ABDUCTED CHILD FREED

Kathmandu, 27 Nov.: A two-year-old child abducted from Dhangadi Thursday was freed by Nepali policemen from his kidnappers from across the border at Sitapurgunj Friday morning.
The child was son of paint industry owner Manikant Mishra of Dhangadi.
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PEOPLE’S REVOLT IF CONSTTUTION DRAFTING OBSTRUCTED





Kathmandu, 27 Nov.: Following a heavy pressure from the state-level cadres, UCPN-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ committed to making preparations for people’s revolt, Nandalal Tiwari reports in The Rising Nepal from Gorkha.
The Maoist chief made this announcement in his new 24-page document presented on the sixth day of the party plenum on Friday. The new document is supposed to be the unified document of all the three separate documents presented for discussions in the extended meeting of the Maoist central committee.
The chief of the largest party, however, put a condition for the preparation that the party would take such a move when the reactionaries obstruct the peace and constitution writing processes.
"In his unified document, the chairman has pledged to move ahead with preparations for people’s revolt as per the decision of the Kharipati national conference," a participant informed after the meeting was adjourned following Prachanda’s presentation.
The Kharipati meeting held two years ago had adopted people’s federal republic as the party’s tactical line identifying four bases of revolt. The meeting had decided to make four types of preparations for the revolt that include peace process, use of parliament, diplomacy and movement.
Party spokesperson Dina Nath Sharma confirmed that the party would make preparations for the revolt. "If the peace and constitution writing processes falter, the people will have no alternative other than to go for the revolt."
Sharma said that the unified document was focused on completing peace and constitution writing. "As earlier, our party line is peace and constitution."
He said that the chairman presented the single document as per the

party’s standing committee decision on Friday morning. "The new document has addressed the voices of some 5,500 delegates of the plenum and tried to incorporate the spirit and sentiment of all the
documents presented for discussions."
Referring to the standing committee meeting decision, Sharma said that the party would keep up with discussions through some sort of forum in the central level for pinpointing the principal contradiction or the main enemy of the party.
Among the three documents presented, Prachanda and vice-chairman Mohan Baidhaya ‘Kiran’ had identified in their documents domestic reactionaries and Indian expansionist rulers combined as the principal enemy while another vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai had identified the domestic reactionaries as the principal enemy.
The participants said that Prachanda also announced that the party would unveil protest programmes for national sovereignty. The framework of the agitation possibly to be started in February would be finalised by a meeting of the central committee at the earliest.
"The chairman also admitted some of his mistakes and committed for transformation. He said that the other leaders also needed to realise errors and commit to transform," the participant said.
Started on Sunday the Maoist plenum is scheduled to end Saturday. Maoist vice-chairmen duo who had presented separate documents challenging the party chairman on various issues will comment on the chairman’s unified document which, following the chairman’s clarifications to the concerns of the vice-chairmen, will be endorsed before a press meet to announce the outcome of the sixth plenum.
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ABDUCTED CHILD FREED

Kathmandu, 27 Nov.: A two-year-old child abducted from Dhangadi Thursday was freed by Nepali policemen from his kidnappers from across the border at Sitapurgunj Friday morning.
The child was son of paint industry owner Manikant Mishra of Dhangadi.
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PERKS OF BANK CEOs CURTAILED
Kathmandu, 27 Nov.: After a long debate, the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Friday finally unveiled guidelines on fixing the salary and benefits of chief executive officers (CEOs) of banks and financial institutions (BFIs), Prithvi Man Shrestha reports in The Kathmandu Post..

The guidelines that were endorsed by the central bank’s board on Friday and that came into effect the same day, say that CEOs cannot be entitled to more than three types of salary and benefits—fixed annual compensation, performance-based pay and other perquisites. As demanded by bankers, the central bank has vested full rights on the boards of BFIs concerned to fix the salary and benefits on the basis of the guidelines.

As per the guidelines, the fixed annual compensation should be the amount whichever is low between pay upto 5 percent of total average expense for all employees over the last three years or 0.025 percent of the total assets of the BFIs maintained in the previous year.

