PM BHATTARAI RETURNS SUNDAY

PM BHATTARAI RETURNS SUNDAYAFTER CONCLUDING 4-DAY NDIA VISIT

Kathmandu, 23 Oct.: Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai returns home late Sunday after cocluding a four-day India visit that has become controversial after a bilateral agreement was signed protesting Indian business interests.
UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal called the
agreement anti-national
The chairman said Maoist ’nationalist’ stance has been swept away by Yamuna river.
Khanal, himself a former prime minister, revealed previous governments had rejected the agreement
Minendra Rijal of NC said Indian businesses were protectedwhen local investments weren’t protected.
Bhattarai returns via New Delhi after concluding a inspection of various sites in Uttarakandha state in the northwest.
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TWO DEAD, ONE INJURED IN MAKWANPUR JUUB ACCIDENT

Kathmandu, 23 Oct. Two persons died Sunday morning in a jeep accident in neighbouring Makwapur state.
One was seriously injured
The jeep was heading for the capital from Hetauda.
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BIPPA OPENS OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDIAN
INVESTMENTS





Kathmandu, 23 Oct.: Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, who is on a 4-day official visit to India, has said the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) reached between Nepal and India on Friday was a milestone for the promotion of Indian investment in Nepal, RSS reports from New Delhi.
"BIPPA has opened the avenue in Nepal for investment and Nepal is committed to protect investment," he stressed.
Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai said this at an interaction with the representatives of the Indian Industrial Confederation (IIC), and Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry organised at hotel Leela where the PM has been staying.
The agreement was made in spite of the risk, he added.
"Without taking risk, no one can give leadership to the history, nation and the society," he said, adding, "Politics is like a gamble, I too did it."
Various three agreements including the BIPPA were reached between Nepal and India in the presence of Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai and his Indian counterpart Dr. Manmohan Singh in Hyderabad House, New Delhi, on October 21.
Moreover, he said hydropower is the first priority for investment in Nepal while other areas are tourism, infrastructure development and agro-products.
"You can identify the projects, I ensure the atmosphere conducive for the investment in Nepal," PM Dr. Bhattarai said urging the Indian investors.
I commit from my side and Nepal for the protection of the investment in Nepal though the country is in transition, he said.
The prime minister argued that only cooperation, especially with India, could make Nepal and the entire South Asia prosperous which was his dream.
Former chairman of the IIC, Rajiv Kaul said it was laudable that Nepal announced 2012-2013 as the investment years and a jumbo team of Indian industrialists would visit Nepal in June.
The team would study on areas of investment in Nepal, increment of export and trade disparity, he added.
Similarly, he informed the interaction that a team was formed comprising the Indian and Nepali industrialists to jointly study on hydropower, trade and commerce and infrastructure.
Kaul said the investment in hydropower would be useful to minimize the trade deficit between the two countries.
On the occasion, FNCCI Chairman Suraj Vaidya said the investment year would be assisted by the private sectors and the foreign investment could be brought in with appropriate policy and environment.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has said that Nepal was in need of participatory democracy at this juncture of time, adding that people need not wage war against the State if equality between the poor and rich was maintained.
Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai who is on a four-day visit to India expressed this opinion at a program organised by chairman of Bhartiya Janta Daal (United) Sharad Yadav in Bhattarai’s honor.
He said peace, constitution and democracy were the need of the hour in Nepal and added that participatory democracy will work in favor of the oppressed and downtrodden people.
He said people need not take up arms if the situation of the majority of people who are poor and the few people rich was put to an end.
Expressing pleasure at his official visit to the southern neighbour, the prime minister said that the visit was successful to take the mutual relations between the two countries to a new height and to increase the confidence as well as promoting goodwill at the people’s level and the governmental level.
On the occasion, leader of the opposition party of India, Sushma Sworaj, general secretary of Congress (I) Janardan Dwivedi, chief minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar and members of the Nepali visiting team were present on the occasion.
Speaking at the program, Indian leaders said that prosperous and strong Nepal was India’s interest and stressed on concluding the peace and constitution writing process in Nepal.
On the occasion, Bihar State Chief Minister Nitish Kumar invited Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai to attend the World Conference scheduled to

