TEACHERS GO ON NATION-WIDE PROTESTS

TEACHERS ON NATION-WIDE PROTESTS FROM SUNDAY
Kathmandu, 11 March: Temporary teachers closed down schools nation-wide pressing .professional demands.
Teachers charged government for not showing interest inimplementing
Most of the 47 demands had meet met, Education Minister Dinanath Sharma said.
Amid exchange of charges, teachers were accused for rejecting to sit
down for negotiations.
Education Minister Dinanath Sharma said most of the demands of temporary teachers pressed by two teachers’ unions were addressed y by
government in four rounds of talks ahead of SLC examinations that
begin later this month .
Teachers charged the minister for walking of talks Saturday forcing
them on strike.
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BIG THREE OPPOSE CHITWAN DIVISION
Kathmandu, 11 March: Three major parties—UCPN (Maoist), NC and UML—have opposed the division of the central Chitwan district
proposed by a government-appointed state restructuring commission.
Leaders of the Big Three assembled in the district Saturday to
demonstrate solidarity and opposition against the district’s split at a time when voices are being raised the division of a unitary state on
ethnicity
Maoist Chairman Prachanda, UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal ,NC leader Dr.Ram Sharan Mahat were among the three party leaders who
Attended the unity meet against a split ,
insl future Nepal. Thgree parties if theyto ponnnn
Some is fimnal decision willbetakenypeople of Chtwan.
If state is deivided n ehncity thenevery village weveryvillage will have tobe divided.
6th INTERNATIONAL FOLK CULTURAL FESTIVAL BEGINS
Kathmandu, 11 March: Speaker Subash Nemwang inaugurated a
week-long 6th International Folk Culture Festival in the capital Saturday
Representatives of 11 nations are participating.
Teams will visit Butwal, Dang and Pokhara
for presentations.
The team is visiting Lumbini the birthplace of The Buddha Sunday,
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TOURISM MINISTER LOKENDRA BISTA WHO TRAVELED ABROAD WITHOUT VISA RETURNS
Kathmandu, 11 March: Tourism Minster Lokendra Bista returned home
Saturday after attending a tourism promotional conference in Berlin.
Travelling with a passport without a valid German visa, he spent two embarrassing nights at Abu Dhabi transit hotel after questioning by immigration officials; he spent two nights at the transit hotel and resumed his journey only after securing a visa
Visas are compulsory for any foreign travel
The minister ruined the country’s already falling international image of the country causing embarrassment to himself
Abu Dhabi airport returned two Nepalis travelling on diplomatic passports sold by lawmakers who have been caught and expelled from parliament..
The minister’s wife , who accompanied him, had her visa stamped by the
German embassy in Kathmandu.
Attempts are being made to make lower official at ministry and TIA scapegoats.
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22 TIBETANS ARRESTED
Kathmandu, 11 March: Twenty-two Tibetans were arrested Saturday
In the capital Saturday coinciding with the 53rd anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising Day
Security was tight in front of the Chinese embassy and Tibetan
community centers in the capital and Lalitpur.
Police adopted precautionary measures to prevent protests opposed by Nepal’s powerful neighbour to the north.
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INDIA PLAYS PHILIPPINES IN AFC CHALLENGE CUP
Kathmandu, 11 March : Tajikistan lays North Korea in the AFC Challenge Cup 2012 Sunday.
India play Philippines in another match,
Nepal crashed out of the tournament Saturday after losing to Maldives 1-0
Turkmenistan and Palestine are on top of Group A with four points each from two matches each.
Nepal earned 0 points from its two matches with two losses in the group with hope to reach the semi-final.
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MEDIA GOOGLE:
There are Constituent Assembly members who cannot even understand the draft of the constitution and we are supposed to follow the statute formulated by them,”
(Justice Ram Kumar Saha, The Himalayan Times, 11 March)
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REBRANDING GAS CYLINDERS
Kathmandu, 11 March: Government: is considering the concept of rebranding cooking gas cylinders under the brand name ‘NOC’ to maintain safety measures, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, The Himalayan Times reports.

