As the central bank is shortly going to unveil the monetary policy for the fiscal year 2007/08, private sector representatives from business and banking community have appealed to the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to stress on flexibility.

At an interaction programme held by the central bank on Wednesday, they said that flexible monetary policy will ‘give an impetus to sluggish economy.’ The private sector representatives emphasized the need to ease foreign exchange regulations, among others.

Vice president of Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Diwakar Golchha, demanded reform in policies for triggering development.

Rajendra Khetan, an industrialist, pointed at the high cost of doing business in the country. “The central bank can adopt monetary measures to boost the economy by reducing the cost of doing business,” he added. He also demanded export-import policy.

At the programme, Krishna Bahadur Manandhar, acting governor of NRB, promised to bring out prudent and practical monetary policy.

Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra Poudel on Thursday said that government is making serious attempts to bring the two factions of Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM) to the negotiating table.

Speaking at the meeting of the Constituent Assembly Elections Monitoring Committee of the parliament, Minister Poudel said that the government is hopeful there would soon be talks with the two JTMM factions as it is in constant touch with them.

Saying that the government is trying to hold talks with other groups also, Poudel, who is also the coordinator of government talks team, informed that there would be second round of talks with Madheshi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) on July 25.

Minister Poudel also made it clear that if the problem couldn’t be resolved even through talks then the ‘wrong trends and attitudes’ would be discouraged by all means possible including by using ‘diplomatic channel’ or building ‘public mandate’ against it.

Despite police resorting to force to quell their demonstration programme, former Kamaiyas have continued to press on with their movement to secure their legitimate rights for the second day Thursday.

The former Kamaiyas or bonded labourers, who marked the completion of the 7th year of their liberation yesterday from age-old misery and bondage through a government decree, staged sit-in demonstrations and chanted slogans for the fulfillment of their demands in Maithghar today.

Police intervened when the former Kamaiyas tried to proceed towards the ‘prohibitory zone’ in front of the main-gate of Singha Durbar, the seat of the government, where they intended to organise a sit-in demonstrations for their proper rehabilitation and jobs to earn their livelihood.

In the course of stopping the protestors from marching forwards, the police resorted to baton charge and firing water canons, injuring many in the process, three seriously.

Our reporter covering the protest programme said that injured protestors are undergoing treatment at the police hospital.

The police also arrested over a dozens protestors for breaking the ‘prohibitory orders’ in Singha Durbar that bars anyone from staging demonstrations or protest programmes in the area.

During similar protests yesterday, the police had arrested some 150 sit-in demonstrators.

Government negotiators are set to hold talks with two agitating groups, Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) and Chure-Bhawar Ekta Samaj, next week.

Peace and Reconstruction Ministry Thursday said the talks with MFJ would be held on July 25 while Chure-Bhawar Samaj had been invited for talks on July 26.

Earlier, both groups had organised agitations in Terai districts for several weeks and have threatened to go on fresh stir if the government does not show flexibility towards their demands, which includes federal system of governance.

The MJF has been registered with the Election Commission as a political party, which will contest the November polls. Few rounds of government-MJF talks had failed to arrive at consensus.

Peace and Reconstruction Minister Ram Chandra Poudel leads the three-member talk team of the government.

The Election Commission (EC) Thursday registered six more political parties and allocated them election symbols.

The parties registered today are Nepal Rastriya Janakalyan Party (election symbol – Pair of eyes), Rastriya Bikash Party (election symbol – Elephant), Rastriya Jana Ekta Party (election symbol – Electric Bulb), Nepal Janasangh Party (election symbol – Peacock), Nepal Shanti Chhetra Parishad (election sysmbol – Two hands) and Rastrabadi Yuba Morcha (election symbol – Sunglass).

Beginning Sunday, the EC has so far completed the registration of 60 political parties.

A large number of Village Development Committee (VDC) secretaries have sought their transfer from Terai districts owing to insecurity.

According to Ram Kumar Shrestha, acting Secretary at the Ministry of Local Development, secretaries of VDCs in Terai districts have started applying for transfer elsewhere.

Briefing the Constituent Assembly Elections Monitoring Special Parliamentary Committee, the Ministry officials informed that secretaries of remote hilly VDCs, too, were still operating out of district headquarters.

They informed that 366 VDCs – of the total 3912 VDCs in the country – were running without secretaries. At a time when the local bodies are without elected or nominated political leadership, the secretaries appointed by the government are the only ones running them.

