FORMER KING TO OFFER, PRAYER, PUJA AT SHIDDHANATH TEMPLE IN MAHENDRANAGAR FRIDAY

FORMER KING TO OFFER PUJA, PRAYERS AT SHIDDHANATH
TEMPLE IN MAHENDRANAGAR FRIDAY

Kathmandu, 30 March: Former King Gyanendra will offer prayers and puja at the
Shiddhanath Temple in Mahendranagar Friday.
He was lustily cheered by hundreds of supporters and welcomed with familiar ‘Rajo Ahau, Desh Bachau” slogans as soon as he alighted a regular commercial to Dhangadi from the capital.
His visit to the far-West is the first after becoming commoner.
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ANNAPURNA FINANCE UPGRADE TO DEVELOPMENT BANK

Kathmandu, 30 March: Pokhara-based Annapurna Finance Ltd. Launched 19 years ago will be upgraded to a category B development bank with permission received from Nepal Rashra Bank.
The upgraded bank will be named Kailash Bank.
The finance company has a paid-up capital of Rs.704.3 million.
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NEPSE INDEX AGAIN SLIPS BELOW 300 POINTS

Kathmandu, 30 March: Nepse index Thursday again fell below the 300 point index
The market lost 1.25 points and closed at 298.89 points at the end of five—day trading
Shares of Nepal Telecom, which just announced divided, lost 7.05 points in share trading.
Altogether 9,961 shares were traded in 1,109 transactions Rs.17.2
million.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“Since Parliament is the supreme lawmaking body, the apex court does not have the right to direct it. I cannot say whether Parliament has right to supersede the SC judgment, but it does have the right to decide on its own and take appropriate decision.It’s
Parliament’s prerogative to seek a fresh mandate.”

(Attorney General Mukti Narayan Pradhan, The Himalayan Times, 30 March)
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LAWMAKERS DON’T FOLLOW LAW
Kathmandu, 30 March: There are lawmakers breaking laws by sending fake examinees to sit for their SLC exams, but they have never been brought to book — a trend that not only speaks about state of impunity but also bespeaks a situation of absolute
Lawlessness, The Himalayan Times reports.

CPN-UML lawmaker Kiran Kumari Ray during SLC exams last year was found to have sent her daughter to take mathematics test (on March 28, 2011) on behalf of her in Sarlahi.

Exactly after a year, 25-year-old Sahitya Lama was arrested yesterday for writing economics paper for Maoist lawmaker Prem Bahadur Pulami in Rautahat.

While police showed promptitude to arrest Lama, no one knows what action lawmaker Pulami is liable to.

UML’s Ray was quizzed by her party’s disciplinary committee following media reports of her offence. Amrit Bohora of UML’s disciplinary committee told this daily that the party let her go after issuing a warning.

When Sarlahi SP Ram Prasad Shrestha was contacted to shed light on Ray’s case, Shrestha said a police team had been sent to the exam centre, where the malpractice was reported, the following day, but neither Ray nor her daughter showed up.

And the case was consigned to oblivion. CPN-UML was in power then.

Now when the Maoists are at the helm, a similar case involving their lawmakers has come to light.

But Lama, who is said to have taken earlier six exams for lawmaker Pulami before he was arrested yesterday, is just a small fry.

And even another Maoist lawmaker Kumari Moktan’s sister was found to have sent a fake examinee to sit for her exam yesterday.

Interestingly, Speaker Subas Nembang, who in capacity of the chairman of the Constituent Assembly is the custodian of Constituent Assembly members, flaunted ignorance about Ray’s case.

According to Education Act 1971, a person appearing in examinations on behalf of others is liable to a fine and six months in jail or both. Nonetheless, the law is silent on what action should be taken against those who send fake examinees to write their exams.