Chief secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire has directed Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to carry out a feasibility study for rebranding cooking gas cylinders to ensure safety and quality of gas cylinders, said spokesperson at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies Deepak Subedi.

The ministry is thinking of collecting all the cylinders from the market and checking their quality first, he said. “The ministry will direct NOC to dump cylinders if it fails to meet the safety criteria.”

Branding cylinders under ‘NOC’ has double benefit, he said. “It will help end the current trend of cutting the neck-ring and foot-ring by bottling plants and it will also help end the trend of hoarding since the corporation can keep the exact record of cylinders.”

NOC is preparing the modality for rebranding, according to Subedi. “Chief secretary has asked NOC to prepare a report by tomorrow on whether rebranding is possible or not,” he said.

The state oil monopoly will prepare a detailed report on the procedure of rebranding along with the timeline to complete the task, said Subedi. The corporation will also prepare the technical details of the plan for rebranding.

There are some 4.5 million gas cylinders in the market, but no one can ensure the safety and quality of even one single cylinder.

There are some 40 brands of cooking gas of 40 bottling plants in the market at present. But, consumers are facing problems in exchanging cylinders due to the unavailability of different brands at different places. Successive governments have been saying they will end irregularities in the cooking gas business but nothing has happened.

It is very urgent to ensure the safety of cooking gas cylinders since many bottling plants are found to be tampering with cylinders, said Subedi.

The High Level Committee led by lawmaker Bhim Acharya that was formed to provide recommendations to reform the petroleum sector had directed the government to introduce a provision to do away with cylinders that are more than 20 years old. But the provision could never be implemented due to the influence of gas bottling plants on the government, according to a source at the ministry.
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GOVT. LOSING REVENUE
Kathmandu, 11 March: The government has been losing most of the cases related to revenue due to a lack of coordination between tax offices and the government attorney, according to deputy attorney general Raj Narayan Pathak, The Himalayan Times reports.

It is the greedy nature of some tax officers that has also forced the government to be backdated about decisions related to tax assessments, he said during

a training programme organised by Inland Revenue Department (IRD).

“It has been found that some tax officers assess tax compliance only to receive more incentives from the government,” said Pathak.

“In most cases, IRD and Inland Revenue Offices (IRO) file cases without proper consultation with government attorneys,” he lamented. “But, tax administrators blame the government attorneys when they lose the cases.”

A Supreme Court judge Baidhya Nath Upadhyay indicated the poor performance of employees at the tax administration for the massive leakages in revenue.

“Even a direct supervision by the staff of Inland Revenue Office has not improved the overall collection trend of excise duty,” he said, questioning the existing provision of deploying an employee from IRO for alcohol manufacturing companies.

Isn’t it shameful that entrepreneurs can evade excise duty even though the tax administration has introduced the provision of placing employees at the premises of factories to inspect their tax compliance, remarked Upadhyay.

However, officials from the judiciary accepted that there is low exposure of judges regarding cases related to revenue. “Revenue related cases are an entirely technical issue,” said Pathak. “But, the government has not provided any capacity building training to government attorneys.”

“On one hand, government attorneys have to face work pressure and on the other they are not updated about tax issues and most of them are not aware about tax related issues,” he said.

Coordination between government attorneys and the tax administration is a must to ensure effectiveness in tax related cases, Pathak claimed.

The IRD, of late, has been alarmed since it is losing most of the cases at the Revenue Tribunal and even in the courts. “The department should seriously take up this issue of losing cases to control revenue leakage,” an official at the department said.
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NOC REVOKES DEAL TO ALLOW IOC TO RAISE PROFIT MARGIN
Kathmandu, 11 March: Board of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has turned down the management´s proposal to allow Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to revoke 50 percent discount, which it was pledging on marketing margin (profit margin), to secure elimination of refinery- and duty-related costs passed on to Nepal, saying that the deal will add loss to the country, Republica reports.

The board´s decision has forced NOC management to review an understanding that it reached during talks with IOC top brass in Mumbai last month.

The IOC talks team led by NOC acting chief Suresh Kumar Agrawal had last month reached an understanding to allow IOC to revoke 50 percent discount that it pledged on its profit margin. In return, IOC had agreed to eliminate refinery- and duty-related costs, termed as Price Adjustment Factor (PAF), passed on to Nepal.
Interestingly, the NOC management had agreed on the deal without due consent of the board as well as Supplies Ministry.

