Foreign Employment Agencies On Strike
The foreign employment agencies are preparing to go on strike beginning Monday (December 11) after the government did not show interest to meet their demands. They will start their strike by picketing the Department for Labor and Employment Promotion on Monday morning. LP Sanwa Limbu, president of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA) said that their strike will go on indefinitely. The association claims that decision of the government to impose 2 percent tax plus 5 percent (of the total expenditure) service tax on each individual leaving for work overseas as being against public interest. The association also opposes the government decision to increase the deposit amount for the agencies from Rs 500,000 to Rs 3 million. Limbu claimed that if these provisions are imposed, 80 percent of agencies will be closed down. Nepal Samacharpatra daily reports.
Telecom To Float Rs 2 Billion Worth Shares
The government has decided to sell off its equity stake in the Nepal Telecom by floating shares worth Rs 2.25 billion in the public. Although the NT had been turned into a company from government-owned enterprise, the government still owned majority of its shares. And now the Privatization Cell at the Ministry of Finance, has decided to sell off the shares to public and NT employees. The total capital of NT has been calculated to be Rs 15 billion. As such, 10 percent of the total capital – that is Rs 1.5 billion – will be sold to public while 5 percent – that is Rs 750 million – will be sold to NT employees. NT managing director Sugat Ratna Kansakar informed that shares will be sold to employees by forming a committee. Nepal Samacharpatra daily reports.
Students Disrupt RPP-Nepal’s Meet
A regional meeting of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP-Nepal) was disrupted after irate students barged into the venue at Party Palace in Mahendra Pul in Pokhara and vandalized furniture along with manhandling party leaders. Student activists belonging to sister organization of Nepali Congress, UML and Maoists barged into the venue angered by the remarks made by the party president Rabindra Nath Sharma that ‘King is needed’ for the country. Sharma, who recently replaced Kamal Thapa – the home minister at the royal cabinet – as the president of the party, along with other leaders and cadres had to leave in a hurry after students resorted to vandalism. Leading dailies report
Maoist Victims Warn Of Armed Struggle
At a time when the Maoists have put down their guns and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) limited within cantonments, victims of Maoist atrocities are preparing to launch an armed struggle. “Some of our central committee members have gone underground and some to different districts to make preparations,” said Dharma Raj Neupane, president of the Maoist Victims Association. He said they suffered much during the peaceful protests. Many agitators have died on the road but the government turned deaf ear to their demands. According to him, they have a record of over 200,000 victims from 27,000 households in all districts excluding Manang and Mustang. “We are given assurances but in vain,” said Bhojraj Timilsina, spokesperson of the association. According to him, the victims of Maoist atrocities in villages would rather burn themselves along with their family members instead of being ruled by the Maoists. “This is not a fiction. One has to go through the situation we have been through the bloodshed to feel it,” he said. Neupane said they were forced to flee their homes leaving everything behind, while the ministers obtained compensation and built buildings in the capital by burning down their huts in villages. The real victims are left high and dry. “We are to be considered not consoled,” he said. The victims have forwarded the demand for representation in the interim legislature and interim government along with providing compensation to them, employment for youths, education for their children and return of all property that they have lost. “We are left with no option but to launch an organized armed struggle for justice,” Neupane said. The Himalayan Times daily reports.
Democracy Is Basis For Rights Protection: PM
In his message on the occasion of the 58 th International Human Rights Day, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has said that democratic system is the basis of human rights protection. He stated that with the country having entered into a new phase, Nepalis will not have to live under the dark clouds of fear and terror anymore. “We are now on the way towards consolidating democratic system to ensure human rights,” he stated. Compiled from reports.
Effective And Independent NHRC Demanded
Key donor representatives including the chief of the OHCHR-Nepal Lena Sundh has called on the government appealing for setting up an independent, effective and inclusive National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). "The peace process which has just begun to take root needs an independent, inclusive and effective NHRC to monitor, investigate and report human rights abuses," said Sundh. She added that a strong national human rights institution is needed to provide moral leadership and expertise on human rights issues and to provide a voice for the impoverished, marginalized and exploited in society. She said that the establishment of OHCHR could never substitute a strong, independent and effective NHRC. Sundh along with the UN Resident Coordinator Matthew Kahane and key international donors, in their meeting with the Prime Minister, had emphasized the need to appoint independent and representative Commissioners without further delay in a transparent and consultative process in line with the Paris Principles that takes into account the views of civil society. Compiled from reports.
