PRAKASH MAN SINGH HEADING FOR VICTORY
((NEWS UPDATE)

Kathmandu, 21 Sept.: Prakash Man Singh is heading towards victory and is certain to be elected NC general secretary for a four-year term from the Sushil Koirala panel.
Until seven in the evening, Singh collected 1,113 votes Wednesday while Bimalendra Nidhi of the Sher Bahadur Deuba group is trailing behind having received only 791 votes.
The result of contest for treasurer is still uncertain.
Chitralekha Yadav of the Deuba camp has garnered 1,024 votes while Prabhu Narayan Chaudhary from the Koirala panel collected 914 votes.
Results are expected by nine in the evening.
Counting of votes for central committee members will begin after results for of the vote secretary general and treasurer are announced.
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MORE DETAILS OF CHITWAN CAR CRASH

Kathmandu, 21 Sept.: Krishna Parajuli, NC Kaski district president, died in a car accident at Darchowk in Chitwan at 3.30 in the afternoon Wednesday.
Three passengers who died and three others injured in the accident were NC activists from Kaski.
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LANDGREN CLAIMS UNMIN MANDATE UNCHAGED

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 21 Sept.: UNMIN Chief Karin Landgren Wednesday said UNMIN mandate remained ‘unchanged’ after a landmark ‘gentleman’s agreement’ between Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Maoist Chairman to integrate and resettle Maoist combatants in the next four years.
She was clearly attempting to spread the message UNMIN was present in Nepal even while confirming the political arm of the UN will quit 15 January 2011.
She said the deadline set by Nepal and Prachanda was ‘very challenging’ and was unlikely to be met.
Landgren said ‘parties can come to separate agreement’ but added, ”We [UNMIN] need complete clarity on the agreement.”
She said, in the remaining four months UNMIN will ‘provide maximum support to the peace process’ and begin an ‘orderly process to withdraw by 15January 2011.’
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IC supply to exchange counters cut by half

Kathmandu, 21 Sept.: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has halved the amount of Indian currency (IC) notes it has been providing to exchange counters in the region on suspicion that they are being used for illegal transactions, Binod Bhandari writes in The Kathmandu Post from Biratnagar..

The central bank has slashed the money supply to the 23 counters here to IRs. 20,000 per counter per day from IRs. 40,000 since mid-September. NRB had been distributing IRs. 900,000 to the counters daily to make it convenient for the general public to obtain IC.

Central bank source said that that it was compelled to slash the amount after it was found that such IC had reached to the hands of those who are involved in illegal transactions. The central bank has been distributing around Rs 460,000 a day for the last one week.

Sources said that people involved in illegal trade had been paying Rs. 165 for IRs. 100 on the black market against the official exchange rate of Rs. 160.

“The IC supplied to the exchange counters has been ending up with gold smugglers,” the source claimed. The operator of an exchange counter also admitted that gold traders had been purchasing IC by paying more. As traders in the bordering towns of India do transactions in just IC, they are compelled to purchase IC at a higher price, he added.

The IC supplied to the exchange counters by the central bank reaches the bordering towns of Jogbani, Chopraha, Sikti, Kursakatta, Kasat, Kuwadi and Phulbadiya within a few hours of it being delivered.

At Rangeli, Dieniya, Jhurkiya, Betauna and Amgachhi, people can be seen crowding around travellers returning from India to

buy IC.

“The country is facing a trade deficit also due to the misuse of IC,” said economist P.K. Jha. Thousands of rupees worth of IC also returns to India as payment for insurance premiums on a monthly basis. Nepalis are attracted to Indian insurance companies as they offer better policies and bonuses.
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