February 22: An airplane of Saurya Airlines which was about to takeoff for Biratnagar from Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on Tuesday returned to the parking-way after detection of a…
February 22: An airplane of Saurya Airlines which was about to takeoff for Biratnagar from Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on Tuesday returned to the parking-way after detection of a…
An under construction Bharat Lake located in wards No 4 and 12 of Bagmati Municipality has turned a tourist destination in Sarlahi. The under construction lake is increasingly luring domestic and foreign…
February 21: The number of companies that have applied for the initial public offering (IPO) of ordinary shares with the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has reached 27. Among them, 44 per cent (12 companies) belong to the hydropower…
Business House GTC Overseas has brought showrooms of tiles, bath ware and lighting into operation in…
February 21: Gold and silver businessmen have complained that it is difficult to meet the needs of consumers because there is not enough gold in the…
February 21: The government has completed preparations to increase the price of milk against the National Dairy Development…
February 21: Guna Airlines, one of the private companies which aims to become a major air service provider of Nepal by expanding its domestic flights by the year 2024, has been banned from services within 17 months of resuming its…
February 21: The Gyalpo Lhosar, the cultural festival of the Sherpa community that falls on the first day of the waxing moon in the Nepali month of Falgun (mid-February to mid-March), is being marked today by organizing different…
February 21: The Public Procurement Monitoring Office (PPMO) has blacklisted five construction and supply companies for abandoning their projects without…
Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has said that tourism industry was the country’s key economic pillar and proactive role of all is required for its promotion and…
February 20: The government is delaying the introduction of trade logistics policy.…
February 20: More than half of the budget allocated for the agricultural sector is spent on the purchase of chemical…
February 20: Gautam Buddha International Airport will soon resume international flights.…
February 20: India has become flexible in its approach to purchase electricity from Nepal compared to the…
February 20: The COVID-19 pandemic derailed development and caused a massive collapse in human capital for millions of children and young people across South…
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 22: An airplane of Saurya Airlines which was about to takeoff for Biratnagar from Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on Tuesday returned to the parking-way after detection of a problem. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to airport sources, the aircraft returned after its indicator signalled a problem when the plane had reached near the runway for the take off. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The aircraft with flight number SAU 721 had reached near the runway after boarding the passengers when its indicator signaled a glitch, said TIA spokesperson Teknath Sitaula. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, it is not clear what problem was seen in the airplane. The plane is presently kept at the parking-way. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">TIA authorities have said the permission for flight would be issued only after the engineers of the airlines examine the problem in the aircraft and inform them that the plane is fit for flying. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-22', 'modified' => '2023-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16825', 'image' => '20230222085608_20170313010057_saurya.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-22 08:54:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17086', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bagmati Bharat Lake Turning Into Tourist Hub ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'An under construction Bharat Lake located in wards No 4 and 12 of Bagmati Municipality has turned a tourist destination in Sarlahi. The under construction lake is increasingly luring domestic and foreign tourists.', 'content' => '<div> <div> <div> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> February 22: An under construction Bharat Lake located in wards No 4 and 12 of Bagmati Municipality has turned a tourist destination in Sarlahi. The under construction lake is increasingly luring domestic and foreign tourists.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bagmati Municipality Mayor Bharat Kumar Thapa says that his municipality has already spent 980 million for the lake construction so far. “The lake requires extra Rs 1 billion budget for its completion and plans are afoot to develop the project as multi-purpose one,” said Mayor Thapa.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under the multi-purpose project, a hotel with modern picnic spots, jungle safari, Sumeru Parbat with the temple of Shiva and Parbati, Funpark, mini casino is being constructed, according to Chair Om Bahadur Shrestha of Ward No 12.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Shrestha said that the municipality was developing Bharat Lake as its major source of income. “We are planning to develop the lake as the tourist hub of the Madhes province,” Shrestha added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The municipality has completed only 20-25 per cent of the construction work in the lake. The municipality has started keeping fish and ducks in the lake to increase its income. “The municipality is working to finish the lake in three years,” Mayor Thapa said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The municipality has operated multi-purpose project in 121 bigaha of the land where lake construction is underway. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tourists from Nepal and India are visiting the under construction lake. “We are constructing the physical structures that can attract 6 million tourists in a year,” said the municipality.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Around 500 people are employed in the lake right now. As many 40 big and small boats are operating in the lake at the moment.</span></span></span></p> </div> <div> </div> <div> </div> </div> </div> <div> </div> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-22', 'modified' => '2023-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16824', 'image' => '20230222061500_collage - 2023-02-21T181451.011.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-22 06:07:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17084', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Almost Half of the Companies Seeking IPO Permission are from Hydropower Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The number of companies that have applied for the initial public offering (IPO) of ordinary shares with the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has reached 27. Among them, 44 per cent (12 companies) belong to the hydropower sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: The number of companies that have applied for the initial public offering (IPO) of ordinary shares with the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has reached 27. Among them, 44 per cent (12 companies) belong to the hydropower sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the 12 hydropower companies in the pipeline, the production capacity of 10 is less than 20 MW. Currently, there has been an increase in IPO issuance by hydropower companies with small production capacity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Mandu Hydropower, which has applied for IPO permission with SEBON, has a production capacity of 22 MW, and Modi Energy has 20 MW. Similarly, Kutheli Bukhari Small Hydropower has 0.998 MW capacity, Upper Syangja Hydropower has 2.4 MW capacity, Rawa Energy Development has 3 MW capacity, Upper Lohor Hydropower has 4 MW capacity, Bhagwati Hydropower Development has 4.5 MW capacity, Chirkhuwa Hydropower has 4.7 MW capacity and Manakamana Engineering Hydropower has 5 MW capacity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Three Star Hydropower has 7.151 megawatts capacity, Mid Solu Hydropower has 9.5 megawatts capacity, and Upper Mailung River Hydropower has a production capacity of 14.3 megawatts.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to a report of Nepal Rastra Bank on the financial and economic situation of the country till the end of last December, 25.30 per cent (63 units) of the companies listed in Nepal Stock Exchange Limited (NEPSE) are hydropower. Likewise, hundreds of hydropower projects are currently under construction in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since hydropower companies issue IPOs to raise investment for projects, it seems that shortly, a large part of the companies listed in NEPSE will be hydropower.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stock market experts shared that when the share of limited sector companies in the market is high, it will affect the overall market development and expansion. Currently, about 60 per cent of the listed companies in Nepal are in the banking and financial sector and insurance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Therefore, experts claim that the entire market will be affected when there are policy changes in the banking, financial and insurance sectors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rohan Karki, an expert in the market and chairman of the Independent Capital Market Association, said that after the lock-in period, the promoters of the hydropower company sell their shares and take money out of the market to invest in other sectors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Karki claimed that more hydropower companies are good for the nation as a whole, but due to the listed hydropower companies, money will go out of the market. According to Karki, this trend will have a long-term impact on the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“As a large number of hydropower companies are currently preparing to issue IPO, it seems that they will dominate the market shortly. It seems that when the share of limited sector companies in the market is high, it will affect the development and expansion of the overall capital market,'' he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Securities Board of Nepal spokesperson Muktinath Shrestha also said that companies from various sectors must come for market development and expansion. “When a large part of the market comprises of companies of a limited sector, it affects the development and expansion of the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Therefore, companies from various sectors must come to the market," he said. "To encourage companies from various sectors to issue IPOs, the board has started work including book building and putting SME platform into operation," Shrestha informed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, the board has also started the book-building process to encourage real sector companies in the market. Shrestha informed that the board is currently discussing continuously with the ministry how private sector companies can be encouraged to become public companies through IPO. According to Shrestha, the matter was discussed between the team, the board and high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Finance on Monday.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16822', 'image' => '20230221060613_1676945629.15A.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 18:05:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17083', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'GTC Overseas Opens Somany and Jaquar Showrooms in Birgunj ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Business House GTC Overseas has brought showrooms of tiles, bath ware and lighting into operation in Birgunj.', 'content' => '<p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px">February 21: Business House GTC Overseas has brought showrooms of tiles, bath ware and lighting into operation in Birgunj. GTC Overseas has opened showroom of Somany and Jaquar products from India.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Of late, demand of tiles, marbles, bathroom and electric decoration for house construction has increased and their market too has grown rapidly. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">GTC has opened two showrooms of the Somany and Jaquar products at Adarshanagar, Birgunj, said GTC Overseas Managing Director Ashok Lath.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The estimated market of tiles, marbles and bathware is worth more than Rs 25 billion in Nepal. Somany Ceramics Nepal Chief Rupesh Manot said that the showroom was opened targeting the customers in and around Birgunj.<br /> “We have been selling our products in Nepal for the last 30 years and we are planning to establish an industry in Bhairahawa,” said Manot. Jaquar Nepal Chief Naresh Manohat claimed that 23 years of transaction had won customers’ trust in Nepal. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Focused on sanitary goods used in the bathroom and electronic goods used at home, the company has expanded its production units in India, China, South Korea, Italy and Turkey, according to Naresh Manohat. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16821', 'image' => '20230221053939_collage - 2023-02-20T181507.628.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 17:37:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17082', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘Gold Import Quota not Enough to Meet Market Demand’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Gold and silver businessmen have complained that it is difficult to meet the needs of consumers because there is not enough gold in the market.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: Gold and silver businessmen have complained that it is difficult to meet the needs of consumers because there is not enough gold in the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In a joint press conference organized by the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association (FENEGOSIDA), Federation of Nepal Gold Silver Gem and Jewellery Association (FNGSGJA) and Federation of Handicraft Association of Nepal (FHAN) on Monday, Manik Ratna Shakya, the president of FENEGOSIDA, said that it is not possible to meet the demands of the customers due to the imposition of a quota system on gold import.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Because of the quota system in gold import, the businessmen are suffering as there is not enough supply as per the demand. They accuse the state of not importing gold as per the demand and treating the jewelers like 'criminals'. The government set a daily import quota of 10 kg for gold to preserve the foreign exchange reserves. However, Shakya says that this quantity is less than the market demand.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Shakya, 40 kg of gold is consumed during the peak season, while up to 15 kg of gold is consumed during off-season on a daily basis in the Nepali market. Due to the quota system implemented in the gold imports, the businessmen in this sector are highly discouraged as they are not able to run their business efficiently.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The umbrella organizations of businessmen issued a statement and said that the quota system of gold import has created a situation where the constitutional right to buy and sell has been conpromised. In the statement, they demanded to make necessary policies, rules and laws for the import and export of gold and silver jewelry.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The statement reads, “In relation to the global demand for traditional Nepali jewelry, there is a great need for policies, rules and laws for this profession to export jewelry and also to manage the local market.” The businessmen have also demanded that laws and regulations be made and implemented soon for the gold and silver business.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16820', 'image' => '20230221034559_gold newwww.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 15:44:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17081', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Preparations Afoot to Increase Price of Milk', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The government has completed preparations to increase the price of milk against the National Dairy Development Policy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: The government has completed preparations to increase the price of milk against the National Dairy Development Policy. According to the National Dairy Development Policy 2078, the price of milk can be reviewed every two years based on the study report of the Dairy Development Board. However, attempts have been made to increase the price of milk in less than one year following an understanding between the businessmen and the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The National Dairy Development Policy 2078 states that “The price of milk can be reviewed every two years based on the annual price increase and production cost based on the study report of the Dairy Development Board.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, businessmen argue that they are compelled to hike the price stating that there have been price hike of grains, bran feeds, hay, freight charges, etc.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director of the National Dairy Development Board, Rajendra Prasad Yadav stated that the price of milk should be increased every two years as per the policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">But due to the increase in the price of raw materials, a situation has been created compelling the producers to increase the prices. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“There is a situation where we have to import the feed, bran and medicine required for cattle from abroad. The price of those items is not under our control. Now, when the price of those items have increased, the cost of the farmers have increased as well and it seems like the price has to be increased,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Yadav said that since the price of grain and bran has more than doubled, and the price of milk has not increased yet, the farmers may abandon this sector. This may create a situation where the domestic production may be reduced and imports from India may become mandatory. So, there is the pressure to increase the price, argued Yadav.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A study conducted at the farmers level by the study committee formed under the coordination of the board to study the price of milk shows that the price must be increased. According to Yadav, the committee concluded that the price should be increased by Rs 10 per liter and the report has been sent to the Ministry of Agriculture for approval. After the approval of the ministry, the the council of ministers will decide about increasing the price.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier in December, the Dairy Industry Association had unilaterally increased the price of milk by Rs 14 per liter stating that the increase in the prices of raw materials like grains and bran forced them to increase the price. After this step was widely criticized, the price hike was withdrawn. According to the report of the study committee, the government is prepared to increase the price up to Rs 10 per liter, but the industrialists have been maintaining the stance that the price should be increased by Rs 14.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16819', 'image' => '20230221023730_1676944104.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 14:36:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17079', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CAAN Instructs Guna Airlines to Ground its Aircraft', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Guna Airlines, one of the private companies which aims to become a major air service provider of Nepal by expanding its domestic flights by the year 2024, has been banned from services within 17 months of resuming its operations.', '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"">February 21: Guna Airlines, one of the private companies which aims to become a major air service provider of Nepal by expanding its domestic flights by the year 2024, has been banned from services within 17 months of resuming its operations. </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 Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has banned the company from conducting flights because of the financial crisis faced by the company due to which it has not even paid salaries to its employees.</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"">CAAN, the aviation governing body of Nepal, argued that the company’s failure to pay salary to its staff will increase the risk of flight safety. The authority sent a letter to the company on Monday directing Guna Airlines to ground all of its aircraft. However, the company had already stopped its services five days ago. </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"">Jagannath Niraula, spokesperson of the authority, said that the planes were grounded considering the seriousness of flight safety after it was found that the pilots and crew members were not paid. "Correspondence has been sent for grounding the aircraft on Monday," Niraula told New Business Age.</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"">Guna Airlines has said that the company is preparing to fly from next week. Prajwal Thapa, the spokesperson of the company, said that two Beechcraft will fly again from next Monday. </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"">However, CAAN Spokesperson Niraula said that the authority can give permission to fly again only after evaluation after the company writes to the authority for lifting the ban.</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"">Thapa said that due to financial problems, there was some delay in giving salaries to the employees and added, "There is no problem now. We are also selling aircraft. After the maintenance, we will start regular flights with two Beechcrafts soon.”</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"">Thapa said that although the authority has written letter to the company directing them to ground the aircraft, the jet stream aircraft has not operated any flight since five days. </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"">"We are preparing to resume flights from next Monday after assuring CAAN that we have resolved the financial issues," said Thapa. The company has seven aircraft namely Jet Stream and Beechcraft. </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 Thapa, the aircraft will be flown after the Beechcraft is repaired. The company has said that it will sell five jet streams. Thapa said that representatives from a foreign company has come to Nepal to purchase those aircraft.