GOLD PRICE RECORDS NEW HIGH Kathmandu, 14 June: Gold price recorded a new high of Rs.56,950 per tola Wednesday. The yellow metal gained Rs. 255per tola in one day. Gold gained in the local bullion market as its rose rise in the international market. nnnn DENGUE BREAKS OUT IN CHITWAN Kathmandu, 14 June: Risk of epidemic of Dengue disease in Chitwan district has been increased, say health workers, RSS reports from Chitwan. The dengue epidemic started spreading in Nepal in 2010 which had claimed lives of around two dozen people in Chitwan district. Dr Bijay Paudel of the Bharatpur Hospital said that the epidemic could spread this year or even next year. He also urged all to be careful about this. Releasing a statistics on Wednesday the District Public-Health Office said that 67 dengue patients were found in these 10 months in Chitwan. Of them, one died from the disease. A woman of Nawalparasi district, who was also infected from meningitis, died while undergoing treatment at Bharatpur Hospital, according to the statistics. Releasing the statistics from the month of August/September to May/June, Vector Control of the District Public-Health Office, Chitwan, Ram KC said that dengue disease was found on 67 people during blood test of 111 people. Of them, 42 are from Chitwan district and the remaining are from Nawalparasi, Tanahun, Makwanpur and other districts. One dengue patient was found in April/May and three in May/June in Chitwan. Saying the dengue could be spread this year as mercury is rising and rainfall has started, Chief at the District Public-Health Office, Kehar Singh Godar alerted all to observe precautions. Dr. Paudel said that making surrounding areas of houses clean, not to allow accumulation of water and to be safe from mosquito bite are the important prevention measures of dengue disease as it has no other treatment. Fever, headache, eye, back, joints and muscles pain and rashes on body are symptoms of the disease. Advice of doctors should be taken immediately as soon as there is suspicion of the disease. The dengue disease was seen in one state of South Africa in 1900. After that, the disease was spread in different countries. The disease was seen in Chitwan district in 2004 for the first time. Nnnn TU TO RUN 4-YEAR BACHELOR DEGREE COURSE FROM SEPT. Kathmandu, 14 June: Following three years of groundwork, the Tribhuvan University (TU) has decided to launch a four-year bachelor’s degree programme in science, law and education faculties from the new academic year beginning September, Binod Ghimere writes in The Kathmandu Post. The university had in 2010 decided to upgrade its three-year programme to four years to meet the international standards. As most of the countries are running four-year bachelor’s programmes, students graduating from Nepal have been facing problems pursuing higher studies abroad due to lack of enough credit hours. According to Keshab Kumar Shrestha, the chief of the Curriculum Development Centre at the TU, the curriculum for the four-year programme has already been developed and will be applied from the new session. “The programme will be applied in non-technical faculties such as science, law and education in the first phase after a final decision from the respective dean offices,” he said. The final decision that had to be made by May has been delayed, as the posts of deans are lying vacant in all faculties. The TU, however, is reluctant to upgrade the course for Humanities as the number of students is significantly decreasing in the faculty. The university had in July 2010 expedited groundwork by forming a high-level committee led by Shrestha. The committee concluded that the launching of the new programme was possible as human resources and infrastructure used by the phased-out Proficiency Certificate Level could be utilised for it. Following the report, the university’s academic board in the same year had given a green signal to develop a syllabus for the programme by forming a separate curriculum development committee for each subject. Presently, more than five dozen subjects under five non-technical faculties are taught in the university. Under the new syllabi, classes will run on semester basis and examinations and result publication will be directly controlled by the Dean’s Offices from the respective faculties. Shrestha said both three-year and four-year programmes will go together for a couple of years. The TU had upgraded the two-year bachelor’s programme to three years in 1992. nnnn GOVT. VIOLATES ELECTION CODE OF CONDUCT Kathmandu, 14 June: Concluding that the government violated its code of conduct, the Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday re-directed the government to not make any appointments in public offices, promote government officials and transfer them, The Kathmandu Post reports. A similar directive had been sent to the Prime Minister’s Office last week. EC Spokesperson Sharada Prasad Trital on Wednesday said a letter has been sent to Chief Secretary Madhav Ghimire to this effect. Earlier, a meeting of the Code of Conduct Monitoring Committee under Election Commissioner Ayodhi Prasad Yadav concluded that the government was breaching the EC’s code of conduct that bars the government that has already announced