December 31: Tourism entrepreneurs have stressed the need of a special action plan at the policy-level to promote women entrepreneurship for propping up…
December 31: Tourism entrepreneurs have stressed the need of a special action plan at the policy-level to promote women entrepreneurship for propping up…
December 31: More than one million foreign tourists arrived in Nepal via the air route in the year 2023.…
December 31: The Gurung community is observing the Tamu Lhosar today (Sunday) by bidding farewell to the year gone…
December 31: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)’s Arghakhanchi Distribution Center has cut off power supply to Shubha Shri Agni Cement…
December 30: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sudan Kirati, has said that the government had started a discussion on exploring the possibility for adopting a public-private partnership (PPP) model for the operation of international…
December 29: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has resumed the process of approval of Initial Public Offering (IPO) of securities after a gap of two months.…
December 29: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has initiated further study of the Karnali Chisapani Hydropower Project, the largest hydropower project of South Asia.…
December 29: The government has fixed the support price of wheat at Rs 3,650 per quintal.…
December 29: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has urged the consumers who had consumed electricity through the dedicated feeder and trunk line to clear their dues in order to resume power…
December 29: A writ petition has been filed at the Supreme Court questioning the academic qualifications of Nepal Rastra Bank’s Governor Maha Prasad…
December 29: The air crash investigation commission formed by the government to probe the fatal crash of Yeti Airlines in Pokhara almost a year ago has concluded that the ATR-72 aircraft of the company crashed on January 15 due to human…
December 28: Farmers of Chitwan district have shifted their focus towards cash…
December 28: Nepal Rastra Bank has stepped up efforts to mop excess liquidity through deposit collection tools to control excessive liquidity in the banking…
December 28: The Nepal Electricity Authority has cut off power supply to nine industries for defaulting the payment of dues for the use of electricity through dedicated feeders and trunk…
December 28: Nepal exported yarsagumba, a prized medicinal herb with aphrodisiac property, worth more than Rs 550 million in five months of the current fiscal…
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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"">December 31: Tourism entrepreneurs have stressed the need of a special action plan at the policy-level to promote women entrepreneurship for propping up economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They stressed it at a programme organised for women entrepreneurs of service sector in Gandaki Province. The event was organized by the EU-Nepal Trade and Investment Project in coordination with the Women Tourism Entrepreneurs Forum (WOTEF). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, tourism entrepreneur Sharmila Neupane said the state has not been paying attention to result-oriented activities. She mentioned, "The state should create gender-based investment-friendly environment in order to encourage women in entrepreneurship for social justice and equality." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Gandaki Province Assembly member Devaka Pahari, who is also a tourism entrepreneur, shared that women are deprived of income generating opportunity in lack of women-friendly environment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">She said she has been consistently raising her voice for creating investment-friendly environment and policy to encourage entrepreneurship.</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"">Similarly, Professor Dr Chandra Bhadra viewed that women are compelled to face discrimination due to various reasons as the state is not sensitive towards gender-friendly concept. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of Pokhara Tourism Council, Pom Narayan Shrestha, underscored that there is immense potential to encourage women towards entrepreneurship as tourism is a multi-dynamic sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, WOTEF Chair Uma Bhandari Regmi said the organisation had been organising various programmes for augmenting status of women associated with different business. Women tourism entrepreneurs had gathered for the first time in Pokhara and established the organisation in 2074 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">EU Representatives Dipanjali Shrestha shared that as per the statistics of Gandaki Province only around 45 per cent women are self-dependent. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-31', 'modified' => '2023-12-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19582', 'image' => '20231231012040_20220612023555_woman.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-31 13:20:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19853', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'More than One Million Tourists Arrive in Nepal in 2023 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 31: More than one million foreign tourists arrived in Nepal via the air route in the year 2023. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 31: More than one million foreign tourists arrived in Nepal via the air route in the year 2023. According to the statistics of Nepal Tourism Board, a total of 1,008,614 tourists came to Nepal as of December 30 this year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This has fulfilled the government's goal of bringing in one million foreign tourists in 2023. While announcing the budget of the current fiscal year, the government had mentioned that the number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal would be increased to one million in 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourism industry of Nepal, which was badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, has almost revived to its original state. The NTB says that tourism industry has recovered this year by almost 85 percent compared to 2019, when around 1.2 million foreign tourists had visited the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The arrival of tourists this year is encouraging," said NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane. More than 1 million tourists have entered Nepal through the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, president of the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN), Binayak Shah, expects the arrival of tourists to further increase in the coming days. The number of tourists will further increase if the government expands its partnership with the private sector, says Shah. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It may be noted that the government has announced 2025 as the Visit Nepal Year. Furthermore, the year 2023 to 2032 is being celebrated as the tourism decade with a target of bringing in 3.5 million tourists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the number of Indian tourists has increased significantly this year. In 2019, 254,150 Indian tourists visited Nepal while the number rose to 317,481 this year. Likewise, the number of American tourists reached 99,985 this year. In 2019, a total of 93,241 American tourists had visited visit Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the number of Chinese tourists is gradually increasing with the arrival of 60,160 Chinese nationals this year. In 2019, altogether 169,543 Chinese tourists had visited Nepal. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-31', 'modified' => '2023-12-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19581', 'image' => '20231231113731_20220410081846_himalaya-trekkers.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-31 11:36:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19854', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tamu Lhosar being Observed Today', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 31: The Gurung community is observing the Tamu Lhosar today (Sunday) by bidding farewell to the year gone by.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">December 31: The Gurung community is observing the Tamu Lhosar today (Sunday) by bidding farewell to the year gone by. In the Gurung language, ‘Lho’ means year or age and ‘Sar’ denotes change. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Members of the Gurung community mark the festival by organising feasts and cultural programmes. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The festival is marked on the 15th day of the Nepali month of Poush with the first rays of the sunlight reaching the Gurung settlements in Lamjung, Gorkha, Tanahun, Syangja, Manang, Kaski and Parbat. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The festival is marked by Tamang and Sherpa community later in the Nepali months of Magh and Falgun, respectively. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The government has announced public holiday on the occasion of Tamu Lhosar today. Members of the Gurung community have been obeserving a special programme at Tundikhel, Kathmandu, on the occasion of Tamu Lhosar. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Meanwhile, President Ram Chandra Paudel and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal have wished for happiness, peace and good health of all Nepalis at home and abroad on the occasion of Tamu Lhosar festival. President Paudel has expressed the confidence that this festival would help further strengthen our national unity by promoting goodwill, tolerance and brotherhood among all Nepalis in our multiethnic, multilingual and multicultural diverse society.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-31', 'modified' => '2023-12-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19580', 'image' => '20231231121250_tamu lhosar.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-31 12:12:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19852', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Halts Power Supply to another Industry', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 31: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)’s Arghakhanchi Distribution Center has cut off power supply to Shubha Shri Agni Cement Industry. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 31: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)’s Arghakhanchi Distribution Center has cut off power supply to Shubha Shri Agni Cement Industry. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The power supply line was disconnected on Friday night after the industry based in Jaluke of Shitganga Municipality-8 did not pay Rs 470 million electricity dues, chief of NEA Arghakhanchi Branch Trilochan Bhattarai told the state news agency RSS. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The amount was due for using electricity through the dedicated feeder. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA has cut off power supply to over a dozen industries reasoning that they failed to clear the tariff for using the dedicated feeder and trunk lines through which electricity was supplied during the time of load-shedding. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA took such drastic measures since December 22, a day after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ordered the state-owned power utility to plug off the power lines and recover the tariff from them. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA was facing criticism that it was disrupting power only to small industries while letting the big ones go scot free. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The private sector, on the other hand, has complained that the Nepal Electricity Authority disconnected power supply of dedicated feeder and trunk line without taking enough initiatives for the resolution of the dispute over electricity tariff arrears. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They accused the government of disconnecting the lines without showing seriousness on addressing the six-year-old dispute of payment of electricity arrears of dedicated feeders and trunk line. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They have even expressed their willingness to clear all the dues provided that the NEA furnishes details of the Time of Day (TOD) meter, which gives the exact information about the change in electricity rates during peak hours and off hours in a day. However, the NEA has maintained that it cannot provide such information.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The authority has so far stopped electricity supply to Jagadamba Cement, Reliance Spinning Mills, Ghorahi Cement, Arghakhanchi Cements, Triveni Spinning Mills, Ashok Steel, Sonapur Minerals and Oil Limited, Sarbottam Cement and Laxmi Steel among others for ignoring its request to clear the dues. There are reportedly over sixty industries in the blacklist of NEA who are yet to clear the dues.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-31', 'modified' => '2023-12-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19579', 'image' => '20231231111829_NEA update.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-31 10:29:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19851', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Initiates Discussion for Operating International Airports on PPP Model ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 30: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sudan Kirati, has said that the government had started a discussion on exploring the possibility for adopting a public-private partnership (PPP) model for the operation of international airports. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 30: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sudan Kirati, has said that the government had started a discussion on exploring the possibility for adopting a public-private partnership (PPP) model for the operation of international airports. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister shared that discussions include operations of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and recently constructed Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport and the Pokhara International Airport. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He shared this information during a meeting of the Delegated Management and Government Assurance Committee under the National Assembly at Singha Durbar on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, he apprised the meeting that efforts are underway for effective operations of commercial flights from the international airports. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Newly built international airports have not been properly utilized and 22 domestic airports have already turned into pasture lands, according to Minister Kirati. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">TIA will be unable to manage the traffic congestion after some years despite its extension to its full capacity and the government sees the need of accelerating the construction of Nijgadh airport, the minister argued. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, lawmakers Nara Bahadur Bista, Gomadevi Timilsina and Narapati Luhar demanded the government that it systematized the Narayanhiti Durbar Museum and objects of archeological importance. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-30', 'modified' => '2023-12-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19578', 'image' => '20231230112523_Gautam Buddha.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-30 11:24:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19850', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Approves IPOs after Two Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has resumed the process of approval of Initial Public Offering (IPO) of securities after a gap of two months. ', '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"">December 29: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has resumed the process of approval of Initial Public Offering (IPO) of securities after a gap of two months. The board has stopped the approval of IPO from October </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">8 following complaints that the continuous issuance of public offerings of securities in the primary market was affecting the secondary market. </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"">SEBON Chairman Ramesh Kumar Hamal and the management of SEBON were accused of negligence in approving issuance of IPOs. Due to the complaints, Chairman Hamal proposed that the approval of IPOs must be done through the board of directors of SEBON.</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"">A member of the board of directors said that the board meeting of SEBON decided to authorize the chairman to proceed with the approval process of IPOs upon the recommendation of the management. The regulatory body claimed that it is working in a clean and transparent manner for the approval of public issuance by forming a department for the approval process.</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"">After the board of directors cleared the issue, the SEBON has now started the process of giving permission for public issuance to the companies that have completed the process. The board allowed Kumari Capital Limited to sell </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">100</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million units of shares worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion on December 17, exactly two months after the approval process was halted.</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 following day, SEBON allowed Nepal Investment Mega Bank to auction </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">40,40,000</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">units of bonds worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">4.4</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion. Similarly, on December 19, the board allowed Sarvottam Cement to issue </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.6</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million units of shares to the general public through the book building method in the second phase. The board has allowed Sarvottam Cement to sell its shares to the general public at the rate of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">360</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">90</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">per share. </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"">On December 27, the board gave permission to Singti Hydropower Project to issue </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">145</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million units of rights shares at </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">100%</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> rate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19577', 'image' => '20231229044128_Sebon-update.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 16:40:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19849', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Initiates Further Study of Karnali Chisapani Hydropower Project worth Rs 1147 Billion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has initiated further study of the Karnali Chisapani Hydropower Project, the largest hydropower project of South Asia. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 29: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has initiated further study of the Karnali Chisapani Hydropower Project, the largest hydropower project of South Asia. As per the current price estimates, the project is expected to cost Rs 1147 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) initiated the new study of the 10,800-MW project with its own resources. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A high-level team comprising Minister for Energy, Water Resources and irrigation, Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Energy Secretary Sushil Chandra Tiwari, Director General of the Department of Irrigation, Churna Bahadur Oli and NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising carried out an on-site visit to the project site as well as the project-affected areas on December 25 and 26. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA initiated the study of the Karnali Chisapani Project with an aim to complete it within the next three years. Locals are very excited after the government initiated the new study process, giving the project special importance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The prospects of construction of this project has enthused the locals in the hope. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Khadga BK, chairperson of Panchapuri rural municipality, Surkhet, said they would provide meaningful cooperation to make the project successful. "We are excited to know about the news that such a mega project is being constructed in our area. We are exhilarated. We urge the federal government to move ahead the process by addressing the justified demands of the locals," he added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The reservoir of the proposed project would be constructed nearly two kilometres above the Karnali Chisapani bridge that connects Bardiya and Kailali districts. A 270-metre tall dam would be built on the Karnali River. Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)'s current study says that it would be a 'rock fill dam'. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The reservoir would be 167 kilometres long – 100 kilometres on the Karnali river, 45 kilometres on the Bheri river, 16 kilometres on the Seti river, six kilometres on the Thuligad river, according to NEA senior engineer Nasib Man Pradhan who was involved in the study. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project will affect the settlements and structures located near the river in Bardiya, Kailali, Surkhet, Achham and Doti districts. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per a study conducted in 1989, the project will affect a total 11,570 hectares area and 54,600 locals. NEA said the affected area would be clearly identified by studying the latest situation. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19576', 'image' => '20231229033542_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 15:34:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19847', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Fixes Support Price of Wheat at Rs 3,650 Per Quintal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: The government has fixed the support price of wheat at Rs 3,650 per quintal. ', '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"">December 29: The government has fixed the support price of wheat at Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3,650</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> per quintal. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday decided to fix the minimum support price of wheat.</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 Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development had proposed the price per quintal of wheat at Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">977</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">72 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">per quintal in addition to the production cost of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">594</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">54 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">per quintal and transportation cost of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">77</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">88 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">per quintal. </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"">Last year, the government had fixed the minimum support price of wheat at Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">351.</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 government fixes the support prices of wheat, rice and sugarcane so that the farmers get a fair price for their produce. The support price is also fixed so that the businessmen and middlemen do not take undue advantage from the farmers.</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, the government has been often criticized of fixing the support price after the farmers sell their produce at throw-away prices.