DEVOTEES COMMEMORATE DEAD FAMILY MEMBERS

DEVOTEES OFFER CEREAL SEEDS FOR THE DEAD

Kathmandu, 24 Nov. Seeds of seven cereals were offered at Kailash chaur around Pashupatith temple and around Gujeshwari temple Thursday morning by thousands of devotees to remember dead family members on Bal Chaturdashi.
Devotees overnight lit lamps around the temple complex.
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AMBAR GURUNG HONOURED

Kathmandu, 24 Nov.: This year’s Narayan Gopal Memorial Award has gone to singer Ambar Gurung.
Gurung is Vice-chancellor of Sangeet Natya Pathisthan.
The award carries a Rs.25,000 purse.
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STAMPS TO COMMEMORATE FOUR PERSONALTIES

Kathmandu 24 Nov. Stamps of Rs,10 denomination were issued by Postal Service Department Wednesday to remember four personalities.
Motidevi Shrestha, Ek Dev Ale are politicians, Shanker Lamichani a writer and Yagaraj Sharma Aryal is a musician..
DISQUALIFIED FIGHTERS RESENT GOOD PACKAGES FOR FORMER COLLEAGUES
Kathmandu, 24 Nov.: With their comrades getting generous offers to secure their future, many combatants discharged in 2010 as ‘disqualified’ now feel they have been given a raw deal, John Narayan Parajuli writes in The Kathmandu Post from Nepalgunj.
Some have accepted their fate and moved on, while some others are going back to their former commanders to pile pressure on them for a generous package.
As news of the packages being offered to the 19,500 in cantonments spread, many enrolled in the UN’s rehabilitation programme went back to cantonments to discuss their case with their commanders—bunking their courses for a few days. Most of them have now returned to their training.
“I have spoken with my commander about a better package for us too,” a combatant enrolled in the UN”s rehabilitation programme said. He requested anonymity for fear of upsetting his commander. “I don’t think they will do anything for us.”
Though the UN had wanted those discharged as ‘disqualified’ to sever their links with PLA commanders because a majority of them were minors at the time of ceasefire, these ex-combatants still seem to maintain a strong link with their former superiors and comrades.
“I can’t go back to my village because of the things I have done during the conflict,” said Lok Bahadur (named changed on request), 21. “This is the reward we got for dedicating our life to the party.”
Despite frustration and resentment aimed at the party top-brass, many of them don’t want to distance themselves from the party. Of the 4,008 discharged as disqualified, 2,973 were minors. Many of them joined the party when they were in the sixth grade.
Under pressure from other parties and the UN, the Maoists discharged those considered either as minors or ‘late-recruits’ in January 2010. They were offered a rehabilitation package worth up to Rs 150,000. At that time there was deep polarisation among parties—and that non-Maoist parties and the government had told the UN that the package need not be generous, say UN officials.
Among the 4,008, as many as 2,600 had contacted the UN for rehabilitation, out of which, 2,200 had officially enrolled in the programme. A total of 1,095 were not present in cantonenments during the time of discharge. The UN says that so far 900 have graduated from their vocational training and 60 percent of them have found jobs.
On Wednesday, Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon Magnus and UNDP Administrator Helen Clark visited the Bheri Technical School and interacted with the former combatants. Both of them said they were very impressed by the training and the success rate.
“This is an example of a great work being done in Nepal. This is building a foundation of a peaceful and prosperous Nepal,” Crown Prince Haakon told the media. “I will share the stories and experience with my fellow Norwegians,” he said.
Clark said she was equally encouraged by the work being done.
“What we have learned from this project can be applied in other countries too,” she said.
The former combatants said they were happy to meet the prince and the UNDP chief and were hopeful that this high-level visit will bring in more assistance to secure their future.
“The prince has taken so much trouble to come all the way here to meet us,” said Jeet Bahadur Choudary, an ex-combatant, currently enrolled in a motorcycle repairing course. “I am sure they will do something to help us set up shops once we graduate from this institute
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BANKS RUSH TO NRB AS FINANCIAL COMPANY DEFAULTS
Kathmandu, 24 Nov.: Bankers have asked Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to intervene after Nepal Share Market and Finance (NSMF) defaulted on interest payments for the loans they had provided under inter-bank lending, Bibek Sbedi writes in The Kathmandu Post.
A meeting of the Nepal Bankers Association (NBA) on Tuesday decided to send a formal letter to the central bank seeking its support for collecting interest which has remained unpaid since June.
Around a dozen commercial banks had provided loans of about Rs 800 million to NSMF which sank after its former executive chairman Yogendra Prasad Shrestha misappropriated about Rs 2.6 billion of the company’s money.
The meeting also decided to ask NRB to treat inter-bank lending like regular individual deposits. As per the NRB Act, individual depositors get first priority in getting back their money when a financial institution goes bankrupt.
“We are not satisfied with the priority list fixed by NRB, and have requested it to direct NSMF to pay the money it owes us,” said Bijay Pant, chief executive officer (CEO) of Janta Bank Nepal which had loaned it Rs 180 million. “Banks don’t have their own money to lend, so ultimately it is the depositors’ money.”
Bankers say this is the first time that such a huge inter-bank loan has gone bad. “If this not sorted out soon, banks and financial institutions will lose confidence in each other,” said Pant. All the banks which had provided loans to NSMF had written to NRB and NSMF a few months ago expressing interest to buy its good loans. But they are yet to get approval from the central bank. The meeting also decided to ask NRB once again to allow them to buy such loans.
“We are looking forward to getting a positive decision from the central bank,” said Anil Shah, CEO of Mega Bank which had lent Rs 50 million. “If we fail to recover our loan by the end of the second quarter of this fiscal year, we have to provision 25 percent of the sum.”
According to bankers, bank profits which have already been squeezed in the first quarter will go down further if they have to provision such a huge amount.
NRB has said that small depositors will get first priority while getting repayment from troubled financial institutions. NRB Spokesperson Bhasker Mani Gnawali said that the central bank was aware about the need to help BFIs with money stuck in NSMF. “Definitely, we are working on a plan and will make it public soon,” added Gnawali.
NSMF CEO Nandan Hari Sharma said they would start repaying the banks after they finish returning the depositors’ money amounting to Rs 2.18 billion.
“Loan recovery is progressing on a war footing, and till date we have recovered and repaid about Rs 1.2 billion,” said Sharma.
The NSMF management said they would recover Rs 370 million from former executive chairman Shrestha within two weeks. According to Sharma, they will get back another Rs 1 billion by selling his shares in Himal Hydro and Star Mall which is owned by Shrestha and his family.
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