Jhanal Khanal says country heading towards Himalayan crisis

Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal warned Friday
if the constitutions isn’t promulgated by the 28 May 2010 deadline the country will be engulfed by an unimaginable crisis of Himalayan proportions.
“The constituent assembly, government and president will be swept away,” he told Kantipur FM in an interview Friday.
“Anybody can do anything under such circumstances. We must take steps when there is time,” Khanal added.
:”We are ready for a consensus. UML is ready to sign an agreement even today. Maoists and Congress should say when they are ready.”
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Maoists declaring last federal autonomous region Friday

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: Maoists are declaring their 13th and last federal autonomous region Friday
A Madesh Autonomous region is being declared from Janakpur.
Maoists have declared 12 such federal republics so far amidst protests of other parties.
“The ruling parties are plotting to bypass us in the constitution drafting process as they are stressing on majority instead of consensual politics for peace, federalism and constitution,” Maoist politburo member Deb Gurung said.
Chairman Prachanda threatened the autonomous federal regions will be parallel state structures if opposition continues; the main opposition has even appointed chief of the regions..
Maoists have gone ahead to push a federal state on ethnicity and nationality even as they aren’t clear on the boundaries of autonomous regions.
The responsibility to define borders was given to the party standing committee.
All major parties have agreed to a federal structure to be carved out a unified Nepal created by King Prithvi Narayan Shah.
Terai parties went one stop ahead and negotiated an agreement with the then government of Girija Prasad Koirala to call off protests in the south bordering India to getting concessions for regional demands.
Three Madesh parties in government are even pushing One Madesh, One Pradesh demand opposed by Tharus of the region.
Nearly two dozen armed groups are conducting a bloody campaign with some demanding cessation.
Blood continues to be shed in the terai every day in such a campaign.
Against this back ground, three Madesh parties have described the Maoist declaration as unconstitutional and apolitical.
Major parties criticize the Maoists for what they call the hijacking of the responsibility of the constituent assembly to define a new state structure after toppling monarchy with the announcement of a republic.
The two-year tenure of the CA ends in another six months amid concerns a constitution won’t be promulgated within the 28 May 2010 deadline.
Who will then draft a constitution?
The interim constitution promulgated by an unelected and self-appointed body is silent.
A crisis is clearly on the horizon.
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PM Nepal meets Sitaram Yechuri evening Denmark

Kathmandu, 18Dec.; Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Thursday held discussions with Indian communist leader Sitaram Yechuri even in faraway Denmark where is attending a climate change summit.
It’s not known what they discussed’ but Nepal’s current political crisis must have been reviewed.
The CPI (Maoist) leader was a frequent visitor to Nepal when the then Indian government led by Manmohan Singh, with the communists in the coalition, had outsourced Indian Nepal foreign policy to the Leftists.
Yechuri pushed the Indian government agenda during the Girija rule during his frequent Nepal visits.
The communists are now out of government after the resounding success of the Congress (I) in general elections.
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Youth force being organized into camps

Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: UML’s Youth force is being organized into camps to stop the excesses of Maoist YCL, Rajdhani reports.
A start has been made from Sindhuli district headquarters where a camp has been organized for training for mobilization when needed.
“This is our compulsion,” UML Sindhuli Youth Force Chairman Karna Ghising said. We stared a campaign after Maoists opened a camp here.”
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TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY

NRB intervenes, restricts investment in real estate

Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: One day after predicting an imminent financial crisis, Nepal Rashtra Bank (NRB) intervened Thursday restricting bank and financial institution investments in real estate.
The central bank has directed commercial banks and financial institutions to bring down investments in the real estate sector of 15 percent by mid-July 2011 and to 10 percent by mid –July 2012.
NRB has asked financial institutions to 25 percent of their total investment.
Some banks, with 90 percent investment in the sector, could have faced collapse, finance ministry sources said.
Government acted to stop a US-style financial collapse.
The central bank has ordered financial institutions to extend loans for housing and real estate not exceeding 60 percent of the property market value.
The government said it will discourage investment in what it called unproductive sectors following liquidity crunch.
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NDB to be liquidated

Kathmandu, 18 Dec: Nepal Development Bank (NDB) will be liquidated.
Patan appellate court Thursday appointed
Narayan Bajaj the liquidator asking the chartered accountant to complete the process within three months.
The central bank had sought liquidation.
Nepal Army had Rs 180 million and Employees’ Provident Fund Rs 331 million deposit in the failed bank.
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Central bank intervenes to stop capital flight to India

Kathmandu, 18 Dec: Soaring capital flight has further exacerbated what appears to be an economic crisis in the making, The Kathmandu Post reports.
Nepal Rashtra Bank (NRB) has concluded that large amounts are going to India through the banking system itself.
Meanwhile, the central bank on Thursday instructed commercial banks to stop issuing drafts for premium payment to Indian insurance policies to check the capital flight. It has also directed banks not to give exchange facility for investment in shares and purchase in shares of property in India.
Likewise, NRB has also asked banks not to conduct transactions in Indian currency or accept travelers cheques, drafts and credit cards in Indian currency except from Nepali and Indian citizens.”
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“If serious concern isn’t demonstrated, the constitution may not be promulgated in another five years.”

(Bhojpur Congress leader Kumar Rai, Nepalpatra, 18 Dec.)

‘The need is to put the nation, not party, at the center stage of politics.”

(President Dr Ram Baran Yadav, The Rising Nepal, 18 Dec.)

‘It’s getting a little frustrating, this fixation with death. Not that Maoist supreme Pushpa Kamal Dahal shouldn’t be thinking about the great beyond every day. (For someone with so much blood on his hands, it probably comes as easily as breathing.)”

(Maila Baje, The People’s Review, 18 Dec.)

“The constitution can’t be promulgated by the 28May 22010 deadline with the current political environment. Parties are centered around retaining or bringing down the government. They aren’t interested in drafting the constitution.”

(Chairman of the main constitution drafting committee Nilambar Acharya, Kantipur, 18 Dec.)