INTEGRATION PACKAGE TO BE FINALIZED AFTER PM RETURNS FROM MALDIVES

UPDATE SPECIAL COMMITTEE MEET

Kathmandu, 8 Nov.: A special committee for the integration, resettlement and supervision of Maoist former fighters will endorse a package for the integration of former combatants after Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai returns from Maldives.
The package prepared by the committee secretariat was presented at the committee meeting Tuesday morning before the government chief’s departure for Maldives.
A decision couldn’t be reached Tuesday because the premier was flying for Maldives and several committee members from parties hadn’t returned home from abroad, Maoist committee member Barsha Man Pun said.
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RESCUE OF STRANDED TOURISTS CONTINUES STUESDAY WITH WEATHER HOLDING

Kathmandu, 8 Nov. With the break in weather holding, rescue of turists stranded in the Mount Everest region resumed Tuesday morning.
Altogether 997 tourists were plucked out of the popular trekking destination when they were stranded for seven days following inclement weather as flights couldn’t operate to the region.
Operation to airlift the remaining tourists should be completed
Tuesday if weather holds, rescue teams and officials in the capital and Lukla airport in the Everest region said.


TRADERS CLOSE DOWN SHOPS IN INARUWA

Kathmandu, 8 Nov.” Traders closed down the market in Inaruwa, SUnsari, Tuesday.
They were protesting what they called excesses of police
against a trader in the eastern district.
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QATAR TOP HIRER OF NEPALI WORKERS
Kathmandu, 8 Nov.: Qatar has emerged as the top hirer of Nepali migrant workers as it intensifies infrastructure development for the 2022 Soccer World Cup, The Kathmandu Post reports.