elections from taking decisions on appointment, promotion and transfer of government officials taking such decisions. The government has to take formal consent of the EC before taking such decisions. On May 27, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai had announced fresh CA elections after it failed to promulgate the new constitution within the deadline. The Bhattarai-led government, which has now become a caretaker, has promoted senior officials of the Armed Police Force, transferred government officials and appointed party men in public offices. Nnnn TORTURED FOR PRACTICING WITCHCRAFT Kathmandu, 14 June : A woman of remote Aktapkaa VDC of Ilam was severely tortured for allegedly “practicing witchcraft", Republica reports from Ilam.. Padam Maya Yonghang, 38, was tortured by her husband Jagat Bahadur with help from a shaman from Panchthar, the police said. According to the police, Jagat Bahadur had called shaman Faid Singh Limbu on the pretext of treating Padam Maya´s stomach ailment on May 15. However, Limbu forced Padam Maya to put her hands in a cauldron of boiling water while covering her with a quilt. According to Lok Bahadur Thapa, a human rights activist, the incident was kept secret for a month though Padam Maya had sustained serious burn injuries. “It became known that she was tortured only when she was taken to hospital for treatment,” said Thapa. Community health workers had referred Padam Maya to BP Koirala Institute of Health sciences (BPKIHS). A local community health worker said the shaman and three other youths had forced Padam Maya to put her hands in the boiling water. Even when Padam Maya writhed in pain, the shaman did not let her go. “They continued the torture until she became unconscious,” the health worker said. However, Jagat Bahadur denied the allegation of torturing his wife. Shaman Faid Singh is a distant relative of the victim and she is reluctant to file a case against him. Police Inspector Ganesh Bastola said that the incident looks like an attempt to murder. "Even a layman would understand that she was tortured," said Bastola. Police have taken Jagat Bahadur, who is also the chairman of local Janakalyan Secondary School, in custody for interrogation. nnnn ________________________________________ WB SUPPORT TO FACILITATE TRADE WITH INDIA, BANGLADESH BY INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT Kathmandu, 14 June: Nepal could finally find Kakarbhitta-Fulbari-Banglaband, the sole overland transit route for trade with Bangladesh upgraded and get a multi-functional laboratory for issuing credible quality certification, which experts said would greatly ease exports particularly that of agro-produces to India and Bangladesh, Republica reports. Under the aegis of its regional cooperation department, the World Bank officials said they are supporting Nepal to lay down numerous infrastructures, including establishment of a laboratory and also construction of missing infrastructures to facilitate its trade with Bangladesh and India. “Discussions are still on but we have broadly agreed on setting up a joint multi-functional laboratory, something which will address long-running plight of the Nepali exporters,” disclosed Diep Nguyen-Van Houtte, senior operations officer of World Bank South Asia region. In the absence of recognized testing facilities, Nepali exporters so far have been sending samples of their produces to Kolkata in India and waiting for as many as 15 days to get quality certification, which is a must for those produces to find entry into India. This has been raising the cost of doing business, and in most of the cases inflicting loss to the traders, particularly those exporting perishable agro-produces. “Establishment of laboratory will give a huge boost to Nepali exports. This will enable thousands of farmers producing exportable produces like ginger, tea, fruits and cardamom enjoy sound returns,” said former Commerce Secretary Purushottam Ojha. Under the new project, fundamentally being designed to reduce the existing trade barriers to Nepal-Bangladesh and Nepal-India trade, the World Bank is also supporting the upgradation of roads and constructing new facilities along the border. While poor infrastructures have always been the major constraints to exports for Nepal, its exports to Bangladesh has further been facing a blow because of bad roads conditions along kakarbhitta-Fulbari-Banglaband transit route. Though India over the past one decade repeatedly promised to upgrade it, traders have been consistently complaining of lack of improvement. Among the crucial trade-facilitating infrastructures, Houtte said the World Bank was exploring the possibility of coordinating with different institutions and agencies engaged in facilitating trade for creating a single window so that exporters need not travel around the multiple agencies for doing business. “This will cut cost and increase the trade viability,” said Houtte. Likewise, the project would also construct warehouse and parking facilities at Kakarbhitta from where Nepal trade with Bangladesh and carries out major chunk of agricultural exports to India. The World Bank would also support the Department of Transport Management for upgrading the transportation logistics to support