MAOIST STANDING COMMITTEE MEETS

Kathmandu, 26 Dec.: A crucial meeting of the Maoist standing committee began in the capital Sunday,
The meeting comes at a time when ruling parties put a pre-condition for convening a normal session which government had earlier agreed to convene in a week.
Ruling parties now say the normal session should be convened only after a ‘collective ‘ agreement between government and Maoists on major differences.
The standing committee is also meeting as cantonments and camps housing 19,000 plus former Maoist fighters are being handed over to government Monday, according to Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.
Nepal suggested to Prachanda over telephone the handover take place Sunday but the Maoist chief agreed to the Monday handover, according to Nepal.


NEPALI CONGRESS LEADER KILLED IN JEEP ACCIDENT


Kathmandu, 26 Dec.: Nepali Congress district president
Bhagirathi Thapa died n a jeep accident in Arghakanchi Sunday, Radio Nepal said.
Sixteen others were injured, six seriously.

NC STUDENTS DISTUPT TRAFFIC

Kathmandu, 26 Dec.: Students of Nepal Students’ Union- a wing of NC--
Sunday disrupted movement of vehicles on the capital’s road for one hour in the morning.
They were demanding the release of their colleague Sanjaya Kumar Yadav.
Yadav was arrested for questioning after clashes between student activists of UML and NC.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“UML will be finished by hobnobbing with Maoists and pleasing them. The party is threatened by persons with the body of UML and thoughts of
Maoists. We’ll not abandon other parties to move hand in glove with extreme leftists.”

(PM Nepal’s reply to UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal backing Maoists in government, Naya Patrika, 26 Dec.)
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TWO TOP VISITS IN JANUARY
Kathmandu, 26 Dec..: With the ongoing political turmoil set to carry over beyond the New Year and the political parties divided on key issues of power sharing and the peace process, there will be two high-level visits between India and Nepal in January, Anil Giri reports in The Kathmandu Post reports.

The visits coincide with the UNMIN’s scheduled departure, India’s entry into the UN Security Council and also the parties’ fresh parleys for government formation.

While India’s Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao is arriving on a three-day visit to Kathmandu on Jan. 18, President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav is scheduled to visit Kolkata and New Delhi from Jan. 27. Given the timing, the visits are being followed seriously by political circles.

Experts say the visits would help open direct talks between Nepal’s political parties, especially UCPN (Maoist) and New Delhi and bring to fore the Nepal issue in New Delhi more prominently.

“The visits would be significant, especially in relation to the peace process given the fact that India is joining the UN Security Council in mid-January, and, being a neighbuoring country which played a key role in shaping the peace process, the other members in the Council would like to listen to what it says on UNMIN’s extension/departure, and if any, its mandate,” said a political analyst. According to MoFA sources, Rao will meet leaders of the major political parties, including Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Besides taking stock of local politics of Nepal, Rao’s visit would also give the opportunity to the Nepali political fraternity to listen to what New Delhi says about Nepal’s politics, another political analyst said.

As Rao’s visit would also focus on other issues of bilateral cooperation, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal convened a meeting with Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala, Home Minister Bhim Rawal, advisors, the Chief Secretary, Foreign Secretary and other senior government officials on Saturday. He instructed officials to make a position on outstanding Nepal-India bilateral issues before the trip.

“Several bilateral mechanisms between India and Nepal are not making progress. Ten agreements and MoUs were signed during the visit of the President, Prime Minister and Indian External Affairs Ministers in 2010 but no progress was made,” said Foreign Minister Koirala. The Prime Minister directed Foreign Secretary Madan Bhattarai to make a position on four core issues—water resources, standby credit from India, construction of link roads and Integrated Check Post (ICP)—and expedite work with other line ministries.

According to the President’s Office, Dr. Yadav has been invited to attend the 177th Foundation Day of the first South Asian medical college—Calcutta Medical College and Hospital—where he pursued Bachelor of Medicine (MBBS).

The president will attend the reception hosted by his Indian counterpart Pratibha Devi Singh Patil on Feb. 2 at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. During his stay, Dr. Yadav will meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, among others. “The itinerary of the president’s India trip is yet to be formalized,” sources added.
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NRB TO STOP MONITORING NBL FROM APRIL

Kathmandu, 26 Dec.:The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has decided to exit from the Nepal Bank Limited’s management after four months. It has also decided that under the Financial Sector Reform Programme the chief executive officer of Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) will not get salary after three months, Prithvi Man Shrestha writes in The Kathmandu Post..

The central bank board meeting held last week took the decision to this effect. NRB has already sent letters to the concerned banks informing them of its decision. According to the letter sent to NBL, it will have to appoint a new CEO by mid-April. NRB has set criteria for appointing a new CEO in NBL and his terms of reference after the appointment.

The letter sent to Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) says that the bank itself must pay its CEO with effect from April 1, 2011.

