Industrial Security Force in the offing

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BIRGUNJ, Oct 16- Government is planning to constitute Industrial Security Force (ISF) to safeguard industrial environment within a month.

Rajendra Kumar Khetan, vice president of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) made it public while speaking at a training programme on industrial relation here Monday.

The force will be formed with the joint effort of Nepal Police and the industrialists and the government has given consent to it, Khetan disclosed.

The industries will be divided into industrial unit, industrial area and industrial belt and security will be provided accordingly. Each security unit will consist of 16 security personnel.

Industrialists have been demanding the force ever since the Maoist rebels attacked various industrial establishments including Nepal Lever Limited and Surya Tobacco Company. The attack further weakened the confidence of industrialists and investors.

Khetan said former police personnel will be recruited in the force and logistic support will be provided jointly by the government and industrialists.

The force will be under the government and will provide security for twenty-four hours, he said.

He also added that a separate act or an ordinance is not required to constitute the force and a clause of Nepal Police act will be activated for this purpose.

He also informed that a draft of New Labour Act has already been prepared and expressed hope that the incoming Act will herald a new industrial environment in the country.

Dr Rajan Malhotra, Representative of International Labour Organization (ILO) regretted that those countries, which have signed the International Convention on gender discrimination and child labour, are not abiding by the rules stipulated by the respective conventions.

Gajananda Agrawal, President of Kalaiya Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) said that employers are not respected and their voices are not heard.

Labourers always have upper hand, lamented Agrawal.

"Good industrial relation is vital for proper industrialization of the nation ", he said.

Babu Lal Chachan, President of Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) spoke about the deteriorating industrial relation in the country.

Industries are closed upon the confrontation between the employers and employees, Chachan said.

The dispute should be resolved timely for the betterment of the country, said he.

The two-day long trainers’ training program jointly organized by ILO, FNCCI and BCCI is being participated in by managers of more than three dozen industries of this region.

VAT and Income Tax Dept to merge

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KATHMANDU, Oct 16 - Preparations are underway to merge Income Tax and Value Added Tax (VAT) departments to bring desired efficiency in revenue administration, the Income Tax and VAT.

Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya in his budget speech for the current fiscal year had announced to merge the two departments.

The objective of the Finance Ministry was not only to bring down administrative costs, but also to reduce the compliance costs of taxpayers, the savings that can be channeled to other productive areas.

While the computer sections of the two departments have already been linked for achieving the budgetary objectives, the two departments are going to initiate joint auditing in the near future. In addition, the issuance of Permanent Account Numbers (PAN) by Kathmandu Taxpayers Service Centre (KTSC) to all taxpayers will bring uniformity in maintaining data.

Twenty employees, ten from each of the two departments, were given auditing training before Dashain, and joint auditing by the two departments will be initiated after the Tihar festival, according to Dr Rup Khadka, a VAT expert.

"The government is working on the modality and structure to integrate Income Tax and VAT departments. Necessary homework is being carried out for the purpose and the overall process is likely to take a few months," he said.

Khadka said that the government is yet to decide on a host of issues relating to the number of integrated offices and location of the offices, among others.

"The work of the two departments are being wired up slowly, section by section, so that no difficulties arise when the final merge is made," he said.

NTUC raps govt for petroleum price hike

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KATHMANDU, Oct 16 - Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC) has flayed the recent decision of the government to hike the prices of petroleum products. NTUC has said that the price hike has severely hit fixed income earners like employees and labors.

Issuing a press statement today, the union also blamed the government for not considering the possible impacts of petroleum price hike on the common people and has strongly demanded with the government to withdraw the decision

Similarly, National Transportation Consumers’ Association has criticized the unilateral decision of the transport entrepreneurs to hike the transport fare by 25 percent and has urged the government to take necessary action to discourage such illegal practices.

The association also condemned the petro-price hike stating that the latest step would further deteriorate the economic condition of the general public. The association has asked the government to reconsider the decision of price hike.

Sericulture not thriving

By Shyam Rimal

KATHMANDU, Oct 16 (RSS) - Nepal, despite having good prospect for silkworm farming, does not produce sufficient quantity of silk yarn to meet its internal and external demands.

Domestic demand for silk yarn in Nepal comes to about 80 to 90 tons a year but it produces only 2 to 3 tons of silk yarn annually. Therefore, Nepal imports silk yarn worth Rs 1 billion a year.

Nepal has favourable climate for silkworm farming and Nepalese silk is also of high quality. His Majesty’s Government considers 21 districts of the country suitable for silk worm farming and eleven of them have been the centre of sericulture activities.

However, the districts holding out better prospect for sericulture could be as many as 42 and given proper initiative, the figure may even increase to 68.

Silkworm farming is getting underway in Kathmandu, Ilam, Chitwan, Dhading, Syangja, Palpa and Kavre districts at present thanks to UNDP-aided Silkworm Farming for Rural Development Programme (SRDP).

SRDP National Programme Manager Dr Shrikrishna Shrestha says sericulture is suitable to Nepal from the standpoint of poverty alleviation, utilisation of land and manpower mobilisation.

In this context, the basic need of the day is to produce Nepalese technicians that can provide expert knowledge to farmers and create an environment under which they themselves can create market for their product.

The SRDP project will last till 2001 and the farmers can be self-reliant to some extent provided the institution helps enable them to do two more harvests.

Dr Shrestha further says big entrepreneurs, though enthusiastic to invest in this sector, are still waiting to see more promising results from silkworm farming in Nepal.

Sericulture has also been included in the government’s 20-year agricultural plan and there is also a ten-year long-term sericulture programme.

Director Ganesh Kumar KC of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Industrial Insects Development Directorate, Khopasi, Kavre, says a demonstration programme on silkworm farming has been held for private entrepreneurs and it will take time before they are fully ready to get involved in it.

"Intra party feud harmful to business"

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DHADING, Oct 16 - President of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Pradeep Kumar Shrestha has expressed the views that feud within the ruling Nepali Congress party is detrimental to the nation’s economic growth.

Shrestha was speaking at the inaugural session of the seventh annual general meeting (AGM) of Dhading Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) on Sunday.

"In the context of open market policies and liberalization in a country like Nepal, the government must actively render support to facilitate the growth of the country’s business sector," he said.

He also alleged that the government of hiking the price of petroleum products without consulting with the private sector. "No talks so far has been held between the private sector and the government on this issue," he said.

Other speakers also accused the government of raising petro-price in an irresponsible manner and demanded that the decision on the unprecedented price hike should be withdrawn. They also emphasized that the government should provide security to private establishments in order to accelerate the growth of the national economy.