MINISTER PUN INSPECTS FINANCE MINISTRY OULETS AT TIA

MINISTER PUN INSPECTS FINANCE MINISTRY OUTLETS AT TIA

Kathmandu, 13 Sept.: Finance Minister Barshaman Pun Tuesday inspected customs and other outlets of the ministry at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).
The visit was sudden.
Pun warned officials irregularities wouldn’t be tolerated.
The only international airport is one of the main entry points for imports .
The minister directed officials be fair and just to people
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MAIZE PRODUCE NOT EVEN SUFFICIENT FOR SIX MONTHS
Kathmandu, 13 Sept.: The Nepali maize produce is not even sufficient to fulfill half of the aggregate demand in the market, a research reveals, RSS reports from Lalaitpur..

The demand for the maize – one of the main cash crops of the country – stands at 270,000 metric tons while its production is 135,000 tons.

It was informed at a programme jointly organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and USAID on Monday to exchange experiences of the concerned filed experts in a bid to increase productivity of maize.

Maize worth around Rs. 200 million has been imported to cater to the annual demand of the grain.

The experts suggested the farmers to only cultivate the maize recommended by the experts for the enhanced productivity of maize.
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UML LEADER FREED AFTER PAYING ONE MILLION RUPEE RANSOM
Kathmandu, 13 Sept.: Abductors freed a CPN-UML functionary from Nijgadh last night after his family made a ransom payment of Rs 10 lakh. The Hmalayan Times reports from Pathlaiya.

A group had kidnapped the UML Rautahat district advisory committee member Teknath Poudel from Tamagadhi-Kolbi jungle on Saturday night and kept him at Bharatgunjsingaul jungle.

According to family members, the abductors had initially sought Rs 30 lakh in ransom over the phone but settled for Rs 10 lakh.

After getting word from the abductors, Teknath’s brother had reached the designated place to hand over the money and receive him.

Uttara Poudel said the kidnappers had threatened to kill her husband if the family did not make ransom payment.

Recounting his abduction, Teknath said, “I was heading home on a bike from Kathmandu. Two armed persons intercepted me at Tamagadhi-Kolbi area and abducted me,” he said.

He further said that the two had let pillion-rider Bikal Bhujel go after beating him.

“After beating me, the abductors gave me some painkillers and made me walk into the jungle,” Teknath said.

“They had threatened to kill me, so I told my family to pay them ransom,” he said.

Nepal police and Armed Police Force personnel had fanned out in the Nijgadh neighbourhood to search for Tekhanth, but to no avail. After the abduction, police have stepped up highway security checking in the district.
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MAOISTS ISOLATE USA

