May 21: Experts and startup industry leaders have laid emphasis on interconnection between agriculture and industry and the use of technology for businesses to sustain in the modern day…
May 21: Experts and startup industry leaders have laid emphasis on interconnection between agriculture and industry and the use of technology for businesses to sustain in the modern day…
May 21: The Government of Nepal has requested the United States to continue the facilities it has been providing for Nepali goods even after being upgraded from the least developed country to a developing country in…
May 21: The House of Representatives (HoR) has started deliberations on the policies and programmes of the…
May 21: The government has decided to move ahead with construction of the proposed Nijgadh International Airport which has been stalled due to court order over the issue of environment and compensation issue.…
May 21: The government has launched a special scheme to promote electricity consumption.…
May 21: The Out Patient Department (OPD) services of government-run hospitals will now be available from 8:00 am to 8:00…
May 21: An earthquake has occurred in East…
Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Dr. Beduram Bhusal, has emphasized the potential of agriculture and livestock to drive economic…
May 20: The government has announced to observe 2025 as a 'special tourism…
May 19: New Business Age, one of the leading business magazines of Nepal, has honoured eight startup companies including five best startups of the year during the NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards programme in the capital on…
May 19: Chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal(SEBON) Ramesh Hamal said that Nepal has possibility of having a USD 100 billion economy by…
May 19: Madan Lamsal, chairman of New Business Age, said that startups have contributed a lot to the country's…
May 19: President Ram Chandra Poudel on Friday presented the government's policies and programmes for the next fiscal year (FY 2023/24) in the Federal…
May 19: NewBiz Startup Summit and Award-2023 organized by New Business Age, one of the leading business magazines of Nepal, kicked off amid a special function at Hotel Radisson, Kathmandu on…
May 19: The share of the private sector in Nepal's GDP is 81.55…
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According to her, the agriculture sector has no investment opportunities and lacks enterprise.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">She said that there are misconceptions that agriculture is associated with poverty, lacks investment, and lacks entrepreneurial opportunities. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Contrary to this view, she shared that if we look at the global scenario, agriculture is followed by industry and service sectors. However, in Nepal, we have already switched to a service-oriented industry, she said adding, Nepal, due to its topography, has huge potential in organic farming. According to her, agricultural production needs to be connected with the industry. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Someone has to lobby to connect with the industry.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The key to success in the modern day is technology, admitted Nhemaphuki.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“I am very much impressed with the link between agriculture and technology in Bangladesh and India,” she said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The use of technology during Covid-19 has expanded rapidly. Kisan Credit Card and QR code have been implemented to connect the farmers with the banks. Software companies were made partners and now the government is also recognizing them, she added. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Giving the example of the Covid-19 period when the demand for agriculture products was high, she added that the importance of the food industry has increased. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We are here to help those who are engaged in agriculture. With the right strategies, investments, and innovation, the agriculture sector can be transformed into a profitable and thriving industry,” she opined.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Our aim is to implement modern farming practices, promote agro-processing, and develop high-value agricultural products, she said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“By adding value to agricultural commodities and tapping into niche markets, we can create a competitive advantage and contribute to the growth of the agriculture sector.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Rahul Malla Thakuri, assistant vice president - commercial at Upaya, shared that the journey of Upaya started four years ago.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“By the end of 2018, the use of technology, smartphones, and the Internet was increasing. In Nepal, the use of technology other than logistics was good. Every other sector, including food and e-commerce, was blooming. We did our research and found logistics as the missing piece in the growing digital arena and thus started our business by booking transport vehicles,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, Baburam Gautam, director general of the Department of Industry said that the main element of the ecosystem in promoting trade and industry is the government. However, there is a gap in the policy of exporting competent manpower, said Gautam, adding, “The startup policy is ready. The department has got the job of startup enterprise loan. It is said that loans will be given in the form of seed capital. Work is being done accordingly. Business is on one side, idea is on the other side. The government is working to the build the startup ecosystem.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">When asked why is the recently implemented start-up policy procedure important, Gautam said that the it is a procedure to grant loans by the government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Provisions such as turnover of Rs 5 million, fixed capital of Rs 20 million, and innovation have been specified. There is also an evaluation section. A total of 700 applications are still pending in the Ministry of Finance, Planning Commission.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, answering moderator Asmod Karki's question - how easy is it for a start-up to get funds, Thakuri mentioned that it took about a year for the business operation to come to normalcy after the lockdown and they collaborated with different organizations to raise funds. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“When raising funds, it is important to carefully consider where to invest, how to approach it and understand the investors' desires. Building a reliable and trustworthy team is crucial,” said Thakuri.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Gautam said that all startups need ecosystem culture. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“It should start from home. There are 78 elements of the ecosystem. The policy has been drafted in such a way that it will be addressed by the upcoming policies and programs.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Responding to the question that the new generation, which is not attracted to agriculture, has forgotten what to cultivate and when and that a lot of land is becoming barren, Nhemaphuki replied that only three per cent of the total population in Israel are farmers, and yet they export. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Engineers and other professions are also involved in agriculture. We have a misconception here that agriculture leads to suffering. It is necessary to connect agriculture with the industry.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Baburam Gautam, Director General of the Industry Department, Sunita Nhemaphuki, Founder of R&D Innovative Solutions Pvt. Ltd., and Rahul Malla Thakuri, Assistant Vice President - Commercial at Upaya, participated as speakers in the panel discussion on the theme 'Towards Startup Nation'. The panel discussion was facilitated by Asmod Karki, co-founder and head of operation of Vikasa Tech. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17665', 'image' => '20230521040830_panel discussion.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 16:07:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17933', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal urges USA to Extend Preferential Trade Programme', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The Government of Nepal has requested the United States to continue the facilities it has been providing for Nepali goods even after being upgraded from the least developed country to a developing country in 2026.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 21: The Government of Nepal has requested the United States to continue the facilities it has been providing for Nepali goods even after being upgraded from the least developed country to a developing country in 2026. Nepal made such a request at the sixth meeting of the Nepal-US TIFA Council held in Kathmandu on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The US has granted duty-free entry to 77 items of Nepal under the Nepal Trade Preference Programme (NTPP). The program was introduced after the devastating earthquake of 2015 with the aim of supporting the economic recovery of Nepal. The 10-year program will expire in 2025.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal will be graduating into a developing country from LDC in 2026. It is estimated that the facility provided by the US will be lost after gaining the status of a developing country. Stakeholders are concerned that it will be difficult for Nepali products to compete in the American market after the loss of the facility and the exports will decrease. Addressing the TIFA Council meeting, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ramesh Rijal urged the US to continue the cooperation. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We have sought duty-free market access and flexible trade rules for a few years even after graduation from LDC,” said Minister Rijal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Minister Rijal, TIFA will prove to be a milestone in bringing trade and investment relations to new heights.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Madhu Kumar Marasini, secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, expected the US support to continue after the LDC graduation, keeping in mind the needs of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said, “It is necessary to make our process of transformation from a least developed to a developing nation smooth, sustainable and irreversible. For that, emphasis should be placed on technology cooperation and economic partnership.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Currently, IT, hydropower, digital economy, service and trade are the areas of potential. As the construction of the transmission line undertaken by the US-funded MCC has facilitated infrastructure development, efforts should be made for investment in other areas as well, said Marasini.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Brendan Lynch, US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia said that the improvement in trade and investment relations should benefit the people of both the countries. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“In recent years, Nepal-US bilateral trade relations have been increasing. It is positive. Now there should be more improvements in trade and investment relations to benefit the people of both the countries,” said Lynch, adding, “Due to its special relationship with Nepal, the United States has conducted the Nepal Trade Preference Program only for Nepal.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sridhar Khatri, the Nepalese ambassador to the USA said that Nepal should benefit from NTPP. He said, “Nepal should have benefited a lot from this US initiative. It is a matter of concern that this didn’t happen.” Khatri said that NTPP covers only less than 3 percent of Nepal's exports to the US and urged the US to improve the current provision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">US Ambassador to Nepal Donald Thompson said that Nepal is in top priority of the US. America is investing about 1.5 billion dollars in Nepal in the next five years through USAID, MCC, Development Finance Corporation and other partnership plans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Thompson said, “This should be understood as Nepal being a top priority for America. We want to see more American companies, investors and high-quality American goods and services available in Nepal. For this, a good investment policy, appropriate environment and support from the private sector are needed.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The meeting focused on Nepal's priority business programs, investment environment, digital economy, technical assistance, agricultural, trade and upgrading from LDC.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17664', 'image' => '20230521023058_1684629707.collage (10).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 14:30:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17932', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Deliberations on Government's Policies and Programmes Begins', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The House of Representatives (HoR) has started deliberations on the policies and programmes of the government. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: The House of Representatives (HoR) has started deliberations on the policies and programmes of the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal presented a proposal in the meeting of the lower house today (May 21) seeking the initiation of deliberations on the Government's Policies and Programmes for the Fiscal Year 2023/24. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President Ram Chandra Paudel had addressed the joint sitting of both the houses of the Federal Parliament on May 19 and read out the government's policies and programmes. </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 government prepares the budget for the upcoming fiscal year after the parliament conducts deliberations on the policies and programmes. There is a constitutional provision to announce the budget on 15<sup>th</sup> of Jestha every year which falls on May 29 this year. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17663', 'image' => '20230521012804_Parliament RSS 800.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 13:26:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17931', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Expedite Construction of Nijgadh Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The government has decided to move ahead with construction of the proposed Nijgadh International Airport which has been stalled due to court order over the issue of environment and compensation issue. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: The government has decided to move ahead with construction of the proposed Nijgadh International Airport which has been stalled due to court order over the issue of environment and compensation issue. The airport is a national pride project of the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programmes of the government for the upcoming fiscal year presented by President Ram Chandra Paudel in a joint meeting of the federal parliament on Friday mentions about forwarding the construction process of the Nijgadh airport. The government has prioritized the construction of Nijgadh airport, said the president. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has set a plan to construct the Nijgadh airport in around 1,900 hectares of area. The first-phase of the construction of Nijgadh airport is estimated to cost Rs 120 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the policies and programmes also state that construction of provincial airport would be forwarded after carrying out study. Safety standard would be strictly implemented to make aviation service safe and terminal buildings of domestic and international airports would be upgraded. </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 announcement comes in the wake of two other international airports – Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) and Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) – struggling to get business even a year after the construction in case of GBIA and five months after the inauguration of PRIA.</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"">Critics have been cautioning whether the country needs another international airport which is to be built with massive foreign loans at a time when the country’s economy is in crisis.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17662', 'image' => '20230521122445_nijgadh.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 12:24:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17929', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Provide Electricity of 50 Units in Summer and 30 Units in Winter Free of Cost ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The government has launched a special scheme to promote electricity consumption. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: The government has launched a special scheme to promote electricity consumption. Presenting the annual policies and programmes for the upcoming fiscal year at a joint meeting of both the houses of the federal parliament on Friday, President Ram Chandra Paudel announced that the households consuming as high as 50 units of electricity per month in summer would be provided the power free of cost while free electricity up to 30 units will be provided in winter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Currently, the households consuming 20 units of electricity are required to pay only Rs 30 per month. The new scheme is brought to increase energy demand and domestic consumption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although Nepal has sufficient electricity in summer, it needs to import electricity in winter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government aims to provide electricity to all Nepalis within two years. The power supply would be ensured free of cost to poor households and LP gas would be displaced gradually, said the president. The government also decided to promote use of electric stove. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17660', 'image' => '20230521102158_electricity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 10:21:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17928', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'OPD Service of Government Hospitals from 8 am to 8 pm ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The Out Patient Department (OPD) services of government-run hospitals will now be available from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: The Out Patient Department (OPD) services of government-run hospitals will now be available from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the government’s policies and programs for the Fiscal Year 2023/24 presented by President Ram Chandra Paudel in Parliament on Friday, a health center with basic health check-up and treatment facilities will be established in every ward. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programs have a provision for developing all federal hospitals as teaching hospitals. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"A policy will be taken to gradually expand government hospitals into all seven provinces by developing them as well-equipped hospitals with specialized medical services," reads the statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Air ambulance services will be operated in remote areas to prevent the death of people due to lack of timely treatment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Provision has also been made to give doctors working in basic hospitals the opportunity to pursue higher medical education. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programmes state that at least one provincial level hospital shall be developed as a super specialty hospital that can diagnose heart and cancer diseases. Campaigns against infectious diseases and special programs for the treatment of non-communicable diseases will be conducted. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, arrangements will be made for the diagnosis and treatment of autism while free early detection and treatment of cervical cancer and breast cancer in women will be gradually expanded throughout the country as a special program. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has said that the Department of Drug Administration will be transformed into the Department of Food, Medicines and Health Technology. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the Singhdarbar Baidyakhana and Herbs Processing Center will be re-structured to make the services of Ayurvedic hospitals effective. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17659', 'image' => '20230521100859_Hospital.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 10:08:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17927', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Earthquake Recorded in East Rukum ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: An earthquake has occurred in East Rukum. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: An earthquake has occurred in East Rukum. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An earthquake measuring 4.1 in the Richter scale took place at 2:59 am today (May 21) with its epicenter in Hukam gaon in East Rukum, according to the National Seismology and Research Center Lainchaur, Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Earlier, an earthquake of the same magnitude had occurred on May 4 with its epicenter in Bajura district. Western parts of Nepal has been witnessing frequent occurrence of earthquakes of late. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17658', 'image' => '20230521094735_20221228113133_quake.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 09:46:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17926', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Planning to Boost Agriculture to Replace Food Imports: Agriculture Minister', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Dr. Beduram Bhusal, has emphasized the potential of agriculture and livestock to drive economic progress.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">May 21: Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Dr. Beduram Bhusal, has emphasized the potential of agriculture and livestock to drive economic progress. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He highlighted the government's commitment to implementing policies and programs that support agricultural development, aiming to increase production and reduce reliance on food imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dr. Bhusal acknowledged that while Nepal was previously an exporter of food grains, the current situation requires increased imports. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Consequently, the government's priority is to decrease reliance on imports and promote export growth through modernizing agriculture, Minister Bhusal stated. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The minister emphasized the significance of the fertile Tarai region and the need for adequate irrigation to enhance agricultural productivity. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Speaking at an interaction and felicitation program in Bhumikastan Municipality, Arghakhanchi, Dr. Bhusal revealed that approximately 1.3 million hectares of arable land in Nepal remains unused. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The government plans to utilize this land through collective and cooperative farming initiatives, aiming for cost-effectiveness and modernization of farming practices. Mechanization was also underscored as a crucial aspect of agricultural advancement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dr. Bhusal mentioned that fixing prices of rice, maize, wheat, and other agricultural products before harvest would greatly benefit producers. This timely price fixing would provide relief and stability for farmers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Mayor Jhabilal Thapa of Bhumikasthan Municipality called for the launch of agricultural programs focused on increasing the production of cereals, fruits, vegetables, and medicinal herbs.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17657', 'image' => '20230521055409_agro minister.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 05:52:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17925', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '2025 will be Observed as 'Special Tourism Year' ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 20: The government has announced to observe 2025 as a 'special tourism year'.