World Bank to provide loan for the Education for All programme

The International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank has agreed to provide a loan assistance of over Rs.3.73 billion to Nepal to implement the Education For All (EFA) project.

According to the Finance Ministry, the project aims to ensure access and equity in primary education, improve efficiency and institutional capacity and contribute to sustainable socio-economic development and equity, through the enhancement of quality and relevance of basic and primary education to children and illiterate adults in the country. 

The programme will be financed jointly through different bilateral and multilateral donors, the Ministry added. The partners financing the ambitious programme include Denmark, Finland, Norway, DFID, IDA, UNICEF, WFP, ADB and Japan. The project is expected to be completed by July 2009.

Krishna Babu Tiwari, officiating secretary at the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and Kenichi Ohashi, Country Director of the World Bank in Nepal signed on an agreement to this effect Thursday on behalf of Nepal government and the WB respectively.  nepalnews.com by Aug 13 04

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Govt. asks civil servants to furnish property details

The government has asked all civil servants to submit details of their personal and family property to the concerned authorities. 

In a statement, the Home Ministry said every civil servant should submit the details within 60 days of assuming his/her office and then within 60 days of termination of each fiscal year as per the Corruption Control Act 2059 B. S.

"If the person still doesn't submit details by the extended deadline of another 30 days (on valid grounds), he/she will be fined Rs 5,000 and concerned officials may initiate probe assuming that the person holds illegal assets," the statement said. nepalnews.com by Aug 13 04

Former DDC president injured in Maoist attack

Former president of the District Development Committee (DDC) of Kailali, Chheda Lal Chaudhary, has been injured critically when a group of Maoist rebels opened fire on him Thursday afternoon.

Chaudhary has been hit with bullets on his right hand and leg. He was then admitted at Seti zonal hospital at Dhangadhi.

Chaudhary is also president of Kailali district committee of Rastriya Prajatantra Party, a ruling coalition partner. nepalnews.com by Aug 13 04

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Petro-product prices go up

The government has increased the prices of petroleum products. The decision was announced following a meeting of the Council of Ministers (CoM) Thursday.

As per the revised price setup, price of petrol has been fixed Rs.56, aviation fuel Rs.46 and kerosene Rs.24. Similarly, Rs.25 has been slapped on LPG, fixing the price at Rs.725 and the 4-rupee subsidy provided on Kerosene quotas has been scrapped. However, the price of diesel will remain as it is.

Speaking at a press conference organized following the CoM meeting this afternoon, communication minister and government spokesperson Dr Mohammad Mohsin explained that the price hike is as part of creating a parity between the price of petroleum products in the international market to that of the country. "Considering the growing oil prices in the international market, the government has to increase the price to continue the supply," Monsin said.

Dinesh Chandra Pyakurel, secretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Supply informed that the Nepal Oil Corporation has been running into losses over Rs.20 million a day mainly because of the low oil prices compared to the international market. He was of the view that the new price setup will help save the NOC from turning bankrupt. 

The new price setup will be effective from today.

The International Monetary Fund, one of the major donors, had been pressuring the government to remove the subsidy provided on petroleum products. nepalnews.com mbk Aug 12 04

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Court slaps life imprisonment to Charles Shobhraj

The Kathmandu District Court passed a life imprisonment (20 years) sentence to Charles Shobhraj Gurmukh, a notorious international criminal, convicting him in the murder of two foreign tourists in Kathmandu some three decades ago. The court has also ordered that all his property be confiscated.

A single bench of District Court Judge Bishwombhar Prasad Shrestha passed the verdict followed by a hearing this afternoon. After his arrest in Kathmandu 10 months ago, police had filed a case against him demanding toughest punishment possible. 

The court has established the claim of the police that Shobhraj who entered Nepal with another person’s passport, had murdered a Canadian and an American tourist in 2032B.S.

Advocates Suryanath Bhandari and Rajaram Dhakal had argued from the government side.

The court has, however, cancelled the charge of obtaining fake passport.

Meanwhile, Shobhraj has said he would appeal against the verdict at the Appellate Court. "This verdict has proven that Nepal is not a democratic country. I will go to the higher court," he spoke to journalists immediately after the verdict was announced. nepalnews.com mbk Aug 12 04

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Govt forms Peace Committee

Aimed at putting together the efforts for peace talks with the Maoists, the government Thursday formed a high-level Peace Committee represented by top leaders of the political parties participating in the coalition government. A meeting of the Council of Ministers this afternoon took the decision.

