CPN MAOIST READY FOR GENERAL CONVENTION Kathmandu, 5 Jan.: The upcoming seventh General Convention of CPN-Maoist will be outlining the future course of the party including about the nature of the struggle, registration of the party at the election commission and participation in the forthcoming elections to the Constituent Assembly. The general convention is taking place in the capital from January 9 to 13, with the inauguration scheduled to take place at the open theatre and the closed session at Nepal Academy. Speaking at a press conference held at the party office Buddhanagar on Friday, party Chairman Mohan Baidya said the general convention shall determine the future working policy and strategy of the party following deliberations on the political resolution, report and statute. Following the convention, the party shall focus on a struggle for national independence and livelihood. On the occasion, Chairman Baidya said the present government signing the BIPPA agreement and trying to hand over the management of the Tribhuvan International Airport to India verified the party's present analysis that the country has now reached the stage of neocolonialism. Accepting that his party was collecting voluntary donations from all for the convention, Baidhya denied using force to do so. On a different note, Chairman Baidya said special legislation must be introduced to check the increasing rate of violence against women in the country. Some 2,200 people including representatives, observers and volunteers are taking part in the convention. Also taking part in the convention are delegates from Immigrant State Committee (India) and International State Committee (Europe). Nnnn MADHAV NEPAL MEETS US ENVOY AS FOREIGN MINISTRY OFFICIAL TAKES NOTES Kathmandu, 5 Jan.: Senior CPN-UML leader and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has stood ahead in terms of following the diplomatic code of conduct introduced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Republica reports,. When US Ambassador to Nepal Peter W Bodde sought an appointment with him for Friday, Nepal first asked his assistant to inform the MoFA about his scheduled appointment. A MoFA official had reached his residence in Koteshwor for "note taking" when the US envoy Bodde called on him Friday morning. "This is really encouraging. We wish to see all political leaders as well as public position holders abide by the diplomatic code of conduct," said a senior official at MoFA. "Former Prime Minister Nepal has begun this practice. This is in the interests of the country." Nepal´s personal assistant Mohan Gautam said they have been informing MoFA about all scheduled appointments with foreigners including diplomats after MoFA introduced the diplomatic code of conduct at the initiative of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Narayankaji Shrestha. According to a statement posted on the personal website of Nepal, envoy Bodde had inquired about the latest political development and efforts being made by the parties to reach consensus. Nepal had told the envoy that efforts to forge consensus were under way and the parties were heading toward holding a fresh Constituent Assembly (CA) by forming a consensus government. The envoy had extended his wishes for early consensus among parties and successful conduct of fresh polls, the statement said. The US envoy had a separate meeting with CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal Thursday afternoon. Khanal, however, did not bother to inform about his appointment with the envoy to MoFA. Nnnn CABLE OPERATORS ASKED TO GO DIGITAL Kathmandu, 5 Jan.: The government on Friday instructed cable operators to immediately move to digital platform for transmission purpose, citing the upgradation will improve quality of service, enable regulator to track and monitor activities, and introduce transparency in the system, Republica adds.. Once the upgradation is complete, audio and visual quality of television programs will significantly improve, while consumers can subscribe to selected number of channels under the conditional access system (CAS). The Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) - which from Friday stopped issuing licenses for operation of analogue cable TV business - has said analogue cable operators can upgrade their transmission format using the existing license. Cable operators can upgrade the signal by securing a head-end cable on their own or by acquiring it on lease from other operators, a new provision introduced through sixth amendment of the National Broadcasting Act says. Head-end cable is a master facility of receiving television signals for processing and distribution. The latest government instruction comes around a month after the MoIC formally started extending licenses to operate digital cable TV business. Such license can be obtained by paying a fee of Rs 12.50 million, with annual renewal fee fixed at 10 percent of the license fee. The new provision also allows existing cable TV operators to start digital transmission by paying royalty of Rs 25,000 per channel. "This is the first time we are introducing two-layer licensing system under which licensee can be distributor or transmitter and both," MoIC Under Secretary Anup Nepal said. Likewise, operators that want to establish its own head-end will have to pay Rs 125,000 per channel, while those leasing from others will be slapped a fee of Rs 25,000 per channel. The government has already announced to phase out analogue format in cable TV operation by 2015 in urban areas and by 2017 in rural areas. "Those who fail to migrate within deadline will see their licenses scrapped, while those who upgrade the systems on time will enjoy certain benefits," Nepal said. The government is pushing cable TV operators to move to digital platform as the new system allows it to track illegal operations and effectively collect royalty, fixed at two percent of the revenue collected from subscribers. According to MoIC officials, majority of the operators are evading royalty payment as the existing mechanism is not transparent. "Once the digital system is introduced we can easily track the number of subscribers and collect revenue based on it," he said. Nnnn Nnnn