WIFE MURDERED BY HUSBAND Kathmandu, 20 Nov.: A man here murdered his wife on Monday night over a minor dispute. Narendra Oli of Khara VDC-2 killed his wife Gita, 28, following a heated discussion between them over a domestic issue, said police, RSS reports from Rukum. Oli runs an electronics shop at local Jhulneta Bazaar. Accused Oli has been arrested and police have initiated an investigation into the murder case. Nnnn FRIEND STABS YOUTH TO DEATH Kathmandu, 20 Nov.: A youth who had gone to observe the Chhath festival celebrations on the banks of the Saptakosi River at Prakashpur VDC-9 in Sunsari district was stabbed to death by his friend, RSS reports from Itahari. Sangam Subedi of Prakashpur VDC-7 stabbed Ananda Rai, 14, of Prakashpur VDC-5 . Rai died on Monday night while being treated at the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences in Dharan. Police said Subedi attacked Rai due to past enmity between the two. Police is searching for Subedi. Nnnn THREE SOUTH KOREAN VOLUNTEERS ARRIVE Kathmandu, 20 Nov.: Three additional South Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) volunteers have arrived for a two-year assignment... They will be working in government offices in and outside the Valley nnnn SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO GET MONTH’S EXTENSION Kathmandu, 20 Nov.: The Special Committee (for supervision, integration and rehabilitation of Maoist army combatants), whose tenure ended on November 15, is sure to get about a month’s extension, a political source said, The Himalayan Times reports. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, who heads the cross-party peace panel, will table a proposal for the extension at the next Cabinet meeting, which will most probably take place on Tuesday. PM Bhattarai made up his mind to go for extension after yesterday’s consultations with coordinator of the Secretariat under the Special Committee, Balananda Sharma, in which Sharma suggested a brief extension for the panel for concluding remaining tasks related to the integration of former Maoist combatants into the Nepali Army. PM’s personal aide Biswodeep Pandey also pointed at the possibility of the panel’s term extension through a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Pandey said though the PM wants to hold a meeting of the panel following a term extension, the meet may not materialise as some panel members are out of the Valley. Though 1,460 ex-combatants have been selected for integration into the NA, a structure for their assimilation is yet to be worked out. In October, the SC had decided that ambiguity will be cleared before the selected combatants go for training on November 21. “The Nepali Army needs a clear decision on possible structure before it starts training for the combatants,” said an NA source. Changes in Nepal Army Acts and Regulations may also be necessary as the issue of integration does not figure in these instruments. Initially, a directorate-general was supposed to be set up in the NA after integrating up to 6,500 Maoist fighters, and adding up almost twice more from security forces. As the number came down, the SC left the matter undecided. Nnnn 15 PERCENT DECLINE IN PADDY PRODUCTION Kathmandu, 20 Nov.: Irregular monsoon and fertiliser shortage during paddy cultivation season will not only create food shortage but also hit economy, The Himalayan Times reports.. Production of rice, a major crop that shares above 60 per cent intake in total cereal crop production, will decrease between 10 per cent and 15 per cent in the current fiscal year, said senior scientist at Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC) Manoj Thakur. It means rice production will stand between 4.30 million metric tonnes (MT) and 4.56 million MT that could create food deficit of around 400,000-500,000 MT. The country had witnessed a bumper crop 5.07 million MT in the fiscal year 2011-12 and had 800,000 MT surplus too. But the country had witnessed food shortage in the fiscal year 2009-10, when it saw production of 4.02 million MT rice. The shortage of 332,000 MT rice had pushed the price of food up to 17 per cent then. The country is going to witness bad situation again, said economist Dr Chiranjivi Nepal. “Food shortage will fuel famine like situation in far western and mid western hill districts, if the government does not take immediate action,” he said, adding that importing rice from neighbouring countries could be a solution. The government has been supplying rice in 22 districts of far and mid western hills since last there decades. Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) has been supplying rice to these regions to feed about seven million population. Rice production has dropped up to 22 per cent in the eastern Terai districts — Sunsari, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahotari, Sarlahi — while in the far western districts — Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur — it has witnessed a fall of up to seven per cent. Agriculture scientists blamed the government for the drop in production of rice. “The fall is mainly due to shortage of fertiliser during plantation season,” they said, adding that irregular monsoon and improved seeds also caused drop in rice production. The government needs to overhaul agriculture policy to boost up production, said Thakur. “Providing subsidy in fertiliser is not the remedy. Subsidy should be for seeds and technology also,” he said, asking the government to focus on more irrigation facilities for stability in production. Irrigation facility is must sustainable production, he added. However, few districts including Chitwan, Jhapa, Dang and Kapilbastu have produced a bumper crop, said Thakur. “Jhapa and Chitwan have produced around 23 per cent more compared to pervious year.” Govt fixes price The government has fixed minimum price of rice after two decades. Ministry of Agriculture Development has fixed Rs 1,650 for a quintal of Mota rice and Rs 1,725 for a quintal of Masino rice. However, the ministry did not have plans to effectively enforce the price structure in the market that is more unorganised. Farmers in Terai — the southern plains — have been selling Mota and Masino rice below Rs 1,500 a quintal. nnnn ________________________________________ AMID DIFFERENCES, NC. UML DEFECTORS LAUNCHING NEW PARTY Kathmandu, 20 Nov.:: A group of leaders, including former Vice-chairman Ashok Rai, who had quit CPN-UML demanding single ethnic identity based federalism, finally decided to announce a new party on November 22. Rai would lead the new party to be named as Federal Democratic Socialist Party, Republic reports. The party will also announce its central ad-hoc committee on the same day. "We will announce a new party on November 22. The leaders who accept federal socialism can join our party," said Rajendra Shrestha, who is close to Ashok Rai. Meanwhile, the democratic group, led by Kumar Rai and ethnic activist Chaitanya Subba, will form a separate party named Social Democratic Pluri National Party by November end. Kumar and Ashok-led groups decided to form separate parties after they failed to settle the differences over whether to mention Marxism in the party´s political document. Kumar Rai, who heads the democratic group, said that they had already decided on the name of the party in the 25-point agreement and also finalized party document by removing differences. According to Subba, Ashok Rai-led group ignored past agreements. "Rai failed to accommodate views from all sides including that of the democratic group," said Subba. Nnnn TREE PLANTING DRIVE IN CAPITAL Kathmandu, 20 Nov : The government is preparing to launch a green Kathmandu initiative in a couple of weeks with the planting of 500 trees along the Koteshwor-Suryabinayak road in a first phase, Ramesh Prasad Bhusal writes in Republica.. Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai had directed the government secretaries two weeks ago to start a long term initiative to make the capital green again following the felling of trees in the course of the still ongoing road widening drive. Krishna Hari Banskota, secretary at the PM´s office, said that the PM had directed a meeting of high-level officials to start the initiative as soon as possible, most likely in a couple of weeks. The preparations for launching the green initiative are now proceeding rapidly. “We are very serious about this as the public has been complaining about the increasing dust pollution with the rapid cutting of trees during the road widening. So the PM´s office will coordinate while other ministries implement the initiative to turn Valley roads green,” said Banskota. Secretaries from the Ministries of Forests and Soil Conservation; Physical Planning and Works; and Urban Development and the commissioner of the Kathmandu Valley Town Development Authority had a meeting immediately after the meeting with the PM and decided to launch the initiative through coordination among the ministries and municipalities concerned. According to the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, it has already directed the district forest offices in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur to prepare 500 plants to be planted along the six-lane Koteshwor-Bhaktapur road. The plants would be between 4 to 6 feet high during planting and they have all been readied at the Department of Forests. “We need to plant trees of that height as it´s very hard to take care of smaller saplings and the trees will be flowering to make the city not only green but also beautiful,” said a high-level official at the Ministry of Forests. According to Banskota, the next meeting of the secretaries and heads of municipalities will be organized within a couple of days to finalize the date for launching the initiative. The Department of Roads will take care of the trees as roads are its brief but the other ministries will help maintain the greenery. “We will also deploy caretakers for the trees planted and local communities will be mobilized to act as watchdogs to ensure that the trees grow properly,” Banskota added. According to the Department of Roads, 75 kilometers of road have been widened in the Valley to date since the campaign kicked off in September but the department said that there had been no plans for planting trees. “We need to have a long term plan to promote greenery in the Valley as it is slowly turning into a concrete jungle; the campaign will be robust and will continue in future also. It´s not a one-off tree-planting event,” said Banskota. Nnnn ________________________________________