SHYAM MALI INJURED DURING ANTI-ROYAL RULE PROTESTS DIES MONDAY

SHYAM MALI, INJURED IN PROTESTS AGAINST ROYAL RULE, DIES MONDAY

Kathmandu, 17 April: Shyam Mali, 21, injured during the movement against royal rule, died Monday while undergoing treatment at Patan Hospital.
The Patan resident received a Rs. 5,5000 government relief.
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GHOST STORY HAUNTS CAPITAL

Kathmandu, 17 April: Tension ran high in New Road, Capital's busiest business hub, today afternoon after a ghost story spread like wildfire, The Himalayan Times reports.

A television crew accompanied by a Vastu expert had reached a five-storey house, which has been deserted for years, in New Road to make a programme to bust the myth that it was haunted by ghosts. However, rumour that camerapersons were 'beaten up by ghost' spread across New Road, only to flare up tension and draw people in droves and spin a story of their own.

The television team with camerapersons Basu Satyal, Sanu Raja Maharajan and Vastu expert Madhav Mangal Joshi had reached the building at around noon today and Joshi had conducted some experiments there. When asked, Satyal laughed the incident off and said it was all rumour that cameramen were beaten up.

The rumour of ghost lingered in the area till 4:30 pm, forcing traffic police to divert vehicles from New Road gate. Police were deployed in the area till evening to prevent any untoward incident. Asked why the TV crew did not try to clear the air when tension started to flare up, Satyal said they sneaked out for the fear that they would be held responsible for the chaos.
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DISCUSSIONS BETWEEN PARTIES POSITIVE, DEAL ON HORIZON
Kathmandu, 17 April: For the second straight day on Monday, leaders from major parties put their heads together to find common ground on a number of contentious issues of constitution making, Phanindra Dahal and Kamal Deb Bhattarai report in The Kathmandu Post from Hattiban and Kathmandu..
Though tangible agreements on key issues—forms of governance and state restructuring, among others—were still elusive, the talks at the Hattiban Resort in Kathmandu did yield some positive results.
According to leaders, the “positive message” of the two-day parleys is that all parties committed to be open for discussions to find a middle path on the contentious issues.
With top leaders from across the party line coming together, the biggest achievement of the talks was political symbolism rather than substance. “We have now an in-depth understanding of each other on constitutional issues,” CPN-UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal told reporters. Given the positive discussions, an agreement on all outstanding issues could be had within the next four to five days, Nepali Congress (NC) leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula said.
Top leaders of the top three parties and the Samyukta Madhesi Loktantrik Morcha stayed in the resort for more than 30 hours on Sunday and Monday. The intra-party, bilateral and multilateral discussions focused on forms of governance, federalism, judicial model and electoral system and citizenship provisions to be enshrined in the new constitution. On federalism, the parties agreed to go for six to eight provinces, but there was still sharp division on the demarcation of boundaries and the basis of federalism, said NC leader Ram Sharan Mahat.
The NC and the UML have stressed that economic capability and population should be the primary basis of federalism and that provinces in the Tarai should be expanded to territories that currently fall in the Hilly region. The Maoists and the Madhes-based parties have stressed that identity should be accorded more priority.
“There were divergent perceptions among party leaders on identity before this meeting. All of us have now agreed that ethnicity, language and territory should be the basis of federalism,” said Maoist lawmaker Khim Lal Devkota.
Maoist hard-line leader Dev Gurung said the new constitution cannot be drafted until ideological differences with the NC and the UML on federalism are bridged. “This is the first time top leaders stayed for serious talks on constitution writing. We have taken this very positively,” he told the Post. Leaders claimed that the three major parties are closer to setting up a bench at the Supreme Court rather than a separate Constitutional Court in the new constitution. The Maoists have indicated that they will be flexible on the constitutional court given that there is a package agreement on forms of governance.
In the Hattiban talks, Madhesi leaders said the new constitution should have a provision for a constitutional court for at least five years so that federalism can be institutionalised. Parties have agreed in principle to introduce a mixed model of governance, but are divided on whom the executive power should rest on.
Parties are all set to miss Tuesday’s deadline for settling contentious issues with their failure to strike a deal. NC leader Mahat said they will request CA Chairman Subas Nembang to extend the deadline. The Maoists, however, have stressed that there should be no such extension and that the process of finding a meeting point as well as deciding on contentious issues through a majority vote should be carried out side by side.
Top leaders are scheduled to meet Nembang and discuss the future roadmap at the Dispute Resolution Subcommittee led by Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Tuesday. They have committed to resume the talks on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a leader of the Madhesi Morcha who attended the Hattiban meeting told the Post that leaders have agreed to request Nembang to extend the deadline for forging consensus until April 22. The parties are bound to start voting to decide on intricate issues on the basis of majority votes from Wednesday, according to the revised schedule.
Parties’ stance
Federalism: NC and UML have a similar position. They say there should be 6 to 8 provinces based on identity and capability and not on ethnicity. The Maoists are ready to decrease the number of federal states, but are in favour of ethnic federalism. Madhes-based parties favour no more than two provinces in the Tarai.
Forms of governance: All four forces in principle agree on a mixed model. The Maoists want a directly elected executive president, NC wants an improved parliamentary system, while UML favours a directly elected Prime Minister. Madhesi Morcha is divided within itself.
Judiciary: The Maoists and Madhes parties are in favour of forming a constitutional court; UML and NC are for formation of a constitutional bench in the Supreme Court. Madhesi parties propose constitutional court for five years to institutionalise federalism.
Electoral system: Parties have agreed to adopt a mixed model, but are yet to define the percentage of direct and proportional systems.
Citizenship: Parties agree that there will be no gender-based discrimination while issuing naturalised citizenship National consensus govt: Top leaders underline need for a national unity government as soon as possible but have no concrete proposal on it.
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UNDER REPORTING OF SALES HIGH TO EVADE TAX

