April 30: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved US$100 million in financing for the operation of Nepal Quality Health Systems…
April 30: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved US$100 million in financing for the operation of Nepal Quality Health Systems…
April 30: Two big umbrella organizations of the private sector have pledged to collaborate with each other to resolve the problems surfaced in the…
April 30: The private sector has been meeting the prime minister, finance minister and the governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) demanding that the interest rate on loans be limited to a single digit.…
April 30: Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat has said he has no idea about the decision to allocate money from the state coffers to the disqualified ex-Maoist…
April 30: Freedom Forum – an organization pitching for budget transparency and accountability in Nepal – has called for the government to timely publish the pre-budget statement and allow environment for wider public debate on the key budget…
April 30: An Air India plane that arrived in Kathmandu from New Delhi, India, on Saturday overshot when it was about to land at the Tribhuvan International Airport…
April 30: Binayak Shah has been unanimously elected as the president of the Hotel Association Nepal…
April 30: Collection of the Yarsagumba or the caterpillar fungus in Dolpa district will be opened to the public for a month beginning from May…
Nepal's beaten rice industry has achieved growth in exports in the nine months of the current fiscal year. According to the Department of Customs, the country has exported 3,78,222 kilograms of chiura (beaten rice) worth NPR 13.62 crores during this period, with an average price of NPR 360 per…
Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has collected Rs 6.49 billion in revenue in the current fiscal as of April 13. This figure represents a 62.33% of the target amount set for the…
April 29: With the onset of the dry season, wildfires are rampant in the forests of the Himalayan nation,…
April 29: Nepal has seen significant progress in financial inclusion over the past decade, according to a new…
Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat on Friday made it clear that national coffers will be not misused unnecessarily. The Finance Ministry has made it clear that they will not distribute NPR 2000 to each of the disqualified former Maoist combatants, following rumors suggesting that such a plan was…
The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has recently connected Dolpa in Karnali province to the National Electricity Transmission System (Grid), which will improve the power supply in the…
April 28: The high-level commission formed by the government to resolve the issues of the usury victims has initiated its preliminary job by opening an office in…
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These include enhancing efficiency and responsiveness of the health system, promoting sustainable financing and social protection in health, and promoting equitable access to quality health services.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The program supports the implementation of federalism and builds on Nepal’s first Program for Results in the health sector to address the challenges of access and quality and to build a resilient public health sector,” said Dr Feng Zhao, practice manager for health, nutrition and population, South Asia Region. “The results achieved under this Program have the potential for scale-up to other provinces.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The financing for the program is complemented by a US$3.84 million grant from the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (HEPR) Trust Fund. The HEPR Trust Fund supports eligible countries and territories to improve their capacities to prepare, prevent, respond, and mitigate the impact of epidemics on populations, added the World Bank.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17449', 'image' => '20230430031515_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 15:14:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17714', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Umbrella Organizations of Private Sector to Collaborate for Tackling Economic Crisis ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Two big umbrella organizations of the private sector have pledged to collaborate with each other to resolve the problems surfaced in the economy. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 30: Two big umbrella organizations of the private sector have pledged to collaborate with each other to resolve the problems surfaced in the economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Confederation of Nepalese Industries expressed solidarity to jointly move ahead to resolve the problems of the country’s economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Both the organizations made the commitment at a programme organized on Friday at the CNI Secretariat to congratulate and welcome the newly-elected working committee of the FNCCI. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a press statement issued by CNI, its Chair Vishnu Kumar Agrawal highlighted the need of collaboration for framing private sector-friendly laws required to improve the economy in the present challenging time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"He called for coordinated efforts of the umbrella organizations to come up with measures to resolve problems faced by the private sector in the present situation," the release stated, underlining the need of united efforts of the private sector to have their problems addressed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">FNCCI Chairperson Chandra Prasad Dhakal had also expressed his solidarity for a united move of the private sector so as to make the economy dynamic and tackle the prevailing problems in the economy, reads the press statement. He expressed the confidence that the problems would be resolved with the coordinated efforts in place. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also present on the occasion were CNI vice-chairperson Hemraj Dhaka, governing council member Shiva Ratan Sarada and Yogeswor Lal Shrestha among others. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17448', 'image' => '20230430020613_1682818418.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 14:05:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17713', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Businessmen Urge Government to Reduce Interest on Loans to Single Digit ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: The private sector has been meeting the prime minister, finance minister and the governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) demanding that the interest rate on loans be limited to a single digit. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 30: The private sector has been meeting the prime minister, finance minister and the governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) demanding that the interest rate on loans be limited to a single digit. Commercial banks have reduced the interest on deposits to a single digit since this the s tart of the Nepali new year. However, the demand for entrepreneurs has not yet been met.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector has been meeting the prime minister, finance minister and the governor of Nepal Rastra Bank and asking them to limit the interest rate on loans to a single digit. Nepal Bankers Association has reduced the interest rate on fixed deposits to 9.99 per cent. Earlier it was up to 12 per cent. With this decision of the bankers, there is no possibility that the interest on loans will drop to a single digit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector argues that the interest rate on loans should be reduced even if the interest rate on deposits is low for the sake of the business environment. Bankers claim that very low interest in savings will cause more problems in the economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Anil Kumar Agarwal, president of the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the interest on loans which was 7 per cent in the past, has now doubled. “Industrial business has shrunk to 25 per cent. If the government does not take effective measures to reduce the interest rate immediately, the day will not be far when industries will crash," he warned.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepal Bankers Association decided to reduce interest on savings following Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat's statement regarding interest rate reduction. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rohini Acharya, President of Birgunj Bankers Association, said that it will take time to see the effect of this decision of the Bankers’ Association, and the results will be visible by the end of the current quarter.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Acharya said that since the base rate of commercial banks is between 9.5 and 11 per cent, there is no possibility that the interest on loans will drop to a single digits in the current fiscal year. According to Acharya, if the average base rate drops to 10 per cent in this quarter, then the interest on loans may be around 12 per cent in the coming year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Agarwal argued that interest should not be more than 1 per cent on 'call deposits' and 4 per cent on other savings to solve the problems currently seen in the industrial and commercial sectors. According to him, the interest rate of loans can be limited to a single digit by making a provision that banks cannot add more than a 2 per cent premium.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The general secretary of the association, Ashish Lath, also said that until the premium is controlled, the interest on loans cannot be reduced to a single digit. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks have increased the premium from 0.5 per cent to 5 per cent due to a lack of liquidity, said Lath.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank has said that the premium can be charged up to an average of 4 per cent. Businessmen have been demanding that a limit of 2 per cent should be set. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Legally, businesses cannot make more than 20 per cent profit in any business. On this basis too, the premium should be limited to 2 per cent,'' Agarwal shared.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the increasing interest rate, the industrialist complains that they cannot make their product competitive. “The cost of capital is in double digits. Human resource expenditure is also uncontrolled and unorganized. This is weakening the overall capacity of the economy," said Madhav Rajpal, vice president of the association.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, Agarwal shared there is pressure on liquidity because the government did not spend the capital budget, and this has been affecting the interest rates. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The government should increase its spending capacity. Due to the suspension of payment of billions of rupees by the builders, liquidity has come under pressure, he said.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17447', 'image' => '20230430020444_int.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 14:03:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17712', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Minister ‘Unaware’ of the Decision to Provide Money to Disqualified Maoist Combatants ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat has said he has no idea about the decision to allocate money from the state coffers to the disqualified ex-Maoist combatants.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 30: Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat has said he has no idea about the decision to allocate money from the state coffers to the disqualified ex-Maoist combatants. The finance ministry has not taken any official decision in this regard, the state-owned RSS quoted the finance minister as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">National Youth Association, Nepal had submitted a seven-point memorandum to the finance minister citing the government’s decision to provide Rs 200,000 each to ex-Maoist combatants who were disqualified during the peace process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Receiving the memo, the finance minister said although the budget speech for the current fiscal year incorporated the issue of the management of the disqualified people's liberation army soldiers, the ministry has not decided to provide them the amount. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The issues of disqualified ex-Maoist combatants has reached the court. The budget has also mentioned it. No decision has been taken over the matter since I assumed the office. I have no idea about the work procedure said to be endorsed by the Council of Ministers to proceed ahead on this matter," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He took time to urge one and all not to doubt over the misappropriation of funds from the state coffers by the government. "I urge all not to doubt that the government will misappropriate funds from the state coffers in the name of disqualified combatants," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister from the Nepali Congress shared with the delegation that the NC was also concerned about this matter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the memo, the association said, "Our serious attention has been drawn to the Working Procedure prepared by the Home Ministry and presented before the Council of Ministers on April 19 in a bid to provide Rs 200,000 each to the disqualified Maoist combatants." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The decision to provide the money to the ex-Maoist combatants has drawn widespread criticism from all quarters. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17446', 'image' => '20230430013817_20230427063049_.prakash sharan mahat.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 13:37:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17711', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Call for Timely Publication of Pre Budget Statement with Data ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Freedom Forum – an organization pitching for budget transparency and accountability in Nepal – has called for the government to timely publish the pre-budget statement and allow environment for wider public debate on the key budget document. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 30: Freedom Forum – an organization pitching for budget transparency and accountability in Nepal – has called for the government to timely publish the pre-budget statement and allow environment for wider public debate on the key budget document. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a memorandum handed to Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat recently, the organization asked the government to open up avenues for public and parliamentary debate on budget formulation by introducing pre-budget statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Constitution has mandated the government to unveil the budget proposal in the federal parliament of Nepal on May 29 (Jestha 15). According to the international best practice and standards, the pre-budget statement should be produced and made publicly available at least a month before presentation of the budget at parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pre Budget Statement is a key budget document that the government is required to produce in the formative stage of budget formulation process every year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Main objectives of the publication of and discussion on the pre-budget statement are to make the government’s economic policy all-acceptable to the larger possible extent, create an environment for the parliament as the apex body for enacting budget and for the general public to provide meaningful inputs and deliberations in course of budget formulation process and promote participatory budget making practice. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Bringing pre-budget statement on time and holding wider multi-stakeholders' debate on budget principles and priorities based on PBS is likely to be missing this year," Forum's Executive Chief Taranath Dahal said, adding, "It is crucial because pre-budget statement is an entry point for citizens’ engagement in budget process." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It may be noted that the Constitution and Fiscal Procedure and Financial Accountability Act-2076 BS have provided adequate spaces for promoting citizen engagement in fiscal governance, including public financial management. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"There has been a practice of presenting budget principles and priorities as a PBS in the parliament some weeks before the executive budget proposal is unveiled. Nevertheless, the pre-budget statement has not reflected government’s fiscal goal and source of revenue for attaining targets, strategies, economic indicators, summary of current fiscal year’s revenue and expenditure, key changes in budget priorities and its impacts on economy with data – the key features to determine budget principles and priorities," the memorandum mentioned. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is noted that discussion on budget principles and priorities based on pre-budget statement lacking such features would in no way promote fiscal governance and parliamentary oversight and citizens’ engagement in the budget process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the studies carried out by credible international organizations, including International Budget Partnership (IBP), one of the reasons behind weak budget transparency in Nepal has been the lack of practice to timely produce and publish pre-budget statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pre-budget discussion and consultation merely based on political document without data and facts do not arguably impact budget and overall fiscal policy, the memorandum stated. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17445', 'image' => '20230430123629_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 12:35:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17710', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Air India Aircraft 'Overshoots' at Tribhuvan Int’l Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: An Air India plane that arrived in Kathmandu from New Delhi, India, on Saturday overshot when it was about to land at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 30: An Air India plane that arrived in Kathmandu from New Delhi, India, on Saturday overshot when it was about to land at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The airport authorities said that the plane overshot shortly before it was about to land at the airport.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Teknath Sitaula, the spokesperson of the airport, the Air India plane overshot due to 'unstable approaches'. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"The aircraft overshot because the landing approach was inappropriate. Sometimes it happens when the aircraft is at a high altitude," he told the state-owned RSS.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the airport, the aircraft that overshoots has to make a go around and land again in about 20 minutes.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Aircraft coming to Kathmandu must make its approach for landing at TIA from the sky above Simra. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17444', 'image' => '20230430114511_1682767346.air india.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 11:44:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17709', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shah Elected 48th President of HAN ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Binayak Shah has been unanimously elected as the president of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px">April 30: Binayak Shah has been unanimously elected as the president of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) by the 48th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association on Friday, April 28.<br /> Shah is the proprietor of Airport Hotel and is also associated with the Economic Chamber Nepal and Summit Group of Hotels and Resorts. He was HAN's first vice-president until the AGM elected a new committee under his leadership. <br /> Prabin Bahadur Pandey has been elected the first vice-president of HAN while Binay Tuladhar is the second vice-president, Sajan Shakya the general secretary and Yubraj Shrestha treasurer of the association. <br /> Other members of the new committee are Bidhita Shrestha, Jaydin Shrestha, Sarik Ahmad Lari, Binod Shankar Shrestha, Dinesh Shrestha, Bishal Kumar Kaith, Rajendra Bhatta, Ram Kumar Puri, Thakur Prasad Pokhrel, Laxman Aryal, Biplav Poudel, Gopal Rana, Rajan Shrestha and Suman Ghimire.<br /> Shah will take the place of outgoing HAN Presideht Shreejana Rana.<br /> Born in Kathmandu’s Durbar Marg in 1953, Shah started his career as a journalist at the age of 17. Shah used to work for Gorkhapatra and Radio Nepal. <br /> “I used to do reporting and proof reading for Gorkhapatra, and did news monitoring for Radio Nepal. That’s where I believe I started my career,” Shah said in an interview with New Business Age in 2014. <br /> Shah did his schooling from Shanti Vidya Griha. He says he was admitted directly in Grade 5 as he used to take home tuitions prior to joining school. He completed his SLC from there, and did his IA from Mahendra Ratna College. He did his graduation from Tri-Chandra College, and finished his Masters Degree in Economics from TU. <br /> After completing his studies, Shah opted for government job. He joined the then Trade Promotion Centre and worked there for 16 years. He served there in various positions including Department Head and In-charge of International Marketing. During his tenure, he promoted Nepal and Nepali products like carpets, garments and handicrafts in Western European countries.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">During his 16 years government job, he made a lot of contacts and relations with international business community. Then he left the job in 1992, and with his initiation, Nepal German Chamber of Commerce and Industries was formed. <br /> Shah’s involvement in Trade Promotion Centre and Nepal German Chamber of Commerce and Industry made him ready to do business on his own. <br /> Shah, who likes to call himself a development-oriented businessman, says that making money is not his sheer aspiration. “I feel that I have to help my country through my business, only then it becomes fruitful,” recalled Shah.</span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17443', 'image' => '20230430111812_prs (Copy)(1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 11:17:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17708', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Dolpa to Allow Yarsagumba Collection from May 15 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Collection of the Yarsagumba or the caterpillar fungus in Dolpa district will be opened to the public for a month beginning from May 15. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 30: Collection of the Yarsagumba or the caterpillar fungus in Dolpa district will be opened to the public for a month beginning from May 15. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A meeting of the District Coordination Committee held on Saturday decided to open the highlands in Shey-Phoksundo National Park and different community forests to pick the Yarsagumba, a prized herb for its purported aphrodisiac property. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">DCC Chief Shyam Bahadur Rokaya, Chief District Officer of Dolpa Bhumishwar Pokharel, representatives of different political parties in the district, chiefs of security bodies, officials of the national park, division forest office and media persons were present at the meeting. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Yarsagumba, scientifically known as Ophiocordyceps Sinensis, is one of the key sources of income for the people here and adjoining districts as well. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Most of the local residents in the district manage the school fees of their kids and household expenses from the sale of Ophiocordyceps Sinensis collected in this season. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the public has not been able to collect Yarsagumba for a long time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this time it has been decided to open the highland for about a month. Residents of the buffer zone, within the district and outside the district, will be charged different entrance fees for Yarsa collection as per the National Parks Act and regulations. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The residents of the buffer zone should pay Rs 500 while Rs 2,000 will be charged for the people from within the district and Rs 3,000 for the people from other districts for the collection of Yarsagumba. