INDIAN PM SINGH PAYING OFFICIAL NEPALVISIT MARCH/APRIL

INDIAN PM SINGH TO PAY OFFICIAL NEPAL VISIT MARCH/APRIL
Kathmandu, 20 Jan.: India Prime Minister Mahmohan Singh is paying an official visit of Nepal sometime in March or April, Surendra Paudel writes in Nagarik
Singh revealed his travel plan during a meeting with Deputy Prime
Minister Bjaya Kumar Gachedhar in New Delhi Wednesday
“The visit of the prime minister is now certain.” Gachedhar told Nagarik
Gachedhar, who holds the home and defence ministry portfolios, has
been holding consultations with senior ministers on bilateral issues.
Gachedhar, who began a India visit Tuesday, returns home Friday.
The second man in government held security consultations with top Indian government leadership after Saturday’s four-hour Nepal visit of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.
Beijing offered massive financial and security assistance during the visit.
China and India compete for influence in Nepal which New Delhi considers as its backyard.
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MINIMUM TEMPERATURE FRIDAY MORNING 3 DEGREES CELSIUS

Kathmandu, 20 Jan.: Minimum temperature Friday morning was 3
degrees Celsius
The mercury is expected to rise to 17degrees Celsius in the afternoon.
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RPP-NEPAL PROTEST

Kathmandu, 20 Jan.: RPP-Nepal this week decided to launch a pressure campaign to push local elections.
The party also is demanding constitutional monarchy and a Hindu
state.
RPP-Nepal decided to conduct phased week-long protests from 17 March.
A memorandum with demands will be presented to the prime minister,
VDCs and municipalities will be gheraoed and on the last day of the phased pressure campaign, all VDCs will be padlocked.
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APPA SHERPA LAUNCHES AWARENESS CAMPAIGN TO HIGHLIGHT HIMALAYAN ENVIRONMENT DEGRADATION

Kathmandu, 20 Jan.: Appa Sherpa, who has climbed the 8848 meters
for a record 21 times, Tuesday started a four-month Mechi-Mahakali
trek to highlight the adverse impact of climate change on the Himalayan environment.
The Great Himalayan Trail was launched from Taplejung.
Appa, now based n USA, is an ambassador to spread the message of the degradation of the Himalayan environment to save it.
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PRAHANDA MOVES TO LAZIMPAT

Kathmandu, 20 Jan. Maoist Chairman Prachand moved into a house n Lazimpat
near Shangri-la Hotel in Lazimpat with his family Thursday from Naya Bazzar.
It wasn’t known if the Maoist Chief ought the house or the party provided like the vaated building in Naya Bazzar.
NC President Sushil Koirala, who hails from Nepalgunj, also lives in a rented house in the capital.
UML Chief Jhalanath Khanal and his second in command Madhav Kumar Nepal live in their houses.
The new Prachanda residence is next to the Indiana, Japanese, Israeli, Pakistani and Japanese embassies.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“Despite protest it is only this deal that has given momentum to the peace and statute-writing processes that were stalled for long,”

(Communication Minister Jayaprakash Prasad Gupta, The Himalayan Times, 20 Jan.)
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FOREST MINISTER LIES
Kathmandu, 20 Jan.: Muhamad Okil Musalman is the forest minister but he barely knows tree is known by its fruits, it seems, The Himalayan Times reports.

Forest Minister Muhamad Okil Musalman, who has been in the news for some time for all the wrong reasons, has his own way of shirking responsibilities. The minister, who is accountable not only to people but also to the committees formed by Parliament, has been playing truant for quite some time, and this time around he lied through teeth to avoid a meeting of Committee on Natural Resources and Means on the pretext that he was out of station. Today morning, parliamentarians kept on waiting for Minister Musalman at the committee office in Singha Durbar where he was supposed to brief the lawmakers on rampant deforestation in the districts and a report on implementation status of forest conservation. Musalman neither appeared before the committee nor considered necessary to inform why he was not there.

When Director General of the Department of Forests Brajkishore Yadav rang up the minister, he said he was out of the Valley. But when Musalman’s personal assistant Shiva Aryal was called up, he spilled the beans; he said the minister was very much in Kathmandu. “This is not the first time that the minister has disobeyed the committee. He failed to turn up last time also. The meeting was scheduled today morning as per his request and he is nowhere to be seen,” said committee Chairperson Shanta Chaudhary. According to the minister’s PA Aryal, the minister was sick. “He is in Kathmandu but he could not attend the meeting due to his health condition,” he said.

The lawmakers later requested the chairperson to initiate action against the minister and direct the ministry to furnish clarification. “The ministry has failed to implement our directives to curb deforestation. We have summoned him on Sunday morning,” said Chaudhary.

