With the harvesting of the paddy over, farmers are preparing to cultivate wheat in Parsa. They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved…
With the harvesting of the paddy over, farmers are preparing to cultivate wheat in Parsa. They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved…
December 9: Nepal Rastra Bank’s policy to lower the spread rate of banks has caused the profit of a dozen banks to…
December 9: The production of citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons has increased but the farmers are struggling to find a market for the…
December 9: Seven years after conducting a study that recommended construction of flyovers in the Kathmandu valley for the management of traffic, the government is finally starting to build a flyover at Gwarko of…
December 9: The price of gold has crossed the mark of Rs 100,000 per tola (11.66 grams) on Friday.…
December 9: A report prepared by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has pointed out the need of financial access for the economic development of Province-1.…
December 9: Water supply from Melamchi river is to resume in the Kathmandu Valley from today (December…
Private sector has said that investors have not been attracted to Special Economic Zone (SEZ) due to impractical provisions for land…
December 8: The Center for Research and Sustainable Development Nepal (CREASION), a non-profit, non-governmental organization promoting compassion-based development, with funding from The Coca-Cola Foundation, successfully installed and handed over an oxygen plant to the Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Center at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Maharajgunj, Kathmandu on…
December 8: Farmers of Nawalparasi are attracted towards mustard farming due to the high price it fetches.…
December 8: Buddha Air, one of the leading airliners of Nepal, is all set to start flight along the Kathmandu-Surkhet route with ATR-72…
Despite the lifting of the ban imposed on the import of vehicles by the government, automobile importers and entrepreneurs have been agitated saying that Nepal Rastra Bank’s policy had ruined auto industry.…
December 8: Galkot Palace is located in-between Harichaur Bazaar in Baglung district and the mountains to the north.…
December 8: The strategic Mirganj Bridge, which lies four kilometers inside India from the Jogbani-Biratnagar border point in eastern Nepal, has come into operation after 11 months of…
December 8: Lionel Messi's hopes of winning an elusive World Cup will come up against the tactical scheming of veteran coach Louis van Gaal as Argentina face the Netherlands in Friday’s quarter-final at Lusail, Reuters…
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They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved seed. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">December 9: With the harvesting of the paddy over, farmers are preparing to cultivate wheat in Parsa. They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved seed. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">While farmers have tilled the land are almost ready to sow the winter crop, shortage of fertiliser and improved seed has hit the snag. Scarcity of Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) is pervasive at the time to sow the wheat crop in the district.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Earlier, the government had fixed fertiliser quota to every district and delegated the responsibility to Agriculture Material Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporation to distribute the vital plant nutrient. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Both company and corporation distribute fertilizer to the farmers through agriculture cooperatives at the recommendation of local levels. An agriculture cooperative said that it had not been able to distribute fertilizer due to manure crunch. <br /> “We have been distributing fertilizer provided to us to the farmers”, said Proprietor Hari Shankar Mahot of Young Star Cooperative located at Birgunj Metropolitan City-28. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Farmers lamented that they are having a hard time cultivating wheat crop for lack of vital inputs. “We used to import fertilizer the Indian market in the past. But, police personnel have barred us from purchasing the plant nutrient from Indian market this year”, complained Ram Balak Chaurasiya of Birgunj-16. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Not only fertilizer, farmers are experiencing the crunch of improved wheat seed as well. <br /> Meanwhile, Pradip Yadav, newly-elected member of the House of Representatives from Parsa-1, visited the offices of Regional Agriculture Material Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporations in Birgunj and held discussion with officials to provide fertilizer to the farmers at the earliest. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16232', 'image' => '20221209052853_collage (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 17:00:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16490', 'article_category_id' => '218', 'title' => 'Profit of Over a Dozen Banks Likely to Shrink due to the Reduction in Spread Rate', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: Nepal Rastra Bank’s policy to lower the spread rate of banks has caused the profit of a dozen banks to shrink.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 9: Nepal Rastra Bank’s policy to lower the spread rate of banks has caused the profit of a dozen banks to shrink.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank had decided to reduce the spread rate of commercial banks from 4.4 percent to 4 percent through the first quarterly review of the monetary policy of the current fiscal year. Likewise, the NRB had also recued the spread rate of development banks and finance companies from 5 percent to 4.6 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the data published by the commercial banks, a total of 14 commercial banks will witness a decline in profit because their spread rate was more than 4 percent as of mid-October this year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Among the 26 commercial banks of Nepal, NIC Asia Bank had the highest spread rate of 4.39 percent while Nepal Bank Limited had the lowest spread rate of 33.66 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Spread rate is the difference between the interest rate a bank pays to depositors and the interest rate it receives from loans to consumers. As the main source of income of banks is interest, their income is likely to shrink if the spread rate is reduced. Therefore, the banks have to look for alternative source of income if they are to maintain the same level of profit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The average spread rate of banks is around 4 percent. The monetary policy will only affect a handful of banks,” said Anil Kumar Upadhyay, chairman of Nepal Bankers Association.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He said that the commercial banks will take a decision to reduce the interest on deposits only after the central bank implements the revised provision of the monetary policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Former banker Analraj Bhattarai says that the banks facing liquidity crisis will have immediate impact due to the central bank’s decision but there won’t be any long-term implications. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The banks having high spread rate will feel immediate impact but they can make up for the loss in the long term through other source of income,” said Bhattarai.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16231', 'image' => '20221209034132_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 15:40:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16489', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Struggle to Find Market for Citrus Fruits', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: The production of citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons has increased but the farmers are struggling to find a market for the produce.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">December 9: The production of citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons has increased but the farmers are struggling to find a market for the produce.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Farmers from various districts, including Rukum, Doti, Bajhang, and Bajura, have been complaining that the oranges produced by them are not getting any market. Looking at government data, it seems that the production of oranges is increasing every year. However, the market has not expanded in the same proportion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, in the last five years, the production of citrus fruits has been increasing along with the production area. In the fiscal year 2016/17, a total of 239,773 metric tons of citrus fruits were produced in 26,759 hectares of land. By the year 2020/21, the production area of the orange variety of fruits has increased by 5,429 hectares to 32,188 hectares, and the production has also increased by 71,415 metric tons to 311,188 metric tons.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the government data, even though the production has increased, complaints are registered every year that the oranges produced by Nepali farmers are not able to find a market. This year also, the farmers of Doti, Rukum and other districts have complained that the oranges are not getting sold in the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nawal Singh Budha, an orange farmer of Doti, has grown oranges on five ropanis of land. He said that despite the increase in production this year compared to last year, oranges could not find good markets. You can read and hear the news that oranges are sold for Rs 100 per kg in Kathmandu. However, it is difficult to sell oranges here even at Rs 40/50 per kilo. Due to the lack of cold storage, it is not possible to stock them for a long time and sell them after the price rises," he told New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The agreement between the Government of Nepal and China to export oranges to China and expand the market of citrus fruit has yet to be implemented. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">An agreement to this effect was signed between the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development of Nepal and the Department of Agriculture of China about three years ago during the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping. However, the ministry said that this agreement has not been implemented yet </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Spokesperson of the ministry Prakash Kumar Sanjel said that the Chinese government had set a condition that the oranges exported to China should be free from diseases and insects, so there was a problem in implementing the agreement in the beginning. Currently, the Chinese government has adopted a somewhat flexible policy that the plant from which oranges are harvested must be free from disease and insects. But the export of oranges to China is yet to materialize.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16230', 'image' => '20221209030820_20190605051816_20190220125347_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 15:07:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16488', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Construction of Flyover at Gwarko to Kick off from Today', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: Seven years after conducting a study that recommended construction of flyovers in the Kathmandu valley for the management of traffic, the government is finally starting to build a flyover at Gwarko of Lalitpur.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 9: Seven years after conducting a study that recommended construction of flyovers in the Kathmandu valley for the management of traffic, the government is finally starting to build a flyover at Gwarko of Lalitpur.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, the construction of the flyover will begin from Friday. The ministry said that the contract for the construction of the flyover has been awarded to a Nepali company. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Spokesperson of the ministry Shiva Prasad Nepal said that the construction work will be carried out in the night time so that the regular traffic will not be disturbed in the daytime.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The four-lane flyover is being built to ease the traffic congestion in the valley. The study conducted by the government had recommended to build three such flyovers. The flyover at Gwarko is being built on the first phase and then the other two will be built, according to the ministry. The other two flyovers will be built at Satdobato and Ekantakuna.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track and the Nagdhunga tunnel will also have flyovers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The flyover is being built as per the recommendation of the Department of Roads to build underpasses and flyovers in the capital to manage the traffic jams. The DoR has issued a tender to build the flyover at Gwarko in July 2021. The flyover will be simple in nature, similar to a straight-forward bridge of 35 meters width. The total length of the flyover will be 455 meters. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The flyover will run parallel to the Ring Road while vehicles travelling between Patan’s Mangalbazar and Imadol will have travel underneath the flyover.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The ministry has allocated a budget of Rs 340 million for the construction of the flyover. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16229', 'image' => '20221209015125_20200925021204_1600988628.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 13:50:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16487', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Gold Crosses the Mark of Rs 100,000 per Tola ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: The price of gold has crossed the mark of Rs 100,000 per tola (11.66 grams) on Friday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 9: The price of gold has crossed the mark of Rs 100,000 per tola (11.66 grams) on Friday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association (FENEGOSIDA), the price of fine gold has been fixed at Rs 100,300 per tola on Friday after an increase of Rs 600 per tola compared to the previous trading day. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The precious yellow metal was traded at Rs 99,700 on Thursday. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the federation has fixed the price of worked gold at Rs 99,800 per tola against Rs 99,200 on the previous trading day. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also, the price of silver has been fixed at Rs 1,390 per tola after an increment of Rs 30 as compared to the previous trading day. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16228', 'image' => '20221209011018_gold.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 13:09:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16486', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Financial Access in Province-1 Imperative: NRB Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: A report prepared by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has pointed out the need of financial access for the economic development of Province-1. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 9: A report prepared by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has pointed out the need of financial access for the economic development of Province-1. The study report of NRB showed that financial inclusion should be materialized by expanding financial access and awareness. The availability of financial tools are also imperative. </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"">Among 14 districts in Province-1, only Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari district have adequate physical infrastructures, road transport and other facilities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The facilities concentrated in three districts must be expanded, the report stated, adding balanced development of province is necessary. Bringing in adequate investment is essential irrespective of diverse geography, the report 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"">Moreover, it pointed out the lack of well managed information and statistics on agriculture, industry, service and infrastructures at the data providing bodies and organizations. Another challenge is the formulation of implementable policy based on credible data and statistics. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There are limited capacity and sources of internal investment, the report concluded. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16227', 'image' => '20221209120113_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 12:00:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16485', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Water from Melamchi being Supplied in Kathmandu Valley from Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: Water supply from Melamchi river is to resume in the Kathmandu Valley from today (December 9).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 9: Water supply from Melamchi river is to resume in the Kathmandu Valley from today (December 9). The water from the Melamchi river has been brought up to Sundarijal of Kathmandu and is being distributed in the federal capital from today, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. The water was channelled via the tunnel aqueduct at Ambathan, the source of the Melamchi stream in Helambu Rural Municipality-1 in Sindhupalchok district, added RSS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The water released into the tunnel reached the end point at Sundarijal, Gokarneshwar Municipality-1 on December 4. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The tunnel was shut in June after a massive landslide that occurred in the Melamchi area damaged the tunnel at its source at Ambathan. The water that had been filled in the tunnel has been released into the Bagmati river to flush out the silt and debris in the tunnel," RSS quoted Ram Chandra Poudel, the engineer with the Melamchi Water Supply Project, as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, only a small amount of water was channelled into the tunnel conduit in the beginning on a trial basis since the tunnel was closed for a long time. This water took a week to reach Sundarijal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Project spokesperson Rajendra Panta said that 175 million litres of water from the Melamchi river would be released into the tunnel daily from today. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project had first started distributing the water in Kathmandu on March 28 last year. However, the supply was disrupted following major floods and landslides in Sindhupalchowk on June 15. The headworks of the project were completely damaged, as the floods and landslides deposited dozens of feet high pebbles, sand, and mud at the headworks. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">RSS added that the water from Melamchi will be channelled into the tunnel and brought to Kathmandu only during winter because the reconstruction of the damaged headworks at Ambathan intake has not been completed yet. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16226', 'image' => '20221209110528_melamcbi.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 11:04:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16484', 'article_category_id' => '274', 'title' => 'Prioritise Import Replacement Industries in SEZ : Private Sector ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Private sector has said that investors have not been attracted to Special Economic Zone (SEZ) due to impractical provisions for land acquisition. ', 'content' => '<p><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">December: 9 Private sector has said that investors have not been attracted to Special Economic Zone (SEZ) due to impractical provisions for land acquisition. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government had established the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) along Birgunj-Pathlaiya Industrial Corridor in Simara with the vision to promote export industry sector in 2062 BS. The zone, however, has failed to entice investors and industrialists.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> According to Birgunj Chapter of Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Subodh Kumar Gupta, exorbitant rent for the land, and unrealistic export quantity criteria to be eligible to rent the land inside the zone have driven investors away from investing in the SEZ. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Investors and entrepreneurs demanded that SEZ should accord priority to industries that want to open industries focusing on the domestic market as Nepal’s export trade has failed to become competitive due to topography and high production cost. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“Current business trend and tendency are quite different from the past. Time has come to change export with import replacement”, Bara-Parsa Industry Association Vice-chair Binay Shah said “Such infrastructure should be prioritized for industries with vision to promote import replacement”. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Industries established in the special economic zone should export sixty per cent of their total production. Earlier, provision was even tougher. SEZ industries would have to export sixty per cent of their goods in the first year of their establishment itself. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Since the economic zone could not lure any investors, the provision to export goods and commodities was revised. Now, the industries in SEZ will have to export 20 per cent, 40 per cent and 60 per cent in the first, second and remaining years with the start of the production. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Chairman Gupta has urged the government to lower export quantity provision from 60 per cent to 25 per cent out of the total production. “Land rent was decreased from Rs 20 to Rs 10 per square. But, it is still expensive”, Gupta said adding “We have asked the government to lower the land rent to Rs 5 per square”. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government has exempted income tax for industries established in the SEZ for two years. The private sector, however, wants tax waive for 10 years. If income tax exemption is increased for 10 years, industries will be attracted to the SEZ, said Bara-Parsa Industry Association Vice-chair Hari Gautam. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Investors have urged the government to provide all facilities through one-window system in the special economic zone. “Investors have shown no interest to the SEZ due to administrative hassles. So, all facilities and services should be provided through one window system”, said Gautam</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Despite frequent calls, the Special Economic Zone Authority has not received enough proposals for the establishment of industries. Industrialists and investors along the Bara-Parsa Corridor say that SEZ should be allowed to establish all kinds of industries as land acquisition had become tough and rent had gone expensive along the corridor. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“Entrepreneurs and industrialists have a hard time getting land along the Bara-Parsa Corridor. But, the SEZ has not come into use for a long time. Thus, other industries should be allowed to establish their businesses even by changing criteria and standards in the SEZ”, Vice-chair Gautam added. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Simara Special Economic Zone is spread in 833 bigaha land. The government had prepared a garment processing zone in the SEZ a few years back. Unfortunately, the garment processing zone was scrapped after investors did not show any interest. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16225', 'image' => '20221209075327_collage.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 07:46:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16483', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'CREASION Installs Oxygen Plant at TUTH', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: The Center for Research and Sustainable Development Nepal (CREASION), a non-profit, non-governmental organization promoting compassion-based development, with funding from The Coca-Cola Foundation, successfully installed and handed over an oxygen plant to the Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Center at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Maharajgunj, Kathmandu on Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 8: The Center for Research and Sustainable Development Nepal (CREASION), a non-profit, non-governmental organization promoting compassion-based development, with funding from The Coca-Cola Foundation, successfully installed and handed over an oxygen plant to the Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Center at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Maharajgunj, Kathmandu on Wednesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to a statement issued by Coca-Cola, the oxygen plant can serve up to 50 patients at a time and provides 240 litres of oxygen per second.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dev Kumari Guragain, secretary at the Minister of Health and Population reportedly thanked CREASION and The Coca-Cola Foundation for their efforts in installing the Oxygen Plant.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> “The pandemic had made us realize the importance of staying prepared and well-equipped with essential materials,” the statement quoted Secretary Guragain as saying. “We are happy to have organizations supporting the healthcare sector in doing so.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The handover ceremony was conducted in the presence of Secretary Guragain, TUTH Director Dinesh Kafle, Manmohan Hospital’s Executive Director Uttam Krishna Shrestha, Adarsh Avasthi, country manager for Coca-Cola in Nepal and Bhutan, Aanand Mishra, founder and president of CREASION.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16224', 'image' => '20221208081612_Picture 5.JPG', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 20:15:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16481', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Shift to Lucrative Mustard Farming in Nawalparasi', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: Farmers of Nawalparasi are attracted towards mustard farming due to the high price it fetches. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">December 8: Farmers of Nawalparasi are attracted towards mustard farming due to the high price it fetches. As the price of mustard has increased in the last few years, the number of farmers has also increased to benefit from the production and sale of this crop.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Mustard can be seen blooming across this district, which is considered to be a pocket area of mustard. Compared to other crops, farmers are attracted towards the cultivation of mustard because they can produce their own oil instead of using the oil bought from the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The area between Gaidakot Municipality of Nawalparasi (East of Bardghat Susta) to Vinayi Triveni Rural Municipality is considered as a pocket area for mustard farming. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sita Gautam of Devchuli Municipality, who has been growing mustard seeds for years, said that she grows mustard seeds so that she can sell the produce in the market and consume the excess amount throughout the year. She also added that the demand for mustard has increased in the villages for the past two to three years and that the crop has improved after using chicken manure.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kawasoti, Badhyavindu, Devchuli and Gaidakot municipalities of the district are considered to be the pocket areas for mustard farming. While farmers are being attracted towards mustard farming, the challenges and problems still persist. Farmers say that their main problem is unavailability of fertilizer on time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kalpana Bhandari, a farmer, said, “Nowadays, there is no need for us to look for a market to sell mustard, it can be sold from home easily. But the shortage of fertilizer at the time of plating is problematic.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Shankar Paudel, information officer of the district-based Agriculture Knowledge Center said that mustard is cultivated in 2,335 hectares of land in Nawalparasi. It is easy to grow mustard because the weather is conducive. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In recent years, farmers have started getting good prices for mustard. At present, the price of mustard is up to Rs 11,000 per quintal in the village. Mustard gets ripe in 80 to 90 days after sowing. Farmers are attracted to mustard farming because of the quality of self-produced mustard oil and the fact that the wastage can also be used as fertilizer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16223', 'image' => '20221208052938_KA_Bharatpur-IMG_1653.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 17:28:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16480', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Buddha Air to Fly ATR-72 along Kathmandu-Surkhet Route', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: Buddha Air, one of the leading airliners of Nepal, is all set to start flight along the Kathmandu-Surkhet route with ATR-72 aircraft.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 8: Buddha Air, one of the leading airliners of Nepal, is all set to start flight along the Kathmandu-Surkhet route with ATR-72 aircraft. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airline company will kick off its flight with ATR-72 aircraft along the route from December 16. The minimum fare for this route is Rs 7,000. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airline company had conducted test flight with the aircraft along the route a month ago. Buddha Air has been operating flights along the Kathmandu-Surkeht route with ATR-42 aircraft for the last five years. The company is now preparing to fly aircraft with 72 seats in the same route. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airline company will conduct two flights a day along the route. The company will operate the Kathmandu-Surkhet flight at 10:00 am every day while the return flight from Surkeht is scheduled for 11:35 am. “We are preparing to operate flights with bigger aircraft keeping in view the increasing number of passengers and their convenience,” said a representative of Buddha Air. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A press statement issued by the airlines says that operating flights through bigger aircraft will reduce the fare and operation costs. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The company has already announced to purchase two ATR-72 aircraft for the same route. Buddha Air has 14 ATR series aircraft. Of them, three are ATR 42 series while 11 are from ATR 72 series. The airline makes domestic flight to more than a dozen destinations regularly. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16222', 'image' => '20221208042248_20180425054539_ATR.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 16:22:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16482', 'article_category_id' => '236', 'title' => 'Auto Entrepreneurs, Importers Stage Sit-In At Maitighar Mandala Kathmandu ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Despite the lifting of the ban imposed on the import of vehicles by the government, automobile importers and entrepreneurs have been agitated saying that Nepal Rastra Bank’s policy had ruined auto industry. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:14px">December 8: Despite the lifting of the ban imposed on the import of vehicles by the government, automobile importers and entrepreneurs have been agitated saying that Nepal Rastra Bank’s policy had ruined auto industry. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Auto entrepreneurs led by the NADA Automobiles Association of Nepal staged a sit-in at Maitighar Mandala, Kathmandu today. Carrying placards against the government and Nepal Rastra Bank, protesting auto importers demanded with government for business-friendly policies. They warned of continuing with their agitation until their demands were addressed by the government and Nepal Rastra Bank. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Speaking at the sit-in programme, NADA Automobile Associations of Nepal Chairman Dhruba Thapa said that though import of the vehicles was open provision of 50 per cent and 100 per cent cash margin while opening letter of credit (LC) for importing vehicles had made them hard to import vehicles. Thapa demanded that the government remove the cash margin provision. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">“The government has to remove cash margin provisions while opening (LC) and increase financing cap to 80 per cent from the current 50 per cent”, Thapa demanded. He argued that selling vehicles would be tough with 50 per cent financing cap and current increased interest rate. Thapa warned of waging stern protest if their demands are not addressed immediately. “Nepal Rastra Bank’s policies are against the auto industry. The central bank has aggravated the industry, which is already struggling due to liquidity crisis and soaring interest rate”, Thapa added. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Auto entrepreneurs have put forward a host of demands. Their demands include removing working capital guidelines, scrapping 50 per cent and 100 per cent cash margin provision while opening letter of credit (LC), lowering auto loan risk weightage from current 150 per cent to 75 per cent, and review of Credit Deposit ratio, among others. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">The government had imposed the ban on the import of cars, jeeps, vans and motorbikes above the capacity of 150 CC along with other edible goods since April 26, 2022. Terming the vehicles as luxury goods, the government had banned the import of vehicles, citing depletion of foreign currency reserves. A Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday had decided to lift ban on the import of all kinds of goods and services including vehicles from December 16. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Organizing a press meet on December 2, NADA Automobiles Association of Nepal had announced a series of agitations. As part of the protest programme, automobile entrepreneurs and importers had staged the sit-in today. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16221', 'image' => '20221208060243_aandolan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 17:19:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16478', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Galkot Palace Turns into Centre of Attraction for Tourists', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: Galkot Palace is located in-between Harichaur Bazaar in Baglung district and the mountains to the north. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 8: Galkot Palace is located in-between Harichaur Bazaar in Baglung district and the mountains to the north. The historical palace has become a centre of attraction for tourists of late. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A large number of people are throng the palace every day to enjoy the scenic beauty and for merry-making. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">However, the palace which was artistically built using stones, mud, bricks and wooden materials in 1979 BS is now deteriorating. People are crowding up here, especially for taking snapshots, creating videos and enjoying its surrounding. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Due to the easy access to roads, tourists from different parts of the country are turning up to the historical palace at Harichaur. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There is the Gaighat falls at Tarakhola nearby. Most of the tourists who arrive at the falls do not miss to visit the palace. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Locals say that the inflow of domestic tourists to the palace has increased with easy access to road that leads up to the historical site. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Akash Pariyar, a resident of Bharatpur, Chitwan, who came to explore Dhorpatan also visited the Galkot Palace. He commented the palace that is located in a peaceful atmosphere attracted anyone. "We are fortunate to get an opportunity to see and enjoy the century-old heritage. Our country has a wealth of such antique places which has higher potentials to draw attention of domestic and foreign tourists. The beauty of the palace has captivated me a lot". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pariyar said he had come with a plan to reach Dhoraptan, Kalika Temple, Panchakot and Galkot Palace. He noted that domestic and foreign tourists can be further attracted to the areas if the existing tourism hotspots are managed well with better services. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"I had explored the antique palace through Youtube video. I was eager to visit the place. But, I could not do that as I was overseas country at the moment". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pariyar who has been residing in Japan said, "I had reached the popular religious and tourism spots of Baglung this time". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Dipesh Giri, a resident of Musikot, Gulmi, said it was his fifth visit to the Galkot Palace. "Earlier, there was no good road connectivity to reach the place. Now the road access to the palace has improved. Inflow of tourists to the unexplored tourism site has also increased", he shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the locals, daily 200 plus domestic tourists visit the palace. The number of visitors is high during public holidays. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson of Galkot municipality, Him Bahadur Bhandari said the Galkot Palace has attracted both domestic and foreign tourists. As the palace carries a historical legacy, it needs to be conserved, he said. "The palace is still under personal ownership. We had discussed to carry out maintenance of the physical infrastructure of the palace despite the personal ownership of the palace. The historical palace is deteriorating. Now it is being repaired," he added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The palace is stretched over five ropanis of land. Bharat Bam Malla was the then king who built the palace. It was the place through which Galkot used to be governed. The administrative, judicial and economic powers of the Galkot State was centralized with the palace until 2017 BS (1962 AD). The first-elected government had decided to eradicate principalities and monarchs. It was the then King Bharat Bam Malla who put forth the proposal to the cabinet. He was elected Member of Parliament in 2015 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Manjesh Bam Malla, grandson of the then Malla King, has now put his efforts for the conservation of the palace.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> "We have started repairing the palace adopting original antique style. It is being reconstructed in a way to develop the ground floor as a museum and upper floors for personal use. Other structures around the palace are also to be managed this year," Malla shared. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16220', 'image' => '20221208021455_galkot palace.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 14:14:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16479', 'article_category_id' => '236', 'title' => 'Mirganj Bridge Reopens after 11 Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: The strategic Mirganj Bridge, which lies four kilometers inside India from the Jogbani-Biratnagar border point in eastern Nepal, has come into operation after 11 months of closure.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">December 8: The strategic Mirganj Bridge, which lies four kilometers inside India from the Jogbani-Biratnagar border point in eastern Nepal, has come into operation after 11 months of closure.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The new motorable bridge, built after the collapse of the old bridge, has been opened for public use. The operation of this strategic bridge – from the point of view of trade – has shortened the distance for vehicles carrying materials and other goods to the Biratnagar customs by 116 kilometers. This is expected to save both the time and money of the traders.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Until the bridge was operational, the transport vehicles entering Nepal through Jogbani checkpoint had to take a detour through the Bhantabari checkpoint in Sunsari. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Before this bridge was opened, an average of 68 cargo vehicles had been entering Nepal on a daily basis. On Wednesday, a total of 168 vehicles entered Nepal through the Nepal-India Integrated Checkpoint (ICP) at Jogbani in India and Rani in Nepal. According to the traders, the transportation cost of one truck/container is Rs 16,000.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ramchandra Dhungana, information officer of Biratnagar Customs Office, confirmed that freight vehicles have started arriving from the integrated check post since Wednesday. Customs chief Tara Prasad Sapkota said that though the Mirganj Bridge is yet to be officially commissioned, freight vehicles are passing through the ICP, and their number has increased. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">When the Mirganj Bridge was flooded, the revenue collection of the Biratnagar customs decreased by Rs 18.7 billion in 10 months. During this period, the traders have had to pay an additional transportation fee of around Rs 96.6 million in order to bring the goods through Sunsari's Bhantabari checkpoint.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Krishna Regmi, an industrialist, said that the cost of industrial production will be reduced with the reduction in transport fares after the Mirganj Bridge came into operation. He said that the transportation time will also be shortened.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ratnakar Yadav, head of the Jogbani Office of Land Port Authority of India, said that since the Mirganj Bridge was ready and could be opened for cargo vehicles, traffic was allowed through the ICP from Tuesday night. He said that although there is still some work to be done on the bridge and flyovers, there will be no problem for the movement of cargo vehicles. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He informed more than 160 freight vehicles entered Nepal on Tuesday night.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16219', 'image' => '20221208023904_1670451569.6.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 14:38:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16477', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Messi's World Cup Chase takes Centre Stage in Quarterfinal Clash', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: Lionel Messi's hopes of winning an elusive World Cup will come up against the tactical scheming of veteran coach Louis van Gaal as Argentina face the Netherlands in Friday’s quarter-final at Lusail, Reuters reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">AGENCIES</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">December 8: Lionel Messi's hopes of winning an elusive World Cup will come up against the tactical scheming of veteran coach Louis van Gaal as Argentina face the Netherlands in Friday’s quarter-final at Lusail, Reuters reported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Messi, 35, once again carries his nation's hopes on his shoulders as he looks to crown an extraordinary career that includes seven Ballon d'Or awards and multiple club titles, but only one Copa America to show for his efforts with Argentina, added the news agency.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">“Messi can expect little in the way of sympathy from the 71-year-old Van Gaal, who is determined to give the Dutch their first World Cup title after runners-up finishes in 1974, 1978 and 2010. The coach’s planning will largely focus on containing Messi and catching Argentina on the break, as Van Gaal thumbs his nose at his critics by playing a brand of football at odds with the usual attacking Dutch approach.