Maoist plenum
The sixth plenum of the UCPN(Maoist) kicked off at Palungtar in Gorkha District on Sunday. Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal inaugurated the program while YCL cadres performed a parade. Dahal and vice chairmen Mohan Baidya and Baburam Bhattarai presented separate political papers on the future course of the party in the closed session that began Sunday. Bhattarai and Baidya, presenting their political documents, criticised Dahal for not having a clear ideological line to lead the party. Baidya even threatened to revolt against the party. Defending his paper, Dahal said that the party should use the peace process, the constitution, and a people's revolt to achieve its goals. Following the discussion, 30 groups comprising representatives of the state councisl have been formed to review all three papers. The discussions will continue till Friday.
Budget announced
Finance Minister Surendra Pandey unveiled a Rs 337.9 billion budget for the current fiscal year on Saturday.The budget was announced through an ordinance at the National Planning Commission Hall in the presence of the prime minister, cabinet ministers, senior government officials, leaders of ruling parties and economists, but representatives of the opposition were not present. The opposition UCPN (Maoist) had prevented him from presenting the budget earlier on Friday, accusing the government of presenting a full budget against what was agreed upon in closed-door negotiations at Gokarna Resort. The budget has projected 4.5 per cent economic growth for 2010/11 and aims to limit inflation to 7 per cent.
Anuradha wins
Anuradha Koirala has been chosen as CNN Hero of the Year 2010. Koirala had been nominated as one of the top 10 CNN Heroes of the Year, and won after getting the most support through an online voting system that ran for eight weeks on the CNN website. She has been recognised for her work against human trafficking through her organisation Maiti Nepal, which won $100,000 in addition to the $25,000 awarded to each of the top 10 Heroes honoured last Saturday night in Los Angeles.