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The collectors would be provided with permit document from Suligard, Dho, Saldang, Rigmo, Sumduwa, Chhepka, Tripurakot, Khaliwan, Pahada and Toijam of Dolpa and Dolfu and Kimri of Mugu district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, such documents would also be distributed as per the needs of the division forest office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, security provision has been beefed up in view of any untoward activities that could happen with the crowd of people visiting the highlands for the collection of Yarsagumba. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17442', 'image' => '20230430104043_20220522120955_yarsa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 10:40:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17707', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Exports Beaten Rice Worth NPR 13.62 Crores in Nine Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Nepal's beaten rice industry has achieved growth in exports in the nine months of the current fiscal year. According to the Department of Customs, the country has exported 3,78,222 kilograms of chiura (beaten rice) worth NPR 13.62 crores during this period, with an average price of NPR 360 per kg.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">April 30: Nepal's beaten rice industry has achieved growth in exports in the nine months of the current fiscal year. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the Department of Customs, the country has exported 3,78,222 kilograms of chiura (beaten rice) worth NPR 13.62 crores during this period, with an average price of NPR 360 per kg.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This represents an increase of 17% in export price and 4% in quantity compared to the same period last fiscal year when Nepal had exported 3,60,440 kilograms of chiura worth NPR 11.63 crores. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Nepal's beaten rice is exported to several countries, including Australia, Japan, Belgium, Canada, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and America. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The highest amount of chiura was exported to the United States during the review period, with a total export of 1,55,970 kilograms worth NPR 7.32 crores at an average price of NPR 470 per kg. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Similarly, 1,00,786 kilograms of chiura worth NPR 3.43 crores were exported to Australia, and 28,586 kilograms of chiura worth NPR 1.3 crore were exported to Italy at an average price of NPR 340 and NPR 360 per kg, respectively.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The growth in Nepal's beaten rice exports is a positive development for the country's agriculture sector, as it provides opportunities for local farmers and traders to expand their market reach and increase revenue. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It also highlights the growing demand for Nepalese food products in the international market.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17441', 'image' => '20230430065038_collage (3).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 06:48:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17706', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'KMC Collects Rs 6.49 Billion in Revenue', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has collected Rs 6.49 billion in revenue in the current fiscal as of April 13. This figure represents a 62.33% of the target amount set for the year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">April 30: Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has collected Rs 6.49 billion in revenue in the current fiscal as of April 13. This figure represents a 62.33% of the target amount set for the year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year, KMC's revenue collection has improved significantly by Rs 1.40 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In particular, the highest revenue was generated from property tax, which amounted to Rs 794 million during the period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">KMC has set a target of collecting Rs 10.41 billion revenue within the current fiscal year and is confident in meeting this target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Despite previous challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, KMC's Chief of Revenue Department, Dhurba Kafle, shared that they expect to reach their revenue target this year without any issues. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The city collects revenue under 36 different headings, including property, business, advertisement, entertainment, and vehicle tax.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17440', 'image' => '20230430062323_collage (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 06:20:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17705', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Wildfires Taking Toll Across the Country as Authorities Sound Alarm', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 29: With the onset of the dry season, wildfires are rampant in the forests of the Himalayan nation, Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 29: With the onset of the dry season, wildfires are rampant in the forests of the Himalayan nation, Nepal. According to available data, large areas of forestland have been destroyed in bushfires every year, and many wild animals killed, incurring losses of properties worth thousands of rupees. In some cases, human casualties took place. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Seventy-seven people on average have been killed every year in Nepal due to forest and other fire-related incidents, according to government data. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Between 2014 and mid-March 2023, altogether 18,772 fire incidents took place in the country in which at least 769 people were killed and 2,548 injured, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Authority. Financial loss amounting to over Rs 22.23 billion took place during the same period. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Global Forest Watch, Nepal lost 6.7 k ha (kilo hectares) of tree cover from fires from 2001 to 2021. Besides, forest fires cause environmental pollution.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Dinanath Pokharel of Butwal Sub Metropolitan City-12 regularly goes for a morning walk. During his around three kilometers walk every day, he goes through inner roads around the forest in the north of the highway. Nowadays, he recently suffered sore eyes and breathing problems. "I suspect my health problems are caused by environmental pollution as a result of wildfire in the forest," he said. The bushfire smoke and haze have raised high into the atmosphere, he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the latest data with the Lumbini Province, forest fires have taken place at 108 places in 12 districts. They have engulfed not only the forests in the Chure area, but also community forests and the national parks. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has been around three weeks since the forests in the Chure caught fire, but the authorities are least concerned, said Dil Bahadur Thapa of Sainamaina-1. "Bushfires have destroyed the forests. Neither the local levels nor the forest office has taken initiatives to douse them. Local people are not fully equipped to extinguish the fires. They lack training in this regard as well," he complained. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Forests of all districts in the province are on fire, said Keshar Khadka, officer of the Ministry of Forests and Environment, Lumbini Province, and member of the forest fire control unit. Bushfires have taken place in 27 forests in Dang district, the highest among all districts, he said. Forest fires have taken place at 24 places in West Nawalparasi and Kapilvastu, 19 in Palpa, eight in Gulmi and six in Rukum East. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Forest Fire Detection and Monitoring System has divided Nepal’s parts as high risk for wildfire, risk, moderate risk, low risk and extremely low risk zones. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rupandehi, Nawalparasi, Kapilvastu, Dang, Banke and Bardiya in Lumbini Province have been categorized as high risk zones. Similarly, most parts of the hill districts including Arghakhanchi and Pyuthan and some parts of Palpa, Gulmi and Rolpa are also at high risk. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, most parts of Palpa, Gulmi and Rolpa, and some parts of Pyuthan, Arghakhanchi and Bardiya have been at risk. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Lumbini provincial government has included various programmes to control bushfires by making the procedure to implement annual programmes of the Ministry of Forest and Environment for the fiscal year, 2022/23. Under the procedure, there are programmes like wildfire risk zoning, network building, interaction and mobilization, the construction of fire lines, cleanup and repair and the control of bushfires. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, wildfire week will be observed, and a demo to fight bushfires will be organized. Help will be provided in producing organic fertilizers, and the prevention and control of forest fires through a participatory approach. Firefighting equipment like fire beaters, forestry rake hoe, forestry rake and firefighter's helmets will be purchased and distributed at the local level. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Under this, the provincial government last year launched various programmes to create awareness about the prevention and control of wildfires. It has continued these programmes this year too. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has accorded priority to the launch of awareness programmes at the community level as human negligence is highly blamed for wildfires, said Khadka. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Human carelessness like smoking near vegetation and discarding the cigarette butts into dry vegetation without putting them out, arson or intentional fire, and burning dry vegetation to clear farmlands are considered to be the causes for forest fires. Other causes are lightning, geo-thermal activities and spontaneous combustion of dry vegetation due to sun.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Forests span around 900,000 hectares of land in Lumbini Province. Of them, there are 4,046 community forests spreading around 382,000 hectares. Wildfires have taken its huge toll in Dang district this year. Bushfires have destroyed forests at 18 places in the Dang area spanning 333 hectares, and forests at more than 25 places in the Deukhuri area spreading over 1,000 hectares, according to available data.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Deukhuri area has 145 community forests spanning 109,000 hectares of land. This year, wildfires destroyed large forest areas, said Nawaraj Sharma, chairperson of the Kulapani community forest users' group at Gadhawa Rural Municipality-1 in Dang. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Around 80 percent of the forest spanning 400 hectares of land has been destroyed in wildfire, he said. Around 20 percent of the forestland falls in the Chure area. "We had saved the forest on the initiatives of the local community. But this year, the forest has caught a bushfire engulfing the national forest in the Chure area. A longstanding drought is also blamed," he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">They lacked human resources and equipment to douse the inferno, he added. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He demanded firefighting equipment and adequate resources, awareness and medical treatment for firefighters. "For the prevention and control of bushfires, an awareness at the community level is essential. Similarly, the government should provide firefighting equipment. It should dig ponds in community forest areas," he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Secretary of the Ministry of Forest and Environment under the provincial government, Uddhav Ghimire said various awareness programmes at the community level had been launched. The provincial government has a policy of distributing forest firefighting equipment to the division forest office and community forest users' groups. A lack of workforces and forest fire fighting equipment has made the matter worse, he admitted.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There is a problem as authorities concerned have yet to come up with the use of scientific methods and technology, and the local people have not been responsible for the prevention and control of forest fires, said experts. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">They called for making safety lines to prevent bushfires from sweeping through villages, and providing training called ‘back-burn’ to local people. - RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-29', 'modified' => '2023-04-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17439', 'image' => '20230429095055_20230421125013_GopalKa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-29 21:43:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17704', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Achieves Increase in Financial Inclusion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 29: Nepal has seen significant progress in financial inclusion over the past decade, according to a new study.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 29: Nepal has seen significant progress in financial inclusion over the past decade, according to a new study.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepal Financial Inclusion Report 2023 – prepared by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) under the Access to Financial Services Nepal Project jointly implemented by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) and IFC – shows that the overall usage of financial services is strong in Nepal, with payments via banks being the most popular service, at 75 percent. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The report also indicates a decrease in the gender gap. In 2022, the disparity between women and men with access to formal financial services had decreased to one percent (89 percent women versus 90 percent men), compared to the 2014 figures of 57 percent and 64 percent, respectively.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This is in line with the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, which shows that economic participation and opportunity for women in Nepal has consistently improved – from 116th in 2013 to 107th in 2021 and 98th in 2022, with an overall ranking of 96 (second only to Bangladesh in South Asia).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, there remains a disparity in the utilization of banking services between women and men, with 79 percent of women using the services compared to 83 percent men.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study also reveals that other formal financial service providers are strong competitors to banks, and overtaking banks in terms of savings products.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank, Maha Prasad Adhikari, said, "The report indicates that considerable progress has been made in extending financial inclusion to a larger segment of the Nepali people."</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The survey reveals a strong connection between use of financial services and the target group and level of schooling, with salaried staff having the highest utilization and those without any academic education having the least. Possessing a bank account is seen as a pathway to financial inclusion, with significantly higher usage of both banking and other formal financial services being observed among those with a bank account compared to those without.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study further explored the main impediments to the use of financial services. It was discovered that many people without a bank account either did not need one, had insufficient funds after expenditure, or did not have the necessary funds to open an account. Additionally, a lack of awareness regarding the process of opening a mobile money account, the complexity of using a mobile money platform, and the lack of access to agents or points of service were all reported as barriers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Financial inclusion is essential for sustainable socio-economic development," said Babacar S. Faye, Country Representative for IFC in Nepal. “With the advancement of technology, access to finance can be made more inclusive and affordable, to the benefit of those who are unbanked or underserved, as well as the financial system as a whole.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study was conducted with the technical input of UNCDF, to provide indicators for the NRB’s Financial Inclusion Roadmap and Action Plan (2017-2022). It focused on usage of financial services and obtained data from a sample of 2528 adults aged 16 or older. The findings of the survey and the 2021 Nepal Financial Inclusion Making Access Possible (MAP) Refresh study by UNCDF were utilized to assess financial inclusion through the World Bank Group's three categories: Access, Usage, and Quality.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Global Programme Advisor at UNCDF, Dr. Kameshnee Naidoo, commented that financial inclusion is essential for Nepal to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Our report shows that while there has been progress, there is still much work to be done to ensure that all citizens can access the financial services they need to create a better future. UNCDF remains committed to working with public and private sector partners to help build this future where no one is left behind in the digital era," she added. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepal Financial Inclusion Report also outlines measures to increase financial inclusion, including reforming the secured transaction registry system, enacting comprehensive legal and regulatory frameworks, improving consumer protection and financial literacy, and updating the Nepal Financial Inclusion Action Plan-2030.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Governor Adhikari and Global Programme Advisor at UNCDF, Dr Kameshnee Naidoo, had jointly launched the Nepal Financial Inclusion Report on April 28. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-29', 'modified' => '2023-04-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17438', 'image' => '20230429094252_IFC-Full-Form.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-29 21:41:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17703', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'State Coffers will not be misused: FM Dr Mahat', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat on Friday made it clear that national coffers will be not misused unnecessarily. The Finance Ministry has made it clear that they will not distribute NPR 2000 to each of the disqualified former Maoist combatants, following rumors suggesting that such a plan was underway.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 28: Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat on Friday made it clear that national coffers will be not misused unnecessarily. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Finance Ministry has made it clear that they will not distribute NPR 2000 to each of the disqualified former Maoist combatants, following rumors suggesting that such a plan was underway. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Minister Mahat assured the public that he would not misuse state funds by doling out cash to particular individuals.</span></span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He urged everyone to dispel doubts regarding his ministry's alleged plan to distribute cash to ex-Maoist combatants and pledged to rise above partisan politics and work for the country and its people.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the budget speech for the current fiscal year incorporated the issue of the management of disqualified People's Liberation Army soldiers, the Ministry has not made any decisions regarding providing them with cash.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Mahat added that the court has issued a verdict on the issue of disqualified ex-Maoist combatants, and the budget has also mentioned it, but no decision has been made since he assumed office.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Mahat expressed his lack of knowledge about the work procedure endorsed by the Council of Ministers to proceed with cash distribution on this matter. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Minister Mahat informed that the Home Ministry has the responsibility to formulate the work procedure and manage the budget, and he has only heard about the formulation of the work procedure but has no further information.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Mahat reiterated that the government would not misappropriate the state coffers in the name of disqualified combatants.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Mahat further stated that his party, the Nepali Congress, is concerned about this issue, and since it is a conflict-era case, it would be appropriate to allow the Truth Commission to settle it.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-28', 'modified' => '2023-04-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17437', 'image' => '20230428051834_collage (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-28 17:16:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17702', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Dolpa Connected to National Power Grid ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has recently connected Dolpa in Karnali province to the National Electricity Transmission System (Grid), which will improve the power supply in the area. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">April 28: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has recently connected Dolpa in Karnali province to the National Electricity Transmission System (Grid), which will improve the power supply in the area. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">An 11 kV transmission line has been constructed from Musikot substation in Musikot Municipality of Rukum West to Dolpa Headquarters Dunai via Gotamkot in Athabiscote Municipality of the same district. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The transmission line will provide power to areas such as headquarters Dunai, which previously relied on small hydropower projects.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Along with Dolpa, 8 out of 10 districts of Karnali province are now connected to the National Grid. The electrification of Humla and Mugu is still in progress, with a transmission line being built in Mugu to connect to the grid by next June. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Nepal Electricity Authority’s executive director, Kulman Ghising, stated that work is being prioritized for the electrification of districts in Karnali province.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Authority is providing electricity to the areas of the district headquarters Dunai and Tripurasundari Municipality under Thulievri Municipality of Dolpa through Jairigarh Small Hydro Electric House of 200 KW installed capacity. <br /> The authority has around 1,700 customers in Dolpa, and other areas of Dolpa are being supplied with electricity by small hydro and solar power.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">To improve the power supply further, a 33 KV transmission line is under construction from Kudu substation in Bheri Municipality of Jajarkot to Tripurakot, the administrative center of Tripurasundari Municipality at Dolpa passing through Chowkabazar in Nalgarh Municipality of the same district. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The head of the NEA’s Karnali provincial office, Shambhu Kusiyat Yadav, confirmed that a new contract has been signed after the previous contractor was terminated due to non-performance.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The line will be supported by 33/11 KV sub-stations to be constructed at Chaukha and Tripurakot. The construction is expected to be completed in one and a half years. The aim of this project is to ensure adequate, reliable, and high-quality power supply in Dolpa.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The electrification of Lumbini, Karnali, and hilly districts of Sudurpaschim province is being funded by a concessional loan of about US$220 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the European Investment Bank. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-28', 'modified' => '2023-04-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17436', 'image' => '20230428034302_collage.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-28 15:39:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17701', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Commission Formed to Address Issues of Usury Victims Seeks Application ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 28: The high-level commission formed by the government to resolve the issues of the usury victims has initiated its preliminary job by opening an office in Janakpurdham. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 28: The high-level commission formed by the government to resolve the issues of the usury victims has initiated its preliminary job by opening an office in Janakpurdham. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of the Commission, Gauri Bahadur Karki, said that the victims have been asked to submit their application with 15 days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Karki, the victims of loan sharking can submit their applications online or directly at the commission's office and District Administration Office along with the evidences they have. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The commission said that the officials of the district administration office would help fill up the firms for free. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government had formed the three-member high-level commission led by former judge Gauri Bahadur Karki to resolve the issues of the usury victims. The other members of the commission include former Additional Inspector General of Nepal Police Uttam Raj Subedi and former Deputy Attorney General Ganesh Babu Aryal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The commission is given three months’ time to submit a report to address the problems faced by the victims of loan sharks. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-28', 'modified' => '2023-04-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17435', 'image' => '20230428123726_landsharksharkrQC7Jq3r_q1_RbQ_A.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-28 12:36:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17715', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank Approves $100 Million to Strengthen Nepal's Healthcare System', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved US$100 million in financing for the operation of Nepal Quality Health Systems Program.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 30: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved US$100 million in financing for the operation of Nepal Quality Health Systems Program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a recent statement, the World Bank said that the program will improve the quality of healthcare services and increase the coverage of health insurance, and enhance the capacity of the healthcare system to prepare for and respond to health emergencies in Koshi and Gandaki provinces.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“By prioritizing and investing in health, Nepal can reap multiple benefits including improved health outcomes, increased productivity, and economic growth,” said Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank’s country director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. “The World Bank supports Nepal’s goal to put quality at the core of health system policy and planning and service delivery.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, the program will be implemented by the Ministry of Health and Population with the coordination of the Health Insurance Board at the federal level, and provincial and local governments in Koshi and Gandaki provinces to help achieve the strategic objectives of Nepal’s Health Sector Strategic Plan, 2022-2030. These include enhancing efficiency and responsiveness of the health system, promoting sustainable financing and social protection in health, and promoting equitable access to quality health services.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The program supports the implementation of federalism and builds on Nepal’s first Program for Results in the health sector to address the challenges of access and quality and to build a resilient public health sector,” said Dr Feng Zhao, practice manager for health, nutrition and population, South Asia Region. “The results achieved under this Program have the potential for scale-up to other provinces.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The financing for the program is complemented by a US$3.84 million grant from the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (HEPR) Trust Fund. The HEPR Trust Fund supports eligible countries and territories to improve their capacities to prepare, prevent, respond, and mitigate the impact of epidemics on populations, added the World Bank.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17449', 'image' => '20230430031515_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 15:14:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17714', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Umbrella Organizations of Private Sector to Collaborate for Tackling Economic Crisis ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Two big umbrella organizations of the private sector have pledged to collaborate with each other to resolve the problems surfaced in the economy. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 30: Two big umbrella organizations of the private sector have pledged to collaborate with each other to resolve the problems surfaced in the economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Confederation of Nepalese Industries expressed solidarity to jointly move ahead to resolve the problems of the country’s economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Both the organizations made the commitment at a programme organized on Friday at the CNI Secretariat to congratulate and welcome the newly-elected working committee of the FNCCI. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a press statement issued by CNI, its Chair Vishnu Kumar Agrawal highlighted the need of collaboration for framing private sector-friendly laws required to improve the economy in the present challenging time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"He called for coordinated efforts of the umbrella organizations to come up with measures to resolve problems faced by the private sector in the present situation," the release stated, underlining the need of united efforts of the private sector to have their problems addressed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">FNCCI Chairperson Chandra Prasad Dhakal had also expressed his solidarity for a united move of the private sector so as to make the economy dynamic and tackle the prevailing problems in the economy, reads the press statement. He expressed the confidence that the problems would be resolved with the coordinated efforts in place. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also present on the occasion were CNI vice-chairperson Hemraj Dhaka, governing council member Shiva Ratan Sarada and Yogeswor Lal Shrestha among others. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17448', 'image' => '20230430020613_1682818418.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 14:05:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17713', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Businessmen Urge Government to Reduce Interest on Loans to Single Digit ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: The private sector has been meeting the prime minister, finance minister and the governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) demanding that the interest rate on loans be limited to a single digit. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 30: The private sector has been meeting the prime minister, finance minister and the governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) demanding that the interest rate on loans be limited to a single digit. Commercial banks have reduced the interest on deposits to a single digit since this the s tart of the Nepali new year. However, the demand for entrepreneurs has not yet been met.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector has been meeting the prime minister, finance minister and the governor of Nepal Rastra Bank and asking them to limit the interest rate on loans to a single digit. Nepal Bankers Association has reduced the interest rate on fixed deposits to 9.99 per cent. Earlier it was up to 12 per cent. With this decision of the bankers, there is no possibility that the interest on loans will drop to a single digit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector argues that the interest rate on loans should be reduced even if the interest rate on deposits is low for the sake of the business environment. Bankers claim that very low interest in savings will cause more problems in the economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Anil Kumar Agarwal, president of the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the interest on loans which was 7 per cent in the past, has now doubled. “Industrial business has shrunk to 25 per cent. If the government does not take effective measures to reduce the interest rate immediately, the day will not be far when industries will crash," he warned.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepal Bankers Association decided to reduce interest on savings following Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat's statement regarding interest rate reduction. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rohini Acharya, President of Birgunj Bankers Association, said that it will take time to see the effect of this decision of the Bankers’ Association, and the results will be visible by the end of the current quarter.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Acharya said that since the base rate of commercial banks is between 9.5 and 11 per cent, there is no possibility that the interest on loans will drop to a single digits in the current fiscal year. According to Acharya, if the average base rate drops to 10 per cent in this quarter, then the interest on loans may be around 12 per cent in the coming year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Agarwal argued that interest should not be more than 1 per cent on 'call deposits' and 4 per cent on other savings to solve the problems currently seen in the industrial and commercial sectors. According to him, the interest rate of loans can be limited to a single digit by making a provision that banks cannot add more than a 2 per cent premium.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The general secretary of the association, Ashish Lath, also said that until the premium is controlled, the interest on loans cannot be reduced to a single digit. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks have increased the premium from 0.5 per cent to 5 per cent due to a lack of liquidity, said Lath.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank has said that the premium can be charged up to an average of 4 per cent. Businessmen have been demanding that a limit of 2 per cent should be set. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Legally, businesses cannot make more than 20 per cent profit in any business. On this basis too, the premium should be limited to 2 per cent,'' Agarwal shared.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the increasing interest rate, the industrialist complains that they cannot make their product competitive. “The cost of capital is in double digits. Human resource expenditure is also uncontrolled and unorganized. This is weakening the overall capacity of the economy," said Madhav Rajpal, vice president of the association.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, Agarwal shared there is pressure on liquidity because the government did not spend the capital budget, and this has been affecting the interest rates. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The government should increase its spending capacity. Due to the suspension of payment of billions of rupees by the builders, liquidity has come under pressure, he said.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17447', 'image' => '20230430020444_int.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 14:03:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17712', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Minister ‘Unaware’ of the Decision to Provide Money to Disqualified Maoist Combatants ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat has said he has no idea about the decision to allocate money from the state coffers to the disqualified ex-Maoist combatants.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 30: Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat has said he has no idea about the decision to allocate money from the state coffers to the disqualified ex-Maoist combatants. The finance ministry has not taken any official decision in this regard, the state-owned RSS quoted the finance minister as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">National Youth Association, Nepal had submitted a seven-point memorandum to the finance minister citing the government’s decision to provide Rs 200,000 each to ex-Maoist combatants who were disqualified during the peace process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Receiving the memo, the finance minister said although the budget speech for the current fiscal year incorporated the issue of the management of the disqualified people's liberation army soldiers, the ministry has not decided to provide them the amount. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The issues of disqualified ex-Maoist combatants has reached the court. The budget has also mentioned it. No decision has been taken over the matter since I assumed the office. I have no idea about the work procedure said to be endorsed by the Council of Ministers to proceed ahead on this matter," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He took time to urge one and all not to doubt over the misappropriation of funds from the state coffers by the government. "I urge all not to doubt that the government will misappropriate funds from the state coffers in the name of disqualified combatants," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister from the Nepali Congress shared with the delegation that the NC was also concerned about this matter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the memo, the association said, "Our serious attention has been drawn to the Working Procedure prepared by the Home Ministry and presented before the Council of Ministers on April 19 in a bid to provide Rs 200,000 each to the disqualified Maoist combatants." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The decision to provide the money to the ex-Maoist combatants has drawn widespread criticism from all quarters. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17446', 'image' => '20230430013817_20230427063049_.prakash sharan mahat.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 13:37:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17711', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Call for Timely Publication of Pre Budget Statement with Data ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Freedom Forum – an organization pitching for budget transparency and accountability in Nepal – has called for the government to timely publish the pre-budget statement and allow environment for wider public debate on the key budget document. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 30: Freedom Forum – an organization pitching for budget transparency and accountability in Nepal – has called for the government to timely publish the pre-budget statement and allow environment for wider public debate on the key budget document. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a memorandum handed to Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat recently, the organization asked the government to open up avenues for public and parliamentary debate on budget formulation by introducing pre-budget statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Constitution has mandated the government to unveil the budget proposal in the federal parliament of Nepal on May 29 (Jestha 15). According to the international best practice and standards, the pre-budget statement should be produced and made publicly available at least a month before presentation of the budget at parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pre Budget Statement is a key budget document that the government is required to produce in the formative stage of budget formulation process every year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Main objectives of the publication of and discussion on the pre-budget statement are to make the government’s economic policy all-acceptable to the larger possible extent, create an environment for the parliament as the apex body for enacting budget and for the general public to provide meaningful inputs and deliberations in course of budget formulation process and promote participatory budget making practice. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Bringing pre-budget statement on time and holding wider multi-stakeholders' debate on budget principles and priorities based on PBS is likely to be missing this year," Forum's Executive Chief Taranath Dahal said, adding, "It is crucial because pre-budget statement is an entry point for citizens’ engagement in budget process." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It may be noted that the Constitution and Fiscal Procedure and Financial Accountability Act-2076 BS have provided adequate spaces for promoting citizen engagement in fiscal governance, including public financial management. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"There has been a practice of presenting budget principles and priorities as a PBS in the parliament some weeks before the executive budget proposal is unveiled. Nevertheless, the pre-budget statement has not reflected government’s fiscal goal and source of revenue for attaining targets, strategies, economic indicators, summary of current fiscal year’s revenue and expenditure, key changes in budget priorities and its impacts on economy with data – the key features to determine budget principles and priorities," the memorandum mentioned. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is noted that discussion on budget principles and priorities based on pre-budget statement lacking such features would in no way promote fiscal governance and parliamentary oversight and citizens’ engagement in the budget process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the studies carried out by credible international organizations, including International Budget Partnership (IBP), one of the reasons behind weak budget transparency in Nepal has been the lack of practice to timely produce and publish pre-budget statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pre-budget discussion and consultation merely based on political document without data and facts do not arguably impact budget and overall fiscal policy, the memorandum stated. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17445', 'image' => '20230430123629_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 12:35:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17710', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Air India Aircraft 'Overshoots' at Tribhuvan Int’l Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: An Air India plane that arrived in Kathmandu from New Delhi, India, on Saturday overshot when it was about to land at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 30: An Air India plane that arrived in Kathmandu from New Delhi, India, on Saturday overshot when it was about to land at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The airport authorities said that the plane overshot shortly before it was about to land at the airport.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Teknath Sitaula, the spokesperson of the airport, the Air India plane overshot due to 'unstable approaches'. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"The aircraft overshot because the landing approach was inappropriate. Sometimes it happens when the aircraft is at a high altitude," he told the state-owned RSS.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the airport, the aircraft that overshoots has to make a go around and land again in about 20 minutes.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Aircraft coming to Kathmandu must make its approach for landing at TIA from the sky above Simra. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17444', 'image' => '20230430114511_1682767346.air india.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 11:44:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17709', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shah Elected 48th President of HAN ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Binayak Shah has been unanimously elected as the president of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px">April 30: Binayak Shah has been unanimously elected as the president of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) by the 48th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association on Friday, April 28.<br /> Shah is the proprietor of Airport Hotel and is also associated with the Economic Chamber Nepal and Summit Group of Hotels and Resorts. He was HAN's first vice-president until the AGM elected a new committee under his leadership. <br /> Prabin Bahadur Pandey has been elected the first vice-president of HAN while Binay Tuladhar is the second vice-president, Sajan Shakya the general secretary and Yubraj Shrestha treasurer of the association. <br /> Other members of the new committee are Bidhita Shrestha, Jaydin Shrestha, Sarik Ahmad Lari, Binod Shankar Shrestha, Dinesh Shrestha, Bishal Kumar Kaith, Rajendra Bhatta, Ram Kumar Puri, Thakur Prasad Pokhrel, Laxman Aryal, Biplav Poudel, Gopal Rana, Rajan Shrestha and Suman Ghimire.<br /> Shah will take the place of outgoing HAN Presideht Shreejana Rana.<br /> Born in Kathmandu’s Durbar Marg in 1953, Shah started his career as a journalist at the age of 17. Shah used to work for Gorkhapatra and Radio Nepal. <br /> “I used to do reporting and proof reading for Gorkhapatra, and did news monitoring for Radio Nepal. That’s where I believe I started my career,” Shah said in an interview with New Business Age in 2014. <br /> Shah did his schooling from Shanti Vidya Griha. He says he was admitted directly in Grade 5 as he used to take home tuitions prior to joining school. He completed his SLC from there, and did his IA from Mahendra Ratna College. He did his graduation from Tri-Chandra College, and finished his Masters Degree in Economics from TU. <br /> After completing his studies, Shah opted for government job. He joined the then Trade Promotion Centre and worked there for 16 years. He served there in various positions including Department Head and In-charge of International Marketing. During his tenure, he promoted Nepal and Nepali products like carpets, garments and handicrafts in Western European countries.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">During his 16 years government job, he made a lot of contacts and relations with international business community. Then he left the job in 1992, and with his initiation, Nepal German Chamber of Commerce and Industries was formed. <br /> Shah’s involvement in Trade Promotion Centre and Nepal German Chamber of Commerce and Industry made him ready to do business on his own. <br /> Shah, who likes to call himself a development-oriented businessman, says that making money is not his sheer aspiration. “I feel that I have to help my country through my business, only then it becomes fruitful,” recalled Shah.</span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17443', 'image' => '20230430111812_prs (Copy)(1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 11:17:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17708', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Dolpa to Allow Yarsagumba Collection from May 15 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Collection of the Yarsagumba or the caterpillar fungus in Dolpa district will be opened to the public for a month beginning from May 15. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 30: Collection of the Yarsagumba or the caterpillar fungus in Dolpa district will be opened to the public for a month beginning from May 15. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A meeting of the District Coordination Committee held on Saturday decided to open the highlands in Shey-Phoksundo National Park and different community forests to pick the Yarsagumba, a prized herb for its purported aphrodisiac property. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">DCC Chief Shyam Bahadur Rokaya, Chief District Officer of Dolpa Bhumishwar Pokharel, representatives of different political parties in the district, chiefs of security bodies, officials of the national park, division forest office and media persons were present at the meeting. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Yarsagumba, scientifically known as Ophiocordyceps Sinensis, is one of the key sources of income for the people here and adjoining districts as well. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Most of the local residents in the district manage the school fees of their kids and household expenses from the sale of Ophiocordyceps Sinensis collected in this season. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the public has not been able to collect Yarsagumba for a long time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this time it has been decided to open the highland for about a month. Residents of the buffer zone, within the district and outside the district, will be charged different entrance fees for Yarsa collection as per the National Parks Act and regulations. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The residents of the buffer zone should pay Rs 500 while Rs 2,000 will be charged for the people from within the district and Rs 3,000 for the people from other districts for the collection of Yarsagumba. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The collectors would be provided with permit document from Suligard, Dho, Saldang, Rigmo, Sumduwa, Chhepka, Tripurakot, Khaliwan, Pahada and Toijam of Dolpa and Dolfu and Kimri of Mugu district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, such documents would also be distributed as per the needs of the division forest office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, security provision has been beefed up in view of any untoward activities that could happen with the crowd of people visiting the highlands for the collection of Yarsagumba. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17442', 'image' => '20230430104043_20220522120955_yarsa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 10:40:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17707', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Exports Beaten Rice Worth NPR 13.62 Crores in Nine Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Nepal's beaten rice industry has achieved growth in exports in the nine months of the current fiscal year. According to the Department of Customs, the country has exported 3,78,222 kilograms of chiura (beaten rice) worth NPR 13.62 crores during this period, with an average price of NPR 360 per kg.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">April 30: Nepal's beaten rice industry has achieved growth in exports in the nine months of the current fiscal year. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the Department of Customs, the country has exported 3,78,222 kilograms of chiura (beaten rice) worth NPR 13.62 crores during this period, with an average price of NPR 360 per kg.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This represents an increase of 17% in export price and 4% in quantity compared to the same period last fiscal year when Nepal had exported 3,60,440 kilograms of chiura worth NPR 11.63 crores. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Nepal's beaten rice is exported to several countries, including Australia, Japan, Belgium, Canada, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and America. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The highest amount of chiura was exported to the United States during the review period, with a total export of 1,55,970 kilograms worth NPR 7.32 crores at an average price of NPR 470 per kg. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Similarly, 1,00,786 kilograms of chiura worth NPR 3.43 crores were exported to Australia, and 28,586 kilograms of chiura worth NPR 1.3 crore were exported to Italy at an average price of NPR 340 and NPR 360 per kg, respectively.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The growth in Nepal's beaten rice exports is a positive development for the country's agriculture sector, as it provides opportunities for local farmers and traders to expand their market reach and increase revenue. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It also highlights the growing demand for Nepalese food products in the international market.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17441', 'image' => '20230430065038_collage (3).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 06:48:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17706', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'KMC Collects Rs 6.49 Billion in Revenue', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has collected Rs 6.49 billion in revenue in the current fiscal as of April 13. This figure represents a 62.33% of the target amount set for the year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">April 30: Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has collected Rs 6.49 billion in revenue in the current fiscal as of April 13. This figure represents a 62.33% of the target amount set for the year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year, KMC's revenue collection has improved significantly by Rs 1.40 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In particular, the highest revenue was generated from property tax, which amounted to Rs 794 million during the period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">KMC has set a target of collecting Rs 10.41 billion revenue within the current fiscal year and is confident in meeting this target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Despite previous challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, KMC's Chief of Revenue Department, Dhurba Kafle, shared that they expect to reach their revenue target this year without any issues. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The city collects revenue under 36 different headings, including property, business, advertisement, entertainment, and vehicle tax.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17440', 'image' => '20230430062323_collage (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 06:20:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17705', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Wildfires Taking Toll Across the Country as Authorities Sound Alarm', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 29: With the onset of the dry season, wildfires are rampant in the forests of the Himalayan nation, Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 29: With the onset of the dry season, wildfires are rampant in the forests of the Himalayan nation, Nepal. According to available data, large areas of forestland have been destroyed in bushfires every year, and many wild animals killed, incurring losses of properties worth thousands of rupees. In some cases, human casualties took place. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Seventy-seven people on average have been killed every year in Nepal due to forest and other fire-related incidents, according to government data. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Between 2014 and mid-March 2023, altogether 18,772 fire incidents took place in the country in which at least 769 people were killed and 2,548 injured, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Authority. Financial loss amounting to over Rs 22.23 billion took place during the same period. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Global Forest Watch, Nepal lost 6.7 k ha (kilo hectares) of tree cover from fires from 2001 to 2021. Besides, forest fires cause environmental pollution.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Dinanath Pokharel of Butwal Sub Metropolitan City-12 regularly goes for a morning walk. During his around three kilometers walk every day, he goes through inner roads around the forest in the north of the highway. Nowadays, he recently suffered sore eyes and breathing problems. "I suspect my health problems are caused by environmental pollution as a result of wildfire in the forest," he said. The bushfire smoke and haze have raised high into the atmosphere, he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the latest data with the Lumbini Province, forest fires have taken place at 108 places in 12 districts. They have engulfed not only the forests in the Chure area, but also community forests and the national parks. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has been around three weeks since the forests in the Chure caught fire, but the authorities are least concerned, said Dil Bahadur Thapa of Sainamaina-1. "Bushfires have destroyed the forests. Neither the local levels nor the forest office has taken initiatives to douse them. Local people are not fully equipped to extinguish the fires. They lack training in this regard as well," he complained. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Forests of all districts in the province are on fire, said Keshar Khadka, officer of the Ministry of Forests and Environment, Lumbini Province, and member of the forest fire control unit. Bushfires have taken place in 27 forests in Dang district, the highest among all districts, he said. Forest fires have taken place at 24 places in West Nawalparasi and Kapilvastu, 19 in Palpa, eight in Gulmi and six in Rukum East. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Forest Fire Detection and Monitoring System has divided Nepal’s parts as high risk for wildfire, risk, moderate risk, low risk and extremely low risk zones. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rupandehi, Nawalparasi, Kapilvastu, Dang, Banke and Bardiya in Lumbini Province have been categorized as high risk zones. Similarly, most parts of the hill districts including Arghakhanchi and Pyuthan and some parts of Palpa, Gulmi and Rolpa are also at high risk. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, most parts of Palpa, Gulmi and Rolpa, and some parts of Pyuthan, Arghakhanchi and Bardiya have been at risk. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Lumbini provincial government has included various programmes to control bushfires by making the procedure to implement annual programmes of the Ministry of Forest and Environment for the fiscal year, 2022/23. Under the procedure, there are programmes like wildfire risk zoning, network building, interaction and mobilization, the construction of fire lines, cleanup and repair and the control of bushfires. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, wildfire week will be observed, and a demo to fight bushfires will be organized. Help will be provided in producing organic fertilizers, and the prevention and control of forest fires through a participatory approach. Firefighting equipment like fire beaters, forestry rake hoe, forestry rake and firefighter's helmets will be purchased and distributed at the local level. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Under this, the provincial government last year launched various programmes to create awareness about the prevention and control of wildfires. It has continued these programmes this year too. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has accorded priority to the launch of awareness programmes at the community level as human negligence is highly blamed for wildfires, said Khadka. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Human carelessness like smoking near vegetation and discarding the cigarette butts into dry vegetation without putting them out, arson or intentional fire, and burning dry vegetation to clear farmlands are considered to be the causes for forest fires. Other causes are lightning, geo-thermal activities and spontaneous combustion of dry vegetation due to sun.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Forests span around 900,000 hectares of land in Lumbini Province. Of them, there are 4,046 community forests spreading around 382,000 hectares. Wildfires have taken its huge toll in Dang district this year. Bushfires have destroyed forests at 18 places in the Dang area spanning 333 hectares, and forests at more than 25 places in the Deukhuri area spreading over 1,000 hectares, according to available data.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Deukhuri area has 145 community forests spanning 109,000 hectares of land. This year, wildfires destroyed large forest areas, said Nawaraj Sharma, chairperson of the Kulapani community forest users' group at Gadhawa Rural Municipality-1 in Dang. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Around 80 percent of the forest spanning 400 hectares of land has been destroyed in wildfire, he said. Around 20 percent of the forestland falls in the Chure area. "We had saved the forest on the initiatives of the local community. But this year, the forest has caught a bushfire engulfing the national forest in the Chure area. A longstanding drought is also blamed," he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">They lacked human resources and equipment to douse the inferno, he added. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He demanded firefighting equipment and adequate resources, awareness and medical treatment for firefighters. "For the prevention and control of bushfires, an awareness at the community level is essential. Similarly, the government should provide firefighting equipment. It should dig ponds in community forest areas," he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Secretary of the Ministry of Forest and Environment under the provincial government, Uddhav Ghimire said various awareness programmes at the community level had been launched. The provincial government has a policy of distributing forest firefighting equipment to the division forest office and community forest users' groups. A lack of workforces and forest fire fighting equipment has made the matter worse, he admitted.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There is a problem as authorities concerned have yet to come up with the use of scientific methods and technology, and the local people have not been responsible for the prevention and control of forest fires, said experts. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">They called for making safety lines to prevent bushfires from sweeping through villages, and providing training called ‘back-burn’ to local people. - RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-29', 'modified' => '2023-04-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17439', 'image' => '20230429095055_20230421125013_GopalKa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-29 21:43:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17704', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Achieves Increase in Financial Inclusion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 29: Nepal has seen significant progress in financial inclusion over the past decade, according to a new study.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 29: Nepal has seen significant progress in financial inclusion over the past decade, according to a new study.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepal Financial Inclusion Report 2023 – prepared by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) under the Access to Financial Services Nepal Project jointly implemented by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) and IFC – shows that the overall usage of financial services is strong in Nepal, with payments via banks being the most popular service, at 75 percent. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The report also indicates a decrease in the gender gap. In 2022, the disparity between women and men with access to formal financial services had decreased to one percent (89 percent women versus 90 percent men), compared to the 2014 figures of 57 percent and 64 percent, respectively.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This is in line with the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, which shows that economic participation and opportunity for women in Nepal has consistently improved – from 116th in 2013 to 107th in 2021 and 98th in 2022, with an overall ranking of 96 (second only to Bangladesh in South Asia).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, there remains a disparity in the utilization of banking services between women and men, with 79 percent of women using the services compared to 83 percent men.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study also reveals that other formal financial service providers are strong competitors to banks, and overtaking banks in terms of savings products.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank, Maha Prasad Adhikari, said, "The report indicates that considerable progress has been made in extending financial inclusion to a larger segment of the Nepali people."</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The survey reveals a strong connection between use of financial services and the target group and level of schooling, with salaried staff having the highest utilization and those without any academic education having the least. Possessing a bank account is seen as a pathway to financial inclusion, with significantly higher usage of both banking and other formal financial services being observed among those with a bank account compared to those without.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study further explored the main impediments to the use of financial services. It was discovered that many people without a bank account either did not need one, had insufficient funds after expenditure, or did not have the necessary funds to open an account. Additionally, a lack of awareness regarding the process of opening a mobile money account, the complexity of using a mobile money platform, and the lack of access to agents or points of service were all reported as barriers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Financial inclusion is essential for sustainable socio-economic development," said Babacar S. Faye, Country Representative for IFC in Nepal. “With the advancement of technology, access to finance can be made more inclusive and affordable, to the benefit of those who are unbanked or underserved, as well as the financial system as a whole.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study was conducted with the technical input of UNCDF, to provide indicators for the NRB’s Financial Inclusion Roadmap and Action Plan (2017-2022). It focused on usage of financial services and obtained data from a sample of 2528 adults aged 16 or older. The findings of the survey and the 2021 Nepal Financial Inclusion Making Access Possible (MAP) Refresh study by UNCDF were utilized to assess financial inclusion through the World Bank Group's three categories: Access, Usage, and Quality.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Global Programme Advisor at UNCDF, Dr. Kameshnee Naidoo, commented that financial inclusion is essential for Nepal to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Our report shows that while there has been progress, there is still much work to be done to ensure that all citizens can access the financial services they need to create a better future. UNCDF remains committed to working with public and private sector partners to help build this future where no one is left behind in the digital era," she added. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepal Financial Inclusion Report also outlines measures to increase financial inclusion, including reforming the secured transaction registry system, enacting comprehensive legal and regulatory frameworks, improving consumer protection and financial literacy, and updating the Nepal Financial Inclusion Action Plan-2030.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Governor Adhikari and Global Programme Advisor at UNCDF, Dr Kameshnee Naidoo, had jointly launched the Nepal Financial Inclusion Report on April 28. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-29', 'modified' => '2023-04-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17438', 'image' => '20230429094252_IFC-Full-Form.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-29 21:41:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17703', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'State Coffers will not be misused: FM Dr Mahat', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat on Friday made it clear that national coffers will be not misused unnecessarily. The Finance Ministry has made it clear that they will not distribute NPR 2000 to each of the disqualified former Maoist combatants, following rumors suggesting that such a plan was underway.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 28: Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat on Friday made it clear that national coffers will be not misused unnecessarily. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Finance Ministry has made it clear that they will not distribute NPR 2000 to each of the disqualified former Maoist combatants, following rumors suggesting that such a plan was underway. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Minister Mahat assured the public that he would not misuse state funds by doling out cash to particular individuals.</span></span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He urged everyone to dispel doubts regarding his ministry's alleged plan to distribute cash to ex-Maoist combatants and pledged to rise above partisan politics and work for the country and its people.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the budget speech for the current fiscal year incorporated the issue of the management of disqualified People's Liberation Army soldiers, the Ministry has not made any decisions regarding providing them with cash.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Mahat added that the court has issued a verdict on the issue of disqualified ex-Maoist combatants, and the budget has also mentioned it, but no decision has been made since he assumed office.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Mahat expressed his lack of knowledge about the work procedure endorsed by the Council of Ministers to proceed with cash distribution on this matter. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Minister Mahat informed that the Home Ministry has the responsibility to formulate the work procedure and manage the budget, and he has only heard about the formulation of the work procedure but has no further information.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Mahat reiterated that the government would not misappropriate the state coffers in the name of disqualified combatants.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Mahat further stated that his party, the Nepali Congress, is concerned about this issue, and since it is a conflict-era case, it would be appropriate to allow the Truth Commission to settle it.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-28', 'modified' => '2023-04-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17437', 'image' => '20230428051834_collage (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-28 17:16:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17702', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Dolpa Connected to National Power Grid ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has recently connected Dolpa in Karnali province to the National Electricity Transmission System (Grid), which will improve the power supply in the area. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">April 28: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has recently connected Dolpa in Karnali province to the National Electricity Transmission System (Grid), which will improve the power supply in the area. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">An 11 kV transmission line has been constructed from Musikot substation in Musikot Municipality of Rukum West to Dolpa Headquarters Dunai via Gotamkot in Athabiscote Municipality of the same district. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The transmission line will provide power to areas such as headquarters Dunai, which previously relied on small hydropower projects.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Along with Dolpa, 8 out of 10 districts of Karnali province are now connected to the National Grid. The electrification of Humla and Mugu is still in progress, with a transmission line being built in Mugu to connect to the grid by next June. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Nepal Electricity Authority’s executive director, Kulman Ghising, stated that work is being prioritized for the electrification of districts in Karnali province.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Authority is providing electricity to the areas of the district headquarters Dunai and Tripurasundari Municipality under Thulievri Municipality of Dolpa through Jairigarh Small Hydro Electric House of 200 KW installed capacity. <br /> The authority has around 1,700 customers in Dolpa, and other areas of Dolpa are being supplied with electricity by small hydro and solar power.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">To improve the power supply further, a 33 KV transmission line is under construction from Kudu substation in Bheri Municipality of Jajarkot to Tripurakot, the administrative center of Tripurasundari Municipality at Dolpa passing through Chowkabazar in Nalgarh Municipality of the same district. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The head of the NEA’s Karnali provincial office, Shambhu Kusiyat Yadav, confirmed that a new contract has been signed after the previous contractor was terminated due to non-performance.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The line will be supported by 33/11 KV sub-stations to be constructed at Chaukha and Tripurakot. The construction is expected to be completed in one and a half years. The aim of this project is to ensure adequate, reliable, and high-quality power supply in Dolpa.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The electrification of Lumbini, Karnali, and hilly districts of Sudurpaschim province is being funded by a concessional loan of about US$220 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the European Investment Bank. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-28', 'modified' => '2023-04-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17436', 'image' => '20230428034302_collage.