16 PARTIES MEET TO DRAW UP DETAILS OF PROGRAMMES TO TOPPLE BHATTARAI GOVT. Kathmandu, 25 Sept.: Sixteen opposition parties, including NC. UML and CPN Maoist, meet for the second time in two days to draw up detailed protests programmes to topple the Baburam Bhattarai. The parties concluded Monday there was no alternative but to topple the government. NC and UML joined the opposition even as they agreed with UCPN Maoist and and five-party Madeshibadi Morcha in government to hold snap polls for a constituent assembly. But the entire attention of parties has centered around leadership of an election government with Bhattarai refusing to step down to handover power to NC/ nnnn FORMER KING WARMLY RECEIVED IN DAMAULI Kathmandu, 25 Sept.: Former King Gyanendra was welcomes by a activists of NC and UML in Damauli where he spent two hours offering puja at temples and mingling with people. Workers of the two parties welcomed the former king even as their parties attempted to disrupt visit of six districts in Gandaki and Dhaulagiri anchals. The last king, who has been spontaneously and warmly received by people, returns to the capital Wednesday. The crowd response an defections from parties indicate he has a popular base. The former king drove back Monday to Pokhara from Damauli. nnnn PRACHANDA SAYS HE’S SUFFERING ACUTE CASE OF VIRAL FEVER Kathmandu, 25 Sept.: Maoist Chairman Prachanda said Monday he’s suffering extreme case of viral fever and is resting in the resort town of Pokhara.. He’s expected to return to the capital only Wednesday. Controversial son Shameer Dahal has joined his parents in the lake city. Shameer went missing with a married girl after climbing the 8848 meters high Ount Everest , the world’s tallest peak.in May. The government of prime Minister Babura Bhattarai set aside Rs.20 million for the expedition amid protests from sections of society. nnnn UNITED SPIRITS NEPAL PVT.LTD SPONSORS.RCT Kathmandu, 25 Sept.: United Spirits Nepal Pvt :Ltd. will sponsor ‘A’ Division Club Ranipokhari Corner Team (RCT) for one year with a one million rupee investment. The A division team use the McDowell’s logo on players’jersey under the deal. nnnn IMF TELLS NRB TO ABSORB EXCESA LIQUIDITY Kathmandu, 25:Sept.: As excess liquidity in the market posed a challenge in maintaining interest rates at levels close to those in India, International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday suggested the Nepal Rastra Bank to tighten the monetary policy and implement measures to absorb excess liquidity from the market, Republica reports. An IMF mission that scanned the country´s macro-economic fundamentals over the past two weeks pushed for tighter monetary policy mainly as maintaining Nepal´s interest rates within a certain margin of those in India is crucial to ensure monetary and exchange rate stability. According to NRB, the financial system presently has excess liquidity of around Rs 42 billion. The IMF that released the preliminary findings of its Article IV mission on the day rated Nepal´s macro-economic performance as good, but cautioned that the outlook for the current and following fiscal years appears challenging due to the slowdown of the Indian economy, Nepal´s largest trading partner, and absence of full-fledged budget. It even announced that the country´s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would decline in 2012/13 from 4.6 percent of a year ago, referring to the effects of the late monsoon, continued weakness in industrial output and dampening effects of slowing growth in India. "Delays in adopting a full-year budget for 2012/13 could further dampen investment and growth”," said Todd T Schneider, Deputy Division Chief, Asia and Pacific Department of the IMF, who led the mission to Nepal. The Mission at the conclusion of its visit urged the government to adopt the full-year budget at the earliest and tighten its focus on budget implementation to attain higher level of capital spending. This is crucial for the country to meet its pressing infrastructure needs and support medium-term growth, said Schneider. Schneider also warned that investments and external shocks faced by the Southern neighbor could affect Nepal in terms of remittances and investment receipts. As slowdown is feared to squeeze demand in India, it could hit Nepal´s export as well. Given the situation, Schneider suggested the fiscal and monetary authority to keep track of affairs in India and take prompt steps at home to mitigate the adverse impacts. On the fiscal front, the IMF Mission mainly raised concerns over large losses of the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) and Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). "Those losses are unsustainable," said Schneider and strongly recommended the government to adopt automatic price adjustment mechanism to avoid the NOC´s future losses. The IMF Mission also recommended the government to further strengthen the tax administration and revenue collections, focusing mainly on collecting arrears. It pushed for the adoption of tighter expenditure management and cash planning, so that government and donor-supported investment projects are implemented. The IMF also warned that risks in the financial sector still exist. In this context, it recommended the central bank to further tighten its supervision and expand the framework for taking corrective action at problematic bank. It has also recommended the government to enact the revised NRB Act so that the central bank could make swift interventions in problem banks. Nnnnn GOVT. ASKED TO DIVEST 30 5 NT SHARES TOSTRATEGIC PARTNER Kathmanu, 25 Sept : A committee formed by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has suggested to the government to divest up to 30 percent of its stake at Nepal Telecom (NT) in order to pave the way for induction of a strategic partner in the state-owned telecom operator, Samiksha Koirala writes in Republica. . The committee´s recommendation goes in line with what the previous teams had suggested. A high-level taskforce in 2010 had suggested to the government to invite a strategic partner by allowing it to own at least 26 percent equity at NT. MoF Joint Secretary Baikuntha Aryal, who led the committee, submitted the report of its nearly two-month-long study to the finance minister, who heads the high-level privatization committee, on Monday. In its report, the committee has suggested to the government to invite tender for selecting a strategic partner in two steps. “In the first stage, the government should invite Expression of Interest (EoI). This will help it to identify potential