CORRUPTION CHARGE AGAINST KHUM BAHADUR KHADKA REVIVED

SC REVIVES CASE AGAINST KHUM BAHADUR KHADKA
Kathmandu, 8 Aug.: A division bench of supreme court Sunday ordered the review of a special court decision to clear then powerful and influential NC leader Khum Bahadur Khadka in a Rs.40 million corruption case on a technicality.
CIAA asked for the review of the special court decision related to Bakraha River Irrigation Project.
Khadka is a former home minister and NC central committee member.
The supreme court revived a case against another influential NC member Chiranjibi Wagle and sentenced and fined him when Ram Prasad Shrestha was chief justice.
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MAOIST STANDING COMMITTEE PRIORITIZES ARMY INTEGRATION AGENDA
Kathmandu, 8 Aug : The Standing Committee (SC) meeting of UCPN-Maoist Sunday decided to start the works for the army integration process within August 13, The Rising Nepal reports.
"The meeting decided to commence some concrete steps in relation to the army integration process within the deadline set by the Prime Minister," SC member Giriraj Mani Pokharel informed the reporters after the meeting at the party headquarters at Paris Danda, Koteshwor.
He said that the meeting dwelt upon the report presented by the taskforce for making work division of the leaders of the party. However, no decision was taken over the issue. He said the issue would be concluded by a meeting of the party office bearers.
The Maoist decision to intensify works for integration of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into state security forces comes amidst the announcement of Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal that he would resign by the end of this week if there was no tangible progress in the peace process.
Due to disputes in the party over issues of work division among the leaders, a Central Committee (CC) meeting held recently had formed a panel under vice-chairman and chief of party organization Mohan Baidhya to workout for the work division of the leaders. The CC had also recalled some of the ministers and sent a new team headed by vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha, now Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister.
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BUTWAL WOMAN COMMITS SUICIDE AFTER HUMILIATION

Kathmandu, 8 Aug.: A woman here committed suicide after humiliation inflicted office bearers of local woman’s awareness group, Amrita Anmol writes in Kantipur from Butwal.
Kabita Thapa’s hands and legs were tied and face blackened
The 42-year-old woman from Butwal-13 Yogikuti was found hanging from the ceiling of her house.
She was humiliated Saturday at a temple complex of Yugikuti for alleged illicit relationship with men and creating commotion in the community
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SAUDI CRUNCH TAILOR-MADE FOR NEPALI MAIDS
Kathmandu, 8 Aug.: Acute shortage of domestic helps in Saudi Arabia, following a ban on Indonesian and Filipino housemaids last month, is likely to open doors for Nepali women.

Housemaids’ salary has increased by up to 100 per cent in Saudi following high demand in the holy month of Ramadan.

Earlier, a housemaid used to get around 2,000 Saudi riyals, but now it ranges between 3,000 to 4,000 riyals, local daily Gulf Times reported.

Saudi has a shortage of around 150,000 housemaids and plans to recruit them from Bangladesh, India, Eritrea, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Mali and Kenya. But the hiring process has not started yet. However, illegal recruitment of housemaids has also increased.

“Some unlicensed or bogus recruitment firms are behind it,” chairman of National Recruitment Committee Sa’ad Al Baddah said, adding that some beauty parlours are also engaged in illegal acts. According to him, Saudi authorities are closely watching illegal recruitments and the agents.

The government opened Saudi jobs for Nepali women early this year — lifting a ban imposed nearly a decade ago. But the government’s capacity to control illegal outflow of women migrant workers or trafficking is in question.

New criteria could reduce maids’ grievances, but it could not stop illegal outflow, president of Paurakhi, Manju Gurung, said, adding Gulf countries remain a risk for women migrant workers.

According to Nepali diplomatic mission in Gulf countries, more than 35 Nepali women are facing abuse and exploitation per week. Last year, 72 women suffered sexual exploitation and 10 committed suicide. Expert in foreign employment Dr Chiranjivi Nepal opined that the government should not send Nepali women without safety guarantee from Gulf countries.

Newly appointed ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Udaya Raj Pandey, said his first priority would be the safety of workers.
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POLICE CRACKDOWN ON VoIP RINGS INCREASE LEGAL INCOMING INTERNATIONAL CALLS
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Kathmandu, 8 Aug.: With continuous crackdown and vigil on illegal operation of the voice over internet protocol (VoIP) call bypass, the country’s telecom operators are witnessing a huge surge in incoming international calls through their gateways, Ramesh Shrestha writes in The Kathmandu Post. .

Telecom operators attribute this surge to the action taken by Nepal Police’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) against VoIP racketeers over the last year. Ever since the CIB started crackdown on VoIP racketeers, more international calls are coming to Nepal through international gateways.

