15 DEAD IN BAITADI BUS ACCOIDENT

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15 KILLED IN BAITADI BUS ACCIDENT

Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: Rescue work resumed Sunday morning after
15 persons died overnight at 8.30 when a bus fell nearly 400 metrs off a road into a river at Baitari in the far-West.
Among the dead are four members of a family.
The bus was heading for Mahendranagar in Kanchanput from Daeldhura.
He bus owner was among the dead six of who are women.
One person died and two were injured in an ambulance addicent in neighboring Dhading district overnight.
Two motorcyclists, including a Bhutanese refugee,
were killed in a collision between two wheelers in
Jhapa overnight.
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TWO DEAD IN NEPALGUNJ CAR HIT

Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: Two persons died when a car hit them at Nepalgung overnight persons died after being hit by a car on Saturday night in Nepalgunj.

Binod Chettri,, 30, and Dipendra Khatik,, 42, were killed.
Khatik died while undergoing treatment.
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LAW MINISTER GUPTA OPPOSES NID BILL

Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: The government´s much hyped plan to introduce national identity cards has fallen into limbo as Law and Justice Minister Brijesh Kumar Gupta stood firmly against the proposed National Identity Card (NID),
Bimal Gautam writes Republica.

On January 17, 2011, the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led government had endorsed an initial draft of the NID bill which was floated to the cabinet by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA).

The government had prepared the bill with the aim of distributing national identity cards to eligible Nepali citizens. According to provisions incorporated in the bill, the government will distribute NID cards to Nepali citizens who are 16 years old or above. The NID card is expected to gradually replace the existing citizenship cards.

"How many cards does a single Nepali have to carry?" Minister Gupta asked, adding, "Is the national identity card a need of today for the nation?"

Minister Gupta admitted that he deliberately shelved the NID bill as he smelt a rat over the provisions involved. "There has been no adequate discussion on the proposed Act," he added, "It could be dragged into controversy, like the new voter list prepared by the Election Commission, if we give our nod to the draft bill in haste."

"Following the cabinet´s endorsement, the Home Ministry forwarded the bill to the Ministry of Law and Justice (MoLJ) for the latter´s consent before sending it to parliament," said Prahlad Pokharel, under secretary at MoHA, adding, "The process has been halted as MoLJ remained silence over the matter."

Minister Gupta questions the objective of the bill. "The motive behind the NID Act is still not clear," he remarked, "Why go for NID when we already have the citizenship card."

According to Gupta, the proposed NID Act is as unacceptable as the new voter list with voters´ photographs and biometrics.

Following the cabinet´s nod to the draft NID bill, the government had formally requested the Election Commission to collect personal details of those above 16 years or older while collecting details for the new voter registration process. The EC has already spent about Rs 2 billion in the process of compiling a new electoral roll for those 16 years old and above.

After the cabinet´s nod, the government had set up a National Identity Management Center (NIMC) to oversee activities concerning NID.

The NID card is to be developed digitally, with a photo and bio-metric data of the card holder. The card, which will gradually replace the traditional-format citizenship card, will be machine-readable, similar to ATM cards.

The government was all set to start introducing such cards after the completion of work on the new electoral roll.

“Data and other particulars collected for the electoral roll will be helpful for developing NID in the first phase", said Under Secretary Pokharel.

The documents for the electoral roll and NID are similar. Therefore, the government has decided to introduce the card in coordination with the ministries concerned and the Election Commission.

According to officials, there is no possibility of dual issuance of NID cards as the records will be stored in a single computer.
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CARPET INDUSTRY THINKING OVERTIME TO RETAIN CARPET MARKET
Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: Deepening financial crisis in Europe and soaring cost of production are all set to hit the carpet export in the coming years with a sharp fall in demand in recent months, Prabhakar Ghimere writes in Republica.

Responding to impending crisis in carpet export to Europe - a key market for Nepali hand-woven carpet - Nepali carpet producers are trying to find new ways to cut costs so as to restore the competitive strength of the major export item from the country.

As an effort to diversify the market, exporters have started to supply Nepali carpets to Brazil, Turkey, Japan, Gulf countries, among other emerging markets. Around 200 entrepreneurs are involved in carpet manufacturing and export.

"Producers and exporters should have been busy with taking orders and production during September to December for overseas exports in the upcoming year. But, we are upset with a fall in demand from Europe by over 30 percent," Bijay Bista, vice-president of Central Carpet Industries Association, told Republica on Saturday.

Bista said Nepal carpet entrepreneurs are eagerly waiting for the response from a trade fair focussed on carpet industry in Hanover, Germany, from January 15- 19. The response would be crucial in shaping the future of Nepali carpet export to Europe.

Bista said cost of production per square meter of carpet has shot up by Rs 1,200 to Rs 4,800 and Rs 8,000 depending on the quality over the year due to rise in wages, price of wool and cotton yarn. The cost of production has gone up by over 30 to 40 percent over the year.

"Over the year, price of wool and cotton yarn has skyrocketed to Rs 500 and Rs 165 from Rs 230 to Rs 105 per kg respectively. Minimum wages have also gone up by Rs 1,500 a month," said Bista.

Despite a double-digit growth in the carpet export in the first three months of the current fiscal year in terms of value, volume of export has shrunk sharply during the review period compared to last year´s figure.

Government data shows export price of carpet has gone up by 33 percent per square meter to Rs 7,220 during the first three months of the current fiscal year 2011/12 compared to the same period last year. However, the volume of export has dropped by around 5 percent to 238,936 square meters though the export in terms of value has grown by 27 percent during the period compared to the corresponding period last year.

Bista said increasing cost of production, which has of late become over 20 percent higher than that in India, a key competitor for Nepali carpet in the international market, has further weakened the Nepali export in the key markets of Europe and America.

In light of bleak prospects, carpet entrepreneurs are planning overtime to retain the market that is slipping out of its hands due to slowing market and increasing cost of production compared to the competitors.

"We are making a taskforce to bring down the cost of production of Nepali carpet by exerting pressure on the government to effectively implement the cash incentive scheme on exports as well as restore industrial peace," said Bista.

Traders have been complaining that the process to get export incentives is complicated and that the banks are ignoring the government request to provide concessional loans at 4 percent interest rate under the refinancing scheme.

"Besides, we are looking for new markets in addition to making efforts to retain traditional markets such as Europe and America to keep the industry afloat during this period of crisis," he added.
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