END INDIAN CONTROL DEMANDS FRONT

END INDIAN CONTROL FRONT DEMANDS
Kathmandu, 26 Jan.: The Unified Nepal Nationalists’ Front has urged the Indian government to implement the UN Declaration to end the practice of controlling some of the geographical areas of Nepal, RSS reports.

The Declaration was endorsed by the United Nations Resolution 1514 in 1960 AD.

Referring to the UN Resolution and Declaration, the Front has also asked the Nepal government to demand the Indian government, for the Nepali territory.

'It is a blatant blow against freedom, sovereignty and human rights on the part of India to have colonized 57,736 sq. kms area across Mechi in the east and Mahakali in the west, which are yet to be returned to Nepal as per the Nepal-England Sugauli Treaty signed in March 4, 1816', stated in a press release issued by Front Chairperson Phadinda Nepal on Wednesday.
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INDIAN WOMAN TRAVELING ON FORGED NEPALI PASSPOT ARRESTED
Kathmandu, 26 Jan.: Binita Chhetri, 16, of Kalimpong, India,
was arrested Monday by Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police
for going to the Gulf on a Nepali passport for work as a domestic help.
Kuwait deported her and was arrested on arrival at TIA.
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MEDIA GOOGLE
"Politically indoctrinated Maoist fighter cannot hold the position of major
general on their tactics of threat and terror.”

(Retired Army Chief Gen. Rukmangud Katawal, The Himalayan Times, 26 Jan.)
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COOKING GAS SUPPLY DROPS
Kathmandu, 26 Jan.: Cooking gas supply-demand mismatch seems to create shortage in the market, The Himalayan Times reports.

LP Gas Industry Association today claimed that Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has supplied them only one-third of the market demand in January.

“The state oil monopoly supplied 7,559 metric tonne of cooking gas by today, against the monthly market demand of 22,000 metric tonne,” general secretary Kush Prasad Malli said, adding that the short supply has forced general consumer to face scarcity.

“The association demands NOC to solve the problem immediately through diplomatic channel since Indian Oil Corporation — the sole supplier of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) — itself has reduced the supply,” according to the association. Ministry of Commerce and Supplies said that NOC has already discussed with its Indian counterpart to ensure the smooth supply of cooking gas.

A group led by board member of NOC and joint secretary at the Finance Ministry Rajiv Gautam is currently at IOC’s head office in Mumbai and they have discussed on the issue of smooth supply of cooking gas, joint secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies Deepak Subedi said, adding that the IOC has pledged to supply cooking gas from tomorrow.

Meanwhile, frequent disturbance in supply due to general strike and holidays has created problem to the NOC in maintaining smooth supply of petroleum products. It had supplied 406 kl petrol, 478 kl diesel and 134 kl kerosene in January 22. “NOC is supplying fuel according to demand,” he added.
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BIHAR WITHDRAWNG CASES AGAINST 11 MAOISTS
Kathmandu, 28 Jan,.:The state government of Bihar, India has decided to withdraw court cases against 11 Nepali Maoist leaders. Bihar Home Secretary Amir Subhani confirmed that the state government took a decision to this effect last week, Ram Kumar Kamat
writes in The Himalayan Times from New Delhi.

Maoist leaders Lokendra Bista, Kul Bahadur KC, Chitra Bahadur Shrestha, Kumar Dahal, Hit Bahadur Tamang, Shyam Kishor Prasad Yadav, Anil Sharma, Dilip Maharjan, Ranju Thapa, Suman Tamang and Min Prasad are facing charges in Patna District Court since 2004 for their alleged ‘involvement in anti-India activities’ and ‘conspiracy against the erstwhile regime in Nepal’. They were arrested in Patna. According to Subhani, the district magistrate of Patna will now have to write to state public prosecutor requesting him to initiate the final process of withdrawing the cases, following which the public prosecutor can seek court permission for the same. When asked how long it will take to withdraw the cases, Subhani said it would depend on the court but declined to comment on what grounds the Bihar government decided to withdraw the cases against them.

Patna’s Additional Public Prosecutor Mani Kant Jha, however, said over phone that once the district magistrate writes to public prosecutor, the court might take 15-60 days or even more to grant permission to withdraw the cases. The decision came weeks after Union Home Ministry wrote to Bihar government.

Advocate Mithilesh Kumar, who is representing the Maoist leaders, said a government prosecutor a few days ago had written to the district magistrate saying there were no problems whatsoever if the cases against 11 Nepali Maoist leaders were to be withdrawn. According to Kumar, the magistrate had then sought prosecutors’ opinion. The union government had written to Bihar government to this effect in the first week of October, days after Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai raised the issue before the Indian government during his India visit. Union Home Ministry requested the Bihar government to withdraw cases against the leaders by taking into consideration changed political scenario in Nepal and friendly relations between the two countries.