What advocate Bal Krishna Neupane suggests is: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority should probe and file a case against the lawmakers in question, which will ultimately hand them automatic suspension.
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ANOTHER TRADE OUTLET WITH TIBET TO BE OPENED
SOON IN RASUWA
Kathmandu, 30 March: Jilong, one of the six trading points with China, is soon going to be operational for overland cargo movement, The Himalayan Times reports from Rasuwa.
According to Nepal–China Bilateral Agreement there are six different trading points along the two countries for overland trade. However, apart from Tatopani–Lhasa, the other border points have nominal border trade.
Rasuwa-Jilong, Hilsa (Humla)-Pulan, Olangchunggola-Riwuand, Kimathanka-Chentang, Nechung (Mustang)-Lizi are the other five border points between Nepal and China which currently have nominal border trade.
“The Chinese government has been developing infrastructure for a full fledge overland trade movement in other remaining border points,” said joint secretary at Ministry of Commerce and Supplies Naindra Prasad Upadhyaya and also added that Rasuwa–Jilong will be the next trading point after the Tatopani customs.
“Besides overland cargo movement, Rasuwagadi will help minimise cargo traffic at Tatopani,” he said. China is providing assistance and technology for construction of a dry port in Tatopani and it will help ease the traffic there.


MAOIST CHIEF BACKS PM IN PARTY DISPUTED
Kathmandu, 30 March : Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has stated that the radical faction´s demand for immediate resignation of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and the intra-party conflict in the Maoist Mithila state are primarily responsible for throwing the party into the current state of
Disarray, Post B. Basnet writes in Republica.e.

“As per the decision and directive of the central committee (CC), the party leadership can only expedite the process to form a national consensus government. On the other hand, pressing for dissolution of the current government without any plausible option of forming a national consensus government would naturally invite an allegation of the party being extremely irresponsible toward the people, peace and constitution drafting,” reads the political document presented by Dahal at the meeting of the CC members loyal to the party establishment on Wednesday.

The Maoist chairman has also objected to the various allegations leveled against the Bhattarai-led government by the hardliners.

“It is clear that demanding dissolution of the government led by the party, terming it anti-national, anti-people is not only a straight violation of CC decisions, but also against the basic political norms and values,” states the document.

The document states that the grave allegations leveled against each other by rival factions in the Mithila state is another reason that has prevented the party leadership from formulating cadre-orientation program in Mithila.

Dahal has accused that the formation of a struggle committee and a political front by the leaders of the Baidya faction to carry out separate programs has violated the party decisions and adversely affected the party unity.

The Maoist chairman has stated that the reason behind the current intra-party crisis is the result of difference of opinion on the tactical line of the party on how to drive the revolutionary process ahead.

According to him, the leaders of the Baidya faction have been expressing “leftist capitulationism” in the form of “revolutionary jargons” in politics and “petty bourgeois impatience and anarchy” within the party organization.

In the document, Dahal has refrained from attacking Baidya directly and instead refers to the faction as “pro-Kiran comrades.”

The document points out the need for formulating programs to mobilize the full-timers, reactivate the YCL, ethnic and regional fronts, and organize the ex-combatants in
favor of the party´s causes.
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SKIPPING PROVISION MUST TO PROMULGATE CONSTITUTION BY 27 MAY

Kathmandu, 30 March : With the Supreme Court upholding its verdict on CA term extension, it has become certain that the CA must skip some of the crucial constitutional as well as procedural provisions to promulgate the new constitution by the May 27 deadline, Tirtha B. Bhusal writes in Republica.

As of now, the Constitutional Committee, which is entrusted with preparing the first integrated draft report of the new constitution by incorporating all the draft reports of the 11 thematic committees, is struggling to resolve some of the key thorny issues such as the system of governance, judiciary and federal system to be incorporated in the new constitution.

The major tasks the CA is yet to accomplish include resolving disputes, preparing an integrated draft, seeking public feedback on the draft and holding deliberations on the draft in the full CA house.

The draft will then be forwarded to CC for finalization by incorporating public feedback. After incorporating public feedback, the drafting committee will prepare a draft in the form of a constitution bill to be tabled in CA for approval.

CA members will then be allowed to register their amendments (if any) and there will be clause-wise deliberations over the draft and amendments.

Moreover, Article 70 of the interim constitution requires consensus on all the provisions. In the event of failure to forge consensus, the parliamentary party leaders of the political parties represented in the CA shall hold mutual consultations in order to reach consensus on the disputed issues. As per the constitutional provision, the leaders will be given a 22-day timeline to resolve the disputes.

The constitutional provision will be invoked even if a single lawmaker questions or disagrees with any one of the proposed articles. However, the constitution bill may finally be past by two-thirds majority in the CA.

Officials at the CA secretariat said amendment to Article 70 of the interim constitution has become imperative because it is next to impossible to abide by the provision owing to time constraints.

“I have time and again urged the top leaders to take initiatives to amend the provision and they are positive,” Speaker Subas Nembang told Republica.

