CHAIRMAN PRACHANDA RETURNS FROM CHINA LATER TUESDAY; OTHER DETAILS

Kathmandu, 26 Oct. Maoist Chairman Prachanda returns from China after a four-day visit Tuesday.
He won’t participate in the 13th round vote for prime minister at three in the afternoon in parliament.
The vote will again be inconclusive Tuesday.
The main opposition leader Monday held two-hour discussions in Beijing with Wong Jerai, Chief of the Foreign Department of the Commuist Partyof China.
He’s expected to hold discussions with other Chinese leaders Tuesday morning before departing the Chinese capital.
Wong hosted a reception for the Maoist chief Vice-premier Ai Ping was present.
“Political discussions were held on current issues. There’s no policy to intervene in Nepal,” Foreign Department Chief Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who is accompanying Prachanda, said quoting Chinese leader. “We want to see peace and stability in Nepal.”
Mahara said quoting Dahal,” We still want good relations between the two communist parties.”
President Dr Ram Baran Yadav flew for Shanghai Tuesday accompanied by Tourism Minister Sharat Singh Bhandari and Foreign Secretary to attend the closing ceremony of the Shanghai Expo opened six months ago.
He flew for Shanghai via Lhasa by a. Air China flight for a week-long visit..
The president is scheduled to meet Premier Wen Jibao on the sidelines of the Expo.
Tourism Minister Sarat Singh Bhandary and Foreign Secretary are accompanying the president.
Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and the cabinet bid farewell to the president at the airport.
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PM, SPEAKER HOLD DISCUSSIONS

Kathmandu, 26 Oct.: Prim Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Speaker Subash Nemwang held discussions Tuesday morning on the deadlock to elect a government chief and the presentation of the delayed annual budget for parliamentary approval.
Nemwang has suggested amending the constitution to begin a new process to elect a premier as the sole candidate NC Vice-president Ram Chandra Paudel and the party are reluctant to withdraw the candidacy.
Nemwang Tuesday asked the prime minister to hold a dialogue with othr parties to present a budget while Nepal asked the speaker to create an atmosphere for budget presentation.
Newang said a meeting of parliament’s business advisory committee will be convened later Tuesday.
Paudel was present at the meeting.
Finance Minister Surendra Pandey Monday after the speaker to fix a date for budget presentation to prevent a looming financial crisis.
Maoists oppose the budget presentation of a complete budget by a caretaker government.
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NINE EASTERN DISTRICTS AFFECTED BY LIMBUWAN STRIKE

Kathmandu, 26 Oct.: Nine districts east of Arun river were affected Tuesday by a one-day strike call by Limbuwan supporters calling for autonomy and demanding Election Commission immediately stop preparation of a digital voters’ list.
Hill districts and Jhapa and Morang in the terai were affected.
Movement of vehicles came to a halt, markets, industries and schools closed down.
The voters; list should be prepared by an autonomous government, not Election Commission, protesters said.
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TENURE OF GENERAL EXTENDED

Kathmandu, 26 Oct.: The tenure of Brig. Gen. Nirendra Aryal was extended by two years Monday by the cabinet.
He’s attached with the Directorate of Human Rights Directorate at Army Headquarters.
Aryal is likely to succeed BN Kumar Sharma as Chief of the Legal Department after the latter’s retirement.
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GOVT. AMENDS CIVIL SERVICE ACT

Kathmandu, 26 Oct.: The cabinet Monday approved the 3rd amendment to the Civil Service Act 2019 BS.
The amendment will enable government to assign responsibilities srnior who have been promoted but denied responsibilities for a long time frustrating them.
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CAMPAIGN TO ADMINISTER VITAMIN A

Kathmandu, 26 Oct.: A two-day national campaign
to administer Vitamin A capsules and de-worming medicine will be launched 2 November.
The campaign will target children from one to five years.
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TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY

NEPSE INDEX SLIPS MARGINALLY

Kathmandu, 26 Oct.: Nepse index slipped marginally Monday by
0.12 points son the second day of five-day weekly trading closing at 426.21 points.
Nepse gained 5.21 points Sunday.
Share prices of commercial banks and power companies fell while share prices of development banks, insurance and other groups increased.
Altogether 48,111 shares worth Rs. 10.63 million were traded in 1,132 transactions.
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GOLD PRICE PER TOLA CROSSES RS 38,000 MARK

Kathmandu, 26 Oct.: .Gold price Monday reached Rs 38, 025 pr tola—a Rs 123 gain from the previous day.
The price increased after gains in the international market.
Nepal Rashtra Bank Tuesday is auctioning 100 km gold and 1,000 kg silver.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

:Give us the leadership if you [three big parties] can’t form the government/ We’ll show you we can lead the government.”

(Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of MJF Bijaya Kumar Gachedhar, Kantipur, 26 Oct.)
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NEPAL ENACTING NUCLEAR LAWS
Kathmandu, 26 Oct.: As the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) agreed to provide financial assistance to Nepal, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) is gearing up to prepare nuclear laws and a ground work for the establishment of Nuclear Technology Centre in the country, The Kathmandu Post reports..

The IAEA, the world’s centre of cooperation in the nuclear field for peace purposes, has recently reached an agreement with the ministry to provide US $ 6.3 million to enact a nuclear law and establish the nuclear centre.

According to Rajendra Manandhar, Under-Secretary at the ministry, an official team of the ministry visited Vienna, the central headquarters of the IAEA, in the second week of October to strike a deal on the Country Programme Framework which is needed to receive cooperation from the world’s nuclear watchdog.

“In close cooperation with the Ministry of Law and nuclear experts, we are doing an initial homework to enact a nuclear law,” said Manandhar, who is also an assistant Liaison Officer of the IAEA in the country. The ministry has set up a Nuclear Steering Committee under the supervision of the Minister for Science and Technology and nuclear experts to speed up the work.

Officials said a big chunk of money that the IAEA has pledged to provide will be spent in the preparation of legislation and production of trained manpower in the nuclear sector.

In addition, the government has made a plan to establish the Nuclear Technology Centre and enact a law this year following the visit of former IAEA Director General Dr. Mohamed Elbaradei to Nepal in September last year. The IAEA later sent a fact-finding mission to take stock of the country’s present state of nuclear sources.

The ministry’s move came after the fact-finding mission in its preliminary report called on the government to immediately prepare a legal framework to deal with nuclear issues in the country. This time, Nepal, which acquired the IAEA’s membership in July, 2008 after a decade-long struggle, has no specific legislation to oversee nuclear activities.

Officials said that the IAEA is positive toward Nepal’s

attempt to acquire its help and has promised to provide assistance in areas such as health, agriculture and energy.

However, it is mandatory to get a final approval from the IAEA to buy high doses of radio isotopes and other nuclear sources which are important in the treatment of cancer as well as generating agricultural livestock and scientific research. Time and again, the IAEA has expressed concern over the safety of radioactive sources being used by different cancer hospitals and research centres.

Manandher said the ministry has given top priority to the process of nuclear legislation as the IAEA, which promotes safe, secure and peaceful nuclear sources, will only start providing Nepal with radioactive sources needed for medical and other purposes after the nuclear legislation comes into effect.
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GOVT PREPARING TO RESTRICT WOMEN WORKERS GOING TO GULF
Kathmandu, 26 Oct.: It’s now necessary to take permission of concerned Nepali embassies to proceed to work in Qatar, UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, Nagarik reports.
Government took the initiative after complaints women workers who went to the Gulf for work were harassed and sexually exploited.
Prime Miniister Madhav Kumar Nepal, at a high-level meeting Monday, ordered the immigration department to prepare a directive within seven days.
Only visas for the four Gulf countries from the embassies won’t suffice after the directive in enforced.. The concerned embassy will also have to be notified by workers of the hiring company with their invitation.
Documents will have to be presented also for personal, trade and other visits.
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BUDGET TO DECLARE FREE SECONDARY EDDUCATION

KATHMANDU, Oct 26: The government is declaring education up to secondary level free for all under the budget for the current fiscal year, said Finance Minister Surendra Pandey. It is also providing incentives to all enrolled students to discourage dropouts, MIlaan Mani Sharma writes in Republica..

The new program under the upcoming budget, if it comes into force, will directly benefit some 6.5 million students studying up to 10th grade in public schools across the country. So far, public schools have been providing financial support for books to students who cannot unafford them.

The incentives for students from dalit and underprivileged groups will be even higher; for others it will be nominal.

Under the program targeted specially at developing human capital, the government has settled on providing Rs 70 per month to all dalit students to encourage them to continue their studies.

All girl students will get Rs 60 per month and others, Rs 50 per month.

If the legislature-parliament allows him to present the budget and endorses it, Pandey will spend as much as Rs 5 billion for implementing the new program.

“We have worked out the financial burden it will create. But as education holds the key to the development of the country, we are ready to bear the cost,” Pandey told Republica.

Ministry of Finance (MoF) officials, however, said that they have not yet worked out the modality for issuing the incentive to students.

“We want to make sure that the incentive is not misused, but have not finalized the modality,” said a source. He indicated that the government could decide to hand over the incentive amounts to the mothers of students to make sure of their proper use.

He stated that the government has sought the support of donors to implement the program. So far, donors have been contributing Rs 17 billion a year in the development of Nepal´s education sector. Apart from that the government spends around Rs 40 billion a year on education.
• All students to get incentives to attend school
• Dalit students to get Rs 70, girls Rs 60 and others Rs 50 per month
• Govt plans to entrust incentives to mothers
• Program to cost Rs 5b annually
The government will also continue to spend on an incentive system at schools on the basis of admission rate, dropout rate and pass percentage, in order to improve the quality of school education.

