EFFORT FOR UNITY IN MADESHI PARTIES Kathmandu, 7 July: TMLP headed by Mananta Thakur Friday formed a three member talks team to effort to form a united Madeshsi party. Party Vice-chairman Hridesh Tripathi is coordinator of the dialogue team while Jitendra Sinar and Pushpa Thakur are its members. A business affairs committee of the TMLP took the initiative Gajendra Naraian Singh launched NSP. now led by Health Minister Rajendra Mahoto, as the first regional party in the south. MJF Upendra Yadav —a NGO – emerged as the main force in the last constituent assembly/parliamentary elections but split into various parties. The united regional party is emerging as the fourth political force in Nepali politics. nnnn KRISHNA THAPA CHIEF COACH OF MMC Kathmandu, 7 July : Krishna Thapa was appointed senior coach of Manang Marshyangdi Club (MMC) Friday. A contract was signed the same day for a monthly salary of Rs 40,000 and travel allowance of Rs 10,000 per month. Nnnn MEDIA GOOGLE “The government wants to deliberately curtail the press freedom and freedom of expression by canceling the registration of media houses.” . (Statement of organizers of electronic media in The Himalayan Times condemning government threat to cancel registration of media houses not paying royalty.) Nnnn “The study commissioned by UNESCO Division at the Ministry of Education says private schools were padlocked 16 times, public schools 39 times, universities 22 times, University Grants Commission twice, CTEVT thrice and Department of Education once. Likewise, Higher Secondary Education Board was padlocked twice, campuses five times, and central departments six times. Journalist Anmolmani Paudel had carried out the study…. Students had closed educational institutions 46 times, political parties 27 times, teachers unions 15 times, local teachers thrice, head teachers twice, school management committee once and underground outfit once….” (Report in The Himalayan Times, 7 July). SUNSARI INTENSIVE SEARCH FOR FAMILY MEMBERS OF MURDERED MAN TO SAVE A NEPALI ON DEATH ROW IN UAE Kathmandu, 7 July: Local administration has decided make announcement through loud speaker in Hansponsa VDC to trace the kin of Ganesh Bahadur Basnet, who was killed by his Nepali compatriot three years ago in the UAE. Hansponsa VDC Office is taking the initiatives as the whereabouts of the family members of Basnet, who was killed by fellow Nepali Durga Bahadur Sunar, 30, of Chitre VDC in Parbat, was not found despite repeated efforts. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and the family of Sunar are making efforts to trace the victim family to save Sunar who will face capital punishment in September. Sunar can be spared from death penalty if the victim family agreed to give him pardon. “We are planning to make announcement through loud speakers to trace Basnet family as our efforts to trace the family by checking all our records since seven months and repeated efforts from Sunsari district administration office proved worthless,” said Hansponsa VDC employee Sanjeev Khadka. He said that the kin of Basnet could not be found even as the VDC employees reached to all nine wards to trace them. “There are no proofs of Basnet family including in the recrods of migration, voters´ list and death registration in the VDC,” he Said, AmarThapa writes in Republica from Itahari. However, authorities in Sharjah of the UAE had recovered passport and citizenship from late Basnet with his home address as Hansponsa VDC-2, Sunsari district. Both Sunar and late Basnet were working at Al Shirawi Equipment Company in Sharjah in the UAE. Secretary of Basnet Genealogy Central Committee Bhola Basnet said they are also working to trace the family of Basnet. “We are surprised that we have not been able to find villagers who know him,” he said. A local of Hansponsa VDC Prakash Rai said since no one in the village know about Basnet the victim could have gone to the UAE for works in forged documents. Chief District Officer of Sunsari Laxman Bahadur Thapa said they will now find the manpower agency that sent Basnet to UAE to find whereabouts his family in Nepal. nnnn ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ETHNIC PARTY TO CHAMPION SOCIAL JUSTICE Kathmandu, 7 July: Concluding that there is a need of a separate political party representing ethnic and indigenous communities, leaders from the communities gathered in Kathmandu have formally declared to form such a Party, Republica reports. The leaders avowed that the new party will be guided by the principles of human rights, social justice, equality and indigenous rights. "We call upon all the leaders and cadres from ethnic and indigenous communities, who are members of various political parties, and the people in general from the oppressed and marginalized communities to participate in the process of forming a new political force," said the statement issued at a press conference on Friday. The two-day national gathering was jointly convened by Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN), a caucus of former lawmakers from ethnic and indigenous communities and other organizations in Kathmandu, starting Wednesday. Leaders and activists from the ethnic communities argued that it has become essential to form a new party that would champion the causes of ethnic, indigenous and oppressed social groups as the top leadership of all the major political parties was occupied by Brahmins and other so-called high-caste leaders. The statement said the new political force has become a necessity to end the hegemony of the high-caste leaders who want to retain the old systems and stand against any changes in the society. The gathering held the top leaders of major political parties responsible for the demise of the Constituent Assembly (CA) on May 27. "The anti-federalist and rightist Brahmin leaders of the three major political parties, CA Chairman [Subas Nembang], Chairman of Constitutional Committee [Nilambar Acharya] and their coterie held the CA hostage leading to its demise," concluded the gathering. They called upon all the organizations representing indigenous communities to boycott the anti-federalists. Some senior leaders from CPN-UML, including the party´s vice-chairman Ashok Rai and other noted leaders such as Prithivi Subba Gurung and Ram Chandra Jha, were not present at the press conference. Though the caucus of former lawmakers from ethnic and indigenous communities was one of organizers of the event, the caucus´ coordinator Gurung didn´t show up at the press conference. Former lawmaker Pasang Sherpa attended