be held in Bihar, India in January as the chief guest.
Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai who is on a four-day official visit to India attended a dinner hosted in his honour by the Embassy of Nepal in New Delhi on Saturday.
On the occasion, he observed the Embassy and directed the employees to work considering the importance and values of the Nepali diplomatic mission.
Similarly, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Narayankaji Shrestha, who is accompanying the Prime Minister, urged the embassy employees to play such a role that would help get support, cooperation and best wishes from the international community for the country’s ongoing peace process and constitution drafting process.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai held a separate meeting with migrant cadres of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) here on Saturday.
During the meeting, Dr. Bhattari who is also the Vice Chairman of the party was apprised of the problems of the Nepali migrant workers in India by the party cadres. The prime minister talked about the present political situation in the country and party’s responsibility in such context.
Currently, the Prime Minister is on a four-day official visit to neighboring India.

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UML PROTESTS BIPPA BETWEEN INDIA, NEPAL





Kathmandu, 23 Oct.: CPN-UML chairman Jhalanath Khanal Saturday stated that the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) inked between Nepal and India was against national interests, The Rising Nepal report.
He said that the deal was not in favor of Nepal and added that it was anti-national, anti-sovereignty and it would hamper promotion of the national economy.
Speaking at a tea reception organised by CPN-UML village committee of Naya Naikap, he said that the prime minister secured a deal which would create big challenges to the national economy.
The deal was signed on Friday between Nepal and India.
He said, "The CPN-UML would stand against the deal and the party would take a new decision against the BIPPA deal."
"The UML will protest any anti-national agreement," he said.
He informed that the parties were nearing a consensus for peace and constitution and hoped that the new consensus would materialise within a few days.
CPN-UML secretary Yubaraj Gyawali said that the Maoists should play a creative role to conclude the peace and constitution processes.
He said that the Maoists should be honest for concluding the national tasks because they were the people’s tasks.
CPN-UML’s Rajvai Maharjan and others stressed that the Maoists should implement the earlier peace agreements.
Meanwhile, CPN-UML chairman Khanal claimed that the Maoists would have to eventually accept UML’s people’s communism as propounded by late Madhan Bhandari.
Speaking at a programme organised by UML at the party’s central office in Balkhu, he said that the people’s communism was a great philosophy of national unity for Nepalese people.
On the occasion, Khanal welcomed new members entering the UML from different parties. More than one dozen cadres joined UML at the function.
UML leader Rajendra Shrestha said that the new entrants should honestly implement the party’s policy to save national identity and sovereignty.




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THREE DEAD, 13 INJURED IN CHITWAN SUSPECTIONBRIDGE COLLAPSE





Kathmandu, 23 Oct.: Three died and 13 got injured when a suspension bridge snapped at Darechok-9 of Chitwan district, The Rising Nepal reports from Dhading.
Two died on the spot when the bridge linking Chitwan and Gorkha collapsed, according to the police office in Chitwan.
Police said Man Bahadur Ale, 61, of Sarbung VDC-1 of Gorkha, and an Indian tourist, Florence, died on the spot. Another unidentified man died later.
The injured were undergoing treatment in different hospitals of Bharatpur, police said.
Three of the seriously injured were admitted at the Chitwan Medical College.
Locals said that the worn-out bridge snapped in the absence of timely repair and maintenance.
Angry locals obstructed traffic along the Kathmandu-Narayangadh section of the road saying that they had repeatedly asked the authorities for the repair of the bridge.
According to police, the agitated locals were demanding compensation for the victims and immediate work on the bridge.
Police suspected that some people were missing in the Trishuli river after the incident.
The missing could include Indian tourists, police said.

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NEPAL, INDIA, TO BOLSTER SECURITY MECHANISM

Kathmandu, 23 Oct.: India and Nepal have agreed to strengthen bilateral security mechanisms for border management and to activate the existing mechanisms to deal with security concerns, Republica reports from New Delhi.

According to sources, India´s Home Minister P Chidambaram during his meeting with Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai on Saturday has asked the latter to take firm steps to address India´s security concerns and curb counterfeit Indian currency
racket.

