10 MILLION ELIGBLE VOTERS

Kathmandu, 2 Jan.:: The Election Commission (EC) has completed registration of voters with photographs and biometrics in 73 districts and has planned to complete the ongoing phase of registering the voters within a month, Gani Ansari reports in Repblica..

The EC completed registration of altogether 9,958,132 voters last Thursday, said EC Spokesperson Sharada Prasad Trital.

While the registration is under way in Kapilvastu district, the EC is making preparations to begin voter registration in Banke from this week. The constitutional body has already prepared the electoral rolls in 46 of the 77 VDCs in Kapilvastu district.

“We are likely to begin voter registration in Banke, as the last district, from January 5,” Trital said.

According to him, Kathmandu has the largest number of 5, 75000 voters against 2271 -- the lowest -- in Manang.

Similarly, Morang has second largest number of 4, 21000 voters while Mustang has the second lowest with 5,526 voters.

The EC expects to register 10.5 million voters through the ongoing door-to-door voter registration program. According to EC, 17.6 million voters were registered for the Constituent Assembly (CA) election held in 2008.

“Before EC approves the final list of voters, the collected details of the voters will be made public in the VDCs and municipalities for rectification of errors and duplications,” he said.

When asked about the number of female and male voters, the EC spokesman said that collected data is yet to be processed. “However, the number of female voters is likely to dominate that of males,” added Trital.

The EC has been accommodating personal details of the voters, including addresses, gender and age group so that it may be used while issuing national identity cards.

The voter registration will cost the government two billion rupees.
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GAMCA SHUTDOWN HITS NEPALI MGRANT WORKERS
Kathmandu, 2 Jan : Already stung by Saudi Arabia´s unexpected refusal to issue visa on handwritten passports, hundreds of Nepali workers, aspiring to work in the Gulf nation, have been left in a lurch as all medical centers recognized by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have been indefinitely closed down. Om, Astha Rai writes in Republica. GCC-Approved Medical Centres´ Association (GAMCA) has closed down all 12 medical centers, recognized by the GCC for conducting medical tests of Gulf-bound Nepali workers, since last Monday, protesting an attack on its office in Teku, Kathmandu, by an unidentified gang the previous day.

As workers need to produce health certificates before applying for visa, they have been desperately waiting for the GCC-approved centers to resume services.

“Most of the Gulf-bound workers come to Kathmandu in the morning and return to their villages in the evening by night buses after visiting medical centers,” said Kumud Khanal, general secretary of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA). “Such workers are seriously affected by the closure of medical centers. Those who are already in Kathmandu are visiting medical centers every day, only to return disappointed.”

There is, however, no end in sight to the Nepali workers´ predicament. “We will not resume our service unless those involved in the attack are arrested,” said Dr Ravi Rauniyar, chairman of the GAMCA.

The GAMCA has accused the Nepal Health Professionals´ Federation (NHPF) of plotting the attack on its office last Sunday. “Who else other than NHPF benefits from the closure of our service?” questioned Dr Rauniyar. “It is crystal clear. But, no action has been taken against them.”

The NHPF, an umbrella organization of all medical centers apart from the GCC approved 12 laboratories, has long been demanding that the NHPF-affiliated labs too be allowed to conduct medical tests of Gulf-bound Nepali workers. Recently, NHPF had even succeeded in forcing the Department of Commerce (DoC) into instructing the GAMCA to shut down by carrying out a series of protest programs.

“Since the DoC has already instructed the GAMA to shut down its services, we need not resort to violence at all,” said Khadga Bahadur Shrestha, president of NHPF, adding. “The attack is in fact a plot hatched by GAMCA itself to gain sympathy from the government.”

On an average, about 200 Nepali workers aspiring to work in Saudi Arabia and Oman visit the GCC-approved medical centers every day. Qatar, which has recently surpassed other Gulf countries in hiring unskilled Nepali laborers, too, has announced that it would only recognize health certificates issued by the GCC-approved labs.