RBB’s CEO is currently getting salary from a grant component of the Financial Sector Reform Programme. The grant component will no longer exist from mid-March next year.

In its letter to NBL, NRB said that the bank’s board should start the process of appointing a new CEO by mid-March and complete the process by mid-April, paving the way for complete withdrawal of the management team assigned by the central bank.

Among the terms of references set for the new CEO are that the bank should prepare a recapitalisation plan and implement it within the next two years to turn the bank into a healthy financial institution; overall non-performing loan (NPL) should not cross 5 percent and there should not be more than 1 percent NPL for good loan; the new CEO should be able to continue maintaining profitability of the bank, maintain good corporate governance and ensure internal control system is not right place; and the bank should prepare new human resources plans for new employees.

“NRB wants NBL to call the annual general meeting to elect new board members after two years after accomplishing the aforementioned jobs and the current board appointed by the central bank will be replaced with the new one,” said a senior official of NBL.

NRB had reconstituted the management team of NBL by calling back two members of the three-member team assigned by the central bank on Nov. 17. The reconstituted management team is now being led by the current head Maheshwor Lal Shrestha who will continue to head the bank until a new CEO is appointed.

NRB governor Yubaraj Khatiwada has been maintaining that the NRB would no longer manage the NBL and soon call back its management team, saying that the central bank being a regulator should not run a bank for a long time.

NBL has been under the control of NRB since 2002 after it was declared crisis-ridden due to its negative capital as a result of widespread default on loans.

On other hand, whether the RBB management would retain current CEO Janardan Acharya after March is debatable, given that the CEO is no longer getting salary under the financial sector reform programme. Acharya said he was unsure whether the RBB board would give him an extension. “It is also not clear whether the terms of reference will be same even if I am asked to continue,” he added.

Acharya said he was ready to quit any time if the bank didn’t want him to continue. Both the banks are still far from becoming healthy financial institutions although there has been change in their working styles.

The net worth of RBB is negative by Rs 10 billion, while it is negative by Rs 5 billion in case of NBL as of the end of the last fiscal year.

Around Rs 7 billion is being spent on the reform programme, but the banks’ future has not been assured yet. The programme itself is expiring by December 2011.

The government has been maintaining that it doesn’t want to continue the programme with foreign loan.

Criteria for NBL Chief Executive

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has fixed the criteria for appointing a new CEO of Nepal Bank Limited. As per the criteria, the candidate should have already worked as a chief executive of a bank for two years or deputy CEO for four years.

If a bank employee has worked for six years as a chief of certain department of a bank or worked for eight years at managerial level of any bank, s/he is eligible to apply for NBL chief executive, according to central bank criteria.

But, the candidates should have completed Master’s degree in business, economics or they should be chartered accountants.
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THAMEL HOTBED OF SMALL ARMS TRADING
Kathmandu, 26 Dec.: Come January 1‚ the country will officially begin Nepal Tourism Year-2011 expecting to welcome about one million tourists. But‚ it’s very discouraging sign that the Capital’s major tourist hubs‚ Thamel and the surrounding areas‚ are turning into a hotbed of small arms trading, The Himalayan Tomes reports.

According to police‚ Thamel is among the core areas in the city where small arms trade is becoming more rife. The other areas that the arms traders usually eye to do business include Durbarmarg‚ Balaju‚ Gongabu and Naya Bus Park area. Of the 65 small arms recovered by the police from within the Valley over a period of a year‚ 17 — including pistols and revolvers — were recovered from Thamel alone.

Police yesterday arrested Kiran Sikhwal of Sipadole of Bhaktapur-8 and Gautam Kawa of Jagati of Bhaktapur-7 with an Italian pistol‚ a magazine and five rounds of live bullets from Thamel. According to the police‚ they were arrested when they were found plotting to rob Christmas Eve revellers at gun point.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the duo were also involved in smuggling stolen vehicles‚ laptops and mobile phones via Raxaul‚ an Indian town in Nepal-India border‚ said the police. However‚ the police are yet to recover the items they have been alleged of smuggling.

“A police squad arrested them‚” said MPS Sorhakhutte Chief Inspector Rugam Bahadur Kunwar. According to him police in civvies dress were deployed at every 100 metres to keep a vigil on suspicious activities considering the fact that Christmas Eve yesterday would see a sea of people visiting Thamel.

However‚ Kathmandu Police Chief SP Ramesh Kharel has appealed to all not to panic. “The police are capable of cracking down on such racketeers and we are committed to providing security to people‚” said Kharel. “We are with our foreign guests to ensure their safe movement in Kathmandu. Armed robbers aren’t a threat to the tourists.”

SP Kharel added that criminals in most of the cases procure arms in order to disturb peace in the society‚ extort money from businessmen and well-off families and avenge rival gangs. However‚ he didn’t rule out the possibility that they could use the arms to mug people.
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