Armed And Unarmed Terai Outfits Come Closer
In what could be seen as an all-out effort to dominate the ruling seven party alliance in Terai region ahead of April election, various armed as well as unarmed Madhesi groups have reached an understanding of cooperation. According to a report, the groups, on Friday (Jan 25), reached a 23-point agreement at an undisclosed location. Manoj Mukti, Dhanusha district chief of the Madhes Raksha Bahini – a militant youth wing of Rajendra Mahato-led Nepal Sadbhavana Party – revealed that they have agreed to jointly resist the joint meetings of seven parties. Sources added that they also agreed not to abduct, or demand extortion from people of Madhesi origin. They have also agreed to carry out their agitations jointly. The agreement is said to have been reached among the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum led by Upendra Yadav, Raksha Bahini as well as armed groups such as Jwala Singh's Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha, Terai Mukti Morcha and Madhesi Mukti Tigers. Their meeting also concluded the deployment of police in Terai as non-political and unconstitutional move. Kantipur daily reports
YCL To Mobilize 4 Million Youths For Polls
The Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League (YCL) has announced its program to kick off nationwide election campaign. At a press meet held in Kathmandu on Saturday (Jan 26) to inform about the decisions made by its recent central committee meeting, YCL president Ganesh Man Pun revealed programs regarding public campaigning in favor of CA election. The YCL leaders also vowed to mobilize over four million youths for the election – at least 200 per every polling center. The Election Commission has fixed over 20,000 polling centers. The central committee meeting of YCL had been organized to formulate its strategies for the election. Compiled from reports
No Bird Flu Here, Say Officials
At a time when bird flu has hit parts of West Bengal of India, which also borders Nepal, officials here have said that the dreaded disease has not arrived in the country. But they have warned that the disease could enter into the country if proper precautions are not taken. "Bird flu has not been seen in Nepal. But we cannot be complacent," Dr. Baikuntha Parajuli, director of Livestock Health Directorate, told Kantipur. He said that experts would immediately be dispatched to any area reporting unusually high mortality of birds and chicken. He informed that chicken that recently died in hundreds in Jhapa district had not suffered from bird flu but quite another disease. The government has banned import of live birds, meat and eggs to prevent the disease from entering into the country. Compiled from reports
NRB Mulls New Base For Price Index
Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) is broadening the base of commodities and services it considers for calculating inflation and mulling enforcing a new inflation index in order to capture the recent shift in consumption trend, preference and alteration in the weightage of consumable items in the index. The existing consumer price index (CPI), which the central bank relies on to portray the inflation situation in the country, was developed 11 years ago. NRB analyzes retail prices of 301 commodities and services collected from 21 market centers for calculating the CPI. The change is being worked out following the realization that there has been a substantial shift in consumption patterns, said bank officials. "There is a need to widen the basket of commodities, broaden the sources from where we gather information and upgrade the methodology we apply in order to calculate more reliable and credible inflation data," said Gopal Prasad Bhatta, deputy director at the pricing division, Nepal Rastra Bank. Making a presentation at a workshop on "Price Statistics", Bhatta stated that the target of the central bank was to enforce a new base from the next fiscal year starting mid-July 2008. "Work is in progress to finalize the report of the household budget survey. On the basis of its findings, we will define a new basket of commodities and how we can incorporate new information centers for making the index more comprehensive and credible," he said. According to NRB data, food and beverage items collectively weigh 53.20 percent and non-food items weigh 46.80 percent in the index. Moreover, NRB data shows that consumer prices in Nepal have soared by 85.9 percent over the last 11 years. The prices of non-food items grew more rapidly - by 94.1 percent - than the prices of food items, which went up by 78.8 percent. Examining inflation by geographical distribution, consumer prices rose the most (by about 90 percent) in the terai, whereas prices in the hills and Kathmandu grew by 88.2 percent and 78 percent respectively over the past 11 years. Given the rise in prices of fuel and factors like a porous border with India, officials said that inflation for this fiscal year would go up by more than 5.5 percent, at which level NRB wants to contain it. Kantipur reports
GMR Bags Upper Karnali
