STAR CLUB, HONG KONG NEPALESE FOOTBALL TEAM PLAY FOR FINAL BERTH

STAR CLUB, HONG KONG NEPALESE FOOTBALL TEAM PLAY FOR FINAL BERTH
Kathmandu, 5 April: Star Club plays Hong Kong Nepalese Football Team in a Birat Gold Cup Thursday in Biratnagar for a lace in the final.
Himalayan Sherpa Club has already qualified for final berth beating Manang Marshyangdhi Club (MMC).
Nnnn
HUNDI OPERATORS DOING BRISK BUSINESS IN BIRGUN
Kathmandu, 5 April Unscrupulous importers have been resorting to hundi to transfer money as the government and banks have begun cracking down on customers submitting fake customs documents to make demand drafts, said traders, Bhusan Yadav writes in The Kathmandu Post from Birgunj..
And with demand for hundi rising, operators of the illegal money transfer service have ramped up their charges four-fold. The rate for transferring a sum of up to Rs 100,000 has jumped from Rs 2,000 to Rs 8,000. Importers use the unofficial money transfer network to pay their suppliers who dispatch under-invoiced goods.
Importers involved in under-invoicing used to produce falsified customs clearance documents to obtain demand drafts from banks to make payment. With the authorities clamping down on the practice, the traders have turned to hundi.
“The number of importers making demands drafts has dropped 40 percent after the banks increased vigilance on fake customs clearance documents,” said Jeevan Babu Subedi, manager at the Birgunj branch of Nepal SBI Bank. According to him, only genuine traders come to the bank to make demand drafts.
Large scale misappropriation of Indian currency by using fake customs clearance documents came to light after the Parsa police arrested five Indians on August 29, 2011 with IRs 7.52 million along with a deposit vouchers and nine fake customs clearance documents.
The Department of Revenue Investigation has already established that five firms alone had misappropriated more than IRs 1 billion by using fake customs clearance documents.
“Importers who bring under-invoiced goods pay the amount stated on the customs form through a letter of credit (LC) and the rest by hundi,” said a trader.
Merchants said that the local administration was not doing enough to control the illegal hundi business although they know well how it is being run. “Both the District Administration Office and the police know how the hundi business is thriving, but they are not taking action against those involved in it,” said a trader.
According to the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, people who want to conduct foreign exchange transactions need to obtain Nepal Rastra Bank’s okay.
Traders sending money by hundi say that they it is an easier way of doing business. A textile importer who sends huge amounts of money to New Delhi twice a week said that the money reaches the destination within two-four hours after it is given to the hundi operator.
A person from Adarshanagar, Birgunj who is involved in the hundi business said that about Rs 100 million is sent to major Indian cities including New Delhi, Kolkata and Meerut on a daily basis. “The amount of money transferred through hundi is equal to that transferred through banks.”
There are three big names involved in the hundi business in Birgunj. They are Santoj Raja of Muzaffarpur, Kailash Agrawal and Mukesh Agrawal of Rajasthan.
Traders say they have been collecting money through their local agents here. Merchants dealing in gold, textiles, food, motor parts and hardware have been sending money through hundi, according to traders.
As Birgunj is a key point for exports and imports, the hundi business is thriving here, according to traders.
nnnn
:
INDIAN ARMYCHIEF PROPOSES COMMON RELIEF OPERATION TO FIGHT MEGA DISASTERS
Kathmandu, 5 April: Indian Army Chief VK Singh, who arrived here on Wednesday, said Nepal and India should develop a common rescue relief operation framework on combating the mega disasters, The Kathmandu Post reports.
During a meeting with the Principle Staff Officers (PSO) today, Singh said the two countries should work mutually to tackle the recurring disasters. He is on a two-day visit to attend the regional seminar on disaster response and humanitarian assistance organised by Nepal Army.
Earlier in the day, General Singh met COAS General Chattra Man Singh Gurung at the latter's office. The duo discussed various issues of bilateral interest and ways to strengthen the relations between the army of the two countries.
Singh received special honour by a unit of Nepal Army and laid a wreathe on the statue of martyr amid a programme held at Tundikhel.
The three-day seminar was inaugurated on Tuesday with a view to strengthen coordination among international community to combat disasters.
Representatives from the Nepal Army, Indian Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, National Society for Earthquake Technology, UNDP, UNOCHA, WFP, Defence Ministry, Home Ministry, Health Ministry, Ministry for Information and Communications, Nepal Red Cross Society among others are attending the programme. Also participating in the programme are the army officers from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Lieutenant General from the US Army and the Residence Defence Attache at the embassies of the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, the US and China.
nnnn
COUNTRY FAILS TO ATTACT INVESTMENT IN SERVICE SECTOR
KATHMANDU: Nepal could not take any advantage despite the country’s commitment under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) of global trade regime being the most liberal in South Asia.

