June 15: The main opposition party CPN (UML) has criticized Finance Minister Janardan Sharma for his alleged role in the manipulation of tax rates in the budget at the eleventh…
June 15: The main opposition party CPN (UML) has criticized Finance Minister Janardan Sharma for his alleged role in the manipulation of tax rates in the budget at the eleventh…
June 14: The government had mentioned in the budget speech for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) that it will provide facilities for the establishment of production-oriented industries and for importing industrial raw…
June 14: Stakeholders have suggested formulating a strategy for regulation and monitoring of digital media used by Nepal for tourism promotion and…
June 14: The share transactions of Nepal Investment Bank Limited ((NIBL) and Mega Bank have been halted since June…
June 14: Ten different associations of investors announced to continue their protest until the 19-point demand put forward by the Capital Market Reform Struggle Committee is addressed.…
June 14: The Annapurna Circuit, a popular trek within the mountain ranges of western Nepal, is witnessing a decline in number of tourists lately, thanks to various factors like the onset of monsoon, road problems and off season for…
June 14: Banks have decided not to raise the interest rate on deposits from mid-June to mid-July.…
June 14: Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Krishna Kumar Shrestha informed that the incumbent government was doing homework to guarantee social security for workers in informal sector and the self-employed…
June 13: The textile industry is considered to be the mother of…
June 13: The crops planted in Palpa are not improving due to the lack of timely application of chemical…
June 13: The Biratnagar Airport Victims’ Struggle Committee organized a rally on Saturday and announced a demonstration to block the entrance of the…
June 13: Sudurpaschim Province is lagging behind in terms of economic progress despite having abundant natural resources, according to a latest study carried out by the Nepal Rastra Bank…
June 13: Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has drawn the government’s attention towards the crisis of chemical fertilizer during the peak of planting season and urged the government to address the issue…
June 13: Chitwan National Park has decided to suspend jungle safari, jungle walk and other activities inside the national park from June 15 citing the arrival of…
June 12: Admitting flaws in the new tax rates, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has pledged to amend the mistakes.…
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 15: The main opposition party CPN (UML) has criticized Finance Minister Janardan Sharma for his alleged role in the manipulation of tax rates in the budget at the eleventh hour. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Recent media reports accuse the finance minister of altering tax rates before the announcement of the budget for the Fiscal Year 2022/23 on May 29. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a meeting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, UML vice chair and lawmaker Surendra Pandey sought time and drew the government’s attention to media reports accusing the finance minister of manipulating tax rates in collusion with unauthorized people before presenting it to the parliament. He demanded resignation of the finance minister on moral grounds. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“After facing a serious charge, the finance minister is expected to clarify about it in the House. Even lawmakers of ruling parties have questioned his role in the alteration of tax rates and even after all these, does he still expect to hold the post?” he questioned. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">When the provisions require even the ministers and secretaries to put their communication devices in lockers during the discussions on tax rates in course of preparing the budget before it is presented in parliament, the finance minister has been accused of violating the norms by tweaking the tax rate in collusion with unauthorized persons he brought with him, said Pandey. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15186', 'image' => '20220615074831_20220609080427_20220602052434_fin min sharma.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 07:47:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15443', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government’s Self-Reliant Campaign Hits a Snag', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: The government had mentioned in the budget speech for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) that it will provide facilities for the establishment of production-oriented industries and for importing industrial raw materials. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 14: The government had mentioned in the budget speech for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) that it will provide facilities for the establishment of production-oriented industries and for importing industrial raw materials. The country can become self-reliant if the government genuinely wants to promote home-grown products. However, the government’s announcement often contradicts its acts. Most of the times, the announcement made by the government gets limited to papers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the government had announced to promote production-oriented industries, it has increased the customs duty and excise duty on industrial raw materials through the finance bill.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stakeholders say this will have a negative impact on the industries contrary to the government’s claim of promoting such industries.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">GI wire and sanitary pad manufacturers have said that the change in tax rates has made it impossible to compete with foreign goods. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Manufacturers of GI wire and sanitary pad have already met the prime minister and informed him about the problem.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Dolraj Adhikari, president of the Nepal Sanitary Pad Producers' Association, accused the government of trying to discourage self-reliant industries. "Domestic pad industry, which has a higher production capacity than consumption, has become uncompetitive," said Adhikari.</span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that they can sell country-made pads at a cheaper price if the government provides them tax exemption on raw materials just like it has given exemption for the import of foreign sanitary pads.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Adhikari warned that if the exemption given on the import of ready-made pads is not removed soon or other measures are taken to save the indigenous industry, they would hand over the key of the industry to the finance minister.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Production of pads requires many raw materials, out of which 7 types should be imported. According to the association, there are 35 pad manufacturing industries in the country so far, with total investment of Rs 6 billion. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Likewise, the oil industry, which imports 100 percent raw materials and exports refined oil, has also been hit hard by the government’s new policy. They have met a large part of the domestic demand. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that the provisions of the new finance bill have hit the industry hard, Sandeep Agrawal hoped that the discussions with the government would help resolve the problems. He said that the government has fixed 5 percent customs duty for the import of ready-made cooking oil but the customs duty for importing raw materials required to produce oil is 10 percent. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the concerned industrialists, the investment of billions of rupees will be at risk as this arrangement will facilitate the import of refined oil. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15185', 'image' => '20220614075118_ROS_KTM_IMGL4220.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 19:49:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15442', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Suggest Regulating Digital Media for Tourism Promotion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: Stakeholders have suggested formulating a strategy for regulation and monitoring of digital media used by Nepal for tourism promotion and publicity.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 14: Stakeholders have suggested formulating a strategy for regulation and monitoring of digital media used by Nepal for tourism promotion and publicity. They suggested that the use of technology on ways to present content on social media should be regulated.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The stakeholders made such remarks at an interaction program titled 'Age of Technology in Tourism' organized by the Nepal Economic Forum in Kathmandu on Monday. Speaking on the occasion, Nandani Thapa, senior director of Nepal Tourism Board, said that the development of technology has brought a change in the style of tourism publicity as well.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Similarly, Ramyata Limbu, director of the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF), said that digital media would be cheaper and less expensive for tourism promotion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Similarly, Jason Shah, co-founder of Hostel Nextdor, said that there are a lot of young people who are promoting their destination by creating various blogs. He said that the tourism market in Nepal is huge and there are many opportunities.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Tourism expert Lisa Chvogyal said that there are still good opportunities in the tourism sector after Covid-19. Stating that Nepal has adventure tourism as well as many other famous destinations, she suggested bringing quality products and improving tourism services. She said that despite the increase in tourism activities like paragliding, it is necessary to pay attention to other changing aspects of tourism. She also stressed the need to analyze the impact of climate change from the perspective of tourism and prepare accordingly.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Ambika Khurana, Netflix's director of public policy, suggested that in addition to the use of technology, viewers should also pay attention to what topics attract them. "A story in a digital medium can only be sold if it connects with the minds of viewers and consumers," she said.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15184', 'image' => '20220614055327_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 17:52:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15441', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Share Transactions of NIBL, Mega Bank on Hold', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: The share transactions of Nepal Investment Bank Limited ((NIBL) and Mega Bank have been halted since June 13.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">June 14: The share transactions of Nepal Investment Bank Limited ((NIBL) and Mega Bank have been halted since June 13. Nepal Stock Exchange has stopped the share transactions of these two banks for their merger. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Investment Bank and Mega Bank had signed a preliminary agreement for merger on June 10. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NEPSE decided to halt the share transactions of the two banks after they submitted a copy of the preliminary agreement requesting the NEPSE to withhold their share transactions.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Investment Bank decided to go for a merger with Mega Bank after its failure to merge with Himalayan Bank. NIBL’s share transaction was put on hold since May 14, 2021 due to the merger process with Himalayan Bank. NEPSE had recently allowed share transaction of NIBL on May 30. However, the share transaction has again been halted due to the merger process with Mega Bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the preliminary agreement regarding merger, the new entity after the merger will be named as Nepal Investment Mega Bank. NIBL will retain the positions of the chairman and CEO after the merger. Other board of directors will be represented by both the banks.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The paid-up capital of NIBL at present is Rs 18.3 billion while that of Mega Bank is Rs 16.12 billion. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15183', 'image' => '20220614122527_merger.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 12:24:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15439', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investors Announce Protest Programme demanding Reforms', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: Ten different associations of investors announced to continue their protest until the 19-point demand put forward by the Capital Market Reform Struggle Committee is addressed. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 14: Ten different associations of investors announced to continue their protest until the 19-point demand put forward by the Capital Market Reform Struggle Committee is addressed. In a joint statement issued on June 13, the associations expressed their commitment not to give up on protest until it yields concrete results.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Through a joint press conference, they urged the banks along with the brokers to not sell the shares of the investors unilaterally by making a margin call.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The associations warned that if the shares are sold unilaterally causing disadvantage to the investors, the investors' associations will unite for legal remedy. The associations also claimed that the government will be the one responsible for the situation if it does not implement its 19-point demand immediately.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">They said that the retreat of investors accelerated due to the lack of implementation of some important suggestions given by the government-formed suggestion committee for the improvement and expansion of Nepal's capital market three and a half years ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">In this case, the investors demanded the government and the stakeholders for immediate action to reassure the investors.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Ten investors 'associations made it clear that the 19-point demand presented by the Capital Market Reform Struggle Committee formed under the leadership of Tilak Koirala is a common demand of all investors' associations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">President of capital market forum of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Ambika Prasad Poudel, Coordinator of the Capital Market Reform Struggle Committee Tilak Koirala, Chairman of the Nepal Investors Forum Tulsiram Dhakal and Chairman of the Share Investors Association of Nepal Uttam Aryal were among those who issued the joint statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The struggle committee formed under the coordination of Koirala is conducting protest programs since June 6. The struggle committee submitted its demands to all the district administration offices on June 13. Koirala, who is preparing to organize a special programme in Kathmandu on June 14, is scheduled to go on a hunger strike from June 15.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15182', 'image' => '20220614095431_5-reasons-of-investing-in-turkey.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 09:53:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15440', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Tourists Declines in Annapurna Circuit with the Onset of Monsoon ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: The Annapurna Circuit, a popular trek within the mountain ranges of western Nepal, is witnessing a decline in number of tourists lately, thanks to various factors like the onset of monsoon, road problems and off season for tourists. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 14: The Annapurna Circuit, a popular trek within the mountain ranges of western Nepal, is witnessing a decline in number of tourists lately, thanks to various factors like the onset of monsoon, road problems and off season for tourists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The trekking route is popular among both internal and foreign tourists. It links five districts but has witnessed barely 8 to 10 tourists on a daily basis against almost 200 visitors until a week ago, said Chhetra Bahadur Gurung, tourism assistant at the Dharapani tourism check centre under the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP).</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The trekking route used to draw as many as 600 tourists daily in the past. But the number of visitors has declined significantly. As a result, tourism entrepreneurs who were hit hard by COVID-19 for a long period have faced another blow. The trek wore a deserted look for a long period of time (at least two years) due to the global COVID-19 crisis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"I used to earn around Rs 60,000 on a daily basis when there was a pressure of tourists. But, nowadays, income is almost like zero," complained a tourism entrepreneur, Pancha Bahadur Gurung of Lamjung Marsyangdi Rural Municipality-4. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Another tourism entrepreneur Khus Bahadur Tamang used to make Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 daily until a few weeks back. He says the number of tourists has drastically gone down these days and he only makes Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 a day. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourism sector which was hard-hit by COVID-19 pandemic and had just started to revive before the current setback. It looks like the trekking route is going to see only a few visitors for some more months with the start of the monsoon. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The centre's records show that the highest number of tourists coming for trekking in this trail is from France, Germany, Italy and other countries. The number of tourists will start increasing after mid-August once the monsoon subsides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">About 4,900 tourists have come for trekking till date since January this year, said Gurung, the tourism assistant at ACAP Tourism Checkpoint Dharapani. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tourists visit the Annapurna trekking route mainly for trekking purpose and also for sight-seeing, observing the local culture and tradition and to trek up to Mustang via the Thorang-La Pass of Manang and some travel on to Pokhara as well. The entry point of the Annapurna trekking route is at Manange Chautara of Besisahar municipality-7, Lamjung district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The route connects five districts- Lamjung, Kaski, Manang, Mustang and Myagdi. The visitors travel to Besisahar from Kathmandu by car or bus. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15181', 'image' => '20220614100546_Hiker-800.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 10:05:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15438', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Interest on Deposits to Remain Stable from mid-June to mid-July', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: Banks have decided not to raise the interest rate on deposits from mid-June to mid-July. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 14: Banks have decided not to raise the interest rate on deposits from mid-June to mid-July. According to the Nepal Bankers Association, the interest rate fixed for mid-May to mid-June will get continuity for another month as well. Commercial had banks agreed to provide the maximum interest rate of 11.3 percent for personal deposits and 10.3 percent for institutional deposits on one-year term deposits.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">As per the arrangement made by NRB, banks have to provide an additional one percentage point or 12.03 percent interest rate on deposits received from remittances.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Banks and financial institutions are facing liquidity crisis as deposit collection of banks have not increased proportionately to the credit flow given by banks aggressively.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The NRB intervened in the unhealthy competition among banks to attract deposits by raising interest rates. NRB issued verbal instructions to the banks on October 19 warning them not to raise the interest rates. The next day, NRB made arrangements to reduce the interest rates to only 10 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">As per the direction of NRB, the Nepal Bankers Association, an umbrella organization of chief executive officers (CEOs) of commercial banks, the Development Bankers Association, an association of CEOs of development banks, and the Nepal Finance Companies Association, an association of finance company CEOs, reached a formal agreement and have not competed on interest rates. They are implementing a gentleman’s agreement not to raise interest rates from mid-March to mid-June as new deposits are not added even though they increased the interest rate to 10 percent in mid-February.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Due to the increase interest rates on deposits, interest rates on bank loans are becoming more expensive. According to Nepal Rastra Bank, the average base rate of commercial banks stood at 9.30 percent in April 2022, which was 6.83 percent in April 2021.