At the parliamentary committee, Minister for Local Development Dev Gurung said that vacant positions will be filled by recruiting temporary secretaries on contract basis. He said people of Madhesi origin will be given priority to fill the positions in Terai VDCs.

Of late, government employees, particularly of hilly origin, have been increasingly targeted for abductions and killings by various armed outfits active in Terai region.

On Tuesday, Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM-Jwala Singh) had issued a warning to officials of hilly origin to leave Terai within a week. Even as the country braces for Constituent Assembly (CA) elections on November 22, the deteriorating security in Terai region threatens to affect the election process.

The CPN-Maoists have decided to refrain from the voting on the budget presented by the government of which it is a part. Analyzing that the coalition government of which the party is an important constituent ‘may fail if it votes against the budget’, the Maoists will ‘facilitate’ in ratifying it by abstaining from voting on the budget.

Chief Whip of the CPN-Maoist Dinanath Sharma had by calling a press meet Tuesday made public the party’s 16-point objection on the budget. “The budget is not in tune with the spirit of the people’s war and the people’s movement,” he said.

The coalition partners have expressed dissatisfaction over this decision of the Maoists and have termed it a dualistic nature of the Maoists.

Foreign Minister Sahana Pradhan has said she would soon consult with the Prime Minister regarding ‘appointment of ambassadors’.

Talking to reporters upon arrival at the Tribhuvan International Airport after a 10 day whirlwind visit of Turkey, Israel and Egypt Tuesday, Minister Pradhan informed that the “process of appointing ambassadors would start soon after consensus among eight parties and discussion with the prime minister.”

“Appointment of ambassadors and resolving the longstanding (Bhutanese) refugee problem remains my topmost priority,” she said.

Cadres of the Jwala Singh led faction of Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM) have killed VDC secretary Ram Hari Pokharel in Siraha district three days after abducting him on Wednesday morning. The incident has provoked nationwide indefinite strike by the VDC Secretaries Association.

The JTMM’s cadres led by “platoon commander” Rajendra Singh escorted Govindapur VDC secretary Pokharel to Bastipur VDC Wednesday morning and killed him by brutally slitting his throat with a sharp object.

Pokharel was abducted along with two local teachers Govinda Karki and Bedh Prasad Sapkota by JTMM cadres on July 15 while they were returning from the Village Development Council office.

The condition and whereabouts of the two teachers is still unknown.

The armed outfit has of late been targeting especially government employees, civil engineers and other innocent villagers of hilly origin living in terai.

Meanwhile, while the government has been arranging for added security to top Maoist leadership, the rank and file of the party are increasingly becoming vulnerable to attacks in the terai region of Nepal. In a latest such incident Maoist activist Hari Pokharel was shot at by unidentified assailants in Dayanagar of Rupandehi district and was wounded in the process.

Unidentified assailants had shot Pokharel while he was sleeping in his home late Tuesday night and had immediately fled from the scene.

Pokharel is currently undergoing treatment in Bhairahawa and his condition is said to be stable.

In another report, an Indian national was murdered in Kalimati area of the capital city Wednesday morning.

Mafar Sheikh Alam, 55, from Motihari of Bihar state of India was murdered by unidentified person(s) by using sharp object at 3:30 am, according to the police.

Alam, who lived in Sundhara of Kathmandu city earned his livelihood by doing several odd jobs. Found in a critical condition, Alam breathed his last while being rushed to the hospital for treatment.

It has been seven years that the Kamaiyas were liberated from bonded labour through a government decree, but their condition is still far from satisfactory.

Saying that the government announced the liberation of Kamaiyas or bonded labourers haphazardly and didn’t quite pay attention towards their proper rehabilitation including arranging a place for them to live and employment to earn their livelihood, the Kamaiyas staged a sit-in protest in front of Singhdubar, the seat of the government, at 10 am Wednesday morning.

During the peaceful protest, the Kamiyas also flayed the government for its apathy towards their problems.

More than 2,00,000 freed Kamaiyas live in western Nepal districts of Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur and Dang, often in semi-destitute conditions without any proper place to live or anything to earn their livelihood.

Among the 35,721 Kamaiya families the then Deuba government had freed through an announcement on Shrawan 2, 2057, the government has still not been able to properly rehabilitate more than half or 18,000 Kamaiyas families, according to activists working for the rights of Kamaiyas.

Meanwhile, police have destroyed the makeshift huts freed Kamaiyas had built by illegally encroaching upon the public land in Teenkune, Kathmandu Tuesday evening.