A crucial meeting of the Constitutional Council has been postponed for indefinite period after one of its member, Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala, failed to attend.

The meeting was called for Tuesday, after a long gap of four years, to take decision on important appointments in constitutional bodies.

Koirala, who is a member of the council as the leader of the main opposition party, informed that he could not attend the meeting due to his bad health.

The NC president, who remained in ill-health for most of time during his latest tenure as prime minister had been active in his party’s programmes, touring across the country to address the Janjagaran campaign. He was taken ill while returning from Dhangadi last week after addressing the party’s gathering there.

He was discharged from Gangalal Heart Center after four days of treatment and is advised to take rest for time being.

Key positions in the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Civil Service Commission and other constitutional bodies remain vacant since years due to failure of the government to hold the meeting of the Constitutional Council. nepalnews.com ia Dec 16 08

Chairman of the British Gurkha Welfare Society (BGWS), a major Gurkha organisation in UK, Major (Retd.) Tikendra Dal Dewan has reiterated that BGWS is in favour of settlment right to all ex-Gurkhas irrespective of when they got retired.

BGWS chairman Major (Retd.) Dewan (third from left) addressing the press conference at Farnborough, UK on Sunday

Major Dewan said that 292 petitions filed by the BGWS on behalf of ex-Gurkha soldiers seeking settlement rights in UK are still pending at the British courts. He also urged media to be responsible and not to be swayed by rumours. He said BGWS was ready to take part in a public hearing conducted by a panel of distinguished independent personalities, if still there were any doubts.

He quoted his letter dated Nov 11 to Mr Vaz which said, ” Settlement alone is not the solution; it should be granted in recognition to their service to the Crown. But in reality equal pension is the only solution to the whole Gukrha issue.”

“Never were we treated equally in pay, pension, quartering, married accompanied tour and entitlements. To add insult to injury, those serving in the British Army from the Froeign and Commonwealth countries were granted settlement rights with a minimum of four years service. Our minimum fifteen years counted for nothing,” he further said, in his letter. He also requested all to see the copies of letters he had sent in the website of the Society, www.bgws.org

Major Dewan said that 292 petitions filed at the initiation of BGWS on behalf of ex-Gurkha soldiers, seeking right to settlement in UK, are still pending at British courts. He also urged media to be responsible and not to be swayed by rumours. He said BGWS was ready to take part in a public hearing conducted by a panel of distinguished independent personalities, if still there were any doubts.

In the aftermath of the court verdict, British Home office is currently reviewing laws related to allowing settlement to ex-Gurkhas in the UK. Terming the British government’s decision not to allow ex-Gurkhas who had retired prior to July 1997 as “unlawful,” the British high court had asked the UK government to revise the laws accordingly. Only Gurkhas who retired after 1997 are allowed to settle in UK so far. nepalnews.com Dec 16 08

New spokeperson of Maoists Dinanath Sharma
The central committee member of the Maoists, Dinanath Sharma, has been made the new spokesperson of the party.

According to reports quoting leader Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, Sharma has been appointed as the spokesperson of the party by the central committee meeting on Tuesday.

He will replace Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who as the Minister for Information and Communication, is also the spokesperson of the government.

The decision was made on the basis of the idea that CC members should not be holding two positions – in the government as well as in the party.

Sharma is also performing the duty of chief whip of the Maoists at the parliament and CA.

The CC meeting of the party is expected to conclude on Tuesday. nepalnews.com Dec 16 08

The committees of Constituent Assembly (CA), which were formed on Monday, are all set to start their work from Tuesday.

On the right track now: Chairman of the Constituent Assembly Subas Chandra Nemwang (2nd from right) administers oath of office and secrecy to the members of main Constitutional Committee amid a ceremony in Singha Durbar, Tuesday, Dec 16 08. Top leaders including Prime Minister and Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepali Congress president GP Koirala (absent at the ceremony], UML general secretary Jhala Nath Khanal are in the committee. The formation of CA committees is considered to be the start of statute-drafting process. nepalnews.com/rh

On the right track now: Chairman of the Constituent Assembly Subas Chandra…
“Their formation is the first concrete step towards initiating the process of writing new constitution. The first meetings of the committees are slated for 3 pm, Tuesday,” said Mukunda Sharma, spokesperson of CA Secretariat.

Sharma informed that the chairpersons of the committees will be elected within fifteen days. “They will be elected within Poush 15,” he said.

Even though the working calendar of the CA stated that chairpersons of the committees should be elected by December 15, the lack of consultations among the political parties meant that the deadline could not be honoured.

Till the election of chairpersons, the seniormost member of the committees will chair their meeting.

The CA secretariat has arranged for staffs and physical facilities to hold meetings of the 14 CA committees. nepalnews.com sd Dec 16 08

Small Industry Festival 2065, which was organised by the Federation of Nepal Cottage and Small Industries (FNCSI) concluded on Monday.

The Festival, with visitors numbering around 200,000, witnessed business transactions worth Rs 100 million, according to the sources.

