KIMNU

NEPAL NEED TO DRAW AGAINST PAKISTAN TO ENTER

NEXT PHASE OF FINAL OF SAFF U-16 CHAMPIONSHIP

Kathmandu, 23 July: A draw against defending champion Pakistan in

a group match will ensure Nepal’s  a place in the next chase of the seven-nation SAFF U -16 Championship.

Maldives is not in the tournament.

Nepal has tops Group A with four points after a win against Bhutan and a

draw against Afghanistan Monday.

Sri Lanka play Bangladesh in the Second SAFF U-16 Championship in

the Nepalese capital Tuesday.

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NEPAL DRAWS AGAINST MOOHAN BAGAN

Kathmandu, 23 July: Machindra FC held Mohan Bagan to a 1-1 draw in the King’s CCup in Thimpu Bhutan Monday.

Skipper Karna Limbu scored the solitary goal for Nepal club.

Three Nepali clubs are participating in the Bhutan tournament.

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SWIMMERS SPAIN BOUND

Kathmandu, 23 July:: Four swimmers of Nepal will participate in the 15th FINA World Swimming Competition to be held in Barcelona, Spain to be organised by the World Swimming Federation, FINA, RSS reports..

In women's event, Shreya Dhital and Sophiya Shah and in male's event Shirish Gurung and Miraj Prajapati will compete.

Shreya will compete in 50 m butterfly and 100 m free style and Sophiya in 50 m freestyle and 200 m free style.

Shirish will compete in 100 m and 200 m free style and Miraj in 50 m back stroke and 50 m free style.

In the competition to be held from July 29 to August 2, some 2,000 players will compete from 150 countries.

They will improve the level of swimming, said Swimming Association General Secretary Jagatman Shrestha.

National Sports Council Member Secretary Yubaraj Lama bade them farewell.

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TUESDAY MORNING CAPITAL TEMPERATURE 2- DEGREES

CELSIUS

Kathmandu, 23 July: Tuesday morning’s capital temperature was 20

degrees Celsius.

Mercury on a rainy afternoon is expected to rise to 29 degrees Celsois.

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EC ASKS GOVT. TO PIESUADE PARTIES TO JOIN ELECTION FRAY BY MID=AUG. Kathmandu, 23 July::The Election Commission (EC) has warned that it will not be possible to accomodate the disgruntled political parties in the Constituent Assembly (CA) polls scheduled for November 19 if they do not arrive at a consensus by mid-August, Republica reports.. Organizing a press conference in the capital on Monday, Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kanth Uprety stressed that the issue of participation by disgruntled parties, including the CPN-Maoist, must be settled before August 16. This comes at a time when the government is trying to woo the disgruntled parties into joining the election process. “Everything must be settled within the next four weeks. The commission will enter into another process after August 20,” Uprety said. He further said that the EC will soon initiate the process of setting up offices for returning officers, candidacy filing and printing ballot papers, among other activities. The chief election commissioner´s statement come on the day the Interim Election Council began formal talks with the Federal Democratic Forum (FDF), the alliance of eight disgruntled political parties including Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (MPRF) led by Upendra Yadav. The alliance has demanded that the High Level Political Committee (HLPC) be dissolved, stating that it may influence the crucial election. FDF has also demanded that Chairman of the Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi resign from the post of chief justice and the proportions of those elected under the first-past-the-post and PR systems be decided in line with the proportions at the time of the last CA election in April, 2008. The 33-party alliance led by the CPN-Maoist is yet to begin formal talks with the Interim Election Council. The CPN-Maoist leadership has been stating that they will not hold talks with the present government if there are any preconditions. Most constituent parties of the alliance, including CPN-Maoist, have, however, registered at the EC for participation in the polls. The alliance led by the CPN-Maoist has demanded the Interim Election Council be dissolved, alleging that it is "unconstitutional”. It has also demanded the annulment of the ordinance on removing constitutional difficulties for holding the election. In a separate context, the chief election commissioner has ruled out the possibility of giving another chance for ´missing voters´ to register in the new electoral roll with photo and biometrics for purposes of the upcoming November election. “It is next to impossible to give one more time for voter registration as it can affect our calendar,” Uprety maintained. Some Madhes-based political parties have been demanding that the EC should give some more time for voter registration.
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CPN MAOIST TRADE UNION TO SHUT FIVE HETAUDA INDUSTRIES Kathmandu, 23 July: Demanding immediate enforcement of the newly agreed minimum remuneration, workers affiliated to the UCPN (Maoist) have announced to shut operations of five factories in Hetauda Industrial Estate from Tuesday, Republica reports from Makwanur.. Organizing a press conference here on Monday, officials of All Nepal Industrial Workers´ Trade Union (ANIWTU) - the trade union of UCPN (Maoist) - said they would shut operations of Unique Soap, Ganga Soap, National Soap -- from where multinational company Unilever sources some products, Antartic Biscuit and Super Lamicoats. “We were compelled to take the decision as series of talks held with top management of these factories failed to reach breakthrough,” Bishnu Rana, president of the trade union, said. After consultation with employers and trade unions, the government had enforced minimum remuneration in the second week of June. Publishing a notice in the Gazette, the government had enforced monthly remuneration of Rs 8,000, including Rs 2,900 allowance, and daily wage of Rs 318. Rana said they would shut operations of only those firms that are not providing minimum remuneration fixed by the government. Talks between the agitating workers and representatives of those five factories ended inconclusive on Sunday. The agitating workers have also given seven-day ultimatum to Ek Narayan Aryal, Chief District Officer of Makawanpur, to implement the minimum remuneration in those five companies. “Though existing laws stipulate that our salary will be reviewed every two years, it is unfortunate that we have to announce strike to get remuneration fixed by the government,” added Rana. Meanwhile, Rishi Ram Lamichhane of Hetauda Industries Association -- a representative body of industries operating in Hetauda Industrial Estate, said the Maoist trade unions are putting pressure to raise salary of workers who are already drawing more than what the government has fixed.
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EIGHT OPPOSITION PARTIES PUSH 13 DEMANDS