Forest ministry officials say Minister Musalman is a pain in the neck for his idiosyncrasies. “We hardly know where the minister goes and what he does,” said the officials who call the forest minister dead wood. Musalman has failed to abide by a directive from the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority while his attempts to remove member secretary of National Trust for Nature Conservation have been challenged twice at the Supreme Court.
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POLICE BRING DOWN HUTMENTS AROUND
PASHUPATINATH AMID CURFEW
Kathmandu, 20 Jan.: Clamping a curfew in and around the UNESCO world heritage site of Pashupatinath last night, Pashupati Area Development Trust, Kathmandu Metropolitan City and Nepal Police torched hundreds of illegal huts along the Gaushala-Bhubaneshwori stretch, The Himalayan
Times reports.
According to PADT, the encroachment upon the government land that started with the backing of major political parties during the Maoist insurgency has only increased in recent years. The authorities reportedly burnt 259 huts to ashes after notices issued in the last three years to vacate the site ‘went in vain’.
“We demolished the huts built in violation of the law and heritage site norms after repeated notices to vacate the area went in vain,” PADT treasurer Narottam Vaidya said. The vendors, who had been living at the site without paying any rent or taxes, said their stay was legal as they had registered with the Bankali Bazaar Management Committee 11 years ago, while PADT and the Kathmandu District Administration Office said the huts were illegal.
The vendors, who used to sell clothes, foodstuffs, flowers and puja ingredients, have warned of a protest tomorrow in front of PADT to press it to provide them with alternatives.
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MAOIST CHIEF CALLS FOR COMPROMISE ON C;ONSTITUTIO;N, PEACE
Kathmandu, 20 Jan.: Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal conceded at a closed-door party meeting on Thursday that he made a mistake in compromising with the parliamentary parties on the issues of peace and constitution, and pledged he would no longer enter into any such consensus against the party´s fundamental principles, Post.B. Basnet/Kiran Pun report in Republica.

"The parliamentary parties humiliated us and tried to force their way through the peace and constitution drafting process, knowing full well that we were deeply divided. And that´s why we have taken a tough stance now," a Maoist leader quoted Dahal as saying during the cadre orientation program held at Khanna Garments.

Dahal said that after the NC and UML pushed hard on PLA integration and constitution drafting issues and sought compromises one after another, he asked party leaders including Janardan Sharma and Nanada Kishor Pun to speak up for "dignified integration" and a directly-elected presidential system of governance.

"And the strategy has really created panic in the NC and UML," a leader quoted Dahal as saying.



The leader of the former rebels also admitted that he has seriously violated the party´s fundamental principles while making compromises over peace and constitution drafting.

"There have been concessions on some issues, but it´s wrong to say I have compromised on all issues, violating the party´s fundamental principles. In fact, the most important issues are yet to be resolved," a participant quoted Dahal as further saying.

He told bemused cadres that the party is united on pushing for a "pro-people constitution that is anti-imperialist and anti-expansionist in nature" and fomenting an urban insurrection if the party fails in its endeavor.

The party began the cadre-orientation program Thursday and this will continue over the next two weeks. The objective is to inform cadres about the party´s latest strategy in the wake of the just concluded CC meeting.

At the program, Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya told the cadres that the basis of party unity is twofold: To frame the constitution of a "people´s federal democratic republic that is anti-materialist and anti-expansionist in nature", and to prepare the ground for a revolt.

"The political line of federal democratic republic [forged by the Chunbang meeting] is no longer relevant. We have agreed to move beyond that, to a people´s federal democratic republic [the line passed by the Kharipati meeting]," a participant quoted Baidya as saying.

He called on Dahal to remain committed to the communist movement in Nepal and effect a revolution.

"Don´t try to become a statesman as the parliamentary parties urge you. Become the leader of the proletariat to lead a revolution," a participant quoted Baidya as telling Dahal.

Prime Minister Babauram Bhattarai, who ranks third in the party hierarchy, stated that the party will put in efforts to frame a pro-people constitution, and if that fails the party will naturally opt for a revolt to capture state power. He also told the cadres that he is ready to resign from the government whenever the party decides to recall him.

"But we should not quit the government front without a better options," a leader quoted Bhattarai as saying.
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1,700 VAT EVADERS OWE RS 4B
Kathmandu, 20 Jan : In yet another revelation of VAT evasion, Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has found around 1,700 small and medium enterprises of evading Rs 4 billion, Prabhakar
Ghimere writes in Republica..

Tanka Mani Sharma, IRD director general told Republica that of the total 1,700 firms investigated, 560 firms have an annual turnover of over Rs 5 million each, whereas the remaining have a turnover of Rs 2 million.

Out of the 560 enterprises with annual turnover of more than Rs 5 million each, 300 are based in the capital.

Sharma said over Rs 8 billion worth of transactions carried out by a total 1,700 companies didn´t fall under the VAT and other tax purview. “Of the total Rs 8 billion, it is estimated that 560 firms owe around Rs 5 billion,” Sharma added.

As per the existing rule, business enterprises with an annual turnover of more than Rs 2 million must register for VAT.

“We found that these firms have either not registered for VAT or have simply evaded VAT. Most of the companies under investigation have not registered for VAT making the state suffer a revenue loss of around Rs 4 billion in VAT, Income Tax, Excise Duty, among others,” Sharma said.

The companies being investigated only have Permanent Account Number (PAN).

Meanwhile, IRD has settled 468 cases of the total 518 cases so far for evading more than Rs 10 billion in VAT. “We have extracted Rs 4 billion in tax from the 468 companies,” said Sharma.

A couple of months ago, IRD had set a timeline to complete investigation of 49 cases by mid-Dec, 41 cases by mid-Jan and 15 cases by mid-Feb.

Meanwhile, the talks between agitating brick producers and IRD officials on Thursday ended inconclusively with both sides refusing to budge from their respective stances. Brick producers have refused to register for VAT.
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