If the institution has not crossed three years of its operations, BFI boards should decide on the basis of the average salary structure among peer BFIs to determine their CEOs’ salary.

This provision will, however, not bar CEOs from getting the prevailing salary and benefits. The CEOs getting continuity in the job even after the expiry of their term may continue to enjoy the existing salary and facilities, according to the guidelines.

“We didn’t intervene in the existing salary structure,” said a senior NRB official. “We didn’t want the bankers make a hue and cry on this issue.” The official, however, said the guidelines were meant to regularise the future pay so that the future loss to be created as a result of high risk taken by the CEOs could be mitigated.

The central bank reasoned that the guidelines were formulated to prevent the existing tendency among CEOs of investing in risky assets and to provide loans to inferior quality borrowers just to show their better performance. “Such tendency has made financial stability challenging.”

Bankers are getting an average of Rs 319,000 a month in fixed salary, according to the NRB. Including the performance-based pay and other perquisites, their pay stands at around Rs 450,000 to Rs 500,000 in an average, according to the NRB.

The guidelines have allowed CEOs to get performance-based pay equivalent to the amount fixed by the Bonus Act, Labour Act or other existing Acts. The Bonus Act has allowed employees to get a maximum of 10 percent of the net profit made the last year as bonus. If any bank or financial institution has the provision of providing incentives on the basis of net profit or operating profit, the amount should be within the bracket of the fixed annual compensation.

If the performance-based pay is more than 40 percent of the fixed annual compensation, the CEOs cannot get the entire amount the same year. They can get up to 40 percent that year and the remaining amount should be paid in the upcoming three years on a proportional basis.

If the company incurs loss in the upcoming years, the CEOs will not get the differed compensation amount and that amount should be reversed back to the income of the company.

The executive chairman and the managing director can get the performance-based pay only if the BFI concerned has a provision in its article of association. “Its intended meaning is that they should not get performance-based pay including the bonus as they get dividend as promoters,” said another NRB official.

Under the third category, they can enjoy the facility of mobile and telephone service or get expenses for that.

They can avail of a vehicle facility whose cost should not exceed more than 50 percent of the fixed annual compensation. This provision will not bar them from continuing to use the vehicle they are currently using. The BFI cannot provide another vehicle within the CEO’s current term or additional period if his or her term was extended.

They can also get paid for fuel and driver. They also can receive upto 0.50 percent of annual compensation as expenses for other professional membership, internet and newspapers. They can enjoy the facility of shares allocated for BFI staff. The BFIs should disclose all types of salary and benefits provided to the CEOs in their annual report, the guidelines say.

There was a mixed reaction from bankers on the guidelines. A banker said the guidelines would affect the growth prospects of the banking sector because CEOs would be taking a low risk.

He, however, said CEOs were in advantage as it has not cut down the prevailing salary structure and that they should not take more risks. “The board also cannot pressurise the CEOs for more output.” CEO of Mega Bank Anil Shah said the guidelines have at least ended the ongoing bitter debate. “It is, however, against our belief that compensation should be determined by the market.”

Promoters also say that the guidelines would not affect the existing banks. Rajendra Khetan, promoter of Laxmi bank, said the guidelines will prevent new banks from attracting CEOs from other banks by offering hefty perks. The guidelines may not be implemented in BFIs that the central bank has declared as crisis-ridden, BFIs remaining in the restructuring process with foreign aid and that of the government and institutions having the government’s full or partial ownership. Branches of foreign banks have also been kept free of the guidelines.

Joint venture banks appointing CEOs under the technical service agreement from the parent company have also been exempted from the guidelines. Banks such as Everest Bank, Nepal SBI Bank and Standard Chartered Bank may not implement the guidelines, according to the NRB. However, the guidelines should be implemented if they appoint CEOs from Nepal. With a view to making the CEOs’ pay on par with the current status of the country’s financial system, the bank boards should also look into whether banks paid fines for not meeting the statutory liquidity ratio, average pay rate of the industry as a whole and total average profits of licenced BFIS over the last three years.
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