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 20: The government has announced to observe 2025 as a 'special tourism year'. President Ram Chandra Paudel made such announcement while presenting the policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2023/24 in the joint meeting of the federal parliament on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The decade of 2080s of the Bikram era will be marked as 'visit Nepal decade' while 2025 AD will be observed as the special year for tourism. The tourism sector which witnessed massive downturn by the COVID crisis is slowly recovering. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nearly 100,000 tourists are visiting Nepal every month since the beginning of 2023. As per the latest statistics maintained by Nepal Tourism Board, the country recorded arrival of over 326,000 foreign tourism in four months of 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Previously, the government had announced to observe 2020 as 'visit Nepal year' which was later cancelled in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the president announced that timely revision would be made in tourism related law. The tourist destinations would be popularized in the international community and necessary infrastructures prepared accordingly. </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"">New tourist destinations would be identified in all seven provinces and each province will be a cultural village, the policies and programmes mentioned. </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"">New mountains would be opened for climbing. Security arrangement for climbers and tourists would be made more reliable. </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 president further announced that the concept of film tourism would be materialized and expanded and new dimensions added to adventure tourism. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the collaboration of private sector, 'Samarmatha Special Honour' will be conferred on the foreign nationals considering their role on promotion of Nepal's art, culture, language and literature in the international arena. </span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also stressed in the government policies and programmes are strict adherence to air safety standard and development of Pashupati and Lumbini as centres of religious and spiritual study. </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-20', 'modified' => '2023-05-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17656', 'image' => '20230520110410_20211211082422_Clipboard18.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-20 11:02:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17924', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NBA Honours Eight Outstanding Startup Companies during the NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards 2023', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: New Business Age, one of the leading business magazines of Nepal, has honoured eight startup companies including five best startups of the year during the NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards programme in the capital on Friday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 19: New Business Age, one of the leading business magazines of Nepal, has honoured eight startup companies including five best startups of the year during the NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards programme in the capital on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Doctors on Call, E-Digital Nepal, FOCUS ONE, Ingrails (Ved) and Sajilo Sewa were announced as the five best start-ups of the year from among more than 2000 startup entries during the awards ceremony.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Five of these start-ups have been recognized as the best startup of the year and have been honoured with certificates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, Delish Dairieshas bagged the title of the emerging startup of the year for 2023. Similarly, Digital Age Nepal has been awarded with the title of the Inspiring Women-led Startup, while Foodmandu has been honoured with the title of Startup Scale-Up award.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Doctors on Call aims to make home health service accessible, affordable and equitably available to everyone. The start-up is jointly co-founded by Dr Suyesh Karki, Dr Suman Neupane, Dr Subash Sapkota and Dr Mohan Bhandary.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">E-Digital Nepal with the vision to digitalise the education ecosystem of Nepal has the mission to bring transformation, innovation, and revolution to the education sector of Nepal with the use of a top-notch technology-based information management system to ensure quality education. Er. Aditya Raj and Er Basant Gupta founded E-Digital jointly with Kapil Basnet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, FOCUSONE Payment Solutions Pvt Ltd is a payment facilitator, operating a payment platform that enables MSMEs to accept cross-border / currency transactions from International (VISA, ALIPAY, UPI) and domestic (NepalPay, SCT) networks from a unified QR code, partnering with acquiring banks. Pranaya Rajbhandari and Aadish Shrestha have jointly founded the start-up.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Ingrails Pvt Ltd jointly founded by Nirdesh Dwa, Sujit Pathak and Sanjan Piya offers a digital solution for educational institutions to perform everyday tasks, including academic, financial, operation management, and communication systems in a single platform.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, Sajilo Sewa is Nepal’s first service marketplace allowing service seekers to find all kinds of at-home services. Kawish Shrestha, Pukar Acharya and Sujeet Regmi have jointly founded the start-up.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Delish Dairies envisions transforming the Nepalese dairy industry with the use of high-quality dairy products from locally produced milk.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Digital Age Nepal, founded by Dibyswory Dhar Dali, aims in combatting financial crimes like corruption and money-laundering, and terror financing through digitization.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Foodmandu, founded by Manohar Adhikari in 2010, is the first company in Nepal that delivers food from more than 120 different restaurants in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur and Pokhara at the customers’ doorstep.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The shortlisted startups were evaluated on the parameters of articulation of vision/mission statement, value proposition and market identification, team composition and calibre, innovation/disruption, traction-to-date record, scalability and competitive strategy, use of information technology, creation story and jury judgment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Suman Shakya, founder of Tangent Waves, Juna Mathema, co-founder and managing director of Blitz Media and Tenzin Sonam Gonsar, founder and CEO of TEAM Ventures were the jury members of the award ceremony.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">All the winners were given free credit voucher worth Rs 100,000 on Next Generation Rigo HRMS and Rigo Accounting software from Rigo Technologies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The summit and awards programme was supported by Sastodeal.com, Laxmi Bank, Shikhar Insurance, Citizen Life Insurance, National Life Insurance, Rigo, Nexon EV Max, and City Express. Similarly, Nepal Rastra Bank, the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nepal Insurance Authority, Nepali Patro and Dishome Fiber Net have also supported the awards program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">New Business Age has been organising various award programs. The company has been selecting and awarding the best management colleges and companies since 2013. Since 2019, the company has started honoring women entrepreneurs. New Business Age had organized the New Biz Business Conclave and Awards programme in November.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17655', 'image' => '20230519083245_343763455_1383753472474819_2067865080511238680_n.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 20:21:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17923', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Economy Likely to Grow to US$ 100 Billion by 2030: SEBON Chair Hamal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: Chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal(SEBON) Ramesh Hamal said that Nepal has possibility of having a USD 100 billion economy by 2030.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 19: Chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal(SEBON) Ramesh Hamal said that Nepal has possibility of having a USD 100 billion economy by 2030.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While addressing the “NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards-2023,” Hamal said Nepal could have possibility of USD 100 billion economy with partnership and collaboration of the private sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">SEBON Chairman Hamal further stated that the government and its agencies should create conducive eco-system and suitable platforms for the private sector to build favorable environment for businesses and enterprises to grow in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“It is the private sector that does business and the government has to formulate right polices and build the right eco-system for the private sector to do business,” he highlighted.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal may be unique in tradition and culture, but the country has to catch up with the world in domains of commerce and business for the economic growth. For helping the business growth, the government has to develop and put easy and right mechanism to lure in foreign investors. “We have to be on par with globe. We should have entry doorway and exit mechanism to attract FDI. We are changing the rules and polices to lure more investment,” he stressed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hamal said that the SEBON has formulated the draft for Small and Medium Enterprise Platforms and sent it to the Cabinet for approval to sign it into law. Any company with a paid-up capital below Rs 250 million will be listed in the SME platform, according to Chairman Hamal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">SEBON will relax some requirements, and provide incentives to small and medium enterprises.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> “This will enable SMEs to receive funds from the public,” Hamal stated.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Drawing the examples of big tech companies such as Apple Inc and Google, Hamal emphasized the need to provide funding to the startups for the growth of business. He said that the government, private sector and investors have to work in collaboration to foster the culture of startup and help them succeed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hamal further said that he is committed to creating additional channels in the digital domain for investment. This will help Nepal leapfrog in technology, Hamal expressed his belief.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Speaking at the at the programme, Tim Gocher OBE, founder and CEO at Dolma Impact Fund, said that Nepal requires billions of investment to scale up the startup and growth of other enterprises in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Gocher stated that his company despite the ongoing global recession invested 20 million dollars in four Nepali companies in the last two months. He joyfully shared that the investment committee of Dolma Impact Fund has additionally approved USD 2 million investment for Upaya Cargo.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, Gocher stressed that Nepal requires massive investment to meet its target of achieving 10 per cent growth in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Likewise, he appreciated Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON)’s initiatives of licensing private equity funds to attract more fund to Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Gocher informed that Dolma Impact Fund has collaborated with different private companies such as IME Group and invested in various companies including start-ups in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Secretary Dr Toya Gyawali of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies said the government should focus on innovation, investment, infrastructure, and institutionalization for the growth of startups.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Secretary Gyawali said that the government should give priority to three things: legal framework, building network, and overall eco-system to boost up startups in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He shared that startups are led mainly by management and science students. He added that the government had placed emphasis on institutional support for fostering innovation, giving access to the market, and finance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Likewise, Rastriya Swatantra Party’s lawmaker Dr Swornim Wagle said that startup is the future of Nepal. The government should play a role to bridge the gap between the past and the future to enhance the culture of startup in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dr Wagle said that various conditions including innovation and infrastructure should be taken into consideration for the success of the startups. He shared that Nepal lacks not polices but their execution.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dr Wagle said that Nepal can become a respectable middle-income country in matters 25 years.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17654', 'image' => '20230519081515_ramesh hamal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 20:14:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17922', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Startups have Made Immense Contribution to the Country's Economy: Lamsal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: Madan Lamsal, chairman of New Business Age, said that startups have contributed a lot to the country's economy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">May 19: Madan Lamsal, chairman of New Business Age, said that startups have contributed a lot to the country's economy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Inaugurating the NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards 2023, Chairman Lamsal said that startups are taking root in Nepal as well.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">“Some startups have reached the stage of issuing shares to the general public. It has contributed greatly to the country's economy,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Lamsal said that this award program was also organized to prevent brain drain at a time when 3300 young people are leaving for foreign employment every day.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">“Some good startups could not come in contact with us. The best startups from among those who came are being honored,” he said, adding, “We have been honoring startups since 2017. Before this programme, we also provided training for startups. Everyone participated enthusiastically.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">This year, awards are being given to eight start-up companies. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The summit and awards programme is supported by Sastodeal.com, Laxmi Bank, Shikhar Insurance, Citizen Life Insurance, National Life Insurance, Rigo, Nexon EV Max, and City Express. Similarly, Nepal Rastra Bank, the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nepal Insurance Authority, Nepali Patro and Dishome Fiber Net have also supported the awards program.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">New Business Age has been organising various award programs. The company has been selecting and awarding the best management colleges and companies since 2013. Since 2019, the company has started honoring women entrepreneurs. New Business Age had organized the New Biz Business Conclave and Awards programme in November.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17653', 'image' => '20230519061817_madan sir.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 18:17:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17921', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President Presents Government's Policies and Programmes in Parliament ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: President Ram Chandra Poudel on Friday presented the government's policies and programmes for the next fiscal year (FY 2023/24) in the Federal Parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 19: President Ram Chandra Poudel on Friday presented the government's policies and programmes for the next fiscal year (FY 2023/24) in the Federal Parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President Ram Chandra Paudel read out the policies and programmes in the joint meeting of both the houses of the Federal Parliament in the New Baneshwar. The meeting started at 4 pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At the onset of the meeting, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal handed over a copy of the policies and programmes to the president. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the constitutional provision, the president shall address either a meeting of any House or a joint sitting of both Houses of the Federal Parliament, and summon the MPs while presenting the government’s policies and programmes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This is the first address to the parliament after Paudel's election to the post of the president. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the countries having parliamentary democracy, there is a practice of presenting the government's annual policies and programmes in the Federal Parliament and the parliament passing the same after deliberations on them. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Vice President Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav, Prime Minister Dahal, Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki arrived at the Parliament Building to witness the presentation of the government's policies and programmes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The House of Representatives and the National Assembly will hold their separate meetings today itself after the joint sitting is over. The Prime Minister will table a copy of the President's address to the joint sitting in the separate meetings as well. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Both Houses of the Federal Parliament will deliberate on the government's policies and programmes for some days beginning Sunday. The prime minister will reply to the queries raised by lawmakers in course of the deliberations. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There is a constitutional provision which requires the finance minister to present in the House the annual budget for the next fiscal year on the 15th of Jeth every year (May 29) after the policies and programmes are passed by the parliament. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17652', 'image' => '20230519060836_1684493191.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 18:07:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17920', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ''NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards 2023’ Kicks Off', 'sub_title' => 'Eight start-ups will be awarded during the event', 'summary' => 'May 19: NewBiz Startup Summit and Award-2023 organized by New Business Age, one of the leading business magazines of Nepal, kicked off amid a special function at Hotel Radisson, Kathmandu on Friday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 19: NewBiz Startup Summit and Award-2023 organized by New Business Age, one of the leading business magazines of Nepal, kicked off amid a special function at Hotel Radisson, Kathmandu on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chief guest of the programme, Tim Gocher OBE, founder and CEO at Dolma Impact Fund and Madan Prasad Lamsal, chairman of New Business Age jointly inaugurated the ceremony.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Speaking at the programme, NBA Chairman Lamsal said the culture of startups is taking roots in Nepal, which is good for the future of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Lamsal said that the major goal of organizing the programme is to promote a culture of entrepreneurship, and to stop the outflow of the youths from the country. He also highlighted that government, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and other government agencies are doing needful to promote startup. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under this awards ceremony, a panel discussion 'Towards a Startup Nation' is being held. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The panel includes Baburam Gautam, director general of the Department of Industry, Sunita Nhemaphuki, founder of R&D Innovative Solutions, and Rahul Malla Thakuri, co-founder and assistant vice-president (commercial) of Upaya. Asmod Karki, the co-founder of Vikas Tech, will be moderating the panel discussion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The organisers had requested for applications from all seven provinces for the award ceremony. More than 2,000 startup entrepreneurs from across the country had applied for participation in the awards programme.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Among them, eight outstanding startup companies selected by an independent jury will be awarded during the event. All the winners will get free credit voucher worth Rs 100,000 on Next Generation Rigo HRMS and Rigo Accounting software from Rigo Technologies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The summit and awards programme is supported by Sastodeal.com, Laxmi Bank, Shikhar Insurance, Citizen Life Insurance, National Life Insurance, Rigo, Nexon EV Max, and City Express. Similarly, Nepal Rastra Bank, the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nepal Insurance Authority, Nepali Patro and Dishome Fiber Net have also supported the awards program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">New Business Age has been organising various award programs. The company has been selecting and awarding the best management colleges and companies since 2013. Since 2019, the company has started honoring women entrepreneurs. New Business Age had organized the New Biz Business Conclave and Awards programme in November.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17651', 'image' => '20230519043916_343374902_572434451436602_4823795947921127431_n.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 16:38:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17919', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector's Share in GDP is 81.55 Percent: Study ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: The share of the private sector in Nepal's GDP is 81.55 percent.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 19: The share of the private sector in Nepal's GDP is 81.55 percent. This was stated in a study report prepared by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) with support from International Financial Corporation (IFC). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report was prepared with the cooperation of the National Statistics Office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ramesh Rijal launched the report amid a programme on Thursday evening. On the occasion, he said the report reflects the status of the private sector in the country's economy and thanked FNCCI and IFC for preparing it. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The private sector's contribution to the GDP in FY 2012/13 was 86.67 percent. The report shows that the private sector's contribution has decreased due to the contraction in the economy as a result of the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, earthquake among other reasons. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report shows that the government's investment has gone up while the contribution of the private sector has diminished during the post-earthquake and pandemic period. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the report, the private sector companies have expanded by 32 times in the national economy in the last 30 years. There were a total 28,660 industries in 1983 and the number of enterprises has increased by 30 times and reached 923,356 by 2018. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The private sector is also at the forefront in terms of employment creation. It covers 85.6 percent to total employment. It has provided 57 percent employment in agriculture, forest and fishery sector, and 12.5 percent in the wholesale and retail trade and vehicle repair sector, FNCCI president Chandra Prasad Dhakal said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He added that the private sector has provided around 5.5 million jobs whereas the government only 427,000 jobs. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The FNCCI president underscored the need for structural reforms for the private sector to work in full capacity. He also stressed on the need of the government to increase the capital expenditure and suggested to the government to prioritize expansion of investment areas, sustainable development, private-public partnership, among other topics in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2023/24. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17650', 'image' => '20230519024422_gdp.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 14:43:43', '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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According to her, the agriculture sector has no investment opportunities and lacks enterprise.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">She said that there are misconceptions that agriculture is associated with poverty, lacks investment, and lacks entrepreneurial opportunities. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Contrary to this view, she shared that if we look at the global scenario, agriculture is followed by industry and service sectors. However, in Nepal, we have already switched to a service-oriented industry, she said adding, Nepal, due to its topography, has huge potential in organic farming. According to her, agricultural production needs to be connected with the industry. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Someone has to lobby to connect with the industry.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The key to success in the modern day is technology, admitted Nhemaphuki.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“I am very much impressed with the link between agriculture and technology in Bangladesh and India,” she said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The use of technology during Covid-19 has expanded rapidly. Kisan Credit Card and QR code have been implemented to connect the farmers with the banks. Software companies were made partners and now the government is also recognizing them, she added. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Giving the example of the Covid-19 period when the demand for agriculture products was high, she added that the importance of the food industry has increased. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We are here to help those who are engaged in agriculture. With the right strategies, investments, and innovation, the agriculture sector can be transformed into a profitable and thriving industry,” she opined.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Our aim is to implement modern farming practices, promote agro-processing, and develop high-value agricultural products, she said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“By adding value to agricultural commodities and tapping into niche markets, we can create a competitive advantage and contribute to the growth of the agriculture sector.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Rahul Malla Thakuri, assistant vice president - commercial at Upaya, shared that the journey of Upaya started four years ago.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“By the end of 2018, the use of technology, smartphones, and the Internet was increasing. In Nepal, the use of technology other than logistics was good. Every other sector, including food and e-commerce, was blooming. We did our research and found logistics as the missing piece in the growing digital arena and thus started our business by booking transport vehicles,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, Baburam Gautam, director general of the Department of Industry said that the main element of the ecosystem in promoting trade and industry is the government. However, there is a gap in the policy of exporting competent manpower, said Gautam, adding, “The startup policy is ready. The department has got the job of startup enterprise loan. It is said that loans will be given in the form of seed capital. Work is being done accordingly. Business is on one side, idea is on the other side. The government is working to the build the startup ecosystem.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">When asked why is the recently implemented start-up policy procedure important, Gautam said that the it is a procedure to grant loans by the government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Provisions such as turnover of Rs 5 million, fixed capital of Rs 20 million, and innovation have been specified. There is also an evaluation section. A total of 700 applications are still pending in the Ministry of Finance, Planning Commission.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, answering moderator Asmod Karki's question - how easy is it for a start-up to get funds, Thakuri mentioned that it took about a year for the business operation to come to normalcy after the lockdown and they collaborated with different organizations to raise funds. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“When raising funds, it is important to carefully consider where to invest, how to approach it and understand the investors' desires. Building a reliable and trustworthy team is crucial,” said Thakuri.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Gautam said that all startups need ecosystem culture. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“It should start from home. There are 78 elements of the ecosystem. The policy has been drafted in such a way that it will be addressed by the upcoming policies and programs.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Responding to the question that the new generation, which is not attracted to agriculture, has forgotten what to cultivate and when and that a lot of land is becoming barren, Nhemaphuki replied that only three per cent of the total population in Israel are farmers, and yet they export. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Engineers and other professions are also involved in agriculture. We have a misconception here that agriculture leads to suffering. It is necessary to connect agriculture with the industry.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Baburam Gautam, Director General of the Industry Department, Sunita Nhemaphuki, Founder of R&D Innovative Solutions Pvt. Ltd., and Rahul Malla Thakuri, Assistant Vice President - Commercial at Upaya, participated as speakers in the panel discussion on the theme 'Towards Startup Nation'. The panel discussion was facilitated by Asmod Karki, co-founder and head of operation of Vikasa Tech. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17665', 'image' => '20230521040830_panel discussion.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 16:07:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17933', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal urges USA to Extend Preferential Trade Programme', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The Government of Nepal has requested the United States to continue the facilities it has been providing for Nepali goods even after being upgraded from the least developed country to a developing country in 2026.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 21: The Government of Nepal has requested the United States to continue the facilities it has been providing for Nepali goods even after being upgraded from the least developed country to a developing country in 2026. Nepal made such a request at the sixth meeting of the Nepal-US TIFA Council held in Kathmandu on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The US has granted duty-free entry to 77 items of Nepal under the Nepal Trade Preference Programme (NTPP). The program was introduced after the devastating earthquake of 2015 with the aim of supporting the economic recovery of Nepal. The 10-year program will expire in 2025.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal will be graduating into a developing country from LDC in 2026. It is estimated that the facility provided by the US will be lost after gaining the status of a developing country. Stakeholders are concerned that it will be difficult for Nepali products to compete in the American market after the loss of the facility and the exports will decrease. Addressing the TIFA Council meeting, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ramesh Rijal urged the US to continue the cooperation. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We have sought duty-free market access and flexible trade rules for a few years even after graduation from LDC,” said Minister Rijal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Minister Rijal, TIFA will prove to be a milestone in bringing trade and investment relations to new heights.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Madhu Kumar Marasini, secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, expected the US support to continue after the LDC graduation, keeping in mind the needs of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said, “It is necessary to make our process of transformation from a least developed to a developing nation smooth, sustainable and irreversible. For that, emphasis should be placed on technology cooperation and economic partnership.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Currently, IT, hydropower, digital economy, service and trade are the areas of potential. As the construction of the transmission line undertaken by the US-funded MCC has facilitated infrastructure development, efforts should be made for investment in other areas as well, said Marasini.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Brendan Lynch, US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia said that the improvement in trade and investment relations should benefit the people of both the countries. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“In recent years, Nepal-US bilateral trade relations have been increasing. It is positive. Now there should be more improvements in trade and investment relations to benefit the people of both the countries,” said Lynch, adding, “Due to its special relationship with Nepal, the United States has conducted the Nepal Trade Preference Program only for Nepal.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sridhar Khatri, the Nepalese ambassador to the USA said that Nepal should benefit from NTPP. He said, “Nepal should have benefited a lot from this US initiative. It is a matter of concern that this didn’t happen.” Khatri said that NTPP covers only less than 3 percent of Nepal's exports to the US and urged the US to improve the current provision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">US Ambassador to Nepal Donald Thompson said that Nepal is in top priority of the US. America is investing about 1.5 billion dollars in Nepal in the next five years through USAID, MCC, Development Finance Corporation and other partnership plans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Thompson said, “This should be understood as Nepal being a top priority for America. We want to see more American companies, investors and high-quality American goods and services available in Nepal. For this, a good investment policy, appropriate environment and support from the private sector are needed.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The meeting focused on Nepal's priority business programs, investment environment, digital economy, technical assistance, agricultural, trade and upgrading from LDC.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17664', 'image' => '20230521023058_1684629707.collage (10).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 14:30:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17932', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Deliberations on Government's Policies and Programmes Begins', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The House of Representatives (HoR) has started deliberations on the policies and programmes of the government. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: The House of Representatives (HoR) has started deliberations on the policies and programmes of the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal presented a proposal in the meeting of the lower house today (May 21) seeking the initiation of deliberations on the Government's Policies and Programmes for the Fiscal Year 2023/24. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President Ram Chandra Paudel had addressed the joint sitting of both the houses of the Federal Parliament on May 19 and read out the government's policies and programmes. </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 government prepares the budget for the upcoming fiscal year after the parliament conducts deliberations on the policies and programmes. There is a constitutional provision to announce the budget on 15<sup>th</sup> of Jestha every year which falls on May 29 this year. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17663', 'image' => '20230521012804_Parliament RSS 800.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 13:26:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17931', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Expedite Construction of Nijgadh Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The government has decided to move ahead with construction of the proposed Nijgadh International Airport which has been stalled due to court order over the issue of environment and compensation issue. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: The government has decided to move ahead with construction of the proposed Nijgadh International Airport which has been stalled due to court order over the issue of environment and compensation issue. The airport is a national pride project of the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programmes of the government for the upcoming fiscal year presented by President Ram Chandra Paudel in a joint meeting of the federal parliament on Friday mentions about forwarding the construction process of the Nijgadh airport. The government has prioritized the construction of Nijgadh airport, said the president. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has set a plan to construct the Nijgadh airport in around 1,900 hectares of area. The first-phase of the construction of Nijgadh airport is estimated to cost Rs 120 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the policies and programmes also state that construction of provincial airport would be forwarded after carrying out study. Safety standard would be strictly implemented to make aviation service safe and terminal buildings of domestic and international airports would be upgraded. </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 announcement comes in the wake of two other international airports – Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) and Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) – struggling to get business even a year after the construction in case of GBIA and five months after the inauguration of PRIA.</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"">Critics have been cautioning whether the country needs another international airport which is to be built with massive foreign loans at a time when the country’s economy is in crisis.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17662', 'image' => '20230521122445_nijgadh.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 12:24:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17929', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Provide Electricity of 50 Units in Summer and 30 Units in Winter Free of Cost ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The government has launched a special scheme to promote electricity consumption. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: The government has launched a special scheme to promote electricity consumption. Presenting the annual policies and programmes for the upcoming fiscal year at a joint meeting of both the houses of the federal parliament on Friday, President Ram Chandra Paudel announced that the households consuming as high as 50 units of electricity per month in summer would be provided the power free of cost while free electricity up to 30 units will be provided in winter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Currently, the households consuming 20 units of electricity are required to pay only Rs 30 per month. The new scheme is brought to increase energy demand and domestic consumption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although Nepal has sufficient electricity in summer, it needs to import electricity in winter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government aims to provide electricity to all Nepalis within two years. The power supply would be ensured free of cost to poor households and LP gas would be displaced gradually, said the president. The government also decided to promote use of electric stove. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17660', 'image' => '20230521102158_electricity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 10:21:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17928', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'OPD Service of Government Hospitals from 8 am to 8 pm ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The Out Patient Department (OPD) services of government-run hospitals will now be available from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: The Out Patient Department (OPD) services of government-run hospitals will now be available from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the government’s policies and programs for the Fiscal Year 2023/24 presented by President Ram Chandra Paudel in Parliament on Friday, a health center with basic health check-up and treatment facilities will be established in every ward. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programs have a provision for developing all federal hospitals as teaching hospitals. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"A policy will be taken to gradually expand government hospitals into all seven provinces by developing them as well-equipped hospitals with specialized medical services," reads the statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Air ambulance services will be operated in remote areas to prevent the death of people due to lack of timely treatment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Provision has also been made to give doctors working in basic hospitals the opportunity to pursue higher medical education. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programmes state that at least one provincial level hospital shall be developed as a super specialty hospital that can diagnose heart and cancer diseases. Campaigns against infectious diseases and special programs for the treatment of non-communicable diseases will be conducted. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, arrangements will be made for the diagnosis and treatment of autism while free early detection and treatment of cervical cancer and breast cancer in women will be gradually expanded throughout the country as a special program. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has said that the Department of Drug Administration will be transformed into the Department of Food, Medicines and Health Technology. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the Singhdarbar Baidyakhana and Herbs Processing Center will be re-structured to make the services of Ayurvedic hospitals effective. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17659', 'image' => '20230521100859_Hospital.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 10:08:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17927', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Earthquake Recorded in East Rukum ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: An earthquake has occurred in East Rukum. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: An earthquake has occurred in East Rukum. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An earthquake measuring 4.1 in the Richter scale took place at 2:59 am today (May 21) with its epicenter in Hukam gaon in East Rukum, according to the National Seismology and Research Center Lainchaur, Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Earlier, an earthquake of the same magnitude had occurred on May 4 with its epicenter in Bajura district. Western parts of Nepal has been witnessing frequent occurrence of earthquakes of late. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17658', 'image' => '20230521094735_20221228113133_quake.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 09:46:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17926', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Planning to Boost Agriculture to Replace Food Imports: Agriculture Minister', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Dr. Beduram Bhusal, has emphasized the potential of agriculture and livestock to drive economic progress.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">May 21: Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Dr. Beduram Bhusal, has emphasized the potential of agriculture and livestock to drive economic progress. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He highlighted the government's commitment to implementing policies and programs that support agricultural development, aiming to increase production and reduce reliance on food imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dr. Bhusal acknowledged that while Nepal was previously an exporter of food grains, the current situation requires increased imports. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Consequently, the government's priority is to decrease reliance on imports and promote export growth through modernizing agriculture, Minister Bhusal stated. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The minister emphasized the significance of the fertile Tarai region and the need for adequate irrigation to enhance agricultural productivity. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Speaking at an interaction and felicitation program in Bhumikastan Municipality, Arghakhanchi, Dr. Bhusal revealed that approximately 1.3 million hectares of arable land in Nepal remains unused. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The government plans to utilize this land through collective and cooperative farming initiatives, aiming for cost-effectiveness and modernization of farming practices. Mechanization was also underscored as a crucial aspect of agricultural advancement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dr. Bhusal mentioned that fixing prices of rice, maize, wheat, and other agricultural products before harvest would greatly benefit producers. This timely price fixing would provide relief and stability for farmers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Mayor Jhabilal Thapa of Bhumikasthan Municipality called for the launch of agricultural programs focused on increasing the production of cereals, fruits, vegetables, and medicinal herbs.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17657', 'image' => '20230521055409_agro minister.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 05:52:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17925', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '2025 will be Observed as 'Special Tourism Year' ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 20: The government has announced to observe 2025 as a 'special tourism year'.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 20: The government has announced to observe 2025 as a 'special tourism year'. President Ram Chandra Paudel made such announcement while presenting the policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2023/24 in the joint meeting of the federal parliament on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The decade of 2080s of the Bikram era will be marked as 'visit Nepal decade' while 2025 AD will be observed as the special year for tourism. The tourism sector which witnessed massive downturn by the COVID crisis is slowly recovering. