Himalayan Everest Insurance Limited has honoured and awarded 16 outstanding employees for achieving business goals. A programme was organized at a hotel in Pulchowk, Lalitpur, to honor and award…
Himalayan Everest Insurance Limited has honoured and awarded 16 outstanding employees for achieving business goals. A programme was organized at a hotel in Pulchowk, Lalitpur, to honor and award…
January 7: The members of the House of Representatives (HoR) have suggested the National Planning Commission (NPC) to plan only projects that can be implemented.…
January 7: The government has decided to mobilize the subsidy of Rs 200 million pledged by India only after making a work procedure to spend the grant…
January 7: The business of insurance companies, which was affected by the decline in economic activities, has started to…
The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index experienced a decline of 26.36 points or 1.28%, closing at 2022.92 points on the first trading day of the week on…
January 7: Nepal and India have agreed for cooperation on eight different issues related to energy…
January 7: Farmers and businessmen of Eastern Terai are worried due to the decline in the export of CTC tea.…
January 7: The government is preparing to construct blacktopped roads at Shahidmarga and Suryodayamarga in Mechinagar under the 'Urban Governance and Infrastructure Project' supported by the World…
January 7: The price of black cardamom has increased by three folds this season, bringing happiness to the…
Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat has urged industrialists and entrepreneurs to free themselves from negative perspectives. He asserted country's economy is…
January 6: Global economic growth is projected to slow down from an estimated 2.7 percent in 2023 to 2.4 percent in 2024, according to the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects 2024 report, launched on…
January 6: World food prices fell in 2023, with considerable declines for grains and oils as supply concerns eased, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said…
January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has expressed his commitment that the incumbent government will not enter into any agreement that is detrimental to the national…
January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has claimed that the long-term agreement between Nepal and India on electricity export was a milestone from the perspective of power…
January 5: The Ninth Nepal Wood International Expo, 2024 commenced in Bhrikutimandap on Friday.…
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A programme was organized at a hotel in Pulchowk, Lalitpur, to honor and award employees.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 8: Himalayan Everest Insurance Limited has honoured and awarded 16 outstanding employees for achieving business goals. A programme was organized at a hotel in Pulchowk, Lalitpur, to honor and award employees.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Company’s Chairman Mahendra Krishna Shrestha, directors, Chief Executive Officer Bijay Bahadur Shah, among others, were present in the programme. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In an effort to establish itself as a prominent player in Nepal's insurance market, Himalayan Everest Insurance Company has been making progress in various economic indicators.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the event, CEO Bijay Bahadur Shah praised and congratulated the honoured employees, expressing his continuous inspiration and support for the company's employees. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman Mahendra Krishna Shrestha assured that they would extend any level of support and inspiration to the employees to achieve the insurance’s business objectives. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Govind Khadka and Muna Thapa, honoured employees at the event, said that they felt more responsible and expressed enthusiasm to accomplish company’s goals. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-08', 'modified' => '2024-01-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19644', 'image' => '20240108055304_collage (5).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-08 05:48:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19916', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Lawmakers Suggest NPC to Plan only Feasible Projects ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: The members of the House of Representatives (HoR) have suggested the National Planning Commission (NPC) to plan only projects that can be implemented. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 7: The members of the House of Representatives (HoR) have suggested the National Planning Commission (NPC) to plan only projects that can be implemented. The development projects should be planned on the basis of need and relevance, they reminded. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a meeting of the finance committee on draft of the 16th five-year plan on Sunday, the lawmakers urged NPC to review the 15th five-year plan and make the next periodic plan accordingly. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Former finance minister and committee member Bishnu Prasad Paudel said that the NPC should have autonomy to select and decide projects. He however said a separate law is imperative to direct the planning commission. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Lawmaker Padam Giri stressed whether the 15th periodic plan was assessed effectively before drafting the new one. Strengthening of national economy by making it self-reliant and creating jobs should be prioritized, he added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Surya Bahadur Thapa opined that the plan needs to be objective and practical. The plan must not be whimsical, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Purna Bahadur Tamang demanded that every province be allocated Rs 1 billion budget for medication of the poor people.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Narayan Prasad Acharya also pointed out the need for creating atmosphere for NPC's autonomy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Biraj Bhakta Shrestha emphasized the need assessment and relativity in course of formulating periodic plan. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Mukta Kumari Yadav's suggestion was to align the 16th periodic plan with sustainable development goals (SDGs) as time for achieving SDG targets was fleeting. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, promotion of industries, tourism, agriculture, education and health are points to mull in the next arrangements, according to Ganga Karki. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Metmani Chaudhari focused job creation, trade balance and poverty alleviation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Chairman of the National Planning Commission, Dr Min Bahadur Shrestha, shared that the new plan was drafted based on the previous practices and with adequate review. He assured that precise and practical plans would be prioritized. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the broader goal of 'good governance, social justice and prosperity', the 16th plan has aimed at building good governance at political, administrative, judicial, private and non-government fronts; while social justice would be established in the sectors of health, education, employment, housing and others, thereby ensuring prosperity in the human life and national economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The current 15th five-year plan is being implemented until this fiscal year, 2023/24. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19641', 'image' => '20240107105806_Parliament.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 22:57:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19913', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gov to Prepare Procedure to Implement Projects up to Rs 200 Million under Indian Grant', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: The government has decided to mobilize the subsidy of Rs 200 million pledged by India only after making a work procedure to spend the grant amount.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 7: The government has decided to mobilize the subsidy of Rs 200 million pledged by India only after making a work procedure to spend the grant amount.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Finance, although there is a provision that India can directly invest in the projects up to Rs 200 million, the government will draft a procedure to implementation this provision. The procedure will designate areas of investment and a monitoring mechanism will also be formed. The agreement clearly states that India should get approval from the Ministry of Finance of the Federal Government before starting any development project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“There is no reason to doubt as there is a clear arrangement in the agreement itself. However, the project will be implemented after drafting a procedure,” said a senior official of the Ministry of Finance. According to the Ministry of Finance, the maximum budget limit of each project to be implemented under this project, which is funded by India, will be Rs 200 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the agreement signed during the recent visit of India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration will study the proposals received from the local level and other government agencies and recommend the projects to the Ministry of Finance for receiving grants from India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Even in the case of projects to be implemented by non-governmental organizations, the Ministry of Finance will have to give consent based on the recommendations of the related ministries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">There is also a provision to approve the project only after obtaining the approval of the Social Welfare Council. The approved project will be implemented by including it in the budget of the local level through a tripartite agreement between the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, the implementing agency and the Indian Embassy. Generally, there is a provision that rural municipalities have to contribute 5 per cent and municipalities 10 per cent in the project run with Indian grants. In special cases, there is also a provision not to contribute such funds. The duration of the agreement will be five years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Dr Krishna Hari Pushkar on behalf of the Government of Nepal and Navin Srivastava, the Indian ambassador to Nepal, on behalf of India, signed a memorandum of understanding last week so that India can directly provide grants to projects worth up to Rs 200 million in Nepal. Critics argue that this will increase Indian interference.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">CPN (UML) MP Raghuji Pant objected to this agreement with India and said that the tendency to spend at will is against the independence and sovereignty of Nepal, and it will cause unwanted political influence and interference in the country. According to him, Nepal should reconsider this agreement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on December 7 had decided to accept India’s grant for the implementation of the High Impact Community Development Project (HICDP). This program, which is being funded by India was previously run under the name of 'Small Development Project' (SDP). Under this program, the Indian Embassy has been investing in projects by selecting the project itself.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The then Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa had first approved such a project in 2003. At that time, the government had arranged the Indian embassy to directly invest in projects worth up to Rs 30 million. Later, when Baburam Bhattarai was the prime minister, the amount was increased to Rs 50 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The cabinet meeting held on December 23, 2019 decided to change the name of the Small Development Project Program to High Impact Community Development Project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Indian Embassy, India has so far invested in more than 550 projects through the High Impact Community Development Project, which started in 2003. Likewise, 974 ambulances have been distributed to various health institutions and 234 buses to educational institutions under this initiative.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19640', 'image' => '20240107044104_PRO_KTM-6F8A0253.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 16:40:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19912', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Insurance Business Shows Sign of Improvement', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: The business of insurance companies, which was affected by the decline in economic activities, has started to improve.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 7: The business of insurance companies, which was affected by the decline in economic activities, has started to improve. The business of life and non-life insurance companies, which had declined in the initial months of the current fiscal year, has shown improvement by mid-December.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data of Nepal Insurance Authority, by mid-December, life insurance companies collected a total of Rs 12.31 billion from first insurance fee and renewal fee. By mid-October, they had collected Rs 8.63 billion in insurance fees. Similarly, by mid-December of the current fiscal year, they collected a total of Rs 61.74 billion in insurance fees.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In mid-November to mid-December, the life insurance companies did business worth Rs 2.34 billion. For this, they sold 433000 new insurance policies. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The business of non-life insurance companies also seems to have increased by around Rs 700 million. The authority informed that the life insurance companies collected Rs 2.28 billion in insurance premiums between mid-October to mid-November, which increased to Rs 2.99 billion in mid-November to mid-December. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the economic recession, the business of insurance companies was affected as the credit flow of banks and financial institutions decreased as well as the commercial activities were affected. However, the recent improvement in economic activities has had a positive effect on the insurance companies’ business. With the improvement in remittance inflow, more liquidity has been seen in banks and financial institutions. As a result, banks have reduced interest rates and emphasized on lending. Nepal Rastra Bank adopted a flexible policy through the review of the monetary policy saying that there has been an improvement in the indicators of the economy. NRB has announced in its macroeconomic and financial situation report that the external and internal indicators of the economy are in a strong state. It also reduced the policy rate. Similarly, the central bank has shown flexibility in lending in areas such as real estate, vehicles, shares etc. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the credit flow of banks and financial institutions had decreased due to recession and the business activities of insurance companies were affected. Since insurance is mandatory to take a loan from the bank, the lack of loan investment had also affected the business of the insurance companies. Insurers say that the increase in lending from banks and financial institutions will also have a positive effect on the business of insurance companies.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19639', 'image' => '20240107041521_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 16:14:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19911', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Sheds 26.36 Points to Close at 2022.92', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index experienced a decline of 26.36 points or 1.28%, closing at 2022.92 points on the first trading day of the week on Sunday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">January 7: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index experienced a decline of 26.36 points or 1.28%, closing at 2022.92 points on the first trading day of the week on Sunday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Throughout today's trading session, a total of 304 scrips were exchanged in 98,632 transactions. The trading activity involved 15,268,399 units of shares, contributing to an overall turnover of Rs 5.24 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Seasoned investors and stock analysts attributed the day's fall to pressure associated with the end of the quarter. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Investor Prem Oli expressed confidence that the market would regain its upward momentum once the quarter-end pressure subsides.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sonapur Minerals and Oil Limited (SONA) recorded the highest turnover of Rs 28 crores, concluding at a market price of Rs 498 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Meanwhile, Terhathum Power Company (TPC) achieved the highest gain of 10%, hitting the positive circuit for the day and closing at a market price of Rs 426 per share.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Conversely, Manushi Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (MLBS) incurred the most significant loss at 6.69%, concluding at a market price of Rs 710 per share.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors landed in negative territory, except for the Hydropower Index, which recorded a gain of 1.03%.</span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> The Life Insurance sector experienced the most substantial loss at 2.40%, while the Mutual Fund sector posted a minimal loss of 0.03%.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19638', 'image' => '20240107041154_collage (14).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 16:10:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19910', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal and India Agree on Strengthening Power Transmission System ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: Nepal and India have agreed for cooperation on eight different issues related to energy sector. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 7: Nepal and India have agreed for cooperation on eight different issues related to energy sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The 11th meeting of Nepal-India Energy Secretary-level Joint Steering Committee that concluded in Chitwan on Sunday has agreed on of strengthening the electricity transmission system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nabin Raj Singh, joint secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, said the meeting discussed various agenda prepared by the Joint-secretary level Joint Taskforce. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Gopal Prasad Sigdel, and Secretary at India's Ministry of Energy, Pankaj Agrawal, co-chaired the meeting. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">However, most of the topics agreed upon shall be finalized by technical groups, as these agreements are concerned more with technical issues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting made decision on principle only since most of the topics are more technical, according to the Nepali officials attending the meeting. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Both sides have agreed on expanding the capacity of the Dhalkebar-Mujaffarpur Inter-country Transmission Line to 1,000 megawatts. The two sides agreed to construct the required infrastructures at Dhalkebar sub-station for this purpose. At present, the export and import of 800 megawatts electricity is taking place from this transmission line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A Joint Technical Committee will study and make necessary decision on the topic of utilizing this transmission line in its maximum capacity. Nepal has also been paying the transmission fees for utilizing the full capacity of this transmission line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the Joint Technical Committee shall also take the necessary decision regarding determining the capacity of electricity that can be transmitted via the Dhalkebar-Sitamadhi 400-kV transmission line being constructed by the Indian company, Satluj Vidhyut Nigam. The Indian company is constructing this transmission line for exporting electricity to be produced from the Arun III Hydropower Project. This company, which is constructing the Arun-III project, has also taken responsibility for constructing other projects as well. It will take long until these projects are completed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the meeting has agreed that the Joint Technical Committee will conduct a study on the feasibility of exporting power up to 200 megawatts through the 132 kV Tanakpur Mahendranagar transmission line or other high-voltage capacity transmission lines. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting has approved the process and procedure on electricity export and import between Nepal and India during the monsoon via the existing transmission lines of 132 kV capacity or less by using the power transmission system of the neighbouring Indian states. These process and procedure were prepared by the Central Electricity Authority of India in coordination with Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and other agencies of India. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Discussions were also held for a separate tripartite agreement, in accordance with the Power Import and Export Guidelines of India, among NEA, the NTPC Vidhyut Vyapar Nigam of India and the Power Development Board of Bangladesh for export of 40 megawatts electricity from Nepal to Bangladesh by using India's transmission system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Based on this discussion, the necessary mechanism would be established for the three-nation partnership. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">These agreements related to transmission line and energy sector were reached in the context of Minister of External Affairs of India Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar's visit to Nepal on January 4 and 5. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Agreement Between the Government of Nepal and the Government of India on Long Term Power Trade was signed during the visit of Minister of External Affairs of India, opening the door for the export of 10,000 megawatts electricity to India from Nepal in 10 years. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19637', 'image' => '20240107030703_trans.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 15:05:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19909', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tea Export Declines by Rs 383 Million', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: Farmers and businessmen of Eastern Terai are worried due to the decline in the export of CTC tea. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">January 7: Farmers and businessmen of Eastern Terai are worried due to the decline in the export of CTC tea. Last year, at this time, they were busy exporting CTC tea. This year, CTC tea is being stored in the warehouses of farmers and businessmen. According to the Department of Customs, tea export has decreased this year compared to last year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In terms of monetary value, tea exports has shrunk by Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">383.8</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million in the first five months of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last FY.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the export volume has decreased by </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">28</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">83</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">182</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kg. In the first five months of the current year, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">71</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">82</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">348</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kg of tea worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> 87</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">has been exported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the decrease in exports and the lack of interest from Indian traders to buy tea from Nepal, farmers and businessmen are worried that tea will have to be stored in warehouses this year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Indian Tea Board has been blocking team imports from Nepal time and again under various pretexts.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Orthodox and CTC tea are exported from Nepal to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">22</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> countries of the world including India. While Orthodox goes to India and third countries, CTC tea's main market is India. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Businessmen say that the Government of Nepal should sign an agreement with the Indian government to create an environment where there will be no obstacles in the export of CTC tea. They say that unless this is done, domestic tea producers and businessmen cannot be sustain their business.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shiva Kumar Gupta, general secretary of Nepal Tea Producers Association said that Nepali CTC tea cannot be easily exported to the Indian market due to the conditions imposed by India including lab testing.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"This year, tea export has decreased. So, the farmers and businessmen are forced to store ready-made tea in warehouses,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the data of the Department of Customs, tea worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.79 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion was exported from Nepal in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2077/78 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">and Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.43 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2078/79. </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the year </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2079/80</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, a total of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">165</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">949 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">metric tons of tea worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">93 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion were exported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19636', 'image' => '20240107010049_Tea.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 13:00:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19908', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank to Support Road Construction in Mechinagar', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: The government is preparing to construct blacktopped roads at Shahidmarga and Suryodayamarga in Mechinagar under the 'Urban Governance and Infrastructure Project' supported by the World Bank. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 7: The government is preparing to construct blacktopped roads at Shahidmarga and Suryodayamarga in Mechinagar under the 'Urban Governance and Infrastructure Project' supported by the World Bank. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Member of the House of Representatives, Bishwo Prakash Sharma said that the World Bank will invest Rs 1.03 billion for the road construction which will help in the development of two important urban areas – Dhulabari and Kakadbhitta. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It may be noted that the Government of Nepal has already made a decision to implement 'Urban Governance and Infrastructure Project' in 33 local units of seven provinces. In this connection, the World Bank had signed an agreement to provide a concessional loan of USD 1.5 billion (around Rs 200 billion) to the Government of Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepali Congress (NC) general secretary and lawmaker from Jhapa constieuncy-1 Sharma shared the World Bank has provided a loan of USD 7.8 million (over Rs 1 billion) for the construction of two roads with a total length of 14 kilometers in Mechinagar of Jhapa constituency-1 under the project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The roads will be constructed under the leadership of local governments. As per the agreement with the World bank, both the roads should be constructed by 15 July 2025. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19635', 'image' => '20240107124437_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 12:43:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19907', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Black Cardamom Increases Threefold ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => ' January 7: The price of black cardamom has increased by three folds this season, bringing happiness to the farmers.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"> January 7: The price of black cardamom has increased by three folds this season, bringing happiness to the farmers. Black cardamom is now being sold at the highest price in the past four years. Trader Jeevan Pandey said that the price of black cardamom.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Black cardamom is now being sold at the highest price in the past four years. Trader Jeevan Pandey said that the price of black cardamom has increased by almost three folds than last year. The price was Rs 28,000 per quintal last year but good quality of black cardamom is now being sold at Rs 85,000 per quintal. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">According to Pandey, the price of black cardamom has increased this year because there is not enough black cardamom as per its demand in the international market. Biren Shereng of Suryodaya municipality-1 has cultivated black cardamom in an area of about 100 ropanis of land. He says he produces 27 to 30 metric tons of black cardamom annually and saves at least one million rupees. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">The income of black cardamom farmers of Ilam have started to increase with the use of modern farming system. This year, 1,325 metric tons of black cardamom has been produced in the district. This is 7.96 percent more than the previous year. According to Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Ilam, black cardamom is cultivated in 1,753 hectares of land in the district. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">According to Runa Khadka, an employee of the Centre, 1,215.26 metric tons of cardamom was produced last year when it was cultivated in 1,755 hectares. Though cardamom plantations have decreased, production and productivity have increased this year. Khadka said that the productivity per hectare was 0.69 last year which increased to 0.75 per hectare in the current year. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">In Ilam, black cardamom is grown in all the 10 local levels including six rural municipalities and four municipalities. However, it is more extensive in Maijogmai and Sandakpur rural municipalities. Cardamom is grown at an altitude of 700 to 2100 meters above the sea level. -- RSS</span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19634', 'image' => '20240107102608_BlackCardamom.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 10:20:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19906', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Country's Economy Improving: FM Mahat', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat has urged industrialists and entrepreneurs to free themselves from negative perspectives. He asserted country's economy is improving.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 7: Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat has urged industrialists and entrepreneurs to free themselves from negative perspectives. He asserted country's economy is improving.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Inaugurating the 57th annual general meeting of the Chitwan Chamber of Commerce, Finance Minister laid emphasis on the need of doing business with positive thinking.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Mahat mentioned that foreign investors had started showing interest to invest in Nepal with positive sign of improvement in economy. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister Mahat wondered, "How can country's economy improve if industrialists and entrepreneurs harbour negative thought."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Though problems of economy have not been resolved completely, there are now some improvements as compared to the past, he shared, admitting that country's economy is under pressure, not at problems. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He further argued, "The country's economy faced pressure after Nepal Rastra Bank imposed a strict monetary policy reasoning that banks invested in share market and real estate." </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The monetary policy is being relaxed gradually to ease the economic activities, Mahat said. (RSS) </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19633', 'image' => '20240107063528_collage (3).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 06:33:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19905', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UN Report Predicts Slower Global Economic Growth for 2024 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 6: Global economic growth is projected to slow down from an estimated 2.7 percent in 2023 to 2.4 percent in 2024, according to the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects 2024 report, launched on Thursday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 6: Global economic growth is projected to slow down from an estimated 2.7 percent in 2023 to 2.4 percent in 2024, according to the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects 2024 report, launched on Thursday. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Weakening global trade, high borrowing costs, elevated public debt, persistently low investment, and mounting geopolitical tensions put global growth at risk, says the report. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Growth in many developed economies, especially the United States, is projected to decelerate in 2024 given high interest rates, slowing consumer spending and weaker labor markets. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The short-term growth prospects for many developing countries, particularly in East Asia, Western Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, are also deteriorating because of tighter financial conditions, shrinking fiscal space and sluggish external demand. Low-income and vulnerable economies are facing increasing balance-of-payments pressures and debt sustainability risks. Economic prospects for small-island developing states, in particular, will be constrained by heavy debt burdens, high interest rates and increasing climate-related vulnerabilities, says the report. -- Xinhua/RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-06', 'modified' => '2024-01-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19632', 'image' => '20240106112613_unWESP_2024_Quote_SG_English-838x476.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-06 11:25:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19904', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Global Food Prices Drop 13.7% in 2023: FAO', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 6: World food prices fell in 2023, with considerable declines for grains and oils as supply concerns eased, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday.', 'content' => '<table style="width:100.0%"> <tbody> <tr> <td> <table align="center" style="width:100.0%"> <tbody> <tr> <td> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">January 6:</span></span><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""> </span></span></strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">World food prices fell in 2023, with considerable declines for grains and oils as supply concerns eased, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Overall, world food commodity prices fell 13.7 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year, Rome-based FAO said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">The FAO's cereals price index fell 15.4 percent last year, "reflecting well supplied global markets" compared to 2022, when prices soared after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a major grain exporter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">While supply concerns eased for wheat and maize, the opposite was true for rice due to the impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon and India restricting exports. Rice prices jumped 21 percent last year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">The vegetable oil price index posted the biggest fall last year, dropping 32.7 percent, thanks to improved supplies and reduced use for biofuel production.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Sugar prices, on the contrary, jumped 26.7 percent overall last year, though they retreated from their highs in December thanks to Brazil stepping up exports and reduced use for biofuels.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">While the FAO's overall index dropped, consumer food prices in many countries are rising considerably and often faster than the overall inflation rate. The FAO's index measures commodity market prices, with a certain delay on consumer prices, which are also affected by energy and labour costs during processing and distribution. – AFP/RSS</span></span></span></span></p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-06', 'modified' => '2024-01-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19631', 'image' => '20240106112122_20231014073446_image1.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-06 11:18:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19901', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Agrees to Buy 10,000 MW of Electricity from Nepal Regardless of who Produces it: PM', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has expressed his commitment that the incumbent government will not enter into any agreement that is detrimental to the national interest.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has expressed his commitment that the incumbent government will not enter into any agreement that is detrimental to the national interest. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The prime minister made such remarks during a meeting of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the House of Representatives on Friday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">He was responding to queries made by the lawmakers regarding his meeting with India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the agreements Nepal signed with India on Thursday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Prime Minister Dahal clarified that India alone will not take a final decision on projects worth up to Rs 200 million for which it has signed agreement to invest in Nepal. According to Dahal, Nepal's decision and participation will also be taken into consideration while implementing the decision.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">“The most important thing is that India has agreed to purchase 10,000 megawatts of electricity in 10 years regardless of who produces it. You don’t need to harbor any doubt. The implementation of the agreement is in the best interest of Nepal,” said Dahal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">It may be noted that India had earlier raised objection to purchase electricity produced in Nepal with Chinese investment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Responding to the questions of the MPs that the Indian Foreign Minister was quite interested in the visit of a Chinese delegation to Nepal, the prime minister said, “He did not utter a word about it even in the 'one-to-one' meeting as well as the joint meeting.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-05', 'modified' => '2024-01-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19630', 'image' => '20240105030928_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-05 15:08:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19900', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘Electricity Export Agreement with India a Milestone in Power Trade’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has claimed that the long-term agreement between Nepal and India on electricity export was a milestone from the perspective of power trade. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has claimed that the long-term agreement between Nepal and India on electricity export was a milestone from the perspective of power trade. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Inaugurating the administrative building of Sunapati Rural Municipality of Ramechhap on Thursday, PM Dahal expressed the hope that the long-term pact on power trade signed during the visit of Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to Nepal would help the country to make significant shift in power trade. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sharing that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed for exporting 10,000 MW electricity to India in 10 years during his visit to India last year, PM Dahal further said the signing of the long-term agreement has opened up avenues for power trade. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"This is an achievement in itself. It has opened the doors for power trade with India and Bangladesh," he said, adding, "Electricity will also be exported to Bangladesh by using the Indian grid." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On a different note, PM Dahal said the ruling coalition has realized the need of national consensus to ensure effective operation of the parliament and conclude the transitional justice related works. