February 28: The government provided financial assistance worth Rs 54.6 million to 129 individuals in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY…
February 28: The government provided financial assistance worth Rs 54.6 million to 129 individuals in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY…
February 28: The government has operated the Integrated Website Management System (IWMS) and the web monitoring system in a bid to strengthen security system by bringing uniformity in websites of all government…
February 28: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has introduced a 10-point action plan ranging from making diplomatic efforts to operate the Gautam Buddha International Airport in full fledge to taking forward the Civil Aviation…
February 28: There has been an increase in export of readymade garments from Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY…
February 28: Microfinance companies need to increase the interest rate on customers’ savings, as per the new provision fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank…
February 28: One or two parts of the hill areas in the country are expected to receive light rainfall coupled with lightning today (Tuesday)…
February 28: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that there has been an investment of around Rs 54 billion in the agricultural sector of Madhesh…
February 28: Nepal's NK Motors Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with a Korean company, SDK, to produce electric vehicles (EV) in Province…
February 27: The festival of Fagu has formally commenced with the installation of the ritualistic wooden pole with the 'Chir' at the top end in front of Hanumandhoka Durbar in Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday…
February 27: The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2080/081…
February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic.…
February 27: It has been found that the state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC), failed to purchase paddy as per its own target.…
February 27: The CPN (UML) has decided to quit the government, the state-owned RSS reported on Monday.…
February 27: Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) Office aims to earn Rs 300 million annually.…
February 27: The government has fixed the support price of wheat for the current fiscal year.…
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The report provides details of issues related to financial assistance, additional allocation, budget transfer, resource allocation and the amount spent under the heading of ‘finance miscellany’. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the report, the government has transferred nearly Rs 44.74 billion budget in the review period including Rs 300 million against the rules and regulations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per Rule 32 of the Financial Work Procedure and Fiscal Liability Regulation, 2077, the government cannot transfer the budget nor can it make additional release in the initial three months of the fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Going against this regulation, the government transferred an amount of Rs 300 million in the Nepali month of Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September) alone and released additional amount of Rs 2.25 billion, according to the Finance Ministry. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the report, Rs 200 million allocated for the Department of Railways was transferred to the Road Division Office, Doti for the land compensation purpose during last July/August. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Rs 100 million budget allocated for National Information Technology Centre under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology was transferred to the construction of a building for the Postal Office Orientation Centre. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report also states that the government has agreed to allocate financial resources of Rs 63.1 billion for multiyear projects. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16884', 'image' => '20230228100447_PO-KTM-19-RSS2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 22:04:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17145', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Launches Integrated Website Management System', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: The government has operated the Integrated Website Management System (IWMS) and the web monitoring system in a bid to strengthen security system by bringing uniformity in websites of all government bodies. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 28: The government has operated the Integrated Website Management System (IWMS) and the web monitoring system in a bid to strengthen security system by bringing uniformity in websites of all government sectors. <br /> The two systems were developed by the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) in line with the Development and Management of Government Agencies Websites Directive, 2078 BS. Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma inaugurated both the systems amid a function on Tuesday. <br /> Government agencies under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology including the Department of Information and Broadcasting, the Postal Services Department, the DoIT and the Department of Printing have started operating their websites using the new system. <br /> The service will be gradually expanded to other ministries and their subordinate bodies, said the DoIT. <br /> On the occasion, Minister Sharma expressed the hope that the new systems would help the ease the access of service seekers and decrease economic burden. <br /> It would also help identify and resolve problems like website down and hacks and operate websites in a safe way, she added. <br /> The procedure to manage the systems has been already passed, and they would be effectively managed through their implementation and monitoring, said the minister. <br /> Communications and Information Technology Minister Sharma stressed the need for expanding the system across the country including at the local level. <br /> "There is a tendency among offices and agencies of not running their own websites, thus not ensuring their security and adding financial burden to the state coffers. <br /> The systems have been developed in a way to provide easy and accessible services to the service seekers. It will also help implement the monitoring part effectively," she said. <br /> Similarly, the Ministry's secretary Dr Baikuntha Aryal said the systems aim to bring uniformity in all government agencies' websites and help provide the same information in an easy and accessible way. <br /> "This has helped reduce expenses each ministry and government agency has to spend in building their own websites. They can create websites for themselves on their own through the same kind of website templates. It also does not require qualified workforce," he said. <br /> <br /> "The system continuously monitors and alerts where and which site is going to be hacked or go down for what reasons. It will help make government websites more safe and to improve immediately if problems surface," added Aryal. <br /> Similarly, Director General of the Department of Information Technology, Prem Charan Shrestha, opined that the system not only helps operate government websites in a safe manner, it would help recover immediately after carrying out monitoring of the government online system if it is hacked. <br /> The websites developed through this system will have disabled-friendly features as well as sections like frequently asked questions, complaints management and automated assistant. <br /> A press statement issued by the department mentions that the web monitoring system was developed to minimize risk of hacking. -- RSS</span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16883', 'image' => '20230228061535_RS_KTM_RATL505302282023.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 18:14:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17144', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Minister Unveils 10-Point Action Plan ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has introduced a 10-point action plan ranging from making diplomatic efforts to operate the Gautam Buddha International Airport in full fledge to taking forward the Civil Aviation Bill. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has introduced a 10-point action plan ranging from making diplomatic efforts to operate the Gautam Buddha International Airport in full fledge to taking forward the Civil Aviation Bill. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati made the action plan public amid a press conference at his office in Singha Durbar on Monday. The minister also presented the details of his undertakings and 5-point reforms achieved in the past 42 days since he assumed office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourism minister shared that preparations were afoot to establish the Pashupati University. Other plans include a three-month-long Pashupati cleanup campaign, formation of a permanent unit in the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal to receive complaints on gender-based violence among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, an investigation committee would be formed to look into the grounded aircraft and directives would be devised to institutionalize clean-up drive of heritage sites, said the minister. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati added that Bharatpur Airport would be expanded. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister said he has ensured online ticket system for Nepal Airlines Corporation during his tenure. He also said there has been managerial reforms and sanitation drive as well as tangible progresses in the aviation security, Lumbini Master Plan and internet access among others. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16882', 'image' => '20230228054902_20190113122644_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 17:48:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17143', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Export of Readymade Garment from Nepal Increases this Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: There has been an increase in export of readymade garments from Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">February 28: There has been an increase in export of readymade garments from Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the Center for Trade and Export Promotion, the export of readymade garments increased by Rs 510 million during this period compared to the previous year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">From mid-July to mid-January of last fiscal year (FY 2021/22), a total of 6.88 million units of readymade garments worth Rs 4.3 billion were exported from Nepal. In the same period of the current fiscal year, the export value of readymade garments has increased to Rs 4.81 billion. During this period, 7.58 million units of clothing have been exported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Data shows that most of the readymade garments produced in Nepal are exported to 12 countries in the world. In the first seven months of this year, clothes worth Rs 1.9 billion were exported to the United States of America, Rs 790 million to Britain, Rs 520 million to Germany, Rs 320 million to France and Rs 310 million to Japan.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Similarly, readymade garment worth Rs 240 million were exported to the Netherlands, Rs 180 million to Italy, Rs 170 million to Australia, Rs 150 million to Canada, and Rs 130 million to India. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Likewise, readymade garments worth Rs 130 million and Rs 100 million were exported to Denmark and Austria, respectively. Apart from these countries, Nepal also exported readymade garments worth Rs 690 million to other countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Pashupati Dev Pandey, chairman of Nepal Readymade Garments Association, despite the increase in the export of readymade garments, the situation is not satisfactory. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"We should have further increased exports, but that has not happened. The government has a lot of work to do in this sector to increase exports. The main thing is that the state organs should be export friendly," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Pandey, the interest rate is high. The prices of raw materials have gone up, workers are abandoning this sector. Overall, there is no working environment, added Pandey.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Businessmen involved in readymade garment industry complain that textiles and garments, which are viewed in the same way around the world, are viewed differently in Nepal. They say that the government has not given all the facilities to the garment industry that it has given to the textile industry.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Bhim Giri, general secretary of Nepal Readymade Garment Association, says that the government should give more concessions to businessmen and also increase coordination and cooperation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">“Businessmen need refinancing facility. A little was received right after the onset of coronavirus pandemic. It has not happened since then. The government should make necessary arrangement for refinancing. Similarly, it is necessary for the government to make arrangements for yarn production in the country,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to General Secretary Giri, there is a need to increase the number of industries as there is a good response and more orders coming from the foreign market for readymade garments produced in Nepal. According to him, the government and the private sector should move forward hand-in-hand.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16881', 'image' => '20230228030446_1677545322.Clipboard14.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 15:04:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17142', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Microfinance Companies Need to Increase Interest Rate on Savings', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Microfinance companies need to increase the interest rate on customers’ savings, as per the new provision fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: Microfinance companies need to increase the interest rate on customers’ savings, as per the new provision fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). The central bank recently amended the Unified Directives 2078 making it mandatory for microfinance companies to fix the minimum interest rate on savings at 50 percent of the maximum interest on loans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The central bank introduced such measures after it was found that some microfinance companies which extended credit at an interest rate of 15 percent were giving just 2 percent interest on deposits to the customers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data published by the Nepal Rastra Bank, the average interest on the savings of microfinance institutions was 6.45 per cent in the month of Asoj (mid-September to mid-October last year), while the lowest interest was given by Support, Mankamana, and Ganpati microfinance companies with a minimum of 2 per cent interest.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank said that although some of the 64 microfinance institutions in operation give 10 to 15 percent interest, most of them give interest in single digit. Lately, even commercial banks have been giving interest in double digits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prakashraj Sharma, president of the Nepal Microfinance Bankers Association, said that the interest rate of microfinance should be competitive according to the market. He shared that it is unethical to give 1 to 2 percent interest rate to customers in the current situation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The interest rate given by microfinance should be close to that of the commercial banks," Sharma said adding, "It is wrong to give a lower interest rate than the prevailing one in the market. He suggested that although the new system of the NRB has provision to increase the interest rate, to make it practical, the system of the base rate and spread rate should also be implemented in microfinance.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Sharma, the central bank should implement the provision of base rate and spread rate like in commercial banks rather than setting a limit on the interest rate of microfinance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"This will regulate the interest rate of microfinance companies."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Microfinance companies have been investing by taking wholesale loans from banks and financial institutions. Although these institutions cannot collect deposits from the general public, they collect deposits from customers in the name of mandatory savings and optional savings. Because there is a rule of mandatory savings to take loans, they are giving low-interest rates to the general people who have no other option than to deposit money in return of low interest. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB has tightened microfinance for the first time after they started being criticized for exploiting the customers with high-interest rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NRB, as of mid-October last year, microfinance institutions collected more than Rs 164 billion in deposits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the deposit collection, Rs 38.9 billion is under mandatory savings, Rs 82.7 billion under optional savings, and Rs 25.7 billion under gradual savings. Similarly, they have collected Rs 2.17 billion under general public deposits and Rs 15.21 billion in other deposit category.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nirdhan Uthan and Chimeki Laghubitta are allowed to collect deposits from the general public. Microfinance companies have 5.9 million members and disbursed loans to 3.3 million members.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16880', 'image' => '20230228023732_1677550297.122.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 14:36:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17141', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Few Places of Hill Areas to Receive Light Rainfall Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: One or two parts of the hill areas in the country are expected to receive light rainfall coupled with lightning today (Tuesday) afternoon.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: One or two parts of the hill areas in the country are expected to receive light rainfall coupled with lightning today (Tuesday) afternoon with the weather becoming generally cloudy, said the Meteorological Forecasting Division. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Light snowfall is likely in one or two parts of the high hills and mountainous areas, said the division. The remaining areas of the country will have a clear weather in general. The westerly wind is having a general impact while there is still the influence of the local wind in the hill areas, thus leading to this condition of the weather, the division said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the weather in hill areas will be partly cloudy tonight, and the rest of the country will have fair weather in general. One or two places in the hill and mountainous areas of Province 1, Gandaki and Karnali provinces are predicted to witness light snowfall. In view of the condition of the weather, the division has urged people of the vulnerable parts to adopt caution. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16879', 'image' => '20230228014128_weatherrrr.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 13:40:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17140', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Credit Flow in Agricultural Sector of Madhes Province Stands at Rs 54 Billion: NRB Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that there has been an investment of around Rs 54 billion in the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that there has been an investment of around Rs 54 billion in the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the study on the economic activities of the province recently published by Janakpur-based office of NRB, the credit flow from banks and financial institutions to the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province stands at Rs 53.95 billion as of FY 2078/79. This amount is 12.55 percent of the total loan invested in Madhesh Province. The study shows that most of such loans went to Sarlahi district and the least to Saptari district.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The report also mentions that there has been a significant increase in subsidized loans flowing to Madhesh Province in the review period. According to the data of the central bank, such loans have reached Rs 22.30 billion. As of Fiscal Year 2077/78, the loan under this heading was only Rs 14.5 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study report mentions that the loans increased due to the mandatory policy arrangements made by NRB on subsidized loans. It seems that the most of the concessional loans have been invested in Sarlahi (Rs 4.48 billion) and the least in Saptari (Rs 1.8 billion).