MINIMUM TEMPERATURE 3 DEGREES CELSIUS Kathmandu, 27 Jan.: Capital’s minimum temperature Sunday is expected to be 3 degrees Celsius. Mercury is expected to rise to 18 degrees Celsius in the afternoon. nnnn DISPLACED JOURNALISTS SEEK WRITTEN COMMITMENT Kathmandu, 27 Jan.:- A group of Dailekh-based journalist s, who fled to Surkhet following threats from the Maoist party workers, have said they will not return to the district unless the UCPN (Maoist) and the government commit in writing to let them perform their duty in a pressure-free environment, Motilal Paudel writes in The Kathmandu Post from Sirkhet.. Pushkar Thapa, Dailekh chairman of the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), on Saturday put forth a seven-point precondition before the government-formed committee to investigate the recent Dailekh clash and demanded that the security bodies should be sensitive about journalists ' safety. Thapa told the committee members that Deputy Inspector General of police from Surkhet was in charge of escorting the vehicles carrying armed activists of the UCPN (Maoist) to Dailekh on the eve of the Maoist convention. He said that the way the Maoist workers were looking for journalists in hotels in Dailekh Bazaar, the decision to let only the party-close media in the convention venue, threat issued by the party activists to finish off 10 more Dailekh-based journalist s just like Dekendra Thapa and the attack on the office of the Tesro Aanka daily prove the aggression harboured by the Maoists against the press. Thapa said that the leaders and activists from both the UCPN (Maoist) and the CPN-Maoist had tried to assault some journalists in Dailekh over the arrest of their cadres accused in the Dekendra murder case. The district-based journalists decided to flee to Surkhet after they heard that the Maoists were plotting to attack them when the district was without its administrative head and the police chief to protect them. Jagat Nepali, central secretary of FNJ, said the journalists in Dailekh had to leave the district because they were threatened with their lives by Maoist cadres at a time when their party's Vice-chairman and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai was also there. He said that the FNJ was making efforts to rehabilitate the journalists at the earliest. Meanwhile, Nepal Press Union and the Dolakha chapter of FNJ provided Rs 25,000 and Rs 10,000, respectively, to the displaced journalists staying in Surkhet for the past two days. nnnn PERFORMANCE CONDITIONS REVISED IN LOCAL DEVELOPMENT MINISTRY Kathmandu, 27 Jan.: The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD) has revised its Minimum Condition Performance Measures (MCPM) manual to cut off additional grants being provided to local bodies that fail to meet Performance Measures (PMs), The Kathmandu Post writes.. With this, all the local bodies--Village Development Committees (VDCs), District Development Committees (DDCs) and municipalities--will need to meet PMs to get additional grants. Earlier, this provision was only effective for the DDCs and municipalities but the VDCs were receiving additional grants without fulfilling conditions. A recent meeting of the Chief Secretary-led Local Bodies Fiscal Commission, under the MoFALD, took the decision aiming to promote the optimal performance of local bodies and take action against those performing poorly. "The additional grants are now interrelated with PMs. Local bodies that fail to meet the PMs will be deprived of such grants," said Raghuram Bista, under-secretary at the Commission. Contrary to the previous provision of providing grants after completing seven conditions, the amended procedure has fixed 13 PMs to receive additional grants. Bista said the procedure has been revised to award the best VDC in each district as well. Besides the additional grants, local bodies receive government funds under various categories like funds with condition and without condition and regular expenditure. Currently, VDCs, DDCs and municipalities receive Rs 150,000, Rs 400,000 and Rs 300,000, respectively, as minimum grants per annum. The best performing local bodies get additional funds. The procedure has been revised also to include environmental conservation, welfare of women and children, well-managed administrative expenditures, project management and controlling fiduciary risks at local bodies. nnnn UNEASE PREVAILS IN DAILEKH Kathmandu, 27 Jan.: The government’s recent decision to transfer Dailekh chief district officer, police chief and other two officials has created feelings of insecurity in the district, according to a report made public today [Saturday], The Himalayan Times reports from Nepalgunj. . The report prepared by a team led by rights activist and former chairman of Nepal Bar Association, Govinda Bandi, says