KHANAL PROPOSES GOVT. OF NATIONAL CONSENSUS (ADDITIONAL DETAILS OF KHANAL ELECTION)
Kathmandu, 4 Feb, Newly-elected Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal told reporters Friday the next government was ‘formed by the judgment of Nepal and Nepalis.”
He said ‘he’ll start where possible’ to assemble an all-party government of broader national consensus.
Integration and resettlement of former Maoists will be prioritized, Khanal said.


Maoist standing committee meeting Friday decided to request all parties to help the new government for which discussions will be pushed with other parties..
The committee called for the honourable integration of 19,000 plus former fighters in cantonments and satellite camps formerly under UNMIN watch.
The powerful policy-making body thanked lawmakers who votes for Khanal Thursday as 51 Maoist lawmakers objected to the withdrawal of Prachanda’s candidacy.
Prachanda wept amid charges he prevented Vice-chairman Dr. Baburam Bhattarai’s bid to secure party backing for his candidacy as prime minister.
DrBaburam Bhattarai group is expected to boycott the Khanal government.
Krishna Bahadur Mahara is expected to lead the Maoist team in government.
Following NC, three Madesh parties decided to stay in the opposition after a joint meeting of MJFL, TMLP and NSP.
Newly formed party TMLPN didn’t join the meet at the NSP office Friday after MJFL Chairman Bijaya Kumar Gachedhar Thursday.
“Madesh parties won’t join the government,” Gachedhar said after the collective meet.
“We’ll support or oppose the government on issues,” NC President Sushill Koirala said earlier.
A meeting of the UML standing committee asked parties Friday to extend support to the Khanal-led government to assemble a government of national consensus.
Indian reaction to Khanal’s election was immediate.
“More than the loss of two parties [referring to parties defeated especially NC], it’s India’s loss.
‘Nobody even imagined an opportunistic alliance eve during Indian Foreign Secretary’s Nirupama Rao’s visit,” the online edition
of the Times of India that usually reflects official Indian thinking said

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PUBLIC TRANSPORT FARE HIKED 9%

Kathmandu, 4 Feb. Government hiked public transport fare on short, medium and long routes by 9% effective Friday.
Government said the increased fare was scientific amid protests of consumers.
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HOW MAOIST, UML DEAL WAS STRUCK

Kathmandu, 4 Feb.: Maoist decision to support UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal in the prime ministerial poll may have come as an eye-popper for many, but it certainly didn't come without extended spade work behind the scenes between PM-elect Khanal and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Kamal Bhattarai writes in The Kathmandu Post..

The discussion between the two culminated into a seven-point understanding between their respective parties that includes the peace process, integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants, ensuring a federal and anti-expansionist constitution, protecting national independence and carving a common minimum programme. The two parties have also agreed to form a mechanism led by top leaders to provide direction to the government on various issues.

The two leaders have agreed to share powerful portfolios in the cabinet that will be announced shortly. Standing Committee member Krishna Bahadur Mahara will lead the Maoists in the Khanal-led cabinet as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, said a senior Maoist leader. The party will claim the Home Ministry for another influential leader and Dahal's close aide Barsha Man Pun. Source said the party is not interested in the Defence Ministry due to its bitter experience of running the ministry in the past that brought it in direct confrontation with the Nepal Army. The party is, however, eyeing the Ministry for Physical Planning and Works and Ministry of Local Development. A senior UML leader also said there has been agreement between the two parties to divide ministries on the lines of past traditions and strengths.

Both UML and Maoist sources said their top leaders have agreed to expedite integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants by reshuffling the Special Committee once the new government takes full shape. The regrouping of combatants into integration and rehabilitation camps will be done immediately. Both parties are also close to consensus on forming a separate force comprised of fifty-fifty of the PLA and the security forces as a modality of army integration. "Now, our discussion on army integration will focus on two models, either a separate force comprising only PLA or a mixed force," said a Maoist leader.

Khanal has also agreed that he will give top priority to the issue of national independence, a Maoist agenda for two years. "South Block was against both Dahal and Khanal. So we decided to vote for Khanal after he made a commitment on our agenda of national independence," said a Maoist leader. According to him, they succeeded in making an alliance that foreign forces did not want. On the constitution writing process, the two parties have agreed on a progressive, anti-feudal and anti-expansionist statute.
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WADHWA TO SELL OFF 50% of CASINO ANNA


Kathmandu, 4 Feb.: Unable to clear royalty dues to the government, beleaguered owner of the Nepal Recreation Centre, Indian national Rakesh Wadhwa, is planning to sell a 50 percent stake in Casino Anna which is housed at the Hotel Annapurna, The Kathmandu Post reports.
The Nepal Recreation Centre operates four casinos in Nepal. According to sources, two Indian buyers, Ashok Bhasin and Arun Singh Thakur, are said to have reached an agreement with Wadhwa to buy 50 percent of Casino Anna. The Post had reported one and a half months ago that Wadhwa was looking for buyers.

With the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and revenue enforcement agencies running after him, Wadhwa has no option but to sell. According to a close confidant, Wadhwa, who has been on the dodge since the police issued an arrest warrant against him, wants to settle in New Delhi.

The reason behind selling half of Casino Anna, according to a source, is to raise money to pay the dues Wadhwa owes to the government. "He is looking for buyers so that he can clear the dues to the government," said the source.

Casino Anna has also seen a change in management with Tapta Bahadur Bista being appointed general manager, replacing Ram Krishna Chakradhar.

Despite constant pressure by revenue authorities, two of the casinos owned by the Nepal Recreation Centre—Casino Anna and Casino Nepal—haven't cleared their royalty dues. These two casinos owe Rs 138.83 million to the government. Casino Shangri-La, formerly part of the Nepal Recreation Centre, owes Rs 20 million in outstanding taxes. Hotel Shangri-La has now taken control of this gambling house.

