A CPN-UML assistant district secretary including two others were mercilessly beaten up by a local Maoist leader in Manau V.D.C, Bardiya on Friday, reports say.

Following a heated argument that erupted during the meeting between United Nations monitoring team, eight parties and human rights activists called to discuss the ways to return seized lands back to the displaced people, Maoist area in charge Ganesh Aryal manhandled CPN-UML assistant district secretary Hari Gyawali and Chatak Chaudhary, participants of the meeting and eyewitnesses said. However, the Maoists district secretary denied the involvement of the area in-charge in the incident and claimed that local farmers and illegal squatters had roughed up UML local leader.

Senior ministers today said the government is all set to fix a date for the election to constituent assembly on Sunday.

According to peace and reconstruction minister Ram Chandra Poudel, a meeting of the eight-party taskforce this afternoon decided to suggest the Prime Minister to pass a proposal in tomorrow’s cabinet meeting fixing a date for CA polls sometime between November 23 to 26.

“Prime Minister will table a proposal (on election date) in tomorrow’s meeting and it will be passed tomorrow itself,” Poudel told reporters.

Leaders also reached an understanding to put on hold the Maoist proposal for sharing the local bodies unless there is a consensus among the eight parties.

Minister Poudel, senior Maoist leader Dr Baburam Bhattarai, communication minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara, home minister Krishna Prasad Situala, industry and supplies minister Rajendra Mahato and some other eight-party leaders were present at the meeting held at the Peace and Reconstruction Ministry.

The meeting also discussed the ongoing Terai protests and the talks between the government and indigenous nationalities, among others.

Earlier today, home minister Situala said at a public function that the government was set to announce the election date on Sunday.

The dispute over the selection of representative’s in the Nepal Students’ Union (NSU) general convention which led to the disruption of its close door session set to begin in Chitwan yesterday was settled the same day after Nepali Congress leaders including party president and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala himself intervened.

The dispute was settled after NC leaders and negotiators convinced student leaders to merge parallel NSU committees in nine different districts and select new leaders as representatives for the ongoing general election.

With the dispute settled, the stalled closed door session of the student body is all set to be held from today.

The dispute had arose after district committees of Nawalparasi and the eastern districts of Morang, Sunsari, Solukhombu, Dhankuta, Sankhuwasabha and Okhalduhundga sent more representatives than the set quota.

As Kamana Publications has halted the publication of Nepal Samacharpatra daily and Mahanagar eveninger since last three days owing to disruption by pro-Maoist workers, publishers of major publication houses have come together to appeal to eight parties, human rights community, civil society and other stakeholders to help create an environment to allow the resumption of the publications.

At a meeting held at the office of Kamana Publications, publishers of Kantipur Publications, APCA House, Utsarga Publications and Himalaya Times expressed concern over the situation in Kamana Publications. “It is gross injustice and an attack on the freedom of the press to so vitiate the atmosphere as to set the stage for the closure of newspapers just for the sake of the fulfillment of undue demands of trade unions,” a joint press release issued by the publications said.

The publishers have concluded that the creation of a situation whereby the Publication had to halt the publishing of newspapers was a serious assault to the freedom of press. They said that while they respect the right to form trade union, they find it wrongful to move ahead by flouting legal processes.

The dispute in the Kamana Publications arose after workers affiliated with All Nepal Media, Press and Publications Workers Association – including the distributors and delivery boys – demanded that the Publication register them as trade union even as the latter has said that they are not actually their workers. Pushkar Lal Shrestha, executive chairman of the Publications, has said that he cannot register the union from an independent company. According to him, the distributors and delivery boys of the Publication work on contract through another company called Consumer Solution.

The Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) has rejected the plan presented by the Maoists on sharing of local bodies – equally among the three big parties, the Nepali Congress, UML and the Maoists.

At a press meet on Thursday, Rajendra Pandey, chief of UML’s local bodies cell, said that the results of 2054 (1997) elections should be made the basis to divide the local bodies. The UML had swept the 1997 local elections by winning in 60 percent of seats.

“Just as 1999 general election was made the basis to form interim parliament, the 1997 local polls must be made the basis to form local bodies,” Pandey, a former Local Development Minister, said.

The UML has raised objections at the plan submitted by Minister for Local Development Dev Gurung to divide the local bodies equally among NC, UML and Maoists. Pandey said that just like UML and Maoists were given equal number of MPs at the interim parliament, the NC and Maoists should share equal seats in local bodies.

With the objective of checking the iron deficiency anemia (IDA) among children, the department of health, UN World Food Program (WFP), Micronutrient Initiative (MI), Population Services International (PSI) and private sector have joined hands to come up with Champion Fortified Complementary Food.

“A new, delicious, affordable, naturally fruit flavored, child nutrition product – Champion Fortified Complementary Food– has just been launched in Nepal. The product – packaged in a colorful tiger-design box – aims at improving the nutritional status and health of children throughout Nepal,” states a press release by the WFP.

Champion contains iron along with 10 other essential vitamins and minerals which are essential for childhood development and would address the problem of IDA.