According to the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE), hiring by Qatar jumped 125 percent in the first quarter. A total of 36,385 workers left for Qatar during the first three months of 2011-12 against 16,136 in the same period last year.
Government officials and foreign employment agencies have attributed the surge in worker departures to Qatar to increased hiring in the construction sector and a decline in the fees to be paid by job seekers.
“Qatar has become the largest labour market with demand for construction workers including security guards and secretarial workers going up with a focus on infrastructure development targeting the 2022 FIFA World Cup,” said Som Lal Bataju, president of the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA).
According to Bataju, the maximum pre-departure costs for Qatar have also dropped from Rs 70,000 per person last year to Rs 35,000. Most of the Qatari firms hiring Nepali workers are providing free visa, free air ticket and a good salary compared to other countries. The Ministry of Labour and Transport Management has directed recruiting agencies not to send workers for a monthly salary of less than US$ 125 and also set the maximum costs to be born by workers at Rs 70,000 for Gulf countries.
The NAFEA said that demand from Qatar would increase further in the days to come as it would need more workers for mega infrastructure projects like stadiums, railway networks, hotels and road construction.
The hiring trend shows that Qatar had started to absorb more workers since February 2011, especially in the construction sector which is known as dirty, difficult and dangerous.
]According to an International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) report, Qatar will need up to 1 million additional workers to build 12 stadiums, 70,000 new hotel rooms and road and railway links planned for the Soccer World Cup. The country is expected to see a huge growth in the migrant population during the run-up to the football extravaganza with infrastructure investments expected to top US$ 100 billion.
Of the total number of workers leaving for Qatar, 7,485 left through foreign employment agencies and 28,900 through personal links. The number of workers leaving for Qatar through personal links includes those returning to work after finishing their vacation in Nepal.
With Qatar becoming the largest labour destination for Nepali workers, Malaysia has been pushed down to second place. According to the DoFE, Malaysia took in 23,503 Nepali workers in Q1, down 29.29 percent.
Except for Malaysia, hiring by major countries has gone up significantly in the review period. Saudi Arabia took in 22,393 workers, up 47.81 percent from 15,149 in the same period last year.
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SPECIAL COMMITTEE PROPOSES SCHEMES FOR INTEGRATION
Kathmandu, 8 Nov.: The Special Committee Secretariat has proposed a rehabilitation package that offers schemes, including formal education, self and foreign employment and entrepreneurship development trainings, for former Maoist combatants, Phanindra Dahal writes in The Kathmandu Post.
The 10-point package to be presented in a Special Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning includes schemes worth Rs 600,000 to Rs 900,000 and pledges financial support for combatants in two to four installments.
Combatants will get cash support that remains after reducing the expenditures spent on the schemes they choose before the beginning and after the end of the rehabilitation programme.
The proposal relies on funds from donors via the Nepal Peace Trust Fund for the rehabilitation programme and suggests the government provide the remaining cash support to individual combatants through banks. It includes packages ranging from six months to four years and recommends the government to offer the highest amount pledged under the voluntary retirement schemes and rehabilitation package to the physically handicapped, pregnant and lactating female combatants, Secretariat member and PLA Spokesperson Chandra Prakash Khanal 'Baldev' said.
If the proposal is endorsed by the prime minister-led Special Committee as it is, combatants belonging to this group will receive Rs 800,000 under the voluntary retirement scheme and package worth Rs 900,000 under the rehabilitation programme. Handicapped combatants will be categorised on the basis of the degree of their disability and will also be offered technical trainings that include computer operation, accounting and office management.
Under formal education, combatants chooding the rehabilitation option will be entitled to various courses worth Rs 600,000 to 800,000 ranging from 18 months to three years. It offers three-year health assistant and bachelors in pharmacy courses, two-year and three-year nursing courses and a lab technician course. They will get 50 percent of the money that remains after meeting the cost of the package at the beginning and another 50 percent at the end of the rehabilitation programme.
Combatants who meet the required education qualifications can also choose technical education, including sub-overseer courses, Junior Technical Assistant (JTA) and land surveyor training, bachelors in engineering, and up to masters' level study in hotel management, information technology and forestry.
Combatants will also be offered a two to four-year package that includes 10+2, bachelors and masters degree education in commerce, humanities, science and education facilities. Combatants will get financial support in four installments (25 percent of the remaining amount each year) under this package that ranges from two to four years and costs between Rs 700, 000 to Rs 900,000.
Combatants will also be offered educational capacity building programmes and opportunity to undertake formal education under private initiative. The six-month to three-year course will constitute a package worth Rs 600,000 to 800,000 and combatants will be provided 50 percent of the remaining amount at the beginning.
The package also prescribes skill development and employment generation trainings including scaffolding, electrical and mechanical trainings, plumbing, carpentry, tailoring, mobile repairing, computer operation, driving, mountaineering, rafting, masonry, waiter and cook, beautician and handicraft courses. The duration of these courses range from six months to one year.
Other offers include opportunities in the agriculture sector, micro entrepreneurship development and foreign employment packages. The agriculture package will encourage combatants to get trainings on growing fruit and cash crops, vegetables, coffee and tea plantation, floriculture, animal husbandry, herbs and organic farming. Combatants will be given the package costing between Rs 600,000 and Rs 900,000 in two installments before and after the completion of a six-month training.
The package also urges the combatants to lead micro enterprises, including fruit industries, industries for storing food grains, industries on spare parts and handicraft. Under this scheme that lasts from six months to two years, combatants will be entitled to a package worth Rs 600,000 to Rs 700,000 and the amount remaining after deducting the training cost will be paid in two installments.
The secretariat has also prepared language and skill development trainings for combatants opting for foreign employment and has allocated a package worth Rs 600,000 to Rs 900,000 for the programme. The government will bear the cost of processing for foreign employment and the unspent amount will be given to combatants in installments under the programme that will last from six months to a year.
The proposal for the rehabilitation package was prepared by the 12-member secretariat of the Special Committee during a meeting held at Godabari Village Resort on Saturday. During its preparations, Maoist representatives said only packages as short as six months can attract combatants. They also said a majority of the combatants would opt for voluntary retirement if there was a 'tiresome' rehabilitation programme.
The proposal has been emailed to Nepali Congress leaders Ram Sharan Mahat and Minendra Rijal, who are members of the Special Committee, an official at the Prime Minister's Office said. Five members of the committee, including Mahat and Rijal, are out of station. “The rehabilitation plan will be endorsed tomorrow morning if the committee members respond positively,” the official said on Monday.
Monitoring mechanism stressed
The Special Committee Secretariat has stressed on the need to form a mechanism to monitor the integration of former Maoist combatants in the Nepal Army and to monitor the implementation of the rehabilitation package. In a report prepared on Sunday, the experts' panel said the mechanism would be useful in resolving disputes that may arise while implementing the integration and rehabilitation plan. The panel has also asked the Special Committee to furnish information on allocation of voluntary retirement package to be offered to the combatants. The seven-point deal says that combatants opting for the voluntary retirement scheme would be provided a cash package worth Rs 600,000 to Rs 900,000 based on their ranks, but does not mention how much combatants of various ranks would get.
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