January 29: As per the data published by the National Center for Potato, Vegetable and Spice Crop Development, Nepal needs about 350,000 metric tons of potatoes to be self-sufficient in potato production.…
January 29: As per the data published by the National Center for Potato, Vegetable and Spice Crop Development, Nepal needs about 350,000 metric tons of potatoes to be self-sufficient in potato production.…
January 29: The currency in circulation in the market has declined by Rs 16 billion as of mid-January this year compared to the same period of last…
January 29: The private sector has raised serious concerns regarding a spike in suicide cases mainly due to ‘banking…
January 29: Farmers in Bhojpur district have been attracted to orange farming with the yield generating good…
January 29: Nepal has made improvements in reducing hunger with a score of 19.1 in the 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI), a drop from 21.2 in…
Nepal has imported apples worth Rs 3.49 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal year. From the import of apples worth Rs 3.49 billion, the government has collected a revenue of Rs 400 million during the review…
January 28: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that nine of the 16 countries – including Nepal – with the highest estimated proportion of coronary heart disease deaths caused by trans fat intake were not implementing best-practice…
January 28: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has drawn the attention of the government and authorities concerned to ease commercial…
January 27: The Supreme Court has ruled that Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane is ineligible to be a member of parliament because of his citizenship…
The Ministry of Finance has started preparations for a half-yearly review of the budget for the current fiscal…
Prabhu Bank Limited has reappointed Ashok Serchan as its Chief Executive…
January 27: Tiptala pass along the Nepal-China border in Taplejung district has remained closed for three years, causing inconvenience to the locals living in the border…
January 27: Four youths aged between 25 to 35 years have introduced a new product in the footwear industry of Nepal under the brand…
January 27: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has issued reverse repo (repurchase agreement) after 18 months indicating an end to the liquidity crisis in the…
January 27: The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has removed 9,000 hoarding boards in three months.…
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 29: As per the data published by the National Center for Potato, Vegetable and Spice Crop Development, Nepal needs about 350,000 metric tons of potatoes to be self-sufficient in potato production. According to the center, Nepal can become self-sufficient in potatoes if it can increase its production by 342,000 metric tons a year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The center, informed that 3,325,231 metric tons of potatoes are produced annually in 198,700 hectares of land in Nepal while the market demand is 3,667,256 tons. Looking at the figures, 342,000 tons is insufficient for Nepal, which is imported from countries including India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the head of the center Basudev Kafle, the productivity of potatoes is now 16.05 metric tons per hectare. The cultivation area should be expanded by 20,400 hectares with an increase in the current state of productivity to 18.44 metric tons per hectare to become self sufficient.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Potato, which is convenient for growing in all geographical terrains and all seasons, contributes 5.96 percent to the gross domestic production. Annual per capita potato consumption in Nepal is 111.8 kg. According to the centre, 18% of potatoes are produced in the highlands, 42% in the mid-hills and 40% in the Terai. According to the government data, the maximum 30 percent of potato is produced in Province 1 and the lowest 7 percent in Karnali Province.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In terms of productivity, Nepal's potato productivity is only one place ahead of Bhutan, which is at the bottom in South Asia. Potato productivity in Bhutan is 11.02 metric tons per hectare. Pakistan has the highest productivity of 22.52 metric tons per hectare in South Asia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bijaya Kumar Giri, office chief of the National Potato, Vegetable and Spice Crops Development Center, Nigale, informed that the government recently conducted a potato seed self-sufficiency program to become self-sufficient in potato seeds. He said that since the fiscal year 2073/74, four private companies established new tissue culture and screen houses in different parts of the country. Seed potato program is launched in 40 districts covering all the geographical areas from Terai to high mountains. In addition to this, in the current fiscal year, Rs 147.8 million has been allocated for 97 local levels for potato promotion and Rs 33.34 million in 22 local levels for potato seed promotion program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16616', 'image' => '20230129020151_potatoes-411975_1280-1024x682.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 14:00:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16876', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Currency in Circulation Declines by Rs 16 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: The currency in circulation in the market has declined by Rs 16 billion as of mid-January this year compared to the same period of last year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 29: The currency in circulation in the market has declined by Rs 16 billion as of mid-January this year compared to the same period of last year. According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the use of paper money is declining due to the growing use and volume of digital transaction.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank sad that around Rs 616 billion was in circulation in the market during mid-January 2022 which dropped to Rs 600 billion this year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the financial statement of NRB, banknotes worth Rs 312 billion was in circulation by mid-July last year which increased to Rs 649 in mid-October and then it started declining gradually.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Besides the increase in use of digital transaction, NRB’s credit line to banks and financial institutions also declined in mid-December to mid-January resulting in a decline in currency in circulation in the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank had invested Rs 271.72 billion on BFIs in mid-July which dropped to Rs 62.26 billion by mid-January. The latest figure includes repo (repurchase agreement) worth Rs 50 billion, refinancing of Rs 12.21 billion and Standing Liquidity Facility (SLF) worth Rs 60 million.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => 'currency, circulation, Nepal , Rastra, bank, digital transaction', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16615', 'image' => '20230129125601_currency.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 12:55:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16874', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Expresses Concern over ‘Banking Terror’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: The private sector has raised serious concerns regarding a spike in suicide cases mainly due to ‘banking terror’.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 29: The private sector has raised serious concerns regarding a spike in suicide cases mainly due to ‘banking terror’. Issuing a statement on Thursday, the Kathmandu Chamber of Commerce said that cases of suicide are rising of late due to ‘banking terror’.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The chamber issued the statement in the wake of self-immolation of Prem Prasad Acharya of Ilam, who wrote on social media about extreme hardship in this entrepreneurial journey before committing suicide.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The private sector is in grief due to the self-immolation of Ilam’s Prem Acharya who took such extreme step due to financial hardship and also the suicide of Mohan Niraula, an electronics businessman of Biratnagar, due to alleged banking terror. The private sector is also serious towards this issue,” reads the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Stating that social media is overflowing with messages that businessmen are under extreme pressure from banks and financial institutions (BFI) and have to bear injustice, the chamber urged all concerned government bodies to implement the rules and policies as well as government directives and circulars related to the economic sector to boost the morale of the entrepreneurs and also to ensure such tragic incidents do to repeat again.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => 'banking, terror, hardship, suicide, self, immolation', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16613', 'image' => '20230129112723_From-Property-Improvement-To-Banking-Misconduct-In-Nepal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 11:26:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16872', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bhojpur Farmers Find their Calling in Orange Farming ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: Farmers in Bhojpur district have been attracted to orange farming with the yield generating good income.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 29: Farmers in Bhojpur district have been attracted to orange farming with the yield generating good income. Road connectivity is a major factor that helped expand the market beyond the locality, thus benefiting the farmers financially, say government authorities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A farmer who is engaged in commercial farming of oranges earned income from Rs 600,000 to Rs 1 million annually, they said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"I have grown 400 orange trees in my garden. I have been earning sufficiently from the sales of orange. Commercial orange farming yields good income," said Chandal Kumar Rai, a farmer of Khawa Kerabari in Temkemaiyung-5. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rai is involved in the farming of citrus fruit for 44 years. "Now, it can be taken as a medium of pension for my retired and sedentary life," he observed. An orange tree can bear fruit for 100 years, according to him. He said he generated up to Rs 1 million in income annually from the sales of oranges and its saplings. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Most of the villagers here are farmers, and orange farming has become their main income source, said another farmer Devraj Rai. The market is reliable, as oranges produced here are in high demand, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The main income source of over 70 percent of households here is orange farming. It is the season for orange harvesting, and farmers are busy," he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Now, there are 400 orange trees in his garden, and he is planning to expand it because of the good yield. "I am drawing from Rs 1.5 million to Rs 2 million annually from it. I aim to increase my income by some Rs 1 million to Rs 1.2 million annually in some years," he shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Villages where oranges are produced in high quantity are Khawa Kerabari, Annapurna, Chhinamakhu, Kot and Gogane of Temkemaiyung Rural Municipality, Dawa, Bomikh and Pokhare of Bhojpur Municipality, Shadananda Municipality, Hatuwagadhi Rural Municipality and Ram Prasad Rai Rural Municipality. The main market for oranges produced here are Dharan, Itahari, Biratnagar and Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Traders and suppliers reach the gardens and buy oranges. However, farmers could get more value for their produce if they can directly sell them in the market in the district and outside, said Chandal Kumar. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Devraj said better income could be made if emphasis could be laid on development of modern technology and irrigation, adding many youths of these areas are involved in expansion of commercial orange farming in recent days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further pointed out the need of establishing chilling centres to store the produced oranges. “Farmers have been facing problem to store the oranges. Farmers could be able to earn more if they have proper storage so that the fruit remains fresh for long,” mentioned Rai. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of Ward-5, Sunil Rai, said local levels were carrying out activities to benefit the orange farmers of that areas. “Khawa has the best terrain for orange farming. We have been running some programmes supportive to the farmers. Efforts are on to address the irrigation problem voiced by them.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson Saroj Basnet expressed the view that they were also working to make Temkemaiyung Rural Municipality self-sufficient in agriculture. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They had set a plan to encourage farmers in agro and animal husbandry along with cash crop farming, he added. "All the nine wards of Temkemaiyung Rural Municipality produce oranges and farmers make adequate income from it. The rural municipality has a target to run incentive-oriented programme by collecting data on farmers involved in other works as well to encourage them towards orange farming.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Agriculture Knowledge Centre, a total of 6,293 metric tonnes of oranges were produced in Bhojpur district this year. Orange farming is done in 920 hectares of land in the district. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => 'Orange, farming, Bhojpur, market, yield, income, good', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16611', 'image' => '20230129104602_YB_BHOJPUR_SUNTALA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 10:45:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16870', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Progresses in Hunger Reduction as it Climbs to 81st Rank in 2022 Hunger Index ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: Nepal has made improvements in reducing hunger with a score of 19.1 in the 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI), a drop from 21.2 in 2014. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 29: Nepal has made improvements in reducing hunger with a score of 19.1 in the 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI), a drop from 21.2 in 2014. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The country is ranked 81st out of 121 countries and is ahead of some South Asian countries including India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. However, it is behind Sri Lanka which is ranked 64th with 13.6 points. India's position has depleted as it fell to 107th position with 29.1 points. Similarly, Bangladesh is ranked 84th with a score of 19.6, while Pakistan is ranked 99th with 26.1 points. Afghanistan is ranked 1.9th with 29.9 points. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The GHI report was published jointly by the Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe amid a function organised by the NGO Federation of Nepal. The index less than 10 points reflects low hunger, and between 10 and 19.9 moderate hunger. Similarly, from 20 to 34.9 indicates serious hunger, and from 35 to 49.9 alarming. Above 50 reveals extremely alarming level of hunger. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The aim of the GHI is to trigger action to end hunger around the world, it was shared during the event. The 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI) shows Nepal has a moderate level of hunger with a score of 19.1 on the GHI.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal has continued making improvements on the GHI scores over the past 22 years. Nepal scored 37 on the GHI Trend in 2000. The score dropped to 30 in 2007, 21.2 in 2014 and 19.1 in 2022. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although Nepal has made some progress in reducing hunger, it is not satisfactory, said Dr Yamuna Ghale, an expert on food security. GHI scores are calculated based on a formula combining four indicators—undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality—that together capture the multidimensional nature of hunger, she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">When we look at data of stunting rates regionally, there is a grim picture, she said. Stunting rates vary across the provinces with the range of 22.6 and 22.9 percent in Gandaki and Bagmati provinces respectively, and the figure jumps to more than double at 47.8 percent in Karnali Province. This is not a matter of satisfaction, she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, children consuming foods rich in iron and iron supplements are low across provinces. According to her, Province 1 and 2 have the lowest percentage in the case of women and children respectively. Women and children in Province 1 and 2 were also found the most anemic in the country, which could be due to less or no iron intakes, she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Cooperation, coordination and collaboration among related stakeholders, ensuring localised, sustainable, inclusive and resilient food system and understanding relevant stakeholders in the realisation of human rights to food could be a way out, Ghale suggested. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => 'Nepal, Global, Hunger, Index, GHI, Rank, progress, South Asia', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16609', 'image' => '20230129094133_20221016111519_GHI-2-1.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 09:40:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16869', 'article_category_id' => '268', 'title' => 'Volume and Price of Imported Apples Decline; Price Yet to Be Cheaper in the Market', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Nepal has imported apples worth Rs 3.49 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal year. From the import of apples worth Rs 3.49 billion, the government has collected a revenue of Rs 400 million during the review period.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">January 29: Nepal has imported apples worth Rs 3.49 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal year. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">From the import of apples worth Rs 3.49 billion, the government has collected a revenue of Rs 400 million during the review period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The country imported 4,62,97,052 kilograms of apples. This shows that price of per kg apples was Rs 75 on average. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As many as 4,89,99,989 kilograms of apples worth Rs 3.82 billion were imported during the same period last fiscal year. The average price of the apples was Rs 78 per kg then.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Compared to the last fiscal, import of the apples along with its price has declined. Apple import has declined by eight per cent while the price has fallen by Rs 3 per kg in the current fiscal compared to the last fiscal. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Customers , however, have not felt relieved as the price has yet to come down in the domestic market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Entrepreneur Amar Baniya from Kuleswor fruit market said that rise of domestic production of the apples had led to import fall. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Baniya says that import of other fruits had fallen, in addition to apples. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Nepal imports apples from India, China and the Untied States of America. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A total of 2,92,53,638 kilograms of apples worth Rs 1.92 billion were imported from India. Likewise, country brought in 1,70,22,834 kilograms of apples worth Rs 1.57 billion from China, while import of apples from the Unites States was 20,580 kilograms worth Rs 5 million in the first six months of the current fiscal. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16608', 'image' => '20230129060621_collage (38).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 05:56:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16868', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Billions Exposed to Toxic Trans Fat: WHO', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 28: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that nine of the 16 countries – including Nepal – with the highest estimated proportion of coronary heart disease deaths caused by trans fat intake were not implementing best-practice policies.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 28: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that nine of the 16 countries – including Nepal – with the highest estimated proportion of coronary heart disease deaths caused by trans fat intake were not implementing best-practice policies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The countries in the list include Australia, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and South Korea in alphabetical order.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The WHO said that billions of people are still exposed to the toxic fat which kills half a million people each year while people with conditions linked with trans fat, such as heart disease, are at more risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Protecting people from these harmful substances is therefore important not just for protecting against heart disease, but also for protecting against the impact of epidemics and pandemics, said WHO Director General Ghebreyesus in his opening remarks at virtual launch event - Countdown to 2023: WHO Report on Global Trans Fat Elimination.