UML ACTIVIST ABDUCTED FROM BARA JUNGLE

UML ACTIVIST ABUCTED IN BARA

Kathmandu, 11 Sept.: UML worker from adjoining Rautahat district Tek Prasad Paudel was abducted from a jungle in Bara by unknown group, Radio Nepal reported Sunday morning.
He was abducted for ransom.
Paudel was on a motorcycle.
Abductors assaulted Paudel’s friend with a khukri.
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SERVICES RESUME AT MAHAKALI ANCHAL HOSPITAL

Kathmandu, 11 Sept.: Doctors at Mahakali Anchan Hospital resumed work Sunday morning after closing down emergency services from Saturday.
Services were disrupted from Thursday as doctors and health workers alleged maltreatment and demanded action against persons close to a patient
Doctors at the hospital in Kanchanpur district decided to resume work after journalists intervened overnight.
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WORK ON CONSTITUTON DRAFTING AGAIN IN LIMBO

Kathmandu, 11 Sept.: Main opposition NC senior leader and three-time former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said Saturday his party will take up work of drafting and promulgating a constitution only after the peace process is completed.
The pre-condition has irked UCPN (Maoist) which is leading a Maoist, 5-party front of Madeshbadi parties.
Meetings of a sub-committee attempting to iron out differences on articles for inclusion in a basic law was shelved indefinitely last week.
Chairman Prachanda, who heads the sub-committee where representatives of all major parties are included, angrily adjourned the meeting when NC Vice-president Ram Chandra Paudel briefed the body on his party’s official position on peace and constitution adopted by the central committee.
The Maoist said the pre-condition was unacceptable and further sub-committee meetings were meaningless.
Prachanda said a main constitution drafting committee headed by Nilambar Acharya take up the differences; the main committee formed the smaller Prachanda group arguing the larger group was unwieldy.
Prachanda also said there would be political agreement between parties before the sub-committee workbegins.
The development last week came after the new government of Dr. Baburam Bhattarai extended the constituent assembly by another three months after 31 August.
The government decision was approved by parliament.
Work on completing a constitution is again in limbo.
A constitution to replace an interim constitution drawn up by an unelected parliament hasn’t been completed in more than the years and six months.
A constitution has to be promulgated to institutional measures adopted like declaration of a republic even without going directly to the people.
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ISHWARI RIJAL SECRETARY OF UML CENTRAL SCHOOL DEPT.

Kathmandu, 11 Sept.: Ishwari Rijal was nominated Saturday secretary of UML of Central School Department
Rijal was a member is the Department.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“Since the CIAA cannot intervene in cabinet decisions, there is a tendency of making corruption through the cabinet decision. So we request the PM to control it.”

(Secretary of CIAA Bhagwati Kumar Kafle, The Himalayan Times, 11 Sept.)
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MAOIST-LED GOVT. TO MARK 2012 INVESTMENT YEAR
Kathmandu, 11 Sept.; Finance Minister Barsa Man Pun on Saturday said he would initiate the process of declaring the year 2012 as investment year as per the demand of the private sector that expects better investment climate, The Kathmandu Post reports.
Responding to the urge of the business community, Pun pledged at an interaction here that he would spearhead the initiative.
However, there has not been any discussion on the matter at bureaucratic level, said a senior ministry official. A few days ago, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) had submitted a formal proposal to the minister in this regard, according to FNCCI officials.
At a time when labour problem, energy crisis and other problems are driving away even the existing investment, the private sector believes that such a declaration may help reorient the country’s focus on increasing investment. “We expect that the declaration of investment year will encourage the government to create better investment environment,” said FNCCI Vice President Pasupati Murarka.
The apex body of the private sector said better law and order situation, stability in economic policy (whether it is market economy or mixed), sustainability of policies for 10 years, timely budget and timely capital budget expenditure are the major prerequisites for a friendly investment climate.
Recently, Surya Nepal closed its garment factory in Biratnagar owing to labour unrest. The factory was providing employment to more than 700 individuals, including 550 women. “There is a tendency of putting forward demands by going against the existing law,” said FNCCI President Suraj Vaidya at the interaction. “Therefore, like Surya Garment, other industries are also on the verge of closure.”
Trade expert Ratnakar Adhikari said although the idea of declaration of investment year is good for creating better investment environment, such a move would not be practical at the moment due to time constraints. “The main focus of the investment year, if declared, should be on addressing the labour problem, energy crisis and setting up of special economic zones,” he said.
The government data also shows how the country’s investment climate is deteriorating. In the last three years, the private sector’s investment against GDP has declined continuously. According to the Economic Survey 2010-11, the private sector’s investment declined to 14.2 percent against GDP in 2010-11 from 17.8 percent in 2007-08.
A recent World Investment Report prepared by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has bottom-ranked Nepal even among the least developed countries (LDCs) in attracting foreign direct investment. Even among the South, East and South-East Asian countries, Nepal lies at the bottom with Afghanistan, North Korea and Bhutan when it comes to attracting FDI, according to the report. It says Nepal received $39 million in FDI in 2010.
Another report of the United Nation Development Programme says the scale of capital flight from Nepal has been very large. Nepal ranked sixth in terms capital flights among LDCs with $9.1 billion (Rs 657.93 billion) in the period from 1980 to 2008.
Admitting that trade unions are exhibiting anarchic activities in some cases, Finance Minister Pun said the government is ready to address the problem.
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CREMATIONS AT ARYAGHAT MAY HALT WITH WOOD SHORTAGE
Kathmandu, 11 Sept.: An acute shortage of wood to light funeral pyres is likely to affect the last rites of the dead at Pashupati Aryaghat, one of the holiest and busiest cremation sites in Nepal, Ankit Adhikari reports in The Kathmandu Post..
Officials at the site say the situation could arise if the stock is not replenished by Monday.
On an average, 30 bodies are cremated at the site every day. “The cremations will come to an absolute halt on Tuesday if no wood is supplied by Monday,” Harihar Dhakal, the senior assistant at the unit of Timber Corporation of Nepal (TCN) at the Aryaghat, said.
Stocks began depleting last week after the Ministry of Forest failed to supply the wood.
According to data at the Ghat Management and Service Committee under the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT), around 6,000 to 7,000 kg of wood is required every day to cremate at least 25 to 30 corpses. They now have a mere 15,000 kg of wood in store at the Aryaghat.
“The wood left with us now will help us for the next two days,” he said. “We cannot say anything on what will happen after that. The situation is extremely critical and will potentially invite lots of troubles with the Hindu community living in Kathmandu.”
Both Aryaghat and Timber Corporation officials blame the Ministry of Forest for ignoring the problem.
They say the absence of proper morgues could complicate the situation.
“We have been repeatedly informing the ministry about the wood scarcity,” Dhakal said. “However, they have turned a deaf ear to our pleas. No step has been taken by the ministry so far.”
Officials at the ministry could not be reached for comment. The
situation would have surfaced a week before had the TCN not fetched some wood from areas including Satdobato and Dhading district. “The extra wood we brought is also about to exhaust,” Dhakal said.
“There is nothing that we can do now except urge the ministry to direct Bara district officials to release the wood before it is too late.”
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