Menon Refutes Reports Of Border Encroachment
Indian Foreign Secretary Shiva Shanker Menon Sunday (June 21) reiterated his government's commitment to extend support to Nepal in its transition to multiparty democracy and the ongoing peace process. Menon, whose visit comes close on the heels of reports that Indian side encroached Nepali territory in various Indo-Nepal bordering points, however, refuted that there has been unnecessary propaganda and publicity regarding the invasion of Nepali soil by India. "The fact is 98 percent of India Nepal boundary has been demarcated," said the Indian bureaucrat at a press conference in the capital today before wrapping up his two-day official Nepal visit. He added that the border dispute should be resolved through discussion between the representatives of the two neighbors. "A peaceful and democratic Nepal is in the interest of Nepali people of India and of the region," said Menon, adding, "I also made clear this is Nepal's process there is no change in that. There is no change in our commitment in building our bilateral relationship which is very important for both the countries." Menon said that India will make every possible effort to help Nepali people in achieving peaceful and prosperous Nepal. He said that relationship with Nepal is and will continue to be highest priority to India. During his stay in Nepal, the Indian Foreign Secretary called on President Dr Ram Baran Yadav, Prime Minister Madav Kumar Nepal, Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala, Defense Minister Bidya Devi Bhandari, Home Minister Bhim Rawal and his Nepali counterpart Gyan Chandra Acharya. Apart from that Menon also met with top leaders of major political parties including former Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala, former Prime Minister and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal and Madhesi Janadhikar Forum leader and Deputy Prime Minister Bijaya Gachhedar. Menon had arrived in the capital for a two-day visit on Saturday. Compiled from reports
Ex King Gyanendra to speak out?
Ex King Gyanendra who has been keeping mum over the political developments in the country is said to be preparing to speak out. According to sources close to Nirmal Niwas, the ex King is anxious with the deteriorating political situation. And he is preparing to speak out in one way or the other on the occasion of his birthday on Asar 23 (July 7). Meanwhile, to mark his 63rd birthday, a committee has been formed headed by former ambassador Khilendra Prasad Pandey. The committee is preparing to celebrate the occasion by raising slogan in favor of restoring monarchy for ‘safeguarding democracy and nationalism.’ Ghatana Ra Bichar weekl
CONCOE’s Interactions
Attended by chief justice of Supreme Court Min Bahadur Rayamajhi, chairman of Constituent Assembly Subhash Chandra Nembang, senior judges of the Supreme Court, members of the Constituent Assembly representing various political parties, former chief justices, judges of Appellate courts, legal luminaries, members of civil society and lawyers the interaction program began with a speech by Chief Justice Rayamajhi. The Chief Justice stressed the need for an independent of judiciary in new constitution. Chairman of Constituent Assembly Subhas Chandra Nembang also said that the CA will bring the new constitution in accordance with the schedule. Convener of CONCOE Dr. Surya Dhungel holds the view that the law community can play a very important role in bringing a democratic constitution into effect. President of the Supreme Court Bar Association said that this interaction was organized to help the constitution making process.
Role of Retired Civil Servants
Organized by Administrative Court and Public Administration Campus, minister of General Administration Rajendra Shrestha inaugurated a half day workshop on the role of former Civil Servants in the constitution making process. Chaired by Sobhakar Parajuli, whip of the Nepali Congress, participants discussed how they can support the constitution making process. Chairman of the Administrative Court Kashi Raj Dahal stressed the need to utilize the expertise of retried Civil Servants in the constitution making process.
Question of Fundamental rights
The Society for Constitutional and Parliamentary Exercise (SCOPE) organized a half day workshop on Fundamental Rights and Issues of Social Inclusion. Chaired by Chairman of SCOPE and senior advocate Badri Bahadur Karki, Binda Pande, chairman of CA’s Fundamental Rights and Directive Principle Committee, revealed that her committee is in the final stage of preparing the draft to table at the CA. She said that new constitution will include many important clauses designed to protect the rights of the people. Senior Advisor to the Social Inclusion Research Fund Mohan Das Manandhar expressed the hope that this workshop will help the committee to accommodate the expert views in making the new constitution inclusive. Sociologists Dr. Chaitanya Subba presented his paper on the issue of social inclusion and member of CA Ramesh Lekhak and advocate Purna Man Shakya spoke about the need to write inclusive fundamental rights. Former speaker of House of Representatives and senior advocate Damannath Dhungana highlighted the importance of inclusion in the changing context.