The court had reissued non-bailable warrants against the Maoist leaders in September after their whimsical claims that they had been convicted and had been slapped with jail terms and heavy fines by the Patna court.
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Ncell POSTS 122 PERCENT REVENUE GROWTH
Kathmandu, 26 Jan.: Ncell has posted a 122 percent growth in revenue in fiscal 2010-11 in line with its fast expanding subscriber base, Ramesh Shrestha writs in The Kathmandu Post..
The telecom operator’s income soared to Rs 17.53 billion, up from Rs 7.89 billion in fiscal 2009-10, according to the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA). Last year, it added 2.7 million new users to its network.
The phenominal growth in revenue has been attributed to its aggressive marketing, re-branding exercise, launch of new services and infrastructure expansion.
Ncell is Nepal’s largest mobile service provider in terms of subscriber base and second largest in terms of revenue after Nepal Telecom (NT). With NT’s revenue growth slowing down, Ncell is likely to overtake the state-owned telecom giant as the largest revenue earner within a couple of years. This month, Ncell’s subscriber base surpassed the 7-million mark.
Ncell accounted for 38.64 percent of the total revenue in the telecom sector—up from 22.95 percent in 2009-10. Meanwhile, NT’s share in total telecom revenue declined to 58.20 percent from 72.88 percent for the corresponding period. NT earned Rs 26.40 billion in 2010-11 compared to Rs 25.05 billion in the previous year and added 1.27 million new subscribers.
Seeing its market share shrinking under Ncell’s onslaught, the state-owned company has speeded up work to add 10 million GSM lines. It GSM mega project received the go-ahead from the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) recently. In mid-December 2011, the anti-graft body had directed the company to put on hold the tender process on suspicion of irregularities.
According to the NTA, the total income of the telecom sector grew 31.98 percent after a tremendous growth in the number of mobile users in the last fiscal year. Nepal’s telecom revenue surged to Rs 45.36 billion from Rs 34.37 billion in fiscal 2009-10.
Six telecom operators had added 4.23 million new subscribers during the last fiscal year. United Telecom Limited (UTL), the country’s third largest telecom operator, saw its revenue fall to Rs 1.16 billion from Rs 1.22 billion of 2009-10 despite a double-digit growth in its subscriber base. STM Telecom’s earnings also declined to Rs 122.6 million from Rs 164.9 million, while Nepal Satellite Telecom earned Rs 75 million in 2010-11, up from last year’s Rs 32.52 million.
Posting an excellent growth, Smart Telecom’s earnings increased to Rs 59.09 million in 2010-11. The figure was at Rs 0.56 million in 2009-10, the first year of its service operation.
The six operators paid a total of Rs 1.81 billion, equivalent to 4 percent of their total income, in royalties to the government in the last fiscal year, according to the NTA. Likewise, the operators have contributed Rs 907.30 million to the Rural Telecommunications Development Fund as required by the telecom law.
Income of telecom operators in the last three fiscal years
Operators 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09
Nepal Telecom Rs 26.40 b Rs 25.05 b Rs 20.48 b
Ncell Rs 17.53 b Rs 7.89 b Rs 5.66 b
UTL Rs 1.16 b Rs 1.22 b Rs 765.14 m
STM Telecom Rs 122.6 m Rs 164.9 m Rs 295.71 m
Nepal Satellite Rs 75 m Rs 32.52 m —
Smart Telecom Rs 59.09 m Rs 0.56 m —
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SRC CHIEF BEING WOOED BY MEMBERS
Kathmandu, 26 Jan.: Members of the State Restructuring Commission (SRC) are trying to woo the commission’s Chairman Madan Pariyar, whose vote will be crucial in deciding the issue of political priority rights. In order to win his favour, commissioners on both the sides—those advocating for an 11-state model and those in favour of a six-state model—have pitched for a separate Dalit state, which Pariyar has strongly demanded. However, Pariyar holds no ‘strong opinion’ on the issue of priority rights.
This attempt seems to be part of the commissioners’ move to get their views on priority rights passed. Nominees of the UCPN (Maoist) and the Madhesi Morcha are for the rights, while those from the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML oppose them. A note of dissent presented by three members—Ramesh Dhungel, Sabitri Gurung and Sarbaraj Khadka—on the number of provinces has led to a map being prepared wherein a possible state for Dalits has been conceived. Besides six definite states, the proposed map includes a provision for the seventh one—a Dalit state. Based on cluster areas where Dalit population is high, or in a majority at the VDC level, three possible states have been identified—one in the Eastern Tarai (near Saptari and Siraha), another in the Western hills (near Parbat) and the other in Far West hills.
Meanwhile, an 11-state model, including a separate Dalit state was adopted through a majority in the commission. However, those advocating for the model—members proposed by the Maoists, Morcha and one from the UML—have not been able to finalise the map due to differences over delineation of borders of the states. Even their proposal has envisioned a Dalit state.
These 11 states are to take shape based predominantly on ethnic lines. The five members have failed to reach consensus despite extensive discussions. The members of the group, which registered a note of dissent advocating a 6/7 state-model, have drawn out a map where four states will have access to both northern and southern borders. Two states in the Tarai will have access to only a stretch of the southern border. The latter two states are said to have been agreed on by the three members in light of the residents of the Tarai region’s rigid demands for states only along the southern border.
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