MAOIST CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEET POSTPONED UNTIL TUESDAY
Kathmandu, 9 Jan. A postponed Maoist central committee
That was to he held Monday has been postponed
until Tuesday.
Sunday’s meet was postponed until Monday to
allow top leaders of the UCPN (Maoist) leading
the government to attempt resolution of serious
intra-party differences even threatening unity of the biggest communist party.
Assisted by aides, Chairman Pachanda and First Vice-chairman Mohan
Baidya who presented rival political proposals for central committee approval, hekld
discussions the whole day Sunday.
Details were reported to Prime Minister Baburam
Bhattarai.
Prachanda was scheduled Sunday to present an
amended political proposal incorporating demands of Baidya.
The Maoist chief has proposed party unity along with completing the
peace process and constitution drafting while Baidya is prioritizing a
people’s war in parliament and on the street.
The establishment faction of Prachanada has proposed taking differences to the general
convention.
Differences in UCPN (Maoist) have already impacted the completion of
the peace process and constitution drafting.
The retirement and integration processes of former Maoist fighters from 28 cantonments and
satellite camps that was to start Sunday didn’t get underway even after their preferences
were recorded.
The processes were to be completed in 12 days.
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NC, UML CONTINUE TO COLLECT SUPPORT AGAINST MAOISTS
Kathmandu, 9 Jan.: Opposition parties NC and
UML continue effort Monday to develop a
common approach to Maoists leading the government amid charges is
deliberately delaying the completion of the peace process
The NC and UML started consultations with parties in parliament Sunday when they
received support of 16 small parties in parliament
The two parties said they will also hold consultations with a front of
Madeshbadi parties in government.
A 7-point agreement by NC and UML to complete the peace process was also signed with
the front.
“The peace process is now in crisis. We have started consultations.
New challenges have surfaced,” UML Chairman
Jhalanath Khanal said.
“All parties raised the issue of implementing the
peace process,” Rashtriya Janamorcha leader
Chitra Bahadur KC said.
“All points raised in the 7-point agreement must
be implemented,” said NC Vice-chairman Ram
Chandra Paidel.
Maoists and opposition parties have been trading charges accusing
each other of obstructing the peace process.
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CORRUPTION CHARGE AGAINST GOVINDA RAJ JOSHI REVIVED
Kathmandu, 9 Jan.: A division bench of the supreme court Sunday
ordered a special court to reopen a case charging former Home Minister and top NC leader
Gobinda Raj Joshi for misappropriating nearly
Rs. 40 million when he was in office.
Joshi was a close confidant of former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and held top
ministerial jobs in the Koirala cabinet.
statute of limitations.
The CIAA asked the supreme court to review a
decision of the special court dismissing the anti-corruption charge on a technicality
Chiranjivi Wagle, also a minister on NC governments, was convicted of
corruption charge and is serving a prison sentence following a review of
a-dismissed corruption charge ordered by the
apex court.
The supreme court earlier asked the special court to reopen corruption charge cases against
Former IGPs Moti Lal Bohara and Achyut Krishna Kharel, on similar grounds.
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AN ABDUCTOR OF DR. UPENDRA DEBKOTA’S DAUGHTER ARRESTED THREE
YEARS AFTER CRIME
Kathmandu, 9 Jan.: Raju Thapa, absconding for thee years, was arrested by Metropolitan
Police Crime Division Sunday.
He’s a member of the gang that kidnapped Megha Devkota, daughter of
renowned neurosurgeon Dr Upendra
Devkota for a Rs. 13 million ransom from home.
Megha was released after the ransom was delivered
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MEDIA GOOGLE
"You are prone to big danger if you did not admit that speaking against
federalism was your biggest mistake."
(Chief of Rashtriya Janamorcha quoted in The Himalayan Times saying he received telephonic deaththreat 9chIEF KC quoted the caller as saying.for opposing federalism, 9 Jan.)
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SECOND TIFA MEET IN MARCH
Kathmandu, 9 Jan.: Ministry of Commerce and Supplies is planning to held second joint council meeting of Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) in
March, The Himalayan Times reports.
After the first joint council meeting of TIFA, the second meeting was scheduled to be held in Kathmandu for November but the meeting was postponed for January 2012. The meeting has been again postponed for March.
“We are soon going to organise a preparatory meeting between the public and private sector,” said joint secretary at the ministry Naindra Prasad Upadhyaya.
The meeting organised between the private and public sector will help draft agendas that will be presented during the second joint council meeting of TIFA. The ministry is planning for the Public and Private Dialogue by next week.
“Soon after the meeting, we will develop the agenda and fix a tentative date for the second joint council meeting of TIFA,” he said, adding that the ministry is planning for the meeting for March.
The first meeting was held in Washington where the US and Nepal discussed and reviewed various issues.
The Trade and Investment Framework Agreement was signed on April 15, 2011.
The US trade representative Ron Kirk and deputy prime minister and finance minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari signed the framework agreement aimed at enhancing trade and investment between the two countries, replacing the six decades old bilateral trade and economic pact. It aims to provide a forum for bilateral talks to enhance trade and investment, discuss specific trade issues and promote more comprehensive trade agreements between the two countries.