the event on behalf of the caucus. Nnnn NEARLY 4,000 FAMILIES YET TO COMPENSATED • Kathmandu, 7 July: Families of over 3,700 conflict victims have not approached the Relief and Rehabilitation Unit (RRU) to claim compensation despite the government’s extensive media campaign for the same, officials said, The Himalayan Times reports. According to latest data collected by the RRU, over 17,882 people were killed during Maoist insurgency. Death toll could go up as the process to compile data is still on, said RRU official Suresh Neupane. A survey research conducted by the unit in 10 districts revealed that some of the families did not approach for compensation in the concerned districts because they had migrated to other districts. In some other cases, double mentioning of the conflict victims and mentioning of the nicknames of the victims were also found to be reasons why their family members did not apply for the RRU for compensation. As an exception, only Manang and Mustang districts have not recorded any conflict related death. A majority of 3,700 victims whose families have not claimed compensation are from Rukum, Rolpa and Kailali districts that were worst hit by the 10 years Maoist insurgency. The government has hiked the compensation amount from Rs 1,00,000 to Rs 3,00,000 per victim. According to Neupane, the unit has already provided the families of 9,000 victims with Rs 3,00,000 each. Families of another 7,000 victims have received Rs 1,00,000 each. Jitendra Nath Sharma, who is in-charge of the Reconstruction Division of the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction who overseas World Bank funded the Emergency Peace Support Project said they signed an understanding with the bank only last week to extend the project for another two years. He said the government would soon start disbursing compensation amount to those families who had not received compensation amount. “We have mobilised all the local bodies including local peace committees to do the needful. We want every conflict victim’s families to avail of the relief programmes and hope to meet our target within next two years,” Sharma added. The government plans to raise the compensation amount from Rs 3,00,000 to Rs 10,00,000 per victim. RRU officials said they would distribute compensation to the remaining victims in the next fiscal when budgets would be available for the same. The government has also provided additional Rs 25,000 to the war widows. Besides, the government has also formulated a policy to provide Rs 1,50,000 to the families of those who were killed in post-Comprehensive Peace Agreement violence including the families of Gaur massacre victims. Human Rights defender Subodh Raj Pyakurel said relief packages for the families of the conflict victims was necessary but ensuring reparation was more necessary. “We can honour the victims by naming parks, schools and other institutes after them and building statue in their names,” he said. Pyakurel said collecting names of conflict victims was hindered also because some of the Maoist cadres who were accused of killings are in the local committees that help collect the lists of the dead, and therefore, they would never acknowledge the names of those persons whom they might have killed. “The government seems to be disbursing compensation only to gain sympathy of the victims’ families. Justice is more important that the families still wait,” Pyakurel added. • nnnn GOVT. EXPLORING JOB MARKET TO REDUCE EMPLOYMENT Kathmandu, 7 July: The government is exploring potential job sectors in the country to reduce its dependency on foreign jobs, The Himalayan Times reports. The government will organise the National Labour and Employment Conference in Kathmandu on July 9-11 to explore potential job sectors for its 11.7 million labour force. The conference will focus on exploring job sectors and on better labour relations, said secretary of Ministry of Labour and Employment Somlal Subedi. "Top bureaucrats, employers, representatives of trade unions, and experts will discuss on ways to change the country's dependency on foreign jobs," he said. More than 400,000 people enter the job market every year and most of them join foreign jobs. According to the Department of Foreign Employment, 480,990 Nepalis have joined foreign jobs in the last 10 months, which translates to 1,500 Nepalis leaving the country in search of greener pastures everyday. Only 30,000 Nepalis get jobs in the domestic market annually. The conference will explore the government's role in building better labour relations, said director general at the department Dr Man Bahadur BK. "It is necessary to build investor confidence during Nepal Investment Year 2012-13," he said. According to him, the conference will give final touches to the new draft of the Labour Act and Social Security Fund. nnnn "We will try to sort out the reservations of trade unions and employers," he said. Employers have been asking for the inclusion of 'hire and fire' and 'no work no pay' policies in the labour laws but trade unions have been demanding for a complete social security package against the move. Similarly, the conference will explore job fields for returnee migrant workers to retain them in the country. "We will seek potential self-employment programmes for them," said director of the department Kashinath Marasini, adding that the future of the country depended on utilising the skills of returnee migrants. "Returnee migrants are skilled manpower and we have to use them for economic growth." About 250 people representing employers, trade unions and the government will participate in the three-day conference. The conference will have five sessions — two for plenary discussions on law reforms, one for creating jobs inside the country, one for examining social cost of migrant workers and one for the government's role in minimising industrial hurdles. Authorised civil servant union in offing The government has decided to elect an authorised union from among the six unions established by civil servants. A cabinet meeting that was held earlier this week has approved the Department of Labour's plans to conduct elections next year. "The cabinet has directed the Finance Ministry to allocate a budget to establish an election office at the central level," said director general at the department Dr Man Bahadur BK. According to him, the department has already drafted the regulations and bylaws for an elected union. The department will establish an election office in September and the election process will start thereafter, he said. nnnn