the transfer of officials has weakened Dailekh’s security. The government on Thursday transferred CDO Umesh Kumar Dahal, DSP Sharada Prasad Chaudhary and two inspectors allegedly for their failure to quell the protests launched by opposition parties the previous day. Scores of people were injured when activists of ruling Maoist and opposition parties clashed at several places in the district on Wednesday. The fact-finding team has also confirmed that security was the main concern of the 22 journalists who have fled the district after Maoist cadres issued death threats to them. “Journalists had no option but to flee the district after they were threatened with life,” says the report which was made public today in Nepalgunj. Team leader Bandi said the transfer has but affected the ongoing investigation into murder of journalist Dekendra Thapa. Journalist Thapa was murdered by Maoist cadres in 2004. Murder accused have been arrested and are facing interrogation. Bandi termed the government decision to transfer the officials ‘a mistake.’ The report has called for immediate initiatives to get displaced journalists back to the district and ensure their security and investigation and action against those involved in issuing threats to them. Displaced journos fear for lives The 22 journalists, who have taken refuge in Surkhet after death threats were issued to them in Dailekh by Maoist cadres, said on Saturday that sense of insecurity was increasing by the day. In a press release, the displaced journalists have re-confirmed that Maoist cadres on Wednesday — the day Unified CPN-Maoist’s district conference was held in Dailekh — had warned that they would meet journalist Dekendra Thapa’s fate. Chairman of Dailekh chapter of Federation of Nepali Journalists, Puskar Thapa, said Maoist activists had vandalised the office of Tesro Aankha newspaper minutes after Maoist cadre Pratap Paudel, who is also a member of Surkhet district peace committee, issued threats to journalists. Paudel’s photo was made public at the press meet. nnnn UDMF POLITICS OF DILLANCE Kathmandu, 27 Jan.:: The United Democratic Madhesi Front recently said it ‘seriously reviewed’ its 17-month political journey with the Unified CPN-Maoist in the government. And it said it would now adopt ‘an aggressive approach’ to implementing the four-point deal it signed before joining the government. But it sounds strange that UDMF being an integral part of the government is whining about non-implementation of the deal, Ram Kumar Kamat writes in The Himalayan Times.. People who have been observing the Madhesi politics quite closely say whatever front leaders are saying is aimed at appeasing the Madhesi voters so that odds do not get stacked against them, especially in view of growing clout of Upendra Yadav-led Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum-Nepal and Sharat Singh Bhandari’s National Madhes Socialist Party. Mahantha Thakur of Tarai Madhes Democratic Party, a component of UDMF, often says ‘Nepal’s bureaucracy is using legal loopholes against Madhesis’. It may be true, but it is equally true that UDMF despite its one-and-a-half-years’ stay in the government failed to implement the major agendas of the deal — bulk entry of Madhesi youth into the national army, inclusion bill, Tarai-Madhes security problems, curtailing of quasi-judicial powers of chief district officers and more budget for Madhes. “UDMF used the deal as a tool to join the government, and now it wants to prolong its stay in the government,” says columnist CK Lal. Madhesi parties in the government find it easy to chide the President for blocking the inclusion ordinance, but they rarely say why they did not stand their ground when the UCPN-M blocked the deal implementation. For instance, Deputy Prime Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar did have the option of lobbying for the amendments to the constitution and citizenship laws before he issued a circular to grant citizenship to the children of citizens by birth, but he did not do so. Neither he nor other Madhesi leaders tried to push for the amendment to the citizenship laws and passage of inclusion bill when the Constituent Assembly was functioning. Advocate Sunil Ranjan Singh says what Madhesi leaders are saying in relation to Madhesi youth’s bulk entry into the army is also wrong. “They say it could not happen because the court stayed it. This is not true. The court said the government can go ahead to recruit people as per the inclusion policy,” he added, pointing at Madhesi leaders’ unwillingness, lack of political acumen and will power. On top of that lust for power has made them weaker. “The line ministries held by Madhesi leaders failed to devise programmes to implement the deal,” says Surendra Kumar Mahato, former vice president of Nepal Bar