AMNESTY FOR MAOIST LAWMAKER CONVICTED FOR MURDER WON'T BE ROLLED BACK; PM

PM BHATTAARAI SAID ANMESTY DECISION WON’T
BE ROLLED BACK

Kathmandu, 13 Nov.: Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai said a lgovernment decision to amnesty Maoist lawmaker Bal Krishna Dhungel won’t be rolled back by the government ,which has come under heavy fire from main opposition, UN and other quarters, for the murder of Ujjan
Kumar Shrestha.
Bhattarai said this Saturday night after returning from Maldives
where attended the 17 SAARC summit.
The first task for the two-month government is to tackle the barrage of criticism against the government and his personally for the controversial cabinet decision.
Ceremonial President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav begins consultations Sunday whether to accept the government or reject government recommendation for amnesty.
Okhaldunga district leader Ram Karki said Saturday in the capital Shrestha was killed not for personal reasons but for allegedly spying
during the insurgency; he claimed Shresttha was killed on party
order.
Kiran PUN adds in Republica:
Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai said on Saturday that he will not withdraw the recommendation his cabinet made to the president to grant a pardon to court-convicted CA member Bal Krishna Dhungel.

The prime minister said this upon arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport from his five-day visit to the Maldives to participate in the 17th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).


“The move has been taken in the context of a specific stage in the post-conflict situation. Over 15,000 people were killed during the conflict. If we look into every case, none of us will be spared,” said Bhattarai.

Bhattarai argued that the government took the step in accordance with the seven-point deal and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

The prime minister accused NGOs of blowing the Dhungel case out of proportion. “I have nothing to say as the case is being treated in an exaggerated fashion by those doing NGO work for foreigners’ dollars. But the responsible political parties should take the issue seriously and understand the situation,” he said.

Besides human rights organizations, the NC and UML have raised serious objection to the cabinet decision to recommend to the president to pardon Dhungel.

Bhattarai stated that he met US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O Blake during the trip and the latter informed him that the US has already begun the process for removing Nepali Maoists from its list of terrorist organizations.

Bhattarai said the SAARC summit was held in an amicable environment and ended on a positive note.

The summit concluded adopting a 20-point declaration that emphasizes economic development in the region and proposes a regional mechanism to ensure empowerment of women and gender equality in the sub-continent.

Four agreements were also signed, including the SAARC Agreement on Rapid Response to Natural Disasters, the SAARC Seed Bank Agreement, SAARC Agreement on Multilateral Arrangement on Recognition of Conformity Assessment and the SAARC Agreement on Implementation of Regional Standards.

The prime minister said that he held amicable talks with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh, and also had talks with Nepalis residing in the island country. He said he held talks with Maldives officials to establish air links between the two South Asian countries.

Bhattarai has come under controversy for expanding his council of ministers the very day he embarked on his Maldives visit, increasing its number to 46 and making it the second largest cabinet in the history of the country.

The prime minister, who was earlier hailed for his austerity measures, came under criticism for expanding the cabinet to jumbo size and incurring extra expenditure for state coffers.

The NC and UML have objected seriously to the expansion of the cabinet, saying it undermines the agreement on forming a national consensus government.
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HIMALAYAM SHERPA, INDIA’S SOUTHERN SHERPA PLAY N A QUARTERFINAL FOOTBALL MATCH IN A POKHARA FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT

Kathmandu, 13 Nov.: Himlayam Sherpa plays India’s Southern Sports
in the quarterfinal of Safal Pokhara International Inter-club football tournament in the resort town Sunday.
Tribhuwan Army Club was the first team to qualify for a semifinal Saturday.
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235 NEPALIS DIE IN MALAYSIA IN 10 MONTHS