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Industrially-produced trans fat is often used in packaged foods, baked goods, cooking oils and spreads, AFP reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the French news agency, best practice means either a mandatory national limit of two grammes of industrially-produced trans fat per 100 grammes of total fat in all foods; or a national ban on the production or use of partially-hydrogenated oils, which are a major source of trans fat.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The UN health agency said efforts to eliminate industrially-produced fat have a long way to go with five billion people exposed to toxic fat added to many food products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The inaugural progress report of WHO showed most of the policy action against trans fat had been in high-income countries. No low-income country and only three lower-middle-income countries (India, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan) have trans fat policies, the WHO said in an earlier report. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, lower-middle income countries have been leading the way recently, WHO Director General Ghebreyesus said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Last year, India became the first lower-middle income country to adopt best-practice policy. Bangladesh, Philippines and Ukraine have all passed policies that will come into force in in the coming years, and Nigeria and Sri Lanka are expected to pass their policies soon.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The WHO called in 2018 for harmful trans fatty acids to be wiped out by 2023, the AFP reported adding, “They are thought to be responsible for around 500,000 premature deaths from coronary heart disease each year.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Trans fat has no known benefit, and huge health risks that incur huge costs for health systems," AFP quoted WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as saying.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"By contrast, eliminating trans fat is cost effective and has enormous benefits for health. Put simply, trans fat is a toxic chemical that kills, and should have no place in food. It's time to get rid of it once and for all," he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Although 43 countries with combined populations of 2.8 billion people have now implemented best-practice policies, most of the world remains unprotected, WHO said, acknowledging in an annual progress report that the goal was still out of sight.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"There are some regions of the world which do not believe the problem is there," AFP quoted Francesco Branca, WHO’s nutrition and food safety director, as saying. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"It is easy for them to take action to prevent these products being dumped onto them."</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-28', 'modified' => '2023-01-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16607', 'image' => '20230128013817_food-pic.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-28 13:36:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16867', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NCC Calls for Enabling Business-Friendly Environment ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 28: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has drawn the attention of the government and authorities concerned to ease commercial activities.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 28: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has drawn the attention of the government and authorities concerned to ease commercial activities. Noting that commercial activities have not appeared smooth of late, the chamber has laid emphasis on economic and financial discipline. NCC said that it was unfortunate for the country to see the situation of self-immolation of a young entrepreneur due to entrepreneurial difficulties. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a statement issued on Friday, NCC said, "The longstanding problems surfaced in financial institutions have brought serious problems in the industry and business sector. It was saddening for the entire country to see the situation of self-immolation". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The chamber has also asked the state mechanisms to end the policy hassles faced by entrepreneurs who want to do something in the country. The banks and financial institutions should also make the lending process service-oriented, the chamber said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the statement, the chamber shared that it has been drawing the attention of the state agencies to check high interest rates and enable investment-friendly climate. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NCC Chairperson Rajendra Malla urged the concerned authorities to encourage digital system in financial transactions. The chamber has reiterated that the central bank and BFIs should create atmosphere to stabilize bank interest rates and promote investment. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-28', 'modified' => '2023-01-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16606', 'image' => '20230128013610_20220720115910_NCCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-28 13:35:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16866', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Rabi Lamichhane is ineligible to Become an MP: Supreme Court', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: The Supreme Court has ruled that Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane is ineligible to be a member of parliament because of his citizenship issue.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 27: The Supreme Court has ruled that Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane is ineligible to be a member of parliament because of his citizenship issue.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As the court has dismissed him from the membership of parliament, Lamichhane will no longer be allowed to discharge his duties as the DPM and home minister.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a final verdict in a case related to his citizenship on Friday, the apex court said that Lamichhane must begin a new process to acquire citizenship after renouncing his American citizenship.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A Constitutional Bench of SC comprising Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki and justices Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha, Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada, Dr Ananda Mohan Bhattarai and Anil Kumar Sinha concluded that Lamichhane could not furnish any evidence of starting a new process of acquiring Nepali citizenship after renouncing American citizenship. Therefore, the court ruled that he is not fit to become an MP.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Lamichhane was elected as a member of parliament from Chitwan constituency-2 during the November 20 election last year. He is the president of Rastriya Swatantra Party which is currently the fourth largest party in parliament after the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre). </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16605', 'image' => '20230127063038_1674821039.Rabi lamichhane.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 18:30:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16865', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Prepares For Half-yearly Budget Review', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Ministry of Finance has started preparations for a half-yearly review of the budget for the current fiscal 2022-23. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">January 27: The Ministry of Finance has started preparations for a half-yearly review of the budget for the current fiscal 2022-23. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Ministry has formed a committee to proceed with the review. The team is led by the Chief of Budget and Programme Division, according to Ministry Spokesperson Anand Kafle. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to Kafle, the Committee is assigned to review the budget till mid-January. The further review will be based on the committee’s report. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The committee coordinated by Division Chief Ritesh Kumar Shakya comprises one representative each from the Nepal Rastra Bank, National Planning Commission, and the Office of the Auditor General and the Public Debt Management Office.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Besides, the committee incorporates all secretaries from the Finance Ministry and the Division under-secretaries. --RSS</span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16604', 'image' => '20230127052759_collage (70).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 17:24:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16864', 'article_category_id' => '218', 'title' => 'Prabhu Bank Reappoints Sherchan as CEO for Third-Term ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Prabhu Bank Limited has reappointed Ashok Serchan as its Chief Executive Officer.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">January 27: Prabhu Bank Limited has reappointed Ashok Serchan as its Chief Executive Officer for a third-term.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The meeting of the Board of Directors held on January 26 decided to reappoint Sherchan as the CEO for the third-term. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The decision will come into effect from January 29. “Mr Sherchan has been reappointed as the CEO for another four-year term”, the bank said. Sherchan has already served as the bank’s CEO for two-terms. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16603', 'image' => '20230127044012_collage (93).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 16:35:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16863', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Closure of Tiptala Pass Impacts Socio-Economic Life in Northern Taplejung ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: Tiptala pass along the Nepal-China border in Taplejung district has remained closed for three years, causing inconvenience to the locals living in the border areas. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 27: Tiptala pass along the Nepal-China border in Taplejung district has remained closed for three years, causing inconvenience to the locals living in the border areas. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It was shut by China owing to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic three years ago. People of Olangchung Gola, Yanga, and Ghunsa have been affected the most by the closure of the transit point as they largely depended on the imports of food stuffs, garments and daily consumables from the Tibetan Riu market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the closure of the border, they have switched to the supply from Phungling, the district headquarters. The imports from the district headquarters have caused them additional financial burden than from Tibet as it increases the transportation cost. It costs Rs 30 per kg for iodized salt in Phungling which climbs to Rs 100 after it is transported to Olangchung Gola. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The closure of the pass has its implications on the socio-economic life of the people. Exports from the villages have been hampered. Prior to the pandemic, they would supply medicinal herbs, Nepali carpets and livestock to Tibet, according to Olangchung Gola’s outgoing ward chair Chheten Sherpa. He says the transportation cost from Phungling to Olangchung Gola is at least Rs 60 per kg and it will go high if it needs to be transported up to Yanga. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Yanga, Ghunsa and Olangchung Gola are yet to be connected with the road network. Animal husbandry, herbs collection and carpet production are major occupations of the people here. Before the border was sealed, they would supply dairy products such as ghee and cheese from their house. Now their trade has been largely disturbed. Carpet business is totally down. They have numerous challenges to supply the products to domestic markets due to geographical issues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In addition to this, medicinal herbs collected by farmers and suppliers in Ilam and Panchthar districts were being supplied to Tibet. Now these two districts supply the collections to domestic markets via Birtamod of Jhapa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Tiptala folks expect the government to take initiations for reopening the border to normalize their life. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It takes around two days to reach Olangchung Gola from Phungling as the transportation service is available only up to Lepe of Phungling while it takes two to three days to reach Yanga, Ghunsa and Thudam. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Olangchung Gola is home to 53 families while 13 families reside in Yanga. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16602', 'image' => '20230127042851_12196216_1047303095302377_7673986938681974796_n.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 16:28:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16862', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Neco Brand Shoes in Market', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: Four youths aged between 25 to 35 years have introduced a new product in the footwear industry of Nepal under the brand 'Neco'.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 27: Four youths aged between 25 to 35 years have introduced a new product in the footwear industry of Nepal under the brand 'Neco'.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jaydev Kalauni of Kanchanpur, Shakshi Basnet of Dang, Pradeep Koirala of Pokhara and Niraj Jaiswal of Birgunj established the shoe industry -- Neco Creation Pvt Ltd – which produces Neco brand shoes. Having established an industry in Birgunj, they have set a goal of selling shoes from three outlets in Kathmandu.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Neco inaugurated its first outlet on the third floor of Kathmandu Mall on Thursday. Jaydev Kalauni, president of Neco Creation said that Neco brand shoes will be sold and distributed from 33 showrooms across the country by next April.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He studied the market of premium shoes in Nepal when all businesses halted due to Covid-19. There, he found that shoes up to Rs 3000 are easily available, but when looking for more expensive shoes, the market has shoes amounting to Rs 12000/15000.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After realizing that there were no options for shoes ranging between Rs 4000 to Rs 10,000 Kalauni decided to produce the shoes of that range in Nepal, which cost more than Rs 10,000 when imported from abroad. Kalauni started the industry by proposing investment with a 25-year-old footwear company in Bangladesh.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industry, which started with an investment of Rs 10 million, including foreign investment of Rs 5 million from Bangladesh, can produce 180,000 pairs of shoes annually. Altogether 100 people are given immediate employment in the industry, including 20 Bangladeshi citizens.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Among the four founders of the company, Pradeep Koirala is a Chartered Accountant and Niraj Jaiswal is a BBA student. Shakshi has studied hotel management while Kalauni has completed his master's degree in management.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>If you don't like shoes worth Rs 3000 and can’t buy shoes worth Rs 10,000</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Among the shoes produced by Nepali companies, there are shoes in the market for those who are looking for the cheapest price around Rs 1000 to Rs 1500, for the middle range price around Rs 2000 to Rs 3000.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, the upper middle class population is neither satisfied with shoes worth Rs 3,000, nor they can wear foreign shoes by spending Rs 12000/15000. Kalauni says that Neco Shoes debuted in the market to fill this gap.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kalauni said, “Our concept is to provide consumers with high-end shoes than the available shoes and low-cost shoes than imported ones. In other words, the main objective is to sell premium shoes at affordable prices to middle/upper middle class people.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company is currently producing only formal, semi-formal leather shoes and casual sports shoes made of fine leather. The price of these ranges from Rs 4,500 to 8,000 for leather shoes and 2,000 to 4,500 for sports shoes. On the occasion of the inauguration of the outlet, a 20 percent discount is arranged for the purchase of shoes for 10 days.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>Partnering with experienced companies, using new technology</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Neco shoes is established in Nepal in partnership with an experienced company that has been producing shoes for 25 years in Bangladesh.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company manufactures shoes, keeping up with the latest technology. Kalauni said that Neco recently purchased machinery worth more than Rs million based on new technology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that he has established an industry in Birgunj so that it will be easy to export shoes in the future.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">If the industrial environment in Nepal does not improve, the company plans to export shoes to other countries in the next few days or set up an industry in Bangladesh itself and engage in export business.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16601', 'image' => '20230127032624_WhatsApp Image 2023-01-26 at 15.34.26_1674743638.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 15:25:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16861', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NRB Issues Reverse Repo after 18 Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has issued reverse repo (repurchase agreement) after 18 months indicating an end to the liquidity crisis in the market.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 27: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has issued reverse repo (repurchase agreement) after 18 months indicating an end to the liquidity crisis in the market. After the interbank interest rates of banks and financial institutions fell below the monetary policy target, NRB decided to mop the excess liquidity from the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB raised Rs 5 billion from the market through a 7-day reverse repo via bidding on Thursday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Seven banks and financial institutions were ready to bid Rs 15.6 billion for the reverse repo issued on Thursday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The bidders proposed the maximum interest rate of 4.46 percent and the minimum of 4.24 percent while the average interest rate proposed was 4.32 percent, NRB said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The last time NRB mopped excess liquidity from the market through reverse repo and deposit collection tools was during July 2021. The central bank had mopped Rs 28.35 billion from the market through reverse repo on July 20, 2021 and Rs 31.65 billion was collected from the market on July 28 and August 5 through deposit collection tools. After that, NRB has been continuously injecting liquidity to the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although there has been improvement in remittance inflow and an increase in deposit collection of banks, the banks were unable to expand credit due to high interest rates. Due to this, treasury bills and interbank interest rates are also decreasing. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB claimed that the reverse repo was issued after the interbank rate fell below the limit set by the monetary policy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Now there is no more liquidity in the market. Reverse repo was issued after the interbank rate fell below the monetary policy limit,” said a source at the NRB.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the monetary policy of the current fiscal year, there is a provision to issue repo/reverse repo if the average interest rate of interbank transactions fluctuates more than 2 percentage points than the policy rate. NRB said that the average interest rate of inter-bank transactions of banks fell to 4.7 percent on Wednesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the monetary policy of the current fiscal year, the target has been set to maintain the upper limit of the interest rate corridor, i.e. the bank rate at 8.5 percent and the lower limit, i.e. the deposit collection rate, at 5.5 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">By December of the current fiscal year, while deposits of banks and financial institutions increased by Rs 111.15 billion, they credit flow was limited to only Rs 73.3 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16600', 'image' => '20230127023414_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 14:32:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16860', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Kathmandu Metropolis Removes 9,000 Hoarding Boards in Three Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has removed 9,000 hoarding boards in three months. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 27: The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has removed 9,000 hoarding boards in three months. KMC said that it removed such boards that were placed violating the rules. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local government has mobilised a four-member team that visits the city each day, assesses the hoarding boards installed in violation of the rules and removes them. The campaign aims to maintain the beauty of the metropolis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the chief of the Revenue Department of KMC Dr Shiba Raj Adhikari, the campaign to pullout hoarding boards placed against the rules was mainly centered in New Baneshwar, Koteshwar, Putali Sadak, Bagbazar and Maharajgunj areas. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local government on September 23 last year fixed the standards for placement of hoarding boards and charge for them. Issuing a 30-day public notice, it urged bodies concerned to follow the standards. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the Economic Act-2079 BS, the Metropolis annually charges Rs 500 for a hoarding board up to six square feet, Rs 1,500 for up to 15 square feet and Rs 1,000 per foot for a hoarding board from 15-30 square feet. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local government collects revenue under 36 headings including property tax, house rent tax, enterprise tax, advertisement tax and entertainment tax. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The metropolis in the current fiscal year has set a target of collecting the revenue of Rs 550 million. As of mid-January, the revenue collection of KMC stands at Rs 314.02 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is said the collection of entertainment tax which was challenging for a long has been possible lately due to the frequent efforts of the local government. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => 'KMC, hoarding, board, removal, illegal', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16599', 'image' => '20230127011237_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 13:11:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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' => '16877', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Needs to Produce Additional 350,000 Tons of Potatoes to become Self Sufficient', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: As per the data published by the National Center for Potato, Vegetable and Spice Crop Development, Nepal needs about 350,000 metric tons of potatoes to be self-sufficient in potato production. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 29: As per the data published by the National Center for Potato, Vegetable and Spice Crop Development, Nepal needs about 350,000 metric tons of potatoes to be self-sufficient in potato production. According to the center, Nepal can become self-sufficient in potatoes if it can increase its production by 342,000 metric tons a year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The center, informed that 3,325,231 metric tons of potatoes are produced annually in 198,700 hectares of land in Nepal while the market demand is 3,667,256 tons. Looking at the figures, 342,000 tons is insufficient for Nepal, which is imported from countries including India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the head of the center Basudev Kafle, the productivity of potatoes is now 16.05 metric tons per hectare. The cultivation area should be expanded by 20,400 hectares with an increase in the current state of productivity to 18.44 metric tons per hectare to become self sufficient.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Potato, which is convenient for growing in all geographical terrains and all seasons, contributes 5.96 percent to the gross domestic production. Annual per capita potato consumption in Nepal is 111.8 kg. According to the centre, 18% of potatoes are produced in the highlands, 42% in the mid-hills and 40% in the Terai. According to the government data, the maximum 30 percent of potato is produced in Province 1 and the lowest 7 percent in Karnali Province.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In terms of productivity, Nepal's potato productivity is only one place ahead of Bhutan, which is at the bottom in South Asia. Potato productivity in Bhutan is 11.02 metric tons per hectare. Pakistan has the highest productivity of 22.52 metric tons per hectare in South Asia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bijaya Kumar Giri, office chief of the National Potato, Vegetable and Spice Crops Development Center, Nigale, informed that the government recently conducted a potato seed self-sufficiency program to become self-sufficient in potato seeds. He said that since the fiscal year 2073/74, four private companies established new tissue culture and screen houses in different parts of the country. Seed potato program is launched in 40 districts covering all the geographical areas from Terai to high mountains. In addition to this, in the current fiscal year, Rs 147.8 million has been allocated for 97 local levels for potato promotion and Rs 33.34 million in 22 local levels for potato seed promotion program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16616', 'image' => '20230129020151_potatoes-411975_1280-1024x682.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 14:00:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16876', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Currency in Circulation Declines by Rs 16 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: The currency in circulation in the market has declined by Rs 16 billion as of mid-January this year compared to the same period of last year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 29: The currency in circulation in the market has declined by Rs 16 billion as of mid-January this year compared to the same period of last year. According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the use of paper money is declining due to the growing use and volume of digital transaction.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank sad that around Rs 616 billion was in circulation in the market during mid-January 2022 which dropped to Rs 600 billion this year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the financial statement of NRB, banknotes worth Rs 312 billion was in circulation by mid-July last year which increased to Rs 649 in mid-October and then it started declining gradually.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Besides the increase in use of digital transaction, NRB’s credit line to banks and financial institutions also declined in mid-December to mid-January resulting in a decline in currency in circulation in the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank had invested Rs 271.72 billion on BFIs in mid-July which dropped to Rs 62.26 billion by mid-January. The latest figure includes repo (repurchase agreement) worth Rs 50 billion, refinancing of Rs 12.21 billion and Standing Liquidity Facility (SLF) worth Rs 60 million.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => 'currency, circulation, Nepal , Rastra, bank, digital transaction', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16615', 'image' => '20230129125601_currency.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 12:55:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16874', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Expresses Concern over ‘Banking Terror’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: The private sector has raised serious concerns regarding a spike in suicide cases mainly due to ‘banking terror’.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 29: The private sector has raised serious concerns regarding a spike in suicide cases mainly due to ‘banking terror’. Issuing a statement on Thursday, the Kathmandu Chamber of Commerce said that cases of suicide are rising of late due to ‘banking terror’.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The chamber issued the statement in the wake of self-immolation of Prem Prasad Acharya of Ilam, who wrote on social media about extreme hardship in this entrepreneurial journey before committing suicide.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The private sector is in grief due to the self-immolation of Ilam’s Prem Acharya who took such extreme step due to financial hardship and also the suicide of Mohan Niraula, an electronics businessman of Biratnagar, due to alleged banking terror. The private sector is also serious towards this issue,” reads the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Stating that social media is overflowing with messages that businessmen are under extreme pressure from banks and financial institutions (BFI) and have to bear injustice, the chamber urged all concerned government bodies to implement the rules and policies as well as government directives and circulars related to the economic sector to boost the morale of the entrepreneurs and also to ensure such tragic incidents do to repeat again.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => 'banking, terror, hardship, suicide, self, immolation', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16613', 'image' => '20230129112723_From-Property-Improvement-To-Banking-Misconduct-In-Nepal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 11:26:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16872', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bhojpur Farmers Find their Calling in Orange Farming ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: Farmers in Bhojpur district have been attracted to orange farming with the yield generating good income.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 29: Farmers in Bhojpur district have been attracted to orange farming with the yield generating good income. Road connectivity is a major factor that helped expand the market beyond the locality, thus benefiting the farmers financially, say government authorities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A farmer who is engaged in commercial farming of oranges earned income from Rs 600,000 to Rs 1 million annually, they said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"I have grown 400 orange trees in my garden. I have been earning sufficiently from the sales of orange. Commercial orange farming yields good income," said Chandal Kumar Rai, a farmer of Khawa Kerabari in Temkemaiyung-5. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rai is involved in the farming of citrus fruit for 44 years. "Now, it can be taken as a medium of pension for my retired and sedentary life," he observed. An orange tree can bear fruit for 100 years, according to him. He said he generated up to Rs 1 million in income annually from the sales of oranges and its saplings. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Most of the villagers here are farmers, and orange farming has become their main income source, said another farmer Devraj Rai. The market is reliable, as oranges produced here are in high demand, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The main income source of over 70 percent of households here is orange farming. It is the season for orange harvesting, and farmers are busy," he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Now, there are 400 orange trees in his garden, and he is planning to expand it because of the good yield. "I am drawing from Rs 1.5 million to Rs 2 million annually from it. I aim to increase my income by some Rs 1 million to Rs 1.2 million annually in some years," he shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Villages where oranges are produced in high quantity are Khawa Kerabari, Annapurna, Chhinamakhu, Kot and Gogane of Temkemaiyung Rural Municipality, Dawa, Bomikh and Pokhare of Bhojpur Municipality, Shadananda Municipality, Hatuwagadhi Rural Municipality and Ram Prasad Rai Rural Municipality. The main market for oranges produced here are Dharan, Itahari, Biratnagar and Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Traders and suppliers reach the gardens and buy oranges. However, farmers could get more value for their produce if they can directly sell them in the market in the district and outside, said Chandal Kumar. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Devraj said better income could be made if emphasis could be laid on development of modern technology and irrigation, adding many youths of these areas are involved in expansion of commercial orange farming in recent days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further pointed out the need of establishing chilling centres to store the produced oranges. “Farmers have been facing problem to store the oranges. Farmers could be able to earn more if they have proper storage so that the fruit remains fresh for long,” mentioned Rai. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of Ward-5, Sunil Rai, said local levels were carrying out activities to benefit the orange farmers of that areas. “Khawa has the best terrain for orange farming. We have been running some programmes supportive to the farmers. Efforts are on to address the irrigation problem voiced by them.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson Saroj Basnet expressed the view that they were also working to make Temkemaiyung Rural Municipality self-sufficient in agriculture. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They had set a plan to encourage farmers in agro and animal husbandry along with cash crop farming, he added. "All the nine wards of Temkemaiyung Rural Municipality produce oranges and farmers make adequate income from it. The rural municipality has a target to run incentive-oriented programme by collecting data on farmers involved in other works as well to encourage them towards orange farming.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Agriculture Knowledge Centre, a total of 6,293 metric tonnes of oranges were produced in Bhojpur district this year. Orange farming is done in 920 hectares of land in the district. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => 'Orange, farming, Bhojpur, market, yield, income, good', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16611', 'image' => '20230129104602_YB_BHOJPUR_SUNTALA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 10:45:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16870', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Progresses in Hunger Reduction as it Climbs to 81st Rank in 2022 Hunger Index ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: Nepal has made improvements in reducing hunger with a score of 19.1 in the 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI), a drop from 21.2 in 2014. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 29: Nepal has made improvements in reducing hunger with a score of 19.1 in the 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI), a drop from 21.2 in 2014. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The country is ranked 81st out of 121 countries and is ahead of some South Asian countries including India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. However, it is behind Sri Lanka which is ranked 64th with 13.6 points. India's position has depleted as it fell to 107th position with 29.1 points. Similarly, Bangladesh is ranked 84th with a score of 19.6, while Pakistan is ranked 99th with 26.1 points. Afghanistan is ranked 1.9th with 29.9 points. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The GHI report was published jointly by the Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe amid a function organised by the NGO Federation of Nepal. The index less than 10 points reflects low hunger, and between 10 and 19.9 moderate hunger. Similarly, from 20 to 34.9 indicates serious hunger, and from 35 to 49.9 alarming. Above 50 reveals extremely alarming level of hunger. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The aim of the GHI is to trigger action to end hunger around the world, it was shared during the event. The 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI) shows Nepal has a moderate level of hunger with a score of 19.1 on the GHI.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal has continued making improvements on the GHI scores over the past 22 years. Nepal scored 37 on the GHI Trend in 2000. The score dropped to 30 in 2007, 21.2 in 2014 and 19.1 in 2022. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although Nepal has made some progress in reducing hunger, it is not satisfactory, said Dr Yamuna Ghale, an expert on food security. GHI scores are calculated based on a formula combining four indicators—undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality—that together capture the multidimensional nature of hunger, she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">When we look at data of stunting rates regionally, there is a grim picture, she said. Stunting rates vary across the provinces with the range of 22.6 and 22.9 percent in Gandaki and Bagmati provinces respectively, and the figure jumps to more than double at 47.8 percent in Karnali Province. This is not a matter of satisfaction, she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, children consuming foods rich in iron and iron supplements are low across provinces. According to her, Province 1 and 2 have the lowest percentage in the case of women and children respectively. Women and children in Province 1 and 2 were also found the most anemic in the country, which could be due to less or no iron intakes, she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Cooperation, coordination and collaboration among related stakeholders, ensuring localised, sustainable, inclusive and resilient food system and understanding relevant stakeholders in the realisation of human rights to food could be a way out, Ghale suggested. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => 'Nepal, Global, Hunger, Index, GHI, Rank, progress, South Asia', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16609', 'image' => '20230129094133_20221016111519_GHI-2-1.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 09:40:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16869', 'article_category_id' => '268', 'title' => 'Volume and Price of Imported Apples Decline; Price Yet to Be Cheaper in the Market', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Nepal has imported apples worth Rs 3.49 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal year. From the import of apples worth Rs 3.49 billion, the government has collected a revenue of Rs 400 million during the review period.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">January 29: Nepal has imported apples worth Rs 3.49 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal year. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">From the import of apples worth Rs 3.49 billion, the government has collected a revenue of Rs 400 million during the review period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The country imported 4,62,97,052 kilograms of apples. This shows that price of per kg apples was Rs 75 on average. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As many as 4,89,99,989 kilograms of apples worth Rs 3.82 billion were imported during the same period last fiscal year. The average price of the apples was Rs 78 per kg then.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Compared to the last fiscal, import of the apples along with its price has declined. Apple import has declined by eight per cent while the price has fallen by Rs 3 per kg in the current fiscal compared to the last fiscal. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Customers , however, have not felt relieved as the price has yet to come down in the domestic market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Entrepreneur Amar Baniya from Kuleswor fruit market said that rise of domestic production of the apples had led to import fall. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Baniya says that import of other fruits had fallen, in addition to apples. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Nepal imports apples from India, China and the Untied States of America. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A total of 2,92,53,638 kilograms of apples worth Rs 1.92 billion were imported from India. Likewise, country brought in 1,70,22,834 kilograms of apples worth Rs 1.57 billion from China, while import of apples from the Unites States was 20,580 kilograms worth Rs 5 million in the first six months of the current fiscal. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16608', 'image' => '20230129060621_collage (38).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 05:56:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16868', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Billions Exposed to Toxic Trans Fat: WHO', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 28: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that nine of the 16 countries – including Nepal – with the highest estimated proportion of coronary heart disease deaths caused by trans fat intake were not implementing best-practice policies.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 28: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that nine of the 16 countries – including Nepal – with the highest estimated proportion of coronary heart disease deaths caused by trans fat intake were not implementing best-practice policies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The countries in the list include Australia, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and South Korea in alphabetical order.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The WHO said that billions of people are still exposed to the toxic fat which kills half a million people each year while people with conditions linked with trans fat, such as heart disease, are at more risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Protecting people from these harmful substances is therefore important not just for protecting against heart disease, but also for protecting against the impact of epidemics and pandemics, said WHO Director General Ghebreyesus in his opening remarks at virtual launch event - Countdown to 2023: WHO Report on Global Trans Fat Elimination.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Industrially-produced trans fat is often used in packaged foods, baked goods, cooking oils and spreads, AFP reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the French news agency, best practice means either a mandatory national limit of two grammes of industrially-produced trans fat per 100 grammes of total fat in all foods; or a national ban on the production or use of partially-hydrogenated oils, which are a major source of trans fat.