DEBATE ON MAOIST PARTY POLICY BEGINS AT CENTRAL COMMITTEE

DEBATE ON PARTY POLICY BEGINS IN MAOIST
CENTRAL COMMITTEE

Kathmandu, 28 Dec.: Debate on a nine-point proposal of Maoist First
Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya for a people’s revolution
challenging the 10-point political proposal report of Chairman
Prachanda for party unity, constitution drafting and completing
the delayed peace process begins in the party central committee Wednesday.
Baidya has charged the party establishment for surrender and taking the country on a rightist path.
He first vice-chairman identifies Indian expansionism as the main enemy.
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DUAL PRICING POLICY FOR DIESEL REMOVED
Kathmandu, 28 Dec.: Government will reduce diesel price to Rs 76 per
liter from Wednesday by removing a dual pricing policy for industry and the public.
Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC)board took a decision Tuesday after receiving a
Rs. 1.5 billion loan from government the same day pay debts.
NOC immediately paid a Rs.910 million import dues tots Indian
counterpart which had curtailed exports creating shortages on Nepal.
Long queues waited at petrol to get petrol and diesel.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“Maoist demeanour shows that they waged insurgency to amass massive
Property. The Maoist leadership is pocketing the salary allocated for PLA combatants. This shows their lust for money.,”

(Sujata Koirala, The Himalayan Times, 28 Dec.)
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NO MEETING BETWEEN GACHHHADAR AND CHINESE PM WEN
Kathmandu, 28 Deec.: Deputy Prime Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar was unable to meet Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing. Gachhadar is now in China for a five-day-visit, presumably to convey security assurances to the Chinese establishment for Wen’s possible visit to Nepal, The Himalayan Times reports.

Gachhadar, an invitee of the Chinese government, expressed his desire to pay a courtesy call on Wen, only to learn about the latter’s busy schedule. Sources attributed this to lack of coordination between Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs.

Nepali Embassy in Beijing downplayed the matter, saying it was never directed to arrange the meeting. “We were not told to arrange such a meeting,” said Narayan Dev Panta, Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy. “Had we been directed, we would have taken the initiative, though it’s not easy to meet such a high profile Chinese leader.” Panta even said the DPM’s visit was mainly focused on security issues.

Gachhadar had met Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, and ministers of public security and defence yesterday. In the meeting with Zhou, the DPM said that Nepal and the Nepali people were eagerly awaiting to welcome the Chinese Premier in the near future. On the prospects of the visit, Zhou had responded positively and said it was delayed due to China’s internal reasons.

The home minister also held talks withMinister for Public Security Meng Jianzhu and reviewed the works of the security apparatus in both countries’ and collaborative efforts to maintain security and stability in the border region .

Gachhadar also visited the Ministry of National Defence of China, where he met State Councillor and Minister of Defence Liang Guanglie.

DPM Gachhadar is scheduled to return home on Friday.
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EDUCATION MINISTRY REPORT RAPS SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Kathmandu, 28 Dec.: The High-Level Plus Two Monitoring Committee today submitted its report to the Central Fee Fixation Committee under the Department of
Education, The Himalayan Times reports.

The report states that most of the higher secondary schools in Kathmandu have been creating unnecessary administrative posts, causing financial burden on students.

Guardian Association of Nepal president Suprabhat Bhandari, a member of the monitoring panel, said, “The committee has found irregularities in Plus Two colleges across the country — teachers and staff are underpaid and they give little heed to infrastructure development”.

“Many colleges in Kathmandu district have created unnecessary positions.”

Bhandari went on to add that of the total Plus Two schools visited, seven did not have School Management Committee (SMC) while 13 schools had not renewed the tenure of SMCs.

The 11-member panel was formed under then director of the DoE, Dilli Ram Rimal, on July 10, to monitor fees, quality of education, facilities provided to students and teachers, infrastructure and managerial aspects in Plus Two schools.

He informed the CFFC today decided to implement recommendations of the sub-committee and form a 13-member technical panel under the coordination of the DoE director to find out indicators to determine fee ceiling of Plus Two schools.

The CFFC also decided to draw attention of all district education offices to publicise their fee ceiling by mid-January.

According to the sixth amendment to the Education Regulation-2010, district education offices across the country have to publish a notice with fee ceiling for different categories of schools o
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NTA TURNS TO MoF FOR ROYALTY RECOVERY FROM UTL

Kathmandu, 28 Dec.: In a clear case of incompetence, Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) is preparing to surrender itself to Ministry of Finance (MoF) and Inland Revenue Department to recover outstanding dues, which stand at around Rs 896 million, from United Telecom Limited (UTL), Republica reports.

NTA is the country´s telecom sector regulator and existing law authorizes it to collect due royalties from the telecom operators, monitor their operations and protect customers interest.