“A special incentive to check dropout is necessary, especially if we want to retain students from poor and underprivileged groups in the schools,” said Vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission Jagadish Chandra Pokharel.

He noted that the new program could make a meaningful contribution in attaining universal primary education, one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Currently, enrollment in primary education stands at 93.7 percent and the government has set itself a target to raise that to 97 percent in the net three years.
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PUN MINIMIZES CHINA VISIT it private


Kathmandu, 26 Oct.:: Unified CPN-Maoist military in-charge and standing committee member Barsha Man Pun today said the recent visit of People’s Liberation Army commanders to China, The Himalayan Times reports

was a private affair and the issue was blown out of proportion.

According to Pun, all the members of the team including the four division PLA commanders had their leave sanctioned

and UNMIN was also

well apprised of the visit prior to the team’s departure to China.

“We had informed UNMIN about the leave. A PLA commander is free to visit any country,” he told journalists at an interaction in the Capital, adding the team was in China just to visit the Shanghai World Expo and that there were no political meetings whatsoever.

The PLA commanders’ visit to China had raised quite a few hackles here with the prime minister taking strong exception to it yesterday. A couple of days ago, Peace Minister Rakam Chemjong said the government ‘could ask’ UNMIN about the visit.

Pun said the team had received permission from Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and had informed General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa and that the team left for China only after the party chain of command gave an approval for the visit.

Asked about Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal’s statement in which he reportedly said he would seek clarification regarding the visit, Pun said he instead would seek clarification from Prime Minister Nepal ‘for breaching the code of conduct of the Special Committee (for the integration and rehabilitation of the former Maoist combatants) that prohibits any member of the committee from publicising any debatable issues’. PM Nepal heads the Special Committee. Earlier, Prime Minister Nepal had said the Special Committee would seek clarification from the concerned parties about the visit.

Pun, who had led the team accompanied by his wife Onsari Gharti Magar, PLA deputy commander and politburo member Janardan Sharma and spokesperson Chandra Prakash Khanal during the weeklong visit, argued that PLA men were free to go anywhere when they were on leave. “If PM wants clarification from us, he must do the same with Nepali Army officials about their visits during their leave,” said Pun. He said a team of PLA commanders led by him visited various places in India last Dashain. “Nobody questioned then.”
At another programme today, Maoist Vice Chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha said the commanders’ China tour was a private visit and urged all not to speculate. He, however, refused to comment on Prime Minister Nepal’s remark that the visit was against the Comprehensive Peace Accord.
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NO LEG PULLING WARNS PM





Kathmandu, 26 Oct.: - Prime Minister and chairman of National Tourism Council Madhav Kumar Nepal Monday said that leg pulling culture was rising as a national disease to hamper economic development of Nepal, The Rising Nepal reports..
"I urge all to promote ‘hand lending culture’ instead of leg pulling so as to boost economic and tourism activities," PM Nepal said while addressing the 7th National Tourism Council meeting in the capital.
He said that economic developments would be achieved by ending of conflict and political dispute.
"Development of tourism sector serves as the basis of the country’s economic prosperity," added the PM.
Stating that Nepal lagged behind in economic development owing to its failure to mobilise natural resources, he said that the government had promoted tourism to create more opportunities to the people.
On the controversy besetting the purchase of Nepal Airlines’ jets, he said that he did not put pressure on anyone regarding it.
Nepal said that the country badly needed new aircrafts to make the Nepal Tourism Year successful. He added that nobody had right to create obstacle in the purchase of the new planes.
He said, "The process for the buying of new planes should be started soon in transparent manner and the government is ready to follow transparency in the bidding process."
PM Nepal suggested for adopting public-private concept to procure the new aircrafts.
PM said that he always stood for stern action on the corrupt to maintain good governance and pick up development works.
Minister for Finance Surendra Pande said that his ministry was ready to support the projects aimed for helping the NTY 2011.
Stating that all stakeholders should give priority to succeed the NTY 2011, Pande noted that new budget would attempt to address the problem facing the tourism sector.
Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Sharat Singh Bahndari said that tourism sector should be developed based on the PPP approach and the NTY 2011 aimed at boosting the country’s economy.
Bhandari said that his ministry was implementing several projects to make the NTY a grand success.
He said that Tribhuvan International Airport would be developed with a new concept.
Vice-chairman of National Planning Commission Dr. Jagadish Chandra Pokharel said that short-term projects were needed to develop the tourism sector.
Secretary for Tourism and Civil Aviation Ministry Keshor Thapa informed that the minister had signed agreements with 36 nations for operating international flights.
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