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-05', 'modified' => '2024-01-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19629', 'image' => '20240105024225_electricity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-05 14:41:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19903', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ninth Nepal Wood International Expo begins in Bhrikutimandap ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 5: The Ninth Nepal Wood International Expo, 2024 commenced in Bhrikutimandap on Friday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 5: The Ninth Nepal Wood International Expo, 2024 commenced in Bhrikutimandap on Friday. The three-day event is being jointly organised by Media Space Solutions Pvt Ltd and India's Futurex Trade Fair and Events Pvt Ltd. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The organisers said this expo is Nepal's largest exhibition of wood and woodcraft machinery, furniture production technologies, tools and fittings, interior design, accessories, raw materials and products. It aims to inform visitors about the latest furniture products and new technologies used in furniture industry. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Media Space Solutions managing director Sirjal Bhattarai said furniture companies from Nepal, India, China, Taiwan, and Malaysia are taking part in the fair. The expo will conclude on Sunday. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-05', 'modified' => '2024-01-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19628', 'image' => '20240105031932_wood.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-05 15:18:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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A programme was organized at a hotel in Pulchowk, Lalitpur, to honor and award employees.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 8: Himalayan Everest Insurance Limited has honoured and awarded 16 outstanding employees for achieving business goals. A programme was organized at a hotel in Pulchowk, Lalitpur, to honor and award employees.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Company’s Chairman Mahendra Krishna Shrestha, directors, Chief Executive Officer Bijay Bahadur Shah, among others, were present in the programme. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In an effort to establish itself as a prominent player in Nepal's insurance market, Himalayan Everest Insurance Company has been making progress in various economic indicators.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the event, CEO Bijay Bahadur Shah praised and congratulated the honoured employees, expressing his continuous inspiration and support for the company's employees. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman Mahendra Krishna Shrestha assured that they would extend any level of support and inspiration to the employees to achieve the insurance’s business objectives. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Govind Khadka and Muna Thapa, honoured employees at the event, said that they felt more responsible and expressed enthusiasm to accomplish company’s goals. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-08', 'modified' => '2024-01-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19644', 'image' => '20240108055304_collage (5).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-08 05:48:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19916', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Lawmakers Suggest NPC to Plan only Feasible Projects ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: The members of the House of Representatives (HoR) have suggested the National Planning Commission (NPC) to plan only projects that can be implemented. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 7: The members of the House of Representatives (HoR) have suggested the National Planning Commission (NPC) to plan only projects that can be implemented. The development projects should be planned on the basis of need and relevance, they reminded. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a meeting of the finance committee on draft of the 16th five-year plan on Sunday, the lawmakers urged NPC to review the 15th five-year plan and make the next periodic plan accordingly. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Former finance minister and committee member Bishnu Prasad Paudel said that the NPC should have autonomy to select and decide projects. He however said a separate law is imperative to direct the planning commission. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Lawmaker Padam Giri stressed whether the 15th periodic plan was assessed effectively before drafting the new one. Strengthening of national economy by making it self-reliant and creating jobs should be prioritized, he added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Surya Bahadur Thapa opined that the plan needs to be objective and practical. The plan must not be whimsical, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Purna Bahadur Tamang demanded that every province be allocated Rs 1 billion budget for medication of the poor people.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Narayan Prasad Acharya also pointed out the need for creating atmosphere for NPC's autonomy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Biraj Bhakta Shrestha emphasized the need assessment and relativity in course of formulating periodic plan. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Mukta Kumari Yadav's suggestion was to align the 16th periodic plan with sustainable development goals (SDGs) as time for achieving SDG targets was fleeting. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, promotion of industries, tourism, agriculture, education and health are points to mull in the next arrangements, according to Ganga Karki. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Metmani Chaudhari focused job creation, trade balance and poverty alleviation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Chairman of the National Planning Commission, Dr Min Bahadur Shrestha, shared that the new plan was drafted based on the previous practices and with adequate review. He assured that precise and practical plans would be prioritized. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the broader goal of 'good governance, social justice and prosperity', the 16th plan has aimed at building good governance at political, administrative, judicial, private and non-government fronts; while social justice would be established in the sectors of health, education, employment, housing and others, thereby ensuring prosperity in the human life and national economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The current 15th five-year plan is being implemented until this fiscal year, 2023/24. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19641', 'image' => '20240107105806_Parliament.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 22:57:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19913', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gov to Prepare Procedure to Implement Projects up to Rs 200 Million under Indian Grant', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: The government has decided to mobilize the subsidy of Rs 200 million pledged by India only after making a work procedure to spend the grant amount.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 7: The government has decided to mobilize the subsidy of Rs 200 million pledged by India only after making a work procedure to spend the grant amount.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Finance, although there is a provision that India can directly invest in the projects up to Rs 200 million, the government will draft a procedure to implementation this provision. The procedure will designate areas of investment and a monitoring mechanism will also be formed. The agreement clearly states that India should get approval from the Ministry of Finance of the Federal Government before starting any development project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“There is no reason to doubt as there is a clear arrangement in the agreement itself. However, the project will be implemented after drafting a procedure,” said a senior official of the Ministry of Finance. According to the Ministry of Finance, the maximum budget limit of each project to be implemented under this project, which is funded by India, will be Rs 200 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the agreement signed during the recent visit of India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration will study the proposals received from the local level and other government agencies and recommend the projects to the Ministry of Finance for receiving grants from India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Even in the case of projects to be implemented by non-governmental organizations, the Ministry of Finance will have to give consent based on the recommendations of the related ministries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">There is also a provision to approve the project only after obtaining the approval of the Social Welfare Council. The approved project will be implemented by including it in the budget of the local level through a tripartite agreement between the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, the implementing agency and the Indian Embassy. Generally, there is a provision that rural municipalities have to contribute 5 per cent and municipalities 10 per cent in the project run with Indian grants. In special cases, there is also a provision not to contribute such funds. The duration of the agreement will be five years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Dr Krishna Hari Pushkar on behalf of the Government of Nepal and Navin Srivastava, the Indian ambassador to Nepal, on behalf of India, signed a memorandum of understanding last week so that India can directly provide grants to projects worth up to Rs 200 million in Nepal. Critics argue that this will increase Indian interference.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">CPN (UML) MP Raghuji Pant objected to this agreement with India and said that the tendency to spend at will is against the independence and sovereignty of Nepal, and it will cause unwanted political influence and interference in the country. According to him, Nepal should reconsider this agreement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on December 7 had decided to accept India’s grant for the implementation of the High Impact Community Development Project (HICDP). This program, which is being funded by India was previously run under the name of 'Small Development Project' (SDP). Under this program, the Indian Embassy has been investing in projects by selecting the project itself.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The then Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa had first approved such a project in 2003. At that time, the government had arranged the Indian embassy to directly invest in projects worth up to Rs 30 million. Later, when Baburam Bhattarai was the prime minister, the amount was increased to Rs 50 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The cabinet meeting held on December 23, 2019 decided to change the name of the Small Development Project Program to High Impact Community Development Project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Indian Embassy, India has so far invested in more than 550 projects through the High Impact Community Development Project, which started in 2003. Likewise, 974 ambulances have been distributed to various health institutions and 234 buses to educational institutions under this initiative.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19640', 'image' => '20240107044104_PRO_KTM-6F8A0253.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 16:40:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19912', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Insurance Business Shows Sign of Improvement', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: The business of insurance companies, which was affected by the decline in economic activities, has started to improve.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 7: The business of insurance companies, which was affected by the decline in economic activities, has started to improve. The business of life and non-life insurance companies, which had declined in the initial months of the current fiscal year, has shown improvement by mid-December.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data of Nepal Insurance Authority, by mid-December, life insurance companies collected a total of Rs 12.31 billion from first insurance fee and renewal fee. By mid-October, they had collected Rs 8.63 billion in insurance fees. Similarly, by mid-December of the current fiscal year, they collected a total of Rs 61.74 billion in insurance fees.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In mid-November to mid-December, the life insurance companies did business worth Rs 2.34 billion. For this, they sold 433000 new insurance policies. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The business of non-life insurance companies also seems to have increased by around Rs 700 million. The authority informed that the life insurance companies collected Rs 2.28 billion in insurance premiums between mid-October to mid-November, which increased to Rs 2.99 billion in mid-November to mid-December. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the economic recession, the business of insurance companies was affected as the credit flow of banks and financial institutions decreased as well as the commercial activities were affected. However, the recent improvement in economic activities has had a positive effect on the insurance companies’ business. With the improvement in remittance inflow, more liquidity has been seen in banks and financial institutions. As a result, banks have reduced interest rates and emphasized on lending. Nepal Rastra Bank adopted a flexible policy through the review of the monetary policy saying that there has been an improvement in the indicators of the economy. NRB has announced in its macroeconomic and financial situation report that the external and internal indicators of the economy are in a strong state. It also reduced the policy rate. Similarly, the central bank has shown flexibility in lending in areas such as real estate, vehicles, shares etc. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the credit flow of banks and financial institutions had decreased due to recession and the business activities of insurance companies were affected. Since insurance is mandatory to take a loan from the bank, the lack of loan investment had also affected the business of the insurance companies. Insurers say that the increase in lending from banks and financial institutions will also have a positive effect on the business of insurance companies.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19639', 'image' => '20240107041521_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 16:14:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19911', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Sheds 26.36 Points to Close at 2022.92', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index experienced a decline of 26.36 points or 1.28%, closing at 2022.92 points on the first trading day of the week on Sunday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">January 7: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index experienced a decline of 26.36 points or 1.28%, closing at 2022.92 points on the first trading day of the week on Sunday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Throughout today's trading session, a total of 304 scrips were exchanged in 98,632 transactions. The trading activity involved 15,268,399 units of shares, contributing to an overall turnover of Rs 5.24 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Seasoned investors and stock analysts attributed the day's fall to pressure associated with the end of the quarter. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Investor Prem Oli expressed confidence that the market would regain its upward momentum once the quarter-end pressure subsides.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sonapur Minerals and Oil Limited (SONA) recorded the highest turnover of Rs 28 crores, concluding at a market price of Rs 498 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Meanwhile, Terhathum Power Company (TPC) achieved the highest gain of 10%, hitting the positive circuit for the day and closing at a market price of Rs 426 per share.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Conversely, Manushi Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (MLBS) incurred the most significant loss at 6.69%, concluding at a market price of Rs 710 per share.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors landed in negative territory, except for the Hydropower Index, which recorded a gain of 1.03%.</span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> The Life Insurance sector experienced the most substantial loss at 2.40%, while the Mutual Fund sector posted a minimal loss of 0.03%.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19638', 'image' => '20240107041154_collage (14).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 16:10:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19910', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal and India Agree on Strengthening Power Transmission System ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: Nepal and India have agreed for cooperation on eight different issues related to energy sector. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 7: Nepal and India have agreed for cooperation on eight different issues related to energy sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The 11th meeting of Nepal-India Energy Secretary-level Joint Steering Committee that concluded in Chitwan on Sunday has agreed on of strengthening the electricity transmission system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nabin Raj Singh, joint secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, said the meeting discussed various agenda prepared by the Joint-secretary level Joint Taskforce. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Gopal Prasad Sigdel, and Secretary at India's Ministry of Energy, Pankaj Agrawal, co-chaired the meeting. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">However, most of the topics agreed upon shall be finalized by technical groups, as these agreements are concerned more with technical issues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting made decision on principle only since most of the topics are more technical, according to the Nepali officials attending the meeting. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Both sides have agreed on expanding the capacity of the Dhalkebar-Mujaffarpur Inter-country Transmission Line to 1,000 megawatts. The two sides agreed to construct the required infrastructures at Dhalkebar sub-station for this purpose. At present, the export and import of 800 megawatts electricity is taking place from this transmission line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A Joint Technical Committee will study and make necessary decision on the topic of utilizing this transmission line in its maximum capacity. Nepal has also been paying the transmission fees for utilizing the full capacity of this transmission line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the Joint Technical Committee shall also take the necessary decision regarding determining the capacity of electricity that can be transmitted via the Dhalkebar-Sitamadhi 400-kV transmission line being constructed by the Indian company, Satluj Vidhyut Nigam. The Indian company is constructing this transmission line for exporting electricity to be produced from the Arun III Hydropower Project. This company, which is constructing the Arun-III project, has also taken responsibility for constructing other projects as well. It will take long until these projects are completed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the meeting has agreed that the Joint Technical Committee will conduct a study on the feasibility of exporting power up to 200 megawatts through the 132 kV Tanakpur Mahendranagar transmission line or other high-voltage capacity transmission lines. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting has approved the process and procedure on electricity export and import between Nepal and India during the monsoon via the existing transmission lines of 132 kV capacity or less by using the power transmission system of the neighbouring Indian states. These process and procedure were prepared by the Central Electricity Authority of India in coordination with Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and other agencies of India. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Discussions were also held for a separate tripartite agreement, in accordance with the Power Import and Export Guidelines of India, among NEA, the NTPC Vidhyut Vyapar Nigam of India and the Power Development Board of Bangladesh for export of 40 megawatts electricity from Nepal to Bangladesh by using India's transmission system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Based on this discussion, the necessary mechanism would be established for the three-nation partnership. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">These agreements related to transmission line and energy sector were reached in the context of Minister of External Affairs of India Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar's visit to Nepal on January 4 and 5. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Agreement Between the Government of Nepal and the Government of India on Long Term Power Trade was signed during the visit of Minister of External Affairs of India, opening the door for the export of 10,000 megawatts electricity to India from Nepal in 10 years. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19637', 'image' => '20240107030703_trans.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 15:05:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19909', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tea Export Declines by Rs 383 Million', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: Farmers and businessmen of Eastern Terai are worried due to the decline in the export of CTC tea. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">January 7: Farmers and businessmen of Eastern Terai are worried due to the decline in the export of CTC tea. Last year, at this time, they were busy exporting CTC tea. This year, CTC tea is being stored in the warehouses of farmers and businessmen. According to the Department of Customs, tea export has decreased this year compared to last year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In terms of monetary value, tea exports has shrunk by Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">383.8</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million in the first five months of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last FY.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the export volume has decreased by </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">28</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">83</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">182</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kg. In the first five months of the current year, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">71</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">82</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">348</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kg of tea worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> 87</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">has been exported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the decrease in exports and the lack of interest from Indian traders to buy tea from Nepal, farmers and businessmen are worried that tea will have to be stored in warehouses this year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Indian Tea Board has been blocking team imports from Nepal time and again under various pretexts.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Orthodox and CTC tea are exported from Nepal to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">22</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> countries of the world including India. While Orthodox goes to India and third countries, CTC tea's main market is India. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Businessmen say that the Government of Nepal should sign an agreement with the Indian government to create an environment where there will be no obstacles in the export of CTC tea. They say that unless this is done, domestic tea producers and businessmen cannot be sustain their business.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shiva Kumar Gupta, general secretary of Nepal Tea Producers Association said that Nepali CTC tea cannot be easily exported to the Indian market due to the conditions imposed by India including lab testing.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"This year, tea export has decreased. So, the farmers and businessmen are forced to store ready-made tea in warehouses,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the data of the Department of Customs, tea worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.79 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion was exported from Nepal in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2077/78 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">and Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.43 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2078/79. </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the year </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2079/80</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, a total of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">165</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">949 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">metric tons of tea worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">93 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion were exported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19636', 'image' => '20240107010049_Tea.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 13:00:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19908', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank to Support Road Construction in Mechinagar', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: The government is preparing to construct blacktopped roads at Shahidmarga and Suryodayamarga in Mechinagar under the 'Urban Governance and Infrastructure Project' supported by the World Bank. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 7: The government is preparing to construct blacktopped roads at Shahidmarga and Suryodayamarga in Mechinagar under the 'Urban Governance and Infrastructure Project' supported by the World Bank. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Member of the House of Representatives, Bishwo Prakash Sharma said that the World Bank will invest Rs 1.03 billion for the road construction which will help in the development of two important urban areas – Dhulabari and Kakadbhitta. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It may be noted that the Government of Nepal has already made a decision to implement 'Urban Governance and Infrastructure Project' in 33 local units of seven provinces. In this connection, the World Bank had signed an agreement to provide a concessional loan of USD 1.5 billion (around Rs 200 billion) to the Government of Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepali Congress (NC) general secretary and lawmaker from Jhapa constieuncy-1 Sharma shared the World Bank has provided a loan of USD 7.8 million (over Rs 1 billion) for the construction of two roads with a total length of 14 kilometers in Mechinagar of Jhapa constituency-1 under the project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The roads will be constructed under the leadership of local governments. As per the agreement with the World bank, both the roads should be constructed by 15 July 2025. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19635', 'image' => '20240107124437_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 12:43:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19907', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Black Cardamom Increases Threefold ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => ' January 7: The price of black cardamom has increased by three folds this season, bringing happiness to the farmers.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"> January 7: The price of black cardamom has increased by three folds this season, bringing happiness to the farmers. Black cardamom is now being sold at the highest price in the past four years. Trader Jeevan Pandey said that the price of black cardamom.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Black cardamom is now being sold at the highest price in the past four years. Trader Jeevan Pandey said that the price of black cardamom has increased by almost three folds than last year. The price was Rs 28,000 per quintal last year but good quality of black cardamom is now being sold at Rs 85,000 per quintal. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">According to Pandey, the price of black cardamom has increased this year because there is not enough black cardamom as per its demand in the international market. Biren Shereng of Suryodaya municipality-1 has cultivated black cardamom in an area of about 100 ropanis of land. He says he produces 27 to 30 metric tons of black cardamom annually and saves at least one million rupees. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">The income of black cardamom farmers of Ilam have started to increase with the use of modern farming system. This year, 1,325 metric tons of black cardamom has been produced in the district. This is 7.96 percent more than the previous year. According to Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Ilam, black cardamom is cultivated in 1,753 hectares of land in the district. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">According to Runa Khadka, an employee of the Centre, 1,215.26 metric tons of cardamom was produced last year when it was cultivated in 1,755 hectares. Though cardamom plantations have decreased, production and productivity have increased this year. Khadka said that the productivity per hectare was 0.69 last year which increased to 0.75 per hectare in the current year. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">In Ilam, black cardamom is grown in all the 10 local levels including six rural municipalities and four municipalities. However, it is more extensive in Maijogmai and Sandakpur rural municipalities. Cardamom is grown at an altitude of 700 to 2100 meters above the sea level. -- RSS</span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19634', 'image' => '20240107102608_BlackCardamom.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 10:20:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19906', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Country's Economy Improving: FM Mahat', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat has urged industrialists and entrepreneurs to free themselves from negative perspectives. He asserted country's economy is improving.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 7: Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat has urged industrialists and entrepreneurs to free themselves from negative perspectives. He asserted country's economy is improving.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Inaugurating the 57th annual general meeting of the Chitwan Chamber of Commerce, Finance Minister laid emphasis on the need of doing business with positive thinking.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Mahat mentioned that foreign investors had started showing interest to invest in Nepal with positive sign of improvement in economy. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister Mahat wondered, "How can country's economy improve if industrialists and entrepreneurs harbour negative thought."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Though problems of economy have not been resolved completely, there are now some improvements as compared to the past, he shared, admitting that country's economy is under pressure, not at problems. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He further argued, "The country's economy faced pressure after Nepal Rastra Bank imposed a strict monetary policy reasoning that banks invested in share market and real estate." </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The monetary policy is being relaxed gradually to ease the economic activities, Mahat said. (RSS) </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19633', 'image' => '20240107063528_collage (3).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 06:33:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19905', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UN Report Predicts Slower Global Economic Growth for 2024 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 6: Global economic growth is projected to slow down from an estimated 2.7 percent in 2023 to 2.4 percent in 2024, according to the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects 2024 report, launched on Thursday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 6: Global economic growth is projected to slow down from an estimated 2.7 percent in 2023 to 2.4 percent in 2024, according to the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects 2024 report, launched on Thursday. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Weakening global trade, high borrowing costs, elevated public debt, persistently low investment, and mounting geopolitical tensions put global growth at risk, says the report. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Growth in many developed economies, especially the United States, is projected to decelerate in 2024 given high interest rates, slowing consumer spending and weaker labor markets. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The short-term growth prospects for many developing countries, particularly in East Asia, Western Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, are also deteriorating because of tighter financial conditions, shrinking fiscal space and sluggish external demand. Low-income and vulnerable economies are facing increasing balance-of-payments pressures and debt sustainability risks. Economic prospects for small-island developing states, in particular, will be constrained by heavy debt burdens, high interest rates and increasing climate-related vulnerabilities, says the report. -- Xinhua/RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-06', 'modified' => '2024-01-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19632', 'image' => '20240106112613_unWESP_2024_Quote_SG_English-838x476.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-06 11:25:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19904', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Global Food Prices Drop 13.7% in 2023: FAO', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 6: World food prices fell in 2023, with considerable declines for grains and oils as supply concerns eased, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday.', 'content' => '<table style="width:100.0%"> <tbody> <tr> <td> <table align="center" style="width:100.0%"> <tbody> <tr> <td> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">January 6:</span></span><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""> </span></span></strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">World food prices fell in 2023, with considerable declines for grains and oils as supply concerns eased, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Overall, world food commodity prices fell 13.7 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year, Rome-based FAO said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">The FAO's cereals price index fell 15.4 percent last year, "reflecting well supplied global markets" compared to 2022, when prices soared after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a major grain exporter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">While supply concerns eased for wheat and maize, the opposite was true for rice due to the impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon and India restricting exports. Rice prices jumped 21 percent last year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">The vegetable oil price index posted the biggest fall last year, dropping 32.7 percent, thanks to improved supplies and reduced use for biofuel production.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Sugar prices, on the contrary, jumped 26.7 percent overall last year, though they retreated from their highs in December thanks to Brazil stepping up exports and reduced use for biofuels.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">While the FAO's overall index dropped, consumer food prices in many countries are rising considerably and often faster than the overall inflation rate. The FAO's index measures commodity market prices, with a certain delay on consumer prices, which are also affected by energy and labour costs during processing and distribution. – AFP/RSS</span></span></span></span></p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-06', 'modified' => '2024-01-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19631', 'image' => '20240106112122_20231014073446_image1.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-06 11:18:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19901', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Agrees to Buy 10,000 MW of Electricity from Nepal Regardless of who Produces it: PM', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has expressed his commitment that the incumbent government will not enter into any agreement that is detrimental to the national interest.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has expressed his commitment that the incumbent government will not enter into any agreement that is detrimental to the national interest. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The prime minister made such remarks during a meeting of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the House of Representatives on Friday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">He was responding to queries made by the lawmakers regarding his meeting with India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the agreements Nepal signed with India on Thursday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Prime Minister Dahal clarified that India alone will not take a final decision on projects worth up to Rs 200 million for which it has signed agreement to invest in Nepal. According to Dahal, Nepal's decision and participation will also be taken into consideration while implementing the decision.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">“The most important thing is that India has agreed to purchase 10,000 megawatts of electricity in 10 years regardless of who produces it. You don’t need to harbor any doubt. The implementation of the agreement is in the best interest of Nepal,” said Dahal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">It may be noted that India had earlier raised objection to purchase electricity produced in Nepal with Chinese investment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Responding to the questions of the MPs that the Indian Foreign Minister was quite interested in the visit of a Chinese delegation to Nepal, the prime minister said, “He did not utter a word about it even in the 'one-to-one' meeting as well as the joint meeting.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-05', 'modified' => '2024-01-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19630', 'image' => '20240105030928_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-05 15:08:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19900', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘Electricity Export Agreement with India a Milestone in Power Trade’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has claimed that the long-term agreement between Nepal and India on electricity export was a milestone from the perspective of power trade. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has claimed that the long-term agreement between Nepal and India on electricity export was a milestone from the perspective of power trade. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Inaugurating the administrative building of Sunapati Rural Municipality of Ramechhap on Thursday, PM Dahal expressed the hope that the long-term pact on power trade signed during the visit of Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to Nepal would help the country to make significant shift in power trade. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sharing that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed for exporting 10,000 MW electricity to India in 10 years during his visit to India last year, PM Dahal further said the signing of the long-term agreement has opened up avenues for power trade. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"This is an achievement in itself. It has opened the doors for power trade with India and Bangladesh," he said, adding, "Electricity will also be exported to Bangladesh by using the Indian grid." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On a different note, PM Dahal said the ruling coalition has realized the need of national consensus to ensure effective operation of the parliament and conclude the transitional justice related works. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-05', 'modified' => '2024-01-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19629', 'image' => '20240105024225_electricity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-05 14:41:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19903', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ninth Nepal Wood International Expo begins in Bhrikutimandap ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 5: The Ninth Nepal Wood International Expo, 2024 commenced in Bhrikutimandap on Friday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 5: The Ninth Nepal Wood International Expo, 2024 commenced in Bhrikutimandap on Friday. The three-day event is being jointly organised by Media Space Solutions Pvt Ltd and India's Futurex Trade Fair and Events Pvt Ltd. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The organisers said this expo is Nepal's largest exhibition of wood and woodcraft machinery, furniture production technologies, tools and fittings, interior design, accessories, raw materials and products. It aims to inform visitors about the latest furniture products and new technologies used in furniture industry. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Media Space Solutions managing director Sirjal Bhattarai said furniture companies from Nepal, India, China, Taiwan, and Malaysia are taking part in the fair. The expo will conclude on Sunday. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-05', 'modified' => '2024-01-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19628', 'image' => '20240105031932_wood.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-05 15:18:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19917', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Himalayan Everest Insurance Honours Employees', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Himalayan Everest Insurance Limited has honoured and awarded 16 outstanding employees for achieving business goals. A programme was organized at a hotel in Pulchowk, Lalitpur, to honor and award employees.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 8: Himalayan Everest Insurance Limited has honoured and awarded 16 outstanding employees for achieving business goals. A programme was organized at a hotel in Pulchowk, Lalitpur, to honor and award employees.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Company’s Chairman Mahendra Krishna Shrestha, directors, Chief Executive Officer Bijay Bahadur Shah, among others, were present in the programme. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In an effort to establish itself as a prominent player in Nepal's insurance market, Himalayan Everest Insurance Company has been making progress in various economic indicators.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the event, CEO Bijay Bahadur Shah praised and congratulated the honoured employees, expressing his continuous inspiration and support for the company's employees. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman Mahendra Krishna Shrestha assured that they would extend any level of support and inspiration to the employees to achieve the insurance’s business objectives. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Govind Khadka and Muna Thapa, honoured employees at the event, said that they felt more responsible and expressed enthusiasm to accomplish company’s goals. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-08', 'modified' => '2024-01-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19644', 'image' => '20240108055304_collage (5).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-08 05:48:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19916', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Lawmakers Suggest NPC to Plan only Feasible Projects ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: The members of the House of Representatives (HoR) have suggested the National Planning Commission (NPC) to plan only projects that can be implemented. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 7: The members of the House of Representatives (HoR) have suggested the National Planning Commission (NPC) to plan only projects that can be implemented. The development projects should be planned on the basis of need and relevance, they reminded. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a meeting of the finance committee on draft of the 16th five-year plan on Sunday, the lawmakers urged NPC to review the 15th five-year plan and make the next periodic plan accordingly. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Former finance minister and committee member Bishnu Prasad Paudel said that the NPC should have autonomy to select and decide projects. He however said a separate law is imperative to direct the planning commission. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Lawmaker Padam Giri stressed whether the 15th periodic plan was assessed effectively before drafting the new one. Strengthening of national economy by making it self-reliant and creating jobs should be prioritized, he added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Surya Bahadur Thapa opined that the plan needs to be objective and practical. The plan must not be whimsical, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Purna Bahadur Tamang demanded that every province be allocated Rs 1 billion budget for medication of the poor people.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Narayan Prasad Acharya also pointed out the need for creating atmosphere for NPC's autonomy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Biraj Bhakta Shrestha emphasized the need assessment and relativity in course of formulating periodic plan. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Mukta Kumari Yadav's suggestion was to align the 16th periodic plan with sustainable development goals (SDGs) as time for achieving SDG targets was fleeting. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, promotion of industries, tourism, agriculture, education and health are points to mull in the next arrangements, according to Ganga Karki. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Metmani Chaudhari focused job creation, trade balance and poverty alleviation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Chairman of the National Planning Commission, Dr Min Bahadur Shrestha, shared that the new plan was drafted based on the previous practices and with adequate review. He assured that precise and practical plans would be prioritized. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the broader goal of 'good governance, social justice and prosperity', the 16th plan has aimed at building good governance at political, administrative, judicial, private and non-government fronts; while social justice would be established in the sectors of health, education, employment, housing and others, thereby ensuring prosperity in the human life and national economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The current 15th five-year plan is being implemented until this fiscal year, 2023/24. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19641', 'image' => '20240107105806_Parliament.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 22:57:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19913', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gov to Prepare Procedure to Implement Projects up to Rs 200 Million under Indian Grant', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: The government has decided to mobilize the subsidy of Rs 200 million pledged by India only after making a work procedure to spend the grant amount.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 7: The government has decided to mobilize the subsidy of Rs 200 million pledged by India only after making a work procedure to spend the grant amount.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Finance, although there is a provision that India can directly invest in the projects up to Rs 200 million, the government will draft a procedure to implementation this provision. The procedure will designate areas of investment and a monitoring mechanism will also be formed. The agreement clearly states that India should get approval from the Ministry of Finance of the Federal Government before starting any development project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“There is no reason to doubt as there is a clear arrangement in the agreement itself. However, the project will be implemented after drafting a procedure,” said a senior official of the Ministry of Finance. According to the Ministry of Finance, the maximum budget limit of each project to be implemented under this project, which is funded by India, will be Rs 200 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the agreement signed during the recent visit of India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration will study the proposals received from the local level and other government agencies and recommend the projects to the Ministry of Finance for receiving grants from India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Even in the case of projects to be implemented by non-governmental organizations, the Ministry of Finance will have to give consent based on the recommendations of the related ministries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">There is also a provision to approve the project only after obtaining the approval of the Social Welfare Council. The approved project will be implemented by including it in the budget of the local level through a tripartite agreement between the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, the implementing agency and the Indian Embassy. Generally, there is a provision that rural municipalities have to contribute 5 per cent and municipalities 10 per cent in the project run with Indian grants. In special cases, there is also a provision not to contribute such funds. The duration of the agreement will be five years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Dr Krishna Hari Pushkar on behalf of the Government of Nepal and Navin Srivastava, the Indian ambassador to Nepal, on behalf of India, signed a memorandum of understanding last week so that India can directly provide grants to projects worth up to Rs 200 million in Nepal. Critics argue that this will increase Indian interference.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">CPN (UML) MP Raghuji Pant objected to this agreement with India and said that the tendency to spend at will is against the independence and sovereignty of Nepal, and it will cause unwanted political influence and interference in the country. According to him, Nepal should reconsider this agreement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on December 7 had decided to accept India’s grant for the implementation of the High Impact Community Development Project (HICDP). This program, which is being funded by India was previously run under the name of 'Small Development Project' (SDP). Under this program, the Indian Embassy has been investing in projects by selecting the project itself.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The then Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa had first approved such a project in 2003. At that time, the government had arranged the Indian embassy to directly invest in projects worth up to Rs 30 million. Later, when Baburam Bhattarai was the prime minister, the amount was increased to Rs 50 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The cabinet meeting held on December 23, 2019 decided to change the name of the Small Development Project Program to High Impact Community Development Project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Indian Embassy, India has so far invested in more than 550 projects through the High Impact Community Development Project, which started in 2003. Likewise, 974 ambulances have been distributed to various health institutions and 234 buses to educational institutions under this initiative.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19640', 'image' => '20240107044104_PRO_KTM-6F8A0253.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 16:40:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19912', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Insurance Business Shows Sign of Improvement', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: The business of insurance companies, which was affected by the decline in economic activities, has started to improve.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 7: The business of insurance companies, which was affected by the decline in economic activities, has started to improve. The business of life and non-life insurance companies, which had declined in the initial months of the current fiscal year, has shown improvement by mid-December.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data of Nepal Insurance Authority, by mid-December, life insurance companies collected a total of Rs 12.31 billion from first insurance fee and renewal fee. By mid-October, they had collected Rs 8.63 billion in insurance fees. Similarly, by mid-December of the current fiscal year, they collected a total of Rs 61.74 billion in insurance fees.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In mid-November to mid-December, the life insurance companies did business worth Rs 2.34 billion. For this, they sold 433000 new insurance policies. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The business of non-life insurance companies also seems to have increased by around Rs 700 million. The authority informed that the life insurance companies collected Rs 2.28 billion in insurance premiums between mid-October to mid-November, which increased to Rs 2.99 billion in mid-November to mid-December. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the economic recession, the business of insurance companies was affected as the credit flow of banks and financial institutions decreased as well as the commercial activities were affected. However, the recent improvement in economic activities has had a positive effect on the insurance companies’ business. With the improvement in remittance inflow, more liquidity has been seen in banks and financial institutions. As a result, banks have reduced interest rates and emphasized on lending. Nepal Rastra Bank adopted a flexible policy through the review of the monetary policy saying that there has been an improvement in the indicators of the economy. NRB has announced in its macroeconomic and financial situation report that the external and internal indicators of the economy are in a strong state. It also reduced the policy rate. Similarly, the central bank has shown flexibility in lending in areas such as real estate, vehicles, shares etc. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the credit flow of banks and financial institutions had decreased due to recession and the business activities of insurance companies were affected. Since insurance is mandatory to take a loan from the bank, the lack of loan investment had also affected the business of the insurance companies. Insurers say that the increase in lending from banks and financial institutions will also have a positive effect on the business of insurance companies.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19639', 'image' => '20240107041521_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 16:14:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19911', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Sheds 26.36 Points to Close at 2022.92', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index experienced a decline of 26.36 points or 1.28%, closing at 2022.92 points on the first trading day of the week on Sunday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">January 7: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index experienced a decline of 26.36 points or 1.28%, closing at 2022.92 points on the first trading day of the week on Sunday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Throughout today's trading session, a total of 304 scrips were exchanged in 98,632 transactions. The trading activity involved 15,268,399 units of shares, contributing to an overall turnover of Rs 5.24 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Seasoned investors and stock analysts attributed the day's fall to pressure associated with the end of the quarter. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Investor Prem Oli expressed confidence that the market would regain its upward momentum once the quarter-end pressure subsides.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sonapur Minerals and Oil Limited (SONA) recorded the highest turnover of Rs 28 crores, concluding at a market price of Rs 498 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Meanwhile, Terhathum Power Company (TPC) achieved the highest gain of 10%, hitting the positive circuit for the day and closing at a market price of Rs 426 per share.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Conversely, Manushi Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (MLBS) incurred the most significant loss at 6.69%, concluding at a market price of Rs 710 per share.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors landed in negative territory, except for the Hydropower Index, which recorded a gain of 1.03%.</span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> The Life Insurance sector experienced the most substantial loss at 2.40%, while the Mutual Fund sector posted a minimal loss of 0.03%.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19638', 'image' => '20240107041154_collage (14).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 16:10:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19910', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal and India Agree on Strengthening Power Transmission System ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: Nepal and India have agreed for cooperation on eight different issues related to energy sector. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 7: Nepal and India have agreed for cooperation on eight different issues related to energy sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The 11th meeting of Nepal-India Energy Secretary-level Joint Steering Committee that concluded in Chitwan on Sunday has agreed on of strengthening the electricity transmission system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nabin Raj Singh, joint secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, said the meeting discussed various agenda prepared by the Joint-secretary level Joint Taskforce. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Gopal Prasad Sigdel, and Secretary at India's Ministry of Energy, Pankaj Agrawal, co-chaired the meeting. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">However, most of the topics agreed upon shall be finalized by technical groups, as these agreements are concerned more with technical issues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting made decision on principle only since most of the topics are more technical, according to the Nepali officials attending the meeting. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Both sides have agreed on expanding the capacity of the Dhalkebar-Mujaffarpur Inter-country Transmission Line to 1,000 megawatts. The two sides agreed to construct the required infrastructures at Dhalkebar sub-station for this purpose. At present, the export and import of 800 megawatts electricity is taking place from this transmission line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A Joint Technical Committee will study and make necessary decision on the topic of utilizing this transmission line in its maximum capacity. Nepal has also been paying the transmission fees for utilizing the full capacity of this transmission line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the Joint Technical Committee shall also take the necessary decision regarding determining the capacity of electricity that can be transmitted via the Dhalkebar-Sitamadhi 400-kV transmission line being constructed by the Indian company, Satluj Vidhyut Nigam. The Indian company is constructing this transmission line for exporting electricity to be produced from the Arun III Hydropower Project. This company, which is constructing the Arun-III project, has also taken responsibility for constructing other projects as well. It will take long until these projects are completed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the meeting has agreed that the Joint Technical Committee will conduct a study on the feasibility of exporting power up to 200 megawatts through the 132 kV Tanakpur Mahendranagar transmission line or other high-voltage capacity transmission lines. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting has approved the process and procedure on electricity export and import between Nepal and India during the monsoon via the existing transmission lines of 132 kV capacity or less by using the power transmission system of the neighbouring Indian states. These process and procedure were prepared by the Central Electricity Authority of India in coordination with Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and other agencies of India. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Discussions were also held for a separate tripartite agreement, in accordance with the Power Import and Export Guidelines of India, among NEA, the NTPC Vidhyut Vyapar Nigam of India and the Power Development Board of Bangladesh for export of 40 megawatts electricity from Nepal to Bangladesh by using India's transmission system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Based on this discussion, the necessary mechanism would be established for the three-nation partnership. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">These agreements related to transmission line and energy sector were reached in the context of Minister of External Affairs of India Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar's visit to Nepal on January 4 and 5. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Agreement Between the Government of Nepal and the Government of India on Long Term Power Trade was signed during the visit of Minister of External Affairs of India, opening the door for the export of 10,000 megawatts electricity to India from Nepal in 10 years. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19637', 'image' => '20240107030703_trans.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 15:05:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19909', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tea Export Declines by Rs 383 Million', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: Farmers and businessmen of Eastern Terai are worried due to the decline in the export of CTC tea. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">January 7: Farmers and businessmen of Eastern Terai are worried due to the decline in the export of CTC tea. Last year, at this time, they were busy exporting CTC tea. This year, CTC tea is being stored in the warehouses of farmers and businessmen. According to the Department of Customs, tea export has decreased this year compared to last year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In terms of monetary value, tea exports has shrunk by Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">383.8</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million in the first five months of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last FY.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the export volume has decreased by </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">28</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">83</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">182</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kg. In the first five months of the current year, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">71</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">82</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">348</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kg of tea worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> 87</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">has been exported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the decrease in exports and the lack of interest from Indian traders to buy tea from Nepal, farmers and businessmen are worried that tea will have to be stored in warehouses this year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Indian Tea Board has been blocking team imports from Nepal time and again under various pretexts.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Orthodox and CTC tea are exported from Nepal to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">22</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> countries of the world including India. While Orthodox goes to India and third countries, CTC tea's main market is India. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Businessmen say that the Government of Nepal should sign an agreement with the Indian government to create an environment where there will be no obstacles in the export of CTC tea. They say that unless this is done, domestic tea producers and businessmen cannot be sustain their business.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shiva Kumar Gupta, general secretary of Nepal Tea Producers Association said that Nepali CTC tea cannot be easily exported to the Indian market due to the conditions imposed by India including lab testing.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"This year, tea export has decreased. So, the farmers and businessmen are forced to store ready-made tea in warehouses,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the data of the Department of Customs, tea worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.79 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion was exported from Nepal in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2077/78 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">and Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.43 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2078/79. </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the year </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2079/80</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, a total of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">165</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">949 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">metric tons of tea worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">93 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion were exported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19636', 'image' => '20240107010049_Tea.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 13:00:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19908', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank to Support Road Construction in Mechinagar', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: The government is preparing to construct blacktopped roads at Shahidmarga and Suryodayamarga in Mechinagar under the 'Urban Governance and Infrastructure Project' supported by the World Bank. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 7: The government is preparing to construct blacktopped roads at Shahidmarga and Suryodayamarga in Mechinagar under the 'Urban Governance and Infrastructure Project' supported by the World Bank. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Member of the House of Representatives, Bishwo Prakash Sharma said that the World Bank will invest Rs 1.03 billion for the road construction which will help in the development of two important urban areas – Dhulabari and Kakadbhitta. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It may be noted that the Government of Nepal has already made a decision to implement 'Urban Governance and Infrastructure Project' in 33 local units of seven provinces. In this connection, the World Bank had signed an agreement to provide a concessional loan of USD 1.5 billion (around Rs 200 billion) to the Government of Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepali Congress (NC) general secretary and lawmaker from Jhapa constieuncy-1 Sharma shared the World Bank has provided a loan of USD 7.8 million (over Rs 1 billion) for the construction of two roads with a total length of 14 kilometers in Mechinagar of Jhapa constituency-1 under the project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The roads will be constructed under the leadership of local governments. As per the agreement with the World bank, both the roads should be constructed by 15 July 2025. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19635', 'image' => '20240107124437_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 12:43:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19907', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Black Cardamom Increases Threefold ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => ' January 7: The price of black cardamom has increased by three folds this season, bringing happiness to the farmers.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"> January 7: The price of black cardamom has increased by three folds this season, bringing happiness to the farmers. Black cardamom is now being sold at the highest price in the past four years. Trader Jeevan Pandey said that the price of black cardamom.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Black cardamom is now being sold at the highest price in the past four years. Trader Jeevan Pandey said that the price of black cardamom has increased by almost three folds than last year. The price was Rs 28,000 per quintal last year but good quality of black cardamom is now being sold at Rs 85,000 per quintal. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">According to Pandey, the price of black cardamom has increased this year because there is not enough black cardamom as per its demand in the international market. Biren Shereng of Suryodaya municipality-1 has cultivated black cardamom in an area of about 100 ropanis of land. He says he produces 27 to 30 metric tons of black cardamom annually and saves at least one million rupees. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">The income of black cardamom farmers of Ilam have started to increase with the use of modern farming system. This year, 1,325 metric tons of black cardamom has been produced in the district. This is 7.96 percent more than the previous year. According to Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Ilam, black cardamom is cultivated in 1,753 hectares of land in the district. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">According to Runa Khadka, an employee of the Centre, 1,215.26 metric tons of cardamom was produced last year when it was cultivated in 1,755 hectares. Though cardamom plantations have decreased, production and productivity have increased this year. Khadka said that the productivity per hectare was 0.69 last year which increased to 0.75 per hectare in the current year. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">In Ilam, black cardamom is grown in all the 10 local levels including six rural municipalities and four municipalities. However, it is more extensive in Maijogmai and Sandakpur rural municipalities. Cardamom is grown at an altitude of 700 to 2100 meters above the sea level. -- RSS</span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19634', 'image' => '20240107102608_BlackCardamom.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 10:20:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19906', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Country's Economy Improving: FM Mahat', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat has urged industrialists and entrepreneurs to free themselves from negative perspectives. He asserted country's economy is improving.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 7: Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat has urged industrialists and entrepreneurs to free themselves from negative perspectives. He asserted country's economy is improving.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Inaugurating the 57th annual general meeting of the Chitwan Chamber of Commerce, Finance Minister laid emphasis on the need of doing business with positive thinking.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Mahat mentioned that foreign investors had started showing interest to invest in Nepal with positive sign of improvement in economy. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister Mahat wondered, "How can country's economy improve if industrialists and entrepreneurs harbour negative thought."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Though problems of economy have not been resolved completely, there are now some improvements as compared to the past, he shared, admitting that country's economy is under pressure, not at problems. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He further argued, "The country's economy faced pressure after Nepal Rastra Bank imposed a strict monetary policy reasoning that banks invested in share market and real estate." </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The monetary policy is being relaxed gradually to ease the economic activities, Mahat said. (RSS) </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19633', 'image' => '20240107063528_collage (3).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 06:33:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19905', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UN Report Predicts Slower Global Economic Growth for 2024 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 6: Global economic growth is projected to slow down from an estimated 2.7 percent in 2023 to 2.4 percent in 2024, according to the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects 2024 report, launched on Thursday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 6: Global economic growth is projected to slow down from an estimated 2.7 percent in 2023 to 2.4 percent in 2024, according to the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects 2024 report, launched on Thursday. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Weakening global trade, high borrowing costs, elevated public debt, persistently low investment, and mounting geopolitical tensions put global growth at risk, says the report. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Growth in many developed economies, especially the United States, is projected to decelerate in 2024 given high interest rates, slowing consumer spending and weaker labor markets. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The short-term growth prospects for many developing countries, particularly in East Asia, Western Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, are also deteriorating because of tighter financial conditions, shrinking fiscal space and sluggish external demand. Low-income and vulnerable economies are facing increasing balance-of-payments pressures and debt sustainability risks. Economic prospects for small-island developing states, in particular, will be constrained by heavy debt burdens, high interest rates and increasing climate-related vulnerabilities, says the report. -- Xinhua/RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-06', 'modified' => '2024-01-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19632', 'image' => '20240106112613_unWESP_2024_Quote_SG_English-838x476.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-06 11:25:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19904', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Global Food Prices Drop 13.7% in 2023: FAO', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 6: World food prices fell in 2023, with considerable declines for grains and oils as supply concerns eased, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday.', 'content' => '<table style="width:100.0%"> <tbody> <tr> <td> <table align="center" style="width:100.0%"> <tbody> <tr> <td> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">January 6:</span></span><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""> </span></span></strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">World food prices fell in 2023, with considerable declines for grains and oils as supply concerns eased, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Overall, world food commodity prices fell 13.7 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year, Rome-based FAO said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">The FAO's cereals price index fell 15.4 percent last year, "reflecting well supplied global markets" compared to 2022, when prices soared after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a major grain exporter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">While supply concerns eased for wheat and maize, the opposite was true for rice due to the impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon and India restricting exports. Rice prices jumped 21 percent last year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">The vegetable oil price index posted the biggest fall last year, dropping 32.7 percent, thanks to improved supplies and reduced use for biofuel production.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Sugar prices, on the contrary, jumped 26.7 percent overall last year, though they retreated from their highs in December thanks to Brazil stepping up exports and reduced use for biofuels.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">While the FAO's overall index dropped, consumer food prices in many countries are rising considerably and often faster than the overall inflation rate. The FAO's index measures commodity market prices, with a certain delay on consumer prices, which are also affected by energy and labour costs during processing and distribution. – AFP/RSS</span></span></span></span></p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-06', 'modified' => '2024-01-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19631', 'image' => '20240106112122_20231014073446_image1.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-06 11:18:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19901', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Agrees to Buy 10,000 MW of Electricity from Nepal Regardless of who Produces it: PM', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has expressed his commitment that the incumbent government will not enter into any agreement that is detrimental to the national interest.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has expressed his commitment that the incumbent government will not enter into any agreement that is detrimental to the national interest. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The prime minister made such remarks during a meeting of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the House of Representatives on Friday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">He was responding to queries made by the lawmakers regarding his meeting with India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the agreements Nepal signed with India on Thursday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Prime Minister Dahal clarified that India alone will not take a final decision on projects worth up to Rs 200 million for which it has signed agreement to invest in Nepal. According to Dahal, Nepal's decision and participation will also be taken into consideration while implementing the decision.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">“The most important thing is that India has agreed to purchase 10,000 megawatts of electricity in 10 years regardless of who produces it. You don’t need to harbor any doubt. The implementation of the agreement is in the best interest of Nepal,” said Dahal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">It may be noted that India had earlier raised objection to purchase electricity produced in Nepal with Chinese investment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Responding to the questions of the MPs that the Indian Foreign Minister was quite interested in the visit of a Chinese delegation to Nepal, the prime minister said, “He did not utter a word about it even in the 'one-to-one' meeting as well as the joint meeting.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-05', 'modified' => '2024-01-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19630', 'image' => '20240105030928_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-05 15:08:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19900', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘Electricity Export Agreement with India a Milestone in Power Trade’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has claimed that the long-term agreement between Nepal and India on electricity export was a milestone from the perspective of power trade. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has claimed that the long-term agreement between Nepal and India on electricity export was a milestone from the perspective of power trade. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Inaugurating the administrative building of Sunapati Rural Municipality of Ramechhap on Thursday, PM Dahal expressed the hope that the long-term pact on power trade signed during the visit of Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to Nepal would help the country to make significant shift in power trade. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sharing that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed for exporting 10,000 MW electricity to India in 10 years during his visit to India last year, PM Dahal further said the signing of the long-term agreement has opened up avenues for power trade. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"This is an achievement in itself. It has opened the doors for power trade with India and Bangladesh," he said, adding, "Electricity will also be exported to Bangladesh by using the Indian grid." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On a different note, PM Dahal said the ruling coalition has realized the need of national consensus to ensure effective operation of the parliament and conclude the transitional justice related works. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-05', 'modified' => '2024-01-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19629', 'image' => '20240105024225_electricity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-05 14:41:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19903', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ninth Nepal Wood International Expo begins in Bhrikutimandap ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 5: The Ninth Nepal Wood International Expo, 2024 commenced in Bhrikutimandap on Friday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 5: The Ninth Nepal Wood International Expo, 2024 commenced in Bhrikutimandap on Friday. The three-day event is being jointly organised by Media Space Solutions Pvt Ltd and India's Futurex Trade Fair and Events Pvt Ltd. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The organisers said this expo is Nepal's largest exhibition of wood and woodcraft machinery, furniture production technologies, tools and fittings, interior design, accessories, raw materials and products. It aims to inform visitors about the latest furniture products and new technologies used in furniture industry. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Media Space Solutions managing director Sirjal Bhattarai said furniture companies from Nepal, India, China, Taiwan, and Malaysia are taking part in the fair. The expo will conclude on Sunday. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-05', 'modified' => '2024-01-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19628', 'image' => '20240105031932_wood.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-05 15:18:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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A programme was organized at a hotel in Pulchowk, Lalitpur, to honor and award employees.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 8: Himalayan Everest Insurance Limited has honoured and awarded 16 outstanding employees for achieving business goals. A programme was organized at a hotel in Pulchowk, Lalitpur, to honor and award employees.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Company’s Chairman Mahendra Krishna Shrestha, directors, Chief Executive Officer Bijay Bahadur Shah, among others, were present in the programme. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In an effort to establish itself as a prominent player in Nepal's insurance market, Himalayan Everest Insurance Company has been making progress in various economic indicators.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the event, CEO Bijay Bahadur Shah praised and congratulated the honoured employees, expressing his continuous inspiration and support for the company's employees. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman Mahendra Krishna Shrestha assured that they would extend any level of support and inspiration to the employees to achieve the insurance’s business objectives. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Govind Khadka and Muna Thapa, honoured employees at the event, said that they felt more responsible and expressed enthusiasm to accomplish company’s goals. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-08', 'modified' => '2024-01-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19644', 'image' => '20240108055304_collage (5).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-08 05:48:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19916', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Lawmakers Suggest NPC to Plan only Feasible Projects ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: The members of the House of Representatives (HoR) have suggested the National Planning Commission (NPC) to plan only projects that can be implemented. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 7: The members of the House of Representatives (HoR) have suggested the National Planning Commission (NPC) to plan only projects that can be implemented. The development projects should be planned on the basis of need and relevance, they reminded. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a meeting of the finance committee on draft of the 16th five-year plan on Sunday, the lawmakers urged NPC to review the 15th five-year plan and make the next periodic plan accordingly. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Former finance minister and committee member Bishnu Prasad Paudel said that the NPC should have autonomy to select and decide projects. He however said a separate law is imperative to direct the planning commission. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Lawmaker Padam Giri stressed whether the 15th periodic plan was assessed effectively before drafting the new one. Strengthening of national economy by making it self-reliant and creating jobs should be prioritized, he added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Surya Bahadur Thapa opined that the plan needs to be objective and practical. The plan must not be whimsical, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Purna Bahadur Tamang demanded that every province be allocated Rs 1 billion budget for medication of the poor people.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Narayan Prasad Acharya also pointed out the need for creating atmosphere for NPC's autonomy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Biraj Bhakta Shrestha emphasized the need assessment and relativity in course of formulating periodic plan. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Mukta Kumari Yadav's suggestion was to align the 16th periodic plan with sustainable development goals (SDGs) as time for achieving SDG targets was fleeting. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, promotion of industries, tourism, agriculture, education and health are points to mull in the next arrangements, according to Ganga Karki. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Metmani Chaudhari focused job creation, trade balance and poverty alleviation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Chairman of the National Planning Commission, Dr Min Bahadur Shrestha, shared that the new plan was drafted based on the previous practices and with adequate review. He assured that precise and practical plans would be prioritized. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the broader goal of 'good governance, social justice and prosperity', the 16th plan has aimed at building good governance at political, administrative, judicial, private and non-government fronts; while social justice would be established in the sectors of health, education, employment, housing and others, thereby ensuring prosperity in the human life and national economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The current 15th five-year plan is being implemented until this fiscal year, 2023/24. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19641', 'image' => '20240107105806_Parliament.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 22:57:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19913', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gov to Prepare Procedure to Implement Projects up to Rs 200 Million under Indian Grant', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: The government has decided to mobilize the subsidy of Rs 200 million pledged by India only after making a work procedure to spend the grant amount.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 7: The government has decided to mobilize the subsidy of Rs 200 million pledged by India only after making a work procedure to spend the grant amount.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Finance, although there is a provision that India can directly invest in the projects up to Rs 200 million, the government will draft a procedure to implementation this provision. The procedure will designate areas of investment and a monitoring mechanism will also be formed. The agreement clearly states that India should get approval from the Ministry of Finance of the Federal Government before starting any development project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“There is no reason to doubt as there is a clear arrangement in the agreement itself. However, the project will be implemented after drafting a procedure,” said a senior official of the Ministry of Finance. According to the Ministry of Finance, the maximum budget limit of each project to be implemented under this project, which is funded by India, will be Rs 200 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the agreement signed during the recent visit of India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration will study the proposals received from the local level and other government agencies and recommend the projects to the Ministry of Finance for receiving grants from India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Even in the case of projects to be implemented by non-governmental organizations, the Ministry of Finance will have to give consent based on the recommendations of the related ministries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">There is also a provision to approve the project only after obtaining the approval of the Social Welfare Council. The approved project will be implemented by including it in the budget of the local level through a tripartite agreement between the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, the implementing agency and the Indian Embassy. Generally, there is a provision that rural municipalities have to contribute 5 per cent and municipalities 10 per cent in the project run with Indian grants. In special cases, there is also a provision not to contribute such funds. The duration of the agreement will be five years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Dr Krishna Hari Pushkar on behalf of the Government of Nepal and Navin Srivastava, the Indian ambassador to Nepal, on behalf of India, signed a memorandum of understanding last week so that India can directly provide grants to projects worth up to Rs 200 million in Nepal. Critics argue that this will increase Indian interference.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">CPN (UML) MP Raghuji Pant objected to this agreement with India and said that the tendency to spend at will is against the independence and sovereignty of Nepal, and it will cause unwanted political influence and interference in the country. According to him, Nepal should reconsider this agreement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on December 7 had decided to accept India’s grant for the implementation of the High Impact Community Development Project (HICDP). This program, which is being funded by India was previously run under the name of 'Small Development Project' (SDP). Under this program, the Indian Embassy has been investing in projects by selecting the project itself.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The then Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa had first approved such a project in 2003. At that time, the government had arranged the Indian embassy to directly invest in projects worth up to Rs 30 million. Later, when Baburam Bhattarai was the prime minister, the amount was increased to Rs 50 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The cabinet meeting held on December 23, 2019 decided to change the name of the Small Development Project Program to High Impact Community Development Project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Indian Embassy, India has so far invested in more than 550 projects through the High Impact Community Development Project, which started in 2003. Likewise, 974 ambulances have been distributed to various health institutions and 234 buses to educational institutions under this initiative.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19640', 'image' => '20240107044104_PRO_KTM-6F8A0253.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 16:40:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19912', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Insurance Business Shows Sign of Improvement', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: The business of insurance companies, which was affected by the decline in economic activities, has started to improve.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 7: The business of insurance companies, which was affected by the decline in economic activities, has started to improve. The business of life and non-life insurance companies, which had declined in the initial months of the current fiscal year, has shown improvement by mid-December.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data of Nepal Insurance Authority, by mid-December, life insurance companies collected a total of Rs 12.31 billion from first insurance fee and renewal fee. By mid-October, they had collected Rs 8.63 billion in insurance fees. Similarly, by mid-December of the current fiscal year, they collected a total of Rs 61.74 billion in insurance fees.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In mid-November to mid-December, the life insurance companies did business worth Rs 2.34 billion. For this, they sold 433000 new insurance policies. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The business of non-life insurance companies also seems to have increased by around Rs 700 million. The authority informed that the life insurance companies collected Rs 2.28 billion in insurance premiums between mid-October to mid-November, which increased to Rs 2.99 billion in mid-November to mid-December. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the economic recession, the business of insurance companies was affected as the credit flow of banks and financial institutions decreased as well as the commercial activities were affected. However, the recent improvement in economic activities has had a positive effect on the insurance companies’ business. With the improvement in remittance inflow, more liquidity has been seen in banks and financial institutions. As a result, banks have reduced interest rates and emphasized on lending. Nepal Rastra Bank adopted a flexible policy through the review of the monetary policy saying that there has been an improvement in the indicators of the economy. NRB has announced in its macroeconomic and financial situation report that the external and internal indicators of the economy are in a strong state. It also reduced the policy rate. Similarly, the central bank has shown flexibility in lending in areas such as real estate, vehicles, shares etc. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the credit flow of banks and financial institutions had decreased due to recession and the business activities of insurance companies were affected. Since insurance is mandatory to take a loan from the bank, the lack of loan investment had also affected the business of the insurance companies. Insurers say that the increase in lending from banks and financial institutions will also have a positive effect on the business of insurance companies.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19639', 'image' => '20240107041521_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 16:14:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19911', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Sheds 26.36 Points to Close at 2022.92', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index experienced a decline of 26.36 points or 1.28%, closing at 2022.92 points on the first trading day of the week on Sunday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">January 7: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index experienced a decline of 26.36 points or 1.28%, closing at 2022.92 points on the first trading day of the week on Sunday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Throughout today's trading session, a total of 304 scrips were exchanged in 98,632 transactions. The trading activity involved 15,268,399 units of shares, contributing to an overall turnover of Rs 5.24 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Seasoned investors and stock analysts attributed the day's fall to pressure associated with the end of the quarter. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Investor Prem Oli expressed confidence that the market would regain its upward momentum once the quarter-end pressure subsides.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sonapur Minerals and Oil Limited (SONA) recorded the highest turnover of Rs 28 crores, concluding at a market price of Rs 498 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Meanwhile, Terhathum Power Company (TPC) achieved the highest gain of 10%, hitting the positive circuit for the day and closing at a market price of Rs 426 per share.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Conversely, Manushi Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (MLBS) incurred the most significant loss at 6.69%, concluding at a market price of Rs 710 per share.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors landed in negative territory, except for the Hydropower Index, which recorded a gain of 1.03%.</span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> The Life Insurance sector experienced the most substantial loss at 2.40%, while the Mutual Fund sector posted a minimal loss of 0.03%.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19638', 'image' => '20240107041154_collage (14).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 16:10:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19910', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal and India Agree on Strengthening Power Transmission System ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: Nepal and India have agreed for cooperation on eight different issues related to energy sector. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 7: Nepal and India have agreed for cooperation on eight different issues related to energy sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The 11th meeting of Nepal-India Energy Secretary-level Joint Steering Committee that concluded in Chitwan on Sunday has agreed on of strengthening the electricity transmission system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nabin Raj Singh, joint secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, said the meeting discussed various agenda prepared by the Joint-secretary level Joint Taskforce. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Gopal Prasad Sigdel, and Secretary at India's Ministry of Energy, Pankaj Agrawal, co-chaired the meeting. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">However, most of the topics agreed upon shall be finalized by technical groups, as these agreements are concerned more with technical issues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting made decision on principle only since most of the topics are more technical, according to the Nepali officials attending the meeting. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Both sides have agreed on expanding the capacity of the Dhalkebar-Mujaffarpur Inter-country Transmission Line to 1,000 megawatts. The two sides agreed to construct the required infrastructures at Dhalkebar sub-station for this purpose. At present, the export and import of 800 megawatts electricity is taking place from this transmission line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A Joint Technical Committee will study and make necessary decision on the topic of utilizing this transmission line in its maximum capacity. Nepal has also been paying the transmission fees for utilizing the full capacity of this transmission line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the Joint Technical Committee shall also take the necessary decision regarding determining the capacity of electricity that can be transmitted via the Dhalkebar-Sitamadhi 400-kV transmission line being constructed by the Indian company, Satluj Vidhyut Nigam. The Indian company is constructing this transmission line for exporting electricity to be produced from the Arun III Hydropower Project. This company, which is constructing the Arun-III project, has also taken responsibility for constructing other projects as well. It will take long until these projects are completed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the meeting has agreed that the Joint Technical Committee will conduct a study on the feasibility of exporting power up to 200 megawatts through the 132 kV Tanakpur Mahendranagar transmission line or other high-voltage capacity transmission lines. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting has approved the process and procedure on electricity export and import between Nepal and India during the monsoon via the existing transmission lines of 132 kV capacity or less by using the power transmission system of the neighbouring Indian states. These process and procedure were prepared by the Central Electricity Authority of India in coordination with Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and other agencies of India. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Discussions were also held for a separate tripartite agreement, in accordance with the Power Import and Export Guidelines of India, among NEA, the NTPC Vidhyut Vyapar Nigam of India and the Power Development Board of Bangladesh for export of 40 megawatts electricity from Nepal to Bangladesh by using India's transmission system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Based on this discussion, the necessary mechanism would be established for the three-nation partnership. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">These agreements related to transmission line and energy sector were reached in the context of Minister of External Affairs of India Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar's visit to Nepal on January 4 and 5. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Agreement Between the Government of Nepal and the Government of India on Long Term Power Trade was signed during the visit of Minister of External Affairs of India, opening the door for the export of 10,000 megawatts electricity to India from Nepal in 10 years. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19637', 'image' => '20240107030703_trans.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 15:05:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19909', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tea Export Declines by Rs 383 Million', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: Farmers and businessmen of Eastern Terai are worried due to the decline in the export of CTC tea. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">January 7: Farmers and businessmen of Eastern Terai are worried due to the decline in the export of CTC tea. Last year, at this time, they were busy exporting CTC tea. This year, CTC tea is being stored in the warehouses of farmers and businessmen. According to the Department of Customs, tea export has decreased this year compared to last year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In terms of monetary value, tea exports has shrunk by Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">383.8</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million in the first five months of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last FY.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the export volume has decreased by </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">28</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">83</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">182</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kg. In the first five months of the current year, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">71</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">82</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">348</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kg of tea worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> 87</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">has been exported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the decrease in exports and the lack of interest from Indian traders to buy tea from Nepal, farmers and businessmen are worried that tea will have to be stored in warehouses this year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Indian Tea Board has been blocking team imports from Nepal time and again under various pretexts.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Orthodox and CTC tea are exported from Nepal to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">22</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> countries of the world including India. While Orthodox goes to India and third countries, CTC tea's main market is India. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Businessmen say that the Government of Nepal should sign an agreement with the Indian government to create an environment where there will be no obstacles in the export of CTC tea. They say that unless this is done, domestic tea producers and businessmen cannot be sustain their business.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shiva Kumar Gupta, general secretary of Nepal Tea Producers Association said that Nepali CTC tea cannot be easily exported to the Indian market due to the conditions imposed by India including lab testing.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"This year, tea export has decreased. So, the farmers and businessmen are forced to store ready-made tea in warehouses,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the data of the Department of Customs, tea worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.79 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion was exported from Nepal in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2077/78 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">and Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.43 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2078/79. </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the year </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2079/80</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, a total of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">165</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">949 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">metric tons of tea worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">93 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion were exported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19636', 'image' => '20240107010049_Tea.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 13:00:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19908', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank to Support Road Construction in Mechinagar', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 7: The government is preparing to construct blacktopped roads at Shahidmarga and Suryodayamarga in Mechinagar under the 'Urban Governance and Infrastructure Project' supported by the World Bank. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 7: The government is preparing to construct blacktopped roads at Shahidmarga and Suryodayamarga in Mechinagar under the 'Urban Governance and Infrastructure Project' supported by the World Bank. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Member of the House of Representatives, Bishwo Prakash Sharma said that the World Bank will invest Rs 1.03 billion for the road construction which will help in the development of two important urban areas – Dhulabari and Kakadbhitta. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It may be noted that the Government of Nepal has already made a decision to implement 'Urban Governance and Infrastructure Project' in 33 local units of seven provinces. In this connection, the World Bank had signed an agreement to provide a concessional loan of USD 1.5 billion (around Rs 200 billion) to the Government of Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepali Congress (NC) general secretary and lawmaker from Jhapa constieuncy-1 Sharma shared the World Bank has provided a loan of USD 7.8 million (over Rs 1 billion) for the construction of two roads with a total length of 14 kilometers in Mechinagar of Jhapa constituency-1 under the project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The roads will be constructed under the leadership of local governments. As per the agreement with the World bank, both the roads should be constructed by 15 July 2025. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19635', 'image' => '20240107124437_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 12:43:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19907', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Black Cardamom Increases Threefold ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => ' January 7: The price of black cardamom has increased by three folds this season, bringing happiness to the farmers.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"> January 7: The price of black cardamom has increased by three folds this season, bringing happiness to the farmers. Black cardamom is now being sold at the highest price in the past four years. Trader Jeevan Pandey said that the price of black cardamom.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Black cardamom is now being sold at the highest price in the past four years. Trader Jeevan Pandey said that the price of black cardamom has increased by almost three folds than last year. The price was Rs 28,000 per quintal last year but good quality of black cardamom is now being sold at Rs 85,000 per quintal. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">According to Pandey, the price of black cardamom has increased this year because there is not enough black cardamom as per its demand in the international market. Biren Shereng of Suryodaya municipality-1 has cultivated black cardamom in an area of about 100 ropanis of land. He says he produces 27 to 30 metric tons of black cardamom annually and saves at least one million rupees. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">The income of black cardamom farmers of Ilam have started to increase with the use of modern farming system. This year, 1,325 metric tons of black cardamom has been produced in the district. This is 7.96 percent more than the previous year. According to Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Ilam, black cardamom is cultivated in 1,753 hectares of land in the district. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">According to Runa Khadka, an employee of the Centre, 1,215.26 metric tons of cardamom was produced last year when it was cultivated in 1,755 hectares. Though cardamom plantations have decreased, production and productivity have increased this year. Khadka said that the productivity per hectare was 0.69 last year which increased to 0.75 per hectare in the current year. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">In Ilam, black cardamom is grown in all the 10 local levels including six rural municipalities and four municipalities. However, it is more extensive in Maijogmai and Sandakpur rural municipalities. Cardamom is grown at an altitude of 700 to 2100 meters above the sea level. -- RSS</span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19634', 'image' => '20240107102608_BlackCardamom.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 10:20:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19906', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Country's Economy Improving: FM Mahat', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat has urged industrialists and entrepreneurs to free themselves from negative perspectives. He asserted country's economy is improving.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 7: Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat has urged industrialists and entrepreneurs to free themselves from negative perspectives. He asserted country's economy is improving.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Inaugurating the 57th annual general meeting of the Chitwan Chamber of Commerce, Finance Minister laid emphasis on the need of doing business with positive thinking.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Mahat mentioned that foreign investors had started showing interest to invest in Nepal with positive sign of improvement in economy. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister Mahat wondered, "How can country's economy improve if industrialists and entrepreneurs harbour negative thought."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Though problems of economy have not been resolved completely, there are now some improvements as compared to the past, he shared, admitting that country's economy is under pressure, not at problems. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He further argued, "The country's economy faced pressure after Nepal Rastra Bank imposed a strict monetary policy reasoning that banks invested in share market and real estate." </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The monetary policy is being relaxed gradually to ease the economic activities, Mahat said. (RSS) </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-07', 'modified' => '2024-01-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19633', 'image' => '20240107063528_collage (3).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-07 06:33:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19905', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UN Report Predicts Slower Global Economic Growth for 2024 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 6: Global economic growth is projected to slow down from an estimated 2.7 percent in 2023 to 2.4 percent in 2024, according to the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects 2024 report, launched on Thursday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 6: Global economic growth is projected to slow down from an estimated 2.7 percent in 2023 to 2.4 percent in 2024, according to the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects 2024 report, launched on Thursday. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Weakening global trade, high borrowing costs, elevated public debt, persistently low investment, and mounting geopolitical tensions put global growth at risk, says the report. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Growth in many developed economies, especially the United States, is projected to decelerate in 2024 given high interest rates, slowing consumer spending and weaker labor markets. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The short-term growth prospects for many developing countries, particularly in East Asia, Western Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, are also deteriorating because of tighter financial conditions, shrinking fiscal space and sluggish external demand. Low-income and vulnerable economies are facing increasing balance-of-payments pressures and debt sustainability risks. Economic prospects for small-island developing states, in particular, will be constrained by heavy debt burdens, high interest rates and increasing climate-related vulnerabilities, says the report. -- Xinhua/RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-06', 'modified' => '2024-01-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19632', 'image' => '20240106112613_unWESP_2024_Quote_SG_English-838x476.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-06 11:25:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19904', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Global Food Prices Drop 13.7% in 2023: FAO', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 6: World food prices fell in 2023, with considerable declines for grains and oils as supply concerns eased, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday.', 'content' => '<table style="width:100.0%"> <tbody> <tr> <td> <table align="center" style="width:100.0%"> <tbody> <tr> <td> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">January 6:</span></span><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""> </span></span></strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">World food prices fell in 2023, with considerable declines for grains and oils as supply concerns eased, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Overall, world food commodity prices fell 13.7 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year, Rome-based FAO said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">The FAO's cereals price index fell 15.4 percent last year, "reflecting well supplied global markets" compared to 2022, when prices soared after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a major grain exporter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">While supply concerns eased for wheat and maize, the opposite was true for rice due to the impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon and India restricting exports. Rice prices jumped 21 percent last year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">The vegetable oil price index posted the biggest fall last year, dropping 32.7 percent, thanks to improved supplies and reduced use for biofuel production.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Sugar prices, on the contrary, jumped 26.7 percent overall last year, though they retreated from their highs in December thanks to Brazil stepping up exports and reduced use for biofuels.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">While the FAO's overall index dropped, consumer food prices in many countries are rising considerably and often faster than the overall inflation rate. The FAO's index measures commodity market prices, with a certain delay on consumer prices, which are also affected by energy and labour costs during processing and distribution. – AFP/RSS</span></span></span></span></p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-06', 'modified' => '2024-01-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19631', 'image' => '20240106112122_20231014073446_image1.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-06 11:18:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19901', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Agrees to Buy 10,000 MW of Electricity from Nepal Regardless of who Produces it: PM', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has expressed his commitment that the incumbent government will not enter into any agreement that is detrimental to the national interest.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has expressed his commitment that the incumbent government will not enter into any agreement that is detrimental to the national interest. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The prime minister made such remarks during a meeting of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the House of Representatives on Friday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">He was responding to queries made by the lawmakers regarding his meeting with India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the agreements Nepal signed with India on Thursday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Prime Minister Dahal clarified that India alone will not take a final decision on projects worth up to Rs 200 million for which it has signed agreement to invest in Nepal. According to Dahal, Nepal's decision and participation will also be taken into consideration while implementing the decision.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">“The most important thing is that India has agreed to purchase 10,000 megawatts of electricity in 10 years regardless of who produces it. You don’t need to harbor any doubt. The implementation of the agreement is in the best interest of Nepal,” said Dahal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">It may be noted that India had earlier raised objection to purchase electricity produced in Nepal with Chinese investment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Responding to the questions of the MPs that the Indian Foreign Minister was quite interested in the visit of a Chinese delegation to Nepal, the prime minister said, “He did not utter a word about it even in the 'one-to-one' meeting as well as the joint meeting.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-05', 'modified' => '2024-01-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19630', 'image' => '20240105030928_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-05 15:08:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19900', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘Electricity Export Agreement with India a Milestone in Power Trade’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has claimed that the long-term agreement between Nepal and India on electricity export was a milestone from the perspective of power trade. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has claimed that the long-term agreement between Nepal and India on electricity export was a milestone from the perspective of power trade. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Inaugurating the administrative building of Sunapati Rural Municipality of Ramechhap on Thursday, PM Dahal expressed the hope that the long-term pact on power trade signed during the visit of Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to Nepal would help the country to make significant shift in power trade. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sharing that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed for exporting 10,000 MW electricity to India in 10 years during his visit to India last year, PM Dahal further said the signing of the long-term agreement has opened up avenues for power trade. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"This is an achievement in itself. It has opened the doors for power trade with India and Bangladesh," he said, adding, "Electricity will also be exported to Bangladesh by using the Indian grid." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On a different note, PM Dahal said the ruling coalition has realized the need of national consensus to ensure effective operation of the parliament and conclude the transitional justice related works. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-05', 'modified' => '2024-01-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19629', 'image' => '20240105024225_electricity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-05 14:41:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19903', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ninth Nepal Wood International Expo begins in Bhrikutimandap ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 5: The Ninth Nepal Wood International Expo, 2024 commenced in Bhrikutimandap on Friday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 5: The Ninth Nepal Wood International Expo, 2024 commenced in Bhrikutimandap on Friday. The three-day event is being jointly organised by Media Space Solutions Pvt Ltd and India's Futurex Trade Fair and Events Pvt Ltd. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The organisers said this expo is Nepal's largest exhibition of wood and woodcraft machinery, furniture production technologies, tools and fittings, interior design, accessories, raw materials and products. It aims to inform visitors about the latest furniture products and new technologies used in furniture industry. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Media Space Solutions managing director Sirjal Bhattarai said furniture companies from Nepal, India, China, Taiwan, and Malaysia are taking part in the fair. The expo will conclude on Sunday. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-01-05', 'modified' => '2024-01-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19628', 'image' => '20240105031932_wood.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-01-05 15:18:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
