Wednesday’s sitting of the Interim Legislature Parliament endorsed the much awaited Right to Information Bill that would make it easy for the general public to receive information from the government offices.

Taking part in the debate over the bill, lawmakers expressed hope that the bill would also help make the government bodies more accountable. They described this as an important step in protecting the right of the citizens to information.

Minister for Information and Communication Krishna Bahadur Mahara said the new bill could prove a cornerstone towards democratising the state authorities as well as building proper mechanism for free flow of information.

He said the bill was based on the norm that the state bodies should not operate in non-transparent situations.

The parliamentary Committee on Environment, Media and Technology had finalised the draft of the bill following discussions held at the parliamentary secretariat on Friday.

The bill proposes a three-member high-level commission on media and has made it mandatory to the public authorities to furnish any information demanded by agencies or individual citizens within 15 days. Refusal or denial to this mandatory responsibility would invite Rs 1,000-25,000 fine on the responsible official. This provision is mandatory to NGOs as well.

Similarly, every government office should appoint a spokesperson to coordinate with yjr media and provide information to the seekers.

Amid an apparent souring of relations between the Maoists and the UNMIN over the stalled second stage verification of PLA, a deputy commander of Maoist army has said that his party is not compelled to obey UNMIN on arms and weapons management issue.

Deputy Commander of the Maoists Barsha Man Pun (Ananta) was of the view that the second phase of verification was not fair and that the verification should not be done under political Pressure.

Deputy Commander of the Maoists Barsha Man Pun (Ananta) was of the view that the second phase of verification was not fair and that the verification should not be done under political Pressure.
Speaking at a programme in Reporters’ Club, on Monday, Barsha Man Pun aka Ananta claimed that the UNMIN was transgressing its authority.

“The UNMIN only has the authority of verifying the army and determining if there are minors or not. We will not obey the UNMIN if it starts to transgress its authority and asks anarchic, irrelevant and obscene questions,” Ananta said. He said that the verification process had to be stalled for the same reason.

On Monday, UNMIN chief Ian Martin had addressed a press meet urging the Maoists to allow resumption of the second stage verification. The second stage verification has already been carried out in a camp in Ilam after which it remains stalled.

Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat Monday clarified that the budget was allocated to the royal palace as per consensus among the leaders of the ruling eight party alliance.

Responding to the questions of parliamentarians in the discussion session of the interim parliament Monday, Dr Mahat said, “I have allocated the budget to the royal palace as per the status of the king in the interim constitution, and it is purely based on discussion with senior leaders.”

Earlier, majority of the parliamentarians taking part in the budget discussion session in the parliament had criticized the government for allocating budget to the palace.

“The budget was not allocated to the palace through the backdoor, as some may believe,” he said, “I have not hidden anything. This was done as per the request that the palace should not appear under a separate head in the budget.” The government has allocated Rs 125 million to the Royal Palace for the fiscal year 2007/08.

Finance Minister Mahat tried to justify the budget allocated for the palace, saying that the Narayanhiti Palace was a ‘national property’ and the budget was allocated for its ‘maintenance’. Dr Mahat also informed the parliament that the budget allocated to the palace was taxable.

Denying claims by parliamentarians that the budget was ambitious and inflated, Minister Mahat said the 2007/08 budget was inclusive and its main focus was constituent assembly elections and development.

He also said that the government would encourage private sector investment by developing market sources.

The parliament also passed the Appropriation Bill 2007-08 and the Advance and Expenditure Bill 2007-08 unanimously Monday.

With the ailing condition of the national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), the Non Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) has floated the idea of starting a new airline company to meet the rising demands of Nepal visitors.

During the NRNA Asia Pacific meeting held in Singapore on July 14 and 15, the NRNA leaders decided they would start studying the prospect of an alternative for NAC if its services does not improve.

The meeting also seriously raised the issue of the government’s denial to register it as an organisation in Nepal and delay in adoption of the NRN bill, which is still under discussion in the interim parliament.

The NRN leaders have asked the government to pass the NRN law before the third convention of the NRNA scheduled for October 15-17.

NRNA demanded that registration of the NRNA must be through a political decision as the existing laws do not permit registering an organization by foreign citizens.

The meeting also decided to restructure the NRNA with provision of regional entity and take initiative to improve coordination and cooperation between the International Coordination Committee and the National Coordination Committees.

Further, the NRNA has announced its intention to construct its own office building in Nepal.

The organization said NRNs must be given the franchise rights to vote in the upcoming constituent assembly elections and inclusion of NRN representatives in the CA. NRNs have expressed interest in investing in two major areas in Nepal, hydropower and tourism.

Intensifying investment in Nepal’s social sector, promoting NRN media and working for rights and security of the Nepali workers abroad were some other important decisions that the Singapore meeting finalised.

Over 100 NRNs from Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia including NRNA ICC president Dr Upendra Mahato, vice president (Asia Pacific) Devman Hirachan, vice president of the Federation of Nepali Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCC) Kush Kumar Joshi attended the conference.

Dr Govinda Raj Bhattarai has won the International Nepali Literary Society (INLS) best book award for the year 2005-06 for his book Uttar Adhunik Aina (mirror of the post modernism).

According to Suman Timsina, chairman of the INLS award committee, Gandaki Zone award has been given to Kshetra Pratap Adhikari for his book Yuddhaka Chhyaharu (shadows of war), Sita Pandey Mechi Zone award to Yuvaraj Nayaghare for his book Anam Pahadma Phanphani and Sara Children Book award to Guhanath Paudel for Kapuri Ka.

