BIG 3 MEET MEET UNDERWAY

BIG THREE MEET UNDERWAY IN GOKARNA

(NOTE: The following two items were delayed 10 hours in sending because of power outage which will resume in another 10 minutes. Sorry for inconvenience.)
Kathmandu, 8 Feb. A meeting of the Big Three is underway in Gokarna discussing peace, constitution, national government and other issues as relations between government, Maoists and opposition has deteriorated grinding business to a halt.
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8.10MM RAINFALL
Kathmandu, 8 Feb.: The capital received altogether 8.10mm winter rainfall
until Wednesday.
The weather is depressing amid cold and thunder in the capital with Himalayan and hilly regions reporting heavy snowfall.
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THE ITEMS BELOW WERE DELAYED 22 HOURS IN SENDINGBECAUSE F POWER OUTAGE. SORRY FOR INCONVENIENCE
GRADE XI RESULTS ANNOUNCED
Kathmandu, 7 Feb.:: Altogether ,42,329 students among the 61,453
examinees passed the exams, results announced Monday said.
Results of seven .have been withheld.
Higherer Secondary Education Board held exams in January.
The board has withheld the results of seven examinees.
The results can be checked at www.hseb.edu.np or www.result.ntc.net.np.
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2 TEENGAERS KILLED IN JHAPA SCOOTER ACCCDENT
Kathmandu, 7 Feb.:: Two youths riding on a scooter lost their lives in a road mishap at 10:45 PM last night, RSS reports from Bhadrapur.

The accident took place when the scooter (Me 3 Pa 9352) was heading to Shanischare from Arjundhara.

Sajan Subba (18) and Abhishek Acharya (17) of Anarmani-3 died in the accident, according to Area police Office, Birtamodh.

Subba breathed his last while undergoing treatment at Birtamod-based Kankai Hospital.

Acharya died while being ferried to Silugadgi of India for treatment.

They sustained critical injury after the scooter they were riding collided with a tree at Mahananda Chowk in Arjundhara-8.
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GLOBAL SUPPORT SOGHT TO FIGHT POVERTY
Kathmandu, 7 Feb.:: Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations, Gyan Chandra Acharya claimed that though Nepal has made tangible progress in terms of reducing poverty, capacity constraints should be looked at to ensure sustained reduction in poverty, The Himalayan Times reports.

“Nepal’s poverty has reduced from 42 per cent in 1996 to 25.4 per cent in 2009,” told Acharya addressing the fiftieth session of the Commission for Social Development on agenda item 3(a): Poverty Eradication, in New York on Monday.

But despite this progress, our development potentials are constrained by poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment with a low level of economic growth, low level of productivity and human development, said Acharya.

On the same occasion, he called for a comprehensive intervention and a holistic approach with strong and sustained global support to eradicate poverty.

Acharcy said, strong political will, policies, institutions and resources are critical to reducing poverty.

“Poverty eradication and social integration demand courageous political will, inclusive policies and unflinching determination at all levels, together with adequate provisions of resources,” stated Acharya.

While saying that dehumanizing conditions of poverty and hunger coupled with the crisis of youth unemployment severely undermine human and social development, Acharya said that poverty leads towards social exclusion and fuels tensions, threatening peace and stability within the national border and beyond.

Hinting at the report of the Secretary General which states that it would take another 88 years to eradicate extreme poverty, Acharya advocated on The Istanbul Program of Action for the LDCs which underlines that “solidarity and partnership with the poorest, weakest and most vulnerable countries and their people is not only moral and ethical imperatives, but also economic and political ones, which correspond to long-term interests of the international community and serve the cause of peace, security and prosperity”.
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PRACHANDA SUPPORTS SQUATTERS VEING EVICTED BY GOVT.
Kathmandu, 7 Feb.:-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Monday assured the landless squatters that their settlements will not be removed without finding an alternative, The KImalayan Times reportss.

Talking to a delegation of the squatters at his personal residence in Lazimpat, the former prime minister said measures to manage the settlements should be built up first as forceful eviction of squatters was not a solution.