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15180', 'image' => '20220614094658_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 09:46:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15437', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Preparation Afoot to Ensure Social Security for Self-Employed Workers: Labour Minister', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Krishna Kumar Shrestha informed that the incumbent government was doing homework to guarantee social security for workers in informal sector and the self-employed ones. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 14: Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Krishna Kumar Shrestha informed that the incumbent government was doing homework to guarantee social security for workers in informal sector and the self-employed ones. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Responding to the queries raised on the Appropriation Bill-2079 BS, Minister Shrestha said on Monday that laws and legislations were being formulated to bring self-employed and informal sector workers under the ambit of social security. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Directives for reintegration of returnee migrant workers of Nepal has been presented to the Council of Ministers for approval, said Shrestha, adding that reintegration programmes such as 'Reintegration of Returnee Migrant Workers (ReMi) will soon be implemented with the support of the Swiss government while similar programmes will be enforced with the support of the South Korean government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">To encourage the returnee migrants for entrepreneurship, awards and rewards programmes will implemented, the minister said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, he shared that a five-year strategic plan was formulated for the first time by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, with the objective to promote self-employment programme among the returnee workers and guarantee their social security and other benefits such as accidental insurance and compensation among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister mentioned that earlier the renewal of labour permit used to have a process of four rounds. “It has been cut down to two currently. A Help Desk has been set up in the concerned offices for facilitation of the service-seekers.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Currently, Nepalis are permitted to work in 178 countries with personal labour permit while to work in 111 countries, they need to obtain institutional labour permit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Against this backdrop, the minister shared that preparation was afoot to ink labour pact with the UK for the first time. He also shared that preparation was underway at his initiations to ink labour pact with the Maldives, Seychelles and Israel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry held consultations with heads of 16 foreign diplomatic missions in Nepal as well as the representatives of international organizations to address the issues faced by Nepalis migrant workers and to protect the professional security of Nepalis migrant workers abroad. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Minister said five shelter homes have been set up in Oman, Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to house the stranded and rescued Nepali migrant workers. Moreover, Labour Consular and Labour Attaché have been appointed in Qatar, Malaysia, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Budget has been allocated to prepare DPR for construction of a Labour Hospital. Minister Shrestha expressed his confidence that foreign employment management will undergo changes and as many as workers could come under the ambit of social security. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15179', 'image' => '20220614092347_SSF (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 09:23:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15436', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Why isn’t Nepal Self-Reliant on Textiles? ', 'sub_title' => 'Thirteen out of 14 garment industries in Biratnagar shut down due to adverse conditions', 'summary' => 'June 13: The textile industry is considered to be the mother of industries.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Om Prakash Khanal</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 13: The textile industry is considered to be the mother of industries. Nepal also has a long history of textile industry. However, despite good demand in the domestic market, the textile industry does not seem to be flourishing in Nepal. Even the existing industries are being shut down one after another.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">What is the reason? The industrialists say that the government's policy toward the textile industry is not appropriate. "On the one hand, the government is gradually taking away the privileges of the textile industry, and on the other hand, the uncontrolled import of textiles from India has taken over the domestic market," said an industrialist.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another industrialist Pitamber Kumar Munka shared his view that only a small part of the textile consumed in the country is produced by the domestic industries. “The rest of the demand is met by imported clothes. Lots of textiles are entering the country illegally from the open border with India than through the formal channels,” said Munka, who operates Crown and Kohinoor Textiles in Birgunj.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to industrialists, the government in India grants subsidy up to 50 percent on equipment for the textile industry. "The concession in technology and energy to the textile industry in India is massive. The concession given to us for electricity was also withdrawn,” complained Vinay Shah, managing director of Nobel Textiles.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Until a few years ago, the government used to refund value-added tax (VAT) to textile manufacturers for the sale of garments.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government removed the concession two years ago. The government had decided to give a 50 percent discount on electricity tariff following a protest by the industrialists. Entrepreneurs also got concession in electricity tariff for one year. According to industrialist Ramesh Gadiya, this incentive has been removed from last year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Even the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has demanded refund on the discount used by the industrialists," Gadiya said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">India had reduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on textiles to 5 percent at a time when the Government of Nepal was removing VAT concession given to textile manufacturers. Jitendra Kumar Lohiya, vice-president of the Nepal Textile Industry Association, said that the inflow of Indian textiles into Nepal's market has increased rapidly due to the tax gap of 8 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Lohiya, 13 out of 14 industries in Biratnagar have been shut down. The progress he has made in textiles is still going on. "A small portion of Nepali's annual expenditure on textiles goes to the domestic production and legally imported goods, while the rest goes to illegally imported garments," Lohia claimed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Entrepreneurs say that it has become difficult for Nepali textiles to compete with the products of Indian industries which get subsidy from the government.</span> <span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">On top of that, smuggling of clothes through the open border has become a big problem.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In order to compete with Indian textiles, the industrialists have demanded zero tariff on the import of yarn. Yarn is the main raw material for the textile industry. Entrepreneurs have been paying 5 percent customs duty on its import. The industrialists say that the domestic textile industry will be relieved if they get customs duty relief on yarn.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The association estimates that a large part of the clothing consumed annually in Nepal is illegal. The government been giving a 5 percent discount on interest for loans up to Rs 50 million for the textile industry from the current Fiscal Year 2021/22.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> However, t</span></span><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">he government has not given such concessions to all types of textile industries. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“All types of textile industries should be given this concession, the limit of Rs 50 million should be removed and the concession should be given for at least 10 years,” says Vice President Lohia.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the industrialists, there is a problem in investing in the textile industry due to the policy that changes every year. Most industries have not been able to invest in technology. "Investment is scarce because of the government's volatile policy. Most of the industries are producing goods by importing old equipment. This has not led to the expected improvement in cost reduction and quality assurance,” said an industrialist requesting anonymity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He urged the government to take a long-term policy to protect the employment created by the textile industry with an investment of around Rs 20 billion. He demanded that the government should adopt a policy to protect the textile industry which is the most value-added and job-creating industry. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">About a dozen industries in Birgunj and Biratnagar, which were once famous, have now been shut down. The government-funded Hetauda textile industry has been shut down for years. The government has mentioned in the budget of the upcoming fiscal year that 'arrangements will be made for the civil servants to use the garments produced by Hetauda Textile Industry'.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">While about 250 industries are struggling for survival, the issue of reviving closed textile industry has been included in the budget. The industrialists are doubtful about the government’s intention of reviving the closed industries, believing it to be a move to benefit a certain group of businessmen.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15178', 'image' => '20220613074107_Industries.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 19:40:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15435', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Production in Palpa Declining due to Lack of Chemical Fertilizer', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: The crops planted in Palpa are not improving due to the lack of timely application of chemical fertilizers.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 13: The crops planted in Palpa are not improving due to the lack of timely application of chemical fertilizers. Durga Acharya, a farmer in the district, says that the crop has not been able to thrive due to lack of urea right from the time of planting seeds. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">“We bought urea sold in the black market at a high price for the first time. It cost Rs 42 per kg and we used it once for the maize planted in our field. The crop is not showing any signs of production due to the lack of fertilizers the second time. Now we have no hope of producing maize this time.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Another farmer, Sarada Regmi paid Rs 50 for a kilogram of urea for her crops hoping for a better produce. Farmers have been using chemical fertilizers twice for maize.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Even in the black market, farmers are forced to pay double the price for the fertilizer. Regmi complained that they bought fertilizer at a high price even in the black market but the next time they could not find it regardless of the price.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The price of urea distributed through cooperatives is Rs 20 per kg. Farmers are put in a tight spot as some traders are selling fertilizers at high prices in the black market while taking advantage of the shortage.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Ganesh Acharya, the manager of Lakshadhenu Advanced Cattle Farm complained that they are facing problems for animal feed as well due to lack of fertilizer for the grass needed for feeding the cattle. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Bishnumaya Khadka, operator of Holistic Cow Farm, planted grass and maize on about 40 ropanis of land for animal feed alone. She is worried how to feed the animals as the grass and maize are not improving.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The operators of large livestock farms are worried about managing the cattle feed due to lack of fertilizer. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Suman Panthi, head of the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited, Palpa, said that the government is working to bring the fertilizer pledged by the Indian company through the 'fast track' process. He said, “There are discussions going on for supplying chemical fertilizer to Nepal through an Indian company but the mode of export is not yet decided. Fertilizer can be brought through the fast track within 15 days.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Organic manure can be used to fill the shortage of urea for maize. But the farmers are requesting for chemical fertilizer as soon as possible as manure will not be sufficient for paddy plantation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Chairman of Bijaypur Agricultural Cooperative Rampur, Om Prakash Regmi said that there has been a shortage of urea since the past three months. He says that some farmers visit the cooperative daily with complaints. They are assured that the fertilizer will arrive by mid-June.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">In Palpa, 53 organizations are involved in trading chemical fertilizers with permission from the government. It has been found that the consumption of fertilizers is increasing every year in the district. Five years ago, the district used to consume 1000 metric tons of fertilizer per year. But last year’s consumption was found to be 2000 metric tons. The use of chemical fertilizers is increasing every year with the decline in the fertility of the soil and the availability of cultivable land.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Cooperatives are not allowed to trade chemical fertilizers without the recommendation of the local government’s committee under the coordination of the deputy chief of the municipality. The agricultural cooperatives selected by the committee are allowed to distribute fertilizers. At each local level, one ward and one agricultural cooperative are allowed to sell and distribute fertilizers. If there are no agricultural cooperatives, the municipality may allow savings and loan cooperatives to buy and sell fertilizers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Kamana Adhikari, chief of the Agriculture Knowledge Center says that the production of maize in the district is expected to decline this year due to unavailability of fertilizers on time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Ram Hari Pandey, chief of the agriculture branch of Rampur Municipality, said that the farmers who are into the cultivation sector are now frustrated as they are unable to get fertilizer at the right time.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15177', 'image' => '20220613053948_JICA (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 17:39:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15434', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Landowners Affected by the Biratnagar Airport Project Demand Compensation', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: The Biratnagar Airport Victims’ Struggle Committee organized a rally on Saturday and announced a demonstration to block the entrance of the airport.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 13: The Biratnagar Airport Victims’ Struggle Committee organized a rally on Saturday and announced a demonstration to block the entrance of the airport. The committee decided to hold a street demonstration saying that the government has not paid them compensation for the land acquired for the airport even after two years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">A meeting of the committee also decided to give an ultimatum to the District Administration Office, Chief Minister's Office, Civil Aviation Authority Office and District Police Office to fulfill their demands within seven days. The committee informed about its demonstration through a press release on Sunday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Individuals residing near the airport got agitated after the government blocked transaction of their land two years ago for upgrading the Biratnagar Airport and did not pay compensation to them. The meeting has decided to launch a street protests demanding the release of the blocked land or compensation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The federal government had permitted the Civil Aviation Authority in 2077 BS to acquire 126.46 acres of public land to extend the runway of Biratnagar Airport from the 1,500 meters to 3,000 meters. Based on the decision, the authorities have blocked transactions of 1,400 plots of land including 350 houses since two years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Keshe Magarati, a member of the Airport Victims' Struggle Committee, said that the government has not been able to compensate the victims even after blocking transaction of their land for two years. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">If the house and land are not sold within a year, we will submit a memorandum to the local administration and related bodies within a week, then block the way to the highway and the airport.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The government has not allocated any amount in the current and next year's budget to compensate the victims.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"> Uddhav Karki, a member of the struggle committee, said that the hope of compensation is dead as budget has not been allocated. "How long do we have to wait?" Karki said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Santosh Khadka, a member of the struggle committee, complained that the government has allocated budget for the construction of Nijgadh Airport despite the Supreme Court’s orders, but hasn't allocated compensation to the people whose houses and lands have been blocked for two years, he shared.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Yuvraj Bhandari, information officer of the airport, said that the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal had asked the government for budget as compensation for the houses and land that fall in the project area in the current and previous budgets.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">A tripartite agreement was signed which mentions that the federal government will pay 50 per cent, the state government 40 per cent and the Biratnagar Metropolitan City 10 per cent compensation for the land required to be upgraded to a regional level. CAAN's master plan is to upgrade the airport to a regional airport and operate flights to India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15176', 'image' => '20220613033508_Biratnagar_Airport-IMG_8842.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 15:34:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15433', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sudurpaschim Province Lagging behind in Economic Progress despite Huge Potential: NRB Study ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: Sudurpaschim Province is lagging behind in terms of economic progress despite having abundant natural resources, according to a latest study carried out by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 13: Sudurpaschim Province is lagging behind in terms of economic progress despite having abundant natural resources, according to a latest study carried out by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The study says that there are challenges in making the country self-reliant on agricultural production through commercialization due to various factors like lack of infrastructure and management of natural disasters and barren lands caused by increasing migration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The province is low in industrial capacity and entrepreneurship due to a lack of research and exploration, and study of the potential sectors, the study further said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Due to geographical difficulties, the province has faced challenges in the expansion of people's access to finance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the study report, bridging the gap between the province's low capacity in collecting revenue and capitalizing the available resources also seems to be an uphill task. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Managing required resources to increase the capacity of the local and provincial government in mobilising institutional and technical resources and in the infrastructural development is also another challenge. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Despite several challenges, the report suggests that expansion of the pocket area of cash crops, determining the appropriate prices and increase in the production by using modern technology are the possibilities that can be implemented immediately. There is high potential of these activities that can promote exports by substituting imports. