NA NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR HAITI CHOLERA OUTBREAK

Kathmandu, 5 Nov.: Nepal Army (NA) peacekeepers aren’t responsible for the cholera outbreak in Haiti, NA Directorate for Public Relations said Thursday.
The first outbreak of the disease in the island this century has claimed at least 400 lives.
NA said UN and the Nepali peacekeeping mission in the Caribbean island conducted independent investigations 22, 26 October investigations.
Tests of water samples cleared NA of responsibility.
The outbreak triggered anti-Nepal protests is the poor island republic.
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GOVT. REVOKES 77 FM, TV LICENSES

Kathmandu, 5 Nov 5: The government has revoked broadcast licenses of 65 FM radios and 12 television channels that failed to come into operation within the stipulated time, Kosh Raj Koirala reports in Republica.

Officials at the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) said the decision came as a move to discourage the tendency of holding on to the broadcast license for long.


Under Secretary Shailaja Regmi Bhattarai, chief of Audio, Visual and Broadcasting Section at the MoIC said the broadcast licenses were revoked as they failed to operate within the stipulated time. "We are preparing to issue a public notice about the withdrawal of the broadcast licenses," she said.

According to the latest statistics, altogether 428 parties have acquired broadcast licenses for FM radios and 26 parties for TV stations. "We have decided to revoke broadcast licenses of 65 FM radios and 12 TVs," Bhattarai further said.

The FM radio stations whose licences were revoked were to operate outside the Kathmandu Valley while most of the TV stations facing revocation of licenses were to operate inside Kathmandu Valley.

The TVs stations that faced license revocation include Newsline Private Limited, Uplink International Private Limited, Everest Television Network Private Limited, Bodhigram Private Limited, Kapan, S K TV Private Limited, Lalitpur, Nobel Broadcast Private Limited, Citizen Television Private Limited, Moonlight TV Private Limited, Namaste Nepal TV Network, Global Nepali TV Private Limited, Shantika Lagi Sanchar Aviyan and Buddha Community Television, Butwal.

Interestingly, a TV broadcast license acquired by the tainted firm, Unity Life International, in the name of Unity Multimedia Society Private Limited is also among the 14 TV broadcast licenses revoked.

A fourth amendment to the National Broadcast Regulations has made it mandatory to operate both FM and TV stations within one year of acquiring broadcast licenses. The MoIC can give additional six months for operation if the party concerned comes with genuine reasons behind its failure to meet the deadline.

Minister for Information and Communications Shankar Pokharel shortly after assuming the portfolio on June 17 had formed a seven-member committee headed by the ministry´s joint secretary Mahendra Guragain to address the problem of FM frequency congestion among others.

Other members of the committee included Broadcasting Association of Nepal (BAN) President Bishnu Hari Dhakal, Community Radio Broadcasters´ Forum (CRBF) President Min Bahadur Shahi, independent expert Gopal Guragain, communication law expert Satish Krishna Kharel, the chief of Frequency Management Section at MoIC, Anup Nepal, and the chief of Legal Section at the MoIC, Rajendra Nepal.

The committee recently recommended revocation of licenses of the aforementioned FM radios and TV stations as the practice of holding on to broadcast licenses for years has deprived genuine broadcasters of the opportunity to get the license.
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PM REMARK ON POWER TO PRESIDENT DRAWS FLAK


Kathmandu, 5 Nov.: Nov 4: Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has drawn flak from various quarters for his remark that he would hand over the executive powers to the president should the political parties fail to resolve the deadlock, Republica reports.

Senior leader of the Nepali Congress (NC) Sher Bahadur Deuba termed the remark “extremely unconstitutional and undemocratic”. “The remark of the prime minister is extremely unconstitutional and undemocratic,” Deuba told media persons after the 16th round of prime ministerial voting in Baneshwar, Thursday afternoon. “I condemn this.”


Asked if they would seek any clarification over the remarks of prime minister, Deuba said, “Clarification need to be sought from him.”

During the three-party meeting held on Wednesday at the Office of Prime Minister in Singha Durbar, PM Nepal out of frustration over the parties´ failure to end the deadlock reportedly said that he would hand over all executive powers to the president.

His remarks come at a time when a severe financial crisis seems imminent owing to the Maoists´ stiff opposition to the government´s preparation to table full budget in parliament. Financial experts have warned of a severe financial crisis should the government fail to pass the budget by mid-November.

Similarly, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal termed the remarks of Prime Minister Nepal ´unwarranted´. “He should not have made such remarks just ahead of the scheduled meeting among the parties. It does not hold any meaning,” he said.

Political parties are scheduled to hold secret dialogues during Tihar festival in a bid to end the current political deadlock.

NC Parliamentary Party leader Ram Chandra Poudel said they are against handing over executive powers either to the president or the speaker.

“We need to safeguard the constitution and [democratic] the system and resolve the problems through consensus,” he said. “All I want to say is that we need to move ahead in a manner prescribed by the constitution.”

CPN-UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal, who was also present in the meeting, however, said that he did not hear the prime minister making such remarks at the meeting. “Our party cannot even imagine of handing over executive powers to the president,” he said.
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GOVT BRACING FOR CONSENSUS ON BUDGET





Kathmandu 5 Nov. 4 - Minister for Information and Communications Shankar Pokharel said Thursday that the budget was not brought yet because the government was waiting for a political consensus on this, The Rising Nepaal reports.
Speaking at a tea reception hosted by Engineering Study Group here, Minister Pokharel said that the government would bring the budget at any cost as the state could not run without money.
He stressed on political reconciliation to resolve the current crisis. He also released a souvenir published by the group.
Meanwhile, Minister without Portfolio Laxmanlal Karna said that the government would hand over the country to the President if the ongoing political stalemate continued and hindred introduction of the budget.
Speaking at a press meet organized at the Reporters Club Nepal, Minister Karna claimed that there was a provision in the interim constitution for the Constituent Council to call the president to end the political deadlock.
He also claimed that Prime Minister’s statement to call the President to end political stalemate was constitutional and the Council of Ministers could officially make a decision to call the president if the economic, peace and constitution making processes were obstructed.
Minister for Industry Mahendra Raya Yadav, speaking at the same meeting, said that the Prime Minister’s statement alone could not open up the way to call the President and it would be wise to keep the President out of the matter.
"The problems should be solved by forging consensus among all the parties. The Prime Minister should not speak something which is not in the constitution," Minister Yadav said.
Ram Karki, politburo member of UCPN-Maoist, said that the Prime Minister’s statement would mean nothing and he had absolutely no right to do so. He also claimed that any attempt of staging a coup in the country could continue no longer than two hours.
Central member of Nepali Congress Dr. Narayan Khadka said that the Prime Minister could not call the president on his own as there was no provision in the interim constitution to do so. He also said that it was very unconstitutional of the Prime Minister to give such a statement.
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