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nearly 100,000 tourists are visiting Nepal every month since the beginning of 2023. As per the latest statistics maintained by Nepal Tourism Board, the country recorded arrival of over 326,000 foreign tourism in four months of 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Previously, the government had announced to observe 2020 as 'visit Nepal year' which was later cancelled in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the president announced that timely revision would be made in tourism related law. The tourist destinations would be popularized in the international community and necessary infrastructures prepared accordingly. </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"">New tourist destinations would be identified in all seven provinces and each province will be a cultural village, the policies and programmes mentioned. </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"">New mountains would be opened for climbing. Security arrangement for climbers and tourists would be made more reliable. </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 president further announced that the concept of film tourism would be materialized and expanded and new dimensions added to adventure tourism. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the collaboration of private sector, 'Samarmatha Special Honour' will be conferred on the foreign nationals considering their role on promotion of Nepal's art, culture, language and literature in the international arena. </span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also stressed in the government policies and programmes are strict adherence to air safety standard and development of Pashupati and Lumbini as centres of religious and spiritual study. </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-20', 'modified' => '2023-05-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17656', 'image' => '20230520110410_20211211082422_Clipboard18.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-20 11:02:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17924', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NBA Honours Eight Outstanding Startup Companies during the NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards 2023', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: New Business Age, one of the leading business magazines of Nepal, has honoured eight startup companies including five best startups of the year during the NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards programme in the capital on Friday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 19: New Business Age, one of the leading business magazines of Nepal, has honoured eight startup companies including five best startups of the year during the NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards programme in the capital on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Doctors on Call, E-Digital Nepal, FOCUS ONE, Ingrails (Ved) and Sajilo Sewa were announced as the five best start-ups of the year from among more than 2000 startup entries during the awards ceremony.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Five of these start-ups have been recognized as the best startup of the year and have been honoured with certificates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, Delish Dairieshas bagged the title of the emerging startup of the year for 2023. Similarly, Digital Age Nepal has been awarded with the title of the Inspiring Women-led Startup, while Foodmandu has been honoured with the title of Startup Scale-Up award.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Doctors on Call aims to make home health service accessible, affordable and equitably available to everyone. The start-up is jointly co-founded by Dr Suyesh Karki, Dr Suman Neupane, Dr Subash Sapkota and Dr Mohan Bhandary.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">E-Digital Nepal with the vision to digitalise the education ecosystem of Nepal has the mission to bring transformation, innovation, and revolution to the education sector of Nepal with the use of a top-notch technology-based information management system to ensure quality education. Er. Aditya Raj and Er Basant Gupta founded E-Digital jointly with Kapil Basnet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, FOCUSONE Payment Solutions Pvt Ltd is a payment facilitator, operating a payment platform that enables MSMEs to accept cross-border / currency transactions from International (VISA, ALIPAY, UPI) and domestic (NepalPay, SCT) networks from a unified QR code, partnering with acquiring banks. Pranaya Rajbhandari and Aadish Shrestha have jointly founded the start-up.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Ingrails Pvt Ltd jointly founded by Nirdesh Dwa, Sujit Pathak and Sanjan Piya offers a digital solution for educational institutions to perform everyday tasks, including academic, financial, operation management, and communication systems in a single platform.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, Sajilo Sewa is Nepal’s first service marketplace allowing service seekers to find all kinds of at-home services. Kawish Shrestha, Pukar Acharya and Sujeet Regmi have jointly founded the start-up.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Delish Dairies envisions transforming the Nepalese dairy industry with the use of high-quality dairy products from locally produced milk.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Digital Age Nepal, founded by Dibyswory Dhar Dali, aims in combatting financial crimes like corruption and money-laundering, and terror financing through digitization.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Foodmandu, founded by Manohar Adhikari in 2010, is the first company in Nepal that delivers food from more than 120 different restaurants in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur and Pokhara at the customers’ doorstep.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The shortlisted startups were evaluated on the parameters of articulation of vision/mission statement, value proposition and market identification, team composition and calibre, innovation/disruption, traction-to-date record, scalability and competitive strategy, use of information technology, creation story and jury judgment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Suman Shakya, founder of Tangent Waves, Juna Mathema, co-founder and managing director of Blitz Media and Tenzin Sonam Gonsar, founder and CEO of TEAM Ventures were the jury members of the award ceremony.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">All the winners were given free credit voucher worth Rs 100,000 on Next Generation Rigo HRMS and Rigo Accounting software from Rigo Technologies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The summit and awards programme was supported by Sastodeal.com, Laxmi Bank, Shikhar Insurance, Citizen Life Insurance, National Life Insurance, Rigo, Nexon EV Max, and City Express. Similarly, Nepal Rastra Bank, the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nepal Insurance Authority, Nepali Patro and Dishome Fiber Net have also supported the awards program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">New Business Age has been organising various award programs. The company has been selecting and awarding the best management colleges and companies since 2013. Since 2019, the company has started honoring women entrepreneurs. New Business Age had organized the New Biz Business Conclave and Awards programme in November.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17655', 'image' => '20230519083245_343763455_1383753472474819_2067865080511238680_n.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 20:21:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17923', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Economy Likely to Grow to US$ 100 Billion by 2030: SEBON Chair Hamal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: Chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal(SEBON) Ramesh Hamal said that Nepal has possibility of having a USD 100 billion economy by 2030.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 19: Chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal(SEBON) Ramesh Hamal said that Nepal has possibility of having a USD 100 billion economy by 2030.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While addressing the “NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards-2023,” Hamal said Nepal could have possibility of USD 100 billion economy with partnership and collaboration of the private sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">SEBON Chairman Hamal further stated that the government and its agencies should create conducive eco-system and suitable platforms for the private sector to build favorable environment for businesses and enterprises to grow in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“It is the private sector that does business and the government has to formulate right polices and build the right eco-system for the private sector to do business,” he highlighted.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal may be unique in tradition and culture, but the country has to catch up with the world in domains of commerce and business for the economic growth. For helping the business growth, the government has to develop and put easy and right mechanism to lure in foreign investors. “We have to be on par with globe. We should have entry doorway and exit mechanism to attract FDI. We are changing the rules and polices to lure more investment,” he stressed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hamal said that the SEBON has formulated the draft for Small and Medium Enterprise Platforms and sent it to the Cabinet for approval to sign it into law. Any company with a paid-up capital below Rs 250 million will be listed in the SME platform, according to Chairman Hamal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">SEBON will relax some requirements, and provide incentives to small and medium enterprises.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> “This will enable SMEs to receive funds from the public,” Hamal stated.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Drawing the examples of big tech companies such as Apple Inc and Google, Hamal emphasized the need to provide funding to the startups for the growth of business. He said that the government, private sector and investors have to work in collaboration to foster the culture of startup and help them succeed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hamal further said that he is committed to creating additional channels in the digital domain for investment. This will help Nepal leapfrog in technology, Hamal expressed his belief.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Speaking at the at the programme, Tim Gocher OBE, founder and CEO at Dolma Impact Fund, said that Nepal requires billions of investment to scale up the startup and growth of other enterprises in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Gocher stated that his company despite the ongoing global recession invested 20 million dollars in four Nepali companies in the last two months. He joyfully shared that the investment committee of Dolma Impact Fund has additionally approved USD 2 million investment for Upaya Cargo.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, Gocher stressed that Nepal requires massive investment to meet its target of achieving 10 per cent growth in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Likewise, he appreciated Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON)’s initiatives of licensing private equity funds to attract more fund to Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Gocher informed that Dolma Impact Fund has collaborated with different private companies such as IME Group and invested in various companies including start-ups in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Secretary Dr Toya Gyawali of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies said the government should focus on innovation, investment, infrastructure, and institutionalization for the growth of startups.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Secretary Gyawali said that the government should give priority to three things: legal framework, building network, and overall eco-system to boost up startups in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He shared that startups are led mainly by management and science students. He added that the government had placed emphasis on institutional support for fostering innovation, giving access to the market, and finance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Likewise, Rastriya Swatantra Party’s lawmaker Dr Swornim Wagle said that startup is the future of Nepal. The government should play a role to bridge the gap between the past and the future to enhance the culture of startup in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dr Wagle said that various conditions including innovation and infrastructure should be taken into consideration for the success of the startups. He shared that Nepal lacks not polices but their execution.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dr Wagle said that Nepal can become a respectable middle-income country in matters 25 years.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17654', 'image' => '20230519081515_ramesh hamal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 20:14:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17922', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Startups have Made Immense Contribution to the Country's Economy: Lamsal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: Madan Lamsal, chairman of New Business Age, said that startups have contributed a lot to the country's economy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">May 19: Madan Lamsal, chairman of New Business Age, said that startups have contributed a lot to the country's economy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Inaugurating the NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards 2023, Chairman Lamsal said that startups are taking root in Nepal as well.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">“Some startups have reached the stage of issuing shares to the general public. It has contributed greatly to the country's economy,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Lamsal said that this award program was also organized to prevent brain drain at a time when 3300 young people are leaving for foreign employment every day.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">“Some good startups could not come in contact with us. The best startups from among those who came are being honored,” he said, adding, “We have been honoring startups since 2017. Before this programme, we also provided training for startups. Everyone participated enthusiastically.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">This year, awards are being given to eight start-up companies. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The summit and awards programme is supported by Sastodeal.com, Laxmi Bank, Shikhar Insurance, Citizen Life Insurance, National Life Insurance, Rigo, Nexon EV Max, and City Express. Similarly, Nepal Rastra Bank, the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nepal Insurance Authority, Nepali Patro and Dishome Fiber Net have also supported the awards program.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">New Business Age has been organising various award programs. The company has been selecting and awarding the best management colleges and companies since 2013. Since 2019, the company has started honoring women entrepreneurs. New Business Age had organized the New Biz Business Conclave and Awards programme in November.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17653', 'image' => '20230519061817_madan sir.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 18:17:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17921', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President Presents Government's Policies and Programmes in Parliament ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: President Ram Chandra Poudel on Friday presented the government's policies and programmes for the next fiscal year (FY 2023/24) in the Federal Parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 19: President Ram Chandra Poudel on Friday presented the government's policies and programmes for the next fiscal year (FY 2023/24) in the Federal Parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President Ram Chandra Paudel read out the policies and programmes in the joint meeting of both the houses of the Federal Parliament in the New Baneshwar. The meeting started at 4 pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At the onset of the meeting, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal handed over a copy of the policies and programmes to the president. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the constitutional provision, the president shall address either a meeting of any House or a joint sitting of both Houses of the Federal Parliament, and summon the MPs while presenting the government’s policies and programmes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This is the first address to the parliament after Paudel's election to the post of the president. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the countries having parliamentary democracy, there is a practice of presenting the government's annual policies and programmes in the Federal Parliament and the parliament passing the same after deliberations on them. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Vice President Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav, Prime Minister Dahal, Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki arrived at the Parliament Building to witness the presentation of the government's policies and programmes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The House of Representatives and the National Assembly will hold their separate meetings today itself after the joint sitting is over. The Prime Minister will table a copy of the President's address to the joint sitting in the separate meetings as well. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Both Houses of the Federal Parliament will deliberate on the government's policies and programmes for some days beginning Sunday. The prime minister will reply to the queries raised by lawmakers in course of the deliberations. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There is a constitutional provision which requires the finance minister to present in the House the annual budget for the next fiscal year on the 15th of Jeth every year (May 29) after the policies and programmes are passed by the parliament. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17652', 'image' => '20230519060836_1684493191.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 18:07:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17920', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ''NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards 2023’ Kicks Off', 'sub_title' => 'Eight start-ups will be awarded during the event', 'summary' => 'May 19: NewBiz Startup Summit and Award-2023 organized by New Business Age, one of the leading business magazines of Nepal, kicked off amid a special function at Hotel Radisson, Kathmandu on Friday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 19: NewBiz Startup Summit and Award-2023 organized by New Business Age, one of the leading business magazines of Nepal, kicked off amid a special function at Hotel Radisson, Kathmandu on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chief guest of the programme, Tim Gocher OBE, founder and CEO at Dolma Impact Fund and Madan Prasad Lamsal, chairman of New Business Age jointly inaugurated the ceremony.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Speaking at the programme, NBA Chairman Lamsal said the culture of startups is taking roots in Nepal, which is good for the future of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Lamsal said that the major goal of organizing the programme is to promote a culture of entrepreneurship, and to stop the outflow of the youths from the country. He also highlighted that government, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and other government agencies are doing needful to promote startup. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under this awards ceremony, a panel discussion 'Towards a Startup Nation' is being held. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The panel includes Baburam Gautam, director general of the Department of Industry, Sunita Nhemaphuki, founder of R&D Innovative Solutions, and Rahul Malla Thakuri, co-founder and assistant vice-president (commercial) of Upaya. Asmod Karki, the co-founder of Vikas Tech, will be moderating the panel discussion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The organisers had requested for applications from all seven provinces for the award ceremony. More than 2,000 startup entrepreneurs from across the country had applied for participation in the awards programme.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Among them, eight outstanding startup companies selected by an independent jury will be awarded during the event. All the winners will get free credit voucher worth Rs 100,000 on Next Generation Rigo HRMS and Rigo Accounting software from Rigo Technologies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The summit and awards programme is supported by Sastodeal.com, Laxmi Bank, Shikhar Insurance, Citizen Life Insurance, National Life Insurance, Rigo, Nexon EV Max, and City Express. Similarly, Nepal Rastra Bank, the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nepal Insurance Authority, Nepali Patro and Dishome Fiber Net have also supported the awards program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">New Business Age has been organising various award programs. The company has been selecting and awarding the best management colleges and companies since 2013. Since 2019, the company has started honoring women entrepreneurs. New Business Age had organized the New Biz Business Conclave and Awards programme in November.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17651', 'image' => '20230519043916_343374902_572434451436602_4823795947921127431_n.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 16:38:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17919', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector's Share in GDP is 81.55 Percent: Study ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: The share of the private sector in Nepal's GDP is 81.55 percent.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 19: The share of the private sector in Nepal's GDP is 81.55 percent. This was stated in a study report prepared by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) with support from International Financial Corporation (IFC). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report was prepared with the cooperation of the National Statistics Office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ramesh Rijal launched the report amid a programme on Thursday evening. On the occasion, he said the report reflects the status of the private sector in the country's economy and thanked FNCCI and IFC for preparing it. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The private sector's contribution to the GDP in FY 2012/13 was 86.67 percent. The report shows that the private sector's contribution has decreased due to the contraction in the economy as a result of the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, earthquake among other reasons. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report shows that the government's investment has gone up while the contribution of the private sector has diminished during the post-earthquake and pandemic period. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the report, the private sector companies have expanded by 32 times in the national economy in the last 30 years. There were a total 28,660 industries in 1983 and the number of enterprises has increased by 30 times and reached 923,356 by 2018. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The private sector is also at the forefront in terms of employment creation. It covers 85.6 percent to total employment. It has provided 57 percent employment in agriculture, forest and fishery sector, and 12.5 percent in the wholesale and retail trade and vehicle repair sector, FNCCI president Chandra Prasad Dhakal said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He added that the private sector has provided around 5.5 million jobs whereas the government only 427,000 jobs. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The FNCCI president underscored the need for structural reforms for the private sector to work in full capacity. He also stressed on the need of the government to increase the capital expenditure and suggested to the government to prioritize expansion of investment areas, sustainable development, private-public partnership, among other topics in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2023/24. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17650', 'image' => '20230519024422_gdp.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 14:43:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17934', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘It is Necessary to Connect Agriculture with Industry’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: Experts and startup industry leaders have laid emphasis on interconnection between agriculture and industry and the use of technology for businesses to sustain in the modern day world.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 21: Experts and startup industry leaders have laid emphasis on interconnection between agriculture and industry and the use of technology for businesses to sustain in the modern day world.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Speaking at a panel discussion of the NewBiz Summit and Awards 2023 organized by New Business Age on Friday, Sunita Nhemaphuki, founder of R&D Innovative Solutions Pvt Ltd, said that there is still a misconception in society that those who engage in agriculture are poor. According to her, the agriculture sector has no investment opportunities and lacks enterprise.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">She said that there are misconceptions that agriculture is associated with poverty, lacks investment, and lacks entrepreneurial opportunities. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Contrary to this view, she shared that if we look at the global scenario, agriculture is followed by industry and service sectors. However, in Nepal, we have already switched to a service-oriented industry, she said adding, Nepal, due to its topography, has huge potential in organic farming. According to her, agricultural production needs to be connected with the industry. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Someone has to lobby to connect with the industry.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The key to success in the modern day is technology, admitted Nhemaphuki.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“I am very much impressed with the link between agriculture and technology in Bangladesh and India,” she said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The use of technology during Covid-19 has expanded rapidly. Kisan Credit Card and QR code have been implemented to connect the farmers with the banks. Software companies were made partners and now the government is also recognizing them, she added. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Giving the example of the Covid-19 period when the demand for agriculture products was high, she added that the importance of the food industry has increased. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We are here to help those who are engaged in agriculture. With the right strategies, investments, and innovation, the agriculture sector can be transformed into a profitable and thriving industry,” she opined.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Our aim is to implement modern farming practices, promote agro-processing, and develop high-value agricultural products, she said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“By adding value to agricultural commodities and tapping into niche markets, we can create a competitive advantage and contribute to the growth of the agriculture sector.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Rahul Malla Thakuri, assistant vice president - commercial at Upaya, shared that the journey of Upaya started four years ago.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“By the end of 2018, the use of technology, smartphones, and the Internet was increasing. In Nepal, the use of technology other than logistics was good. Every other sector, including food and e-commerce, was blooming. We did our research and found logistics as the missing piece in the growing digital arena and thus started our business by booking transport vehicles,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, Baburam Gautam, director general of the Department of Industry said that the main element of the ecosystem in promoting trade and industry is the government. However, there is a gap in the policy of exporting competent manpower, said Gautam, adding, “The startup policy is ready. The department has got the job of startup enterprise loan. It is said that loans will be given in the form of seed capital. Work is being done accordingly. Business is on one side, idea is on the other side. The government is working to the build the startup ecosystem.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">When asked why is the recently implemented start-up policy procedure important, Gautam said that the it is a procedure to grant loans by the government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Provisions such as turnover of Rs 5 million, fixed capital of Rs 20 million, and innovation have been specified. There is also an evaluation section. A total of 700 applications are still pending in the Ministry of Finance, Planning Commission.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, answering moderator Asmod Karki's question - how easy is it for a start-up to get funds, Thakuri mentioned that it took about a year for the business operation to come to normalcy after the lockdown and they collaborated with different organizations to raise funds. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“When raising funds, it is important to carefully consider where to invest, how to approach it and understand the investors' desires. Building a reliable and trustworthy team is crucial,” said Thakuri.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Gautam said that all startups need ecosystem culture. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“It should start from home. There are 78 elements of the ecosystem. The policy has been drafted in such a way that it will be addressed by the upcoming policies and programs.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Responding to the question that the new generation, which is not attracted to agriculture, has forgotten what to cultivate and when and that a lot of land is becoming barren, Nhemaphuki replied that only three per cent of the total population in Israel are farmers, and yet they export. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Engineers and other professions are also involved in agriculture. We have a misconception here that agriculture leads to suffering. It is necessary to connect agriculture with the industry.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Baburam Gautam, Director General of the Industry Department, Sunita Nhemaphuki, Founder of R&D Innovative Solutions Pvt. Ltd., and Rahul Malla Thakuri, Assistant Vice President - Commercial at Upaya, participated as speakers in the panel discussion on the theme 'Towards Startup Nation'. The panel discussion was facilitated by Asmod Karki, co-founder and head of operation of Vikasa Tech. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17665', 'image' => '20230521040830_panel discussion.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 16:07:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17933', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal urges USA to Extend Preferential Trade Programme', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The Government of Nepal has requested the United States to continue the facilities it has been providing for Nepali goods even after being upgraded from the least developed country to a developing country in 2026.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 21: The Government of Nepal has requested the United States to continue the facilities it has been providing for Nepali goods even after being upgraded from the least developed country to a developing country in 2026. Nepal made such a request at the sixth meeting of the Nepal-US TIFA Council held in Kathmandu on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The US has granted duty-free entry to 77 items of Nepal under the Nepal Trade Preference Programme (NTPP). The program was introduced after the devastating earthquake of 2015 with the aim of supporting the economic recovery of Nepal. The 10-year program will expire in 2025.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal will be graduating into a developing country from LDC in 2026. It is estimated that the facility provided by the US will be lost after gaining the status of a developing country. Stakeholders are concerned that it will be difficult for Nepali products to compete in the American market after the loss of the facility and the exports will decrease. Addressing the TIFA Council meeting, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ramesh Rijal urged the US to continue the cooperation. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We have sought duty-free market access and flexible trade rules for a few years even after graduation from LDC,” said Minister Rijal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Minister Rijal, TIFA will prove to be a milestone in bringing trade and investment relations to new heights.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Madhu Kumar Marasini, secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, expected the US support to continue after the LDC graduation, keeping in mind the needs of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said, “It is necessary to make our process of transformation from a least developed to a developing nation smooth, sustainable and irreversible. For that, emphasis should be placed on technology cooperation and economic partnership.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Currently, IT, hydropower, digital economy, service and trade are the areas of potential. As the construction of the transmission line undertaken by the US-funded MCC has facilitated infrastructure development, efforts should be made for investment in other areas as well, said Marasini.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Brendan Lynch, US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia said that the improvement in trade and investment relations should benefit the people of both the countries. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“In recent years, Nepal-US bilateral trade relations have been increasing. It is positive. Now there should be more improvements in trade and investment relations to benefit the people of both the countries,” said Lynch, adding, “Due to its special relationship with Nepal, the United States has conducted the Nepal Trade Preference Program only for Nepal.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sridhar Khatri, the Nepalese ambassador to the USA said that Nepal should benefit from NTPP. He said, “Nepal should have benefited a lot from this US initiative. It is a matter of concern that this didn’t happen.” Khatri said that NTPP covers only less than 3 percent of Nepal's exports to the US and urged the US to improve the current provision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">US Ambassador to Nepal Donald Thompson said that Nepal is in top priority of the US. America is investing about 1.5 billion dollars in Nepal in the next five years through USAID, MCC, Development Finance Corporation and other partnership plans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Thompson said, “This should be understood as Nepal being a top priority for America. We want to see more American companies, investors and high-quality American goods and services available in Nepal. For this, a good investment policy, appropriate environment and support from the private sector are needed.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The meeting focused on Nepal's priority business programs, investment environment, digital economy, technical assistance, agricultural, trade and upgrading from LDC.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17664', 'image' => '20230521023058_1684629707.collage (10).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 14:30:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17932', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Deliberations on Government's Policies and Programmes Begins', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The House of Representatives (HoR) has started deliberations on the policies and programmes of the government. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: The House of Representatives (HoR) has started deliberations on the policies and programmes of the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal presented a proposal in the meeting of the lower house today (May 21) seeking the initiation of deliberations on the Government's Policies and Programmes for the Fiscal Year 2023/24. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President Ram Chandra Paudel had addressed the joint sitting of both the houses of the Federal Parliament on May 19 and read out the government's policies and programmes. </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 government prepares the budget for the upcoming fiscal year after the parliament conducts deliberations on the policies and programmes. There is a constitutional provision to announce the budget on 15<sup>th</sup> of Jestha every year which falls on May 29 this year. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17663', 'image' => '20230521012804_Parliament RSS 800.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 13:26:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17931', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Expedite Construction of Nijgadh Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The government has decided to move ahead with construction of the proposed Nijgadh International Airport which has been stalled due to court order over the issue of environment and compensation issue. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: The government has decided to move ahead with construction of the proposed Nijgadh International Airport which has been stalled due to court order over the issue of environment and compensation issue. The airport is a national pride project of the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programmes of the government for the upcoming fiscal year presented by President Ram Chandra Paudel in a joint meeting of the federal parliament on Friday mentions about forwarding the construction process of the Nijgadh airport. The government has prioritized the construction of Nijgadh airport, said the president. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has set a plan to construct the Nijgadh airport in around 1,900 hectares of area. The first-phase of the construction of Nijgadh airport is estimated to cost Rs 120 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the policies and programmes also state that construction of provincial airport would be forwarded after carrying out study. Safety standard would be strictly implemented to make aviation service safe and terminal buildings of domestic and international airports would be upgraded. </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 announcement comes in the wake of two other international airports – Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) and Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) – struggling to get business even a year after the construction in case of GBIA and five months after the inauguration of PRIA.</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"">Critics have been cautioning whether the country needs another international airport which is to be built with massive foreign loans at a time when the country’s economy is in crisis.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17662', 'image' => '20230521122445_nijgadh.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 12:24:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17929', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Provide Electricity of 50 Units in Summer and 30 Units in Winter Free of Cost ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The government has launched a special scheme to promote electricity consumption. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: The government has launched a special scheme to promote electricity consumption. Presenting the annual policies and programmes for the upcoming fiscal year at a joint meeting of both the houses of the federal parliament on Friday, President Ram Chandra Paudel announced that the households consuming as high as 50 units of electricity per month in summer would be provided the power free of cost while free electricity up to 30 units will be provided in winter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Currently, the households consuming 20 units of electricity are required to pay only Rs 30 per month. The new scheme is brought to increase energy demand and domestic consumption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although Nepal has sufficient electricity in summer, it needs to import electricity in winter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government aims to provide electricity to all Nepalis within two years. The power supply would be ensured free of cost to poor households and LP gas would be displaced gradually, said the president. The government also decided to promote use of electric stove. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17660', 'image' => '20230521102158_electricity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 10:21:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17928', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'OPD Service of Government Hospitals from 8 am to 8 pm ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The Out Patient Department (OPD) services of government-run hospitals will now be available from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: The Out Patient Department (OPD) services of government-run hospitals will now be available from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the government’s policies and programs for the Fiscal Year 2023/24 presented by President Ram Chandra Paudel in Parliament on Friday, a health center with basic health check-up and treatment facilities will be established in every ward. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programs have a provision for developing all federal hospitals as teaching hospitals. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"A policy will be taken to gradually expand government hospitals into all seven provinces by developing them as well-equipped hospitals with specialized medical services," reads the statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Air ambulance services will be operated in remote areas to prevent the death of people due to lack of timely treatment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Provision has also been made to give doctors working in basic hospitals the opportunity to pursue higher medical education. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programmes state that at least one provincial level hospital shall be developed as a super specialty hospital that can diagnose heart and cancer diseases. Campaigns against infectious diseases and special programs for the treatment of non-communicable diseases will be conducted. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, arrangements will be made for the diagnosis and treatment of autism while free early detection and treatment of cervical cancer and breast cancer in women will be gradually expanded throughout the country as a special program. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has said that the Department of Drug Administration will be transformed into the Department of Food, Medicines and Health Technology. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the Singhdarbar Baidyakhana and Herbs Processing Center will be re-structured to make the services of Ayurvedic hospitals effective. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17659', 'image' => '20230521100859_Hospital.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 10:08:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17927', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Earthquake Recorded in East Rukum ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: An earthquake has occurred in East Rukum. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: An earthquake has occurred in East Rukum. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An earthquake measuring 4.1 in the Richter scale took place at 2:59 am today (May 21) with its epicenter in Hukam gaon in East Rukum, according to the National Seismology and Research Center Lainchaur, Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Earlier, an earthquake of the same magnitude had occurred on May 4 with its epicenter in Bajura district. Western parts of Nepal has been witnessing frequent occurrence of earthquakes of late. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17658', 'image' => '20230521094735_20221228113133_quake.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 09:46:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17926', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Planning to Boost Agriculture to Replace Food Imports: Agriculture Minister', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Dr. Beduram Bhusal, has emphasized the potential of agriculture and livestock to drive economic progress.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">May 21: Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Dr. Beduram Bhusal, has emphasized the potential of agriculture and livestock to drive economic progress. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He highlighted the government's commitment to implementing policies and programs that support agricultural development, aiming to increase production and reduce reliance on food imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dr. Bhusal acknowledged that while Nepal was previously an exporter of food grains, the current situation requires increased imports. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Consequently, the government's priority is to decrease reliance on imports and promote export growth through modernizing agriculture, Minister Bhusal stated. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The minister emphasized the significance of the fertile Tarai region and the need for adequate irrigation to enhance agricultural productivity. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Speaking at an interaction and felicitation program in Bhumikastan Municipality, Arghakhanchi, Dr. Bhusal revealed that approximately 1.3 million hectares of arable land in Nepal remains unused. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The government plans to utilize this land through collective and cooperative farming initiatives, aiming for cost-effectiveness and modernization of farming practices. Mechanization was also underscored as a crucial aspect of agricultural advancement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dr. Bhusal mentioned that fixing prices of rice, maize, wheat, and other agricultural products before harvest would greatly benefit producers. This timely price fixing would provide relief and stability for farmers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Mayor Jhabilal Thapa of Bhumikasthan Municipality called for the launch of agricultural programs focused on increasing the production of cereals, fruits, vegetables, and medicinal herbs.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17657', 'image' => '20230521055409_agro minister.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 05:52:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17925', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '2025 will be Observed as 'Special Tourism Year' ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 20: The government has announced to observe 2025 as a 'special tourism year'.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 20: The government has announced to observe 2025 as a 'special tourism year'. President Ram Chandra Paudel made such announcement while presenting the policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2023/24 in the joint meeting of the federal parliament on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The decade of 2080s of the Bikram era will be marked as 'visit Nepal decade' while 2025 AD will be observed as the special year for tourism. The tourism sector which witnessed massive downturn by the COVID crisis is slowly recovering. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nearly 100,000 tourists are visiting Nepal every month since the beginning of 2023. As per the latest statistics maintained by Nepal Tourism Board, the country recorded arrival of over 326,000 foreign tourism in four months of 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Previously, the government had announced to observe 2020 as 'visit Nepal year' which was later cancelled in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the president announced that timely revision would be made in tourism related law. The tourist destinations would be popularized in the international community and necessary infrastructures prepared accordingly. </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"">New tourist destinations would be identified in all seven provinces and each province will be a cultural village, the policies and programmes mentioned. </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"">New mountains would be opened for climbing. Security arrangement for climbers and tourists would be made more reliable. </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 president further announced that the concept of film tourism would be materialized and expanded and new dimensions added to adventure tourism. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the collaboration of private sector, 'Samarmatha Special Honour' will be conferred on the foreign nationals considering their role on promotion of Nepal's art, culture, language and literature in the international arena. </span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also stressed in the government policies and programmes are strict adherence to air safety standard and development of Pashupati and Lumbini as centres of religious and spiritual study. </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-20', 'modified' => '2023-05-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17656', 'image' => '20230520110410_20211211082422_Clipboard18.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-20 11:02:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17924', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NBA Honours Eight Outstanding Startup Companies during the NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards 2023', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: New Business Age, one of the leading business magazines of Nepal, has honoured eight startup companies including five best startups of the year during the NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards programme in the capital on Friday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 19: New Business Age, one of the leading business magazines of Nepal, has honoured eight startup companies including five best startups of the year during the NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards programme in the capital on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Doctors on Call, E-Digital Nepal, FOCUS ONE, Ingrails (Ved) and Sajilo Sewa were announced as the five best start-ups of the year from among more than 2000 startup entries during the awards ceremony.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Five of these start-ups have been recognized as the best startup of the year and have been honoured with certificates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, Delish Dairieshas bagged the title of the emerging startup of the year for 2023. Similarly, Digital Age Nepal has been awarded with the title of the Inspiring Women-led Startup, while Foodmandu has been honoured with the title of Startup Scale-Up award.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Doctors on Call aims to make home health service accessible, affordable and equitably available to everyone. The start-up is jointly co-founded by Dr Suyesh Karki, Dr Suman Neupane, Dr Subash Sapkota and Dr Mohan Bhandary.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">E-Digital Nepal with the vision to digitalise the education ecosystem of Nepal has the mission to bring transformation, innovation, and revolution to the education sector of Nepal with the use of a top-notch technology-based information management system to ensure quality education. Er. Aditya Raj and Er Basant Gupta founded E-Digital jointly with Kapil Basnet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, FOCUSONE Payment Solutions Pvt Ltd is a payment facilitator, operating a payment platform that enables MSMEs to accept cross-border / currency transactions from International (VISA, ALIPAY, UPI) and domestic (NepalPay, SCT) networks from a unified QR code, partnering with acquiring banks. Pranaya Rajbhandari and Aadish Shrestha have jointly founded the start-up.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Ingrails Pvt Ltd jointly founded by Nirdesh Dwa, Sujit Pathak and Sanjan Piya offers a digital solution for educational institutions to perform everyday tasks, including academic, financial, operation management, and communication systems in a single platform.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, Sajilo Sewa is Nepal’s first service marketplace allowing service seekers to find all kinds of at-home services. Kawish Shrestha, Pukar Acharya and Sujeet Regmi have jointly founded the start-up.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Delish Dairies envisions transforming the Nepalese dairy industry with the use of high-quality dairy products from locally produced milk.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Digital Age Nepal, founded by Dibyswory Dhar Dali, aims in combatting financial crimes like corruption and money-laundering, and terror financing through digitization.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Foodmandu, founded by Manohar Adhikari in 2010, is the first company in Nepal that delivers food from more than 120 different restaurants in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur and Pokhara at the customers’ doorstep.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The shortlisted startups were evaluated on the parameters of articulation of vision/mission statement, value proposition and market identification, team composition and calibre, innovation/disruption, traction-to-date record, scalability and competitive strategy, use of information technology, creation story and jury judgment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Suman Shakya, founder of Tangent Waves, Juna Mathema, co-founder and managing director of Blitz Media and Tenzin Sonam Gonsar, founder and CEO of TEAM Ventures were the jury members of the award ceremony.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">All the winners were given free credit voucher worth Rs 100,000 on Next Generation Rigo HRMS and Rigo Accounting software from Rigo Technologies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The summit and awards programme was supported by Sastodeal.com, Laxmi Bank, Shikhar Insurance, Citizen Life Insurance, National Life Insurance, Rigo, Nexon EV Max, and City Express. Similarly, Nepal Rastra Bank, the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nepal Insurance Authority, Nepali Patro and Dishome Fiber Net have also supported the awards program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">New Business Age has been organising various award programs. The company has been selecting and awarding the best management colleges and companies since 2013. Since 2019, the company has started honoring women entrepreneurs. New Business Age had organized the New Biz Business Conclave and Awards programme in November.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17655', 'image' => '20230519083245_343763455_1383753472474819_2067865080511238680_n.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 20:21:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17923', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Economy Likely to Grow to US$ 100 Billion by 2030: SEBON Chair Hamal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: Chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal(SEBON) Ramesh Hamal said that Nepal has possibility of having a USD 100 billion economy by 2030.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 19: Chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal(SEBON) Ramesh Hamal said that Nepal has possibility of having a USD 100 billion economy by 2030.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While addressing the “NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards-2023,” Hamal said Nepal could have possibility of USD 100 billion economy with partnership and collaboration of the private sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">SEBON Chairman Hamal further stated that the government and its agencies should create conducive eco-system and suitable platforms for the private sector to build favorable environment for businesses and enterprises to grow in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“It is the private sector that does business and the government has to formulate right polices and build the right eco-system for the private sector to do business,” he highlighted.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal may be unique in tradition and culture, but the country has to catch up with the world in domains of commerce and business for the economic growth. For helping the business growth, the government has to develop and put easy and right mechanism to lure in foreign investors. “We have to be on par with globe. We should have entry doorway and exit mechanism to attract FDI. We are changing the rules and polices to lure more investment,” he stressed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hamal said that the SEBON has formulated the draft for Small and Medium Enterprise Platforms and sent it to the Cabinet for approval to sign it into law. Any company with a paid-up capital below Rs 250 million will be listed in the SME platform, according to Chairman Hamal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">SEBON will relax some requirements, and provide incentives to small and medium enterprises.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> “This will enable SMEs to receive funds from the public,” Hamal stated.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Drawing the examples of big tech companies such as Apple Inc and Google, Hamal emphasized the need to provide funding to the startups for the growth of business. He said that the government, private sector and investors have to work in collaboration to foster the culture of startup and help them succeed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hamal further said that he is committed to creating additional channels in the digital domain for investment. This will help Nepal leapfrog in technology, Hamal expressed his belief.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Speaking at the at the programme, Tim Gocher OBE, founder and CEO at Dolma Impact Fund, said that Nepal requires billions of investment to scale up the startup and growth of other enterprises in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Gocher stated that his company despite the ongoing global recession invested 20 million dollars in four Nepali companies in the last two months. He joyfully shared that the investment committee of Dolma Impact Fund has additionally approved USD 2 million investment for Upaya Cargo.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, Gocher stressed that Nepal requires massive investment to meet its target of achieving 10 per cent growth in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Likewise, he appreciated Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON)’s initiatives of licensing private equity funds to attract more fund to Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Gocher informed that Dolma Impact Fund has collaborated with different private companies such as IME Group and invested in various companies including start-ups in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Secretary Dr Toya Gyawali of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies said the government should focus on innovation, investment, infrastructure, and institutionalization for the growth of startups.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Secretary Gyawali said that the government should give priority to three things: legal framework, building network, and overall eco-system to boost up startups in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He shared that startups are led mainly by management and science students. He added that the government had placed emphasis on institutional support for fostering innovation, giving access to the market, and finance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Likewise, Rastriya Swatantra Party’s lawmaker Dr Swornim Wagle said that startup is the future of Nepal. The government should play a role to bridge the gap between the past and the future to enhance the culture of startup in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dr Wagle said that various conditions including innovation and infrastructure should be taken into consideration for the success of the startups. He shared that Nepal lacks not polices but their execution.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dr Wagle said that Nepal can become a respectable middle-income country in matters 25 years.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17654', 'image' => '20230519081515_ramesh hamal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 20:14:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17922', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Startups have Made Immense Contribution to the Country's Economy: Lamsal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: Madan Lamsal, chairman of New Business Age, said that startups have contributed a lot to the country's economy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">May 19: Madan Lamsal, chairman of New Business Age, said that startups have contributed a lot to the country's economy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Inaugurating the NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards 2023, Chairman Lamsal said that startups are taking root in Nepal as well.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">“Some startups have reached the stage of issuing shares to the general public. It has contributed greatly to the country's economy,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Lamsal said that this award program was also organized to prevent brain drain at a time when 3300 young people are leaving for foreign employment every day.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">“Some good startups could not come in contact with us. The best startups from among those who came are being honored,” he said, adding, “We have been honoring startups since 2017. Before this programme, we also provided training for startups. Everyone participated enthusiastically.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">This year, awards are being given to eight start-up companies. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The summit and awards programme is supported by Sastodeal.com, Laxmi Bank, Shikhar Insurance, Citizen Life Insurance, National Life Insurance, Rigo, Nexon EV Max, and City Express. Similarly, Nepal Rastra Bank, the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nepal Insurance Authority, Nepali Patro and Dishome Fiber Net have also supported the awards program.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">New Business Age has been organising various award programs. The company has been selecting and awarding the best management colleges and companies since 2013. Since 2019, the company has started honoring women entrepreneurs. New Business Age had organized the New Biz Business Conclave and Awards programme in November.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17653', 'image' => '20230519061817_madan sir.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 18:17:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17921', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President Presents Government's Policies and Programmes in Parliament ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: President Ram Chandra Poudel on Friday presented the government's policies and programmes for the next fiscal year (FY 2023/24) in the Federal Parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 19: President Ram Chandra Poudel on Friday presented the government's policies and programmes for the next fiscal year (FY 2023/24) in the Federal Parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President Ram Chandra Paudel read out the policies and programmes in the joint meeting of both the houses of the Federal Parliament in the New Baneshwar. The meeting started at 4 pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At the onset of the meeting, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal handed over a copy of the policies and programmes to the president. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the constitutional provision, the president shall address either a meeting of any House or a joint sitting of both Houses of the Federal Parliament, and summon the MPs while presenting the government’s policies and programmes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This is the first address to the parliament after Paudel's election to the post of the president. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the countries having parliamentary democracy, there is a practice of presenting the government's annual policies and programmes in the Federal Parliament and the parliament passing the same after deliberations on them. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Vice President Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav, Prime Minister Dahal, Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki arrived at the Parliament Building to witness the presentation of the government's policies and programmes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The House of Representatives and the National Assembly will hold their separate meetings today itself after the joint sitting is over. The Prime Minister will table a copy of the President's address to the joint sitting in the separate meetings as well. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Both Houses of the Federal Parliament will deliberate on the government's policies and programmes for some days beginning Sunday. The prime minister will reply to the queries raised by lawmakers in course of the deliberations. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There is a constitutional provision which requires the finance minister to present in the House the annual budget for the next fiscal year on the 15th of Jeth every year (May 29) after the policies and programmes are passed by the parliament. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17652', 'image' => '20230519060836_1684493191.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 18:07:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17920', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ''NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards 2023’ Kicks Off', 'sub_title' => 'Eight start-ups will be awarded during the event', 'summary' => 'May 19: NewBiz Startup Summit and Award-2023 organized by New Business Age, one of the leading business magazines of Nepal, kicked off amid a special function at Hotel Radisson, Kathmandu on Friday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 19: NewBiz Startup Summit and Award-2023 organized by New Business Age, one of the leading business magazines of Nepal, kicked off amid a special function at Hotel Radisson, Kathmandu on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chief guest of the programme, Tim Gocher OBE, founder and CEO at Dolma Impact Fund and Madan Prasad Lamsal, chairman of New Business Age jointly inaugurated the ceremony.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Speaking at the programme, NBA Chairman Lamsal said the culture of startups is taking roots in Nepal, which is good for the future of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Lamsal said that the major goal of organizing the programme is to promote a culture of entrepreneurship, and to stop the outflow of the youths from the country. He also highlighted that government, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and other government agencies are doing needful to promote startup. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under this awards ceremony, a panel discussion 'Towards a Startup Nation' is being held. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The panel includes Baburam Gautam, director general of the Department of Industry, Sunita Nhemaphuki, founder of R&D Innovative Solutions, and Rahul Malla Thakuri, co-founder and assistant vice-president (commercial) of Upaya. Asmod Karki, the co-founder of Vikas Tech, will be moderating the panel discussion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The organisers had requested for applications from all seven provinces for the award ceremony. More than 2,000 startup entrepreneurs from across the country had applied for participation in the awards programme.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Among them, eight outstanding startup companies selected by an independent jury will be awarded during the event. All the winners will get free credit voucher worth Rs 100,000 on Next Generation Rigo HRMS and Rigo Accounting software from Rigo Technologies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The summit and awards programme is supported by Sastodeal.com, Laxmi Bank, Shikhar Insurance, Citizen Life Insurance, National Life Insurance, Rigo, Nexon EV Max, and City Express. Similarly, Nepal Rastra Bank, the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nepal Insurance Authority, Nepali Patro and Dishome Fiber Net have also supported the awards program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">New Business Age has been organising various award programs. The company has been selecting and awarding the best management colleges and companies since 2013. Since 2019, the company has started honoring women entrepreneurs. New Business Age had organized the New Biz Business Conclave and Awards programme in November.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17651', 'image' => '20230519043916_343374902_572434451436602_4823795947921127431_n.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 16:38:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17919', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector's Share in GDP is 81.55 Percent: Study ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: The share of the private sector in Nepal's GDP is 81.55 percent.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 19: The share of the private sector in Nepal's GDP is 81.55 percent. This was stated in a study report prepared by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) with support from International Financial Corporation (IFC). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report was prepared with the cooperation of the National Statistics Office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ramesh Rijal launched the report amid a programme on Thursday evening. On the occasion, he said the report reflects the status of the private sector in the country's economy and thanked FNCCI and IFC for preparing it. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The private sector's contribution to the GDP in FY 2012/13 was 86.67 percent. The report shows that the private sector's contribution has decreased due to the contraction in the economy as a result of the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, earthquake among other reasons. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report shows that the government's investment has gone up while the contribution of the private sector has diminished during the post-earthquake and pandemic period. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the report, the private sector companies have expanded by 32 times in the national economy in the last 30 years. There were a total 28,660 industries in 1983 and the number of enterprises has increased by 30 times and reached 923,356 by 2018. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The private sector is also at the forefront in terms of employment creation. It covers 85.6 percent to total employment. It has provided 57 percent employment in agriculture, forest and fishery sector, and 12.5 percent in the wholesale and retail trade and vehicle repair sector, FNCCI president Chandra Prasad Dhakal said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He added that the private sector has provided around 5.5 million jobs whereas the government only 427,000 jobs. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The FNCCI president underscored the need for structural reforms for the private sector to work in full capacity. He also stressed on the need of the government to increase the capital expenditure and suggested to the government to prioritize expansion of investment areas, sustainable development, private-public partnership, among other topics in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2023/24. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17650', 'image' => '20230519024422_gdp.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 14:43:43', '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
