BULLISH TREND CONTINUES IN SHARE MARKET Kathmandu, 7 Nov.: The bullish trend continued Wednesday on the fourth day of weekly five-day trading. Nepse closed at 472.76 points after gaining 9.4 points. But trading was low. Altogether 113,927 shares were traded for Rs.34.927 million in 428 transactions. nnnn SOLUTION THROUGH NEW NEW NOT POSSIBLE SAYS CPN-MAOIST Kathmandu, 7 Nov.: At the time when the major political parties, including UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, have decided to go for fresh election to the Constituent Assembly (CA), the newly formed CPN-Maoist has opposed their decision saying the CA elected through fresh polls cannot guarantee a pro-people constitution, Loran Pun writes in Republica.. The party has maintained that fresh CA poll would only mitigate the crisis currently facing the “reactionary forces”. The central working committee (CWC) meeting of the party, which is concluded on Monday, concluded that fresh CA election is not in the party´s immediate agenda. Instead, the party, sticking to its political line of people´s revolt, wants an immediate roundtable assembly of the political forces and other stakeholders to find a way out of the current crisis. “Reactionary forces have been trying to find a solution through the new CA. But this is not possible. We will not participate in the polls in the current state of affairs," a CWC member quoted Chairman Mohan Baidya as saying at the conclusion of the CWC meeting on Monday. Though the party has refrained from taking a formal decision as the election is still uncertain, it has already decided to move ahead by launching a struggle. "The party would take ahead programs of struggle by forming broad fronts. This would be the only solution to the crisis currently facing the country," Om Prakash Pun, a CWC member of the party, told Republica. Likewise, another CWC member Sarala Regmi ruled out the possibility of the party participating in the polls. “The CA polls are still uncertain. So we did not take a formal decision, but I urge all the patriotic and pro federalist to boycott the polls and root for a new democratic system that would safeguard national sovereignty and guarantee pro people constitution," Regmi, told Republica. The CPN-Maoist CWC meeting also concluded that a constitution that would be in the interests of the people cannot be promulgated at a time when there is maximum foreign interference in the country. "There has never been such a high level of foreign interference in the country in our history. We should take steps to rescue the country out of this situation and create environment conducive to promulgating a pro people constitution," Khadga Bahadur Bishwakarma, a politburo member of the party, told Republica. He also said that the major parties have failed to find a solution to the current crisis and that they have decided to go for fresh CA election only as a face-saving measure. “The country has gone in the hands of compradors. Only we can free the country from them after forming a government led by our party and other patriotic and leftist forces," added Bishwakarma. The party has also named general secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa as its prime ministerial candidate. Similarly, another CWC member Sabitiri Kumar Kafle echoing Bishwakarma said that national sovereignty is currently in crisis and also labeled NC, UML and UCPN (Maoist) leaders as "compradors of foreigners". Nnnn PASSPORT CHAOS LIKELY Kathmandu, 7 Nov.: Imagine a situation when over 2.5 million passports become invalid on the same day. And the government agency responsible hardly has the capacity to produce a maximum of 2,500 passports a day to replace them, Kosh Raj Koirala writes in Republica. This chaotic situation may sound far-fetched to some. But it is exactly what our country is going to face on November 24, 2015 when all hand-written passports become invalid as per the deadline set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to phase out such passports. Department of Passports (DoP), though aware of the gravity of the problem, is in a quandary what measures they can adopt to avoid such an unpleasant situation. "We are aware of the problem that the country could face in the face of the ICAO deadline. But we are already facing a manpower and resources crunch in meeting the existing demand, let alone do anything more" said Acting Director General of DoP Yadav Khanal. Nepal started issuing MRPs on December 26, 2010-- nine months after the original deadline of April 10, 2010 set by ICAO for starting to issue MRPs. Officials at DoP said some 700,000 MRPs have been issued so far. DOP, the central government body entrusted with the issue of passports, has been issuing over 2,000 MRPs a day on average. As it is difficult enough to meet the current demand for MRPs with the limited human and other resources at its disposal, DoP has not yet formally invited applications from those who wish to replace handwritten passports that are still valid. Officials at DoP, however, said they are mulling to start work to phase out all handwritten passports on a campaign footing despite the resource crunch. "Given our limitations, we are now working out a modality for getting the job done," Khanal informed. The biggest problem, according to DoP officials, will be providing passports to those living abroad. It is estimated that the number of Nepalis workers in various Gulf countries and other labor destinations alone exceeds 2.4 million. Since the number of Nepali students overseas, who have handwritten passports, is equally high, a rough estimate