PARTIES ATTEMPT TO PUSH CONSTITUTION DRAFTING

Kathmandu, 5 Oct. Amid concern a constitution may not again be promulgated within the extended 28 May 2011 deadline, 27parties in the constituent assembly (CA) Tuesday are discussing a state structure to be incorporated in a new constitution.
Maoists are pushing for a presidential system while two other major parties- NC and UML- are pressing for a prime ministerial system with a bicameral structure.
Eight thematic committees of the CA differ on 225 points to be incorporated in the proposed constitution.
No progress has been made in constitution drafting even four months after the two-year elected tenure of the CA was extended by an unelected body.
The parties are attempting to narrow down their differences on concepts by 17 October to push the constitution drafting process.
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NO INTERIM ORDER TO ELECTION COMMISSION

Kathmandu, 5 Oct.: A one-man bench of Supreme Court Justice Rana Bahadur Bam Monday didn’t issue an interim order as demanded by petitioner Advocate Sunil Ranjan Shah to ask the election commission to stop work of preparing a digitalized voters’ list until a final court decision.
The bench, instead, issued a show cause notice to the commission asking it to furnish a written reply within 15 days
The commission says a digitalized voters’ list is need to prevent fraudulent vote in the next parliamentary elections.
Acting Chief Election Commissioner Nilkantha Uprety said the voters’ list for the April 2008 constituent assembly election can’t be a basis for the updated voters’ list as five million non-citizens were registered in the last election won by Maoists.
Madesh parties are opposing the new election commission programme.
Government is holding talks Tuesday with terai parties to discuss their demand to stop work on preparing a new voters’ list.
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ABDUCTED BOY KILLED

Kathmandu, 5 Oct.: Liladhar Bhatta,16, who was abducted 30 September was brutally killed in Banke..
The beheaded body of the 10th grade student of Jaya Bajeshwori higher secondary school of Nepalgunj was found Monday in a paddy field.
The Baitadi boy was residing in Nepalgunj with his mother.
Kapil Dwibedi, 15, who was also abducted, is still missing.
They were apparently abducted for ransom.
Three suspects have been arrested.
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ANOTHER KILLED IN ARMED ENCOUNTER IN TERAI

Kathmandu, 5 Oct.: Raj Kumar Patel, chairman of Madesh Terai Force, was killed in an encounter with police at Banjaraha, Rautahat, Sunday.
He died in retaliatory police firing, according to police.
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5th GURKHA SOLDIER KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN

Kathmandu, 5 Oct.: Rifleman Suraj Gurung,22, of Pokhara died Saturday in an when an improvised explosion devise (IED) exploded in Nahr-e-Saraj district of Helman province in Afghanistan.
He’s the fifth Gurkha soldier killed this year in Afghanistan and was serving in the 1st battalion of the Royal Gurkha Rifles.
Suraj recently married Permila.
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US DIVERSITY VISA (DV) LOTTERY-12 OPENS

Kathmandu, 5 Oct.: Registration for UN Diversity Visa (DV) Littery-2012 opened Tuesday with three major changes and will continue until 3 November, US embassy said.
Applicants must register online within the 30-day registration period.
They must check the DV website to confirm their selection and winners will not receive letter by main or email.
Applicants’ photos must be uploaded at a resolution of 300 dpi(dots per inch) or better.
There’s no fee for filling the DV lottery form.
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SPORTS

SUPREME COURT RULES INFAVOUR OF NOC LED BYRUKMA SHUMSHERE

Kathmandu, 5 Oct.: The supreme court Monday ruled in favour of Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) led by Rukma Shumshere Rana, current Nepali Ambassador to India.
NOC led by Rana was registered at the Kathmandu district office four years ago after challenging the election of Dhruba Pradhan, a former IGP and genera; secretary of the NOC led by Rana.
Kamal Chitrakar and Prachanda Man Shrestha challenged Pradhan’s election in a writ petition at the apex court.
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NEPAL MEETS KUWAIT

Kathmandu, 5 Oct.: Nepal meets Kuwait in the ACC U-19 Women’s Cricket Championship in Singapore Tuesday.
Nepal won its first outing against Hong Kong Monday.
Captain Nary Thapa hit the first six of the championship Monday.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

‘The new constitution is the outcome of the peace process,. So the constitution would not materialize without the completion of the peace process. The new constitution would not materialize until the relations among the political parties and their behaviour don’t improve significantly.”

(Chairman of constitution drafting committee Nilambar Acharya, Republica, 5 Oct.)

“Corruption is rampant. I will not spare anyone involved in corruption. You can’t act irresponsibly just because the government is a caretaker one.”

(PM Nepal’s sermon to government officials, Republica, 5 Oct.)