While addressing a press conference, Dr Bhattarai said the issue of fake currency is a matter of concern and that Nepalis too have a problem in this area. Bhattarai said he told the Indian home minister that Nepali laborers are being duped on the border while trying to convert Indian currency. “The matter will be taken up by joint-mechanism existing between the two countries,” he said.

Bhattarai labeled his visit “successful” claming that the visit has begun “a new chapter” in Indo-Nepal relations.

He said the agreement on protection and promotion of investment signed with India is not anti-national and that BIPPA is the need of the hour. “Everything is trust and confidence. I am extremely happy with my visit, BIPPA is in the national interest,” he said, adding,

“We are open to cooperation in all spheres of common interests. All genuine concerns of India will be addressed,” he added.

On the UCPN (Maoist)´s relation with India, he said there were some “suspicions and doubts” which the visit has offered an opportunity to clear.

Responding to a query on India´s role in Nepal´s peace process, he said, “In an interconnected world, neighbors are bound to have an impact. But the peace process is our internal matter and will be sorted out by the political parties of Nepal,” he said.

In addition, Nepal and India will move ahead to sign the DTA (Double Taxation Avoidance) at the earliest. The finalization of DTA, which could not be signed on Thursday, has been given a priority. Finance Minister Barshaman Pun held a meeting with his counterpart Pranab Mukherjee in this regard Saturday.

Pun said that economic cooperation between Nepal and India is important since economic development will follow after the establishment of political stability in Nepal.

“BIPPA shows our sincerity to economic development. This has been signed keeping in mind a long-term focus of 10 to 15 years,” Pun told Republica after his meeting with Mukherjee.

There were doubts that we might not be able to guarantee security to investors, but BIPPA shows our commitment,” Pun said, adding, “There are risks involved but we will move ahead.”

On Double Taxation Agreement, Pun said Mukherjee has assured that all technical issues will be discussed and that he will come to Kathmandu at the earliest date possible.

He also said that the new DTA will replace the DTA signed in 1987. The cabinets of both the countries are set to pass it soon. Pun said India did not respond initially before the state visit, but things will now move ahead in a smooth manner.

The two only spoke about the economic package on various projects like railways and integrated check-posts.

Pun said India is positive toward assistance in other projects included in the PM´s wish list. “India has agreed in principle to offer the assistance. Mukherjee has asked us to make a priority list for this.”

PM Bhattarai also held meetings with Defense Minister AK Antony and Prakash Karat, general secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist). The PM also attended a welcome program and a meeting organized by Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav.

