Maoists release 20 people from Barchen area of Doti district of Far West after 11-months long captivity.
Those released include 18 security personnel including four women. .
They were released in presence of human rights activists and social workers.
Kantipur daily quoted regional in charge of the Maoists, Parasmani, as saying that they were released as per the party policy to free all detainees.
He informed that seven people abducted by Maoists were released from Accham and three from Dadeldhura and also assured to release all people remained in their captivity.
Minister of State for Finance Dr Roop Jyoti (File photo)
Minister of State for Finance Dr Roop Jyoti (File photo)
The widening gap between revenue collection and government expenditure has caused serious problem on fiscal balance.
According to the data released by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) on Tuesday, the growth rate of revenue mobilization during the first seven months of the current fiscal year remained at 2.9 percent to Rs 35.82 billion. The government in its budget had vowed to achieve a growth of around 15 percent during the current fiscal year, according to report.
Minister of State for Finance, Dr Roop Jyoti, in the recently promulgated finance ordinance had made massive adjustments in customs tariff, claiming that such adjustment would discourage under-invoicing and informal channels, which in turn would contribute to realizing higher revenue.
The average revenue growth rate in the seven months of last five years was over 15 percent, the report quoted an official as saying.
A press release issued by the MoF said that of the total revenue mobilization, Rs 30.69 billion was collected from tax revenue while the remaining Rs 5.13 billion came from non-tax revenue sources.
According to MoF, the total government expenditure during the period soared to Rs 43.68 billion, which was 14.7 percent more than similar expenditures recorded last year.
Of the total expenditure, Rs 33.32 billion went for recurrent expenditure, Rs 5.97 billion for capital expenditure and remaining Rs 4.38 billion for repayment of principal.
Of the total, Rs 53.44 billion released by the Nepal Rastra Bank during the period, Rs 39.23 billion was released under recurrent expenditure while Rs 8.89 billion under capital expenditure and remaining Rs 6.21 billion for repayment of principals.
Minister of State for Finance Dr Roop Jyoti (File photo)
Minister of State for Finance Dr Roop Jyoti (File photo)
The widening gap between revenue collection and government expenditure has caused serious problem on fiscal balance.
According to the data released by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) on Tuesday, the growth rate of revenue mobilization during the first seven months of the current fiscal year remained at 2.9 percent to Rs 35.82 billion. The government in its budget had vowed to achieve a growth of around 15 percent during the current fiscal year, according to report.
Minister of State for Finance, Dr Roop Jyoti, in the recently promulgated finance ordinance had made massive adjustments in customs tariff, claiming that such adjustment would discourage under-invoicing and informal channels, which in turn would contribute to realizing higher revenue.
The average revenue growth rate in the seven months of last five years was over 15 percent, the report quoted an official as saying.
A press release issued by the MoF said that of the total revenue mobilization, Rs 30.69 billion was collected from tax revenue while the remaining Rs 5.13 billion came from non-tax revenue sources.
According to MoF, the total government expenditure during the period soared to Rs 43.68 billion, which was 14.7 percent more than similar expenditures recorded last year.
Of the total expenditure, Rs 33.32 billion went for recurrent expenditure, Rs 5.97 billion for capital expenditure and remaining Rs 4.38 billion for repayment of principal.
Of the total, Rs 53.44 billion released by the Nepal Rastra Bank during the period, Rs 39.23 billion was released under recurrent expenditure while Rs 8.89 billion under capital expenditure and remaining Rs 6.21 billion for repayment of principals.
Minister for Local Development Tanka Dhakal is yet to respond the Supreme Court’s (SC) order to be present in person to face a contempt of court charge relating to Radio Sagarmatha 53 days after the SC issued an order in this regard.
Minister for Local Development Tanka Dhakal (File photo)
Minister for Local Development Tanka Dhakal (File photo)
The court had given him a 15-day deadline to comply, from the time he accepts the order.
On December 29, a single bench of Justice Damodar Prasad Sharma had ordered Minister Dhakal, then minister for Information and Communications, Secretary Kumar Poudel and under-secretary Ambar Raj Poudel to present themselves in court to explain why they ignored the SC’s order to lift ban on transmission of BBC news even after the SC’s order.
However, two other officials, secretary Poudel and under-secretary Poudel presented themselves in court on Tuesday with written replies to the accusations against them.
They told the Supreme Court that they had no intention of disrespecting the court when they barred Radio Sagarmatha to air BBC news even after the SC’s order.
