President of Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NFIN), Pasang Sherpa, has withdrawn his nomination for the membership of the constituent assembly under the proportional representation (PR) system, complaining that CPN (UML), the party that nominated him, failed to come up with an ‘inclusive’ PR list.

According to NFIN officials, Sherpa has rejected the nomination as the UML failed to nominate fair number of Janajati candidates.

Sherpa’s name was in the final list of nominees submitted to the Election Commission (EC) yesterday. UML has bagged 70 seats under PR system.

NFIN officials said that a delegation of the Federation will submit a memorandum to the EC, seeking its attention to the ‘under-representation’ of Janajatis under the PR system. According to them, as many as 30 ethnic minorities are going to be left out in the constitution-making process. nepalnews.com mk May 03 08

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has asked journalists to play constructive role in drafting and endorsing the new constitution in Nepal.

Inaugurating the general convention of the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) in Kathmandu Saturday, Koirala said the media must take a lead role in balancing the power of three state organs – legislative, executive and judiciary.

Appreciating the role journalists played in restoration of democracy, Koirala urged them to remain alert to ensure democracy flourishes in the country.

He also expressed his full support to FNJ leadership elected after the convention.

Similarly, Speaker Subash Nemwang sought active participation of journalists in the process of drafting the constitution of Nepal and transforming the country into a stable, peaceful and democratic republic. nepalnews.com ia May 03 08

Twenty-five political parties have submitted their selected list of candidates under the Proportional Representation (PR) category to the Election Commission Friday.

The bigger parties rushed to the commission at the eleventh hour while many smaller parties had submitted their lists to the EC earlier.

The lists of the big political parties include 50 percent women representatives as per the provision in constitution.

In the April 10 election, 25 parties had won seats under PR category.

The NC list includes party president Girija Prasad Koirala, Purna Bahadur Khadka and student leader Gagan Thapa.

The UML has landed in internal dispute over the names of its candidates after it submitted its list, which includes Bhim Rawal, Chhabi Lal Biswakarma, among others.

The Maoist list includes Mohan Baidya, Dinanath Sharma, and Khim Lal Devkota, among others. The list also includes figures such as Indrajeet Rai, a conflict expert, and Surya Bahadur Sen Oli, a former bureaucrat and said to be close to monarchy in the past. The Maoists had won 100 seats under PR. Their selected candidates include 50 women.

Madhesi Janadhikar Forum’s list included former Rastra Bank governor Dr Tilak Rawal. Other smaller parties also submitted their lists within the deadline allocated by the commission.

The commission said it will scan the lists to ensure proportionate representation of all sections of the people.

The Maoists have bagged 100 seats under PR while NC, UML and MJF have won 73, 70 and 22 seats, respectively.

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) has included Lokendra Bahadur Chand while Rastriya Janashakti Party (RJP) list includes the name of Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani. nepalnews.com ia May 02 08

Political parties will submit their selected list of candidates under the Proportional Representation (PR) category to the Election Commission by Friday evening.

While many smaller parties have already submitted their lists to the EC, bigger parties including Maoists, Nepali Congress (NC) and Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) are yet to provide their list.

The Maoists have said they have almost finalised the list. “The names of 100
candidates have been almost finalised. We have now authorised the party headquarter (chairman) to ensure fulfillment of various quotas before submitting the same to the EC,” said Maoist spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara.

The NC and UML, on the other hand, have said they are still engaged in internal homework to select their candidates.

The Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) has authorised its coordinator Upendra Yadav to finalise its list.

The Maoists have bagged 100 seats under PR while NC, UML and MJF have won 73, 70 and 22 seats, respectively.

The EC had asked the parties to provide the list by Friday. nepalnews.com sd May 02 08

A senior Maoist leader has said that his party will form a government on its own if other parties do not agree to form a coalition and decide to opt out of the government led by it.

Addressing a May Day rally of workers in the capital, Thursday, Maoist spokesperson and Minister for Information and Communication Krishna Bahadur Mahara said, “Our first option is to form a government under our leadership in alliance with other parties. If they refuse to be part of such government, we are prepared to form government on our own. If they obstruct us in this also, then we will come before you and do whatever you say.”

He said there were conspiracies being hatched by power centers from within and outside the country to prevent them from coming to power.

“Whether such centers are inside the country or outside, we want to tell them that while they tried to teach us about peace and democracy, they need to learn it themselves,” he said, referring to the democratic practice of allowing the single largest party to form a government. The Maoists had emerged as the single largest party bagging 220 out of 575 seats in the Constituent Assembly election.

Mahara also ruled out demands for disbanding his party’s youth wing Young Communist League (YCL). “The people have already endorsed our YCL through the mandate they gave us in the election,” he said.

Mahara said ‘nationalism and republic’ will be the new mantra for the Maoists.

Earlier, addressing the same programme, YCL president Ganesh Pun had said that it was because the YCL ‘kept their cool as per the directive of party chairman,’ that the election passed peacefully. “The YCL will now immerse itself in the building of new Nepal,” he said.

