WESTERN NATIONS OPPOSE NEFIN STRIKE, SUPPORTED PAST STRIKES BY PRESENT COMMUNIST RULERS
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By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 13 May: A nation-wide strike called Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (Nefin) pressing seven demands Friday including promulgation of a constitution by 28 May has disrupted the movement of vehicles nation-wide
Normal life was disrupted nation-wide and no violence was reported until three in the afternoon.
Sixty-eight activists forcing closure of markets were arrested in the capital.
Students were forced to walk to examination centers to sit for their higher secondary school examinations,
The Federation is demanding implementing 20 demands agreed with government.
Great Britain, USA, Germany, Australia, Denmark, Switzerland and EU through a joint statement, Thursday said they cannot support the (Nefin) strike adding they support what was called a right to democratic and non-violent protest
“Strikes cannot be approved of or supported by the international community,” a joint statement said. saying bands [strike] are ‘threat of violence to restrict freedom of movement and people’s right to normal life’.
The careful position which supports ‘democratic and non-violent protests’ is in stark contract to the position of the ’international community’ to protests of seven parliamentary parties and Maoists during the royal regime.
when a UN human rights monitoring agency even came out of the streets to monitor anti-government and anti-king protests.
The statement also comes after confirmation Great Britain’s DFIF was funding Nefin activities—funding now stopped coinciding with the strike.
DFID extended Rs 110 million to support the NGO’s programme.
Nefin Chief in a statement Thursday the British reaction was ‘immature and childish’.
Chetris and Tharus are also on strike demanding a promulgating of a basic maw by 28 May to ensure, protest and promote their rights and interests.
The two largest ethnic groups oppose calls ethnic provinces and claim they are also indigenous .
The communist majority government Thursday registered a proposal in parliament Thursday to extend the constituent assembly tenure by one more year saying a constitution can’t be drafted in the remaining 15 days.
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ACTION AGAINST SAGUN GAS INDUSTRY BEGINS

Kathmandu, 13 May: The premises of Sagun Gas Industry in Sunsari was padlocked Thursday amid demands for action against company management for widespread tampering with gas cylinders endangering lives of consumers.
The company tampered with foot and neck rings of cylinders of other
companies and labeled and marketed cylinders as its own.
Altogether 15, 334 such tampered cylinders have been recovered.
Sunsari CDO Ram Prasad Thapaliya said against the company management has been initiated,
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FOUNDATION STONE OF ELECTRIC CREMATORIUM.LAID IN PASHUPATINATH TEMPLE COMPLEX

Kathmandu, 13 May: A foundation stone of a Rs.20million n electric crematorium spread over two ropanis was laid at the Pashupatinath temple complex Friday.
The building construction is expected to be completed in 18 monthc.
Pashupatnath Area Development Trust is building the crematorium.
Past plans to build a crematorium failed in a mainly traditional Hindu society
Hindus cremate the dead.
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INDIAN ARRESTED WITH FAKE INDIAN CURENCY NOTES

Kathmandu, 13 May: Raj Kumar Singh of Durgapur, West Bengal,was arrested Thursday with fake India currency notes worth Rs.1.96 million in Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations.
Singh was arrested along with Indian bus driver Bijaya Ray, Narendra Khadka of Siraha and Sher Bahadur Sunuwar
They were arrested from an Indian registered bus heading for the capital from Silighudi, West Bengal.
The money was concealed in a briefcase hidden in a compartment,
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SUSPENSION OF LAWMAKERS CONFIRMED

Kathmandu, 13 May: The suspension of lawmakers
Bishwanath Prasad Yadav and Gayatri Sah from parliament was officially confirmed by parliament’s secretariat Thursday.
The confirmation comes one day after CIAA charged Yadav and
Sah for corruption while misusing their diplomatic passports
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ONE KILLED IN SHOOTING INCIDENT AT WEDDING PARTY

Kathmandu, 13 May: Harendra Sah died while undergoing treatment for bullet injuries sustained n a shooting at a wedding Thursday in Bhauratar-8 in Parsa
Ramprit Yadav who was injured has been rushed to the capital for emergency treatment.
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SECOND PAKISTANI SCALES MOUNT EVEREST

Kathmandu, 13 May: Pakistan’s Hassan Sadpara scaled the 8848 meters high Mount Everest, the world’s tallest peak Thursday, Pakistan embassy said.
He’s the second Pakistani to climb the peak.
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RATNARAJ BAJRACHARYA NOMINATED GLOBAL BANK CEO

Kathmandu, 13 May: Ratnaraj Bajracharya has been appointed CEO of Global Bank replacing Anil Geywali.
Bajracharya moves to Global Bank from Nepal Credit and Commerce Bank.
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TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY

