RESOLVING DISPUTES IN POLITICAL AREAN IS PROGRESS FOR NEPAL; US VIEW

Kathmandu, 2 Oct.: Resolving issues in political arena rather than the battle is progress for Nepal, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said.
He was addressing San Deigo World Affairs Council 30 September, according to the State Department.
“Since June, Nepal’s three main political parties—the Unified CPN Maoists, the Nepali Congress and the CPN--UML have fruitlessly vied for leadership of the next government, although we remain hopeful that a new government will be formed soon.
“Since 2006, progress on peace process has proceeded in fits and starts After several postponements –postponements that foreshadowed the delays we have seen at every step of the peace process since elections were held in April 2008.
“Those elections resulted in ending Nepal’s more a than two century old monarchy and the creation of a constituent assembly tasked with the drafting of a new constitution. From that promising beginning, however, relatively limited progress has been made.
‘Despite the difficulties among the parties and the slow pace of implementation of the peace process, there has not been a return to violence. The former Maoists combatants are now a political party who repeatedly state their commitment to the political process. However you cut it, sorting out disputes to the political arena rather that on the battlefield is progress,” Blake said.
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PM ASKS SAUDI ARABIA TO OPEN EMBASSY

Kathmandu, 2 Oct.: Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Friday asked visiting Saudi Arabian Vice-minister for Islamic Affairs Dr Abdullah Aziz Alam to open an embassy in Nepal, the premier’s political aide said.
The premier dew the visitor’s attention to the exploitation of Nepali women workers in Saudi Arabia, a statement said.
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FORMER CROWN PRINCESS HIMANI CELEBRATES 35th BIRTHDAY

Kathmandu, 2 Oct.: Former Crown Princess Himani celebrated her 35th birthday Friday offering puja at temples in the city.
She presents gifts to children and elderly.
She plans to be active in social work through Himani Trust she has just registered.
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CAMPAIGN TO CONTROL DENGUE IN CHITWAN

Kathmandu, 2 Oct.: District health officials Friday started a week-long campaign to control dengue in Chitwan.
Mosquitoes that spread the disease are being killed with
two fogging machines spraying insecticide.
At least 14 persons have died in more than one month after an outbreak of the disease.
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10-YEAR PLAN FOR NA RESTRUCTURING

Kathmandu, 2 Oct.: Army Chief Gen. Chatraman Singh Gurung said Nepal Army (NA) has submitted to government a 10-year restructuring plan to strengthen the organization,
A two-day coordination meet of six division chiefs, principal staff officers and other top officers concluded Friday.
NA will be made more professional, disciplined apolitical to protect national unity, independence, sovereignty and geographical integrity from external and internal threats, Gen/. Gurung said.
He said NA will prioritize modernization, internal reforms welfare schemes and facilities for army personnel and their participation in peacekeeping
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TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY

ELECRICITY RATE TO BEHIKED 30%

Kathmandu, 2 Oct.: Electricity rate will be hiked 30 percent, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Managing Director Jobenda Jha said.
A proposal has been sent by energy ministry to the finance ministry for approval, he said.
Load-shedding in winter will be increased to 14 hours a day, he added.
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BHUTAN REVERTS DECISION TO EXPEL FOREIGNERS

Kathmandu, 2 Oct.: In order that could have hurt its friendly ties with India, Bhutan has asked all foreign businessmen and workers in border districts to leave by today [Friday] but the issue has been resolved with the move put on hold, PTI reports from New Delhi.
Indian embassy has taken up the issue with Bhutan which has promised not to implement the orders, sources said.
This has averted a situation where the ‘unique’ and friendly a relations between the two countries could have been affected.
Bhutan’s Gelephu-based regional Trade and Industry Office under the Ministry of Economic Affairs had issued a notification on August 24, directing ‘all trading sectors’ in the border districts to ‘send back all the non-nationals’ employed by them ‘out of the country’ by September 30.
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Gag to avert rift in UCPN-Maoist fold

Kathmandu, 2 Oct.: UCPN-Maoist leaders have been told not to speak in favour of any of the three political documents presented by its top three leaders during the ongoing recitation at the district committees throughout the nation, Tika R. Pradhan reports in The Himalayan Times.

