KHANAL, PRACHANDA CONFIRM CONTROVERSIAL SEVEN-POINT AGREEMENT

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 7 Feb. Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal said Monday the government will move ahead on the spirit of a controversial of a the
seven-point agreement between UML and UCPN (Maoist).
Khanal said this after a meeting Monday in Singha Durbar between the leaders of the two communities parties who dominate government.
The prime minister, who is also UML chairman, said efforts for national understanding will continue.
“This is not an agreement between two parties only,” Khanal said and will include other parties for national understanding.
Khanal, installed Sunday as prime minister without his cabinet as earlier expected, confirmed with Maoist Chairman Prachanda the seven-point secret government.
The Maoist chief said Khanal was appointed premier on the basis of the agreement opposed not only by NC but also influential members of the government chief’s now party.
Prachanda said the two parties will discuss assembling a government Tuesday
He downplayed differences in sharing ministerial berths, with Maoists demanding the home portfolio; UML selected Bishnu as homeminister to succeed Bhim Rawal.
The Maoist chief said there was no disagreement of power sharing.
The meeting confirmed the seven-point agreement, the Maoist leader said. “There was agreement to implement the seven-point agreement,” Prachanda revealed.
NC and even top UML leaders have particularly opposed point three of the agreement which calls for the creation of a separate force of former Maoist combatants in the state security agency.
NC said the agreement was against the spirit of the 12-point peace agreement between Maoists and parliamentary parties and the interim constitution.
Meanwhile, TMLP-Nepal, which split from TMLP decided to stay in the opposition along with three other Madeshbadi parties.
KP Oli, a former Khanal critic who supported the prime minister at the last moment, has been nominated by the party to negotiate to negotiate power sharing with Maoists.
Oli, a fierce opponent of Maoists, said Sunday the Khanal government will hold the next parliamentary in a public attempt to give a push to the new government.
He said Monday talks are ongoing to being NC and Madesh parties into government; these parties have opted to stay in the opposition.
Conservative Rashtriya Janashakti Party (RNJP) of Surya Bahadur
Thapa Monday demanded clarifications from UML and Maoists on the seven-point deal.
nnnn

PARLIAMENT MEET POSTPONED

Kathmandu, 7 Feb.: A scheduled meeting of parliament Monday was postponed until Wednesday.
No reason was given.
nnnn

WOMAN ACTIVIST DEAD

Kathmandu, 7 Feb.: Shanta Thapaliya, a leading woman rights activist, diad Monday.
She was suffering stomach cancer.
nnnn


FOLKSINGER KALAYAN SERCHAN DEAD

Kathmandu, 7 Feb.: Renowned folksinger Kalayan Serchan, 64, died while undergoing treatment in Pokhara.
He was undergoing treatment at Manipal Hospital.
Serchan was suffering cancer.
He collected folk songs as well.
Nnnn

COUPLE KILLED IN MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT

Kathmandu, 7 Feb.: A couple died in a moor cycle at Bashundhara overnight in the capital.

Rajesh and Nirmali Panthi were killed when their motorcycle hit a roadside pole.
Two others were injured in the accident.
Nnnn

MAOIST TRADE UNION SPLITS

Kathmandu, 7 Feb. Akhil Nepal Trade Union Federation, a Maoist trade union, formally split Sunday.
Vice-Chairman Badri Prasad Bajgain formed split and formed a new union naming it Ahkil Nepal Krantikari Trade Union Federation.
He charged Chairman Jamal Katel of siding with management in the dismissal of several workers.
Nnnn

ACTION RECOMMENDED AGAINST JUDGE

Kathmandu, 7 Feb.: A committee of supreme court justice Tap Bahadur Magar has recommended action against Pokhara appeal court justice OM Prakash Subedi for improper behaviour.
The recommendation was submitted to Chief Justice Ram Prasad Shrestha Sunday.
nnnn

UML PUTS ON HOLD SEVEN-POINT AGREEMENT

Kathmandu, 7 Feb.: UML won’t accept a 3 February seven-point agreement of party Chairman Jhalanath Khanal with Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nagarik reports.
Leaders agreed at a standing committee meeting Sunday to reject the agreement.
“The party has no knowledge of the agreement,” standing committee member Shanker Pokhrel told Nagarik. “Out party sticks to its
policy.”
Nnnn


POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN CIVIL SERVANTS’ HOSPITAL