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">According to Reuters, the tactical plan is key to his side’s hopes of winning on Friday as the Dutch look to take revenge for their semi-final defeat in 2014 when Argentina beat them in a shootout.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Van Gaal also pointed to a run of form that has seen the Dutch go 19 games without defeat since he returned to the hot seat for a third spell 15 months ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">This will be the sixth World Cup meeting between the Netherlands and Argentina, with only Brazil against Sweden (7) and Argentina against Germany (7) being played more often in the competition, according to Goal.com.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The sports news portal further said that the Netherlands have lost just one of their nine meetings with Argentina in all competitions (four wins and four draws), with that loss coming in the 1978 World Cup final. However, the most recent of those four draws did result in a penalty shootout defeat, in the last meeting between the sides in the 2014 World Cup semi-final.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The last two World Cup meetings between the Netherlands and Argentina finished 0-0, in the 2006 group stages and the 2014 semi-final (Argentina progressing on penalties).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The clash between Argentina and the Netherlands will take place Friday night at 12:45 am (NST).</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16218', 'image' => '20221208010146_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 13:01:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16491', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Dearth of fertiliser and seed hits Parsa Farmers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'With the harvesting of the paddy over, farmers are preparing to cultivate wheat in Parsa. They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved seed. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">December 9: With the harvesting of the paddy over, farmers are preparing to cultivate wheat in Parsa. They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved seed. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">While farmers have tilled the land are almost ready to sow the winter crop, shortage of fertiliser and improved seed has hit the snag. Scarcity of Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) is pervasive at the time to sow the wheat crop in the district.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Earlier, the government had fixed fertiliser quota to every district and delegated the responsibility to Agriculture Material Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporation to distribute the vital plant nutrient. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Both company and corporation distribute fertilizer to the farmers through agriculture cooperatives at the recommendation of local levels. An agriculture cooperative said that it had not been able to distribute fertilizer due to manure crunch. <br /> “We have been distributing fertilizer provided to us to the farmers”, said Proprietor Hari Shankar Mahot of Young Star Cooperative located at Birgunj Metropolitan City-28. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Farmers lamented that they are having a hard time cultivating wheat crop for lack of vital inputs. “We used to import fertilizer the Indian market in the past. But, police personnel have barred us from purchasing the plant nutrient from Indian market this year”, complained Ram Balak Chaurasiya of Birgunj-16. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Not only fertilizer, farmers are experiencing the crunch of improved wheat seed as well. <br /> Meanwhile, Pradip Yadav, newly-elected member of the House of Representatives from Parsa-1, visited the offices of Regional Agriculture Material Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporations in Birgunj and held discussion with officials to provide fertilizer to the farmers at the earliest. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16232', 'image' => '20221209052853_collage (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 17:00:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16490', 'article_category_id' => '218', 'title' => 'Profit of Over a Dozen Banks Likely to Shrink due to the Reduction in Spread Rate', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: Nepal Rastra Bank’s policy to lower the spread rate of banks has caused the profit of a dozen banks to shrink.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 9: Nepal Rastra Bank’s policy to lower the spread rate of banks has caused the profit of a dozen banks to shrink.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank had decided to reduce the spread rate of commercial banks from 4.4 percent to 4 percent through the first quarterly review of the monetary policy of the current fiscal year. Likewise, the NRB had also recued the spread rate of development banks and finance companies from 5 percent to 4.6 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the data published by the commercial banks, a total of 14 commercial banks will witness a decline in profit because their spread rate was more than 4 percent as of mid-October this year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Among the 26 commercial banks of Nepal, NIC Asia Bank had the highest spread rate of 4.39 percent while Nepal Bank Limited had the lowest spread rate of 33.66 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Spread rate is the difference between the interest rate a bank pays to depositors and the interest rate it receives from loans to consumers. As the main source of income of banks is interest, their income is likely to shrink if the spread rate is reduced. Therefore, the banks have to look for alternative source of income if they are to maintain the same level of profit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The average spread rate of banks is around 4 percent. The monetary policy will only affect a handful of banks,” said Anil Kumar Upadhyay, chairman of Nepal Bankers Association.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He said that the commercial banks will take a decision to reduce the interest on deposits only after the central bank implements the revised provision of the monetary policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Former banker Analraj Bhattarai says that the banks facing liquidity crisis will have immediate impact due to the central bank’s decision but there won’t be any long-term implications. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The banks having high spread rate will feel immediate impact but they can make up for the loss in the long term through other source of income,” said Bhattarai.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16231', 'image' => '20221209034132_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 15:40:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16489', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Struggle to Find Market for Citrus Fruits', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: The production of citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons has increased but the farmers are struggling to find a market for the produce.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">December 9: The production of citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons has increased but the farmers are struggling to find a market for the produce.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Farmers from various districts, including Rukum, Doti, Bajhang, and Bajura, have been complaining that the oranges produced by them are not getting any market. Looking at government data, it seems that the production of oranges is increasing every year. However, the market has not expanded in the same proportion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, in the last five years, the production of citrus fruits has been increasing along with the production area. In the fiscal year 2016/17, a total of 239,773 metric tons of citrus fruits were produced in 26,759 hectares of land. By the year 2020/21, the production area of the orange variety of fruits has increased by 5,429 hectares to 32,188 hectares, and the production has also increased by 71,415 metric tons to 311,188 metric tons.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the government data, even though the production has increased, complaints are registered every year that the oranges produced by Nepali farmers are not able to find a market. This year also, the farmers of Doti, Rukum and other districts have complained that the oranges are not getting sold in the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nawal Singh Budha, an orange farmer of Doti, has grown oranges on five ropanis of land. He said that despite the increase in production this year compared to last year, oranges could not find good markets. You can read and hear the news that oranges are sold for Rs 100 per kg in Kathmandu. However, it is difficult to sell oranges here even at Rs 40/50 per kilo. Due to the lack of cold storage, it is not possible to stock them for a long time and sell them after the price rises," he told New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The agreement between the Government of Nepal and China to export oranges to China and expand the market of citrus fruit has yet to be implemented. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">An agreement to this effect was signed between the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development of Nepal and the Department of Agriculture of China about three years ago during the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping. However, the ministry said that this agreement has not been implemented yet </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Spokesperson of the ministry Prakash Kumar Sanjel said that the Chinese government had set a condition that the oranges exported to China should be free from diseases and insects, so there was a problem in implementing the agreement in the beginning. Currently, the Chinese government has adopted a somewhat flexible policy that the plant from which oranges are harvested must be free from disease and insects. But the export of oranges to China is yet to materialize.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16230', 'image' => '20221209030820_20190605051816_20190220125347_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 15:07:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16488', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Construction of Flyover at Gwarko to Kick off from Today', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: Seven years after conducting a study that recommended construction of flyovers in the Kathmandu valley for the management of traffic, the government is finally starting to build a flyover at Gwarko of Lalitpur.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 9: Seven years after conducting a study that recommended construction of flyovers in the Kathmandu valley for the management of traffic, the government is finally starting to build a flyover at Gwarko of Lalitpur.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, the construction of the flyover will begin from Friday. The ministry said that the contract for the construction of the flyover has been awarded to a Nepali company. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Spokesperson of the ministry Shiva Prasad Nepal said that the construction work will be carried out in the night time so that the regular traffic will not be disturbed in the daytime.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The four-lane flyover is being built to ease the traffic congestion in the valley. The study conducted by the government had recommended to build three such flyovers. The flyover at Gwarko is being built on the first phase and then the other two will be built, according to the ministry. The other two flyovers will be built at Satdobato and Ekantakuna.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track and the Nagdhunga tunnel will also have flyovers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The flyover is being built as per the recommendation of the Department of Roads to build underpasses and flyovers in the capital to manage the traffic jams. The DoR has issued a tender to build the flyover at Gwarko in July 2021. The flyover will be simple in nature, similar to a straight-forward bridge of 35 meters width. The total length of the flyover will be 455 meters. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The flyover will run parallel to the Ring Road while vehicles travelling between Patan’s Mangalbazar and Imadol will have travel underneath the flyover.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The ministry has allocated a budget of Rs 340 million for the construction of the flyover. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16229', 'image' => '20221209015125_20200925021204_1600988628.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 13:50:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16487', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Gold Crosses the Mark of Rs 100,000 per Tola ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: The price of gold has crossed the mark of Rs 100,000 per tola (11.66 grams) on Friday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 9: The price of gold has crossed the mark of Rs 100,000 per tola (11.66 grams) on Friday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association (FENEGOSIDA), the price of fine gold has been fixed at Rs 100,300 per tola on Friday after an increase of Rs 600 per tola compared to the previous trading day. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The precious yellow metal was traded at Rs 99,700 on Thursday. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the federation has fixed the price of worked gold at Rs 99,800 per tola against Rs 99,200 on the previous trading day. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also, the price of silver has been fixed at Rs 1,390 per tola after an increment of Rs 30 as compared to the previous trading day. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16228', 'image' => '20221209011018_gold.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 13:09:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16486', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Financial Access in Province-1 Imperative: NRB Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: A report prepared by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has pointed out the need of financial access for the economic development of Province-1. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 9: A report prepared by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has pointed out the need of financial access for the economic development of Province-1. The study report of NRB showed that financial inclusion should be materialized by expanding financial access and awareness. The availability of financial tools are also imperative. </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"">Among 14 districts in Province-1, only Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari district have adequate physical infrastructures, road transport and other facilities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The facilities concentrated in three districts must be expanded, the report stated, adding balanced development of province is necessary. Bringing in adequate investment is essential irrespective of diverse geography, the report 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"">Moreover, it pointed out the lack of well managed information and statistics on agriculture, industry, service and infrastructures at the data providing bodies and organizations. Another challenge is the formulation of implementable policy based on credible data and statistics. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There are limited capacity and sources of internal investment, the report concluded. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16227', 'image' => '20221209120113_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 12:00:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16485', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Water from Melamchi being Supplied in Kathmandu Valley from Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: Water supply from Melamchi river is to resume in the Kathmandu Valley from today (December 9).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 9: Water supply from Melamchi river is to resume in the Kathmandu Valley from today (December 9). The water from the Melamchi river has been brought up to Sundarijal of Kathmandu and is being distributed in the federal capital from today, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. The water was channelled via the tunnel aqueduct at Ambathan, the source of the Melamchi stream in Helambu Rural Municipality-1 in Sindhupalchok district, added RSS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The water released into the tunnel reached the end point at Sundarijal, Gokarneshwar Municipality-1 on December 4. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The tunnel was shut in June after a massive landslide that occurred in the Melamchi area damaged the tunnel at its source at Ambathan. The water that had been filled in the tunnel has been released into the Bagmati river to flush out the silt and debris in the tunnel," RSS quoted Ram Chandra Poudel, the engineer with the Melamchi Water Supply Project, as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, only a small amount of water was channelled into the tunnel conduit in the beginning on a trial basis since the tunnel was closed for a long time. This water took a week to reach Sundarijal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Project spokesperson Rajendra Panta said that 175 million litres of water from the Melamchi river would be released into the tunnel daily from today. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project had first started distributing the water in Kathmandu on March 28 last year. However, the supply was disrupted following major floods and landslides in Sindhupalchowk on June 15. The headworks of the project were completely damaged, as the floods and landslides deposited dozens of feet high pebbles, sand, and mud at the headworks. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">RSS added that the water from Melamchi will be channelled into the tunnel and brought to Kathmandu only during winter because the reconstruction of the damaged headworks at Ambathan intake has not been completed yet. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16226', 'image' => '20221209110528_melamcbi.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 11:04:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16484', 'article_category_id' => '274', 'title' => 'Prioritise Import Replacement Industries in SEZ : Private Sector ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Private sector has said that investors have not been attracted to Special Economic Zone (SEZ) due to impractical provisions for land acquisition. ', 'content' => '<p><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">December: 9 Private sector has said that investors have not been attracted to Special Economic Zone (SEZ) due to impractical provisions for land acquisition. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government had established the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) along Birgunj-Pathlaiya Industrial Corridor in Simara with the vision to promote export industry sector in 2062 BS. The zone, however, has failed to entice investors and industrialists.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> According to Birgunj Chapter of Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Subodh Kumar Gupta, exorbitant rent for the land, and unrealistic export quantity criteria to be eligible to rent the land inside the zone have driven investors away from investing in the SEZ. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Investors and entrepreneurs demanded that SEZ should accord priority to industries that want to open industries focusing on the domestic market as Nepal’s export trade has failed to become competitive due to topography and high production cost. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“Current business trend and tendency are quite different from the past. Time has come to change export with import replacement”, Bara-Parsa Industry Association Vice-chair Binay Shah said “Such infrastructure should be prioritized for industries with vision to promote import replacement”. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Industries established in the special economic zone should export sixty per cent of their total production. Earlier, provision was even tougher. SEZ industries would have to export sixty per cent of their goods in the first year of their establishment itself. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Since the economic zone could not lure any investors, the provision to export goods and commodities was revised. Now, the industries in SEZ will have to export 20 per cent, 40 per cent and 60 per cent in the first, second and remaining years with the start of the production. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Chairman Gupta has urged the government to lower export quantity provision from 60 per cent to 25 per cent out of the total production. “Land rent was decreased from Rs 20 to Rs 10 per square. But, it is still expensive”, Gupta said adding “We have asked the government to lower the land rent to Rs 5 per square”. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government has exempted income tax for industries established in the SEZ for two years. The private sector, however, wants tax waive for 10 years. If income tax exemption is increased for 10 years, industries will be attracted to the SEZ, said Bara-Parsa Industry Association Vice-chair Hari Gautam. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Investors have urged the government to provide all facilities through one-window system in the special economic zone. “Investors have shown no interest to the SEZ due to administrative hassles. So, all facilities and services should be provided through one window system”, said Gautam</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Despite frequent calls, the Special Economic Zone Authority has not received enough proposals for the establishment of industries. Industrialists and investors along the Bara-Parsa Corridor say that SEZ should be allowed to establish all kinds of industries as land acquisition had become tough and rent had gone expensive along the corridor. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“Entrepreneurs and industrialists have a hard time getting land along the Bara-Parsa Corridor. But, the SEZ has not come into use for a long time. Thus, other industries should be allowed to establish their businesses even by changing criteria and standards in the SEZ”, Vice-chair Gautam added. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Simara Special Economic Zone is spread in 833 bigaha land. The government had prepared a garment processing zone in the SEZ a few years back. Unfortunately, the garment processing zone was scrapped after investors did not show any interest. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16225', 'image' => '20221209075327_collage.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 07:46:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16483', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'CREASION Installs Oxygen Plant at TUTH', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: The Center for Research and Sustainable Development Nepal (CREASION), a non-profit, non-governmental organization promoting compassion-based development, with funding from The Coca-Cola Foundation, successfully installed and handed over an oxygen plant to the Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Center at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Maharajgunj, Kathmandu on Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 8: The Center for Research and Sustainable Development Nepal (CREASION), a non-profit, non-governmental organization promoting compassion-based development, with funding from The Coca-Cola Foundation, successfully installed and handed over an oxygen plant to the Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Center at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Maharajgunj, Kathmandu on Wednesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to a statement issued by Coca-Cola, the oxygen plant can serve up to 50 patients at a time and provides 240 litres of oxygen per second.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dev Kumari Guragain, secretary at the Minister of Health and Population reportedly thanked CREASION and The Coca-Cola Foundation for their efforts in installing the Oxygen Plant.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> “The pandemic had made us realize the importance of staying prepared and well-equipped with essential materials,” the statement quoted Secretary Guragain as saying. “We are happy to have organizations supporting the healthcare sector in doing so.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The handover ceremony was conducted in the presence of Secretary Guragain, TUTH Director Dinesh Kafle, Manmohan Hospital’s Executive Director Uttam Krishna Shrestha, Adarsh Avasthi, country manager for Coca-Cola in Nepal and Bhutan, Aanand Mishra, founder and president of CREASION.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16224', 'image' => '20221208081612_Picture 5.JPG', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 20:15:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16481', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Shift to Lucrative Mustard Farming in Nawalparasi', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: Farmers of Nawalparasi are attracted towards mustard farming due to the high price it fetches. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">December 8: Farmers of Nawalparasi are attracted towards mustard farming due to the high price it fetches. As the price of mustard has increased in the last few years, the number of farmers has also increased to benefit from the production and sale of this crop.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Mustard can be seen blooming across this district, which is considered to be a pocket area of mustard. Compared to other crops, farmers are attracted towards the cultivation of mustard because they can produce their own oil instead of using the oil bought from the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The area between Gaidakot Municipality of Nawalparasi (East of Bardghat Susta) to Vinayi Triveni Rural Municipality is considered as a pocket area for mustard farming. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sita Gautam of Devchuli Municipality, who has been growing mustard seeds for years, said that she grows mustard seeds so that she can sell the produce in the market and consume the excess amount throughout the year. She also added that the demand for mustard has increased in the villages for the past two to three years and that the crop has improved after using chicken manure.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kawasoti, Badhyavindu, Devchuli and Gaidakot municipalities of the district are considered to be the pocket areas for mustard farming. While farmers are being attracted towards mustard farming, the challenges and problems still persist. Farmers say that their main problem is unavailability of fertilizer on time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kalpana Bhandari, a farmer, said, “Nowadays, there is no need for us to look for a market to sell mustard, it can be sold from home easily. But the shortage of fertilizer at the time of plating is problematic.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Shankar Paudel, information officer of the district-based Agriculture Knowledge Center said that mustard is cultivated in 2,335 hectares of land in Nawalparasi. It is easy to grow mustard because the weather is conducive. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In recent years, farmers have started getting good prices for mustard. At present, the price of mustard is up to Rs 11,000 per quintal in the village. Mustard gets ripe in 80 to 90 days after sowing. Farmers are attracted to mustard farming because of the quality of self-produced mustard oil and the fact that the wastage can also be used as fertilizer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16223', 'image' => '20221208052938_KA_Bharatpur-IMG_1653.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 17:28:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16480', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Buddha Air to Fly ATR-72 along Kathmandu-Surkhet Route', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: Buddha Air, one of the leading airliners of Nepal, is all set to start flight along the Kathmandu-Surkhet route with ATR-72 aircraft.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 8: Buddha Air, one of the leading airliners of Nepal, is all set to start flight along the Kathmandu-Surkhet route with ATR-72 aircraft. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airline company will kick off its flight with ATR-72 aircraft along the route from December 16. The minimum fare for this route is Rs 7,000. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airline company had conducted test flight with the aircraft along the route a month ago. Buddha Air has been operating flights along the Kathmandu-Surkeht route with ATR-42 aircraft for the last five years. The company is now preparing to fly aircraft with 72 seats in the same route. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airline company will conduct two flights a day along the route. The company will operate the Kathmandu-Surkhet flight at 10:00 am every day while the return flight from Surkeht is scheduled for 11:35 am. “We are preparing to operate flights with bigger aircraft keeping in view the increasing number of passengers and their convenience,” said a representative of Buddha Air. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A press statement issued by the airlines says that operating flights through bigger aircraft will reduce the fare and operation costs. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The company has already announced to purchase two ATR-72 aircraft for the same route. Buddha Air has 14 ATR series aircraft. Of them, three are ATR 42 series while 11 are from ATR 72 series. The airline makes domestic flight to more than a dozen destinations regularly. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16222', 'image' => '20221208042248_20180425054539_ATR.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 16:22:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16482', 'article_category_id' => '236', 'title' => 'Auto Entrepreneurs, Importers Stage Sit-In At Maitighar Mandala Kathmandu ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Despite the lifting of the ban imposed on the import of vehicles by the government, automobile importers and entrepreneurs have been agitated saying that Nepal Rastra Bank’s policy had ruined auto industry. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:14px">December 8: Despite the lifting of the ban imposed on the import of vehicles by the government, automobile importers and entrepreneurs have been agitated saying that Nepal Rastra Bank’s policy had ruined auto industry. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Auto entrepreneurs led by the NADA Automobiles Association of Nepal staged a sit-in at Maitighar Mandala, Kathmandu today. Carrying placards against the government and Nepal Rastra Bank, protesting auto importers demanded with government for business-friendly policies. They warned of continuing with their agitation until their demands were addressed by the government and Nepal Rastra Bank. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Speaking at the sit-in programme, NADA Automobile Associations of Nepal Chairman Dhruba Thapa said that though import of the vehicles was open provision of 50 per cent and 100 per cent cash margin while opening letter of credit (LC) for importing vehicles had made them hard to import vehicles. Thapa demanded that the government remove the cash margin provision. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">“The government has to remove cash margin provisions while opening (LC) and increase financing cap to 80 per cent from the current 50 per cent”, Thapa demanded. He argued that selling vehicles would be tough with 50 per cent financing cap and current increased interest rate. Thapa warned of waging stern protest if their demands are not addressed immediately. “Nepal Rastra Bank’s policies are against the auto industry. The central bank has aggravated the industry, which is already struggling due to liquidity crisis and soaring interest rate”, Thapa added. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Auto entrepreneurs have put forward a host of demands. Their demands include removing working capital guidelines, scrapping 50 per cent and 100 per cent cash margin provision while opening letter of credit (LC), lowering auto loan risk weightage from current 150 per cent to 75 per cent, and review of Credit Deposit ratio, among others. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">The government had imposed the ban on the import of cars, jeeps, vans and motorbikes above the capacity of 150 CC along with other edible goods since April 26, 2022. Terming the vehicles as luxury goods, the government had banned the import of vehicles, citing depletion of foreign currency reserves. A Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday had decided to lift ban on the import of all kinds of goods and services including vehicles from December 16. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Organizing a press meet on December 2, NADA Automobiles Association of Nepal had announced a series of agitations. As part of the protest programme, automobile entrepreneurs and importers had staged the sit-in today. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16221', 'image' => '20221208060243_aandolan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 17:19:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16478', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Galkot Palace Turns into Centre of Attraction for Tourists', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: Galkot Palace is located in-between Harichaur Bazaar in Baglung district and the mountains to the north. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 8: Galkot Palace is located in-between Harichaur Bazaar in Baglung district and the mountains to the north. The historical palace has become a centre of attraction for tourists of late. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A large number of people are throng the palace every day to enjoy the scenic beauty and for merry-making. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">However, the palace which was artistically built using stones, mud, bricks and wooden materials in 1979 BS is now deteriorating. People are crowding up here, especially for taking snapshots, creating videos and enjoying its surrounding. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Due to the easy access to roads, tourists from different parts of the country are turning up to the historical palace at Harichaur. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There is the Gaighat falls at Tarakhola nearby. Most of the tourists who arrive at the falls do not miss to visit the palace. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Locals say that the inflow of domestic tourists to the palace has increased with easy access to road that leads up to the historical site. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Akash Pariyar, a resident of Bharatpur, Chitwan, who came to explore Dhorpatan also visited the Galkot Palace. He commented the palace that is located in a peaceful atmosphere attracted anyone. "We are fortunate to get an opportunity to see and enjoy the century-old heritage. Our country has a wealth of such antique places which has higher potentials to draw attention of domestic and foreign tourists. The beauty of the palace has captivated me a lot". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pariyar said he had come with a plan to reach Dhoraptan, Kalika Temple, Panchakot and Galkot Palace. He noted that domestic and foreign tourists can be further attracted to the areas if the existing tourism hotspots are managed well with better services. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"I had explored the antique palace through Youtube video. I was eager to visit the place. But, I could not do that as I was overseas country at the moment". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pariyar who has been residing in Japan said, "I had reached the popular religious and tourism spots of Baglung this time". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Dipesh Giri, a resident of Musikot, Gulmi, said it was his fifth visit to the Galkot Palace. "Earlier, there was no good road connectivity to reach the place. Now the road access to the palace has improved. Inflow of tourists to the unexplored tourism site has also increased", he shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the locals, daily 200 plus domestic tourists visit the palace. The number of visitors is high during public holidays. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson of Galkot municipality, Him Bahadur Bhandari said the Galkot Palace has attracted both domestic and foreign tourists. As the palace carries a historical legacy, it needs to be conserved, he said. "The palace is still under personal ownership. We had discussed to carry out maintenance of the physical infrastructure of the palace despite the personal ownership of the palace. The historical palace is deteriorating. Now it is being repaired," he added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The palace is stretched over five ropanis of land. Bharat Bam Malla was the then king who built the palace. It was the place through which Galkot used to be governed. The administrative, judicial and economic powers of the Galkot State was centralized with the palace until 2017 BS (1962 AD). The first-elected government had decided to eradicate principalities and monarchs. It was the then King Bharat Bam Malla who put forth the proposal to the cabinet. He was elected Member of Parliament in 2015 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Manjesh Bam Malla, grandson of the then Malla King, has now put his efforts for the conservation of the palace.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> "We have started repairing the palace adopting original antique style. It is being reconstructed in a way to develop the ground floor as a museum and upper floors for personal use. Other structures around the palace are also to be managed this year," Malla shared. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16220', 'image' => '20221208021455_galkot palace.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 14:14:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16479', 'article_category_id' => '236', 'title' => 'Mirganj Bridge Reopens after 11 Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: The strategic Mirganj Bridge, which lies four kilometers inside India from the Jogbani-Biratnagar border point in eastern Nepal, has come into operation after 11 months of closure.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">December 8: The strategic Mirganj Bridge, which lies four kilometers inside India from the Jogbani-Biratnagar border point in eastern Nepal, has come into operation after 11 months of closure.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The new motorable bridge, built after the collapse of the old bridge, has been opened for public use. The operation of this strategic bridge – from the point of view of trade – has shortened the distance for vehicles carrying materials and other goods to the Biratnagar customs by 116 kilometers. This is expected to save both the time and money of the traders.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Until the bridge was operational, the transport vehicles entering Nepal through Jogbani checkpoint had to take a detour through the Bhantabari checkpoint in Sunsari. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Before this bridge was opened, an average of 68 cargo vehicles had been entering Nepal on a daily basis. On Wednesday, a total of 168 vehicles entered Nepal through the Nepal-India Integrated Checkpoint (ICP) at Jogbani in India and Rani in Nepal. According to the traders, the transportation cost of one truck/container is Rs 16,000.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ramchandra Dhungana, information officer of Biratnagar Customs Office, confirmed that freight vehicles have started arriving from the integrated check post since Wednesday. Customs chief Tara Prasad Sapkota said that though the Mirganj Bridge is yet to be officially commissioned, freight vehicles are passing through the ICP, and their number has increased. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">When the Mirganj Bridge was flooded, the revenue collection of the Biratnagar customs decreased by Rs 18.7 billion in 10 months. During this period, the traders have had to pay an additional transportation fee of around Rs 96.6 million in order to bring the goods through Sunsari's Bhantabari checkpoint.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Krishna Regmi, an industrialist, said that the cost of industrial production will be reduced with the reduction in transport fares after the Mirganj Bridge came into operation. He said that the transportation time will also be shortened.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ratnakar Yadav, head of the Jogbani Office of Land Port Authority of India, said that since the Mirganj Bridge was ready and could be opened for cargo vehicles, traffic was allowed through the ICP from Tuesday night. He said that although there is still some work to be done on the bridge and flyovers, there will be no problem for the movement of cargo vehicles. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He informed more than 160 freight vehicles entered Nepal on Tuesday night.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16219', 'image' => '20221208023904_1670451569.6.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 14:38:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16477', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Messi's World Cup Chase takes Centre Stage in Quarterfinal Clash', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: Lionel Messi's hopes of winning an elusive World Cup will come up against the tactical scheming of veteran coach Louis van Gaal as Argentina face the Netherlands in Friday’s quarter-final at Lusail, Reuters reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">AGENCIES</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">December 8: Lionel Messi's hopes of winning an elusive World Cup will come up against the tactical scheming of veteran coach Louis van Gaal as Argentina face the Netherlands in Friday’s quarter-final at Lusail, Reuters reported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Messi, 35, once again carries his nation's hopes on his shoulders as he looks to crown an extraordinary career that includes seven Ballon d'Or awards and multiple club titles, but only one Copa America to show for his efforts with Argentina, added the news agency.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">“Messi can expect little in the way of sympathy from the 71-year-old Van Gaal, who is determined to give the Dutch their first World Cup title after runners-up finishes in 1974, 1978 and 2010. The coach’s planning will largely focus on containing Messi and catching Argentina on the break, as Van Gaal thumbs his nose at his critics by playing a brand of football at odds with the usual attacking Dutch approach.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">According to Reuters, the tactical plan is key to his side’s hopes of winning on Friday as the Dutch look to take revenge for their semi-final defeat in 2014 when Argentina beat them in a shootout.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Van Gaal also pointed to a run of form that has seen the Dutch go 19 games without defeat since he returned to the hot seat for a third spell 15 months ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">This will be the sixth World Cup meeting between the Netherlands and Argentina, with only Brazil against Sweden (7) and Argentina against Germany (7) being played more often in the competition, according to Goal.com.