“Citing possible division in the lower committees of the party on the three documents, they have been barred from taking sides while reciting the documents for the district committees,” Lekhnath Neupane, president of the All Nepal National Independent Students Union–Revolutionary, said.

He said the leaders were only allowed to read out political documents. The district members, however, would be clarified on the essence of the documents if they failed to understand, he added.

A central committee member, Khagraj Bhatta, said the deliberations regarding the documents would be completed before Dashain.

“The party has decided to hold debate on the documents during the extended meeting slated for October 29. However, the party wants the participants to understand the essence before attending the meeting,” Neupane said.

Another CC member Anil Sharma said the leaders were not allowed to conduct discussions fearing they might not deliver the exact sense of the document to the lower committees the way the three top leaders of the party, who had proposed the documents, could do.

The top three leaders, however, had consulted with the central committee members close to them following the central committee meeting — so as to garner support on their respective documents.

“Taking side of any of the three documents would be a subject of disciplinary action,” Bhatta said. All the central committee members have been deployed to the districts to deliver the essence of the documents to the district committees.

He claimed that the lower level committees of the party have gradually become mature and now understand that the open debate on the three separate documents would strengthen the party ideologically. “It’s good to have contradictory opinions in a lively party. The diverse ideas should be synthesised through vigorous discussions,” he said.

He added that the result of open debate in the recent CC meeting has been reflected in the party’s lower committees.

Around 5,000 representatives, including state committee members and central advisers of the party, will participate in the extended meeting scheduled for October 29 at Palungtar of Gorkha district from all over the nation. The participants will discuss the political documents in groups.

The venue was changed from Chitwan following the outbreak of dengue outbreak.
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Deuba camp set for ‘offensive’

Kathmandu, 2 Oct.: The newly-elected Central Working Committee (CWC) of the Nepali Congress will see the Deuba faction offer a stiff challenge to the party establishment. How the Deuba camp presents itself in the party, however, will depend a lot on how party President Sushil Koirala fills up the three remaining positions — that of the vice-president, general secretary and joint general secretary, Anil Gri reports in The Kathmandu Post..

The Deuba camp is expecting at least one crucial position while Sushil’s own faction is expecting to scoop up all the three plum positions.

Poudel is likely to be retained as vice-president, while Arjun Narsingh KC and Krishna Sitaula will be nominated general secretary and joint general secretary, respectively, according to a party leader. All three are from the Koirala camp.

“That would be a serious misrepresentation as it does not reflect the near 45 percent vote that we got at the General Convention,” said a Deuba aide. “We hope the party president will be mindful of that in the appointments of the office bearers.”

If he is not, only Chitra Lekha Yadav, the party treasurer, will be from the Deuba faction. The party president’s appointments need to be vetted by a majority in the central working committee.

Former Prime Minister Deuba is all set to exercise his newfound authority as the leader of a powerful faction. He delivers his first salvo on Monday at his residence, Budhanilakantha, where all CWC members have been invited to tea.

He seems to have a number of issues with the party establishment, say his aides. First, he is said to be unhappy about the role of President Dr Ram Baran Yadav, who Deuba supporters say, was instrumental in mobilising the Madhesi votes against the Deuba panel. “The president’s intervention in the convention was the major reason for the defeat of Deuba as the NC leader and Bimalendra Nidhi as general secretary,” said a top leader in the Deuba panel. “We are trying to find out what role the president played to ‘corner’ us and why. Our understanding is that the president, no more a party member, should never get embroiled in partisan politics.”

To many, President Yadav was allegedly trying to avenge the defeat of his son Chandra Mohan Yadav in the constituent assembly election in Dhanusha. Nidhi, who has a powerful constituency in the district, was reportedly against Yadav.

Second, many Deuba supporters are unhappy about the role played by Ram Chandra Poudel, the party’s parliamentary leader who they said “breached the gentlemen’s agreement” reached with Deuba that he would not side with Koirala in the leadership race. “Now, we will go all out to dislodge Poudel’s prime ministerial bid after Dashain,” said a Deuba aide. “Either Poudel has to come up with a consensus package or leave the race for prime minister altogether.”

Third, many of those who were with Deuba switched to the Koirala camp to be “electable” in the CWC and they are likely to return to their home base. “We hope common issues will bring our old friends together,” said another Deuba aide. Some half a dozen CWC members — Deep Kumar Upadhyay, Umakanta Chaudhari, Aftab Alam, Bal Bahadur KC — belong to this school, according to the Deuba aide.