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>More potential in agriculture</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A study by NRB pointed out that there is more potential for agriculture in Madhesh Province due to its geographical accessibility and abundance of arable land. The contribution of agriculture to the gross domestic product of Madhesh Province is 34 percent. This is 10 percentage points higher than the national average.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study also showed the possibility that fish production can be increased by using modern technology. The study found that almost all the districts of Madhesh Province fall among the top 10 districts in the country where fishery is done. The study concludes that since Madhesh Province has the highest population, labor supply will be easy and there is potential for commercial production of agricultural products such as vegetables, fruits, fish, meat as well as consumption market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study concluded that since the number of young people going for foreign employment from Madhesh Province is high, there is a possibility to increase productivity by attracting young people who have returned from abroad with capital, motivation, confidence and advanced technological knowledge in agricultural business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB also pointed out that as there are more fertile lands in Madhesh province, there is a possibility that it can be developed as a pocket area for food and vegetable production by expanding the area of irrigation.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16878', 'image' => '20230228113510_1677550188.121.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 11:33:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17139', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Korean Company to Manufacture EV in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Nepal's NK Motors Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with a Korean company, SDK, to produce electric vehicles (EV) in Province 1.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: Nepal's NK Motors Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with a Korean company, SDK, to produce electric vehicles (EV) in Province 1. The agreement was signed by representatives of NK Motors Pvt. Ltd and SDK in South Korea.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the agreement signed in the presence of TR Dhakal, managing director of NK Motors, an electric vehicle manufacturing industry will be established with an investment of about Rs 3 billion. Tikaram Puri, chairman of NK Motors Pvt Ltd, informed New Business Age that the proposed industry will be established at a suitable location within Province 1. The industry will produce school and college buses and vehicles for private and public purpose.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, a delegation of the Korean company will visit Nepal in March and select a suitable location. He also informed that the target is to send the products to the market within a year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16877', 'image' => '20230228105435_1677548740.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 10:53:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17138', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ritualistic Pole of Fagu Festival Installed at Hanumandhoka Durbar Square', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The festival of Fagu has formally commenced with the installation of the ritualistic wooden pole with the 'Chir' at the top end in front of Hanumandhoka Durbar in Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday morning. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The festival of Fagu has formally commenced with the installation of the ritualistic wooden pole with the 'Chir' at the top end in front of Hanumandhoka Durbar in Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday morning. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Chir is a tuft of colourful strips of cloth tied to the top end of the pole symbolizing the beginning of Fagu, also called Holi, the festival of colours. The wooden pole is erected at this spot on the eighth day of the waxing moon in the month of Fagun as per the time-honoured custom. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pole was installed at the auspicious time of 7.45am on Monday, the Nepal Calendar Determination Committee said. The people from the Manandhar community are responsible for the erection of the Chir at Hanumandhoka Durbar area. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Fagu festival is celebrated with fervor and enthusiasm in the hill districts including in the Kathmandu Valley from the eighth day of the bright half to the full moon day in the month of Fagun. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">People smeared each other with different colours and threw colour powder in celebration at Hanumandhoka Durbar area when the Chir was installed, signaling the start of the Fagu festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This ritualistic pole is pulled down on the full moon day. The main day of Fagu festival falls on March 6 for the people of the hill districts and on March 7 for the people of the Tarai-Madhesh region this year. -- RSS</span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16876', 'image' => '20230227094421_HB_KTM-_IMG_1215.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 21:43:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17137', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Provinces, Local Units Propose Projects of Rs 150 Billion for Supplementary and Special Grants ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2080/081 BS. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2080/081 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the National Planning Commission (NPC), the local governments have forwarded a total of 4,546 projects with the estimated budget of Rs 115.43 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the provinces have proposed 211 projects seeking Rs 27 billion to implement those projects in the upcoming fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Of the proposed projects from the local and province governments, the new projects carry the budget estimation worth Rs 121.71 billion while projects worth Rs 20.65 billion are ongoing projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As sought by the local and province governments, Rs 50.41 billion has been demanded under the special grant while Rs 71.26 billion for supplementary grant for the new projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Supplementary Grant (Third Amendment) Procedure, 2077 and the Special Grant (Third Amendment) Procedure, 2077 BS mention about the federal supplementary and special grants under which the federal government allocates budget to the province and local governments each year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NPC has entered those proposed projects in its system for project analysis and selection purpose after receiving the proposals from the province and local governments. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A team led by a NPC member shall select the projects and programmes after their thorough assessment based on the parameters given by the procedures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">For the selection of the projects, their feasibility, estimated cost and outcomes should be considered and the projects that generate compulsory liability on the part of the government would also be prioritized. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sectoral priorities are also considered for the selection of new projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The provinces were given the timeline of mid-February to propose the projects and programmes under the federal supplementary and special grants while the local levels were to submit such projects by mid-January. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16875', 'image' => '20230227084256_Grants-April-2019.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 20:42:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17136', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Economic Growth Rate in First Quarter Drops Below the Figure of Pandemic Period', 'sub_title' => 'Economic Growth in First Three Months Stands at 0.8 Percent against the Annual Growth Target of 8 Percent', 'summary' => 'February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bijay Damase</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first three months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23), the size of the economy ie the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased by 0.8 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The economic growth rate of the first quarter of last fiscal year (FY 2021/22) was 3 percent. According to the figures released by the National Statistics Office under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the economic growth rate was 6.9 percent in the second quarter of the same year, 2.9 percent in the third quarter and 9 percent in the fourth quarter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the year 2020/21, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak. Even in the first quarter of that year, the economic growth rate was 0.9 percent. The economic growth rate of the first quarter of the current fiscal year is less than that in the corresponding period of the year of the pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">All sectors have been affected since the beginning of the current fiscal year. According to the National Statistics Office, the economic growth rate in the first quarter of the current FY is less than 1 percent, which has raised questions about the working style of the government.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Facts and figures show that the economy is getting more and more in crisis when the government sets ambitious goals but is unable to deliver on its commitments due to its working style.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government had set a target of achieving 8 percent economic growth in the current fiscal year's budget. However, while revising the budget, Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel admitted that the target is unattainable. Due to the tightening of import, there has been a decline in revenue collection.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the National Statistics Office, which was earlier known as the Central Bureau of Statistics, the output of the mining and mineral sector has declined the most in the first quarter of this year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the first quarter, the production of mining and mineral sector decreased by 29.2 percent. In the same period last year, this sector had increased by 24 percent. In particular, this sector has declined due to the extreme reduction in the demand for cement, the main construction material. Due to the slowdown in construction activities in the country, the demand for construction materials such as cement and sand has decreased. Due to the decrease in public construction and the slow pace of private housing construction, the consumption of such materials has decreased. The data shows that the construction sector has shrunk by 24 percent. In the same period last year, the construction sector had increased by 18 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16874', 'image' => '20230227041039_economic crisis.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 16:09:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17135', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Food Management and Trading Company Fails to Purchase Paddy as per its Target', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: It has been found that the state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC), failed to purchase paddy as per its own target. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: It has been found that the state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC), failed to purchase paddy as per its own target. According to FMTC, it was not possible to purchase paddy as per the target due to the delay in the purchase process.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">FMTC said that the problem surfaced because the government fixed the support price after most of the farmers sold the paddy and FMTC as well started buying it late.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company had set a target of buying 30,200 metric tons of paddy from the farmers for the current fiscal year, but managed to buy only 15,000 tons so far. This year, the company purchased paddy from its depots based in Rajapur, Dhangadhi, Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj, Bhairahawa, Birgunj, Biratnagar, Birtamod, Janakpur and Lahan. In some places, the purchase intermittently continues, but in some places, FMTC has already suspended the work of purchasing paddy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The delay in fixing the support price and late start of buying are the main reasons for the company not being able to buy paddy as per the target. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After most of the farmers sold the paddy, the government fixed the price of coarse paddy at Rs 2,976 per quintal and the price of medium paddy at Rs 3,128 per quintal. Even after the support price was fixed, the farmers had to protest nationwide because FMTC did not buy paddy for a long time stating that the budget was not released.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">FMTC on the other hand, said that the target of buying paddy could not be achieved because farmers sold more rice to local traders than to the company. Mohan Prakash Chand, the chief executive officer of the company, says that late pricing is one of the main reasons, but most of the farmers take loans from local traders and they are forced to sell rice to the traders, leaving less paddy for FMTC. According to Chand, another major reason for not buying paddy as per the target is low quality rice in some places as FMTC does not buy low quality rice.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the purchase of paddy has been less this year, FMTC is buying rice for storage. The company has also invited tenders to buy 142,000 quintals of rice. Bhishma Neupane, head of the procurement department of the company, said that they are going to buy rice after not being able to buy paddy as per the target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company is preparing to buy 15,000 quintals of rice from Lahan, 10,000 quintals from Biratnagar, 3,000 quintals from Birtamod, 22,000 quintals from Birgunj, 20,300 quintals from Kathmandu, 20,000 quintals from Nepalgunj and 7,800 quintals from Bhairahawa. Similarly, the company plans to buy 2,000 quintals of rice from Tulsipur, 20,100 quintals from Surkhet and 22,000 quintals from Dhangadhi.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16873', 'image' => '20230227035714_640px-Rice_Plants_(IRRI).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 15:56:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17134', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UML to Quit Government ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The CPN (UML) has decided to quit the government, the state-owned RSS reported on Monday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The CPN (UML) has decided to quit the government, the state-owned RSS reported on Monday. The party's Secretariat Meeting held at the party central office at Chyasal, Lalitpur on Monday morning decided to quit the government, UML vice Chair Bishnu Prasad Paudel told RSS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He added that the UML has also decided to withdraw its support to the government. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CPN (UML), which is the second largest party in parliament, took such decision after its coalition partner CPN (Maoist Centre) sided with the Nepali Congress (NC) for the upcoming presidential election. CPN (UML) had backed Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to lead the government as the prime minister in return for Dahal’s support in the presidential election. However, in the changed political context after the NC also backed Maoist Centre, the party decided to seek national consensus for a presidential candidate instead of backing the UML. This ultimately led to a situation in which UML has been forced to quit government. However, PM Dahal still enjoys overwhelming support with the NC backup.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16872', 'image' => '20230227032505_PRO_KTM_PRACHANDA_SPEECH.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 15:24:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17133', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Loan Instalment Amount of Pokhara Int’l Airport Exceeds Income Target', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) Office aims to earn Rs 300 million annually. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) Office aims to earn Rs 300 million annually. However, the annual instalment to be paid is Rs 2.4 billion which includes the principal and interest on the loan taken for the construction of the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The instalment payment period of this airport, which has been in operation since January 1, starts from mid-March. The Government of Nepal is scheduled to pay the first instalment of Rs 1.2 billion to the Chinese Exim Bank in this period. The instalment payment period is about to start after the grace period of 7 years for the loan given to Nepal Civil Aviation Authority by the government through the bank is about to end.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The authority has already said that it will not be possible to pay the instalment with the income generated by the operation of Pokhara International Airport. However, CAAN says it is not under pressure to pay the instalment this time. According to the authority's loan repayment schedule, the instalment must be paid on March 15.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Gyanendra Bhul, the information officer of the authority, said that even if the authority cannot pay the installment, it will be paid through the Ministry of Finance. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even if the government is not able to pay the instalments, the accumulated profit of the authority is good. According to the authority's data, the accumulated profit of CAAN is Rs 1465.3 billion. The authority will be able to pay the instalments from the accumulated profit. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the loan schedule to be paid semi-annually, Rs 1.2 billion should be paid in 6 months, while Rs 2.4 billion must be paid in instalments annually.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The instalments must be paid within 20 years of taking the loan (Ashoj 1, 2092). The government had agreed with the bank in 2072 to build Pokhara International Airport. After Pokhara International Airport came into operation, the Pokhara Airport Office has predicted that the profit of the current fiscal year (FY) will also double.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jashodha Subedi, the spokesperson of the airport office, informed that the airport, which earned Rs 130 million in the year 2078/79, is aiming to earn more than double (up to Rs 300 million) in the current year 2079/80. Currently, only domestic flights are operating in Pokhara.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16871', 'image' => '20230227020513_Pokhara-Airport-800X533.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 14:04:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17132', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Fixes Support Price of Wheat', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The government has fixed the support price of wheat for the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: The government has fixed the support price of wheat for the current fiscal year. The support price has been fixed at Rs 3,351 per quintal, which is Rs 186 more compared to last year. Upon suggestion from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the cabinet approved the support price proposed by the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had fixed the support price of wheat at Rs 3,150 per quintal for the first time in the fiscal year 2076/77. In the last four years, the government increased the price of wheat by Rs 337 per quintal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stakeholders say that the government has been miserly in setting the price of wheat, which is known as unprofitable crop because the production is not worth the cost and efforts incurred. Farmers and agricultural activists express doubt that the support price set so miserly will even be implemented.