Kathmandu, 13 Sept.: Nepali Maoists have a reputation of successfully pitting one party against another to achieve their goals, but did they also adopt a similar strategy in dealing with the international community during the height of their 'people's war'--thereby successfully isolating the world's remaining superpower? John Narayan Parajuli writes in The Kathmandu Post.
It sounds implausible, but US officials have admitted that the Maoist 'propaganda campaign' was partly responsible their diplomatic 'isolation' in Kathmandu. In a cable sent on December 11, 2003 and released by WikiLeaks on August 30, 2011, US officials offer a candid assessment of the American diplomatic standing in Kathmandu and how Maoists played a role in dividing the international community. Though the cable doesn't specify how long the 'isolation' lasted, other public records suggest that the relationship could have been strained between the years 2002-2006--a period characterised by Washington seeing the Maoist problem through the lens of 'war on terror' and presence of two controversial ambassadors in Kathmandu: Michael E Malinowski and James F Moriarty.
After the increased US assistance to the then Royal Nepal Army in 2002, "the Maoist insurgents embarked on an anti-American propaganda campaign intended, in part, to isolate the US diplomatically, discourage other donors from collaborating with us, and to incite Chinese and Indian concerns at US "activism" in the region," said the cable classified by Malinowski.
It blamed "some Western donors" for playing into the Maoist strategy by being too critical of the US policy and "purposely" excluding the US from signing on to several recent joint statements "espousing a peaceful resolution to the conflict and respect for human rights."
Malinowski also said the Maoists unfavourably compared US approach with other countries--bashing Washington for its "hostile demeanour" and praising EU for being "accommodative."
"In practical terms, this has translated into the Maoists' singling out US-sponsored aid programs for "non-cooperation," the top US official in Nepal wrote.
He also accused other Western donors of giving anonymous quotes to UK's The Guardian newspaper and Australia's Time Asia Magazine depicting US policy in Nepal as "overextended" and "antagonistic" towards the Maoists. Such an attitude among other donors led to difficulty in finding NGOs 'willing' to receive US funding or being publicly identified with the US--and the isolation of US--based NGOs from the larger development community in Nepal, Malinowski concluded.
"On November 7, the local press carried a notice of 'Basic Operating Guidelines' for development and humanitarian assistance signed by 10 bilateral donors (Germans, Swiss, Canadians, British, Danes, EU, Japanese, Norwegians, Dutch, and Finns)--every bilateral donor except the US," the cable said. "There was no apparent effort to contact the US Embassy…"
On other occasions, the cable noted that DFID officials only made half-hearted attempts to contact US officials and never actually followed up.
US officials saw most Western donors as 'naive' and not seeing through the Maoist modus operandi.
"The Maoists obviously are trying to apply this [divide and rule] tried-and-true method to split the international community's potential opposition to their movement. Some of our colleagues in Kathmandu, unfortunately, seem all too willing to be taken in," Malinowski wrote.
In the cable, the US ambassador goes on to analyse why the Maoist efforts paid off--arguing that most embassies, staffed with development workers instead of "seasoned diplomats, "were incapable of seeing the bigger picture. He also suspected some of his counterparts may be "venting their ire at US policy in other parts of the world, perhaps particularly on Iraq."
"Whatever their motivation, these colleagues' willingness to accept the insurgents' propaganda--and thereby isolate us further--is helping perpetuate Maoist myths about our policy," Malinowski wrote.
The embassy had intended to counter these "misperceptions publicly--through an augmented PR campaign" reiterating and re-emphasising on "US leadership in supporting free and fair elections, multi-party democracy, human rights, and a negotiated end to the conflict."
"Privately, we will increase and regularize our policy exchanges with counterparts in other embassies and with multilateral and bilateral donors."
Malinowski's successor, Moriarty, also wrote similar cables lamenting naiveté of other countries. The situation seemed to have changed only after the arrival of US Ambassador Nancy J Powell in August, 2007. After Powell's arrival, the United States gradually began a policy of engagement with the Maoists, without removing the terrorist tag.
Another confidential cable from February 16, 2006 highlights continuing split among the international community in dealing with the Maoist question. The cable said Moriarty reported that the British Foreign Office was sceptical of US position on the Maoists.
"Her Majesty's Government [British government] continues to believe that beginning a process of negotiations with the Maoists would resolve Nepal's constitutional and security issues," wrote Moriarty after his conversation with Anthony Stokes, the head of the South Asia Group of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office on February 15.
"We are not so sanguine and to date have seen nothing to indicate that the Maoists are ready to abandon their quest for absolute power."
Even after the strained relations between the EU and US missions normalised, the two sides continue to take different approaches--with the EU countries willing to deal with the Maoists in parallel with the Government of Nepal, subsequent US embassy cables reported.
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IC RESERVES SHOOT UP TO IRs 58 BILLION

