UML STANDNG MEET POSTPONED

UML STANDING COMMITTEE MEET POSTPONED

Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: A scheduled opposition standing committee
meet was postponed Sunday.
The party was to discuss intra-party dispute and efforts to resolve them.
The party said senior leader KP Sharma Oli was going to New Delhi for medical check-up citing one of the reasons for the postponement.
But top leaders met informally at a hotel Sunday morning to discuss differences before the postponement..
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YOUTH FREED FROM ABDUCTORS
Kathmandu, 18 Dec.:Krishna Kumar Mahato alias Deepak of Bardibas-5, Mahottari District has been freed on Friday, ten days after his abduction, RSS reports from Bardibas..

The 21-year-old Mahato was lifted by unidentified people from near his house in the evening ten days back. He arrived home on Saturday after his release in Madhubani in Bihar State of India.

Mahato is in good health condition, according to physicians who examined his health on arrival home.

Police suspect that the abductors might have released Mahato after taking ransom from Mahato’s family in secret. However, Mahato’s father, Junulal did not wish to say anything about his son’s release.

Police said they are searching for Mahato’s abductors.
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DALIT LEADER DIES OF COLD
Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: Leader of the Dalit liberation struggle Uttim Sardar died of hypothermia on Sunday morning. He is also the local leader of the CPN-UML, RSS reports from Bardibas.

The 70-year-old Sardar died of excessive cold at his house at Hari Namari VDC-9 in the wee hours this morning, according to the CPN-UML Mahottari District chapter.

With Sardar’s death, the number of people dying due to cold in Mahottari has reached two. Earlier, 65-year-old Aghanu Mandal of Sandha VDC had also died of cold on December 13.

Meanwhile in Parsa District, one person died due to cold as the country reels under a cold wave. She is 55-year-old Khediya Devi Kanu of Pokhariya-5 in the district. She died on Saturday night.

Similarly, the death toll due to hypothermia so far in Saptari District has reached five including two children.

The latest victim to the cold wave is 55-year-old Devaki Devi Saha of Kachan VDC-5 who died on Saturday.

Earlier, a 20 days old baby-girl Rupa Kumari Mandal and one-year-old girl Samjhana Chaudhari had died of cold few days back.
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NOC WANTS MORE FUEL DEPOTS
Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: Nepal Oil Corporation is mulling to add three depots of Aviation Turbine Fuel ((ATF) in its storage facilities. “The corporation is preparing to set up ATF depots, The Himalayan Times reports

in Jhapa, Simara and Ramechhap,” acting managing director Suresh Kumar Agrawal said.

The corporation has already purchased the land to construct ATF depots at Bhadrapur, Jhapa, he said, adding that it has

approached to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal for land to construct ATF depot since the corporation has not its own land in Simara.

However, the corporation is carrying out survey to construct ATF depot in Manthali of Ramechhap district, according to Agrawal.

“The corporation started to initiate the ATF depot construction process in Manthali because the chance of developing Manthali as a hub for mountain flight and flight for Mt Everest base camp.” The corporation has not estimated the actual budget for constructing Aviation Turbine Fuel depots, Agrawal added. Each depot will have the capacity of storing some 50 kiloliters (kl) capacity.

Currently, the corporation has seven Aviation Turbine Fuel storage facilities. It has a 7,710-Kilolitre storage facility in its Tribhuvan International Ariport based depot. Similarly, it has ATF depot with 280 kl storage capacity in Biratnagar and Nepalgunj.

It has constructed depots to supply ATF in Bhairahawa, Pokhara, Surkhet and Dhangadi as well. Bhairahawa, Pokhara, Surkhet and Dhangadi based depots have storage capacity of 60 kl, 64 kl, 60 kl and 45 kl respectively.

NOC has storage capacity of 71,558 kiloliters of ATF at present. The current storage facility is hardly enough for 15 days national sales, according to the corporation. Its Amlekhgunj depot is the largest storage facility with the capacity of 23,640 kl.
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ORIENTATION FOR MIGRANTS INEFFECTIVE

Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: Pre-departure orientation provided to Nepali migrant workers is ineffective to educate migrants about host country, language and culture. Lecture method of orientation is monotonous and lack specific information, a study of Women’s Rehabilitation Centre, a non-governmental organisation said, The Himalayan Times reports.

About 49 orientation institutes are providing orientation to migrant workers before their departure to foreign countries to join new jobs. Foreign Employment Promotion Board has developed manual for orientation. “The orientation model lacks participation of migrant workers,” it said adding that most of orientation centres are doing business of issuing orientation certificates– a mandatory provision of Foreign Employment Act 2007.