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The UN health agency said efforts to eliminate industrially-produced fat have a long way to go with five billion people exposed to toxic fat added to many food products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The inaugural progress report of WHO showed most of the policy action against trans fat had been in high-income countries. No low-income country and only three lower-middle-income countries (India, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan) have trans fat policies, the WHO said in an earlier report. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, lower-middle income countries have been leading the way recently, WHO Director General Ghebreyesus said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Last year, India became the first lower-middle income country to adopt best-practice policy. Bangladesh, Philippines and Ukraine have all passed policies that will come into force in in the coming years, and Nigeria and Sri Lanka are expected to pass their policies soon.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The WHO called in 2018 for harmful trans fatty acids to be wiped out by 2023, the AFP reported adding, “They are thought to be responsible for around 500,000 premature deaths from coronary heart disease each year.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Trans fat has no known benefit, and huge health risks that incur huge costs for health systems," AFP quoted WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as saying.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"By contrast, eliminating trans fat is cost effective and has enormous benefits for health. Put simply, trans fat is a toxic chemical that kills, and should have no place in food. It's time to get rid of it once and for all," he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Although 43 countries with combined populations of 2.8 billion people have now implemented best-practice policies, most of the world remains unprotected, WHO said, acknowledging in an annual progress report that the goal was still out of sight.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"There are some regions of the world which do not believe the problem is there," AFP quoted Francesco Branca, WHO’s nutrition and food safety director, as saying. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"It is easy for them to take action to prevent these products being dumped onto them."</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-28', 'modified' => '2023-01-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16607', 'image' => '20230128013817_food-pic.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-28 13:36:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16867', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NCC Calls for Enabling Business-Friendly Environment ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 28: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has drawn the attention of the government and authorities concerned to ease commercial activities.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 28: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has drawn the attention of the government and authorities concerned to ease commercial activities. Noting that commercial activities have not appeared smooth of late, the chamber has laid emphasis on economic and financial discipline. NCC said that it was unfortunate for the country to see the situation of self-immolation of a young entrepreneur due to entrepreneurial difficulties. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a statement issued on Friday, NCC said, "The longstanding problems surfaced in financial institutions have brought serious problems in the industry and business sector. It was saddening for the entire country to see the situation of self-immolation". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The chamber has also asked the state mechanisms to end the policy hassles faced by entrepreneurs who want to do something in the country. The banks and financial institutions should also make the lending process service-oriented, the chamber said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the statement, the chamber shared that it has been drawing the attention of the state agencies to check high interest rates and enable investment-friendly climate. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NCC Chairperson Rajendra Malla urged the concerned authorities to encourage digital system in financial transactions. The chamber has reiterated that the central bank and BFIs should create atmosphere to stabilize bank interest rates and promote investment. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-28', 'modified' => '2023-01-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16606', 'image' => '20230128013610_20220720115910_NCCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-28 13:35:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16866', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Rabi Lamichhane is ineligible to Become an MP: Supreme Court', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: The Supreme Court has ruled that Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane is ineligible to be a member of parliament because of his citizenship issue.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 27: The Supreme Court has ruled that Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane is ineligible to be a member of parliament because of his citizenship issue.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As the court has dismissed him from the membership of parliament, Lamichhane will no longer be allowed to discharge his duties as the DPM and home minister.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a final verdict in a case related to his citizenship on Friday, the apex court said that Lamichhane must begin a new process to acquire citizenship after renouncing his American citizenship.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A Constitutional Bench of SC comprising Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki and justices Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha, Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada, Dr Ananda Mohan Bhattarai and Anil Kumar Sinha concluded that Lamichhane could not furnish any evidence of starting a new process of acquiring Nepali citizenship after renouncing American citizenship. Therefore, the court ruled that he is not fit to become an MP.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Lamichhane was elected as a member of parliament from Chitwan constituency-2 during the November 20 election last year. He is the president of Rastriya Swatantra Party which is currently the fourth largest party in parliament after the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre). </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16605', 'image' => '20230127063038_1674821039.Rabi lamichhane.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 18:30:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16865', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Prepares For Half-yearly Budget Review', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Ministry of Finance has started preparations for a half-yearly review of the budget for the current fiscal 2022-23. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">January 27: The Ministry of Finance has started preparations for a half-yearly review of the budget for the current fiscal 2022-23. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Ministry has formed a committee to proceed with the review. The team is led by the Chief of Budget and Programme Division, according to Ministry Spokesperson Anand Kafle. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to Kafle, the Committee is assigned to review the budget till mid-January. The further review will be based on the committee’s report. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The committee coordinated by Division Chief Ritesh Kumar Shakya comprises one representative each from the Nepal Rastra Bank, National Planning Commission, and the Office of the Auditor General and the Public Debt Management Office.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Besides, the committee incorporates all secretaries from the Finance Ministry and the Division under-secretaries. --RSS</span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16604', 'image' => '20230127052759_collage (70).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 17:24:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16864', 'article_category_id' => '218', 'title' => 'Prabhu Bank Reappoints Sherchan as CEO for Third-Term ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Prabhu Bank Limited has reappointed Ashok Serchan as its Chief Executive Officer.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">January 27: Prabhu Bank Limited has reappointed Ashok Serchan as its Chief Executive Officer for a third-term.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The meeting of the Board of Directors held on January 26 decided to reappoint Sherchan as the CEO for the third-term. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The decision will come into effect from January 29. “Mr Sherchan has been reappointed as the CEO for another four-year term”, the bank said. Sherchan has already served as the bank’s CEO for two-terms. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16603', 'image' => '20230127044012_collage (93).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 16:35:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16863', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Closure of Tiptala Pass Impacts Socio-Economic Life in Northern Taplejung ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: Tiptala pass along the Nepal-China border in Taplejung district has remained closed for three years, causing inconvenience to the locals living in the border areas. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 27: Tiptala pass along the Nepal-China border in Taplejung district has remained closed for three years, causing inconvenience to the locals living in the border areas. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It was shut by China owing to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic three years ago. People of Olangchung Gola, Yanga, and Ghunsa have been affected the most by the closure of the transit point as they largely depended on the imports of food stuffs, garments and daily consumables from the Tibetan Riu market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the closure of the border, they have switched to the supply from Phungling, the district headquarters. The imports from the district headquarters have caused them additional financial burden than from Tibet as it increases the transportation cost. It costs Rs 30 per kg for iodized salt in Phungling which climbs to Rs 100 after it is transported to Olangchung Gola. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The closure of the pass has its implications on the socio-economic life of the people. Exports from the villages have been hampered. Prior to the pandemic, they would supply medicinal herbs, Nepali carpets and livestock to Tibet, according to Olangchung Gola’s outgoing ward chair Chheten Sherpa. He says the transportation cost from Phungling to Olangchung Gola is at least Rs 60 per kg and it will go high if it needs to be transported up to Yanga. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Yanga, Ghunsa and Olangchung Gola are yet to be connected with the road network. Animal husbandry, herbs collection and carpet production are major occupations of the people here. Before the border was sealed, they would supply dairy products such as ghee and cheese from their house. Now their trade has been largely disturbed. Carpet business is totally down. They have numerous challenges to supply the products to domestic markets due to geographical issues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In addition to this, medicinal herbs collected by farmers and suppliers in Ilam and Panchthar districts were being supplied to Tibet. Now these two districts supply the collections to domestic markets via Birtamod of Jhapa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Tiptala folks expect the government to take initiations for reopening the border to normalize their life. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It takes around two days to reach Olangchung Gola from Phungling as the transportation service is available only up to Lepe of Phungling while it takes two to three days to reach Yanga, Ghunsa and Thudam. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Olangchung Gola is home to 53 families while 13 families reside in Yanga. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16602', 'image' => '20230127042851_12196216_1047303095302377_7673986938681974796_n.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 16:28:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16862', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Neco Brand Shoes in Market', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: Four youths aged between 25 to 35 years have introduced a new product in the footwear industry of Nepal under the brand 'Neco'.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 27: Four youths aged between 25 to 35 years have introduced a new product in the footwear industry of Nepal under the brand 'Neco'.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jaydev Kalauni of Kanchanpur, Shakshi Basnet of Dang, Pradeep Koirala of Pokhara and Niraj Jaiswal of Birgunj established the shoe industry -- Neco Creation Pvt Ltd – which produces Neco brand shoes. Having established an industry in Birgunj, they have set a goal of selling shoes from three outlets in Kathmandu.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Neco inaugurated its first outlet on the third floor of Kathmandu Mall on Thursday. Jaydev Kalauni, president of Neco Creation said that Neco brand shoes will be sold and distributed from 33 showrooms across the country by next April.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He studied the market of premium shoes in Nepal when all businesses halted due to Covid-19. There, he found that shoes up to Rs 3000 are easily available, but when looking for more expensive shoes, the market has shoes amounting to Rs 12000/15000.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After realizing that there were no options for shoes ranging between Rs 4000 to Rs 10,000 Kalauni decided to produce the shoes of that range in Nepal, which cost more than Rs 10,000 when imported from abroad. Kalauni started the industry by proposing investment with a 25-year-old footwear company in Bangladesh.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industry, which started with an investment of Rs 10 million, including foreign investment of Rs 5 million from Bangladesh, can produce 180,000 pairs of shoes annually. Altogether 100 people are given immediate employment in the industry, including 20 Bangladeshi citizens.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Among the four founders of the company, Pradeep Koirala is a Chartered Accountant and Niraj Jaiswal is a BBA student. Shakshi has studied hotel management while Kalauni has completed his master's degree in management.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>If you don't like shoes worth Rs 3000 and can’t buy shoes worth Rs 10,000</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Among the shoes produced by Nepali companies, there are shoes in the market for those who are looking for the cheapest price around Rs 1000 to Rs 1500, for the middle range price around Rs 2000 to Rs 3000.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, the upper middle class population is neither satisfied with shoes worth Rs 3,000, nor they can wear foreign shoes by spending Rs 12000/15000. Kalauni says that Neco Shoes debuted in the market to fill this gap.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kalauni said, “Our concept is to provide consumers with high-end shoes than the available shoes and low-cost shoes than imported ones. In other words, the main objective is to sell premium shoes at affordable prices to middle/upper middle class people.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company is currently producing only formal, semi-formal leather shoes and casual sports shoes made of fine leather. The price of these ranges from Rs 4,500 to 8,000 for leather shoes and 2,000 to 4,500 for sports shoes. On the occasion of the inauguration of the outlet, a 20 percent discount is arranged for the purchase of shoes for 10 days.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>Partnering with experienced companies, using new technology</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Neco shoes is established in Nepal in partnership with an experienced company that has been producing shoes for 25 years in Bangladesh.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company manufactures shoes, keeping up with the latest technology. Kalauni said that Neco recently purchased machinery worth more than Rs million based on new technology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that he has established an industry in Birgunj so that it will be easy to export shoes in the future.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">If the industrial environment in Nepal does not improve, the company plans to export shoes to other countries in the next few days or set up an industry in Bangladesh itself and engage in export business.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16601', 'image' => '20230127032624_WhatsApp Image 2023-01-26 at 15.34.26_1674743638.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 15:25:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16861', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NRB Issues Reverse Repo after 18 Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has issued reverse repo (repurchase agreement) after 18 months indicating an end to the liquidity crisis in the market.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 27: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has issued reverse repo (repurchase agreement) after 18 months indicating an end to the liquidity crisis in the market. After the interbank interest rates of banks and financial institutions fell below the monetary policy target, NRB decided to mop the excess liquidity from the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB raised Rs 5 billion from the market through a 7-day reverse repo via bidding on Thursday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Seven banks and financial institutions were ready to bid Rs 15.6 billion for the reverse repo issued on Thursday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The bidders proposed the maximum interest rate of 4.46 percent and the minimum of 4.24 percent while the average interest rate proposed was 4.32 percent, NRB said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The last time NRB mopped excess liquidity from the market through reverse repo and deposit collection tools was during July 2021. The central bank had mopped Rs 28.35 billion from the market through reverse repo on July 20, 2021 and Rs 31.65 billion was collected from the market on July 28 and August 5 through deposit collection tools. After that, NRB has been continuously injecting liquidity to the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although there has been improvement in remittance inflow and an increase in deposit collection of banks, the banks were unable to expand credit due to high interest rates. Due to this, treasury bills and interbank interest rates are also decreasing. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB claimed that the reverse repo was issued after the interbank rate fell below the limit set by the monetary policy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Now there is no more liquidity in the market. Reverse repo was issued after the interbank rate fell below the monetary policy limit,” said a source at the NRB.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the monetary policy of the current fiscal year, there is a provision to issue repo/reverse repo if the average interest rate of interbank transactions fluctuates more than 2 percentage points than the policy rate. NRB said that the average interest rate of inter-bank transactions of banks fell to 4.7 percent on Wednesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the monetary policy of the current fiscal year, the target has been set to maintain the upper limit of the interest rate corridor, i.e. the bank rate at 8.5 percent and the lower limit, i.e. the deposit collection rate, at 5.5 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">By December of the current fiscal year, while deposits of banks and financial institutions increased by Rs 111.15 billion, they credit flow was limited to only Rs 73.3 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16600', 'image' => '20230127023414_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 14:32:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16860', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Kathmandu Metropolis Removes 9,000 Hoarding Boards in Three Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has removed 9,000 hoarding boards in three months. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 27: The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has removed 9,000 hoarding boards in three months. KMC said that it removed such boards that were placed violating the rules. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local government has mobilised a four-member team that visits the city each day, assesses the hoarding boards installed in violation of the rules and removes them. The campaign aims to maintain the beauty of the metropolis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the chief of the Revenue Department of KMC Dr Shiba Raj Adhikari, the campaign to pullout hoarding boards placed against the rules was mainly centered in New Baneshwar, Koteshwar, Putali Sadak, Bagbazar and Maharajgunj areas. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local government on September 23 last year fixed the standards for placement of hoarding boards and charge for them. Issuing a 30-day public notice, it urged bodies concerned to follow the standards. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the Economic Act-2079 BS, the Metropolis annually charges Rs 500 for a hoarding board up to six square feet, Rs 1,500 for up to 15 square feet and Rs 1,000 per foot for a hoarding board from 15-30 square feet. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local government collects revenue under 36 headings including property tax, house rent tax, enterprise tax, advertisement tax and entertainment tax. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The metropolis in the current fiscal year has set a target of collecting the revenue of Rs 550 million. As of mid-January, the revenue collection of KMC stands at Rs 314.02 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is said the collection of entertainment tax which was challenging for a long has been possible lately due to the frequent efforts of the local government. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => 'KMC, hoarding, board, removal, illegal', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16599', 'image' => '20230127011237_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 13:11:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16877', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Needs to Produce Additional 350,000 Tons of Potatoes to become Self Sufficient', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: As per the data published by the National Center for Potato, Vegetable and Spice Crop Development, Nepal needs about 350,000 metric tons of potatoes to be self-sufficient in potato production. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 29: As per the data published by the National Center for Potato, Vegetable and Spice Crop Development, Nepal needs about 350,000 metric tons of potatoes to be self-sufficient in potato production. According to the center, Nepal can become self-sufficient in potatoes if it can increase its production by 342,000 metric tons a year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The center, informed that 3,325,231 metric tons of potatoes are produced annually in 198,700 hectares of land in Nepal while the market demand is 3,667,256 tons. Looking at the figures, 342,000 tons is insufficient for Nepal, which is imported from countries including India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the head of the center Basudev Kafle, the productivity of potatoes is now 16.05 metric tons per hectare. The cultivation area should be expanded by 20,400 hectares with an increase in the current state of productivity to 18.44 metric tons per hectare to become self sufficient.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Potato, which is convenient for growing in all geographical terrains and all seasons, contributes 5.96 percent to the gross domestic production. Annual per capita potato consumption in Nepal is 111.8 kg. According to the centre, 18% of potatoes are produced in the highlands, 42% in the mid-hills and 40% in the Terai. According to the government data, the maximum 30 percent of potato is produced in Province 1 and the lowest 7 percent in Karnali Province.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In terms of productivity, Nepal's potato productivity is only one place ahead of Bhutan, which is at the bottom in South Asia. Potato productivity in Bhutan is 11.02 metric tons per hectare. Pakistan has the highest productivity of 22.52 metric tons per hectare in South Asia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bijaya Kumar Giri, office chief of the National Potato, Vegetable and Spice Crops Development Center, Nigale, informed that the government recently conducted a potato seed self-sufficiency program to become self-sufficient in potato seeds. He said that since the fiscal year 2073/74, four private companies established new tissue culture and screen houses in different parts of the country. Seed potato program is launched in 40 districts covering all the geographical areas from Terai to high mountains. In addition to this, in the current fiscal year, Rs 147.8 million has been allocated for 97 local levels for potato promotion and Rs 33.34 million in 22 local levels for potato seed promotion program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16616', 'image' => '20230129020151_potatoes-411975_1280-1024x682.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 14:00:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16876', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Currency in Circulation Declines by Rs 16 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: The currency in circulation in the market has declined by Rs 16 billion as of mid-January this year compared to the same period of last year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 29: The currency in circulation in the market has declined by Rs 16 billion as of mid-January this year compared to the same period of last year. According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the use of paper money is declining due to the growing use and volume of digital transaction.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank sad that around Rs 616 billion was in circulation in the market during mid-January 2022 which dropped to Rs 600 billion this year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the financial statement of NRB, banknotes worth Rs 312 billion was in circulation by mid-July last year which increased to Rs 649 in mid-October and then it started declining gradually.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Besides the increase in use of digital transaction, NRB’s credit line to banks and financial institutions also declined in mid-December to mid-January resulting in a decline in currency in circulation in the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank had invested Rs 271.72 billion on BFIs in mid-July which dropped to Rs 62.26 billion by mid-January. The latest figure includes repo (repurchase agreement) worth Rs 50 billion, refinancing of Rs 12.21 billion and Standing Liquidity Facility (SLF) worth Rs 60 million.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => 'currency, circulation, Nepal , Rastra, bank, digital transaction', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16615', 'image' => '20230129125601_currency.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 12:55:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16874', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Expresses Concern over ‘Banking Terror’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: The private sector has raised serious concerns regarding a spike in suicide cases mainly due to ‘banking terror’.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 29: The private sector has raised serious concerns regarding a spike in suicide cases mainly due to ‘banking terror’. Issuing a statement on Thursday, the Kathmandu Chamber of Commerce said that cases of suicide are rising of late due to ‘banking terror’.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The chamber issued the statement in the wake of self-immolation of Prem Prasad Acharya of Ilam, who wrote on social media about extreme hardship in this entrepreneurial journey before committing suicide.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The private sector is in grief due to the self-immolation of Ilam’s Prem Acharya who took such extreme step due to financial hardship and also the suicide of Mohan Niraula, an electronics businessman of Biratnagar, due to alleged banking terror. The private sector is also serious towards this issue,” reads the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Stating that social media is overflowing with messages that businessmen are under extreme pressure from banks and financial institutions (BFI) and have to bear injustice, the chamber urged all concerned government bodies to implement the rules and policies as well as government directives and circulars related to the economic sector to boost the morale of the entrepreneurs and also to ensure such tragic incidents do to repeat again.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => 'banking, terror, hardship, suicide, self, immolation', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16613', 'image' => '20230129112723_From-Property-Improvement-To-Banking-Misconduct-In-Nepal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 11:26:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16872', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bhojpur Farmers Find their Calling in Orange Farming ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: Farmers in Bhojpur district have been attracted to orange farming with the yield generating good income.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 29: Farmers in Bhojpur district have been attracted to orange farming with the yield generating good income. Road connectivity is a major factor that helped expand the market beyond the locality, thus benefiting the farmers financially, say government authorities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A farmer who is engaged in commercial farming of oranges earned income from Rs 600,000 to Rs 1 million annually, they said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"I have grown 400 orange trees in my garden. I have been earning sufficiently from the sales of orange. Commercial orange farming yields good income," said Chandal Kumar Rai, a farmer of Khawa Kerabari in Temkemaiyung-5. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rai is involved in the farming of citrus fruit for 44 years. "Now, it can be taken as a medium of pension for my retired and sedentary life," he observed. An orange tree can bear fruit for 100 years, according to him. He said he generated up to Rs 1 million in income annually from the sales of oranges and its saplings. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Most of the villagers here are farmers, and orange farming has become their main income source, said another farmer Devraj Rai. The market is reliable, as oranges produced here are in high demand, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The main income source of over 70 percent of households here is orange farming. It is the season for orange harvesting, and farmers are busy," he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Now, there are 400 orange trees in his garden, and he is planning to expand it because of the good yield. "I am drawing from Rs 1.5 million to Rs 2 million annually from it. I aim to increase my income by some Rs 1 million to Rs 1.2 million annually in some years," he shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Villages where oranges are produced in high quantity are Khawa Kerabari, Annapurna, Chhinamakhu, Kot and Gogane of Temkemaiyung Rural Municipality, Dawa, Bomikh and Pokhare of Bhojpur Municipality, Shadananda Municipality, Hatuwagadhi Rural Municipality and Ram Prasad Rai Rural Municipality. The main market for oranges produced here are Dharan, Itahari, Biratnagar and Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Traders and suppliers reach the gardens and buy oranges. However, farmers could get more value for their produce if they can directly sell them in the market in the district and outside, said Chandal Kumar. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Devraj said better income could be made if emphasis could be laid on development of modern technology and irrigation, adding many youths of these areas are involved in expansion of commercial orange farming in recent days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further pointed out the need of establishing chilling centres to store the produced oranges. “Farmers have been facing problem to store the oranges. Farmers could be able to earn more if they have proper storage so that the fruit remains fresh for long,” mentioned Rai. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of Ward-5, Sunil Rai, said local levels were carrying out activities to benefit the orange farmers of that areas. “Khawa has the best terrain for orange farming. We have been running some programmes supportive to the farmers. Efforts are on to address the irrigation problem voiced by them.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson Saroj Basnet expressed the view that they were also working to make Temkemaiyung Rural Municipality self-sufficient in agriculture. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They had set a plan to encourage farmers in agro and animal husbandry along with cash crop farming, he added. "All the nine wards of Temkemaiyung Rural Municipality produce oranges and farmers make adequate income from it. The rural municipality has a target to run incentive-oriented programme by collecting data on farmers involved in other works as well to encourage them towards orange farming.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Agriculture Knowledge Centre, a total of 6,293 metric tonnes of oranges were produced in Bhojpur district this year. Orange farming is done in 920 hectares of land in the district. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => 'Orange, farming, Bhojpur, market, yield, income, good', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16611', 'image' => '20230129104602_YB_BHOJPUR_SUNTALA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 10:45:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16870', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Progresses in Hunger Reduction as it Climbs to 81st Rank in 2022 Hunger Index ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: Nepal has made improvements in reducing hunger with a score of 19.1 in the 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI), a drop from 21.2 in 2014. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 29: Nepal has made improvements in reducing hunger with a score of 19.1 in the 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI), a drop from 21.2 in 2014. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The country is ranked 81st out of 121 countries and is ahead of some South Asian countries including India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. However, it is behind Sri Lanka which is ranked 64th with 13.6 points. India's position has depleted as it fell to 107th position with 29.1 points. Similarly, Bangladesh is ranked 84th with a score of 19.6, while Pakistan is ranked 99th with 26.1 points. Afghanistan is ranked 1.9th with 29.9 points. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The GHI report was published jointly by the Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe amid a function organised by the NGO Federation of Nepal. The index less than 10 points reflects low hunger, and between 10 and 19.9 moderate hunger. Similarly, from 20 to 34.9 indicates serious hunger, and from 35 to 49.9 alarming. Above 50 reveals extremely alarming level of hunger. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The aim of the GHI is to trigger action to end hunger around the world, it was shared during the event. The 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI) shows Nepal has a moderate level of hunger with a score of 19.1 on the GHI.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal has continued making improvements on the GHI scores over the past 22 years. Nepal scored 37 on the GHI Trend in 2000. The score dropped to 30 in 2007, 21.2 in 2014 and 19.1 in 2022. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although Nepal has made some progress in reducing hunger, it is not satisfactory, said Dr Yamuna Ghale, an expert on food security. GHI scores are calculated based on a formula combining four indicators—undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality—that together capture the multidimensional nature of hunger, she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">When we look at data of stunting rates regionally, there is a grim picture, she said. Stunting rates vary across the provinces with the range of 22.6 and 22.9 percent in Gandaki and Bagmati provinces respectively, and the figure jumps to more than double at 47.8 percent in Karnali Province. This is not a matter of satisfaction, she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, children consuming foods rich in iron and iron supplements are low across provinces. According to her, Province 1 and 2 have the lowest percentage in the case of women and children respectively. Women and children in Province 1 and 2 were also found the most anemic in the country, which could be due to less or no iron intakes, she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Cooperation, coordination and collaboration among related stakeholders, ensuring localised, sustainable, inclusive and resilient food system and understanding relevant stakeholders in the realisation of human rights to food could be a way out, Ghale suggested. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => 'Nepal, Global, Hunger, Index, GHI, Rank, progress, South Asia', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16609', 'image' => '20230129094133_20221016111519_GHI-2-1.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 09:40:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16869', 'article_category_id' => '268', 'title' => 'Volume and Price of Imported Apples Decline; Price Yet to Be Cheaper in the Market', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Nepal has imported apples worth Rs 3.49 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal year. From the import of apples worth Rs 3.49 billion, the government has collected a revenue of Rs 400 million during the review period.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">January 29: Nepal has imported apples worth Rs 3.49 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal year. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">From the import of apples worth Rs 3.49 billion, the government has collected a revenue of Rs 400 million during the review period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The country imported 4,62,97,052 kilograms of apples. This shows that price of per kg apples was Rs 75 on average. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As many as 4,89,99,989 kilograms of apples worth Rs 3.82 billion were imported during the same period last fiscal year. The average price of the apples was Rs 78 per kg then.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Compared to the last fiscal, import of the apples along with its price has declined. Apple import has declined by eight per cent while the price has fallen by Rs 3 per kg in the current fiscal compared to the last fiscal. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Customers , however, have not felt relieved as the price has yet to come down in the domestic market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Entrepreneur Amar Baniya from Kuleswor fruit market said that rise of domestic production of the apples had led to import fall. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Baniya says that import of other fruits had fallen, in addition to apples. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Nepal imports apples from India, China and the Untied States of America. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A total of 2,92,53,638 kilograms of apples worth Rs 1.92 billion were imported from India. Likewise, country brought in 1,70,22,834 kilograms of apples worth Rs 1.57 billion from China, while import of apples from the Unites States was 20,580 kilograms worth Rs 5 million in the first six months of the current fiscal. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16608', 'image' => '20230129060621_collage (38).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 05:56:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16868', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Billions Exposed to Toxic Trans Fat: WHO', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 28: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that nine of the 16 countries – including Nepal – with the highest estimated proportion of coronary heart disease deaths caused by trans fat intake were not implementing best-practice policies.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 28: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that nine of the 16 countries – including Nepal – with the highest estimated proportion of coronary heart disease deaths caused by trans fat intake were not implementing best-practice policies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The countries in the list include Australia, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and South Korea in alphabetical order.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The WHO said that billions of people are still exposed to the toxic fat which kills half a million people each year while people with conditions linked with trans fat, such as heart disease, are at more risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Protecting people from these harmful substances is therefore important not just for protecting against heart disease, but also for protecting against the impact of epidemics and pandemics, said WHO Director General Ghebreyesus in his opening remarks at virtual launch event - Countdown to 2023: WHO Report on Global Trans Fat Elimination.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Industrially-produced trans fat is often used in packaged foods, baked goods, cooking oils and spreads, AFP reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the French news agency, best practice means either a mandatory national limit of two grammes of industrially-produced trans fat per 100 grammes of total fat in all foods; or a national ban on the production or use of partially-hydrogenated oils, which are a major source of trans fat.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The UN health agency said efforts to eliminate industrially-produced fat have a long way to go with five billion people exposed to toxic fat added to many food products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The inaugural progress report of WHO showed most of the policy action against trans fat had been in high-income countries. No low-income country and only three lower-middle-income countries (India, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan) have trans fat policies, the WHO said in an earlier report. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, lower-middle income countries have been leading the way recently, WHO Director General Ghebreyesus said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Last year, India became the first lower-middle income country to adopt best-practice policy. Bangladesh, Philippines and Ukraine have all passed policies that will come into force in in the coming years, and Nigeria and Sri Lanka are expected to pass their policies soon.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The WHO called in 2018 for harmful trans fatty acids to be wiped out by 2023, the AFP reported adding, “They are thought to be responsible for around 500,000 premature deaths from coronary heart disease each year.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Trans fat has no known benefit, and huge health risks that incur huge costs for health systems," AFP quoted WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as saying.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"By contrast, eliminating trans fat is cost effective and has enormous benefits for health. Put simply, trans fat is a toxic chemical that kills, and should have no place in food. It's time to get rid of it once and for all," he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Although 43 countries with combined populations of 2.8 billion people have now implemented best-practice policies, most of the world remains unprotected, WHO said, acknowledging in an annual progress report that the goal was still out of sight.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"There are some regions of the world which do not believe the problem is there," AFP quoted Francesco Branca, WHO’s nutrition and food safety director, as saying. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"It is easy for them to take action to prevent these products being dumped onto them."</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-28', 'modified' => '2023-01-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16607', 'image' => '20230128013817_food-pic.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-28 13:36:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16867', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NCC Calls for Enabling Business-Friendly Environment ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 28: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has drawn the attention of the government and authorities concerned to ease commercial activities.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 28: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has drawn the attention of the government and authorities concerned to ease commercial activities. Noting that commercial activities have not appeared smooth of late, the chamber has laid emphasis on economic and financial discipline. NCC said that it was unfortunate for the country to see the situation of self-immolation of a young entrepreneur due to entrepreneurial difficulties. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a statement issued on Friday, NCC said, "The longstanding problems surfaced in financial institutions have brought serious problems in the industry and business sector. It was saddening for the entire country to see the situation of self-immolation". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The chamber has also asked the state mechanisms to end the policy hassles faced by entrepreneurs who want to do something in the country. The banks and financial institutions should also make the lending process service-oriented, the chamber said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the statement, the chamber shared that it has been drawing the attention of the state agencies to check high interest rates and enable investment-friendly climate. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NCC Chairperson Rajendra Malla urged the concerned authorities to encourage digital system in financial transactions. The chamber has reiterated that the central bank and BFIs should create atmosphere to stabilize bank interest rates and promote investment. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-28', 'modified' => '2023-01-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16606', 'image' => '20230128013610_20220720115910_NCCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-28 13:35:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16866', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Rabi Lamichhane is ineligible to Become an MP: Supreme Court', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: The Supreme Court has ruled that Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane is ineligible to be a member of parliament because of his citizenship issue.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 27: The Supreme Court has ruled that Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane is ineligible to be a member of parliament because of his citizenship issue.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As the court has dismissed him from the membership of parliament, Lamichhane will no longer be allowed to discharge his duties as the DPM and home minister.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a final verdict in a case related to his citizenship on Friday, the apex court said that Lamichhane must begin a new process to acquire citizenship after renouncing his American citizenship.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A Constitutional Bench of SC comprising Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki and justices Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha, Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada, Dr Ananda Mohan Bhattarai and Anil Kumar Sinha concluded that Lamichhane could not furnish any evidence of starting a new process of acquiring Nepali citizenship after renouncing American citizenship. Therefore, the court ruled that he is not fit to become an MP.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Lamichhane was elected as a member of parliament from Chitwan constituency-2 during the November 20 election last year. He is the president of Rastriya Swatantra Party which is currently the fourth largest party in parliament after the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre). </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16605', 'image' => '20230127063038_1674821039.Rabi lamichhane.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 18:30:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16865', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Prepares For Half-yearly Budget Review', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Ministry of Finance has started preparations for a half-yearly review of the budget for the current fiscal 2022-23. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">January 27: The Ministry of Finance has started preparations for a half-yearly review of the budget for the current fiscal 2022-23. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Ministry has formed a committee to proceed with the review. The team is led by the Chief of Budget and Programme Division, according to Ministry Spokesperson Anand Kafle. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to Kafle, the Committee is assigned to review the budget till mid-January. The further review will be based on the committee’s report. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The committee coordinated by Division Chief Ritesh Kumar Shakya comprises one representative each from the Nepal Rastra Bank, National Planning Commission, and the Office of the Auditor General and the Public Debt Management Office.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Besides, the committee incorporates all secretaries from the Finance Ministry and the Division under-secretaries. --RSS</span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16604', 'image' => '20230127052759_collage (70).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 17:24:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16864', 'article_category_id' => '218', 'title' => 'Prabhu Bank Reappoints Sherchan as CEO for Third-Term ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Prabhu Bank Limited has reappointed Ashok Serchan as its Chief Executive Officer.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">January 27: Prabhu Bank Limited has reappointed Ashok Serchan as its Chief Executive Officer for a third-term.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The meeting of the Board of Directors held on January 26 decided to reappoint Sherchan as the CEO for the third-term. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The decision will come into effect from January 29. “Mr Sherchan has been reappointed as the CEO for another four-year term”, the bank said. Sherchan has already served as the bank’s CEO for two-terms. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16603', 'image' => '20230127044012_collage (93).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 16:35:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16863', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Closure of Tiptala Pass Impacts Socio-Economic Life in Northern Taplejung ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: Tiptala pass along the Nepal-China border in Taplejung district has remained closed for three years, causing inconvenience to the locals living in the border areas. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 27: Tiptala pass along the Nepal-China border in Taplejung district has remained closed for three years, causing inconvenience to the locals living in the border areas. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It was shut by China owing to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic three years ago. People of Olangchung Gola, Yanga, and Ghunsa have been affected the most by the closure of the transit point as they largely depended on the imports of food stuffs, garments and daily consumables from the Tibetan Riu market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the closure of the border, they have switched to the supply from Phungling, the district headquarters. The imports from the district headquarters have caused them additional financial burden than from Tibet as it increases the transportation cost. It costs Rs 30 per kg for iodized salt in Phungling which climbs to Rs 100 after it is transported to Olangchung Gola. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The closure of the pass has its implications on the socio-economic life of the people. Exports from the villages have been hampered. Prior to the pandemic, they would supply medicinal herbs, Nepali carpets and livestock to Tibet, according to Olangchung Gola’s outgoing ward chair Chheten Sherpa. He says the transportation cost from Phungling to Olangchung Gola is at least Rs 60 per kg and it will go high if it needs to be transported up to Yanga. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Yanga, Ghunsa and Olangchung Gola are yet to be connected with the road network. Animal husbandry, herbs collection and carpet production are major occupations of the people here. Before the border was sealed, they would supply dairy products such as ghee and cheese from their house. Now their trade has been largely disturbed. Carpet business is totally down. They have numerous challenges to supply the products to domestic markets due to geographical issues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In addition to this, medicinal herbs collected by farmers and suppliers in Ilam and Panchthar districts were being supplied to Tibet. Now these two districts supply the collections to domestic markets via Birtamod of Jhapa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Tiptala folks expect the government to take initiations for reopening the border to normalize their life. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It takes around two days to reach Olangchung Gola from Phungling as the transportation service is available only up to Lepe of Phungling while it takes two to three days to reach Yanga, Ghunsa and Thudam. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Olangchung Gola is home to 53 families while 13 families reside in Yanga. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16602', 'image' => '20230127042851_12196216_1047303095302377_7673986938681974796_n.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 16:28:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16862', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Neco Brand Shoes in Market', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: Four youths aged between 25 to 35 years have introduced a new product in the footwear industry of Nepal under the brand 'Neco'.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 27: Four youths aged between 25 to 35 years have introduced a new product in the footwear industry of Nepal under the brand 'Neco'.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jaydev Kalauni of Kanchanpur, Shakshi Basnet of Dang, Pradeep Koirala of Pokhara and Niraj Jaiswal of Birgunj established the shoe industry -- Neco Creation Pvt Ltd – which produces Neco brand shoes. Having established an industry in Birgunj, they have set a goal of selling shoes from three outlets in Kathmandu.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Neco inaugurated its first outlet on the third floor of Kathmandu Mall on Thursday. Jaydev Kalauni, president of Neco Creation said that Neco brand shoes will be sold and distributed from 33 showrooms across the country by next April.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He studied the market of premium shoes in Nepal when all businesses halted due to Covid-19. There, he found that shoes up to Rs 3000 are easily available, but when looking for more expensive shoes, the market has shoes amounting to Rs 12000/15000.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After realizing that there were no options for shoes ranging between Rs 4000 to Rs 10,000 Kalauni decided to produce the shoes of that range in Nepal, which cost more than Rs 10,000 when imported from abroad. Kalauni started the industry by proposing investment with a 25-year-old footwear company in Bangladesh.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industry, which started with an investment of Rs 10 million, including foreign investment of Rs 5 million from Bangladesh, can produce 180,000 pairs of shoes annually. Altogether 100 people are given immediate employment in the industry, including 20 Bangladeshi citizens.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Among the four founders of the company, Pradeep Koirala is a Chartered Accountant and Niraj Jaiswal is a BBA student. Shakshi has studied hotel management while Kalauni has completed his master's degree in management.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>If you don't like shoes worth Rs 3000 and can’t buy shoes worth Rs 10,000</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Among the shoes produced by Nepali companies, there are shoes in the market for those who are looking for the cheapest price around Rs 1000 to Rs 1500, for the middle range price around Rs 2000 to Rs 3000.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, the upper middle class population is neither satisfied with shoes worth Rs 3,000, nor they can wear foreign shoes by spending Rs 12000/15000. Kalauni says that Neco Shoes debuted in the market to fill this gap.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kalauni said, “Our concept is to provide consumers with high-end shoes than the available shoes and low-cost shoes than imported ones. In other words, the main objective is to sell premium shoes at affordable prices to middle/upper middle class people.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company is currently producing only formal, semi-formal leather shoes and casual sports shoes made of fine leather. The price of these ranges from Rs 4,500 to 8,000 for leather shoes and 2,000 to 4,500 for sports shoes. On the occasion of the inauguration of the outlet, a 20 percent discount is arranged for the purchase of shoes for 10 days.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>Partnering with experienced companies, using new technology</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Neco shoes is established in Nepal in partnership with an experienced company that has been producing shoes for 25 years in Bangladesh.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company manufactures shoes, keeping up with the latest technology. Kalauni said that Neco recently purchased machinery worth more than Rs million based on new technology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that he has established an industry in Birgunj so that it will be easy to export shoes in the future.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">If the industrial environment in Nepal does not improve, the company plans to export shoes to other countries in the next few days or set up an industry in Bangladesh itself and engage in export business.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16601', 'image' => '20230127032624_WhatsApp Image 2023-01-26 at 15.34.26_1674743638.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 15:25:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16861', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NRB Issues Reverse Repo after 18 Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has issued reverse repo (repurchase agreement) after 18 months indicating an end to the liquidity crisis in the market.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 27: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has issued reverse repo (repurchase agreement) after 18 months indicating an end to the liquidity crisis in the market. After the interbank interest rates of banks and financial institutions fell below the monetary policy target, NRB decided to mop the excess liquidity from the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB raised Rs 5 billion from the market through a 7-day reverse repo via bidding on Thursday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Seven banks and financial institutions were ready to bid Rs 15.6 billion for the reverse repo issued on Thursday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The bidders proposed the maximum interest rate of 4.46 percent and the minimum of 4.24 percent while the average interest rate proposed was 4.32 percent, NRB said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The last time NRB mopped excess liquidity from the market through reverse repo and deposit collection tools was during July 2021. The central bank had mopped Rs 28.35 billion from the market through reverse repo on July 20, 2021 and Rs 31.65 billion was collected from the market on July 28 and August 5 through deposit collection tools. After that, NRB has been continuously injecting liquidity to the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although there has been improvement in remittance inflow and an increase in deposit collection of banks, the banks were unable to expand credit due to high interest rates. Due to this, treasury bills and interbank interest rates are also decreasing. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB claimed that the reverse repo was issued after the interbank rate fell below the limit set by the monetary policy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Now there is no more liquidity in the market. Reverse repo was issued after the interbank rate fell below the monetary policy limit,” said a source at the NRB.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the monetary policy of the current fiscal year, there is a provision to issue repo/reverse repo if the average interest rate of interbank transactions fluctuates more than 2 percentage points than the policy rate. NRB said that the average interest rate of inter-bank transactions of banks fell to 4.7 percent on Wednesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the monetary policy of the current fiscal year, the target has been set to maintain the upper limit of the interest rate corridor, i.e. the bank rate at 8.5 percent and the lower limit, i.e. the deposit collection rate, at 5.5 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">By December of the current fiscal year, while deposits of banks and financial institutions increased by Rs 111.15 billion, they credit flow was limited to only Rs 73.3 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16600', 'image' => '20230127023414_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 14:32:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16860', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Kathmandu Metropolis Removes 9,000 Hoarding Boards in Three Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has removed 9,000 hoarding boards in three months. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 27: The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has removed 9,000 hoarding boards in three months. KMC said that it removed such boards that were placed violating the rules. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local government has mobilised a four-member team that visits the city each day, assesses the hoarding boards installed in violation of the rules and removes them. The campaign aims to maintain the beauty of the metropolis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the chief of the Revenue Department of KMC Dr Shiba Raj Adhikari, the campaign to pullout hoarding boards placed against the rules was mainly centered in New Baneshwar, Koteshwar, Putali Sadak, Bagbazar and Maharajgunj areas. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local government on September 23 last year fixed the standards for placement of hoarding boards and charge for them. Issuing a 30-day public notice, it urged bodies concerned to follow the standards. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the Economic Act-2079 BS, the Metropolis annually charges Rs 500 for a hoarding board up to six square feet, Rs 1,500 for up to 15 square feet and Rs 1,000 per foot for a hoarding board from 15-30 square feet. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local government collects revenue under 36 headings including property tax, house rent tax, enterprise tax, advertisement tax and entertainment tax. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The metropolis in the current fiscal year has set a target of collecting the revenue of Rs 550 million. As of mid-January, the revenue collection of KMC stands at Rs 314.02 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is said the collection of entertainment tax which was challenging for a long has been possible lately due to the frequent efforts of the local government. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => 'KMC, hoarding, board, removal, illegal', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16599', 'image' => '20230127011237_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 13:11:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 29: As per the data published by the National Center for Potato, Vegetable and Spice Crop Development, Nepal needs about 350,000 metric tons of potatoes to be self-sufficient in potato production. According to the center, Nepal can become self-sufficient in potatoes if it can increase its production by 342,000 metric tons a year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The center, informed that 3,325,231 metric tons of potatoes are produced annually in 198,700 hectares of land in Nepal while the market demand is 3,667,256 tons. Looking at the figures, 342,000 tons is insufficient for Nepal, which is imported from countries including India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the head of the center Basudev Kafle, the productivity of potatoes is now 16.05 metric tons per hectare. The cultivation area should be expanded by 20,400 hectares with an increase in the current state of productivity to 18.44 metric tons per hectare to become self sufficient.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Potato, which is convenient for growing in all geographical terrains and all seasons, contributes 5.96 percent to the gross domestic production. Annual per capita potato consumption in Nepal is 111.8 kg. According to the centre, 18% of potatoes are produced in the highlands, 42% in the mid-hills and 40% in the Terai. According to the government data, the maximum 30 percent of potato is produced in Province 1 and the lowest 7 percent in Karnali Province.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In terms of productivity, Nepal's potato productivity is only one place ahead of Bhutan, which is at the bottom in South Asia. Potato productivity in Bhutan is 11.02 metric tons per hectare. Pakistan has the highest productivity of 22.52 metric tons per hectare in South Asia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bijaya Kumar Giri, office chief of the National Potato, Vegetable and Spice Crops Development Center, Nigale, informed that the government recently conducted a potato seed self-sufficiency program to become self-sufficient in potato seeds. He said that since the fiscal year 2073/74, four private companies established new tissue culture and screen houses in different parts of the country. Seed potato program is launched in 40 districts covering all the geographical areas from Terai to high mountains. In addition to this, in the current fiscal year, Rs 147.8 million has been allocated for 97 local levels for potato promotion and Rs 33.34 million in 22 local levels for potato seed promotion program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16616', 'image' => '20230129020151_potatoes-411975_1280-1024x682.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 14:00:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16876', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Currency in Circulation Declines by Rs 16 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: The currency in circulation in the market has declined by Rs 16 billion as of mid-January this year compared to the same period of last year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 29: The currency in circulation in the market has declined by Rs 16 billion as of mid-January this year compared to the same period of last year. According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the use of paper money is declining due to the growing use and volume of digital transaction.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank sad that around Rs 616 billion was in circulation in the market during mid-January 2022 which dropped to Rs 600 billion this year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the financial statement of NRB, banknotes worth Rs 312 billion was in circulation by mid-July last year which increased to Rs 649 in mid-October and then it started declining gradually.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Besides the increase in use of digital transaction, NRB’s credit line to banks and financial institutions also declined in mid-December to mid-January resulting in a decline in currency in circulation in the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank had invested Rs 271.72 billion on BFIs in mid-July which dropped to Rs 62.26 billion by mid-January. The latest figure includes repo (repurchase agreement) worth Rs 50 billion, refinancing of Rs 12.21 billion and Standing Liquidity Facility (SLF) worth Rs 60 million.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => 'currency, circulation, Nepal , Rastra, bank, digital transaction', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16615', 'image' => '20230129125601_currency.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 12:55:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16874', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Expresses Concern over ‘Banking Terror’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: The private sector has raised serious concerns regarding a spike in suicide cases mainly due to ‘banking terror’.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 29: The private sector has raised serious concerns regarding a spike in suicide cases mainly due to ‘banking terror’. Issuing a statement on Thursday, the Kathmandu Chamber of Commerce said that cases of suicide are rising of late due to ‘banking terror’.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The chamber issued the statement in the wake of self-immolation of Prem Prasad Acharya of Ilam, who wrote on social media about extreme hardship in this entrepreneurial journey before committing suicide.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The private sector is in grief due to the self-immolation of Ilam’s Prem Acharya who took such extreme step due to financial hardship and also the suicide of Mohan Niraula, an electronics businessman of Biratnagar, due to alleged banking terror. The private sector is also serious towards this issue,” reads the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Stating that social media is overflowing with messages that businessmen are under extreme pressure from banks and financial institutions (BFI) and have to bear injustice, the chamber urged all concerned government bodies to implement the rules and policies as well as government directives and circulars related to the economic sector to boost the morale of the entrepreneurs and also to ensure such tragic incidents do to repeat again.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => 'banking, terror, hardship, suicide, self, immolation', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16613', 'image' => '20230129112723_From-Property-Improvement-To-Banking-Misconduct-In-Nepal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 11:26:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16872', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bhojpur Farmers Find their Calling in Orange Farming ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: Farmers in Bhojpur district have been attracted to orange farming with the yield generating good income.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 29: Farmers in Bhojpur district have been attracted to orange farming with the yield generating good income. Road connectivity is a major factor that helped expand the market beyond the locality, thus benefiting the farmers financially, say government authorities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A farmer who is engaged in commercial farming of oranges earned income from Rs 600,000 to Rs 1 million annually, they said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"I have grown 400 orange trees in my garden. I have been earning sufficiently from the sales of orange. Commercial orange farming yields good income," said Chandal Kumar Rai, a farmer of Khawa Kerabari in Temkemaiyung-5. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rai is involved in the farming of citrus fruit for 44 years. "Now, it can be taken as a medium of pension for my retired and sedentary life," he observed. An orange tree can bear fruit for 100 years, according to him. He said he generated up to Rs 1 million in income annually from the sales of oranges and its saplings. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Most of the villagers here are farmers, and orange farming has become their main income source, said another farmer Devraj Rai. The market is reliable, as oranges produced here are in high demand, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The main income source of over 70 percent of households here is orange farming. It is the season for orange harvesting, and farmers are busy," he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Now, there are 400 orange trees in his garden, and he is planning to expand it because of the good yield. "I am drawing from Rs 1.5 million to Rs 2 million annually from it. I aim to increase my income by some Rs 1 million to Rs 1.2 million annually in some years," he shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Villages where oranges are produced in high quantity are Khawa Kerabari, Annapurna, Chhinamakhu, Kot and Gogane of Temkemaiyung Rural Municipality, Dawa, Bomikh and Pokhare of Bhojpur Municipality, Shadananda Municipality, Hatuwagadhi Rural Municipality and Ram Prasad Rai Rural Municipality. The main market for oranges produced here are Dharan, Itahari, Biratnagar and Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Traders and suppliers reach the gardens and buy oranges. However, farmers could get more value for their produce if they can directly sell them in the market in the district and outside, said Chandal Kumar. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Devraj said better income could be made if emphasis could be laid on development of modern technology and irrigation, adding many youths of these areas are involved in expansion of commercial orange farming in recent days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further pointed out the need of establishing chilling centres to store the produced oranges. “Farmers have been facing problem to store the oranges. Farmers could be able to earn more if they have proper storage so that the fruit remains fresh for long,” mentioned Rai. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of Ward-5, Sunil Rai, said local levels were carrying out activities to benefit the orange farmers of that areas. “Khawa has the best terrain for orange farming. We have been running some programmes supportive to the farmers. Efforts are on to address the irrigation problem voiced by them.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson Saroj Basnet expressed the view that they were also working to make Temkemaiyung Rural Municipality self-sufficient in agriculture. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They had set a plan to encourage farmers in agro and animal husbandry along with cash crop farming, he added. "All the nine wards of Temkemaiyung Rural Municipality produce oranges and farmers make adequate income from it. The rural municipality has a target to run incentive-oriented programme by collecting data on farmers involved in other works as well to encourage them towards orange farming.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Agriculture Knowledge Centre, a total of 6,293 metric tonnes of oranges were produced in Bhojpur district this year. Orange farming is done in 920 hectares of land in the district. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => 'Orange, farming, Bhojpur, market, yield, income, good', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16611', 'image' => '20230129104602_YB_BHOJPUR_SUNTALA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 10:45:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16870', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Progresses in Hunger Reduction as it Climbs to 81st Rank in 2022 Hunger Index ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: Nepal has made improvements in reducing hunger with a score of 19.1 in the 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI), a drop from 21.2 in 2014. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 29: Nepal has made improvements in reducing hunger with a score of 19.1 in the 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI), a drop from 21.2 in 2014. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The country is ranked 81st out of 121 countries and is ahead of some South Asian countries including India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. However, it is behind Sri Lanka which is ranked 64th with 13.6 points. India's position has depleted as it fell to 107th position with 29.1 points. Similarly, Bangladesh is ranked 84th with a score of 19.6, while Pakistan is ranked 99th with 26.1 points. Afghanistan is ranked 1.9th with 29.9 points. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The GHI report was published jointly by the Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe amid a function organised by the NGO Federation of Nepal. The index less than 10 points reflects low hunger, and between 10 and 19.9 moderate hunger. Similarly, from 20 to 34.9 indicates serious hunger, and from 35 to 49.9 alarming. Above 50 reveals extremely alarming level of hunger. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The aim of the GHI is to trigger action to end hunger around the world, it was shared during the event. The 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI) shows Nepal has a moderate level of hunger with a score of 19.1 on the GHI.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal has continued making improvements on the GHI scores over the past 22 years. Nepal scored 37 on the GHI Trend in 2000. The score dropped to 30 in 2007, 21.2 in 2014 and 19.1 in 2022. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although Nepal has made some progress in reducing hunger, it is not satisfactory, said Dr Yamuna Ghale, an expert on food security. GHI scores are calculated based on a formula combining four indicators—undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality—that together capture the multidimensional nature of hunger, she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">When we look at data of stunting rates regionally, there is a grim picture, she said. Stunting rates vary across the provinces with the range of 22.6 and 22.9 percent in Gandaki and Bagmati provinces respectively, and the figure jumps to more than double at 47.8 percent in Karnali Province. This is not a matter of satisfaction, she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, children consuming foods rich in iron and iron supplements are low across provinces. According to her, Province 1 and 2 have the lowest percentage in the case of women and children respectively. Women and children in Province 1 and 2 were also found the most anemic in the country, which could be due to less or no iron intakes, she said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Cooperation, coordination and collaboration among related stakeholders, ensuring localised, sustainable, inclusive and resilient food system and understanding relevant stakeholders in the realisation of human rights to food could be a way out, Ghale suggested. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => 'Nepal, Global, Hunger, Index, GHI, Rank, progress, South Asia', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16609', 'image' => '20230129094133_20221016111519_GHI-2-1.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 09:40:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16869', 'article_category_id' => '268', 'title' => 'Volume and Price of Imported Apples Decline; Price Yet to Be Cheaper in the Market', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Nepal has imported apples worth Rs 3.49 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal year. From the import of apples worth Rs 3.49 billion, the government has collected a revenue of Rs 400 million during the review period.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">January 29: Nepal has imported apples worth Rs 3.49 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal year. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">From the import of apples worth Rs 3.49 billion, the government has collected a revenue of Rs 400 million during the review period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The country imported 4,62,97,052 kilograms of apples. This shows that price of per kg apples was Rs 75 on average. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As many as 4,89,99,989 kilograms of apples worth Rs 3.82 billion were imported during the same period last fiscal year. The average price of the apples was Rs 78 per kg then.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Compared to the last fiscal, import of the apples along with its price has declined. Apple import has declined by eight per cent while the price has fallen by Rs 3 per kg in the current fiscal compared to the last fiscal. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Customers , however, have not felt relieved as the price has yet to come down in the domestic market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Entrepreneur Amar Baniya from Kuleswor fruit market said that rise of domestic production of the apples had led to import fall. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Baniya says that import of other fruits had fallen, in addition to apples. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Nepal imports apples from India, China and the Untied States of America. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A total of 2,92,53,638 kilograms of apples worth Rs 1.92 billion were imported from India. Likewise, country brought in 1,70,22,834 kilograms of apples worth Rs 1.57 billion from China, while import of apples from the Unites States was 20,580 kilograms worth Rs 5 million in the first six months of the current fiscal. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-29', 'modified' => '2023-01-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16608', 'image' => '20230129060621_collage (38).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-29 05:56:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16868', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Billions Exposed to Toxic Trans Fat: WHO', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 28: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that nine of the 16 countries – including Nepal – with the highest estimated proportion of coronary heart disease deaths caused by trans fat intake were not implementing best-practice policies.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 28: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that nine of the 16 countries – including Nepal – with the highest estimated proportion of coronary heart disease deaths caused by trans fat intake were not implementing best-practice policies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The countries in the list include Australia, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and South Korea in alphabetical order.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The WHO said that billions of people are still exposed to the toxic fat which kills half a million people each year while people with conditions linked with trans fat, such as heart disease, are at more risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Protecting people from these harmful substances is therefore important not just for protecting against heart disease, but also for protecting against the impact of epidemics and pandemics, said WHO Director General Ghebreyesus in his opening remarks at virtual launch event - Countdown to 2023: WHO Report on Global Trans Fat Elimination.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Industrially-produced trans fat is often used in packaged foods, baked goods, cooking oils and spreads, AFP reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the French news agency, best practice means either a mandatory national limit of two grammes of industrially-produced trans fat per 100 grammes of total fat in all foods; or a national ban on the production or use of partially-hydrogenated oils, which are a major source of trans fat.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The UN health agency said efforts to eliminate industrially-produced fat have a long way to go with five billion people exposed to toxic fat added to many food products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The inaugural progress report of WHO showed most of the policy action against trans fat had been in high-income countries. No low-income country and only three lower-middle-income countries (India, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan) have trans fat policies, the WHO said in an earlier report. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, lower-middle income countries have been leading the way recently, WHO Director General Ghebreyesus said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Last year, India became the first lower-middle income country to adopt best-practice policy. Bangladesh, Philippines and Ukraine have all passed policies that will come into force in in the coming years, and Nigeria and Sri Lanka are expected to pass their policies soon.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The WHO called in 2018 for harmful trans fatty acids to be wiped out by 2023, the AFP reported adding, “They are thought to be responsible for around 500,000 premature deaths from coronary heart disease each year.