</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"">Spokesperson Thapa also said that the company is planning to bring bigger aircraft after some time and continue the service. </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 financial problems of the private sector airline company Guna Airlines are not new. Even in 2013, the company halted its flight services due to financial problems. The company, which was established in 2009, was closed for some years and started flying again from September 2021.</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 2013, another private company Simrik Airlines had purchased the aircraft of Guna Airlines. After that, the 'Guna' brand was no longer in existence until the owners invested more than Rs 1 billion to revive the brand.. </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"">Guna Airlines is a company under Guna Group headed by businessman Rajendra Shakya.</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 company, which started flying from two destinations namely Kathmandu-Bharatpur and Kathmandu-Pokhara, has been flying to additional destinations- Biratnagar, Janakpur, Bhairahawa, Nepalganj, Surkhet, Tumlingtar and Simra after resuming its services.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16817', 'image' => '20230221124028_1676934664.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 12:39:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17078', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gyalpo Lhosar Being Observed Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The Gyalpo Lhosar, the cultural festival of the Sherpa community that falls on the first day of the waxing moon in the Nepali month of Falgun (mid-February to mid-March), is being marked today by organizing different programmes. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 21: The Gyalpo Lhosar, the cultural festival of the Sherpa community that falls on the first day of the waxing moon in the Nepali month of Falgun (mid-February to mid-March), is being marked today by organizing different programmes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The festival is observed as the New Year by the members of the Sherpa community who primarily reside in the mountainous region of Nepal. But the festival is marked in 22 districts in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The festival is celebrated with gaiety and much fun from the first day of the waxing moon to the full moon day. This festival is also celebrated by Mahayan Buddhists as their New Year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This festival is being observed since the time of the ninth king of Bhot, Uday Gungyal. The festival is also termed as Gyalbo Lhosar, according to researcher Tika Sherpa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On this occasion, people of the Sherpa community clean up their houses and villages, sources of water and flutter new prayers flag in the roof of their houses. They cook delicacies such as Guthuk and Khapse and exchange best wishes with each other to welcome the New Year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Gurung community marks its New Year on Paush 15 (December end)) as the Tamu Lhosar while the Tamang community observe as Sonam Lhosar on the day of Magh Shukla Pratipada (first day of the waxing moon in the month of January). -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16816', 'image' => '20230221110716_gyalpo lhosar.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 11:06:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17077', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Five Construction Companies Blacklisted ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The Public Procurement Monitoring Office (PPMO) has blacklisted five construction and supply companies for abandoning their projects without completion.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 21: The Public Procurement Monitoring Office (PPMO) has blacklisted five construction and supply companies for abandoning their projects without completion. The companies have been blacklisted as per the Public Procurement Act, 2063, said the office in a notice issued on Monday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The blacklisted companies are Engineers Construction and Mint Craft Pvt Ltd based in Bharatpur-4 in Chitwan district, Jaya Gadhimai Construction Pvt Ltd, Guna Construction Sewa and Kalpana Construction Pvt Ltd. These companies have been blacklisted for one year while Mudbhari and Joshi Construction Pvt Ltd has been blacklisted for two years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Engineers Construction run by Bikash Shrestha had abandoned construction works in Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality in Chitwan. Khairahani Municipality in Chitwan district recommended the blacklisting of Jaya Gadhimai operated by Sita Ram Chaudhary. Mudbhari and Joshi run by Karan Kumar Mudbhari had stranded the construction works of the Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Company. Guna Construction operated by Gunaraj Pathak had left the construction works related to the Durgalaxmi Multiple Campus in Kailali in the lurch. Similarly, Barabardiya Municipality recommended the blacklisting of Kalpana Construction. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The blacklisted companies cannot participate in any procurement process until the period they have been blacklisted for expires," reads the notice. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16815', 'image' => '20230221104758_ppmo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 10:47:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17075', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Coupled With Cultures Needed, Minister Kirati Says', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has said that tourism industry was the country’s key economic pillar and proactive role of all is required for its promotion and development.', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">February 21: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has said that tourism industry was the country’s key economic pillar and proactive role of all is required for its promotion and development. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">At an interaction programme on “Nepal’s Tourism: International Promotion” in Kathmandu on Monday, Minister Kirati laid emphasis on tourism development along with the promotion of cultures. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Tourism should be developed with the local culture, knowledge and taste. Development of tourism could not be even imagined by keeping the local taste away. Our hotels and restaurants should serve the local flavour. Tourism development is not likely only by relying on foreign foods,” he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">On the occasion, Minister Kirati also emphasized the need of linkup between tourism and production and shared that the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation would unveil the new strategy for the tourism promotion after consulting the stakeholders.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> Kirati also informed that a bus service would be started soon to connect all seven heritages of the Kathmandu Valley. The Heritage Bus Service would be run to lure more and more tourists along with sharing the history and significance of the heritages. ---RSS</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16813', 'image' => '20230221062031_collage (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 06:17:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17072', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Delays Finalizing Trade Logistics Policy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: The government is delaying the introduction of trade logistics policy. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 20: The government is delaying the introduction of trade logistics policy. Although the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies has been saying that it has done its homework to bring such a policy to facilitate trade for a long time, it has not yet been implemented as a policy. According to the ministry, although the draft of the trade logistics policy is already prepared, it is yet to be submitted to the cabinet for approval</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deputy Spokesperson of the Ministry of Industry, Urmila KC informed that although the ministry drafted a policy with the aim of organizing the internal distribution system, reducing business costs and strengthening supply chain management, it is yet to be presented in the cabinet for further process.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">She said that the draft of the policy made by the ministry was discussed among the relevant agencies and further revision work as well is completed. KC said that a logistics policy is prepared for the first time with the aim of reducing trade costs and facilitating import and export, and it is ready to be submitted to the Council of Ministers. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“When the government changed, the ministry was devoid of a minister for a long time while the secretaries also changed, so it could not go to the cabinet. The draft is ready, now it will go to the cabinet soon,” she said. The then secretary Dinesh Bhattarai, Baikuntha Aryal and others played an important role in drafting the logistics policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The purpose of preparing the logistics policy is to develop a targeted and integrated business logistics infrastructure, to organize the supply chain system, to strengthen good governance and research related to business logistics. The policy includes how to organize the transportation, customs, transport arrangements to the port, insurance, quarantine testing, warehouse, storage, distribution and transportation of goods imported to and exported from the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Topics such as how to reduce business costs and how to prepare a policy mechanism to prepare the necessary structure for that, and what the responsibilities of which agency will be are also included in the draft. The purpose of the policy is to facilitate and manage the overall supply system, trade, import and export, reduce costs, and make it competitive.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The policy mentions about reducing the cost of business by making transportation, storage and distribution organized, competitive, and provide goods to consumers at an affordable price. It emphasizes on making internal, sub-regional, regional and international trade organized and competitive. The policy aims to facilitate import and export as well as reduce trade costs. Last March, the government also asked for suggestions from the Policy Research Foundation for the trade logistics development policy. The foundation made a suggestion after consulting with the Export Promotion and Trade Facilitation Branch under the Ministry of Industry on June 7. The then Industry, Commerce and Supplies Minister Dilendra Prasad Badu also said that he would bring a business logistics development policy during his government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector was excited to know that the government is going to introduce a business logistics policy with the aim of reducing the cost of doing business. However, the delay of the government however is disappointing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prabhu Adhikari, the head of PAP Enterprises, which carries out cross-border exports, says that due to Nepal's laws, regulations, and bureaucratic red tape, logistics costs are also increasing, and policies should be implemented immediately. According to him, Nepal's law related to this sector is outdated. There is also a need for timely reform in the laws. He says that it is necessary for the government to pay attention to this end.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16811', 'image' => '20230220012049_Trade.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 13:20:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17071', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Half of Agriculture Budget Spent on Fertilizer Imports', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: More than half of the budget allocated for the agricultural sector is spent on the purchase of chemical fertilizers.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 20: More than half of the budget allocated for the agricultural sector is spent on the purchase of chemical fertilizers. The then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma had allocated a budget of Rs 55.97 billion for the agriculture sector this year. While announcing the budget, the then finance minister had said that a maximum of Rs 15 billion was allocated for purchasing chemical fertilizers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal requires around 750,000 to 800,000 metric tons of chemical fertilizers annually. Due to the increase in the price of raw materials in the international market and the economic recession, the amount allocated in the budget was not enough to purchase the required amount of fertilizer and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development asked the Ministry of Finance for an additional Rs 16 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prakash Kumar Sanjel, spokesperson for the ministry, said that the ministry wrote to the finance ministry to secure additional resources as it seems that the allocated budget will not be enough to buy enough fertilizer for the paddy season of the current fiscal year. Along with this, the budget for fertilizer purchase alone has now reached Rs 38.73 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Sanjel, 329,000 metric tons of fertilizers have been arranged so far. A total of 160,000 metric tons have been imported and 144,000 tons of fertilizer have been sold and distributed. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Rajendra Bahadur Karki, head of the purchasing division of Agricultural Inputs Company Limited, although the price of urea has decreased in the international market recently, the prices of DAP and potassium on the other hand have increased. The price of urea is now USD 507 per metric ton, down from its earlier price of USD 900. Similarly, the price of DAP, which was purchased for up to USD 450 per metric ton two years ago, has now reached USD 832.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Karki added that due to the continuous increase in the price of fertilizer, the government cannot buy the required amount of fertilizer from the allocated budget, so there is a need to ensure additional resources.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16810', 'image' => '20230220125941_agriiiii.JPG', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 12:55:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17070', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'International flights from Gautam Buddha Airport to Resume Soon', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: Gautam Buddha International Airport will soon resume international flights. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 20: Gautam Buddha International Airport will soon resume international flights. Jazeera Airways, which has been operating regular flights from the airport since January, will soon resume operation from the airport. Before the resumption of Jazeera flights, a chartered flight is taking place on Monday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The airport office informed New Business Age that Canadian Airlines will operate a chartered flight at the airport. General Manager of the airport Govinda Prasad Dahal said that although the chartered flight was supposed to come on Sunday, it was postponed due to various reasons, and is now scheduled to land on Monday. According to him, with the improvement in the weather and other technical issues, Jazeera Airways has asked for more time to fly.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jazeera will fly from the morning of March 9. Jazeera Airways will operate flights to and from the airport on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Earlier, Jazeera was flying three times a week. Due to bad weather, the airline stopped the Gautam Budh-Kuwait flights.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Dahal also said that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will fly to India during his state visits from GBIA. With the inauguration of the second international airport in last May, Jazeera Airways was the first to operate international flights from the airport. Nepal's Himalaya Airlines, which operated chartered flight for some time, has not yet taken the initiative to resume its service.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16809', 'image' => '20230220124708_GBIAAA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 12:46:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17069', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Shows Flexibility to Purchase Electricity from Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: India has become flexible in its approach to purchase electricity from Nepal compared to the past.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 20: India has become flexible in its approach to purchase electricity from Nepal compared to the past.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Indian authorities gave such indication during the tenth Nepal-India Energy Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee (JSC) meeting held in India’s Rajasthan on Saturday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Indian side responded positively to the proposal of Nepal to export electricity in the Indian market. They also hinted that India is willing to allow Nepal export 50 MW electricity to Bangladesh via India. The Indian side has demanded a concrete plan and proposal from Nepal in this regard.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting also took decisions on expansion of transmission lines and trade promotion. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)’s Executive Director Kulman Ghising expressed happiness over the decisions taken by the meeting.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The JSC meeting has proved to be a milestone for production, transmission and trade of electricity,” said Ghising.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“It is a big achievement to send proposal to sell electricity to Bangladesh to India for approval and the decision to seek alternatives to construct new transmission lines is equally important,” added Ghising. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“India took positively Nepal's proposal for exporting electricity to Bangladesh by using Indian transmission grid. A proposal seeking Indian permission for exporting Nepal's electricity to Bangladesh would be sent to the Central Electricity Authority of India, to which the Indian Authority will give consent after necessary tests as per the directive on cross border power trade," he further said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting co-chaired by Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, and Secretary at Electricity Ministry of India, Alok Kumar, also decided to forward the construction of high-power transmission lines for the inter-state power trade. Similarly, India also agreed to review Nepal’s proposal for the extension of current one year permit of electricity trade in the day-ahead market of the Indian Energy Exchange Ltd. Nepal's proposal for export of additional power would get approval from the Indian side by following due procedure, Ghising shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting further decided that Nepal would now be allowed to export electricity via Tanakpur from where only import was possible in the past. </span><br /> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16808', 'image' => '20230220120850_1676855618.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 12:07:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17068', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'COVID-19’s Impact on South Asia’s Youth could Last Generations, says World Bank Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: The COVID-19 pandemic derailed development and caused a massive collapse in human capital for millions of children and young people across South Asia.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 20: The COVID-19 pandemic derailed development and caused a massive collapse in human capital for millions of children and young people across South Asia, according to a new World Bank analysis of data for people who were under the age of 25 at the onset of the pandemic.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, human capital—the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lives—is key to unlocking a child’s potential and enabling countries to achieve a resilient recovery and strong future growth. Yet, the pandemic shuttered schools and places of employment and disrupted key services that protect and promote human capital, such as healthcare and job training, the World Bank reported citing the latest report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The new report, Collapse and Recovery: How COVID Eroded Human Capital and What to Do About It, presents the first comprehensive analysis of global data on the pandemic’s impacts on young people at key developmental stages: early childhood (0-5 years), school age (6-14 years), and youth (15-24 years). It finds that in South Asia, today’s students could lose up to 14.4 percent of their future earnings due to COVID-19-induced education shocks. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a recent statement, the World Bank said that the cognitive deficit in today’s toddlers could translate into a 25 percent decline in earnings when these children are adults.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The pandemic shut down schools, decimated jobs, and plunged vulnerable families into crisis, pushing millions of South Asia’s children and young people off-track and depriving them of opportunities to flourish,” the statement quoted Martin Raiser, World Bank vice president for South Asia, as saying. “Action to recover from losses in human capital is critical and examples from the region show that this is possible at relatively low cost if governments act fast,” Raiser added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In South Asia, between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2022, schools were fully or partially closed for 83 percent of the time—significantly longer than the global average of schools being closed for 52 percent of that same period, according to the report. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Among school-aged children, on average, for every 30 days of school closures, students lost about 32 days of learning. This is because school closures and ineffective remote learning measures caused students to miss out on learning and to also forget what they had already learned. As a result, learning poverty – already 60 percent before the pandemic — has increased further, with an estimated 78 percent of 10-year-olds in South Asia unable to read and understand a simple written text.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In some countries in South Asia that were covered in the report, school enrollment has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Across South Asia, the number of people neither employed nor enrolled in education or training has increased substantially. Moreover, in several countries that were analyzed, there was little sign of recovery after 18 months.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Without urgent action, the pandemic also threatens to deepen poverty and inequality, the World Bank warned. According to the World Bank, recent evidence suggests that even simple and low-cost programs can lead to sizable gains in skills. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“In Bangladesh, for example, attending a year of additional pre-school through two-hour sessions significantly improved literacy, numeracy, and social-development scores.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The World Bank said it is working closely with governments in South Asia to protect and invest in people as they cope with and recover from the pandemic. The World Bank’s pandemic response financing in South Asia reached nearly $11 billion during the two years since the start of the pandemic (April 2020 - April 2022), including $2.7 billion that supported social safety nets benefitting more than 857 million vulnerable people, $2.5 billion for 15 health projects, $2.80 billion for 12 education projects, and more than $1 billion to support vaccine purchase and deployment.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16807', 'image' => '20230220110336_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 11:02:37', '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