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The sports news portal further said that the Netherlands have lost just one of their nine meetings with Argentina in all competitions (four wins and four draws), with that loss coming in the 1978 World Cup final. However, the most recent of those four draws did result in a penalty shootout defeat, in the last meeting between the sides in the 2014 World Cup semi-final.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The last two World Cup meetings between the Netherlands and Argentina finished 0-0, in the 2006 group stages and the 2014 semi-final (Argentina progressing on penalties).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The clash between Argentina and the Netherlands will take place Friday night at 12:45 am (NST).</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16218', 'image' => '20221208010146_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 13:01:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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' => '16491', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Dearth of fertiliser and seed hits Parsa Farmers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'With the harvesting of the paddy over, farmers are preparing to cultivate wheat in Parsa. They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved seed. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">December 9: With the harvesting of the paddy over, farmers are preparing to cultivate wheat in Parsa. They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved seed. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">While farmers have tilled the land are almost ready to sow the winter crop, shortage of fertiliser and improved seed has hit the snag. Scarcity of Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) is pervasive at the time to sow the wheat crop in the district.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Earlier, the government had fixed fertiliser quota to every district and delegated the responsibility to Agriculture Material Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporation to distribute the vital plant nutrient. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Both company and corporation distribute fertilizer to the farmers through agriculture cooperatives at the recommendation of local levels. An agriculture cooperative said that it had not been able to distribute fertilizer due to manure crunch. <br /> “We have been distributing fertilizer provided to us to the farmers”, said Proprietor Hari Shankar Mahot of Young Star Cooperative located at Birgunj Metropolitan City-28. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Farmers lamented that they are having a hard time cultivating wheat crop for lack of vital inputs. “We used to import fertilizer the Indian market in the past. But, police personnel have barred us from purchasing the plant nutrient from Indian market this year”, complained Ram Balak Chaurasiya of Birgunj-16. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Not only fertilizer, farmers are experiencing the crunch of improved wheat seed as well. <br /> Meanwhile, Pradip Yadav, newly-elected member of the House of Representatives from Parsa-1, visited the offices of Regional Agriculture Material Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporations in Birgunj and held discussion with officials to provide fertilizer to the farmers at the earliest. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16232', 'image' => '20221209052853_collage (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 17:00:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16490', 'article_category_id' => '218', 'title' => 'Profit of Over a Dozen Banks Likely to Shrink due to the Reduction in Spread Rate', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: Nepal Rastra Bank’s policy to lower the spread rate of banks has caused the profit of a dozen banks to shrink.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 9: Nepal Rastra Bank’s policy to lower the spread rate of banks has caused the profit of a dozen banks to shrink.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank had decided to reduce the spread rate of commercial banks from 4.4 percent to 4 percent through the first quarterly review of the monetary policy of the current fiscal year. Likewise, the NRB had also recued the spread rate of development banks and finance companies from 5 percent to 4.6 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the data published by the commercial banks, a total of 14 commercial banks will witness a decline in profit because their spread rate was more than 4 percent as of mid-October this year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Among the 26 commercial banks of Nepal, NIC Asia Bank had the highest spread rate of 4.39 percent while Nepal Bank Limited had the lowest spread rate of 33.66 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Spread rate is the difference between the interest rate a bank pays to depositors and the interest rate it receives from loans to consumers. As the main source of income of banks is interest, their income is likely to shrink if the spread rate is reduced. Therefore, the banks have to look for alternative source of income if they are to maintain the same level of profit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The average spread rate of banks is around 4 percent. The monetary policy will only affect a handful of banks,” said Anil Kumar Upadhyay, chairman of Nepal Bankers Association.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He said that the commercial banks will take a decision to reduce the interest on deposits only after the central bank implements the revised provision of the monetary policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Former banker Analraj Bhattarai says that the banks facing liquidity crisis will have immediate impact due to the central bank’s decision but there won’t be any long-term implications. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The banks having high spread rate will feel immediate impact but they can make up for the loss in the long term through other source of income,” said Bhattarai.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16231', 'image' => '20221209034132_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 15:40:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16489', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Struggle to Find Market for Citrus Fruits', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: The production of citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons has increased but the farmers are struggling to find a market for the produce.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">December 9: The production of citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons has increased but the farmers are struggling to find a market for the produce.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Farmers from various districts, including Rukum, Doti, Bajhang, and Bajura, have been complaining that the oranges produced by them are not getting any market. Looking at government data, it seems that the production of oranges is increasing every year. However, the market has not expanded in the same proportion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, in the last five years, the production of citrus fruits has been increasing along with the production area. In the fiscal year 2016/17, a total of 239,773 metric tons of citrus fruits were produced in 26,759 hectares of land. By the year 2020/21, the production area of the orange variety of fruits has increased by 5,429 hectares to 32,188 hectares, and the production has also increased by 71,415 metric tons to 311,188 metric tons.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the government data, even though the production has increased, complaints are registered every year that the oranges produced by Nepali farmers are not able to find a market. This year also, the farmers of Doti, Rukum and other districts have complained that the oranges are not getting sold in the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nawal Singh Budha, an orange farmer of Doti, has grown oranges on five ropanis of land. He said that despite the increase in production this year compared to last year, oranges could not find good markets. You can read and hear the news that oranges are sold for Rs 100 per kg in Kathmandu. However, it is difficult to sell oranges here even at Rs 40/50 per kilo. Due to the lack of cold storage, it is not possible to stock them for a long time and sell them after the price rises," he told New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The agreement between the Government of Nepal and China to export oranges to China and expand the market of citrus fruit has yet to be implemented. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">An agreement to this effect was signed between the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development of Nepal and the Department of Agriculture of China about three years ago during the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping. However, the ministry said that this agreement has not been implemented yet </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Spokesperson of the ministry Prakash Kumar Sanjel said that the Chinese government had set a condition that the oranges exported to China should be free from diseases and insects, so there was a problem in implementing the agreement in the beginning. Currently, the Chinese government has adopted a somewhat flexible policy that the plant from which oranges are harvested must be free from disease and insects. But the export of oranges to China is yet to materialize.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16230', 'image' => '20221209030820_20190605051816_20190220125347_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 15:07:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16488', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Construction of Flyover at Gwarko to Kick off from Today', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: Seven years after conducting a study that recommended construction of flyovers in the Kathmandu valley for the management of traffic, the government is finally starting to build a flyover at Gwarko of Lalitpur.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 9: Seven years after conducting a study that recommended construction of flyovers in the Kathmandu valley for the management of traffic, the government is finally starting to build a flyover at Gwarko of Lalitpur.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, the construction of the flyover will begin from Friday. The ministry said that the contract for the construction of the flyover has been awarded to a Nepali company. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Spokesperson of the ministry Shiva Prasad Nepal said that the construction work will be carried out in the night time so that the regular traffic will not be disturbed in the daytime.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The four-lane flyover is being built to ease the traffic congestion in the valley. The study conducted by the government had recommended to build three such flyovers. The flyover at Gwarko is being built on the first phase and then the other two will be built, according to the ministry. The other two flyovers will be built at Satdobato and Ekantakuna.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track and the Nagdhunga tunnel will also have flyovers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The flyover is being built as per the recommendation of the Department of Roads to build underpasses and flyovers in the capital to manage the traffic jams. The DoR has issued a tender to build the flyover at Gwarko in July 2021. The flyover will be simple in nature, similar to a straight-forward bridge of 35 meters width. The total length of the flyover will be 455 meters. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The flyover will run parallel to the Ring Road while vehicles travelling between Patan’s Mangalbazar and Imadol will have travel underneath the flyover.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The ministry has allocated a budget of Rs 340 million for the construction of the flyover. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16229', 'image' => '20221209015125_20200925021204_1600988628.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 13:50:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16487', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Gold Crosses the Mark of Rs 100,000 per Tola ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: The price of gold has crossed the mark of Rs 100,000 per tola (11.66 grams) on Friday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 9: The price of gold has crossed the mark of Rs 100,000 per tola (11.66 grams) on Friday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association (FENEGOSIDA), the price of fine gold has been fixed at Rs 100,300 per tola on Friday after an increase of Rs 600 per tola compared to the previous trading day. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The precious yellow metal was traded at Rs 99,700 on Thursday. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the federation has fixed the price of worked gold at Rs 99,800 per tola against Rs 99,200 on the previous trading day. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also, the price of silver has been fixed at Rs 1,390 per tola after an increment of Rs 30 as compared to the previous trading day. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16228', 'image' => '20221209011018_gold.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 13:09:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16486', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Financial Access in Province-1 Imperative: NRB Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: A report prepared by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has pointed out the need of financial access for the economic development of Province-1. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 9: A report prepared by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has pointed out the need of financial access for the economic development of Province-1. The study report of NRB showed that financial inclusion should be materialized by expanding financial access and awareness. The availability of financial tools are also imperative. </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"">Among 14 districts in Province-1, only Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari district have adequate physical infrastructures, road transport and other facilities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The facilities concentrated in three districts must be expanded, the report stated, adding balanced development of province is necessary. Bringing in adequate investment is essential irrespective of diverse geography, the report 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"">Moreover, it pointed out the lack of well managed information and statistics on agriculture, industry, service and infrastructures at the data providing bodies and organizations. Another challenge is the formulation of implementable policy based on credible data and statistics. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There are limited capacity and sources of internal investment, the report concluded. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16227', 'image' => '20221209120113_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 12:00:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16485', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Water from Melamchi being Supplied in Kathmandu Valley from Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: Water supply from Melamchi river is to resume in the Kathmandu Valley from today (December 9).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 9: Water supply from Melamchi river is to resume in the Kathmandu Valley from today (December 9). The water from the Melamchi river has been brought up to Sundarijal of Kathmandu and is being distributed in the federal capital from today, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. The water was channelled via the tunnel aqueduct at Ambathan, the source of the Melamchi stream in Helambu Rural Municipality-1 in Sindhupalchok district, added RSS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The water released into the tunnel reached the end point at Sundarijal, Gokarneshwar Municipality-1 on December 4. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The tunnel was shut in June after a massive landslide that occurred in the Melamchi area damaged the tunnel at its source at Ambathan. The water that had been filled in the tunnel has been released into the Bagmati river to flush out the silt and debris in the tunnel," RSS quoted Ram Chandra Poudel, the engineer with the Melamchi Water Supply Project, as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, only a small amount of water was channelled into the tunnel conduit in the beginning on a trial basis since the tunnel was closed for a long time. This water took a week to reach Sundarijal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Project spokesperson Rajendra Panta said that 175 million litres of water from the Melamchi river would be released into the tunnel daily from today. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project had first started distributing the water in Kathmandu on March 28 last year. However, the supply was disrupted following major floods and landslides in Sindhupalchowk on June 15. The headworks of the project were completely damaged, as the floods and landslides deposited dozens of feet high pebbles, sand, and mud at the headworks. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">RSS added that the water from Melamchi will be channelled into the tunnel and brought to Kathmandu only during winter because the reconstruction of the damaged headworks at Ambathan intake has not been completed yet. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16226', 'image' => '20221209110528_melamcbi.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 11:04:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16484', 'article_category_id' => '274', 'title' => 'Prioritise Import Replacement Industries in SEZ : Private Sector ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Private sector has said that investors have not been attracted to Special Economic Zone (SEZ) due to impractical provisions for land acquisition. ', 'content' => '<p><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">December: 9 Private sector has said that investors have not been attracted to Special Economic Zone (SEZ) due to impractical provisions for land acquisition. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government had established the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) along Birgunj-Pathlaiya Industrial Corridor in Simara with the vision to promote export industry sector in 2062 BS. The zone, however, has failed to entice investors and industrialists.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> According to Birgunj Chapter of Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Subodh Kumar Gupta, exorbitant rent for the land, and unrealistic export quantity criteria to be eligible to rent the land inside the zone have driven investors away from investing in the SEZ. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Investors and entrepreneurs demanded that SEZ should accord priority to industries that want to open industries focusing on the domestic market as Nepal’s export trade has failed to become competitive due to topography and high production cost. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“Current business trend and tendency are quite different from the past. Time has come to change export with import replacement”, Bara-Parsa Industry Association Vice-chair Binay Shah said “Such infrastructure should be prioritized for industries with vision to promote import replacement”. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Industries established in the special economic zone should export sixty per cent of their total production. Earlier, provision was even tougher. SEZ industries would have to export sixty per cent of their goods in the first year of their establishment itself. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Since the economic zone could not lure any investors, the provision to export goods and commodities was revised. Now, the industries in SEZ will have to export 20 per cent, 40 per cent and 60 per cent in the first, second and remaining years with the start of the production. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Chairman Gupta has urged the government to lower export quantity provision from 60 per cent to 25 per cent out of the total production. “Land rent was decreased from Rs 20 to Rs 10 per square. But, it is still expensive”, Gupta said adding “We have asked the government to lower the land rent to Rs 5 per square”. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government has exempted income tax for industries established in the SEZ for two years. The private sector, however, wants tax waive for 10 years. If income tax exemption is increased for 10 years, industries will be attracted to the SEZ, said Bara-Parsa Industry Association Vice-chair Hari Gautam. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Investors have urged the government to provide all facilities through one-window system in the special economic zone. “Investors have shown no interest to the SEZ due to administrative hassles. So, all facilities and services should be provided through one window system”, said Gautam</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Despite frequent calls, the Special Economic Zone Authority has not received enough proposals for the establishment of industries. Industrialists and investors along the Bara-Parsa Corridor say that SEZ should be allowed to establish all kinds of industries as land acquisition had become tough and rent had gone expensive along the corridor. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“Entrepreneurs and industrialists have a hard time getting land along the Bara-Parsa Corridor. But, the SEZ has not come into use for a long time. Thus, other industries should be allowed to establish their businesses even by changing criteria and standards in the SEZ”, Vice-chair Gautam added. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Simara Special Economic Zone is spread in 833 bigaha land. The government had prepared a garment processing zone in the SEZ a few years back. Unfortunately, the garment processing zone was scrapped after investors did not show any interest. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16225', 'image' => '20221209075327_collage.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 07:46:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16483', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'CREASION Installs Oxygen Plant at TUTH', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: The Center for Research and Sustainable Development Nepal (CREASION), a non-profit, non-governmental organization promoting compassion-based development, with funding from The Coca-Cola Foundation, successfully installed and handed over an oxygen plant to the Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Center at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Maharajgunj, Kathmandu on Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 8: The Center for Research and Sustainable Development Nepal (CREASION), a non-profit, non-governmental organization promoting compassion-based development, with funding from The Coca-Cola Foundation, successfully installed and handed over an oxygen plant to the Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Center at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Maharajgunj, Kathmandu on Wednesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to a statement issued by Coca-Cola, the oxygen plant can serve up to 50 patients at a time and provides 240 litres of oxygen per second.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dev Kumari Guragain, secretary at the Minister of Health and Population reportedly thanked CREASION and The Coca-Cola Foundation for their efforts in installing the Oxygen Plant.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> “The pandemic had made us realize the importance of staying prepared and well-equipped with essential materials,” the statement quoted Secretary Guragain as saying. “We are happy to have organizations supporting the healthcare sector in doing so.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The handover ceremony was conducted in the presence of Secretary Guragain, TUTH Director Dinesh Kafle, Manmohan Hospital’s Executive Director Uttam Krishna Shrestha, Adarsh Avasthi, country manager for Coca-Cola in Nepal and Bhutan, Aanand Mishra, founder and president of CREASION.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16224', 'image' => '20221208081612_Picture 5.JPG', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 20:15:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16481', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Shift to Lucrative Mustard Farming in Nawalparasi', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: Farmers of Nawalparasi are attracted towards mustard farming due to the high price it fetches. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">December 8: Farmers of Nawalparasi are attracted towards mustard farming due to the high price it fetches. As the price of mustard has increased in the last few years, the number of farmers has also increased to benefit from the production and sale of this crop.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Mustard can be seen blooming across this district, which is considered to be a pocket area of mustard. Compared to other crops, farmers are attracted towards the cultivation of mustard because they can produce their own oil instead of using the oil bought from the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The area between Gaidakot Municipality of Nawalparasi (East of Bardghat Susta) to Vinayi Triveni Rural Municipality is considered as a pocket area for mustard farming. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sita Gautam of Devchuli Municipality, who has been growing mustard seeds for years, said that she grows mustard seeds so that she can sell the produce in the market and consume the excess amount throughout the year. She also added that the demand for mustard has increased in the villages for the past two to three years and that the crop has improved after using chicken manure.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kawasoti, Badhyavindu, Devchuli and Gaidakot municipalities of the district are considered to be the pocket areas for mustard farming. While farmers are being attracted towards mustard farming, the challenges and problems still persist. Farmers say that their main problem is unavailability of fertilizer on time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kalpana Bhandari, a farmer, said, “Nowadays, there is no need for us to look for a market to sell mustard, it can be sold from home easily. But the shortage of fertilizer at the time of plating is problematic.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Shankar Paudel, information officer of the district-based Agriculture Knowledge Center said that mustard is cultivated in 2,335 hectares of land in Nawalparasi. It is easy to grow mustard because the weather is conducive. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In recent years, farmers have started getting good prices for mustard. At present, the price of mustard is up to Rs 11,000 per quintal in the village. Mustard gets ripe in 80 to 90 days after sowing. Farmers are attracted to mustard farming because of the quality of self-produced mustard oil and the fact that the wastage can also be used as fertilizer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16223', 'image' => '20221208052938_KA_Bharatpur-IMG_1653.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 17:28:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16480', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Buddha Air to Fly ATR-72 along Kathmandu-Surkhet Route', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: Buddha Air, one of the leading airliners of Nepal, is all set to start flight along the Kathmandu-Surkhet route with ATR-72 aircraft.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 8: Buddha Air, one of the leading airliners of Nepal, is all set to start flight along the Kathmandu-Surkhet route with ATR-72 aircraft. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airline company will kick off its flight with ATR-72 aircraft along the route from December 16. The minimum fare for this route is Rs 7,000. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airline company had conducted test flight with the aircraft along the route a month ago. Buddha Air has been operating flights along the Kathmandu-Surkeht route with ATR-42 aircraft for the last five years. The company is now preparing to fly aircraft with 72 seats in the same route. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airline company will conduct two flights a day along the route. The company will operate the Kathmandu-Surkhet flight at 10:00 am every day while the return flight from Surkeht is scheduled for 11:35 am. “We are preparing to operate flights with bigger aircraft keeping in view the increasing number of passengers and their convenience,” said a representative of Buddha Air. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A press statement issued by the airlines says that operating flights through bigger aircraft will reduce the fare and operation costs. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The company has already announced to purchase two ATR-72 aircraft for the same route. Buddha Air has 14 ATR series aircraft. Of them, three are ATR 42 series while 11 are from ATR 72 series. The airline makes domestic flight to more than a dozen destinations regularly. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16222', 'image' => '20221208042248_20180425054539_ATR.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 16:22:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16482', 'article_category_id' => '236', 'title' => 'Auto Entrepreneurs, Importers Stage Sit-In At Maitighar Mandala Kathmandu ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Despite the lifting of the ban imposed on the import of vehicles by the government, automobile importers and entrepreneurs have been agitated saying that Nepal Rastra Bank’s policy had ruined auto industry. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:14px">December 8: Despite the lifting of the ban imposed on the import of vehicles by the government, automobile importers and entrepreneurs have been agitated saying that Nepal Rastra Bank’s policy had ruined auto industry. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Auto entrepreneurs led by the NADA Automobiles Association of Nepal staged a sit-in at Maitighar Mandala, Kathmandu today. Carrying placards against the government and Nepal Rastra Bank, protesting auto importers demanded with government for business-friendly policies. They warned of continuing with their agitation until their demands were addressed by the government and Nepal Rastra Bank. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Speaking at the sit-in programme, NADA Automobile Associations of Nepal Chairman Dhruba Thapa said that though import of the vehicles was open provision of 50 per cent and 100 per cent cash margin while opening letter of credit (LC) for importing vehicles had made them hard to import vehicles. Thapa demanded that the government remove the cash margin provision. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">“The government has to remove cash margin provisions while opening (LC) and increase financing cap to 80 per cent from the current 50 per cent”, Thapa demanded. He argued that selling vehicles would be tough with 50 per cent financing cap and current increased interest rate. Thapa warned of waging stern protest if their demands are not addressed immediately. “Nepal Rastra Bank’s policies are against the auto industry. The central bank has aggravated the industry, which is already struggling due to liquidity crisis and soaring interest rate”, Thapa added. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Auto entrepreneurs have put forward a host of demands. Their demands include removing working capital guidelines, scrapping 50 per cent and 100 per cent cash margin provision while opening letter of credit (LC), lowering auto loan risk weightage from current 150 per cent to 75 per cent, and review of Credit Deposit ratio, among others. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">The government had imposed the ban on the import of cars, jeeps, vans and motorbikes above the capacity of 150 CC along with other edible goods since April 26, 2022. Terming the vehicles as luxury goods, the government had banned the import of vehicles, citing depletion of foreign currency reserves. A Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday had decided to lift ban on the import of all kinds of goods and services including vehicles from December 16. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Organizing a press meet on December 2, NADA Automobiles Association of Nepal had announced a series of agitations. As part of the protest programme, automobile entrepreneurs and importers had staged the sit-in today. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16221', 'image' => '20221208060243_aandolan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 17:19:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16478', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Galkot Palace Turns into Centre of Attraction for Tourists', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: Galkot Palace is located in-between Harichaur Bazaar in Baglung district and the mountains to the north. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 8: Galkot Palace is located in-between Harichaur Bazaar in Baglung district and the mountains to the north. The historical palace has become a centre of attraction for tourists of late. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A large number of people are throng the palace every day to enjoy the scenic beauty and for merry-making. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">However, the palace which was artistically built using stones, mud, bricks and wooden materials in 1979 BS is now deteriorating. People are crowding up here, especially for taking snapshots, creating videos and enjoying its surrounding. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Due to the easy access to roads, tourists from different parts of the country are turning up to the historical palace at Harichaur. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There is the Gaighat falls at Tarakhola nearby. Most of the tourists who arrive at the falls do not miss to visit the palace. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Locals say that the inflow of domestic tourists to the palace has increased with easy access to road that leads up to the historical site. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Akash Pariyar, a resident of Bharatpur, Chitwan, who came to explore Dhorpatan also visited the Galkot Palace. He commented the palace that is located in a peaceful atmosphere attracted anyone. "We are fortunate to get an opportunity to see and enjoy the century-old heritage. Our country has a wealth of such antique places which has higher potentials to draw attention of domestic and foreign tourists. The beauty of the palace has captivated me a lot". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pariyar said he had come with a plan to reach Dhoraptan, Kalika Temple, Panchakot and Galkot Palace. He noted that domestic and foreign tourists can be further attracted to the areas if the existing tourism hotspots are managed well with better services. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"I had explored the antique palace through Youtube video. I was eager to visit the place. But, I could not do that as I was overseas country at the moment". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pariyar who has been residing in Japan said, "I had reached the popular religious and tourism spots of Baglung this time". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Dipesh Giri, a resident of Musikot, Gulmi, said it was his fifth visit to the Galkot Palace. "Earlier, there was no good road connectivity to reach the place. Now the road access to the palace has improved. Inflow of tourists to the unexplored tourism site has also increased", he shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the locals, daily 200 plus domestic tourists visit the palace. The number of visitors is high during public holidays. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson of Galkot municipality, Him Bahadur Bhandari said the Galkot Palace has attracted both domestic and foreign tourists. As the palace carries a historical legacy, it needs to be conserved, he said. "The palace is still under personal ownership. We had discussed to carry out maintenance of the physical infrastructure of the palace despite the personal ownership of the palace. The historical palace is deteriorating. Now it is being repaired," he added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The palace is stretched over five ropanis of land. Bharat Bam Malla was the then king who built the palace. It was the place through which Galkot used to be governed. The administrative, judicial and economic powers of the Galkot State was centralized with the palace until 2017 BS (1962 AD). The first-elected government had decided to eradicate principalities and monarchs. It was the then King Bharat Bam Malla who put forth the proposal to the cabinet. He was elected Member of Parliament in 2015 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Manjesh Bam Malla, grandson of the then Malla King, has now put his efforts for the conservation of the palace.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> "We have started repairing the palace adopting original antique style. It is being reconstructed in a way to develop the ground floor as a museum and upper floors for personal use. Other structures around the palace are also to be managed this year," Malla shared. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16220', 'image' => '20221208021455_galkot palace.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 14:14:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16479', 'article_category_id' => '236', 'title' => 'Mirganj Bridge Reopens after 11 Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: The strategic Mirganj Bridge, which lies four kilometers inside India from the Jogbani-Biratnagar border point in eastern Nepal, has come into operation after 11 months of closure.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">December 8: The strategic Mirganj Bridge, which lies four kilometers inside India from the Jogbani-Biratnagar border point in eastern Nepal, has come into operation after 11 months of closure.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The new motorable bridge, built after the collapse of the old bridge, has been opened for public use. The operation of this strategic bridge – from the point of view of trade – has shortened the distance for vehicles carrying materials and other goods to the Biratnagar customs by 116 kilometers. This is expected to save both the time and money of the traders.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Until the bridge was operational, the transport vehicles entering Nepal through Jogbani checkpoint had to take a detour through the Bhantabari checkpoint in Sunsari. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Before this bridge was opened, an average of 68 cargo vehicles had been entering Nepal on a daily basis. On Wednesday, a total of 168 vehicles entered Nepal through the Nepal-India Integrated Checkpoint (ICP) at Jogbani in India and Rani in Nepal. According to the traders, the transportation cost of one truck/container is Rs 16,000.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ramchandra Dhungana, information officer of Biratnagar Customs Office, confirmed that freight vehicles have started arriving from the integrated check post since Wednesday. Customs chief Tara Prasad Sapkota said that though the Mirganj Bridge is yet to be officially commissioned, freight vehicles are passing through the ICP, and their number has increased. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">When the Mirganj Bridge was flooded, the revenue collection of the Biratnagar customs decreased by Rs 18.7 billion in 10 months. During this period, the traders have had to pay an additional transportation fee of around Rs 96.6 million in order to bring the goods through Sunsari's Bhantabari checkpoint.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Krishna Regmi, an industrialist, said that the cost of industrial production will be reduced with the reduction in transport fares after the Mirganj Bridge came into operation. He said that the transportation time will also be shortened.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ratnakar Yadav, head of the Jogbani Office of Land Port Authority of India, said that since the Mirganj Bridge was ready and could be opened for cargo vehicles, traffic was allowed through the ICP from Tuesday night. He said that although there is still some work to be done on the bridge and flyovers, there will be no problem for the movement of cargo vehicles. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He informed more than 160 freight vehicles entered Nepal on Tuesday night.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16219', 'image' => '20221208023904_1670451569.6.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 14:38:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16477', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Messi's World Cup Chase takes Centre Stage in Quarterfinal Clash', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: Lionel Messi's hopes of winning an elusive World Cup will come up against the tactical scheming of veteran coach Louis van Gaal as Argentina face the Netherlands in Friday’s quarter-final at Lusail, Reuters reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">AGENCIES</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">December 8: Lionel Messi's hopes of winning an elusive World Cup will come up against the tactical scheming of veteran coach Louis van Gaal as Argentina face the Netherlands in Friday’s quarter-final at Lusail, Reuters reported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Messi, 35, once again carries his nation's hopes on his shoulders as he looks to crown an extraordinary career that includes seven Ballon d'Or awards and multiple club titles, but only one Copa America to show for his efforts with Argentina, added the news agency.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">“Messi can expect little in the way of sympathy from the 71-year-old Van Gaal, who is determined to give the Dutch their first World Cup title after runners-up finishes in 1974, 1978 and 2010. The coach’s planning will largely focus on containing Messi and catching Argentina on the break, as Van Gaal thumbs his nose at his critics by playing a brand of football at odds with the usual attacking Dutch approach.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">According to Reuters, the tactical plan is key to his side’s hopes of winning on Friday as the Dutch look to take revenge for their semi-final defeat in 2014 when Argentina beat them in a shootout.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Van Gaal also pointed to a run of form that has seen the Dutch go 19 games without defeat since he returned to the hot seat for a third spell 15 months ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">This will be the sixth World Cup meeting between the Netherlands and Argentina, with only Brazil against Sweden (7) and Argentina against Germany (7) being played more often in the competition, according to Goal.com.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The sports news portal further said that the Netherlands have lost just one of their nine meetings with Argentina in all competitions (four wins and four draws), with that loss coming in the 1978 World Cup final. However, the most recent of those four draws did result in a penalty shootout defeat, in the last meeting between the sides in the 2014 World Cup semi-final.