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Productivity can be increased by minimizing the dependence on the seasonal rainfall for agriculture if the under-construction project of national pride, the Ranijamara Kulariya Irrigation Project, is completed on time. The project will irrigate a total 38,300 hectares of land. Its physical progress has reached around 60 per cent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the province would see a significant expansion and development of agriculture sector if the construction of the Mahakali Irrigation Project which has been undertaken with the aim of irrigating 33,520 hectares of land is expedited and completed on time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The study states that the productivity of farmland and agricultural production can be increased through timely completion of these two major projects in the province. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is stated that the province also has immense possibilities for the industrial development provided the construction of the required infrastructures like the industrial zone, industrial village, roads and electricity projects is expedited. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the province has high potential for the promotion of tourism through the development of tourism infrastructures and facilities at important historic, religious, cultural and natural touristic areas. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15175', 'image' => '20220613011426_khaptad.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 13:13:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15432', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Speaker urges Government to Immediately Address Fertilizer Shortage Issue ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has drawn the government’s attention towards the crisis of chemical fertilizer during the peak of planting season and urged the government to address the issue promptly. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 13: Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has drawn the government’s attention towards the crisis of chemical fertilizer during the peak of planting season and urged the government to address the issue promptly. </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 speaker made such request after the Members of Parliament raised the issue of non-availability of fertilizer during the planting season during a meeting of the House of Representatives on Sunday. The lawmakers urged the speaker to issue a ruling to the government to avail fertilizers which the farmers are yet to receive during the planting season.</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"">Responding to the concerns raised by the lawmakers, the speaker drew the government’s attention towards timely management of fertilizers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“My attention has been drawn towards the voices of honorable lawmakers in regard with the lack of fertilizer during the planting season and I draw the attention of the concerned ministry and the government towards the management of fertilizer. The government must ensure immediate supplies to farmers,” the speaker said. </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 concerned officials have blamed the war between Russia and Ukraine as the reason behind the delay in supplies of chemical fertilizer this year. They are trying to get away with the excuse of war although the lack of fertilizer is not a new problem in the country. </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"">Around 500 metric tons of chemical fertilizer is stuck at Tatopani customs but the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited has shown no interest in customs clearance.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15174', 'image' => '20220613113728_Fertilizer.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 11:36:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15431', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Chitwan National Park Suspends Jungle Safari Temporarily', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: Chitwan National Park has decided to suspend jungle safari, jungle walk and other activities inside the national park from June 15 citing the arrival of monsoon.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 13: Chitwan National Park has decided to suspend jungle safari, jungle walk and other activities inside the national park from June 15 citing the arrival of monsoon. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">With the monsoon arriving in Nepal and spreading gradually across the country, the park decided to shut down these activities to prevent risks and damages triggered by the monsoon rain. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Information Officer of the National Park Ganesh Prasad Tiwari shared that the decision was taken to prevent damages of forest track, secure human lives from monsoon-induced disasters and felling of trees. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Tourism activities will be closed temporarily until further notice," Tiwari informed. The park has also closed tourism activities including boating in Rapti River during monsoon. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Altogether 159,881 tourists, both domestic and external, visited the park from the beginning of this fiscal year till mid-May generating over Rs 80 million in revenue, according to the park. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Jungle safari has been one of the major tourist attractions and highest revenue generator in the park which is home to 68 recorded species of mammals, 544 species of birds, 56 species of amphibians and reptiles, and 126 species of fish. -- RSS</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15173', 'image' => '20220613080155_Chitwan 3.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 08:01:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15430', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Minister Admits Flaws, Pledges to Amend Mistakes', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 12: Admitting flaws in the new tax rates, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has pledged to amend the mistakes. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">June 12: Admitting flaws in the new tax rates, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has pledged to amend the mistakes. The finance minister said that the mistake was unintentional and it occurred due to lack of time to check everything in the new laws that are subject to endorsement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Minister Sharma has drawn widespread criticism for fixing new customs duty and excise duty in the Finance Bill 2079 that is likely to threaten the domestic industries of Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We didn’t intend to push the industries to the brink of collapse,” the finance minister said during a meeting with a delegation of industrialists from Morang on Friday. “That is not our policy. We announced the budget after holding discussions with all stakeholders and we will try to include the suggestions of all sides as much as possible.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Morang Trade Association’s Chairman Navin Rijal, the finance minister told them that government does not intend to shut down industries. The finance minister further said that the flaw occurred because he couldn’t look after everything.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Minister Sharma had admitted his mistakes a day after the budget announcement on May 29 and had pledged to amend the mistakes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, former chairman of the association Pawan Kumar Sharda said that the finance minister and the finance secretary might not have knowledge about every aspects of the budget and there might have been some mistakes in course of preparing the new budget. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Now I have understood the problems of all three types of industries. I have received suggestions from various sectors. I will amend the mistakes,” Sharda quoted the finance minister as saying.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Following the assurance of the finance minister, the industrialists of Province 1 have postponed their protests.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance minister Sharma has also assured the sanitary pad industries of amending mistakes that threaten the existence of domestic industries that produce such pads. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The finance minister is positive about addressing the problems that have surfaced due to the new tax-related policy adopted by the government,” said Dol Raj Adhikari, chairman of the Sanitary Pad Producers Association of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The finance minister has assured us that the problems will be addressed before the budget is passed by the parliament,” added Adhikari.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-12', 'modified' => '2022-06-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15172', 'image' => '20220612094625_FM sharma.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-12 21:45:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15444', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UML Lambastes Finance Minister for Alleged Role in Budget Manipulation ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: The main opposition party CPN (UML) has criticized Finance Minister Janardan Sharma for his alleged role in the manipulation of tax rates in the budget at the eleventh hour. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 15: The main opposition party CPN (UML) has criticized Finance Minister Janardan Sharma for his alleged role in the manipulation of tax rates in the budget at the eleventh hour. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Recent media reports accuse the finance minister of altering tax rates before the announcement of the budget for the Fiscal Year 2022/23 on May 29. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a meeting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, UML vice chair and lawmaker Surendra Pandey sought time and drew the government’s attention to media reports accusing the finance minister of manipulating tax rates in collusion with unauthorized people before presenting it to the parliament. He demanded resignation of the finance minister on moral grounds. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“After facing a serious charge, the finance minister is expected to clarify about it in the House. Even lawmakers of ruling parties have questioned his role in the alteration of tax rates and even after all these, does he still expect to hold the post?” he questioned. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">When the provisions require even the ministers and secretaries to put their communication devices in lockers during the discussions on tax rates in course of preparing the budget before it is presented in parliament, the finance minister has been accused of violating the norms by tweaking the tax rate in collusion with unauthorized persons he brought with him, said Pandey. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15186', 'image' => '20220615074831_20220609080427_20220602052434_fin min sharma.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 07:47:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15443', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government’s Self-Reliant Campaign Hits a Snag', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: The government had mentioned in the budget speech for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) that it will provide facilities for the establishment of production-oriented industries and for importing industrial raw materials. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 14: The government had mentioned in the budget speech for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) that it will provide facilities for the establishment of production-oriented industries and for importing industrial raw materials. The country can become self-reliant if the government genuinely wants to promote home-grown products. However, the government’s announcement often contradicts its acts. Most of the times, the announcement made by the government gets limited to papers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the government had announced to promote production-oriented industries, it has increased the customs duty and excise duty on industrial raw materials through the finance bill.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stakeholders say this will have a negative impact on the industries contrary to the government’s claim of promoting such industries.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">GI wire and sanitary pad manufacturers have said that the change in tax rates has made it impossible to compete with foreign goods. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Manufacturers of GI wire and sanitary pad have already met the prime minister and informed him about the problem.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Dolraj Adhikari, president of the Nepal Sanitary Pad Producers' Association, accused the government of trying to discourage self-reliant industries. "Domestic pad industry, which has a higher production capacity than consumption, has become uncompetitive," said Adhikari.</span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that they can sell country-made pads at a cheaper price if the government provides them tax exemption on raw materials just like it has given exemption for the import of foreign sanitary pads.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Adhikari warned that if the exemption given on the import of ready-made pads is not removed soon or other measures are taken to save the indigenous industry, they would hand over the key of the industry to the finance minister.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Production of pads requires many raw materials, out of which 7 types should be imported. According to the association, there are 35 pad manufacturing industries in the country so far, with total investment of Rs 6 billion. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Likewise, the oil industry, which imports 100 percent raw materials and exports refined oil, has also been hit hard by the government’s new policy. They have met a large part of the domestic demand. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that the provisions of the new finance bill have hit the industry hard, Sandeep Agrawal hoped that the discussions with the government would help resolve the problems. He said that the government has fixed 5 percent customs duty for the import of ready-made cooking oil but the customs duty for importing raw materials required to produce oil is 10 percent. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the concerned industrialists, the investment of billions of rupees will be at risk as this arrangement will facilitate the import of refined oil. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15185', 'image' => '20220614075118_ROS_KTM_IMGL4220.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 19:49:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15442', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Suggest Regulating Digital Media for Tourism Promotion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: Stakeholders have suggested formulating a strategy for regulation and monitoring of digital media used by Nepal for tourism promotion and publicity.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 14: Stakeholders have suggested formulating a strategy for regulation and monitoring of digital media used by Nepal for tourism promotion and publicity. They suggested that the use of technology on ways to present content on social media should be regulated.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The stakeholders made such remarks at an interaction program titled 'Age of Technology in Tourism' organized by the Nepal Economic Forum in Kathmandu on Monday. Speaking on the occasion, Nandani Thapa, senior director of Nepal Tourism Board, said that the development of technology has brought a change in the style of tourism publicity as well.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Similarly, Ramyata Limbu, director of the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF), said that digital media would be cheaper and less expensive for tourism promotion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Similarly, Jason Shah, co-founder of Hostel Nextdor, said that there are a lot of young people who are promoting their destination by creating various blogs. He said that the tourism market in Nepal is huge and there are many opportunities.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Tourism expert Lisa Chvogyal said that there are still good opportunities in the tourism sector after Covid-19. Stating that Nepal has adventure tourism as well as many other famous destinations, she suggested bringing quality products and improving tourism services. She said that despite the increase in tourism activities like paragliding, it is necessary to pay attention to other changing aspects of tourism. She also stressed the need to analyze the impact of climate change from the perspective of tourism and prepare accordingly.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Ambika Khurana, Netflix's director of public policy, suggested that in addition to the use of technology, viewers should also pay attention to what topics attract them. "A story in a digital medium can only be sold if it connects with the minds of viewers and consumers," she said.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15184', 'image' => '20220614055327_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 17:52:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15441', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Share Transactions of NIBL, Mega Bank on Hold', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: The share transactions of Nepal Investment Bank Limited ((NIBL) and Mega Bank have been halted since June 13.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">June 14: The share transactions of Nepal Investment Bank Limited ((NIBL) and Mega Bank have been halted since June 13. Nepal Stock Exchange has stopped the share transactions of these two banks for their merger. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Investment Bank and Mega Bank had signed a preliminary agreement for merger on June 10. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NEPSE decided to halt the share transactions of the two banks after they submitted a copy of the preliminary agreement requesting the NEPSE to withhold their share transactions.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Investment Bank decided to go for a merger with Mega Bank after its failure to merge with Himalayan Bank. NIBL’s share transaction was put on hold since May 14, 2021 due to the merger process with Himalayan Bank. NEPSE had recently allowed share transaction of NIBL on May 30. However, the share transaction has again been halted due to the merger process with Mega Bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the preliminary agreement regarding merger, the new entity after the merger will be named as Nepal Investment Mega Bank. NIBL will retain the positions of the chairman and CEO after the merger. Other board of directors will be represented by both the banks.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The paid-up capital of NIBL at present is Rs 18.3 billion while that of Mega Bank is Rs 16.12 billion. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15183', 'image' => '20220614122527_merger.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 12:24:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15439', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investors Announce Protest Programme demanding Reforms', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: Ten different associations of investors announced to continue their protest until the 19-point demand put forward by the Capital Market Reform Struggle Committee is addressed. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 14: Ten different associations of investors announced to continue their protest until the 19-point demand put forward by the Capital Market Reform Struggle Committee is addressed. In a joint statement issued on June 13, the associations expressed their commitment not to give up on protest until it yields concrete results.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Through a joint press conference, they urged the banks along with the brokers to not sell the shares of the investors unilaterally by making a margin call.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The associations warned that if the shares are sold unilaterally causing disadvantage to the investors, the investors' associations will unite for legal remedy. The associations also claimed that the government will be the one responsible for the situation if it does not implement its 19-point demand immediately.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">They said that the retreat of investors accelerated due to the lack of implementation of some important suggestions given by the government-formed suggestion committee for the improvement and expansion of Nepal's capital market three and a half years ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">In this case, the investors demanded the government and the stakeholders for immediate action to reassure the investors.