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This year, the government has already fixed the support price of sugarcane as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19575', 'image' => '20231229023524_1703816752.1677453676.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 14:34:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19846', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA says Exemption of Electricity Dues not Possible', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has urged the consumers who had consumed electricity through the dedicated feeder and trunk line to clear their dues in order to resume power supply.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 29: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has urged the consumers who had consumed electricity through the dedicated feeder and trunk line to clear their dues in order to resume power supply.</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 NEA has made it clear that there is no option for the consumers but to clear the dues on an installment basis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organising a press conference on Thuesday, NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising insisted that the NEA cannot waive the dues as the government has already issued a directive to recover the dues from the users of dedicated feeder and trunk line by cutting off the electricity supply line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had instructed the NEA to collect the electricity tariff dues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The NEA cannot do anything in this regard as exemption is not possible,” Ghising said, urging the industrialists to come forward and deposit certain amount in the review committee under the NEA. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the PM's directives, the NEA has cut off electricity lines to some iconic industries. The business and industry community has expressed concern following the disruption of electricity line. The industrialists say that they are ready to pay the dues if the NEA provides the Time of Day (TOD) meter data. However, the NEA has said it cannot provide such data.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA started cutting off electricity supply line since last December 26 as per the electricity transmission and electricity tariff regulations after the consumers did not pay the dues despite repeated requests by the NEA.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19573', 'image' => '20231229011203_NEA_eight by six.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 13:11:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19845', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Writ Petition Filed Against NRB Governor Questioning his Academic Qualification ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: A writ petition has been filed at the Supreme Court questioning the academic qualifications of Nepal Rastra Bank’s Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 29: A writ petition has been filed at the Supreme Court questioning the academic qualifications of Nepal Rastra Bank’s Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">T<span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">he petition filed on Thursday claims that the academic qualification of Governor Adhikari is not sufficient to assume the responsibility of the post. </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"">Joint-spokesperson of the Supreme Court, Govinda Ghimire, said hearing on the petition will take place on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government appointed Adhikari as the governor of the central bank on April 6, 2020. Section 20 of the Nepal Rastra Bank Act states that the governor should have a master's degree in economics, banking, finance, commerce, management, public administration, statistics, mathematics or law and experience in the same field. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> In the writ petition filed by advocates Deepakraj Joshi, Pratap Singh Thakurathi, Damodar Timilsana and Chudamani Bhandari, it has been claimed that Adhikari has obtained the equivalence of a master's degree from Tribhuvan University but the law stipulates that he must have passed the master's level and hence is not qualified on the basis of equivalence. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19572', 'image' => '20231229120450_20200407080848_IMG_4955 - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 12:04:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19844', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Yeti Airlines Plane Crashed due to Human Error: Probe Commission ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: The air crash investigation commission formed by the government to probe the fatal crash of Yeti Airlines in Pokhara almost a year ago has concluded that the ATR-72 aircraft of the company crashed on January 15 due to human error.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 29: The air crash investigation commission formed by the government to probe the fatal crash of Yeti Airlines in Pokhara almost a year ago has concluded that the ATR-72 aircraft of the company crashed on January 15 due to human error.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The commission submitted its report to the government on Thursday. The report prepared by the inquiry commission chaired by former secretary Nagendra Prasad Ghimire handed over its report to Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sudan Kirati. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Budhisagar Lamichhane, member secretary of the commission, said it was a new airport for the pilot and it was human error that was responsible for the crash. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chair of the Commission Nagendra Prasad Ghimire said that the main cause of the ATR-72 airplane crash was pilot’s fault. Analyzing the crash indicated human error as the main factor. Another reason for the plane crash was that the new airport was put into operation without full preparation. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Upon receiving the report, Minister Kirati expressed his commitment that the management, regulatory bodies and the ministry would give necessary instructions to strictly implement the recommendations made by the report. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A total of 72 passengers including four crew members had died after the aircraft crashed into the Seti river gorge while trying to land in the newly built Pokhara International Airport. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Earlier, a preliminary report prepared by the same probe panel had found that the ill-fated aircraft did not have any thrust in both the engines while making the final attempt to land at the airport, which led to the fatal accident. The commission had reached the conclusion after studying the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of the plane recovered from the crash site.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">An amateur video circulating on social media at that time showed the aircraft tilting towards the left before losing its balance to crash indicating that the aircraft had stalled due to lack of thrust, according to experts. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19571', 'image' => '20231229105854_20230207121550_Yetii.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 10:58:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19843', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers of Chitwan Shift to Cash Crop Cultivation to Avoid Animal Menace', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 28: Farmers of Chitwan district have shifted their focus towards cash crop.', '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"">December 28: Farmers of Chitwan district have shifted their focus towards cash crop. The locals are attracted towards cultivation of mustard and other cash crop because the wild animals from the nearby national park and buffer zone cause less damage to the cash crop compared to the traditional crops.</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"">Om Prakash Mahato of Madi Municipality-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> has been cultivating mustard for the past five years. Before that, he used to cultivate wheat and potatoes after harvesting rice. Mahato is currently growing mustard on his </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">10</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">-kattha land and an additional </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">10</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">-kattha of rented land. </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 have shifted to mustard farming because wild animals cause less damage to such crop," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Elephants, rhinos, deer among other wild animals cause significant damage to crops in this area. The growing population and expansion of human settlements have led to human-wildlife conflict.</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"">"Mustard is being cultivated on more than </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">60</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> hectares of land in our village. Mustard ripens quickly and is sold at a reasonable price, so everyone grows mustard,” said Mahato.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, Naveen Kumar Shrestha of Khairhani municipality-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">12</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> has been cultivating mustard for the past two years. He has been cultivating mustard on </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">16</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">katthas of land. He says that he started cultivating mustard as it requires less water and wild animals also do not cause much trouble.</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"">"It takes time for wheat and lentil to ripen. That's why I cultivated mustard," said Shrestha.</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"">He says that he plans to cultivate melons after harvesting mustard. According to the Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Chitwan, mustard is being cultivated in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">21,850</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> hectares of land in the district this year. This area is more than last year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Umraj Aryal, planning officer of the center, said that mustard was cultivated in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14,765</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> hectares last year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Last year, Chitwan district produced </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">19,194</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> metric tons of mustard. He expects mustard production to increase this year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Planning officer Aryal says that mustard ripens quickly and is easy to plant. "This year, mustard has replaced lentil and wheat farming," he added.</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"">Last year, wheat was planted in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">460 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">hectares of land and lentil in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">536 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">hectares. Planning officer Aryal said that these crops have been planted only in some places this year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-28', 'modified' => '2023-12-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19570', 'image' => '20231228011356_KA-Bharatpur-IMG_4065.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-28 13:13:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19842', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank Steps Up Efforts to Mop Excess Liquidity', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 28: Nepal Rastra Bank has stepped up efforts to mop excess liquidity through deposit collection tools to control excessive liquidity in the banking system.', '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"">December 28: Nepal Rastra Bank has stepped up efforts to mop excess liquidity through deposit collection tools to control excessive liquidity in the banking system.</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"">As the average interbank interest rate remained below the interest rate corridor even after the central bank collected more than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">200</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion within a month, the NRB decided to mop additional liquidity from the banking system.</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"">Nepal Rastra Bank raised Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">35</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion for </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> days on Wednesday through deposit collection equipment. This is the largest amount raised by the central bank through deposit collection instrument so far in the current fiscal year (FY) for liquidity management. Earlier, a deposit collection tool of up to Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">25</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion was issued for a period of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> days. Banks had submitted bids of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">38</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">40</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion for the deposit collection instrument issued on Wednesday. The banks quoted a minimum interest rate of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2.49%</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> and a maximum of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.12%.</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"">Nepal</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Rastra Bank is also issuing deposit collection tools worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">20</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion for a period of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">7</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> days on Thursday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In order to manage the excess liquidity in the financial system, the central bank raised Rs 232.25 within a period of one month by issuing deposit collection tools for 14 times. Of that amount, Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">135</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion have matured and returned to the banking system.</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 central bank stepped up efforts to mop excess liquidity after the interbank interest rate remained below the specified limit. As of Saturday, the average interbank interest rate remained at </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2.58</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the 'Interest Rate Corridor Procedure </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2076</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">', there is an provision to set the upper limit of the bank rate and the lower limit of the deposit collection rate and keep the interbank interest rate in between. </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 central bank maintains this rate using various monetary instruments.</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 central bank has lowered the deposit collection rate to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent through the first quarterly review of the current fiscal year's monetary policy. Earlier this rate was </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">4.5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent. </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 the current year, the interbank interest has rate remained below the limit of the interest rate corridor but the central bank did not use any instrument to increase it until December. The central bank ignored it because the government was raising internal loans at cheap interest rates. </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"">After the government met its debt collection target, the central bank has been aggressively mopping liquidity to maintain the interest rate corridor as the interbank interest rate remained below the limit.</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 recent times, there is excess liquidity in the banking system due to non-disbursement of loans compared to the increase in deposit collection. </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"">Last Saturday, the average credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) of banks fell to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">80.17 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">percent. According to the provision that banks can maintain a CD ratio of up to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">90 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">percent and provide loans, they have the capacity to extend loans by Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5 93 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-28', 'modified' => '2023-12-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19569', 'image' => '20231228011254_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-28 13:12:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19841', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industries Incurring Losses worth Millions of Rupees after NEA Halts Electricity Supply', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 28: The Nepal Electricity Authority has cut off power supply to nine industries for defaulting the payment of dues for the use of electricity through dedicated feeders and trunk lines.', '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"">December 28: The Nepal Electricity Authority has cut off power supply to nine industries for defaulting the payment of dues for the use of electricity through dedicated feeders and trunk lines. </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 industrialists whose lines have been cut complained that they are suffering losses worth millions of rupees daily. They have also warned that there may be a shortage of industrial products in the market in the coming days as the dispute continues and the electricity supply remains halted.</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"">Sahil Agarwal, chairman of Jagdamba Steel, said that the company is incurring a daily loss of around Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">25</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million after the NEA stopped the power supply. </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"">“Our industry consumes </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">40</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> megawatts of electricity on a daily basis. We have </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">500</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> workers. About </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2,000</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tons of steel is produced daily,'' Agarwal 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"">“Steel production has stopped. If the dispute between the NEA and industrialists continues, there may be a shortage of industrial products in the future. Therefore, this dispute should be resolved 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"">So far, the NEA has cut the lines of Jagdamba Steel, Reliance Spinning Mills, Ghorahi Cement, Arghakhanchi Cement, Triveni Spinning Mills, Ashok Steel, Sonapur Minerals and Oil Limited, Sarvottam Cement and Laxmi Steel.</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"">Shashikant Agarwal, the owner of Reliance Spinning Mills, says that thousands of laborers working in the industry are in trouble due to the authority's actions and the industries are facing huge financial loss every day. According to him, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3,500</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> workers are also working in Reliance Spinning Mills. Most of the workers have returned home after the industry was shut down due to the power cut.</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"">He claims that Reliance is incurring losses of more than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million a day. </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 have clearly said that we are ready to pay the bill provided that the NEA gives us the time of day (TOD) meter data. However, the NEA officials are reluctant to give the details. Either they should provide us the proof with the bill if they want us to pay the electricity tariff, or they should resume power supply to the industries," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although there is no reliable data on the daily losses in all the industries where electricity supply has been stopped, the industrialists claim that all the industries are suffering huge financial losses. Although the industrialist asked for TOD meter data, the authority is saying that it cannot provide such data.</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"">Former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has termed the recent development as unfortunate instead of calling it the right decision or wrong at a time when the government aims for industrialization by increasing electricity consumption.</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"">He wrote on social networking site Facebook, "The authority should be able to refute the allegation of the industrialists that the authority has issued fake bills. Earning non-existent income by generating bills that are not in the TOD meter is wrong. After months of discussions, debates, and court proceedings, the production of cement, corrugated zinc sheets, etc, which are being exported, has come to a grinding halt. Therefore, the data of TOD meter should be made public immediately.” </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-28', 'modified' => '2023-12-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19568', 'image' => '20231228011133_1703559400.1605049113.Clipboard04.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-28 13:10:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19840', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Export of Yarsagumba up by 139 Percent', 'sub_title' => 'The Medicinal Herb Fetches Rs 550 million in Five Months', 'summary' => 'December 28: Nepal exported yarsagumba, a prized medicinal herb with aphrodisiac property, worth more than Rs 550 million in five months of the current fiscal year.', '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"">December 28: Nepal exported yarsagumba, a prized medicinal herb with aphrodisiac property, worth more than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">55</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">0 million in five months of the current fiscal year. According to the data of the Department of Customs, the country exported yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">553</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">7</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million to various countries from mid-July to mid-December this year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the department, Nepal exported </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,0</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">83</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kilograms of yarsagumba during the review period. During the same period of last year, Nepal had exported </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">453</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kg of yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">278.14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million. This year, yarsagumba exports increased by </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">99</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent in value and </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">139</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent in volume compared to the corresponding period of last year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During these five months, yarsagumba has been exported from Nepal to Australia, Austria, Cambodia, China, Czech Republic, Greece, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Russia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam, according to the Department of Customs.