CONSTITUTION IN ONE YEAR SAYS MADHAV KUMAR NEPAL Kathmandu, 14 June:: Senior leader of the CPN-UML, Madhav Kumar Nepal, has said new constitution should be promulgated within one year after election to the Constituent Assembly (CA)m RSS reports from Tansen.. Laying the foundation stone of the Madan Pokhara Polytechnic Institute at Madan Pokhara VDC in Palpa today, Nepal said that we can go for referendum on some disputed issues of constitution drafting. Stating that initiative will be taken to forge consensus on the issues of federalism and form of governance, he said election should be held by bringing the dissenting parties to consensus. The CPN-UML senior leader said we should go for referendum for ending the transition if constitution was not promulgated after one year of the CA election to be held by mid-December. On the occasion, central members of PAPAD, Rajuman Parajuli, Director General of the CTEVT, Gopal Krishna Shrestha, former lawmaker Som Prasad Pandey, former District Development Committee president, Prem Nath Basyal, among others, wished for success of the Institute. The Institute is going to be constructed with the support of CTEVT at a cost of Rs. 400 million on 10.2 hectares of land. Different subject including veterinary, JTA and agriculture would be taught in the Institute. nnnn GOVT. FIXES MINMUM WAGE Kathmandu, 14 June : The government formally fixed Rs. 5,100 as the minimum monthly salary for the industrial workers but this will not be applied to the workers in the tea estate, The Rising Nepal reports. . Similarly, it decided to provide Rs. 2,900 as dearness allowance per months while the minimum wage per day is Rs. 318. As per the recommendation of Minimum Wages Fixation Committee, the government published the newly introduced minimum wage and salary in Nepal Gazette Thursday. With this, the total remuneration of the factory workers amounted to Rs. 8,000 a month. According to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the new salary and wage scale will be effective from mid-June. The government fixed Rs. 3,550 as minimum salary two years back. There is provision of reviewing minimum wage and salary of the labours in every two years. Despite the trilateral understanding among the government, labour unions and private sector representatives to increase minimum salary of the employees to Rs. 8,000, labour union affiliated to CPN-Maoist has been demanding to increase the minimum salary of the workers to Rs 15,000. Nnnnn CALL TO PUNISH PERSONS WHO ATTACJED DALITS Kathmandu, 14 June: National Dalit Commission Thursday demanded with the government authority to punish the perpetrators engaged in the attack of Dalit community living at Pipariya VDC-8 of Rautahat district, The Rising Nepal reports.. Issuing a press release, the commission has condemned the attack and demanded that stern action should be taken against the perpetrators following the caste-based Discrimination and Untouchability (Offence and Punishment Act) 2011. The commission has also demanded for the reconstruction of damaged houses, compensation, and free medical services to the injured and managing necessary peace security and high level investigation regarding the incident. According to the release, the administration should create massive awareness to maintain social harmony for ending such heinous crime meted out against the people from marginalized communities. A group of non-Dalit people had assaulted dozens of Dalits over a month-old issue on using of a local temple at Bhimdabar village. A field study carried out by the commission showed that the perpetrators took away clothes, television sets, cycles and money from the houses of Dalit people. The government should ensure citizen’s freedom, equality and help every citizen live in a peaceful environment, the release reads. Some 65 houses were damaged during the attack in which 18 dalits were badly injured. nnnn