MAOIST GENERAL CONVENTION ORGANIZING COMMITTEE TO MEET Kathmandu, 1 Aug. A meeting of the UCPN Maoist general convention organizing committee (GCOC) is being held Wednesday to discuss not only preparations for the first party general convention but also a current political deadlock and other issues. The GCOV replaced other top policy making bodies, including the Central committee and politburo, to lay a groundwork for themed-February2013 convention. The body has to be expanded with appointments to the 175-member organizing committee which now has only 104 members responsibilities have also to be assigned A stormy plenary session of UCPN Maoist decided hold a general convention. Party leaders, including Chairman Prachanda, were criticized for their lavish lifestyles and alleged amassing of wealth in a party of the proletariat. and commissions formed to probe the assents of leaders have yet to come up with their reports. Meanwhile, the GCOC meets amid continued differences in the ruling party even after a big group led by former Vice-chairman Mohan Baidhaya quit and launched CPN Maoist. A group le by another vice-chairman and Deputy Prime Minister Narayan Kazi Shrestha charged Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai for signing a bilateral trade and investment accord wit India without consultations in government and party implicitly charging the government chief of his close links with New Delhi. The charge comes at a time when it has come to light Chairman Prachanda and PM Bhattarai wrote to the Office of the Prime Minister in New Delhi the self-exiled leaders wouldn’t conduct ‘anti-India ‘policies even as the party was launching a trench war against the southern neighbour. nnnn MONKEY POPULATION UPIN PSHUPATINATH AREA Kathmandu, 1 Aug.:: Are you visiting Pashupati Area with human foods for monkeys? Beware, for the food that you feed them has prompted artificial physical growth and higher fertility rate among monkeys, leading to increased menace among visitors and locals, Rudra Pangeni reports in The Himalayan Times.. Their reproductive age has come down to two or three years on average from the natural four to five years leading to higher fertility rate. Monkey specialist Mukesh Chalise attributes this to artificial food the monkeys are fed. His research paper published in a journal ‘Perspective of Education’ of Tribhuvan University in 2008 states that they reproduce twice a year in twins, triplets, even in quadruplets, which is rare in the world. Therefore, cases of monkey menace are on the rise in Pashupati and Swoyambhu areas and other nearby settlements in the capital city. A housewife close to Gaurighat told this daily, her family has been haunted by monkeys who invade in hordes unlike in the past 12 years this season. “They coming mostly with babies, one or two of them, who tear the clothes drying on the roof top, damage flower pots and snap telephone and internet cables,” she said, choosing not to be named. She recently bought a catapult to ward off the monkeys. They also take shelter in houses during rainy season. Chalise said that the human foods they are given has increased their fertility rate. Several cases of birthing twice a year have also been noticed, which happens once every two to three years in the jungle. Food-shortage in the shrinking forest has pushed them towards settlements causing a menace to the locals. “Fruits, barks, buds and saps are the natural foods of red-monkey species, however all these things are not available in the Pashupati jungle,” added Chalise. He added that some even steal eggs from the nests of birds nest in the jungle. A sweetmeat seller in Pashupati, said he often gives sweetmeats and other foods from his kitchen to the monkeys but says he has no idea what comprises the appropriate food for monkeys. Chalise said, “They are closer to human beings as visitors feed them, locals provide food for them regularly and they have the tendency to imitate human beings. They are often mischievous when they are chased, scared and retaliate.” Gita Ghimire, another woman in the locality of Gaurighat, has a routine of leaving food to the monkeys on the roof of her house every morning. Single monkeys that stray from the holy site also hassle locals in Chabahil, Siphal, Gaushala, the Airport, Koteswor, Patan and other inner parts. Chalise said the males who are defeated in the fight for sexual intercourse with female monkeys stray for weeks in the inner cities where they steal food. “Increment of their habitat or control of the monkey population and their transfer to forests where the monkey population has been depleted and using them for medical and scientific research are some measures of preventing their menace,” Chalise said. He also suggests that locals should not feed them, which will cause their population to naturally deplete. nnnn FURTHER DETAILS OF NC DISTRICT PRESIDENT CONCLAVE Kathmandu, 1 Aug.: Nepali Congress district presidents' second national conclave concluded in Barhabise today, with district presidents unanimously calling the party leadership to announce the wou-ld-be prime ministerial candidate to lead the upcoming consensus government, Yubaraj Puri writes in The Himalayan Times from Barhabise.. The conclave, issuing the Barhabise declaration, has demanded the party to put an end the prevailing practice of not declaring the prime ministerial candidate in time. Through the 14-point declaration paper, the district presidents have voiced that the Constituent Assembly reinstatement should not be priority issue of the party, reckoning a parliamentary election to draft the constitution afterwards as a best option. The document, however, has also made a provision in it to accommodate some of the district presidents of the Deuba camp standing for CA reinstatement despite the call of the majority for election. Further, the gathering urged the party leadership to make preparation to launch a fresh agitation from mid-August to dethrone the present government and form a national government in its place. Also, the participants of the gathering have demanded that the government immediately scrap its decision to award different state amenities to the former VIPs. On the issues of federalism, Madhes and Jaanajati, the presidents have urged the party leadership to make its official stance clear on those issues. According to NC central member Gagan Thapa, there were mostly discussions on the issue of factionalism in the party. "The gathering has given us more power to take a decision regarding the election but anything regarding the matter will be taken by the party high committee (Mahasamiti) meeting," he said. Following the speeches of the district presidents, Sindhupalchowk district president Mohan Bahadur Basnet read out the declaration paper before handing it to the Party President Sushil Koirala. Speaking at the conclusion of the gathering, NC chief Koirala had clarified that he did not wish to promote factionalism in the party. Expressing his sadness over the allegation of the presidents, Koriala said he was ready to rectify any weakness if there are any. Further, pointing to the possible danger of losing the achievements so far gained owing to the tussle triggered by the ethnic issues, he expressed his worry that the weakened NC has a negative bearing on the democracy in the nation. Meanwhile, while there were calls by most of the district presidents against the CA reinstatement, senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, however, had refused to budge from his stance. Today, while the gathering was underway, NC senior leader Deuba had set out from Barhabise at about 3 pm citing an urgent business after Indian Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha called him from the Capital. As per a source, Deuba has a programme to have a dinner with Sinha on Tuesday evening. Talking to the mediaperson, he reiterated that CA should be reinstated at any cost. nnnn