KISHORE BIKRAM LAMA BEING APPOINTED APF IGP

LADERSHIP CHANGE IN APF

Kathmandu, 13 July: Kishore Bikram Lama is being appointed IGP of Armed Police Force (APF) and Moti Gurung Chief of Nationaal Investigation Department, Sagar Pandit reports in Naya Patrika.
Proposals are being sent to the council of ministers when positions become vacant.
‘Proposals and preparations have been completed,” a home ministry source said.
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PRAKASH MAN SINGH SAYS NC COULD CHANGE PP LEADERSHIP





Kathmandu, 13 July: Nepali Congress general secretary Prakash Man Singh Tuesday indicated the NC should change its parliamentary party leader on the basis of democratic system and norms, The Rising Nepal reports.
Speaking at the 88th birth anniversary of late prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala, organised by Nepal Thakur Society, he said that the NC should follow a normal democratic process to change its parliamentary leader.
He said, "We will change the PP leader, if the current political situation demands this."
He said that the prime minister was ignoring peace and constitution as he ignored the five-point deal, inked by three major parties.
He blamed that the prime minister had created obstacles to the national consensus and added that without prime minister’s resignation, such a consensus would not be possible.
He said the peace and constitution processes would not be concluded without Khanal’s resignation.
"Peace and constitution are not the issues for discussion, they are issues requiring implementation," he said.
Singh said that the UCPN-M was not honest to conclude the management, integration and rehabilitation of combatants.
The Maoists were in the habit of utilising the national resources and they were not interested to end the peace process, he said.
He said that the Maoists’ internal party conflicts had obstructed peace and constitution drafting processes.
He said that the new generation should follow the path of late Girija Prasad Koirala for a moral politics.
On the occasion, NC leaders Bhimsen Das Pradhan, lawmaker Indra Bahadur Gurung, and Nepal Thakur Society chairman Anirudra Prasad Singh stressed that all parties should follow the path shown by late Koirala to conclude the peace and constitution drafting processes.




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LONG PADLOCK OF UGC PARALYZING





Kathmandu, 13 July: The budget of the University Grants Commission (UGC) amounting to tens of millions of rupees is set to freeze due to prolonged padlocking of its office for months, The Rising Nepal reports.
Nepal University Teachers Association (NUTA) has been padlocking UGC office for the last two months, hindering important works. The protesting teachers have demanded political seat-sharing in the appointment of officials.
The World Bank (WB) had provided UGC 160 millions rupees to carry out works in various sectors including carrying out researches, granting autonomy to campuses, constructing physical infrastructure and upgrading quality of education for this fiscal year.
As the commission office remained padlocked for months and with the fiscal year coming to a close, the money provided by the WB is going to freeze.
UGC administrative officer Subash Dhungel said that the WB has notified that it would withdraw its money if it is not going to be utilised.
Speaking at an interaction held by Education Journalists Group (EJON), Dhungel said that the government failed to appoint commission officials for whole one year. Just two days after the officials were finally appointed, the teachers padlocked the office, he said.
"We are going to lose the allocated budget for different activities," Dhungel said.
According to Dhungel, padlocking directly affected the Ph.D. and M. Phil. programmes including scholarships, 55 small research projects, physical infrastructure construction of community campuses, regular grants to new community colleges and 75 faculty-based researches.
According to the cabinet decision of May 15, Prof. Dr Ganesh Man Gurung and Bhola Pokhrel were appointed as chairman and member secretary of UGC respectively.
NUTA secretary Purna Lamichhane said that the teachers were compelled to padlock the UGC office because the officials were appointed without political agreement.
Guna Nidhi Neupane, chairperson of the Democratic University Teachers Association said that padlocking an office is not the solution of a problem.
He, however, agreed that officials should be appointed according to political agreement.
Dr. Kamal Krishna Joshi, former chairperson of the UGC said that he was not happy with the culture of political seat-sharing in the academic sector.

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Rs 384.90 BILLION ANNUAL BUDGET MOOTED
Kathmandu, 13 July: The government will unveil an ambitious budget of about Rs 384.90 billion for fiscal year 2011/12 that will see a sharp rise in the recurrent expenditure fuelled mainly by a hefty 24.81 percent pay-rise of civil servants, Milan Mani Sharma writes in Republica..

The proposed salary-hike that has escalated the recurrent expenditure to Rs 210 billion, a 10 percent rise over this year´s allocation, is being announced after deferring it for two years.
kewise, the government is earmarking Rs 148 billion for capital budget, meaning the government will allocating Rs 19 billion more for financing development works than it was available in the current year. It has also set aside Rs 26 billion for repayment of loans that are maturing in the new fiscal year.