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Food Campaign for Agriculture said that the government's attention should be focused on its implementation rather than setting the support price. According to him, the government sets the support price every year, but it is not implemented. Therefore, he said that the support price has caused more pain than relief to the farmers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of the National Farmers' Commission, Prem Dangal also said that the government's focus should be on the implementation of support prices. According to him, the practice of setting support prices and not implementing them should be brought to an end.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has become customary for the government to set the support price of rice and wheat late every year, and the state-owned food supply and trading companies do not purchase the produce as per the target. In terms of production area, wheat is the third major food crop of Nepal. According to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, more than 2.1 million metric tons of wheat is produced in Nepal annually. But recently, the area of wheat production is decreasing. In the last 7 years, the area under wheat cultivation in Nepal has decreased by 51,300 hectares.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16870', 'image' => '20230227011337_Wheat_photo-cred-Adobe-stock_E-2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 13:12:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17146', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Extends Financial Assistance of Rs 54 Million to 129 Individuals', 'sub_title' => 'Nearly Rs 45 Billion Budget Transferred in Seven Months', 'summary' => 'February 28: The government provided financial assistance worth Rs 54.6 million to 129 individuals in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: The government provided financial assistance worth Rs 54.6 million to 129 individuals in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to a report published by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, the financial assistance was provided to those individuals based on cabinet decisions. The report provides details of issues related to financial assistance, additional allocation, budget transfer, resource allocation and the amount spent under the heading of ‘finance miscellany’. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the report, the government has transferred nearly Rs 44.74 billion budget in the review period including Rs 300 million against the rules and regulations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per Rule 32 of the Financial Work Procedure and Fiscal Liability Regulation, 2077, the government cannot transfer the budget nor can it make additional release in the initial three months of the fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Going against this regulation, the government transferred an amount of Rs 300 million in the Nepali month of Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September) alone and released additional amount of Rs 2.25 billion, according to the Finance Ministry. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the report, Rs 200 million allocated for the Department of Railways was transferred to the Road Division Office, Doti for the land compensation purpose during last July/August. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Rs 100 million budget allocated for National Information Technology Centre under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology was transferred to the construction of a building for the Postal Office Orientation Centre. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report also states that the government has agreed to allocate financial resources of Rs 63.1 billion for multiyear projects. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16884', 'image' => '20230228100447_PO-KTM-19-RSS2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 22:04:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17145', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Launches Integrated Website Management System', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: The government has operated the Integrated Website Management System (IWMS) and the web monitoring system in a bid to strengthen security system by bringing uniformity in websites of all government bodies. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 28: The government has operated the Integrated Website Management System (IWMS) and the web monitoring system in a bid to strengthen security system by bringing uniformity in websites of all government sectors. <br /> The two systems were developed by the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) in line with the Development and Management of Government Agencies Websites Directive, 2078 BS. Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma inaugurated both the systems amid a function on Tuesday. <br /> Government agencies under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology including the Department of Information and Broadcasting, the Postal Services Department, the DoIT and the Department of Printing have started operating their websites using the new system. <br /> The service will be gradually expanded to other ministries and their subordinate bodies, said the DoIT. <br /> On the occasion, Minister Sharma expressed the hope that the new systems would help the ease the access of service seekers and decrease economic burden. <br /> It would also help identify and resolve problems like website down and hacks and operate websites in a safe way, she added. <br /> The procedure to manage the systems has been already passed, and they would be effectively managed through their implementation and monitoring, said the minister. <br /> Communications and Information Technology Minister Sharma stressed the need for expanding the system across the country including at the local level. <br /> "There is a tendency among offices and agencies of not running their own websites, thus not ensuring their security and adding financial burden to the state coffers. <br /> The systems have been developed in a way to provide easy and accessible services to the service seekers. It will also help implement the monitoring part effectively," she said. <br /> Similarly, the Ministry's secretary Dr Baikuntha Aryal said the systems aim to bring uniformity in all government agencies' websites and help provide the same information in an easy and accessible way. <br /> "This has helped reduce expenses each ministry and government agency has to spend in building their own websites. They can create websites for themselves on their own through the same kind of website templates. It also does not require qualified workforce," he said. <br /> <br /> "The system continuously monitors and alerts where and which site is going to be hacked or go down for what reasons. It will help make government websites more safe and to improve immediately if problems surface," added Aryal. <br /> Similarly, Director General of the Department of Information Technology, Prem Charan Shrestha, opined that the system not only helps operate government websites in a safe manner, it would help recover immediately after carrying out monitoring of the government online system if it is hacked. <br /> The websites developed through this system will have disabled-friendly features as well as sections like frequently asked questions, complaints management and automated assistant. <br /> A press statement issued by the department mentions that the web monitoring system was developed to minimize risk of hacking. -- RSS</span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16883', 'image' => '20230228061535_RS_KTM_RATL505302282023.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 18:14:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17144', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Minister Unveils 10-Point Action Plan ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has introduced a 10-point action plan ranging from making diplomatic efforts to operate the Gautam Buddha International Airport in full fledge to taking forward the Civil Aviation Bill. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has introduced a 10-point action plan ranging from making diplomatic efforts to operate the Gautam Buddha International Airport in full fledge to taking forward the Civil Aviation Bill. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati made the action plan public amid a press conference at his office in Singha Durbar on Monday. The minister also presented the details of his undertakings and 5-point reforms achieved in the past 42 days since he assumed office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourism minister shared that preparations were afoot to establish the Pashupati University. Other plans include a three-month-long Pashupati cleanup campaign, formation of a permanent unit in the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal to receive complaints on gender-based violence among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, an investigation committee would be formed to look into the grounded aircraft and directives would be devised to institutionalize clean-up drive of heritage sites, said the minister. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati added that Bharatpur Airport would be expanded. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister said he has ensured online ticket system for Nepal Airlines Corporation during his tenure. He also said there has been managerial reforms and sanitation drive as well as tangible progresses in the aviation security, Lumbini Master Plan and internet access among others. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16882', 'image' => '20230228054902_20190113122644_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 17:48:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17143', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Export of Readymade Garment from Nepal Increases this Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: There has been an increase in export of readymade garments from Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">February 28: There has been an increase in export of readymade garments from Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the Center for Trade and Export Promotion, the export of readymade garments increased by Rs 510 million during this period compared to the previous year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">From mid-July to mid-January of last fiscal year (FY 2021/22), a total of 6.88 million units of readymade garments worth Rs 4.3 billion were exported from Nepal. In the same period of the current fiscal year, the export value of readymade garments has increased to Rs 4.81 billion. During this period, 7.58 million units of clothing have been exported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Data shows that most of the readymade garments produced in Nepal are exported to 12 countries in the world. In the first seven months of this year, clothes worth Rs 1.9 billion were exported to the United States of America, Rs 790 million to Britain, Rs 520 million to Germany, Rs 320 million to France and Rs 310 million to Japan.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Similarly, readymade garment worth Rs 240 million were exported to the Netherlands, Rs 180 million to Italy, Rs 170 million to Australia, Rs 150 million to Canada, and Rs 130 million to India. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Likewise, readymade garments worth Rs 130 million and Rs 100 million were exported to Denmark and Austria, respectively. Apart from these countries, Nepal also exported readymade garments worth Rs 690 million to other countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Pashupati Dev Pandey, chairman of Nepal Readymade Garments Association, despite the increase in the export of readymade garments, the situation is not satisfactory. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"We should have further increased exports, but that has not happened. The government has a lot of work to do in this sector to increase exports. The main thing is that the state organs should be export friendly," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Pandey, the interest rate is high. The prices of raw materials have gone up, workers are abandoning this sector. Overall, there is no working environment, added Pandey.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Businessmen involved in readymade garment industry complain that textiles and garments, which are viewed in the same way around the world, are viewed differently in Nepal. They say that the government has not given all the facilities to the garment industry that it has given to the textile industry.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Bhim Giri, general secretary of Nepal Readymade Garment Association, says that the government should give more concessions to businessmen and also increase coordination and cooperation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">“Businessmen need refinancing facility. A little was received right after the onset of coronavirus pandemic. It has not happened since then. The government should make necessary arrangement for refinancing. Similarly, it is necessary for the government to make arrangements for yarn production in the country,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to General Secretary Giri, there is a need to increase the number of industries as there is a good response and more orders coming from the foreign market for readymade garments produced in Nepal. According to him, the government and the private sector should move forward hand-in-hand.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16881', 'image' => '20230228030446_1677545322.Clipboard14.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 15:04:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17142', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Microfinance Companies Need to Increase Interest Rate on Savings', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Microfinance companies need to increase the interest rate on customers’ savings, as per the new provision fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: Microfinance companies need to increase the interest rate on customers’ savings, as per the new provision fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). The central bank recently amended the Unified Directives 2078 making it mandatory for microfinance companies to fix the minimum interest rate on savings at 50 percent of the maximum interest on loans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The central bank introduced such measures after it was found that some microfinance companies which extended credit at an interest rate of 15 percent were giving just 2 percent interest on deposits to the customers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data published by the Nepal Rastra Bank, the average interest on the savings of microfinance institutions was 6.45 per cent in the month of Asoj (mid-September to mid-October last year), while the lowest interest was given by Support, Mankamana, and Ganpati microfinance companies with a minimum of 2 per cent interest.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank said that although some of the 64 microfinance institutions in operation give 10 to 15 percent interest, most of them give interest in single digit. Lately, even commercial banks have been giving interest in double digits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prakashraj Sharma, president of the Nepal Microfinance Bankers Association, said that the interest rate of microfinance should be competitive according to the market. He shared that it is unethical to give 1 to 2 percent interest rate to customers in the current situation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The interest rate given by microfinance should be close to that of the commercial banks," Sharma said adding, "It is wrong to give a lower interest rate than the prevailing one in the market. He suggested that although the new system of the NRB has provision to increase the interest rate, to make it practical, the system of the base rate and spread rate should also be implemented in microfinance.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Sharma, the central bank should implement the provision of base rate and spread rate like in commercial banks rather than setting a limit on the interest rate of microfinance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"This will regulate the interest rate of microfinance companies."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Microfinance companies have been investing by taking wholesale loans from banks and financial institutions. Although these institutions cannot collect deposits from the general public, they collect deposits from customers in the name of mandatory savings and optional savings. Because there is a rule of mandatory savings to take loans, they are giving low-interest rates to the general people who have no other option than to deposit money in return of low interest. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB has tightened microfinance for the first time after they started being criticized for exploiting the customers with high-interest rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NRB, as of mid-October last year, microfinance institutions collected more than Rs 164 billion in deposits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the deposit collection, Rs 38.9 billion is under mandatory savings, Rs 82.7 billion under optional savings, and Rs 25.7 billion under gradual savings. Similarly, they have collected Rs 2.17 billion under general public deposits and Rs 15.21 billion in other deposit category.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nirdhan Uthan and Chimeki Laghubitta are allowed to collect deposits from the general public. Microfinance companies have 5.9 million members and disbursed loans to 3.3 million members.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16880', 'image' => '20230228023732_1677550297.122.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 14:36:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17141', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Few Places of Hill Areas to Receive Light Rainfall Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: One or two parts of the hill areas in the country are expected to receive light rainfall coupled with lightning today (Tuesday) afternoon.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: One or two parts of the hill areas in the country are expected to receive light rainfall coupled with lightning today (Tuesday) afternoon with the weather becoming generally cloudy, said the Meteorological Forecasting Division. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Light snowfall is likely in one or two parts of the high hills and mountainous areas, said the division. The remaining areas of the country will have a clear weather in general. The westerly wind is having a general impact while there is still the influence of the local wind in the hill areas, thus leading to this condition of the weather, the division said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the weather in hill areas will be partly cloudy tonight, and the rest of the country will have fair weather in general. One or two places in the hill and mountainous areas of Province 1, Gandaki and Karnali provinces are predicted to witness light snowfall. In view of the condition of the weather, the division has urged people of the vulnerable parts to adopt caution. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16879', 'image' => '20230228014128_weatherrrr.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 13:40:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17140', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Credit Flow in Agricultural Sector of Madhes Province Stands at Rs 54 Billion: NRB Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that there has been an investment of around Rs 54 billion in the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that there has been an investment of around Rs 54 billion in the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the study on the economic activities of the province recently published by Janakpur-based office of NRB, the credit flow from banks and financial institutions to the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province stands at Rs 53.95 billion as of FY 2078/79. This amount is 12.55 percent of the total loan invested in Madhesh Province. The study shows that most of such loans went to Sarlahi district and the least to Saptari district.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The report also mentions that there has been a significant increase in subsidized loans flowing to Madhesh Province in the review period. According to the data of the central bank, such loans have reached Rs 22.30 billion. As of Fiscal Year 2077/78, the loan under this heading was only Rs 14.5 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study report mentions that the loans increased due to the mandatory policy arrangements made by NRB on subsidized loans. It seems that the most of the concessional loans have been invested in Sarlahi (Rs 4.48 billion) and the least in Saptari (Rs 1.8 billion).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>More potential in agriculture</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A study by NRB pointed out that there is more potential for agriculture in Madhesh Province due to its geographical accessibility and abundance of arable land. The contribution of agriculture to the gross domestic product of Madhesh Province is 34 percent. This is 10 percentage points higher than the national average.