</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"">During this period, the earned the maximum amount from export of yarsagumba to Hong Kong. A total of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">380</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kilograms of yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">249</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">8</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million were exported to Hong Kong.</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"">China topped the list of countries in terms of volume of exports of yarsagumba. During the review period, Nepal exported </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">477 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">kilograms of yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">204</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">million to China. Similarly, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">127 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">kg of yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">34</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">million were exported to Vietnam.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-28', 'modified' => '2023-12-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19567', 'image' => '20231228121921_yarsa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-28 12:17:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 31: Tourism entrepreneurs have stressed the need of a special action plan at the policy-level to promote women entrepreneurship for propping up economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They stressed it at a programme organised for women entrepreneurs of service sector in Gandaki Province. The event was organized by the EU-Nepal Trade and Investment Project in coordination with the Women Tourism Entrepreneurs Forum (WOTEF). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, tourism entrepreneur Sharmila Neupane said the state has not been paying attention to result-oriented activities. She mentioned, "The state should create gender-based investment-friendly environment in order to encourage women in entrepreneurship for social justice and equality." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Gandaki Province Assembly member Devaka Pahari, who is also a tourism entrepreneur, shared that women are deprived of income generating opportunity in lack of women-friendly environment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">She said she has been consistently raising her voice for creating investment-friendly environment and policy to encourage entrepreneurship.</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"">Similarly, Professor Dr Chandra Bhadra viewed that women are compelled to face discrimination due to various reasons as the state is not sensitive towards gender-friendly concept. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of Pokhara Tourism Council, Pom Narayan Shrestha, underscored that there is immense potential to encourage women towards entrepreneurship as tourism is a multi-dynamic sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, WOTEF Chair Uma Bhandari Regmi said the organisation had been organising various programmes for augmenting status of women associated with different business. Women tourism entrepreneurs had gathered for the first time in Pokhara and established the organisation in 2074 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">EU Representatives Dipanjali Shrestha shared that as per the statistics of Gandaki Province only around 45 per cent women are self-dependent. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-31', 'modified' => '2023-12-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19582', 'image' => '20231231012040_20220612023555_woman.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-31 13:20:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19853', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'More than One Million Tourists Arrive in Nepal in 2023 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 31: More than one million foreign tourists arrived in Nepal via the air route in the year 2023. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 31: More than one million foreign tourists arrived in Nepal via the air route in the year 2023. According to the statistics of Nepal Tourism Board, a total of 1,008,614 tourists came to Nepal as of December 30 this year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This has fulfilled the government's goal of bringing in one million foreign tourists in 2023. While announcing the budget of the current fiscal year, the government had mentioned that the number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal would be increased to one million in 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourism industry of Nepal, which was badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, has almost revived to its original state. The NTB says that tourism industry has recovered this year by almost 85 percent compared to 2019, when around 1.2 million foreign tourists had visited the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The arrival of tourists this year is encouraging," said NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane. More than 1 million tourists have entered Nepal through the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, president of the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN), Binayak Shah, expects the arrival of tourists to further increase in the coming days. The number of tourists will further increase if the government expands its partnership with the private sector, says Shah. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It may be noted that the government has announced 2025 as the Visit Nepal Year. Furthermore, the year 2023 to 2032 is being celebrated as the tourism decade with a target of bringing in 3.5 million tourists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the number of Indian tourists has increased significantly this year. In 2019, 254,150 Indian tourists visited Nepal while the number rose to 317,481 this year. Likewise, the number of American tourists reached 99,985 this year. In 2019, a total of 93,241 American tourists had visited visit Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the number of Chinese tourists is gradually increasing with the arrival of 60,160 Chinese nationals this year. In 2019, altogether 169,543 Chinese tourists had visited Nepal. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-31', 'modified' => '2023-12-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19581', 'image' => '20231231113731_20220410081846_himalaya-trekkers.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-31 11:36:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19854', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tamu Lhosar being Observed Today', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 31: The Gurung community is observing the Tamu Lhosar today (Sunday) by bidding farewell to the year gone by.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">December 31: The Gurung community is observing the Tamu Lhosar today (Sunday) by bidding farewell to the year gone by. In the Gurung language, ‘Lho’ means year or age and ‘Sar’ denotes change. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Members of the Gurung community mark the festival by organising feasts and cultural programmes. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The festival is marked on the 15th day of the Nepali month of Poush with the first rays of the sunlight reaching the Gurung settlements in Lamjung, Gorkha, Tanahun, Syangja, Manang, Kaski and Parbat. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The festival is marked by Tamang and Sherpa community later in the Nepali months of Magh and Falgun, respectively. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The government has announced public holiday on the occasion of Tamu Lhosar today. Members of the Gurung community have been obeserving a special programme at Tundikhel, Kathmandu, on the occasion of Tamu Lhosar. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Meanwhile, President Ram Chandra Paudel and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal have wished for happiness, peace and good health of all Nepalis at home and abroad on the occasion of Tamu Lhosar festival. President Paudel has expressed the confidence that this festival would help further strengthen our national unity by promoting goodwill, tolerance and brotherhood among all Nepalis in our multiethnic, multilingual and multicultural diverse society.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-31', 'modified' => '2023-12-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19580', 'image' => '20231231121250_tamu lhosar.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-31 12:12:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19852', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Halts Power Supply to another Industry', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 31: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)’s Arghakhanchi Distribution Center has cut off power supply to Shubha Shri Agni Cement Industry. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 31: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)’s Arghakhanchi Distribution Center has cut off power supply to Shubha Shri Agni Cement Industry. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The power supply line was disconnected on Friday night after the industry based in Jaluke of Shitganga Municipality-8 did not pay Rs 470 million electricity dues, chief of NEA Arghakhanchi Branch Trilochan Bhattarai told the state news agency RSS. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The amount was due for using electricity through the dedicated feeder. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA has cut off power supply to over a dozen industries reasoning that they failed to clear the tariff for using the dedicated feeder and trunk lines through which electricity was supplied during the time of load-shedding. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA took such drastic measures since December 22, a day after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ordered the state-owned power utility to plug off the power lines and recover the tariff from them. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA was facing criticism that it was disrupting power only to small industries while letting the big ones go scot free. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The private sector, on the other hand, has complained that the Nepal Electricity Authority disconnected power supply of dedicated feeder and trunk line without taking enough initiatives for the resolution of the dispute over electricity tariff arrears. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They accused the government of disconnecting the lines without showing seriousness on addressing the six-year-old dispute of payment of electricity arrears of dedicated feeders and trunk line. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They have even expressed their willingness to clear all the dues provided that the NEA furnishes details of the Time of Day (TOD) meter, which gives the exact information about the change in electricity rates during peak hours and off hours in a day. However, the NEA has maintained that it cannot provide such information.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The authority has so far stopped electricity supply to Jagadamba Cement, Reliance Spinning Mills, Ghorahi Cement, Arghakhanchi Cements, Triveni Spinning Mills, Ashok Steel, Sonapur Minerals and Oil Limited, Sarbottam Cement and Laxmi Steel among others for ignoring its request to clear the dues. There are reportedly over sixty industries in the blacklist of NEA who are yet to clear the dues.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-31', 'modified' => '2023-12-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19579', 'image' => '20231231111829_NEA update.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-31 10:29:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19851', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Initiates Discussion for Operating International Airports on PPP Model ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 30: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sudan Kirati, has said that the government had started a discussion on exploring the possibility for adopting a public-private partnership (PPP) model for the operation of international airports. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 30: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sudan Kirati, has said that the government had started a discussion on exploring the possibility for adopting a public-private partnership (PPP) model for the operation of international airports. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister shared that discussions include operations of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and recently constructed Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport and the Pokhara International Airport. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He shared this information during a meeting of the Delegated Management and Government Assurance Committee under the National Assembly at Singha Durbar on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, he apprised the meeting that efforts are underway for effective operations of commercial flights from the international airports. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Newly built international airports have not been properly utilized and 22 domestic airports have already turned into pasture lands, according to Minister Kirati. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">TIA will be unable to manage the traffic congestion after some years despite its extension to its full capacity and the government sees the need of accelerating the construction of Nijgadh airport, the minister argued. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, lawmakers Nara Bahadur Bista, Gomadevi Timilsina and Narapati Luhar demanded the government that it systematized the Narayanhiti Durbar Museum and objects of archeological importance. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-30', 'modified' => '2023-12-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19578', 'image' => '20231230112523_Gautam Buddha.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-30 11:24:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19850', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Approves IPOs after Two Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has resumed the process of approval of Initial Public Offering (IPO) of securities after a gap of two months. ', '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"">December 29: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has resumed the process of approval of Initial Public Offering (IPO) of securities after a gap of two months. The board has stopped the approval of IPO from October </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">8 following complaints that the continuous issuance of public offerings of securities in the primary market was affecting the secondary market. </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"">SEBON Chairman Ramesh Kumar Hamal and the management of SEBON were accused of negligence in approving issuance of IPOs. Due to the complaints, Chairman Hamal proposed that the approval of IPOs must be done through the board of directors of SEBON.</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"">A member of the board of directors said that the board meeting of SEBON decided to authorize the chairman to proceed with the approval process of IPOs upon the recommendation of the management. The regulatory body claimed that it is working in a clean and transparent manner for the approval of public issuance by forming a department for the approval process.</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"">After the board of directors cleared the issue, the SEBON has now started the process of giving permission for public issuance to the companies that have completed the process. The board allowed Kumari Capital Limited to sell </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">100</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million units of shares worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion on December 17, exactly two months after the approval process was halted.</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 following day, SEBON allowed Nepal Investment Mega Bank to auction </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">40,40,000</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">units of bonds worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">4.4</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion. Similarly, on December 19, the board allowed Sarvottam Cement to issue </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.6</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million units of shares to the general public through the book building method in the second phase. The board has allowed Sarvottam Cement to sell its shares to the general public at the rate of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">360</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">90</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">per share. </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"">On December 27, the board gave permission to Singti Hydropower Project to issue </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">145</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million units of rights shares at </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">100%</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> rate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19577', 'image' => '20231229044128_Sebon-update.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 16:40:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19849', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Initiates Further Study of Karnali Chisapani Hydropower Project worth Rs 1147 Billion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has initiated further study of the Karnali Chisapani Hydropower Project, the largest hydropower project of South Asia. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 29: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has initiated further study of the Karnali Chisapani Hydropower Project, the largest hydropower project of South Asia. As per the current price estimates, the project is expected to cost Rs 1147 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) initiated the new study of the 10,800-MW project with its own resources. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A high-level team comprising Minister for Energy, Water Resources and irrigation, Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Energy Secretary Sushil Chandra Tiwari, Director General of the Department of Irrigation, Churna Bahadur Oli and NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising carried out an on-site visit to the project site as well as the project-affected areas on December 25 and 26. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA initiated the study of the Karnali Chisapani Project with an aim to complete it within the next three years. Locals are very excited after the government initiated the new study process, giving the project special importance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The prospects of construction of this project has enthused the locals in the hope. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Khadga BK, chairperson of Panchapuri rural municipality, Surkhet, said they would provide meaningful cooperation to make the project successful. "We are excited to know about the news that such a mega project is being constructed in our area. We are exhilarated. We urge the federal government to move ahead the process by addressing the justified demands of the locals," he added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The reservoir of the proposed project would be constructed nearly two kilometres above the Karnali Chisapani bridge that connects Bardiya and Kailali districts. A 270-metre tall dam would be built on the Karnali River. Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)'s current study says that it would be a 'rock fill dam'. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The reservoir would be 167 kilometres long – 100 kilometres on the Karnali river, 45 kilometres on the Bheri river, 16 kilometres on the Seti river, six kilometres on the Thuligad river, according to NEA senior engineer Nasib Man Pradhan who was involved in the study. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project will affect the settlements and structures located near the river in Bardiya, Kailali, Surkhet, Achham and Doti districts. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per a study conducted in 1989, the project will affect a total 11,570 hectares area and 54,600 locals. NEA said the affected area would be clearly identified by studying the latest situation. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19576', 'image' => '20231229033542_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 15:34:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19847', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Fixes Support Price of Wheat at Rs 3,650 Per Quintal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: The government has fixed the support price of wheat at Rs 3,650 per quintal. ', '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"">December 29: The government has fixed the support price of wheat at Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3,650</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> per quintal. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday decided to fix the minimum support price of wheat.</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 Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development had proposed the price per quintal of wheat at Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">977</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">72 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">per quintal in addition to the production cost of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">594</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">54 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">per quintal and transportation cost of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">77</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">88 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">per quintal. </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"">Last year, the government had fixed the minimum support price of wheat at Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">351.</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 government fixes the support prices of wheat, rice and sugarcane so that the farmers get a fair price for their produce. The support price is also fixed so that the businessmen and middlemen do not take undue advantage from the farmers.</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, the government has been often criticized of fixing the support price after the farmers sell their produce at throw-away prices.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This year, the government has already fixed the support price of sugarcane as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19575', 'image' => '20231229023524_1703816752.1677453676.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 14:34:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19846', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA says Exemption of Electricity Dues not Possible', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has urged the consumers who had consumed electricity through the dedicated feeder and trunk line to clear their dues in order to resume power supply.