“Nepal should table its initial offer under the SAARC Agreement on Trade in Services (SATIS) with GATS schedule of commitments,” said South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE)’s research director Puspa Acharya, adding

that the country could show flexibility in relaxing conditions on the share of foreign equity participation in the offered sectors during the negotiations.

Similarly, Nepal can request other members of SAARC to open their services sector in which Nepal has high growth potential, comparative advantages and policy direction to develop the particular sector, he added.

After years of realisation of the need for regional cooperation in other areas like services trade, besides trade in goods, SAARC member countries have introduced SATIS, but they still need to identify the services sectors that they will offer to liberalise.

Recently, during the eighth meeting of the Expert Group on SAARC Agreement on Trade Service that concluded in Kathmandu, Nepal had selected five of its service sectors that are to be opened for SAARC members.

The service sectors within Nepal Trade Integration Strategy, that the country offered to open were trade, tourism, information technology, health and education for the SAARC member countries to invest in Nepal.

Nepal Trade Integration Strategy 2010 has identified 19 products that include seven services — tourism, labour, health, education, IT and BPO, engineering and hydro-electricity — with maximum potential.

Earlier, the South Asian regional block’s member states had made their initial offer to open over 170 sub-sectors of service for foreign investment under WTO norms. The 16th SAARC Summit in Bhutan in 2010 had decided to introduce the service sector in the SAFTA, which earlier had only incorporated goods for regional preferential trade.
Nnnn
DETAILS ON WEDNESDAY’S SPECIAL COMMITTEE MEET
Kathmandu, 5 April: ATHMANDU: If all goes as agreed at today’s [Wednesday] meeting of Special Committee for (Supervision, Integration and Rehabilitation of Maoist combatants) followed by the three-party meeting, the 15 camps billeting 9,705 PLA combatants would be vacated and their arms would come under Nepali Army’s command and control by April 12, Prakash Acharya/Lekhnath Pandey write in The Himalayan Times..

Those opting for voluntary retirement would be sent home with cheques, while the remaining would be brought under NA’s command for integration.

Following the three-party meeting that went on in Prime Minister’s Office in Singha Durbar for nearly five hours late in the evening, the SC took as many as 15 decisions necessary to begin the integration process on April 12.

However, the SC meeting decided to settle most pressing issues – structure of the to-be-formed Directorate General under NA, composition of selection committee for choosing the combatants for integration and determination of the duration of bridging course and ranks to be offered to the combatants – at the next SC meeting scheduled for April 8.

Presently, 9,705 PLA combatants are billeted in 15 camps after 7,365 ex-combatants took voluntary retirement in January.

The SC took the decision in the presence of three-party leaders — Pushpa Kamal Dahal of UCPN-M, Jhalanath Khanal and Madhav Kumar Nepal of CPN-UML and Krishna Sitaula of NC as special invitees.

“As some issues are yet to be settled, we have agreed to sort them out at next three-party meeting on April 8,” said UCPN-M Chairman Dahal.

UML leader Nepal said the parties also agreed to settle the major dispute on bills on Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Inquiry Commission into Disappearances and the unsettled issues of the new constitution by April 12 by holding meetings on regular basis.

UCPN-Maoist leader and Finance Minister Barshaman Pun said the three-party meeting decided to settle all unsettled issues of the peace process and the new constitution in a package by April 12 as per the November 1 seven-point agreement.

Achievements

• Special Committee approves seven-day work plan to vacate cantonments

• Task of regrouping for voluntary retirement and integration to be completed within seven days

• Those opting for integration to be brought under NA’s command by April 12

• Eight NA barracks – Bharatpur, Itahari, Sindhuli, Hetauda, Surkhet, Dang and Kailali – to be used as training centres

• Special Committee secretariat staff to begin the prepay task from April 6 in the field

Remaining tasks

• Whether to have UCPN-M’s

representative in the Directorate General

• Whether to have UCPN-M’s

representative in the selection committee of the NA

• Determining the duration of bridge course

• Rank determination
nnnn