population Media Center (PMC) a nonprofit that uses entertainment to address health and human rights globally.Mai Sari Sunakhari addresses numerous issues, including early marriage, girls’ education, gender equity, and others.

“Rajesh Hamal is the most popular superstar of the country,” says Rajan Parajuli, PMC’s Country Representative in Nepal. “Because of his extraordinary performance in Nepali cinema over the past two decades and his very non-controversial image, he has become the icon for all age groups. He has never done promotion for any radio show before.”

This sounds like a stroke of luck to get Nepal’s superstar to promote your radio drama, but the relationship is based on a lot more than luck – it’s based on a shared desire to improve people’s lives. Hamal is the ambassador for the National Campaign of the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare in Nepal. He publicly strongly supports ending child marriage and gender-based violence

Malia Obama is having a blast at the Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago! The eldest first daughter was spotted shaking it off on stage during one hip-hop set on July 29, and we still can’t get over it! See Malia party hard here!Who knew Malia, 18, had a wild side! Festival video footage showed the Harvard-bound student and a few of her friends grinding on stage and getting down with rapper, Mac Miller, 24, according to TMZ. She clearly was having a great time. And Malia stopped briefly to enjoy an inside joke with her girlfriends before she jumped right back to rolling her body to the music, showing off her abs in a cute cropped top. Talk about the perks of being the president’s daughter!The First Daughter’s epic video comes only one day after the Democratic National Convention concluded on July 28, the major event in which Malia skipped out on to enjoy the 4-day festival. Malia and her sister Sasha, 15, weren’t in attendance at the DNC, but President Obama, 54, and First Lady, Michelle Obama, 52, did make an appearance in support of the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, 68. And the Obama’s delivered two amazing speeches

The Election Commission (EC) has prepared a draft bill with the provision not allowing the temporary voters to cast votes in the election of provincial assembly. The draft, however, has a provision to allow them to cast vote in the House of Representatives. The EC has made the provision in the draft prepared for provincial assembly member election that the voter, whose name has been registered in the voters list of any village body or municipality of any constituency, can cast vote only there. At a programme organised by the EC to collect suggestion of political parties on the bill here today, political parties did not give any suggestion on the provision. Increase threshold: Big parties Leaders of the big political parties, who participated in the discussion, suggested the EC not to make provision of same ‘threshold’ for the House of Representatives and the provincial assembly. The EC has made provision of 1.5 per cent threshold in both assemblies in the draft. Representatives of Nepali Congress and CPN (UML) suggested to make provision of at least five per cent threshold in the House of Representatives and seven per cent in the provincial assembly. NC central member, Min Bahadur Bishwokarma, suggested the EC to increase the threshold, manage the election fund, arrange for certain grant for encouraging women candidates in the direct election system and declare special electoral constituencies. On the occasion, CPN (UML) leader, Raghuji Pant, called for 10 per cent threshold in parliament and seven per cent in provincial assembly for sake of a stable government. He also advised for keeping reservation in the election citing parties are run under policy and ideology. Cancel threshold: fringe parties

on Nepali folk music.Lok Dohari or folk songs are meant to carry our culture and tradition but some of these new singers have dared to break the tradition and create a beautiful fusion of classic and modern taste. She started her professional musical career in 2006 and since then, she has given a number of hit albums and has travelled extensively within and outside Nepal to perform in stage programs. Born in remote village of Rukum and educated in western city of Dang, Jyoti Thapa magar used to sing since she remembered and continued singing at school as well. She has also said that she comes from a family that deeply loved music, though not professionally involved in it. Now she has been one of the busiest artist in Nepal as she is not just a folk singer but is interested in dramas, ethnic movies, music videos, stage shows and many more. Jyoti Magar has travelled in many countries of Asia, the Middle East and Europe to perform in musical stage programs mainly organized by non-resident Nepali organizations abroad.>