The framework agreement will now help enter into a trade agreement between the two countries apart
from the US-Nepal Council on Trade and Investment that will address a wide range of trade and investment issues like capacity building and technical
assistance, intellectual property rights, workers’ rights, environmental protection and removing barriers to bilateral trade.
The council is a permanent body that will hold meetings regularly involving the private sector and civil society.
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BANKS GET BREATHING SPACE FROM NRB
Kathmandu, 9 Jan.: Central bank has finally relaxed the property base line for housing loan and extended time period for the banks and financial institutions to bring their exposure to the realty sector down by one-and-a-half year, The Himalayan Times reports.
The property base line for home loan has been raised to Rs 10 million — from Rs 8 million — and banks and financial institutions can now bring down their exposure to real estate loans within 25 per cent of total lending by the end of next fiscal year 2012-13, the central bank said, in a move to provide relief to the ailing real estate sectors and the financial institutions, both. Earlier, the Nepal Rastra Bank’s had fixed the ceiling of personal home loans at Rs 6 million to increase later to Rs 8 million.
“The move will boost the confidence of the sector,” said Nepal Housing and Land Developers’ Association vice president Om Rajbhandari, who is also a coordinator of the Urban Development Committee of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI).
Some of the loans under real estate will now shift to home loan relaxing the banks and financial institutions, he said, it will create some space in the real estate loans and increase the lending capacity of the banks and financial institutions. The personal home loans are not calculated as the realty loans.
“Similarly, the pressure of capping down banks and financial institutions exposure to real estate will be eased by extended time period.”
The central bank’s provisions should boost the buyers confidence as these policies will help develop organised urbanisation, he opined.
Due to low confidence of the home buyers, the sector is still reeling under a pressure putting the banks and financial institutions also under stress.
Last week, High Level Financial Sector Coordination Committee has recommended the central bank to relax the provisions to give a breathing space to both the housing and real estate, and banks and financial institutions.
Earlier, the banks and financial institutions were supposed to bring their real estate loan to 25 per cent by the end of current fiscal year. The central bank had capped them to prevent from systemic failure due to over exposure to the single sector.
The government is also planning to purchase house and apartments for residential purpose of civil servants apart from letting the apartments be used by hotels as the accommodations
for the tourists.
The government is also letting foreigners buy apartments in a bid to create new market for the housing sector.
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NEPAL, INDIA TALKS TO REMOVE KOLKATA POST HASSLES
Kathmandu, 9 Jan :: Nepal and India are holding a high-level meeting later this week to resolve existing procedural hassles that Nepali traders are facing while importing and exporting goods via Kolkata port, Republica reports.
A team led by Naindra Prasad Upadhyaya, joint-secretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS), is visiting India to study facilities and administrative process in Kolkata and Visakhapatnam ports
The team, which will be in India between Jan 13 and 16, will hold talks with senior Indian officials to explore ways for resolving problems being faced by Nepali traders in Kolkata port and ease customs clearance process there.
The delegation will have representatives from Nepal Freight Forwarders´ Association (NFFFA), Nepal Inter-Modal Transport Development Board (NITDB) and Department of Customs (DoC).
“Nepali traders have long been complaining about procedural hassles and poor infrastructures in Kolkata port. We will study existing infrastructures and customs clearance procedures at the port and will also visit Vishakhapatnam port, which is expected to be operationalized for Nepal´s overseas trade soon,” Upadhyaya told Republica on Sunday.
Upadhyaya said the team will study documentation process at the port and impact of additional one-time lock system imposed by India on Nepal bound containers carrying overseas imports. We will ascertain the number of days required to complete the process for inward and outward shipment of goods, he added.
Due to private sector´s conflicting views on the benefits and disadvantages of additional lock system introduced in Kolkata port, the government is still indecisive about accepting such provision when Visakhapatnam is brought into operation for Nepal´s overseas trade.
The southern neighbor had unilaterally imposed the additional one-time lock on Nepal bound cargo leaving Kolkata port from Aug 1, 2011, despite Nepal´s repeated request not to enforce the system.
“We will assess the customs clearance and documentation process at Kolkata port and study the facilities available at privately-run Visakhapatnam. The team will also study pros and cons of additional lock system and recommend to the government to take necessary measures to mitigate problems at the port,” added Upadhyaya.
Traders say they have been facing hosts of problems, including huge demurrage charge due to delay in clearance of goods, during delivery of goods in Kolkata port.
Administrative hassles, congestion and low draft berth are the major problems that Nepali traders are facing while clearing goods through the poorly managed Kolkata port.
Nepal and India had agreed to take initiatives to resolve the problems at Kolkata port during the recently held Nepal-India Inter-governmental Committee (IGC) -- secretary level -- meeting in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, the MoCS is preparing to hold trade talks with Bangladesh next month to explore new avenues for boosting bi-lateral trade and removing existing barriers. “Most possibly we will hold the talks in mid-Feb. But the date has yet to be finalized,” added Upadhyaya.
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