The two officials claimed they had not received the SC stay order against the government ban on airing news from FM radios, before they barred Radio Sagarmatha from airing BBC Nepali Service.
The central committee meeting of Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist) scheduled for Wednesday would forward a concept of broader alliance that can accommodate all democratic forces in the country.
Annapurna Post quoted acting General Secretary of the party, Amrit Kumar Bohara, as saying that the proposed plan would be debated during the meeting on Wednesday. He said that there was the need of broader alliance among the democratic forces to heighten the present movement for restoration of democracy and human rights.
However, such alliance would not include the Maoist rebels, but all other professional organizations and trade unions who have been participating in the present movement.
Parties, human rights activists and professional bodies have been calling on the mainstream political parties to widen the horizon of present movement by adding more democratic forces into their alliance to intensify the stir. The parties so far have been able to organize only a seven-party alliance.
King Gyanendra has expressed sorrow over the news of huge loss of lives following a massive landslide that wiped out an entire village of Guinsaugon in the central Philippines last week.
In a condolence message to the President of the Republic of the Philippines, Ms. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the King said “At this hour of grief, the people and government of the Kingdom of Nepal join us in sending our heartfelt condolences to your Excellency and through your Excellency to the friendly people of the Republic of the Philippines,” according to state run Rastriya Samachar Samiti.
“We pray for the eternal peace of all souls lost and a quick recovery of those injured” said the King.
Police arrested four people of a gang involved in the transaction of fake notes from Bhaktapur on Tuesday.
Acting upon a tip off the Valley Crime Investigation Sub-branch, Lalitpur, the police arrested them from Choche are of Bhaktapur Municipality-6.
Those arrested are Gaurav Kumar Tamang also known as “Akkal”, Prem Lama hailing from Thuloparsel-8, Kavre, Santabir Tamang of the same VDC and Kumar Lama of Narayanthan in the same district.
Police also recovered 50 fake notes of Rs.1,000 from Gaurav Kumar Tamang.
The accused have been handed over to the Bhaktapur District Police Office for necessary action.
Police have arrested Nepali Congress (NC) spokesperson, Krishna Sitaula, from his residence Wednesday morning.
A press statement issued by the NC said he was arrested at around 8.00 in the morning.
Sitaula was earlier arrested from the domestic wing of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu while he was on his way to the eastern town of Biratnagar on February 10 and released on Monday (Feb 20) following the Supreme Court’s order.
Sitaula was one of the senior NC leader coordinating the election boycott programme called by the seven party opposition alliance.
A press statement issued by the NC condemned the incident and demanded immediate release of Sitaula.
More than half a dozen Village Development Committees (VDCs) south of district headquarter Beni Bazaar of Myagdi district have been facing serious food crunch for some time.
According to Nepal Samacharpatra daily, various VDCs of the district including Rum, Baranja and Okharbot have witnessed food scarcity due to drought during monsoon, repeated disruption of transportation to and form the district headquarters and various other obstacles.
The people in these areas only produce food grains enough for five months and they are dependent on imported food grains for the remaining months, the report said.
The paper quoted Man Prashad Buda of Rum-5 as saying, “Me along with my 15-20 friends move from one village to another to find work and we send back rice to our homes from the money that we earn. For the last three months, the villages have been facing food scarcity. We have not been able to send rice from here.”
For years now, the villages of Myagdi district have been abandoned by its youths. Locals say that they are finding it difficult to cultivate their land as only women, children and elderly people are there in the villages.
Gajman Gharti of Okhartar VDC says, “There is no one to help us out. Even to get things from the market, we do not find people, so old people like us or children have to go to the market.”
Rights activists have been barred from meeting CPN-UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, who has been placed under house arrest since the last one month.
Madhav Kumar Nepal (File Photo)
A press statement issued by Forum for Protection of Human Rights (FOPHUR) said that a team of rights activists including chairman of FOPHUR, Padma Ratna Tuladhar, general secretary Gopal Chintan and central members Pramod Kafle and Netra Lal Hamal were barred from meeting Nepal on Wednesday.
Terming the incident as a violation of Human Rights, the FOPHUR asked the government to immediately release Nepal and allow rights activists to meet detainees.
The FOPHUR also warned to file a petition in the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations and also raise voice during the upcoming meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
The government extended the “house arrest” of general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal by two months on 20th February, after a one-month long house arrest came to an end on February 19.