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Ten investors 'associations made it clear that the 19-point demand presented by the Capital Market Reform Struggle Committee formed under the leadership of Tilak Koirala is a common demand of all investors' associations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">President of capital market forum of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Ambika Prasad Poudel, Coordinator of the Capital Market Reform Struggle Committee Tilak Koirala, Chairman of the Nepal Investors Forum Tulsiram Dhakal and Chairman of the Share Investors Association of Nepal Uttam Aryal were among those who issued the joint statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The struggle committee formed under the coordination of Koirala is conducting protest programs since June 6. The struggle committee submitted its demands to all the district administration offices on June 13. Koirala, who is preparing to organize a special programme in Kathmandu on June 14, is scheduled to go on a hunger strike from June 15.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15182', 'image' => '20220614095431_5-reasons-of-investing-in-turkey.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 09:53:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15440', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Tourists Declines in Annapurna Circuit with the Onset of Monsoon ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: The Annapurna Circuit, a popular trek within the mountain ranges of western Nepal, is witnessing a decline in number of tourists lately, thanks to various factors like the onset of monsoon, road problems and off season for tourists. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 14: The Annapurna Circuit, a popular trek within the mountain ranges of western Nepal, is witnessing a decline in number of tourists lately, thanks to various factors like the onset of monsoon, road problems and off season for tourists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The trekking route is popular among both internal and foreign tourists. It links five districts but has witnessed barely 8 to 10 tourists on a daily basis against almost 200 visitors until a week ago, said Chhetra Bahadur Gurung, tourism assistant at the Dharapani tourism check centre under the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP).</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The trekking route used to draw as many as 600 tourists daily in the past. But the number of visitors has declined significantly. As a result, tourism entrepreneurs who were hit hard by COVID-19 for a long period have faced another blow. The trek wore a deserted look for a long period of time (at least two years) due to the global COVID-19 crisis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"I used to earn around Rs 60,000 on a daily basis when there was a pressure of tourists. But, nowadays, income is almost like zero," complained a tourism entrepreneur, Pancha Bahadur Gurung of Lamjung Marsyangdi Rural Municipality-4. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Another tourism entrepreneur Khus Bahadur Tamang used to make Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 daily until a few weeks back. He says the number of tourists has drastically gone down these days and he only makes Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 a day. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourism sector which was hard-hit by COVID-19 pandemic and had just started to revive before the current setback. It looks like the trekking route is going to see only a few visitors for some more months with the start of the monsoon. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The centre's records show that the highest number of tourists coming for trekking in this trail is from France, Germany, Italy and other countries. The number of tourists will start increasing after mid-August once the monsoon subsides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">About 4,900 tourists have come for trekking till date since January this year, said Gurung, the tourism assistant at ACAP Tourism Checkpoint Dharapani. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tourists visit the Annapurna trekking route mainly for trekking purpose and also for sight-seeing, observing the local culture and tradition and to trek up to Mustang via the Thorang-La Pass of Manang and some travel on to Pokhara as well. The entry point of the Annapurna trekking route is at Manange Chautara of Besisahar municipality-7, Lamjung district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The route connects five districts- Lamjung, Kaski, Manang, Mustang and Myagdi. The visitors travel to Besisahar from Kathmandu by car or bus. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15181', 'image' => '20220614100546_Hiker-800.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 10:05:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15438', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Interest on Deposits to Remain Stable from mid-June to mid-July', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: Banks have decided not to raise the interest rate on deposits from mid-June to mid-July. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 14: Banks have decided not to raise the interest rate on deposits from mid-June to mid-July. According to the Nepal Bankers Association, the interest rate fixed for mid-May to mid-June will get continuity for another month as well. Commercial had banks agreed to provide the maximum interest rate of 11.3 percent for personal deposits and 10.3 percent for institutional deposits on one-year term deposits.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">As per the arrangement made by NRB, banks have to provide an additional one percentage point or 12.03 percent interest rate on deposits received from remittances.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Banks and financial institutions are facing liquidity crisis as deposit collection of banks have not increased proportionately to the credit flow given by banks aggressively.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The NRB intervened in the unhealthy competition among banks to attract deposits by raising interest rates. NRB issued verbal instructions to the banks on October 19 warning them not to raise the interest rates. The next day, NRB made arrangements to reduce the interest rates to only 10 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">As per the direction of NRB, the Nepal Bankers Association, an umbrella organization of chief executive officers (CEOs) of commercial banks, the Development Bankers Association, an association of CEOs of development banks, and the Nepal Finance Companies Association, an association of finance company CEOs, reached a formal agreement and have not competed on interest rates. They are implementing a gentleman’s agreement not to raise interest rates from mid-March to mid-June as new deposits are not added even though they increased the interest rate to 10 percent in mid-February.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Due to the increase interest rates on deposits, interest rates on bank loans are becoming more expensive. According to Nepal Rastra Bank, the average base rate of commercial banks stood at 9.30 percent in April 2022, which was 6.83 percent in April 2021.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15180', 'image' => '20220614094658_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 09:46:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15437', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Preparation Afoot to Ensure Social Security for Self-Employed Workers: Labour Minister', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Krishna Kumar Shrestha informed that the incumbent government was doing homework to guarantee social security for workers in informal sector and the self-employed ones. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 14: Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Krishna Kumar Shrestha informed that the incumbent government was doing homework to guarantee social security for workers in informal sector and the self-employed ones. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Responding to the queries raised on the Appropriation Bill-2079 BS, Minister Shrestha said on Monday that laws and legislations were being formulated to bring self-employed and informal sector workers under the ambit of social security. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Directives for reintegration of returnee migrant workers of Nepal has been presented to the Council of Ministers for approval, said Shrestha, adding that reintegration programmes such as 'Reintegration of Returnee Migrant Workers (ReMi) will soon be implemented with the support of the Swiss government while similar programmes will be enforced with the support of the South Korean government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">To encourage the returnee migrants for entrepreneurship, awards and rewards programmes will implemented, the minister said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, he shared that a five-year strategic plan was formulated for the first time by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, with the objective to promote self-employment programme among the returnee workers and guarantee their social security and other benefits such as accidental insurance and compensation among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister mentioned that earlier the renewal of labour permit used to have a process of four rounds. “It has been cut down to two currently. A Help Desk has been set up in the concerned offices for facilitation of the service-seekers.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Currently, Nepalis are permitted to work in 178 countries with personal labour permit while to work in 111 countries, they need to obtain institutional labour permit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Against this backdrop, the minister shared that preparation was afoot to ink labour pact with the UK for the first time. He also shared that preparation was underway at his initiations to ink labour pact with the Maldives, Seychelles and Israel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry held consultations with heads of 16 foreign diplomatic missions in Nepal as well as the representatives of international organizations to address the issues faced by Nepalis migrant workers and to protect the professional security of Nepalis migrant workers abroad. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Minister said five shelter homes have been set up in Oman, Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to house the stranded and rescued Nepali migrant workers. Moreover, Labour Consular and Labour Attaché have been appointed in Qatar, Malaysia, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Budget has been allocated to prepare DPR for construction of a Labour Hospital. Minister Shrestha expressed his confidence that foreign employment management will undergo changes and as many as workers could come under the ambit of social security. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15179', 'image' => '20220614092347_SSF (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 09:23:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15436', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Why isn’t Nepal Self-Reliant on Textiles? ', 'sub_title' => 'Thirteen out of 14 garment industries in Biratnagar shut down due to adverse conditions', 'summary' => 'June 13: The textile industry is considered to be the mother of industries.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Om Prakash Khanal</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 13: The textile industry is considered to be the mother of industries. Nepal also has a long history of textile industry. However, despite good demand in the domestic market, the textile industry does not seem to be flourishing in Nepal. Even the existing industries are being shut down one after another.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">What is the reason? The industrialists say that the government's policy toward the textile industry is not appropriate. "On the one hand, the government is gradually taking away the privileges of the textile industry, and on the other hand, the uncontrolled import of textiles from India has taken over the domestic market," said an industrialist.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another industrialist Pitamber Kumar Munka shared his view that only a small part of the textile consumed in the country is produced by the domestic industries. “The rest of the demand is met by imported clothes. Lots of textiles are entering the country illegally from the open border with India than through the formal channels,” said Munka, who operates Crown and Kohinoor Textiles in Birgunj.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to industrialists, the government in India grants subsidy up to 50 percent on equipment for the textile industry. "The concession in technology and energy to the textile industry in India is massive. The concession given to us for electricity was also withdrawn,” complained Vinay Shah, managing director of Nobel Textiles.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Until a few years ago, the government used to refund value-added tax (VAT) to textile manufacturers for the sale of garments.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government removed the concession two years ago. The government had decided to give a 50 percent discount on electricity tariff following a protest by the industrialists. Entrepreneurs also got concession in electricity tariff for one year. According to industrialist Ramesh Gadiya, this incentive has been removed from last year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Even the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has demanded refund on the discount used by the industrialists," Gadiya said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">India had reduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on textiles to 5 percent at a time when the Government of Nepal was removing VAT concession given to textile manufacturers. Jitendra Kumar Lohiya, vice-president of the Nepal Textile Industry Association, said that the inflow of Indian textiles into Nepal's market has increased rapidly due to the tax gap of 8 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Lohiya, 13 out of 14 industries in Biratnagar have been shut down. The progress he has made in textiles is still going on. "A small portion of Nepali's annual expenditure on textiles goes to the domestic production and legally imported goods, while the rest goes to illegally imported garments," Lohia claimed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Entrepreneurs say that it has become difficult for Nepali textiles to compete with the products of Indian industries which get subsidy from the government.</span> <span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">On top of that, smuggling of clothes through the open border has become a big problem.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In order to compete with Indian textiles, the industrialists have demanded zero tariff on the import of yarn. Yarn is the main raw material for the textile industry. Entrepreneurs have been paying 5 percent customs duty on its import. The industrialists say that the domestic textile industry will be relieved if they get customs duty relief on yarn.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The association estimates that a large part of the clothing consumed annually in Nepal is illegal. The government been giving a 5 percent discount on interest for loans up to Rs 50 million for the textile industry from the current Fiscal Year 2021/22.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> However, t</span></span><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">he government has not given such concessions to all types of textile industries. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“All types of textile industries should be given this concession, the limit of Rs 50 million should be removed and the concession should be given for at least 10 years,” says Vice President Lohia.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the industrialists, there is a problem in investing in the textile industry due to the policy that changes every year. Most industries have not been able to invest in technology. "Investment is scarce because of the government's volatile policy. Most of the industries are producing goods by importing old equipment. This has not led to the expected improvement in cost reduction and quality assurance,” said an industrialist requesting anonymity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He urged the government to take a long-term policy to protect the employment created by the textile industry with an investment of around Rs 20 billion. He demanded that the government should adopt a policy to protect the textile industry which is the most value-added and job-creating industry. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">About a dozen industries in Birgunj and Biratnagar, which were once famous, have now been shut down. The government-funded Hetauda textile industry has been shut down for years. The government has mentioned in the budget of the upcoming fiscal year that 'arrangements will be made for the civil servants to use the garments produced by Hetauda Textile Industry'.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">While about 250 industries are struggling for survival, the issue of reviving closed textile industry has been included in the budget. The industrialists are doubtful about the government’s intention of reviving the closed industries, believing it to be a move to benefit a certain group of businessmen.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15178', 'image' => '20220613074107_Industries.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 19:40:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15435', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Production in Palpa Declining due to Lack of Chemical Fertilizer', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: The crops planted in Palpa are not improving due to the lack of timely application of chemical fertilizers.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 13: The crops planted in Palpa are not improving due to the lack of timely application of chemical fertilizers. Durga Acharya, a farmer in the district, says that the crop has not been able to thrive due to lack of urea right from the time of planting seeds. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">“We bought urea sold in the black market at a high price for the first time. It cost Rs 42 per kg and we used it once for the maize planted in our field. The crop is not showing any signs of production due to the lack of fertilizers the second time. Now we have no hope of producing maize this time.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Another farmer, Sarada Regmi paid Rs 50 for a kilogram of urea for her crops hoping for a better produce. Farmers have been using chemical fertilizers twice for maize.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Even in the black market, farmers are forced to pay double the price for the fertilizer. Regmi complained that they bought fertilizer at a high price even in the black market but the next time they could not find it regardless of the price.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The price of urea distributed through cooperatives is Rs 20 per kg. Farmers are put in a tight spot as some traders are selling fertilizers at high prices in the black market while taking advantage of the shortage.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Ganesh Acharya, the manager of Lakshadhenu Advanced Cattle Farm complained that they are facing problems for animal feed as well due to lack of fertilizer for the grass needed for feeding the cattle. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Bishnumaya Khadka, operator of Holistic Cow Farm, planted grass and maize on about 40 ropanis of land for animal feed alone. She is worried how to feed the animals as the grass and maize are not improving.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The operators of large livestock farms are worried about managing the cattle feed due to lack of fertilizer. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Suman Panthi, head of the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited, Palpa, said that the government is working to bring the fertilizer pledged by the Indian company through the 'fast track' process. He said, “There are discussions going on for supplying chemical fertilizer to Nepal through an Indian company but the mode of export is not yet decided. Fertilizer can be brought through the fast track within 15 days.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Organic manure can be used to fill the shortage of urea for maize. But the farmers are requesting for chemical fertilizer as soon as possible as manure will not be sufficient for paddy plantation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Chairman of Bijaypur Agricultural Cooperative Rampur, Om Prakash Regmi said that there has been a shortage of urea since the past three months. He says that some farmers visit the cooperative daily with complaints. They are assured that the fertilizer will arrive by mid-June.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">In Palpa, 53 organizations are involved in trading chemical fertilizers with permission from the government. It has been found that the consumption of fertilizers is increasing every year in the district. Five years ago, the district used to consume 1000 metric tons of fertilizer per year. But last year’s consumption was found to be 2000 metric tons. The use of chemical fertilizers is increasing every year with the decline in the fertility of the soil and the availability of cultivable land.