CONFIRMATION HEARINGS LFOR NOINATED AMBASSADORS BEGIN

CONFIRMATION HEARINGS OF NOMINEES FOR AMBASSSADOR GETS UNDERWAY

Kathmandu, 2 Feb.: Confirmation hearings of 10 nominees for ambassadors—six career diplomats and four
political appointees close to Maoist heading the government, began at a parliamentary committee Thursday.
The nominations were sent back by the committee the first tine without conducting any business on grounds
Appointments weren’t inconclusive.
Hearings began Thursday amid assurances appointment of political nominees will be inconclusive.
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TEAMS OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE SECRETARIAT LEAVING FOR CAMPS
Kathmandu, 2 Feb.: Teams of secretariat of special committee for the integration and resettlement of
former Maoist fighters are leaving for seven cantonments to Thursday to oversee return of 7,000 plus
combatants who have voluntarily opted to return home after five years.
Their retirement begins Friday and the process will be completed in 12 days.
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POLITCAL PROTECTION HITS REVENUE COLLECTION
Kathmandu,, 2 Feb.: Political protection, loopholes in the laws and delay in verdict by the judicial bodies
have been hitting the government’s plan of tightening the public purse, The Himalayan Times reports.

Inland Revenue Department – the tax authority – has still to settle an outstanding Rs 24 billion revenue dues but most of the taxpayers have moved to the court, a Finance Ministry source said, adding that others are denying the tax authority due to their political connection. Of the total Rs 24 billion revenue dues, the department has to collect Rs 20 billion income and excise and Rs 4 billion Value Added Tax (VAT) and Tax Deducted at Source (TDS).

“The trend of moving the court whenever the tax authority tightens them is on the rise,” the source said.

Some firms are denying to pay tax liabilities even threatening the government that it will send a negative message that government is not creating a conducive environment for the investment, the ministry source revealed.

Despite huge resistance, the Inland Revenue Department has targeted to collect Rs 5 billion dues within the current fiscal year. “The department has collected Rs 1 billion dues during the first half of the current fiscal year,” director general at the department Tanka Mani Sharma said, adding that the department is preparing to take stringent action against those taxpayers who are avoiding tax compliance.

The department is planning to freeze bank accounts, stop transactions and even close entire businesses under Income Tax Act, VAT Act and Excise Act, if they failed to settle their dues within mid-February, he added.

Around 1,000 taxpayers are yet to clear their tax that comes to more than Rs 1 million per taxpayer, Sharma revealed, “The department has also targeted those firms, whose dues exceed Rs 1 million.”

Currently, the country has 600,000 PAN registered and 104,000 VAT registered taxpayers, according to Inland Revenue Department.

Govt to bring brick kilns under VAT net

Finance Ministry formed a committee to settle dispute between brick kilns and the government on VAT liabilities. Joint secretary at the ministry Bogendra Raj Sharma Poudel led committee is mandated to submit report within 15 days, under secretary at the ministry Ganga Prasad Sharma said. There are some 700 brick kilns in the country and most of them are evading VAT, he said, adding that the committee will provide recommendations on how to bring them into VAT net. The government and brick kilns owners are at loggerheads since a month. They have demanded to introduce flat tax rate.

DRI to file case

Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) is filing case against Global Soft Net claiming Rs 2 billion fine and tax for its involvement in illicit VoIP scam. The department has finalised its tax assessment and will file case against it on Thursday, the department said.
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GURKHAS BEING RECRUITED BY FORCESELECT

Kathmandu, 2 Feb.: A recruitment company ForceSelect is all set to recruit 160 unemployed Gurkhas, just two weeks after the British Ministry of Defence declared 4,200 job cuts, arguing they were overmanned,, The Himalayan Times reports.

“ForceSelect has signed a deal with Gallowglass, to provide crew members for a wide range of public and corporate events,” British Forces News writes.

ForceSelect will provide 35-50 crew members a month to work with Gallowglass across the UK.

“Despite the stories of doom and gloom and the very valid concerns of military personnel who are now facing redundancy, there are a lot of opportunities for service leavers who want to start a new career,” ForceSelect founder Hugh Andrée told to British Forces News.

“Our agreement with Gallowglass is tremendous news and demonstrates that there is work available for those who aren't afraid of some hard graft. After the cuts announced recently, I believe the Gurkhas will make perfect crew members for Gallowglass,” Andree added.

Gallowglass Managing Director, Nick Grecian, is delighted to be able to support British service leavers.

“Our company ethos is built around teamwork and discipline with plenty of outdoor activity. With government cuts making redundancies in the forces, we are delighted to be able to offer relevant employment and long-term career prospects to a much-valued group of people with highly transferrable skills,” Grecian told British Forces News.

