Naxal-hit states Chief Ministers to meet in August

New Delhi, July 7 (ANI): Home Minister P Chidambaram today said the meeting of Chief Ministers of Naxal-hit states will be held in August to discuss the menace which has increasing in some states.

Replying to supplementaries in the Lok Sabha, Chidambaram said the meeting will discuss the strategy to tackle the threat posed by the Naxals in some states.

He also asked the Chief Ministers of the affected states to renew their appeal to the Naxal leaders to lay down arms and come to the negotiation.

The appeal came at the suggestion of Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, who claimed that he had successfully resolved the problem in some districts in Uttar Pradesh through talks. (ANI)

Nepal Parliament resumes, paves way for new budget session|World[Kathmandu {Kathmandu, July 7 (ANI): After months of obstruction, Nepal Parliament has resumed on Monday.

The session was prorogued after the Unified CPN (Maoist), obstructed normal proceedings of the House for more than two months it has now allowed the resumption of the House following a four-point agreement among the three largest parties in the Constituent Assembly (CA).

Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Maoist chairman Prachanda addressed the resumed session.

Prachanda said his party adopted maximum flexibility to allow the House work for the welfare of the country and that the obstruction of the House would resume after a month if the agreements are not fulfilled by then.

The parties have agreed to categorically define Prime Minister's and President's jurisdiction and forge a consensus among the parties about the same within a month.

Prime Minister Nepal vowed to address the issue of defining powers of the President and Prime Minister within a month in consultation with other parties.

Addressing the Maoist demand of maintaining civil supremacy, Nepal said nobody is in favour of military supremacy. The very idea of republican set up is to maintain civil supremacy.

In his address, Prachanda said his party has agreed to end the disruption of the House to speed up the process of concluding the peace process and drafting of the new Constitution.

Prachanda however warned that his party would launch an aggressive agitation if the government failed to reach an understanding to resolve the issue of Army Chief issue.

The resumption of the normal functioning of parliament will pave the way for the President Dr. Ram Bran Yadav to allow the presentation of the new budget before the current fiscal year ends on 15th of this month.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Surendra Pande has said that the preparations for the next fiscal year's budget is almost over.

The size of the next budget is likely to be about Rs 280 billion," he said, nepalnews reported. (ANI)