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Cooperatives are not allowed to trade chemical fertilizers without the recommendation of the local government’s committee under the coordination of the deputy chief of the municipality. The agricultural cooperatives selected by the committee are allowed to distribute fertilizers. At each local level, one ward and one agricultural cooperative are allowed to sell and distribute fertilizers. If there are no agricultural cooperatives, the municipality may allow savings and loan cooperatives to buy and sell fertilizers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Kamana Adhikari, chief of the Agriculture Knowledge Center says that the production of maize in the district is expected to decline this year due to unavailability of fertilizers on time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Ram Hari Pandey, chief of the agriculture branch of Rampur Municipality, said that the farmers who are into the cultivation sector are now frustrated as they are unable to get fertilizer at the right time.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15177', 'image' => '20220613053948_JICA (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 17:39:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15434', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Landowners Affected by the Biratnagar Airport Project Demand Compensation', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: The Biratnagar Airport Victims’ Struggle Committee organized a rally on Saturday and announced a demonstration to block the entrance of the airport.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 13: The Biratnagar Airport Victims’ Struggle Committee organized a rally on Saturday and announced a demonstration to block the entrance of the airport. The committee decided to hold a street demonstration saying that the government has not paid them compensation for the land acquired for the airport even after two years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">A meeting of the committee also decided to give an ultimatum to the District Administration Office, Chief Minister's Office, Civil Aviation Authority Office and District Police Office to fulfill their demands within seven days. The committee informed about its demonstration through a press release on Sunday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Individuals residing near the airport got agitated after the government blocked transaction of their land two years ago for upgrading the Biratnagar Airport and did not pay compensation to them. The meeting has decided to launch a street protests demanding the release of the blocked land or compensation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The federal government had permitted the Civil Aviation Authority in 2077 BS to acquire 126.46 acres of public land to extend the runway of Biratnagar Airport from the 1,500 meters to 3,000 meters. Based on the decision, the authorities have blocked transactions of 1,400 plots of land including 350 houses since two years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Keshe Magarati, a member of the Airport Victims' Struggle Committee, said that the government has not been able to compensate the victims even after blocking transaction of their land for two years. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">If the house and land are not sold within a year, we will submit a memorandum to the local administration and related bodies within a week, then block the way to the highway and the airport.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The government has not allocated any amount in the current and next year's budget to compensate the victims.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"> Uddhav Karki, a member of the struggle committee, said that the hope of compensation is dead as budget has not been allocated. "How long do we have to wait?" Karki said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Santosh Khadka, a member of the struggle committee, complained that the government has allocated budget for the construction of Nijgadh Airport despite the Supreme Court’s orders, but hasn't allocated compensation to the people whose houses and lands have been blocked for two years, he shared.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Yuvraj Bhandari, information officer of the airport, said that the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal had asked the government for budget as compensation for the houses and land that fall in the project area in the current and previous budgets.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">A tripartite agreement was signed which mentions that the federal government will pay 50 per cent, the state government 40 per cent and the Biratnagar Metropolitan City 10 per cent compensation for the land required to be upgraded to a regional level. CAAN's master plan is to upgrade the airport to a regional airport and operate flights to India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15176', 'image' => '20220613033508_Biratnagar_Airport-IMG_8842.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 15:34:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15433', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sudurpaschim Province Lagging behind in Economic Progress despite Huge Potential: NRB Study ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: Sudurpaschim Province is lagging behind in terms of economic progress despite having abundant natural resources, according to a latest study carried out by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 13: Sudurpaschim Province is lagging behind in terms of economic progress despite having abundant natural resources, according to a latest study carried out by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The study says that there are challenges in making the country self-reliant on agricultural production through commercialization due to various factors like lack of infrastructure and management of natural disasters and barren lands caused by increasing migration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The province is low in industrial capacity and entrepreneurship due to a lack of research and exploration, and study of the potential sectors, the study further said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Due to geographical difficulties, the province has faced challenges in the expansion of people's access to finance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the study report, bridging the gap between the province's low capacity in collecting revenue and capitalizing the available resources also seems to be an uphill task. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Managing required resources to increase the capacity of the local and provincial government in mobilising institutional and technical resources and in the infrastructural development is also another challenge. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Despite several challenges, the report suggests that expansion of the pocket area of cash crops, determining the appropriate prices and increase in the production by using modern technology are the possibilities that can be implemented immediately. There is high potential of these activities that can promote exports by substituting imports. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Productivity can be increased by minimizing the dependence on the seasonal rainfall for agriculture if the under-construction project of national pride, the Ranijamara Kulariya Irrigation Project, is completed on time. The project will irrigate a total 38,300 hectares of land. Its physical progress has reached around 60 per cent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the province would see a significant expansion and development of agriculture sector if the construction of the Mahakali Irrigation Project which has been undertaken with the aim of irrigating 33,520 hectares of land is expedited and completed on time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The study states that the productivity of farmland and agricultural production can be increased through timely completion of these two major projects in the province. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is stated that the province also has immense possibilities for the industrial development provided the construction of the required infrastructures like the industrial zone, industrial village, roads and electricity projects is expedited. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the province has high potential for the promotion of tourism through the development of tourism infrastructures and facilities at important historic, religious, cultural and natural touristic areas. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15175', 'image' => '20220613011426_khaptad.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 13:13:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15432', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Speaker urges Government to Immediately Address Fertilizer Shortage Issue ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has drawn the government’s attention towards the crisis of chemical fertilizer during the peak of planting season and urged the government to address the issue promptly. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 13: Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has drawn the government’s attention towards the crisis of chemical fertilizer during the peak of planting season and urged the government to address the issue promptly. </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 speaker made such request after the Members of Parliament raised the issue of non-availability of fertilizer during the planting season during a meeting of the House of Representatives on Sunday. The lawmakers urged the speaker to issue a ruling to the government to avail fertilizers which the farmers are yet to receive during the planting season.</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"">Responding to the concerns raised by the lawmakers, the speaker drew the government’s attention towards timely management of fertilizers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“My attention has been drawn towards the voices of honorable lawmakers in regard with the lack of fertilizer during the planting season and I draw the attention of the concerned ministry and the government towards the management of fertilizer. The government must ensure immediate supplies to farmers,” the speaker said. </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 concerned officials have blamed the war between Russia and Ukraine as the reason behind the delay in supplies of chemical fertilizer this year. They are trying to get away with the excuse of war although the lack of fertilizer is not a new problem in the country. </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"">Around 500 metric tons of chemical fertilizer is stuck at Tatopani customs but the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited has shown no interest in customs clearance.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15174', 'image' => '20220613113728_Fertilizer.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 11:36:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15431', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Chitwan National Park Suspends Jungle Safari Temporarily', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: Chitwan National Park has decided to suspend jungle safari, jungle walk and other activities inside the national park from June 15 citing the arrival of monsoon.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 13: Chitwan National Park has decided to suspend jungle safari, jungle walk and other activities inside the national park from June 15 citing the arrival of monsoon. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">With the monsoon arriving in Nepal and spreading gradually across the country, the park decided to shut down these activities to prevent risks and damages triggered by the monsoon rain. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Information Officer of the National Park Ganesh Prasad Tiwari shared that the decision was taken to prevent damages of forest track, secure human lives from monsoon-induced disasters and felling of trees. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Tourism activities will be closed temporarily until further notice," Tiwari informed. The park has also closed tourism activities including boating in Rapti River during monsoon. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Altogether 159,881 tourists, both domestic and external, visited the park from the beginning of this fiscal year till mid-May generating over Rs 80 million in revenue, according to the park. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Jungle safari has been one of the major tourist attractions and highest revenue generator in the park which is home to 68 recorded species of mammals, 544 species of birds, 56 species of amphibians and reptiles, and 126 species of fish. -- RSS</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15173', 'image' => '20220613080155_Chitwan 3.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 08:01:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15430', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Minister Admits Flaws, Pledges to Amend Mistakes', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 12: Admitting flaws in the new tax rates, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has pledged to amend the mistakes. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">June 12: Admitting flaws in the new tax rates, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has pledged to amend the mistakes. The finance minister said that the mistake was unintentional and it occurred due to lack of time to check everything in the new laws that are subject to endorsement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Minister Sharma has drawn widespread criticism for fixing new customs duty and excise duty in the Finance Bill 2079 that is likely to threaten the domestic industries of Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We didn’t intend to push the industries to the brink of collapse,” the finance minister said during a meeting with a delegation of industrialists from Morang on Friday. “That is not our policy. We announced the budget after holding discussions with all stakeholders and we will try to include the suggestions of all sides as much as possible.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Morang Trade Association’s Chairman Navin Rijal, the finance minister told them that government does not intend to shut down industries. The finance minister further said that the flaw occurred because he couldn’t look after everything.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Minister Sharma had admitted his mistakes a day after the budget announcement on May 29 and had pledged to amend the mistakes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, former chairman of the association Pawan Kumar Sharda said that the finance minister and the finance secretary might not have knowledge about every aspects of the budget and there might have been some mistakes in course of preparing the new budget. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Now I have understood the problems of all three types of industries. I have received suggestions from various sectors. I will amend the mistakes,” Sharda quoted the finance minister as saying.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Following the assurance of the finance minister, the industrialists of Province 1 have postponed their protests.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance minister Sharma has also assured the sanitary pad industries of amending mistakes that threaten the existence of domestic industries that produce such pads. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The finance minister is positive about addressing the problems that have surfaced due to the new tax-related policy adopted by the government,” said Dol Raj Adhikari, chairman of the Sanitary Pad Producers Association of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The finance minister has assured us that the problems will be addressed before the budget is passed by the parliament,” added Adhikari.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-12', 'modified' => '2022-06-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15172', 'image' => '20220612094625_FM sharma.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-12 21:45:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15444', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UML Lambastes Finance Minister for Alleged Role in Budget Manipulation ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: The main opposition party CPN (UML) has criticized Finance Minister Janardan Sharma for his alleged role in the manipulation of tax rates in the budget at the eleventh hour. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 15: The main opposition party CPN (UML) has criticized Finance Minister Janardan Sharma for his alleged role in the manipulation of tax rates in the budget at the eleventh hour. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Recent media reports accuse the finance minister of altering tax rates before the announcement of the budget for the Fiscal Year 2022/23 on May 29. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a meeting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, UML vice chair and lawmaker Surendra Pandey sought time and drew the government’s attention to media reports accusing the finance minister of manipulating tax rates in collusion with unauthorized people before presenting it to the parliament. He demanded resignation of the finance minister on moral grounds. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“After facing a serious charge, the finance minister is expected to clarify about it in the House. Even lawmakers of ruling parties have questioned his role in the alteration of tax rates and even after all these, does he still expect to hold the post?” he questioned. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">When the provisions require even the ministers and secretaries to put their communication devices in lockers during the discussions on tax rates in course of preparing the budget before it is presented in parliament, the finance minister has been accused of violating the norms by tweaking the tax rate in collusion with unauthorized persons he brought with him, said Pandey. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15186', 'image' => '20220615074831_20220609080427_20220602052434_fin min sharma.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 07:47:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15443', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government’s Self-Reliant Campaign Hits a Snag', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: The government had mentioned in the budget speech for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) that it will provide facilities for the establishment of production-oriented industries and for importing industrial raw materials. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 14: The government had mentioned in the budget speech for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) that it will provide facilities for the establishment of production-oriented industries and for importing industrial raw materials. The country can become self-reliant if the government genuinely wants to promote home-grown products. However, the government’s announcement often contradicts its acts. Most of the times, the announcement made by the government gets limited to papers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the government had announced to promote production-oriented industries, it has increased the customs duty and excise duty on industrial raw materials through the finance bill.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stakeholders say this will have a negative impact on the industries contrary to the government’s claim of promoting such industries.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">GI wire and sanitary pad manufacturers have said that the change in tax rates has made it impossible to compete with foreign goods. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Manufacturers of GI wire and sanitary pad have already met the prime minister and informed him about the problem.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Dolraj Adhikari, president of the Nepal Sanitary Pad Producers' Association, accused the government of trying to discourage self-reliant industries. "Domestic pad industry, which has a higher production capacity than consumption, has become uncompetitive," said Adhikari.</span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that they can sell country-made pads at a cheaper price if the government provides them tax exemption on raw materials just like it has given exemption for the import of foreign sanitary pads.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Adhikari warned that if the exemption given on the import of ready-made pads is not removed soon or other measures are taken to save the indigenous industry, they would hand over the key of the industry to the finance minister.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Production of pads requires many raw materials, out of which 7 types should be imported. According to the association, there are 35 pad manufacturing industries in the country so far, with total investment of Rs 6 billion. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Likewise, the oil industry, which imports 100 percent raw materials and exports refined oil, has also been hit hard by the government’s new policy. They have met a large part of the domestic demand. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that the provisions of the new finance bill have hit the industry hard, Sandeep Agrawal hoped that the discussions with the government would help resolve the problems. He said that the government has fixed 5 percent customs duty for the import of ready-made cooking oil but the customs duty for importing raw materials required to produce oil is 10 percent. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the concerned industrialists, the investment of billions of rupees will be at risk as this arrangement will facilitate the import of refined oil. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15185', 'image' => '20220614075118_ROS_KTM_IMGL4220.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 19:49:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15442', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Suggest Regulating Digital Media for Tourism Promotion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: Stakeholders have suggested formulating a strategy for regulation and monitoring of digital media used by Nepal for tourism promotion and publicity.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 14: Stakeholders have suggested formulating a strategy for regulation and monitoring of digital media used by Nepal for tourism promotion and publicity. They suggested that the use of technology on ways to present content on social media should be regulated.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The stakeholders made such remarks at an interaction program titled 'Age of Technology in Tourism' organized by the Nepal Economic Forum in Kathmandu on Monday. Speaking on the occasion, Nandani Thapa, senior director of Nepal Tourism Board, said that the development of technology has brought a change in the style of tourism publicity as well.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Similarly, Ramyata Limbu, director of the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF), said that digital media would be cheaper and less expensive for tourism promotion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Similarly, Jason Shah, co-founder of Hostel Nextdor, said that there are a lot of young people who are promoting their destination by creating various blogs. He said that the tourism market in Nepal is huge and there are many opportunities.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Tourism expert Lisa Chvogyal said that there are still good opportunities in the tourism sector after Covid-19. Stating that Nepal has adventure tourism as well as many other famous destinations, she suggested bringing quality products and improving tourism services. She said that despite the increase in tourism activities like paragliding, it is necessary to pay attention to other changing aspects of tourism. She also stressed the need to analyze the impact of climate change from the perspective of tourism and prepare accordingly.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Ambika Khurana, Netflix's director of public policy, suggested that in addition to the use of technology, viewers should also pay attention to what topics attract them. "A story in a digital medium can only be sold if it connects with the minds of viewers and consumers," she said.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15184', 'image' => '20220614055327_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 17:52:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15441', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Share Transactions of NIBL, Mega Bank on Hold', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: The share transactions of Nepal Investment Bank Limited ((NIBL) and Mega Bank have been halted since June 13.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">June 14: The share transactions of Nepal Investment Bank Limited ((NIBL) and Mega Bank have been halted since June 13. Nepal Stock Exchange has stopped the share transactions of these two banks for their merger. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Investment Bank and Mega Bank had signed a preliminary agreement for merger on June 10. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NEPSE decided to halt the share transactions of the two banks after they submitted a copy of the preliminary agreement requesting the NEPSE to withhold their share transactions.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Investment Bank decided to go for a merger with Mega Bank after its failure to merge with Himalayan Bank. NIBL’s share transaction was put on hold since May 14, 2021 due to the merger process with Himalayan Bank. NEPSE had recently allowed share transaction of NIBL on May 30. However, the share transaction has again been halted due to the merger process with Mega Bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the preliminary agreement regarding merger, the new entity after the merger will be named as Nepal Investment Mega Bank. NIBL will retain the positions of the chairman and CEO after the merger. Other board of directors will be represented by both the banks.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The paid-up capital of NIBL at present is Rs 18.3 billion while that of Mega Bank is Rs 16.12 billion. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15183', 'image' => '20220614122527_merger.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 12:24:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15439', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investors Announce Protest Programme demanding Reforms', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: Ten different associations of investors announced to continue their protest until the 19-point demand put forward by the Capital Market Reform Struggle Committee is addressed. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 14: Ten different associations of investors announced to continue their protest until the 19-point demand put forward by the Capital Market Reform Struggle Committee is addressed. In a joint statement issued on June 13, the associations expressed their commitment not to give up on protest until it yields concrete results.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Through a joint press conference, they urged the banks along with the brokers to not sell the shares of the investors unilaterally by making a margin call.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The associations warned that if the shares are sold unilaterally causing disadvantage to the investors, the investors' associations will unite for legal remedy. The associations also claimed that the government will be the one responsible for the situation if it does not implement its 19-point demand immediately.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">They said that the retreat of investors accelerated due to the lack of implementation of some important suggestions given by the government-formed suggestion committee for the improvement and expansion of Nepal's capital market three and a half years ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">In this case, the investors demanded the government and the stakeholders for immediate action to reassure the investors.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Ten investors 'associations made it clear that the 19-point demand presented by the Capital Market Reform Struggle Committee formed under the leadership of Tilak Koirala is a common demand of all investors' associations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">President of capital market forum of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Ambika Prasad Poudel, Coordinator of the Capital Market Reform Struggle Committee Tilak Koirala, Chairman of the Nepal Investors Forum Tulsiram Dhakal and Chairman of the Share Investors Association of Nepal Uttam Aryal were among those who issued the joint statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The struggle committee formed under the coordination of Koirala is conducting protest programs since June 6. The struggle committee submitted its demands to all the district administration offices on June 13. Koirala, who is preparing to organize a special programme in Kathmandu on June 14, is scheduled to go on a hunger strike from June 15.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15182', 'image' => '20220614095431_5-reasons-of-investing-in-turkey.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 09:53:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15440', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Tourists Declines in Annapurna Circuit with the Onset of Monsoon ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: The Annapurna Circuit, a popular trek within the mountain ranges of western Nepal, is witnessing a decline in number of tourists lately, thanks to various factors like the onset of monsoon, road problems and off season for tourists. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 14: The Annapurna Circuit, a popular trek within the mountain ranges of western Nepal, is witnessing a decline in number of tourists lately, thanks to various factors like the onset of monsoon, road problems and off season for tourists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The trekking route is popular among both internal and foreign tourists. It links five districts but has witnessed barely 8 to 10 tourists on a daily basis against almost 200 visitors until a week ago, said Chhetra Bahadur Gurung, tourism assistant at the Dharapani tourism check centre under the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP).</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The trekking route used to draw as many as 600 tourists daily in the past. But the number of visitors has declined significantly. As a result, tourism entrepreneurs who were hit hard by COVID-19 for a long period have faced another blow. The trek wore a deserted look for a long period of time (at least two years) due to the global COVID-19 crisis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"I used to earn around Rs 60,000 on a daily basis when there was a pressure of tourists. But, nowadays, income is almost like zero," complained a tourism entrepreneur, Pancha Bahadur Gurung of Lamjung Marsyangdi Rural Municipality-4. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Another tourism entrepreneur Khus Bahadur Tamang used to make Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 daily until a few weeks back. He says the number of tourists has drastically gone down these days and he only makes Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 a day. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourism sector which was hard-hit by COVID-19 pandemic and had just started to revive before the current setback. It looks like the trekking route is going to see only a few visitors for some more months with the start of the monsoon. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The centre's records show that the highest number of tourists coming for trekking in this trail is from France, Germany, Italy and other countries. The number of tourists will start increasing after mid-August once the monsoon subsides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">About 4,900 tourists have come for trekking till date since January this year, said Gurung, the tourism assistant at ACAP Tourism Checkpoint Dharapani. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tourists visit the Annapurna trekking route mainly for trekking purpose and also for sight-seeing, observing the local culture and tradition and to trek up to Mustang via the Thorang-La Pass of Manang and some travel on to Pokhara as well. The entry point of the Annapurna trekking route is at Manange Chautara of Besisahar municipality-7, Lamjung district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The route connects five districts- Lamjung, Kaski, Manang, Mustang and Myagdi. The visitors travel to Besisahar from Kathmandu by car or bus. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15181', 'image' => '20220614100546_Hiker-800.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 10:05:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15438', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Interest on Deposits to Remain Stable from mid-June to mid-July', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: Banks have decided not to raise the interest rate on deposits from mid-June to mid-July. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 14: Banks have decided not to raise the interest rate on deposits from mid-June to mid-July. According to the Nepal Bankers Association, the interest rate fixed for mid-May to mid-June will get continuity for another month as well. Commercial had banks agreed to provide the maximum interest rate of 11.3 percent for personal deposits and 10.3 percent for institutional deposits on one-year term deposits.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">As per the arrangement made by NRB, banks have to provide an additional one percentage point or 12.03 percent interest rate on deposits received from remittances.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Banks and financial institutions are facing liquidity crisis as deposit collection of banks have not increased proportionately to the credit flow given by banks aggressively.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The NRB intervened in the unhealthy competition among banks to attract deposits by raising interest rates. NRB issued verbal instructions to the banks on October 19 warning them not to raise the interest rates. The next day, NRB made arrangements to reduce the interest rates to only 10 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">As per the direction of NRB, the Nepal Bankers Association, an umbrella organization of chief executive officers (CEOs) of commercial banks, the Development Bankers Association, an association of CEOs of development banks, and the Nepal Finance Companies Association, an association of finance company CEOs, reached a formal agreement and have not competed on interest rates. They are implementing a gentleman’s agreement not to raise interest rates from mid-March to mid-June as new deposits are not added even though they increased the interest rate to 10 percent in mid-February.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Due to the increase interest rates on deposits, interest rates on bank loans are becoming more expensive. According to Nepal Rastra Bank, the average base rate of commercial banks stood at 9.30 percent in April 2022, which was 6.83 percent in April 2021.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15180', 'image' => '20220614094658_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 09:46:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15437', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Preparation Afoot to Ensure Social Security for Self-Employed Workers: Labour Minister', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Krishna Kumar Shrestha informed that the incumbent government was doing homework to guarantee social security for workers in informal sector and the self-employed ones. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 14: Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Krishna Kumar Shrestha informed that the incumbent government was doing homework to guarantee social security for workers in informal sector and the self-employed ones. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Responding to the queries raised on the Appropriation Bill-2079 BS, Minister Shrestha said on Monday that laws and legislations were being formulated to bring self-employed and informal sector workers under the ambit of social security. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Directives for reintegration of returnee migrant workers of Nepal has been presented to the Council of Ministers for approval, said Shrestha, adding that reintegration programmes such as 'Reintegration of Returnee Migrant Workers (ReMi) will soon be implemented with the support of the Swiss government while similar programmes will be enforced with the support of the South Korean government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">To encourage the returnee migrants for entrepreneurship, awards and rewards programmes will implemented, the minister said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, he shared that a five-year strategic plan was formulated for the first time by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, with the objective to promote self-employment programme among the returnee workers and guarantee their social security and other benefits such as accidental insurance and compensation among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister mentioned that earlier the renewal of labour permit used to have a process of four rounds. “It has been cut down to two currently. A Help Desk has been set up in the concerned offices for facilitation of the service-seekers.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Currently, Nepalis are permitted to work in 178 countries with personal labour permit while to work in 111 countries, they need to obtain institutional labour permit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Against this backdrop, the minister shared that preparation was afoot to ink labour pact with the UK for the first time. He also shared that preparation was underway at his initiations to ink labour pact with the Maldives, Seychelles and Israel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry held consultations with heads of 16 foreign diplomatic missions in Nepal as well as the representatives of international organizations to address the issues faced by Nepalis migrant workers and to protect the professional security of Nepalis migrant workers abroad. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Minister said five shelter homes have been set up in Oman, Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to house the stranded and rescued Nepali migrant workers. Moreover, Labour Consular and Labour Attaché have been appointed in Qatar, Malaysia, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Budget has been allocated to prepare DPR for construction of a Labour Hospital. Minister Shrestha expressed his confidence that foreign employment management will undergo changes and as many as workers could come under the ambit of social security. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15179', 'image' => '20220614092347_SSF (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 09:23:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15436', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Why isn’t Nepal Self-Reliant on Textiles? ', 'sub_title' => 'Thirteen out of 14 garment industries in Biratnagar shut down due to adverse conditions', 'summary' => 'June 13: The textile industry is considered to be the mother of industries.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Om Prakash Khanal</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 13: The textile industry is considered to be the mother of industries. Nepal also has a long history of textile industry. However, despite good demand in the domestic market, the textile industry does not seem to be flourishing in Nepal. Even the existing industries are being shut down one after another.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">What is the reason? The industrialists say that the government's policy toward the textile industry is not appropriate. "On the one hand, the government is gradually taking away the privileges of the textile industry, and on the other hand, the uncontrolled import of textiles from India has taken over the domestic market," said an industrialist.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another industrialist Pitamber Kumar Munka shared his view that only a small part of the textile consumed in the country is produced by the domestic industries. “The rest of the demand is met by imported clothes. Lots of textiles are entering the country illegally from the open border with India than through the formal channels,” said Munka, who operates Crown and Kohinoor Textiles in Birgunj.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to industrialists, the government in India grants subsidy up to 50 percent on equipment for the textile industry. "The concession in technology and energy to the textile industry in India is massive. The concession given to us for electricity was also withdrawn,” complained Vinay Shah, managing director of Nobel Textiles.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Until a few years ago, the government used to refund value-added tax (VAT) to textile manufacturers for the sale of garments.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government removed the concession two years ago. The government had decided to give a 50 percent discount on electricity tariff following a protest by the industrialists. Entrepreneurs also got concession in electricity tariff for one year. According to industrialist Ramesh Gadiya, this incentive has been removed from last year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Even the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has demanded refund on the discount used by the industrialists," Gadiya said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">India had reduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on textiles to 5 percent at a time when the Government of Nepal was removing VAT concession given to textile manufacturers. Jitendra Kumar Lohiya, vice-president of the Nepal Textile Industry Association, said that the inflow of Indian textiles into Nepal's market has increased rapidly due to the tax gap of 8 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Lohiya, 13 out of 14 industries in Biratnagar have been shut down. The progress he has made in textiles is still going on. "A small portion of Nepali's annual expenditure on textiles goes to the domestic production and legally imported goods, while the rest goes to illegally imported garments," Lohia claimed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Entrepreneurs say that it has become difficult for Nepali textiles to compete with the products of Indian industries which get subsidy from the government.