VOL. 28, NO. 13, Dec 05, 2008 (Mangsir 20 2065 B.S.)

Nepal Army Chief General Rookmangud Katwal meeting with British Army Chief General Dannatt

THE NATIONAL LAND RIGHTS FORUM, a pressure group of landless people around the country, has agreed to stop its agitation after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal gave his commitment to address its demands. During a meeting with the representatives of the Forum Saturday (Nov 29), PM Dahal assured that the government would form a high-level Land Commission, which is the main demand of the landless people, within two weeks. The PM also assured that the landless people would be represented in the high-level commission that will devise policies on land ownership as well as distribution of land to the landless farmers, freed Kamaiyas and Haliyas. Landless people have been staging dharna (sit-in protest) at Khula Manch in Kathmandu for a week now, demanding state guarantee of land ownership to all the landless people in the country. They have also demanded immediate scrapping of the Land Act 2021 B.S. Later in the afternoon, Minister for Information and Communication Krishna Bahadur Mahara and Baldev Ram, the chairman of the Forum, signed an agreement which charts the commitment made by the Prime Minister. In the agreement, the government has assured of land ownership to landless farmers. After signing the agreement with the government the Forum announced withdrawal its ongoing protest programs.

THE SUPREME COURT (SC) HAS ASKED THE government to introduce a separate act to manage dance and cabin restaurants and has issued its 16-point guideline for the time being till the drafting of such law. The SC bench comprising judges Balram KC and Kalyan Shrestha issued the guideline, which states that the dance bar, cabin restaurants, and massage parlors be allowed to operate after being registered with District Administration Office. The SC has said that it needed to bring the guideline to protest the interest of workers of those restaurants especially the women. The guideline prohibits exploitation, particularly the sexual exploitation, of the workers. The SC has said that since the right to work cannot be violated, it is the duty of the government to regularize, and manage such workplaces. The apex court has said that since there are over 1200 dance and cabin restaurants where over 50,000 people work, the government needs to bring out necessary law. The SC issued the guideline in response to a writ petition filed by advocate Prakash Mani Sharma of Pro Public.

NEPAL CONDEMNED THE TERRORIST ATTACKS in the Indian city of Mumbai that killed around 195 people and left over 300 hundred injured in one of the worst coordinated attacks on India's commercial centre in recent memory. "We strongly condemn this cowardly attack and the killing of the innocent peoples," President Dr Ram Baran Yadav said in a message to his Indian counterpart Prativa Patil Thursday (Nov 27). He also extended his deepest condolence to the families of those who were indiscriminately in this attack. Similarly, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said in another message issued Thursday, "These attacks, directed against innocent people and to terrorize the industrial and commercial centre of India, deserve unequivocal condemnation from all over the world." In the message issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), PM Dahal further said that the government and people of Nepal "unreservedly deplore in strongest terms these cowardly terrorist attacks" and expresses "full solidarity with the government and people of India at this hour of distress".

THE PRIVATE SECTOR HAS URGED the government to adopt necessary measures to ensure an investment-friendly environment to attract investment in the hydropower sector, according to media reports. Speaking during a hydropower symposium titled "Vision 2020: A Vision for Hydropower Growth" organized by Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI), its president Kush Kumar Joshi said, "The government has highly prioritized the hydropower sector in its plans and policies. But, it is mandatory for it to come up with concentrated measures to propel the potential investors to invest in the sector." Other participants of the symposium were also of the view that the concerned authorities lack focused and well-defined vision on how to achieve its goal of generating 10,000 MW of power within the next ten years. Nevertheless, the high level government officials informed that the government is well on its way to harness the hydropower sector by bringing greater efficiency in the process of issuing license for the hydropower related projects. It is learnt that the government has already issued license for some projects to produce about 13,000 MW.