GACHHADAR LEAVES FOR ITALY Kathmandu, 3 Nov.: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar left Friday for Rome, Italy, to participate in the 81st general assembly of INTERPOL to be held there from November 5-9, RSS reports. The meeting is scheduled to discuss on methods of prevention and research of crimes of new nature seen as a challenge before the world. Also accompanying the Home Minister are Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kuber Singh Rana, chief of INTERPOL-Nepal and Armed Police Force (APF) IGP Koshraj Wonta as observer. Nnnn EU EXTENDS GSP FACILITY UNTIL JAN. 2014 KATHMANDU, NOV 03 - Kathmandu, 3 Nov.:European Union (EU) has extended the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) for Nepal till Jan 1, 2014. Under the new scheme, Nepal will be exempted from duties on its exports to EU member countries. Nepal has been getting GSP facility in the EU market since 2001, The Kathmandu Post writes.. In a press release issued by the European Commission on Wednesday, Nepal has been placed in the group of 49 least developed countries under the “Everything But Arms” scheme. Under the provision, listed countries are provided facilities like duty-free and quota-free access to the European market for all products except arms and ammunition. For the purpose, Nepal has been considered in the group of 10 Asian countries which includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Maldives, Myanmar, Timor-Leste and Yemen as the beneficiary countries. Ratnakar Adhikari, chief executive director at the South Asia Watch for Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE), said that traders should make efforts to benefit from the amended GSP. “The provision has created a good opportunity for exporters to the European market after the US terminated Nepal’s most favoured nation status,” he said. Highlighting increasing exports of Nepali readymade garments to the European market, Adhikari added that exporters of other goods with export potential like woollen carpets and pashmina should endeavour to benefit from the new GSP. Although the EU has been providing the facility since 2001, Nepali exporters have not been able to obtain the maximum benefit from it due to strict provisions related to the rules of origin. A study carried out jointly by SAWTEE and Action Aid Nepal some five years ago also concluded that exporters were not benefiting fully due to the strict conditions. The amended GSP has simplified the rules of origin to benefit mainly the least developed countries, as per the report. Earlier, only traders who shipped their goods directly to the concerned country in the EU were eligible to receive the GSP. In addition, they had to furnish lengthy paperwork. Rajendra Singh, director of the GSP section at the Trade and Export Promotion Centre, said exporters could benefit from the new provision regarding the rules of origin as it has simplified export procedures. Adhikari, however, stressed the need to focus on increasing the supply capacity, productivity and competitiveness in exportable products to cash in on the increasing market accessibility offered by the GSP. nnnn GOVT. PLANS A RS.450B BUDGET Kathmandu, 3 Nov.; The government plans to go ahead with issuing a full budget amounting to Rs 450 billion even as the political parties continue to bicker over the national financial plan that has pushed it behind schedule, Mukul Humagain, Prithvi ,Man Shrestha write in The Kathmandu Post . The National Planning Commission (NPC) had originally fixed the budget ceiling for the current fiscal year at Rs 429 billion last July, but it is now making an upward revision to include new programmes. NPC vice-chairman Dipendra Bahadur Kshetry said the ceiling would increase due to inflation over the last three years and new progarmmes to be included in the budget. NPC member Janak Shah also said the ceiling would reach approximately Rs 450 billion. “We are recommending the ceiling to the Finance Ministry for the preparation of the budget within two-three days,” said Shah. The NPC moved to fix a new budget ceiling after the ruling parties vowed to introduce a full-fledged budget at any cost despite strong protest from the opposition parties. The budget ceiling had to be raised as the government needs to make additional spending to hold elections to the Constituent Assembly, implement the Load Shedding Reduction Action Plan endorsed by the Cabinet recently, maintain a smooth supply of chemical fertilizers for farmers and conduct action plans on good governance and economic development introduced by the government. The budget, according to Shah, will basically focus on four areas—infrastructure, agriculture, energy and tourism—which are also the priority areas set by the current interim plan. “Agriculture, in particular, will get a higher budget allocation; and it will be ensured that farmers get adequate chemical fertilizers this year,” said Shah. “We have concluded that farm resources have been limited despite being accorded priority.” The higher farm budget is in line with Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai’s vision who