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PM Koirala administers oath of office and sececy to Chief of Army Staff General Rukmangat Katawal |
THE HIGH LEVEL COMMITTEE FORMED TO STUDY about the petro-pricing has decided to hold direct talks with the officials of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on issues such as supplies agreement, supplies procedure, pricing mechanism and so on. The committee was formed last month by the government after violent riots erupted nationwide in Nepal forcing the government to roll back increase in price of petroleum products. The government had formed the committee headed by former finance secretary Bhanu Acharya to advise the government about supplies, pricing and market management of petro-products. Although the government has formed different committees to study petro sector in the past, this is the first time that such a committee is holding direct talks with IOC – the sole supplier of petroleum products to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). In order to hold the talks, a three-member delegation of IOC officials has arrived in the capital on Sunday (September 17). At present, NOC has dues worth Rs 8 billion to the IOC. It is running losses of Rs 830 million a month.
THE EMPLOYEES PROVIDENT FUND (EPF) has informed that its total deposit that can be invested has crossed Rs 53 billion. Of them, Rs 48.18 billion belongs to provident fund; Rs 2.81 billion belongs to reserve fund; and Rs 2.09 billion belongs to other funds. The report of EPF released on the occasion of its 45 th general assembly states that of the total deposits, the EPF has invested Rs 49.99 billion in loans and investment; Rs 750 million in buildings land assets. The remaining Rs 2.34 billion is utilized in fixed and current capital. According to Dr. Ramesh Kumar Bhattarai, chief officer of the EPF, they are finding it challenging to effectively mobilize their resources due to lack of clear policy on its use and investment. Leading dailies report
ON THE OCCASION OF THE 42 nd Children’s Day on Bhadra 29, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued an appeal requesting all concerned not to use children in any kind of political demonstrations or rallies. It asked both political parties and their sister organizations not to do so. The NHRC stated that all NGOs and actors involved in the area of children’s right need to come together to guarantee the rights of the kids. The Commission said that thousands of children in Nepal are still at risk due to lack of education and health. Meanwhile, the government had decided to observe Children’s Day on Bhadra 29 – the date of the signing of International Child Rights Convention by Nepal – from this year. In the past the day was observed on Bhadra 4 – the birthday of Queen Mother Ratna Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah.
THE GOVERNMENT IS PLANNING TO PROVIDE concessional loan to private sector to invest in the hydro power projects. The government would provide Rs 2.59 billion ($35 million), which has been given by the World Bank for the Power Development Fund, to the private sector for investing in 30 MW strong Kabeli A and 2.4 MW strong Ridi Khola hydropower projects. The government is investing the amount through Window I and Window II program. The amount would be provided at less than 7 percent interest rate. As per the Window I program, the government will use up to $ 24 million for investment in projects between 10 to 50 MW. Likewise, as per the Window II program, the government will make available $11 million for projects between 1 to 10 MW. The loan maturity period for Window I and II program will be 23 and 15 years respectively.
WITH THE VIEW TO STRIP THE KING OFF THE POWER to enact laws, the House of Representatives, on Tuesday, unanimously endorsed the Bill on Document Authentication. Now, the parliament does not need to send any bill to the palace for royal seal. Laws, orders or acts can now be approved by the Speaker himself or by the authority determined by the government. The MPs had been voicing against the earlier provision requiring royal seal and, therefore, they decided to introduce the new bill removing previous provisions. The Bill of Document Authentication was presented to the HoR after long discussions in State Affairs Committee (SAC). Earlier, the SAC has unanimously decided to scrap Clause 2 and other clauses in a bill on public document authentication, thereby, curtailing the King’s power to issue any order for enacting new acts, regulations and government decisions.
THE OFFICE OF THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF MIGRANTS (IOM) has been formally established in Nepal . The office is located within the UN complex in Pulchowk. The IOM is an international organization that works for the cause of migrant workers. It also engages in rescue of migrants whenever necessary. As hundreds of thousands of Nepalese workers have gone overseas as migrant workers, the opening of IOM office is expected to be of help to them in future.
THE FIRST MEETING of the task force formed by the government on Terai Forest Management held on September 15 2006 discussed the sustainable use of and ensuring rights and interests of all stakeholders including local community in the Terai Forest . The 17-member task force under the convenorship of Mr. Jamuna Krishna Tamrakar, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Forest, had been formed two weeks ago including all stakeholders of forest including Forest Ministry, department, forest technical officials, forest users' association/federation, civil society and donors. The first meeting of the task force made a number of decisions: to add its members to make it more inclusive, form a committee to prepare working rules for the task force, and to call the meeting of donors to decide about the expenditure management of the task force. A committee headed by Krishna Man Pradhan, president of Rural Development Foundation, a representative from civil society, was formed to prepare the working procedural for the task force.
THE ROYAL PALACE PRESS SECRETARIAT has refuted news carried by a section of media alleging that the palace had been receiving hefty commissions for allowing recruitment of Nepalese soldiers in British Army. “The attention of this Secretariat has been drawn to reports in some newspapers (on September 18) that the Royal Palace receives a royalty of one million pounds annually in return for the recruitment of Nepalese youths in the British Army as Gurkhas. This Secretariat underscores the fact that His Majesty the King and the Royal Palace are in no way involved in such recruitments. The Royal Palace has never received any royalty at any time. Therefore, this Secretariat condemns these reports as totally fabricated and motivated by malicious intent.”