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$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' => '17087', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Aircraft about to Take Off Returns back to Parking Way ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 22: An airplane of Saurya Airlines which was about to takeoff for Biratnagar from Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on Tuesday returned to the parking-way after detection of a problem. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 22: An airplane of Saurya Airlines which was about to takeoff for Biratnagar from Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on Tuesday returned to the parking-way after detection of a problem. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to airport sources, the aircraft returned after its indicator signalled a problem when the plane had reached near the runway for the take off. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The aircraft with flight number SAU 721 had reached near the runway after boarding the passengers when its indicator signaled a glitch, said TIA spokesperson Teknath Sitaula. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, it is not clear what problem was seen in the airplane. The plane is presently kept at the parking-way. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">TIA authorities have said the permission for flight would be issued only after the engineers of the airlines examine the problem in the aircraft and inform them that the plane is fit for flying. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-22', 'modified' => '2023-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16825', 'image' => '20230222085608_20170313010057_saurya.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-22 08:54:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17086', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bagmati Bharat Lake Turning Into Tourist Hub ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'An under construction Bharat Lake located in wards No 4 and 12 of Bagmati Municipality has turned a tourist destination in Sarlahi. The under construction lake is increasingly luring domestic and foreign tourists.', 'content' => '<div> <div> <div> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> February 22: An under construction Bharat Lake located in wards No 4 and 12 of Bagmati Municipality has turned a tourist destination in Sarlahi. The under construction lake is increasingly luring domestic and foreign tourists.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bagmati Municipality Mayor Bharat Kumar Thapa says that his municipality has already spent 980 million for the lake construction so far. “The lake requires extra Rs 1 billion budget for its completion and plans are afoot to develop the project as multi-purpose one,” said Mayor Thapa.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under the multi-purpose project, a hotel with modern picnic spots, jungle safari, Sumeru Parbat with the temple of Shiva and Parbati, Funpark, mini casino is being constructed, according to Chair Om Bahadur Shrestha of Ward No 12.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Shrestha said that the municipality was developing Bharat Lake as its major source of income. “We are planning to develop the lake as the tourist hub of the Madhes province,” Shrestha added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The municipality has completed only 20-25 per cent of the construction work in the lake. The municipality has started keeping fish and ducks in the lake to increase its income. “The municipality is working to finish the lake in three years,” Mayor Thapa said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The municipality has operated multi-purpose project in 121 bigaha of the land where lake construction is underway. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tourists from Nepal and India are visiting the under construction lake. “We are constructing the physical structures that can attract 6 million tourists in a year,” said the municipality.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Around 500 people are employed in the lake right now. As many 40 big and small boats are operating in the lake at the moment.</span></span></span></p> </div> <div> </div> <div> </div> </div> </div> <div> </div> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-22', 'modified' => '2023-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16824', 'image' => '20230222061500_collage - 2023-02-21T181451.011.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-22 06:07:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17084', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Almost Half of the Companies Seeking IPO Permission are from Hydropower Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The number of companies that have applied for the initial public offering (IPO) of ordinary shares with the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has reached 27. Among them, 44 per cent (12 companies) belong to the hydropower sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: The number of companies that have applied for the initial public offering (IPO) of ordinary shares with the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has reached 27. Among them, 44 per cent (12 companies) belong to the hydropower sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the 12 hydropower companies in the pipeline, the production capacity of 10 is less than 20 MW. Currently, there has been an increase in IPO issuance by hydropower companies with small production capacity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Mandu Hydropower, which has applied for IPO permission with SEBON, has a production capacity of 22 MW, and Modi Energy has 20 MW. Similarly, Kutheli Bukhari Small Hydropower has 0.998 MW capacity, Upper Syangja Hydropower has 2.4 MW capacity, Rawa Energy Development has 3 MW capacity, Upper Lohor Hydropower has 4 MW capacity, Bhagwati Hydropower Development has 4.5 MW capacity, Chirkhuwa Hydropower has 4.7 MW capacity and Manakamana Engineering Hydropower has 5 MW capacity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Three Star Hydropower has 7.151 megawatts capacity, Mid Solu Hydropower has 9.5 megawatts capacity, and Upper Mailung River Hydropower has a production capacity of 14.3 megawatts.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to a report of Nepal Rastra Bank on the financial and economic situation of the country till the end of last December, 25.30 per cent (63 units) of the companies listed in Nepal Stock Exchange Limited (NEPSE) are hydropower. Likewise, hundreds of hydropower projects are currently under construction in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since hydropower companies issue IPOs to raise investment for projects, it seems that shortly, a large part of the companies listed in NEPSE will be hydropower.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stock market experts shared that when the share of limited sector companies in the market is high, it will affect the overall market development and expansion. Currently, about 60 per cent of the listed companies in Nepal are in the banking and financial sector and insurance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Therefore, experts claim that the entire market will be affected when there are policy changes in the banking, financial and insurance sectors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rohan Karki, an expert in the market and chairman of the Independent Capital Market Association, said that after the lock-in period, the promoters of the hydropower company sell their shares and take money out of the market to invest in other sectors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Karki claimed that more hydropower companies are good for the nation as a whole, but due to the listed hydropower companies, money will go out of the market. According to Karki, this trend will have a long-term impact on the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“As a large number of hydropower companies are currently preparing to issue IPO, it seems that they will dominate the market shortly. It seems that when the share of limited sector companies in the market is high, it will affect the development and expansion of the overall capital market,'' he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Securities Board of Nepal spokesperson Muktinath Shrestha also said that companies from various sectors must come for market development and expansion. “When a large part of the market comprises of companies of a limited sector, it affects the development and expansion of the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Therefore, companies from various sectors must come to the market," he said. "To encourage companies from various sectors to issue IPOs, the board has started work including book building and putting SME platform into operation," Shrestha informed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, the board has also started the book-building process to encourage real sector companies in the market. Shrestha informed that the board is currently discussing continuously with the ministry how private sector companies can be encouraged to become public companies through IPO. According to Shrestha, the matter was discussed between the team, the board and high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Finance on Monday.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16822', 'image' => '20230221060613_1676945629.15A.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 18:05:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17083', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'GTC Overseas Opens Somany and Jaquar Showrooms in Birgunj ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Business House GTC Overseas has brought showrooms of tiles, bath ware and lighting into operation in Birgunj.', 'content' => '<p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px">February 21: Business House GTC Overseas has brought showrooms of tiles, bath ware and lighting into operation in Birgunj. GTC Overseas has opened showroom of Somany and Jaquar products from India.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Of late, demand of tiles, marbles, bathroom and electric decoration for house construction has increased and their market too has grown rapidly. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">GTC has opened two showrooms of the Somany and Jaquar products at Adarshanagar, Birgunj, said GTC Overseas Managing Director Ashok Lath.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The estimated market of tiles, marbles and bathware is worth more than Rs 25 billion in Nepal. Somany Ceramics Nepal Chief Rupesh Manot said that the showroom was opened targeting the customers in and around Birgunj.<br /> “We have been selling our products in Nepal for the last 30 years and we are planning to establish an industry in Bhairahawa,” said Manot. Jaquar Nepal Chief Naresh Manohat claimed that 23 years of transaction had won customers’ trust in Nepal. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Focused on sanitary goods used in the bathroom and electronic goods used at home, the company has expanded its production units in India, China, South Korea, Italy and Turkey, according to Naresh Manohat. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16821', 'image' => '20230221053939_collage - 2023-02-20T181507.628.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 17:37:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17082', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘Gold Import Quota not Enough to Meet Market Demand’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Gold and silver businessmen have complained that it is difficult to meet the needs of consumers because there is not enough gold in the market.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: Gold and silver businessmen have complained that it is difficult to meet the needs of consumers because there is not enough gold in the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In a joint press conference organized by the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association (FENEGOSIDA), Federation of Nepal Gold Silver Gem and Jewellery Association (FNGSGJA) and Federation of Handicraft Association of Nepal (FHAN) on Monday, Manik Ratna Shakya, the president of FENEGOSIDA, said that it is not possible to meet the demands of the customers due to the imposition of a quota system on gold import.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Because of the quota system in gold import, the businessmen are suffering as there is not enough supply as per the demand. They accuse the state of not importing gold as per the demand and treating the jewelers like 'criminals'. The government set a daily import quota of 10 kg for gold to preserve the foreign exchange reserves. However, Shakya says that this quantity is less than the market demand.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Shakya, 40 kg of gold is consumed during the peak season, while up to 15 kg of gold is consumed during off-season on a daily basis in the Nepali market. Due to the quota system implemented in the gold imports, the businessmen in this sector are highly discouraged as they are not able to run their business efficiently.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The umbrella organizations of businessmen issued a statement and said that the quota system of gold import has created a situation where the constitutional right to buy and sell has been conpromised. In the statement, they demanded to make necessary policies, rules and laws for the import and export of gold and silver jewelry.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The statement reads, “In relation to the global demand for traditional Nepali jewelry, there is a great need for policies, rules and laws for this profession to export jewelry and also to manage the local market.” The businessmen have also demanded that laws and regulations be made and implemented soon for the gold and silver business.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16820', 'image' => '20230221034559_gold newwww.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 15:44:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17081', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Preparations Afoot to Increase Price of Milk', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The government has completed preparations to increase the price of milk against the National Dairy Development Policy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: The government has completed preparations to increase the price of milk against the National Dairy Development Policy. According to the National Dairy Development Policy 2078, the price of milk can be reviewed every two years based on the study report of the Dairy Development Board. However, attempts have been made to increase the price of milk in less than one year following an understanding between the businessmen and the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The National Dairy Development Policy 2078 states that “The price of milk can be reviewed every two years based on the annual price increase and production cost based on the study report of the Dairy Development Board.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, businessmen argue that they are compelled to hike the price stating that there have been price hike of grains, bran feeds, hay, freight charges, etc.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director of the National Dairy Development Board, Rajendra Prasad Yadav stated that the price of milk should be increased every two years as per the policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">But due to the increase in the price of raw materials, a situation has been created compelling the producers to increase the prices. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“There is a situation where we have to import the feed, bran and medicine required for cattle from abroad. The price of those items is not under our control. Now, when the price of those items have increased, the cost of the farmers have increased as well and it seems like the price has to be increased,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Yadav said that since the price of grain and bran has more than doubled, and the price of milk has not increased yet, the farmers may abandon this sector. This may create a situation where the domestic production may be reduced and imports from India may become mandatory. So, there is the pressure to increase the price, argued Yadav.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A study conducted at the farmers level by the study committee formed under the coordination of the board to study the price of milk shows that the price must be increased. According to Yadav, the committee concluded that the price should be increased by Rs 10 per liter and the report has been sent to the Ministry of Agriculture for approval. After the approval of the ministry, the the council of ministers will decide about increasing the price.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier in December, the Dairy Industry Association had unilaterally increased the price of milk by Rs 14 per liter stating that the increase in the prices of raw materials like grains and bran forced them to increase the price. After this step was widely criticized, the price hike was withdrawn. According to the report of the study committee, the government is prepared to increase the price up to Rs 10 per liter, but the industrialists have been maintaining the stance that the price should be increased by Rs 14.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16819', 'image' => '20230221023730_1676944104.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 14:36:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17079', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CAAN Instructs Guna Airlines to Ground its Aircraft', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Guna Airlines, one of the private companies which aims to become a major air service provider of Nepal by expanding its domestic flights by the year 2024, has been banned from services within 17 months of resuming its operations.', '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"">February 21: Guna Airlines, one of the private companies which aims to become a major air service provider of Nepal by expanding its domestic flights by the year 2024, has been banned from services within 17 months of resuming its operations. </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 Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has banned the company from conducting flights because of the financial crisis faced by the company due to which it has not even paid salaries to its employees.</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"">CAAN, the aviation governing body of Nepal, argued that the company’s failure to pay salary to its staff will increase the risk of flight safety. The authority sent a letter to the company on Monday directing Guna Airlines to ground all of its aircraft. However, the company had already stopped its services five days ago. </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"">Jagannath Niraula, spokesperson of the authority, said that the planes were grounded considering the seriousness of flight safety after it was found that the pilots and crew members were not paid. "Correspondence has been sent for grounding the aircraft on Monday," Niraula told New Business Age.</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"">Guna Airlines has said that the company is preparing to fly from next week. Prajwal Thapa, the spokesperson of the company, said that two Beechcraft will fly again from next Monday. </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"">However, CAAN Spokesperson Niraula said that the authority can give permission to fly again only after evaluation after the company writes to the authority for lifting the ban.</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"">Thapa said that due to financial problems, there was some delay in giving salaries to the employees and added, "There is no problem now. We are also selling aircraft. After the maintenance, we will start regular flights with two Beechcrafts soon.”</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"">Thapa said that although the authority has written letter to the company directing them to ground the aircraft, the jet stream aircraft has not operated any flight since five days. </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"">"We are preparing to resume flights from next Monday after assuring CAAN that we have resolved the financial issues," said Thapa. The company has seven aircraft namely Jet Stream and Beechcraft. </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 Thapa, the aircraft will be flown after the Beechcraft is repaired. The company has said that it will sell five jet streams. Thapa said that representatives from a foreign company has come to Nepal to purchase those aircraft.</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"">Spokesperson Thapa also said that the company is planning to bring bigger aircraft after some time and continue the service. </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 financial problems of the private sector airline company Guna Airlines are not new. Even in 2013, the company halted its flight services due to financial problems. The company, which was established in 2009, was closed for some years and started flying again from September 2021.