CA MEETS AFTER AN EXTENDED ADJOURNMENT
Kathmandu, 25 March: Constituent assembly (CA) meets Sunday after am extended adjournment.
Committees under the CA –Prachanda sub-committee to resolve themes to be included in a constitution and the main constitution drafting committee headed by Nilambar
Acharya-- hadn’t submitted reports to it for discussion.
The assembly meets amid concerns a 28 May deadline to complete peace and constitution will again by missed.; amid such concerns, parties last week agreed to complete the two processes.
The Prachanda sub-committee missed a 10-day deadline to resolve differences
last week without even meeting once in nine of allotted 10 days; the same day, the sub-committee got another 15-day extension to complete its responsibility.
Chairman Subash Nemwang will present a controversial report with two separate suggestions for a federal state structure submitted by a government-appointed state reorganization commission.
Discussions on the commission start Monday amid deep differences amongst
major players on a structure to divide and share powers of a previously
centralized state.
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YOUTH LAWMAKERS PRESS PM, SPEAKER TO COMPLETE TWIN TASKS
Kathmandu, 25 March: Youth lawmakers are meeting separately with Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and Speaker Subash Nemwang Sunday to urge them to complete the delayed peace and constitution drafting processes.
Opposition UML national representatives council meeting this month decided t launch a pressure campaign to complete the twin processes within the deadline.
Prime Minister Bhattarai is one of few leaders confident and sure the deadline will be met and urged Saturday the procedures will be met by 28 May.
He even said the tenure of the CA shouldn’t be extended again after 28 May
even as Bhattarai and Nemwang have asked the supreme court to reconsider a
the CA tenure can’t again be extended after 28 May.
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12 TEAMS SEEK PERMISSION TO SCALE EVEREST
Kathmandu, 25 March: More expeditions can apply to scale the 8848meters high Mount Everest the world’s tallest peak, this spring until the end of May
Even as 12 teams have so far sought permission from the tourism ministry until
22 March, according to the mountaineering division in the ministry.
Three Indians teams, including Indian Women Everest Expedition, have applied for permits.
Expeditions scale the peak shared by Nepal and Tibet from the north south in Nepal.
A controversy and uproar was stirred when the Maoist-led government of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai gave a Rs,20 million dole to a Maoist-team led by Prakash Dahal—the son of Chairman Prachanda—to climb the peak to promote peace and the constitution.
How would an ascent of Everest contribute positively to conclude the delayed to peace and constitution processes?
Bhattarai, charged by many as leading Nepal’s most corrupt government, was funding hs party and its youth with close connections.
The prime minister was attempting to please the party boss, his family and the
party.
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WHAT ARE MAOIST HARDLINERS DOING?
Kathmandu, 25 March: With the party radicals threatening to break away, the Maoist establishment faction has called a formal meeting of the central committee (CC) for Monday to chart out its course against the former, Post B. Basnet writes n Republica..
The decision to hold a meeting comes a day after the hard-line faction led by Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya formed a political front to push its radical political agendas.
A notice has been issued to all the CC members to participate in the meeting, though Baidya has already dismissed the significance of any such meeting prior to the dissolution of the “anti-national” government led by party leader Baburam Bhattarai.
Then, how will the Baidya faction move ahead?
“We will go to any length to implement the past decisions,” says leader Kul Prasad KC who is close to Baidya.
Party insiders say Baidya faction is planning to play three cards to consolidate its position.
First is the card of “radical nationalism”. Justifying the formation of the political front, the hardliners in a press statement said: “Foreign interference has been growing in all the sectors and so is border encroachment. The national sovereignty and independence is in crisis.
” As per their philosophy also, the Maoist hardliners want to cash in on the surge of nationalist sentiments against India. According to leaders, they are also holding talks with the “nationalists and intellectuals” to convince the latter to join the front.
Second is their strategy to win the support of ethnic activists and parties that are strongly demanding ethnic-based federalism. The fringe parties they have forged alliance with also reflect their intention. Of the 11 fringe parties in their front, seven are radical parties espousing ethnic states.
Sources say party General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa, a key hardliner, is also holding talks with the Janajati caucus to fight for the same cause. “Since they know that the ethnic states espoused by ethnic activists and politicians will not materialize, the political tide will turn in their favor,” says a leader close to Dahal.
If the agendas of nationalism and ethnic states mean mobilizing outsiders in their favor, the demand for “people´s constitution” is to win the sentiments of the party cadres. “They plan to mobilize the party cadres saying they are fighting for the constitution that will justify the significance of the people´s war,” says a senior party leader close to Bhattarai.
But, what is the objective of the hardliner faction and how will they achieve it?
“In fact, they are preparing grounds for splitting the party. They know they cannot force the other parties to formulate a people´s constitution or meet the demand for ethnic states. So why not cash them in their favor,” says political analyst Mumaram Khanal.
Party insiders say the hardliners are working to expand their organizational base in the party and garner wider support to split the party at some point, possibly around May 28, the constitution drafting deadline. Before that, they are not likely to announce a separate party formally.
“I am almost sure that the party will remain united with some sorts of threats before the CA deadline. And much will also depend on how Baidya, who is not for taking any blame for engineering a split, makes his move,” says CC member Kumar Poudel. There is no uniformity of opinions in the hard-line faction.
Senior leaders including CP Gajurel and Dev Gurung, along with Baidya, are a bit hesitant to split the party immediately without well-founded justifications while Thapa and Netra Bikram Chand look ready for any move to save the party´s “revolutionary spirit”. It is yet to be seen who will prevail.
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RISE IN OUTSOURCING FRAUD CASES
Kathmandu, 25 March: The Department of Foreign Employment has registered
1,285 fraud cases against outsourcing agencies and their agents in the last eight months.
The department’s data shows that there has been a rise in the number of outsourcing fraud cases in the second quadrimester (mid-November to mid-March) as compared to the first quadrimester (mid-July to mid-November).
A total of 637 fraud cases was reported at the department in the first four months including 363 agent-based and 265 agencies-based frauds. The number of fraud cases went up by 11 between mid-November and mid-March touching 648.
According to the department, Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September) witnessed the highest number of fraud cases –– 238 –– in the two-decade long Nepali outsourcing history. There were 153 fraud cases registered against agents and 85 cases against registered outsourcers.
Outsourcing fraud significantly fell in Ashwin (mid-September to mid-October) and Kartik (mid-October to mid-November) with 103 and 81 cases registered at the department respectively.
However, the trend did not last for long. Mangsir — the first month of the second quadrimester — witnessed 172 fraud cases followed by Poush (156), Magh (161) and Falgun (159). Fraud cases against agents have dominated the foreign employment fraud scene with 778 cases in the last eight months.
According to the department, in the last eight months, fraud worth Rs 763.76 million was committed while 102 cases claiming compensation worth Rs 329.87 million have been forwarded to the Foreign Employment Tribunal. The department has solved 1,183 cases providing a compensation of Rs 433.89 million to the victim migrant workers.
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