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The last two World Cup meetings between the Netherlands and Argentina finished 0-0, in the 2006 group stages and the 2014 semi-final (Argentina progressing on penalties).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The clash between Argentina and the Netherlands will take place Friday night at 12:45 am (NST).</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16218', 'image' => '20221208010146_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 13:01:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16491', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Dearth of fertiliser and seed hits Parsa Farmers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'With the harvesting of the paddy over, farmers are preparing to cultivate wheat in Parsa. They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved seed. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">December 9: With the harvesting of the paddy over, farmers are preparing to cultivate wheat in Parsa. They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved seed. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">While farmers have tilled the land are almost ready to sow the winter crop, shortage of fertiliser and improved seed has hit the snag. Scarcity of Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) is pervasive at the time to sow the wheat crop in the district.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Earlier, the government had fixed fertiliser quota to every district and delegated the responsibility to Agriculture Material Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporation to distribute the vital plant nutrient. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Both company and corporation distribute fertilizer to the farmers through agriculture cooperatives at the recommendation of local levels. An agriculture cooperative said that it had not been able to distribute fertilizer due to manure crunch. <br /> “We have been distributing fertilizer provided to us to the farmers”, said Proprietor Hari Shankar Mahot of Young Star Cooperative located at Birgunj Metropolitan City-28. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Farmers lamented that they are having a hard time cultivating wheat crop for lack of vital inputs. “We used to import fertilizer the Indian market in the past. But, police personnel have barred us from purchasing the plant nutrient from Indian market this year”, complained Ram Balak Chaurasiya of Birgunj-16. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Not only fertilizer, farmers are experiencing the crunch of improved wheat seed as well. <br /> Meanwhile, Pradip Yadav, newly-elected member of the House of Representatives from Parsa-1, visited the offices of Regional Agriculture Material Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporations in Birgunj and held discussion with officials to provide fertilizer to the farmers at the earliest. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16232', 'image' => '20221209052853_collage (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 17:00:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16490', 'article_category_id' => '218', 'title' => 'Profit of Over a Dozen Banks Likely to Shrink due to the Reduction in Spread Rate', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: Nepal Rastra Bank’s policy to lower the spread rate of banks has caused the profit of a dozen banks to shrink.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 9: Nepal Rastra Bank’s policy to lower the spread rate of banks has caused the profit of a dozen banks to shrink.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank had decided to reduce the spread rate of commercial banks from 4.4 percent to 4 percent through the first quarterly review of the monetary policy of the current fiscal year. Likewise, the NRB had also recued the spread rate of development banks and finance companies from 5 percent to 4.6 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the data published by the commercial banks, a total of 14 commercial banks will witness a decline in profit because their spread rate was more than 4 percent as of mid-October this year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Among the 26 commercial banks of Nepal, NIC Asia Bank had the highest spread rate of 4.39 percent while Nepal Bank Limited had the lowest spread rate of 33.66 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Spread rate is the difference between the interest rate a bank pays to depositors and the interest rate it receives from loans to consumers. As the main source of income of banks is interest, their income is likely to shrink if the spread rate is reduced. Therefore, the banks have to look for alternative source of income if they are to maintain the same level of profit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The average spread rate of banks is around 4 percent. The monetary policy will only affect a handful of banks,” said Anil Kumar Upadhyay, chairman of Nepal Bankers Association.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He said that the commercial banks will take a decision to reduce the interest on deposits only after the central bank implements the revised provision of the monetary policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Former banker Analraj Bhattarai says that the banks facing liquidity crisis will have immediate impact due to the central bank’s decision but there won’t be any long-term implications. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The banks having high spread rate will feel immediate impact but they can make up for the loss in the long term through other source of income,” said Bhattarai.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16231', 'image' => '20221209034132_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 15:40:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16489', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Struggle to Find Market for Citrus Fruits', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: The production of citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons has increased but the farmers are struggling to find a market for the produce.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">December 9: The production of citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons has increased but the farmers are struggling to find a market for the produce.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Farmers from various districts, including Rukum, Doti, Bajhang, and Bajura, have been complaining that the oranges produced by them are not getting any market. Looking at government data, it seems that the production of oranges is increasing every year. However, the market has not expanded in the same proportion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, in the last five years, the production of citrus fruits has been increasing along with the production area. In the fiscal year 2016/17, a total of 239,773 metric tons of citrus fruits were produced in 26,759 hectares of land. By the year 2020/21, the production area of the orange variety of fruits has increased by 5,429 hectares to 32,188 hectares, and the production has also increased by 71,415 metric tons to 311,188 metric tons.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the government data, even though the production has increased, complaints are registered every year that the oranges produced by Nepali farmers are not able to find a market. This year also, the farmers of Doti, Rukum and other districts have complained that the oranges are not getting sold in the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nawal Singh Budha, an orange farmer of Doti, has grown oranges on five ropanis of land. He said that despite the increase in production this year compared to last year, oranges could not find good markets. You can read and hear the news that oranges are sold for Rs 100 per kg in Kathmandu. However, it is difficult to sell oranges here even at Rs 40/50 per kilo. Due to the lack of cold storage, it is not possible to stock them for a long time and sell them after the price rises," he told New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The agreement between the Government of Nepal and China to export oranges to China and expand the market of citrus fruit has yet to be implemented. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">An agreement to this effect was signed between the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development of Nepal and the Department of Agriculture of China about three years ago during the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping. However, the ministry said that this agreement has not been implemented yet </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Spokesperson of the ministry Prakash Kumar Sanjel said that the Chinese government had set a condition that the oranges exported to China should be free from diseases and insects, so there was a problem in implementing the agreement in the beginning. Currently, the Chinese government has adopted a somewhat flexible policy that the plant from which oranges are harvested must be free from disease and insects. But the export of oranges to China is yet to materialize.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16230', 'image' => '20221209030820_20190605051816_20190220125347_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 15:07:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16488', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Construction of Flyover at Gwarko to Kick off from Today', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: Seven years after conducting a study that recommended construction of flyovers in the Kathmandu valley for the management of traffic, the government is finally starting to build a flyover at Gwarko of Lalitpur.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 9: Seven years after conducting a study that recommended construction of flyovers in the Kathmandu valley for the management of traffic, the government is finally starting to build a flyover at Gwarko of Lalitpur.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, the construction of the flyover will begin from Friday. The ministry said that the contract for the construction of the flyover has been awarded to a Nepali company. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Spokesperson of the ministry Shiva Prasad Nepal said that the construction work will be carried out in the night time so that the regular traffic will not be disturbed in the daytime.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The four-lane flyover is being built to ease the traffic congestion in the valley. The study conducted by the government had recommended to build three such flyovers. The flyover at Gwarko is being built on the first phase and then the other two will be built, according to the ministry. The other two flyovers will be built at Satdobato and Ekantakuna.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track and the Nagdhunga tunnel will also have flyovers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The flyover is being built as per the recommendation of the Department of Roads to build underpasses and flyovers in the capital to manage the traffic jams. The DoR has issued a tender to build the flyover at Gwarko in July 2021. The flyover will be simple in nature, similar to a straight-forward bridge of 35 meters width. The total length of the flyover will be 455 meters. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The flyover will run parallel to the Ring Road while vehicles travelling between Patan’s Mangalbazar and Imadol will have travel underneath the flyover.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The ministry has allocated a budget of Rs 340 million for the construction of the flyover. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16229', 'image' => '20221209015125_20200925021204_1600988628.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 13:50:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16487', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Gold Crosses the Mark of Rs 100,000 per Tola ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: The price of gold has crossed the mark of Rs 100,000 per tola (11.66 grams) on Friday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 9: The price of gold has crossed the mark of Rs 100,000 per tola (11.66 grams) on Friday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association (FENEGOSIDA), the price of fine gold has been fixed at Rs 100,300 per tola on Friday after an increase of Rs 600 per tola compared to the previous trading day. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The precious yellow metal was traded at Rs 99,700 on Thursday. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the federation has fixed the price of worked gold at Rs 99,800 per tola against Rs 99,200 on the previous trading day. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also, the price of silver has been fixed at Rs 1,390 per tola after an increment of Rs 30 as compared to the previous trading day. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16228', 'image' => '20221209011018_gold.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 13:09:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16486', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Financial Access in Province-1 Imperative: NRB Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: A report prepared by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has pointed out the need of financial access for the economic development of Province-1. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 9: A report prepared by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has pointed out the need of financial access for the economic development of Province-1. The study report of NRB showed that financial inclusion should be materialized by expanding financial access and awareness. The availability of financial tools are also imperative. </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"">Among 14 districts in Province-1, only Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari district have adequate physical infrastructures, road transport and other facilities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The facilities concentrated in three districts must be expanded, the report stated, adding balanced development of province is necessary. Bringing in adequate investment is essential irrespective of diverse geography, the report 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"">Moreover, it pointed out the lack of well managed information and statistics on agriculture, industry, service and infrastructures at the data providing bodies and organizations. Another challenge is the formulation of implementable policy based on credible data and statistics. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There are limited capacity and sources of internal investment, the report concluded. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16227', 'image' => '20221209120113_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 12:00:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16485', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Water from Melamchi being Supplied in Kathmandu Valley from Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 9: Water supply from Melamchi river is to resume in the Kathmandu Valley from today (December 9).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 9: Water supply from Melamchi river is to resume in the Kathmandu Valley from today (December 9). The water from the Melamchi river has been brought up to Sundarijal of Kathmandu and is being distributed in the federal capital from today, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. The water was channelled via the tunnel aqueduct at Ambathan, the source of the Melamchi stream in Helambu Rural Municipality-1 in Sindhupalchok district, added RSS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The water released into the tunnel reached the end point at Sundarijal, Gokarneshwar Municipality-1 on December 4. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The tunnel was shut in June after a massive landslide that occurred in the Melamchi area damaged the tunnel at its source at Ambathan. The water that had been filled in the tunnel has been released into the Bagmati river to flush out the silt and debris in the tunnel," RSS quoted Ram Chandra Poudel, the engineer with the Melamchi Water Supply Project, as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, only a small amount of water was channelled into the tunnel conduit in the beginning on a trial basis since the tunnel was closed for a long time. This water took a week to reach Sundarijal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Project spokesperson Rajendra Panta said that 175 million litres of water from the Melamchi river would be released into the tunnel daily from today. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project had first started distributing the water in Kathmandu on March 28 last year. However, the supply was disrupted following major floods and landslides in Sindhupalchowk on June 15. The headworks of the project were completely damaged, as the floods and landslides deposited dozens of feet high pebbles, sand, and mud at the headworks. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">RSS added that the water from Melamchi will be channelled into the tunnel and brought to Kathmandu only during winter because the reconstruction of the damaged headworks at Ambathan intake has not been completed yet. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16226', 'image' => '20221209110528_melamcbi.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 11:04:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16484', 'article_category_id' => '274', 'title' => 'Prioritise Import Replacement Industries in SEZ : Private Sector ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Private sector has said that investors have not been attracted to Special Economic Zone (SEZ) due to impractical provisions for land acquisition. ', 'content' => '<p><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">December: 9 Private sector has said that investors have not been attracted to Special Economic Zone (SEZ) due to impractical provisions for land acquisition. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government had established the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) along Birgunj-Pathlaiya Industrial Corridor in Simara with the vision to promote export industry sector in 2062 BS. The zone, however, has failed to entice investors and industrialists.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> According to Birgunj Chapter of Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Subodh Kumar Gupta, exorbitant rent for the land, and unrealistic export quantity criteria to be eligible to rent the land inside the zone have driven investors away from investing in the SEZ. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Investors and entrepreneurs demanded that SEZ should accord priority to industries that want to open industries focusing on the domestic market as Nepal’s export trade has failed to become competitive due to topography and high production cost. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“Current business trend and tendency are quite different from the past. Time has come to change export with import replacement”, Bara-Parsa Industry Association Vice-chair Binay Shah said “Such infrastructure should be prioritized for industries with vision to promote import replacement”. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Industries established in the special economic zone should export sixty per cent of their total production. Earlier, provision was even tougher. SEZ industries would have to export sixty per cent of their goods in the first year of their establishment itself. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Since the economic zone could not lure any investors, the provision to export goods and commodities was revised. Now, the industries in SEZ will have to export 20 per cent, 40 per cent and 60 per cent in the first, second and remaining years with the start of the production. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Chairman Gupta has urged the government to lower export quantity provision from 60 per cent to 25 per cent out of the total production. “Land rent was decreased from Rs 20 to Rs 10 per square. But, it is still expensive”, Gupta said adding “We have asked the government to lower the land rent to Rs 5 per square”. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government has exempted income tax for industries established in the SEZ for two years. The private sector, however, wants tax waive for 10 years. If income tax exemption is increased for 10 years, industries will be attracted to the SEZ, said Bara-Parsa Industry Association Vice-chair Hari Gautam. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Investors have urged the government to provide all facilities through one-window system in the special economic zone. “Investors have shown no interest to the SEZ due to administrative hassles. So, all facilities and services should be provided through one window system”, said Gautam</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Despite frequent calls, the Special Economic Zone Authority has not received enough proposals for the establishment of industries. Industrialists and investors along the Bara-Parsa Corridor say that SEZ should be allowed to establish all kinds of industries as land acquisition had become tough and rent had gone expensive along the corridor. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“Entrepreneurs and industrialists have a hard time getting land along the Bara-Parsa Corridor. But, the SEZ has not come into use for a long time. Thus, other industries should be allowed to establish their businesses even by changing criteria and standards in the SEZ”, Vice-chair Gautam added. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Simara Special Economic Zone is spread in 833 bigaha land. The government had prepared a garment processing zone in the SEZ a few years back. Unfortunately, the garment processing zone was scrapped after investors did not show any interest. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16225', 'image' => '20221209075327_collage.