Women’s Contribution In Overseas Works Is High: A Report
There are over 78,000 Nepalese women working overseas countries, except in India , according to a report. The report prepared by Nepal Institute for Development Studies with the help of UNIFEM has shown that 9.13 percent of overseas workers are women. The women send home Rs 11 billion every year in forms of remittances. Although women generally earn less compared to men, they save more. The report concludes that better environment should be created to facilitate their foreign employment. Of the total women working overseas, 66 percent work as house maids while the rest work in factories, offices and restaurants. An average stay of a woman in overseas is around three and a half years. The study on migration and remittance was conducted by Ganesh Gurung, Dr. Jagannath Adhikari, David Seddon and Dr. Chandra Bhadra. The study points out that apart from India , there are 858,451 Nepalese working in overseas countries. There are 1550 women working in UAE, 1870 in Kuwait , 1600 in Qatar , 30,000 in Saudi Arabia , 1340 in Bahrain , 400 in Lebanon , and 350 in Israel – a total of 40,000 in Gulf countries. Likewise, a substantial number of Nepalese women are working in Hong Kong, followed by the United States , United Kingdom , Japan and Australia . Nepalnews.com reports.
Mohan Bikram To Stay Underground
Claiming that the real democracy has not been restored in Nepal , a senior communist leader – said to be political guru of current Maoist leadership in the past – Mohan Bikram Singh has decided to continue to stay underground. His party, Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Center-Mashal) will continue to remain underground because the real democracy cannot be established till the country is in the grip semi-colonialists, Singh said without elaborating at a rare press conference held in the capital on Thursday (December 7). He informed that the political front of the party – People’s Front – and its two leaders MP Chitra Bahadur KC and Sonam will remain over ground and involve in open activities. Singh welcomed Maoist decision to return to peaceful competitive politics. But he accused the Maoists of demonstrating aberrations in their policy and practice. He said that no form of monarchy should remain in the country. Leading dailies report.
Palace Pays Custom Duty
The palace has paid custom duty and demurrage (delay charge) on the ‘hunting trophy’ that had arrived at Tribhuwan International Airport from Austria addressed to Crown Prince Paras. The parcel had lied uncollected for the last three months at TIA. According to the customs officials, palace officials paid Rs 130,900 to release their parcel. This is the first time the palace had paid custom duty after the May 18 House of Representatives Declaration stated that even royal family will have to pay taxes. Kantipur daily reports.
Upper Seti Project To Inundate 811 Hectares Of Land
The proposed Upper Seti Storage Hydroelectricity Project, which aims to produce 132 MW of electricity for Tanahu district, will sweep away 811 hectares of land, which includes forests, wetlands and also a habitat for hundreds of conserved wild species. Jack Prosser, a member of an environment team that conducted a study in the area, said that out of the total are to be covered by the project, 121 hectares is either under cultivation or has houses, 127 hectares form a grazing area, forests occupy 428 hectares and 227 hectares form other barren land. Prosser is a senior partner of the Environment Planning Associated and his study was a part of the studies for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The project area is a habitat for 27 species of mammals, 17 reptiles and amphibians, 62 birds and 46 butterflies and moths. Prosser said his team recorded 209 wild species of plans, some of which – including the Screw Pine and four types of orchids – are under the conservation category. He said that a supplementary Environment Impact Assessment is necessary to make a final decision on the project. According to Toshiko Shimada, a member of the JICA study group, 1057 households will lose their private land, 155 households would lose their structures and 122 households will be affected. “We need to develop a strong resettlement and social action plan for the families that will be affected,” she said. The Himalayan Times daily reports.
JTMM Steps Up Its Activities, Starts Raiding Houses For Weapons
In what appears to be its hunt for weapons to intensify its violent campaign, the cadres of Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM) have raided houses of villagers of Hardiya Paltuwa VDC of Rautahat district to confiscate their weapons, according to local villagers. After they looted a gun from the residence of Shyam Mohan Bhandari of nearby Bishrampur VDC, the JTMM cadres then raided houses belonging to Khovari Raya Yadav, Ganesh Raya Yadav, Bhuplal Raya Yadav, and Chandeshwore Raya Yadav looking for weapons. Meanwhile, although the local administration had started returning privately owned guns – which it had taken control of owing to Maoist insurgency in the past - to the individuals, given the violent activities of JTMM, it has stopped doing so from Monday. Superintendent of Police of Rautahat District Police Office Ram Kumar Khanal said that the process of returning the guns has now been stopped. Nepal Samacharpatra daily reports.