Addressing the programme, president of All Nepal Trade Union Federation (ANTUF) Shalikram Jammarkattel, said that rights and interests of workers will be ensure in the new constitution to be drafted through Constituent Assembly (CA). nepalnews.com sd May 01 08

The International Labour Day or May Day is being marked all over the country today calling for protection of the rights of workers.

Trade unions affiliated with various political parties are organising public functions and rallies concerning the rights of workers to celebrate the day.

All government offices including banks and industries remain closed today due to the public holiday the government had announced on the occasion of International Labour Day from last year onwards.

In his message on the occasion of International Labour Day, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said that it is high time the nation take a firm resolve to improve the condition of the workers. He also stressed the need for the private sector to stress on economic revolution to transform Nepal into a new and prosperous country. Similarly, Minister for Labour and transport and other umbrella organisations also issued their good wishes to the workers on the occasion.

The Labour Day has its origins in the “eight-hour day movement”, which advocated the eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.

On 21st April, 1856 Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne, Australia, stopped work and marched from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an “eight-hour day”. Their direct action protest was a success, and they are noted as the first organised workers in the world to achieve an eight-hour day with no loss of pay, which subsequently inspired the celebration of Labour Day.

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) – Nepal, out of 11 million labour forces in the country, only 3.6 per cent workers are employed in the formal sector that involves some form of social security.

But over 96 per cent labour force in the informal sector are deprived of job security. nepalnews.com ag May 01 08

The meeting of the central committee of the Maoists is giving final touch to the party’s list of 100 Constituent Assembly members selected from its closed list under the Proportional Representation (PR) category.

The party is expected to submit the list to the Election Commission (EC) on Thursday after ensuring that the quotas allocated for Madhesis, women, Janajatis, Dalits have been fulfilled.

The selected list of CA members include some CC members but not all of them as the party decided to keep some out of the CA to focus on party’s organisation building. The CC members not included in the list include Netra Bikram Chand, Kul Prasad KC, Dharmendra Bastola, Nanda Kishore Pun, Hemanta Prakash Oli, Hitraj Pandey, Devendra Poudel, among others, according to Nepal Samacharpatra daily.

The CC members included in the list are senior leader Mohan Baidya, Dinanath Sharma, Narayan Sharma, Matrika Yadav and so on.

On the other hand, parties like Nepali Congress (NC) and the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) have not yet finalised their PR list.

The meeting of the parliamentary party of NC held on Wednesday could not conclude the list due to internal disputes. The NC has won 73 seats under PR.

The UML central committee meeting, which is ongoing since last few days, has not yet taken up the issue of selecting candidates under PR list, according to a UML leader Raghuji Panta. The UML has won 70 seats under PR.

The EC has asked the parties to submit the name of their selected candidates by Friday. nepalnews.com sd May 01 08

The crisis of confidence between the monarch and agitating major political parties seems to be further widening.

By Pratibedan Baidya

Reports say senior opposition leader and CPN (UML) general secretary, Madhav Kumar Nepal, — who is in detention for the last three months– was being taken to the district court of Kathmandu from Kakani of Nuwakot district on Tuesday afternoon to formalize his release. Media crew and UML workers were at the gates of the district court at Babarmahal past 5:00 p.m. They later came to know that following orders from the “higher authorities” the police vehicle carrying Mr. Nepal returned mid-way. It was not immediately known where he is being kept.

So, is there still room for dialogue between the monarch and agitating major political parties?

Talking to Nepalnews, politician and ideologue Nilambar Acharya said that the King has closed all doors of reconciliation, so there was no sense of talking with the King.

His Majesty King Gyanendra

His Majesty King Gyanendra (File Photo)
“The King knows all the agenda and demands of political parties but he has not addressed any of the demands of the political parties and is only asking them to follow his roadmap. So, the phase of dialogue and reconciliation is over,” he added.

Stating that the government and all the work of the government is unconstitutional, Acharya said, “Detaining political leaders and obstructing their activities and at the same time and calling them for talks carries no meaning.”

“People’s movement has reached to new heights and the King should accept the verdict of people if he wants to secure his position,” said Acharya.

According to Acharya, the first step the monarch needs to take – if he is really willing for reconciliation– is to immediately dissolve the incumbent government and return people’s power back to the people’s representatives. “The King should accept the agenda of political parties and should respect the initiative of the seven political parties to bring Maoists into the mainstream of politics,” he added.

The King should ask the political parties — that received legitimacy through people’s vote to present their agendas — and approve it if he wants reconciliation among constitutional forces, said Acharya.

In his message on the occasion of Nepali New Year, King Gyanendra called upon parties for dialogue to give outlet to the present political problems but parties refused his call saying that the King should first restore civil and political rights and create conducive environment for talks.

Not even opposition activists, even the well known royalists are at their wit’s end looking at “self-destructive” activities of the royal government.

