THREE PARTIES MEET

Kathmandu, 19 Dec.: The Big Three met Sunday morning at the peace ministry ahead of a special parliament session in the afternoon.
Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal was also present.
There was no agreement following discussions the section of a prime minister and the withdrawal of the candidacy of Ram Chadra Paudel for prime minister.
But the Maoists, NC and UML continued to meet during the special sessions
for a resolution on differences.
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SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO MEET

Kathmandu, 19 Dec.: A special committee of integration, resettlement and supervision on 19,000 Maoists and a technical committee under it will meet again later Sunday after they last met Thursday.
The special committee is chaired by the prime minister.
The technical committee has been asked to draw up a schedule to bring former fighters under the command and control of the committee and secretariat before UNMN leaves 15 January 2011.
But Chairman Prachanda Saturday put conditions for a package solution on constitution drafting and power-sharing to bring the rebel fighters under the committee.
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NEPALI TRAFFICKER ARRESTED

Kathmandu, 19 Dec.: A Nepali trafficker was arrested Saturday at TIA before boarding a flight for Hong Kong with 11 kg hashish.
Sambhu Gurung hails from Kaski.
He concealed the hash in three plastic bags.
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MAOISTS CLOSED DOWN TRARUWAT REGION

Kathmandu, 19 Dec.: Maoists Sunday closed down the Tharuwat region I I in the far-West demanding implementation of past accords with government.
Dang and other districts were Tharus live in big commuities have been affected by the strike call.
Movement of vehicles on the Mahendra highway has been affected.
Tharuwat region
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SPORTS

NEPALI WOMEN SLAM PAKISTANIS

Kathmandu, 19 Dec.: Nepal reached the semi-final of thrashing Pakistan 12-0 in the first women’s SAFF Women’s Football Championship in Cox’s Bazzar Bangladesh Friday.
Nepal collected nine points with three consecutive wins and topped Group B.
Anu Lama scored her third consecutive hat-trick.
Nepal will play Bangladesh in the semi-final Tuesday.
Nepal scored 13 goals in three matches against Maldives, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

‘The treatment accorded to Rubel wasn’t normal. Hadn’t be been the son-in-law of Sujata, police wouldn’t have gone to Mandikatar to interrogate him.”

(Kishore Nepal, Nagarik, 19 Dec.)
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11 MISSING BORDER PILLARS FOUND ACROSS BORDER IN INDIA

Kathmandu, 19 Dec.: Eleven missing main and small pillars have been located in a jungle across the border in India by a joint team of Armed Police Force (APF) and India’s Seema Surakshya Bal (SSB) Thursday during a joint patrol, Naya Patrika reports from Mahendranagar.
The pillars of Parasad VDC in south Kanchanpur were missing.
The AFP team was based in Belauri base camp.
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POLICE OFFICER DEMOTED

Kathmandu, 19 Dec.: DSP Rup Kumar Neupane of Nepal Police has been demoted one grade by home ministry, Kantipur reports.
He was earlier suspended for investigation of serious charges.
The suspension has been lifted after demotion.
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SOME BHUTANESE REFUGEES DENIED SETTLEMENT
Kathmandu, 19 Dec.: Rabilal Sanjel, a Bhutanese refugee, was 12 when he and his family were chased away from Bhutan and took shelter in Nepal some two decades ago, Chetan Adhikari reports in The Kathmandu Post from Damak.
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His schooldays and youth passed while living in a refugee camp in Beldangi-2 of Jhapa district where he and his family lived for 18 years.

Tired of poor living standards and a diffcult life, Sanjel along with some friends ventured to Dolakha district in search of a job. He started teaching there and married a non refugee girl Shova Bhujel.

Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) started resettling the exiled Bhutanese refugees to third countries under the resettlement programme.

His family was shifted to the US under the programme and has been living in Texas state. He, however, has been denied the facility and is living in hut number 671 of sector -G-4 in Beldangi with his wife and children.

“I am separated from my parents and siblings, to the extent that our reunion is almost impossible,” Sanjel lamented.

Similar is the story of Durga Sapkota, who also married a non Bhutanese refugee and is living in the same camp in Beldangi with his wife and children while his family was resettled two years ago.

Sapkota and Sanjel are only cases in point among many such refugees who have been denied resettlement. The victims claimed that they were denied the facility because they married non Bhutanese citizens.

“We are discriminated against and deprived of our right to live with our families,” said Sapkota adding, “We should be granted permission to join them.” It is estimated that there are 1,500 such refugee couples living in various camps in the country.

Meanwhile, the UNHCR and Refugee Coordination Unit said no refugee can be denied resettlement in third countries on the ground that he/she is married to a non Bhutanese citizen.

There must be some technical mistake, said officials. Till now, 46 such couples have been resettled in third countries, unit officer Nirmal Khanal said.

“The process would be easier for those refugees who were registered with photographs during the census carried out in 2006, 2007 and 2008,” said a source adding, “It gets halted if the registration process is not met.”
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Horishi Tajima



NEPAL LOBBYING IMF FOR CREDIT
Kathmandu, 19 Dec.: Nepal is negotiating with International Monetary Fund (IMF) to obtain Extended Credit Facility (ECF) in order to achieve long-term favourable balance of payment (BoP) situation, The Himalayan Times reports.

“As per ECF, IMF will provide loans equivalent to 300 per cent to 450 per cent of the allocated quota for Nepal depending on negotiation,” informed Nar Bahadur Thapa, a Director with Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), at an interaction programme organised by Society of Economic Journalists of Nepal (SEJON). He recently returned after serving a two-year term at IMF.

IMF provides financial assistance to the member countries on affordable terms to meet their BoP needs, especially when they can not meet their international payment obligations.

In the last fiscal year, Nepal suffered from a BoP deficit to the tune of Rs 2.62 billion and this year too, BoP deficit has been widening with each passing month. Nepal will need IMF assistance to meet the payment obligations.

Earlier this year, IMF had disbursed an amount equivalent to SDR 28.52 million for Nepal in May to cope with the escalating BoP deficit under its Rapid Credit Facility (RCF). RCF provides rapid financial assistance with limited or no conditions to low income countries (LICs), facing an urgent BoP need.

However, ECF comes with a baggage of conditions. “If the BoP deficit is structural, IMF will implement structural adjustment process in order to eliminate any chances of future deficit,” he said.

In order to achieve economic stability, he said that Nepal needs to implement macro prudential measures as fulfilling micro prudential measures such as BASEL II requirements is not enough to guarantee economic stability.

He informed that IMF is in favour of Nepal maintaining its fixed exchange rate with India.

“Fixed exchange rate is an anchor of macro economic stability in the economy of Nepal. In the absence of excess capacity, changing exchange rate alone will not solve the economic problems,” he said.

“Appreciating or depreciating currency will only register growth on the paper. For the actual economic growth, economy like Nepal needs to work on increasing productive capacity and infrastructures,” he added.

He also informed that IMF is trying to expand its mandate so that global economic crisis like that of 2008 is not repeated.

“Controlling global imbalances, strengthening financial safety net, legitimising IMF, quota reform are some of the measures,” he informed.

IMF board’s recently approved Resolution of Quota and Reform doubling the quotas to approximately SDR 476.8 billion along with a major realignment of quota shares among members. According to the decision, Nepal’s allocated quota has been increased to SDR 1.56 million from SDR 71.3 million. Each member country of the IMF is assigned a quota, based broadly on its relative position in the world economy. A member country’s quota determines its maximum financial commitment to the IMF and its voting power.
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