Paddy Day celebrations in Kathmandu (Pictures)

Nabin Babu Gurung

Kathmandu, June 29

National Paddy Day is being celebrated across the country with various events on Wednesday to mark the beginning of the plantation season.

Nepal has been celebrating the 15^th day of the Nepali month of Ashadh (late June or early July) as National Paddy Day since 2005 after the United Nations declared 2004 as the International Year of Rice.

The National Agronomy Research Center at Khumaltar, Lalitpur also marked the day with a plantation event on Wednesday.

Agriculture Minister Mahindra Raya Yadav inaugurated the event by transplanting rice seedlings with the help of a rice transplanting machine. Farmers and locals then joined in the celebrations by splashing each other with mud.

Here are some pictures of the celebrations.