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 29: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has urged the consumers who had consumed electricity through the dedicated feeder and trunk line to clear their dues in order to resume power supply.</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 NEA has made it clear that there is no option for the consumers but to clear the dues on an installment basis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organising a press conference on Thuesday, NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising insisted that the NEA cannot waive the dues as the government has already issued a directive to recover the dues from the users of dedicated feeder and trunk line by cutting off the electricity supply line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had instructed the NEA to collect the electricity tariff dues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The NEA cannot do anything in this regard as exemption is not possible,” Ghising said, urging the industrialists to come forward and deposit certain amount in the review committee under the NEA. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the PM's directives, the NEA has cut off electricity lines to some iconic industries. The business and industry community has expressed concern following the disruption of electricity line. The industrialists say that they are ready to pay the dues if the NEA provides the Time of Day (TOD) meter data. However, the NEA has said it cannot provide such data.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA started cutting off electricity supply line since last December 26 as per the electricity transmission and electricity tariff regulations after the consumers did not pay the dues despite repeated requests by the NEA.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19573', 'image' => '20231229011203_NEA_eight by six.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 13:11:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19845', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Writ Petition Filed Against NRB Governor Questioning his Academic Qualification ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: A writ petition has been filed at the Supreme Court questioning the academic qualifications of Nepal Rastra Bank’s Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 29: A writ petition has been filed at the Supreme Court questioning the academic qualifications of Nepal Rastra Bank’s Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">T<span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">he petition filed on Thursday claims that the academic qualification of Governor Adhikari is not sufficient to assume the responsibility of the post. </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"">Joint-spokesperson of the Supreme Court, Govinda Ghimire, said hearing on the petition will take place on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government appointed Adhikari as the governor of the central bank on April 6, 2020. Section 20 of the Nepal Rastra Bank Act states that the governor should have a master's degree in economics, banking, finance, commerce, management, public administration, statistics, mathematics or law and experience in the same field. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> In the writ petition filed by advocates Deepakraj Joshi, Pratap Singh Thakurathi, Damodar Timilsana and Chudamani Bhandari, it has been claimed that Adhikari has obtained the equivalence of a master's degree from Tribhuvan University but the law stipulates that he must have passed the master's level and hence is not qualified on the basis of equivalence. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19572', 'image' => '20231229120450_20200407080848_IMG_4955 - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 12:04:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19844', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Yeti Airlines Plane Crashed due to Human Error: Probe Commission ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: The air crash investigation commission formed by the government to probe the fatal crash of Yeti Airlines in Pokhara almost a year ago has concluded that the ATR-72 aircraft of the company crashed on January 15 due to human error.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 29: The air crash investigation commission formed by the government to probe the fatal crash of Yeti Airlines in Pokhara almost a year ago has concluded that the ATR-72 aircraft of the company crashed on January 15 due to human error.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The commission submitted its report to the government on Thursday. The report prepared by the inquiry commission chaired by former secretary Nagendra Prasad Ghimire handed over its report to Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sudan Kirati. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Budhisagar Lamichhane, member secretary of the commission, said it was a new airport for the pilot and it was human error that was responsible for the crash. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chair of the Commission Nagendra Prasad Ghimire said that the main cause of the ATR-72 airplane crash was pilot’s fault. Analyzing the crash indicated human error as the main factor. Another reason for the plane crash was that the new airport was put into operation without full preparation. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Upon receiving the report, Minister Kirati expressed his commitment that the management, regulatory bodies and the ministry would give necessary instructions to strictly implement the recommendations made by the report. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A total of 72 passengers including four crew members had died after the aircraft crashed into the Seti river gorge while trying to land in the newly built Pokhara International Airport. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Earlier, a preliminary report prepared by the same probe panel had found that the ill-fated aircraft did not have any thrust in both the engines while making the final attempt to land at the airport, which led to the fatal accident. The commission had reached the conclusion after studying the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of the plane recovered from the crash site.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">An amateur video circulating on social media at that time showed the aircraft tilting towards the left before losing its balance to crash indicating that the aircraft had stalled due to lack of thrust, according to experts. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19571', 'image' => '20231229105854_20230207121550_Yetii.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 10:58:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19843', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers of Chitwan Shift to Cash Crop Cultivation to Avoid Animal Menace', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 28: Farmers of Chitwan district have shifted their focus towards cash crop.', '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"">December 28: Farmers of Chitwan district have shifted their focus towards cash crop. The locals are attracted towards cultivation of mustard and other cash crop because the wild animals from the nearby national park and buffer zone cause less damage to the cash crop compared to the traditional crops.</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"">Om Prakash Mahato of Madi Municipality-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> has been cultivating mustard for the past five years. Before that, he used to cultivate wheat and potatoes after harvesting rice. Mahato is currently growing mustard on his </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">10</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">-kattha land and an additional </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">10</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">-kattha of rented land. </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 have shifted to mustard farming because wild animals cause less damage to such crop," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Elephants, rhinos, deer among other wild animals cause significant damage to crops in this area. The growing population and expansion of human settlements have led to human-wildlife conflict.</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"">"Mustard is being cultivated on more than </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">60</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> hectares of land in our village. Mustard ripens quickly and is sold at a reasonable price, so everyone grows mustard,” said Mahato.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, Naveen Kumar Shrestha of Khairhani municipality-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">12</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> has been cultivating mustard for the past two years. He has been cultivating mustard on </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">16</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">katthas of land. He says that he started cultivating mustard as it requires less water and wild animals also do not cause much trouble.</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"">"It takes time for wheat and lentil to ripen. That's why I cultivated mustard," said Shrestha.</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"">He says that he plans to cultivate melons after harvesting mustard. According to the Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Chitwan, mustard is being cultivated in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">21,850</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> hectares of land in the district this year. This area is more than last year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Umraj Aryal, planning officer of the center, said that mustard was cultivated in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14,765</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> hectares last year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Last year, Chitwan district produced </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">19,194</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> metric tons of mustard. He expects mustard production to increase this year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Planning officer Aryal says that mustard ripens quickly and is easy to plant. "This year, mustard has replaced lentil and wheat farming," he added.</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"">Last year, wheat was planted in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">460 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">hectares of land and lentil in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">536 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">hectares. Planning officer Aryal said that these crops have been planted only in some places this year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-28', 'modified' => '2023-12-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19570', 'image' => '20231228011356_KA-Bharatpur-IMG_4065.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-28 13:13:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19842', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank Steps Up Efforts to Mop Excess Liquidity', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 28: Nepal Rastra Bank has stepped up efforts to mop excess liquidity through deposit collection tools to control excessive liquidity in the banking system.', '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"">December 28: Nepal Rastra Bank has stepped up efforts to mop excess liquidity through deposit collection tools to control excessive liquidity in the banking system.</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"">As the average interbank interest rate remained below the interest rate corridor even after the central bank collected more than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">200</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion within a month, the NRB decided to mop additional liquidity from the banking system.</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"">Nepal Rastra Bank raised Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">35</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion for </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> days on Wednesday through deposit collection equipment. This is the largest amount raised by the central bank through deposit collection instrument so far in the current fiscal year (FY) for liquidity management. Earlier, a deposit collection tool of up to Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">25</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion was issued for a period of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> days. Banks had submitted bids of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">38</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">40</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion for the deposit collection instrument issued on Wednesday. The banks quoted a minimum interest rate of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2.49%</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> and a maximum of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.12%.</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"">Nepal</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Rastra Bank is also issuing deposit collection tools worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">20</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion for a period of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">7</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> days on Thursday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In order to manage the excess liquidity in the financial system, the central bank raised Rs 232.25 within a period of one month by issuing deposit collection tools for 14 times. Of that amount, Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">135</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion have matured and returned to the banking system.</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 central bank stepped up efforts to mop excess liquidity after the interbank interest rate remained below the specified limit. As of Saturday, the average interbank interest rate remained at </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2.58</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the 'Interest Rate Corridor Procedure </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2076</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">', there is an provision to set the upper limit of the bank rate and the lower limit of the deposit collection rate and keep the interbank interest rate in between. </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 central bank maintains this rate using various monetary instruments.</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 central bank has lowered the deposit collection rate to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent through the first quarterly review of the current fiscal year's monetary policy. Earlier this rate was </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">4.5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent. </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 the current year, the interbank interest has rate remained below the limit of the interest rate corridor but the central bank did not use any instrument to increase it until December. The central bank ignored it because the government was raising internal loans at cheap interest rates. </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"">After the government met its debt collection target, the central bank has been aggressively mopping liquidity to maintain the interest rate corridor as the interbank interest rate remained below the limit.</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 recent times, there is excess liquidity in the banking system due to non-disbursement of loans compared to the increase in deposit collection. </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"">Last Saturday, the average credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) of banks fell to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">80.17 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">percent. According to the provision that banks can maintain a CD ratio of up to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">90 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">percent and provide loans, they have the capacity to extend loans by Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5 93 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-28', 'modified' => '2023-12-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19569', 'image' => '20231228011254_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-28 13:12:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19841', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industries Incurring Losses worth Millions of Rupees after NEA Halts Electricity Supply', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 28: The Nepal Electricity Authority has cut off power supply to nine industries for defaulting the payment of dues for the use of electricity through dedicated feeders and trunk lines.', '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"">December 28: The Nepal Electricity Authority has cut off power supply to nine industries for defaulting the payment of dues for the use of electricity through dedicated feeders and trunk lines. </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 industrialists whose lines have been cut complained that they are suffering losses worth millions of rupees daily. They have also warned that there may be a shortage of industrial products in the market in the coming days as the dispute continues and the electricity supply remains halted.</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"">Sahil Agarwal, chairman of Jagdamba Steel, said that the company is incurring a daily loss of around Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">25</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million after the NEA stopped the power supply. </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"">“Our industry consumes </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">40</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> megawatts of electricity on a daily basis. We have </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">500</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> workers. About </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2,000</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tons of steel is produced daily,'' Agarwal 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"">“Steel production has stopped. If the dispute between the NEA and industrialists continues, there may be a shortage of industrial products in the future. Therefore, this dispute should be resolved 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"">So far, the NEA has cut the lines of Jagdamba Steel, Reliance Spinning Mills, Ghorahi Cement, Arghakhanchi Cement, Triveni Spinning Mills, Ashok Steel, Sonapur Minerals and Oil Limited, Sarvottam Cement and Laxmi Steel.</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"">Shashikant Agarwal, the owner of Reliance Spinning Mills, says that thousands of laborers working in the industry are in trouble due to the authority's actions and the industries are facing huge financial loss every day. According to him, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3,500</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> workers are also working in Reliance Spinning Mills. Most of the workers have returned home after the industry was shut down due to the power cut.</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"">He claims that Reliance is incurring losses of more than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million a day. </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 have clearly said that we are ready to pay the bill provided that the NEA gives us the time of day (TOD) meter data. However, the NEA officials are reluctant to give the details. Either they should provide us the proof with the bill if they want us to pay the electricity tariff, or they should resume power supply to the industries," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although there is no reliable data on the daily losses in all the industries where electricity supply has been stopped, the industrialists claim that all the industries are suffering huge financial losses. Although the industrialist asked for TOD meter data, the authority is saying that it cannot provide such data.</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"">Former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has termed the recent development as unfortunate instead of calling it the right decision or wrong at a time when the government aims for industrialization by increasing electricity consumption.</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"">He wrote on social networking site Facebook, "The authority should be able to refute the allegation of the industrialists that the authority has issued fake bills. Earning non-existent income by generating bills that are not in the TOD meter is wrong. After months of discussions, debates, and court proceedings, the production of cement, corrugated zinc sheets, etc, which are being exported, has come to a grinding halt. Therefore, the data of TOD meter should be made public immediately.” </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-28', 'modified' => '2023-12-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19568', 'image' => '20231228011133_1703559400.1605049113.Clipboard04.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-28 13:10:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19840', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Export of Yarsagumba up by 139 Percent', 'sub_title' => 'The Medicinal Herb Fetches Rs 550 million in Five Months', 'summary' => 'December 28: Nepal exported yarsagumba, a prized medicinal herb with aphrodisiac property, worth more than Rs 550 million in five months of the current fiscal year.', '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"">December 28: Nepal exported yarsagumba, a prized medicinal herb with aphrodisiac property, worth more than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">55</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">0 million in five months of the current fiscal year. According to the data of the Department of Customs, the country exported yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">553</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">7</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million to various countries from mid-July to mid-December this year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the department, Nepal exported </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,0</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">83</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kilograms of yarsagumba during the review period. During the same period of last year, Nepal had exported </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">453</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kg of yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">278.14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million. This year, yarsagumba exports increased by </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">99</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent in value and </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">139</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent in volume compared to the corresponding period of last year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During these five months, yarsagumba has been exported from Nepal to Australia, Austria, Cambodia, China, Czech Republic, Greece, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Russia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam, according to the Department of Customs.</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"">During this period, the earned the maximum amount from export of yarsagumba to Hong Kong. A total of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">380</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kilograms of yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">249</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">8</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million were exported to Hong Kong.</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"">China topped the list of countries in terms of volume of exports of yarsagumba. During the review period, Nepal exported </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">477 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">kilograms of yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">204</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">million to China. Similarly, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">127 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">kg of yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">34</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">million were exported to Vietnam.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-28', 'modified' => '2023-12-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19567', 'image' => '20231228121921_yarsa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-28 12:17:40', '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