Kathmandu, 23 July: Eight poll-opposing parties including Upendra Yadav-led Mashesi Janaadhikar Forum-Nepal handed over 13-point demand to the High Level Political Committee on Monday, The Himalayan Times reports..

In a meeting of HLPC—the cross party mechanism of four major political forces—held at its secretariat, New Baneshwor today, the dissenting parties responded to the HLPC's call for dialogue and put forth their demands apropos to the November 19 election.

The parties included Yadav-led MJF-Nepal, Sharad Singh Bhandari-led Rastriya Madhesh Samajwadi Party, Tamsaling Nepal, Rastriya Dal and Janamukti Nepal including others.

In their 13-point demand, the parties have asked the major four political forces—UCPN-Maoist, Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and United Democratic Madhesi Front— to dissolve the HLPC, rectify the 11-point political agreement forged on March 13 and 25-point presidential decree, and ensure the CA election through political round table.

In today’s meeting, eight parties presented their demands and it will be discussed in the next meeting of HLPC, CPN-UML leader Raghujee Panta told the media after the meeting.

However, leader Panta said that the demands to dissolve the HLPC, change of guard of the government and amendment in the elections laws as put forth by them cannot be addressed at current situation.

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UNCHALLENGED PRACHANGA PARTY LEADERSHIP COULD

HARM UCPN MAOIST

Kathmandu, 23 July: To steer clear of a possible implosion, the Unified CPN-Maoist has taken a drastic step and made the organisational structure akin to what it had during the times of war — a party with one-man-centred leadership with all others’ positions limited to central committee membership, Tika R. Pradhan writes in The Himalayan Times..

But how worthy is that move? The decision by the extended meeting of the party has in a way overruled the mandate of the national convention, the most powerful decision-making process. Though party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has claimed that the decision is temporary, it begs a few questions. It has set a precedent that the decisions taken by the national convention could be overruled whenever the leader(s) felt it necessary. If it is a temporary move, is it going to be overturned again? And what model would be adopted then? Who will be who in the party? What procedure will be followed to assign them responsibilities?

“Such move may not harm the party at present, but it could affect the organisation in the long run,” said Mani Thapa of Revolutionary Communist Party. Thapa, who was with then CPN-M during the time of war, had once witnessed a similar move back in 2005. Then the party’s Chunbang meeting had demoted all the leaders by one rank.

Leaders Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Post Bahadur Bogati, who were vice-chairman and general secretary before the decision came into effect, were against the idea till the last moment, claiming that the move would do more harm than good to the party in the long run.

Thapa said such ‘inconsistent decisions’ might throw the party into disarray.

But Biswobhakta Dulal, formerly a politburo member, claimed that the party had not revoked the national convention decisions. He said that Baburam Bhattarai relinquished his vice-chairmanship while Shrestha and Bogati resigned from their respective posts.

During the central committee meeting in the last week of June, Bhattarai declared he was resigning from the vice-chairmanship in a bid to ‘inculcate the leaders with a sense of sacrifice’, which set off a chaos in the party, leading to current dynamics.

Changed equation

Some leaders in the UCPN-Maoist believe that Baburam Bhattarai has got the most out of the extended meeting. Initially it was his proposal that the party be taken to single-member powerful headquarters. He was even positive about serving the party as senior leader, but stepped back after media reports questioned what his true stance was. Leaders close to Bhattarai do admit that the turn of event has helped Bhattarai regain his image and that he ‘is now gradually turning into a statesman’. They believe Bhattarai could be a better candidate to assume the presidential office than Dahal, ‘given the international support and popularity he enjoys’. Some claimed that Bhattarai and Dahal have always had a symbiotic relationship — Bhattarai being the ideologue and Dahal the leader — since the time when party decided to wage the war. “Time now has come for Bhattarai to lead the country and Dahal the party,” they say.

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