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17934', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘It is Necessary to Connect Agriculture with Industry’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: Experts and startup industry leaders have laid emphasis on interconnection between agriculture and industry and the use of technology for businesses to sustain in the modern day world.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 21: Experts and startup industry leaders have laid emphasis on interconnection between agriculture and industry and the use of technology for businesses to sustain in the modern day world.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Speaking at a panel discussion of the NewBiz Summit and Awards 2023 organized by New Business Age on Friday, Sunita Nhemaphuki, founder of R&D Innovative Solutions Pvt Ltd, said that there is still a misconception in society that those who engage in agriculture are poor. According to her, the agriculture sector has no investment opportunities and lacks enterprise.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">She said that there are misconceptions that agriculture is associated with poverty, lacks investment, and lacks entrepreneurial opportunities. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Contrary to this view, she shared that if we look at the global scenario, agriculture is followed by industry and service sectors. However, in Nepal, we have already switched to a service-oriented industry, she said adding, Nepal, due to its topography, has huge potential in organic farming. According to her, agricultural production needs to be connected with the industry. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Someone has to lobby to connect with the industry.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The key to success in the modern day is technology, admitted Nhemaphuki.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“I am very much impressed with the link between agriculture and technology in Bangladesh and India,” she said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The use of technology during Covid-19 has expanded rapidly. Kisan Credit Card and QR code have been implemented to connect the farmers with the banks. Software companies were made partners and now the government is also recognizing them, she added. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Giving the example of the Covid-19 period when the demand for agriculture products was high, she added that the importance of the food industry has increased. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We are here to help those who are engaged in agriculture. With the right strategies, investments, and innovation, the agriculture sector can be transformed into a profitable and thriving industry,” she opined.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Our aim is to implement modern farming practices, promote agro-processing, and develop high-value agricultural products, she said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“By adding value to agricultural commodities and tapping into niche markets, we can create a competitive advantage and contribute to the growth of the agriculture sector.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Rahul Malla Thakuri, assistant vice president - commercial at Upaya, shared that the journey of Upaya started four years ago.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“By the end of 2018, the use of technology, smartphones, and the Internet was increasing. In Nepal, the use of technology other than logistics was good. Every other sector, including food and e-commerce, was blooming. We did our research and found logistics as the missing piece in the growing digital arena and thus started our business by booking transport vehicles,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, Baburam Gautam, director general of the Department of Industry said that the main element of the ecosystem in promoting trade and industry is the government. However, there is a gap in the policy of exporting competent manpower, said Gautam, adding, “The startup policy is ready. The department has got the job of startup enterprise loan. It is said that loans will be given in the form of seed capital. Work is being done accordingly. Business is on one side, idea is on the other side. The government is working to the build the startup ecosystem.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">When asked why is the recently implemented start-up policy procedure important, Gautam said that the it is a procedure to grant loans by the government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Provisions such as turnover of Rs 5 million, fixed capital of Rs 20 million, and innovation have been specified. There is also an evaluation section. A total of 700 applications are still pending in the Ministry of Finance, Planning Commission.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, answering moderator Asmod Karki's question - how easy is it for a start-up to get funds, Thakuri mentioned that it took about a year for the business operation to come to normalcy after the lockdown and they collaborated with different organizations to raise funds. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“When raising funds, it is important to carefully consider where to invest, how to approach it and understand the investors' desires. Building a reliable and trustworthy team is crucial,” said Thakuri.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Gautam said that all startups need ecosystem culture. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“It should start from home. There are 78 elements of the ecosystem. The policy has been drafted in such a way that it will be addressed by the upcoming policies and programs.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Responding to the question that the new generation, which is not attracted to agriculture, has forgotten what to cultivate and when and that a lot of land is becoming barren, Nhemaphuki replied that only three per cent of the total population in Israel are farmers, and yet they export. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Engineers and other professions are also involved in agriculture. We have a misconception here that agriculture leads to suffering. It is necessary to connect agriculture with the industry.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Baburam Gautam, Director General of the Industry Department, Sunita Nhemaphuki, Founder of R&D Innovative Solutions Pvt. Ltd., and Rahul Malla Thakuri, Assistant Vice President - Commercial at Upaya, participated as speakers in the panel discussion on the theme 'Towards Startup Nation'. The panel discussion was facilitated by Asmod Karki, co-founder and head of operation of Vikasa Tech. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17665', 'image' => '20230521040830_panel discussion.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 16:07:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17933', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal urges USA to Extend Preferential Trade Programme', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The Government of Nepal has requested the United States to continue the facilities it has been providing for Nepali goods even after being upgraded from the least developed country to a developing country in 2026.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 21: The Government of Nepal has requested the United States to continue the facilities it has been providing for Nepali goods even after being upgraded from the least developed country to a developing country in 2026. Nepal made such a request at the sixth meeting of the Nepal-US TIFA Council held in Kathmandu on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The US has granted duty-free entry to 77 items of Nepal under the Nepal Trade Preference Programme (NTPP). The program was introduced after the devastating earthquake of 2015 with the aim of supporting the economic recovery of Nepal. The 10-year program will expire in 2025.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal will be graduating into a developing country from LDC in 2026. It is estimated that the facility provided by the US will be lost after gaining the status of a developing country. Stakeholders are concerned that it will be difficult for Nepali products to compete in the American market after the loss of the facility and the exports will decrease. Addressing the TIFA Council meeting, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ramesh Rijal urged the US to continue the cooperation. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We have sought duty-free market access and flexible trade rules for a few years even after graduation from LDC,” said Minister Rijal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Minister Rijal, TIFA will prove to be a milestone in bringing trade and investment relations to new heights.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Madhu Kumar Marasini, secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, expected the US support to continue after the LDC graduation, keeping in mind the needs of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said, “It is necessary to make our process of transformation from a least developed to a developing nation smooth, sustainable and irreversible. For that, emphasis should be placed on technology cooperation and economic partnership.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Currently, IT, hydropower, digital economy, service and trade are the areas of potential. As the construction of the transmission line undertaken by the US-funded MCC has facilitated infrastructure development, efforts should be made for investment in other areas as well, said Marasini.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Brendan Lynch, US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia said that the improvement in trade and investment relations should benefit the people of both the countries. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“In recent years, Nepal-US bilateral trade relations have been increasing. It is positive. Now there should be more improvements in trade and investment relations to benefit the people of both the countries,” said Lynch, adding, “Due to its special relationship with Nepal, the United States has conducted the Nepal Trade Preference Program only for Nepal.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sridhar Khatri, the Nepalese ambassador to the USA said that Nepal should benefit from NTPP. He said, “Nepal should have benefited a lot from this US initiative. It is a matter of concern that this didn’t happen.” Khatri said that NTPP covers only less than 3 percent of Nepal's exports to the US and urged the US to improve the current provision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">US Ambassador to Nepal Donald Thompson said that Nepal is in top priority of the US. America is investing about 1.5 billion dollars in Nepal in the next five years through USAID, MCC, Development Finance Corporation and other partnership plans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Thompson said, “This should be understood as Nepal being a top priority for America. We want to see more American companies, investors and high-quality American goods and services available in Nepal. For this, a good investment policy, appropriate environment and support from the private sector are needed.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The meeting focused on Nepal's priority business programs, investment environment, digital economy, technical assistance, agricultural, trade and upgrading from LDC.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17664', 'image' => '20230521023058_1684629707.collage (10).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 14:30:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17932', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Deliberations on Government's Policies and Programmes Begins', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The House of Representatives (HoR) has started deliberations on the policies and programmes of the government. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: The House of Representatives (HoR) has started deliberations on the policies and programmes of the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal presented a proposal in the meeting of the lower house today (May 21) seeking the initiation of deliberations on the Government's Policies and Programmes for the Fiscal Year 2023/24. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President Ram Chandra Paudel had addressed the joint sitting of both the houses of the Federal Parliament on May 19 and read out the government's policies and programmes. </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 government prepares the budget for the upcoming fiscal year after the parliament conducts deliberations on the policies and programmes. There is a constitutional provision to announce the budget on 15<sup>th</sup> of Jestha every year which falls on May 29 this year. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17663', 'image' => '20230521012804_Parliament RSS 800.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 13:26:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17931', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Expedite Construction of Nijgadh Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The government has decided to move ahead with construction of the proposed Nijgadh International Airport which has been stalled due to court order over the issue of environment and compensation issue. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: The government has decided to move ahead with construction of the proposed Nijgadh International Airport which has been stalled due to court order over the issue of environment and compensation issue. The airport is a national pride project of the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programmes of the government for the upcoming fiscal year presented by President Ram Chandra Paudel in a joint meeting of the federal parliament on Friday mentions about forwarding the construction process of the Nijgadh airport. The government has prioritized the construction of Nijgadh airport, said the president. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has set a plan to construct the Nijgadh airport in around 1,900 hectares of area. The first-phase of the construction of Nijgadh airport is estimated to cost Rs 120 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the policies and programmes also state that construction of provincial airport would be forwarded after carrying out study. Safety standard would be strictly implemented to make aviation service safe and terminal buildings of domestic and international airports would be upgraded. </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 announcement comes in the wake of two other international airports – Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) and Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) – struggling to get business even a year after the construction in case of GBIA and five months after the inauguration of PRIA.</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"">Critics have been cautioning whether the country needs another international airport which is to be built with massive foreign loans at a time when the country’s economy is in crisis.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17662', 'image' => '20230521122445_nijgadh.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 12:24:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17929', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Provide Electricity of 50 Units in Summer and 30 Units in Winter Free of Cost ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The government has launched a special scheme to promote electricity consumption. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: The government has launched a special scheme to promote electricity consumption. Presenting the annual policies and programmes for the upcoming fiscal year at a joint meeting of both the houses of the federal parliament on Friday, President Ram Chandra Paudel announced that the households consuming as high as 50 units of electricity per month in summer would be provided the power free of cost while free electricity up to 30 units will be provided in winter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Currently, the households consuming 20 units of electricity are required to pay only Rs 30 per month. The new scheme is brought to increase energy demand and domestic consumption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although Nepal has sufficient electricity in summer, it needs to import electricity in winter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government aims to provide electricity to all Nepalis within two years. The power supply would be ensured free of cost to poor households and LP gas would be displaced gradually, said the president. The government also decided to promote use of electric stove. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17660', 'image' => '20230521102158_electricity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 10:21:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17928', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'OPD Service of Government Hospitals from 8 am to 8 pm ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: The Out Patient Department (OPD) services of government-run hospitals will now be available from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: The Out Patient Department (OPD) services of government-run hospitals will now be available from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the government’s policies and programs for the Fiscal Year 2023/24 presented by President Ram Chandra Paudel in Parliament on Friday, a health center with basic health check-up and treatment facilities will be established in every ward. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programs have a provision for developing all federal hospitals as teaching hospitals. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"A policy will be taken to gradually expand government hospitals into all seven provinces by developing them as well-equipped hospitals with specialized medical services," reads the statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Air ambulance services will be operated in remote areas to prevent the death of people due to lack of timely treatment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Provision has also been made to give doctors working in basic hospitals the opportunity to pursue higher medical education. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programmes state that at least one provincial level hospital shall be developed as a super specialty hospital that can diagnose heart and cancer diseases. Campaigns against infectious diseases and special programs for the treatment of non-communicable diseases will be conducted. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, arrangements will be made for the diagnosis and treatment of autism while free early detection and treatment of cervical cancer and breast cancer in women will be gradually expanded throughout the country as a special program. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has said that the Department of Drug Administration will be transformed into the Department of Food, Medicines and Health Technology. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the Singhdarbar Baidyakhana and Herbs Processing Center will be re-structured to make the services of Ayurvedic hospitals effective. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17659', 'image' => '20230521100859_Hospital.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 10:08:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17927', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Earthquake Recorded in East Rukum ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 21: An earthquake has occurred in East Rukum. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 21: An earthquake has occurred in East Rukum. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An earthquake measuring 4.1 in the Richter scale took place at 2:59 am today (May 21) with its epicenter in Hukam gaon in East Rukum, according to the National Seismology and Research Center Lainchaur, Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Earlier, an earthquake of the same magnitude had occurred on May 4 with its epicenter in Bajura district. Western parts of Nepal has been witnessing frequent occurrence of earthquakes of late. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17658', 'image' => '20230521094735_20221228113133_quake.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 09:46:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17926', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Planning to Boost Agriculture to Replace Food Imports: Agriculture Minister', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Dr. Beduram Bhusal, has emphasized the potential of agriculture and livestock to drive economic progress.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">May 21: Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Dr. Beduram Bhusal, has emphasized the potential of agriculture and livestock to drive economic progress. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He highlighted the government's commitment to implementing policies and programs that support agricultural development, aiming to increase production and reduce reliance on food imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dr. Bhusal acknowledged that while Nepal was previously an exporter of food grains, the current situation requires increased imports. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Consequently, the government's priority is to decrease reliance on imports and promote export growth through modernizing agriculture, Minister Bhusal stated. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The minister emphasized the significance of the fertile Tarai region and the need for adequate irrigation to enhance agricultural productivity. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Speaking at an interaction and felicitation program in Bhumikastan Municipality, Arghakhanchi, Dr. Bhusal revealed that approximately 1.3 million hectares of arable land in Nepal remains unused. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The government plans to utilize this land through collective and cooperative farming initiatives, aiming for cost-effectiveness and modernization of farming practices. Mechanization was also underscored as a crucial aspect of agricultural advancement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dr. Bhusal mentioned that fixing prices of rice, maize, wheat, and other agricultural products before harvest would greatly benefit producers. This timely price fixing would provide relief and stability for farmers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Mayor Jhabilal Thapa of Bhumikasthan Municipality called for the launch of agricultural programs focused on increasing the production of cereals, fruits, vegetables, and medicinal herbs.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-21', 'modified' => '2023-05-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17657', 'image' => '20230521055409_agro minister.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-21 05:52:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17925', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '2025 will be Observed as 'Special Tourism Year' ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 20: The government has announced to observe 2025 as a 'special tourism year'.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 20: The government has announced to observe 2025 as a 'special tourism year'. President Ram Chandra Paudel made such announcement while presenting the policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2023/24 in the joint meeting of the federal parliament on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The decade of 2080s of the Bikram era will be marked as 'visit Nepal decade' while 2025 AD will be observed as the special year for tourism. The tourism sector which witnessed massive downturn by the COVID crisis is slowly recovering. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nearly 100,000 tourists are visiting Nepal every month since the beginning of 2023. As per the latest statistics maintained by Nepal Tourism Board, the country recorded arrival of over 326,000 foreign tourism in four months of 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Previously, the government had announced to observe 2020 as 'visit Nepal year' which was later cancelled in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the president announced that timely revision would be made in tourism related law. The tourist destinations would be popularized in the international community and necessary infrastructures prepared accordingly. </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"">New tourist destinations would be identified in all seven provinces and each province will be a cultural village, the policies and programmes mentioned. </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"">New mountains would be opened for climbing. Security arrangement for climbers and tourists would be made more reliable. </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 president further announced that the concept of film tourism would be materialized and expanded and new dimensions added to adventure tourism. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the collaboration of private sector, 'Samarmatha Special Honour' will be conferred on the foreign nationals considering their role on promotion of Nepal's art, culture, language and literature in the international arena. </span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also stressed in the government policies and programmes are strict adherence to air safety standard and development of Pashupati and Lumbini as centres of religious and spiritual study. </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-20', 'modified' => '2023-05-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17656', 'image' => '20230520110410_20211211082422_Clipboard18.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-20 11:02:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17924', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NBA Honours Eight Outstanding Startup Companies during the NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards 2023', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: New Business Age, one of the leading business magazines of Nepal, has honoured eight startup companies including five best startups of the year during the NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards programme in the capital on Friday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 19: New Business Age, one of the leading business magazines of Nepal, has honoured eight startup companies including five best startups of the year during the NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards programme in the capital on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Doctors on Call, E-Digital Nepal, FOCUS ONE, Ingrails (Ved) and Sajilo Sewa were announced as the five best start-ups of the year from among more than 2000 startup entries during the awards ceremony.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Five of these start-ups have been recognized as the best startup of the year and have been honoured with certificates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, Delish Dairieshas bagged the title of the emerging startup of the year for 2023. Similarly, Digital Age Nepal has been awarded with the title of the Inspiring Women-led Startup, while Foodmandu has been honoured with the title of Startup Scale-Up award.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Doctors on Call aims to make home health service accessible, affordable and equitably available to everyone. The start-up is jointly co-founded by Dr Suyesh Karki, Dr Suman Neupane, Dr Subash Sapkota and Dr Mohan Bhandary.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">E-Digital Nepal with the vision to digitalise the education ecosystem of Nepal has the mission to bring transformation, innovation, and revolution to the education sector of Nepal with the use of a top-notch technology-based information management system to ensure quality education. Er. Aditya Raj and Er Basant Gupta founded E-Digital jointly with Kapil Basnet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, FOCUSONE Payment Solutions Pvt Ltd is a payment facilitator, operating a payment platform that enables MSMEs to accept cross-border / currency transactions from International (VISA, ALIPAY, UPI) and domestic (NepalPay, SCT) networks from a unified QR code, partnering with acquiring banks. Pranaya Rajbhandari and Aadish Shrestha have jointly founded the start-up.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Ingrails Pvt Ltd jointly founded by Nirdesh Dwa, Sujit Pathak and Sanjan Piya offers a digital solution for educational institutions to perform everyday tasks, including academic, financial, operation management, and communication systems in a single platform.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, Sajilo Sewa is Nepal’s first service marketplace allowing service seekers to find all kinds of at-home services. Kawish Shrestha, Pukar Acharya and Sujeet Regmi have jointly founded the start-up.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Delish Dairies envisions transforming the Nepalese dairy industry with the use of high-quality dairy products from locally produced milk.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Digital Age Nepal, founded by Dibyswory Dhar Dali, aims in combatting financial crimes like corruption and money-laundering, and terror financing through digitization.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Foodmandu, founded by Manohar Adhikari in 2010, is the first company in Nepal that delivers food from more than 120 different restaurants in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur and Pokhara at the customers’ doorstep.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The shortlisted startups were evaluated on the parameters of articulation of vision/mission statement, value proposition and market identification, team composition and calibre, innovation/disruption, traction-to-date record, scalability and competitive strategy, use of information technology, creation story and jury judgment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Suman Shakya, founder of Tangent Waves, Juna Mathema, co-founder and managing director of Blitz Media and Tenzin Sonam Gonsar, founder and CEO of TEAM Ventures were the jury members of the award ceremony.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">All the winners were given free credit voucher worth Rs 100,000 on Next Generation Rigo HRMS and Rigo Accounting software from Rigo Technologies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The summit and awards programme was supported by Sastodeal.com, Laxmi Bank, Shikhar Insurance, Citizen Life Insurance, National Life Insurance, Rigo, Nexon EV Max, and City Express. Similarly, Nepal Rastra Bank, the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nepal Insurance Authority, Nepali Patro and Dishome Fiber Net have also supported the awards program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">New Business Age has been organising various award programs. The company has been selecting and awarding the best management colleges and companies since 2013. Since 2019, the company has started honoring women entrepreneurs. New Business Age had organized the New Biz Business Conclave and Awards programme in November.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17655', 'image' => '20230519083245_343763455_1383753472474819_2067865080511238680_n.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 20:21:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17923', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Economy Likely to Grow to US$ 100 Billion by 2030: SEBON Chair Hamal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: Chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal(SEBON) Ramesh Hamal said that Nepal has possibility of having a USD 100 billion economy by 2030.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 19: Chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal(SEBON) Ramesh Hamal said that Nepal has possibility of having a USD 100 billion economy by 2030.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While addressing the “NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards-2023,” Hamal said Nepal could have possibility of USD 100 billion economy with partnership and collaboration of the private sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">SEBON Chairman Hamal further stated that the government and its agencies should create conducive eco-system and suitable platforms for the private sector to build favorable environment for businesses and enterprises to grow in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“It is the private sector that does business and the government has to formulate right polices and build the right eco-system for the private sector to do business,” he highlighted.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal may be unique in tradition and culture, but the country has to catch up with the world in domains of commerce and business for the economic growth. For helping the business growth, the government has to develop and put easy and right mechanism to lure in foreign investors. “We have to be on par with globe. We should have entry doorway and exit mechanism to attract FDI. We are changing the rules and polices to lure more investment,” he stressed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hamal said that the SEBON has formulated the draft for Small and Medium Enterprise Platforms and sent it to the Cabinet for approval to sign it into law. Any company with a paid-up capital below Rs 250 million will be listed in the SME platform, according to Chairman Hamal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">SEBON will relax some requirements, and provide incentives to small and medium enterprises.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> “This will enable SMEs to receive funds from the public,” Hamal stated.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Drawing the examples of big tech companies such as Apple Inc and Google, Hamal emphasized the need to provide funding to the startups for the growth of business. He said that the government, private sector and investors have to work in collaboration to foster the culture of startup and help them succeed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hamal further said that he is committed to creating additional channels in the digital domain for investment. This will help Nepal leapfrog in technology, Hamal expressed his belief.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Speaking at the at the programme, Tim Gocher OBE, founder and CEO at Dolma Impact Fund, said that Nepal requires billions of investment to scale up the startup and growth of other enterprises in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Gocher stated that his company despite the ongoing global recession invested 20 million dollars in four Nepali companies in the last two months. He joyfully shared that the investment committee of Dolma Impact Fund has additionally approved USD 2 million investment for Upaya Cargo.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, Gocher stressed that Nepal requires massive investment to meet its target of achieving 10 per cent growth in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Likewise, he appreciated Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON)’s initiatives of licensing private equity funds to attract more fund to Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Gocher informed that Dolma Impact Fund has collaborated with different private companies such as IME Group and invested in various companies including start-ups in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Secretary Dr Toya Gyawali of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies said the government should focus on innovation, investment, infrastructure, and institutionalization for the growth of startups.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Secretary Gyawali said that the government should give priority to three things: legal framework, building network, and overall eco-system to boost up startups in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He shared that startups are led mainly by management and science students. He added that the government had placed emphasis on institutional support for fostering innovation, giving access to the market, and finance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Likewise, Rastriya Swatantra Party’s lawmaker Dr Swornim Wagle said that startup is the future of Nepal. The government should play a role to bridge the gap between the past and the future to enhance the culture of startup in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dr Wagle said that various conditions including innovation and infrastructure should be taken into consideration for the success of the startups. He shared that Nepal lacks not polices but their execution.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dr Wagle said that Nepal can become a respectable middle-income country in matters 25 years.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17654', 'image' => '20230519081515_ramesh hamal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 20:14:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17922', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Startups have Made Immense Contribution to the Country's Economy: Lamsal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: Madan Lamsal, chairman of New Business Age, said that startups have contributed a lot to the country's economy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">May 19: Madan Lamsal, chairman of New Business Age, said that startups have contributed a lot to the country's economy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Inaugurating the NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards 2023, Chairman Lamsal said that startups are taking root in Nepal as well.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">“Some startups have reached the stage of issuing shares to the general public. It has contributed greatly to the country's economy,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Lamsal said that this award program was also organized to prevent brain drain at a time when 3300 young people are leaving for foreign employment every day.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">“Some good startups could not come in contact with us. The best startups from among those who came are being honored,” he said, adding, “We have been honoring startups since 2017. Before this programme, we also provided training for startups. Everyone participated enthusiastically.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">This year, awards are being given to eight start-up companies. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The summit and awards programme is supported by Sastodeal.com, Laxmi Bank, Shikhar Insurance, Citizen Life Insurance, National Life Insurance, Rigo, Nexon EV Max, and City Express. Similarly, Nepal Rastra Bank, the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nepal Insurance Authority, Nepali Patro and Dishome Fiber Net have also supported the awards program.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">New Business Age has been organising various award programs. The company has been selecting and awarding the best management colleges and companies since 2013. Since 2019, the company has started honoring women entrepreneurs. New Business Age had organized the New Biz Business Conclave and Awards programme in November.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17653', 'image' => '20230519061817_madan sir.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 18:17:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17921', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President Presents Government's Policies and Programmes in Parliament ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: President Ram Chandra Poudel on Friday presented the government's policies and programmes for the next fiscal year (FY 2023/24) in the Federal Parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 19: President Ram Chandra Poudel on Friday presented the government's policies and programmes for the next fiscal year (FY 2023/24) in the Federal Parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President Ram Chandra Paudel read out the policies and programmes in the joint meeting of both the houses of the Federal Parliament in the New Baneshwar. The meeting started at 4 pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At the onset of the meeting, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal handed over a copy of the policies and programmes to the president. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the constitutional provision, the president shall address either a meeting of any House or a joint sitting of both Houses of the Federal Parliament, and summon the MPs while presenting the government’s policies and programmes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This is the first address to the parliament after Paudel's election to the post of the president. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the countries having parliamentary democracy, there is a practice of presenting the government's annual policies and programmes in the Federal Parliament and the parliament passing the same after deliberations on them. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Vice President Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav, Prime Minister Dahal, Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki arrived at the Parliament Building to witness the presentation of the government's policies and programmes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The House of Representatives and the National Assembly will hold their separate meetings today itself after the joint sitting is over. The Prime Minister will table a copy of the President's address to the joint sitting in the separate meetings as well. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Both Houses of the Federal Parliament will deliberate on the government's policies and programmes for some days beginning Sunday. The prime minister will reply to the queries raised by lawmakers in course of the deliberations. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There is a constitutional provision which requires the finance minister to present in the House the annual budget for the next fiscal year on the 15th of Jeth every year (May 29) after the policies and programmes are passed by the parliament. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17652', 'image' => '20230519060836_1684493191.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 18:07:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17920', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ''NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards 2023’ Kicks Off', 'sub_title' => 'Eight start-ups will be awarded during the event', 'summary' => 'May 19: NewBiz Startup Summit and Award-2023 organized by New Business Age, one of the leading business magazines of Nepal, kicked off amid a special function at Hotel Radisson, Kathmandu on Friday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 19: NewBiz Startup Summit and Award-2023 organized by New Business Age, one of the leading business magazines of Nepal, kicked off amid a special function at Hotel Radisson, Kathmandu on Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chief guest of the programme, Tim Gocher OBE, founder and CEO at Dolma Impact Fund and Madan Prasad Lamsal, chairman of New Business Age jointly inaugurated the ceremony.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Speaking at the programme, NBA Chairman Lamsal said the culture of startups is taking roots in Nepal, which is good for the future of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Lamsal said that the major goal of organizing the programme is to promote a culture of entrepreneurship, and to stop the outflow of the youths from the country. He also highlighted that government, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and other government agencies are doing needful to promote startup. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under this awards ceremony, a panel discussion 'Towards a Startup Nation' is being held. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The panel includes Baburam Gautam, director general of the Department of Industry, Sunita Nhemaphuki, founder of R&D Innovative Solutions, and Rahul Malla Thakuri, co-founder and assistant vice-president (commercial) of Upaya. Asmod Karki, the co-founder of Vikas Tech, will be moderating the panel discussion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The organisers had requested for applications from all seven provinces for the award ceremony. More than 2,000 startup entrepreneurs from across the country had applied for participation in the awards programme.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Among them, eight outstanding startup companies selected by an independent jury will be awarded during the event. All the winners will get free credit voucher worth Rs 100,000 on Next Generation Rigo HRMS and Rigo Accounting software from Rigo Technologies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The summit and awards programme is supported by Sastodeal.com, Laxmi Bank, Shikhar Insurance, Citizen Life Insurance, National Life Insurance, Rigo, Nexon EV Max, and City Express. Similarly, Nepal Rastra Bank, the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nepal Insurance Authority, Nepali Patro and Dishome Fiber Net have also supported the awards program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">New Business Age has been organising various award programs. The company has been selecting and awarding the best management colleges and companies since 2013. Since 2019, the company has started honoring women entrepreneurs. New Business Age had organized the New Biz Business Conclave and Awards programme in November.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17651', 'image' => '20230519043916_343374902_572434451436602_4823795947921127431_n.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 16:38:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17919', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector's Share in GDP is 81.55 Percent: Study ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 19: The share of the private sector in Nepal's GDP is 81.55 percent.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 19: The share of the private sector in Nepal's GDP is 81.55 percent. This was stated in a study report prepared by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) with support from International Financial Corporation (IFC). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report was prepared with the cooperation of the National Statistics Office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ramesh Rijal launched the report amid a programme on Thursday evening. On the occasion, he said the report reflects the status of the private sector in the country's economy and thanked FNCCI and IFC for preparing it. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The private sector's contribution to the GDP in FY 2012/13 was 86.67 percent. The report shows that the private sector's contribution has decreased due to the contraction in the economy as a result of the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, earthquake among other reasons. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report shows that the government's investment has gone up while the contribution of the private sector has diminished during the post-earthquake and pandemic period. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the report, the private sector companies have expanded by 32 times in the national economy in the last 30 years. There were a total 28,660 industries in 1983 and the number of enterprises has increased by 30 times and reached 923,356 by 2018. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The private sector is also at the forefront in terms of employment creation. It covers 85.6 percent to total employment. It has provided 57 percent employment in agriculture, forest and fishery sector, and 12.5 percent in the wholesale and retail trade and vehicle repair sector, FNCCI president Chandra Prasad Dhakal said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He added that the private sector has provided around 5.5 million jobs whereas the government only 427,000 jobs. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The FNCCI president underscored the need for structural reforms for the private sector to work in full capacity. He also stressed on the need of the government to increase the capital expenditure and suggested to the government to prioritize expansion of investment areas, sustainable development, private-public partnership, among other topics in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2023/24. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-05-19', 'modified' => '2023-05-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17650', 'image' => '20230519024422_gdp.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-05-19 14:43:43', '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
