PASCOE, SUSHIL KOIRAKA TALKS

Kathmandu, 4 Dec: On the second and last day of his two-day Nepal visit, UN Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe discussed the delayed peace process and resettlement of 19,000 plus former Maoist combatants with NC President Sushil Koirala Saturday morning during 30 minute talks.
On probably his visit before UNMIN withdraws from Nepal before 15 January 2011, Pascoe called the peace process ’an entirely Nepali effort.
He said its ‘critical’ that the peace process ‘led by the political leadership’ needs ‘an awful lot of will and effort’ to be completed.
Ram Sharan Mahat, who was present at the Pascoe-Kiirala talks, said Pascoe hoped the peace process ;should move smoothly; after UNMIN’s withdrawal.
The visitor held discussions Friday with Maoist Chairman Prachanda as well.
Nepal Friday asked the visitor to bequeath UNMIN logistics to the government t help continue monitor and the peace process.
Nepal presented a six-week plan to the UN Friday to bring the combatants until now under UNMIN watch to bring it under the command and control of a special committee headed by the prime minister; Maoists are also represented in the committee.
Maoists haven’t agreed to the proposal.
Pascoe will report the result of his Nepal visit to the security council.
Nnnn

PRESIDENT VISITING RARA LAKE

Kathmandu, 4 Dec.: President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav is visiting the picturesque Rara tal in Mugu Saturday.
He flew to Surkhet to inaugurate the Surkhet mohotshav in the mid-West Friday; he stayed overnight there.
The president will spend the night at Dipayal Saturday night before flying back to the capital Sunday.
nnnn

HOPEFUL SINGS OF ECONOMIC RECOVERY

Kathmandum 4 Dec.: Nepal’s balance of payment (BoP) deficit stood at Rs 6.88 billion in the three months of the current fiscal year ending mid-October, compared to Rs 4.36 billion in the previous month, Nepal Rashtra Bank (NRB) said.

Exports have rebound and remittances have increased and imports increased marginally, the central bank said.
The current account deficit fell to Rs 2.17 billion during the period, compared to Rs 12.33 billion of the same period last year,” a macro-economic report released Friday said.
Nepal received Rs 8.64 billion in pension; workers´ remittance flow increased 16 percent touching Rs 60.01 billion until mid-October.

Export increased 5.9 percent to Rs 16.87 billion during the first quarter. Exports to India swelled 11.8 percent while exports to countries other than India declined 2.4 percent during the period.

Imports increased 3.6 percent and reached Rs 92.98 billion in the three months of 2010/11.Imports from India increased 31.9 percent, while imports from other countries declined 29.1 percent.

Total trade deficit during the three months of 2010/11 increased 3.2 percent to Rs 76.11 billion. Trade deficit rose 50.7 percent in the same period last year.

Total foreign exchange reserves fell 4.4 percent to Rs 257.06 billion in mid-October 2010 from Rs 268.91 billion of mid-July 2010. But in dollar terms, the reserve increased marginally by 0.6 percent to $3.63 billion in the period under review.
Inflation in mid-October grew by 8.9 percent this year, whereas it was 8.5 percent in the same month last year.

Food and beverage prices continued to increase more than 13 percent, while the prices of services increased by 5.5 percent.
Price of spice jumped 41.1 percent, while sugar and sweet prices increased28.6 percent.

The price of cereals ,milk products and egg jumped
17 percent.
Nnnn

IFC TO HELP IDENTIFY, MINIMIZE REGULATORY CONSTRAINTS
Kathmandu, 4 Dec 3: International Finance Corporation (IFC) - a concession lending affiliate of World Bank, is helping Nepal through the industry ministry to identify and o identify and minimize regulatory constraints for business.

“Nepal needs to improve in many areas, including starting a business, dealing with construction permits, paying taxes, and trading across border,” IFS said in a statement.
Nepal ranks poorly and is 116 in ranking in a “Doing Business Report 2011” of IFC.

IFC and Department for International Development of the United Kingdom are working out a reform program to strengthen business registration and assess the current registry system to help Nepal attract more private investment.

“We are please to work with IFC to prioritize good governance and transparency through process simplification, and to introduce legal and strategic reforms to aid business,” the release quoted Industry Secretary Pratap Kumar Pathak.

nnnn

MANAGERS OF CONTRADICTIONS

Kathmandu, 4 Dec.: Mohan Baidya and Dr. Baburam Bhattarai had gone into the Maoist plenum at Palungtar hoping to tame their boss. They seem to have succeeded, albeit not without having shamed themselves a bit.
Most of the delegates at the conference, we are told, admonished Pushpa Kamal Dahal to cut back on his verbal machinations. The chairman’s multi-speak, far from managing contradictions, was tarnishing the party’s image. The reprimand undoubtedly thrilled the two vice-chairmen, Maija Baje writes in Nepal Netbook..
But they, too, had their earfuls. Baidya was asked to consider his age and health before opening his mouth. At his stage of life, many delegates feel, guardianship would be his best contribution. His radicalism, in any case, only ignored the country’s ground realities.
The latter – a favorite Bhattarai term – was not propitious for the junior chairman, either. Ideological eloquence has its time and place, but certainly not when it comes to publicly airing internal rifts. The top rebel penman seemed to enjoy the least support among the People’s Liberation Army.
In a sense, the Maoist conclave has institutionalized the status quo. Sail on comrades, but do not rock the boat, at least not in public view. For the rest of the country, the conference has shown how profoundly the three-way split pervades all echelons. Dahal, Baidya and Bhattarai cannot stand one another, but they cannot stand alone, either. The prospects of any two coming together against the third, if anything, appears to have receded amid such diffusion of dissidence.
Yet none of the men is likely to abjure his position. Dahal by nature, Baidya by outlook and Bhattarai by attitude are incapable of reinventing themselves.
The ringing affirmation that the Maoists remain a divided house marks the first success for the architects of the 12-point accord across the southern border. To their diffident political masters, these designers proclaimed how the Nepalese rebels could be employed to strike at the royals and then neutralized. Today, the Maoists cannot afford to abandon the mainstream, nor can they expect to monopolize it. With the other political forces in far more pathetic shape, Nepal will continue to hemorrhage. ‘Nepalization’ will stand beside ‘Bhutanization’ and ‘Sikkimization’ as metaphor not only for a process but also for prescriptions specific to time and space.
The emaciation of the Maoists may or may not deprive the Indian Naxalites of any of their ideological fervor. Clearly, the denigration of their Nepali cousins would allow the Congress, BJP and the mainstream communists to use the Indian insurgency to advance their own politics. Might it still be prudent to write the Maoists off? Who knows how they might employ their current divisions to open up new possibilities – internally and regionally – when contradictions abound everywhere?
Add new comment
nnnn