is that over 2.5 million passports will become invalid when the ICAO deadline arrives. Officials said they are now working to gradually replace the handwritten passports with MRPs, with Nepalese embassies abroad acting as ´focal points´ for the purpose. "We are now mulling to set up online centers both within and outside the country for people to submit their applications for MRPs," they said. Nnnn AIR SAFFETY OVER NEPALI SKIES SOUGHT Kathmandu, 7 Nov.: The European Aviation Safety Agency ( EASA ) has asked the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to submit an action plan and progress report, outlining its commitments to ensure safety, among other aviation matters, by November 19, The Kathmandu Post reports.. In a letter sent to the government and CAAN, EASA said it might summon CAAN for necessary clarification at its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, if the latter failed to submit the sought details. If CAAN fails to satisfy EASA , Nepal’s aviation industry could suffer a blacklisting. An aviation blacklisting means visitors from Europe will not receive health and travel, among other insurance coverage, in case of an aircraft accident/incident in Nepal, according to a CAAN source. The agency will also prevent Nepali aircraft from entering the airspace of European Union member states. The concern also comes amid crashes involving aircraft manufactured in Europe. Nepal’s aviation safety record has taken a blow, with six crashes in the last two years and three of them involving European-made Dornier aircraft. CAAN officials said they were currently set out to fulfill every specific requirement asked by EASA . The agency has expressed its readiness to assist Nepal with technical expertise in the field of aviation. Chief Secretary Lilamani Poudel said the government has taken the issue seriously and that necessary steps will be taken to ensure safer airports and skies. Admitting to ‘some lapses’ which needed to be addressed, a CAAN source said: “On the whole, lots of improvements have been made to ensure a safer aviation industry.” On February, EASA had urged Nepal to speed up implementation of air safety measures by enhancing human capabilities and giving more autonomy to CAAN. “ EASA has also suggested curbing politicking at CAAN and entrusting the overall responsibility to its director general,” the official said. “In this direction, initiatives have been taken to eliminate the system of Civil Aviation Minister being the chairman of CAAN,” he added. EASA representatives, during their February visit, had said Nepal could not afford to remain passive on developing human resources and safety awareness at a time when the country’s tourism and aviation industry was growing continuously. The EASA team was asked to look into legislation, organisation, personal licensing, flight operation, air worthiness, air traffic management, airdrome operation and accident investigation of Nepal to develop a roadmap in the field of aviation safety oversight. The roadmap was expected to help Nepal fulfil its safety oversight obligations, including an audit of CAAN, processes, procedures and programme as per the commitments made to ICAO to implement comprehensive air safety measures, among others. An ICAO audit team visits Nepal annually to validate whether the information provided by the country on air safety issues is correct. The team is scheduled to make the next visit in February 2013. Nnnn ________________________________________ DUGAR GROUP RAIDED Kathmandu, 7 Nov.: The Department of Revenue Investigation ( DRI ) on Tuesday raided Amrit Pulses Industry and Pooja Dal Mill on suspicion of tax evasion, The Kathmandu Post reports. These two industries belong to the TM Dugar Group. According to DRI Deputy Director General Rajendra Prasad Sharma, these two industries have been exporting pulses imported from India as domestic production. “Although the details are yet to come out, the preliminary investigation of the raid team suggests the industries have evaded income tax and custom duty worth millions,” said Sharma. According to DRI , two flying squad teams of the department raided the industries. The one headed by Arjun Thapa and Dhan Bahadur Baduwal raided Birgunj-based Pooja Dal Mill and the other headed by Bharat Raj Subedi raided Nepalgunj-based Amrit Pulses Industry. Motilal Dugar of TM Dugar Group, however, denied the charges. “We have been exporting domestic pulses,” said Dugar. “We have not imported pulses from Bangladesh evading taxes,” said Dugar. Nnnn RIFT OVER DECISION TO BOYCOTT CJ BENCH Kathmandu, 7 Nov.: An internal rift has surfaced in the Nepal Bar Association with some of the units under it objecting to its yesterday’s decision to boycott the bench of Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi, The Hialayan Times reports. Some half dozen units of the umbrella organisation of the lawyers’ across the country today said that they were not part of the (NBA) campaign to boycott CJ’s bench. Issuing a joint press release, the bar units claimed that they were not in favour of NBA decision at all. “As a matter of fact, there was no discussion about boycotting the bench of Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi so we oppose the NBA decision to this effect,” stated a joint press statement issued by the bar units today. Those signing the press statement are: Ram Prasad Gaudel, Chairman of Supreme Court Bar Association; Bhojraj Acharya, Chairman of Patan Appellate Court Bar Association; Rajeshwor Adhikary, Chairman of Kathmandu District Court Bar Association; Mangal