Kathmandu,17 April: Firms make unregistered sales to artificially reduce tax burden, according to a survey, The Himalayan Times reports.

“The businesses are operated on both formal and informal markets fuelling rampant practice of underreporting of sales,” the ‘Tax Compliance Cost Survey’ report by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) under the World Bank Group said.

“The results of the VAT fraud investigations have also revealed that businesses use fake bills and invoices to overstate their expenses,” it said, adding that most of the firms — out of 990 surveyed — accepted that the firms not only make sales without sales slips, but also use fictitious firms, and fake invoices to artificially reduce tax burden. “Most of the firms raise expenses by 40 per cent and lower the sales by 80 per cent to evade tax,” said IFC representative Sebastian S James presenting the report here today.

The recent incidents of VAT frauds were also orchestrated by use of numerous fake firms. “Use of ghost employees — to reduce taxes — is also one of the common practices among the small and unregulated businesses to avoid taxes,” he said, adding that firms make payments of unofficial salaries to artificially reduce tax burden. However, the firms are ready to pay more tax, if corruption is not prevalent and the paid tax is ultimately used for the benefit of the general public and business, said the report prepared to help the Inland Revenue Department to bring some policy reforms for better revenue mobilisation.

Tax compliance cost is higher for VAT and is a disincentive for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), according to the report that has suggested to reduce compliance burden for VAT to encourage SMEs to graduate, SMEs tax reform, and strengthen Risk Based Audit to enhance objectivity and effectively as the small tax payers have higher compliance cost than the tax they are required to pay.

Director General of the Inland Revenue Department, addressing the participants concerns opined that the government will not let the businesses run illegally. “The department is working on to simplify the tax system for the small tax payers,” he said, adding that some structural reforms are on the cards to create tax-payer friendly environment.

He also vowed to implement the recommendations prescribed by the Tax Cost Compliance Survey report that is a part of tax simplification project under Nepal Investment Climate Reform Programme supported by the IFC.
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