GMR Energy Limited of India has bagged the 300 MW strong Upper Karnali hydropower project. The company signed an agreement with the government, on Thursday (Jan 24), to complete the project within four and a half years. The GMR company has agreed to provide 12 percent of free energy and 27 percent of share to the government. According to earlier estimates by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the cost of building Upper Karnali project is around $ 468.6 million. The company was selected as it agreed to fulfill the demands said to have been made by the government. A government team led by joint secretary at the Water Resource Ministry Anup Kumar Upadhyaya had negotiated with the company. The same team will soon hold negotiation with another Indian company called Sutlej regarding the construction of Arun III project. Earlier, the cabinet had allowed the Ministry to hold negotiation with specified companies to award the Upper Karnali and Arun III hydropower projects. Compiled from reports
Three NC Cadres Killed In Siraha
Police have found bodies of three youths, who were abducted on Sunday night, buried on the bank of Kamala river at Kichana VDC in Siraha district. The bodies of Satya Narayan Yadav, 21, Neem Chandra Thakur,18, and Ram Ikbaal Yadav, 19, were recovered on Tuesday (Jan 22) night, the District Police Office, Mirchaiya informed. The bodies were recovered on basis of the information provided by the locals. All the bodies had deep wounds from sharp weapons, the police informed. Meanwhile, Nepali Congress (NC) Central Office Chief Secretary Shobhakar Parajuli releasing a press statement today claimed that all the three were NC cadres and accused that a group of the Maoist youth-wing, Young Communist League, cadres led by the area in-charge Dev Sharan Yadav had abducted them when they were returning their homes on Sunday night. The party alleged that the Maoists have continued such activities like abductions, killing and thrashings even after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The party also demanded compensation for the victims' families and action against those involved in the incident. Meanwhile, unidentified persons shot to death two people Surendra Kumar Biswakarma and Hira Singh Karki in Kotwada VDC of Mugu district on Tuesday night. Compiled from reports
FM Rues Rollback Decision
Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat has said that Wednesday's decision to roll back the fuel price hike has further put pressure on the already tight budget. Addressing a meeting of a parliamentary committee Thursday, the Finance Minister added that now the government was left with only two options—to revise the tax nets or increase internal lending. When lawmakers asked him on which option was the government mulling over, he did not clarify. He has been repeatedly stating that the fuel price must be hiked to ease the growing pressure on the economy and the mammoth losses incurred by the Nepal Oil Corporation by distributing imported petroleum products on a subsidized rate. The government was forced to withdraw Monday's decision to massively hike the prices of diesel, kerosene and LPG after it sparked angry protests across the country. Kantipur reports
Yeti Flies International
Yeti Airlines International, a joint venture between Yeti Airlines and Air Arabia, began international flights from Wednesday (Jan 23), with its inaugural flight taking off to Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia Wednesday morning. The airline, which is also known as FlyYeti.com, is scheduled to operate three flights a week to Kuala Lumpur and thrice-weekly flights to Sharjah, using a Boeing 737-800 aircraft. It is the first Nepali low-cost carrier and the first to have foreign investment scheduled. Speaking at a function held to inaugurate its flights, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prithivi Subba Gurung said its operation will help to provide easy connections to Nepali working abroad and several more tourists to visit Nepal . Lila Mani Poudel, secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, asked the airline to provide better services to the Nepali workers with good and respectful treatment. "Many airlines which say they provide professional and world class services are treating workers as lowest-grade of people," he said. "If this airline gives good services and does not behave deferentially, it would create pressure on others to upgrade their services," he said. He also asked the airline to work with Nepal Tourism Board to promote Nepal 's image in the international market. Ang Tshering Sherpa, chairman of the airline, said that the airline was planning to bring in another aircraft, an Airbus-320, in mid-February and another Boeing 737-800 aircraft in mid-March. "We will expand our services to Bangkok , Hong Kong , Doha , Abhu Dhabi, Riyadh and Lhasa ," he said. He said Yeti would focus on giving Nepali flavor for Nepalis going abroad. "To help them, we will guide them until the gate of immigration offices," he said. Yeti has received permission from the government to fly to 14 destinations in various Asian countries including India , Malaysia , the UAE, Qatar , Hong Kong , Singapore and South Korea . Compiled from reports