</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 2013, another private company Simrik Airlines had purchased the aircraft of Guna Airlines. After that, the 'Guna' brand was no longer in existence until the owners invested more than Rs 1 billion to revive the brand.. </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"">Guna Airlines is a company under Guna Group headed by businessman Rajendra Shakya.</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 company, which started flying from two destinations namely Kathmandu-Bharatpur and Kathmandu-Pokhara, has been flying to additional destinations- Biratnagar, Janakpur, Bhairahawa, Nepalganj, Surkhet, Tumlingtar and Simra after resuming its services.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16817', 'image' => '20230221124028_1676934664.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 12:39:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17078', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gyalpo Lhosar Being Observed Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The Gyalpo Lhosar, the cultural festival of the Sherpa community that falls on the first day of the waxing moon in the Nepali month of Falgun (mid-February to mid-March), is being marked today by organizing different programmes. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 21: The Gyalpo Lhosar, the cultural festival of the Sherpa community that falls on the first day of the waxing moon in the Nepali month of Falgun (mid-February to mid-March), is being marked today by organizing different programmes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The festival is observed as the New Year by the members of the Sherpa community who primarily reside in the mountainous region of Nepal. But the festival is marked in 22 districts in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The festival is celebrated with gaiety and much fun from the first day of the waxing moon to the full moon day. This festival is also celebrated by Mahayan Buddhists as their New Year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This festival is being observed since the time of the ninth king of Bhot, Uday Gungyal. The festival is also termed as Gyalbo Lhosar, according to researcher Tika Sherpa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On this occasion, people of the Sherpa community clean up their houses and villages, sources of water and flutter new prayers flag in the roof of their houses. They cook delicacies such as Guthuk and Khapse and exchange best wishes with each other to welcome the New Year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Gurung community marks its New Year on Paush 15 (December end)) as the Tamu Lhosar while the Tamang community observe as Sonam Lhosar on the day of Magh Shukla Pratipada (first day of the waxing moon in the month of January). -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16816', 'image' => '20230221110716_gyalpo lhosar.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 11:06:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17077', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Five Construction Companies Blacklisted ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The Public Procurement Monitoring Office (PPMO) has blacklisted five construction and supply companies for abandoning their projects without completion.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 21: The Public Procurement Monitoring Office (PPMO) has blacklisted five construction and supply companies for abandoning their projects without completion. The companies have been blacklisted as per the Public Procurement Act, 2063, said the office in a notice issued on Monday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The blacklisted companies are Engineers Construction and Mint Craft Pvt Ltd based in Bharatpur-4 in Chitwan district, Jaya Gadhimai Construction Pvt Ltd, Guna Construction Sewa and Kalpana Construction Pvt Ltd. These companies have been blacklisted for one year while Mudbhari and Joshi Construction Pvt Ltd has been blacklisted for two years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Engineers Construction run by Bikash Shrestha had abandoned construction works in Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality in Chitwan. Khairahani Municipality in Chitwan district recommended the blacklisting of Jaya Gadhimai operated by Sita Ram Chaudhary. Mudbhari and Joshi run by Karan Kumar Mudbhari had stranded the construction works of the Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Company. Guna Construction operated by Gunaraj Pathak had left the construction works related to the Durgalaxmi Multiple Campus in Kailali in the lurch. Similarly, Barabardiya Municipality recommended the blacklisting of Kalpana Construction. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The blacklisted companies cannot participate in any procurement process until the period they have been blacklisted for expires," reads the notice. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16815', 'image' => '20230221104758_ppmo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 10:47:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17075', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Coupled With Cultures Needed, Minister Kirati Says', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has said that tourism industry was the country’s key economic pillar and proactive role of all is required for its promotion and development.', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">February 21: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has said that tourism industry was the country’s key economic pillar and proactive role of all is required for its promotion and development. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">At an interaction programme on “Nepal’s Tourism: International Promotion” in Kathmandu on Monday, Minister Kirati laid emphasis on tourism development along with the promotion of cultures. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Tourism should be developed with the local culture, knowledge and taste. Development of tourism could not be even imagined by keeping the local taste away. Our hotels and restaurants should serve the local flavour. Tourism development is not likely only by relying on foreign foods,” he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">On the occasion, Minister Kirati also emphasized the need of linkup between tourism and production and shared that the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation would unveil the new strategy for the tourism promotion after consulting the stakeholders.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> Kirati also informed that a bus service would be started soon to connect all seven heritages of the Kathmandu Valley. The Heritage Bus Service would be run to lure more and more tourists along with sharing the history and significance of the heritages. ---RSS</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16813', 'image' => '20230221062031_collage (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 06:17:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17072', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Delays Finalizing Trade Logistics Policy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: The government is delaying the introduction of trade logistics policy. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 20: The government is delaying the introduction of trade logistics policy. Although the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies has been saying that it has done its homework to bring such a policy to facilitate trade for a long time, it has not yet been implemented as a policy. According to the ministry, although the draft of the trade logistics policy is already prepared, it is yet to be submitted to the cabinet for approval</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deputy Spokesperson of the Ministry of Industry, Urmila KC informed that although the ministry drafted a policy with the aim of organizing the internal distribution system, reducing business costs and strengthening supply chain management, it is yet to be presented in the cabinet for further process.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">She said that the draft of the policy made by the ministry was discussed among the relevant agencies and further revision work as well is completed. KC said that a logistics policy is prepared for the first time with the aim of reducing trade costs and facilitating import and export, and it is ready to be submitted to the Council of Ministers. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“When the government changed, the ministry was devoid of a minister for a long time while the secretaries also changed, so it could not go to the cabinet. The draft is ready, now it will go to the cabinet soon,” she said. The then secretary Dinesh Bhattarai, Baikuntha Aryal and others played an important role in drafting the logistics policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The purpose of preparing the logistics policy is to develop a targeted and integrated business logistics infrastructure, to organize the supply chain system, to strengthen good governance and research related to business logistics. The policy includes how to organize the transportation, customs, transport arrangements to the port, insurance, quarantine testing, warehouse, storage, distribution and transportation of goods imported to and exported from the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Topics such as how to reduce business costs and how to prepare a policy mechanism to prepare the necessary structure for that, and what the responsibilities of which agency will be are also included in the draft. The purpose of the policy is to facilitate and manage the overall supply system, trade, import and export, reduce costs, and make it competitive.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The policy mentions about reducing the cost of business by making transportation, storage and distribution organized, competitive, and provide goods to consumers at an affordable price. It emphasizes on making internal, sub-regional, regional and international trade organized and competitive. The policy aims to facilitate import and export as well as reduce trade costs. Last March, the government also asked for suggestions from the Policy Research Foundation for the trade logistics development policy. The foundation made a suggestion after consulting with the Export Promotion and Trade Facilitation Branch under the Ministry of Industry on June 7. The then Industry, Commerce and Supplies Minister Dilendra Prasad Badu also said that he would bring a business logistics development policy during his government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector was excited to know that the government is going to introduce a business logistics policy with the aim of reducing the cost of doing business. However, the delay of the government however is disappointing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prabhu Adhikari, the head of PAP Enterprises, which carries out cross-border exports, says that due to Nepal's laws, regulations, and bureaucratic red tape, logistics costs are also increasing, and policies should be implemented immediately. According to him, Nepal's law related to this sector is outdated. There is also a need for timely reform in the laws. He says that it is necessary for the government to pay attention to this end.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16811', 'image' => '20230220012049_Trade.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 13:20:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17071', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Half of Agriculture Budget Spent on Fertilizer Imports', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: More than half of the budget allocated for the agricultural sector is spent on the purchase of chemical fertilizers.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 20: More than half of the budget allocated for the agricultural sector is spent on the purchase of chemical fertilizers. The then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma had allocated a budget of Rs 55.97 billion for the agriculture sector this year. While announcing the budget, the then finance minister had said that a maximum of Rs 15 billion was allocated for purchasing chemical fertilizers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal requires around 750,000 to 800,000 metric tons of chemical fertilizers annually. Due to the increase in the price of raw materials in the international market and the economic recession, the amount allocated in the budget was not enough to purchase the required amount of fertilizer and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development asked the Ministry of Finance for an additional Rs 16 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prakash Kumar Sanjel, spokesperson for the ministry, said that the ministry wrote to the finance ministry to secure additional resources as it seems that the allocated budget will not be enough to buy enough fertilizer for the paddy season of the current fiscal year. Along with this, the budget for fertilizer purchase alone has now reached Rs 38.73 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Sanjel, 329,000 metric tons of fertilizers have been arranged so far. A total of 160,000 metric tons have been imported and 144,000 tons of fertilizer have been sold and distributed. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Rajendra Bahadur Karki, head of the purchasing division of Agricultural Inputs Company Limited, although the price of urea has decreased in the international market recently, the prices of DAP and potassium on the other hand have increased. The price of urea is now USD 507 per metric ton, down from its earlier price of USD 900. Similarly, the price of DAP, which was purchased for up to USD 450 per metric ton two years ago, has now reached USD 832.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Karki added that due to the continuous increase in the price of fertilizer, the government cannot buy the required amount of fertilizer from the allocated budget, so there is a need to ensure additional resources.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16810', 'image' => '20230220125941_agriiiii.JPG', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 12:55:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17070', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'International flights from Gautam Buddha Airport to Resume Soon', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: Gautam Buddha International Airport will soon resume international flights. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 20: Gautam Buddha International Airport will soon resume international flights. Jazeera Airways, which has been operating regular flights from the airport since January, will soon resume operation from the airport. Before the resumption of Jazeera flights, a chartered flight is taking place on Monday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The airport office informed New Business Age that Canadian Airlines will operate a chartered flight at the airport. General Manager of the airport Govinda Prasad Dahal said that although the chartered flight was supposed to come on Sunday, it was postponed due to various reasons, and is now scheduled to land on Monday. According to him, with the improvement in the weather and other technical issues, Jazeera Airways has asked for more time to fly.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jazeera will fly from the morning of March 9. Jazeera Airways will operate flights to and from the airport on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Earlier, Jazeera was flying three times a week. Due to bad weather, the airline stopped the Gautam Budh-Kuwait flights.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Dahal also said that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will fly to India during his state visits from GBIA. With the inauguration of the second international airport in last May, Jazeera Airways was the first to operate international flights from the airport. Nepal's Himalaya Airlines, which operated chartered flight for some time, has not yet taken the initiative to resume its service.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16809', 'image' => '20230220124708_GBIAAA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 12:46:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17069', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Shows Flexibility to Purchase Electricity from Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: India has become flexible in its approach to purchase electricity from Nepal compared to the past.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 20: India has become flexible in its approach to purchase electricity from Nepal compared to the past.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Indian authorities gave such indication during the tenth Nepal-India Energy Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee (JSC) meeting held in India’s Rajasthan on Saturday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Indian side responded positively to the proposal of Nepal to export electricity in the Indian market. They also hinted that India is willing to allow Nepal export 50 MW electricity to Bangladesh via India. The Indian side has demanded a concrete plan and proposal from Nepal in this regard.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting also took decisions on expansion of transmission lines and trade promotion. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)’s Executive Director Kulman Ghising expressed happiness over the decisions taken by the meeting.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The JSC meeting has proved to be a milestone for production, transmission and trade of electricity,” said Ghising.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“It is a big achievement to send proposal to sell electricity to Bangladesh to India for approval and the decision to seek alternatives to construct new transmission lines is equally important,” added Ghising. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“India took positively Nepal's proposal for exporting electricity to Bangladesh by using Indian transmission grid. A proposal seeking Indian permission for exporting Nepal's electricity to Bangladesh would be sent to the Central Electricity Authority of India, to which the Indian Authority will give consent after necessary tests as per the directive on cross border power trade," he further said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting co-chaired by Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, and Secretary at Electricity Ministry of India, Alok Kumar, also decided to forward the construction of high-power transmission lines for the inter-state power trade. Similarly, India also agreed to review Nepal’s proposal for the extension of current one year permit of electricity trade in the day-ahead market of the Indian Energy Exchange Ltd. Nepal's proposal for export of additional power would get approval from the Indian side by following due procedure, Ghising shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting further decided that Nepal would now be allowed to export electricity via Tanakpur from where only import was possible in the past. </span><br /> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16808', 'image' => '20230220120850_1676855618.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 12:07:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17068', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'COVID-19’s Impact on South Asia’s Youth could Last Generations, says World Bank Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: The COVID-19 pandemic derailed development and caused a massive collapse in human capital for millions of children and young people across South Asia.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 20: The COVID-19 pandemic derailed development and caused a massive collapse in human capital for millions of children and young people across South Asia, according to a new World Bank analysis of data for people who were under the age of 25 at the onset of the pandemic.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, human capital—the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lives—is key to unlocking a child’s potential and enabling countries to achieve a resilient recovery and strong future growth. Yet, the pandemic shuttered schools and places of employment and disrupted key services that protect and promote human capital, such as healthcare and job training, the World Bank reported citing the latest report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The new report, Collapse and Recovery: How COVID Eroded Human Capital and What to Do About It, presents the first comprehensive analysis of global data on the pandemic’s impacts on young people at key developmental stages: early childhood (0-5 years), school age (6-14 years), and youth (15-24 years). It finds that in South Asia, today’s students could lose up to 14.4 percent of their future earnings due to COVID-19-induced education shocks. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a recent statement, the World Bank said that the cognitive deficit in today’s toddlers could translate into a 25 percent decline in earnings when these children are adults.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The pandemic shut down schools, decimated jobs, and plunged vulnerable families into crisis, pushing millions of South Asia’s children and young people off-track and depriving them of opportunities to flourish,” the statement quoted Martin Raiser, World Bank vice president for South Asia, as saying. “Action to recover from losses in human capital is critical and examples from the region show that this is possible at relatively low cost if governments act fast,” Raiser added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In South Asia, between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2022, schools were fully or partially closed for 83 percent of the time—significantly longer than the global average of schools being closed for 52 percent of that same period, according to the report. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Among school-aged children, on average, for every 30 days of school closures, students lost about 32 days of learning. This is because school closures and ineffective remote learning measures caused students to miss out on learning and to also forget what they had already learned. As a result, learning poverty – already 60 percent before the pandemic — has increased further, with an estimated 78 percent of 10-year-olds in South Asia unable to read and understand a simple written text.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In some countries in South Asia that were covered in the report, school enrollment has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Across South Asia, the number of people neither employed nor enrolled in education or training has increased substantially. Moreover, in several countries that were analyzed, there was little sign of recovery after 18 months.