SENIOR UNICEF OFFICIAL ARRIVING

UNICEF EXCECUTIVE DIRECTOR ARRIVES WEDNESDAY
Kathmandu, 11 Jan. :UNICEF Executive Director Anthon Lake arrived Wednesday for a two-day visit.
He’s scheduled to hold consultations with Prime Minister Baburam
Bhattarai and other top government chiefs.
Lake will inspect community–based programmes for urban and rural
children besides observing urban-out-of school programmes.
nnnn
CIAA INTERVENES TO STOP CUTTING A ROAD THROUGH CNP-- NATIONAL HERIGATE SITE
Kathmandu, 11 Jan.: CIAA Tuesday ordered government not to cut
a road through the Chitwan National Park (CNP) from Thori in Parsa to Triveni in Nawalparasi
The endangered one-horned rhino and tiger are protected in the park long with other endangered species.
The anti-graft body directed the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Ministry of Finance, National Planning Commission and the Prime Minister's Office to stop all work on the project.
Nnnn
11 MORE JAPANESE VOLUNTEERS ARRIVE
Kathmandu, 11 Jan.: A fresh group of 11 Japanese volunteers arrived
Tuesday for a two-year assignment.
Among them are 10 Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) and one Senior Volunteer (SV).
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) dispatches Japanese volunteers overseas every year to developing acontries.
“Among the new batch of volunteers, four JOCVs will work on community development in Syangja, Parbat, Baglung and Tanahun, two on early child education in Lalitpur and Tanahun, one each on vegetable growing, soil and fertilizer, public health and computer technology in Bhaktapur, Kaski and Kathmandu. The SV will work in Central Citrus (Junar) Cooperative Union Ltd under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative,”
an announcement said.

Ninety-one volunteers are currently in Nepal working in education, environment, health, vocational training, engineering, sports, rural development, agriculture and women empowerment.
Nnnn
NEPSE, KRX SIGN MoU TO DEVELOP STOCK MARKET
Kathmandu, 11 Jan.: Nepal Stock Exchange Limited (Nepse) and Korea Exchange (KRX) signed an agreement Tuesday to develop the Nepali capital market.
Shankar Man Singh, General Manager of Nepse, and Chong Kil Park, President of KRX, signed a memorandum of understanding(MoU).
Lal Shanker Ghimire, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, said that the agreement with KRX will help develop Nepalese capital market
efficiently.
President of KRX Jong Kil Park said that the Korean institution was interested in sharing its experiences with Nepal to promote interest of investors and the economy
nnnn
MEDIA GOOGLE
“It’s not time for the Maoists to go back to jungle rather they should take the lead to write democratic constitution as written in the 12-point agreement. People will chase them away if they continue to accumulate millions of illegal property in the name of being the leader of proletarians.”

(NC Leader Gagan Thapa, The Kathmandu Post, 11 Jan.)
nnnn
CHINESE PM WEN MAYCOME IN 3 WEEKS
Kathmandu 11 Jan.: If everything goes as planned, Kathmandu and Beijing will announce the new date for the stalled visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to Nepal
'very soon', Anil Giri writes in The Kathmandu Post..
Both sides are quietly working on the agenda of the visit, a highly-placed government source told the Post, adding that the visit "could take place within the next three weeks.”
Earlier, Wen was expected in Kathmandu in the third week of December, but the visit was postponed a week before his arrival. Poor security arrangements in Kathmandu had been blamed for the postponment.
Later, it emerged that the Chinese side was miffed at Home Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar's "non-cooperation."
Though both Beijing and Kathmandu publicly sought to play down the postponment by attributing it to domestic issues in China and saying that Wen had also cancelled a visit to Myanmar, Gachhadar left for Beijing on December 25 on a five-day visit to pave way for Wen's trip here.
According to sources, this time around, Wen is not visiting Myanmar.
“We never cancelled the preparations and are working on new dates,” Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayn Kaji Shrestha said.
Meanwhile, responding to queries in a meeting of the International Relations and Human Rights Committee (IRHRC) of the Legislature-Parliament on Tuesday, Shrestha said Nepal is eagerly awaiting Wen's visit. He said "positive decisions" will be taken to this effect through the diplomatic channel upon request from the Chinese side. The panel later directed the DPM and the Foreign Ministry to arrange for Wen's visit as early as
possible.
Nnnn