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MAOIST COMBATANT RETIREMENT STARTS IN ONE WEEK
Kathmandu, 2 Jan : The meeting of Army Integration Special Committee (AISC) Sunday approved an action plan, presented by its secretariat, with some amendments and decided to start the process for the voluntary retirement of the Maoist combatants within a week, The Rising Nepal reports.
The meeting, held under Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, agreed to start process for the farewell to the Maoist combatants seeking volunteer retirement within a week and complete it in 12 to13 days.
"The meeting endorsed the action plan, prepared by the secretariat with some revisions, and decided to finish the process for the volunteer retirement within 12 to 13 days," said Nepali Congress leader Dr. Ram Saran Mahat.
Mahat said that the government decided to provide 50 per cent of amount to the combatants through their person bank accounts.
The secretariat has been instructed to open their account in Nepal Rastra Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank and the Agriculture Bank.
CPN-UML leader Bhim Rawal said that the government would provide travel allowance to combatants as per their destination.
"Those going to Terai will get Rs. 2,000, the hilly district Rs. 5,000 and the mountains Rs. 8, 000," he informed.
Chief secretary Madhav Ghimire said that the secretariat was also instructed to do administrative and other works relating to the volunteer retirement process from tomorrow.

As per the seven-point agreement, the combatants seeking the volunteer retirement will get Rs. 500, 000 to 800,000. There are around 9,500 combatants who have opted for the volunteer retirement.
Those, who are have chosen the rehabilitation will be handed over to the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction. There are only six combatants choosing the rehabilitation package.
Today’s meeting also directed the secretariat to bring a proposal for the swift conclusion of the integration process without delay. It instructed the Nepal Army to carry out the necessary preparations for the integration of the combatants.
Minister for Finance said that the AISC unveiled the 13-day plan to complete the process for the volunteer retirement of the combatants.
According to a source, PM Bhattarai expressed his commitment to completing the peace and constitution writing processes in time.
The AISC secretariat will update and provide details about the properties and physical infrastructures of the cantonments to the government within a week.
"The meeting instructed for the swift conclusion of the integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist combatants," said Dr Mahat
Rawal said that the meeting discussed about the delay in the execution of time-bound works.
"The works relating to the army integration could not be carried out in line with the seven-point agreement. This has been realized in the meeting," he added.
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PM ASSURES BUSINESS SECURITY





Kathmandu, 2 Jan. : A delegation of Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) Sunday drew the attention of Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai to the deteriorating security situation of the country, The Rising Nepal reports.
During the meeting held at the PM’s office in Singha Durbar, the delegation expressed its deep concern over the series of murders and abductions of businessman across the country in the recent month.
PM Dr. Bhattarai assured the business team of ensuring security to them.
Talking to The Rising Nepal, Suresh Basnet, president of NCC said that the delegation raised the issue of abduction of industrialist Pawan Sanghai and the series of murder of gold traders across the country.
The where about of Sanghai, who was abducted from Kamaladi Ganesh Temple area 11 days ago, is still unknown.
"This is a very serious case and indicates the poor security condition of in the Valley," he said.
As the government has declared the year 2012 as the investment year, such incidents in the capital city will adversely affect the investment environment in the country, he said.
Within a month, three gold entrepreneurs were killed and this showed the poor presence of the government, he said.
"In the meeting, we found Prime Minister serious about the deteriorating security condition of the country," said Basnet.
"I will take initiatives to release Sanghai from the kidnappers within two or three days by consulting with the security organs," Basnet quoted PM Bhattarai as saying.
Prime Minister Bhattarai said that he had also realized the deteriorating security

condition in the country, which he said, was due to the political situation.
He said that he would take initiatives to strengthen the condition by holding discussion with the security organs.
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GOVT.PREPARES FOR INVESTMENT YEAR 2012/13
Kathmandu, 2 Jan.:: The government has formed four separate sub-committees to make the investment year 2012/013 a grand success, RSS reports.

A meeting of the Investment Board (IB) held on Monday at the Prime Minister´s Office (PMO) decided to launch extensive publicity campaign for making environment conducive to create investment friendly environment. The meeting was presided over by Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai.

Following the meeting, Executive Director of IB, Radhesh Pant informed journalists that Program Sub-committee was formed under the coordination of secretary at the PMO Lilamani Paudel and Investment Promotion Sub-committee was formed under the chair of Suraj Vaidya, the President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI).

Similarly, the meeting also decided to form a sub-committee chaired by Pant for the selection and identification of investments and sub-committee relating to Act/Regulations and strategy led by Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC), Dipendra Bahadur Chhetri.

As part of preparations for the investment year, different programs, interactions and publicity programs would be organized in the next six months.

Executive Director Pant said preparations are underway to sign memorandum of understanding for building eight to ten big projects with the strategy to doubling the foreign and domestic investments.

Present in the meeting were Prime Minister, Minister for Finance, economists and government secretaries.
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