BELLIGERENT PM CHALLENGES CRITICS

PM KHANAL CHALLENGES ANYONE TO PROVE HE IS AGAINST PEACE AND CONSTITUTION

Kathmandu, 17 April: Replying to critics a belligerent Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal said in Gulmi Sunday he’s ready to resign if anyone can prove he is against peace and constitution drafting.
Replying to UML leader KP Sharma Oli’s threat the party will out Khanal both as prime minister and party chairman for flouting party directives, the government chief said,” He has the right to speak like 30 million Nepalis.”
Khanal said ‘time is short’ to complete a draft and promulgate a constitution by 28 May and added the constituent assembly tenure should be extended by national understanding to promulgate a basis law.
Only 41days remain to announce a constitution to institutionalize a declared republic.
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THREE KILLED, 10 INJUED IN DOTI BUS ACCIDENT

Kathmandu, 17April: Three persons died and 10 were injured, seven seriously, when a bus hurled 300 meters down a road at Dharapani in Doti Sunday.
The bus was heading for Mahendranagar from Safebagar in Accham.
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MAOIST LEADER DEV GURUNG CLAIMS HOME MINISTRY





Kathmandu, 17 April: Standing committee member of the UCPN-Maoist, Dev Prasad Gurung has warned that if the home ministry was not given to the Maoist, the party will recall its ministers from the government, RSS reports from Chitwan.
As the present government emerged out of the seven-point pact, it should be implemented fully, leader Gurung argued.
Talking to media persons at Chitwan Airport on Saturday, leader Gurung, however, said he had not claimed the home ministry portfolio as the party was to decide the names for this post.
The home ministry was to go for the Maoist as per the seven-point pact, he said, adding there was no point in making dispute over this matter.
Leader Gurung arrived here to attend a picnic at Gyaneshwor Community Forest and to impart orientation to the party cadres.
Meanwhile, RSS adds from Vice-Chairperson of the CPN-UML, Vidya Devi Bhandari has argued that the Maoists must not be given the security-related ministry because they have obstructed the peace process.
Inaugurating a district-level volleyball tournament being organised by the Madan Bhandari Sports Academy, Sindhupalchowk at Melachni on Saturday, Vice-Chairwoman Bhandari said it was essential to seek the alternative of the present government if it could not forge national consensus and sought the political way out.

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BABURAM BHATTARAI URGES MAOIST, NC CO-OPERATION

Kathmandu, 17 April: CPN-Maoist vice-chairman Dr. Baburam Bhattarai Saturday said that the country could find the right path only if his party and Nepali Congress (NC), which were the two sides of the 12 point deal, forged a consensus, The Rising Nepal reports.
Speaking with journalists, he stressed on consensus between his party and NC for concluding the peace process and writing the constitution.
"We can finish our main tasks by building consensus with NC. There was no other alternative to it," he said.
He also pointed out that a national consensus government should be made in consensus with NC, and said a majority government failed to give an outlet to the country.
If this did not happen within 8-10 days, the country would face a big political disaster, he said.
"It was not a time for dispute," he said.
If possible, the Jhala Nath Khanal-led government should be turned into a national consensus and unity government in ten days, he said.
"If not, we have to search for alternatives but it is getting late," he said.
Indicating that the constitution could not be promulgated within May 28, he further said taking forward the peace process, the 1st draft of the constitution should be prepared and the CA tenure extended.
"Don’t search for alternatives to CA for writing the constitution; it is not a play of kids. There was no history anywhere of electing CA again and again," he said.
Bhattarai also stressed consensus for promulgating the constitution while technically there was a possibility to promulgate the constitution through a two-third majority.
He said the expansion of the cabinet was in limbo not due only to the dispute over the Home Ministry. Bhattarai stressed cabinet expansion by implementing the agreement on which it was built.
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FOREST ACT IN LIMBO

Kathmandu 17 April: The forest Act (1993) amendment bill, prepared by the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, is currently stuck at the Ministry of Law and Justice for consultation, Ramesh Prasad Bhusal writes in The Himalayan Times.
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It had got the green signal from the Cabinet of Madhav Kumar Nepal-led government on July 16, 2010.

At a time, when the ministry is facing criticism from the community forests groups across the nation, the white paper released by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has mentioned that the bill needs to be discussed with the stakeholders before taking any further action on the purposed amendment.

However, officials at the MoFSC said it was needless intervention by MoF. “It is not the role of Ministry of Finance to deal with the act and it is unnecessarily mentioned in the white paper,” said Ram Prasad Lamsal, spokesperson, MoFSC.

The then forest minister Deepak Bohara, who initiated the move, was said to be not in a good terms with the Federation of Community Forests Users Group Nepal (FECOFUN) as the latter was against the Forest Ministry’s decision to declare the Banke National Park and the Gaurishanker and Apinampa as conservation areas, stating that such declarations restrict communities access to forests.

The purposed amendment has the provision to increase the sharing of income from the community forests with the government, from the present 15 per cent to 50 per cent and also had a provision to increase the role of the government forest officials in wood trade and other activities in the community forests.

On the nineteen-point white paper that was made public last week, the Ministry of Finance has mentioned about the act in point six but “in general, white paper of the government talks about the plans and programmes rather than the laws and rules,” said one official at MoFSC.

“The amendment issue in white paper is aimed to linger the ongoing efforts of the ministry and is politically motivated,” said one of the officials.

FECOFUN has been protesting for months in central, regional and local level demanding to scrap the decision of Cabinet on amendment of proposed bill.

The officials at the Ministry of Forest claim that the amendment is needed and deny any intension to curb the rights of communities. “Our intension is to promote sustainable forest management and the amendment is one of the efforts to curb rampant deforestation in forests, which has been on the rise in recent years,” added Lamsal.
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