Officials at the secretariat, however, are dismayed at the political leaders´ apathy.

According to officials, preparation of the integrated draft by technical experts would require one month. “At least, we must allocate 15 days for drafting. We can do it in two weeks only if a team works round the clock without disputing,” Legal Advisor at the CA secretariat, Tek Prasad Dhungana, who is closely involved in the constitution writing process, told Republica.

He said preparing the integrated draft would be very monotonous and time consuming task. “We can´t afford to work in haste because a minor slip may cause constitutional ambiguity in future,” he explained.

Some other top officials, however, see very less possibility of creating such an environment given the working style of the political leadership.

Leaders are lately mulling an alternative with regard to reaching out to the people. Officials said they are planning to publish the first integrated draft in major national dailies simultaneously and circulate booklets. Officials said the idea has convinced leaders because the lawmakers had already fanned out across the country before preparing the preliminary draft report seeking public feedback on the new constitution.

Officials believe that the issue of whether the CA will be able to promulgate the new constitution largely depends on top political leaders´ ability to move ahead through consensus.

“If they keep aside their differences and express readiness to work jointly through mutual trust, the matter of procedural tasks will no longer remain a problem,” said the official. “But that is the big deficit ailing our leaders.”
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AGREEMENT ON MAOIST INTEGRATION LIKELY FRIDAY
Kathmandu, 30 March: Come Friday, the peace process could see a breakthrough and the Maoist combatants will vacate the cantonments by mid-April, according to negotiators across party lines, Phanindra Dahal writes in The Kathmandu Post..
A part of the broader cross-party deal will also lead to the formation of a national unity government under Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and finalise the constitution by mid-May. The Special Committee is likely to make the deal public on Friday morning.
The positive developments come a day after the Supreme Court asserted that the May 27 deadline of the Constituent Assembly is final. Parties reached the understanding after Maoist negotiators agreed to the standard norms of the Nepal Army for integration of their combatants, as envisaged in the seven-point deal. Non-Maoist parties, including the CPN-UML, demonstrated some flexibility in accepting the integration proposal the Army floated in February.
The issue of ranks, a major bone of contention, will now be determined by the Army as per its own standard norms. “Rank is no longer a problem now. If any problem does arise during the process of determining ranks, it will be sorted out at the political level,” said a key NC negotiator. "I expect a beakthrough, barrring last-minute hitches."
Leaders said the Special Committee would offer yet another opportunity to the 9,713 combatants to opt for voluntary retirement and this process would begin either by Sunday or Monday. “We have estimated the number of combatants to for integration will not exceed 6,000,” said another NC negotiator. “We expect the cantonments to be vacated within the next 10 days. Within that period the arms stored in cantonments will come under the Army's control.”
A Maoist leader concurrd that there is now a deal. "The integration process will take momentum now. We have agreed to move ahead as per the standard norms of the Nepal Army," said the party's Politburo member Chandra Prakash Khanal "Baldev."
Prime Minister Bhattarai on Thursday afternoon invited Khanal for discussions on finalising the integration action plan in his office in Singha Durbar.
According to a Maoist leader, there is an agreement to confer a post of colonel to the combatants in the proposed general directorate of the Army. The final decision on the ranks will be made in a three-party meeting slated for Friday morning.
Parties have agreed that all combatants eligible for integration will have to take a five-month-long basic training and seven-month-long rank specific training before their deployment in the Army. The Army team will start the screening process within a week of striking the deal.
Selection of combatants and the process of awarding voluntary retirement package to those switching over their interest or failing to meet the standard norms will be carried out hand in hand. "We can dispatch technical teams to bid farewell to those deciding to go for retirement within a week,” said a Special Committee member.
Parties are also close to consensus on appointing a Maoist representative to monitor the process of selection of combatants. The Maoists had demanded representation in the government's mechanism that will screen the combatants at the Army barracks.
Earlier, the Special Committee Secretariat had missed Tuesday's deadline to forge consensus on the action plan on integration. The PM postponed the Special Committee meeting after the secretariat failed to forge consensus.
“We have almost forged consensus on the action plan. We will give it a final touch ahead of the Special Committee meeting scheduled for 12 pm,” said secretariat member Sanandan Prasad Kurmi. Opposition leader Ram Sharan Mahat said he is optimistic that the Special Committee meeting will yield a positive outcome.
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