MAOIST LEADER AND FORMER DPM NARAYAN KAZI SHRESTHA CONFIRMS AGREEMENT BETWEEN BIG THREE MISSING Kathmandu, 20 May: Former Maoist Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Foreign Minister Narayan Kazi Shrestha told Avneues Television Saturday night confirmed a joint agreement signed by leaders of the top at Baluwatar demanding from New Delhi recall of an Indian diplomat has gone missing. “We got the verbal support of Bijaya Kumar Gachedhar over telephone after the agreement was signed by the three parties,” Shrestha said and confirmed signature to the document by top leaders of Maoists, NC and UML while talking to reporters last week. The leaders of the Big Three hoped Gachedhar would sign the document after telephonic support, said Shrestha who confirmed the signed document is now missing. The three parties urged government to take up the reported support of Indian Consul General in Birgunj for One Madesh One Pradesh.at a reception in the town for Bara and Parsa politicians. The parties said the call was gross interference in Nepal’s internal affairs. But with the official denial by The Indian foreign ministry and Indian embassy the Big Three have been put in an awkward position after coming out with a pulic posture on the affair. nnnn. 435 TANKERS WITH POL PRODUCTS ESCORTED OUT OF BIRGUNJ Kathmandu, 20 May: Police Saturday escorted 435 tankers to the capital and other points while declaring routes on tanker travel prohibited areas. The move was made amid shortages of essentials. Strikes will continue as government and major parties prepare to promulgate a constitution. nnnn REALTY SECTOR PICKS UP Kathmandu, 20 May: Real estate transactions have picked up, albeit in slow pace, in the recent months, leading to increase in land registration fee collection, The Kathmandu, Post reports. According to the Finance Ministry, the land registration fee collection has increased by 16.16 percent to Rs 3.09 billion as of first 10 months of the current fiscal year compared to Rs 2.66 billion over the same period last fiscal year. According to data provided by the Department of Land Reforms and Management (DoLRM), land registration fee collection has remained higher this year compared to last year except during the first three months. The DoLRM collected a revenue of Rs 723.6 million in the first three months of this fiscal compared to Rs 756.2 million over the same period last year. However, the collection of land registration fee has not met the target. For the first 10 months this year, the government had targeted to collect Rs 3.81 billion. While looking at the land revenue collection over the last three years, collection started to suffer since banks and financial institutions started discouraging real estate loans as per the direction of Nepal Rastra Bank in the middle of fiscal year 2009-10. The land registration fee collection dropped to Rs 3.21 billion in FY 2010-11 from Rs 4.65 billion in FY 2009-10 owing to the recession in the real estate sector. The revenue collection, however, has improved of late with realty traders reporting gradual increase in their trades. Ichchha Raj Tamang, president of the Nepal Land and Housing Developers’ Association (NLHDA), said transactions in individual lands have slowly gone up, bringing relief to housing developers. “The government’s soft corner has helped revive the realty sector,” he said. Tamang’s thought is shared by Min Man Shrestha, general secretary of the NLHDA. He explained that the housing and apartment sales have gone up by 25-30 percent in the recent days, while the low-cost lands are also being sold in the recent days. He attributes the recent growth to banks’ decision to lower interest rate on home loans, which has now come down to 10-11 percent. Bankers also admit that they have started providing home loans although they are reluctant provide extra loans to housing projects. CEO of NIC Bank Sashin Joshi said that the home loans bear less risk compared to loans provided to developers, and banks are more willing to disberse home loans in the recent days. Realty traders are of the view that loans should be given to developers to allow them to complete the housing and apartment projects. But the developers’ poor repayment record has forced the banks not to make extra lending to the developers. “Repayment is poor and it may aggravate at the end of the current fiscal year when all banks go for recovery of the loans at bigger scale,” said Joshi. The Nepal Rastra Bank holds the same assessment. “The realty sector has not improved at all,” said a senior NRB official. “Higher revenue collection by the land revenue offices could be due to higher declaration of purchase price by buyers amid threat that they might have to show income source on many other occasions,” said the central bank official. However, the government’s efforts as well as excess liquidity in the banks and financial institutions are expected to help boost the realty sector. The government is mulling to arrange cheap loans for its employees so that they could purchase apartments from the developers. The government has also raised the investment ceiling in the realty sector, with the investors no longer required to show source of their income up to Rs 10 million from the previous limit of Rs 5 million. Nnnn RAGE AGAINST OFFICIAL RECOGNITION OF BAHUNS, CHHETRIS Kathmandu, 20 May: Various ethnic communities have denounced the pledge of top political party leaders to include Bahun, Chhetri and other groups as indigenous nationalities, The Kathmandu Post reports. The ethnic groups have warned the leaders not to violate the established criteria by forcefully enlisting any group as an indigenous nationality. In a statement, the group has warned not to take decisions guided by hidden motives and folly of government. The top leaders agreed on Thursday to enlist 11 communities, including Brahmins and Chhetris, as the “Khas-Arya” indigenous community. The alliance had been protesting with the demand to include Brahmin, Chhetri, Thakuri, Dashnami and Dalits under the Khas-Arya indigenous category. Various ethnic groups including Tamang, Gurung, Rai, Sherpa, Tharu and Newar have decided to act against the agreement. The protest of indigenous people in the Valley will be led by Tamangs and Newars. “The concept of indigenous nationalities is guided by specific historical, cultural, linguistic, anthropologic and sociological requirements,” the statement reads. “There are certain international standards, including one prescribed by the United Nations, to determine who can be categorised as indigenous and who cannot. The existing indigenous groups were not categorised by the government but with our own sacrifice and recommended international norms.” The group has cautioned the leaders that enlisting any group as indigenous nationality would undermine the sacrifice made by genuine indigenous communities. They asked leaders not to forget their sacrifices. Chairman of Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (Nefin) Rajkumar Lekhi said they were strengthening their protest in order to foil the government’s move. “It is unacceptable so we will do anything possible to stop it. We have already announced our agitation against the move,” said Lekhi. Nefin and the Tahruhat Joint Struggle Committee have announced various demonstration programmes that include surrounding the Constituent Assembly. Meanwhile, leaders representing ethic communities have termed the 11-state model of federation as an act of deception. They have urged the government to address their rightful demand and avoid communal conflict in the country. Nnnn