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Without urgent action, the pandemic also threatens to deepen poverty and inequality, the World Bank warned. According to the World Bank, recent evidence suggests that even simple and low-cost programs can lead to sizable gains in skills. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“In Bangladesh, for example, attending a year of additional pre-school through two-hour sessions significantly improved literacy, numeracy, and social-development scores.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The World Bank said it is working closely with governments in South Asia to protect and invest in people as they cope with and recover from the pandemic. The World Bank’s pandemic response financing in South Asia reached nearly $11 billion during the two years since the start of the pandemic (April 2020 - April 2022), including $2.7 billion that supported social safety nets benefitting more than 857 million vulnerable people, $2.5 billion for 15 health projects, $2.80 billion for 12 education projects, and more than $1 billion to support vaccine purchase and deployment.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16807', 'image' => '20230220110336_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 11:02:37', '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' => '17087', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Aircraft about to Take Off Returns back to Parking Way ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 22: An airplane of Saurya Airlines which was about to takeoff for Biratnagar from Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on Tuesday returned to the parking-way after detection of a problem. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 22: An airplane of Saurya Airlines which was about to takeoff for Biratnagar from Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on Tuesday returned to the parking-way after detection of a problem. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to airport sources, the aircraft returned after its indicator signalled a problem when the plane had reached near the runway for the take off. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The aircraft with flight number SAU 721 had reached near the runway after boarding the passengers when its indicator signaled a glitch, said TIA spokesperson Teknath Sitaula. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, it is not clear what problem was seen in the airplane. The plane is presently kept at the parking-way. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">TIA authorities have said the permission for flight would be issued only after the engineers of the airlines examine the problem in the aircraft and inform them that the plane is fit for flying. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-22', 'modified' => '2023-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16825', 'image' => '20230222085608_20170313010057_saurya.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-22 08:54:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17086', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bagmati Bharat Lake Turning Into Tourist Hub ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'An under construction Bharat Lake located in wards No 4 and 12 of Bagmati Municipality has turned a tourist destination in Sarlahi. The under construction lake is increasingly luring domestic and foreign tourists.', 'content' => '<div> <div> <div> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> February 22: An under construction Bharat Lake located in wards No 4 and 12 of Bagmati Municipality has turned a tourist destination in Sarlahi. The under construction lake is increasingly luring domestic and foreign tourists.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bagmati Municipality Mayor Bharat Kumar Thapa says that his municipality has already spent 980 million for the lake construction so far. “The lake requires extra Rs 1 billion budget for its completion and plans are afoot to develop the project as multi-purpose one,” said Mayor Thapa.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under the multi-purpose project, a hotel with modern picnic spots, jungle safari, Sumeru Parbat with the temple of Shiva and Parbati, Funpark, mini casino is being constructed, according to Chair Om Bahadur Shrestha of Ward No 12.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Shrestha said that the municipality was developing Bharat Lake as its major source of income. “We are planning to develop the lake as the tourist hub of the Madhes province,” Shrestha added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The municipality has completed only 20-25 per cent of the construction work in the lake. The municipality has started keeping fish and ducks in the lake to increase its income. “The municipality is working to finish the lake in three years,” Mayor Thapa said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The municipality has operated multi-purpose project in 121 bigaha of the land where lake construction is underway. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tourists from Nepal and India are visiting the under construction lake. “We are constructing the physical structures that can attract 6 million tourists in a year,” said the municipality.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Around 500 people are employed in the lake right now. As many 40 big and small boats are operating in the lake at the moment.</span></span></span></p> </div> <div> </div> <div> </div> </div> </div> <div> </div> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-22', 'modified' => '2023-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16824', 'image' => '20230222061500_collage - 2023-02-21T181451.011.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-22 06:07:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17084', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Almost Half of the Companies Seeking IPO Permission are from Hydropower Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The number of companies that have applied for the initial public offering (IPO) of ordinary shares with the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has reached 27. Among them, 44 per cent (12 companies) belong to the hydropower sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: The number of companies that have applied for the initial public offering (IPO) of ordinary shares with the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has reached 27. Among them, 44 per cent (12 companies) belong to the hydropower sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the 12 hydropower companies in the pipeline, the production capacity of 10 is less than 20 MW. Currently, there has been an increase in IPO issuance by hydropower companies with small production capacity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Mandu Hydropower, which has applied for IPO permission with SEBON, has a production capacity of 22 MW, and Modi Energy has 20 MW. Similarly, Kutheli Bukhari Small Hydropower has 0.998 MW capacity, Upper Syangja Hydropower has 2.4 MW capacity, Rawa Energy Development has 3 MW capacity, Upper Lohor Hydropower has 4 MW capacity, Bhagwati Hydropower Development has 4.5 MW capacity, Chirkhuwa Hydropower has 4.7 MW capacity and Manakamana Engineering Hydropower has 5 MW capacity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Three Star Hydropower has 7.151 megawatts capacity, Mid Solu Hydropower has 9.5 megawatts capacity, and Upper Mailung River Hydropower has a production capacity of 14.3 megawatts.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to a report of Nepal Rastra Bank on the financial and economic situation of the country till the end of last December, 25.30 per cent (63 units) of the companies listed in Nepal Stock Exchange Limited (NEPSE) are hydropower. Likewise, hundreds of hydropower projects are currently under construction in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since hydropower companies issue IPOs to raise investment for projects, it seems that shortly, a large part of the companies listed in NEPSE will be hydropower.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stock market experts shared that when the share of limited sector companies in the market is high, it will affect the overall market development and expansion. Currently, about 60 per cent of the listed companies in Nepal are in the banking and financial sector and insurance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Therefore, experts claim that the entire market will be affected when there are policy changes in the banking, financial and insurance sectors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rohan Karki, an expert in the market and chairman of the Independent Capital Market Association, said that after the lock-in period, the promoters of the hydropower company sell their shares and take money out of the market to invest in other sectors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Karki claimed that more hydropower companies are good for the nation as a whole, but due to the listed hydropower companies, money will go out of the market. According to Karki, this trend will have a long-term impact on the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“As a large number of hydropower companies are currently preparing to issue IPO, it seems that they will dominate the market shortly. It seems that when the share of limited sector companies in the market is high, it will affect the development and expansion of the overall capital market,'' he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Securities Board of Nepal spokesperson Muktinath Shrestha also said that companies from various sectors must come for market development and expansion. “When a large part of the market comprises of companies of a limited sector, it affects the development and expansion of the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Therefore, companies from various sectors must come to the market," he said. "To encourage companies from various sectors to issue IPOs, the board has started work including book building and putting SME platform into operation," Shrestha informed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, the board has also started the book-building process to encourage real sector companies in the market. Shrestha informed that the board is currently discussing continuously with the ministry how private sector companies can be encouraged to become public companies through IPO. According to Shrestha, the matter was discussed between the team, the board and high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Finance on Monday.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16822', 'image' => '20230221060613_1676945629.15A.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 18:05:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17083', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'GTC Overseas Opens Somany and Jaquar Showrooms in Birgunj ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Business House GTC Overseas has brought showrooms of tiles, bath ware and lighting into operation in Birgunj.', 'content' => '<p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px">February 21: Business House GTC Overseas has brought showrooms of tiles, bath ware and lighting into operation in Birgunj. GTC Overseas has opened showroom of Somany and Jaquar products from India.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Of late, demand of tiles, marbles, bathroom and electric decoration for house construction has increased and their market too has grown rapidly. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">GTC has opened two showrooms of the Somany and Jaquar products at Adarshanagar, Birgunj, said GTC Overseas Managing Director Ashok Lath.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The estimated market of tiles, marbles and bathware is worth more than Rs 25 billion in Nepal. Somany Ceramics Nepal Chief Rupesh Manot said that the showroom was opened targeting the customers in and around Birgunj.<br /> “We have been selling our products in Nepal for the last 30 years and we are planning to establish an industry in Bhairahawa,” said Manot. Jaquar Nepal Chief Naresh Manohat claimed that 23 years of transaction had won customers’ trust in Nepal. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Focused on sanitary goods used in the bathroom and electronic goods used at home, the company has expanded its production units in India, China, South Korea, Italy and Turkey, according to Naresh Manohat. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16821', 'image' => '20230221053939_collage - 2023-02-20T181507.628.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 17:37:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17082', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘Gold Import Quota not Enough to Meet Market Demand’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Gold and silver businessmen have complained that it is difficult to meet the needs of consumers because there is not enough gold in the market.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: Gold and silver businessmen have complained that it is difficult to meet the needs of consumers because there is not enough gold in the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In a joint press conference organized by the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association (FENEGOSIDA), Federation of Nepal Gold Silver Gem and Jewellery Association (FNGSGJA) and Federation of Handicraft Association of Nepal (FHAN) on Monday, Manik Ratna Shakya, the president of FENEGOSIDA, said that it is not possible to meet the demands of the customers due to the imposition of a quota system on gold import.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Because of the quota system in gold import, the businessmen are suffering as there is not enough supply as per the demand. They accuse the state of not importing gold as per the demand and treating the jewelers like 'criminals'. The government set a daily import quota of 10 kg for gold to preserve the foreign exchange reserves. However, Shakya says that this quantity is less than the market demand.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Shakya, 40 kg of gold is consumed during the peak season, while up to 15 kg of gold is consumed during off-season on a daily basis in the Nepali market. Due to the quota system implemented in the gold imports, the businessmen in this sector are highly discouraged as they are not able to run their business efficiently.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The umbrella organizations of businessmen issued a statement and said that the quota system of gold import has created a situation where the constitutional right to buy and sell has been conpromised. In the statement, they demanded to make necessary policies, rules and laws for the import and export of gold and silver jewelry.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The statement reads, “In relation to the global demand for traditional Nepali jewelry, there is a great need for policies, rules and laws for this profession to export jewelry and also to manage the local market.” The businessmen have also demanded that laws and regulations be made and implemented soon for the gold and silver business.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16820', 'image' => '20230221034559_gold newwww.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 15:44:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17081', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Preparations Afoot to Increase Price of Milk', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The government has completed preparations to increase the price of milk against the National Dairy Development Policy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: The government has completed preparations to increase the price of milk against the National Dairy Development Policy. According to the National Dairy Development Policy 2078, the price of milk can be reviewed every two years based on the study report of the Dairy Development Board. However, attempts have been made to increase the price of milk in less than one year following an understanding between the businessmen and the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The National Dairy Development Policy 2078 states that “The price of milk can be reviewed every two years based on the annual price increase and production cost based on the study report of the Dairy Development Board.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, businessmen argue that they are compelled to hike the price stating that there have been price hike of grains, bran feeds, hay, freight charges, etc.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director of the National Dairy Development Board, Rajendra Prasad Yadav stated that the price of milk should be increased every two years as per the policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">But due to the increase in the price of raw materials, a situation has been created compelling the producers to increase the prices. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“There is a situation where we have to import the feed, bran and medicine required for cattle from abroad. The price of those items is not under our control. Now, when the price of those items have increased, the cost of the farmers have increased as well and it seems like the price has to be increased,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Yadav said that since the price of grain and bran has more than doubled, and the price of milk has not increased yet, the farmers may abandon this sector. This may create a situation where the domestic production may be reduced and imports from India may become mandatory. So, there is the pressure to increase the price, argued Yadav.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A study conducted at the farmers level by the study committee formed under the coordination of the board to study the price of milk shows that the price must be increased. According to Yadav, the committee concluded that the price should be increased by Rs 10 per liter and the report has been sent to the Ministry of Agriculture for approval. After the approval of the ministry, the the council of ministers will decide about increasing the price.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier in December, the Dairy Industry Association had unilaterally increased the price of milk by Rs 14 per liter stating that the increase in the prices of raw materials like grains and bran forced them to increase the price. After this step was widely criticized, the price hike was withdrawn. According to the report of the study committee, the government is prepared to increase the price up to Rs 10 per liter, but the industrialists have been maintaining the stance that the price should be increased by Rs 14.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16819', 'image' => '20230221023730_1676944104.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 14:36:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17079', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CAAN Instructs Guna Airlines to Ground its Aircraft', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Guna Airlines, one of the private companies which aims to become a major air service provider of Nepal by expanding its domestic flights by the year 2024, has been banned from services within 17 months of resuming its operations.', '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"">February 21: Guna Airlines, one of the private companies which aims to become a major air service provider of Nepal by expanding its domestic flights by the year 2024, has been banned from services within 17 months of resuming its operations. </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 Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has banned the company from conducting flights because of the financial crisis faced by the company due to which it has not even paid salaries to its employees.</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"">CAAN, the aviation governing body of Nepal, argued that the company’s failure to pay salary to its staff will increase the risk of flight safety. The authority sent a letter to the company on Monday directing Guna Airlines to ground all of its aircraft. However, the company had already stopped its services five days ago. </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"">Jagannath Niraula, spokesperson of the authority, said that the planes were grounded considering the seriousness of flight safety after it was found that the pilots and crew members were not paid. "Correspondence has been sent for grounding the aircraft on Monday," Niraula told New Business Age.</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"">Guna Airlines has said that the company is preparing to fly from next week. Prajwal Thapa, the spokesperson of the company, said that two Beechcraft will fly again from next Monday. </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"">However, CAAN Spokesperson Niraula said that the authority can give permission to fly again only after evaluation after the company writes to the authority for lifting the ban.</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"">Thapa said that due to financial problems, there was some delay in giving salaries to the employees and added, "There is no problem now. We are also selling aircraft. After the maintenance, we will start regular flights with two Beechcrafts soon.”</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"">Thapa said that although the authority has written letter to the company directing them to ground the aircraft, the jet stream aircraft has not operated any flight since five days. </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"">"We are preparing to resume flights from next Monday after assuring CAAN that we have resolved the financial issues," said Thapa. The company has seven aircraft namely Jet Stream and Beechcraft. </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 Thapa, the aircraft will be flown after the Beechcraft is repaired. The company has said that it will sell five jet streams. Thapa said that representatives from a foreign company has come to Nepal to purchase those aircraft.</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"">Spokesperson Thapa also said that the company is planning to bring bigger aircraft after some time and continue the service. </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 financial problems of the private sector airline company Guna Airlines are not new. Even in 2013, the company halted its flight services due to financial problems. The company, which was established in 2009, was closed for some years and started flying again from September 2021.</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 2013, another private company Simrik Airlines had purchased the aircraft of Guna Airlines. After that, the 'Guna' brand was no longer in existence until the owners invested more than Rs 1 billion to revive the brand.. </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"">Guna Airlines is a company under Guna Group headed by businessman Rajendra Shakya.</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 company, which started flying from two destinations namely Kathmandu-Bharatpur and Kathmandu-Pokhara, has been flying to additional destinations- Biratnagar, Janakpur, Bhairahawa, Nepalganj, Surkhet, Tumlingtar and Simra after resuming its services.