TOP MAOIST LEADERSHIP IN GORKHA AMID DEEP INTRA-PARTY DIFFERENCE

TOP MAOIST LEADERSHIP GOING TO GORKHA FRIDAY

Kathmandu, 9 Sept.: Top Maoist leadership is going to Gorkha Friday to attend a public meeting at district headquarters to remember Suresh Wagle Basu.
Basu was an alternative politburo member and the highest ranking rebel leader killed during a 10-year insurgency.
Chairman Prachanda, three Vice-chairmen Mohan Baidya, Dr.Baburam Bhattarai, who is also prime minister, Narayan Kazi Shrestha, also deputy prime minister and foreign minister, are in the delegation.
General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa is also going to Gorkha following a decision of office bearers Thursday
The entire leadership will be in Gorkha at a time when open differences have flared up in the UCPN (Maoist) which is also leading the government.
Baidya and Thapa have challenged a decision by the Prachanda and Bhattarai factions to handover keys of containers with insurgency-era Maoist weapons to a government
Committee headed ex-officio by a prime minister.
Baidya and Thapa supporters have boycotted the Baburam Bhattarai demanding apology for wjhat has been described as a ‘ mistake ‘
A Gorkha constituency sent Premier Bhattarai to parliament with the biggest vote in a 2008 parliamentary election.
Thousands of workers are being bussed to the district to show unity amid deep differences.
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MINISTER GUPTA REJECTS OFFER OF GOVT. SPOKESMAN; DIFFERENCES IN GOVT.

Kathmandu, 9 Sept.: Information Minister Jayaprakash Prasad Gupta rejected a first Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai request at the cabinet Thursday to be government spokesman, Rajdhani reports.
Physical Planning Minister Hridesh Tripathi also rejected the request.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Narayan Kazi Shrestha then accepted the offer.
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NO MORE LABEDA, SURUSWAL, TOPI AT OFFICIAL GOVT. FUNCTIONS

Kathmandu, 9 Sept.: Deciding laeda, suruwal and topi are no longer compulsory at official government functions, a decisoonhas been taken to adopt all drese as national dress, Nagarik reports.
“The council of ministers has corrected a past decision to wear labeda, suruwal and topi at official functions.
“But the exact definition of a dress code has yet to be made,” Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Narayan Kazi Shrestha told Nagarik.
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SURYA NEPAL PLANS SWITCHOVER TO FMCG

Kathmandu, 9 Sept.: Surya Nepal that was facing heat from the workers to reopen country´s largest garment manufacturing unit has hinted that it could jump into the manufacturing of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), like noodles, in the same place where it operated garment factory, Ashok Thapa writes in Republica.

The fresh indication to switch over to a new business came from the company - a subsidiary of ITC Ltd, India -- after the management finalized its divestment plan on garment factory.
“We have decided to sell the equipments and other accessories of garment manufacturing unit,” said a company source, adding that the company was instead planning to set up a new factory in the same place.

Ravi KC, corporate vice president of Surya Nepal, confirmed the decision. However, he added that the plan on the new venture is still under discussion and yet to be finalized.

“The management´s plan is to switch over to a new venture. I cannot disclose now what it would be,” KC told Republica.

The company said the unruly action of some two dozen trade union leaders had led a larger number of workers to lose their jobs. “This was totally unwanted. Hence, our effort will be to give job opportunities to them in the new industry, if their skills matched with the nature of the production,” said KC.

As for the relay hunger strike launched by the workers to resume the garment factory, the company has clarified it could fulfill their demand as the company has lost all its clients and has no orders currently.

Officials said the company was not in a mood to jump into full-fledged operation of the new industry given the frequent strikes by union leaders. “Nonetheless, the new venture will be big enough to absorb well disciplined workers of the garment factory and also other unemployed youths,” said the source.

KC refused to comment on it. He, however, said that the closure of garment factory did not mean that the company would not explore new opportunities. “We are here to stay and grow. The very fact that we are planning to come up with a new industry proves that Surya Nepal will continue seeking expansion of businesses as long as the investment climate remains favorable,” he said.

The company has also started negotiating with the workers, who had been staging relay hunger strike since Tuesday, to withdraw their protests and pave the way for opening of the new industry.

“Once the workers cooperate and all the liabilities are settled, we will formally disclose about our next venture, the size of the investment and employment opportunities,” said KC.

Despite the new business plan, Surya Nepal has said its implementation will largely depend on how the trade unions and the government will respond to it. The company had decided to shut down the garment factory on August 17 this year referring to labor unrest and lack of orders.
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CLOSED CAMP FOR SAG 2012

Kathmandu, 9 Sept : With eyes set on ambitious 40 gold medals for Nepal in the upcoming South Asian Games (SAG), National Sports Council (NSC) Member Secretary Yubraj Lama saw his plan take the first step toward its fulfillment with the official inauguration of Mission SAG 2012, Republica reports.
Minister for Youth and Sports Kamala Roka was greeted with loud cheers as she inaugurated the program in the capital on Thursday with the view of providing proper training for medal-hopeful athletes almost a year before the regional sporting extravaganza.

SAG gold medalist Rajendra Bhandari says that in his 15-year career in athletics, this is the first time that the training for SAG has kicked off in time.

“Such kind of long trainings took place only in the Panchayat era. After the restoration of democracy, preparation for major sporting events has always been an eleventh-hour rush,” said Bhandari who clinched gold in marathon, which was later announced as road race due to technical mistakes of the organizers, during the 11th SAG held in Dhaka, Bangladesh last year.

Although Bhandari believes that this training would bring good results, he is doubtful that the government will give continuity to such programs in future. Minister Roka herself said that frequent change of government is hitting the sports sector quite hard.

Taekwondo’s chief coach Deep Raj Gurung, speaking on behalf of the coaches, lashed out at the previous leaderships of the NSC for not ensuring adequate training and instead getting embroiled in disputes.

“The three months training we used to get was too little. The first month went away in selecting players and then the dispute for chef-de-mission would arise,” lamented Gurung. “But this training has filled us with new hopes,” he added.

The NSC will provide training to 61 athletes from eight different sports--taekwondo, wrestling, athletics, judo, weightlifting, boxing, karate and wushu--for about a year. The training will be divided into four phases and each athlete will get Rs 300 per day for diet, which also includes Rs 100 as pocket money, in the initial phase of three months.

The NSC also distributed sports kits to all the selected players.

Member Secretary Lama said that the first phase will be an open session. The NSC will introduce scientific methods of training and maintain records of physical and mental conditions as well as the level of dedication of each player.

At the end of the first phase, there will be an assessment about each athlete’s progress. Those who fail will be dropped and those who pass will make it to another phase where they will be guided by special coaches. The players will be updated about the international practices and new rules in this stage.

Those who pass the second phase will be put through the closed-camp training. There will be another round of evaluation in this phase.

In the fourth phase, the NSC plans to bring in international coaches to train the athletes. The outstanding athletes will get an opportunity to train abroad.

At the end of the training, the NSC plans to acclimatize the players before heading toward New Delhi for the games.

Lama said that the concept of one year training was inspired by the sports policies of foreign countries where they train for three to four years before a major event.

“Even the one year training is less. It should have been at least for two years,” he said. “Our mission is to win medals in SAG and bury our past disputes.”
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