Dirgha Raj Prasain, a royalist, alleges that those, who were involved to give monarchy a bad name during the popular movement of 1990 were now active to stop the King from initiating the process of dialogue and find solution to the current problem.

“The constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990, could still be the meeting point between the two. The monarch and the political parties should initiate dialogue on the basis of the preamble of the constitution.” — Dirgha Raj Prasain
Prasai did not name anybody but pointed towards usual suspects. “These people are defaming the monarchy for their personal interest. The royal government has failed in every front since the royal takeover of last year. So, His Majesty the King should immediately reach out to the political parties to resolve the problems facing the country,” he added.

“If the King had taken his step due to the wrongdoing of the democratic governments, he should had taken steps to correct them. But the King failed to do so leading to discontent among the masses against the government and the direct rule of the King. Now, there is no option rather than returning the state power to the people,” he added.

When asked what could be the meeting point between the king and agitating parties, Prasain said the constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990, could still be the meeting point between the two. “The monarch and the political parties should initiate dialogue on the basis of the preamble of the constitution,” he added.

“The government should call the political parties for talks in a formal way to resolve present political problem,” said Prasain.

CPN (UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal (File photo)
A leading analyst on Nepal affairs, Rhoderick Chalmers, warned early this year that palace hardliners were the greatest threat to the future of the monarchy in the Himalayan kingdom. In his commentary on the long-drawn political impasse in Nepal on January 23, Chalmers—who is associated with the International Crisis Group– said, “At the moment, as thinking royalists have long realised, palace hardliners are the greatest threat to the future of the monarchy.”

In his commentary that was written before the controversial municipal polls, Chalmers wrote: “If King Gyanendra is willing to take a risk for peace he can recover respect for the monarchy by canceling the flawed and misconceived elections and working towards the settlement Nepalis long for. Of course, this will not be easy. But the easy options will lead only to continued bloodshed and political collapse.”

The King assumed direct power and assumed chairmanship of the incumbent government on February 1, 2005 but there have been no improvement in the overall situation of the country since then.

The royal roadmap included restoration of peace in the country, containing Maoist insurgency, checking rampant corruption and holding parliamentary polls by mid April 2007, but analysts say the King has failed in almost all fronts.

Now, opening dialogue with the parties for a fresh initiative would be in the best interests of the monarch and the nation.

But the question remains: Will the people with “vested interests” allow the king to do the right thing?

Airline operators have issued an ultimatum to hike the airfares on their own by ten percent if the government does not do so by Thursday.

The warning follows steep hike in petrol products last month. A demand letter handed over to the Ministry of Culture Tourism and Civil Aviation has stated that the airlines have not been able to cover the cost of operations after the increase of oil prices.

The letter also asks the government to increase the airfares by 10 percent in average in different sectors. Meanwhile one more writ petition has been filed at the Supreme Court challenging the government decision to hike the price of POL products by the government.

The writ has claimed that the increase in the prices of the POL products needs to be withdrawn, as it is not scientific. nepalnews.com am Apr 8

The global report on narcotics control has stated that the Nepal has problems with the legal control of pharmaceutical preparations containing controlled substances.

Resident Representative of the UNDP, Matthew Kahane (L), launching the International Narcotics Control Board Report-2006 during a programme at the UN House in Kahtmandu on Wednesday, Feb 28 07. nepalnews.com/rh

Resident Representative of the UNDP, Matthew Kahane (L), launching the…
“This has led to widespread abuse of such preparations among all segments of the population. In general, pharmaceutical preparations are diverted from domestic distribution routes and are sold without prescription in pharmacies and various other retail outlets in the region,” said Matthew Kahane, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator of UN system in Nepal, on the occasion of the launching of the International Narcotics Control Board’s Annual Report—2006.

Meanwhile, Dr. Philip O. Emafo, President of INCB , has cautioned in the report that it is important for consumers to realise that what they think is cheaper medication bought from an unregulated market may have potentially lethal effects whenever the consumed drugs are not the genuine product or are taken without medical advice.

The Board is especially concerned about the existence of unregulated markets where substandard and sometimes even lethal medication is sold to unsuspecting customers.

The INCB has called on Member States to enforce legislation to ensure that narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances are not illegally manufactured or diverted from legal manufacture and distribution channels to unregulated markets.

According to INCB, the abuse and trafficking of prescription medicines is set to exceed illicit drug abuse. In fact, medication containing narcotic drugs and/or psychotropic substances has become a drug of first choice in many cases. The demand for these drugs is so high, that it has given rise to a new problem – that of counterfeit products. Abuse of prescription medicines can have lethal effects.

“The danger is real and sizeable. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 25-50 per cent of medicines consumed in developing countries are believed to be counterfeit,” Kahane said.

At the INCB report launching program, Chandeshwor Acharya, under-secretary of the Home Ministry who is also in charge of the Narcotics Control Division, said that illicit trafficking, production and addition in drugs have become a national concern. He said the government policy envisages setting up Narcotics Control Bureau and hoped better cooperation and support from international development community to control the problem.