Wood Smugglers Stage Chakkajam
A group of smugglers staged road blockade in a Mahuli (Saptari) section of East West highway for four hours on June 23 protesting the seizure of woods they were trying to sneak out across the border into India. The smugglers and their supporters asked the police to free their trucks, woods and give ‘compensation.’ They had reached the police post and made the demand for a goat as a compensation for ‘mental trauma’ they allegedly suffered from the ‘police arrest.’ When the police refused to pay any heed to their demands, they went ahead and staged the chakkajam. They burnt tyres and blocked the road. Naya Patrika daily reports
Menon’s Secret Missive On Maoists
Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon has asked the major parties to keep the Maoists out of power. This was revealed after Nepali Congress (NC) president Girija Prasad Koirala spilled the beans during his meeting some close party aides. Menon reportedly asked Koirala to ensure that Maoists remain out of power. He is even said to have urged the parties to try and bring about change in ‘Maoist behavior.’ “India seems bent on by-passing the Maoists,” Koirala was quoted as telling his aides. Menon also told Koirala that even though anti-government protests were sure to create anarchy in Nepal, the government should strictly deal with the protests. He also assured of India’s support in this regard. Jana Astha weekly reports
NTB Launches Campaign In India
With the objective of promoting Nepal among the Indian consumers targeting Indian summer holiday season in New Delhi, Nepal Tourism Board(NTB) in partnership with Nepal Embassy, New Delhi, Nepal Airlines and Nepalese Private Sector companies has launched consumer promotion campaign in two big shopping malls of New Delhi, India in different dates from 19-21 and 26- 28 June 2009, says a release from Nepal Tourism Board. The consumer promotion program has been initiated to further position the "Nepal Tourism Year-2011” campaign to achieve substantial growth in tourism industry through new programs. The Nepalese tourism promotion among Indian consumer was launched from 19-21 June 2009 at V3S East Center Mall in New Delhi in the first phase. A booth in traditional Nepalese style was set up in the shopping mall. In addition, information dissemination on Nepal Holiday Packages, attractive discount packages offered by Nepalese Private Sector, plasma screens displaying video clips of vivid tourism product of Nepal, lucky draw contests for visitors at the booth, Nepali souvenirs and gifts for visitors were other attractions of the promotion, the release added. Leading dailies report
Govt Panels To Monitor West Seti
The government formed a steering committee and a task force to monitor the activities of the West Seti Hydro Project and to effectively carry out the project activities, national news agency RSS reported Wednesday. A National Planning Commission member, who has been assigned to look into energy issues, will lead the steering committee and the director general of the Electricity Development Board will lead the task force. Secretaries of the ministries of finance, agriculture and cooperatives, home, water resources, land reform and management, forest and soil conservation, environment, science and technology and the director general of the Electricity Development Board will be members of the committee. Compiled from reports
Peace Minister Rules Out Talks With Criminal Outfits
Newly-appointed Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Rakam Chemjong has denied possibility of the government holding dialogue with all armed Madhesi outfits active in Terai, saying that most of them are not "political groups" as they are involved in criminal activities. "It is not necessary (for the government) to hold talks with all armed Madhesi outfits as most of them are not political groups," Minister Chemjong said. He further said that all movements are started with certain political aims, but those armed Madhesi outfits involved in extortion, abduction and murder in Terai don't have any political aims and are just common criminals. "There is no meaning in holding talks with outfits involved in criminal activities," he said, "the government must deal with them by other means." The peace minister, however, didn't give any hint through which it could be inferred that the government is mulling action against the Madhesi outfits involved in low-intensity terrorist activities in Terai anytime soon. But the straightforward and strong manner in which he made it clear that the government is losing patience against the deterioration of law and order situation in Terai definitely suggested that the government is giving serious thought to it. At a time when various groups announce general strike at the drop of a hat and bring the whole country into a standstill, Minister Chemjong requested the agitating groups to sit in the negotiating table and put forward their demands before the government prior to taking such a step. Compiled from reports
Budget Preparations In Full Swing