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NO REFUND FOR MINISTERIAL VISITS

Kathmandu, 2 Oct.: Following reports of irregularities, he Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has asked ministers to furnish evidences of their domestic trips to claim reimbursement of expenses, Republica reports.
In a letter dispatched by the PMO, the ministers have been informed that the finance section of the PMO will not reimburse expenses if they fail to show evidence containing information as to where, when and why they made such trips.
“We have received a letter from the PMO asking us to furnish report of visits made by ministers,” said a knowledgeable source at the ministry of land reform and management.
The PMO also waned theministe5s that it won’t reimburse any expense if visits are found to have made for personal or political reasons.
A source as the PMO sad,” We have clearly asked the ministers to furnish evidences of events they attended if they want their expenses to be reimbursed. Ministers are required to furnish programme details before seeking reimbursement of their expenses,” states the letter.
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PM’S FULL SUPPORT FOR ELECTION COMMISSION
Kathmandu, 2 Oct.: Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has asked Election Commission to move ahead determinedly with the work of preparing a voter’s list promising full and firm government support for the campaign, Nagarik reports.
He assured talks will be held with Madesh parties to discuss some obstructions.
‘We’ll not allow the disruption of an important campaign of the commission by stray incidents,” Nepal told officials of the commission and home ministry Friday.
Raghuji Panta, political advisor of the prime minister, discussions are being held of what demands are genune.
“Genuine demands will be considered. The problems that could crop up during the campaign to collect names can be resolved immediately,” Panta quoted the premier s saying.
The commission has said the voters’ list for the constituent assembly elections in 2008 was flawed.
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Debt yoke on UK Nepali expats

Kathmandu, 2 Oct.: Hari Rai had never imagined he would be living his retired life working. For this British Gurkha veteran, his monthly pension was more than sufficient to take care of his family in Nepal. But, after the UK government granted residency rights to former British Gurkha soldiers and their families, Rai moved to London with his family. Little did he know that London life would come at the expense of his retired life, Nabin POkhrel writes in The Kathmandu Post from London.

Today, the Rai family owns a four-bedroom house in London that came with a £250,000 price tag. Of course, Rai did not have that kind of money, so he took a loan from his bank to get the house. Since then, Rai has been working, day in and day out, to pay the house mortgage and keep the family afloat at par with fellow Londoners.

“Ever since I came here my life has become like clockwork — work, home, work, home, work and so on — there is no rest, really,” said Rai. “Without work I cannot pay the house mortgage.”

Rai’s story reverberates with that of many former British Gurkha soldiers who have moved to England along with their families. Some sold all their property in Nepal before moving here. Their English life came with a price that they had not taken into account: mortgage tension.

“The money earned in a month is just enough to pay the mortgage and bills,” said Dhan Ghale, who moved to in London in 2007. He pays £1500 (average monthly earning of Nepalis) for his house mortgage that will mature in 25 years. “If you fail to pay the mortgage for three months the bank threatens foreclosure, so I need to work hard and keep my job to free myself from this chain,” he said. Ghale said most of his retired friends are living paycheck to paycheck to keep their credit score tidy.

The lives of Britain-based Nepalis look splendid with their houses and cars, but the reality is quite different. It is just a facade. Weighed down by debt, many families of Gurkha veterans are struggling hard to sustain themselves. “Buying a house is like tying a ball and chain of debt on your feet,” said one former British Gurkha soldier, who now lives in Reading with his family.

“If you are jobless, say, for a month then you will face financial trouble for the next several months.”

Krishna Adhikari, executive director of Centre for Nepal Studies, said there are around 5,000 Nepali residents, mostly British Gurkha veterans, in the UK who own houses. The majority is struggling to pay house mortgage and other taxes levied by the British government.

“If you don’t have a decent paying job then you can’t pay your mortgage,” Adhikari said. “So, if you own a house and there is mortgage to be paid every month then you should be working twice as hard unless you draw a handsome salary which is rather rare for Nepalis here.”

Groaning under the mortgage yoke, many families of British Gurkha veterans have no option but to work without rest. It will take at least 10 years, said Rai, before Nepali residents here can hope to lead the life that they had imagined. “That is, if they do not lose their jobs.”
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