TWO KILLED IN SALYAN Kathmandu, 28 April” Two persons, including a policemanm were electrocuted near Jana Kalyan Campus in Tharmare-4 Salyan Sunday. A teenager was also killed. Nnnn FIVE SICK AFTER EATING WILD MUSHROOM Kathmandu, 28 April:: Five persons of a same family have fallen sick after consuming spurious mushroom at Thori in Parsa district, RSS reports from Birgunj. The family of Purna Tamang of Thori-1 Rojnagar had consumed forest-grown mushroom on Saturday evening and subsequently became sick, said Prem Lama, a local teacher. They are being treated at Narayani Sub-Regional Hospital Birgunj. Nnnn TWO KILLED IN TIPPER ACCIDENT IN BAITADI Kathmandu, 28 April: Two persons were killed in a tipper accident in Baitadi Sunday morning. Driver Gopal Bohara and co driver Roshan Bhatta died while undergoing treatment at hospital. The tipper fell 2—meters down the road at Shreekot-5, Taral. nnnn. INFLATION WILL REMAIN ABOVE 10 PERCENT Kathmandu, 28 April: A respite from the rise in general price level is not in sight for Nepalis as the monetary, The Himalayan Times reports. authority of Nepal has officially announced that inflation this fiscal year will be in double digits. “This year, the average rate of inflation will remain above 10 per cent as supply side factors are still difficult to contain,” said governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Dr Yubaraj Khatiwada, during the 58th anniversary celebrations of NRB today. Inflation is hovering over 10 per cent since the beginning of the fiscal year. The central bank had revised the inflation estimate during the mid-term monetary policy review to 9.5 per cent from 7.5 per cent. However, average inflation in the past eight months stands at 10.2 per cent. “Nepal is going through a period of low growth rate and high inflation which is dangerous for an economy,” he added. Nepal will be achieving growth of 3.6 per cent this fiscal year, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. NRB had also pulled growth expectation down to 4.1 per cent from 5.5 per cent. “The monetary policy has a difficult time in pulling the economy in the right path when one factor — growth — and another — inflation — is running high,” said the central bank governor. The governor expressed that macroeconomic indicators at the moment are mixed. “While foreign exchange reserves, banking sector performance, growth of deposit and credit, and capital market indicators are showing positive signs, the situation of exports, speed of inflation and state of government expenses are negative,” he said. In the last eight months, trade deficit reached Rs 309.5 billion, as exports went up by a mere five per cent while imports surged by 22.1 per cent. The growing deficit in trade balance also impacted the balance of payments situation which remains at a surplus of Rs 11 billion. Dr Khatiwada expressed his satisfaction with the present situation of the banking sector but pointed out that NRB will demarcate the ownership of banks between bankers and business persons within the next three years. NRB has already completed a Bank and Financial Institution Investors Survey for the purpose. The governor assured that the base rate that was implemented in January 2013 is working towards narrowing the difference between lending and deposit rates. “The liquidity with banks that seems to be a bit crushing at present will ease as soon as money in government coffers worth Rs 57 billion is released,” he said. So far, credit has grown by 13.8 per cent, while deposits grew by only six per cent that has started to affect the liquidity of banks. Nepal Rastra Bank has revamped the look of Rs 100 notes with special emphasis on Lumbini. The notes will now have the image of Nepal’s territorial map, along with images of Ashok Stambh and Mayadevi at Lumbini. Along with these images, the note will also contain a scripture saying ‘Lumbini – The Birth Place of Buddha’. Moreover, the currency notes that are printed from now on will also contain the year of printing. Nnnn NC POLL AGENDA Jathmandu, 28 April: Nepali Congress (NC) will go to the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections with five agendas, said party leader Bimalendra Nidhi, The Himalayan Times reports.. Explaining how the five agendas of the Nepali Congress differ from that of similar sounding agendas of the Unified CPN-Maoist, Nidhi said that the NC’s agendas are guided by democratic principles, while the Maoist agendas are centred around a single-party communist system. Inaugurating the party’s Palpa-Kathmandu Coordination Committee’s convention, Nidhi said the five agendas are republic system, federalism, secularism, inclusiveness and mixed election system to which the NC is firmly committed. “During the time of the founder of Nepali Congress BP Koirala, the party’s agendas were nationalism, democracy and socialism. However, paying heed to the need of the time, this party has transformed itself with the five new agendas ” Nidhi said. As communists are fundamentally centrist parties, federalism in the true sense is not there in their manifesto, Nidhi said. Requesting all not to misunderstand secularism, Nidhi, said secularism does not mean exclusion of any religion, but it is equal treatment of all religions by the state. “Because, a democratic country cannot have a single religion,” he said. Including backward communities and groups in the state mechanism in pursuit of the principle of inclusion and ensuring their true representation in the country’s political system through proportional representation system are the NC’s agendas for the new constitution, according to Nidhi. “As CA elections will certainly be held by November, I urge all party workers not to be confused about whether the polls will be held. I urge you all to go to the people with the five agendas and tell them to vote NC into government for the sake of the democratic constitution,” Nidhi said. Urging the agitating parties to join the election process, Nidhi said that the parties were ready to include the Mohan Baidhya-led CPN-Maoist and Upendra Yadav-led Madhesi Janadhikar Forum Nepal in the High Level Political Committee and expand the Cabinet to ensure their representation in government. NC spokesperson Dilendra Badu said people would make the Congress victorious this time as they had voted for the Maoists in the 2008 polls due to a combination of terror and expectation. “The Maoists were compelled to agree with the Nepali Congres agenda of multi-ethnicity based federalism. Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s recent statements made after his China visit have revealed that the party wants to change its stance of single ethnicity-based federalism.” n