Kathmandu, 7 Feb.: - The first Civil Servant Hospital of the nation established to offer various health services, especially to the civil servants and their family member has not been different from other government hospitals in terms of facing the political interferences, The Rising Nepal reports.
It had failed to meet its target right after it came into operation last year due to frequent political intervention.
The government’s undue pressure and unsupportive role have prevented it from meeting the set targets, Dr. Bimal Kumar Thapa, executive director of the hospital, said.
Thapa admitted that due to political interference in the initial stage of its operation, the hospital was unable to meet the public expectation.
Established under the Development Committee of the Ministry of General Administration, the hospital came into operation fully a year ago. However, it started running its OPD services 20 months ago.
Even a year after its operation, it lacked acts and regulations to operate services.
All staffs of the hospital have been working on a contract basis, Dr. Thapa said.
"We have appointed all staffs in a one year contract by conducting an examination like the Public Service Commission does to appoint civil servants," Dr. Thapa added.
"However, the ministry is keeping mum even after the one-year contract of the employees expired."
"We are managing specialist doctors (MD/MS) for 24 hours services," Dr. Thapa said.
He, however, added that many experts and employees were compelled to quit their jobs as they felt that their jobs were insecure.
He said he contracted same employees for additional one year until a new provision of appointment was introduced.
If the government played a supportive role, the hospital would start kidney transplant service and it would be developed as only special diagnostic centre in the nation, he informed.
The hospital, established with a target of providing all forms of specialist services within five years, would become an ultra-modern hospital in 10 years, he claimed.
Last year, the-CPN-UML led government had tried to remove Dr. Thapa from executive director saying he was appointed by the UCPN-Maoist led government. However, the Supreme Court issued a stay order in favour of Thapa.
The Supreme Court termed Dr. Thapa’s removal as illegal and allowed him to continue his job of executive director.
The employees of the hospital had also protested against the government decision then demanding reinstatement of executive director Dr. Thapa.
Although he did not mention directly, he hinted that the ministry was unsupportive after the verdict of the Supreme Court.
There is a provision of 50 per cent discount for non-officer level civil servants, 40 per cent for officers and above and 50 per cent for all retired ones.
The 132-bed hospital has been providing all types of services like general medicine, general surgery, maternity services, pediatric care, and dental services.
Eye and mental services are available only in O.P.D.
Radiology, pharmacy and city scan services will be available at any time.
The hospital was established in the support of the Chinese government. The Chinese government which invested around 60 million Yuan to build the hospital is committed to continue its support.
Around 300 people visit the hospital everyday.. According to hospital record, among them 40 per cent are civil servants.

Nnnn

NEPAL TO GET ECF OF ALL GOES WELL

Kathmandu, 7 Feb.: Negotiation between Nepal and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding providing soft loan to Nepal under IMF’s Extended Credit Facility (ECF) is making headway, The Kathmandu Post reports.

The ECF, which succeeds the Poverty Reduction Growth Fund, provides financial assistance to countries facing BoP problems.

Nepali officials and an IMF delegation on Sunday held final discussion on the conditions put forth by IMF to sanction the loan. “Negotiations are continuing and the IMF is positive,” said Yubaraj Khatiwada, governor of Nepal Rastra Bank.

According to officials participating in the meeting, almost all issues have been sorted out. “There will be another round of discussion to finalise ECF to Nepal,” said the official.

Under the ECF, Nepal is entitled to receive 95-125 percent of the quota allocated for it. This means the country can get soft loans worth US$ 85-105 million from the IMF at an interest rate of 0.5 percent. The aid will be used to keep the BoP positive, manage foreign exchange and continue reform programmes.

The IMF team came to Nepal to study whether to provide aid under the ECF after the Nepal government requested it to provide aid a year ago to tackle the BoP deficit.

The country’s BoP situation is still negative by Rs 3.3 billion as of the first five months of the current fiscal year. It had reached a high of Rs 23 billion in the last fiscal.

The IMF has already provided Nepal loans worth around US$ 42.5 million under its Rapid Credit Facility (RCF). RCF is a flexible financial assistance for low-income countries facing an urgent BoP need. It does not require any explicit programme-based conditionality or review. “As IMF is already providing Nepal aid under RCF, chances of IMF not providing ECF are slim,” said an official involved in the talks.

Among the conditions put forth by IMF are adjusting the price of oil and electricity tariff as per the market price, keeping the budgetary and fiscal deficits to a manageable level and carrying out a diagnostic review of Nepal Bank Limited under the financial sector reform programme, said a source involved in the discussions on Sunday.

The World Bank has agreed to provide technical assistance for the diagnostic review of Nepal bank Limited which is yet to recover from its negative net worth condition, according a senior Nepal Rastra Bank official. The diagnostic review of the oldest bank in the country will be carried out within the deadline of the ongoing financial reform programme which expires in December 2011, according to the official.

The IMF had also shown concern over a proposed merger between state-owned financial institutions Rastriya Banijya Bank and Nepal Industrial Development Corporation.

The IMF team had also the asked NRB to continue the moratorium on licensing new banks and financial institutions, discourage banks from lending to bank promoters against promoter shares as collateral and improve the loan classification system by putting loans under the substandard category even before repayment has been delayed by three months on the basis of the borrower’s situation.

A loan is considered substandard if it is not repaid within three months of maturity as per the current NRB definition. “As the government and NRB have already identified these issues and are addressing the risk associated with them, we told them not the put them as conditions for providing loans,” said the source.

Nepali officials had also asked the IMF to see the local political situation on the issues such as price adjustment of petroleum products and tariff hike of electricity.

The IMF delegation will submit a report about Nepal to the IMF board and it will make the final decision regarding the ECF. Nepal’s cabinet will also decide in this regard.