CHILEME HYDROPOWER COMPANY LTD EARNS
Rs.574.5 MILLION NET PROFIT

Kathmandu, 13 May: Chileme HydroPower Co.Ltd. earned a Rs.574.5 million net profit in Q3 of the current fiscal year ending 13 April.
The power company earned a Rs.519.06 net profit in the corresponding the previous year.
Himalayan Distillery.Ltd earned Rs.846 million net profit after tax in Q3 of the current fiscal year
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PHYSICIANS SEEK SHIFT IN FOCUS





Kathmandu, 13 May: Physicians have stressed national as well as global initiatives against non-communicable diseases (NCDs) with a call to declare 2011–2020 as the Decade of Combating NCDs, and to include the plan in the Millennium Development Goals, The Rising Nepal reports.
Most national health programmes so far have focused on communicable diseases like TB, and HIV.
Senior cardiologist Dr. Prakash Raj Regmi said that if the country did not act in time, NCDs would be an epidemic by 2020. Prevalence of risk factors for NCDs is alarming, and a country like Nepal will not be able to tackle the condition, he said.
Experts said that the NCDs should be linked with poverty alleviation.
Previously, the MDG goals focused on poverty alleviation and communicable disease were linked with poverty.
In coming September, the UN high-level meeting on non-communicable diseases is going to be held with heads of states attending it.
Physicians said that the government should launch a drive with good preparation to present its position at the meeting and should stress inclusion of NDCs as a MDG.
Heart attacks and strokes, diabetes, cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) are taken as major NCDs. Traumatic injury and mental health are also included as NCDs.
Despite the high NCD burden and costly treatment, the government’s focus and attention were in different sectors, Jyoti Bhattarai said.
The Regional Meeting on Health and Development Challenges of non-communicable diseases held on the first week of May among WHO’s South-East Asia Region (SEAR), comprising 11 Member States including Nepal, also recommended the need to focus on NCDs.
The meeting has highlighted the key message for the UN high level meeting to generate revenues for NCDs from taxes levied on tobacco, alcohol and sugary beverages; provide appropriate incentives to producers of healthy food choices, such as fruits and vegetables; and consider concessions for industries that reimburse workforce costs of NCD prevention interventions.
Declaring non-communicable diseases as a global health and development emergency required an urgent response, the meeting recommended.
"Generate resources for NCDs through domestic and international sources and ensure that NCDs are an essential part of official development assistance," it called on state parties.
Health secretary Dr. Sudha Sharma said that the government would give priority to control the NCDs in the days ahead.
The presently approved tobacco control bill was a step forward in controlling NCDs, she said.
According to WHO, currently, NCDs are the top killers accounting for 8 million deaths each year or 54% of all deaths in the Region.
Nearly 30% of NCD

deaths are premature occurring below the age of 60 years. NCD-related deaths in the Region occur a decade earlier compared to the Western countries.
The Region has nearly 250 million smokers and 234 million users of smokeless tobacco. Childhood and adult obesity, the key determinants of NCDs, are on the rise. Eighty percent of the population does not eat sufficient quantities of fruits and vegetables. Up to one-quarter of adults do not engage in sufficient physical activity. Diabetes is prevalent in 5%–10% of the population of the Region. Up to 2 million new cases of cancer are estimated to occur each year.
Approximately 30% of the population has hypertension. Annually, 1.5 million deaths can be attributed to hypertension alone.

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STABILITY SOUGHT TO OPEN SAUDI MISSION
Kathmandu, 13 May: Saudi Arabia, Nepal’s main foreign employment destination, has said it will open a mission in Nepal only after peace and stability are restored here, a diplomatic source said, The Himalayan Times reports.

“We are finding it hard to establish our mission in Nepal at this time. It will be better when Nepal gets over with its transition period,” a source said, adding that Saudi officials conveyed this to Nepali diplomats in Riyadh.

As over half a million Nepali youth are working in Saudi Arabia, Nepal government has been lobbying hard to open the Gulf nation’s diplomatic mission in Kathmandu. Foreign Ministry officials say this will facilitate Nepali youths to procure Saudi visa.

Having no Saudi embassy or consulate here, Nepalis have to go either to Bangladesh or Mumbai in India to get visa. This ordeal will not be necessary with a Saudi mission in the country, said the source.

The Nepali Deputy Chief of Mission in Saudi Arabia Harish Chandra Ghimire said Riyadh is positive about opening its mission in Nepal, but is concerned about unfavourable political ambiance in Nepal.
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GOVT. TO COME UP WITH FRESH WAGE PACKAGE
Kathmandu, 13 May: In an attempt to resolve the protracted dispute between different trade unions and employers over minimum wage and salary for workers, the Ministry of Labor and Transport, Management (MoLTM) has decided to come up with new remuneration package, Ashok Thapa writes in Republica.
The MoLTM´s decision comes after a dialogue with all trade unions and employers failed to yield any result.
The ministry had held several rounds of talks with trade union leaders and employers following the March-24 labor pact. But the agreement was challenged by some trade unions.