Kathmandu, 13 Nov.: More than 200 Nepali migrant workers lost their lives in Malaysia in the last 10 months, a report released by the Nepali Embassy in Malaysia
Said, Ramchandra Giri writes in The Kathmandu Post from Kuaala Lumpur..
According to the embassy, 235 Nepali workers died in Malaysia between the months of January and October this year. The causes of deaths include road accidents, industrial accidents, suicide and illness.
The record at the Nepali embassy shows the cases of Nepali migrant workers' death started picking up from 2003.
In 2007, the Nepali mission here recorded 252 deaths, the highest number recorded so far. The number decreased in the subsequent years— 210 deaths were reported in 2010—until this year.
Thirty Nepali immigrants lost their lives in January alone. Among them, 19 died of various unidentified illness, five were killed in road accidents and four persons committed suicide.
Based on the figures provided by the embassy, at least five Nepali migrant workers die in Malaysia every week; 1,735 Nepalis have lost their lives since 2003.
Malaysia has the highest number of Nepali migrant workers than any other countries.
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DOUBTS ON FAIR SELECTION IN CONSTITUTIONAL BODIES
Kathmandu, 13 Nov.: Even though the government announced it would appoint commissioners in various constitutional bodies through open competition for the first time, the candidates doubt fair selection due to lack of a formal set-up and standard norms, The Kathmandu Post reports..
Some of the applicants complained that the selection process was just a continuation of the past tradition in which political parties picked their men regardless of their merits “It should have formed an independent expert panel to select commissioners. If the Constitutional Council finalises the names of appointees, it will be nothing new,” said one of the contenders for the post of chief commissioner at the CIAA, seeking anonymity.
An independent committee led by Suryanath Upadhyay, former CIAA chief commissioner, was formed to pick executive director of the Nepal Electricity Authority. The applicants have demanded for a similar body to select them instead of selection through the Constitutional Council.
In an effort to select commissioners through free competition, the Constitutional Council had sought applications with their concrete proposals from eligible candidates on September 27. “I submitted application with a proposal but I am not sure whether they checked my proposal or not,” another candidate of commissioner at the CIAA said, claiming that commissioners will be appointed based on political power-sharing.
About 20 candidates have applied for the post of CIAA chief commissioners, while similar applications have been received for the post of commissioners. The appointment to vacant posts at the constitutional bodies has been prolonged for the last five years because of the major parties' hankering for the post of CIAA chief.
Former Home Secretary Umesh Mainali, former Law Secretary Madhav Paudel, CIAA Acting Chief Commissioner Bhagwati Kumar Kafle, former Land Reform Secretary Baburam Acharya, former Local Development Secretary Ram Kumar Shrestha and Special Court Chairman Gauri Bahadur Karki, among others, have applied for the post of CIAA chief. Similarly, Senior Advocate Badri Bahadur Karki and former Finance Secretary Bhanu Acharya have applied for the post of auditor general, while Acting Chief Election Commissioner Neelkantha Uprety has applied for the post of chief election commissioner. Acting Public Service Commissioner Kayo Devi Yami, PSC Secretary Shyam Mainali and former secretaries Yuvaraj Pande and Uday Nepali are in the fray for PSC chairperson.
“We have collected the name list of eligible candidates for various posts and the list will be tabled at the meeting of the Constitutional Council,” said Somlal Subedi, a secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister. Sources close to the PMO said the constitutional council would recommend names of commissioners to the Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee for final approval once Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai returns from the Maldives
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FOREIGN CURENCY LOAN FOR HYDRO

Kathmandu, 13 Nov.: The banks can now lend any amount in foreign currency to the hydro-projects, The Himalayan Times reports.

Issuing a directive, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)’s Foreign Exchange Department has allowed commercial banks and development banks to provide large loans to licensed electricity generating or distributing companies in foreign currency.

“The loan can be short term, medium term or long term, earlier banks were allowed to lend only small amount of foreign currency loans,” said Bhaskar Mani Gyanwali, spokesperson for the central bank.

The hydropower projects that need to make payment for imported machineries, equipments and for the expert’s technical assistance and consultants in foreign currencies will be eligible for this type of loans. However, this loan will not cover the payments that can be made in Nepali currency.

“Loans in foreign currency will ease the proceedings of hydro companies to a great extent as the hassle for exchanging currency will not be there,” pointed out Gyanwali, adding “this will also reduce the cost of financial operation of the projects.”

Only the projects that have already undergone Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) will be qualified for foreign currency denominated loans.The commercial banks and development banks can form a consortium to lend the hydro projects foreign currency loans on their own discretion. The banks can borrow from licensed remittance companies if they fall short of foreign reserve. However, foreign currency, thus borrowed can not be used for other purposes.

Hydro power development is one of the priority sectors in Nepal so that both fiscal and monetary policy had tried to facilitate hydropower companies’ financing. The monetary policy had stated that a policy provision will be introduced so that banks and financial institutions can extend credit denominated in foreign currency to hydroelectricity projects and can also invest in different foreign currency denominated instruments with the consent of NRB.

In this line, NRB had also opened up the issuance of debentures in foreign currency in order to facilitate the hydro projects. The hydro projects that earn foreign currency can issue foreign currency denominated debentures in Nepal. Himal Power Ltd is already undertaking necessary procedures to issue first dollar denominated debentures.
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DRI TO MOVE CURT AGAINST


Kathmandu, 13 Nov.: The Department of Revenue Investigation is all set to file case against Global Internet Service Pvt Ltd (GISPL) – an Internet Service Provider (ISP), The Himalayan Times reports.
The department will file case against Global Internet within a week, the department source said, adding that it is also intensively carrying out the investigation on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and GSM over Internet Protocol (GoIP) since the trend of illicit call bypass is hurting public purse. The department will also file case against other Internet Service Providers at the earlierst, he said.

However, Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has yet to take the decision of scraping licence of Global Internet Service Pvt Ltd and Cherry International, those have involved in millions rupees revenue leakages through VoIP and GoIP. The authority has not reached into the any decision since it has to abide by the due laws and regulation, spokesperson Kailash Prasad Neupane said, adding that it will take decision after getting all documents from concerned parties. The authority is waiting reliable claim document from Nepal Telecom before reaching any decision, the source at the authority said. Nepal Telecom has claimed some Rs 950 million revenue loss from illicit Voice over Internet Protocol operation of Global Internet Service Pvt Ltd.

