NC GES ON RAMPAGE

NC GOES ON RAMPAGE

Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: NC activists of Tarun Dal and Nepal Students’
Union went on a rampage closed down Chitwan Sunday attacking government and other buildings in the south central district.
In the capital, party activists obstructed movement of vehicles burning rubber tires on street intersections.
The main opposition wasn’t satisfied with an emergency cabinet meeting
overnight with a judicial probe to be headed by retired supreme court
justice Mohan Shitaula.
The cabinet also announced a R 1 million compensation for a youth leader killed during medical treatment in the capital Saturday .
A party central committee meeting Sunday headed by President
Sushil Koirala said government hadn’t declared Shiba Prasad Paudel a martyr as demanded and a murder charge against hi hadn’t been withdrawn as well.
The party activists Saturday vandalized more than a dozen vehicles
during protests nationwide protests by party sister wings
Bharatpur airport inChitwan was also attacked Saturday.
Demands were made for the resignation of the hoe minister.
Paudel died in the capital while undergoing treatment for head
injuries sustained in an attack at Chitwan district early December.
Paudel was being held for suspected involvement on the murder of
UML Chitwan youth leader.
The brother of Shiba was also killed earlier in an extended gang was involving NC and UML.
NC demanded judicial inquiry into prison conditions.
NC top leadership was to meet Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai to
take up demands.
Party protests are continuing Sunday with main opposition dissatisfaction with government concessions.
NC scheduled parliamentary party meet to discuss state restructure was postponed until Tuesday.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador Scott H. DeLisi expressed dissatisfaction with the NC violence
“The US recently lifted the travel warning for American citizens hoping to visit Nepal and we are actively seeking to bring American investors
here\.
"This type of political violence puts our efforts at risk and threatens to recreate the atmosphere that led to the travel warning in the first place, the ambassador said in his Facebook page.
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INCOME FROM SEIZED LAND FEEDING MAOISTS
Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: UCPN (Maoist) activists have been using produce from the land they captured from individuals in Kailali district for personal requirements, Ganesh Chadhary writes in The Kathmandu Post from Kailali.
Though the captured land is occupied by landless people, martyrs’ families and the poor, a large portion of the produce is taken away by local Maoist cadres to cover their personal expenses.
Mahesh Baduwal, Area No 1 in-charge of the Maoists in the district, said each village-level cadre has a motorcycle and they need money to pay fuel, telephone and other bills. “These costs are met through income from the captured land and donation,” he said.
Each full-time cadre spends about Rs 5,000 per month. This totals Rs 2.5 million per month for some 500 full-time members of the party in the district.
Khusiram Tharu of Baliya, who has been tilling captured land, said Maoist cadres take 12 quintals of rice and four quintals of wheat from each bigha of land every year. “For us, it is like only our landlords have changed,” he said. Baliya VDC Secretary Dhruba Sanjyal said Maoist cadres were taking income as donation from the tenant farmers “to run the party”.
Maoist district Secretary Hari Chaudhary admitted to taking produce from plots of captured land. “Even the district party office has no record of how much money party cadres are taking from the captured land,” he said.
Chaudhari said non-Maoists are also taking benefits in the guise of Maoists in some cases. “The captured land has gone out of the Maoist control. Such plots should be vacated after managing alternatives for the landless tilling the land,” he said.
According to Hari Gyawali, district in-charge of the Maoists, the party collects around Rs 10 million from nearly 700 bighas of the captured land each harvest season.
Owners forced to sell land
Maoist cadres in the district have also started buying captured plots, forcing the landlords to sell their property at rates lower than the market price.
Ganesh Malla, a landlord living in a rented apartment in Dhangadhi after being displaced during the insurgency, said he sold one and a half bighas of land at a relatively lower rate and bought a house with the money.
Baduwal, who is close to the faction led by Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya, said around half of the seized land has been sold off in the district. “People, individually or in groups, are involved in the trade,” he said. District in-charge Gyawali, however, said some people were involved in the business taking advantage of their link with the party.
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US AGENCY SELECTS NEPAL AS ELIGIBLE AID RECIPIENT

Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: Nepal has been selected as eligible for the threshold programme of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a US foreign aid agency established to help fight against global poverty, Sanjay Neupane writes in The Kathmandu Post from Washington DC..
An MCC board meeting chaired by US Foreign Secretary Hillary Clinton on Thursday selected Nepal as an eligible recipient of MCC assistance. The MCC’s decision has paved the way for Nepal to get assistance for large infrastructure projects from the world’s largest economy. Around three dozen countries are associated with MCC that has an annual budget of $9 billion.
MCC Vice President Sheila Herrling informed Nepali Ambassador to the US Shankar Sharma about the decision. “It’s a big achievement for Nepal,” said Sharma. “MCC is other than the usual US assistance programmes. It provides aid to poor countries for road, education, health and irrigation, among others.”
The inclusion of Nepal under MCC is seen an indicator that the progress in peace process could bring in more international assistance. An MCC press statement also states, “Nepal performs well on the policy indicators on MCC’s scorecard, and with recent landmark agreements on the Comprehensive Peace Accord in place, MCC looks forward to establishing a threshold partnership with Nepal.”
Qualifying for the MCC assistance is a competitive process in which a country’s performance on 17 various policy indicators is carefully assessed. Following the assessment, the MCC board selects eligible countries for the assistance after the US Congress’ approval. The MCC board comprises of high-level US officials, including Treasury Secretary Timothy F Geithner, US Trade Representative Ron Krik, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah and US Global Leadership Coalition Senior Director Mark Green.
Under the MMC threshold programme, assistance will be given for targeted policy and institutional reforms. The grants complement other US and international development programmes.
There are two primary types of MCC grants—compact and threshold. Compacts are large five-year grants for countries that qualify MCC’s eligibility criteria, where as threshold programmes are smaller grants awarded to countries that come close to passing these criteria and are firmly committed to improving their policy performance.
MCC is yet to announce how much Nepal would get under the threshold programme. But a senior official at the Ministry of Finance in Kathmandu says it could be in the range of $100 million to $250 million.
Nepal can get into the compact programme if it performs well under the threshold programme. Countries qualifying for MCC compact programmes will get assistance for the infrastructure sector such as roads, irrigation and social sector such as health and education. Countries like Indonesia, Philippines, Armenia, Burkina Faso and Honduras are recipients of MCC assistance under the compact programme.
Nepal’s entry into MCC assistance list illustrates that US’ Nepal assistance policy is getting generous. Both the countries (Nepal and US) signed Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) in April 2011. The agreement has provided institutional framework for bilateral talks to enhance trade and investment, discuss trade issues and promote more comprehensive trade agreement between the two countries. Similarly, the US Congress recently launched the bipartisan Congressional caucus on Nepal, the first ever caucus—a discussion group—formed on Nepal in the US Congress.
Ambika Adhikari, professor at Arizona State University, termed the inclusion of Nepal under the MCC list ‘a positive development’. “With Nepal all set to enter a new phase from transition, it needs technical assistance,” said Adhikari. “Nepal will be benefited more, as the MCC assistance other than the USAID assistance.”
The US Embassy in Kathmandu has welcomed the MCC’s decision, saying it recognised the progress Nepal has made in advancing peace and prosperity for its people. “We look forward to the Government of Nepal’s leadership in working with MCC and the Embassy in designing a threshold programme that will continue to advance the government’s efforts to create a democratic state focused on meeting the needs of the citizens of Nepal,” read the embassy’s statement.
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