</span> <span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">On top of that, smuggling of clothes through the open border has become a big problem.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In order to compete with Indian textiles, the industrialists have demanded zero tariff on the import of yarn. Yarn is the main raw material for the textile industry. Entrepreneurs have been paying 5 percent customs duty on its import. The industrialists say that the domestic textile industry will be relieved if they get customs duty relief on yarn.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The association estimates that a large part of the clothing consumed annually in Nepal is illegal. The government been giving a 5 percent discount on interest for loans up to Rs 50 million for the textile industry from the current Fiscal Year 2021/22.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> However, t</span></span><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">he government has not given such concessions to all types of textile industries. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“All types of textile industries should be given this concession, the limit of Rs 50 million should be removed and the concession should be given for at least 10 years,” says Vice President Lohia.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the industrialists, there is a problem in investing in the textile industry due to the policy that changes every year. Most industries have not been able to invest in technology. "Investment is scarce because of the government's volatile policy. Most of the industries are producing goods by importing old equipment. This has not led to the expected improvement in cost reduction and quality assurance,” said an industrialist requesting anonymity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He urged the government to take a long-term policy to protect the employment created by the textile industry with an investment of around Rs 20 billion. He demanded that the government should adopt a policy to protect the textile industry which is the most value-added and job-creating industry. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">About a dozen industries in Birgunj and Biratnagar, which were once famous, have now been shut down. The government-funded Hetauda textile industry has been shut down for years. The government has mentioned in the budget of the upcoming fiscal year that 'arrangements will be made for the civil servants to use the garments produced by Hetauda Textile Industry'.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">While about 250 industries are struggling for survival, the issue of reviving closed textile industry has been included in the budget. The industrialists are doubtful about the government’s intention of reviving the closed industries, believing it to be a move to benefit a certain group of businessmen.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15178', 'image' => '20220613074107_Industries.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 19:40:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15435', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Production in Palpa Declining due to Lack of Chemical Fertilizer', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: The crops planted in Palpa are not improving due to the lack of timely application of chemical fertilizers.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 13: The crops planted in Palpa are not improving due to the lack of timely application of chemical fertilizers. Durga Acharya, a farmer in the district, says that the crop has not been able to thrive due to lack of urea right from the time of planting seeds. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">“We bought urea sold in the black market at a high price for the first time. It cost Rs 42 per kg and we used it once for the maize planted in our field. The crop is not showing any signs of production due to the lack of fertilizers the second time. Now we have no hope of producing maize this time.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Another farmer, Sarada Regmi paid Rs 50 for a kilogram of urea for her crops hoping for a better produce. Farmers have been using chemical fertilizers twice for maize.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Even in the black market, farmers are forced to pay double the price for the fertilizer. Regmi complained that they bought fertilizer at a high price even in the black market but the next time they could not find it regardless of the price.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The price of urea distributed through cooperatives is Rs 20 per kg. Farmers are put in a tight spot as some traders are selling fertilizers at high prices in the black market while taking advantage of the shortage.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Ganesh Acharya, the manager of Lakshadhenu Advanced Cattle Farm complained that they are facing problems for animal feed as well due to lack of fertilizer for the grass needed for feeding the cattle. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Bishnumaya Khadka, operator of Holistic Cow Farm, planted grass and maize on about 40 ropanis of land for animal feed alone. She is worried how to feed the animals as the grass and maize are not improving.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The operators of large livestock farms are worried about managing the cattle feed due to lack of fertilizer. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Suman Panthi, head of the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited, Palpa, said that the government is working to bring the fertilizer pledged by the Indian company through the 'fast track' process. He said, “There are discussions going on for supplying chemical fertilizer to Nepal through an Indian company but the mode of export is not yet decided. Fertilizer can be brought through the fast track within 15 days.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Organic manure can be used to fill the shortage of urea for maize. But the farmers are requesting for chemical fertilizer as soon as possible as manure will not be sufficient for paddy plantation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Chairman of Bijaypur Agricultural Cooperative Rampur, Om Prakash Regmi said that there has been a shortage of urea since the past three months. He says that some farmers visit the cooperative daily with complaints. They are assured that the fertilizer will arrive by mid-June.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">In Palpa, 53 organizations are involved in trading chemical fertilizers with permission from the government. It has been found that the consumption of fertilizers is increasing every year in the district. Five years ago, the district used to consume 1000 metric tons of fertilizer per year. But last year’s consumption was found to be 2000 metric tons. The use of chemical fertilizers is increasing every year with the decline in the fertility of the soil and the availability of cultivable land.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Cooperatives are not allowed to trade chemical fertilizers without the recommendation of the local government’s committee under the coordination of the deputy chief of the municipality. The agricultural cooperatives selected by the committee are allowed to distribute fertilizers. At each local level, one ward and one agricultural cooperative are allowed to sell and distribute fertilizers. If there are no agricultural cooperatives, the municipality may allow savings and loan cooperatives to buy and sell fertilizers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Kamana Adhikari, chief of the Agriculture Knowledge Center says that the production of maize in the district is expected to decline this year due to unavailability of fertilizers on time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Ram Hari Pandey, chief of the agriculture branch of Rampur Municipality, said that the farmers who are into the cultivation sector are now frustrated as they are unable to get fertilizer at the right time.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15177', 'image' => '20220613053948_JICA (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 17:39:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15434', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Landowners Affected by the Biratnagar Airport Project Demand Compensation', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: The Biratnagar Airport Victims’ Struggle Committee organized a rally on Saturday and announced a demonstration to block the entrance of the airport.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 13: The Biratnagar Airport Victims’ Struggle Committee organized a rally on Saturday and announced a demonstration to block the entrance of the airport. The committee decided to hold a street demonstration saying that the government has not paid them compensation for the land acquired for the airport even after two years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">A meeting of the committee also decided to give an ultimatum to the District Administration Office, Chief Minister's Office, Civil Aviation Authority Office and District Police Office to fulfill their demands within seven days. The committee informed about its demonstration through a press release on Sunday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Individuals residing near the airport got agitated after the government blocked transaction of their land two years ago for upgrading the Biratnagar Airport and did not pay compensation to them. The meeting has decided to launch a street protests demanding the release of the blocked land or compensation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The federal government had permitted the Civil Aviation Authority in 2077 BS to acquire 126.46 acres of public land to extend the runway of Biratnagar Airport from the 1,500 meters to 3,000 meters. Based on the decision, the authorities have blocked transactions of 1,400 plots of land including 350 houses since two years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Keshe Magarati, a member of the Airport Victims' Struggle Committee, said that the government has not been able to compensate the victims even after blocking transaction of their land for two years. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">If the house and land are not sold within a year, we will submit a memorandum to the local administration and related bodies within a week, then block the way to the highway and the airport.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The government has not allocated any amount in the current and next year's budget to compensate the victims.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"> Uddhav Karki, a member of the struggle committee, said that the hope of compensation is dead as budget has not been allocated. "How long do we have to wait?" Karki said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Santosh Khadka, a member of the struggle committee, complained that the government has allocated budget for the construction of Nijgadh Airport despite the Supreme Court’s orders, but hasn't allocated compensation to the people whose houses and lands have been blocked for two years, he shared.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Yuvraj Bhandari, information officer of the airport, said that the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal had asked the government for budget as compensation for the houses and land that fall in the project area in the current and previous budgets.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">A tripartite agreement was signed which mentions that the federal government will pay 50 per cent, the state government 40 per cent and the Biratnagar Metropolitan City 10 per cent compensation for the land required to be upgraded to a regional level. CAAN's master plan is to upgrade the airport to a regional airport and operate flights to India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15176', 'image' => '20220613033508_Biratnagar_Airport-IMG_8842.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 15:34:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15433', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sudurpaschim Province Lagging behind in Economic Progress despite Huge Potential: NRB Study ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: Sudurpaschim Province is lagging behind in terms of economic progress despite having abundant natural resources, according to a latest study carried out by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 13: Sudurpaschim Province is lagging behind in terms of economic progress despite having abundant natural resources, according to a latest study carried out by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The study says that there are challenges in making the country self-reliant on agricultural production through commercialization due to various factors like lack of infrastructure and management of natural disasters and barren lands caused by increasing migration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The province is low in industrial capacity and entrepreneurship due to a lack of research and exploration, and study of the potential sectors, the study further said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Due to geographical difficulties, the province has faced challenges in the expansion of people's access to finance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the study report, bridging the gap between the province's low capacity in collecting revenue and capitalizing the available resources also seems to be an uphill task. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Managing required resources to increase the capacity of the local and provincial government in mobilising institutional and technical resources and in the infrastructural development is also another challenge. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Despite several challenges, the report suggests that expansion of the pocket area of cash crops, determining the appropriate prices and increase in the production by using modern technology are the possibilities that can be implemented immediately. There is high potential of these activities that can promote exports by substituting imports. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Productivity can be increased by minimizing the dependence on the seasonal rainfall for agriculture if the under-construction project of national pride, the Ranijamara Kulariya Irrigation Project, is completed on time. The project will irrigate a total 38,300 hectares of land. Its physical progress has reached around 60 per cent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the province would see a significant expansion and development of agriculture sector if the construction of the Mahakali Irrigation Project which has been undertaken with the aim of irrigating 33,520 hectares of land is expedited and completed on time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The study states that the productivity of farmland and agricultural production can be increased through timely completion of these two major projects in the province. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is stated that the province also has immense possibilities for the industrial development provided the construction of the required infrastructures like the industrial zone, industrial village, roads and electricity projects is expedited. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the province has high potential for the promotion of tourism through the development of tourism infrastructures and facilities at important historic, religious, cultural and natural touristic areas. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15175', 'image' => '20220613011426_khaptad.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 13:13:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15432', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Speaker urges Government to Immediately Address Fertilizer Shortage Issue ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has drawn the government’s attention towards the crisis of chemical fertilizer during the peak of planting season and urged the government to address the issue promptly. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 13: Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has drawn the government’s attention towards the crisis of chemical fertilizer during the peak of planting season and urged the government to address the issue promptly. </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 speaker made such request after the Members of Parliament raised the issue of non-availability of fertilizer during the planting season during a meeting of the House of Representatives on Sunday. The lawmakers urged the speaker to issue a ruling to the government to avail fertilizers which the farmers are yet to receive during the planting season.</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"">Responding to the concerns raised by the lawmakers, the speaker drew the government’s attention towards timely management of fertilizers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“My attention has been drawn towards the voices of honorable lawmakers in regard with the lack of fertilizer during the planting season and I draw the attention of the concerned ministry and the government towards the management of fertilizer. The government must ensure immediate supplies to farmers,” the speaker said. </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 concerned officials have blamed the war between Russia and Ukraine as the reason behind the delay in supplies of chemical fertilizer this year. They are trying to get away with the excuse of war although the lack of fertilizer is not a new problem in the country. </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"">Around 500 metric tons of chemical fertilizer is stuck at Tatopani customs but the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited has shown no interest in customs clearance.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15174', 'image' => '20220613113728_Fertilizer.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 11:36:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15431', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Chitwan National Park Suspends Jungle Safari Temporarily', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: Chitwan National Park has decided to suspend jungle safari, jungle walk and other activities inside the national park from June 15 citing the arrival of monsoon.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 13: Chitwan National Park has decided to suspend jungle safari, jungle walk and other activities inside the national park from June 15 citing the arrival of monsoon. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">With the monsoon arriving in Nepal and spreading gradually across the country, the park decided to shut down these activities to prevent risks and damages triggered by the monsoon rain. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Information Officer of the National Park Ganesh Prasad Tiwari shared that the decision was taken to prevent damages of forest track, secure human lives from monsoon-induced disasters and felling of trees. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Tourism activities will be closed temporarily until further notice," Tiwari informed. The park has also closed tourism activities including boating in Rapti River during monsoon. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Altogether 159,881 tourists, both domestic and external, visited the park from the beginning of this fiscal year till mid-May generating over Rs 80 million in revenue, according to the park. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Jungle safari has been one of the major tourist attractions and highest revenue generator in the park which is home to 68 recorded species of mammals, 544 species of birds, 56 species of amphibians and reptiles, and 126 species of fish. -- RSS</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15173', 'image' => '20220613080155_Chitwan 3.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 08:01:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15430', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Minister Admits Flaws, Pledges to Amend Mistakes', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 12: Admitting flaws in the new tax rates, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has pledged to amend the mistakes. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">June 12: Admitting flaws in the new tax rates, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has pledged to amend the mistakes. The finance minister said that the mistake was unintentional and it occurred due to lack of time to check everything in the new laws that are subject to endorsement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Minister Sharma has drawn widespread criticism for fixing new customs duty and excise duty in the Finance Bill 2079 that is likely to threaten the domestic industries of Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We didn’t intend to push the industries to the brink of collapse,” the finance minister said during a meeting with a delegation of industrialists from Morang on Friday. “That is not our policy. We announced the budget after holding discussions with all stakeholders and we will try to include the suggestions of all sides as much as possible.