The Peace Committee headed by Prime Minister and Nepali Congress (Democratic) president Sher Bahadur Deuba has CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, Rashtriya Prajatantra Party chairman Pashupati Shumsher Rana, Information and Communication minister Dr Mohammad Mohsin and Nepal Sadbhawana Party chairman Badri Prasad Mandal as members.

Speaking at a press conference held at the Department of Information, Dr Mohsin who is also the spokesperson of the government said the objective of the Peace Committee is to coordinate the peace process and finalize the political agendas of the government to be presented at the negotiating table.

"The Peace Committee is going to embark on a rapid action towards starting the peace process at the soonest," Mohsin said. nepalnews.com mbk Aug 12 04

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UML backs govt’s monitoring body

A meeting of the Standing Committee of the CPN-UML Thursday backed the high-level committee formed yesterday by the government to monitor the implementation process of the Common Minimum Program. 

Standing Committee member Amrit Bohora told reporters after the meeting that the Multiparty Democratic Coordination Committee would help make effective the performance of the four-party government.

At the beginning of the meeting, UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal had briefed the Standing Committee members about the concept of the monitoring body of which he is a member. The committee also comprises Prime Minister and Nepali Congress (Democratic) president Sher Bahadur Deuba, Rashtriya Prajatantra Party chairman Pashupati Shumsher Rana and Nepal Sadbhawana Party chairman Badri Prasad Mandal. 

The UML, in the meantime, has urged the government to immediately take steps to initiate peace talks with the Maoists "to do away with the present political stalemate". nepalnews.com mbk Aug 12 04 

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Maoist bandh paralyses life in Morang

A general strike called by CPN-Maoist in Morang district brought normal life to a standstill on Thursday. 

Reports from the district said schools, colleges and factories were closed while roads wore a deserted look. Vehicular traffic was completely off the road and the transportation in the East-West highway was also affected due to the bandh. 

The Maoists had called the bandh in protest of the killing of two of their comrades by the security forces after taking them under control. nepalnews.com mbk Aug 12 04 

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Confusion galore regarding the 'blockade' of the capital

There have been conflicting reports regarding the so-called 'blockade' of the Kathmandu valley said to have been called by the Maoist rebels beginning next week (August 18).

HBC FM, a Kathmandu-based private radio station, reported Thursday quoting a local Maoist commander, Aabhas, in Dhading district as saying that his party had never called for the blockade. "It is against our party's declared policy," he told the local correspondent of the radio station.

Radio Sagarmatha FM, another Kathmandu-based station run as a community radio, however, reported that the Maoists are set to go ahead with their proposed blockade.

The blockade will cover areas between Nagdhunga to Charaudi and Naubise to Hetauda, the main entry points to the capital, the radio said quoting a statement issued jointly by Dhading and Makwanpur district committees of the Maoists, Akhil `Krantikari'-- the student wing of the underground party and a local unit of the Maoist 'people's army.'

The blockade was announced to register protest against the killings of Maoist leaders Bharat Dhungana and Baikuntha Pokhrel and to force the government to make public whereabouts of nearly one dozen of their comrades currently in the government's detention, the statement said.

The Maoist leadership is yet to clarify the situation. The government officials said they have made 'adequate' preparations to deal with the said blockade. nepalnews.com by Aug 12 04

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Nepal to observe Grand Golden Jubilee of Mt. Cho-Oyu ascent

Nepal is to celebrate the golden jubilee of the ascent of the 8201-metre high Mount Cho-Oyu in October this year, tourism officials said.

Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), a public-private partnership set up to promote Nepal as a premier tourist destination, said the event "Grand Golden Jubilee of Mount Cho-Oyu after Mt. Everest" has been designed to celebrate one of humankind's greatest achievements by setting footprint on the world's sixth highest peak.

Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), a non-governmental organisation, will be responsible for implementing a series of programmes.

S. Joechler and H. Tichy of Austria and P. Dawa Lama of Nepal had set record by ascending Mount Cho Oyu for the first time on October 19, 1954. The celebrations will include felicitating them. The mountain lies about 20 miles west of Mount Everest. 

The golden jubilee celebration of the first ascent of Mt. Everest, the highest peak in the world, was celebrated by organising special functions in Nepal, the United Kingdom and other parts of the world in May last year. nepalnews.com by Aug 12 04