UML STUDENTS CONTINUE SHUTDOWN OF MID AND FAR-WEST DISTRICTS

UML STUDENTS CONTINUES SHUTDOWN OF MID AND FAR-WEST DISTRICTS

Kathmandu, 7 Sept. UML students continued Wednesday shutdown of districts of the mid and far-West protesting the murder nearly two weeks ago of Bishnu Shahi.
The Nepalgunj student died while undergoing treatment of injuries sustained in an attack.
The continued strike as the festive season approaches has impacted lives of people.
Nepalgunj has been closed down forcibly for three consecutive days.
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NEPALI TEAM LEVING FOR FIRST SOUTH ASIA FORUM MEET

Kathmandu, 7 Sept.: A 14-member team led by Land Reforms Minister Prabhu Sah leaves for New Delhi Wednesday to participate in the first conference of South Asia Forum to reinforce regional cooperation in South Asia.
A Forum meeting begins Thursday to discuss broad issues.
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INTERNAL DISPUTE WON’T DERAIL PEACE PROCESS





Kathmandu, 7 Sept : UCPN-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ Tuesday asserted that the peace process would move ahead no matter whatever arguments were raised within his party regarding the submission of arms containers to the Army Integration Special Committee (AISC), The Rising Nepal reports.
"Discussions are held in the party. Even the issue raised regarding the key handover will be discussed in our party. Since the Standing Committee and Central Committee of the party have already endorsed the issues related to peace process, the arguments raised in the middle will not affect the steps for the peace process," the chief of the main ruling party said talking to the media persons after he inspected the Naya Patrika daily office which was vandalized a couple of days ago.
He held that the upcoming CC meeting of the party would settle the row over the handover of the keys and dismissed any speculations that his party would split owing to the recent dispute.
The largest party is in turmoil with vice-chairman Mohan Baidhya ‘Kiran’ objecting to party chairman’s decision to handover the keys of the arms containers to the PLA camp monitoring team of the AISC.
The former Prime Minister observed that attacks over the media and the journalists were condemnable. "It is worrisome that media has been attacked under the cover of political parties, and the vandalism of Naya Patrika office and physical assault over a journalist in Birat Nagar are serious."
The chief of the main ruling party said that the government should take steps to take action against the guilty.
The office of the Naya Patrika daily was vandalized on Sunday by a group of some eight people among whom were identified as affiliated to Nepal Student Union, Nepali Congress student wing while Khila Nath Dhakal, a Biratnagar-based journalist of The Nagarik, was attacked a few months ago by cadres of CPN-UML affiliated Youth Force.

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CEOs of PUBLIC ENTERPRISES APPOINTMENT THROUGH OPEN COMPETITION





Kathmandu, 7 Sept 6: The government is mulling a plan to appoint executive chiefs in all public corporations through open competition, The Rising Nepal reports.
Corporations, which number around two dozen, have been getting their executive chiefs through political appointments so far.
A study conducted by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) under the Legislature Parliament found that more than half of the corporations of the country are running in loss while the conditions of others are deteriorating, largely due to the tradition of the political appointments of their chiefs.
The government has made up its mind on competitive appointments of corporation heads following the submission of the PAC study report and its recommendations.
Chairman of the Constituent Assembly Subas Nembang made this revelation to journalists at his office in Singha Durbar on Tuesday.
Nembang said that he had drawn the attention of Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai that all the corporations will become insolvent in near future unless government took serious steps towards their reforms.
If you decide to appoint corporation chiefs through open competition, that will earn you more popularity than by the Mustang jeep you have decided to ride, Nembang had told the prime minister during his conversation.
Nembang told the journalists that the Prime Minister had pledged that he would start immediate steps to kick-start the new process of appointments.
The PAC report pointed out that the political appointments of semi-skilled or totally ignorant people of the concerned field had led to poor performance of the corporations.
The PAC study report has suggested that three corporations should be scrapped, two should be converted into companies, nine should be run under public private partnership (PPP) while six of them should be operated under government control.
A sub-committee

coordinated by PAC member Dip Kumar Upadhyay had carried out month-long study of the public corporations of the country. The study covered present condition of corporations, their problems and suggestions for improvement. The report has suggested that Gorkhapatra Corporation and Nepal Television should be converted into companies. Before, the Finance Ministry had also suggested the appointment of corporation chiefs through open competition. The PAC study report pointed out that corporations were over staffed and staffers were incompetent, leading to failure to compete with the private sector. The report has suggested that Gorkhapatra Corporation and Nepal Television should be converted into companies.
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