UML LEADERS FIGHTING FOR SNGLE ETHNC STATES RELIVED OF PARTY RESPONSIBILITIES Kathmandu, 19 July: UML standing committee Wednesday sacked vice chairman Ashok Rai, Prithvi Subba Gurung, Rakam Chemjong, Bijaya Subba and Kiran Gurung of organizational responsibilities. They have been charged for ignoring responsibilities. The leaders defying party policy demanded single ethic provinces. Responsibilities were given to other leaders. Nnnn NC LEADEROF ARGAKANCHI DEAD Kathmandu, 19 July: Top NC leader Chandramani Pandey of Argakanchi died Thursday while undergoing treatment at a hospital in the capital. He was injured in the motorcycle accident at Birpur of Kapilvasti Sunday. nnnn DONORS INCREASE AID PLEDGE IN ENERGY SECTOR- Kathmandu,19 July: With the government according greater priority to energy and infrastructure lately, donors have begun responding with higher aid pledges to these sectors, The Kathmandu Post reports. According to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), donors have promised more money to these two sectors than to education, health and local development, traditionally the biggest receivers of foreign aid, in the last fiscal year 2011-12. The energy and infrastructure sectors received aid commitments of Rs 32.70 billion and Rs 16.28 billion respectively, followed by education with Rs 8.99 billion and local development with Rs 8.59 billion. The environment sector has emerged as one of the biggest receivers of foreign aid commitments with donors pledging Rs 8.15 billion last year. “It is not that donor priority has shifted from the social sector like health and education to energy and infrastructure,” said Finance Secretary Krishna Hari Baskota. “Aid commitments to the social sector decreased last year as they have already pledged a huge amount of resources for education and health in previous years.” Education, local development and health were the top recipients of foreign aid in fiscal 2010-11, according to the MoF. Baskota said that it was not that the social sector was getting less priority but that the other two sectors had been pushed up in the priority list. With the country suffering from an energy shortage and long load-shedding, the government has given greater importance to the energy sector. Likewise, the infrastructure sector has been accorded more priority after the peace process began. “Donors have responded to the government’s increased priority to energy and infrastructure,” said Baskota. He added that the government had not hesitated to borrow money for infrastructure projects as they contribute to the gross domestic product (GDP) immediately. Total foreign aid commitments in 2011-12 also increased by Rs 1.56 billion to Rs 107.56 billion from Rs 106 billion in 2010-11. However, the government failed to absorb the promised aid. According to the MoF, the government mobilised a total of Rs 47 billion including grants of Rs 42 billon and loans of Rs 5 billion in cash form last year. The MoF said the government signed aid agreements with donors for 49 projects in the last fiscal year. The size of the foreign loan commitment has swelled to Rs 50.62 billion this year while grant commitments amounted to Rs 56.93 billion in the last fiscal year. The massive shift to loan commitments became possible after India and China in particular pledged huge amounts for the infrastructure sector, said the MoF. The government had expected grants of Rs 70.13 billion and loans of Rs 29.65 billion last year while presenting the budget for the last fiscal year. “As Nepal’s loan liability to the GDP is relatively low, we are in a position to take loans, and we are ready to take loans for important infrastructure projects,” said Baskota. According to the ministry, India, China, Japan, the United Kingdom and Switzerland are big bilateral funding countries while the ADB, World Bank, Climate Investment Fund, OPEC Fund and European Union are big multilateral donors. Nnnn