The ministry held a meeting with representatives of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), major trade unions and agitating trade unions on Thursday.

“We have decided to prepare a new package to resolve the problem,” Deepak Subedi, joint-secretary at the MoLTM told Republica after the meeting. He said the ministry will start preparing the new package from Friday.

“The new package will be prepared on the recommendation of the Minimum Wage Fixation Committee and labor minister,” added Subedi.

The ministry had intervened into the issue of minimum wage and salary on April 16 after five trade unions, including two factions of All Nepal Trade Union Federation (ANTUF), called industrial shutdown defying the agreement between employers and three major trade unions.

Pashupati Murarka, chairman of Employers´ Council, FNCCI said that the dispute over minimum wage hike has now gone beyond the hand of employers and trade unions. “We are also hopeful that the ministry would come of with the package that would be acceptable to all.”
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NRB UNVEILS MERGER BYLAWSs
Kathmandu, 13 May: The much talked about merger bylaws have finally arrived. The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Thursday unveiled the bylaws for the first time in the country’s financial history. The bylaws include several regulatory relaxations and an indirect provision of forceful merger, Mukul Humagain reports in The Kathmandu Post.
The bylaws say that the central bank can suggest or direct bank and financial institutions (BFIs) to undergo unification. Although the language may not indicate that it as forceful merger provision, senior NRB officials admit to the persuasive nature of the provision. “Had we included the forceful merger provision directly, it could have contradicted with other Acts,” said a senior NRB official. As per the bylaws, the central bank can direct BFIs owned by the same individual, firm or company having financial health to go for unification. BFIs having NPL level above five percent for three straight years and those have faced the NRB’s prompt corrective action over three times will be asked to opt for merger, according to the bylaws.
The central bank, while drafting the bylaws, had carried out a study to find out how and whether different financial institutions’ promoters are related to each other. There are several instances of a single business group/family has stake in more than one financial institution. “This is more prevalent in finance companies,” said the NRB official.
NRB Spokesperson Bhaskar Mani Gyawali said the central bank will persuade BFIs’ promoters through bylaws. “We will initially suggest BFIs to go for merger, if they deny, we will issue directives,” said Gyawali.
It took almost five years for the central bank to come up with the bylaws. The first serious attempt to bring merger bylaws was initiated in 2006, but it was later withdrawn. With the announcement of merger incentives through this year’s budget, the effort took momentum from November. “We’d earlier planned to bring them by December,” said the official. The current budget has waived tax by changing the existing provision of taxing assets and liabilities after merger.
With the proliferation of BFIs in the country over the last few years, the issue of merger was continuously being discussed in the banking fraternity. Even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had urged the government to adopt tighter licensing policy and offer banking sector consolidation incentives. The bylaws come at a time when the domestic financial system is going through prolonged liquidity crunch and bad corporate governance.
As per the bylaws, merger process will complete in three phase—preliminary application by BFIs, approval in principle and final approval by the central bank. They say only ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ class financial institutions are eligible for merger.
Under the preliminary application, BFIs going for merger have to delegate authority to their respective boards to forward the process by endorsing special proposal from their annual general meetings. “The BFIs should mention a timeframe and an action plan necessary to execute the consolidation,” read the bylaws. They should also enclose a letter from the Nepal Stock Exchange stating the suspension of trading of their shares. The central bank will then call the BFIs for preliminary discussion within 15 days after receiving the application.
The NRB will grant the approval in principle after it makes sure that the merged entity will not have a negative impact on the country’s banking and financial system and fair competition. While granting the approval in principle, the central bank may impose conditions or directives. Entities applying for amalgamation are required to carry out detailed evaluation of their assets, liabilities and transactions from qualified evaluators as per the terms and conditions prescribed by the central bank.
The central bank, through the bylaws, has relaxed several regulatory provisions. It has relaxed the provision on promoters’ holding in the merged entity. Five years time has been given to promoters to offload their stake if their holding in the merged entity crosses the NRB prescribed limit. As per the existing law, a single group cannot hold over 15 percent stake in a merged institution.
Promoter shareholders, who have more than one percent share in BFIs and have taken loans by putting their shares up as collateral, have been given three years time to decrease their loan amount to 50 percent of the value of their total shares. According to the bylaws, a merged entity will get two years time to decrease its investment in shares and debentures of other corporate bodies to 10 percent.
Besides, the central bank will also give priority to merged entities for upgradation if they have fulfiled procedural and infrastructural prerequisites. Merged institutions will get 30 days time instead of the current five days to use the standard liquidity facility (SLF). Although the bylaws have not addressed the bankers’ demand of tax waiver, the central bank says that they will recommend for tax waiver in case of losses due to merger.
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