For financing the expenditure, the government is aiming to mobilize revenue worth Rs 247 billion, which is 14 percent more than the target set for the current year. However, given the fact that the Ministry of Finance is estimating actual collections to be around Rs 206 billion, which is short of target by Rs 10 billion, the revenue target set for the new fiscal year is well above 20 percent, said a source.

It is also aiming to mobilize around Rs 75 billion in foreign grants -- higher than this year´s target of Rs 65.34 billion. Officials say the target is ambitious as Nepal has failed to realize grants as targeted this year. Despite all these ambitious targets, the budget deficit, after foreign grant, for 2011/12 will jump to Rs 63 billion.

To bridge this gap, the government is eyeing to mobilize over Rs 28 billion in foreign loans while it plans to collect Rs 35 billion in domestic borrowings.

Property Disclosure

The new budget will seek all Nepali citizens to disclose their property voluntarily. But since the government is not confident that people would comply with the provision easily, the new budget will also announce an enactment of a new Property and Disclosure Law so that such disclosures can be made mandatory in the future.

"The long-term goal of the policy is clear; to maintain records of healthy money so that illicit earning and black money could be traced and anti-money laundering law could be enforced effectively," said the source.

The program fundamentally aims at strictly enforcing property tax and also put in place a mechanism that will tap ´high net worth individuals´, people with considerable investment potentials.

Export Promotion

The government will continue with the program of cash incentives that it promised to the third country exporters. It is also extending the facility to exports to India in a bid to boost country´s ailing exports, which have exacerbated trade deficit. "However, the facility will be extended for export transactions through letter of credit only," said the source.

"Exporters dealing through demand draft or telegraphic transfers will not get the incentive," stressed another source.

The government has promised 2 to 4 percent cash refund to the exporters bringing in exports earning in convertible currency.

Salary to go up by 25pc

It´s time to rejoice for government employees as the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has decided to raise their salary in a range of 20 to 25 percent, as recommended by a committee led by the Chief Secretary.

As is obvious, the lower level staff will enjoy a raise of 25 percent while senior officials will get the raise of around 20 percent. The government will adjust the existing dearness allowance of Rs 1,200 into the increased salary.

"With the change, total salary bill for government staff will go up by 24.81 percent, creating an additional salary bill burden of Rs 17 billion," said an MOF official.

Currently, the government spends Rs 70 billion in salary of civil servants, army, police, teachers and public health workers. In the new fiscal year, it will spend Rs 87.36 billion under the heading.

The technical team working out the raise had tried to limit the raise at around 15 percent, citing resource constraints and long-term liability. But its members eventually gave way after Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari chided them for their resistance and asked them to do as he says.

The ministry was under severe pressure to adjust salaries mainly because it had deferred the adjustments for the last two years. During this period, the country witnessed back-to-back double digit inflation, resulting in a sharp rise in the cost of living.
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NRB BID TO REVIVE MARKETS

Kathmandu, 13 July: Giving much needed relief to banks and financial institutions (BFIs), estate sector and stock market, the central bank on Tuesday decided to increase the home loan ceiling, allow BFIs to reschedule realty lending for one more year and relax margin lending. Prithvi Man Shrestha writes in The Kaathmandu Post
With this decision, BFIs can renew their realty loans for next one year (mid-July 2012) if the loanee pays all outstanding interests for the current fiscal year. This is expected to help BFIs maintain good profits as they have to make provisioning of just one percent of the loan amount.
“This provision will also help BFIs recover at least all outstanding interests,” said Bhaskarmani Gyawali, spokesperson for the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).
The central bank also raised the home loan ceiling, excluding personal home loans up to Rs 8 million from the real estate loans category. Earlier, home loans above Rs 6 million were categorised under realty loans. “This will help BFIs reduce their exposure to the realty sector,” said Gyawali.
Bankers had been demanding that home loans up to Rs 10 million not be categorised under realty loans. BFIs have lent more than Rs 100 billion in the the realty sector. Alarmed by BFIs aggressive lending to the realty sector, NRB had imposed a cap on realty lending about one-and-a-half years ago, asking BFIs to limit their realty lending to 25 percent of their total lending.
With some financial institutions landing in trouble as a result of realty loan defaults, the central bank was under pressure to come up with fresh relief measures.
In the wake of a slowdown in the realty business, bankers had been saying that difficulties in recovering realty loans would result in a rise in non-performing loans hitting their earnings.
NRB’s latest decisions are in line with the recommendations of the High-level Financial Sector Coordination Committee. The panel has advised NRB to relax its stringent policies on the real estate lending.
In a bid to revive the stock market, the central bank board has also decided to remove the ceiling on margin loans (loans against shares as collateral). Currently, BFIs can lend up to 60 percent of average market value of shares put up as collateral.
“Now, BFIs can decide themselves about the margin loan amount,” said Gyawali.
The NRB measures have pleased the banking fraternity. “The central bank has made the right move,” said Ashoke Rana, president of Nepal Bankers’ Association. “This will help keep our balance sheets good as we are not required to make extra provisioning,” he said.
The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) board on Tuesday endorsed its annual budget of Rs 9.5 billion for the fiscal year 2011-12. According to an NRB source, the new budget has focused on the central bank’s automation and modernisation in addition to ongoing plans. Under the automation plan, the central bank has recently signed a contract for software to be used in cheque clearing house. Under the modernisation plan, all the central bank departments will be brought on a single premise. NRB will also prepare its new five year strategic plan which will focus on maintaining financial stability and monetary management.
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HUNTING TO BE ALLOWED IN KANCHANJUNG CONSERVATION AREA

