Major Nepali and English newspapers published from Kathmandu on Tuesday have published news reports about the debate over National Assembly election and government formation with priority. A report submitted by Swarnim Wagle-led panel about the model of collecting funds for Budhigandaki Hydropower Project, and the Central Office meeting of CPN-Maoist Centre have also received significant attention in the front page today.
Important
Maoists want unification before new government
The Central Office meeting of the CPN-Maoist held on Monday has decided to unify the party with the CPN-UML before the new government formation, reports claim. Whereas it was earlier reported that the meeting concluded to take both the processes simultaneously, Kantipur, Nepal Samacharpatra, Rajdhani and The Kathmandu Post claim the Maoist party has stressed it wants the unification before new government.
The Kathmandu Post report claims the party wants a clear picture on party unification before the process for government formation begins so as to ensure ‘respectable’ shares in both the unified party and the new Cabinet. Meanwhile, the meeting also decided that three crucial posts—PM, party chair and parliamentary party leader—should not be held by current UML leaders.
Quoting party leader Mani Thapa, Rajdhani says the meeting concluded that overwhelming votes for the leftist alliance in recent elections means people wanted the two parties to unify at the earliest.
Meanwhile, Republica lead story says the dispute over National Assembly formation is likely to delay the formation of new government.
Election Commission ‘deliberately delaying’ PR result announcement
Even after the conclusion of vote counting, the Election Commission is deliberately delaying announcement of the number of seats each party get in the House of Representatives, various newspapers have suggested in their reports today.
Kantipur says the Commission is keeping mum over the issue in a bid to prolong the result announcement process as the parties are yet to resolve the dispute over election system for the National Assembly.
The government-run Gorkhapatra says the Commission is currently ‘centralising’ results of 165 federal and 330 provincial constituencies before announcing the results. The report says the results will be made public only after verifying the data.
Xi Jinping may visit Nepal in March
Chine President Xi Jinping’s long-awaited Nepal visit might be held in March next year, report Annapurna Post and The Himalayan Times.
Quoting ‘high-level political sources’, The Himalayan Times says China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has listed Nepal among the countries that the President will visit in 2018 and also started groundwork for the visit.
China had begun preparations for Xi’s Nepal visit last year too; but it was later cancelled due to a government change in Nepal, the report informs adding, “The Chinese President’s visit would have a symbolic significance after the left alliance’s victory in provincial and parliamentary elections.”
Ignored
NAC sending smuggling suspect pilot abroad for training
Nepal Airlines Corporation’s senior campaign Suwarna Awale, who is accused of smuggling foreign currencies, is being sent to Singapore for a training prorgramme, reports Nagarik. While Awale is facing a criminal charge, the Department of Revenue Investigation, the Ministry of Culture Tourism and Civil Aviation, the Corporation and the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal ‘in cahoots’ also allowed him to renew his licence, according to the report.
Awale is flying to Singapore on Friday for the one-week tour, a source has been quoted in the report.
Temporary police to get retirement on Friday
The government on Friday is bidding farewell to temporary police personnel recruited for recent provincial and federal parliamentary elections, reports Rajdhani. Total 98,368 police personnel were appointed for total 55 days and Friday marks the 55th day of their appointment, a Nepal Police source has been quoted in the report, adding, the personnel will be paid their remuneration on the same day.
Nurses at Kanti ICU resign one after another
Annapurna Post reports that the intensive care unit of Kanti Children’s Hospital, Nepal’s largest hospital dedicated to children, is suffering from human resource crisis as its staff nurses tendered resignation one after another. Recently, its seven nurses have quit, the report informs.
Major factors behind the resignation include low salary and benefits in comparison to other hospitals of the city, pressure to take care of more patients than their capacity and no permanent status even after working on the contract basis for a long period.
Interesting
Small industries are FDI priorities
Small-scale industries have attracted more foreign direct investment than middle and big ones, reports Karobar in its anchor story for the day.
While the government has categories industries with a paid-up capital of less than Rs 100 million as ‘small-scale’ industries, foreign investors have prioritised them as they involve less risk and return profit earlier, according to the report.
Meanwhile, the growth rate in number of small and medium-scale industries is higher than that of big industries, according to the Department of Industries.
NRB revises qualifications for bank CEOs
The central bank of the country has revised its rule regarding criteria of chief executive officers of banks and financial institutions, Abhiyan reports. According to the new rule, those having a Bachelor’s degree in agriculture, rural development and sociology can also be appointed to the top positions. Earlier, the candidates were required to study commerce, management or economics.