However, UTL, an Indian joint venture, has repeatedly ignored call to settle the outstanding royalty dues, even though the regulator threatened to scrap its license a year ago. NTA had formally written to UTL to clear royalty dues twice and also slapped penalty of Rs 500,000 for defying its directive.

“As it still continued to turn deaf ears to our threat, we are soon requesting MoF and IRD to recover royalty amounting Rs 896 million from UTL,” said a senior NTA official.

Actually, the NTA was planning to lodge such request on Tuesday itself, coinciding with the publication of final report on ´frequency issue´ by the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee. But it postponed the plan after a sub-committee under the PAC rescheduled the program until Wednesday morning.

Kailash Prasad Neupane, spokesperson of NTA, said they were fulfilling legal requirement to take action against UTL.

NTA had already sent a letter to UTL, warning that it might lose operating license if outstanding due is not cleared as per the commitment. Instead of clearing its dues, UTL, approached the Appellate Committee against NTA directive. The committee has already rejected UTL´s plea of waiver.

Officials of NTA said the scrapping of UTL´s operating license was delayed as the regulator has not finalized ways to recover the outstanding dues and alternatives for its subscribers. “We are working out better alternatives for UTL subscribers but have not decided anything so far,” the official added.

UTL on the other hand has been claiming compensation from NTA, stating that it suffered loss of Rs 4.44 billion because the regulator did not fulfill the terms and conditions mentioned in the license.

NTA officials said UTL has so far paid just Rs 160 million, which is equal to 4 percent of the total annual income. Going by its commitment, it should have paid well over Rs 1 billion.
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HOUSING, AUTO MARKET SLUMP INFLICTS HUGE REVENUE LOSS
Kathmandu, 28 Dec : Stagnation in housing and construction business along with nosediving sales of automobiles has cost the government dearly in revenue collection, Republica reports.

The government suffered a loss of well over a billion rupee over the first five months of 2011/12 solely due to drop in sales and import of private vehicles. If drop in import of chassis of bus and trucks and inflow of mini bus and mini trucks are to be included, the loss touches as much as Rs 2 billion.

Import of car, sports utility vehicles and van had generated revenue of Rs 4.29 billion in the first five months of last fiscal year, shows data of Ministry of Finance. “However, they contributed just Rs 3.08 billion in revenue over the first five months of 2011/12,” said Finance Secretary Krishna Hari Baskota.

Talking to journalists, Baskota said Nepal witnessed a sharp drop in import of cement, MS billet, sugar, betel nuts and electric conductors.

Despite such a huge drop in imports, the government managed to mobilize customs revenue well above the target set for the period.

Baskota attributed the growth to rise in duty, customs valuation and also increase in consumption of items like petroleum products, readymade garment, crude soybean, tobacco, telecommunication equipment and steel rod, among others.

Records show, the government mobilized revenue of Rs 2.70 billion from diesel, Rs 2.17 billion from petrol, Rs 1.14 billion from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), Rs 1.19 billion from garment trade and Rs 700 million from crude soybean oil.

“Thanks to growth in revenue contribution from these items, we managed to mobilize revenue of Rs 77.70 billion over the first five months of this fiscal year,” said Baskota. The figure is 19.4 percent higher than what the government mobilized in revenue in the same period last year.

Given that the government has set a target to mobilize 20 percent higher revenue than what it collected in the same period last year, officials said the collection recorded for the period is still short of the target.
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76 91c
INTERVIEW