Kathmandu, 13 July: Kachanjunga Conservation Area (KCA) in Taplejung district is gearing up to become the country’s second trophy hunting destination. If everything goes as planned, the government is likely to issue game licenses to hunt around 13 Himalayan Blue Sheep (Pseudois nayaur), a highly prized trophy animal in this protected area for the 2012 session, Pragati Shahi, Ananda Gautam write in The Kathmandu Post reports.
Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve (DHR) in Baglung district is the only destination so far that allows hunting of blue sheep and Himalayan thars with strict monitoring by officials and licensed guides who accompany the hunters. Hunting license is provided during February to April and August to October, every year through bidding process.
Jhamak Karki, under secretary at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC), said the proposal regarding the permission to allow hunting of Blue Sheep commonly known as ‘Naur’ inside KCA and submitted by the KCA management council was discussed last week. The council submitted the proposal last week along with necessary guidelines to the DNWPC to allow hunting after the game population was found satisfactory in the area.
He said the DNPWC has suggested the KCA team work further on the proposal which will later be discussed before being sent to the ministry for final approval.
Of the four valleys selected as habitats of Himalayan Blue
Sheep in the region during the census conducted in 2010, two valleys—Yangma and Lelep—have recorded good population of these animals and are likely to be the potential sites for hunting.
A report by the World Wildlife Fund in 2010 on Himalayan Blue sheep census showed a total population of 1,500 of these animals inside KCA. The census was carried out in four major habitat sites—Yangma, Lelep, Khambachhen and Ramjel.
“The other two areas—Khambachhen and Ramjel—have recorded low population of these trophy animals and are located near the India and China border, a concern regarding trans-boundary relations,” said Karki.
Maheshwar Dhakal, ecologist at DNPWC, said the department is positive towards the proposal. However, the final decision will be taken after considering whether the proposed habitats have the carrying capacity for viable population.
“It is about sharing economic benefits of resources among the communities who are part of conservation. The game hunting will not only be part of income source for communities but also help promote tourism prospects in the area,” he said.
According to Karki, the ministry has issued hunting licenses to six companies inside DHR this year. Each animal is priced between Rs 60, 000 to Rs 90,000 excluding other expenses including travel, accommodation and entry fees. Mostly game hunters hunt these animals as recreation and for highly-prized trophies.
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PANEL CONCERNED OVER EXCLUSION IN CEDAW
Kathmandu, 13 July: The Women, Children and Social Welfare Committee of the Legislature-Parliament expressed serious concern over its non-representation in the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), RSS reports

Inviting Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Khadga Bahadur Biswokarma, secretaries of several ministries, joint-secretaries and stakeholders in its meeting on Tuesday, the parliamentary committee said that not even a single representative of the committee was represented in CEDAW and expressed concern over the act to submit separate reports by the National Women’s Commission (NWC) and the state.

On the occasion, Minister Biswokarma said it was the state’s weakness that none of the representative represented in CEDAW. Since names of the representatives taking part in the 49th UN session to discuss the implementation level of CEDAW, due to be held in New York on July 20, were not finalised yet, discussions can be held to represent the committee, he said.

Saying all stakeholders couldn’t be represented in CEDAW this time because of that the allocation of inadequate budget, he expressed commitment to include a woman from the parliamentary committee.

In the meeting, Joint-Secretary of Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare Hari Poudel said that since many organisations submit separate reports to CEDAW, the report presented by NWC won’t make any difference.

Member of the House committee, Binod Pahadi, said that the number of female taking part in CEDAW should be higher than male.

Tuesday’s meeting, however, couldn’t form a sub-committee to finalise the name lists of the persons taking part in the CEDAW session. The government has selected Minister Biswokarma, NWC Chairperson Naina Kala Thapa, Director General of Education Department Dr Labadev Abasti, Secretary of Health Ministry Dr Sudha Sharma, Secretary of Law Ministry Kedar Poudel and PA of Minister Biswokarma Ram Lal Biswokarma.
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