However, a source at the authority said that its board is deliberately dillydallying to take the decision over these two Internet Service Providers.Department of Revenue Investigation is also investigating the VoIP and GoIP scam carried out by two Internet Service Providers – Global Internet and Cherry International.

The department has confiscated computer records, bills, VoIP and GoIP software and other relevant documents from those ISPs to find out the actual revenue loss, according to it.

Representative from NTA and Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) are involved to find out the revenue losses through GoIP and VoIP. “It is found that the Global Internet alone has made some Rs 200 million revenue loss through illegal call bypass,” an official involved in investigation said.

ISPs including Cherry International, GISPL, Net Plus, I Plus and GDN Nepal are suspected in revenue leakages through illicit call bypass and the department estimated that more than Rs 1 billion loss through VoIP and GoIP scam.
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PLANT TREES INSIDE MEMORY PARK FOR $250 IN LUMBINI BRTHPLACE OF THE BUDDHA

Kathmandu, 13 Nov.: People keen to plant saplings at the Lumbini area can do so. They can even tag the name of their ancestors or their organizations in the trees they plant, Thhee Rising Nepal reports from Bhairahawa.
But this comes with a price: a person willing to plant trees in the Memory Park inside the Lumbini must pay US$250 to the Lumbini Development Trust.
The campaign was initiated after the trust forwarded a new proposal to establish a Memory Park inside the Lumbini area. The money collected through tree plantation campaign will be invested for the further development of the historical site.
The idea of Memory Park is to make the park as beautiful as a garden described in the time of Buddha.
The campaign for the Memory Park, which will be executed as per the Lumbini Master Plan concept, would witness the plantation of green and shady trees that were available during the period of Lord Buddha’s life.
As per the concept of Lumbini Master Plan designed by Prof. Kenzo Tange, a famous Japanese architect, over 70 per cent of the land that falls under the area of the Plan should be green. The concept of the Memory Park was forwarded to make the Plan a success.
Member secretary of the trust, Rajendra Thapa Magar, said those who are interested in tree plantation have to select a plant that is available at the nursery prepared by the trust itself.
He said, "It might be a topic of pride for the tourists to plant a tree in their name at the birthplace of Buddha."
Likewise, the trust would take responsibility of the each plant and the concerned person would get yearly information about the tree along with the photographs and its growth description, said Magar.
He said following the launch of the trust’s campaign, some foreigners have already booked their name for planting saplings during coming June and July.
The Master Plan for Lumbini Development covers an area of three square miles which are divided into three zones- the Sacred Garden Zone, the Monastic Zone and the New Lumbini Village Zone, said Magar.
He further informed that the concept was forwarded to develop New Lumbini Village Zone in a Memory Park.
Magar said the Master Plan had named New Lumbini Village Zone to the area situated at the right side from the Lumbini-Taulihawa road-section that falls under the area of Lumbini Development Trust.
He said the area is covered with only old and decrepit trees. But these trees would be gradually replaced with new saplings as per the concept of Memory Park.
The trust further informed that it would make arrangement of additional employees for the protection and care of each tree that would be planted at the park.
World Wildlife Conservation Fund (WWF) would support the trust for the campaign, he said.

Member Secretary Magar said that this is

an innovative campaign. "There are high chances that once planting trees at the park, the tourist might re-visit the place in the interval of few years only to witness the tree planted in their name."
According to the trust, the campaign was initiated to speed up the development of the area from the income. Last year a total of 1, 8000 saplings were planted in the area, it added.
Likewise, the trust has a target to attract 1,000,000 tourists during the Lumbini Visit Year,
2012.
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UML LEADER BAMDEV GAUTAM SAYS AMNESTY MISTAKE
Kathamandu, 13 Nov.: CPN-UML Vice-chairman Bamdev Gautam Friday said the seven point agreement signed by the major political parties has paved the way for the formation of a national consensus government, The Rising Nepal reports from Dhandadi..
Gautam said that the major parties could agree to handover the leadership of new government to the Nepali Congress as the CPN-UML and UCPN-Maoist each has led the governments twice.
He also claimed that the government led by the Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has turned out to be a failure.
He also termed the four-point agreement reached between the UCPN-Maoists and the Madeshi Front as a mistake Gautam said that a national unity government based on broader consensus is crucial for making the future government successful in undertaking all the important tasks.
Speaking to journalists in Kailali, Gautam stressed on the need for effective implementation of the seven-point agreement.
Gautam underlined the need for a national consensus government comprising of all three major political parties including the Joint Madheshi Front.
Leader Gautam claimed the current government has the mandate to perform its task till November 30.
In another context, Gautam strongly opposed Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement (BIPPA) done with India during the Prime Minster’s visit to India
"At a time when we have failed to compensate well to the damages suffered by our own industrialists and business entrepreneurs, then how can we make compensation to the losses suffered by the Indian businessmen who make their investment in Nepal?" Gautam questioned.
Referring to the government decision to request the President for granting amnesty to Maoist lawmaker Bal Krishna Dhungel, he said that the government has had a right to exercise its power but it is now up to President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav to decide on the request, Gautam said.
He said that the decision to grant amnesty to Dhungel who has already been implicated by the Supreme Court, was a serious violation of laws of the nation.
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