Consensus helps correct system, says Speaker

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Lalitpur, June 23: Speaker Taranath Ranabhat today said that political consensus was essential to correct the distortions that have surfaced in the practice of democratic system during the last ten years and move ahead effectively.

"The State has been unable to deliver to the expected level as political parties failed to forge a consensus on the issues of national issues," Ranabhat said inaugurating a two-day workshop on ‘A Decade of Democracy in Nepal: Development, Delay and Distortion’ here this morning. "The result is the people in the grassroots have been deprived of the fruits they deserve."

The political parties are the foundations of the democratic system, Ranabhat said, adding, multiparty system would not flourish if the major political parties involved themselves in contention.

Stressing on value-based politics, Ranabhat said that the political parties should not merely concentrate on elections.

"The State on the one hand has been unable to make laws promised by the Constitution while many of the laws have been redundant on the other," Ranabhat said.

Ranabhat said that civil society and the intellectuals should suggest the political parties to move ahead judiciously. "We need feedback and pressure to move ahead effectively."

Showing the need of a guiding principle about the exploitation of water resources and tourism development, Ranabhat said that the State also needed to define and demarcate defence and security clearly.

Dwelling on the problems of corruption, unwise use of domestic and foreign resources and lax peace and security situation, Ranabhat stressed intra- and inter-party consensus to resolve the Maoist problem.

"There is a gap between the democratic system we envisioned and the one in practice," General Secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) Madhav Kumar Nepal said.

The democracy in practice is just an elite democracy, Nepal said and called for the efforts of all to orient it towards the poor and reach its fruits to the grassroots.

"The system or the government cannot be deemed democratic unless it maintains peace, enhances public good, and promotes equality," President of CSDG (Centre for the Studies on Democracy and Good Governance) Nepal added.

Nepal said that the root cause lay in the political front and stressed people-centred policy, judicious use of the State machinery and electoral reform.

"We have been unable to identify the crucial issues, let alone find the solutions," Nepal said. "There is a need of institutions that carry out an in-depth study of the issues, take them up and meditate on them to reach constructive conclusion."

Nepal said that Maoist problem was a by-product of the distortion of the system. "It has exposed our weakness."

"It is time to review if the system is moving ahead as desired by the people and correct it if it is on the wrong track," National Assembly Chairman Dr. Mohamed Mohasin said.

CDSG’s study wing co-ordinator Bharat Mohan Adhikari said CDSG was established by the major political parties a couple of years ago with a view to discuss the issues of national concern and forge consensus to consolidate democracy and ensure good governance.

In the workshop organised by CSDG with the support of Fredrick Ebert Stiftung, CDSG Director Achyut Bahadur Rajbhandari welcomed the participants while the programme officer Sachchidananda Shrivastav delivered the vote of thanks.

NC CWC meet shifts focus to assessment of govt’s activities

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, June 23: Nepali Congress Central Committee meeting that discussed the proposed peace talks with the Maoist and peace and security situation in the country for two days has shifted its focus to the assessment of the present government’s activities of the last three months.

However, the meeting is yet to make public its decisions. The party sources said that the decisions would come out after the fourth meeting due to be held on coming Sunday.

At today’s meeting that began Tuesday, party General Secretary Sushil Koirala and various CC members expressed their views on the peace dialogue and the role to be played by the ruling party in the process.

Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel today tabled a detailed report on the three-month old government’s activities to be discussed at the meeting, according to the party Spokesperson Narahari Acharya. The report covers the activities carried out by the government for last three months, and the agreements and understandings with the opposition parties on national political issues, he said.

"The report seems to be about the government’s attempts to resolve national problems within Parliament through mutual understanding and common faith," Acharya said of the DPM’s report. He, however, declined to give the details of the report likely to be discussed on Sunday.

Besides the report, the meeting would also discuss on the issues, including the new budget, the party’s upcoming tenth general convention and organisational activities, Acharya said.