Meanwhile, Peter Carroll, founder of the Gurkha Justice Campaign told, “I wholeheartedly support ForceSelect in their attempts to place these fine people into work as they cope with leaving the Army. Further, as an ex serviceman myself I fully support all the work that ForceSelect is doing to help find work for all service leavers.”
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NO SALARY, ADION FOR FORMER MAOIST FIGHTERS FROM 13 FEB.
Kathmandu, 2 Feb.: If the voluntary retirement process moves ahead as planned, the government will stop the salary and ration for the combatants who have opted for voluntary retirement from February 13, which means the retiring combatants will have to leave cantonments by February 12., Republica reports

Sources said Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, Chief Secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire and Convener of the Secretariat for the Special Committee Balananda Sharma have reached an informal understanding that the retiring combatants should be allowed to remain in the cantonments only till February 12.

The understanding was reached after confusion ensued about how long the retiring combatants should be allowed to stay in the cantonments once they receive their cheques.

"The teams of the secretariat, who are visiting cantonments from Friday to complete the voluntary retirement process, will inform the retiring combatants that they will get salary and ration only for this month of the Nepali calendar," said a source at the secretariat preferring anonymity.

The secretariat is set to dispatch seven teams to the Maoist cantonments to hand out the retirement cheques to 7,365 combatants on Thursday morning despite skepticisms about possible non-cooperation from Maoist commanders.

The teams are supposed to start giving voluntary retirement from Friday.
"Whether we get cooperation from the Maoist party or not, we are going to the cantonments this time because we have to implement the decision of the Special Committee," said a source at the secretariat.

The seven teams that are leaving Kathmandu on Thursday will visit separate cantonments and move to the next after completing the process within two days.

"We will stay in one cantonment for two days and then head to another whether the combatants come to receive their cheques or not," said another source at the secretariat.

As per the secretariat, the plan is to complete the retirement process within
12 days.
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BHATTARAI FACTION PREPARES TO BOLSTER HOLD ON PARTY
Kathmandu, 2 Feb.: The Maoist faction led by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has begun exercise to bolster its organizational base in light of growing dissatisfactions among party
leaders and shifting alliances within the party, Kiran Pun writes in
Republica..

Party sources say the Bhattarai faction´s move comes at a time when his organizational base has depleted since getting elected to the post of prime minister, and he faces the challenge of retaining leaders loyal to him who have been backing him for years.

The senior leaders of the faction have held separate gatherings in the capital lately to “safeguard the ideological line” in light of the growing intimacy between Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya.

On January 21, senior party leaders from the faction met at the private residence of Bhattarai in Sanepa. The prime minister himself participated in the meeting that was coordinated by his political advisor Devendra Poudel.

Sources say the leaders quizzed Bhattarai about his current relations with Chairman Dahal and the latter´s hobnobbing with Baidya. “You did not even present a separate document during the central committee meeting, though the chairman seems to have changed his alliance,” a participant quoted the leaders as saying. Bhattarai had replied that Dahal had consulted with him before preparing the paper and that there was nothing wrong in the paper.

The members had also complained about “bad governance” under his leadership and his neglect of those who had backed him for years.

A similar gathering of youths was held at the same place on January 26 and it was coordinated by politburo member Ram Karki.
Likewise, Nawaraj Subedi, another senior leader, had coordinated a gathering of Maoist intellectuals on January 28.

It is noteworthy that Poudel, Karki and Subedi are not content with Bhattarai. Poudel has frequently complained about Bhattarai´s tendency to go his own way, ignoring his advice, while Karki, his longtime associate, is not happy for being deprived of any significant role in the governance.

Though Karki has been nominated ambassador to India, he is yet to receive agreemo from the southern neighbor. Subedi, another of Bhattarai´s aides, too hasn´t got any role in Bhattarai´s team. Sources say many of his close aides have already left his faction.
Meanwhile, Bhattarai faction has also begun holding dinner parties and cultural programs to expand and strengthen its organizational base.

The faction´s cultural wing held a separate cultural show at Rastriya Naachghar in the capital on Monday. It may be recalled that the Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya faction´s Samana Pariwar has already been organizing cultural shows across the country apparently to “spread the flame of revolution”.

Sources say the unionists close to Bhattarai are also holding a separate gathering in Kathmandu on Feb 8, in which Bhattarai is set to participate.

"Post Bahadur Bogati [from Dahal faction] and Badri Bajagain [from Baidya faction] are holding their own gatherings. Why not us?" said Laldhwaj Nembang, union leader from Bhattarai
faction.
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