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16817', 'image' => '20230221124028_1676934664.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 12:39:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17078', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gyalpo Lhosar Being Observed Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The Gyalpo Lhosar, the cultural festival of the Sherpa community that falls on the first day of the waxing moon in the Nepali month of Falgun (mid-February to mid-March), is being marked today by organizing different programmes. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 21: The Gyalpo Lhosar, the cultural festival of the Sherpa community that falls on the first day of the waxing moon in the Nepali month of Falgun (mid-February to mid-March), is being marked today by organizing different programmes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The festival is observed as the New Year by the members of the Sherpa community who primarily reside in the mountainous region of Nepal. But the festival is marked in 22 districts in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The festival is celebrated with gaiety and much fun from the first day of the waxing moon to the full moon day. This festival is also celebrated by Mahayan Buddhists as their New Year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This festival is being observed since the time of the ninth king of Bhot, Uday Gungyal. The festival is also termed as Gyalbo Lhosar, according to researcher Tika Sherpa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On this occasion, people of the Sherpa community clean up their houses and villages, sources of water and flutter new prayers flag in the roof of their houses. They cook delicacies such as Guthuk and Khapse and exchange best wishes with each other to welcome the New Year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Gurung community marks its New Year on Paush 15 (December end)) as the Tamu Lhosar while the Tamang community observe as Sonam Lhosar on the day of Magh Shukla Pratipada (first day of the waxing moon in the month of January). -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16816', 'image' => '20230221110716_gyalpo lhosar.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 11:06:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17077', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Five Construction Companies Blacklisted ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The Public Procurement Monitoring Office (PPMO) has blacklisted five construction and supply companies for abandoning their projects without completion.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 21: The Public Procurement Monitoring Office (PPMO) has blacklisted five construction and supply companies for abandoning their projects without completion. The companies have been blacklisted as per the Public Procurement Act, 2063, said the office in a notice issued on Monday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The blacklisted companies are Engineers Construction and Mint Craft Pvt Ltd based in Bharatpur-4 in Chitwan district, Jaya Gadhimai Construction Pvt Ltd, Guna Construction Sewa and Kalpana Construction Pvt Ltd. These companies have been blacklisted for one year while Mudbhari and Joshi Construction Pvt Ltd has been blacklisted for two years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Engineers Construction run by Bikash Shrestha had abandoned construction works in Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality in Chitwan. Khairahani Municipality in Chitwan district recommended the blacklisting of Jaya Gadhimai operated by Sita Ram Chaudhary. Mudbhari and Joshi run by Karan Kumar Mudbhari had stranded the construction works of the Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Company. Guna Construction operated by Gunaraj Pathak had left the construction works related to the Durgalaxmi Multiple Campus in Kailali in the lurch. Similarly, Barabardiya Municipality recommended the blacklisting of Kalpana Construction. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The blacklisted companies cannot participate in any procurement process until the period they have been blacklisted for expires," reads the notice. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16815', 'image' => '20230221104758_ppmo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 10:47:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17075', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Coupled With Cultures Needed, Minister Kirati Says', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has said that tourism industry was the country’s key economic pillar and proactive role of all is required for its promotion and development.', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">February 21: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has said that tourism industry was the country’s key economic pillar and proactive role of all is required for its promotion and development. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">At an interaction programme on “Nepal’s Tourism: International Promotion” in Kathmandu on Monday, Minister Kirati laid emphasis on tourism development along with the promotion of cultures. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Tourism should be developed with the local culture, knowledge and taste. Development of tourism could not be even imagined by keeping the local taste away. Our hotels and restaurants should serve the local flavour. Tourism development is not likely only by relying on foreign foods,” he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">On the occasion, Minister Kirati also emphasized the need of linkup between tourism and production and shared that the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation would unveil the new strategy for the tourism promotion after consulting the stakeholders.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> Kirati also informed that a bus service would be started soon to connect all seven heritages of the Kathmandu Valley. The Heritage Bus Service would be run to lure more and more tourists along with sharing the history and significance of the heritages. ---RSS</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16813', 'image' => '20230221062031_collage (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 06:17:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17072', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Delays Finalizing Trade Logistics Policy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: The government is delaying the introduction of trade logistics policy. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 20: The government is delaying the introduction of trade logistics policy. Although the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies has been saying that it has done its homework to bring such a policy to facilitate trade for a long time, it has not yet been implemented as a policy. According to the ministry, although the draft of the trade logistics policy is already prepared, it is yet to be submitted to the cabinet for approval</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deputy Spokesperson of the Ministry of Industry, Urmila KC informed that although the ministry drafted a policy with the aim of organizing the internal distribution system, reducing business costs and strengthening supply chain management, it is yet to be presented in the cabinet for further process.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">She said that the draft of the policy made by the ministry was discussed among the relevant agencies and further revision work as well is completed. KC said that a logistics policy is prepared for the first time with the aim of reducing trade costs and facilitating import and export, and it is ready to be submitted to the Council of Ministers. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“When the government changed, the ministry was devoid of a minister for a long time while the secretaries also changed, so it could not go to the cabinet. The draft is ready, now it will go to the cabinet soon,” she said. The then secretary Dinesh Bhattarai, Baikuntha Aryal and others played an important role in drafting the logistics policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The purpose of preparing the logistics policy is to develop a targeted and integrated business logistics infrastructure, to organize the supply chain system, to strengthen good governance and research related to business logistics. The policy includes how to organize the transportation, customs, transport arrangements to the port, insurance, quarantine testing, warehouse, storage, distribution and transportation of goods imported to and exported from the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Topics such as how to reduce business costs and how to prepare a policy mechanism to prepare the necessary structure for that, and what the responsibilities of which agency will be are also included in the draft. The purpose of the policy is to facilitate and manage the overall supply system, trade, import and export, reduce costs, and make it competitive.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The policy mentions about reducing the cost of business by making transportation, storage and distribution organized, competitive, and provide goods to consumers at an affordable price. It emphasizes on making internal, sub-regional, regional and international trade organized and competitive. The policy aims to facilitate import and export as well as reduce trade costs. Last March, the government also asked for suggestions from the Policy Research Foundation for the trade logistics development policy. The foundation made a suggestion after consulting with the Export Promotion and Trade Facilitation Branch under the Ministry of Industry on June 7. The then Industry, Commerce and Supplies Minister Dilendra Prasad Badu also said that he would bring a business logistics development policy during his government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector was excited to know that the government is going to introduce a business logistics policy with the aim of reducing the cost of doing business. However, the delay of the government however is disappointing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prabhu Adhikari, the head of PAP Enterprises, which carries out cross-border exports, says that due to Nepal's laws, regulations, and bureaucratic red tape, logistics costs are also increasing, and policies should be implemented immediately. According to him, Nepal's law related to this sector is outdated. There is also a need for timely reform in the laws. He says that it is necessary for the government to pay attention to this end.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16811', 'image' => '20230220012049_Trade.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 13:20:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17071', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Half of Agriculture Budget Spent on Fertilizer Imports', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: More than half of the budget allocated for the agricultural sector is spent on the purchase of chemical fertilizers.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 20: More than half of the budget allocated for the agricultural sector is spent on the purchase of chemical fertilizers. The then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma had allocated a budget of Rs 55.97 billion for the agriculture sector this year. While announcing the budget, the then finance minister had said that a maximum of Rs 15 billion was allocated for purchasing chemical fertilizers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal requires around 750,000 to 800,000 metric tons of chemical fertilizers annually. Due to the increase in the price of raw materials in the international market and the economic recession, the amount allocated in the budget was not enough to purchase the required amount of fertilizer and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development asked the Ministry of Finance for an additional Rs 16 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prakash Kumar Sanjel, spokesperson for the ministry, said that the ministry wrote to the finance ministry to secure additional resources as it seems that the allocated budget will not be enough to buy enough fertilizer for the paddy season of the current fiscal year. Along with this, the budget for fertilizer purchase alone has now reached Rs 38.73 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Sanjel, 329,000 metric tons of fertilizers have been arranged so far. A total of 160,000 metric tons have been imported and 144,000 tons of fertilizer have been sold and distributed. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Rajendra Bahadur Karki, head of the purchasing division of Agricultural Inputs Company Limited, although the price of urea has decreased in the international market recently, the prices of DAP and potassium on the other hand have increased. The price of urea is now USD 507 per metric ton, down from its earlier price of USD 900. Similarly, the price of DAP, which was purchased for up to USD 450 per metric ton two years ago, has now reached USD 832.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Karki added that due to the continuous increase in the price of fertilizer, the government cannot buy the required amount of fertilizer from the allocated budget, so there is a need to ensure additional resources.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16810', 'image' => '20230220125941_agriiiii.JPG', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 12:55:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17070', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'International flights from Gautam Buddha Airport to Resume Soon', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: Gautam Buddha International Airport will soon resume international flights. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 20: Gautam Buddha International Airport will soon resume international flights. Jazeera Airways, which has been operating regular flights from the airport since January, will soon resume operation from the airport. Before the resumption of Jazeera flights, a chartered flight is taking place on Monday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The airport office informed New Business Age that Canadian Airlines will operate a chartered flight at the airport. General Manager of the airport Govinda Prasad Dahal said that although the chartered flight was supposed to come on Sunday, it was postponed due to various reasons, and is now scheduled to land on Monday. According to him, with the improvement in the weather and other technical issues, Jazeera Airways has asked for more time to fly.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jazeera will fly from the morning of March 9. Jazeera Airways will operate flights to and from the airport on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Earlier, Jazeera was flying three times a week. Due to bad weather, the airline stopped the Gautam Budh-Kuwait flights.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Dahal also said that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will fly to India during his state visits from GBIA. With the inauguration of the second international airport in last May, Jazeera Airways was the first to operate international flights from the airport. Nepal's Himalaya Airlines, which operated chartered flight for some time, has not yet taken the initiative to resume its service.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16809', 'image' => '20230220124708_GBIAAA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 12:46:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17069', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Shows Flexibility to Purchase Electricity from Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: India has become flexible in its approach to purchase electricity from Nepal compared to the past.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 20: India has become flexible in its approach to purchase electricity from Nepal compared to the past.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Indian authorities gave such indication during the tenth Nepal-India Energy Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee (JSC) meeting held in India’s Rajasthan on Saturday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Indian side responded positively to the proposal of Nepal to export electricity in the Indian market. They also hinted that India is willing to allow Nepal export 50 MW electricity to Bangladesh via India. The Indian side has demanded a concrete plan and proposal from Nepal in this regard.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting also took decisions on expansion of transmission lines and trade promotion. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)’s Executive Director Kulman Ghising expressed happiness over the decisions taken by the meeting.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The JSC meeting has proved to be a milestone for production, transmission and trade of electricity,” said Ghising.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“It is a big achievement to send proposal to sell electricity to Bangladesh to India for approval and the decision to seek alternatives to construct new transmission lines is equally important,” added Ghising. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“India took positively Nepal's proposal for exporting electricity to Bangladesh by using Indian transmission grid. A proposal seeking Indian permission for exporting Nepal's electricity to Bangladesh would be sent to the Central Electricity Authority of India, to which the Indian Authority will give consent after necessary tests as per the directive on cross border power trade," he further said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting co-chaired by Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, and Secretary at Electricity Ministry of India, Alok Kumar, also decided to forward the construction of high-power transmission lines for the inter-state power trade. Similarly, India also agreed to review Nepal’s proposal for the extension of current one year permit of electricity trade in the day-ahead market of the Indian Energy Exchange Ltd. Nepal's proposal for export of additional power would get approval from the Indian side by following due procedure, Ghising shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting further decided that Nepal would now be allowed to export electricity via Tanakpur from where only import was possible in the past. </span><br /> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16808', 'image' => '20230220120850_1676855618.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 12:07:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17068', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'COVID-19’s Impact on South Asia’s Youth could Last Generations, says World Bank Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: The COVID-19 pandemic derailed development and caused a massive collapse in human capital for millions of children and young people across South Asia.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 20: The COVID-19 pandemic derailed development and caused a massive collapse in human capital for millions of children and young people across South Asia, according to a new World Bank analysis of data for people who were under the age of 25 at the onset of the pandemic.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, human capital—the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lives—is key to unlocking a child’s potential and enabling countries to achieve a resilient recovery and strong future growth. Yet, the pandemic shuttered schools and places of employment and disrupted key services that protect and promote human capital, such as healthcare and job training, the World Bank reported citing the latest report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The new report, Collapse and Recovery: How COVID Eroded Human Capital and What to Do About It, presents the first comprehensive analysis of global data on the pandemic’s impacts on young people at key developmental stages: early childhood (0-5 years), school age (6-14 years), and youth (15-24 years). It finds that in South Asia, today’s students could lose up to 14.4 percent of their future earnings due to COVID-19-induced education shocks. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a recent statement, the World Bank said that the cognitive deficit in today’s toddlers could translate into a 25 percent decline in earnings when these children are adults.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The pandemic shut down schools, decimated jobs, and plunged vulnerable families into crisis, pushing millions of South Asia’s children and young people off-track and depriving them of opportunities to flourish,” the statement quoted Martin Raiser, World Bank vice president for South Asia, as saying. “Action to recover from losses in human capital is critical and examples from the region show that this is possible at relatively low cost if governments act fast,” Raiser added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In South Asia, between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2022, schools were fully or partially closed for 83 percent of the time—significantly longer than the global average of schools being closed for 52 percent of that same period, according to the report. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Among school-aged children, on average, for every 30 days of school closures, students lost about 32 days of learning. This is because school closures and ineffective remote learning measures caused students to miss out on learning and to also forget what they had already learned. As a result, learning poverty – already 60 percent before the pandemic — has increased further, with an estimated 78 percent of 10-year-olds in South Asia unable to read and understand a simple written text.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In some countries in South Asia that were covered in the report, school enrollment has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Across South Asia, the number of people neither employed nor enrolled in education or training has increased substantially. Moreover, in several countries that were analyzed, there was little sign of recovery after 18 months.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Without urgent action, the pandemic also threatens to deepen poverty and inequality, the World Bank warned. According to the World Bank, recent evidence suggests that even simple and low-cost programs can lead to sizable gains in skills. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“In Bangladesh, for example, attending a year of additional pre-school through two-hour sessions significantly improved literacy, numeracy, and social-development scores.