Stressing on the need to proceed the peace talks with the rebels, General Secretary Koirala said that the government had to ensure the peace in the country and security of people’s life and property.

"Most of the speakers had a common viewpoint to see the Maoist problem," said Acharya adding that the meeting analysed the conclusion drawn last year by the party’s Central Working Committee and the development in the Maoist problem resolution.

Last year’s Central Working Committee had decided that the problem would be resolved as per political, administrative and social working plan, he said.

The discussion had begun last Tuesday after former PM Sher Bahadur Deuba, who heads a high level committee to recommend strategies for the solution of Maoist problem, informed the meeting about preparation of the proposed peace dialogue with the insurgents and possible problems that might arise during the process.

Home Minister Joshi briefed the meeting on the peace and security situation in the country.

Rate of inflation down, says NRB

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, June 23: During the first ten months of the current fiscal year 1999/2000, the growth rates of both narrow as well as broad money have slowed down compared to the same period last year, a press release issued by the Nepal Rastra Bank said.

In spite of an acceleration in the growth of development expenditure, total government expenditure has decelerated mainly due to control in regular expenditure.

Higher budgetary deficit has been recorded as a consequence of sluggishness in resource mobilization in comparison to government expenditure.

The rate of inflation on point to point basis has decelerated to a lower single digit level mainly because of decline in the prices of food and beverages group.

In the external sector, although the growth rate of exports has outpaced that of imports, trade deficit has widened substantially mainly due to the relatively large volume of imports.

The foreign exchange holdings of the banking system as per the monetary records have substantially gone up due to surplus in the balance of payment emanating from the growth in net service and transfer income as well as miscellaneous capital inflows.

The existing foreign exchange reserve is sufficient to cover merchandise imports of ten months and a half as per the current trend.

In the share market, although the number of transactions has declined, translocation value and NEPSE index have increased compared to previous month, the press release said.

During the first ten months of the current fiscal year, broad money has registered a decelerating growth of 14.5 per cent (Rs 22,169.9 million) amounting to Rs 175,065.6 million compared to the growth of 18.7 per cent (Rs 23,651.6 million) last year.

This is mainly due to the deceleration in the growth of net domestic assets of the banking system.

As a consequence of downward revision of interest rate on deposit, improvement in share market, growth of imports and expansion in activities of non-bank financial institutions, growth of time deposits has decelerated from 21.2 per cent (Rs 17,201.8 million) last year to 15.7 per cent (Rs 15,974.9 million) this year.

Likewise narrow money has also decelerated by 12.1 per cent (Rs 6,195.0 million) this year compared to the growth of 14.3 per cent (Rs 6,449.8 million) last year.

As a result of growing claims on the government and private sector, total domestic credit of the banking system has increased by 14.6 per cent ( 19,674.2 million) during the review period compared to an increase of 12.8 per cent (Rs 14,797.8 million) during the same period last year.

In spite of a slow growth in industrial credit , the growth rate of bank credit to the private sector has increased to 15.8 per cent ( Rs 14,321.1 million) from 13.9 per cent (Rs 10,707.5 million) last year, mainly due to the increase in credit flow to import and service sector.

On the fiscal front, government expenditure has increased by 10.2 per cent amounting to Rs 40,850.5 million during the review period compared to 14.6 per cent last year. Of the total expenditure, regular expenditure has increased by 9.5 per cent, development expenditure by 10.0 per cent and feezee expenditure by 41.4 per cent.

During the review period, regular expenditure has decelerated while development expenditure has slightly moved up compared to that of the previous year.

Resource mobilisaiton has marked a sluggish growth of 8.3 per cent during the review period compared to 15.5 per cent last year.

Revenue collection, a major source or resource mobilisation, stood at Rs 30,801.8 million marking a 11.5 per cent growth compared to 11.2 per cent growth last year.