The five-day long exhibition was organised with an aim to assist rural entrepreneurs to expose their products to the national market. During the festival, straw products, organic tea and coffee and metal products were the focal points of visitors, it is said. nepalnews.com Dec 15 08

Ministry of Foreign Affairs has initiated efforts for establishment of three Nepali missions abroad – in Canada, Kuwait and South Africa.

According to The Himalayan Times, proposal seeking permission has been forwarded to Ministries of Finance and General Administration to open new diplomatic missions. Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav approved the proposal on Monday before forwarding it to other ministries for approval.

Each mission is likely to have two to three personnel. The decision to open the missions was taken after a survey conducted by the ministry. Ministry spokesperson Suresh Pradhan led the survey team.

After getting green signals from the two ministries, the proposal would have to be sent to cabinet for final approval.

Canada and Kuwait have become popular destinations for Nepali in the recent years while mission in South Africa is to serve that part of the world with which Nepal does not have any direct connection to date. nepalnews.com ia Dec 16 08

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) said the inflow of remittances into the country wound decline by almost 40 percent by mid-November this year against 80 percent increase in mid-October compared to same month last year.

While addressing the national conference on Worldwide Recession and Impact on Remittance organised by Nepal Remitters Association (NRA) in the capital Monday, acting governor of the NRB Krishna Bahadur Manandhar said the worldwide economic meltdown caused the setback here.

He further said festive season and depreciation of Nepali currency against the US dollar might have raised the money inflow into the country but it could not remain static. But he further added remittance will not suffer so badly as most remittances come from Gulf countries where the world crisis is yet to hit.

Economist Dr. Bishwambher Pyakuryal stressed the need for precautionary measures to avoid impacts in Nepal though no immediate and significant threat has been identified yet.

Since the rural Nepali population heavily depends on remittance, global meltdown might invite impact in sectors like jobs markets, remittances and prices of daily consuming goods.

NRA chairman Chandra Prasad Dhakal called on the government to take immediate steps to resist the recession. nepalnews.com ia Dec 16 08

The government has assigned only two medical inspectors to monitor thousands of medical stores in 24 districts of far-western Nepal, reports Kantipur Daily Tuesday.

The report questioned the ability of these inspectors to regularly monitor more than three thousand registered medical stores in 24 districts of the far west including thousands of illegal ones operating discreetly when they have admitted that they are unable to regularly monitor some 536 medical stores in Nepalgunj of Banke district where they are based.

“Let alone regular inspection, we can’t even reach all the districts,” Pushpa Rana Chettri, the acting chief at the Nepalgunj office of Department of Medical Provisions, told Kantipur Daily. He said last year they could not reach 12 districts, and didn’t even set foot in Karnali zone.

Not only the medical stores registered at the department, these two inspectors are responsible for checking the quality of veterinary, Ayurvedic and homeopathic medicines.

According to the report, banned medicines are being openly sold in the local market in Nepalgunj but the department has largely been unable to stop it.

Medicines used in surgery including those that claim of increasing a person’s “sexual performance” are the ones mostly being sold in an illegal manner, according to the report.

But the District Administration Office (DAO) and Public Health Office have largely turned a blind eye to all this. nepalnews.com Dec 16 08

Madheshi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) district committee, Morang, on Monday demanded that Minister for Physical Planning and Works and party’s parliamentary party leader Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar be recalled from the government.

Saying that Gachhadar had made a very “provocative statement” against the ‘One Madhesh, One Province’ demand of Terai centric parties two days ago, MJF’s Morang district committee has urged the party’s Central Committee to relieve him from his ministerial responsibility by calling him back from the government.

In a joint statement issued by MJF’s Morang district committee chairman Jayanarayan Yadav and secretary Mrityunjaya Jha, Gachhadar has been accused of giving statements against the party policy.

The decision to recall Minister Gachhadar was taken at a meeting of MJF district committee held yesterday, it has been learnt. MJF lawmakers had also raised serious objection to Gachhadar’s statement at the meeting of the legislative-parliament yesterday.

On Saturday, Gachhadar had said the demand for single Madhesh province has now become irrelevant. nepalnews.com ag Dec 15 08

Education Minister Renu Kumari Yadav has said the government will come up with an alternative to the additional service tax levied on private educational institutions from this year.

Education minister Renu Kumari Yadav (L) speaking at the Reporters Club on Monday (Dec 15 08) said the government would come up with an alternative to the controversial education service tax. Representatives of private school organisations present at the programme said they would accept the alternatives to the tax, such as free seats to students from backward communities. nepalenws.com/tkb

Education minister Renu Kumari Yadav (L) …

Talking to reporters in Kathmandu Monday, Yadav said the government would decide on alternatives to the education service tax such as free education to certain number of students from unprivileged communities.

She said since the government’s intention was to support the children from financially backward communities to get education, private schools allotting free seats form unprivileged classes could be exempted of the tax.

She added the alternative would be taken to Finance Minister Dr Babu Ram Bhattarai and cabinet for further discussion and consideration.

Private and Boarding Schools Organisation (PABSON), National Private and Boarding Schools Organisation (NPABSON) and Organisation of Higher Secondary Schools have opposed the idea of education tax and demanded its immediate withdrawal and have warned of protest. nepalnews.com ia Dec 15 08