Nepal Telecom (NT) that used to receive 28-40 million minutes of international calls per month through its International Long Distance (ILD) Gateway is now receiving over 50 million minutes of international calls per month. The figure had hit as high as 100 million minutes in July.

Surendra Prasad Thike, deputy managing director and spokesperson for NT, said the control of illegal VoIP call bypass increased their income as well as the government revenue. “Customers too are getting quality service as the call through the illegal way is comparatively less clear,” he added.

Same is the story with another telecom major Ncell. According to CIB, incoming international calls of Ncell also increased significantly from 28 million minutes to 65 million minutes in January, 2011.

Other telecom companies—United Telecom and Smart Telecom—too have recorded growth in their international incoming calls.

Telecom operators are understandably elated to witness the growth in the international incoming calls through their international gateways, which is their major source of income. Telecom companies charge Rs 8 per call on an average, which is comparatively higher than that being charged by illegal VoIP racketeers. “CIB has done a wonderful job,” said Sanju Koirala, corporate communication manager of Ncell. She said Ncell had blocked over 100,000 SIM cards, taken action against some point of sales, maintained a digitised data base, re-verified subscribers and developed an internal tool to fight illegal VoIP call bypass.

The illegal call bypass had been a major headache for operators and the country as a whole. Telecom operators licensed to operate this service through their international gateways were facing a loss of over Rs 500 million every month.

The VoIP technology allows telecom operators to make international calls at cheaper rates besides checking huge revenue loss due to illegal calls. Illegal VoIP call by-passers make use of the VoIP gateway to divert international calls from the legal gateway. The call is then transferred to subscribers through a SIM card like a normal call. They use broadband internet for routing phone calls, unlike conventional switching and fibre-optic alternatives.

CIB is now behind Bhola Kishor Dangol—a former engineer of Nepal Electricity Authority for his involvement in the illegal call bypass. Dangol is believed to be the kingpin of illegal VoIP operation in Nepal. “Our investigation shows that Dangol had been involved in VoIP call bypass for the last four years through his company Global Internet Services,” said Rajendra Singh Bhandari, director of CIB.

Dangol’s Global Internet Services was found providing internet services to Bhaskar Sharma Paudel and Rupak Maharjan who were also involved in operating illegal call bypass. The CIB probe shows that the duo had been by-passing calls for the last two years by renting a house in Manbhwan, Lalitpur. CIB had arrested Paudel and Maharjan on July 25 and also seized equipment being used for the call-bypass.

Similarly, CIB has arrested Rakesh Giri, owner of Net Plus, an ISP, for being involved in the illegal call-bypass. Giri was taken into custody after a joint team of CIB on June 17 found VoIP equipment at a rented house in Jaisidewal, Kathmandu.
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CARPET EXPORTS REBOUND
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Kathmandu, 8 Aug.: Nepal’s woollen carpet exports rebounded from a two-year slump to register a healthy growth of 17.68 percent in the last fiscal year. According to the Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC), carpet exports reached US$ 60.67 million in 2010-11, up from US$ 51.56 million in the previous year, The Kathmandu Post reports.

In terms of quantity, exports climbed to 697,121 sq m last year from 681,899 sq m in 2009-10. Exports were down 17 percent in 2008-09 and 26 percent in 2009-10.

Exporters said a rise in exports to the US resulted in an overall growth in carpet exports. “Orders placed by importers until last January resulted in good exports of Nepali carpets,” said Tenzing Sherpa, proprietor of NP Rugs Industries.

Diversification of carpet exports to the US market in recent years has yielded good dividends to carpet entrepreneurs. “Expensive carpets are in high demand in the US, and the value of exports to the US is also very good,” said Kavindra Nath Thakur, president of the Nepal Carpet Exporters Association (NCEA).

Europe is the main market for Nepali carpets with Germany being the largest buyer. Europe accounts for 65 percent of Nepal’s total carpet exports in terms of quantity.

However, a decline in demand in the final months of the last fiscal year has sown concern among traders about future growth. “There has been very little demand for the last few months, especially from Europe,” said NCEA general secretary Shambhu Bikram Thapa.

Sherpa said that Nepali carpets had been losing their market share in many European countries due to their relatively higher prices compared to Indian and Chinese products. Exporters said the cost of production of carpets had gone up sharply due to increased wages and wool prices.

However, whenever demand goes up, Nepali entrepreneurs have to scramble to fulfil demand due to a shortage of labourers. “Big carpet manufacturers are finding it hard to produce enough carpets as per demand, and they have to rely on small producers to export on a mass scale,” said Anup Malla, chief of Ghangri Carpet.
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