Continued defiance by casino operators (the Nepal Recreation Centre in particular) of government orders to clear their royalty dues and bar Nepalis from entering their premises has prompted PAC and the government to get tough against them.

On Dec. 29, 2010, PAC had directed the government to scrap the licenses of casinos failing to clear their royalty dues within 35 days. The deadline ends on Feb. 11. The Finance Ministry has already said that there won't be any compromise on recovering outstanding payments from the casinos.

Sources said that the latest casino controversy had attracted the interestNOlaysian and Chinese casino operators to Nepal. They are said to have held discussions with a number of hoteliers.
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LAW TO PROTECT SMALL INVESTORS

Kathmandu, 4 Feb 4: The government is mulling over enactment of a new law -- Deposits Guarantee Act 2011 -- which if comes into being will compel banks and financial institutions to (BFIs) insure their deposits, something which will safeguard the savings of their small depositors, reports Republica.

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has already finalized the draft act and will soon forward it to the Ministry of Law and Justice.
The act has been drafted as part of the budgetary program, in which Finance Minister Surendra Pandey promised to safeguard small deposits up to Rs 200,000 in the event of collapse of BFIs.

The act has proposed to make it mandatory for banks and financial institutions to register themselves at the Deposits Guarantee Fund, for which they will contribute 20 paisa per Rs 100 of deposit received.

"Keeping in view that the deposit of small depositors can be at risk at any time, the proposed act has incorporated all classes of banks and financial institutions (BFIs) under the deposits guarantee scheme. The act is aimed at protecting the hard earned deposits of small depositors who would be entitled to get refund of deposited amount even in the case of winding up of any bank or financial institution," an official at the MoF told Republica.

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) -- the central bank will make it mandatory for BFIs to make guarantee of deposits up to prescribed level in order to safeguard savings of small depositors.

As per the proposed act, the depositors who would lose their deposits with the bankruptcy of the deposit recipient bank, would get compensation within seven days after the liquidator submits the report to the Deposits Guarantee Fund. Before refunding the lost amount to depositors, the fund will issue a 15-day notice calling the depositors to make their claims for refund.

"The whole process of settlement wouldn´t take longer than one and a half months which would be great relief to the depositors," said the source.

In a bid to make sure that Deposit and Credit Guarantee Corporation -- an agency that will implement the program -- fulfills the liability, the draft act has proposed raising its paid-up capital to Rs 2 billion. As part of this envisaged capital upgrading, the government has already allocated Rs 250 million for the corporation in the budget for the current fiscal year.

Currently, banks have mobilized well over Rs 623 billion in deposits. Financial institutions, including development banks, finance companies, micro-finance development banks and co-operatives, too have mobilized well over Rs 165 billion from the public.

Of that, the central bank estimates the volume of small deposits -- up to Rs 200,000 -- in financial institutions alone stand well around Rs 20 billion.
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PROGRESS IN TIGER CONSERVATION





Kathmandu, 4 Feb.: The Year of the Tiger in the Chinese lunar calendar came to an end on February 2 with two big results – an unprecedented swell of public and government support to save tigers in the wild, including a historic global recovery programme in place, The Rising Nepal reports.
Issuing a press release, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), informed that the International Tiger Forum, held in St. Petersburg, Russia in November 2010 marked the first international summit which focused on a single, non-human species.
The Forum produced the Global Tiger Recovery Programme (GTRP), collaboration between the 13 countries that still have wild tigers.
It has set a goal of doubling wild tigers by the next Year of the Tiger in 2022, with new funding commitments from the U.S., Germany, WWF, Leonardo DiCaprio, Wildlife Conservation Society, Global Tiger Forum, World Bank and Global Environment Facility, said WWF.
It is said that wild tiger numbers are down to only 3,200, with scattered populations across 13 countries, having lost more than 93 percent of their historic range. Just 100 years ago, an estimated 100,000 tigers roamed across Asia.
"The government of Nepal has demonstrated able leadership in tiger conservation in Nepal," said Minister of Forest and Soil Conservation of Nepal, Deepak Bohara.
"The recovery program is a big boost for tigers; as the Year of the Tiger closes, we must redouble our efforts and ensure this magnificent species continues to roar into the next Year of the Tiger in 2022," he added.
As a contribution to the Global Tiger Recovery Program, Nepal has made significant progress to double the wild tiger population.
It has signed MoU between State Forestry Administration of the People’s Republic of China and the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation of the Government of Nepal to promote cooperation in the field of biodiversity conservation, management of forest resources and protection of wildlife.
Likewise, the Governments of Nepal and India signed joint resolutions to conserve biodiversity, including tigers, and strengthen ecological security in the trans-boundary region.
The South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) was established, strengthening anti-poaching and wildlife trade law enforcement efforts in the tiger countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal.
Moreover the National Tiger Conservation Committee, Nepal (NTCC/N) was established under the chairpersonship of the Prime Minister Madav Kumar Nepal.
Mr. Anil Manandhar, Country Representative at WWF Nepal said, "The tiger is an indicator species for healthy forests, and 2011 has already seen strong continuing support for tigers through their habitat protection. "As Year of the Tiger closes, we

must redouble our efforts and ensure this magnificent species continues to roar into the next Year of the Tiger in 2022."
"I think we are not alone in the fight to save the wild
tiger. If we all join hands, we can save the magnificent species like the wild tiger for all the future generations to see," said Kabita Kunwar,
WWF Nepal’s Youth Tiger Conservation Ambassador represented Nepal at the International Youth Tiger Conservation Forum held in Russia in November 2010.

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