CONSTITUTION SHOULD RESPECT DEMOCRATIC VALUES SAYS PRESIDENT

Kathmandu, 11 Jan :President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav Tuesday said that all should abide by the decisions of the court, The Rising Nepal reports
President Dr. Yadav said this while addressing the silver jubilee function of Nepal Administrative Court in the capital.
Stating that judiciary had spoken in the support of civil rights during Panchayat system, he said that the court also terminated Royal Commission respecting people’s voice.
"Former justices should utilize their experiences and views for the benefit of the society," he said and added that the justices should be appointed based on their seniority and merit so as to preserve the freedom of judiciary.
Administrative Court chairman Kashiraj Dahal said that the people were bearing the brunt of transition.
He urged all to contribute for the building of prosperous Nepal.
"The new constitution must be able to address the aspirations of the people and reflect the democratic norms and values," he added.
The President honoured chairman of Nepal Human Rights Commission Kedarnath Upadhyaya.
Nnnn
REVENUE LIKELYTO EXCEED RS 3 BILLION
Kathmandu, 11 Jan. : The overall revenue mobilisation of the government would exceed by Rs. 3 billion by the first half of the current fiscal year, a senior official at the Ministry of Finance said, The
Rising Nepal reports.
The government has a revenue shortfall of Rs. 6 billion until the fifth month of the current fiscal.
He, however, said that if the ministry meets the revenue mobilization growth by 20 per cent in the current month (mid-December to mid-January), it would exceed by Rs. 3 billion.
Talking to The Rising Nepal, Shanta Raj Subedi, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, said, that the ministry was highly optimistic about attaining the target after some public enterprises pay their dividends, fees and royalties, and dues to the government.
"Some public enterprises such and the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), Nepal Telecom, among others, owe a huge amount of due revenue, which they would pay by the end of the current month," he said adding, "When they pay the dues, we are hopeful that the revenue target will be exceeded."
"The main reason behind the deficit was low mobilization of non-tax revenue up to the fifth month. The ministry is upbeat to achieve 20 per cent increment in the revenue mobilization in the current month since this month," he added.
The government has to collect Rs 112.93 billion revenue until mid-January since it has projected a total of Rs 241 billion revenue collection in the current fiscal year.
Similarly, the government has projected Rs. 5 billion under reimbursement. However, it has received Rs 247 million reimbursement by the fifth month.
According to him, Nepal Telecom, NRB, NEA, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), the Hetauda Cement Factory and the Udayapur Cement Industry are paying around Rs. 6 billion, Rs. 3 billion, Rs 500 million, Rs 190 million, Rs 20 million, respectively.
Similarly, the chances of paying royalty from other private telecom service providers, including Ncell and UTL, is also high within the current month, he said.

The ministry has expected to mobilize Rs 600 million revenue from the private telecom service providers and Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
nnnn
INTERVIEW