In addition to it, decline in the receipts from foreign cash grants and non-budgetary income are also accountable for such a sluggish growth in resource mobilisation. As a consequence of lower resource mobilisation compared to expenditure, budget deficit of Rs 7,853.6 million has been recorded and this is 19.2 per cent higher than that of the previous year.

During the review period, the government has received foreign cash loan amounting to Rs 2,805.0 million and issued treasury bills as well as national saving bonds worth Rs 2,510.0 million and Rs 700.0 million respectively, the press release said.

The remaining amount of Rs 1,838.6 million has been overdrawn from the Nepal Rastra Bank.

National Urban Consumer Price Index, on point to point basis recorded a rise of 1.8 per cent during the review period compared to a rise of 10.3 per cent last year. A rapid fall in the prices of food and beverages group has helped lower down the price index to a single digit.

Price index of food and beverages group has declined by 3.0 per cent compared to 14.5 per cent increase last year.

Despite an increase in price index of restaurant meal, meat, fish and eggs beverages, milk and milk products as well as spices, the declining prices of oil and ghee, vegetables and fruits, cereal products, sugar and sugar products and pulses have contributed to such a decrease in the price index of food and beverages group.

However price index of non-food and services group has increased from 5.4 per cent last year to 7.8 per cent during the review period mainly due to the rise in prices of transport and communications, education and recreation, housing, medicine and personal care, tobacco, cloth, clothing and sewing services as well as shoes.

Regionwise, prices in Kathmandu has recorded a higher growth of 3.2 per cent followed by 1.2 per cent in Terai and 0.9 per cent in Hills.

On the external front, both exports and imports have respectively registered a growth of 42.4 per cent to Rs 41,742.0 million and 25.0 per cent to Rs 87,859.7 million during the first ten months of fiscal year 1999/2000.

In the export side, export of readymade garment and Pashmina to third countries have increased significantly whereas that of woolen carpet and jewellery have shown only a marginal increment.

During the review period, Rs 4.8 billion worth of Pashmina has been exported. However, exports of pulses, tanned skin and nigerseed have declined during the review period. Export-import ratio, which was 41.7 per cent last year, has increased to 47.5 per cent during the review period.

A surge in import is attributed to higher imports of foodgrains, medicine, cement, textile, thread, glass and glassware, chemicals, agricultural tools, machineries etc. from India and sugar, copper wire and sheet, thread, transportation goods and spare parts, aeroplanes and its parts, chemicals, gold and other machineries as well as spare parts from third countries.

Although exports have increased at a higher rate than imports, trade deficit which had declined last year increased by 12.6 per cent amounting to Rs 46,117.7 million mainly due to a relatively larger volume of imports compared to exports.

Based on the available statistics for the first eight months of the current fiscal year, the balance of payment has remained favourable by Rs 11,915.0 million. During the review period, the growth in trade deficit outpacing the increase in net service and transfer income has resulted in the current account deficit of Rs 3333.1 million. However, a substantial inflow of miscellancous capital item net has helped balance of payment to register a slzeable surplus. Based on the monetary statistics for the first ten months of the current fiscal year, the overall balance of payment has recorded a surplus of Rs 13,469.0 million. As a result, foreign exchange holdings of the banking system has increased by 21.4 per cent to Rs 9175.6 million as at mid-May 2000. Of the total reserve 84.9 per cent accounted for convertible currency and 15.1 per cent for non-convertible currency

Finnish grant for mapping project

Kathmandu, June 23 (RSS): The government of Finland has agreed to support the Western Nepal Topographic Mapping Project phase two with a grant assistance of Finnish Merk (FIM) 7.5 million (approximately Rs. 93,700,000) out of the estimated cost of FIM 8.644 million for this phase.

The balance (Rs.l4,300,000) will be met by His Majesty's Government.

Phase two is the continuation and final phase, which was initiated in 1995 with the Eastern Nepal Topographic Mapping Project and Western Nepal Topographic Mapping Project (WNTMP) phase one, according to the Ministry of Finance.