The squatters knocked on the Maoist chief’s door with a 12-point memorandum as the government started dismantling the shanties built by the squatters on the banks of rivers in the Valley.

Dahal said he himself took initiatives to withhold the move in order to find a solution to the problems of landless
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NOW YCL ALSO SEEK SHARE
Kathmandu, 7 Feb.: Members of the Young Communist League (YCL), the youth wing of the UCPN (Maoist), have padlocked party offices in the Far-Western region, demanding facilities on a par with PLA combatants, Ganesh Chaudhary writes in The Kathmandu Post from Tikapur..
The Maoist party offices in nine districts of the region were shut for an indefinite period on Monday. The YCL has threatened to step up protests if its demands are not addressed by the party leadership.
The Maoists’ youth wing has also demanded relief and rehabilitation packages for its disabled members and integration of “interested” YCL members in the
Nepal Army.
The members claimed that their role was no different than that of the PLA during the insurgency. Secretary of the YCL Tharuwan State Committee Lalit Thapa said they will not allow the party’s central members to visit the region until their demands are met.
YCL activists, meanwhile, seized a car carrying Maoist Standing Committee member Lilamani Pokharel at Mahendranagar in Kanchanpur.
The YCL cadres briefly detained Pokharel, who was on his way to Dhangadi airport.
According to Thapa, 359 of them had left the PLA seventh division camp in Kailali to join the YCL and that the party leadership had promised them relief and rehabilitation packages that the PLA combatants would be getting.
“We resorted to the protest as the party leaders reneged on their commitment,” Thapa said.
The YCL protest comes a day after disqualified Maoist combatants disrupted the farewell process of retiring combatants in the PLA sixth division camp in Surkhet. In Surkhet, the cheque handover ceremony resumed on Monday amid tight security. Disabled combatants, however, refused to receive the cheques, demanding the government also provide them with free treatment and free schooling for their children.
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OPPOSITION FURIOUS WITH PM
Kathmandu, 7 Feb.: Prime Minister Babu-ram Bhattarai has sent a formal letter to the Ministry of Defence instructing it to start the process of integrating former Maoist combatants into the Nepal Army, Phanindra Dhal writes in The Kathmandu Post.
The official instruction comes in the wake of mounting pressure from opposition parties to take forward the integration process. The letter sent by the Prime Minister’s Office instructs the ministry to start the process based on the decision taken by the Special Committee for Supervision, Integration and Rehabilitation of Maoist combatants.
Sources in the ministry said the content of the letter is ‘ambiguous’ and that they are yet to forward the instruction to the Army. “The letter does not mention the decision of the Special Committee and it is also silent on whether the decision was endorsed by the Cabinet,” said a highly-placed source. “The newly-appointed defence secretary assumed office from today. We are yet to discuss how the instruction can be transmitted to the Army.”
Opposition parties have taken serious exception to the letter sent by the government, arguing it was prepared unilaterally. “There was an understanding that the PM would deliver his instructions to Army officials in the presence of Special Committee members. But he has not called a meeting so far,” a joint statement issued by the NC and the UML on Monday said. “There has been no discussion with political leaders and members of the Special Committee also have not been informed of the letter.”
In the seven-point peace deal signed on November 1, the major parties had agreed to form a general directorate with non-combat duties for the integration of a maximum of 6,500 combatants into the Army. The parties have agreed to relax the standards on age, marital status and educational qualification and say the ranks to be conferred on the combatants will be decided on the basis of existing standards.
The political agreement was endorsed by the PM-led Special Committee a day after it was signed. A two-star General at the Army Headquarters confirmed the government has “step-ped up efforts to issue an official instruction to begin the integration process.”
“We had so far received verbal instructions from the PM. We expect an official decision within two-three days,” the General said.
The Army Headquarters is all set to furnish a detailed plan of action on the integration work once it receives the order. Instead of a general directorate led by a major general, the Army leadership is trying to push for a department under the leadership of a three-star general to integrate the combatants. Some 9,705 fighters have opted for integration into the Army.
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