Association. Second-rung leaders and Madhesi activists, however, believe that Madhes could get its voice heard only through another movement. “Madhesis’ agendas are revolutionary one which would continue to face resistance from status-quoit political forces and bureaucracy,” says Nepal’s former ambassador to Denmark Vijay Kant Karna. But it’s the Madhesi leaders who have to rise to the occasion to make Madhes’ voice heard. Lal says UDMF’s latest move is aimed at securing a spot in the next government. It has almost become lucid that UDMF’s association with the UCPN-M is based on convenience rather than conviction. Madhesi academia says when the adhesive agent for unity is convenience and not conviction, the association can only be called dalliance, not alliance. nnnn MoI OUTSOURCES WORK FOR 30 AUDIT FIRMS Kathmandu, 27 Jan.:: The government has outsourced the job of conducting due-diligence audits of around 30 firms waiting to be declared as ´sick industries´, Republica reports. The Ministry of Industry (MoI) outsourced the task to four chartered accountants as it lacked expertise on evaluating financial status of those firms. "Four chartered accountants from the Association of Chartered Accountants of Nepal (ACAN) are currently trying to identify the actual financial status of the firms that are waiting to be tagged as sick industries," Bishnu Dhakal, under secretary at the MoI, told Republca. The MoI outsourced the job as a technical committee, formed to identify sick industries and recommend facilities for them, required complete financial details of those firms. The technical committee, which has the ultimate authority to identify and recommend facilities for sick industries, is now working with the team of chartered accountants to chart out financial support required by the firms. More than 30 firms filed applications at the MoI to get status of sick industries almost a year ago. "The chartered accountants will conduct audits of those firms and prescribe financial support they require from the government for recovery." Dhakal said. "Additionally, they will also carry out study on what pushed them to the verge of collapse." Earlier, the Council of Ministers had approved the terms of reference of the technical committee, providing it more teeth to finalize the task of identifying actual sick industries. "The ministry will prepare a list of sick industries and support they need to rebuild themselves after carefully analyzing their financial status," Dhakal said. The government had earlier announced to provide relief package to sick industries through its Immediate Relief Program 2011/12. The MoI was assigned to identify actual number of sick industries after the Sick Industries Rehabilitation High Level Task Force prepared a report with recommendations to revive sick industries in 2011. Nnnn BHAKTAPUR TO GET DAIRY Kathmandu, 26: Jan.: Pokhara-based Karmacharya Group is investing Rs 150 million to set up a milk processing and packaging plant in Bhakatpur, Republica reports. According to the company, the hi-tech plant will have the capacity of processing up to 36,000 liters of milk per day. Bikram Karmacharya, one of the directors of the company, said production from the Bhaktapur plant will begin within next two months. Extended in an area of 13 ropanies (0.66 hectare) of land in Jagate, Bhaktapur, the plant will have the capacity of processing 3,000 liters of milk per hour. “Using this capacity, we are planning to sell 20,000 liters of milk per day in Kathmandu Valley. For this, we will be buying milk from dairy farmers of Chitwan, Kavre and Sarlahi,” Karmacharya said. Along with milk, the dairy firm will also produce yoghurt, ghee and other dairy products. For this, the company, promoted by Michael Karmacharya, Govinda Shrestha, Santosh Shrestha, Bikal Karmacharya and Bikram Karmacharya, has already imported an advanced plant from Filtron Company of Pune, India. “Although there is fierce competition in Kathmandu, we are hopeful about capturing a good market share, as there is high demand for milk in the capital,” Karmacharya said. As per a research conducted by the company, the daily milk consumption in Kathmandu hovered at 350,000 liters. The Karmacharya Group is penetrating the Kathmandu market few months after another Pokhara-based dairy firm, Sujal Dairy, set its foot in the capital. The group, which owns Fishtail Diary in Pokhara, currently produces Nova brand of milk. The Pokhara-based dairy firm processes 6,000 liters of milk per day, which caters to 20 percent of fresh milk demand of the western city. The group also produces Koselee and Sweekar brands of cooking oil and owns Karmachary Bakes and Foods, Karmcharya Food Grains and Karmacharya Plastics. The group recently set up a confectionary at a cost of Rs 50 million to manufacture wafers. nnnn