PRACHANDA’S MALAYSIA VISIT MYSTRIOUS

Kathmandu, 5 Oct.: The session of the Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation which Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal was to attend in Malaysia didn’t take place, Nagarik reports.
“I came here not to attend the session but for a meeting,” he told Nepali journalists. “Why do you need anything more?”
Federation of Nepalese Journalists Malaysia Acting Chairman Benu Lama said no session took place as reported in Nepal.
Dahal, at an embassy function, even refused to divulge the name of the chairman of the session.
“I am the co-chairman. Don’t ask about the chairman,” he said.
Dahal has kept his programmes and meetings in Malaysia a secret.
Besides family members, Foreign Department Chief Krishna Bahadur Mahara is accompanying him. Sources claim Mahara is accompanying Dahal because of his close links with Chinese leaders.
A Maoist leader who preferred anonymity said Dahal proceeded to Malaysia after a meeting was fixed by Mahara with Chinese.
Maoist politburo member Ram Karki said no formal discussions on the visit were held in the party or foreign department.
“The party has no knowledge of the Malaysia visit. We may know of it at the end of the visit,” Karki said.
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BHAIRAB JATRA TO EXCHANGE SWORDS BETWEEN KING AND PACHALI BHAIRAB SUSPENDED

Kathmandu, 5 Oct. The Pachali Bhairab jatra held every 12 years to exchange swords between Pachali Bhairab and the king on Bada Dasain won’t he held this year, Gorkhapatra reports.
But other related jatras will be held.
“When there’s no king in the country, with whom to exchange
the sword?” asked Pachali Bhairab Priest Nati Maharjan.
According to custom, swords are exchanged amid tantrik dances.
Malakars of the city didn’t come to teach the dances in the absence of the king.
Pachali Bhairab priest said swords are to be exchanged only with an enthroned king and not other heads of state.
Malakars should have started preparing dancers one year ago.
King Birendra was the last king to exchange sword with Bhairab.
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INCREASED DEMAND FOR HAND-WRITEN PASSPORTS STUNS FOREIGN MINISTRY

Kathmandu, 5 Oct.: The number of people seeking conventional passport has gone up sharply as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) prepares to start issuing machine-readable passports (MRPs) within one and a half months’ time, Kosh Raj Koirala writes in Reublica.
MoFA officials themselves are baffled at the increase in demand for conventional passport that coincidentally came after MoFA inked a deal with French security printer Oberthru Technologlies in August end for printing MRPs.
“We had initially thought that the number of people seeking ordinary passports would go down sharply after we inked thr deal,” said MoFA spokesperson Harichandra Ghimere.” But the number has instead gone up dramatically.”
Officials had thought that the number of people seeking conventional passports would god down as they would be valid for only five years as against 10 years for MRPs.
According to Ghimere, MoFA used to receive about 1,200 -1,500 applications for passports per day before the dead was signed.
‘These days we have been receiving 1,500 -2,000 applications per
MoFA officials have apprehension that the increase in the number of applications for ordinary passports could not be just natural.
“We fear that some foreign employment agencies engaged in fraudulent activities could have also encouraged people to acquire ordinary passports, which are prone to forgery,” a MoFA official said. An ordinary passport allows fraudulent manpower agencies to fake particulars including photographs.
But the foreign employment agents reject the allegations.
Gyan Prasad Gaire, vice-president of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies, argues that lucrative job offers in various countries including Malaysia could have caused the rush.
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Nepal’s rice bowl empty

Kathmandu, 5 Oct.: Nepal’s precarious food security situation has been exposed with Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) being compelled to call global tender for the supply of rice, Sangan Parsai writes in The Kathmandu Post.

as local contractors failed to supply enough.

The NFC, for the first time, has called global tender for 20,000 tonnes of rice on Sept. 20. After its two attempts to fulfill the food requirement from the domestic market failed as a result of food deficit in the country, it chose to go for global tender. The situation turned worse after the Indian government also banned export of non-basmati rice.

According to a food security bulletin of World Food Programme in August, there is a total of 442,000 food insecure people in the districts including 409,200 in the mid and far western hilly and mountainous districts who are highly food insecure. Last year, the agriculture ministry had estimated about 500,000 people remained food insecure. Paddy harvest in 2009-2010 was around 11 percent less than the preceding year, with production of 4.02 million tonnes against 4.52 million tonnes recorded the preceding year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. The WFP said that as a result of poor summer crop, the national edible cereal balance is estimated to be 316,465 MT deficit, which is 140 percent higher than the previous year and by far the largest deficit in a decade.

Bijay Dhoj Thapa, deputy general manager of NFC, said that the corporation called the global tender as the domestic market was unable to meet the NFC’s demand. He said that low production of food was the major reason that there was not enough food in the market. As per the recently called global tender, the suppliers have been given a time period of 45 days for submitting tender documents. Earlier, the NFC had called the latest tender at the local level in June for the supply of 2,500 tonnes of rice. But, the tender was cancelled as the price quoted by all bidders upped significantly compared to the amount maintained in the first bidding. The lowest price for Mansuli rice maintained in Nepalgunj was Rs. 26,370 per tonne during the first bidding which climbed up to Rs. 33,285 rice in the second bidding, according to NFC. During the first tender called in February 2010, the local bidders could only supply 7,160 tonnes of rice although the contract was awarded for supplying 21,000 metric tonnes. “The failure to supply on the part of contractors was due to shortage of food in the domestic market,” said Roop Singh Bhandari, NFC’s procurement division chief.

Realizing the direness of food insecurity, the NFC is planning to stock 50,000 tonnes of rice as buffer stock. The buffer stock will be used to meet emergency requirements and control the market price.

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DASAIN ALLOWANCES OF PRIVATE SECRETARIES OF PM AND MINISTERS STOPED
Kathmandu, 5 Oct.: Dasain allowances of nearly 200 private secretaries of the prime minister and ministers have been stopped, Naya Patrika reports.
In the past, Rs 10.15 million such expenses were irregular.
There’s no provision for dasain allowances for private secretaries and ministers in the employees’ facilities act.
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