The present phase aims to produce 79 sheets of 1:50,000 scale up-to-date topographical maps.

The project will be completed by December 2001.

Another objective of the project is to create sustainable capacity for the national mapping operations of the survey department.

Completion of this phase will be the last part to create uniform up-to-date topographical maps series covering the whole country.

An agreement on the grant assistance was signed and exchanged today between His Majesty's Government and the government of Finland at the Ministry of Finance by joint secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire and acting charge d'affaires at the Embassy of Finland Maria Susi.

His Majesty's Government has expressed its overall appreciation and thanks to the government of Finland for helping in the production of up-to-date multipurpose and immensely useful base maps of the kingdom.

MPs raise various issues during Special Time

Kathmandu, June 23 (RSS): During Special Time at the House of Representatives today, various MPs drew the attention of the House on various current issues including law and order, food crisis, landslide, soil erosion, labour agitation, air services, etc.

Dr. Gopal Koirala of the Nepali Congress, who was the first Speaker today, called for resolving the problems caused by Ratuwa stream at various VDCs of Jhapa district and sought information on the manhandling of the employees of forest office by agitated mob following the death of Ravi Upreti of constituency No. 2 Goldhap after he was alleged to have been involved in the theft of timber.

Badri Prasad Mandal of the Nepal Sadbhavana Party expressed resentment over the indifference of the employees stir at the Biratnagar Jute Mill though the matter was often raised in the House and demanded ruling from the Speaker to ask the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies to clarify the matter.

Prem Bahadur Singh of the CPN-UML drew the attention of the government towards the food crisis at various districts including Kalikot, Mugu, Humla, Dolpa, Bajhang, Bajura, and Darchula of the far-western region and suggested that relief assistance be provided to the people of Bajhang district hit hard by the recent floods.

Omprasad Ojha also of the CPN-UML said that as the policy of clearance of irregularities of the local bodies were impractical, necessary machinery should be constituted in this regard and drew the attention of the concerned authority towards immediately sanctioning the money meant for development budget and salary of the civic bodies.

Chandra Bahadur Shahi of the same party alleged that the mid-western region had been suffering from Maoists, police administration, flood and landslides, hailstones and food crisis but the government was not sensitive in this connection and demanded the provision of night stoppage of planes at Nepalgunj to make air services in the hilly districts of the western region credible.

Janak Raj Giri of the Nepali Congress drew the attention of the concerned authorities towards the food and medicine crisis in the remote region and demanded that the killers of a youth of Dahakot VDC, Bajura district at Safebagar of Achham district be found and stern action taken against them.

Gupta urges all to help govt

Kathmandu, June 23 (RSS): Minister for Information and Communications Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta has urged all sections of society to cooperate with the present government which is working for the well-being of the country and the people on the basis of a national consensus.

Minister Gupta said this after initiating the task of strengthening Radio Nepal, Surkhet Regional Transmission and transmission of news and other radio programme in the Doteli and Magarkham languages, and laying the foundation stone for Tarini Prasad Koirala Park at a function here today.

Describing the transmission of news in 19 different languages of the nation in a small country like Nepal as a historic achievement of the communication sector, he said the government is keen on identifying other languages of the nation which are on the verge of extinction and giving continuity to their preservation and promotion.

Mr Gupta also alerted all against those who are enjoying the law of the jungle and attempting to suppress any opinions other than theirs own by using guns and said that these elements at the same time seem to be using language and religion as a tool in giving life to their irrelevant political thinking.

From the chair, secretary at the Ministry of Information and Communications Sriram Poudel spoke about the role Radio Nepal can play in bringing all the Nepalese into the national development mainstream through the promotion and preservation of different languages of the nation.

Acting executive director of Radio Nepal Shailendra Raj Sharma said Radio Nepal has been attaching great importance to preserving Nepalese culture and providing opportunity to new talents.

The Radio Nepal regional transmission centre will broadcast news and a variety of other programmes from 7:45 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. throughout the week from today.