RAJ NARSINGH BHANDAR ELECTED CHAIRMAN OF NBA Kathmandu, 6 Dec.: CEO of Citizens Bank Raj Narsingh Bhandari has been elected chairman of Nepal Bankers’ Association (NBA). He was elected unanimously Wednesday. Nnnn PM SPENDING FRIDAY NIGHT WITH A KAMAIYA THIS TIME Kathmandu, 6 Dec.:: Baburam Chaudhary, a freed Kamaiya living in a camp in Bijayanagar, Tikapur, is bracing up to welcome Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, who will spend Friday night at his house, The Himalayan Times reports.. In view of the PM visiting, he has employed his kin to find some mice and ‘ghogi’ to serve the guest. As part of his monthly schedule to spend one night in a village outside Kathmandu, PM Bhattarai is due to arrive in Tikapur to stay overnight at Chaudhary’s house at the Bijayanagar-based freed kamaiya camp on Friday. “We are planning to serve him our best food – the pickle of mice, Ghongi and Dhikari,” said Chaudhary, who had learnt about PM’s impending visit at his home on Tuesday only after UCPN-M leader and Tikapur Development Committee Chairperson Lalit Tamrakar visited his house to break the news. “At first I could not believe him but when the police and the CDO also visited my home, I had to trust him,” said Chaudhary, adding, he has two string beds and a wooden bed and he is preparing to offer the prime minister the bed of his choice. “I am thinking of providing him a cot of his choice and I am also ready to leave our best room where I would sleep otherwise,” he said. PM Bhattarai will spend the night at Chaudhary’s house following the inauguration of the far-west festival in Dhangadhi on Friday. Acting CDO Badu, along with his team on Wednesday had reached the Bijayanagar-based freed kamaiya camp to assess the security scenario. Receiving the news of PM’s arrival, Chaudhary family is now busy cleaning their house and arranging for other facilities. Responding to a query as what would be his demand to the prime minister, Chaudhary said, “I want to ask him when the government will be able to manage food, shelter and clothes for us who are leading a pathetic life so far.” Nnnn FOUR MORE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS IN TROUBLE Kathmandu, 6 Dec.: Four more financial institutions re in trouble, sudarshan Saaaapkota writes in Nagarik Lalitpur Finnce, World Merchant Bank and Finance, General Finance and Nepal Fnance Company re being declared troubled by Nepal Rashtra Bank. (NRB). Their operations will e suspended if there are no improvements in six months. nnnn REDUCED BUDGET TO AFFECT DEVELOPMENT Kathmandu, 6 Dec.: Physical and infrastructure development, skeleton of national development, was going to be badly affected this year due to the reduced budget allocation for the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD) and the Ministry of Physical Planning, Works and Transport Management (MoPPWTM), The Himalayan Times reports. The government has allocated Rs 30 billion for the current fiscal whereas about Rs 45 billion, including Rs 15 billion from foreign aids was billed for the MoFALD during the last fiscal year. Meanwhile, MoPPWTM budget has also been reduc-ed by 10 per cent. Though the government produced partial budgets through ordinances this year, the total fiscal budget and programmes of the country are equal to the amount of the last year's total fiscal budget. "No new development programmes will be launched this year due to the reduction in the budget," said Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, Secretary at the MoPPWTM. "Budget cut by 10 per cent comes at a time when inflation has increased by about 10 per cent. Therefore, the development activities are sure to be hit, disappointing many this year," he added. Sitaula further said the proposed two new projects – World Bank's bridge constr-uction and Asian Development Bank's strategic roads would be badly affected. The officials at the ministry are worried about the shortage of budget affecting the development activities in the local bodies. Of total allocation of Rs 30 billion this year for MoFALD, Rs 14 billion will be used as local body grants, Rs 10 billion for social security allo-wances, Rs 3 billion for sal-aries and perks of the MoFALD, said a senior official at the MoFALD. "Only Rs 3 billion will be used in the infrastructure development," said the MoFALD sources. "The donor agencies, which pledged to provide about Rs 15 billion for the MoFALD last year, have been frequently objecting to the governance system and corruption in the local bodies," MoFALD sources added. Nnnn MAOISTS NOT SERIOUS ON IMPROVING ECONOMY Kathmandu,6 Dec.: The UCPN-Maoist that is leading the caretaker government at present is not serious about improving the economy and providing a livelihood to the common people, for whom they claim to be doing politics and waged an armed struggle for a decade before coming to the peace process in 2006, Luvera Chaluse writes in The Himalayan Times.. After the Nepali Congress (NC) unanimously chose Sushil Koirala this morning as its prime ministerial candidate, the UCPN-Maoist reacted with four conditions to support him but none of the four points speak of a full-fledged budget that the incumbent government was hell bent on bringing three weeks back and which failed due to pressure from opposition parties. The caretaker prime minister and finance minister had both tried hard to bring a full-fledged budget at the last moment, claiming it was necessary to save the economy. But they brought an interim public expenditure arrangement on November 17, blaming the opposition for blocking the budget. The UCPN-Maoist was never serious about economic development, according to former chief secretary Dr Bimal Koirala. “The caretaker prime minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai had tried to use a full-fledged budget as a tool to prolong his stay in the government,” he said, adding that development and economic growth were only their propaganda agendas. The country was faring well when they started the armed struggle in 1998. In a decade of conflict, the country witnessed a sluggish economic growth. In the last one decade, the country has witnessed an average growth rate of around three per cent. The budget — that could have brought some economic movement — has been linked to politics, pushing the economy to the back seat since the Constituent Assembly elections in 2008. “The private sector has become a scapegoat and people are being fooled by the incumbent government,” said former secretary Dr Bhola Chalise. “Dr Bhattarai has brought a couple of programmes on his own, but they could neither be implemented nor will they have any economic or development impact on society,” he said, adding that the premier has miserably failed in ‘walking the talk’ as his intention is not economic development of the country. “Economic development was never Maoist issue.” Before November 17, Bhattarai was claiming that a country cannot remain budget less as it will not only lose credibility but also hurt the economy, but after November 17, he is busy with the political musical chair, KOirala blamed. The sooner the political parties forge consensus and form a new government with a mandate to bring a full-fledged budget, the better it will be for the country. Otherwise it will invite economic crisis due to a disbalance in public income — revenue mobilisation — and expenditure system. