MONSOON TO BREaK IN TWO DAYS Kathmandu, 12 June: Monsoon will break over east Nepal is two days, senior Meteorologist Suman Kumar Regmi said. “Monsoon is active over West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam, and other areas in India.It will takeanother one or tow days for the monsoon to enter east Nepal. It will take sometime for the monoon to cover pther areas,” Regmi said. nnnn DECISION TO WAIVE VAT ON ESSENTIALS HAILED Kathmandu, 12 June: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has welcomed the recent decision of the government to waive VAT on essential consumer commodities as vegetable oil, cooking oil, flour and sugar, among others, RSS reports.. Addressing a news conference at the FNCCI meeting hall on Tuesday, FNCCI President Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar said that since VAT was not imposed on daily consumer goods including agricultural products especially in India and as only four per cent VAT was levied on some consumer essentials, smuggling of these commodities was rife due to the open border with India. He added that the Nepali industries were facing big losses due to the rampant smuggling of commodities of daily need from India into Nepal. Rajkarnikar said that the 50 per cent waiver on VAT on vegetable ghee and oil, 25 per cent on flour and 70 per cent on sugar would lead to an increment in the source of income of farmers, an increase in the number of industries, and the creation of job opportunities. He stressed that the government should strictly curb smuggling of such items. nnnn