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 07:46:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16483', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'CREASION Installs Oxygen Plant at TUTH', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: The Center for Research and Sustainable Development Nepal (CREASION), a non-profit, non-governmental organization promoting compassion-based development, with funding from The Coca-Cola Foundation, successfully installed and handed over an oxygen plant to the Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Center at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Maharajgunj, Kathmandu on Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 8: The Center for Research and Sustainable Development Nepal (CREASION), a non-profit, non-governmental organization promoting compassion-based development, with funding from The Coca-Cola Foundation, successfully installed and handed over an oxygen plant to the Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Center at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Maharajgunj, Kathmandu on Wednesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to a statement issued by Coca-Cola, the oxygen plant can serve up to 50 patients at a time and provides 240 litres of oxygen per second.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dev Kumari Guragain, secretary at the Minister of Health and Population reportedly thanked CREASION and The Coca-Cola Foundation for their efforts in installing the Oxygen Plant.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> “The pandemic had made us realize the importance of staying prepared and well-equipped with essential materials,” the statement quoted Secretary Guragain as saying. “We are happy to have organizations supporting the healthcare sector in doing so.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The handover ceremony was conducted in the presence of Secretary Guragain, TUTH Director Dinesh Kafle, Manmohan Hospital’s Executive Director Uttam Krishna Shrestha, Adarsh Avasthi, country manager for Coca-Cola in Nepal and Bhutan, Aanand Mishra, founder and president of CREASION.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16224', 'image' => '20221208081612_Picture 5.JPG', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 20:15:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16481', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Shift to Lucrative Mustard Farming in Nawalparasi', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: Farmers of Nawalparasi are attracted towards mustard farming due to the high price it fetches. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">December 8: Farmers of Nawalparasi are attracted towards mustard farming due to the high price it fetches. As the price of mustard has increased in the last few years, the number of farmers has also increased to benefit from the production and sale of this crop.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Mustard can be seen blooming across this district, which is considered to be a pocket area of mustard. Compared to other crops, farmers are attracted towards the cultivation of mustard because they can produce their own oil instead of using the oil bought from the market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The area between Gaidakot Municipality of Nawalparasi (East of Bardghat Susta) to Vinayi Triveni Rural Municipality is considered as a pocket area for mustard farming. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sita Gautam of Devchuli Municipality, who has been growing mustard seeds for years, said that she grows mustard seeds so that she can sell the produce in the market and consume the excess amount throughout the year. She also added that the demand for mustard has increased in the villages for the past two to three years and that the crop has improved after using chicken manure.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kawasoti, Badhyavindu, Devchuli and Gaidakot municipalities of the district are considered to be the pocket areas for mustard farming. While farmers are being attracted towards mustard farming, the challenges and problems still persist. Farmers say that their main problem is unavailability of fertilizer on time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kalpana Bhandari, a farmer, said, “Nowadays, there is no need for us to look for a market to sell mustard, it can be sold from home easily. But the shortage of fertilizer at the time of plating is problematic.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Shankar Paudel, information officer of the district-based Agriculture Knowledge Center said that mustard is cultivated in 2,335 hectares of land in Nawalparasi. It is easy to grow mustard because the weather is conducive. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In recent years, farmers have started getting good prices for mustard. At present, the price of mustard is up to Rs 11,000 per quintal in the village. Mustard gets ripe in 80 to 90 days after sowing. Farmers are attracted to mustard farming because of the quality of self-produced mustard oil and the fact that the wastage can also be used as fertilizer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16223', 'image' => '20221208052938_KA_Bharatpur-IMG_1653.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 17:28:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16480', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Buddha Air to Fly ATR-72 along Kathmandu-Surkhet Route', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: Buddha Air, one of the leading airliners of Nepal, is all set to start flight along the Kathmandu-Surkhet route with ATR-72 aircraft.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">December 8: Buddha Air, one of the leading airliners of Nepal, is all set to start flight along the Kathmandu-Surkhet route with ATR-72 aircraft. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airline company will kick off its flight with ATR-72 aircraft along the route from December 16. The minimum fare for this route is Rs 7,000. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airline company had conducted test flight with the aircraft along the route a month ago. Buddha Air has been operating flights along the Kathmandu-Surkeht route with ATR-42 aircraft for the last five years. The company is now preparing to fly aircraft with 72 seats in the same route. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The airline company will conduct two flights a day along the route. The company will operate the Kathmandu-Surkhet flight at 10:00 am every day while the return flight from Surkeht is scheduled for 11:35 am. “We are preparing to operate flights with bigger aircraft keeping in view the increasing number of passengers and their convenience,” said a representative of Buddha Air. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A press statement issued by the airlines says that operating flights through bigger aircraft will reduce the fare and operation costs. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The company has already announced to purchase two ATR-72 aircraft for the same route. Buddha Air has 14 ATR series aircraft. Of them, three are ATR 42 series while 11 are from ATR 72 series. The airline makes domestic flight to more than a dozen destinations regularly. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16222', 'image' => '20221208042248_20180425054539_ATR.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 16:22:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16482', 'article_category_id' => '236', 'title' => 'Auto Entrepreneurs, Importers Stage Sit-In At Maitighar Mandala Kathmandu ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Despite the lifting of the ban imposed on the import of vehicles by the government, automobile importers and entrepreneurs have been agitated saying that Nepal Rastra Bank’s policy had ruined auto industry. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:14px">December 8: Despite the lifting of the ban imposed on the import of vehicles by the government, automobile importers and entrepreneurs have been agitated saying that Nepal Rastra Bank’s policy had ruined auto industry. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Auto entrepreneurs led by the NADA Automobiles Association of Nepal staged a sit-in at Maitighar Mandala, Kathmandu today. Carrying placards against the government and Nepal Rastra Bank, protesting auto importers demanded with government for business-friendly policies. They warned of continuing with their agitation until their demands were addressed by the government and Nepal Rastra Bank. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Speaking at the sit-in programme, NADA Automobile Associations of Nepal Chairman Dhruba Thapa said that though import of the vehicles was open provision of 50 per cent and 100 per cent cash margin while opening letter of credit (LC) for importing vehicles had made them hard to import vehicles. Thapa demanded that the government remove the cash margin provision. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">“The government has to remove cash margin provisions while opening (LC) and increase financing cap to 80 per cent from the current 50 per cent”, Thapa demanded. He argued that selling vehicles would be tough with 50 per cent financing cap and current increased interest rate. Thapa warned of waging stern protest if their demands are not addressed immediately. “Nepal Rastra Bank’s policies are against the auto industry. The central bank has aggravated the industry, which is already struggling due to liquidity crisis and soaring interest rate”, Thapa added. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Auto entrepreneurs have put forward a host of demands. Their demands include removing working capital guidelines, scrapping 50 per cent and 100 per cent cash margin provision while opening letter of credit (LC), lowering auto loan risk weightage from current 150 per cent to 75 per cent, and review of Credit Deposit ratio, among others. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">The government had imposed the ban on the import of cars, jeeps, vans and motorbikes above the capacity of 150 CC along with other edible goods since April 26, 2022. Terming the vehicles as luxury goods, the government had banned the import of vehicles, citing depletion of foreign currency reserves. A Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday had decided to lift ban on the import of all kinds of goods and services including vehicles from December 16. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Organizing a press meet on December 2, NADA Automobiles Association of Nepal had announced a series of agitations. As part of the protest programme, automobile entrepreneurs and importers had staged the sit-in today. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16221', 'image' => '20221208060243_aandolan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 17:19:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16478', 'article_category_id' => '239', 'title' => 'Galkot Palace Turns into Centre of Attraction for Tourists', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: Galkot Palace is located in-between Harichaur Bazaar in Baglung district and the mountains to the north. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">December 8: Galkot Palace is located in-between Harichaur Bazaar in Baglung district and the mountains to the north. The historical palace has become a centre of attraction for tourists of late. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A large number of people are throng the palace every day to enjoy the scenic beauty and for merry-making. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">However, the palace which was artistically built using stones, mud, bricks and wooden materials in 1979 BS is now deteriorating. People are crowding up here, especially for taking snapshots, creating videos and enjoying its surrounding. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Due to the easy access to roads, tourists from different parts of the country are turning up to the historical palace at Harichaur. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There is the Gaighat falls at Tarakhola nearby. Most of the tourists who arrive at the falls do not miss to visit the palace. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Locals say that the inflow of domestic tourists to the palace has increased with easy access to road that leads up to the historical site. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Akash Pariyar, a resident of Bharatpur, Chitwan, who came to explore Dhorpatan also visited the Galkot Palace. He commented the palace that is located in a peaceful atmosphere attracted anyone. "We are fortunate to get an opportunity to see and enjoy the century-old heritage. Our country has a wealth of such antique places which has higher potentials to draw attention of domestic and foreign tourists. The beauty of the palace has captivated me a lot". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pariyar said he had come with a plan to reach Dhoraptan, Kalika Temple, Panchakot and Galkot Palace. He noted that domestic and foreign tourists can be further attracted to the areas if the existing tourism hotspots are managed well with better services. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"I had explored the antique palace through Youtube video. I was eager to visit the place. But, I could not do that as I was overseas country at the moment". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pariyar who has been residing in Japan said, "I had reached the popular religious and tourism spots of Baglung this time". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Dipesh Giri, a resident of Musikot, Gulmi, said it was his fifth visit to the Galkot Palace. "Earlier, there was no good road connectivity to reach the place. Now the road access to the palace has improved. Inflow of tourists to the unexplored tourism site has also increased", he shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the locals, daily 200 plus domestic tourists visit the palace. The number of visitors is high during public holidays. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson of Galkot municipality, Him Bahadur Bhandari said the Galkot Palace has attracted both domestic and foreign tourists. As the palace carries a historical legacy, it needs to be conserved, he said. "The palace is still under personal ownership. We had discussed to carry out maintenance of the physical infrastructure of the palace despite the personal ownership of the palace. The historical palace is deteriorating. Now it is being repaired," he added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The palace is stretched over five ropanis of land. Bharat Bam Malla was the then king who built the palace. It was the place through which Galkot used to be governed. The administrative, judicial and economic powers of the Galkot State was centralized with the palace until 2017 BS (1962 AD). The first-elected government had decided to eradicate principalities and monarchs. It was the then King Bharat Bam Malla who put forth the proposal to the cabinet. He was elected Member of Parliament in 2015 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Manjesh Bam Malla, grandson of the then Malla King, has now put his efforts for the conservation of the palace.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> "We have started repairing the palace adopting original antique style. It is being reconstructed in a way to develop the ground floor as a museum and upper floors for personal use. Other structures around the palace are also to be managed this year," Malla shared. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16220', 'image' => '20221208021455_galkot palace.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 14:14:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16479', 'article_category_id' => '236', 'title' => 'Mirganj Bridge Reopens after 11 Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: The strategic Mirganj Bridge, which lies four kilometers inside India from the Jogbani-Biratnagar border point in eastern Nepal, has come into operation after 11 months of closure.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">December 8: The strategic Mirganj Bridge, which lies four kilometers inside India from the Jogbani-Biratnagar border point in eastern Nepal, has come into operation after 11 months of closure.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The new motorable bridge, built after the collapse of the old bridge, has been opened for public use. The operation of this strategic bridge – from the point of view of trade – has shortened the distance for vehicles carrying materials and other goods to the Biratnagar customs by 116 kilometers. This is expected to save both the time and money of the traders.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Until the bridge was operational, the transport vehicles entering Nepal through Jogbani checkpoint had to take a detour through the Bhantabari checkpoint in Sunsari. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Before this bridge was opened, an average of 68 cargo vehicles had been entering Nepal on a daily basis. On Wednesday, a total of 168 vehicles entered Nepal through the Nepal-India Integrated Checkpoint (ICP) at Jogbani in India and Rani in Nepal. According to the traders, the transportation cost of one truck/container is Rs 16,000.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ramchandra Dhungana, information officer of Biratnagar Customs Office, confirmed that freight vehicles have started arriving from the integrated check post since Wednesday. Customs chief Tara Prasad Sapkota said that though the Mirganj Bridge is yet to be officially commissioned, freight vehicles are passing through the ICP, and their number has increased. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">When the Mirganj Bridge was flooded, the revenue collection of the Biratnagar customs decreased by Rs 18.7 billion in 10 months. During this period, the traders have had to pay an additional transportation fee of around Rs 96.6 million in order to bring the goods through Sunsari's Bhantabari checkpoint.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Krishna Regmi, an industrialist, said that the cost of industrial production will be reduced with the reduction in transport fares after the Mirganj Bridge came into operation. He said that the transportation time will also be shortened.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ratnakar Yadav, head of the Jogbani Office of Land Port Authority of India, said that since the Mirganj Bridge was ready and could be opened for cargo vehicles, traffic was allowed through the ICP from Tuesday night. He said that although there is still some work to be done on the bridge and flyovers, there will be no problem for the movement of cargo vehicles. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He informed more than 160 freight vehicles entered Nepal on Tuesday night.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16219', 'image' => '20221208023904_1670451569.6.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 14:38:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16477', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Messi's World Cup Chase takes Centre Stage in Quarterfinal Clash', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'December 8: Lionel Messi's hopes of winning an elusive World Cup will come up against the tactical scheming of veteran coach Louis van Gaal as Argentina face the Netherlands in Friday’s quarter-final at Lusail, Reuters reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">AGENCIES</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">December 8: Lionel Messi's hopes of winning an elusive World Cup will come up against the tactical scheming of veteran coach Louis van Gaal as Argentina face the Netherlands in Friday’s quarter-final at Lusail, Reuters reported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Messi, 35, once again carries his nation's hopes on his shoulders as he looks to crown an extraordinary career that includes seven Ballon d'Or awards and multiple club titles, but only one Copa America to show for his efforts with Argentina, added the news agency.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">“Messi can expect little in the way of sympathy from the 71-year-old Van Gaal, who is determined to give the Dutch their first World Cup title after runners-up finishes in 1974, 1978 and 2010. The coach’s planning will largely focus on containing Messi and catching Argentina on the break, as Van Gaal thumbs his nose at his critics by playing a brand of football at odds with the usual attacking Dutch approach.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">According to Reuters, the tactical plan is key to his side’s hopes of winning on Friday as the Dutch look to take revenge for their semi-final defeat in 2014 when Argentina beat them in a shootout.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Van Gaal also pointed to a run of form that has seen the Dutch go 19 games without defeat since he returned to the hot seat for a third spell 15 months ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">This will be the sixth World Cup meeting between the Netherlands and Argentina, with only Brazil against Sweden (7) and Argentina against Germany (7) being played more often in the competition, according to Goal.com.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The sports news portal further said that the Netherlands have lost just one of their nine meetings with Argentina in all competitions (four wins and four draws), with that loss coming in the 1978 World Cup final. However, the most recent of those four draws did result in a penalty shootout defeat, in the last meeting between the sides in the 2014 World Cup semi-final.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The last two World Cup meetings between the Netherlands and Argentina finished 0-0, in the 2006 group stages and the 2014 semi-final (Argentina progressing on penalties).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The clash between Argentina and the Netherlands will take place Friday night at 12:45 am (NST).</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-08', 'modified' => '2022-12-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16218', 'image' => '20221208010146_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-08 13:01:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