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The World Bank said it is working closely with governments in South Asia to protect and invest in people as they cope with and recover from the pandemic. The World Bank’s pandemic response financing in South Asia reached nearly $11 billion during the two years since the start of the pandemic (April 2020 - April 2022), including $2.7 billion that supported social safety nets benefitting more than 857 million vulnerable people, $2.5 billion for 15 health projects, $2.80 billion for 12 education projects, and more than $1 billion to support vaccine purchase and deployment.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16807', 'image' => '20230220110336_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 11:02:37', '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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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 22: An airplane of Saurya Airlines which was about to takeoff for Biratnagar from Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on Tuesday returned to the parking-way after detection of a problem. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to airport sources, the aircraft returned after its indicator signalled a problem when the plane had reached near the runway for the take off. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The aircraft with flight number SAU 721 had reached near the runway after boarding the passengers when its indicator signaled a glitch, said TIA spokesperson Teknath Sitaula. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, it is not clear what problem was seen in the airplane. The plane is presently kept at the parking-way. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">TIA authorities have said the permission for flight would be issued only after the engineers of the airlines examine the problem in the aircraft and inform them that the plane is fit for flying. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-22', 'modified' => '2023-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16825', 'image' => '20230222085608_20170313010057_saurya.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-22 08:54:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17086', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bagmati Bharat Lake Turning Into Tourist Hub ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'An under construction Bharat Lake located in wards No 4 and 12 of Bagmati Municipality has turned a tourist destination in Sarlahi. The under construction lake is increasingly luring domestic and foreign tourists.', 'content' => '<div> <div> <div> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> February 22: An under construction Bharat Lake located in wards No 4 and 12 of Bagmati Municipality has turned a tourist destination in Sarlahi. The under construction lake is increasingly luring domestic and foreign tourists.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bagmati Municipality Mayor Bharat Kumar Thapa says that his municipality has already spent 980 million for the lake construction so far. “The lake requires extra Rs 1 billion budget for its completion and plans are afoot to develop the project as multi-purpose one,” said Mayor Thapa.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under the multi-purpose project, a hotel with modern picnic spots, jungle safari, Sumeru Parbat with the temple of Shiva and Parbati, Funpark, mini casino is being constructed, according to Chair Om Bahadur Shrestha of Ward No 12.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Shrestha said that the municipality was developing Bharat Lake as its major source of income. “We are planning to develop the lake as the tourist hub of the Madhes province,” Shrestha added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The municipality has completed only 20-25 per cent of the construction work in the lake. The municipality has started keeping fish and ducks in the lake to increase its income. “The municipality is working to finish the lake in three years,” Mayor Thapa said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The municipality has operated multi-purpose project in 121 bigaha of the land where lake construction is underway. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tourists from Nepal and India are visiting the under construction lake. “We are constructing the physical structures that can attract 6 million tourists in a year,” said the municipality.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Around 500 people are employed in the lake right now. As many 40 big and small boats are operating in the lake at the moment.</span></span></span></p> </div> <div> </div> <div> </div> </div> </div> <div> </div> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-22', 'modified' => '2023-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16824', 'image' => '20230222061500_collage - 2023-02-21T181451.011.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-22 06:07:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17084', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Almost Half of the Companies Seeking IPO Permission are from Hydropower Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The number of companies that have applied for the initial public offering (IPO) of ordinary shares with the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has reached 27. Among them, 44 per cent (12 companies) belong to the hydropower sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: The number of companies that have applied for the initial public offering (IPO) of ordinary shares with the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has reached 27. Among them, 44 per cent (12 companies) belong to the hydropower sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the 12 hydropower companies in the pipeline, the production capacity of 10 is less than 20 MW. Currently, there has been an increase in IPO issuance by hydropower companies with small production capacity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Mandu Hydropower, which has applied for IPO permission with SEBON, has a production capacity of 22 MW, and Modi Energy has 20 MW. Similarly, Kutheli Bukhari Small Hydropower has 0.998 MW capacity, Upper Syangja Hydropower has 2.4 MW capacity, Rawa Energy Development has 3 MW capacity, Upper Lohor Hydropower has 4 MW capacity, Bhagwati Hydropower Development has 4.5 MW capacity, Chirkhuwa Hydropower has 4.7 MW capacity and Manakamana Engineering Hydropower has 5 MW capacity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Three Star Hydropower has 7.151 megawatts capacity, Mid Solu Hydropower has 9.5 megawatts capacity, and Upper Mailung River Hydropower has a production capacity of 14.3 megawatts.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to a report of Nepal Rastra Bank on the financial and economic situation of the country till the end of last December, 25.30 per cent (63 units) of the companies listed in Nepal Stock Exchange Limited (NEPSE) are hydropower. Likewise, hundreds of hydropower projects are currently under construction in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since hydropower companies issue IPOs to raise investment for projects, it seems that shortly, a large part of the companies listed in NEPSE will be hydropower.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stock market experts shared that when the share of limited sector companies in the market is high, it will affect the overall market development and expansion. Currently, about 60 per cent of the listed companies in Nepal are in the banking and financial sector and insurance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Therefore, experts claim that the entire market will be affected when there are policy changes in the banking, financial and insurance sectors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rohan Karki, an expert in the market and chairman of the Independent Capital Market Association, said that after the lock-in period, the promoters of the hydropower company sell their shares and take money out of the market to invest in other sectors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Karki claimed that more hydropower companies are good for the nation as a whole, but due to the listed hydropower companies, money will go out of the market. According to Karki, this trend will have a long-term impact on the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“As a large number of hydropower companies are currently preparing to issue IPO, it seems that they will dominate the market shortly. It seems that when the share of limited sector companies in the market is high, it will affect the development and expansion of the overall capital market,'' he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Securities Board of Nepal spokesperson Muktinath Shrestha also said that companies from various sectors must come for market development and expansion. “When a large part of the market comprises of companies of a limited sector, it affects the development and expansion of the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Therefore, companies from various sectors must come to the market," he said. "To encourage companies from various sectors to issue IPOs, the board has started work including book building and putting SME platform into operation," Shrestha informed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, the board has also started the book-building process to encourage real sector companies in the market. Shrestha informed that the board is currently discussing continuously with the ministry how private sector companies can be encouraged to become public companies through IPO. According to Shrestha, the matter was discussed between the team, the board and high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Finance on Monday.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16822', 'image' => '20230221060613_1676945629.15A.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 18:05:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17083', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'GTC Overseas Opens Somany and Jaquar Showrooms in Birgunj ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Business House GTC Overseas has brought showrooms of tiles, bath ware and lighting into operation in Birgunj.', 'content' => '<p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px">February 21: Business House GTC Overseas has brought showrooms of tiles, bath ware and lighting into operation in Birgunj. GTC Overseas has opened showroom of Somany and Jaquar products from India.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Of late, demand of tiles, marbles, bathroom and electric decoration for house construction has increased and their market too has grown rapidly. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">GTC has opened two showrooms of the Somany and Jaquar products at Adarshanagar, Birgunj, said GTC Overseas Managing Director Ashok Lath.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The estimated market of tiles, marbles and bathware is worth more than Rs 25 billion in Nepal. Somany Ceramics Nepal Chief Rupesh Manot said that the showroom was opened targeting the customers in and around Birgunj.<br /> “We have been selling our products in Nepal for the last 30 years and we are planning to establish an industry in Bhairahawa,” said Manot. Jaquar Nepal Chief Naresh Manohat claimed that 23 years of transaction had won customers’ trust in Nepal. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Focused on sanitary goods used in the bathroom and electronic goods used at home, the company has expanded its production units in India, China, South Korea, Italy and Turkey, according to Naresh Manohat. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16821', 'image' => '20230221053939_collage - 2023-02-20T181507.628.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 17:37:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17082', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘Gold Import Quota not Enough to Meet Market Demand’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Gold and silver businessmen have complained that it is difficult to meet the needs of consumers because there is not enough gold in the market.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: Gold and silver businessmen have complained that it is difficult to meet the needs of consumers because there is not enough gold in the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In a joint press conference organized by the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association (FENEGOSIDA), Federation of Nepal Gold Silver Gem and Jewellery Association (FNGSGJA) and Federation of Handicraft Association of Nepal (FHAN) on Monday, Manik Ratna Shakya, the president of FENEGOSIDA, said that it is not possible to meet the demands of the customers due to the imposition of a quota system on gold import.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Because of the quota system in gold import, the businessmen are suffering as there is not enough supply as per the demand. They accuse the state of not importing gold as per the demand and treating the jewelers like 'criminals'. The government set a daily import quota of 10 kg for gold to preserve the foreign exchange reserves. However, Shakya says that this quantity is less than the market demand.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Shakya, 40 kg of gold is consumed during the peak season, while up to 15 kg of gold is consumed during off-season on a daily basis in the Nepali market. Due to the quota system implemented in the gold imports, the businessmen in this sector are highly discouraged as they are not able to run their business efficiently.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The umbrella organizations of businessmen issued a statement and said that the quota system of gold import has created a situation where the constitutional right to buy and sell has been conpromised. In the statement, they demanded to make necessary policies, rules and laws for the import and export of gold and silver jewelry.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The statement reads, “In relation to the global demand for traditional Nepali jewelry, there is a great need for policies, rules and laws for this profession to export jewelry and also to manage the local market.” The businessmen have also demanded that laws and regulations be made and implemented soon for the gold and silver business.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16820', 'image' => '20230221034559_gold newwww.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 15:44:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17081', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Preparations Afoot to Increase Price of Milk', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The government has completed preparations to increase the price of milk against the National Dairy Development Policy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: The government has completed preparations to increase the price of milk against the National Dairy Development Policy. According to the National Dairy Development Policy 2078, the price of milk can be reviewed every two years based on the study report of the Dairy Development Board. However, attempts have been made to increase the price of milk in less than one year following an understanding between the businessmen and the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The National Dairy Development Policy 2078 states that “The price of milk can be reviewed every two years based on the annual price increase and production cost based on the study report of the Dairy Development Board.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, businessmen argue that they are compelled to hike the price stating that there have been price hike of grains, bran feeds, hay, freight charges, etc.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director of the National Dairy Development Board, Rajendra Prasad Yadav stated that the price of milk should be increased every two years as per the policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">But due to the increase in the price of raw materials, a situation has been created compelling the producers to increase the prices. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“There is a situation where we have to import the feed, bran and medicine required for cattle from abroad. The price of those items is not under our control. Now, when the price of those items have increased, the cost of the farmers have increased as well and it seems like the price has to be increased,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Yadav said that since the price of grain and bran has more than doubled, and the price of milk has not increased yet, the farmers may abandon this sector. This may create a situation where the domestic production may be reduced and imports from India may become mandatory. So, there is the pressure to increase the price, argued Yadav.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A study conducted at the farmers level by the study committee formed under the coordination of the board to study the price of milk shows that the price must be increased. According to Yadav, the committee concluded that the price should be increased by Rs 10 per liter and the report has been sent to the Ministry of Agriculture for approval. After the approval of the ministry, the the council of ministers will decide about increasing the price.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier in December, the Dairy Industry Association had unilaterally increased the price of milk by Rs 14 per liter stating that the increase in the prices of raw materials like grains and bran forced them to increase the price. After this step was widely criticized, the price hike was withdrawn. According to the report of the study committee, the government is prepared to increase the price up to Rs 10 per liter, but the industrialists have been maintaining the stance that the price should be increased by Rs 14.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16819', 'image' => '20230221023730_1676944104.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 14:36:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17079', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CAAN Instructs Guna Airlines to Ground its Aircraft', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Guna Airlines, one of the private companies which aims to become a major air service provider of Nepal by expanding its domestic flights by the year 2024, has been banned from services within 17 months of resuming its operations.', '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"">February 21: Guna Airlines, one of the private companies which aims to become a major air service provider of Nepal by expanding its domestic flights by the year 2024, has been banned from services within 17 months of resuming its operations. </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 Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has banned the company from conducting flights because of the financial crisis faced by the company due to which it has not even paid salaries to its employees.</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"">CAAN, the aviation governing body of Nepal, argued that the company’s failure to pay salary to its staff will increase the risk of flight safety. The authority sent a letter to the company on Monday directing Guna Airlines to ground all of its aircraft. However, the company had already stopped its services five days ago. </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"">Jagannath Niraula, spokesperson of the authority, said that the planes were grounded considering the seriousness of flight safety after it was found that the pilots and crew members were not paid. "Correspondence has been sent for grounding the aircraft on Monday," Niraula told New Business Age.</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"">Guna Airlines has said that the company is preparing to fly from next week. Prajwal Thapa, the spokesperson of the company, said that two Beechcraft will fly again from next Monday. </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"">However, CAAN Spokesperson Niraula said that the authority can give permission to fly again only after evaluation after the company writes to the authority for lifting the ban.</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"">Thapa said that due to financial problems, there was some delay in giving salaries to the employees and added, "There is no problem now. We are also selling aircraft. After the maintenance, we will start regular flights with two Beechcrafts soon.”</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"">Thapa said that although the authority has written letter to the company directing them to ground the aircraft, the jet stream aircraft has not operated any flight since five days. </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"">"We are preparing to resume flights from next Monday after assuring CAAN that we have resolved the financial issues," said Thapa. The company has seven aircraft namely Jet Stream and Beechcraft. </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 Thapa, the aircraft will be flown after the Beechcraft is repaired. The company has said that it will sell five jet streams. Thapa said that representatives from a foreign company has come to Nepal to purchase those aircraft.</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"">Spokesperson Thapa also said that the company is planning to bring bigger aircraft after some time and continue the service. </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 financial problems of the private sector airline company Guna Airlines are not new. Even in 2013, the company halted its flight services due to financial problems. The company, which was established in 2009, was closed for some years and started flying again from September 2021.</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 2013, another private company Simrik Airlines had purchased the aircraft of Guna Airlines. After that, the 'Guna' brand was no longer in existence until the owners invested more than Rs 1 billion to revive the brand.. </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"">Guna Airlines is a company under Guna Group headed by businessman Rajendra Shakya.</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 company, which started flying from two destinations namely Kathmandu-Bharatpur and Kathmandu-Pokhara, has been flying to additional destinations- Biratnagar, Janakpur, Bhairahawa, Nepalganj, Surkhet, Tumlingtar and Simra after resuming its services.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16817', 'image' => '20230221124028_1676934664.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 12:39:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17078', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Gyalpo Lhosar Being Observed Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The Gyalpo Lhosar, the cultural festival of the Sherpa community that falls on the first day of the waxing moon in the Nepali month of Falgun (mid-February to mid-March), is being marked today by organizing different programmes. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 21: The Gyalpo Lhosar, the cultural festival of the Sherpa community that falls on the first day of the waxing moon in the Nepali month of Falgun (mid-February to mid-March), is being marked today by organizing different programmes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The festival is observed as the New Year by the members of the Sherpa community who primarily reside in the mountainous region of Nepal. But the festival is marked in 22 districts in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The festival is celebrated with gaiety and much fun from the first day of the waxing moon to the full moon day. This festival is also celebrated by Mahayan Buddhists as their New Year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This festival is being observed since the time of the ninth king of Bhot, Uday Gungyal. The festival is also termed as Gyalbo Lhosar, according to researcher Tika Sherpa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On this occasion, people of the Sherpa community clean up their houses and villages, sources of water and flutter new prayers flag in the roof of their houses. They cook delicacies such as Guthuk and Khapse and exchange best wishes with each other to welcome the New Year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Gurung community marks its New Year on Paush 15 (December end)) as the Tamu Lhosar while the Tamang community observe as Sonam Lhosar on the day of Magh Shukla Pratipada (first day of the waxing moon in the month of January). -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16816', 'image' => '20230221110716_gyalpo lhosar.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 11:06:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17077', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Five Construction Companies Blacklisted ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The Public Procurement Monitoring Office (PPMO) has blacklisted five construction and supply companies for abandoning their projects without completion.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 21: The Public Procurement Monitoring Office (PPMO) has blacklisted five construction and supply companies for abandoning their projects without completion. The companies have been blacklisted as per the Public Procurement Act, 2063, said the office in a notice issued on Monday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The blacklisted companies are Engineers Construction and Mint Craft Pvt Ltd based in Bharatpur-4 in Chitwan district, Jaya Gadhimai Construction Pvt Ltd, Guna Construction Sewa and Kalpana Construction Pvt Ltd. These companies have been blacklisted for one year while Mudbhari and Joshi Construction Pvt Ltd has been blacklisted for two years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Engineers Construction run by Bikash Shrestha had abandoned construction works in Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality in Chitwan. Khairahani Municipality in Chitwan district recommended the blacklisting of Jaya Gadhimai operated by Sita Ram Chaudhary. Mudbhari and Joshi run by Karan Kumar Mudbhari had stranded the construction works of the Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Company. Guna Construction operated by Gunaraj Pathak had left the construction works related to the Durgalaxmi Multiple Campus in Kailali in the lurch. Similarly, Barabardiya Municipality recommended the blacklisting of Kalpana Construction. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The blacklisted companies cannot participate in any procurement process until the period they have been blacklisted for expires," reads the notice. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16815', 'image' => '20230221104758_ppmo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 10:47:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17075', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Coupled With Cultures Needed, Minister Kirati Says', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has said that tourism industry was the country’s key economic pillar and proactive role of all is required for its promotion and development.', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">February 21: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has said that tourism industry was the country’s key economic pillar and proactive role of all is required for its promotion and development. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">At an interaction programme on “Nepal’s Tourism: International Promotion” in Kathmandu on Monday, Minister Kirati laid emphasis on tourism development along with the promotion of cultures. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Tourism should be developed with the local culture, knowledge and taste. Development of tourism could not be even imagined by keeping the local taste away. Our hotels and restaurants should serve the local flavour. Tourism development is not likely only by relying on foreign foods,” he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">On the occasion, Minister Kirati also emphasized the need of linkup between tourism and production and shared that the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation would unveil the new strategy for the tourism promotion after consulting the stakeholders.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> Kirati also informed that a bus service would be started soon to connect all seven heritages of the Kathmandu Valley. The Heritage Bus Service would be run to lure more and more tourists along with sharing the history and significance of the heritages. ---RSS</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-21', 'modified' => '2023-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16813', 'image' => '20230221062031_collage (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-21 06:17:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17072', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Delays Finalizing Trade Logistics Policy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: The government is delaying the introduction of trade logistics policy. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 20: The government is delaying the introduction of trade logistics policy. Although the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies has been saying that it has done its homework to bring such a policy to facilitate trade for a long time, it has not yet been implemented as a policy. According to the ministry, although the draft of the trade logistics policy is already prepared, it is yet to be submitted to the cabinet for approval</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deputy Spokesperson of the Ministry of Industry, Urmila KC informed that although the ministry drafted a policy with the aim of organizing the internal distribution system, reducing business costs and strengthening supply chain management, it is yet to be presented in the cabinet for further process.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">She said that the draft of the policy made by the ministry was discussed among the relevant agencies and further revision work as well is completed. KC said that a logistics policy is prepared for the first time with the aim of reducing trade costs and facilitating import and export, and it is ready to be submitted to the Council of Ministers. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“When the government changed, the ministry was devoid of a minister for a long time while the secretaries also changed, so it could not go to the cabinet. The draft is ready, now it will go to the cabinet soon,” she said. The then secretary Dinesh Bhattarai, Baikuntha Aryal and others played an important role in drafting the logistics policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The purpose of preparing the logistics policy is to develop a targeted and integrated business logistics infrastructure, to organize the supply chain system, to strengthen good governance and research related to business logistics. The policy includes how to organize the transportation, customs, transport arrangements to the port, insurance, quarantine testing, warehouse, storage, distribution and transportation of goods imported to and exported from the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Topics such as how to reduce business costs and how to prepare a policy mechanism to prepare the necessary structure for that, and what the responsibilities of which agency will be are also included in the draft. The purpose of the policy is to facilitate and manage the overall supply system, trade, import and export, reduce costs, and make it competitive.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The policy mentions about reducing the cost of business by making transportation, storage and distribution organized, competitive, and provide goods to consumers at an affordable price. It emphasizes on making internal, sub-regional, regional and international trade organized and competitive. The policy aims to facilitate import and export as well as reduce trade costs. Last March, the government also asked for suggestions from the Policy Research Foundation for the trade logistics development policy. The foundation made a suggestion after consulting with the Export Promotion and Trade Facilitation Branch under the Ministry of Industry on June 7. The then Industry, Commerce and Supplies Minister Dilendra Prasad Badu also said that he would bring a business logistics development policy during his government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector was excited to know that the government is going to introduce a business logistics policy with the aim of reducing the cost of doing business. However, the delay of the government however is disappointing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prabhu Adhikari, the head of PAP Enterprises, which carries out cross-border exports, says that due to Nepal's laws, regulations, and bureaucratic red tape, logistics costs are also increasing, and policies should be implemented immediately. According to him, Nepal's law related to this sector is outdated. There is also a need for timely reform in the laws. He says that it is necessary for the government to pay attention to this end.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16811', 'image' => '20230220012049_Trade.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 13:20:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17071', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Half of Agriculture Budget Spent on Fertilizer Imports', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: More than half of the budget allocated for the agricultural sector is spent on the purchase of chemical fertilizers.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 20: More than half of the budget allocated for the agricultural sector is spent on the purchase of chemical fertilizers. The then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma had allocated a budget of Rs 55.97 billion for the agriculture sector this year. While announcing the budget, the then finance minister had said that a maximum of Rs 15 billion was allocated for purchasing chemical fertilizers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal requires around 750,000 to 800,000 metric tons of chemical fertilizers annually. Due to the increase in the price of raw materials in the international market and the economic recession, the amount allocated in the budget was not enough to purchase the required amount of fertilizer and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development asked the Ministry of Finance for an additional Rs 16 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prakash Kumar Sanjel, spokesperson for the ministry, said that the ministry wrote to the finance ministry to secure additional resources as it seems that the allocated budget will not be enough to buy enough fertilizer for the paddy season of the current fiscal year. Along with this, the budget for fertilizer purchase alone has now reached Rs 38.73 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Sanjel, 329,000 metric tons of fertilizers have been arranged so far. A total of 160,000 metric tons have been imported and 144,000 tons of fertilizer have been sold and distributed. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Rajendra Bahadur Karki, head of the purchasing division of Agricultural Inputs Company Limited, although the price of urea has decreased in the international market recently, the prices of DAP and potassium on the other hand have increased. The price of urea is now USD 507 per metric ton, down from its earlier price of USD 900. Similarly, the price of DAP, which was purchased for up to USD 450 per metric ton two years ago, has now reached USD 832.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Karki added that due to the continuous increase in the price of fertilizer, the government cannot buy the required amount of fertilizer from the allocated budget, so there is a need to ensure additional resources.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16810', 'image' => '20230220125941_agriiiii.JPG', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 12:55:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17070', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'International flights from Gautam Buddha Airport to Resume Soon', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: Gautam Buddha International Airport will soon resume international flights. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 20: Gautam Buddha International Airport will soon resume international flights. Jazeera Airways, which has been operating regular flights from the airport since January, will soon resume operation from the airport. Before the resumption of Jazeera flights, a chartered flight is taking place on Monday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The airport office informed New Business Age that Canadian Airlines will operate a chartered flight at the airport. General Manager of the airport Govinda Prasad Dahal said that although the chartered flight was supposed to come on Sunday, it was postponed due to various reasons, and is now scheduled to land on Monday. According to him, with the improvement in the weather and other technical issues, Jazeera Airways has asked for more time to fly.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jazeera will fly from the morning of March 9. Jazeera Airways will operate flights to and from the airport on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Earlier, Jazeera was flying three times a week. Due to bad weather, the airline stopped the Gautam Budh-Kuwait flights.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Dahal also said that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will fly to India during his state visits from GBIA. With the inauguration of the second international airport in last May, Jazeera Airways was the first to operate international flights from the airport. Nepal's Himalaya Airlines, which operated chartered flight for some time, has not yet taken the initiative to resume its service.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16809', 'image' => '20230220124708_GBIAAA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 12:46:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17069', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Shows Flexibility to Purchase Electricity from Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: India has become flexible in its approach to purchase electricity from Nepal compared to the past.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 20: India has become flexible in its approach to purchase electricity from Nepal compared to the past.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Indian authorities gave such indication during the tenth Nepal-India Energy Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee (JSC) meeting held in India’s Rajasthan on Saturday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Indian side responded positively to the proposal of Nepal to export electricity in the Indian market. They also hinted that India is willing to allow Nepal export 50 MW electricity to Bangladesh via India. The Indian side has demanded a concrete plan and proposal from Nepal in this regard.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting also took decisions on expansion of transmission lines and trade promotion. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)’s Executive Director Kulman Ghising expressed happiness over the decisions taken by the meeting.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The JSC meeting has proved to be a milestone for production, transmission and trade of electricity,” said Ghising.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“It is a big achievement to send proposal to sell electricity to Bangladesh to India for approval and the decision to seek alternatives to construct new transmission lines is equally important,” added Ghising. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“India took positively Nepal's proposal for exporting electricity to Bangladesh by using Indian transmission grid. A proposal seeking Indian permission for exporting Nepal's electricity to Bangladesh would be sent to the Central Electricity Authority of India, to which the Indian Authority will give consent after necessary tests as per the directive on cross border power trade," he further said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting co-chaired by Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, and Secretary at Electricity Ministry of India, Alok Kumar, also decided to forward the construction of high-power transmission lines for the inter-state power trade. Similarly, India also agreed to review Nepal’s proposal for the extension of current one year permit of electricity trade in the day-ahead market of the Indian Energy Exchange Ltd. Nepal's proposal for export of additional power would get approval from the Indian side by following due procedure, Ghising shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting further decided that Nepal would now be allowed to export electricity via Tanakpur from where only import was possible in the past. </span><br /> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16808', 'image' => '20230220120850_1676855618.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 12:07:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17068', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'COVID-19’s Impact on South Asia’s Youth could Last Generations, says World Bank Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: The COVID-19 pandemic derailed development and caused a massive collapse in human capital for millions of children and young people across South Asia.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 20: The COVID-19 pandemic derailed development and caused a massive collapse in human capital for millions of children and young people across South Asia, according to a new World Bank analysis of data for people who were under the age of 25 at the onset of the pandemic.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, human capital—the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lives—is key to unlocking a child’s potential and enabling countries to achieve a resilient recovery and strong future growth. Yet, the pandemic shuttered schools and places of employment and disrupted key services that protect and promote human capital, such as healthcare and job training, the World Bank reported citing the latest report.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The new report, Collapse and Recovery: How COVID Eroded Human Capital and What to Do About It, presents the first comprehensive analysis of global data on the pandemic’s impacts on young people at key developmental stages: early childhood (0-5 years), school age (6-14 years), and youth (15-24 years). It finds that in South Asia, today’s students could lose up to 14.4 percent of their future earnings due to COVID-19-induced education shocks. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a recent statement, the World Bank said that the cognitive deficit in today’s toddlers could translate into a 25 percent decline in earnings when these children are adults.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The pandemic shut down schools, decimated jobs, and plunged vulnerable families into crisis, pushing millions of South Asia’s children and young people off-track and depriving them of opportunities to flourish,” the statement quoted Martin Raiser, World Bank vice president for South Asia, as saying. “Action to recover from losses in human capital is critical and examples from the region show that this is possible at relatively low cost if governments act fast,” Raiser added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In South Asia, between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2022, schools were fully or partially closed for 83 percent of the time—significantly longer than the global average of schools being closed for 52 percent of that same period, according to the report. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Among school-aged children, on average, for every 30 days of school closures, students lost about 32 days of learning. This is because school closures and ineffective remote learning measures caused students to miss out on learning and to also forget what they had already learned. As a result, learning poverty – already 60 percent before the pandemic — has increased further, with an estimated 78 percent of 10-year-olds in South Asia unable to read and understand a simple written text.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In some countries in South Asia that were covered in the report, school enrollment has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Across South Asia, the number of people neither employed nor enrolled in education or training has increased substantially. Moreover, in several countries that were analyzed, there was little sign of recovery after 18 months.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Without urgent action, the pandemic also threatens to deepen poverty and inequality, the World Bank warned. According to the World Bank, recent evidence suggests that even simple and low-cost programs can lead to sizable gains in skills. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“In Bangladesh, for example, attending a year of additional pre-school through two-hour sessions significantly improved literacy, numeracy, and social-development scores.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The World Bank said it is working closely with governments in South Asia to protect and invest in people as they cope with and recover from the pandemic. The World Bank’s pandemic response financing in South Asia reached nearly $11 billion during the two years since the start of the pandemic (April 2020 - April 2022), including $2.7 billion that supported social safety nets benefitting more than 857 million vulnerable people, $2.5 billion for 15 health projects, $2.80 billion for 12 education projects, and more than $1 billion to support vaccine purchase and deployment.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-20', 'modified' => '2023-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16807', 'image' => '20230220110336_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-20 11:02:37', '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
