RPP to hold farmers’ rally nationwide

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Jan 9 - Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) on Monday announced a nationwide farmers rally beginning from Kapilbastu on January 10, as a part of its protest program to pressurize the government to immediately resolve the farmers’ problems.

Speaking at a press conference, Jog Mehar Shrestha, Coordinator of Farmers’ Awareness Building Campaign Committee, said that they are organizing the farmers rally across the country to draw the attention of the government to the deteriorating condition of the farmers.

"The price of agricultural products has reached a five-year low and the price of chemical fertilizers and other agricultural tools is sky-rocketing, but the government has paid no heed to this. We are holding the nationwide rally to press home the problems the farmers are facing to the government", he said.

We demand that the government immediately fix the price of agricultural products in the ratio of price hike and to purchase agricultural products, to adopt a policy of protecting domestic products and to expand irrigation facilities, he said.

Similarly, we strongly recommend that the government resumes subsidies in seeds and chemical fertilizers, reduces interest rates on agricultural loans, provides subsidies in petroleum products used for agricultural purposes, waives the interest of loans taken by poor farmers, develops a strict monitoring mechanism and immediately ends milk holiday.

The protest program will last until the third week of February and memoranda to the prime minister will be given through the Chief District Officer (CDO) of each respective districts where the rally is held, he added.

The Nepali Congress Party, which claims to be the synonym of democracy, has been in power most of the time after the restoration of democracy, but the condition of the farmers has deteriorated ever since the party came to power, Shrestha said.

He also criticized the government for cutting subsidies in seeds and chemical fertilizers and the Small Farmers Development Projects and the Cooperatives for being city-oriented. Instead of facilitating the poor farmers, they are exploiting them, charging high interest rates and capitalizing interest, he accused.

Price of petroleum on the international market has plunged but the government has not yet reduced the price. This has had a negative impact on the poor farmers who depend on generators for irrigation and tractors for cultivating land.

Gold import falls drastically

By Prem Khanal

KATHMANDU, Jan 9 - Ever since Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya, in his budget speech for the current fiscal year, announced the channelling of gold imports through Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), imports of the precious metal into the country have fallen dramatically.

According to NRB data, gold imports during the first quarter of the current fiscal year plunged by over 32 per cent touching 1.45 billion as compared to the import figures in the same period last year. Total gold imports in 1999/2000 stood at Rs 7.3 billion, a 13 per cent decline as compared to Rs 8.36 billion imports in 1998/99.

As per the budgetary provision, the Department of Mint (DoM) of Nepal Rastra Bank started selling gold to the public last July. However, plunging domestic gold demand and over-valued gold prices have rendered the government’s plan to establish DoM as the major supplier of gold in the domestic market ineffective.

During the first four months of the current fiscal year, the department sold only 74 kg of gold. The average per year sale of gold through DoM is 100 to 125 kg, which is a small part of the total national demand.

Experts argue that the prime reason making DoM unattractive to gold buyers is the high price that it charges. The difference in the price fixed by the central bank and in the local market is as high as Rs 150 per 10 gm.

However, Damodar Prasad Sharma, Chief Manager of DoM, said that the department has abandoned the former policy of fixing the domestic price on a par with Bombay price, which initially had made a big difference between market and DoM price.

But the gold price fixed by DoM is still expensive since the gold is scientifically tested and guaranteed by the central bank. The daily price fixed by DoM is Rs 3-4 per gram higher than the market price, he said.

Gold dealers stress that the government should be able to sell gold without being influenced by external factors. "If the bank is authorized to import and sell gold on the local market, then the bank itself should fixed the price without being influenced by the external force," said Niranjan Ratna Shakya, President of Nepal Gold-silver entrepreneurs’ Association.

Shakya also adds that in recent months, there has been a flood of people wishing to sell their gold stock mainly due to revival in the construction sector. "The market really lacks potential gold buyers, as a result the average sell has plunged by almost 50 per cent compared to last year in spite of the festival season," he said.

The failure of the department to have a strong rein over gold supply has failed to make any direct impact on the price of gold sold on the local market. However, officials maintain that excessive gold import has been checked, which serves to meet the government’s objective of curbing smuggling of the precious metal to India.

It is no more a secret that import demand of gold in Nepal was not real but was carried out as a quasi-demand for India. Propelled by a liberal gold import policy, more than 95 per cent of the imported gold till the last fiscal year found its way into the Indian markets.

However, with the advent of similar Indian policy since 1997, the quasi-demand for gold in Nepal has fallen considerably.

The department presently has over 2,500 kg of gold in stock. And, as per the current market trend, the stock is sufficient to meet demand for the next twenty years, Sharma said.

Over 70 per cent of domestic demand is fulfilled by the sales of old gold stock with the public and gold imported by private individuals under the personal effects regulation.

Under the regulation, individuals staying abroad for more than 6 months can bring a maximum of 10 kg of gold after clearing the due customs duty.