TEKU RESIDENTS PROTEST MURDEROUS GUN ATTACK

TEKU PROTEST AT MURDEROUS SHOOTING

Kathmandu, 25 Mach: Locals Friday staged a protest at Teku where a murderous gun attack at a business complex hilled a staffer and injured another overnight.
Prem Krishna Maharjan of Lalitpur and a staffer of Shripadi Trading Concern, was killed.
Another employee survived with injuries.
Last year an Indian criminal gang shot dead media baron Jamin Shah on the road at Lazimpat between the Indian and Japanese embassies.
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MANAGEMENT, TRADE UNIONS REACH DEAL

Kathmandu, 25 March: Putting an end to the nearly three-month-long negotiations, employers and trade unions on Thursday sealed a deal to increase the minimum salary of workers by Rs 1,500, Ramesh Shrestha writes in The Kathmandu Post. .

After a series of intense negotiations, a final agreement was signed between the employers and the trade unions with both sides also pledging to mark the next four years as the ‘Industrial Peace Year’.

What makes the current negotiations different from the past is that both the sides also agreed on the workers’ social security issue. The salary issue being the major bone of contention in industrial relations, this agreement is expected to provide the much needed stability in the industrial sector.

Both the sides had agreed in principle on the salary hike and contribution to the social security fund on Wednesday night. However, the same was not announced formally as there were a few things that needed to be sorted out.

As per the agreement, employers would start contributing 20 percent of their basic salary to the social security fund while the workers would contribute 11 percent once the Social Security Act comes to effect.

All the three major trade unions—General Federation of Nepalese Trade Union (GEFONT), All Nepal Trade Union Federation (ANTUF) and Nepal Trade Union Congress—and the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) have hailed the agreement as a ‘milestone’ that would boost productivity through cordial relations between employers and workers.

“We have agreed to increase the salary because of our social responsibility and the price hike in the market,” said Kush Kumar Joshi, president of the FNCCI, after signing the agreement. “In reality, we are not in the condition to be able to increase the salary because of the impact of power cuts, bank interest rates and low productivity.” Joshi said the resolution by the trade unions to mark the ‘Industrial Peace Year’ would help increase productivity and maintain workers’ discipline.

As per the agreement, trade unions will not organise any protest and obstruct work in the industries but strive to boost productivity in the next four years. If they illegally enforce strikes, the employers would not pay the workers for the strike period.

The agreement has given an exit window to investors. If industries go into loss due to various reasons, the employers can down shutters after convincing the unions and as per trade union laws.

Salik Ram Jammarkattel, the president of ANTUF, said the agreement is “historic” as the private sector and trade unions have jointly agreed to implement the social security system.

With both sides reaching an agreement, the government is expected to approve it. Ram Ji Kunwar, the acting president of Nepal Trade Union Congress (Independent), said they will urge the government to implement the new salary at the earliest.
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MORE TIEBTANS SLIP INTO NEPAL

Kathmandu, 25 March The trend of Tibetan refugees entering India and flying elsewhere via Nepal is on the rise despite strict measures adopted by the government in recent years to curb the entry of Tibetans into Nepali territory, Republica reports.

According to Department of Immigration (DoI), a total of 770 Tibetan refugees were issued exit permits at the request of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the year 2010, up from 679 in the year 2009. The number of Tibetan refugees provided with exit permits in the year 2008 stood at just 505.

Immigration officials said the number of Tibetan refugees sneaking into Nepal had come down sharply in 2008 after Nepal sealed the border with China in March following ´anti-China´ demonstration by Tibetans.

March 10 of 2008 marked the 50th anniversary of Tibetan Uprising that took place in Lhasa in 1959 after the annexation of Tibet by China. Dalai Lama then fled to India for refuge.

Though the exact data are not available, the DoI officials said the number of Tibetan refugee entering Nepal in the year 2006 and 2007 was considerably high as the country was passing through a critical transition period. “The number of those receiving exit permits stood at about 3,000 then,” said a top official at the DoI.

Officials attribute the rise to the lack of a consistent government policy on Tibetans entering into Nepal illegally and also ineffective border check post along Nepal-China entry routes such as in Rasuwa, Dolakha and Mustang. “The border check posts shattered during insurgency period have not yet been reinstated,” the official further said.
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