The PM attended the dinner hosted by the Nepal embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Khagnath Adhikari. He is scheduled to leave for Dehradun Sunday morning.
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OPPOSITION ,MAOIST HARDLINERS OPPOSE ACCORD WITH INDIA
Kathmandu, 23 Oct.: Even though Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai was defending the signing of the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) in New Delhi, the issue has raised hackles of the hardliners within the UCPN (Maoist). Even some opposition parties
have joined the chorus with their serious reservations on the deal that was signed without much national consultations, The Kathmandu Post reports.
The hard-line faction of the Maoists led by Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya has strongly objected to the government’s move to sign the controversial deal. On October 18, the Standing Committee meeting of the Maoists had directed PM Bhattarai not to sign any controversial deals during his India trip.
Maoist Secretary CP Gajurel, close to Baidya, said that BIPPA agreement is against the national interest and it will have negative effects on the national economy. “There has not been any discussion inside the party about the agreement on BIPPA,” said Gajurel. The hard-line faction is preparing to take this issue to the Central Committee meeting that will take place on November 3. “The agreement will put the national industries at further risk, while protecting the foreign ones,” Gajurel said.
The leaders of the hard-line faction say they will struggle within the party to correct the agreement. However, Maoist Spokesperson Dina Nath Sharma said the party has given its consent to sign any deals relating to the national development and foreign investment in Nepal. “During the Standing Committee (SC) meeting that took place on October 18, the issue of BIPPA was also discussed and the party gave permission to sign the deal as per the national interest,” said Sharma. Former Prime Minister and UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal termed PM Bhattarai’s recent move to sign BIPPA an “anti-national”.
“The BIPPA that the prime minister signed on behalf of the government is against national interest. More serious point is that the prime minister never forged consensus among parties on such an important issue,” Khanal said. He said the nationalism of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai was exposed in Delhi. “I haven’t got a chance to go through the agreement, but the deal in itself is not in our national interest,” said Khanal, stating the agreement was signed to please India instead of creating investment-friendly environment. Chairman of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Nepal Upendra Yadav said PM Bhattarai should have forged national consensus before striking the deal with India. He also said that such agreement was also proposed during the Jhala Nath Khanal-led government, in which he was the foreign minister.
However, Yadav said the Nepali side had proposed providing adequate security to the Indian investment, for instance in the Upper Karnali Hydropower Project rather than providing compensation in line with the proposed BIPPA.
Leaders of the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) declined to comment on the agreement itself arguing that they were yet to study the agreement in detail. But they were quick to point out where the risk to foreign investment comes from. “I cannot comment without studying the agreement,” Congress leader Minendra Rijal said. “It is a question of investment safety rather than providing compensation,” he said apportioning blame on the Maoists for problems in the first place.
“Who is vandalising hotels, hydropower companies and other industrial set up? Is it not the Maoists? So, instead of providing the compensation, there has to be free and fearless investment environment,” said Rijal.
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FACEBOOK DENIES HACKING OF NEPALI ACCOUNT
USER ACCOUNTS
Kathmandu, 23 Oct.: Facebook Inc has denied claims that a hacking community, self identified as Team Swastika, hacked into 10,000 accounts of Nepali users on its social networking site, The Kathmandu Post reports.
Some days ago, the group which claims to be the strongest hacking community in Nepal, had posted heaps of data on the text-sharing site Pastebin and claimed that it was account names and passwords of the Facebook accounts it had hacked.
The Hacker News reported on October 17 that a group had indeed posted the data on Pastebin, usually used for sharing “source codes” of computer programs and applications.
The data was later removed from Pastebin and the web world was rife with discussions and verification attempts of the claims made by the group, which was being heard of for the first time in the web community, at least among non-hackers.
“This does not represent a hack of Facebook or anyone’s Facebook profiles,” a Facebook spokesperson said. “Our security experts have reviewed this data and found it to be a set of e-mail and password combinations that are not associated with any live Facebook accounts.”
A day later, on October 18, the data was removed from Pastebin.
Internet sites have since reported extensively on the issue, by quoting Rik Ferguson, director of Security Research at Trend Micro, who said he managed to download the data at Pastebin just before it was removed.
Ferguson had written in his blog that the data he downloaded was in reality account IDs and passwords of Facebook accounts of Nepali users, claimed to be 10,000 in number by Team Swastika.
Facebook later strongly denied the claims made by Ferguson and said he had rushed into the assertion. Facebook has said the data was supposedly stolen by the group in a phishing scam. A phishing scam is where thousands of email clients are sent emails by the perpetrators and fooled into providing their digital details.
IT Pro has reported that the group had also published details from the website of the Indian Embassy in Nepal and the Government of Bhutan. A week before the hacking claims, the group had written “Fight For Justice | Justice To Freedom Never Give up | Never Back down,” as Twitter feed. These kinds of messages are common to the hacking community and the group had possibly announced its entry into the hacking world via the tweet.
“They seem to be Nepalese hackers targeting the Indian embassy in Nepal and the Government of Bhutan” said Ferguson in an Interview with IT Pro.
According to recent reports, the number of Facebook users in Nepal is more than a million.
Facebook has upgraded its account security provisions a number of times since it was launched in 2004. However, cyber security experts say loopholes still exist and users with little knowledge of web security are vulnerable to such scams.
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• BUFFER ZONE COMMUNITIES DEMAND WIDELIFE ACT SCRAP
Kathmandu, 23 Oct.: People from buffer zones of national parks and wildlife reserves across the country have decided to launch a series of protest programmes, demanding that the National Parks and Wildlife Act-1973 be scrapped, The Himalayan Times reports.

A two-day meeting of representatives from buffer zone communities, saw the formation of a struggle committee under the leadership of Raja Ram Syangtan, chairperson of Parsa Wildlife Reserve Buffer Zone Management Committee.

“We have resorted to protest programmes as our repeated demands have fallen on deaf ears,” said Syangtan.