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Trans fat has no known benefit, and huge health risks that incur huge costs for health systems," AFP quoted WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as saying.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"By contrast, eliminating trans fat is cost effective and has enormous benefits for health. Put simply, trans fat is a toxic chemical that kills, and should have no place in food. It's time to get rid of it once and for all," he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Although 43 countries with combined populations of 2.8 billion people have now implemented best-practice policies, most of the world remains unprotected, WHO said, acknowledging in an annual progress report that the goal was still out of sight.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"There are some regions of the world which do not believe the problem is there," AFP quoted Francesco Branca, WHO’s nutrition and food safety director, as saying. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"It is easy for them to take action to prevent these products being dumped onto them."</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-28', 'modified' => '2023-01-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16607', 'image' => '20230128013817_food-pic.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-28 13:36:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16867', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NCC Calls for Enabling Business-Friendly Environment ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 28: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has drawn the attention of the government and authorities concerned to ease commercial activities.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 28: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has drawn the attention of the government and authorities concerned to ease commercial activities. Noting that commercial activities have not appeared smooth of late, the chamber has laid emphasis on economic and financial discipline. NCC said that it was unfortunate for the country to see the situation of self-immolation of a young entrepreneur due to entrepreneurial difficulties. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a statement issued on Friday, NCC said, "The longstanding problems surfaced in financial institutions have brought serious problems in the industry and business sector. It was saddening for the entire country to see the situation of self-immolation". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The chamber has also asked the state mechanisms to end the policy hassles faced by entrepreneurs who want to do something in the country. The banks and financial institutions should also make the lending process service-oriented, the chamber said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the statement, the chamber shared that it has been drawing the attention of the state agencies to check high interest rates and enable investment-friendly climate. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NCC Chairperson Rajendra Malla urged the concerned authorities to encourage digital system in financial transactions. The chamber has reiterated that the central bank and BFIs should create atmosphere to stabilize bank interest rates and promote investment. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-28', 'modified' => '2023-01-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16606', 'image' => '20230128013610_20220720115910_NCCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-28 13:35:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16866', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Rabi Lamichhane is ineligible to Become an MP: Supreme Court', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: The Supreme Court has ruled that Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane is ineligible to be a member of parliament because of his citizenship issue.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 27: The Supreme Court has ruled that Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane is ineligible to be a member of parliament because of his citizenship issue.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As the court has dismissed him from the membership of parliament, Lamichhane will no longer be allowed to discharge his duties as the DPM and home minister.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a final verdict in a case related to his citizenship on Friday, the apex court said that Lamichhane must begin a new process to acquire citizenship after renouncing his American citizenship.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A Constitutional Bench of SC comprising Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki and justices Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha, Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada, Dr Ananda Mohan Bhattarai and Anil Kumar Sinha concluded that Lamichhane could not furnish any evidence of starting a new process of acquiring Nepali citizenship after renouncing American citizenship. Therefore, the court ruled that he is not fit to become an MP.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Lamichhane was elected as a member of parliament from Chitwan constituency-2 during the November 20 election last year. He is the president of Rastriya Swatantra Party which is currently the fourth largest party in parliament after the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre). </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16605', 'image' => '20230127063038_1674821039.Rabi lamichhane.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 18:30:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16865', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Prepares For Half-yearly Budget Review', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Ministry of Finance has started preparations for a half-yearly review of the budget for the current fiscal 2022-23. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">January 27: The Ministry of Finance has started preparations for a half-yearly review of the budget for the current fiscal 2022-23. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Ministry has formed a committee to proceed with the review. The team is led by the Chief of Budget and Programme Division, according to Ministry Spokesperson Anand Kafle. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to Kafle, the Committee is assigned to review the budget till mid-January. The further review will be based on the committee’s report. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The committee coordinated by Division Chief Ritesh Kumar Shakya comprises one representative each from the Nepal Rastra Bank, National Planning Commission, and the Office of the Auditor General and the Public Debt Management Office.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Besides, the committee incorporates all secretaries from the Finance Ministry and the Division under-secretaries. --RSS</span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16604', 'image' => '20230127052759_collage (70).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 17:24:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16864', 'article_category_id' => '218', 'title' => 'Prabhu Bank Reappoints Sherchan as CEO for Third-Term ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Prabhu Bank Limited has reappointed Ashok Serchan as its Chief Executive Officer.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">January 27: Prabhu Bank Limited has reappointed Ashok Serchan as its Chief Executive Officer for a third-term.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The meeting of the Board of Directors held on January 26 decided to reappoint Sherchan as the CEO for the third-term. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The decision will come into effect from January 29. “Mr Sherchan has been reappointed as the CEO for another four-year term”, the bank said. Sherchan has already served as the bank’s CEO for two-terms. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16603', 'image' => '20230127044012_collage (93).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 16:35:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16863', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Closure of Tiptala Pass Impacts Socio-Economic Life in Northern Taplejung ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: Tiptala pass along the Nepal-China border in Taplejung district has remained closed for three years, causing inconvenience to the locals living in the border areas. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 27: Tiptala pass along the Nepal-China border in Taplejung district has remained closed for three years, causing inconvenience to the locals living in the border areas. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It was shut by China owing to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic three years ago. People of Olangchung Gola, Yanga, and Ghunsa have been affected the most by the closure of the transit point as they largely depended on the imports of food stuffs, garments and daily consumables from the Tibetan Riu market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the closure of the border, they have switched to the supply from Phungling, the district headquarters. The imports from the district headquarters have caused them additional financial burden than from Tibet as it increases the transportation cost. It costs Rs 30 per kg for iodized salt in Phungling which climbs to Rs 100 after it is transported to Olangchung Gola. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The closure of the pass has its implications on the socio-economic life of the people. Exports from the villages have been hampered. Prior to the pandemic, they would supply medicinal herbs, Nepali carpets and livestock to Tibet, according to Olangchung Gola’s outgoing ward chair Chheten Sherpa. He says the transportation cost from Phungling to Olangchung Gola is at least Rs 60 per kg and it will go high if it needs to be transported up to Yanga. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Yanga, Ghunsa and Olangchung Gola are yet to be connected with the road network. Animal husbandry, herbs collection and carpet production are major occupations of the people here. Before the border was sealed, they would supply dairy products such as ghee and cheese from their house. Now their trade has been largely disturbed. Carpet business is totally down. They have numerous challenges to supply the products to domestic markets due to geographical issues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In addition to this, medicinal herbs collected by farmers and suppliers in Ilam and Panchthar districts were being supplied to Tibet. Now these two districts supply the collections to domestic markets via Birtamod of Jhapa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Tiptala folks expect the government to take initiations for reopening the border to normalize their life. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It takes around two days to reach Olangchung Gola from Phungling as the transportation service is available only up to Lepe of Phungling while it takes two to three days to reach Yanga, Ghunsa and Thudam. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Olangchung Gola is home to 53 families while 13 families reside in Yanga. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16602', 'image' => '20230127042851_12196216_1047303095302377_7673986938681974796_n.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 16:28:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16862', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Neco Brand Shoes in Market', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: Four youths aged between 25 to 35 years have introduced a new product in the footwear industry of Nepal under the brand 'Neco'.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 27: Four youths aged between 25 to 35 years have introduced a new product in the footwear industry of Nepal under the brand 'Neco'.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jaydev Kalauni of Kanchanpur, Shakshi Basnet of Dang, Pradeep Koirala of Pokhara and Niraj Jaiswal of Birgunj established the shoe industry -- Neco Creation Pvt Ltd – which produces Neco brand shoes. Having established an industry in Birgunj, they have set a goal of selling shoes from three outlets in Kathmandu.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Neco inaugurated its first outlet on the third floor of Kathmandu Mall on Thursday. Jaydev Kalauni, president of Neco Creation said that Neco brand shoes will be sold and distributed from 33 showrooms across the country by next April.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He studied the market of premium shoes in Nepal when all businesses halted due to Covid-19. There, he found that shoes up to Rs 3000 are easily available, but when looking for more expensive shoes, the market has shoes amounting to Rs 12000/15000.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After realizing that there were no options for shoes ranging between Rs 4000 to Rs 10,000 Kalauni decided to produce the shoes of that range in Nepal, which cost more than Rs 10,000 when imported from abroad. Kalauni started the industry by proposing investment with a 25-year-old footwear company in Bangladesh.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industry, which started with an investment of Rs 10 million, including foreign investment of Rs 5 million from Bangladesh, can produce 180,000 pairs of shoes annually. Altogether 100 people are given immediate employment in the industry, including 20 Bangladeshi citizens.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Among the four founders of the company, Pradeep Koirala is a Chartered Accountant and Niraj Jaiswal is a BBA student. Shakshi has studied hotel management while Kalauni has completed his master's degree in management.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>If you don't like shoes worth Rs 3000 and can’t buy shoes worth Rs 10,000</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Among the shoes produced by Nepali companies, there are shoes in the market for those who are looking for the cheapest price around Rs 1000 to Rs 1500, for the middle range price around Rs 2000 to Rs 3000.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, the upper middle class population is neither satisfied with shoes worth Rs 3,000, nor they can wear foreign shoes by spending Rs 12000/15000. Kalauni says that Neco Shoes debuted in the market to fill this gap.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kalauni said, “Our concept is to provide consumers with high-end shoes than the available shoes and low-cost shoes than imported ones. In other words, the main objective is to sell premium shoes at affordable prices to middle/upper middle class people.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company is currently producing only formal, semi-formal leather shoes and casual sports shoes made of fine leather. The price of these ranges from Rs 4,500 to 8,000 for leather shoes and 2,000 to 4,500 for sports shoes. On the occasion of the inauguration of the outlet, a 20 percent discount is arranged for the purchase of shoes for 10 days.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>Partnering with experienced companies, using new technology</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Neco shoes is established in Nepal in partnership with an experienced company that has been producing shoes for 25 years in Bangladesh.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company manufactures shoes, keeping up with the latest technology. Kalauni said that Neco recently purchased machinery worth more than Rs million based on new technology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that he has established an industry in Birgunj so that it will be easy to export shoes in the future.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">If the industrial environment in Nepal does not improve, the company plans to export shoes to other countries in the next few days or set up an industry in Bangladesh itself and engage in export business.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16601', 'image' => '20230127032624_WhatsApp Image 2023-01-26 at 15.34.26_1674743638.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 15:25:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16861', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NRB Issues Reverse Repo after 18 Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has issued reverse repo (repurchase agreement) after 18 months indicating an end to the liquidity crisis in the market.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 27: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has issued reverse repo (repurchase agreement) after 18 months indicating an end to the liquidity crisis in the market. After the interbank interest rates of banks and financial institutions fell below the monetary policy target, NRB decided to mop the excess liquidity from the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB raised Rs 5 billion from the market through a 7-day reverse repo via bidding on Thursday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Seven banks and financial institutions were ready to bid Rs 15.6 billion for the reverse repo issued on Thursday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The bidders proposed the maximum interest rate of 4.46 percent and the minimum of 4.24 percent while the average interest rate proposed was 4.32 percent, NRB said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The last time NRB mopped excess liquidity from the market through reverse repo and deposit collection tools was during July 2021. The central bank had mopped Rs 28.35 billion from the market through reverse repo on July 20, 2021 and Rs 31.65 billion was collected from the market on July 28 and August 5 through deposit collection tools. After that, NRB has been continuously injecting liquidity to the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although there has been improvement in remittance inflow and an increase in deposit collection of banks, the banks were unable to expand credit due to high interest rates. Due to this, treasury bills and interbank interest rates are also decreasing. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB claimed that the reverse repo was issued after the interbank rate fell below the limit set by the monetary policy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Now there is no more liquidity in the market. Reverse repo was issued after the interbank rate fell below the monetary policy limit,” said a source at the NRB.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the monetary policy of the current fiscal year, there is a provision to issue repo/reverse repo if the average interest rate of interbank transactions fluctuates more than 2 percentage points than the policy rate. NRB said that the average interest rate of inter-bank transactions of banks fell to 4.7 percent on Wednesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the monetary policy of the current fiscal year, the target has been set to maintain the upper limit of the interest rate corridor, i.e. the bank rate at 8.5 percent and the lower limit, i.e. the deposit collection rate, at 5.5 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">By December of the current fiscal year, while deposits of banks and financial institutions increased by Rs 111.15 billion, they credit flow was limited to only Rs 73.3 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16600', 'image' => '20230127023414_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 14:32:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16860', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Kathmandu Metropolis Removes 9,000 Hoarding Boards in Three Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 27: The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has removed 9,000 hoarding boards in three months. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 27: The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has removed 9,000 hoarding boards in three months. KMC said that it removed such boards that were placed violating the rules. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local government has mobilised a four-member team that visits the city each day, assesses the hoarding boards installed in violation of the rules and removes them. The campaign aims to maintain the beauty of the metropolis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the chief of the Revenue Department of KMC Dr Shiba Raj Adhikari, the campaign to pullout hoarding boards placed against the rules was mainly centered in New Baneshwar, Koteshwar, Putali Sadak, Bagbazar and Maharajgunj areas. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local government on September 23 last year fixed the standards for placement of hoarding boards and charge for them. Issuing a 30-day public notice, it urged bodies concerned to follow the standards. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the Economic Act-2079 BS, the Metropolis annually charges Rs 500 for a hoarding board up to six square feet, Rs 1,500 for up to 15 square feet and Rs 1,000 per foot for a hoarding board from 15-30 square feet. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local government collects revenue under 36 headings including property tax, house rent tax, enterprise tax, advertisement tax and entertainment tax. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The metropolis in the current fiscal year has set a target of collecting the revenue of Rs 550 million. As of mid-January, the revenue collection of KMC stands at Rs 314.02 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is said the collection of entertainment tax which was challenging for a long has been possible lately due to the frequent efforts of the local government. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-27', 'modified' => '2023-01-27', 'keywords' => 'KMC, hoarding, board, removal, illegal', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16599', 'image' => '20230127011237_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-27 13:11:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