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study also showed the possibility that fish production can be increased by using modern technology. The study found that almost all the districts of Madhesh Province fall among the top 10 districts in the country where fishery is done. The study concludes that since Madhesh Province has the highest population, labor supply will be easy and there is potential for commercial production of agricultural products such as vegetables, fruits, fish, meat as well as consumption market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study concluded that since the number of young people going for foreign employment from Madhesh Province is high, there is a possibility to increase productivity by attracting young people who have returned from abroad with capital, motivation, confidence and advanced technological knowledge in agricultural business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB also pointed out that as there are more fertile lands in Madhesh province, there is a possibility that it can be developed as a pocket area for food and vegetable production by expanding the area of irrigation.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16878', 'image' => '20230228113510_1677550188.121.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 11:33:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17139', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Korean Company to Manufacture EV in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Nepal's NK Motors Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with a Korean company, SDK, to produce electric vehicles (EV) in Province 1.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: Nepal's NK Motors Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with a Korean company, SDK, to produce electric vehicles (EV) in Province 1. The agreement was signed by representatives of NK Motors Pvt. Ltd and SDK in South Korea.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the agreement signed in the presence of TR Dhakal, managing director of NK Motors, an electric vehicle manufacturing industry will be established with an investment of about Rs 3 billion. Tikaram Puri, chairman of NK Motors Pvt Ltd, informed New Business Age that the proposed industry will be established at a suitable location within Province 1. The industry will produce school and college buses and vehicles for private and public purpose.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, a delegation of the Korean company will visit Nepal in March and select a suitable location. He also informed that the target is to send the products to the market within a year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16877', 'image' => '20230228105435_1677548740.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 10:53:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17138', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ritualistic Pole of Fagu Festival Installed at Hanumandhoka Durbar Square', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The festival of Fagu has formally commenced with the installation of the ritualistic wooden pole with the 'Chir' at the top end in front of Hanumandhoka Durbar in Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday morning. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The festival of Fagu has formally commenced with the installation of the ritualistic wooden pole with the 'Chir' at the top end in front of Hanumandhoka Durbar in Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday morning. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Chir is a tuft of colourful strips of cloth tied to the top end of the pole symbolizing the beginning of Fagu, also called Holi, the festival of colours. The wooden pole is erected at this spot on the eighth day of the waxing moon in the month of Fagun as per the time-honoured custom. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pole was installed at the auspicious time of 7.45am on Monday, the Nepal Calendar Determination Committee said. The people from the Manandhar community are responsible for the erection of the Chir at Hanumandhoka Durbar area. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Fagu festival is celebrated with fervor and enthusiasm in the hill districts including in the Kathmandu Valley from the eighth day of the bright half to the full moon day in the month of Fagun. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">People smeared each other with different colours and threw colour powder in celebration at Hanumandhoka Durbar area when the Chir was installed, signaling the start of the Fagu festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This ritualistic pole is pulled down on the full moon day. The main day of Fagu festival falls on March 6 for the people of the hill districts and on March 7 for the people of the Tarai-Madhesh region this year. -- RSS</span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16876', 'image' => '20230227094421_HB_KTM-_IMG_1215.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 21:43:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17137', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Provinces, Local Units Propose Projects of Rs 150 Billion for Supplementary and Special Grants ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2080/081 BS. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2080/081 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the National Planning Commission (NPC), the local governments have forwarded a total of 4,546 projects with the estimated budget of Rs 115.43 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the provinces have proposed 211 projects seeking Rs 27 billion to implement those projects in the upcoming fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Of the proposed projects from the local and province governments, the new projects carry the budget estimation worth Rs 121.71 billion while projects worth Rs 20.65 billion are ongoing projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As sought by the local and province governments, Rs 50.41 billion has been demanded under the special grant while Rs 71.26 billion for supplementary grant for the new projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Supplementary Grant (Third Amendment) Procedure, 2077 and the Special Grant (Third Amendment) Procedure, 2077 BS mention about the federal supplementary and special grants under which the federal government allocates budget to the province and local governments each year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NPC has entered those proposed projects in its system for project analysis and selection purpose after receiving the proposals from the province and local governments. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A team led by a NPC member shall select the projects and programmes after their thorough assessment based on the parameters given by the procedures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">For the selection of the projects, their feasibility, estimated cost and outcomes should be considered and the projects that generate compulsory liability on the part of the government would also be prioritized. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sectoral priorities are also considered for the selection of new projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The provinces were given the timeline of mid-February to propose the projects and programmes under the federal supplementary and special grants while the local levels were to submit such projects by mid-January. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16875', 'image' => '20230227084256_Grants-April-2019.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 20:42:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17136', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Economic Growth Rate in First Quarter Drops Below the Figure of Pandemic Period', 'sub_title' => 'Economic Growth in First Three Months Stands at 0.8 Percent against the Annual Growth Target of 8 Percent', 'summary' => 'February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bijay Damase</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first three months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23), the size of the economy ie the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased by 0.8 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The economic growth rate of the first quarter of last fiscal year (FY 2021/22) was 3 percent. According to the figures released by the National Statistics Office under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the economic growth rate was 6.9 percent in the second quarter of the same year, 2.9 percent in the third quarter and 9 percent in the fourth quarter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the year 2020/21, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak. Even in the first quarter of that year, the economic growth rate was 0.9 percent. The economic growth rate of the first quarter of the current fiscal year is less than that in the corresponding period of the year of the pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">All sectors have been affected since the beginning of the current fiscal year. According to the National Statistics Office, the economic growth rate in the first quarter of the current FY is less than 1 percent, which has raised questions about the working style of the government.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Facts and figures show that the economy is getting more and more in crisis when the government sets ambitious goals but is unable to deliver on its commitments due to its working style.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government had set a target of achieving 8 percent economic growth in the current fiscal year's budget. However, while revising the budget, Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel admitted that the target is unattainable. Due to the tightening of import, there has been a decline in revenue collection.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the National Statistics Office, which was earlier known as the Central Bureau of Statistics, the output of the mining and mineral sector has declined the most in the first quarter of this year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the first quarter, the production of mining and mineral sector decreased by 29.2 percent. In the same period last year, this sector had increased by 24 percent. In particular, this sector has declined due to the extreme reduction in the demand for cement, the main construction material. Due to the slowdown in construction activities in the country, the demand for construction materials such as cement and sand has decreased. Due to the decrease in public construction and the slow pace of private housing construction, the consumption of such materials has decreased. The data shows that the construction sector has shrunk by 24 percent. In the same period last year, the construction sector had increased by 18 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16874', 'image' => '20230227041039_economic crisis.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 16:09:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17135', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Food Management and Trading Company Fails to Purchase Paddy as per its Target', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: It has been found that the state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC), failed to purchase paddy as per its own target. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: It has been found that the state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC), failed to purchase paddy as per its own target. According to FMTC, it was not possible to purchase paddy as per the target due to the delay in the purchase process.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">FMTC said that the problem surfaced because the government fixed the support price after most of the farmers sold the paddy and FMTC as well started buying it late.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company had set a target of buying 30,200 metric tons of paddy from the farmers for the current fiscal year, but managed to buy only 15,000 tons so far. This year, the company purchased paddy from its depots based in Rajapur, Dhangadhi, Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj, Bhairahawa, Birgunj, Biratnagar, Birtamod, Janakpur and Lahan. In some places, the purchase intermittently continues, but in some places, FMTC has already suspended the work of purchasing paddy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The delay in fixing the support price and late start of buying are the main reasons for the company not being able to buy paddy as per the target. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After most of the farmers sold the paddy, the government fixed the price of coarse paddy at Rs 2,976 per quintal and the price of medium paddy at Rs 3,128 per quintal. Even after the support price was fixed, the farmers had to protest nationwide because FMTC did not buy paddy for a long time stating that the budget was not released.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">FMTC on the other hand, said that the target of buying paddy could not be achieved because farmers sold more rice to local traders than to the company. Mohan Prakash Chand, the chief executive officer of the company, says that late pricing is one of the main reasons, but most of the farmers take loans from local traders and they are forced to sell rice to the traders, leaving less paddy for FMTC. According to Chand, another major reason for not buying paddy as per the target is low quality rice in some places as FMTC does not buy low quality rice.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the purchase of paddy has been less this year, FMTC is buying rice for storage. The company has also invited tenders to buy 142,000 quintals of rice. Bhishma Neupane, head of the procurement department of the company, said that they are going to buy rice after not being able to buy paddy as per the target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company is preparing to buy 15,000 quintals of rice from Lahan, 10,000 quintals from Biratnagar, 3,000 quintals from Birtamod, 22,000 quintals from Birgunj, 20,300 quintals from Kathmandu, 20,000 quintals from Nepalgunj and 7,800 quintals from Bhairahawa. Similarly, the company plans to buy 2,000 quintals of rice from Tulsipur, 20,100 quintals from Surkhet and 22,000 quintals from Dhangadhi.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16873', 'image' => '20230227035714_640px-Rice_Plants_(IRRI).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 15:56:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17134', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UML to Quit Government ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The CPN (UML) has decided to quit the government, the state-owned RSS reported on Monday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The CPN (UML) has decided to quit the government, the state-owned RSS reported on Monday. The party's Secretariat Meeting held at the party central office at Chyasal, Lalitpur on Monday morning decided to quit the government, UML vice Chair Bishnu Prasad Paudel told RSS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He added that the UML has also decided to withdraw its support to the government. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CPN (UML), which is the second largest party in parliament, took such decision after its coalition partner CPN (Maoist Centre) sided with the Nepali Congress (NC) for the upcoming presidential election. CPN (UML) had backed Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to lead the government as the prime minister in return for Dahal’s support in the presidential election. However, in the changed political context after the NC also backed Maoist Centre, the party decided to seek national consensus for a presidential candidate instead of backing the UML. This ultimately led to a situation in which UML has been forced to quit government. However, PM Dahal still enjoys overwhelming support with the NC backup.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16872', 'image' => '20230227032505_PRO_KTM_PRACHANDA_SPEECH.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 15:24:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17133', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Loan Instalment Amount of Pokhara Int’l Airport Exceeds Income Target', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) Office aims to earn Rs 300 million annually. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) Office aims to earn Rs 300 million annually. However, the annual instalment to be paid is Rs 2.4 billion which includes the principal and interest on the loan taken for the construction of the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The instalment payment period of this airport, which has been in operation since January 1, starts from mid-March. The Government of Nepal is scheduled to pay the first instalment of Rs 1.2 billion to the Chinese Exim Bank in this period. The instalment payment period is about to start after the grace period of 7 years for the loan given to Nepal Civil Aviation Authority by the government through the bank is about to end.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The authority has already said that it will not be possible to pay the instalment with the income generated by the operation of Pokhara International Airport. However, CAAN says it is not under pressure to pay the instalment this time. According to the authority's loan repayment schedule, the instalment must be paid on March 15.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Gyanendra Bhul, the information officer of the authority, said that even if the authority cannot pay the installment, it will be paid through the Ministry of Finance. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even if the government is not able to pay the instalments, the accumulated profit of the authority is good. According to the authority's data, the accumulated profit of CAAN is Rs 1465.3 billion. The authority will be able to pay the instalments from the accumulated profit. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the loan schedule to be paid semi-annually, Rs 1.2 billion should be paid in 6 months, while Rs 2.4 billion must be paid in instalments annually.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The instalments must be paid within 20 years of taking the loan (Ashoj 1, 2092). The government had agreed with the bank in 2072 to build Pokhara International Airport. After Pokhara International Airport came into operation, the Pokhara Airport Office has predicted that the profit of the current fiscal year (FY) will also double.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jashodha Subedi, the spokesperson of the airport office, informed that the airport, which earned Rs 130 million in the year 2078/79, is aiming to earn more than double (up to Rs 300 million) in the current year 2079/80. Currently, only domestic flights are operating in Pokhara.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16871', 'image' => '20230227020513_Pokhara-Airport-800X533.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 14:04:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17132', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Fixes Support Price of Wheat', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The government has fixed the support price of wheat for the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: The government has fixed the support price of wheat for the current fiscal year. The support price has been fixed at Rs 3,351 per quintal, which is Rs 186 more compared to last year. Upon suggestion from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the cabinet approved the support price proposed by the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had fixed the support price of wheat at Rs 3,150 per quintal for the first time in the fiscal year 2076/77. In the last four years, the government increased the price of wheat by Rs 337 per quintal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stakeholders say that the government has been miserly in setting the price of wheat, which is known as unprofitable crop because the production is not worth the cost and efforts incurred. Farmers and agricultural activists express doubt that the support price set so miserly will even be implemented.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Food Campaign for Agriculture said that the government's attention should be focused on its implementation rather than setting the support price. According to him, the government sets the support price every year, but it is not implemented. Therefore, he said that the support price has caused more pain than relief to the farmers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of the National Farmers' Commission, Prem Dangal also said that the government's focus should be on the implementation of support prices. According to him, the practice of setting support prices and not implementing them should be brought to an end.