UML CHAIRMAN WILL ALSO UNDERGO OPERATION MONDAY TO REMOVE KIDNEY STONE UPDATE

FURTHER DETAILS OF KHANAL PROCEDURE
Kathmandu, 23 March: UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal will also undergo an operation to remove a kidney stone, the party said.
Khanal will be operated Monday not Sunday as earlier reported.
Other details weren’t announced by the party.
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NOC,. IOC TALKS ON OIL SUPPLIES
Kathmandu, 23 March: Removing the marketing margin and payment in US dollars will be on top of its agenda when the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) starts its negotiation with the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC)—the sole supplier of petreoleum products to Nepal—for new petroleum supply agreement on Friday. Sangam Parsain writes in The Kathmandu Post..
An IOC team is scheduled to arrive in Nepal on Friday for the negotiation. The NOC and IOC review the agreement every five years and the existing one expired on March 31.
Nepal wants the Indian company to bring down the refining cost of the petroleum products. The marketing margin, pricing component that IOC charges on its oil supply to Nepal will be some of the contentious issues during the negotiation. The IOC has sought to raise it to five percent while agreeing to scrap Price Adjustment Factor (PAF) recently. Currently, the IOC has been charging PAF and marketing margin 2.5 percent each.
The PAF includes the refinery and transportation charges, among other technical losses under its current price formula. With the high-level Petroleum Sector Reform Committee (PSRC) report suggesting the NOC to negotiate to reduce the charge in a new agreement, the government has made it a top priority.
A committee formed recently under Vice-chairman of National Planning Commission Dipendra Bahadur Kshetry also suggested the NOC for the removal of such charge from its agenda.
“If not removing it entirely, we can at least negotiate to fix certain fee instead of keeping it at percentage given the rising imports of petroleum products,” said Kshetry. Nepal’s import bill of petroleum products, which stood at Rs 76 billion last year, is expected to touch Rs 100 billion this year.
The NOC is also expected to table another issue regarding mode of payment during the negotiation. “As Nepal imports raw materials from petroleum exporting countries and gives them to IOC for refining, it can be helpful to slash Nepal’s cost while making payment to IOC in US dollar,” said Kshetry. Currently, NOC pays IOC for petroleum products in Indian currency.
The IOC has already agreed to receive payments fortnightly from the current practice of collecting four installments in a month. The negotiation this time will not be limited to oil accord alone. The government has formed an agreement review committee headed by Secretary of Ministry of Commerce and Supplies to negotiate with IOC. The committee also comprises the representatives from the NOC.
As per the PSRC recommendation, the government formed a separate committee on July 15, 2011 with an objective to influence the decision at the negotiating table.
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FURTHER DETAILS OF THE COMMITTEE FORMED BY
MAOIST REBELS
Kathmandu, 23 March:
The dissenting faction of the UCPN-Maoist led by party senior vice-chairman Mohan Baidhya ‘Kiran’ Thursday formed Joint National People’s Revolution Committee Nepal (JNPRCN) under the coordination of party secretary CP Gajurel including 14 different political parties, The Rising Nepal
Reports from Lalitpur.
The committee was formed in a joint meeting held at office of the Newa State Council here in Kupandol.
After the meeting, the committee informed that they will announce their detailed objectives and future plan at a press meet to be held on Friday.
A source confirmed that the committee is planning to unveil its common agenda and perspective regarding the nationality, pro-people constitution, living standard of people, black market, smuggling and corruption.
Member of the committee and Maoist leader Suresh Ale Magar said that the issues which lack unanimous view will be moved ahead unilaterally by the Joint People’s Struggle Committee recently formed by the Maoist dissenting faction.
Saying that the joint committee drafted common agenda of nationality, pro-people constitution and livelihood of the people, Ale Magar added that they would announce their protest programme after March 31.
Leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party Mani Thapa said that they were united for the sake of pro-people constitution as key parties remained reluctant towards the issues of the new constitution.
Thapa was politburo member of the Maoist party before joining the Revolutionary Communist party.
In the joint committee, Madeshi Jana Adhikar Forum, former UCPN-Maoist party leader Matrica Yadav led Nepal Community Party (Maoist), Newa Rastriya Party, Federal Democratic National Forum, Nepal Nagarik Party, Rastriya Janamukti Party, Tamsaling Rastriya Party, Janamukti Party Nepal, Tharu Mukti Sangram, Indigenous Nepal Federation, United Indigenous Nepal Federation and Samjbadi Jatiya Mahasangh have been included.
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FACTIONALISM MAIN HURDLE SAYS NEMWANG

Kathmandu, 23 March:
Speaker Subas Nembang Thursday observed that political disputes among the parties had cast a shadow over the historic tasks of peace and constitution writing process, The Rising Nepal reports.
The Speaker made this remark while addressing a programme organised to launch a book entitled ‘Girijababu’.
He viewed that splitting and factionalism of the political parties had badly affected the pace of peace and constitution building and gave examples that there were only 25 parties in the Constituent Assembly in the beginning while the number had increased to 33 due to the division of the parties.
Remembering late Girija Prasad Koirala, Speaker Nembang said Koirala was an unwavering figure in different political movements that brought about great changes in the country.
Nepali Congress president Sushil Koirala expressed confidence that the former rebel party, UCPN-Maoist, would not opt for going to jungle but urged that party to be honest for democracy.
"The Maoist party must come to the mainstream politics and behave accordingly," he said.
He blamed the Maoists for not implementing many aspects of the agreements starting from the 12-pint Understanding to the latest 7-point agreement of Nov 1 last year.
"Only NC and UML have acted upon these agreements while the Maoists have always been breaching this or that aspect," he vented ire.
Stressing on the implementation of past agreements, the NC president rejected the blame that his party had obstructed the ‘plough’ of peace and constitution writing process from moving ahead.
"The seven point agreement is the last agreement with the Maoists, we will have no more agreements for peace and constitution again" he declared.
The NC chief made it clear that once the government moved forward the army integration process, other issues pertaining to peace and constitution that require political agreement would move ahead catching up with the pace of army integration.
He said the NC would adopt flexibility for peace and constitution.
"NC is ready to sacrifice anything for peace and constitution except for democracy and pluralism," he said.
"Girijababu showed the world a political magic when he brought the Maoists in the parliamentary system," the NC chief said recalling political stature of former Prime Minister and long time president of NC late GP Koirala.
Girigababu was a leader who did what he spoke. But Maoist chairman Prachanda did not keep his words for going ahead in the line of Girijababu, he said.
NC parliamentary leader Ram Chandra Poudel said the integration of the combatants could not be carried out by sidelining the seven point agreement.
"The Maoists talk nicely about democracy but are not giving up autocratic mindset and practices," Paudel blamed.
He said NC was upholding GP Koirala’s political line of consensus and cooperation among parties.
CPN-UML vice-chairperson Bidhaya Bhandari blamed that the Maoist party started to impose autocratic dominance over NC and

UML after it got the first position in the CA elections. "The peace process and constitution writing are failing to move forward because of the Maoists’ love for arms," she said.
Maoist leader and spokesperson for PLA Chandra Prakash Khanal rejected that peace process had stalled because of his party.
"History bears a witness to the fact that our party has been adopting maximum flexibility for concluding the peace and constitution building process. It is baseless to blame us for the stalemate as political agreement and decisions are needed in every aspect," he said.
Khanal observed that his party had made a great mistake by not electing GP Koirala as the Presiden
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