CPN MAOIST MEMO TO BE FINALIZED MONDAY WITH INDIA-RELATED DEMANDS Kathmandu, 3 Sept.: In its revised 55-point memorandum to be handed over to the government in the near future, the CPN-Maoist on Sunday inserted more clauses directly related to India into the political advisory, Kamal Dev Bhattarai writes in The Kathmandu Post.. The demands directly related to India include scrapping the Upper Karnali Hydropower Project, barring the vehicles bearing Indian number plates, except the diplomatic, and cancellation of the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement. The other demands are annulment of the TIA management handover bid to an Indian firm, controlling the open border with India and removing the provision of direct Indian assistance. The government has allowed the Kathmandu-based Indian Embassy to 'direcly invest 50 million Indian rupees in various projects without an approval from Ministry of Finance'. The revised memo also calls an end to the presence of American soldiers in Nepal in the name of training and controlling natural disasters. In the memorandum, which will be submitted to Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai soon, the party has sought strict measures to control anti-Chinese activities in the country. According to leaders, the 55-point demand is similar to the 40-point list submitted by the former CPN (Maoist) in 1996 to the then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Immediately after submitting the memorandum, the party had started an armed insurgency calling it a "people's war". Interestingly, the CPN (Maoist) led by Mohan Baidya is submitting the same demands by adding a few more to the government led by his former party. Bhattarai, on February 4, 1996, in his capacity as the chairman of United People's Front, had handed over the list to Deuba. Party leaders said they were compelled to submit the same demands as the Maoist-led government failed to address the 40-point demands. The other demands include providing allowances to unemployed youth, free education to all children up to Grade 12. The party, demanding a scientific land reform, wants land owned by the rich to be confiscated and distributed to landless people. It has also demanded an end commercialisation of education. The 55-point memo is likely to be finalised on Monday by incorporating suggestions. nnnn