According to the report, the government lacks proper mechanism to regularize or monitor orientation institutions. “Monitoring and evaluation system is ineffective and needs to complete revival,” it said.

The study has suggested the government to empower and equip Department of Foreign Employment for better orientation. If the orientation institutions have to report orientation details time-to-time to the department, it will increase effectiveness of orientation, it said.

More than 300,000 Nepalis are joining foreign jobs every year but only 40 per cent are getting pre-departure orientation. Remaining are either buying certificates directly or through their agents.
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GLOBAL TRADE PLAYERS URGED TO BE FLEXIBLE

Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: Minister for Commerce and Supplies Lekh Raj Bhatta highlighted Nepal’s concern about the much "prolonged impasse in the Doha Development Round". Addressing the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation here, he urged the major players to come up with "leadership and flexibilities" in the process of expediting and facilitating multilateral process, Raj Kumar KC reports in The Rising Nepal from Geneva..
He asserted that the leading nations should work through a multilateral process for a balanced, ambitious and specific outcome with clarity and precision on its development contents.
Trade expansion needs a network of infrastructures and supply capacities. Aid for trade is the focus to develop the necessary infrastructures, institutions and technical capacity to harness the benefits from trade. Aid for trade should be additional, targeted, predictable and sustainable and in the form of grants, he said adding "hence we call for immediate operationalization of cardinal principles of the Special and Differential treatment provisions made in the WTO agreements."
No country can be left behind in this globalized and interconnected world. In this globalized and LDCs issues provide life and substance to the process we are involved in. For any forward movement in Doha Development Agenda (DDA), Nepal calls for the immediate implementation of the early harvest provisions, inclusive of the Duty Free and Quota Free (DFQF) market access for all products from all the LDCs with simplified rules of origin, cotton issues and LDCs service waiver, he said.
Minister Bhatta urged for immediate improvement and operationalization of the 2002 WTO accession guidelines and technical assistance to expedite the accession process for LDCs. While addressing the conference he said that a fair, inclusive and transparent multilateral trading system is a global public good. Thus "we reaffirm Nepal’s strong political commitment to a rule-based and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system. Attempts to look for any alternative to multilateralism would be an inferior choice.
Eighth WTO Ministerial Conference
He further said that the conference was taking place at a crucial time when the countries across the world are hit hard with rolling global economic crisis including food crisis, energy crisis and climate
change



Nepal is in the midst of historic political transformation. Low growth, high unemployment, pervasive poverty and widespread deprivation are politically, economically and socially unacceptable. Our priority is social and economic transformation within a democratic framework. We consider trade as an instrument in the transformation process, he said.
Highlighting the global issues he said people’s uprisings across different continents are sending message that denial of dignity cannot continue and equal and fair opportunities must be guaranteed. Whence we need to examine and analyze the ground realities from all perspective and ensure that the legitimate aspirations of the people are at the center and benefits from global trade system are fair, equitable and accessible to the bottom billion.
He further said "Nepal welcomes the Russian Federation, Vanuatu, Samoa and Montenegro as the new members of the Organisation. We hope the Organisation would move ahead towards more inclusiveness and universality in the days ahead.
"I fully endorse the statements made by the trade ministers of Bangladesh and Paraguay on behalf of the LDCs and LLDcs groups respectively."
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EQUAL COMPENSATION DEMANDED





Kathmandu, 18 Dec. : The people living in the areas from where the much-awaited Fast Track passes through have demanded for equal amounts as compensation for both of personal and public lands, The Rising Nepalreports from Hetauda.
A group of the locals of Chhatiwan, Gadhi, Thingan Dhiyal areas of the Makawanpur district have sought the same rate of compensations for the private and public lands.
"Many of us will become landless and homeless due to the construction of the Fast Track. So, the government must pay due attention to our situation," said Laxman Thing, a resident of Mamdamar village.
Thing said, "There should not be any discrimination between the private land and the public land while distributing compensations to us."
The affected people have formed a pressure group under the coordination of local resident Lok Nath Gautam in order to pressurize the concerned authorities to provide them with equal amounts of compensation.
Earlier, the Makawanpur district administration office, at the recommendation of the local political parties, had decided to give Rs. 10,000-Rs. 80,000 as a compensation per kattha of land.
The locals had demanded that the compensation amounts be increased by 10-25 per cent.
The district administration office has already released Rs. 390 million for providing compensations for the use of the land.
The government will have to distribute compensations for about 1409 katthas of private. The locals also have claimed compensations for 1950 katthas of public land, as they have been using it.
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