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has become customary for the government to set the support price of rice and wheat late every year, and the state-owned food supply and trading companies do not purchase the produce as per the target. In terms of production area, wheat is the third major food crop of Nepal. According to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, more than 2.1 million metric tons of wheat is produced in Nepal annually. But recently, the area of wheat production is decreasing. In the last 7 years, the area under wheat cultivation in Nepal has decreased by 51,300 hectares.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16870', 'image' => '20230227011337_Wheat_photo-cred-Adobe-stock_E-2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 13:12:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17146', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Extends Financial Assistance of Rs 54 Million to 129 Individuals', 'sub_title' => 'Nearly Rs 45 Billion Budget Transferred in Seven Months', 'summary' => 'February 28: The government provided financial assistance worth Rs 54.6 million to 129 individuals in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: The government provided financial assistance worth Rs 54.6 million to 129 individuals in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to a report published by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, the financial assistance was provided to those individuals based on cabinet decisions. The report provides details of issues related to financial assistance, additional allocation, budget transfer, resource allocation and the amount spent under the heading of ‘finance miscellany’. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the report, the government has transferred nearly Rs 44.74 billion budget in the review period including Rs 300 million against the rules and regulations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per Rule 32 of the Financial Work Procedure and Fiscal Liability Regulation, 2077, the government cannot transfer the budget nor can it make additional release in the initial three months of the fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Going against this regulation, the government transferred an amount of Rs 300 million in the Nepali month of Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September) alone and released additional amount of Rs 2.25 billion, according to the Finance Ministry. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the report, Rs 200 million allocated for the Department of Railways was transferred to the Road Division Office, Doti for the land compensation purpose during last July/August. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Rs 100 million budget allocated for National Information Technology Centre under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology was transferred to the construction of a building for the Postal Office Orientation Centre. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report also states that the government has agreed to allocate financial resources of Rs 63.1 billion for multiyear projects. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16884', 'image' => '20230228100447_PO-KTM-19-RSS2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 22:04:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17145', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Launches Integrated Website Management System', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: The government has operated the Integrated Website Management System (IWMS) and the web monitoring system in a bid to strengthen security system by bringing uniformity in websites of all government bodies. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 28: The government has operated the Integrated Website Management System (IWMS) and the web monitoring system in a bid to strengthen security system by bringing uniformity in websites of all government sectors. <br /> The two systems were developed by the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) in line with the Development and Management of Government Agencies Websites Directive, 2078 BS. Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma inaugurated both the systems amid a function on Tuesday. <br /> Government agencies under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology including the Department of Information and Broadcasting, the Postal Services Department, the DoIT and the Department of Printing have started operating their websites using the new system. <br /> The service will be gradually expanded to other ministries and their subordinate bodies, said the DoIT. <br /> On the occasion, Minister Sharma expressed the hope that the new systems would help the ease the access of service seekers and decrease economic burden. <br /> It would also help identify and resolve problems like website down and hacks and operate websites in a safe way, she added. <br /> The procedure to manage the systems has been already passed, and they would be effectively managed through their implementation and monitoring, said the minister. <br /> Communications and Information Technology Minister Sharma stressed the need for expanding the system across the country including at the local level. <br /> "There is a tendency among offices and agencies of not running their own websites, thus not ensuring their security and adding financial burden to the state coffers. <br /> The systems have been developed in a way to provide easy and accessible services to the service seekers. It will also help implement the monitoring part effectively," she said. <br /> Similarly, the Ministry's secretary Dr Baikuntha Aryal said the systems aim to bring uniformity in all government agencies' websites and help provide the same information in an easy and accessible way. <br /> "This has helped reduce expenses each ministry and government agency has to spend in building their own websites. They can create websites for themselves on their own through the same kind of website templates. It also does not require qualified workforce," he said. <br /> <br /> "The system continuously monitors and alerts where and which site is going to be hacked or go down for what reasons. It will help make government websites more safe and to improve immediately if problems surface," added Aryal. <br /> Similarly, Director General of the Department of Information Technology, Prem Charan Shrestha, opined that the system not only helps operate government websites in a safe manner, it would help recover immediately after carrying out monitoring of the government online system if it is hacked. <br /> The websites developed through this system will have disabled-friendly features as well as sections like frequently asked questions, complaints management and automated assistant. <br /> A press statement issued by the department mentions that the web monitoring system was developed to minimize risk of hacking. -- RSS</span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16883', 'image' => '20230228061535_RS_KTM_RATL505302282023.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 18:14:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17144', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Minister Unveils 10-Point Action Plan ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has introduced a 10-point action plan ranging from making diplomatic efforts to operate the Gautam Buddha International Airport in full fledge to taking forward the Civil Aviation Bill. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has introduced a 10-point action plan ranging from making diplomatic efforts to operate the Gautam Buddha International Airport in full fledge to taking forward the Civil Aviation Bill. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati made the action plan public amid a press conference at his office in Singha Durbar on Monday. The minister also presented the details of his undertakings and 5-point reforms achieved in the past 42 days since he assumed office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourism minister shared that preparations were afoot to establish the Pashupati University. Other plans include a three-month-long Pashupati cleanup campaign, formation of a permanent unit in the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal to receive complaints on gender-based violence among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, an investigation committee would be formed to look into the grounded aircraft and directives would be devised to institutionalize clean-up drive of heritage sites, said the minister. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati added that Bharatpur Airport would be expanded. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister said he has ensured online ticket system for Nepal Airlines Corporation during his tenure. He also said there has been managerial reforms and sanitation drive as well as tangible progresses in the aviation security, Lumbini Master Plan and internet access among others. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16882', 'image' => '20230228054902_20190113122644_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 17:48:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17143', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Export of Readymade Garment from Nepal Increases this Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: There has been an increase in export of readymade garments from Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">February 28: There has been an increase in export of readymade garments from Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the Center for Trade and Export Promotion, the export of readymade garments increased by Rs 510 million during this period compared to the previous year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">From mid-July to mid-January of last fiscal year (FY 2021/22), a total of 6.88 million units of readymade garments worth Rs 4.3 billion were exported from Nepal. In the same period of the current fiscal year, the export value of readymade garments has increased to Rs 4.81 billion. During this period, 7.58 million units of clothing have been exported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Data shows that most of the readymade garments produced in Nepal are exported to 12 countries in the world. In the first seven months of this year, clothes worth Rs 1.9 billion were exported to the United States of America, Rs 790 million to Britain, Rs 520 million to Germany, Rs 320 million to France and Rs 310 million to Japan.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Similarly, readymade garment worth Rs 240 million were exported to the Netherlands, Rs 180 million to Italy, Rs 170 million to Australia, Rs 150 million to Canada, and Rs 130 million to India. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Likewise, readymade garments worth Rs 130 million and Rs 100 million were exported to Denmark and Austria, respectively. Apart from these countries, Nepal also exported readymade garments worth Rs 690 million to other countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Pashupati Dev Pandey, chairman of Nepal Readymade Garments Association, despite the increase in the export of readymade garments, the situation is not satisfactory. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"We should have further increased exports, but that has not happened. The government has a lot of work to do in this sector to increase exports. The main thing is that the state organs should be export friendly," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Pandey, the interest rate is high. The prices of raw materials have gone up, workers are abandoning this sector. Overall, there is no working environment, added Pandey.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Businessmen involved in readymade garment industry complain that textiles and garments, which are viewed in the same way around the world, are viewed differently in Nepal. They say that the government has not given all the facilities to the garment industry that it has given to the textile industry.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Bhim Giri, general secretary of Nepal Readymade Garment Association, says that the government should give more concessions to businessmen and also increase coordination and cooperation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">“Businessmen need refinancing facility. A little was received right after the onset of coronavirus pandemic. It has not happened since then. The government should make necessary arrangement for refinancing. Similarly, it is necessary for the government to make arrangements for yarn production in the country,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to General Secretary Giri, there is a need to increase the number of industries as there is a good response and more orders coming from the foreign market for readymade garments produced in Nepal. According to him, the government and the private sector should move forward hand-in-hand.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16881', 'image' => '20230228030446_1677545322.Clipboard14.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 15:04:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17142', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Microfinance Companies Need to Increase Interest Rate on Savings', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Microfinance companies need to increase the interest rate on customers’ savings, as per the new provision fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: Microfinance companies need to increase the interest rate on customers’ savings, as per the new provision fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). The central bank recently amended the Unified Directives 2078 making it mandatory for microfinance companies to fix the minimum interest rate on savings at 50 percent of the maximum interest on loans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The central bank introduced such measures after it was found that some microfinance companies which extended credit at an interest rate of 15 percent were giving just 2 percent interest on deposits to the customers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data published by the Nepal Rastra Bank, the average interest on the savings of microfinance institutions was 6.45 per cent in the month of Asoj (mid-September to mid-October last year), while the lowest interest was given by Support, Mankamana, and Ganpati microfinance companies with a minimum of 2 per cent interest.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank said that although some of the 64 microfinance institutions in operation give 10 to 15 percent interest, most of them give interest in single digit. Lately, even commercial banks have been giving interest in double digits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prakashraj Sharma, president of the Nepal Microfinance Bankers Association, said that the interest rate of microfinance should be competitive according to the market. He shared that it is unethical to give 1 to 2 percent interest rate to customers in the current situation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The interest rate given by microfinance should be close to that of the commercial banks," Sharma said adding, "It is wrong to give a lower interest rate than the prevailing one in the market. He suggested that although the new system of the NRB has provision to increase the interest rate, to make it practical, the system of the base rate and spread rate should also be implemented in microfinance.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Sharma, the central bank should implement the provision of base rate and spread rate like in commercial banks rather than setting a limit on the interest rate of microfinance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"This will regulate the interest rate of microfinance companies."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Microfinance companies have been investing by taking wholesale loans from banks and financial institutions. Although these institutions cannot collect deposits from the general public, they collect deposits from customers in the name of mandatory savings and optional savings. Because there is a rule of mandatory savings to take loans, they are giving low-interest rates to the general people who have no other option than to deposit money in return of low interest. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB has tightened microfinance for the first time after they started being criticized for exploiting the customers with high-interest rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NRB, as of mid-October last year, microfinance institutions collected more than Rs 164 billion in deposits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the deposit collection, Rs 38.9 billion is under mandatory savings, Rs 82.7 billion under optional savings, and Rs 25.7 billion under gradual savings. Similarly, they have collected Rs 2.17 billion under general public deposits and Rs 15.21 billion in other deposit category.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nirdhan Uthan and Chimeki Laghubitta are allowed to collect deposits from the general public. Microfinance companies have 5.9 million members and disbursed loans to 3.3 million members.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16880', 'image' => '20230228023732_1677550297.122.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 14:36:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17141', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Few Places of Hill Areas to Receive Light Rainfall Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: One or two parts of the hill areas in the country are expected to receive light rainfall coupled with lightning today (Tuesday) afternoon.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: One or two parts of the hill areas in the country are expected to receive light rainfall coupled with lightning today (Tuesday) afternoon with the weather becoming generally cloudy, said the Meteorological Forecasting Division. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Light snowfall is likely in one or two parts of the high hills and mountainous areas, said the division. The remaining areas of the country will have a clear weather in general. The westerly wind is having a general impact while there is still the influence of the local wind in the hill areas, thus leading to this condition of the weather, the division said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the weather in hill areas will be partly cloudy tonight, and the rest of the country will have fair weather in general. One or two places in the hill and mountainous areas of Province 1, Gandaki and Karnali provinces are predicted to witness light snowfall. In view of the condition of the weather, the division has urged people of the vulnerable parts to adopt caution. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16879', 'image' => '20230228014128_weatherrrr.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 13:40:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17140', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Credit Flow in Agricultural Sector of Madhes Province Stands at Rs 54 Billion: NRB Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that there has been an investment of around Rs 54 billion in the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that there has been an investment of around Rs 54 billion in the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the study on the economic activities of the province recently published by Janakpur-based office of NRB, the credit flow from banks and financial institutions to the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province stands at Rs 53.95 billion as of FY 2078/79. This amount is 12.55 percent of the total loan invested in Madhesh Province. The study shows that most of such loans went to Sarlahi district and the least to Saptari district.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The report also mentions that there has been a significant increase in subsidized loans flowing to Madhesh Province in the review period. According to the data of the central bank, such loans have reached Rs 22.30 billion. As of Fiscal Year 2077/78, the loan under this heading was only Rs 14.5 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study report mentions that the loans increased due to the mandatory policy arrangements made by NRB on subsidized loans. It seems that the most of the concessional loans have been invested in Sarlahi (Rs 4.48 billion) and the least in Saptari (Rs 1.8 billion).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>More potential in agriculture</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A study by NRB pointed out that there is more potential for agriculture in Madhesh Province due to its geographical accessibility and abundance of arable land. The contribution of agriculture to the gross domestic product of Madhesh Province is 34 percent. This is 10 percentage points higher than the national average.