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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"">December 31: Tourism entrepreneurs have stressed the need of a special action plan at the policy-level to promote women entrepreneurship for propping up economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They stressed it at a programme organised for women entrepreneurs of service sector in Gandaki Province. The event was organized by the EU-Nepal Trade and Investment Project in coordination with the Women Tourism Entrepreneurs Forum (WOTEF). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, tourism entrepreneur Sharmila Neupane said the state has not been paying attention to result-oriented activities. She mentioned, "The state should create gender-based investment-friendly environment in order to encourage women in entrepreneurship for social justice and equality." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Gandaki Province Assembly member Devaka Pahari, who is also a tourism entrepreneur, shared that women are deprived of income generating opportunity in lack of women-friendly environment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">She said she has been consistently raising her voice for creating investment-friendly environment and policy to encourage entrepreneurship.</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"">Similarly, Professor Dr Chandra Bhadra viewed that women are compelled to face discrimination due to various reasons as the state is not sensitive towards gender-friendly concept. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of Pokhara Tourism Council, Pom Narayan Shrestha, underscored that there is immense potential to encourage women towards entrepreneurship as tourism is a multi-dynamic sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, WOTEF Chair Uma Bhandari Regmi said the organisation had been organising various programmes for augmenting status of women associated with different business. Women tourism entrepreneurs had gathered for the first time in Pokhara and established the organisation in 2074 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">EU Representatives Dipanjali Shrestha shared that as per the statistics of Gandaki Province only around 45 per cent women are self-dependent. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-31', 'modified' => '2023-12-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19582', 'image' => '20231231012040_20220612023555_woman.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-31 13:20:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19853', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'More than One Million Tourists Arrive in Nepal in 2023 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 31: More than one million foreign tourists arrived in Nepal via the air route in the year 2023. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 31: More than one million foreign tourists arrived in Nepal via the air route in the year 2023. According to the statistics of Nepal Tourism Board, a total of 1,008,614 tourists came to Nepal as of December 30 this year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This has fulfilled the government's goal of bringing in one million foreign tourists in 2023. While announcing the budget of the current fiscal year, the government had mentioned that the number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal would be increased to one million in 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourism industry of Nepal, which was badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, has almost revived to its original state. The NTB says that tourism industry has recovered this year by almost 85 percent compared to 2019, when around 1.2 million foreign tourists had visited the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The arrival of tourists this year is encouraging," said NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane. More than 1 million tourists have entered Nepal through the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, president of the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN), Binayak Shah, expects the arrival of tourists to further increase in the coming days. The number of tourists will further increase if the government expands its partnership with the private sector, says Shah. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It may be noted that the government has announced 2025 as the Visit Nepal Year. Furthermore, the year 2023 to 2032 is being celebrated as the tourism decade with a target of bringing in 3.5 million tourists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the number of Indian tourists has increased significantly this year. In 2019, 254,150 Indian tourists visited Nepal while the number rose to 317,481 this year. Likewise, the number of American tourists reached 99,985 this year. In 2019, a total of 93,241 American tourists had visited visit Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the number of Chinese tourists is gradually increasing with the arrival of 60,160 Chinese nationals this year. In 2019, altogether 169,543 Chinese tourists had visited Nepal. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-31', 'modified' => '2023-12-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19581', 'image' => '20231231113731_20220410081846_himalaya-trekkers.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-31 11:36:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19854', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tamu Lhosar being Observed Today', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 31: The Gurung community is observing the Tamu Lhosar today (Sunday) by bidding farewell to the year gone by.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">December 31: The Gurung community is observing the Tamu Lhosar today (Sunday) by bidding farewell to the year gone by. In the Gurung language, ‘Lho’ means year or age and ‘Sar’ denotes change. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Members of the Gurung community mark the festival by organising feasts and cultural programmes. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The festival is marked on the 15th day of the Nepali month of Poush with the first rays of the sunlight reaching the Gurung settlements in Lamjung, Gorkha, Tanahun, Syangja, Manang, Kaski and Parbat. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The festival is marked by Tamang and Sherpa community later in the Nepali months of Magh and Falgun, respectively. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The government has announced public holiday on the occasion of Tamu Lhosar today. Members of the Gurung community have been obeserving a special programme at Tundikhel, Kathmandu, on the occasion of Tamu Lhosar. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Meanwhile, President Ram Chandra Paudel and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal have wished for happiness, peace and good health of all Nepalis at home and abroad on the occasion of Tamu Lhosar festival. President Paudel has expressed the confidence that this festival would help further strengthen our national unity by promoting goodwill, tolerance and brotherhood among all Nepalis in our multiethnic, multilingual and multicultural diverse society.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-31', 'modified' => '2023-12-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19580', 'image' => '20231231121250_tamu lhosar.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-31 12:12:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19852', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Halts Power Supply to another Industry', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 31: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)’s Arghakhanchi Distribution Center has cut off power supply to Shubha Shri Agni Cement Industry. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 31: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)’s Arghakhanchi Distribution Center has cut off power supply to Shubha Shri Agni Cement Industry. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The power supply line was disconnected on Friday night after the industry based in Jaluke of Shitganga Municipality-8 did not pay Rs 470 million electricity dues, chief of NEA Arghakhanchi Branch Trilochan Bhattarai told the state news agency RSS. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The amount was due for using electricity through the dedicated feeder. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA has cut off power supply to over a dozen industries reasoning that they failed to clear the tariff for using the dedicated feeder and trunk lines through which electricity was supplied during the time of load-shedding. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA took such drastic measures since December 22, a day after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ordered the state-owned power utility to plug off the power lines and recover the tariff from them. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA was facing criticism that it was disrupting power only to small industries while letting the big ones go scot free. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The private sector, on the other hand, has complained that the Nepal Electricity Authority disconnected power supply of dedicated feeder and trunk line without taking enough initiatives for the resolution of the dispute over electricity tariff arrears. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They accused the government of disconnecting the lines without showing seriousness on addressing the six-year-old dispute of payment of electricity arrears of dedicated feeders and trunk line. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They have even expressed their willingness to clear all the dues provided that the NEA furnishes details of the Time of Day (TOD) meter, which gives the exact information about the change in electricity rates during peak hours and off hours in a day. However, the NEA has maintained that it cannot provide such information.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The authority has so far stopped electricity supply to Jagadamba Cement, Reliance Spinning Mills, Ghorahi Cement, Arghakhanchi Cements, Triveni Spinning Mills, Ashok Steel, Sonapur Minerals and Oil Limited, Sarbottam Cement and Laxmi Steel among others for ignoring its request to clear the dues. There are reportedly over sixty industries in the blacklist of NEA who are yet to clear the dues.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-31', 'modified' => '2023-12-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19579', 'image' => '20231231111829_NEA update.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-31 10:29:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19851', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Initiates Discussion for Operating International Airports on PPP Model ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 30: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sudan Kirati, has said that the government had started a discussion on exploring the possibility for adopting a public-private partnership (PPP) model for the operation of international airports. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 30: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sudan Kirati, has said that the government had started a discussion on exploring the possibility for adopting a public-private partnership (PPP) model for the operation of international airports. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister shared that discussions include operations of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and recently constructed Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport and the Pokhara International Airport. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He shared this information during a meeting of the Delegated Management and Government Assurance Committee under the National Assembly at Singha Durbar on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, he apprised the meeting that efforts are underway for effective operations of commercial flights from the international airports. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Newly built international airports have not been properly utilized and 22 domestic airports have already turned into pasture lands, according to Minister Kirati. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">TIA will be unable to manage the traffic congestion after some years despite its extension to its full capacity and the government sees the need of accelerating the construction of Nijgadh airport, the minister argued. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, lawmakers Nara Bahadur Bista, Gomadevi Timilsina and Narapati Luhar demanded the government that it systematized the Narayanhiti Durbar Museum and objects of archeological importance. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-30', 'modified' => '2023-12-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19578', 'image' => '20231230112523_Gautam Buddha.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-30 11:24:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19850', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Approves IPOs after Two Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has resumed the process of approval of Initial Public Offering (IPO) of securities after a gap of two months. ', '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"">December 29: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has resumed the process of approval of Initial Public Offering (IPO) of securities after a gap of two months. The board has stopped the approval of IPO from October </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">8 following complaints that the continuous issuance of public offerings of securities in the primary market was affecting the secondary market. </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"">SEBON Chairman Ramesh Kumar Hamal and the management of SEBON were accused of negligence in approving issuance of IPOs. Due to the complaints, Chairman Hamal proposed that the approval of IPOs must be done through the board of directors of SEBON.</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"">A member of the board of directors said that the board meeting of SEBON decided to authorize the chairman to proceed with the approval process of IPOs upon the recommendation of the management. The regulatory body claimed that it is working in a clean and transparent manner for the approval of public issuance by forming a department for the approval process.</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"">After the board of directors cleared the issue, the SEBON has now started the process of giving permission for public issuance to the companies that have completed the process. The board allowed Kumari Capital Limited to sell </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">100</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million units of shares worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion on December 17, exactly two months after the approval process was halted.</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 following day, SEBON allowed Nepal Investment Mega Bank to auction </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">40,40,000</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">units of bonds worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">4.4</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion. Similarly, on December 19, the board allowed Sarvottam Cement to issue </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.6</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million units of shares to the general public through the book building method in the second phase. The board has allowed Sarvottam Cement to sell its shares to the general public at the rate of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">360</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">90</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">per share. </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"">On December 27, the board gave permission to Singti Hydropower Project to issue </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">145</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million units of rights shares at </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">100%</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> rate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19577', 'image' => '20231229044128_Sebon-update.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 16:40:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19849', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Initiates Further Study of Karnali Chisapani Hydropower Project worth Rs 1147 Billion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has initiated further study of the Karnali Chisapani Hydropower Project, the largest hydropower project of South Asia. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 29: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has initiated further study of the Karnali Chisapani Hydropower Project, the largest hydropower project of South Asia. As per the current price estimates, the project is expected to cost Rs 1147 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) initiated the new study of the 10,800-MW project with its own resources. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A high-level team comprising Minister for Energy, Water Resources and irrigation, Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Energy Secretary Sushil Chandra Tiwari, Director General of the Department of Irrigation, Churna Bahadur Oli and NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising carried out an on-site visit to the project site as well as the project-affected areas on December 25 and 26. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA initiated the study of the Karnali Chisapani Project with an aim to complete it within the next three years. Locals are very excited after the government initiated the new study process, giving the project special importance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The prospects of construction of this project has enthused the locals in the hope. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Khadga BK, chairperson of Panchapuri rural municipality, Surkhet, said they would provide meaningful cooperation to make the project successful. "We are excited to know about the news that such a mega project is being constructed in our area. We are exhilarated. We urge the federal government to move ahead the process by addressing the justified demands of the locals," he added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The reservoir of the proposed project would be constructed nearly two kilometres above the Karnali Chisapani bridge that connects Bardiya and Kailali districts. A 270-metre tall dam would be built on the Karnali River. Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)'s current study says that it would be a 'rock fill dam'. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The reservoir would be 167 kilometres long – 100 kilometres on the Karnali river, 45 kilometres on the Bheri river, 16 kilometres on the Seti river, six kilometres on the Thuligad river, according to NEA senior engineer Nasib Man Pradhan who was involved in the study. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project will affect the settlements and structures located near the river in Bardiya, Kailali, Surkhet, Achham and Doti districts. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per a study conducted in 1989, the project will affect a total 11,570 hectares area and 54,600 locals. NEA said the affected area would be clearly identified by studying the latest situation. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19576', 'image' => '20231229033542_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 15:34:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19847', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Fixes Support Price of Wheat at Rs 3,650 Per Quintal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: The government has fixed the support price of wheat at Rs 3,650 per quintal. ', '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"">December 29: The government has fixed the support price of wheat at Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3,650</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> per quintal. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday decided to fix the minimum support price of wheat.</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 Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development had proposed the price per quintal of wheat at Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">977</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">72 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">per quintal in addition to the production cost of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">594</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">54 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">per quintal and transportation cost of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">77</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">88 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">per quintal. </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"">Last year, the government had fixed the minimum support price of wheat at Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">351.</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 government fixes the support prices of wheat, rice and sugarcane so that the farmers get a fair price for their produce. The support price is also fixed so that the businessmen and middlemen do not take undue advantage from the farmers.</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, the government has been often criticized of fixing the support price after the farmers sell their produce at throw-away prices.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This year, the government has already fixed the support price of sugarcane as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19575', 'image' => '20231229023524_1703816752.1677453676.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 14:34:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19846', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA says Exemption of Electricity Dues not Possible', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has urged the consumers who had consumed electricity through the dedicated feeder and trunk line to clear their dues in order to resume power supply.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 29: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has urged the consumers who had consumed electricity through the dedicated feeder and trunk line to clear their dues in order to resume power supply.</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 NEA has made it clear that there is no option for the consumers but to clear the dues on an installment basis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organising a press conference on Thuesday, NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising insisted that the NEA cannot waive the dues as the government has already issued a directive to recover the dues from the users of dedicated feeder and trunk line by cutting off the electricity supply line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had instructed the NEA to collect the electricity tariff dues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The NEA cannot do anything in this regard as exemption is not possible,” Ghising said, urging the industrialists to come forward and deposit certain amount in the review committee under the NEA. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the PM's directives, the NEA has cut off electricity lines to some iconic industries. The business and industry community has expressed concern following the disruption of electricity line. The industrialists say that they are ready to pay the dues if the NEA provides the Time of Day (TOD) meter data. However, the NEA has said it cannot provide such data.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA started cutting off electricity supply line since last December 26 as per the electricity transmission and electricity tariff regulations after the consumers did not pay the dues despite repeated requests by the NEA.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19573', 'image' => '20231229011203_NEA_eight by six.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 13:11:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19845', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Writ Petition Filed Against NRB Governor Questioning his Academic Qualification ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: A writ petition has been filed at the Supreme Court questioning the academic qualifications of Nepal Rastra Bank’s Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 29: A writ petition has been filed at the Supreme Court questioning the academic qualifications of Nepal Rastra Bank’s Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">T<span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">he petition filed on Thursday claims that the academic qualification of Governor Adhikari is not sufficient to assume the responsibility of the post. </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"">Joint-spokesperson of the Supreme Court, Govinda Ghimire, said hearing on the petition will take place on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government appointed Adhikari as the governor of the central bank on April 6, 2020. Section 20 of the Nepal Rastra Bank Act states that the governor should have a master's degree in economics, banking, finance, commerce, management, public administration, statistics, mathematics or law and experience in the same field. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> In the writ petition filed by advocates Deepakraj Joshi, Pratap Singh Thakurathi, Damodar Timilsana and Chudamani Bhandari, it has been claimed that Adhikari has obtained the equivalence of a master's degree from Tribhuvan University but the law stipulates that he must have passed the master's level and hence is not qualified on the basis of equivalence. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19572', 'image' => '20231229120450_20200407080848_IMG_4955 - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 12:04:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19844', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Yeti Airlines Plane Crashed due to Human Error: Probe Commission ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: The air crash investigation commission formed by the government to probe the fatal crash of Yeti Airlines in Pokhara almost a year ago has concluded that the ATR-72 aircraft of the company crashed on January 15 due to human error.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 29: The air crash investigation commission formed by the government to probe the fatal crash of Yeti Airlines in Pokhara almost a year ago has concluded that the ATR-72 aircraft of the company crashed on January 15 due to human error.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The commission submitted its report to the government on Thursday. The report prepared by the inquiry commission chaired by former secretary Nagendra Prasad Ghimire handed over its report to Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sudan Kirati. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Budhisagar Lamichhane, member secretary of the commission, said it was a new airport for the pilot and it was human error that was responsible for the crash. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chair of the Commission Nagendra Prasad Ghimire said that the main cause of the ATR-72 airplane crash was pilot’s fault. Analyzing the crash indicated human error as the main factor. Another reason for the plane crash was that the new airport was put into operation without full preparation. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Upon receiving the report, Minister Kirati expressed his commitment that the management, regulatory bodies and the ministry would give necessary instructions to strictly implement the recommendations made by the report. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A total of 72 passengers including four crew members had died after the aircraft crashed into the Seti river gorge while trying to land in the newly built Pokhara International Airport. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Earlier, a preliminary report prepared by the same probe panel had found that the ill-fated aircraft did not have any thrust in both the engines while making the final attempt to land at the airport, which led to the fatal accident. The commission had reached the conclusion after studying the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of the plane recovered from the crash site.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">An amateur video circulating on social media at that time showed the aircraft tilting towards the left before losing its balance to crash indicating that the aircraft had stalled due to lack of thrust, according to experts. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19571', 'image' => '20231229105854_20230207121550_Yetii.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 10:58:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19843', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers of Chitwan Shift to Cash Crop Cultivation to Avoid Animal Menace', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 28: Farmers of Chitwan district have shifted their focus towards cash crop.', '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"">December 28: Farmers of Chitwan district have shifted their focus towards cash crop. The locals are attracted towards cultivation of mustard and other cash crop because the wild animals from the nearby national park and buffer zone cause less damage to the cash crop compared to the traditional crops.</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"">Om Prakash Mahato of Madi Municipality-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> has been cultivating mustard for the past five years. Before that, he used to cultivate wheat and potatoes after harvesting rice. Mahato is currently growing mustard on his </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">10</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">-kattha land and an additional </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">10</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">-kattha of rented land. </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 have shifted to mustard farming because wild animals cause less damage to such crop," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Elephants, rhinos, deer among other wild animals cause significant damage to crops in this area. The growing population and expansion of human settlements have led to human-wildlife conflict.</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"">"Mustard is being cultivated on more than </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">60</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> hectares of land in our village. Mustard ripens quickly and is sold at a reasonable price, so everyone grows mustard,” said Mahato.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, Naveen Kumar Shrestha of Khairhani municipality-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">12</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> has been cultivating mustard for the past two years. He has been cultivating mustard on </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">16</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">katthas of land. He says that he started cultivating mustard as it requires less water and wild animals also do not cause much trouble.</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"">"It takes time for wheat and lentil to ripen. That's why I cultivated mustard," said Shrestha.</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"">He says that he plans to cultivate melons after harvesting mustard. According to the Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Chitwan, mustard is being cultivated in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">21,850</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> hectares of land in the district this year. This area is more than last year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Umraj Aryal, planning officer of the center, said that mustard was cultivated in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14,765</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> hectares last year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Last year, Chitwan district produced </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">19,194</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> metric tons of mustard. He expects mustard production to increase this year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Planning officer Aryal says that mustard ripens quickly and is easy to plant. "This year, mustard has replaced lentil and wheat farming," he added.</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"">Last year, wheat was planted in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">460 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">hectares of land and lentil in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">536 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">hectares. Planning officer Aryal said that these crops have been planted only in some places this year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-28', 'modified' => '2023-12-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19570', 'image' => '20231228011356_KA-Bharatpur-IMG_4065.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-28 13:13:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19842', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank Steps Up Efforts to Mop Excess Liquidity', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 28: Nepal Rastra Bank has stepped up efforts to mop excess liquidity through deposit collection tools to control excessive liquidity in the banking system.', '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"">December 28: Nepal Rastra Bank has stepped up efforts to mop excess liquidity through deposit collection tools to control excessive liquidity in the banking system.</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"">As the average interbank interest rate remained below the interest rate corridor even after the central bank collected more than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">200</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion within a month, the NRB decided to mop additional liquidity from the banking system.</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"">Nepal Rastra Bank raised Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">35</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion for </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> days on Wednesday through deposit collection equipment. This is the largest amount raised by the central bank through deposit collection instrument so far in the current fiscal year (FY) for liquidity management. Earlier, a deposit collection tool of up to Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">25</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion was issued for a period of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> days. Banks had submitted bids of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">38</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">40</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion for the deposit collection instrument issued on Wednesday. The banks quoted a minimum interest rate of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2.49%</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> and a maximum of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.12%.</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"">Nepal</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Rastra Bank is also issuing deposit collection tools worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">20</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion for a period of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">7</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> days on Thursday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In order to manage the excess liquidity in the financial system, the central bank raised Rs 232.25 within a period of one month by issuing deposit collection tools for 14 times. Of that amount, Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">135</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion have matured and returned to the banking system.</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 central bank stepped up efforts to mop excess liquidity after the interbank interest rate remained below the specified limit. As of Saturday, the average interbank interest rate remained at </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2.58</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the 'Interest Rate Corridor Procedure </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2076</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">', there is an provision to set the upper limit of the bank rate and the lower limit of the deposit collection rate and keep the interbank interest rate in between. </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 central bank maintains this rate using various monetary instruments.</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 central bank has lowered the deposit collection rate to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent through the first quarterly review of the current fiscal year's monetary policy. Earlier this rate was </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">4.5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent. </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 the current year, the interbank interest has rate remained below the limit of the interest rate corridor but the central bank did not use any instrument to increase it until December. The central bank ignored it because the government was raising internal loans at cheap interest rates. </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"">After the government met its debt collection target, the central bank has been aggressively mopping liquidity to maintain the interest rate corridor as the interbank interest rate remained below the limit.</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 recent times, there is excess liquidity in the banking system due to non-disbursement of loans compared to the increase in deposit collection. </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"">Last Saturday, the average credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) of banks fell to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">80.17 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">percent. According to the provision that banks can maintain a CD ratio of up to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">90 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">percent and provide loans, they have the capacity to extend loans by Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5 93 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-28', 'modified' => '2023-12-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19569', 'image' => '20231228011254_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-28 13:12:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19841', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industries Incurring Losses worth Millions of Rupees after NEA Halts Electricity Supply', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 28: The Nepal Electricity Authority has cut off power supply to nine industries for defaulting the payment of dues for the use of electricity through dedicated feeders and trunk lines.', '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"">December 28: The Nepal Electricity Authority has cut off power supply to nine industries for defaulting the payment of dues for the use of electricity through dedicated feeders and trunk lines. </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 industrialists whose lines have been cut complained that they are suffering losses worth millions of rupees daily. They have also warned that there may be a shortage of industrial products in the market in the coming days as the dispute continues and the electricity supply remains halted.</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"">Sahil Agarwal, chairman of Jagdamba Steel, said that the company is incurring a daily loss of around Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">25</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million after the NEA stopped the power supply. </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"">“Our industry consumes </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">40</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> megawatts of electricity on a daily basis. We have </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">500</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> workers. About </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2,000</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tons of steel is produced daily,'' Agarwal 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"">“Steel production has stopped. If the dispute between the NEA and industrialists continues, there may be a shortage of industrial products in the future. Therefore, this dispute should be resolved 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"">So far, the NEA has cut the lines of Jagdamba Steel, Reliance Spinning Mills, Ghorahi Cement, Arghakhanchi Cement, Triveni Spinning Mills, Ashok Steel, Sonapur Minerals and Oil Limited, Sarvottam Cement and Laxmi Steel.</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"">Shashikant Agarwal, the owner of Reliance Spinning Mills, says that thousands of laborers working in the industry are in trouble due to the authority's actions and the industries are facing huge financial loss every day. According to him, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3,500</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> workers are also working in Reliance Spinning Mills. Most of the workers have returned home after the industry was shut down due to the power cut.</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"">He claims that Reliance is incurring losses of more than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million a day. </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 have clearly said that we are ready to pay the bill provided that the NEA gives us the time of day (TOD) meter data. However, the NEA officials are reluctant to give the details. Either they should provide us the proof with the bill if they want us to pay the electricity tariff, or they should resume power supply to the industries," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although there is no reliable data on the daily losses in all the industries where electricity supply has been stopped, the industrialists claim that all the industries are suffering huge financial losses. Although the industrialist asked for TOD meter data, the authority is saying that it cannot provide such data.</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"">Former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has termed the recent development as unfortunate instead of calling it the right decision or wrong at a time when the government aims for industrialization by increasing electricity consumption.</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"">He wrote on social networking site Facebook, "The authority should be able to refute the allegation of the industrialists that the authority has issued fake bills. Earning non-existent income by generating bills that are not in the TOD meter is wrong. After months of discussions, debates, and court proceedings, the production of cement, corrugated zinc sheets, etc, which are being exported, has come to a grinding halt. Therefore, the data of TOD meter should be made public immediately.” </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-28', 'modified' => '2023-12-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19568', 'image' => '20231228011133_1703559400.1605049113.Clipboard04.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-28 13:10:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19840', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Export of Yarsagumba up by 139 Percent', 'sub_title' => 'The Medicinal Herb Fetches Rs 550 million in Five Months', 'summary' => 'December 28: Nepal exported yarsagumba, a prized medicinal herb with aphrodisiac property, worth more than Rs 550 million in five months of the current fiscal year.', '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"">December 28: Nepal exported yarsagumba, a prized medicinal herb with aphrodisiac property, worth more than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">55</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">0 million in five months of the current fiscal year. According to the data of the Department of Customs, the country exported yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">553</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">7</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million to various countries from mid-July to mid-December this year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the department, Nepal exported </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,0</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">83</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kilograms of yarsagumba during the review period. During the same period of last year, Nepal had exported </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">453</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kg of yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">278.14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million. This year, yarsagumba exports increased by </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">99</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent in value and </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">139</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent in volume compared to the corresponding period of last year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During these five months, yarsagumba has been exported from Nepal to Australia, Austria, Cambodia, China, Czech Republic, Greece, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Russia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam, according to the Department of Customs.</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"">During this period, the earned the maximum amount from export of yarsagumba to Hong Kong. A total of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">380</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kilograms of yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">249</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">8</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million were exported to Hong Kong.</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"">China topped the list of countries in terms of volume of exports of yarsagumba. During the review period, Nepal exported </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">477 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">kilograms of yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">204</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">million to China. Similarly, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">127 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">kg of yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">34</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">million were exported to Vietnam.