Subsequently, the two sides will sign a loan agreement which will have a maturity period of three years and is extendable up to two years. After the expiration or cancellation of an ECF arrangement, additional ECF arrangements may be approved.
Nnnn



RECORD FOREIGNERS IN CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES

Kathmandu, 7 Feb.: Nepal´s criminal records show cases of involvement of foreigners in criminal activities have spiked in recent years. Even a limited amount of processed data indicates the alarming trend. In 2010 alone, the Department of Immigration (DoI) deported 70 foreign nationals. The year saw cases of deportations increase by 60 percent than the previous year, which saw 43 deportations Sudar Khanal reports in Republica.
The figure partly covers the number of foreign nationals who committed crimes during the same year. According to Immigration Law 2049 BS, the DoI can deport foreign nationals who violate local laws after the latter serve punishment imposed by the judicial authorities or the DoI itself.

The trend of foreign nationals getting arrested in connection with different crimes has reached a new high in the first two months of this year.

The Metropolitan Police Range Kathmandu (MPRK) alone has 18 foreign nationals including 10 Indian nationals currently in its custody. Except for a British national being prosecuted on a rape charge and an Indian accused of murder, all are accused of involvement in drug trafficking. The Narcotic Drug Control Law Enforcement Unit (NCDLEU) has filed cases against 11 of them.

“This is a remarkable increase. Most noticeable is the variety of crimes the deportees are charged with,” said DOI Director General Narayan Sanjel.
Foreign nationals deported in 2010 were from 22 different countries. There were 26 deportees who served punishments on drugs smuggling charges and among them some had also overstayed their visas.

Along with the increase in the number of deportations, their crimes were also varied. Among the 13 Bangladeshis deported in 2010 were also those arrested for operating illegal VOIP (voice over Internet protocol) call by-pass rackets, which caused losses worth millions of rupees to the telecom service providers. The Bangladeshis had used fake passports to operate their covert activities in Nepal.

In drugs smuggling cases, Pakistani nationals were quite ahead than others. Thirteen Pakistanis followed by five Chinese were deported in 2010. Europeans were also among those deported last year on the charge of drugs trafficking and overstaying visas.

Nnnn

NEPAL EYING DRUH MARKET ABROAD

Kathmandu, 7 Feb.: Five Nepali drug makers are preparing to export their products to international market within the current fiscal year. National Health Care and Nepal Pharmaceuticals of Birgunj, Deurali-Janta Pharmaceuticals and Lomus Pharmaceuticals of Katmandu and Elder Pharmaceuticals of Bhairahawa have already received Certificate of Pharmaceuticals Product (CoPP)from the Department of Drugs Administration (DoDA), Alok Thapa reports in Republica.

Drug makers must obtain CoPP from the regulator to begin export of their products.

Radha Raman Prasad, chief of DoDA, told Republica that Nepali drug makers have the capacity to export medicines worth Rs 500 million a year. “The figure may grow further as most of the drug makers meet the criteria for acquiring WHO-Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification,” he added.

The records of DoDA show that the Nepali drug makers are producing larger volume of general medicines to meet the market demand. “To begin with, the companies are preparing to export general medicines to international market,” Prasad said, adding, “In terms of general medicine, Nepali drug makers can compete with producers of India and Bangladesh in terms of price and quality.”

He also said the export of Nepali medicines in international market will be a milestone in the history of pharmaceutical companies in the country.

“The initiative that these five companies have taken is a positive beginning, as it encourages other companies to find market for their products in international arena,” Prasad added.

Prabal Jung Pandey, marketing director of Lomus Pharmaceuticals, said his company was making preparation to export its products to some South East Asian countries. Lomus currently enjoys 10 percent share in Nepal´s drugs market.

“We are preparing to export medicines like antibiotics, cardiovascular (drugs related to heart disease), vitamins and drugs for joints, among others,” Pandey added. He said the company took the initiatives for export after getting demands from international buyers. He, however, refused to disclose the volume of drugs that the company targets to export. “We can tell this only after we begin export,” he added.

Hari Bhakta Sharma, deputy director of Deurali-Janta Pharmaceuticals, told Republica time has not yet come to export drugs with commercial motive. “It would be remarkable to make our presence in international market for now,” he said, adding: “This is how we can expand our market size in international arena.” Sharma told Republica that Deurali-Janta has already received demand from international buyers.

“We are looking for sustainable market in international arena. This way was can expand our exports in the long run.”

Officials of Deurali-Janta said the company has the capacity to export cardiovascular, antibiotics and anti-diarrheal drugs.

“We have strictly maintained quality and technical standard so as to export drugs in larger volume. But the government is not helping us in finding markets for our products in international arena,” Sharma added.

Mahesh Gorkhali, marketing director of Nepal Pharmaceuticals, said the company is all set to export drugs to India in the first phase. “India holds a huge market potential. Also, it will be easier for us to supply our products to the southern neighbor.”

Nepal Pharmaceuticals had exported drugs worth around Rs 500 million about five years ago. “We are resuming exports very soon and are hopeful of recording even bigger transaction,” Gorkhali added.
nnnn