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study also showed the possibility that fish production can be increased by using modern technology. The study found that almost all the districts of Madhesh Province fall among the top 10 districts in the country where fishery is done. The study concludes that since Madhesh Province has the highest population, labor supply will be easy and there is potential for commercial production of agricultural products such as vegetables, fruits, fish, meat as well as consumption market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study concluded that since the number of young people going for foreign employment from Madhesh Province is high, there is a possibility to increase productivity by attracting young people who have returned from abroad with capital, motivation, confidence and advanced technological knowledge in agricultural business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB also pointed out that as there are more fertile lands in Madhesh province, there is a possibility that it can be developed as a pocket area for food and vegetable production by expanding the area of irrigation.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16878', 'image' => '20230228113510_1677550188.121.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 11:33:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17139', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Korean Company to Manufacture EV in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Nepal's NK Motors Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with a Korean company, SDK, to produce electric vehicles (EV) in Province 1.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: Nepal's NK Motors Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with a Korean company, SDK, to produce electric vehicles (EV) in Province 1. The agreement was signed by representatives of NK Motors Pvt. Ltd and SDK in South Korea.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the agreement signed in the presence of TR Dhakal, managing director of NK Motors, an electric vehicle manufacturing industry will be established with an investment of about Rs 3 billion. Tikaram Puri, chairman of NK Motors Pvt Ltd, informed New Business Age that the proposed industry will be established at a suitable location within Province 1. The industry will produce school and college buses and vehicles for private and public purpose.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, a delegation of the Korean company will visit Nepal in March and select a suitable location. He also informed that the target is to send the products to the market within a year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16877', 'image' => '20230228105435_1677548740.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 10:53:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17138', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ritualistic Pole of Fagu Festival Installed at Hanumandhoka Durbar Square', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The festival of Fagu has formally commenced with the installation of the ritualistic wooden pole with the 'Chir' at the top end in front of Hanumandhoka Durbar in Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday morning. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The festival of Fagu has formally commenced with the installation of the ritualistic wooden pole with the 'Chir' at the top end in front of Hanumandhoka Durbar in Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday morning. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Chir is a tuft of colourful strips of cloth tied to the top end of the pole symbolizing the beginning of Fagu, also called Holi, the festival of colours. The wooden pole is erected at this spot on the eighth day of the waxing moon in the month of Fagun as per the time-honoured custom. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pole was installed at the auspicious time of 7.45am on Monday, the Nepal Calendar Determination Committee said. The people from the Manandhar community are responsible for the erection of the Chir at Hanumandhoka Durbar area. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Fagu festival is celebrated with fervor and enthusiasm in the hill districts including in the Kathmandu Valley from the eighth day of the bright half to the full moon day in the month of Fagun. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">People smeared each other with different colours and threw colour powder in celebration at Hanumandhoka Durbar area when the Chir was installed, signaling the start of the Fagu festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This ritualistic pole is pulled down on the full moon day. The main day of Fagu festival falls on March 6 for the people of the hill districts and on March 7 for the people of the Tarai-Madhesh region this year. -- RSS</span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16876', 'image' => '20230227094421_HB_KTM-_IMG_1215.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 21:43:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17137', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Provinces, Local Units Propose Projects of Rs 150 Billion for Supplementary and Special Grants ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2080/081 BS. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2080/081 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the National Planning Commission (NPC), the local governments have forwarded a total of 4,546 projects with the estimated budget of Rs 115.43 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the provinces have proposed 211 projects seeking Rs 27 billion to implement those projects in the upcoming fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Of the proposed projects from the local and province governments, the new projects carry the budget estimation worth Rs 121.71 billion while projects worth Rs 20.65 billion are ongoing projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As sought by the local and province governments, Rs 50.41 billion has been demanded under the special grant while Rs 71.26 billion for supplementary grant for the new projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Supplementary Grant (Third Amendment) Procedure, 2077 and the Special Grant (Third Amendment) Procedure, 2077 BS mention about the federal supplementary and special grants under which the federal government allocates budget to the province and local governments each year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NPC has entered those proposed projects in its system for project analysis and selection purpose after receiving the proposals from the province and local governments. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A team led by a NPC member shall select the projects and programmes after their thorough assessment based on the parameters given by the procedures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">For the selection of the projects, their feasibility, estimated cost and outcomes should be considered and the projects that generate compulsory liability on the part of the government would also be prioritized. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sectoral priorities are also considered for the selection of new projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The provinces were given the timeline of mid-February to propose the projects and programmes under the federal supplementary and special grants while the local levels were to submit such projects by mid-January. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16875', 'image' => '20230227084256_Grants-April-2019.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 20:42:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17136', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Economic Growth Rate in First Quarter Drops Below the Figure of Pandemic Period', 'sub_title' => 'Economic Growth in First Three Months Stands at 0.8 Percent against the Annual Growth Target of 8 Percent', 'summary' => 'February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bijay Damase</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first three months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23), the size of the economy ie the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased by 0.8 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The economic growth rate of the first quarter of last fiscal year (FY 2021/22) was 3 percent. According to the figures released by the National Statistics Office under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the economic growth rate was 6.9 percent in the second quarter of the same year, 2.9 percent in the third quarter and 9 percent in the fourth quarter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the year 2020/21, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak. Even in the first quarter of that year, the economic growth rate was 0.9 percent. The economic growth rate of the first quarter of the current fiscal year is less than that in the corresponding period of the year of the pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">All sectors have been affected since the beginning of the current fiscal year. According to the National Statistics Office, the economic growth rate in the first quarter of the current FY is less than 1 percent, which has raised questions about the working style of the government.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Facts and figures show that the economy is getting more and more in crisis when the government sets ambitious goals but is unable to deliver on its commitments due to its working style.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government had set a target of achieving 8 percent economic growth in the current fiscal year's budget. However, while revising the budget, Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel admitted that the target is unattainable. Due to the tightening of import, there has been a decline in revenue collection.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the National Statistics Office, which was earlier known as the Central Bureau of Statistics, the output of the mining and mineral sector has declined the most in the first quarter of this year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the first quarter, the production of mining and mineral sector decreased by 29.2 percent. In the same period last year, this sector had increased by 24 percent. In particular, this sector has declined due to the extreme reduction in the demand for cement, the main construction material. Due to the slowdown in construction activities in the country, the demand for construction materials such as cement and sand has decreased. Due to the decrease in public construction and the slow pace of private housing construction, the consumption of such materials has decreased. The data shows that the construction sector has shrunk by 24 percent. In the same period last year, the construction sector had increased by 18 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16874', 'image' => '20230227041039_economic crisis.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 16:09:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17135', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Food Management and Trading Company Fails to Purchase Paddy as per its Target', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: It has been found that the state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC), failed to purchase paddy as per its own target. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: It has been found that the state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC), failed to purchase paddy as per its own target. According to FMTC, it was not possible to purchase paddy as per the target due to the delay in the purchase process.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">FMTC said that the problem surfaced because the government fixed the support price after most of the farmers sold the paddy and FMTC as well started buying it late.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company had set a target of buying 30,200 metric tons of paddy from the farmers for the current fiscal year, but managed to buy only 15,000 tons so far. This year, the company purchased paddy from its depots based in Rajapur, Dhangadhi, Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj, Bhairahawa, Birgunj, Biratnagar, Birtamod, Janakpur and Lahan. In some places, the purchase intermittently continues, but in some places, FMTC has already suspended the work of purchasing paddy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The delay in fixing the support price and late start of buying are the main reasons for the company not being able to buy paddy as per the target. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After most of the farmers sold the paddy, the government fixed the price of coarse paddy at Rs 2,976 per quintal and the price of medium paddy at Rs 3,128 per quintal. Even after the support price was fixed, the farmers had to protest nationwide because FMTC did not buy paddy for a long time stating that the budget was not released.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">FMTC on the other hand, said that the target of buying paddy could not be achieved because farmers sold more rice to local traders than to the company. Mohan Prakash Chand, the chief executive officer of the company, says that late pricing is one of the main reasons, but most of the farmers take loans from local traders and they are forced to sell rice to the traders, leaving less paddy for FMTC. According to Chand, another major reason for not buying paddy as per the target is low quality rice in some places as FMTC does not buy low quality rice.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the purchase of paddy has been less this year, FMTC is buying rice for storage. The company has also invited tenders to buy 142,000 quintals of rice. Bhishma Neupane, head of the procurement department of the company, said that they are going to buy rice after not being able to buy paddy as per the target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company is preparing to buy 15,000 quintals of rice from Lahan, 10,000 quintals from Biratnagar, 3,000 quintals from Birtamod, 22,000 quintals from Birgunj, 20,300 quintals from Kathmandu, 20,000 quintals from Nepalgunj and 7,800 quintals from Bhairahawa. Similarly, the company plans to buy 2,000 quintals of rice from Tulsipur, 20,100 quintals from Surkhet and 22,000 quintals from Dhangadhi.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16873', 'image' => '20230227035714_640px-Rice_Plants_(IRRI).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 15:56:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17134', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UML to Quit Government ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The CPN (UML) has decided to quit the government, the state-owned RSS reported on Monday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The CPN (UML) has decided to quit the government, the state-owned RSS reported on Monday. The party's Secretariat Meeting held at the party central office at Chyasal, Lalitpur on Monday morning decided to quit the government, UML vice Chair Bishnu Prasad Paudel told RSS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He added that the UML has also decided to withdraw its support to the government. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CPN (UML), which is the second largest party in parliament, took such decision after its coalition partner CPN (Maoist Centre) sided with the Nepali Congress (NC) for the upcoming presidential election. CPN (UML) had backed Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to lead the government as the prime minister in return for Dahal’s support in the presidential election. However, in the changed political context after the NC also backed Maoist Centre, the party decided to seek national consensus for a presidential candidate instead of backing the UML. This ultimately led to a situation in which UML has been forced to quit government. However, PM Dahal still enjoys overwhelming support with the NC backup.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16872', 'image' => '20230227032505_PRO_KTM_PRACHANDA_SPEECH.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 15:24:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17133', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Loan Instalment Amount of Pokhara Int’l Airport Exceeds Income Target', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) Office aims to earn Rs 300 million annually. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) Office aims to earn Rs 300 million annually. However, the annual instalment to be paid is Rs 2.4 billion which includes the principal and interest on the loan taken for the construction of the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The instalment payment period of this airport, which has been in operation since January 1, starts from mid-March. The Government of Nepal is scheduled to pay the first instalment of Rs 1.2 billion to the Chinese Exim Bank in this period. The instalment payment period is about to start after the grace period of 7 years for the loan given to Nepal Civil Aviation Authority by the government through the bank is about to end.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The authority has already said that it will not be possible to pay the instalment with the income generated by the operation of Pokhara International Airport. However, CAAN says it is not under pressure to pay the instalment this time. According to the authority's loan repayment schedule, the instalment must be paid on March 15.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Gyanendra Bhul, the information officer of the authority, said that even if the authority cannot pay the installment, it will be paid through the Ministry of Finance. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even if the government is not able to pay the instalments, the accumulated profit of the authority is good. According to the authority's data, the accumulated profit of CAAN is Rs 1465.3 billion. The authority will be able to pay the instalments from the accumulated profit. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the loan schedule to be paid semi-annually, Rs 1.2 billion should be paid in 6 months, while Rs 2.4 billion must be paid in instalments annually.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The instalments must be paid within 20 years of taking the loan (Ashoj 1, 2092). The government had agreed with the bank in 2072 to build Pokhara International Airport. After Pokhara International Airport came into operation, the Pokhara Airport Office has predicted that the profit of the current fiscal year (FY) will also double.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jashodha Subedi, the spokesperson of the airport office, informed that the airport, which earned Rs 130 million in the year 2078/79, is aiming to earn more than double (up to Rs 300 million) in the current year 2079/80. Currently, only domestic flights are operating in Pokhara.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16871', 'image' => '20230227020513_Pokhara-Airport-800X533.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 14:04:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17132', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Fixes Support Price of Wheat', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The government has fixed the support price of wheat for the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: The government has fixed the support price of wheat for the current fiscal year. The support price has been fixed at Rs 3,351 per quintal, which is Rs 186 more compared to last year. Upon suggestion from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the cabinet approved the support price proposed by the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had fixed the support price of wheat at Rs 3,150 per quintal for the first time in the fiscal year 2076/77. In the last four years, the government increased the price of wheat by Rs 337 per quintal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stakeholders say that the government has been miserly in setting the price of wheat, which is known as unprofitable crop because the production is not worth the cost and efforts incurred. Farmers and agricultural activists express doubt that the support price set so miserly will even be implemented.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Food Campaign for Agriculture said that the government's attention should be focused on its implementation rather than setting the support price. According to him, the government sets the support price every year, but it is not implemented. Therefore, he said that the support price has caused more pain than relief to the farmers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of the National Farmers' Commission, Prem Dangal also said that the government's focus should be on the implementation of support prices. According to him, the practice of setting support prices and not implementing them should be brought to an end.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has become customary for the government to set the support price of rice and wheat late every year, and the state-owned food supply and trading companies do not purchase the produce as per the target. In terms of production area, wheat is the third major food crop of Nepal. According to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, more than 2.1 million metric tons of wheat is produced in Nepal annually. But recently, the area of wheat production is decreasing. In the last 7 years, the area under wheat cultivation in Nepal has decreased by 51,300 hectares.