UML STUDENT WING PICKETING DISTRICT GOVT.OFFFICES

UML’S ANNFSU TO PICKET DISTRICT ADMNISTRATION OFFICES
Kathmandu, 22 Aug.: ANNFSU student wing, affiliate of ruling UML, is picketing all 75 district administration offices for two hours from 11 in the morning Monday.
The UML student wing is urging political parties and constitent assembly members to complete the delayed peace process and promulgate a constitution.
A 31 August deadline will be missed again.
The student body charged Maoists, a coalition partner of UML for the delay.
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EVEREST BANK LTD ANNOUNCES BONUS SHARE AND DIVIDEN

Kathmandu, 22 Aug.: Joint venture Everest Bank Ltd. Sunday announced 10 per bonus share and 50 percent cash dividend for shareholder out of its fiscal 2067/68 earning.
The joint venture with Punjab National Bank recorded a Rs.
931.3 million net profit until mid-July 2010/11.
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FIVE MINISTRIES BEING MERGED
Kathmandu, 22 Aug.: In a bid to improve efficiency, avoid duplication of work and reduce waste and tension among ministries, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is preparing to merge five ministries, Anil Giri writes in The Kathmandu Post.
An action plan to have 21 ministries in place of the 27 at present will be tabled as soon as a new government takes shape.
A senior official at the PMO told the Post that a detailed plan has been prepared at the bureaucratic level and that they are awaiting political backing.
"We have a very bitter experience of governance in the past that led to splitting of the ministries to serve political gains and this came at a huge burden on the state coffers," the official said.
Officials say they were forced to take this 'bold' decision to reduce the size of the ministries and lessen the financial and administrative burden on the state. They are hoping that these reforms would improve the functioning of the bureaurcracy.
"In many instances we have experienced serious turf war and tension between the political and administrative leadership--inviting needless duplication of work," the official said on condition of anonymity.
According to the plan, the Ministries of Energy and Irrigation will be merged into one. During the premiership of Madhav Kumar Nepal in 2009, the Ministry of Water Resources was divided into two-- Energy and Irrigation--to woo coalition partners, which was an unnecessary move, the official said.
Likewise, the youngest ministry, the Federal Affairs, Constituent Assembly, Parliamentary Affairs and Culture, would be dissolved and jurisdiction spread between the Ministry of Law and Justice and Ministry of Tourism respectively.
The Ministry of Labour and Transport Management, another 'disjointed' ministry, where the issue of labour and transport management have no interconnection, will also be scrapped.
The transport management portion will be shifted to the Department of Roads or a separate department under the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works could be created, according to the official.
Three ministries of commerce, industry and supply will be merged into one, while two separate ministries--Science and Technology and Ministry of Environment--will also be one. The axe is likely to fall on the Ministry of Youth and Sports too.
"The original idea was to bring down the size of the ministries to 11, which needs a bold political decision," another official said.
The PMO has also decided not to distribute medical expenses directly through it. "No single poor has benefited from the scheme so far," the official said.
"The millions of rupees allocated for medical expanses was distributed to the rich and the powerful. It has also given a very negative impression of the PM and the PMO. As such, we have decided to place the scheme under proper scrutiny through separate guidelines under the Ministry of Health."
The PMO has also readied a second proposal to strengthen the office by setting up a separate press chamber outside the PMO building, deploying more security personnel in and around the PMO, and removing the office of the National Planning Commission from the PMO building, the official said.
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TASLIMA NASREEN CANCELS NEPAL VISIT
Kathmandu, 22 Aug.: Taslima Nasreen, a Bangladeshi writer cancelled her trip to Nepal after she was dragged into controversy for her remarks in twitter that she “did not consider Nepal a foreign country.”, The Kathmandu Post writes.
Nasreen has informed about her cancellation of Nepal visit in Twitter on Sunday. “I am sad, but I had to cancel the flight as I did not want any unpleasant incident to happen in Nepal.”
Nasreen, who was scheduled to visit Nepal to participate in Literary Festival, left her passport in India, while coming from Sweden. She said, "My Nepali friends, I missed my flight to go to Kathmandu today. I forgot to bring my passport as I didn’t consider Nepal a foreign country!”
She was criticised for her remarks from several quarters that she being a writer famous all over the SAARC countries does not know about country like Nepal. As people protested through twitter regarding her views, she was forced to cancel the flight.
Nasreen has been living in exile since 1994 for her feminist views. She was to fly to Kathmandu from New Delhi and was scheduled to speak on her book ´My Writing Life´ during the literary event.
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SC SUGGESTS AMICUS CURIAE

Kathmandu, 22 Aug.: Walking a tightrope between political expediency and the spirit of the constitution, the Supreme Court today [Sunday] sought amicus curiae from Nepal Bar Association and Supreme Court Bar Association to assist hearing on Constituent Assembly tenure extension set to begin tomorrow [Monday], The Himalayan Time reports.
The CA extension row currently under review in the Supreme Court for the second time has been overshadowed by the political exercise to form a consensus government, but legal experts warned the case could have serious ramifications.