'NEW BUDGET WILL GIVE NEW DIRECTION TO DEVELOPMENTSAYS NPC MEMBER JANAK RAJ SHAH


Janak Raj Shah is a member of the National Planning Commission (NPC). Shah has been able to make a noble identity as a successful banker in the Nepalese banking market. As an MBA scholar, he started his carrier as a lecturer in his home district of Achham as the founder campus chief of the Achham Multiple College. After serving few years in higher education in the same district, he became a banker. He has served as the chief executive officer of the Nepal Bank Limited and the Agriculture Development Bank Limited.
Shah now heads the Management Association Nepal (MAN) for the second term this time. A dynamic personality, Shah has been appointed as a member of NPC while the country is passing through a difficult political transition. Six and a half decades have passed since Nepal started the development planning practices. But the country is still in the group of least developed countries of the world. With the changing political system in the country, the growing expectations of the general public, including those suppressed and excluded, have been a challenge to the NPC. In addition, the country is entering into the federal system of governance ending the history-long centralized form of governance in development process. This will certainly put pressures on the demand of development activities to the NPC.
Against such a backdrop, C K Khanal and Yogesh Pokharel of The Rising Nepal talked to Shah on various aspects of development planning in Nepal, including its problems and challenges. Excerpts:
What is the NPC doing these days?
The NPC has recently completed the task of approving almost all the development programmes with first priority area (P1) included in this year’s budget under the various ministries. With this, the development projects have now been in the process of implementation. Now the priority of the NPC is to speed up the implementation aspect of such programmes through an effective monitoring. We are focusing on on-the-spot monitoring of the selected development programmes. We have recently completed four regional-level monitoring workshops in all development regions, except for the central region. We are going to organize similar workshop in the central region soon. We are also assessing the progresses and challenges of the implementation of those programmes through our on-the-spot inspection and monitoring workshops.
Meanwhile, the ministry-level review meetings on the programmes are underway. The NPC has instructed all the ministries to submit their review reports of development budgets within mid-January. By compiling those reports and the findings of the NPC, we will discuss the issue at the meeting of the National Development Problem Resolving Committee to be held under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister by the end of January this year. The meeting would then issue directives to the implementing agencies to enforce them in line with their work plans.
Despite the presentation and endorsement of the budget of the current fiscal year on time, the capital expenditures of the government are quite low. Does the NPC have any plans to transfer the allocated budget from one project to another considering their spending patterns?
Despite the presentation and approval of this year’s budget from the parliament, the spending of the development budget does not seem to be satisfactory. By the mid-term evaluation, we will issue a concrete directive to the implementation authorities for the effective implementation of the capital budget in the remaining six months of the fiscal year. If any development project is found to have a low spending as per the mid-term evaluation, the capital budget will be transferred to other needy projects. In this case, a high-level meeting would direct the concerned ministry to make a practical work plan for transferring the budget.
How do you evaluate the planning practices in Nepal?
The Nepalese planning practices are based on the bottom-up approach. Though we are theoretically right, we have faced various practical problems with this approach while selecting the different programmes through its mechanism. Theoretically, the bottom-up approach ensures the selection of development projects as per the need of local people. However, this has not been realized due to the lapses in our mechanism. The development programmes used to be imposed from the back door on the basis of the interest of the powerful people irrespective of the local people’s need. An individual’s intervention starts from very lower level to the highest level in imposing the development programmes against the need and interest of the locals. Such unnecessary influences in the project selection process have been rampant at the present transition.
The main problem of the Nepalese planning practices is the poor implementation. There is lack of ability and readiness to implement the development programmes. On the other hand, there arise hurdles in implementing such programmes due to lack of ownership on the local people. Besides, implementation capacity of the development projects is also limited due to the inefficiency of the development administration and the absorption capacity of the economy.
Despite the announcement of priority sectors, the budget allocation has not been reasonable. What is the NPC is planning to give due priority to the prioritized sector?
Certainly, the country has failed to develop the stipulated priority sectors mainly due to a resource deficit. In almost all the plans made so far, the agriculture sector has been put in the top priority in statements. But due to the lack of sufficient resources allocated to the sector, we have not been able to make a desired level of development in this sector.
We have yet to develop a system of allocating budget according to the development needs and priorities of the country, both in terms of production sector and geographical region. We have realized the need for allocating the budget as per the priority sector. Since there is a resource constraint, we could not concentrate budget allocation on certain sectors. For deriving desirable results from the existing resources, we will focus on optimizing usage of available resources.
Is the NPC thinking of reviewing the development model considering the planning failures?
Certainly, we need a new development model to achieve the high economic growth and also to address the aspiration of people for New Nepal. As the development policy is directly linked to the political system, the NPC could not fix the development model. Now the country is in political transition and the system of governance is yet to be fixed. So, we could not make the overall development policy in the lack of concrete political direction. What we could do in this moment is to improve the existing system of development to address development need of the country and changed aspiration of the people. However, as the country is entering in to the federal system of the governance, we have started discussion at the NPC’s level regarding the development planning in the new system of governance.
Since we have Three Year Plan and annual budget programme already in hand, we could only show the change in the development policy through the orientation of the next year’s budget. There could be slight change in this year’s budget too after the mid-term evaluation.
What will be the orientation of the next year’s fiscal budget?
We are confident that we could direct the country’s development process as per the country’s development need and the changed aspirations of the people through the next year’s annual budget. The development activities of the past were more centralized. There is the need for making the development process more decentralized and inclusive which will be addressed by the next budget. The development activities at the local level have not been efficient due to the absence of elected local body. As the political mechanism has already been dismissed, we have to go for a new election of the local body. So, we have to allocate budgets for the election, too. Similarly, the country is about to enter into the federal system of governance. This requires a huge budget in infrastructures which also need to be addressed from the next year’s fiscal budget.
nnnn