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called on the authorities to act expeditiously to pass a full-year budget for the current fiscal year 2012-13, and to strengthen public financial management to ensure full execution of the capital budget. According to the Finance Ministry, the government has been able to spend only Rs 66 billion — that is 41 per cent of the total capital expenditure of Rs 161 billion — under development budget that could have generated employment and propelled economic growth. The IMF has also projected the economy to contract to 3.8 per cent in the current fiscal year due to prolonged political transition from last fiscal year’s 4.6 per cent. If the trend continues, the informal economy will also expand shadowing the formal economy, which will bring another economic crisis in the country hitting the public hard and making some ‘fly-by-night traders richer’. Nnnn RIALS CLASH IN EGYPT Kathmandu, 6 Dec.: Islamists battled with protesters outside Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi's palace on Thursday, after his vice president suggested amendments could be agreed to the draft constitution that has divided the nation, Reuters reportsfrom Cairo.. Fires burned in the streets near the palace perimeter where opponents and supporters of Mursi threw stones and petrol bombs. Riot police tried to separate the two sides, but failed to halt fighting that extended from Wednesday into the early morning. Residents, frustrated that police had not calmed the streets, set up makeshift road blocks nearby to check passers-by, scenes reminiscent of the popular uprising that toppled Mursi's autocratic predecessor Hosni Mubarak. Five people were killed and 350 injured in the clashes, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Health. "No to dictatorship," Mursi's opponents chanted, while their rivals chanted: "Defending Mursi is defending Islam." Mursi's opponents accused him of creating a new autocracy by awarding himself extraordinary powers in a decree on November 22 and were further angered when an Islamist-dominated assembly pushed through a draft constitution that opponents said did not properly represent the aspirations of the whole nation. The United States, worried about the stability of a state that has a peace deal with Israel and to which it gives $1.3 billion in military aid each year, called for dialogue. A presidential source said Mursi was expected to make a statement later on Thursday. His opponents had earlier called on him to address the nation to help calm the streets. Bidding to end the worst crisis since Mursi took office less than six months ago, Vice President Mahmoud Mekky said amendments to disputed articles in the constitution could be agreed with the opposition. A written agreement could then go to parliament, to be elected after a referendum on the constitution on December 15. "There must be consensus," he told a news conference inside the presidential palace as fighting raged outside on Wednesday evening, saying opposition demands had to be respected. PROTESTS SPREAD Prime Minister Hisham Kandil called for calm to "give the opportunity" for efforts underway to start a national dialogue. Protests spread to other cities, and offices of the Muslim Brotherhood's political party in Ismailia and Suez were torched. But Mursi has shown no sign of buckling under pressure from protestors, confident that the Islamists, who have dominated both elections since Mubarak was overthrown in February 2011, can win the referendum and parliamentary election to follow. On top of the support of the Brotherhood, which backed him for the presidency in the June election, Mursi may also be able to rely on a popular yearning for stability and economic revival after almost two years of political turmoil. Egypt's opposition coalition blamed Mursi for the violence and said it was ready for dialogue if the Islamist leader scrapped the decree that gave him wide powers and shielded his decisions from judicial review. "Today what is happening in the Egyptian street, polarisation and division, is something that could and is actually drawing us to violence and could draw us to something worse," opposition coordinator Mohamed ElBaradei said on Wednesday. "We are ready for dialogue if the constitutional decree is cancelled ... and the referendum on this constitution is postponed," he told a news conference. But liberals, leftists, Christians, ex-Mubarak followers and others opposed to Mursi have yet to generate a mass movement or a grassroots base to challenge the Brotherhood. 'REAL DANGER' Opposition leaders have previously urged Mursi to retract the decree, defer the referendum and agree to revise the constitution, but have not echoed calls from street protesters for his overthrow and the "downfall of the regime". Mursi has said his decree was needed to prevent courts still full of judges appointed by Mubarak from derailing a constitution vital for Egypt's political transition. Mekky said street mobilisation by both sides posed a "real danger" to Egypt. "If we do not put a stop to this phenomenon right away ... where are we headed? We must calm down." U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton weighed into Egypt's political debate, saying dialogue was urgently needed on the new constitution, which should "respect the rights of all citizens". Clinton and Mursi worked together last month to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip. British Foreign Secretary William Hague called for restraint on all sides. He said Egypt's authorities had to make progress on the transition in an "inclusive manner" and urged dialogue. Both Islamists and their opponents have staged big shows of strength on the streets since Mursi's decree, each bringing out tens of thousands of people. State institutions, with the partial exception of the judiciary, have mostly fallen in behind Mursi. The army, the muscle behind all previous Egyptian presidents in the republic's six-decade history, has gone back to barracks, having apparently lost its appetite to intervene in politics. nnnn