the trade and give impetus to exports growth. Nnnn ________________________________________ INTERVIEW ________________________________________ NO UNITY WITHOUT COURSE CORRECTION SAYS KIRAN Possibility of a split in UCPN (Maoist) has for sometime been considered only a matter of time. Even on Wednesday, there were hectic parlays between the Maoist establishment faction under Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and the rebel faction under Vice-chair Mohan Baidya to avert the impending division. Kiran Pun and Biswas Baral talked to Baidya on the same day on the likelihood of the Maoist party staying united and on the course of discussions in the last few days. Going by recent media reports it appears that the Maoist party is united only in name and a formal split is only a matter of time. Is that really the case? Any party is based on certain ideology and principles. If a meeting point can be found on these, the party will remain one, otherwise it will split. En route from people’s war to the current stage we have made some decisions, but the party establishment has been flouting those agreements one after another. The task of preparing a people-oriented constitution could also not be fulfilled. The issue of army integration could not be carried out in a dignified manner. In this situation, it is clear that both Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal as well as Vice-chairman Baburam Bhattarai have not been successful in carrying out previous agreements. That is why we have called for national gathering so that these issues can be settled. Hopefully, things will be clearer after the national gathering on June 15. What are the minimum conditions for the party to stay united? First, the establishment needs to review all its past failings. We had been saying that the issue of army integration had to be carried out in a proper manner. What happened instead was that the Maoist leadership agreed to integration in haste. It is even less justifiable now that it has not resulted in a constitution. Second, in the final stretch of the constitution making process, vital discussions should have been held inside the CA. What happened instead was that the top leaders, mainly of the three big parties, got together and carried out discussions behind closed doors. Effectively, the loktantrik process was usurped by three leaders from an assembly of 601. The (party) chairman must take responsibility for this great failure. Third, we entered people’s war to carry out a democratic revolution centered on establishment of a people’s federal republic. The chairman abandoned that tactical line in favor of a loktantrik republic. How could they accept loktantrik republic when our agenda was clearly people’s federal republic? The party’s official stand is that there should be a people-based constitution based on our vision of people’s federal republic. Since the chairman abandoned the party’s official line, he should explain why. Fourth, the people’s war was aimed at safeguarding the country’s sovereignty. What the leadership has done is completely overlooked this. As a result, the country has become a playing field of international interests. The issue of India’s growing influence in the country has also been completely overlooked. Instead, all our important water sources have been sold. Take the case of Upper Karnali and Arun III projects, which were granted by sidestepping the parliament. Or the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) that Baburam Bhattarai signed with India. All these have raised a serious question on the country’s sovereignty status. So we have been demanding that the leadership be serious about reviewing these agreements. Fifth, the establishment is now talking about reelection of the Constituent Assembly. This is nonsense. It has become abundantly clear that other alternatives have to be explored to find a way out of the current political and constitutional vacuum. We have proposed a roundtable conference with the participation of all parties as well as representatives from marginalized groups and all classes and sections of the society. That conference should decide the country’s future governance and a way out of the current crisis. Can these conditions be met without the resignation of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai which you have been demanding? After the government was declared a caretaker, the issue of prime minister’s resignation is irrelevant. What is more important is that the proposals forwarded at the party’s official meets be taken seriously. What is happening now is that we put forth certain proposals and the chairman assures us that all of them will be addressed. What happens instead is that the chairman forgets about the proposals even before the ink on it has dried. This happened during the Palangtur plenum, the Kharipati plenum and also in the course of our most recent negotiations. We want the party leadership to hear our voice. You have said that both the tactical line and leadership of the establishment faction has failed. Are you suggesting that the leadership make way? We have never raised the question of the chairman’s resignation. It is the chairman who popularized the concept. I have told him that