“The need for an affordable alternative to expensive commercial complementary food brands is long overdue as currently over 8/10 Nepali children within the 6 to 12 month age range suffer from a condition known as iron deficiency anemia (IDA),” states the release. IDA severely affects the health, nutritional status and development of children throughout Nepal and without sufficient intake of iron through supplementation or healthy eating can lead to the long term health effects of irreversible cognitive and physical development problems and life-long reduced intellectual capacity.

The newly launched nutritious and appetizing ‘lito’ named Champion will soon be widely available for sale in pharmacies, grocery stores and other retails outlets throughout Nepal. It is packaged in 200g boxes and 20 g one-time use sachets. “The product – priced at Rs.25 for the 200g box provides an affordable alternative to commercial brands which are often priced beyond the financial reach of the majority of Nepali consumers. Champion, a wheat and soya-based ‘Lito’, is available in mixed fruit-flavor and fortified with 11 micronutrients.”

The product is part of the government’s Five Year Plan of Action for the control of anemia among women and children in Nepal. The product is targeted for infants and young children aged 6-24 months, an age group that is most affected by malnutrition and IDA.

The WFP is supporting the launch of this project to complement its activities addressing IDA in Nepal. According to WFP Representative Richard Ragan, “For us this has been a great opportunity to join hands with the private sector by supporting the design of a product that is desperately needed in Nepal. Among chefs there is a saying that too many cooks in the kitchen can yield bad results, but in this case I think everybody involved has done an outstanding job of creating something that is both healthy and tasty to eat.”

The talks between the government and the unions of the government employees on Friday afternoon failed to reach understanding on demands put forward by the latter.

After the failure of the talks held at the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, the government employees have warned to intensify their stir against the government from Sunday.

The employees accused the government of not being serious towards their demands. The talks could not progress for more than two hours as both sides stuck to their stands.

The chief government negotiator and Peace and Reconstruction Minister Ram Chandra Poudel urged the agitating employees to withdraw their demonstrations taking into consideration the critical situation of the country and sit for talks.

Poudel said that he would seek assistance from the cabinet and the parliament to address the demands of the employees.

The government employees have been agitating since a month demanding increase in pay scale and passing of the Civil Service Act from the parliament among others.

Cadres Janatantrik Terai Multi Morcha (JTMM- Goit faction) shot and killed a CPN (Maoist) leader in Saptari district Saturday afternoon.

Maoist leader Govinda Chaudhary, who was abducted from Gode Barsain VDC around noon today, was found dead in Negra VDC, Saptari, reports said.

JTMM 3 area in-charge Kranti claimed responsibility for Chaudhary’s murder. He accused the victim of spying against his party.

The two factions of the JTMM have carried out series of attacks on local Maoist leaders and government officials in Terai districts in recent weeks.

The Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) and Nepal Press Council have expressed concerns over the continued suspension of Nepal Samacharpatra and Mahanagar dailies in the face of pressure exerted by pro-Maoist trade union.

The publishing of two dailies by Kamana Publications have remained suspended from Wednesday.

The Publications has said that it is unable to publish the newspapers because of obstruction posed by distributors.

Issuing separate statements, FNJ and Council have urged for peaceful settlement of dispute.

“It can never be considered normal when publication of a newspaper is stopped. While we respect the right of trade union, forceful stopping of any publication is very worrying. In press, there are genuine concerns of the need to maintain neutrality and professionalism,” said Shiva Gaunle, vice president of FNJ.

The Council has said that stopping the publication under any pretext is a direct attack on press freedom.

The All Nepal Media, Press and Publications Workers Association, Kamana Publication Unit, however, has said that the management has ignored their genuine demands and have unilaterally stopped publication.

Shambhu Rimal, vice president of the association said that they are only exercising their legal rights and accused the management of not recognising their union.

Pushkar Lal Shrestha, executive chairman of the Publications, has said that he cannot register the union from an independent company. The distributors of the Publications work on contract through another company called Customer Solution. “Besides, barging into a Publication House carrying political banners that proclaim Marxism, Leninism, Maoism and Prachandapath will compromise our credibility as an independent watchdog,” Shrestha said.

Police raided the office of Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League (YCL) in Nepalgunj on Wednesday and rescued regional health director Dr. Piyush Bahadur Rajendra.

Cadres of YCL had abducted Dr. Rajendra from regional medical store charging him of corruption, in the afternoon and took him to their office located in a bungalow they had seized from a royal relative in the past.

Subsequently, the police raided their office and rescued him despite stiff protests by the YCL cadres who burnt tires, raised slogans against the Prime Minister and Home Minister and obstructed traffic movement.

Along with Dr. Rajendra, police also rescued one Ganga Gurung from Pokhara who was held captive since past one and a half month.

Chief District Officer of Banke, Narendra Raj Sharma said he has received directives from the government to control activities like abductions and detentions. “We will not let the YCL stay there (in the seized bungalow),” he said. The police cleared the office building later.

Meanwhile, YCL’s Bheri in-charge Jhak Bahadur Malla has condemned the police action. He said Dr. Rajendra faced charges of corruption. Dr. Rajendra who is a heart patient was immediately taken for medical check up after his rescue.