Similarly, Laxman Satyal-Bagmati Zone Book award has been given to Shree Om Shrestha Rodan for Nabirsane Dinharu (unforgettable days), Dr. Dilliram Timsina Memorial Book award for First Publication to Dr. Deepak Khadka for Chyatna Nasakeko Chithi (letter that could not be torn) and Chetnath Ghimire-Koshi Zone Book award to Dr. Khagendra Prasad Luitel for Kavitako Samrachanatmak Wishleshan (structural analysis of poems).

Haribhakta Katuwal Geeti Kavita award has been conferred to Kamala Prasai for Ma Binako Mero Jeewan (my life without me), Ananta-Hasyavyanga Book award to Shiv Prakash for Golmal (chaos), Govinda Giri ‘Prerana’ Narayani Zone award to Ruku Karki for Madhurima, Rohini Sharma Dhaulagiri Book award to Homnath Subedi for Aprabaska Suseli, Dr. Dilliram Timsina Memorial Book award to female author to Sharmila Khadka for Sani and Thakur Regmi-Janakpur Zone Book award has been given to Pramila Sharma for her book Samjhanako Jhari Americama Ghari Ghari.

The awards are given every two years.

Jantantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM) Jwala Singh faction has rejected the ultimatum given by Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula to come to the negotiating table within 15 days.

A statement issued by Jwala Singh Tuesday said the government was “trying to mobilise the army to suppress the Terai movement for liberation” and that his group and the Terai people were ready to tackle with the government’s security forces.

The JTMM splinter group also warned the hills-origin government officials based in Terai to evacuate in two weeks period and that the failure of which would result in strong physical actions.

Sitaula on Saturday asked the armed Terai groups including the two factions of JTMM to come to the talks table within 15 days and warned of deployment of security forces if the rebel groups failed to comply.

Beating China by a considerable margin of 9 wickets, Nepal has for the first time reached the finals of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Women’s Cricket Tournament being held in Johor Baru, Malaysia.

Electing to bat first after winning the toss, China had set a puny target of only 41 runs by loosing all its wickets in 24.5 overs. In reply, Nepal sailed to victory by reaching the target for the loss of only 1 wicket in 14.3 overs, winning the match by 9 wickets.

Madhu Thapa and Ritu Kanujia hit a not-out 10 and 9 runs respectively while Keshari Chaudhary took 3 wickets to see Nepal through to the finals.

Hong Kong and Bangladesh are currently up against each other in another semifinal match, the winning team of which would face Nepal for the championship trophy in the finals.

Online news portals are soon going to get government recognition as media with the government assuring to issue press pass to journalists working in such portals.

At a meeting between the journalists from Online Media Association, Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) and officials of the Ministry of Information and Communication recently, an agreement was reached to provide with press pass to journalists working in online news portals.

Till date, press passes are issued only to journalists working with newspapers, radio and television.

Online Media Association of Nepal (OMAN) has expressed satisfaction stating that this was an indication of the government for recognising online as part of mainstream media.

Ending the debate over whether the constituent assembly election should be held in phases in view of the fragile security situation, the Election Commission (EC) Tuesday announced that the election would be held in a single phase.

The EC has set the voting time from 7 am to 5 pm on November 22.

Issuing a statement, the commission asked the political parties to form all-party mechanism, from the central level to the voting booths, in order to create an atmosphere for free and fair election.

The commission also asked the government to extend all necessary assistance as and when asked for during the preparation for the polls.

Meanwhile, eight more parties were registered with the EC today. They are: Janamorcha Nepal with election symbol Five-angle star, Rastriya Janata Dal (election symbol Football), Nepal Samata Party (symbol Fish), Dalit Janajati Party (symbol Jug), Hariyali Nepal Party (symbol Mango), Nepal Cooperative Party (symbol Notebook and Pen), Naba Janabadi Morcha (symbol Baby) and the Communist Party of Nepal-Marxist with election symbol Spade.

The EC has already registered 15 political parties including major parties Nepali Congress, CPN (UML), CPN (Maoist), NC (Democratic) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party and allocated election symbols to them.

Ministers belonging to the Maoists and People’s Front (PF) have raised their complaints against the cabinet procedure.

Claiming that the cabinet was making decisions by overruling their dissenting opinions, six ministers made the complaint on Tuesday demanding immediate correction in the manner of cabinet functioning.

In their complaints, the ministers said that although eight parties should be jointly conducting the government based on mutual consent, the cabinet was functioning as if it belonged to one-party government. They also demanded proper system of registering their notes of dissent over cabinet decisions.

Minister for Information and Communication and government spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Minister for Local Development Dev Gurung, Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation Matrika Yadav, Minister for Works and Physical Planning Hisila Yami, Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Khadga Bahadur Biswakarma and Minister for Health and Population Giriraj Mani Pokharel made the complaints.

They also claimed that their parties were not taken into confidence while finalising the annual budget.

Earlier too, the Maoist ministers had expressed grudges over the cabinet procedure. They had vehemently opposed the cabinet decision to promote senior Nepal Army officials some time back.

In yesterday’s cabinet meeting, Health minister Pokharel had tabled ‘note of dissent’ opposing the decision to promote an army general.