has repeatedly said that the government would allocate more resources to the agricultural sector in the new budget. The new budget will ensure increased investment in research and development in the farm sector. “It will introduce programmes to improve technical services to farmers,” added Shah. The government will earmark around Rs 8-10 billion for the planned CA elections while about Rs 6 billion will be set aside to reduce load-shedding. The plan seeks to cut blackout hours to 10 hours daily from the projected 21 hours. The major components of this plan are early construction of the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur cross-border transmission line, generating 40 MW from diesel plants, importing another 200 MW from India and purchasing energy from plants of local industrial units, among others. Likewise, at least Rs 5 billion is estimated to be required to import a sufficient quantity of chemical fertilizers to maintain a regular supply. Farmers suffered greatly during the last rainy season as the government could not supply adequate chemical fertilizers and farm output is expected to fall this year. According to Shah, resources will be allocated to implement good governance and economic development action plans. The plans have been hardly put into practice so far. The government has been pressing for a full-fledged budget as it will be scrambling to manage funds for administrative expenses such as salaries, allowances, pensions, medical benefits and fuel and office operation from mid-November without it. The one-third budget of Rs 161.02 billion issued in July was meant for the first four-month period. Though the government has a treasury surplus of over Rs 30 billion, it cannot use the money due to legal provisions associated with the one-third budget. The Finance Ministry revealed on Thursday that the government would face a cash shortfall of Rs 7.42 billion for administrative expenditure including salaries and allowances till mid-November. For this reason, the government is preparing to send an ordinance on the budget to the president even if a consensus cannot be reached. nnnn WARNING AGAINST NEMWANG Kathmandu, 3 Nov.:: Federal Democratic National Forum-affiliated Federal Limbuwan State Council’s Limbuwan Volunteers today announced a ban on former Constituent Assembly chairperson Subas Nembang from entering Chulachuli area, The Himalayan Times writes from Damak.. Volunteers’ Red Zone A In-charge Lilak Phago Banem, by issuing a statement, also warned to disrupt Nembang’s slated programme in Chulachli on Saturday. Warning physical action against the persons attending the programme, the statement has declared Nembang as being against the rights of the indigenous, Madhesi, Muslim, Dalit and minority communities by abetting in the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly. Nembang is scheduled to attend a political gathering in Chulachuli, Ilam on Saturday. Nnnn NP INSPECTION, SUPERVISION DIVISIONS TO BE UPGRADED. Kathmandu, 3 Nov.:: Nepal Police is upgrading its existing Inspection and Supervision Division to monitor and oversee the working of the police at local communities. It is one among the 14-point One Year Action Plan set forth by the law enforcement agency, The Himalayan Times reports. According to Nepal Police, the upgraded division — to be called the Inspectorate under the Secretariat of the Office of Inspector General of Police — will come into force within the next one year. IGP Kuber Singh Rana has entrusted SSPs Ramesh Prasad Kharel, Sarvendra Khanal and Gyanodraj Vaidhya to monitor the conducts of police employees in all five regions in the country. As many as 59 cops — constables to senior police officials — were found to be on the wrong side of the law during a surprise check at various police posts across the country last month. The SSPs were empowered to make recommendations for departmental action against the crook cops regardless of their designations. DIG Binod Singh informed that 59 cops were under the scanner for unethical and unprofessional conduct but declined to give names of those personnel. “It will be too early to make public their names,” he said. Most cops under the scanner were found involved in unethical activities, while some were caught in the act of collecting money from businessmen and teaming up with criminal gangs to serve their interest, said a police source. nnnn KILLINGS BY SYRIAN REBELS APPEAR TOBE WAR CRIMES Kathmandu, 3 Nov.: A video appearing to show Syrian rebels killing soldiers who had surrendered must be verified but appears to constitute a war crime that should be prosecuted, the United Nations human rights office said on Friday, Reuters reports from Geneva . "Like other videos of this sort, it's difficult to verify immediately in terms of location, who's involved. We need to examine this carefully. It will be examined carefully," U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a news briefing. "But the allegations are that these were soldiers who were no longer combatants. And therefore, at this point it looks very likely that this is a war crime, another one," he said. nnnn