Kathmandu, 13 Sept.: With the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) adopting a policy to maintain relatively higher stock of Indian currency than usual, the country’s IC reserves have risen sharply as of August-end, The Kathmandu Post reports
According to NRB Deputy Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari, the IC reserves have touched IRs 58 billion mark as of August-end against the usual IRs 20-25 billion.
The central bank adopted such a policy a few months keeping in mind the rising trade dependency as well as trade deficit with India. Nepal’s trade dependency with India has been growing rapidly which is evident with the fact that the country’s trade with the southern neighbour India reached 66.4 percent of the total external trade in FY 2010-11, according to NRB. The figure was at 59.1 percent in FY 2009-10 and 57.1 percent in FY 2008-09.
“Growing trade dependency with India has forced us to maintain higher stock of IC,” said Adhikari. Nepal’s trade deficit with India stands at as high as Rs 218.28 billion, a rise of 23.2 percent in FY 2010-11 compared to previous year. “Such a huge trade deficit has suggested us that having even more IC stock won’t create problem,” said Adhikari.
The central bank is also considering revising the policy on regular stock of IC. As per the current NRB policy, it maintains minimum IC reserves of IRs 25 billion.
The central bank usually invests such minimum IC reserves in Indian treasuries so that the amount always remains as the country’s permanent reserve. The minimum reserve doesn’t include the amount required for day-to-day operations of the country’s monetary transactions. “Now, we are mulling to increase the size of the minimum IC reserves,” said Adhikari.
Lately, NRB has also increased the frequency of IC purchases from India. The central bank has been purchasing IC from Indian banks three to four times a month lately, compared to only twice in the past, according to NRB officials.
At a time, central bank purchases IC by selling $20 million. Nepal purchased IC worth IRs 123.84 billion by selling $2.74 billion in FY 2010-11. NRB had purchased IRs 102.09 billion by selling $2.19 billion in FY 2009-10.
The NRB has also requested its Indian counterpart-the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)-to open its window for purchasing Nepal’s US dollar reserves in exchange of Indian currency. If RBI opens the window, NRB can sell its dollars to the Indian central bank in case it is unable to find better exchange rate in the Indian market.
NRB had proposed the Indian central bank formally in this regard a month ago when Nepali officials visited the Indian central bank as well as during the recent Nepal visit of RBI governor D Subbarao.
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PM ASSURES EU ENVOYS NO AMNESTY FOR CRIMINALS
Kathmandu, 13 Sept.: Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai today said his government would not withdraw cases against those accused of committing serious crimes, The Himalayan Times reports.

The government only intends to withdraw cases against Maoist and Madhesi leaders, who were targeted by the state, the prime minister told envoys from EU countries after they raised concern about the issue.

Bhattarai’s party UCPN-Maoist had earlier signed a four-point deal with Madhes-based parties saying the government would withdraw criminal charges against Maoist and Madhesi leaders filed during the decade-long conflict and the Madhes movement in the run up to formation of the ruling coalition.

“We are not going to withdraw cases against those who were actually involved in serious crimes,” a source quoted Bhattarai as telling half-a -dozen envoys, who called on the prime minister at his office.

“We will only withdraw cases against those who were targeted by the state in the past.”

At least half a dozen European ambassadors today jointly called on PM Bhattarai at his office.

The Maoist-Madhesi deal that garnered Madhesi parties’ support enabling Bhattarai to become prime minister has drawn flak from all quarters.

Opposition parties Nepali Congress and CPN-UML have both vehemently rejected the deal, terming it a conspiracy against rule of law, whereas national and international human rights groups hugely criticised it, arguing it would promote the culture of impunity.

At the meeting, the EU envoys also inquired about issues of statue drafting and Maoist PLA combatant integration and rehabilitation process.

“We congratulate the prime minister for his election as Nepal’s new prime minister and reiterate our continued support to the peace process, particularly integration and rehabilitation process,” said Danish ambassador Morten Jespersen.

According to PM’s press adviser Ram Rijan Yadav, Bhattarai told the envoys that much progress had been made in the peace process and the government would not backtrack from this process but would successfully conclude it.

Meanwhile, Australian ambassador Susan Grace called on PM Bhattarai separately at the latter’s office and discussed issues of the peace, statue making process and bilateral relations.
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