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-28', 'modified' => '2023-12-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19567', 'image' => '20231228121921_yarsa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-28 12:17:40', '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"">December 31: Tourism entrepreneurs have stressed the need of a special action plan at the policy-level to promote women entrepreneurship for propping up economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They stressed it at a programme organised for women entrepreneurs of service sector in Gandaki Province. The event was organized by the EU-Nepal Trade and Investment Project in coordination with the Women Tourism Entrepreneurs Forum (WOTEF). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, tourism entrepreneur Sharmila Neupane said the state has not been paying attention to result-oriented activities. She mentioned, "The state should create gender-based investment-friendly environment in order to encourage women in entrepreneurship for social justice and equality." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Gandaki Province Assembly member Devaka Pahari, who is also a tourism entrepreneur, shared that women are deprived of income generating opportunity in lack of women-friendly environment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">She said she has been consistently raising her voice for creating investment-friendly environment and policy to encourage entrepreneurship.</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"">Similarly, Professor Dr Chandra Bhadra viewed that women are compelled to face discrimination due to various reasons as the state is not sensitive towards gender-friendly concept. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of Pokhara Tourism Council, Pom Narayan Shrestha, underscored that there is immense potential to encourage women towards entrepreneurship as tourism is a multi-dynamic sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, WOTEF Chair Uma Bhandari Regmi said the organisation had been organising various programmes for augmenting status of women associated with different business. Women tourism entrepreneurs had gathered for the first time in Pokhara and established the organisation in 2074 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">EU Representatives Dipanjali Shrestha shared that as per the statistics of Gandaki Province only around 45 per cent women are self-dependent. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-31', 'modified' => '2023-12-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19582', 'image' => '20231231012040_20220612023555_woman.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-31 13:20:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19853', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'More than One Million Tourists Arrive in Nepal in 2023 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 31: More than one million foreign tourists arrived in Nepal via the air route in the year 2023. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 31: More than one million foreign tourists arrived in Nepal via the air route in the year 2023. According to the statistics of Nepal Tourism Board, a total of 1,008,614 tourists came to Nepal as of December 30 this year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This has fulfilled the government's goal of bringing in one million foreign tourists in 2023. While announcing the budget of the current fiscal year, the government had mentioned that the number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal would be increased to one million in 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourism industry of Nepal, which was badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, has almost revived to its original state. The NTB says that tourism industry has recovered this year by almost 85 percent compared to 2019, when around 1.2 million foreign tourists had visited the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The arrival of tourists this year is encouraging," said NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane. More than 1 million tourists have entered Nepal through the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, president of the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN), Binayak Shah, expects the arrival of tourists to further increase in the coming days. The number of tourists will further increase if the government expands its partnership with the private sector, says Shah. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It may be noted that the government has announced 2025 as the Visit Nepal Year. Furthermore, the year 2023 to 2032 is being celebrated as the tourism decade with a target of bringing in 3.5 million tourists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the number of Indian tourists has increased significantly this year. In 2019, 254,150 Indian tourists visited Nepal while the number rose to 317,481 this year. Likewise, the number of American tourists reached 99,985 this year. In 2019, a total of 93,241 American tourists had visited visit Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the number of Chinese tourists is gradually increasing with the arrival of 60,160 Chinese nationals this year. In 2019, altogether 169,543 Chinese tourists had visited Nepal. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-31', 'modified' => '2023-12-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19581', 'image' => '20231231113731_20220410081846_himalaya-trekkers.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-31 11:36:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19854', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tamu Lhosar being Observed Today', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 31: The Gurung community is observing the Tamu Lhosar today (Sunday) by bidding farewell to the year gone by.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">December 31: The Gurung community is observing the Tamu Lhosar today (Sunday) by bidding farewell to the year gone by. In the Gurung language, ‘Lho’ means year or age and ‘Sar’ denotes change. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Members of the Gurung community mark the festival by organising feasts and cultural programmes. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The festival is marked on the 15th day of the Nepali month of Poush with the first rays of the sunlight reaching the Gurung settlements in Lamjung, Gorkha, Tanahun, Syangja, Manang, Kaski and Parbat. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The festival is marked by Tamang and Sherpa community later in the Nepali months of Magh and Falgun, respectively. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The government has announced public holiday on the occasion of Tamu Lhosar today. Members of the Gurung community have been obeserving a special programme at Tundikhel, Kathmandu, on the occasion of Tamu Lhosar. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Meanwhile, President Ram Chandra Paudel and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal have wished for happiness, peace and good health of all Nepalis at home and abroad on the occasion of Tamu Lhosar festival. President Paudel has expressed the confidence that this festival would help further strengthen our national unity by promoting goodwill, tolerance and brotherhood among all Nepalis in our multiethnic, multilingual and multicultural diverse society.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-31', 'modified' => '2023-12-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19580', 'image' => '20231231121250_tamu lhosar.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-31 12:12:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19852', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Halts Power Supply to another Industry', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 31: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)’s Arghakhanchi Distribution Center has cut off power supply to Shubha Shri Agni Cement Industry. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 31: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)’s Arghakhanchi Distribution Center has cut off power supply to Shubha Shri Agni Cement Industry. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The power supply line was disconnected on Friday night after the industry based in Jaluke of Shitganga Municipality-8 did not pay Rs 470 million electricity dues, chief of NEA Arghakhanchi Branch Trilochan Bhattarai told the state news agency RSS. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The amount was due for using electricity through the dedicated feeder. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA has cut off power supply to over a dozen industries reasoning that they failed to clear the tariff for using the dedicated feeder and trunk lines through which electricity was supplied during the time of load-shedding. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA took such drastic measures since December 22, a day after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ordered the state-owned power utility to plug off the power lines and recover the tariff from them. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA was facing criticism that it was disrupting power only to small industries while letting the big ones go scot free. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The private sector, on the other hand, has complained that the Nepal Electricity Authority disconnected power supply of dedicated feeder and trunk line without taking enough initiatives for the resolution of the dispute over electricity tariff arrears. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They accused the government of disconnecting the lines without showing seriousness on addressing the six-year-old dispute of payment of electricity arrears of dedicated feeders and trunk line. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They have even expressed their willingness to clear all the dues provided that the NEA furnishes details of the Time of Day (TOD) meter, which gives the exact information about the change in electricity rates during peak hours and off hours in a day. However, the NEA has maintained that it cannot provide such information.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The authority has so far stopped electricity supply to Jagadamba Cement, Reliance Spinning Mills, Ghorahi Cement, Arghakhanchi Cements, Triveni Spinning Mills, Ashok Steel, Sonapur Minerals and Oil Limited, Sarbottam Cement and Laxmi Steel among others for ignoring its request to clear the dues. There are reportedly over sixty industries in the blacklist of NEA who are yet to clear the dues.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-31', 'modified' => '2023-12-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19579', 'image' => '20231231111829_NEA update.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-31 10:29:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19851', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Initiates Discussion for Operating International Airports on PPP Model ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 30: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sudan Kirati, has said that the government had started a discussion on exploring the possibility for adopting a public-private partnership (PPP) model for the operation of international airports. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 30: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sudan Kirati, has said that the government had started a discussion on exploring the possibility for adopting a public-private partnership (PPP) model for the operation of international airports. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister shared that discussions include operations of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and recently constructed Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport and the Pokhara International Airport. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He shared this information during a meeting of the Delegated Management and Government Assurance Committee under the National Assembly at Singha Durbar on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, he apprised the meeting that efforts are underway for effective operations of commercial flights from the international airports. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Newly built international airports have not been properly utilized and 22 domestic airports have already turned into pasture lands, according to Minister Kirati. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">TIA will be unable to manage the traffic congestion after some years despite its extension to its full capacity and the government sees the need of accelerating the construction of Nijgadh airport, the minister argued. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, lawmakers Nara Bahadur Bista, Gomadevi Timilsina and Narapati Luhar demanded the government that it systematized the Narayanhiti Durbar Museum and objects of archeological importance. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-30', 'modified' => '2023-12-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19578', 'image' => '20231230112523_Gautam Buddha.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-30 11:24:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19850', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Approves IPOs after Two Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has resumed the process of approval of Initial Public Offering (IPO) of securities after a gap of two months. ', '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"">December 29: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has resumed the process of approval of Initial Public Offering (IPO) of securities after a gap of two months. The board has stopped the approval of IPO from October </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">8 following complaints that the continuous issuance of public offerings of securities in the primary market was affecting the secondary market. </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"">SEBON Chairman Ramesh Kumar Hamal and the management of SEBON were accused of negligence in approving issuance of IPOs. Due to the complaints, Chairman Hamal proposed that the approval of IPOs must be done through the board of directors of SEBON.</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"">A member of the board of directors said that the board meeting of SEBON decided to authorize the chairman to proceed with the approval process of IPOs upon the recommendation of the management. The regulatory body claimed that it is working in a clean and transparent manner for the approval of public issuance by forming a department for the approval process.</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"">After the board of directors cleared the issue, the SEBON has now started the process of giving permission for public issuance to the companies that have completed the process. The board allowed Kumari Capital Limited to sell </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">100</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million units of shares worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion on December 17, exactly two months after the approval process was halted.</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 following day, SEBON allowed Nepal Investment Mega Bank to auction </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">40,40,000</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">units of bonds worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">4.4</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion. Similarly, on December 19, the board allowed Sarvottam Cement to issue </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.6</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million units of shares to the general public through the book building method in the second phase. The board has allowed Sarvottam Cement to sell its shares to the general public at the rate of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">360</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">90</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">per share. </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"">On December 27, the board gave permission to Singti Hydropower Project to issue </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">145</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million units of rights shares at </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">100%</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> rate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19577', 'image' => '20231229044128_Sebon-update.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 16:40:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19849', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Initiates Further Study of Karnali Chisapani Hydropower Project worth Rs 1147 Billion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has initiated further study of the Karnali Chisapani Hydropower Project, the largest hydropower project of South Asia. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 29: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has initiated further study of the Karnali Chisapani Hydropower Project, the largest hydropower project of South Asia. As per the current price estimates, the project is expected to cost Rs 1147 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) initiated the new study of the 10,800-MW project with its own resources. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A high-level team comprising Minister for Energy, Water Resources and irrigation, Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Energy Secretary Sushil Chandra Tiwari, Director General of the Department of Irrigation, Churna Bahadur Oli and NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising carried out an on-site visit to the project site as well as the project-affected areas on December 25 and 26. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA initiated the study of the Karnali Chisapani Project with an aim to complete it within the next three years. Locals are very excited after the government initiated the new study process, giving the project special importance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The prospects of construction of this project has enthused the locals in the hope. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Khadga BK, chairperson of Panchapuri rural municipality, Surkhet, said they would provide meaningful cooperation to make the project successful. "We are excited to know about the news that such a mega project is being constructed in our area. We are exhilarated. We urge the federal government to move ahead the process by addressing the justified demands of the locals," he added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The reservoir of the proposed project would be constructed nearly two kilometres above the Karnali Chisapani bridge that connects Bardiya and Kailali districts. A 270-metre tall dam would be built on the Karnali River. Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)'s current study says that it would be a 'rock fill dam'. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The reservoir would be 167 kilometres long – 100 kilometres on the Karnali river, 45 kilometres on the Bheri river, 16 kilometres on the Seti river, six kilometres on the Thuligad river, according to NEA senior engineer Nasib Man Pradhan who was involved in the study. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project will affect the settlements and structures located near the river in Bardiya, Kailali, Surkhet, Achham and Doti districts. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per a study conducted in 1989, the project will affect a total 11,570 hectares area and 54,600 locals. NEA said the affected area would be clearly identified by studying the latest situation. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19576', 'image' => '20231229033542_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 15:34:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19847', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Fixes Support Price of Wheat at Rs 3,650 Per Quintal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: The government has fixed the support price of wheat at Rs 3,650 per quintal. ', '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"">December 29: The government has fixed the support price of wheat at Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3,650</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> per quintal. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday decided to fix the minimum support price of wheat.</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 Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development had proposed the price per quintal of wheat at Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">977</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">72 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">per quintal in addition to the production cost of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">594</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">54 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">per quintal and transportation cost of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">77</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">88 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">per quintal. </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"">Last year, the government had fixed the minimum support price of wheat at Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">351.</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 government fixes the support prices of wheat, rice and sugarcane so that the farmers get a fair price for their produce. The support price is also fixed so that the businessmen and middlemen do not take undue advantage from the farmers.</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, the government has been often criticized of fixing the support price after the farmers sell their produce at throw-away prices.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This year, the government has already fixed the support price of sugarcane as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19575', 'image' => '20231229023524_1703816752.1677453676.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 14:34:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19846', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA says Exemption of Electricity Dues not Possible', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has urged the consumers who had consumed electricity through the dedicated feeder and trunk line to clear their dues in order to resume power supply.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 29: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has urged the consumers who had consumed electricity through the dedicated feeder and trunk line to clear their dues in order to resume power supply.</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 NEA has made it clear that there is no option for the consumers but to clear the dues on an installment basis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organising a press conference on Thuesday, NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising insisted that the NEA cannot waive the dues as the government has already issued a directive to recover the dues from the users of dedicated feeder and trunk line by cutting off the electricity supply line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had instructed the NEA to collect the electricity tariff dues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The NEA cannot do anything in this regard as exemption is not possible,” Ghising said, urging the industrialists to come forward and deposit certain amount in the review committee under the NEA. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the PM's directives, the NEA has cut off electricity lines to some iconic industries. The business and industry community has expressed concern following the disruption of electricity line. The industrialists say that they are ready to pay the dues if the NEA provides the Time of Day (TOD) meter data. However, the NEA has said it cannot provide such data.