“The team had straightaway bought the Indian supplier´s argument that such a deal will bring net gain of Rs 90 million to NOC in a month. However, our calculation showed the result will be otherwise,” said a source.

Under what India says as special facility for Nepal, IOC is presently charging price worth 2.5 percent of cost of crude as well as transportation up to the Indian port as its profit margin. IOC says this is half the amount than what it otherwise has charged the Indian consumers.

Following the board´s decision, NOC management has informed IOC about its change in stance over the understanding reached in Mumbai. “A letter in this connection has already been sent to IOC. It has not responded yet,” the source told Republica.

As NOC and IOC gear up negotiations to review Supply Agreement, NOC board has instructed the management to push IOC to eliminate PAF, without seeking anything in return from Nepal.

“It is already an established fact that supplies made to Nepal should not be subjected to Indian duty and taxes. Changes in the international market situation over the past 10 years, when India deregulated prices, have also proven that rates of refinery charges that we agreed on were quite high. So, our demand for elimination of PAF is valid,” said the source.

A high-level commission formed by the government last year too had identified that PAF related cost passed on Nepal by IOC was faulty and had suggested to the government and NOC to get it corrected when the two side sit for talks to renew the NOC-IOC Supply Agreement.

The same commission, interestingly, had even suggested to the government to seek IOC to further lower the marketing margin -- contrary to what NOC management agreed on -- saying that Nepal´s consumption over the past 10 years have grown by four fold.

“This has already enabled IOC to reap four-fold more profits from petroleum trade with Nepal than in 2002. Hence, Nepal should negotiate for cut in its profit margin,” said the source.
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TWO IMPORTERS GET SUPPLY AGAINST IC
Kathmandu, 11 March: After nine-day deadlock, when imports of excisable goods from India came to a grinding halt, some of the Indian traders have started exporting goods to Nepal against Indian Currency (IC), Bhoj .Raj Puudel writes in Rebublica

Two Nepali importers, including United Spirits, finally received their respective consignments, one from Bhairawaha and another from Biratnagar customs, on Friday, said Pashupati Murarka, vice-president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI).

However, he said the Indian exporters dispatched consignments only after the importers pledged collateral (of additional payment). “They have promised to refund the collateral as soon as the confusion is cleared,” said Murarka.

FNCCI officials said they have no clue as to what led the two companies to supply goods against IC payment. “But we hope other exporters will resume normal exports against IC soon,” said Murarka, adding that most of the factories, which depend on imported raw materials from India are on the verge of closure due to shortage of necessary materials.

The import of excisable items have come to a halt particularly after Indian exporters laid new condition of payment since March 1, when duty-refund procedure (DRP) was scrapped.

Scrapping of DRP paved the way for Nepali traders to receive goods at ex-factory rate (devoid of excise duty) and government to collect excise duty at customs points, but Indian exporters said Nepali importers should make payment in US Dollar if they are to get supply on ex-factory rates.

“If paid in IC, our (Indian) government considers the supply as local sales, and seeks us to pay excise,” they had argued.

Importers could not oblige though as Nepal Rastra Bank has opened USD payment facility for about 250 items only. If they accepted exporters´ condition (while paying in IC), they were required to pay excise twice -- in India as well as in Nepal.

The confusion, meanwhile, has brought imports of industrial raw materials and other goods on which excise duty is applicable like cement, clinker, textiles and vehicles, among others, to a grinding halt.

Talking to Republica, he disclosed that a delegation of FNCCI had recently approached the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu to settle their problem. “The Indian officials conveyed us that India has neither changed payment terms nor should we deal in USD,” said Murarka.

An official of the Embassy said, Indian Ambassador to Nepal Jayant Prasad too has communicated to the Indian Ministry of Finance conveying concerns of Nepali importers. But he did not disclose how the ministry responded.

Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) on Wednesday formally approached his Indian counterpart to clarify why Indian exporters have not been trading against IC. However, the Indian ministry is yet to respond.
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