partners,” said a source, citing the report. After shortlisting the best firms, the report then suggests to the government to invite Request for Proposal (RFP). “Such modality has been proposed mainly because it will ensure selection of the best strategic partner for NT,” said a committee member, requesting anonymity. Under the terms and conditions for the strategic partner, the committee has proposed that only those international firms that have a minimum of 20 million subscriber base and have been operating in profit for a few years should be allowed to participate in the bid. Besides, the report also makes it mandatory for the selected partner to compulsorily install the equipment within the territory of Nepal in order to launch any kind of new technology. “In other words, the committee has suggested that the government not allow the partner to introduce new services by installing system outside of Nepal,” said the source. Sources said the committee´s report will be studied in detail by MoF, following which it will be sent to the cabinet for approval. It will be implemented only when the cabinet approves it. According to NT officials, the submission of the report has paved the way for the implementation of the long-planned strategy to induct a foreign partner in the company. “We are ready to work with a strategic partner. Our only hope is the government will deliver on its commitment and implement it,” a senior NT official said. With increasing competition in the telecommunications sector, there has been growing demand for strategic partner in the state-owned operator. Though still the best performing public enterprise, NT has lost the market leadership to private operator Ncell since July, 2012. It has a total subscriber base of 7.75 million and occupies 45 percent of the market share. Ncell, on the other hand, holds 48 percent market share as of August, 2012. Nnnn SEPARATE DIRECTORATE IN ARMY UNLIKELY FOE SMALL NUMBER OF INDUCTED MAOISTS Kathmandu, 25 Sept.:The number of Maoist fighters selected for their integration into the national army has come out to be less than 1,500, giving indications that the earlier envisioned structure of a separate directorate general under the Nepali Army will not be set up, The Himalayan Times reports. A selection committee formed to screen the Maoist fighters wishing to join the NA has released its final list according to which 1,388 combatants have been found eligible for their integration into the national army as recruits and 75 others have been selected for their entry into the army as officer cadets. Earlier, a political understanding was reached that ‘up to 6,500 Maoist fighters will be blended into the army and separate directorate general for national development and reconstruction will be formed with 35 per cent of Maoist fighters-turned-army personnel and 65 per cent of personnel from the national army’. “Now it is clear that there will be no separate directorate general,” said Ram Sharan Mahat, a Nepali Congress leader and a member of the Special Committee (for supervision, integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants). “Earlier the body’s size was expected to be of 18,000-plus personnel, but now it seems there will be less than 4,500 personnel.” The political understanding had envisioned that the to-be-formed directorate general would be headed by a major general under whom there would be five brigadier generals. A senior NA official, however, told this daily on condition of anonymity that number might not affect the setting up of the directorate general. Nnnn FINANCE MINISTRY OKAYS HRH PLAN Kathmandu, 25 Sept.: The Ministry of Health and Population finally got a green signal from the Finance Ministry to endorse the Human Resources for Health (HRH) Strategic Plan (2011-2015), The Himalayan Times reports. The Finance Ministry had given its approval last week to implement the HRH strategic plan within this fiscal year. Kabiraj Khanal, Joint Spokesperson for the Health Ministry said that the Finance Ministry has agreed to provide budget for the implementation of the plan. “Now the ministry will propose the strategic plan in the Cabinet without any further delay,” said the spokesperson. The strategic plan has been considered as an important tool as it will guide the production, recruitment, deployment, career development, retention, monitoring and evaluation of human resource in the health sector. The country started formulating the strategic plan after the Nepal Health Sector Programme-Implementation Plan-II identified a number of HRH challenges and constraints that are affecting the delivery of health services and the achievement of health outcomes. In 2010, the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) established a Country Coordination and Facilitation mechanism and began developing a new and updated HRH strategic plan to address some of the long-standing HRH problems. The strategy plan has identified five HRH problem areas and issues namely shortage of the HRH (imbalance between supply and demand), mal-distribution of health staff, poor staff performance (productivity, quality and availability), fragmented approach to HRH planning, management and development and HRH financing. The strategic plan had considered improving human resource planning for health sector and getting better MoHP recruitment and deployment processes effective and timely. They had also objected to improve attractiveness of jobs for increased recruitment and retention and to ensure pre-service training on line with the requirements for the health sector. The plan further said that they will review current situation and ensure deployment systems result in equitable distribution of health workers and make jobs/postings in rural areas more attractive. As per the strategic plan, the ministry will also prepare and support staff better for working and living in remote areas and make mandatory provision for service to improve rural service provision. One of the challenges to deliver the health service is absentees among the health workers. The plan is going to reduce staff absence from their assigned posts and will implement effective coordination mechanisms in place at all levels within the health system. Nepal is one of the 59 countries identified by the World Health Organisation as having critical shortage of human resources for health in 2006. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Needs Assessment 2010 states that Nepal requires additional 2,448 medical doctors, 3,418 nurses and 9,202 paramedical staff to deliver minimum level of medical services to the population. nnnn