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-28 15:39:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17701', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Commission Formed to Address Issues of Usury Victims Seeks Application ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 28: The high-level commission formed by the government to resolve the issues of the usury victims has initiated its preliminary job by opening an office in Janakpurdham. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 28: The high-level commission formed by the government to resolve the issues of the usury victims has initiated its preliminary job by opening an office in Janakpurdham. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of the Commission, Gauri Bahadur Karki, said that the victims have been asked to submit their application with 15 days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Karki, the victims of loan sharking can submit their applications online or directly at the commission's office and District Administration Office along with the evidences they have. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The commission said that the officials of the district administration office would help fill up the firms for free. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government had formed the three-member high-level commission led by former judge Gauri Bahadur Karki to resolve the issues of the usury victims. The other members of the commission include former Additional Inspector General of Nepal Police Uttam Raj Subedi and former Deputy Attorney General Ganesh Babu Aryal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The commission is given three months’ time to submit a report to address the problems faced by the victims of loan sharks. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-28', 'modified' => '2023-04-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17435', 'image' => '20230428123726_landsharksharkrQC7Jq3r_q1_RbQ_A.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-28 12:36:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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These include enhancing efficiency and responsiveness of the health system, promoting sustainable financing and social protection in health, and promoting equitable access to quality health services.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The program supports the implementation of federalism and builds on Nepal’s first Program for Results in the health sector to address the challenges of access and quality and to build a resilient public health sector,” said Dr Feng Zhao, practice manager for health, nutrition and population, South Asia Region. “The results achieved under this Program have the potential for scale-up to other provinces.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The financing for the program is complemented by a US$3.84 million grant from the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (HEPR) Trust Fund. The HEPR Trust Fund supports eligible countries and territories to improve their capacities to prepare, prevent, respond, and mitigate the impact of epidemics on populations, added the World Bank.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17449', 'image' => '20230430031515_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 15:14:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17714', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Umbrella Organizations of Private Sector to Collaborate for Tackling Economic Crisis ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Two big umbrella organizations of the private sector have pledged to collaborate with each other to resolve the problems surfaced in the economy. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 30: Two big umbrella organizations of the private sector have pledged to collaborate with each other to resolve the problems surfaced in the economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Confederation of Nepalese Industries expressed solidarity to jointly move ahead to resolve the problems of the country’s economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Both the organizations made the commitment at a programme organized on Friday at the CNI Secretariat to congratulate and welcome the newly-elected working committee of the FNCCI. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a press statement issued by CNI, its Chair Vishnu Kumar Agrawal highlighted the need of collaboration for framing private sector-friendly laws required to improve the economy in the present challenging time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"He called for coordinated efforts of the umbrella organizations to come up with measures to resolve problems faced by the private sector in the present situation," the release stated, underlining the need of united efforts of the private sector to have their problems addressed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">FNCCI Chairperson Chandra Prasad Dhakal had also expressed his solidarity for a united move of the private sector so as to make the economy dynamic and tackle the prevailing problems in the economy, reads the press statement. He expressed the confidence that the problems would be resolved with the coordinated efforts in place. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also present on the occasion were CNI vice-chairperson Hemraj Dhaka, governing council member Shiva Ratan Sarada and Yogeswor Lal Shrestha among others. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17448', 'image' => '20230430020613_1682818418.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 14:05:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17713', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Businessmen Urge Government to Reduce Interest on Loans to Single Digit ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: The private sector has been meeting the prime minister, finance minister and the governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) demanding that the interest rate on loans be limited to a single digit. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 30: The private sector has been meeting the prime minister, finance minister and the governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) demanding that the interest rate on loans be limited to a single digit. Commercial banks have reduced the interest on deposits to a single digit since this the s tart of the Nepali new year. However, the demand for entrepreneurs has not yet been met.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector has been meeting the prime minister, finance minister and the governor of Nepal Rastra Bank and asking them to limit the interest rate on loans to a single digit. Nepal Bankers Association has reduced the interest rate on fixed deposits to 9.99 per cent. Earlier it was up to 12 per cent. With this decision of the bankers, there is no possibility that the interest on loans will drop to a single digit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector argues that the interest rate on loans should be reduced even if the interest rate on deposits is low for the sake of the business environment. Bankers claim that very low interest in savings will cause more problems in the economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Anil Kumar Agarwal, president of the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the interest on loans which was 7 per cent in the past, has now doubled. “Industrial business has shrunk to 25 per cent. If the government does not take effective measures to reduce the interest rate immediately, the day will not be far when industries will crash," he warned.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepal Bankers Association decided to reduce interest on savings following Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat's statement regarding interest rate reduction. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rohini Acharya, President of Birgunj Bankers Association, said that it will take time to see the effect of this decision of the Bankers’ Association, and the results will be visible by the end of the current quarter.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Acharya said that since the base rate of commercial banks is between 9.5 and 11 per cent, there is no possibility that the interest on loans will drop to a single digits in the current fiscal year. According to Acharya, if the average base rate drops to 10 per cent in this quarter, then the interest on loans may be around 12 per cent in the coming year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Agarwal argued that interest should not be more than 1 per cent on 'call deposits' and 4 per cent on other savings to solve the problems currently seen in the industrial and commercial sectors. According to him, the interest rate of loans can be limited to a single digit by making a provision that banks cannot add more than a 2 per cent premium.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The general secretary of the association, Ashish Lath, also said that until the premium is controlled, the interest on loans cannot be reduced to a single digit. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks have increased the premium from 0.5 per cent to 5 per cent due to a lack of liquidity, said Lath.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank has said that the premium can be charged up to an average of 4 per cent. Businessmen have been demanding that a limit of 2 per cent should be set. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Legally, businesses cannot make more than 20 per cent profit in any business. On this basis too, the premium should be limited to 2 per cent,'' Agarwal shared.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the increasing interest rate, the industrialist complains that they cannot make their product competitive. “The cost of capital is in double digits. Human resource expenditure is also uncontrolled and unorganized. This is weakening the overall capacity of the economy," said Madhav Rajpal, vice president of the association.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, Agarwal shared there is pressure on liquidity because the government did not spend the capital budget, and this has been affecting the interest rates. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The government should increase its spending capacity. Due to the suspension of payment of billions of rupees by the builders, liquidity has come under pressure, he said.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17447', 'image' => '20230430020444_int.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 14:03:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17712', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Minister ‘Unaware’ of the Decision to Provide Money to Disqualified Maoist Combatants ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat has said he has no idea about the decision to allocate money from the state coffers to the disqualified ex-Maoist combatants.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 30: Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat has said he has no idea about the decision to allocate money from the state coffers to the disqualified ex-Maoist combatants. The finance ministry has not taken any official decision in this regard, the state-owned RSS quoted the finance minister as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">National Youth Association, Nepal had submitted a seven-point memorandum to the finance minister citing the government’s decision to provide Rs 200,000 each to ex-Maoist combatants who were disqualified during the peace process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Receiving the memo, the finance minister said although the budget speech for the current fiscal year incorporated the issue of the management of the disqualified people's liberation army soldiers, the ministry has not decided to provide them the amount. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The issues of disqualified ex-Maoist combatants has reached the court. The budget has also mentioned it. No decision has been taken over the matter since I assumed the office. I have no idea about the work procedure said to be endorsed by the Council of Ministers to proceed ahead on this matter," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He took time to urge one and all not to doubt over the misappropriation of funds from the state coffers by the government. "I urge all not to doubt that the government will misappropriate funds from the state coffers in the name of disqualified combatants," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister from the Nepali Congress shared with the delegation that the NC was also concerned about this matter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the memo, the association said, "Our serious attention has been drawn to the Working Procedure prepared by the Home Ministry and presented before the Council of Ministers on April 19 in a bid to provide Rs 200,000 each to the disqualified Maoist combatants." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The decision to provide the money to the ex-Maoist combatants has drawn widespread criticism from all quarters. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17446', 'image' => '20230430013817_20230427063049_.prakash sharan mahat.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 13:37:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17711', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Call for Timely Publication of Pre Budget Statement with Data ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Freedom Forum – an organization pitching for budget transparency and accountability in Nepal – has called for the government to timely publish the pre-budget statement and allow environment for wider public debate on the key budget document. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 30: Freedom Forum – an organization pitching for budget transparency and accountability in Nepal – has called for the government to timely publish the pre-budget statement and allow environment for wider public debate on the key budget document. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a memorandum handed to Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat recently, the organization asked the government to open up avenues for public and parliamentary debate on budget formulation by introducing pre-budget statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Constitution has mandated the government to unveil the budget proposal in the federal parliament of Nepal on May 29 (Jestha 15). According to the international best practice and standards, the pre-budget statement should be produced and made publicly available at least a month before presentation of the budget at parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pre Budget Statement is a key budget document that the government is required to produce in the formative stage of budget formulation process every year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Main objectives of the publication of and discussion on the pre-budget statement are to make the government’s economic policy all-acceptable to the larger possible extent, create an environment for the parliament as the apex body for enacting budget and for the general public to provide meaningful inputs and deliberations in course of budget formulation process and promote participatory budget making practice. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Bringing pre-budget statement on time and holding wider multi-stakeholders' debate on budget principles and priorities based on PBS is likely to be missing this year," Forum's Executive Chief Taranath Dahal said, adding, "It is crucial because pre-budget statement is an entry point for citizens’ engagement in budget process." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It may be noted that the Constitution and Fiscal Procedure and Financial Accountability Act-2076 BS have provided adequate spaces for promoting citizen engagement in fiscal governance, including public financial management. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"There has been a practice of presenting budget principles and priorities as a PBS in the parliament some weeks before the executive budget proposal is unveiled. Nevertheless, the pre-budget statement has not reflected government’s fiscal goal and source of revenue for attaining targets, strategies, economic indicators, summary of current fiscal year’s revenue and expenditure, key changes in budget priorities and its impacts on economy with data – the key features to determine budget principles and priorities," the memorandum mentioned. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is noted that discussion on budget principles and priorities based on pre-budget statement lacking such features would in no way promote fiscal governance and parliamentary oversight and citizens’ engagement in the budget process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the studies carried out by credible international organizations, including International Budget Partnership (IBP), one of the reasons behind weak budget transparency in Nepal has been the lack of practice to timely produce and publish pre-budget statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pre-budget discussion and consultation merely based on political document without data and facts do not arguably impact budget and overall fiscal policy, the memorandum stated. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17445', 'image' => '20230430123629_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 12:35:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17710', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Air India Aircraft 'Overshoots' at Tribhuvan Int’l Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: An Air India plane that arrived in Kathmandu from New Delhi, India, on Saturday overshot when it was about to land at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 30: An Air India plane that arrived in Kathmandu from New Delhi, India, on Saturday overshot when it was about to land at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The airport authorities said that the plane overshot shortly before it was about to land at the airport.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Teknath Sitaula, the spokesperson of the airport, the Air India plane overshot due to 'unstable approaches'. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"The aircraft overshot because the landing approach was inappropriate. Sometimes it happens when the aircraft is at a high altitude," he told the state-owned RSS.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the airport, the aircraft that overshoots has to make a go around and land again in about 20 minutes.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Aircraft coming to Kathmandu must make its approach for landing at TIA from the sky above Simra. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17444', 'image' => '20230430114511_1682767346.air india.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 11:44:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17709', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shah Elected 48th President of HAN ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Binayak Shah has been unanimously elected as the president of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px">April 30: Binayak Shah has been unanimously elected as the president of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) by the 48th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association on Friday, April 28.<br /> Shah is the proprietor of Airport Hotel and is also associated with the Economic Chamber Nepal and Summit Group of Hotels and Resorts. He was HAN's first vice-president until the AGM elected a new committee under his leadership. <br /> Prabin Bahadur Pandey has been elected the first vice-president of HAN while Binay Tuladhar is the second vice-president, Sajan Shakya the general secretary and Yubraj Shrestha treasurer of the association. <br /> Other members of the new committee are Bidhita Shrestha, Jaydin Shrestha, Sarik Ahmad Lari, Binod Shankar Shrestha, Dinesh Shrestha, Bishal Kumar Kaith, Rajendra Bhatta, Ram Kumar Puri, Thakur Prasad Pokhrel, Laxman Aryal, Biplav Poudel, Gopal Rana, Rajan Shrestha and Suman Ghimire.<br /> Shah will take the place of outgoing HAN Presideht Shreejana Rana.<br /> Born in Kathmandu’s Durbar Marg in 1953, Shah started his career as a journalist at the age of 17. Shah used to work for Gorkhapatra and Radio Nepal. <br /> “I used to do reporting and proof reading for Gorkhapatra, and did news monitoring for Radio Nepal. That’s where I believe I started my career,” Shah said in an interview with New Business Age in 2014. <br /> Shah did his schooling from Shanti Vidya Griha. He says he was admitted directly in Grade 5 as he used to take home tuitions prior to joining school. He completed his SLC from there, and did his IA from Mahendra Ratna College. He did his graduation from Tri-Chandra College, and finished his Masters Degree in Economics from TU. <br /> After completing his studies, Shah opted for government job. He joined the then Trade Promotion Centre and worked there for 16 years. He served there in various positions including Department Head and In-charge of International Marketing. During his tenure, he promoted Nepal and Nepali products like carpets, garments and handicrafts in Western European countries.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">During his 16 years government job, he made a lot of contacts and relations with international business community. Then he left the job in 1992, and with his initiation, Nepal German Chamber of Commerce and Industries was formed. <br /> Shah’s involvement in Trade Promotion Centre and Nepal German Chamber of Commerce and Industry made him ready to do business on his own. <br /> Shah, who likes to call himself a development-oriented businessman, says that making money is not his sheer aspiration. “I feel that I have to help my country through my business, only then it becomes fruitful,” recalled Shah.</span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17443', 'image' => '20230430111812_prs (Copy)(1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 11:17:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17708', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Dolpa to Allow Yarsagumba Collection from May 15 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Collection of the Yarsagumba or the caterpillar fungus in Dolpa district will be opened to the public for a month beginning from May 15. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 30: Collection of the Yarsagumba or the caterpillar fungus in Dolpa district will be opened to the public for a month beginning from May 15. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A meeting of the District Coordination Committee held on Saturday decided to open the highlands in Shey-Phoksundo National Park and different community forests to pick the Yarsagumba, a prized herb for its purported aphrodisiac property. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">DCC Chief Shyam Bahadur Rokaya, Chief District Officer of Dolpa Bhumishwar Pokharel, representatives of different political parties in the district, chiefs of security bodies, officials of the national park, division forest office and media persons were present at the meeting. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Yarsagumba, scientifically known as Ophiocordyceps Sinensis, is one of the key sources of income for the people here and adjoining districts as well. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Most of the local residents in the district manage the school fees of their kids and household expenses from the sale of Ophiocordyceps Sinensis collected in this season. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the public has not been able to collect Yarsagumba for a long time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this time it has been decided to open the highland for about a month. Residents of the buffer zone, within the district and outside the district, will be charged different entrance fees for Yarsa collection as per the National Parks Act and regulations. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The residents of the buffer zone should pay Rs 500 while Rs 2,000 will be charged for the people from within the district and Rs 3,000 for the people from other districts for the collection of Yarsagumba. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The collectors would be provided with permit document from Suligard, Dho, Saldang, Rigmo, Sumduwa, Chhepka, Tripurakot, Khaliwan, Pahada and Toijam of Dolpa and Dolfu and Kimri of Mugu district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, such documents would also be distributed as per the needs of the division forest office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, security provision has been beefed up in view of any untoward activities that could happen with the crowd of people visiting the highlands for the collection of Yarsagumba. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17442', 'image' => '20230430104043_20220522120955_yarsa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 10:40:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17707', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Exports Beaten Rice Worth NPR 13.62 Crores in Nine Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Nepal's beaten rice industry has achieved growth in exports in the nine months of the current fiscal year. According to the Department of Customs, the country has exported 3,78,222 kilograms of chiura (beaten rice) worth NPR 13.62 crores during this period, with an average price of NPR 360 per kg.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">April 30: Nepal's beaten rice industry has achieved growth in exports in the nine months of the current fiscal year. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the Department of Customs, the country has exported 3,78,222 kilograms of chiura (beaten rice) worth NPR 13.62 crores during this period, with an average price of NPR 360 per kg.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This represents an increase of 17% in export price and 4% in quantity compared to the same period last fiscal year when Nepal had exported 3,60,440 kilograms of chiura worth NPR 11.63 crores. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Nepal's beaten rice is exported to several countries, including Australia, Japan, Belgium, Canada, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and America. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The highest amount of chiura was exported to the United States during the review period, with a total export of 1,55,970 kilograms worth NPR 7.32 crores at an average price of NPR 470 per kg. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Similarly, 1,00,786 kilograms of chiura worth NPR 3.43 crores were exported to Australia, and 28,586 kilograms of chiura worth NPR 1.3 crore were exported to Italy at an average price of NPR 340 and NPR 360 per kg, respectively.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The growth in Nepal's beaten rice exports is a positive development for the country's agriculture sector, as it provides opportunities for local farmers and traders to expand their market reach and increase revenue. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It also highlights the growing demand for Nepalese food products in the international market.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17441', 'image' => '20230430065038_collage (3).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 06:48:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17706', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'KMC Collects Rs 6.49 Billion in Revenue', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has collected Rs 6.49 billion in revenue in the current fiscal as of April 13. This figure represents a 62.33% of the target amount set for the year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">April 30: Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has collected Rs 6.49 billion in revenue in the current fiscal as of April 13. This figure represents a 62.33% of the target amount set for the year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year, KMC's revenue collection has improved significantly by Rs 1.40 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In particular, the highest revenue was generated from property tax, which amounted to Rs 794 million during the period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">KMC has set a target of collecting Rs 10.41 billion revenue within the current fiscal year and is confident in meeting this target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Despite previous challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, KMC's Chief of Revenue Department, Dhurba Kafle, shared that they expect to reach their revenue target this year without any issues. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The city collects revenue under 36 different headings, including property, business, advertisement, entertainment, and vehicle tax.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17440', 'image' => '20230430062323_collage (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 06:20:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17705', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Wildfires Taking Toll Across the Country as Authorities Sound Alarm', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 29: With the onset of the dry season, wildfires are rampant in the forests of the Himalayan nation, Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 29: With the onset of the dry season, wildfires are rampant in the forests of the Himalayan nation, Nepal. According to available data, large areas of forestland have been destroyed in bushfires every year, and many wild animals killed, incurring losses of properties worth thousands of rupees. In some cases, human casualties took place. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Seventy-seven people on average have been killed every year in Nepal due to forest and other fire-related incidents, according to government data. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Between 2014 and mid-March 2023, altogether 18,772 fire incidents took place in the country in which at least 769 people were killed and 2,548 injured, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Authority. Financial loss amounting to over Rs 22.23 billion took place during the same period. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Global Forest Watch, Nepal lost 6.7 k ha (kilo hectares) of tree cover from fires from 2001 to 2021. Besides, forest fires cause environmental pollution.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Dinanath Pokharel of Butwal Sub Metropolitan City-12 regularly goes for a morning walk. During his around three kilometers walk every day, he goes through inner roads around the forest in the north of the highway. Nowadays, he recently suffered sore eyes and breathing problems. "I suspect my health problems are caused by environmental pollution as a result of wildfire in the forest," he said. The bushfire smoke and haze have raised high into the atmosphere, he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the latest data with the Lumbini Province, forest fires have taken place at 108 places in 12 districts. They have engulfed not only the forests in the Chure area, but also community forests and the national parks. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has been around three weeks since the forests in the Chure caught fire, but the authorities are least concerned, said Dil Bahadur Thapa of Sainamaina-1. "Bushfires have destroyed the forests. Neither the local levels nor the forest office has taken initiatives to douse them. Local people are not fully equipped to extinguish the fires. They lack training in this regard as well," he complained. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Forests of all districts in the province are on fire, said Keshar Khadka, officer of the Ministry of Forests and Environment, Lumbini Province, and member of the forest fire control unit. Bushfires have taken place in 27 forests in Dang district, the highest among all districts, he said. Forest fires have taken place at 24 places in West Nawalparasi and Kapilvastu, 19 in Palpa, eight in Gulmi and six in Rukum East. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Forest Fire Detection and Monitoring System has divided Nepal’s parts as high risk for wildfire, risk, moderate risk, low risk and extremely low risk zones. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rupandehi, Nawalparasi, Kapilvastu, Dang, Banke and Bardiya in Lumbini Province have been categorized as high risk zones. Similarly, most parts of the hill districts including Arghakhanchi and Pyuthan and some parts of Palpa, Gulmi and Rolpa are also at high risk. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, most parts of Palpa, Gulmi and Rolpa, and some parts of Pyuthan, Arghakhanchi and Bardiya have been at risk. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Lumbini provincial government has included various programmes to control bushfires by making the procedure to implement annual programmes of the Ministry of Forest and Environment for the fiscal year, 2022/23. Under the procedure, there are programmes like wildfire risk zoning, network building, interaction and mobilization, the construction of fire lines, cleanup and repair and the control of bushfires. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, wildfire week will be observed, and a demo to fight bushfires will be organized. Help will be provided in producing organic fertilizers, and the prevention and control of forest fires through a participatory approach. Firefighting equipment like fire beaters, forestry rake hoe, forestry rake and firefighter's helmets will be purchased and distributed at the local level. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Under this, the provincial government last year launched various programmes to create awareness about the prevention and control of wildfires. It has continued these programmes this year too. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has accorded priority to the launch of awareness programmes at the community level as human negligence is highly blamed for wildfires, said Khadka. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Human carelessness like smoking near vegetation and discarding the cigarette butts into dry vegetation without putting them out, arson or intentional fire, and burning dry vegetation to clear farmlands are considered to be the causes for forest fires. Other causes are lightning, geo-thermal activities and spontaneous combustion of dry vegetation due to sun.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Forests span around 900,000 hectares of land in Lumbini Province. Of them, there are 4,046 community forests spreading around 382,000 hectares. Wildfires have taken its huge toll in Dang district this year. Bushfires have destroyed forests at 18 places in the Dang area spanning 333 hectares, and forests at more than 25 places in the Deukhuri area spreading over 1,000 hectares, according to available data.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Deukhuri area has 145 community forests spanning 109,000 hectares of land. This year, wildfires destroyed large forest areas, said Nawaraj Sharma, chairperson of the Kulapani community forest users' group at Gadhawa Rural Municipality-1 in Dang. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Around 80 percent of the forest spanning 400 hectares of land has been destroyed in wildfire, he said. Around 20 percent of the forestland falls in the Chure area. "We had saved the forest on the initiatives of the local community. But this year, the forest has caught a bushfire engulfing the national forest in the Chure area. A longstanding drought is also blamed," he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">They lacked human resources and equipment to douse the inferno, he added. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He demanded firefighting equipment and adequate resources, awareness and medical treatment for firefighters. "For the prevention and control of bushfires, an awareness at the community level is essential. Similarly, the government should provide firefighting equipment. It should dig ponds in community forest areas," he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Secretary of the Ministry of Forest and Environment under the provincial government, Uddhav Ghimire said various awareness programmes at the community level had been launched. The provincial government has a policy of distributing forest firefighting equipment to the division forest office and community forest users' groups. A lack of workforces and forest fire fighting equipment has made the matter worse, he admitted.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There is a problem as authorities concerned have yet to come up with the use of scientific methods and technology, and the local people have not been responsible for the prevention and control of forest fires, said experts. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">They called for making safety lines to prevent bushfires from sweeping through villages, and providing training called ‘back-burn’ to local people. - RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-29', 'modified' => '2023-04-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17439', 'image' => '20230429095055_20230421125013_GopalKa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-29 21:43:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17704', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Achieves Increase in Financial Inclusion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 29: Nepal has seen significant progress in financial inclusion over the past decade, according to a new study.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 29: Nepal has seen significant progress in financial inclusion over the past decade, according to a new study.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepal Financial Inclusion Report 2023 – prepared by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) under the Access to Financial Services Nepal Project jointly implemented by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) and IFC – shows that the overall usage of financial services is strong in Nepal, with payments via banks being the most popular service, at 75 percent. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The report also indicates a decrease in the gender gap. In 2022, the disparity between women and men with access to formal financial services had decreased to one percent (89 percent women versus 90 percent men), compared to the 2014 figures of 57 percent and 64 percent, respectively.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This is in line with the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, which shows that economic participation and opportunity for women in Nepal has consistently improved – from 116th in 2013 to 107th in 2021 and 98th in 2022, with an overall ranking of 96 (second only to Bangladesh in South Asia).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, there remains a disparity in the utilization of banking services between women and men, with 79 percent of women using the services compared to 83 percent men.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study also reveals that other formal financial service providers are strong competitors to banks, and overtaking banks in terms of savings products.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank, Maha Prasad Adhikari, said, "The report indicates that considerable progress has been made in extending financial inclusion to a larger segment of the Nepali people."</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The survey reveals a strong connection between use of financial services and the target group and level of schooling, with salaried staff having the highest utilization and those without any academic education having the least. Possessing a bank account is seen as a pathway to financial inclusion, with significantly higher usage of both banking and other formal financial services being observed among those with a bank account compared to those without.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study further explored the main impediments to the use of financial services. It was discovered that many people without a bank account either did not need one, had insufficient funds after expenditure, or did not have the necessary funds to open an account. Additionally, a lack of awareness regarding the process of opening a mobile money account, the complexity of using a mobile money platform, and the lack of access to agents or points of service were all reported as barriers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Financial inclusion is essential for sustainable socio-economic development," said Babacar S. Faye, Country Representative for IFC in Nepal. “With the advancement of technology, access to finance can be made more inclusive and affordable, to the benefit of those who are unbanked or underserved, as well as the financial system as a whole.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study was conducted with the technical input of UNCDF, to provide indicators for the NRB’s Financial Inclusion Roadmap and Action Plan (2017-2022). It focused on usage of financial services and obtained data from a sample of 2528 adults aged 16 or older. The findings of the survey and the 2021 Nepal Financial Inclusion Making Access Possible (MAP) Refresh study by UNCDF were utilized to assess financial inclusion through the World Bank Group's three categories: Access, Usage, and Quality.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Global Programme Advisor at UNCDF, Dr. Kameshnee Naidoo, commented that financial inclusion is essential for Nepal to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Our report shows that while there has been progress, there is still much work to be done to ensure that all citizens can access the financial services they need to create a better future. UNCDF remains committed to working with public and private sector partners to help build this future where no one is left behind in the digital era," she added. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepal Financial Inclusion Report also outlines measures to increase financial inclusion, including reforming the secured transaction registry system, enacting comprehensive legal and regulatory frameworks, improving consumer protection and financial literacy, and updating the Nepal Financial Inclusion Action Plan-2030.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Governor Adhikari and Global Programme Advisor at UNCDF, Dr Kameshnee Naidoo, had jointly launched the Nepal Financial Inclusion Report on April 28. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-29', 'modified' => '2023-04-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17438', 'image' => '20230429094252_IFC-Full-Form.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-29 21:41:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17703', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'State Coffers will not be misused: FM Dr Mahat', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat on Friday made it clear that national coffers will be not misused unnecessarily. The Finance Ministry has made it clear that they will not distribute NPR 2000 to each of the disqualified former Maoist combatants, following rumors suggesting that such a plan was underway.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 28: Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat on Friday made it clear that national coffers will be not misused unnecessarily. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Finance Ministry has made it clear that they will not distribute NPR 2000 to each of the disqualified former Maoist combatants, following rumors suggesting that such a plan was underway. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Minister Mahat assured the public that he would not misuse state funds by doling out cash to particular individuals.</span></span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He urged everyone to dispel doubts regarding his ministry's alleged plan to distribute cash to ex-Maoist combatants and pledged to rise above partisan politics and work for the country and its people.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the budget speech for the current fiscal year incorporated the issue of the management of disqualified People's Liberation Army soldiers, the Ministry has not made any decisions regarding providing them with cash.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Mahat added that the court has issued a verdict on the issue of disqualified ex-Maoist combatants, and the budget has also mentioned it, but no decision has been made since he assumed office.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Mahat expressed his lack of knowledge about the work procedure endorsed by the Council of Ministers to proceed with cash distribution on this matter. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Minister Mahat informed that the Home Ministry has the responsibility to formulate the work procedure and manage the budget, and he has only heard about the formulation of the work procedure but has no further information.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Mahat reiterated that the government would not misappropriate the state coffers in the name of disqualified combatants.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Mahat further stated that his party, the Nepali Congress, is concerned about this issue, and since it is a conflict-era case, it would be appropriate to allow the Truth Commission to settle it.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-28', 'modified' => '2023-04-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17437', 'image' => '20230428051834_collage (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-28 17:16:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17702', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Dolpa Connected to National Power Grid ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has recently connected Dolpa in Karnali province to the National Electricity Transmission System (Grid), which will improve the power supply in the area. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">April 28: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has recently connected Dolpa in Karnali province to the National Electricity Transmission System (Grid), which will improve the power supply in the area. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">An 11 kV transmission line has been constructed from Musikot substation in Musikot Municipality of Rukum West to Dolpa Headquarters Dunai via Gotamkot in Athabiscote Municipality of the same district. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The transmission line will provide power to areas such as headquarters Dunai, which previously relied on small hydropower projects.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Along with Dolpa, 8 out of 10 districts of Karnali province are now connected to the National Grid. The electrification of Humla and Mugu is still in progress, with a transmission line being built in Mugu to connect to the grid by next June. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Nepal Electricity Authority’s executive director, Kulman Ghising, stated that work is being prioritized for the electrification of districts in Karnali province.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Authority is providing electricity to the areas of the district headquarters Dunai and Tripurasundari Municipality under Thulievri Municipality of Dolpa through Jairigarh Small Hydro Electric House of 200 KW installed capacity. <br /> The authority has around 1,700 customers in Dolpa, and other areas of Dolpa are being supplied with electricity by small hydro and solar power.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">To improve the power supply further, a 33 KV transmission line is under construction from Kudu substation in Bheri Municipality of Jajarkot to Tripurakot, the administrative center of Tripurasundari Municipality at Dolpa passing through Chowkabazar in Nalgarh Municipality of the same district. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The head of the NEA’s Karnali provincial office, Shambhu Kusiyat Yadav, confirmed that a new contract has been signed after the previous contractor was terminated due to non-performance.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The line will be supported by 33/11 KV sub-stations to be constructed at Chaukha and Tripurakot. The construction is expected to be completed in one and a half years. The aim of this project is to ensure adequate, reliable, and high-quality power supply in Dolpa.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The electrification of Lumbini, Karnali, and hilly districts of Sudurpaschim province is being funded by a concessional loan of about US$220 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the European Investment Bank. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-28', 'modified' => '2023-04-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17436', 'image' => '20230428034302_collage.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-28 15:39:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17701', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Commission Formed to Address Issues of Usury Victims Seeks Application ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 28: The high-level commission formed by the government to resolve the issues of the usury victims has initiated its preliminary job by opening an office in Janakpurdham. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 28: The high-level commission formed by the government to resolve the issues of the usury victims has initiated its preliminary job by opening an office in Janakpurdham. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of the Commission, Gauri Bahadur Karki, said that the victims have been asked to submit their application with 15 days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Karki, the victims of loan sharking can submit their applications online or directly at the commission's office and District Administration Office along with the evidences they have. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The commission said that the officials of the district administration office would help fill up the firms for free. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government had formed the three-member high-level commission led by former judge Gauri Bahadur Karki to resolve the issues of the usury victims. The other members of the commission include former Additional Inspector General of Nepal Police Uttam Raj Subedi and former Deputy Attorney General Ganesh Babu Aryal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The commission is given three months’ time to submit a report to address the problems faced by the victims of loan sharks. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-28', 'modified' => '2023-04-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17435', 'image' => '20230428123726_landsharksharkrQC7Jq3r_q1_RbQ_A.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-28 12:36:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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These include enhancing efficiency and responsiveness of the health system, promoting sustainable financing and social protection in health, and promoting equitable access to quality health services.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The program supports the implementation of federalism and builds on Nepal’s first Program for Results in the health sector to address the challenges of access and quality and to build a resilient public health sector,” said Dr Feng Zhao, practice manager for health, nutrition and population, South Asia Region. “The results achieved under this Program have the potential for scale-up to other provinces.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The financing for the program is complemented by a US$3.84 million grant from the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (HEPR) Trust Fund. The HEPR Trust Fund supports eligible countries and territories to improve their capacities to prepare, prevent, respond, and mitigate the impact of epidemics on populations, added the World Bank.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17449', 'image' => '20230430031515_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 15:14:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17714', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Umbrella Organizations of Private Sector to Collaborate for Tackling Economic Crisis ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Two big umbrella organizations of the private sector have pledged to collaborate with each other to resolve the problems surfaced in the economy. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 30: Two big umbrella organizations of the private sector have pledged to collaborate with each other to resolve the problems surfaced in the economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Confederation of Nepalese Industries expressed solidarity to jointly move ahead to resolve the problems of the country’s economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Both the organizations made the commitment at a programme organized on Friday at the CNI Secretariat to congratulate and welcome the newly-elected working committee of the FNCCI. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a press statement issued by CNI, its Chair Vishnu Kumar Agrawal highlighted the need of collaboration for framing private sector-friendly laws required to improve the economy in the present challenging time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"He called for coordinated efforts of the umbrella organizations to come up with measures to resolve problems faced by the private sector in the present situation," the release stated, underlining the need of united efforts of the private sector to have their problems addressed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">FNCCI Chairperson Chandra Prasad Dhakal had also expressed his solidarity for a united move of the private sector so as to make the economy dynamic and tackle the prevailing problems in the economy, reads the press statement. He expressed the confidence that the problems would be resolved with the coordinated efforts in place. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also present on the occasion were CNI vice-chairperson Hemraj Dhaka, governing council member Shiva Ratan Sarada and Yogeswor Lal Shrestha among others. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17448', 'image' => '20230430020613_1682818418.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 14:05:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17713', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Businessmen Urge Government to Reduce Interest on Loans to Single Digit ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: The private sector has been meeting the prime minister, finance minister and the governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) demanding that the interest rate on loans be limited to a single digit. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 30: The private sector has been meeting the prime minister, finance minister and the governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) demanding that the interest rate on loans be limited to a single digit. Commercial banks have reduced the interest on deposits to a single digit since this the s tart of the Nepali new year. However, the demand for entrepreneurs has not yet been met.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector has been meeting the prime minister, finance minister and the governor of Nepal Rastra Bank and asking them to limit the interest rate on loans to a single digit. Nepal Bankers Association has reduced the interest rate on fixed deposits to 9.99 per cent. Earlier it was up to 12 per cent. With this decision of the bankers, there is no possibility that the interest on loans will drop to a single digit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The private sector argues that the interest rate on loans should be reduced even if the interest rate on deposits is low for the sake of the business environment. Bankers claim that very low interest in savings will cause more problems in the economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Anil Kumar Agarwal, president of the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the interest on loans which was 7 per cent in the past, has now doubled. “Industrial business has shrunk to 25 per cent. If the government does not take effective measures to reduce the interest rate immediately, the day will not be far when industries will crash," he warned.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepal Bankers Association decided to reduce interest on savings following Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat's statement regarding interest rate reduction. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rohini Acharya, President of Birgunj Bankers Association, said that it will take time to see the effect of this decision of the Bankers’ Association, and the results will be visible by the end of the current quarter.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Acharya said that since the base rate of commercial banks is between 9.5 and 11 per cent, there is no possibility that the interest on loans will drop to a single digits in the current fiscal year. According to Acharya, if the average base rate drops to 10 per cent in this quarter, then the interest on loans may be around 12 per cent in the coming year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Agarwal argued that interest should not be more than 1 per cent on 'call deposits' and 4 per cent on other savings to solve the problems currently seen in the industrial and commercial sectors. According to him, the interest rate of loans can be limited to a single digit by making a provision that banks cannot add more than a 2 per cent premium.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The general secretary of the association, Ashish Lath, also said that until the premium is controlled, the interest on loans cannot be reduced to a single digit. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks have increased the premium from 0.5 per cent to 5 per cent due to a lack of liquidity, said Lath.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank has said that the premium can be charged up to an average of 4 per cent. Businessmen have been demanding that a limit of 2 per cent should be set. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Legally, businesses cannot make more than 20 per cent profit in any business. On this basis too, the premium should be limited to 2 per cent,'' Agarwal shared.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the increasing interest rate, the industrialist complains that they cannot make their product competitive. “The cost of capital is in double digits. Human resource expenditure is also uncontrolled and unorganized. This is weakening the overall capacity of the economy," said Madhav Rajpal, vice president of the association.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, Agarwal shared there is pressure on liquidity because the government did not spend the capital budget, and this has been affecting the interest rates. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The government should increase its spending capacity. Due to the suspension of payment of billions of rupees by the builders, liquidity has come under pressure, he said.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17447', 'image' => '20230430020444_int.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 14:03:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17712', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Minister ‘Unaware’ of the Decision to Provide Money to Disqualified Maoist Combatants ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat has said he has no idea about the decision to allocate money from the state coffers to the disqualified ex-Maoist combatants.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 30: Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat has said he has no idea about the decision to allocate money from the state coffers to the disqualified ex-Maoist combatants. The finance ministry has not taken any official decision in this regard, the state-owned RSS quoted the finance minister as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">National Youth Association, Nepal had submitted a seven-point memorandum to the finance minister citing the government’s decision to provide Rs 200,000 each to ex-Maoist combatants who were disqualified during the peace process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Receiving the memo, the finance minister said although the budget speech for the current fiscal year incorporated the issue of the management of the disqualified people's liberation army soldiers, the ministry has not decided to provide them the amount. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The issues of disqualified ex-Maoist combatants has reached the court. The budget has also mentioned it. No decision has been taken over the matter since I assumed the office. I have no idea about the work procedure said to be endorsed by the Council of Ministers to proceed ahead on this matter," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He took time to urge one and all not to doubt over the misappropriation of funds from the state coffers by the government. "I urge all not to doubt that the government will misappropriate funds from the state coffers in the name of disqualified combatants," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister from the Nepali Congress shared with the delegation that the NC was also concerned about this matter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the memo, the association said, "Our serious attention has been drawn to the Working Procedure prepared by the Home Ministry and presented before the Council of Ministers on April 19 in a bid to provide Rs 200,000 each to the disqualified Maoist combatants." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The decision to provide the money to the ex-Maoist combatants has drawn widespread criticism from all quarters. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17446', 'image' => '20230430013817_20230427063049_.prakash sharan mahat.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 13:37:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17711', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Call for Timely Publication of Pre Budget Statement with Data ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Freedom Forum – an organization pitching for budget transparency and accountability in Nepal – has called for the government to timely publish the pre-budget statement and allow environment for wider public debate on the key budget document. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 30: Freedom Forum – an organization pitching for budget transparency and accountability in Nepal – has called for the government to timely publish the pre-budget statement and allow environment for wider public debate on the key budget document. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a memorandum handed to Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat recently, the organization asked the government to open up avenues for public and parliamentary debate on budget formulation by introducing pre-budget statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Constitution has mandated the government to unveil the budget proposal in the federal parliament of Nepal on May 29 (Jestha 15). According to the international best practice and standards, the pre-budget statement should be produced and made publicly available at least a month before presentation of the budget at parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pre Budget Statement is a key budget document that the government is required to produce in the formative stage of budget formulation process every year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Main objectives of the publication of and discussion on the pre-budget statement are to make the government’s economic policy all-acceptable to the larger possible extent, create an environment for the parliament as the apex body for enacting budget and for the general public to provide meaningful inputs and deliberations in course of budget formulation process and promote participatory budget making practice. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Bringing pre-budget statement on time and holding wider multi-stakeholders' debate on budget principles and priorities based on PBS is likely to be missing this year," Forum's Executive Chief Taranath Dahal said, adding, "It is crucial because pre-budget statement is an entry point for citizens’ engagement in budget process." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It may be noted that the Constitution and Fiscal Procedure and Financial Accountability Act-2076 BS have provided adequate spaces for promoting citizen engagement in fiscal governance, including public financial management. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"There has been a practice of presenting budget principles and priorities as a PBS in the parliament some weeks before the executive budget proposal is unveiled. Nevertheless, the pre-budget statement has not reflected government’s fiscal goal and source of revenue for attaining targets, strategies, economic indicators, summary of current fiscal year’s revenue and expenditure, key changes in budget priorities and its impacts on economy with data – the key features to determine budget principles and priorities," the memorandum mentioned. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is noted that discussion on budget principles and priorities based on pre-budget statement lacking such features would in no way promote fiscal governance and parliamentary oversight and citizens’ engagement in the budget process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the studies carried out by credible international organizations, including International Budget Partnership (IBP), one of the reasons behind weak budget transparency in Nepal has been the lack of practice to timely produce and publish pre-budget statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pre-budget discussion and consultation merely based on political document without data and facts do not arguably impact budget and overall fiscal policy, the memorandum stated. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17445', 'image' => '20230430123629_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 12:35:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17710', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Air India Aircraft 'Overshoots' at Tribhuvan Int’l Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: An Air India plane that arrived in Kathmandu from New Delhi, India, on Saturday overshot when it was about to land at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 30: An Air India plane that arrived in Kathmandu from New Delhi, India, on Saturday overshot when it was about to land at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The airport authorities said that the plane overshot shortly before it was about to land at the airport.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Teknath Sitaula, the spokesperson of the airport, the Air India plane overshot due to 'unstable approaches'. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"The aircraft overshot because the landing approach was inappropriate. Sometimes it happens when the aircraft is at a high altitude," he told the state-owned RSS.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the airport, the aircraft that overshoots has to make a go around and land again in about 20 minutes.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Aircraft coming to Kathmandu must make its approach for landing at TIA from the sky above Simra. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17444', 'image' => '20230430114511_1682767346.air india.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 11:44:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17709', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shah Elected 48th President of HAN ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Binayak Shah has been unanimously elected as the president of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px">April 30: Binayak Shah has been unanimously elected as the president of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) by the 48th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association on Friday, April 28.<br /> Shah is the proprietor of Airport Hotel and is also associated with the Economic Chamber Nepal and Summit Group of Hotels and Resorts. He was HAN's first vice-president until the AGM elected a new committee under his leadership. <br /> Prabin Bahadur Pandey has been elected the first vice-president of HAN while Binay Tuladhar is the second vice-president, Sajan Shakya the general secretary and Yubraj Shrestha treasurer of the association. <br /> Other members of the new committee are Bidhita Shrestha, Jaydin Shrestha, Sarik Ahmad Lari, Binod Shankar Shrestha, Dinesh Shrestha, Bishal Kumar Kaith, Rajendra Bhatta, Ram Kumar Puri, Thakur Prasad Pokhrel, Laxman Aryal, Biplav Poudel, Gopal Rana, Rajan Shrestha and Suman Ghimire.<br /> Shah will take the place of outgoing HAN Presideht Shreejana Rana.<br /> Born in Kathmandu’s Durbar Marg in 1953, Shah started his career as a journalist at the age of 17. Shah used to work for Gorkhapatra and Radio Nepal. <br /> “I used to do reporting and proof reading for Gorkhapatra, and did news monitoring for Radio Nepal. That’s where I believe I started my career,” Shah said in an interview with New Business Age in 2014. <br /> Shah did his schooling from Shanti Vidya Griha. He says he was admitted directly in Grade 5 as he used to take home tuitions prior to joining school. He completed his SLC from there, and did his IA from Mahendra Ratna College. He did his graduation from Tri-Chandra College, and finished his Masters Degree in Economics from TU. <br /> After completing his studies, Shah opted for government job. He joined the then Trade Promotion Centre and worked there for 16 years. He served there in various positions including Department Head and In-charge of International Marketing. During his tenure, he promoted Nepal and Nepali products like carpets, garments and handicrafts in Western European countries.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">During his 16 years government job, he made a lot of contacts and relations with international business community. Then he left the job in 1992, and with his initiation, Nepal German Chamber of Commerce and Industries was formed. <br /> Shah’s involvement in Trade Promotion Centre and Nepal German Chamber of Commerce and Industry made him ready to do business on his own. <br /> Shah, who likes to call himself a development-oriented businessman, says that making money is not his sheer aspiration. “I feel that I have to help my country through my business, only then it becomes fruitful,” recalled Shah.</span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17443', 'image' => '20230430111812_prs (Copy)(1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 11:17:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17708', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Dolpa to Allow Yarsagumba Collection from May 15 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 30: Collection of the Yarsagumba or the caterpillar fungus in Dolpa district will be opened to the public for a month beginning from May 15. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 30: Collection of the Yarsagumba or the caterpillar fungus in Dolpa district will be opened to the public for a month beginning from May 15. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A meeting of the District Coordination Committee held on Saturday decided to open the highlands in Shey-Phoksundo National Park and different community forests to pick the Yarsagumba, a prized herb for its purported aphrodisiac property. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">DCC Chief Shyam Bahadur Rokaya, Chief District Officer of Dolpa Bhumishwar Pokharel, representatives of different political parties in the district, chiefs of security bodies, officials of the national park, division forest office and media persons were present at the meeting. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Yarsagumba, scientifically known as Ophiocordyceps Sinensis, is one of the key sources of income for the people here and adjoining districts as well. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Most of the local residents in the district manage the school fees of their kids and household expenses from the sale of Ophiocordyceps Sinensis collected in this season. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the public has not been able to collect Yarsagumba for a long time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this time it has been decided to open the highland for about a month. Residents of the buffer zone, within the district and outside the district, will be charged different entrance fees for Yarsa collection as per the National Parks Act and regulations. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The residents of the buffer zone should pay Rs 500 while Rs 2,000 will be charged for the people from within the district and Rs 3,000 for the people from other districts for the collection of Yarsagumba. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The collectors would be provided with permit document from Suligard, Dho, Saldang, Rigmo, Sumduwa, Chhepka, Tripurakot, Khaliwan, Pahada and Toijam of Dolpa and Dolfu and Kimri of Mugu district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, such documents would also be distributed as per the needs of the division forest office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, security provision has been beefed up in view of any untoward activities that could happen with the crowd of people visiting the highlands for the collection of Yarsagumba. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17442', 'image' => '20230430104043_20220522120955_yarsa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 10:40:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17707', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Exports Beaten Rice Worth NPR 13.62 Crores in Nine Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Nepal's beaten rice industry has achieved growth in exports in the nine months of the current fiscal year. According to the Department of Customs, the country has exported 3,78,222 kilograms of chiura (beaten rice) worth NPR 13.62 crores during this period, with an average price of NPR 360 per kg.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">April 30: Nepal's beaten rice industry has achieved growth in exports in the nine months of the current fiscal year. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the Department of Customs, the country has exported 3,78,222 kilograms of chiura (beaten rice) worth NPR 13.62 crores during this period, with an average price of NPR 360 per kg.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This represents an increase of 17% in export price and 4% in quantity compared to the same period last fiscal year when Nepal had exported 3,60,440 kilograms of chiura worth NPR 11.63 crores. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Nepal's beaten rice is exported to several countries, including Australia, Japan, Belgium, Canada, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and America. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The highest amount of chiura was exported to the United States during the review period, with a total export of 1,55,970 kilograms worth NPR 7.32 crores at an average price of NPR 470 per kg. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Similarly, 1,00,786 kilograms of chiura worth NPR 3.43 crores were exported to Australia, and 28,586 kilograms of chiura worth NPR 1.3 crore were exported to Italy at an average price of NPR 340 and NPR 360 per kg, respectively.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The growth in Nepal's beaten rice exports is a positive development for the country's agriculture sector, as it provides opportunities for local farmers and traders to expand their market reach and increase revenue. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It also highlights the growing demand for Nepalese food products in the international market.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17441', 'image' => '20230430065038_collage (3).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 06:48:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17706', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'KMC Collects Rs 6.49 Billion in Revenue', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has collected Rs 6.49 billion in revenue in the current fiscal as of April 13. This figure represents a 62.33% of the target amount set for the year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">April 30: Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has collected Rs 6.49 billion in revenue in the current fiscal as of April 13. This figure represents a 62.33% of the target amount set for the year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year, KMC's revenue collection has improved significantly by Rs 1.40 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In particular, the highest revenue was generated from property tax, which amounted to Rs 794 million during the period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">KMC has set a target of collecting Rs 10.41 billion revenue within the current fiscal year and is confident in meeting this target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Despite previous challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, KMC's Chief of Revenue Department, Dhurba Kafle, shared that they expect to reach their revenue target this year without any issues. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The city collects revenue under 36 different headings, including property, business, advertisement, entertainment, and vehicle tax.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-30', 'modified' => '2023-04-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17440', 'image' => '20230430062323_collage (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-30 06:20:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17705', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Wildfires Taking Toll Across the Country as Authorities Sound Alarm', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 29: With the onset of the dry season, wildfires are rampant in the forests of the Himalayan nation, Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 29: With the onset of the dry season, wildfires are rampant in the forests of the Himalayan nation, Nepal. According to available data, large areas of forestland have been destroyed in bushfires every year, and many wild animals killed, incurring losses of properties worth thousands of rupees. In some cases, human casualties took place. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Seventy-seven people on average have been killed every year in Nepal due to forest and other fire-related incidents, according to government data. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Between 2014 and mid-March 2023, altogether 18,772 fire incidents took place in the country in which at least 769 people were killed and 2,548 injured, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Authority. Financial loss amounting to over Rs 22.23 billion took place during the same period. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Global Forest Watch, Nepal lost 6.7 k ha (kilo hectares) of tree cover from fires from 2001 to 2021. Besides, forest fires cause environmental pollution.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Dinanath Pokharel of Butwal Sub Metropolitan City-12 regularly goes for a morning walk. During his around three kilometers walk every day, he goes through inner roads around the forest in the north of the highway. Nowadays, he recently suffered sore eyes and breathing problems. "I suspect my health problems are caused by environmental pollution as a result of wildfire in the forest," he said. The bushfire smoke and haze have raised high into the atmosphere, he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the latest data with the Lumbini Province, forest fires have taken place at 108 places in 12 districts. They have engulfed not only the forests in the Chure area, but also community forests and the national parks. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has been around three weeks since the forests in the Chure caught fire, but the authorities are least concerned, said Dil Bahadur Thapa of Sainamaina-1. "Bushfires have destroyed the forests. Neither the local levels nor the forest office has taken initiatives to douse them. Local people are not fully equipped to extinguish the fires. They lack training in this regard as well," he complained. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Forests of all districts in the province are on fire, said Keshar Khadka, officer of the Ministry of Forests and Environment, Lumbini Province, and member of the forest fire control unit. Bushfires have taken place in 27 forests in Dang district, the highest among all districts, he said. Forest fires have taken place at 24 places in West Nawalparasi and Kapilvastu, 19 in Palpa, eight in Gulmi and six in Rukum East. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Forest Fire Detection and Monitoring System has divided Nepal’s parts as high risk for wildfire, risk, moderate risk, low risk and extremely low risk zones. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rupandehi, Nawalparasi, Kapilvastu, Dang, Banke and Bardiya in Lumbini Province have been categorized as high risk zones. Similarly, most parts of the hill districts including Arghakhanchi and Pyuthan and some parts of Palpa, Gulmi and Rolpa are also at high risk. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, most parts of Palpa, Gulmi and Rolpa, and some parts of Pyuthan, Arghakhanchi and Bardiya have been at risk. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Lumbini provincial government has included various programmes to control bushfires by making the procedure to implement annual programmes of the Ministry of Forest and Environment for the fiscal year, 2022/23. Under the procedure, there are programmes like wildfire risk zoning, network building, interaction and mobilization, the construction of fire lines, cleanup and repair and the control of bushfires. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, wildfire week will be observed, and a demo to fight bushfires will be organized. Help will be provided in producing organic fertilizers, and the prevention and control of forest fires through a participatory approach. Firefighting equipment like fire beaters, forestry rake hoe, forestry rake and firefighter's helmets will be purchased and distributed at the local level. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Under this, the provincial government last year launched various programmes to create awareness about the prevention and control of wildfires. It has continued these programmes this year too. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has accorded priority to the launch of awareness programmes at the community level as human negligence is highly blamed for wildfires, said Khadka. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Human carelessness like smoking near vegetation and discarding the cigarette butts into dry vegetation without putting them out, arson or intentional fire, and burning dry vegetation to clear farmlands are considered to be the causes for forest fires. Other causes are lightning, geo-thermal activities and spontaneous combustion of dry vegetation due to sun.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Forests span around 900,000 hectares of land in Lumbini Province. Of them, there are 4,046 community forests spreading around 382,000 hectares. Wildfires have taken its huge toll in Dang district this year. Bushfires have destroyed forests at 18 places in the Dang area spanning 333 hectares, and forests at more than 25 places in the Deukhuri area spreading over 1,000 hectares, according to available data.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Deukhuri area has 145 community forests spanning 109,000 hectares of land. This year, wildfires destroyed large forest areas, said Nawaraj Sharma, chairperson of the Kulapani community forest users' group at Gadhawa Rural Municipality-1 in Dang. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Around 80 percent of the forest spanning 400 hectares of land has been destroyed in wildfire, he said. Around 20 percent of the forestland falls in the Chure area. "We had saved the forest on the initiatives of the local community. But this year, the forest has caught a bushfire engulfing the national forest in the Chure area. A longstanding drought is also blamed," he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">They lacked human resources and equipment to douse the inferno, he added. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He demanded firefighting equipment and adequate resources, awareness and medical treatment for firefighters. "For the prevention and control of bushfires, an awareness at the community level is essential. Similarly, the government should provide firefighting equipment. It should dig ponds in community forest areas," he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Secretary of the Ministry of Forest and Environment under the provincial government, Uddhav Ghimire said various awareness programmes at the community level had been launched. The provincial government has a policy of distributing forest firefighting equipment to the division forest office and community forest users' groups. A lack of workforces and forest fire fighting equipment has made the matter worse, he admitted.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There is a problem as authorities concerned have yet to come up with the use of scientific methods and technology, and the local people have not been responsible for the prevention and control of forest fires, said experts. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">They called for making safety lines to prevent bushfires from sweeping through villages, and providing training called ‘back-burn’ to local people. - RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-29', 'modified' => '2023-04-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17439', 'image' => '20230429095055_20230421125013_GopalKa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-29 21:43:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17704', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Achieves Increase in Financial Inclusion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 29: Nepal has seen significant progress in financial inclusion over the past decade, according to a new study.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 29: Nepal has seen significant progress in financial inclusion over the past decade, according to a new study.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepal Financial Inclusion Report 2023 – prepared by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) under the Access to Financial Services Nepal Project jointly implemented by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) and IFC – shows that the overall usage of financial services is strong in Nepal, with payments via banks being the most popular service, at 75 percent. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The report also indicates a decrease in the gender gap. In 2022, the disparity between women and men with access to formal financial services had decreased to one percent (89 percent women versus 90 percent men), compared to the 2014 figures of 57 percent and 64 percent, respectively.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This is in line with the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, which shows that economic participation and opportunity for women in Nepal has consistently improved – from 116th in 2013 to 107th in 2021 and 98th in 2022, with an overall ranking of 96 (second only to Bangladesh in South Asia).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, there remains a disparity in the utilization of banking services between women and men, with 79 percent of women using the services compared to 83 percent men.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study also reveals that other formal financial service providers are strong competitors to banks, and overtaking banks in terms of savings products.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank, Maha Prasad Adhikari, said, "The report indicates that considerable progress has been made in extending financial inclusion to a larger segment of the Nepali people."</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The survey reveals a strong connection between use of financial services and the target group and level of schooling, with salaried staff having the highest utilization and those without any academic education having the least. Possessing a bank account is seen as a pathway to financial inclusion, with significantly higher usage of both banking and other formal financial services being observed among those with a bank account compared to those without.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study further explored the main impediments to the use of financial services. It was discovered that many people without a bank account either did not need one, had insufficient funds after expenditure, or did not have the necessary funds to open an account. Additionally, a lack of awareness regarding the process of opening a mobile money account, the complexity of using a mobile money platform, and the lack of access to agents or points of service were all reported as barriers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Financial inclusion is essential for sustainable socio-economic development," said Babacar S. Faye, Country Representative for IFC in Nepal. “With the advancement of technology, access to finance can be made more inclusive and affordable, to the benefit of those who are unbanked or underserved, as well as the financial system as a whole.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study was conducted with the technical input of UNCDF, to provide indicators for the NRB’s Financial Inclusion Roadmap and Action Plan (2017-2022). It focused on usage of financial services and obtained data from a sample of 2528 adults aged 16 or older. The findings of the survey and the 2021 Nepal Financial Inclusion Making Access Possible (MAP) Refresh study by UNCDF were utilized to assess financial inclusion through the World Bank Group's three categories: Access, Usage, and Quality.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Global Programme Advisor at UNCDF, Dr. Kameshnee Naidoo, commented that financial inclusion is essential for Nepal to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Our report shows that while there has been progress, there is still much work to be done to ensure that all citizens can access the financial services they need to create a better future. UNCDF remains committed to working with public and private sector partners to help build this future where no one is left behind in the digital era," she added. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepal Financial Inclusion Report also outlines measures to increase financial inclusion, including reforming the secured transaction registry system, enacting comprehensive legal and regulatory frameworks, improving consumer protection and financial literacy, and updating the Nepal Financial Inclusion Action Plan-2030.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Governor Adhikari and Global Programme Advisor at UNCDF, Dr Kameshnee Naidoo, had jointly launched the Nepal Financial Inclusion Report on April 28. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-29', 'modified' => '2023-04-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17438', 'image' => '20230429094252_IFC-Full-Form.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-29 21:41:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17703', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'State Coffers will not be misused: FM Dr Mahat', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat on Friday made it clear that national coffers will be not misused unnecessarily. The Finance Ministry has made it clear that they will not distribute NPR 2000 to each of the disqualified former Maoist combatants, following rumors suggesting that such a plan was underway.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 28: Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat on Friday made it clear that national coffers will be not misused unnecessarily. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Finance Ministry has made it clear that they will not distribute NPR 2000 to each of the disqualified former Maoist combatants, following rumors suggesting that such a plan was underway. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Minister Mahat assured the public that he would not misuse state funds by doling out cash to particular individuals.</span></span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He urged everyone to dispel doubts regarding his ministry's alleged plan to distribute cash to ex-Maoist combatants and pledged to rise above partisan politics and work for the country and its people.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the budget speech for the current fiscal year incorporated the issue of the management of disqualified People's Liberation Army soldiers, the Ministry has not made any decisions regarding providing them with cash.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Mahat added that the court has issued a verdict on the issue of disqualified ex-Maoist combatants, and the budget has also mentioned it, but no decision has been made since he assumed office.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Mahat expressed his lack of knowledge about the work procedure endorsed by the Council of Ministers to proceed with cash distribution on this matter. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Minister Mahat informed that the Home Ministry has the responsibility to formulate the work procedure and manage the budget, and he has only heard about the formulation of the work procedure but has no further information.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Mahat reiterated that the government would not misappropriate the state coffers in the name of disqualified combatants.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Mahat further stated that his party, the Nepali Congress, is concerned about this issue, and since it is a conflict-era case, it would be appropriate to allow the Truth Commission to settle it.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-28', 'modified' => '2023-04-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17437', 'image' => '20230428051834_collage (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-28 17:16:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17702', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Dolpa Connected to National Power Grid ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has recently connected Dolpa in Karnali province to the National Electricity Transmission System (Grid), which will improve the power supply in the area. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">April 28: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has recently connected Dolpa in Karnali province to the National Electricity Transmission System (Grid), which will improve the power supply in the area. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">An 11 kV transmission line has been constructed from Musikot substation in Musikot Municipality of Rukum West to Dolpa Headquarters Dunai via Gotamkot in Athabiscote Municipality of the same district. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The transmission line will provide power to areas such as headquarters Dunai, which previously relied on small hydropower projects.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Along with Dolpa, 8 out of 10 districts of Karnali province are now connected to the National Grid. The electrification of Humla and Mugu is still in progress, with a transmission line being built in Mugu to connect to the grid by next June. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Nepal Electricity Authority’s executive director, Kulman Ghising, stated that work is being prioritized for the electrification of districts in Karnali province.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Authority is providing electricity to the areas of the district headquarters Dunai and Tripurasundari Municipality under Thulievri Municipality of Dolpa through Jairigarh Small Hydro Electric House of 200 KW installed capacity. <br /> The authority has around 1,700 customers in Dolpa, and other areas of Dolpa are being supplied with electricity by small hydro and solar power.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">To improve the power supply further, a 33 KV transmission line is under construction from Kudu substation in Bheri Municipality of Jajarkot to Tripurakot, the administrative center of Tripurasundari Municipality at Dolpa passing through Chowkabazar in Nalgarh Municipality of the same district. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The head of the NEA’s Karnali provincial office, Shambhu Kusiyat Yadav, confirmed that a new contract has been signed after the previous contractor was terminated due to non-performance.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The line will be supported by 33/11 KV sub-stations to be constructed at Chaukha and Tripurakot. The construction is expected to be completed in one and a half years. The aim of this project is to ensure adequate, reliable, and high-quality power supply in Dolpa.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The electrification of Lumbini, Karnali, and hilly districts of Sudurpaschim province is being funded by a concessional loan of about US$220 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the European Investment Bank. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-28', 'modified' => '2023-04-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17436', 'image' => '20230428034302_collage.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-28 15:39:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17701', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Commission Formed to Address Issues of Usury Victims Seeks Application ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 28: The high-level commission formed by the government to resolve the issues of the usury victims has initiated its preliminary job by opening an office in Janakpurdham. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 28: The high-level commission formed by the government to resolve the issues of the usury victims has initiated its preliminary job by opening an office in Janakpurdham. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of the Commission, Gauri Bahadur Karki, said that the victims have been asked to submit their application with 15 days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Karki, the victims of loan sharking can submit their applications online or directly at the commission's office and District Administration Office along with the evidences they have. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The commission said that the officials of the district administration office would help fill up the firms for free. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government had formed the three-member high-level commission led by former judge Gauri Bahadur Karki to resolve the issues of the usury victims. The other members of the commission include former Additional Inspector General of Nepal Police Uttam Raj Subedi and former Deputy Attorney General Ganesh Babu Aryal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The commission is given three months’ time to submit a report to address the problems faced by the victims of loan sharks. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-04-28', 'modified' => '2023-04-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17435', 'image' => '20230428123726_landsharksharkrQC7Jq3r_q1_RbQ_A.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2023-04-28 12:36:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, '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