On August 25 last year, a five-member Supreme Court ruled that the original term of the CA is for two years and could be extended for a maximum of six months only under conditions of emergency, or under the doctrine of

political necessity.

Fearing that a five-member SC bench could stick to its earlier ruling, government lawyers are asking for a larger bench of more than five judges. “We feel that the apex court should not stick with the previous verdict therefore it must look with the larger perspective because this is a serious case,” Attorney General Dr Yuba Raj Sangroula said. Advocate Tikaram Bhattarai said since the parties did not follow the SC’s earlier verdict the apex court had sought the amicus curiae. “The apex court has begun to treat the issue more seriously,” Bhattarai added.

If the Supreme Court sticks by its earlier verdict, then it could lead to a political debate and possible tussle between the Supreme Court and the Parliament,

legal experts said.

If there is real possibility that the CA can complete its tasks in the next three months, then the SC can

justify a political interpretation, experts said, adding that the court is aware of the political risks involved in the decision.

A nine-member senior government lawyers’ team has been formed to defend the government in the case, Dr Sangroula said. The petitioner has demanded annulling the ninth amendment of the Constitution that extended the CA term to three years, while the government is pleading that extension of the term is the prerogative of the CA. The NBA has selected senior advocate and former attorney general Badri Bahadur Karki, advocate Hari Krishna Karki and Ram Nath Mainali or Mukti Pradhan to plead on behalf of the umbrella

organisation of lawyers.

“Since it was a serious case the apex court sought amicus curiae from us therefore we have forwarded names as demanded by the Supreme Court to assist in the hearing,” Prem Bahadur Khadka, President, Nepal Bar Association told THT today. The SCBA has nominated constitutional law experts Purnaman Shakya and Tikaram Bhattarai to plead on behalf of the bar body. The government has already appointed senior advocate Bishwokanta Mainali to defend the government in the case.

A five-member bench comprising CJ Khil Raj Regmi, Judges Top Bahadur Magar, Damodar Prasad Sharma, Ram Kumar Prasad Shah and Kalyan Shrestha have been hearing the case.
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RECORD NEPALIS MIGRATE FOR JOBS ABROAD

Kathmandu, 22 Aug.: The rising trend of outflux of Nepali migrant workers also continued in the first month (Shrawan) of the current fiscal year 2011-12 with a record high migration for the foreign jobs, The Himalayan Times reports.

According to Department of Foreign Employment, about 45,165 Nepalis joined foreign jobs in about three dozen countries in Shrawan (mid-July to mid-August). Some 40,461 and 44,715 had joined the foreign jobs in the eleventh and twelfth months of the last fiscal year.

Despite the growth in number, there has been no change in major job markets and nature of works. Still over 70 per cent Nepali migrant workers are unskilled and hired for construction and manufacturing works in Gulf countries and Malaysia. Four major destinations – Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Malaysia – are the key markets hiring some 90.3 per cent of the total Nepali migrant workers.

According to the department, Qatar tops in hiring Nepali workers with employing 15,702 over job aspirants. Qatar has been in top position since February following the FIFA decision to host of World Cup Football 2022.

Most of the Qatari recruitments these days are in construction sector.

Malaysia — the second preferred destination — hired 9,671 Nepalis in Shrawan after the Malaysian government decision to continue foreign workers in three D (dirty, difficult and dangerous) works.

Monthly demands from Malaysia had reduced to 6,500 in March-June period as the work permits to foreign workers had been stopped for a while to introduce biometric identity cards meant for curtailing illegal workers.

Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait become third, fourth and fifth hiring countries last month.

They hired 8,538; 6,873 and 2,088 Nepali migrant workers, respectively. Bahrain and Oman hired some 799 and 455 Nepalis during the first months of current fiscal year.

However, Eurozone hired not one and among Asian countries South Korea hired 393 Nepalis under Employment Permit System and 133 Nepali reached to Japan through individual contracts.

War-ravaged Afghanistan hired some 71 Nepalis in security and engineering sector while Macau hired 50 security personnel in the casinos.

Israel, which had stopped hiring Nepali women since April 2009, hired some 61 women in agriculture sector. The country is opening caregiver jobs to Nepali women from next week.

Algeria, an African country has hired some 44 workers after the gap of 11 months, while Egypt hired 19 Nepalis including a woman.

Shrawan, the first month of fiscal year, has given some hope for women migrant workers too as a record numbers of 2,002 have joined foreign jobs. Government has opened Gulf countries for Nepali women in February and the issuing of work permits started two months ago after ensuring safety measures.

Kuwait is the first preferred destination in hiring Nepali women migrant workers with 942 employment followed by the UAE (468), Malaysia (185), Oman (96), Qatar (95) and Bahrain (73).
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