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16870', 'image' => '20230227011337_Wheat_photo-cred-Adobe-stock_E-2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 13:12:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17146', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Extends Financial Assistance of Rs 54 Million to 129 Individuals', 'sub_title' => 'Nearly Rs 45 Billion Budget Transferred in Seven Months', 'summary' => 'February 28: The government provided financial assistance worth Rs 54.6 million to 129 individuals in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: The government provided financial assistance worth Rs 54.6 million to 129 individuals in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to a report published by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, the financial assistance was provided to those individuals based on cabinet decisions. The report provides details of issues related to financial assistance, additional allocation, budget transfer, resource allocation and the amount spent under the heading of ‘finance miscellany’. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the report, the government has transferred nearly Rs 44.74 billion budget in the review period including Rs 300 million against the rules and regulations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per Rule 32 of the Financial Work Procedure and Fiscal Liability Regulation, 2077, the government cannot transfer the budget nor can it make additional release in the initial three months of the fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Going against this regulation, the government transferred an amount of Rs 300 million in the Nepali month of Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September) alone and released additional amount of Rs 2.25 billion, according to the Finance Ministry. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the report, Rs 200 million allocated for the Department of Railways was transferred to the Road Division Office, Doti for the land compensation purpose during last July/August. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Rs 100 million budget allocated for National Information Technology Centre under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology was transferred to the construction of a building for the Postal Office Orientation Centre. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report also states that the government has agreed to allocate financial resources of Rs 63.1 billion for multiyear projects. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16884', 'image' => '20230228100447_PO-KTM-19-RSS2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 22:04:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17145', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Launches Integrated Website Management System', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: The government has operated the Integrated Website Management System (IWMS) and the web monitoring system in a bid to strengthen security system by bringing uniformity in websites of all government bodies. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 28: The government has operated the Integrated Website Management System (IWMS) and the web monitoring system in a bid to strengthen security system by bringing uniformity in websites of all government sectors. <br /> The two systems were developed by the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) in line with the Development and Management of Government Agencies Websites Directive, 2078 BS. Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma inaugurated both the systems amid a function on Tuesday. <br /> Government agencies under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology including the Department of Information and Broadcasting, the Postal Services Department, the DoIT and the Department of Printing have started operating their websites using the new system. <br /> The service will be gradually expanded to other ministries and their subordinate bodies, said the DoIT. <br /> On the occasion, Minister Sharma expressed the hope that the new systems would help the ease the access of service seekers and decrease economic burden. <br /> It would also help identify and resolve problems like website down and hacks and operate websites in a safe way, she added. <br /> The procedure to manage the systems has been already passed, and they would be effectively managed through their implementation and monitoring, said the minister. <br /> Communications and Information Technology Minister Sharma stressed the need for expanding the system across the country including at the local level. <br /> "There is a tendency among offices and agencies of not running their own websites, thus not ensuring their security and adding financial burden to the state coffers. <br /> The systems have been developed in a way to provide easy and accessible services to the service seekers. It will also help implement the monitoring part effectively," she said. <br /> Similarly, the Ministry's secretary Dr Baikuntha Aryal said the systems aim to bring uniformity in all government agencies' websites and help provide the same information in an easy and accessible way. <br /> "This has helped reduce expenses each ministry and government agency has to spend in building their own websites. They can create websites for themselves on their own through the same kind of website templates. It also does not require qualified workforce," he said. <br /> <br /> "The system continuously monitors and alerts where and which site is going to be hacked or go down for what reasons. It will help make government websites more safe and to improve immediately if problems surface," added Aryal. <br /> Similarly, Director General of the Department of Information Technology, Prem Charan Shrestha, opined that the system not only helps operate government websites in a safe manner, it would help recover immediately after carrying out monitoring of the government online system if it is hacked. <br /> The websites developed through this system will have disabled-friendly features as well as sections like frequently asked questions, complaints management and automated assistant. <br /> A press statement issued by the department mentions that the web monitoring system was developed to minimize risk of hacking. -- RSS</span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16883', 'image' => '20230228061535_RS_KTM_RATL505302282023.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 18:14:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17144', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Minister Unveils 10-Point Action Plan ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has introduced a 10-point action plan ranging from making diplomatic efforts to operate the Gautam Buddha International Airport in full fledge to taking forward the Civil Aviation Bill. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has introduced a 10-point action plan ranging from making diplomatic efforts to operate the Gautam Buddha International Airport in full fledge to taking forward the Civil Aviation Bill. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati made the action plan public amid a press conference at his office in Singha Durbar on Monday. The minister also presented the details of his undertakings and 5-point reforms achieved in the past 42 days since he assumed office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourism minister shared that preparations were afoot to establish the Pashupati University. Other plans include a three-month-long Pashupati cleanup campaign, formation of a permanent unit in the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal to receive complaints on gender-based violence among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, an investigation committee would be formed to look into the grounded aircraft and directives would be devised to institutionalize clean-up drive of heritage sites, said the minister. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati added that Bharatpur Airport would be expanded. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister said he has ensured online ticket system for Nepal Airlines Corporation during his tenure. He also said there has been managerial reforms and sanitation drive as well as tangible progresses in the aviation security, Lumbini Master Plan and internet access among others. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16882', 'image' => '20230228054902_20190113122644_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 17:48:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17143', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Export of Readymade Garment from Nepal Increases this Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: There has been an increase in export of readymade garments from Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">February 28: There has been an increase in export of readymade garments from Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the Center for Trade and Export Promotion, the export of readymade garments increased by Rs 510 million during this period compared to the previous year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">From mid-July to mid-January of last fiscal year (FY 2021/22), a total of 6.88 million units of readymade garments worth Rs 4.3 billion were exported from Nepal. In the same period of the current fiscal year, the export value of readymade garments has increased to Rs 4.81 billion. During this period, 7.58 million units of clothing have been exported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Data shows that most of the readymade garments produced in Nepal are exported to 12 countries in the world. In the first seven months of this year, clothes worth Rs 1.9 billion were exported to the United States of America, Rs 790 million to Britain, Rs 520 million to Germany, Rs 320 million to France and Rs 310 million to Japan.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Similarly, readymade garment worth Rs 240 million were exported to the Netherlands, Rs 180 million to Italy, Rs 170 million to Australia, Rs 150 million to Canada, and Rs 130 million to India. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Likewise, readymade garments worth Rs 130 million and Rs 100 million were exported to Denmark and Austria, respectively. Apart from these countries, Nepal also exported readymade garments worth Rs 690 million to other countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Pashupati Dev Pandey, chairman of Nepal Readymade Garments Association, despite the increase in the export of readymade garments, the situation is not satisfactory. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"We should have further increased exports, but that has not happened. The government has a lot of work to do in this sector to increase exports. The main thing is that the state organs should be export friendly," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Pandey, the interest rate is high. The prices of raw materials have gone up, workers are abandoning this sector. Overall, there is no working environment, added Pandey.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Businessmen involved in readymade garment industry complain that textiles and garments, which are viewed in the same way around the world, are viewed differently in Nepal. They say that the government has not given all the facilities to the garment industry that it has given to the textile industry.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Bhim Giri, general secretary of Nepal Readymade Garment Association, says that the government should give more concessions to businessmen and also increase coordination and cooperation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">“Businessmen need refinancing facility. A little was received right after the onset of coronavirus pandemic. It has not happened since then. The government should make necessary arrangement for refinancing. Similarly, it is necessary for the government to make arrangements for yarn production in the country,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to General Secretary Giri, there is a need to increase the number of industries as there is a good response and more orders coming from the foreign market for readymade garments produced in Nepal. According to him, the government and the private sector should move forward hand-in-hand.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16881', 'image' => '20230228030446_1677545322.Clipboard14.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 15:04:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17142', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Microfinance Companies Need to Increase Interest Rate on Savings', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Microfinance companies need to increase the interest rate on customers’ savings, as per the new provision fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: Microfinance companies need to increase the interest rate on customers’ savings, as per the new provision fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). The central bank recently amended the Unified Directives 2078 making it mandatory for microfinance companies to fix the minimum interest rate on savings at 50 percent of the maximum interest on loans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The central bank introduced such measures after it was found that some microfinance companies which extended credit at an interest rate of 15 percent were giving just 2 percent interest on deposits to the customers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data published by the Nepal Rastra Bank, the average interest on the savings of microfinance institutions was 6.45 per cent in the month of Asoj (mid-September to mid-October last year), while the lowest interest was given by Support, Mankamana, and Ganpati microfinance companies with a minimum of 2 per cent interest.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank said that although some of the 64 microfinance institutions in operation give 10 to 15 percent interest, most of them give interest in single digit. Lately, even commercial banks have been giving interest in double digits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prakashraj Sharma, president of the Nepal Microfinance Bankers Association, said that the interest rate of microfinance should be competitive according to the market. He shared that it is unethical to give 1 to 2 percent interest rate to customers in the current situation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The interest rate given by microfinance should be close to that of the commercial banks," Sharma said adding, "It is wrong to give a lower interest rate than the prevailing one in the market. He suggested that although the new system of the NRB has provision to increase the interest rate, to make it practical, the system of the base rate and spread rate should also be implemented in microfinance.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Sharma, the central bank should implement the provision of base rate and spread rate like in commercial banks rather than setting a limit on the interest rate of microfinance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"This will regulate the interest rate of microfinance companies."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Microfinance companies have been investing by taking wholesale loans from banks and financial institutions. Although these institutions cannot collect deposits from the general public, they collect deposits from customers in the name of mandatory savings and optional savings. Because there is a rule of mandatory savings to take loans, they are giving low-interest rates to the general people who have no other option than to deposit money in return of low interest. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB has tightened microfinance for the first time after they started being criticized for exploiting the customers with high-interest rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NRB, as of mid-October last year, microfinance institutions collected more than Rs 164 billion in deposits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the deposit collection, Rs 38.9 billion is under mandatory savings, Rs 82.7 billion under optional savings, and Rs 25.7 billion under gradual savings. Similarly, they have collected Rs 2.17 billion under general public deposits and Rs 15.21 billion in other deposit category.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nirdhan Uthan and Chimeki Laghubitta are allowed to collect deposits from the general public. Microfinance companies have 5.9 million members and disbursed loans to 3.3 million members.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16880', 'image' => '20230228023732_1677550297.122.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 14:36:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17141', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Few Places of Hill Areas to Receive Light Rainfall Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: One or two parts of the hill areas in the country are expected to receive light rainfall coupled with lightning today (Tuesday) afternoon.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: One or two parts of the hill areas in the country are expected to receive light rainfall coupled with lightning today (Tuesday) afternoon with the weather becoming generally cloudy, said the Meteorological Forecasting Division. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Light snowfall is likely in one or two parts of the high hills and mountainous areas, said the division. The remaining areas of the country will have a clear weather in general. The westerly wind is having a general impact while there is still the influence of the local wind in the hill areas, thus leading to this condition of the weather, the division said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the weather in hill areas will be partly cloudy tonight, and the rest of the country will have fair weather in general. One or two places in the hill and mountainous areas of Province 1, Gandaki and Karnali provinces are predicted to witness light snowfall. In view of the condition of the weather, the division has urged people of the vulnerable parts to adopt caution. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16879', 'image' => '20230228014128_weatherrrr.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 13:40:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17140', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Credit Flow in Agricultural Sector of Madhes Province Stands at Rs 54 Billion: NRB Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that there has been an investment of around Rs 54 billion in the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that there has been an investment of around Rs 54 billion in the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the study on the economic activities of the province recently published by Janakpur-based office of NRB, the credit flow from banks and financial institutions to the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province stands at Rs 53.95 billion as of FY 2078/79. This amount is 12.55 percent of the total loan invested in Madhesh Province. The study shows that most of such loans went to Sarlahi district and the least to Saptari district.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The report also mentions that there has been a significant increase in subsidized loans flowing to Madhesh Province in the review period. According to the data of the central bank, such loans have reached Rs 22.30 billion. As of Fiscal Year 2077/78, the loan under this heading was only Rs 14.5 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study report mentions that the loans increased due to the mandatory policy arrangements made by NRB on subsidized loans. It seems that the most of the concessional loans have been invested in Sarlahi (Rs 4.48 billion) and the least in Saptari (Rs 1.8 billion).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>More potential in agriculture</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A study by NRB pointed out that there is more potential for agriculture in Madhesh Province due to its geographical accessibility and abundance of arable land. The contribution of agriculture to the gross domestic product of Madhesh Province is 34 percent. This is 10 percentage points higher than the national average.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study also showed the possibility that fish production can be increased by using modern technology. The study found that almost all the districts of Madhesh Province fall among the top 10 districts in the country where fishery is done. The study concludes that since Madhesh Province has the highest population, labor supply will be easy and there is potential for commercial production of agricultural products such as vegetables, fruits, fish, meat as well as consumption market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study concluded that since the number of young people going for foreign employment from Madhesh Province is high, there is a possibility to increase productivity by attracting young people who have returned from abroad with capital, motivation, confidence and advanced technological knowledge in agricultural business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB also pointed out that as there are more fertile lands in Madhesh province, there is a possibility that it can be developed as a pocket area for food and vegetable production by expanding the area of irrigation.