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA started cutting off electricity supply line since last December 26 as per the electricity transmission and electricity tariff regulations after the consumers did not pay the dues despite repeated requests by the NEA.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19573', 'image' => '20231229011203_NEA_eight by six.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 13:11:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19845', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Writ Petition Filed Against NRB Governor Questioning his Academic Qualification ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: A writ petition has been filed at the Supreme Court questioning the academic qualifications of Nepal Rastra Bank’s Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 29: A writ petition has been filed at the Supreme Court questioning the academic qualifications of Nepal Rastra Bank’s Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">T<span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">he petition filed on Thursday claims that the academic qualification of Governor Adhikari is not sufficient to assume the responsibility of the post. </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"">Joint-spokesperson of the Supreme Court, Govinda Ghimire, said hearing on the petition will take place on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government appointed Adhikari as the governor of the central bank on April 6, 2020. Section 20 of the Nepal Rastra Bank Act states that the governor should have a master's degree in economics, banking, finance, commerce, management, public administration, statistics, mathematics or law and experience in the same field. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> In the writ petition filed by advocates Deepakraj Joshi, Pratap Singh Thakurathi, Damodar Timilsana and Chudamani Bhandari, it has been claimed that Adhikari has obtained the equivalence of a master's degree from Tribhuvan University but the law stipulates that he must have passed the master's level and hence is not qualified on the basis of equivalence. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19572', 'image' => '20231229120450_20200407080848_IMG_4955 - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 12:04:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19844', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Yeti Airlines Plane Crashed due to Human Error: Probe Commission ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 29: The air crash investigation commission formed by the government to probe the fatal crash of Yeti Airlines in Pokhara almost a year ago has concluded that the ATR-72 aircraft of the company crashed on January 15 due to human error.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 29: The air crash investigation commission formed by the government to probe the fatal crash of Yeti Airlines in Pokhara almost a year ago has concluded that the ATR-72 aircraft of the company crashed on January 15 due to human error.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The commission submitted its report to the government on Thursday. The report prepared by the inquiry commission chaired by former secretary Nagendra Prasad Ghimire handed over its report to Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sudan Kirati. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Budhisagar Lamichhane, member secretary of the commission, said it was a new airport for the pilot and it was human error that was responsible for the crash. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chair of the Commission Nagendra Prasad Ghimire said that the main cause of the ATR-72 airplane crash was pilot’s fault. Analyzing the crash indicated human error as the main factor. Another reason for the plane crash was that the new airport was put into operation without full preparation. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Upon receiving the report, Minister Kirati expressed his commitment that the management, regulatory bodies and the ministry would give necessary instructions to strictly implement the recommendations made by the report. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A total of 72 passengers including four crew members had died after the aircraft crashed into the Seti river gorge while trying to land in the newly built Pokhara International Airport. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Earlier, a preliminary report prepared by the same probe panel had found that the ill-fated aircraft did not have any thrust in both the engines while making the final attempt to land at the airport, which led to the fatal accident. The commission had reached the conclusion after studying the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of the plane recovered from the crash site.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">An amateur video circulating on social media at that time showed the aircraft tilting towards the left before losing its balance to crash indicating that the aircraft had stalled due to lack of thrust, according to experts. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-29', 'modified' => '2023-12-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19571', 'image' => '20231229105854_20230207121550_Yetii.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-29 10:58:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19843', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers of Chitwan Shift to Cash Crop Cultivation to Avoid Animal Menace', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 28: Farmers of Chitwan district have shifted their focus towards cash crop.', '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"">December 28: Farmers of Chitwan district have shifted their focus towards cash crop. The locals are attracted towards cultivation of mustard and other cash crop because the wild animals from the nearby national park and buffer zone cause less damage to the cash crop compared to the traditional crops.</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"">Om Prakash Mahato of Madi Municipality-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> has been cultivating mustard for the past five years. Before that, he used to cultivate wheat and potatoes after harvesting rice. Mahato is currently growing mustard on his </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">10</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">-kattha land and an additional </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">10</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">-kattha of rented land. </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 have shifted to mustard farming because wild animals cause less damage to such crop," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Elephants, rhinos, deer among other wild animals cause significant damage to crops in this area. The growing population and expansion of human settlements have led to human-wildlife conflict.</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"">"Mustard is being cultivated on more than </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">60</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> hectares of land in our village. Mustard ripens quickly and is sold at a reasonable price, so everyone grows mustard,” said Mahato.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, Naveen Kumar Shrestha of Khairhani municipality-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">12</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> has been cultivating mustard for the past two years. He has been cultivating mustard on </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">16</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">katthas of land. He says that he started cultivating mustard as it requires less water and wild animals also do not cause much trouble.</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"">"It takes time for wheat and lentil to ripen. That's why I cultivated mustard," said Shrestha.</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"">He says that he plans to cultivate melons after harvesting mustard. According to the Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Chitwan, mustard is being cultivated in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">21,850</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> hectares of land in the district this year. This area is more than last year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Umraj Aryal, planning officer of the center, said that mustard was cultivated in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14,765</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> hectares last year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Last year, Chitwan district produced </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">19,194</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> metric tons of mustard. He expects mustard production to increase this year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Planning officer Aryal says that mustard ripens quickly and is easy to plant. "This year, mustard has replaced lentil and wheat farming," he added.</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"">Last year, wheat was planted in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">460 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">hectares of land and lentil in </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">536 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">hectares. Planning officer Aryal said that these crops have been planted only in some places this year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-28', 'modified' => '2023-12-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19570', 'image' => '20231228011356_KA-Bharatpur-IMG_4065.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-28 13:13:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19842', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank Steps Up Efforts to Mop Excess Liquidity', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 28: Nepal Rastra Bank has stepped up efforts to mop excess liquidity through deposit collection tools to control excessive liquidity in the banking system.', '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"">December 28: Nepal Rastra Bank has stepped up efforts to mop excess liquidity through deposit collection tools to control excessive liquidity in the banking system.</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"">As the average interbank interest rate remained below the interest rate corridor even after the central bank collected more than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">200</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion within a month, the NRB decided to mop additional liquidity from the banking system.</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"">Nepal Rastra Bank raised Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">35</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion for </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> days on Wednesday through deposit collection equipment. This is the largest amount raised by the central bank through deposit collection instrument so far in the current fiscal year (FY) for liquidity management. Earlier, a deposit collection tool of up to Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">25</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion was issued for a period of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> days. Banks had submitted bids of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">38</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">40</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion for the deposit collection instrument issued on Wednesday. The banks quoted a minimum interest rate of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2.49%</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> and a maximum of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.12%.</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"">Nepal</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Rastra Bank is also issuing deposit collection tools worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">20</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion for a period of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">7</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> days on Thursday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In order to manage the excess liquidity in the financial system, the central bank raised Rs 232.25 within a period of one month by issuing deposit collection tools for 14 times. Of that amount, Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">135</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion have matured and returned to the banking system.</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 central bank stepped up efforts to mop excess liquidity after the interbank interest rate remained below the specified limit. As of Saturday, the average interbank interest rate remained at </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2.58</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the 'Interest Rate Corridor Procedure </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2076</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">', there is an provision to set the upper limit of the bank rate and the lower limit of the deposit collection rate and keep the interbank interest rate in between. </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 central bank maintains this rate using various monetary instruments.</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 central bank has lowered the deposit collection rate to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent through the first quarterly review of the current fiscal year's monetary policy. Earlier this rate was </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">4.5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent. </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 the current year, the interbank interest has rate remained below the limit of the interest rate corridor but the central bank did not use any instrument to increase it until December. The central bank ignored it because the government was raising internal loans at cheap interest rates. </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"">After the government met its debt collection target, the central bank has been aggressively mopping liquidity to maintain the interest rate corridor as the interbank interest rate remained below the limit.</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 recent times, there is excess liquidity in the banking system due to non-disbursement of loans compared to the increase in deposit collection. </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"">Last Saturday, the average credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) of banks fell to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">80.17 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">percent. According to the provision that banks can maintain a CD ratio of up to </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">90 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">percent and provide loans, they have the capacity to extend loans by Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5 93 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">billion. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-28', 'modified' => '2023-12-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19569', 'image' => '20231228011254_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-28 13:12:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19841', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industries Incurring Losses worth Millions of Rupees after NEA Halts Electricity Supply', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 28: The Nepal Electricity Authority has cut off power supply to nine industries for defaulting the payment of dues for the use of electricity through dedicated feeders and trunk lines.', '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"">December 28: The Nepal Electricity Authority has cut off power supply to nine industries for defaulting the payment of dues for the use of electricity through dedicated feeders and trunk lines. </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 industrialists whose lines have been cut complained that they are suffering losses worth millions of rupees daily. They have also warned that there may be a shortage of industrial products in the market in the coming days as the dispute continues and the electricity supply remains halted.</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"">Sahil Agarwal, chairman of Jagdamba Steel, said that the company is incurring a daily loss of around Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">25</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million after the NEA stopped the power supply. </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"">“Our industry consumes </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">40</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> megawatts of electricity on a daily basis. We have </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">500</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> workers. About </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2,000</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tons of steel is produced daily,'' Agarwal 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"">“Steel production has stopped. If the dispute between the NEA and industrialists continues, there may be a shortage of industrial products in the future. Therefore, this dispute should be resolved 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"">So far, the NEA has cut the lines of Jagdamba Steel, Reliance Spinning Mills, Ghorahi Cement, Arghakhanchi Cement, Triveni Spinning Mills, Ashok Steel, Sonapur Minerals and Oil Limited, Sarvottam Cement and Laxmi Steel.</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"">Shashikant Agarwal, the owner of Reliance Spinning Mills, says that thousands of laborers working in the industry are in trouble due to the authority's actions and the industries are facing huge financial loss every day. According to him, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3,500</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> workers are also working in Reliance Spinning Mills. Most of the workers have returned home after the industry was shut down due to the power cut.</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"">He claims that Reliance is incurring losses of more than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million a day. </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 have clearly said that we are ready to pay the bill provided that the NEA gives us the time of day (TOD) meter data. However, the NEA officials are reluctant to give the details. Either they should provide us the proof with the bill if they want us to pay the electricity tariff, or they should resume power supply to the industries," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although there is no reliable data on the daily losses in all the industries where electricity supply has been stopped, the industrialists claim that all the industries are suffering huge financial losses. Although the industrialist asked for TOD meter data, the authority is saying that it cannot provide such data.</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"">Former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has termed the recent development as unfortunate instead of calling it the right decision or wrong at a time when the government aims for industrialization by increasing electricity consumption.</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"">He wrote on social networking site Facebook, "The authority should be able to refute the allegation of the industrialists that the authority has issued fake bills. Earning non-existent income by generating bills that are not in the TOD meter is wrong. After months of discussions, debates, and court proceedings, the production of cement, corrugated zinc sheets, etc, which are being exported, has come to a grinding halt. Therefore, the data of TOD meter should be made public immediately.” </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-28', 'modified' => '2023-12-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19568', 'image' => '20231228011133_1703559400.1605049113.Clipboard04.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-28 13:10:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19840', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Export of Yarsagumba up by 139 Percent', 'sub_title' => 'The Medicinal Herb Fetches Rs 550 million in Five Months', 'summary' => 'December 28: Nepal exported yarsagumba, a prized medicinal herb with aphrodisiac property, worth more than Rs 550 million in five months of the current fiscal year.', '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"">December 28: Nepal exported yarsagumba, a prized medicinal herb with aphrodisiac property, worth more than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">55</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">0 million in five months of the current fiscal year. According to the data of the Department of Customs, the country exported yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">553</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">7</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million to various countries from mid-July to mid-December this year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the department, Nepal exported </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">1</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,0</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">83</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kilograms of yarsagumba during the review period. During the same period of last year, Nepal had exported </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">453</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kg of yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">278.14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million. This year, yarsagumba exports increased by </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">99</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent in value and </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">139</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent in volume compared to the corresponding period of last year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During these five months, yarsagumba has been exported from Nepal to Australia, Austria, Cambodia, China, Czech Republic, Greece, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Russia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam, according to the Department of Customs.</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"">During this period, the earned the maximum amount from export of yarsagumba to Hong Kong. A total of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">380</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> kilograms of yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">249</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">8</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million were exported to Hong Kong.</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"">China topped the list of countries in terms of volume of exports of yarsagumba. During the review period, Nepal exported </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">477 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">kilograms of yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">204</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">million to China. Similarly, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">127 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">kg of yarsagumba worth Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">34</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">million were exported to Vietnam.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-12-28', 'modified' => '2023-12-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19567', 'image' => '20231228121921_yarsa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-12-28 12:17:40', '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