Maharjan, Chairman of Lalitpur District Court Bar Association; Hari Raut, Chairman, Bhaktapur District Court Bar Association; and Nawaraj Badal, Chairman of Kavre District Court Bar Association. The press statement has also criticised the Nepal Bar Association for taking such a decision against the chief justice. “Our attention has been seriously drawn to (NBA) decision to boycott CJ’s bench,” the press release added. The bar units have urged the Nepal Bar Association not to take such a crucial decision in haste without their consent. They, however, made it clear that they have already agreed to protest Chief Justice Regmi for his failure to provide the judiciary a strong leadership at a time when the sector needed it the most, for his apathy towards appointing judges in the Supreme Court and for not being able to do the needful to give an opportunity to the lawyers to hold judgeship in district courts. After a meeting yesterday, where all the bar units were present, the Nepal Bar Association had issued a press release accusing CJ of trying to lead the judiciary in an autocratic manner and said that NBA had taken a decision to boycott CJ’s bench. The NBA press release had it that the chief justice was not taking initiative to resolve the ongoing problems plaguing the judiciary and that he was merely involved in day-to-day administrative issues. Following the six bar units’ objection today, the Nepal Bar Association today issued a separate press release asking all the bar units under it to clear their stances on yesterday’s decision in seven days. JOS expresses concern The Judicial Officers’ Society on Tuesday expressed its concern about the Nepal Bar Association decision to boycott the bench of Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi. “We are shocked with the decision of the NBA,” a press release issued by JOS Chairman Mahendra Nath Upadhayay and General Secretary Hemanta Rawal stated. The JOS added that the decision was intended to spoil the relation between the judiciary and bar which would ultimately obstruct the process of justice dispensation. — HNS Nnnn TRANSIT TO BOOST INTRA-REGIONAL TRADE KATHMANDU: Experts today called for a change in the mindset that transit facility to landlocked least developed countries (LLDCs) is a one-way concession but will be a benefit to coastal countries too, and enhance corridor development concepts — suggested by various regional think tanks — besides concluding a regional transport agreement including international instruments, The Himalayan Times reports.. “A World Bank study has revealed that a median landlocked country like Nepal experiences 42 per cent higher transport cost than a median coastal country,” said former commerce secretary Purushottam Ojha, addressing the ‘National Consultation on Transit Transport Cooperation in South Asia’ organised by the Association of Former Career Ambassadors of Nepal, and South Asia Centre for Policy Studies here today. Though, the SAARC Regional Multimodal Transport Study has suggested to develop 10 road corridors, five railway corridors, two inter-water transport corridor, 10 maritime gateways, and seven aviation gateways in the region to expedite trade within and out of the region, the non implementation of the study has hit Nepal’s capacity to trade within and out of the region, he said, adding that the Almaty Programme of Action — that lobbys for LLDCs right to free transit — has, however, increased the call for promoting trade facilitation in the region. Among the suggested SAARC road corridors, corridor-2 connecting Kathmandu to Kolkata/Haldia via Birgunj, corridor-4 connecting Kathmandu to Mongla and Chittagong via Fulbari-Banglabandha, corridor-7 connecting Kathmandu to Karachi via Nepalgunj-New Delhi-Lahore, and corridor-10 connecting Kathmandu-Bhairahawa-Lucknow, will connect Nepal to other countries in South Asia. Likewise, out of the five railway corridors, two railway corridors, one connecting Birgunj with Kolkata/Haldia, and the other connecting Birgunj with Mongla-Chittagong via Katihar-Rohanpur could provide connectivity for Nepali transit traffic. “Lack of transit transport cooperation is a major bottleneck in regional economic integration in South Asia,” said executive director at South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment Dr Ratnakar Adhikari. “Although LLDCs like Nepal are the major losers, coastal countries too suffer a huge cost of non-cooperation,” he said, adding that LLDCs suffer due to their dependence on transit-providing countries as it is a sticky issue despite its potential for facilitating intra-regional as well as extra-regional trade. Syndrome of mistrust among the countries in the region, security-first mindset of governments, and apathy towards enhancing regional economic integration coupled with poor connectivity, have hurt coastal countries too, Adhikari added. Empirical studies have revealed that a 10 per cent fall in transaction costs at borders in South Asia can increase a country’s exports by around three per cent. Similarly, a 10 per cent fall in transportation costs will increase bilateral trade by 5.7 per cent, according to studies that have called for more connectivity in the region. Successive SAARC summits have focused on regional integration to ensure the free flow of goods and people to increase trade and tourism in the region, said SAARC secretary general Ahmed Saleem. Member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation had agreed in principle to establish road and railway links with each other to bolster regional economic cooperation in December, 2009. nnnn