resignation is no solution to the current crisis. Instead, he should correct his course on party tactical line and politics. There have been media reports that you proposed party presidency for yourself and prime ministership for Ram Bahadur Thapa as a possible meeting point. That is not true. I think Biplap (Netra Bikram Chand) said it in a particular context. But he also suggested that the leadership correct its course on tactical and political line. We have never made and will never make posts a bargaining chip during discussions. What you also got to remember is that the chairman announced he was ready to step down but the very next day he said he was not ready to give up the post as yet. Thus neither did the chairman ever offer to resign in good faith nor have we ever made his resignation an issue in our discussions. Neither did the chairman ever offer to resign in good faith nor have we ever made his resignation an issue in our discussions. But hasn’t the party been vertically split, right from the top leadership to the grassroots level? In such a situation how acceptable will a negotiated settlement among top leaders be? One of the reasons we are holding the national convention on June 15 is to settle this question. But I also think that any initiative towards this end has to be taken at the leadership level. There are speculations that as in Palungtar and Kharipati, you will again compromise and a split will be avoided. No, we will not compromise on our agenda this time. Chairman Dahal has said that you don’t have the guts to break the party. I think that is a statement made to provoke us. We will not succumb to such provocations. Ultimately, what decides whether the party stays one or not depends on whether there can be a meeting point on party line and politics. Our goal is to keep the party united, but we want the unity to be based on the establishment’s course correction. If the leadership does not acknowledge its failings and is not ready to make any kind of course correction, there can be no unity. With the CA gone, you have ratcheted up the pressure for ‘people’s revolt’ again. Do you think this agenda will find adherents among common Nepalis? First of all, people’s revolt is not just the line of a particular faction. It is the official line of the Maoist party. Even our official document mentions that our first priority would be promulgation of people-centered constitution, failing which the party would go for people’s revolt. What the party leadership has been doing is spreading a lie that it is only us who are in favor of a revolt. But how can you be confident that you will get the support of common people for this line? Look, we are in the process of making a people-centered constitution. The situation now is that the leadership has failed to come up with any kind of constitution, leave alone a people-centered constitution. Isn’t this a sign of a serious failure? In the name of army integration, it made the PLA surrender. It agreed to identity-based federalism, but during negotiations accepted the 11-province model that completely overlooked the identity question. People understand this duplicity well. They also understand how the leadership has compromised on the question of country’s sovereignty. How it has sidelined the vital issues of janajatis and other marginalized communities. So our main agenda will be how the traditional democratic forces and the Maoist leadership have broken people’s trust. Doesn’t the radical line adopted by your faction on the left and, say, that of RPP (Nepal) on the right risk further polarization of an already polarized society? If you look at the divisions within parties, be it NC, UML or our own party, at the root of the disagreements is the political leadership’s failure to address people’s problems. This, I believe, is the primary cause of political polarization. The only way such a polarization can be minimized is if the parties adopt people-centered policies. What we are seeing now is that almost all the parties are primarily concerned about power politics rather than solving people’s problems. The way out is for all the political parties to hold wide-ranging discussions on ways to secure people’s interests. If there is a rupture in the Maoist party, will the new breakaway party take part in future elections? The prime minster has proposed new CA polls for November 22. There is no question of taking part in it because no such poll will take place on the scheduled date. As far as our participation in electoral process is concerned, it all depends on the future context. As communists, we will take part in the process if it corresponds to our ultimate goals, if not, we will stay out. In the end, how hopeful are you that the current round of dialogue with party establishment will be fruitful in keeping the party intact? There have been media reports that the talks have been constructive. We hope the talks can be constructive and contribute toward taking the party forward as a single, strong entity. The talks have not been constructive if you are implying that they have led to definite solutions. But definitely, we are trying to work our way to those solutions. Let’s wait and see what happens. nnnn ________________________________________