June 17, 2005

King Gyanendra at Aksheshwor Mahavihar in Pulechok at Lalit Boudhha Kala Exhibition

NEPAL RASTRA BANK (NRB) floated primary issue of development bonds worth one billion rupees on Wednesday (June 8) through auction, which was heavily oversubscribed. The same bonds are to be traded through the stock market in an open outcry system soon. With the introduction of development bonds through the stock market, the selling of treasury bills to commercial banks is likely to be minimized, which was being monopolized by the commercial banks alone. The government is bent on collecting needed resources by selling development bonds, which is in line with the 10 th Plan and budget document announced during previous fiscal years. NRB had issued development bonds named 2010 ‘A’ through auction amounting to Rs 1 billion. According to the bank, the average development bond’s price was Rs 101.8087. It has been reported that the government got Rs 3.191 billion for the total bid price auctioned. “This is going to help the country in generating long-term financial resources for financing sustained economic growth process in Nepal ,” said Tula Raj Basyal, spokesperson of the NRB.

SECRETARY AT THE MINISTRY of Information and Communication Lok Man Singh Karki has claimed that the proposal said to have been drafted by the government to control press and media sector ‘would not harm the freedom of press and journalists of Nepal even though passed as it is.” In response of queries regarding when the government planned to introduce the proposed ordinance, Karki said, “It has not become law yet. So lets not talk about some bundle of paper.” He, however, added, “I can assure you that even if the draft ordinance is passed in its present shape, the press freedom will not be violated even by an inch.” Responding to queries on restriction of news broadcasting from FM radio, Secretary Karki said that the government had given as much freedom as in other countries as far as FM news broadcasting is concerned. “You are free to broadcast traffic news, weather news and development news. We have not controlled FM radio except in the broadcast of news of political slander and individual character assassination,” he said.

THE INDIAN NEWS CHANNELS that had been made off the air since February 1 have been allowed to operate by the government. According to sources, the cabinet meeting of Wednesday had made this decision allowing the cable operators to show the channels like Aaj Tak, Star News, Zee News etc. During the meeting of King Gyanendra and Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in Jakarta , the Indian side had requested for the resumption of their operation.

EXAMINATIONS CONTROLLER Birendra Kumar Singh has informed that the results of this year’s School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exams held in March/April would be published next week at the soonest. At a press meet on Saturday, he informed that due to some ‘missing’ copies of answer papers, they could not publish the results on time. Meanwhile, at the press meeting, it was also informed that this time, the Nepal Telecom has vastly increased the number of circuit to facilitate the process of informing the result of a student. Last year, due to heavy traffic, the NT’s scheme had fallen flat. Likewise, the NT has also decided to make the information of SLC results available through mobile SMS.

THE GOVERNMENT HAS RESHUFFLED the National Planning Commission (NPC) inducting new members while retaining its vice chairman. According to NPC Secretariat, the government has appointed Dr. Bijaya Shrestha, Dr. Rajendra Suwal, Dr. Champak Prasad Pokharel and Dr. Ram Prasad Chaudhary as members of the NPC. Dr. Shankar Sharma continues to head the team as the NPC vice chairman. The new members have replaced Dr. Yubaraj Khatiwada, Dr. Hari Krishna Upadhyaya, Dr. Pushpa Shrestha and Dr. Shambhu Saran Kayastha, who had been appointed nearly two years ago. Among the newly appointed members, Dr. Pokharel has been involved in the framing of Five Year Plans; Dr. Suwal has worked at the Tribhuwan University ’s Center for Economic Development and Administration (CEDA); Dr. Shrestha works at the TU Department of Economics; and Dr. Chaudhary is involved with Department of Botany.