'TIA FACILITIES SHOULD BE IMPROVED
Nava Raj Dahal is managing director of Nepal Environmental Treks & Expedition (P) Limited. The promising tourism entrepreneur is also the managing director of World Vision Travels & Tours (P) Limited and Hotel Buddha (P) Limited. Born in 1971 in Budhathum Village Development Committee (VDC) in Dhading district, Dahal has been with the tourism sector since 1990.
An MBA (Master of Business Administration) from the Tribhuvan University, he has already worked as the general secretary of the Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN). He is one of the founders of the National Tourism Federation of Nepal. He has also contributed as a member of the task force on Trekker’s Information Management System (TIMS) International Operational Guidelines formed by TAAN. Affiliated to the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-Maoist), he is serving in the Tourism Committee of the party.
The determined and hard working tourism entrepreneur spoke to Ballav Dahal of The Rising Nepal on a variety of current issues related to the Nepalese tourism industry. Excerpts:
How has been the year 2011 from the tourism point of view?
During the year, Nepal has seen an increased inflow of international tourists. The growth, however, was not due to any effort on the part of the government and other institutions. It was a natural growth. But we felt that the quality of tourists was deteriorated.
Nepal is undoubtedly a mountain tourism destination. Generally, adventure seekers and nature lovers stay longer in the country as compared to those interested in culture. Trekkers, mountaineers and other adventure lovers spend more money. They create additional jobs. As
As per my company’s records and the responses from fellow adventure tourism entrepreneurs, the country has welcomed less number of such tourists this year. However, more volunteers, diplomats and business delegates have visited the country. Thus, the number of tourists has grown.
What do you think could be the reasons for the not-so-encouraging situation of the tourism industry even during the Nepal Tourism Year 2011 (NTY 2011)?
In my opinion, Nepal’s confused political scenario has been one of the major factors behind it. Both international tour operators as well as potential visitors were not clear whether the peace process in Nepal would take a right track or lead to another round of conflict.
The second reason was the global economic crisis. Long staying and high spending tourists have not come to the country because of this.
As Nepal does not have direct air access to the main tourist generating countries and regions, we have failed to attract holiday makers from those parts of the world.
Apart from them, a large number of international tourists visit Nepal via India. The southern neighbour has now stopped issuing a multiple-entry visa to foreign visitors. Similarly, without giving any pre-information, China has been stopping tourists from entering into Tibet via Nepal. Such an unexpected closure creates confusions among tourists as well as tour operators.
Since the NTY 2011 was organized without making necessary preparations, the national tourism campaign has been ineffective. However, some destination activities concerning destination promotion were carried out abroad. But the tourism sector has failed to get any concrete results.
It is obvious that the condition of the only international airport—Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA)—has worsened. Visitors themselves have felt that the services and facilities at the TIA and the condition of roads in the Kathmandu Valley and other parts of the country are not good.
We also have failed to develop new destinations for trekkers and other adventure lovers. Because of the construction of roads in the world-famous Annapurna Region, trekking trails have been shortened, and we have yet to develop alternative routes.
How will be the situation of tourism business in the upcoming autumn?
We have yet to receive any inquiry from tour operators and customers, as they are now busy celebrating Christmas and New Year eve.
However, we are optimistic that there would be better business situation in the next season. At the initiatives of tourism entrepreneurs, Nepal was promoted abroad this year as well. The country’s politics also seems to be heading to a desired track. If the peace and the constitution drafting processes get completed soon, there will be permanent peace in the country. Once peace prevails, our tourism will grow faster than before.
Another remarkable progress is that the United States of America (USA) has lifted its adverse travel advisory and encouraged its citizens to visit Nepal. The American tourists stay here longer and spend much.
What is needed to be done for giving a boost the gradually thriving tourism industry in Nepal?
First of all, we should focus on enhancing the national carrier—Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC)—by brining in some aircraft. Without increasing air connectivity, we cannot achieve any remarkable growth in tourism.
We also need to take an urgent initiative to simplify visa and other immigration-related procedures in order to facilitate visitors. I think, the government must review its visa fee structure and improve land transportation system. Besides, tourism promotion and marketing activities should also be intensified.
The Government of Nepal must take the initiative to establish better tourism relations with India and China for addressing all the problems and constraints. Establishing relations at the industry level alone is not sufficient.
Despite the current global economic crisis, Nepal could be a much preferred destination among the visitors from diverse parts of the world because the country is still cheaper as compared to other destinations both at the regional and global levels. If we manage everything in a more efficient way, we can further reduce costs.
Illegal operations in the tourism sector are still rampant in Nepal even after the implementation of TIMS.
The task force on TIMS Internal Operational Guidelines has forwarded some vital suggestions to TAAN in order to check the unauthorized practices. The association will hold discussions with the concerned stakeholders such as the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation and the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) for making TIMS more effective.
We have suggested that the amount of TIMS fees being raised from trekking companies should be reviewed. We also have focused on monitoring and controlling illegal operations.
Moreover, we have stressed the need for utilizing the funds being generated from TIMS fees for carrying out rescue operations, workers’ welfare, training, infrastructure development and destination promotion.
How have you evaluated the government’s tourism related policies?
Many tourism entrepreneurs are still unaware of the existing policies. Some of them are irrelevant and outdated. There are about 40 associations and institutions related to tourism in the country. The government needs to organize extensive discussions with such associations and concerned specialists in order to formulate a more comprehensive and appropriate national tourism mast plan. There should be unity among all the tourism entrepreneurs.
The government must come forward to control unhealthy practices seen in the tourism sector. Efforts should be made for developing new destinations and opening more mountains. Due attention should be paid towards protection and promotion of heritage sites. Tourism should be taken to all the villages.
As tourism is a multi-dimensional sector, it directly or indirectly supports the development of agriculture, hydropower and infrastructure. It can be an effective tool to reduce poverty.
Keeping in view its overall contribution to the national economy, the government must recognize the tourism as a national industry.
Finally, I would like to request the government and all the political parties be serious about completing the peace process.
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