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16878', 'image' => '20230228113510_1677550188.121.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 11:33:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17139', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Korean Company to Manufacture EV in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Nepal's NK Motors Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with a Korean company, SDK, to produce electric vehicles (EV) in Province 1.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: Nepal's NK Motors Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with a Korean company, SDK, to produce electric vehicles (EV) in Province 1. The agreement was signed by representatives of NK Motors Pvt. Ltd and SDK in South Korea.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the agreement signed in the presence of TR Dhakal, managing director of NK Motors, an electric vehicle manufacturing industry will be established with an investment of about Rs 3 billion. Tikaram Puri, chairman of NK Motors Pvt Ltd, informed New Business Age that the proposed industry will be established at a suitable location within Province 1. The industry will produce school and college buses and vehicles for private and public purpose.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, a delegation of the Korean company will visit Nepal in March and select a suitable location. He also informed that the target is to send the products to the market within a year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16877', 'image' => '20230228105435_1677548740.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 10:53:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17138', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ritualistic Pole of Fagu Festival Installed at Hanumandhoka Durbar Square', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The festival of Fagu has formally commenced with the installation of the ritualistic wooden pole with the 'Chir' at the top end in front of Hanumandhoka Durbar in Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday morning. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The festival of Fagu has formally commenced with the installation of the ritualistic wooden pole with the 'Chir' at the top end in front of Hanumandhoka Durbar in Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday morning. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Chir is a tuft of colourful strips of cloth tied to the top end of the pole symbolizing the beginning of Fagu, also called Holi, the festival of colours. The wooden pole is erected at this spot on the eighth day of the waxing moon in the month of Fagun as per the time-honoured custom. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pole was installed at the auspicious time of 7.45am on Monday, the Nepal Calendar Determination Committee said. The people from the Manandhar community are responsible for the erection of the Chir at Hanumandhoka Durbar area. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Fagu festival is celebrated with fervor and enthusiasm in the hill districts including in the Kathmandu Valley from the eighth day of the bright half to the full moon day in the month of Fagun. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">People smeared each other with different colours and threw colour powder in celebration at Hanumandhoka Durbar area when the Chir was installed, signaling the start of the Fagu festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This ritualistic pole is pulled down on the full moon day. The main day of Fagu festival falls on March 6 for the people of the hill districts and on March 7 for the people of the Tarai-Madhesh region this year. -- RSS</span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16876', 'image' => '20230227094421_HB_KTM-_IMG_1215.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 21:43:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17137', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Provinces, Local Units Propose Projects of Rs 150 Billion for Supplementary and Special Grants ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2080/081 BS. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2080/081 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the National Planning Commission (NPC), the local governments have forwarded a total of 4,546 projects with the estimated budget of Rs 115.43 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the provinces have proposed 211 projects seeking Rs 27 billion to implement those projects in the upcoming fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Of the proposed projects from the local and province governments, the new projects carry the budget estimation worth Rs 121.71 billion while projects worth Rs 20.65 billion are ongoing projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As sought by the local and province governments, Rs 50.41 billion has been demanded under the special grant while Rs 71.26 billion for supplementary grant for the new projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Supplementary Grant (Third Amendment) Procedure, 2077 and the Special Grant (Third Amendment) Procedure, 2077 BS mention about the federal supplementary and special grants under which the federal government allocates budget to the province and local governments each year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NPC has entered those proposed projects in its system for project analysis and selection purpose after receiving the proposals from the province and local governments. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A team led by a NPC member shall select the projects and programmes after their thorough assessment based on the parameters given by the procedures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">For the selection of the projects, their feasibility, estimated cost and outcomes should be considered and the projects that generate compulsory liability on the part of the government would also be prioritized. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sectoral priorities are also considered for the selection of new projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The provinces were given the timeline of mid-February to propose the projects and programmes under the federal supplementary and special grants while the local levels were to submit such projects by mid-January. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16875', 'image' => '20230227084256_Grants-April-2019.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 20:42:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17136', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Economic Growth Rate in First Quarter Drops Below the Figure of Pandemic Period', 'sub_title' => 'Economic Growth in First Three Months Stands at 0.8 Percent against the Annual Growth Target of 8 Percent', 'summary' => 'February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bijay Damase</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first three months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23), the size of the economy ie the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased by 0.8 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The economic growth rate of the first quarter of last fiscal year (FY 2021/22) was 3 percent. According to the figures released by the National Statistics Office under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the economic growth rate was 6.9 percent in the second quarter of the same year, 2.9 percent in the third quarter and 9 percent in the fourth quarter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the year 2020/21, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak. Even in the first quarter of that year, the economic growth rate was 0.9 percent. The economic growth rate of the first quarter of the current fiscal year is less than that in the corresponding period of the year of the pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">All sectors have been affected since the beginning of the current fiscal year. According to the National Statistics Office, the economic growth rate in the first quarter of the current FY is less than 1 percent, which has raised questions about the working style of the government.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Facts and figures show that the economy is getting more and more in crisis when the government sets ambitious goals but is unable to deliver on its commitments due to its working style.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government had set a target of achieving 8 percent economic growth in the current fiscal year's budget. However, while revising the budget, Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel admitted that the target is unattainable. Due to the tightening of import, there has been a decline in revenue collection.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the National Statistics Office, which was earlier known as the Central Bureau of Statistics, the output of the mining and mineral sector has declined the most in the first quarter of this year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the first quarter, the production of mining and mineral sector decreased by 29.2 percent. In the same period last year, this sector had increased by 24 percent. In particular, this sector has declined due to the extreme reduction in the demand for cement, the main construction material. Due to the slowdown in construction activities in the country, the demand for construction materials such as cement and sand has decreased. Due to the decrease in public construction and the slow pace of private housing construction, the consumption of such materials has decreased. The data shows that the construction sector has shrunk by 24 percent. In the same period last year, the construction sector had increased by 18 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16874', 'image' => '20230227041039_economic crisis.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 16:09:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17135', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Food Management and Trading Company Fails to Purchase Paddy as per its Target', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: It has been found that the state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC), failed to purchase paddy as per its own target. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: It has been found that the state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC), failed to purchase paddy as per its own target. According to FMTC, it was not possible to purchase paddy as per the target due to the delay in the purchase process.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">FMTC said that the problem surfaced because the government fixed the support price after most of the farmers sold the paddy and FMTC as well started buying it late.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company had set a target of buying 30,200 metric tons of paddy from the farmers for the current fiscal year, but managed to buy only 15,000 tons so far. This year, the company purchased paddy from its depots based in Rajapur, Dhangadhi, Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj, Bhairahawa, Birgunj, Biratnagar, Birtamod, Janakpur and Lahan. In some places, the purchase intermittently continues, but in some places, FMTC has already suspended the work of purchasing paddy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The delay in fixing the support price and late start of buying are the main reasons for the company not being able to buy paddy as per the target. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After most of the farmers sold the paddy, the government fixed the price of coarse paddy at Rs 2,976 per quintal and the price of medium paddy at Rs 3,128 per quintal. Even after the support price was fixed, the farmers had to protest nationwide because FMTC did not buy paddy for a long time stating that the budget was not released.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">FMTC on the other hand, said that the target of buying paddy could not be achieved because farmers sold more rice to local traders than to the company. Mohan Prakash Chand, the chief executive officer of the company, says that late pricing is one of the main reasons, but most of the farmers take loans from local traders and they are forced to sell rice to the traders, leaving less paddy for FMTC. According to Chand, another major reason for not buying paddy as per the target is low quality rice in some places as FMTC does not buy low quality rice.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the purchase of paddy has been less this year, FMTC is buying rice for storage. The company has also invited tenders to buy 142,000 quintals of rice. Bhishma Neupane, head of the procurement department of the company, said that they are going to buy rice after not being able to buy paddy as per the target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company is preparing to buy 15,000 quintals of rice from Lahan, 10,000 quintals from Biratnagar, 3,000 quintals from Birtamod, 22,000 quintals from Birgunj, 20,300 quintals from Kathmandu, 20,000 quintals from Nepalgunj and 7,800 quintals from Bhairahawa. Similarly, the company plans to buy 2,000 quintals of rice from Tulsipur, 20,100 quintals from Surkhet and 22,000 quintals from Dhangadhi.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16873', 'image' => '20230227035714_640px-Rice_Plants_(IRRI).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 15:56:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17134', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UML to Quit Government ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The CPN (UML) has decided to quit the government, the state-owned RSS reported on Monday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The CPN (UML) has decided to quit the government, the state-owned RSS reported on Monday. The party's Secretariat Meeting held at the party central office at Chyasal, Lalitpur on Monday morning decided to quit the government, UML vice Chair Bishnu Prasad Paudel told RSS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He added that the UML has also decided to withdraw its support to the government. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CPN (UML), which is the second largest party in parliament, took such decision after its coalition partner CPN (Maoist Centre) sided with the Nepali Congress (NC) for the upcoming presidential election. CPN (UML) had backed Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to lead the government as the prime minister in return for Dahal’s support in the presidential election. However, in the changed political context after the NC also backed Maoist Centre, the party decided to seek national consensus for a presidential candidate instead of backing the UML. This ultimately led to a situation in which UML has been forced to quit government. However, PM Dahal still enjoys overwhelming support with the NC backup.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16872', 'image' => '20230227032505_PRO_KTM_PRACHANDA_SPEECH.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 15:24:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17133', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Loan Instalment Amount of Pokhara Int’l Airport Exceeds Income Target', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) Office aims to earn Rs 300 million annually. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) Office aims to earn Rs 300 million annually. However, the annual instalment to be paid is Rs 2.4 billion which includes the principal and interest on the loan taken for the construction of the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The instalment payment period of this airport, which has been in operation since January 1, starts from mid-March. The Government of Nepal is scheduled to pay the first instalment of Rs 1.2 billion to the Chinese Exim Bank in this period. The instalment payment period is about to start after the grace period of 7 years for the loan given to Nepal Civil Aviation Authority by the government through the bank is about to end.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The authority has already said that it will not be possible to pay the instalment with the income generated by the operation of Pokhara International Airport. However, CAAN says it is not under pressure to pay the instalment this time. According to the authority's loan repayment schedule, the instalment must be paid on March 15.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Gyanendra Bhul, the information officer of the authority, said that even if the authority cannot pay the installment, it will be paid through the Ministry of Finance. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even if the government is not able to pay the instalments, the accumulated profit of the authority is good. According to the authority's data, the accumulated profit of CAAN is Rs 1465.3 billion. The authority will be able to pay the instalments from the accumulated profit. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the loan schedule to be paid semi-annually, Rs 1.2 billion should be paid in 6 months, while Rs 2.4 billion must be paid in instalments annually.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The instalments must be paid within 20 years of taking the loan (Ashoj 1, 2092). The government had agreed with the bank in 2072 to build Pokhara International Airport. After Pokhara International Airport came into operation, the Pokhara Airport Office has predicted that the profit of the current fiscal year (FY) will also double.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jashodha Subedi, the spokesperson of the airport office, informed that the airport, which earned Rs 130 million in the year 2078/79, is aiming to earn more than double (up to Rs 300 million) in the current year 2079/80. Currently, only domestic flights are operating in Pokhara.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16871', 'image' => '20230227020513_Pokhara-Airport-800X533.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 14:04:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17132', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Fixes Support Price of Wheat', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The government has fixed the support price of wheat for the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: The government has fixed the support price of wheat for the current fiscal year. The support price has been fixed at Rs 3,351 per quintal, which is Rs 186 more compared to last year. Upon suggestion from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the cabinet approved the support price proposed by the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had fixed the support price of wheat at Rs 3,150 per quintal for the first time in the fiscal year 2076/77. In the last four years, the government increased the price of wheat by Rs 337 per quintal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stakeholders say that the government has been miserly in setting the price of wheat, which is known as unprofitable crop because the production is not worth the cost and efforts incurred. Farmers and agricultural activists express doubt that the support price set so miserly will even be implemented.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Food Campaign for Agriculture said that the government's attention should be focused on its implementation rather than setting the support price. According to him, the government sets the support price every year, but it is not implemented. Therefore, he said that the support price has caused more pain than relief to the farmers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of the National Farmers' Commission, Prem Dangal also said that the government's focus should be on the implementation of support prices. According to him, the practice of setting support prices and not implementing them should be brought to an end.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has become customary for the government to set the support price of rice and wheat late every year, and the state-owned food supply and trading companies do not purchase the produce as per the target. In terms of production area, wheat is the third major food crop of Nepal. According to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, more than 2.1 million metric tons of wheat is produced in Nepal annually. But recently, the area of wheat production is decreasing. In the last 7 years, the area under wheat cultivation in Nepal has decreased by 51,300 hectares.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16870', 'image' => '20230227011337_Wheat_photo-cred-Adobe-stock_E-2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 13:12:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