Participants at the programme said the Act emphasises only wildlife and ignores hundreds of thousands of people residing in buffer zones. “The Act was promulgated during the Panchayat regime when the rights of the people were not that important. So, the Act should be scrapped and a new act with adequate rights to the communities should be formulated,” said Lal Prasad Rakam, chairperson of the Rara National Park Buffer Zone Management Committee.

About 23 per cent (34,187 sq km) of the country’s land is protected area while the total area of buffer zones is 5,603 sq km. Buffer zone is territory of 1km to 5km in area in addition to protected areas.

“Buffer zones were established with the aim of reducing pressure of human population on core park areas through separate laws,” said Udaya Raj Sharma, former secretary, Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation (MoFSC), one of the initiators of the concept.

Community representatives have warned of protest plans. “Buffer zone communities will be mobilised across the country for protests. The decision will be circulated among the communities and we will meet again to finalise the programmes,” added Syangtan.

Most communities blame the government of failing to provide relief to wildlife victims, let alone compensation for destruction of crops by wildlife. According to Kul Prasad Bhusal, member of Chitwan National Park (CNP) Buffer Zone Management Committee, about 25 people have been killed by wild animals in the CNP, about 70 have been injured and almost 300 domestic animals have been attacked, but the government has not bothered to provide relief to the victims.

“As per buffer zone management regulations, the government has to provide 50 per cent of the total income from the concerned national park to the buffer zone management committee. However, CNP has not received the share for the past four years,” said Bhusal.

In 2010, Federation of Community Forests Users Nepal (FECOFUN) launched a protest demanding that the wildlife act be scrapped as it curtailed the rights of the buffer zone communities on natural resources. “The buffer zone communities’ protest announcement will be welcomed by 15,000 community forest user groups across the country,” said Thakur Bhandari, executive committee member of FECOFUN.
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DISPOSAL OF DATE-EXPIRED PESTICIDES STARTS
Kathmandu, 23 Oct.: German International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Government of Germany started removing pesticides stored at Amlekhgunj in Bara with support from the Ministry of Environment today [Saturday]. The Himalayan Times reports from
Pathlaiya.

A GIZ team that arrived here yesterday had held discussions with the locals before starting the removal of 50 tonnes of pesticides stored in the warehouse of Agriculture Inputs Corporations. Wolfgang Shimpt, the GIZ project manager, said they would complete the removal of pesticides within three days. He informed that they would collect the pesticides from Biratnagar, Kathmandu, Hetauda and Nepalgunj in three weeks.

Shimpt said around 75 tonnes of pesticides have been stored in different warehouses across the country. “We will destroy the pesticides in Germany,” Shimpt said, adding that the pesticides would be taken in a train through India’s Kolkata to Germany via ships. The AIC had stored the pesticides imported from different countries, including Germany three decades ago, at its Amlekhgunj-based godown after it did not come into use. Stored in the middle of human settlement, the pesticides were causing harm to human health. Locals were complaining of eye strain, headache and other problems due to its smell.

AIC Kathmandu Manager Achyut Prasad Poudel said pesticides such as DDT, chlorine and BHC have been stored in Amlekhgunj.

Classes in Nepal Rastriya Higher Secondary School next to AIC store were disturbed due to the smell.

A study conducted by Dr Sitalkaji Shrestha had shown that poison was found in the blood of 96 per cent students of the school. The pesticide removal initiative has brought a joy to the locals. Elated Ganga Bal said, “We had been demanding for pesticide removal for a long time. Now, our protest has come to fruition.”

The Amlekhgunj locals had formed a struggle committee demanding the removal of the pesticides. Tenth grader Suraj Shah of the school said, “Now, we can study without obstruction.” Eight tonnes of pesticides have been stored at Nepalgunj-based District Agricultural Cooperatives’ building and 12 tonnes at Khajura Cotton Firm and a government building in Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj.

AIC Nepalgunj branch had brought the pesticides to kill insects on vegetables and cotton 26 years ago.

Banke CDO Krishnachandra Ghimire said his office had received instructions to repack pesticides in October and send them to the centre. “But, no team has arrived her fore the same,” Ghimire said.
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