8 MARCH 2020 I Nepalese journalists from across the country met in Adelaide over the weekend to elect executive body of the Australian Nepalese Journalists Association (ANJA).
The first ever general assembly of the Nepalese-origin media association elected Setopati Australia‘s Hemanta Kafle as the president.
Mr Kafle is also the former treasurer of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), a member organisation of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
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Nepalese journalists had gathered in Sydney last year to form ANJA’s ad hoc committee. FNJ’s general secretary Ramesh Bista had travelled from Nepal to attend the inaugural event of the body.
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ANJA’s two-day long general assembly, also attended by South Australian MP Jing Lee and Nepal’s ambassador to Australia Mahesh Raj Dahal, elected a number of other community journalists to a host of other executive positions, including Nepali Patra‘s Rishi Acharya as the “co-president”. 
Speaking at the programme, Assistant Minister Lee remarked that it was an important step forward for Nepalese journalists to be organised in a multicultural country like Australia. She stated that media would play an important role in all aspects of the Nepalese community in Australia through its constructive role.
Ambassador Dahal on the other hand told participating journalists that the formation of ANJA fulfilled the need for journalists to be organised under an umbrella, given the fact that the diaspora in the country was only growing by the day.
Dr Bharat Raj Poudel, who presided over the general assembly, pointed out that ANJA’s formation was not a sudden phenomenon. A media organisation for Nepalese journalists had been a talked-about subject among expatriate media persons for nearly a decade, he reminded during his remarks at the general assembly.
Complete List of ANJA office-bearers:
President
Hemanta Kafle
Co-president
Rishi Acharya
Vice Presidents
Sita Rasaili; Niru Tripathi
General Secretary
Chiranjebi Devkota
Secretary
Saral Gurung
Treasurer
Krishna Tiwari
Members
Kamal Silwal; Prakash Humagai; Milan Dahal; Sarita Dhakal, Chhatra Shanker, Khagendra Satyal
