BRIEFS (Spotlight Weekly)

THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF NEPAL (ML) is to hold its national conference next month, party officials said. According to Devi Prasad Ojha, the first national conference of the party will focus on consolidating the party's objectives and activities. A press statement issued by the party says that 15 committees have been formed to assist the conference for its success. The conference is scheduled to start on 8th December and will continue till 12th December. The statement said nearly 1,000 party activists and observers are expected to participate in the conference.

A DISTRICT COURT IN EASTERN NEPAL has remanded a Norwegian national in custody for interrogation into a complaint that he attempted to convert a Hindu into Christianity with monetary allurements. The Saptari district court remanded Trond Berg and Timothy Rai, a Nepali national from Lalitpur, in custody for further investigation. The court ordered the release of two other Nepalis, who were arrested on the same charges, on a bail of Rs.25,000 each. Police arrested them on a complaint lodged by a local person. Hindu organizations have expressed concern at the increasing activities of Christian preachers in Nepal, the world's only Hindu kingdom.

AT LEAST 15 people HAVE died and another 300 have been affected by an unidentified disease in several villages in mid-western district of Jajarkot over the last few weeks, reports said. Ten people died in Sahama and five others in Chuhadeauli villages, reports said quoting local officials. Fever, nausea and coughing are symptoms of the disease. Health workers have not reached the affected villages in the Maoist-hit district.

THE EMBASSY OF JAPAN is to provide an assistance of US$ 94,246 (approx. Rs 6.9 million) to the Rautahat Development Trust (RDT) for the construction of a community bridge over Jhanj River at Matsari in Rautahat district under the Grant Assistance for Grass Roots Projects (GGP) scheme of the Government of Japan. The Japanese assistance will be used to construct a 48-meter-long and 4-meter-wide street-based concrete-deck bridge. Out of the total project cost of the bridge has been estimated at US$ 153,000 (Rs 11.267 million), Rautahat district development committee and 17 village development committees under the command area and RDT itself will bear nearly Rs 4.3 million (38 percent of the total project cost.)

THE LOCAL BODIES FINANCIAL Commission (LBFC) has recommended the government to reduce and restructure the existing local level bodies in the country to reduce their administrative expenditures. According to Space Time daily, in its report submitted to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Development Ram Chandra Poudel Thursday, the commission has also recommended the raising of the central government's grants to local bodies to around 15 percent from existing three percent of the total budget. Nearly 4,000 village development committees, more than 50 municipalities and 75 district development committees spend Rs 225 million every year in allowance and salary to the local level representatives. The commission, headed by member of National Planning Commission, Dr. Shankar Sharma, has said local bodies can mobilize more resources at the locally only if there were clear policy guidelines. The government had constituted the commission earler this year. The commission has also recommended reforms in administrative and organizational structure of the local bodies in order to check fiscal irregularities and corruption.

NEPAL BATTERY COMPANY (NBC), one of the oldest Indo-Nepal joint ventures, has shut down operations with effect from October 23 because of protracted labor dispute. The company had filed an application at the Labor Department seeking permission to close down the factory. As the department did not respond even after two months the management decided to close down operations unilaterally. The decision came after nearly a year long tussle with the workers at the factory who were demanding equal pay and benefits to Nepali workers at par with Indian workers. A tribunal formed by the Labor Ministry had asked the NBC management to fulfil the demands of the workers. The company, however, filed a suit at the Supreme Court against the tribunal's decision. The apex court is yet to decide on the NBC's lawsuit. More than 70 workers were employeed at the factory.

THE NEPAL STOCK EXCHANGE (NEPSE) Index registered an all-time-high 505.91 points last week. As the share transactions closed Friday, the NEPSE index recorded an impressive bounce of 22.98 points compared to the previous week. According to NEPSE, on a group-wise basis, the indices for commercial bank and hotel group rose from 582.43 to 619.51 points and from 378.42 to 380.98 points respectively. The indices for finance and insurance group, trading group and other groups followed suit. However, the index of the manufacturing and processing group remained unchanged at 366.28 throughout last week.