Finance Secretary Rameshwore Khanal has said that the preparations for the budget is going on in full swing. Asked whether the ongoing House disruption has affected budget preparation, he said, “Our work has not been affected. We are almost ready.” He said that the budget will be presented in the second week of July. However, due to political differences, the winter session of the parliament continues to be obstructed. The winter session needs to ended and budget session convened to present the budget. Secretary Khanal hinted that this year’s budget will be larger than last year. “The Finance Minister will give the exact size of the budget when he announces it. I can say that it will be larger than Rs 236 billion (last year’s figure),” he said. Khanal said commercializing agriculture and creating employment opportunities for rural youths through it will be top priority of the budget. “This time we will include the issues related with climate change also as priority because its affects are hurting our agriculture as well as industrial economy,” he said. Compiled from reports
Cultural Committee Tables Statue Draft At CA
The parliamentary committee to ascertain the base for cultural and social solidarity has submitted its preliminary draft on new constitution at the Constituent Assembly (CA). The CA is to take up the draft tabled by the committee chairperson Nabodita Chaudhari for discussion from 25 June. CA Chairman Subash Chandra Nemwang has set aside five days for the discussion on the draft. The committee had previously discussed the draft during which time there had been serious disagreement among the committee members over the term to be used for the decade-long Maoist insurgency. The Maoists appointees in the committee had demanded that the insurgency period be termed "people's war", but others had deferred. Later, voting was carried out to sort out the disagreement among the committee members. Majority of the voters had preferred "armed insurgency" as the right term to define the insurgency period. Meanwhile, the Madhes-based parties expressed their serious dissatisfaction over the draft for not proposing Hindi as one of the national languages for official use. Compiled from reports
Developing Countries' GDP To Slow To 1.2 Percent: World Bank
The World Bank has estimated economic growth in developing countries of 1.2 percent this year, and said that without China and India, output would shrink 1.6 percent. Amid the worst global financial and economic crisis in seven decades, the multilateral institution eight days ago lowered its outlook on global growth, to a contraction of 3.0 percent this year. It slightly revised the global gross domestic product (GDP) figure Monday, to a 2.9 percent decline. The development lender´s preceding forecast, published in late March, put developing countries´ annual growth at 2.1 percent, and at zero if China and India were excluded. In 2010, global growth was projected at 2.0 percent, and that of the developing countries at 4.4 percent, according to the bank. Excluding China and India, the developing countries would grow 2.5 percent. China´s economy was forecast to expand 7.2 percent in 2009 and 7.7 percent in 2010, while India´s forecast was for 5.1 percent followed by 8.0 percent. The latest World Bank forecasts on gross domestic product (GDP) -- a measure of goods and services output in a country -- came in a report, "Global Development Finance 2009: Charting a Global Recovery," published to coincide with a three-day Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics opening Monday in Seoul. The World Bank expressed concern about the thinning flow of private capital into developing countries, which has fallen nearly by half this year -- 49 percent -- to 363 billion dollars compared with 707 billion in 2008, after a record 1.2 trillion in 2007. The development lender also projected a 9.7 decline in global trade volume this year, before a 3.8 percent growth rebound in 2010. "The need to restructure the banking system, combined with emerging limits to expansionary policies in high-income countries, will prevent a global rebound from gaining traction," Justin Lin, World Bank chief economist, said in a statement. The anti-poverty bank called for "special attention" to "the risk of balance-of-payments crises and corporate debt restructurings in many countries," in order to "avoid another debt crisis as seen in the 1970s and 1980s." That was particularly the case in the hard-hit developing countries in Europe and Central Asia, where GDP was projected to fall 4.7 percent this year, before a slight recovery to 1.6 percent growth in 2010. A similar pattern of decline and rebound was seen for Latin America and the Caribbean, where a 2.2 percent GDP contraction in 2009 would be followed by a 2.0 percent expansion the next year. Other regions of the developing world continued to show growth but no contraction. In East Asia and Pacific, GDP was expected to rise 5.0 percent in 2009 and 6.6 percent in 2010, while South Asia would expand 4.6 percent, followed by 7.0 percent. GDP in the Middle East and North Africa was expected to rise 3.1 percent in 2009 and 3.8 percent in 2010. Sub-Saharan Africa would expand 1.0 percent, then accelerate to a 3.7 percent pace next year. The relative economic weakness in the developing countries after recent years of robust growth heightens the risks of social unrest and deepening poverty, the 185-nation institution said. Compiled from reports
Royal Alina’s In Kantipath
After successfully operating, five branches at valley’s five main city centers, Royal Alina Baker Café opened its new restaurant in Kantipath. As their previous five restaurants, Royal Alina’s Bakery Café will have similar kinds of high quality and hygienic food. Situated just above Mandala Book Point, the restaurant will offer all kinds of food to different age groups. “We are in the process of expansion. Because of growing popularity if our food menus, we will expand our chain in more places in future,” said Arjun Bhandari, head of the Royal Alina’s Baker Café Chain.