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Morang Trade Association’s Chairman Navin Rijal, the finance minister told them that government does not intend to shut down industries. The finance minister further said that the flaw occurred because he couldn’t look after everything.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Minister Sharma had admitted his mistakes a day after the budget announcement on May 29 and had pledged to amend the mistakes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, former chairman of the association Pawan Kumar Sharda said that the finance minister and the finance secretary might not have knowledge about every aspects of the budget and there might have been some mistakes in course of preparing the new budget. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Now I have understood the problems of all three types of industries. I have received suggestions from various sectors. I will amend the mistakes,” Sharda quoted the finance minister as saying.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Following the assurance of the finance minister, the industrialists of Province 1 have postponed their protests.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance minister Sharma has also assured the sanitary pad industries of amending mistakes that threaten the existence of domestic industries that produce such pads. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The finance minister is positive about addressing the problems that have surfaced due to the new tax-related policy adopted by the government,” said Dol Raj Adhikari, chairman of the Sanitary Pad Producers Association of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The finance minister has assured us that the problems will be addressed before the budget is passed by the parliament,” added Adhikari.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-12', 'modified' => '2022-06-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15172', 'image' => '20220612094625_FM sharma.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-12 21:45:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 15: The main opposition party CPN (UML) has criticized Finance Minister Janardan Sharma for his alleged role in the manipulation of tax rates in the budget at the eleventh hour. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Recent media reports accuse the finance minister of altering tax rates before the announcement of the budget for the Fiscal Year 2022/23 on May 29. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a meeting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, UML vice chair and lawmaker Surendra Pandey sought time and drew the government’s attention to media reports accusing the finance minister of manipulating tax rates in collusion with unauthorized people before presenting it to the parliament. He demanded resignation of the finance minister on moral grounds. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“After facing a serious charge, the finance minister is expected to clarify about it in the House. Even lawmakers of ruling parties have questioned his role in the alteration of tax rates and even after all these, does he still expect to hold the post?” he questioned. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">When the provisions require even the ministers and secretaries to put their communication devices in lockers during the discussions on tax rates in course of preparing the budget before it is presented in parliament, the finance minister has been accused of violating the norms by tweaking the tax rate in collusion with unauthorized persons he brought with him, said Pandey. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15186', 'image' => '20220615074831_20220609080427_20220602052434_fin min sharma.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 07:47:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15443', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government’s Self-Reliant Campaign Hits a Snag', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: The government had mentioned in the budget speech for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) that it will provide facilities for the establishment of production-oriented industries and for importing industrial raw materials. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 14: The government had mentioned in the budget speech for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) that it will provide facilities for the establishment of production-oriented industries and for importing industrial raw materials. The country can become self-reliant if the government genuinely wants to promote home-grown products. However, the government’s announcement often contradicts its acts. Most of the times, the announcement made by the government gets limited to papers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the government had announced to promote production-oriented industries, it has increased the customs duty and excise duty on industrial raw materials through the finance bill.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stakeholders say this will have a negative impact on the industries contrary to the government’s claim of promoting such industries.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">GI wire and sanitary pad manufacturers have said that the change in tax rates has made it impossible to compete with foreign goods. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Manufacturers of GI wire and sanitary pad have already met the prime minister and informed him about the problem.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Dolraj Adhikari, president of the Nepal Sanitary Pad Producers' Association, accused the government of trying to discourage self-reliant industries. "Domestic pad industry, which has a higher production capacity than consumption, has become uncompetitive," said Adhikari.</span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that they can sell country-made pads at a cheaper price if the government provides them tax exemption on raw materials just like it has given exemption for the import of foreign sanitary pads.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Adhikari warned that if the exemption given on the import of ready-made pads is not removed soon or other measures are taken to save the indigenous industry, they would hand over the key of the industry to the finance minister.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Production of pads requires many raw materials, out of which 7 types should be imported. According to the association, there are 35 pad manufacturing industries in the country so far, with total investment of Rs 6 billion. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Likewise, the oil industry, which imports 100 percent raw materials and exports refined oil, has also been hit hard by the government’s new policy. They have met a large part of the domestic demand. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that the provisions of the new finance bill have hit the industry hard, Sandeep Agrawal hoped that the discussions with the government would help resolve the problems. He said that the government has fixed 5 percent customs duty for the import of ready-made cooking oil but the customs duty for importing raw materials required to produce oil is 10 percent. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the concerned industrialists, the investment of billions of rupees will be at risk as this arrangement will facilitate the import of refined oil. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15185', 'image' => '20220614075118_ROS_KTM_IMGL4220.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 19:49:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15442', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Suggest Regulating Digital Media for Tourism Promotion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: Stakeholders have suggested formulating a strategy for regulation and monitoring of digital media used by Nepal for tourism promotion and publicity.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 14: Stakeholders have suggested formulating a strategy for regulation and monitoring of digital media used by Nepal for tourism promotion and publicity. They suggested that the use of technology on ways to present content on social media should be regulated.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The stakeholders made such remarks at an interaction program titled 'Age of Technology in Tourism' organized by the Nepal Economic Forum in Kathmandu on Monday. Speaking on the occasion, Nandani Thapa, senior director of Nepal Tourism Board, said that the development of technology has brought a change in the style of tourism publicity as well.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Similarly, Ramyata Limbu, director of the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF), said that digital media would be cheaper and less expensive for tourism promotion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Similarly, Jason Shah, co-founder of Hostel Nextdor, said that there are a lot of young people who are promoting their destination by creating various blogs. He said that the tourism market in Nepal is huge and there are many opportunities.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Tourism expert Lisa Chvogyal said that there are still good opportunities in the tourism sector after Covid-19. Stating that Nepal has adventure tourism as well as many other famous destinations, she suggested bringing quality products and improving tourism services. She said that despite the increase in tourism activities like paragliding, it is necessary to pay attention to other changing aspects of tourism. She also stressed the need to analyze the impact of climate change from the perspective of tourism and prepare accordingly.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Ambika Khurana, Netflix's director of public policy, suggested that in addition to the use of technology, viewers should also pay attention to what topics attract them. "A story in a digital medium can only be sold if it connects with the minds of viewers and consumers," she said.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15184', 'image' => '20220614055327_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 17:52:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15441', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Share Transactions of NIBL, Mega Bank on Hold', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: The share transactions of Nepal Investment Bank Limited ((NIBL) and Mega Bank have been halted since June 13.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">June 14: The share transactions of Nepal Investment Bank Limited ((NIBL) and Mega Bank have been halted since June 13. Nepal Stock Exchange has stopped the share transactions of these two banks for their merger. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Investment Bank and Mega Bank had signed a preliminary agreement for merger on June 10. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NEPSE decided to halt the share transactions of the two banks after they submitted a copy of the preliminary agreement requesting the NEPSE to withhold their share transactions.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Investment Bank decided to go for a merger with Mega Bank after its failure to merge with Himalayan Bank. NIBL’s share transaction was put on hold since May 14, 2021 due to the merger process with Himalayan Bank. NEPSE had recently allowed share transaction of NIBL on May 30. However, the share transaction has again been halted due to the merger process with Mega Bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the preliminary agreement regarding merger, the new entity after the merger will be named as Nepal Investment Mega Bank. NIBL will retain the positions of the chairman and CEO after the merger. Other board of directors will be represented by both the banks.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The paid-up capital of NIBL at present is Rs 18.3 billion while that of Mega Bank is Rs 16.12 billion. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15183', 'image' => '20220614122527_merger.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 12:24:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15439', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investors Announce Protest Programme demanding Reforms', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: Ten different associations of investors announced to continue their protest until the 19-point demand put forward by the Capital Market Reform Struggle Committee is addressed. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 14: Ten different associations of investors announced to continue their protest until the 19-point demand put forward by the Capital Market Reform Struggle Committee is addressed. In a joint statement issued on June 13, the associations expressed their commitment not to give up on protest until it yields concrete results.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Through a joint press conference, they urged the banks along with the brokers to not sell the shares of the investors unilaterally by making a margin call.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The associations warned that if the shares are sold unilaterally causing disadvantage to the investors, the investors' associations will unite for legal remedy. The associations also claimed that the government will be the one responsible for the situation if it does not implement its 19-point demand immediately.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">They said that the retreat of investors accelerated due to the lack of implementation of some important suggestions given by the government-formed suggestion committee for the improvement and expansion of Nepal's capital market three and a half years ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">In this case, the investors demanded the government and the stakeholders for immediate action to reassure the investors.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Ten investors 'associations made it clear that the 19-point demand presented by the Capital Market Reform Struggle Committee formed under the leadership of Tilak Koirala is a common demand of all investors' associations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">President of capital market forum of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Ambika Prasad Poudel, Coordinator of the Capital Market Reform Struggle Committee Tilak Koirala, Chairman of the Nepal Investors Forum Tulsiram Dhakal and Chairman of the Share Investors Association of Nepal Uttam Aryal were among those who issued the joint statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The struggle committee formed under the coordination of Koirala is conducting protest programs since June 6. The struggle committee submitted its demands to all the district administration offices on June 13. Koirala, who is preparing to organize a special programme in Kathmandu on June 14, is scheduled to go on a hunger strike from June 15.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15182', 'image' => '20220614095431_5-reasons-of-investing-in-turkey.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 09:53:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15440', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Tourists Declines in Annapurna Circuit with the Onset of Monsoon ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: The Annapurna Circuit, a popular trek within the mountain ranges of western Nepal, is witnessing a decline in number of tourists lately, thanks to various factors like the onset of monsoon, road problems and off season for tourists. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 14: The Annapurna Circuit, a popular trek within the mountain ranges of western Nepal, is witnessing a decline in number of tourists lately, thanks to various factors like the onset of monsoon, road problems and off season for tourists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The trekking route is popular among both internal and foreign tourists. It links five districts but has witnessed barely 8 to 10 tourists on a daily basis against almost 200 visitors until a week ago, said Chhetra Bahadur Gurung, tourism assistant at the Dharapani tourism check centre under the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP).</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The trekking route used to draw as many as 600 tourists daily in the past. But the number of visitors has declined significantly. As a result, tourism entrepreneurs who were hit hard by COVID-19 for a long period have faced another blow. The trek wore a deserted look for a long period of time (at least two years) due to the global COVID-19 crisis. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"I used to earn around Rs 60,000 on a daily basis when there was a pressure of tourists. But, nowadays, income is almost like zero," complained a tourism entrepreneur, Pancha Bahadur Gurung of Lamjung Marsyangdi Rural Municipality-4. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Another tourism entrepreneur Khus Bahadur Tamang used to make Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 daily until a few weeks back. He says the number of tourists has drastically gone down these days and he only makes Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 a day. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourism sector which was hard-hit by COVID-19 pandemic and had just started to revive before the current setback. It looks like the trekking route is going to see only a few visitors for some more months with the start of the monsoon. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The centre's records show that the highest number of tourists coming for trekking in this trail is from France, Germany, Italy and other countries. The number of tourists will start increasing after mid-August once the monsoon subsides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">About 4,900 tourists have come for trekking till date since January this year, said Gurung, the tourism assistant at ACAP Tourism Checkpoint Dharapani. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tourists visit the Annapurna trekking route mainly for trekking purpose and also for sight-seeing, observing the local culture and tradition and to trek up to Mustang via the Thorang-La Pass of Manang and some travel on to Pokhara as well. The entry point of the Annapurna trekking route is at Manange Chautara of Besisahar municipality-7, Lamjung district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The route connects five districts- Lamjung, Kaski, Manang, Mustang and Myagdi. The visitors travel to Besisahar from Kathmandu by car or bus. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15181', 'image' => '20220614100546_Hiker-800.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 10:05:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15438', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Interest on Deposits to Remain Stable from mid-June to mid-July', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: Banks have decided not to raise the interest rate on deposits from mid-June to mid-July. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 14: Banks have decided not to raise the interest rate on deposits from mid-June to mid-July. According to the Nepal Bankers Association, the interest rate fixed for mid-May to mid-June will get continuity for another month as well. Commercial had banks agreed to provide the maximum interest rate of 11.3 percent for personal deposits and 10.3 percent for institutional deposits on one-year term deposits.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">As per the arrangement made by NRB, banks have to provide an additional one percentage point or 12.03 percent interest rate on deposits received from remittances.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Banks and financial institutions are facing liquidity crisis as deposit collection of banks have not increased proportionately to the credit flow given by banks aggressively.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The NRB intervened in the unhealthy competition among banks to attract deposits by raising interest rates. NRB issued verbal instructions to the banks on October 19 warning them not to raise the interest rates. The next day, NRB made arrangements to reduce the interest rates to only 10 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">As per the direction of NRB, the Nepal Bankers Association, an umbrella organization of chief executive officers (CEOs) of commercial banks, the Development Bankers Association, an association of CEOs of development banks, and the Nepal Finance Companies Association, an association of finance company CEOs, reached a formal agreement and have not competed on interest rates. They are implementing a gentleman’s agreement not to raise interest rates from mid-March to mid-June as new deposits are not added even though they increased the interest rate to 10 percent in mid-February.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Due to the increase interest rates on deposits, interest rates on bank loans are becoming more expensive. According to Nepal Rastra Bank, the average base rate of commercial banks stood at 9.30 percent in April 2022, which was 6.83 percent in April 2021.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15180', 'image' => '20220614094658_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 09:46:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15437', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Preparation Afoot to Ensure Social Security for Self-Employed Workers: Labour Minister', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 14: Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Krishna Kumar Shrestha informed that the incumbent government was doing homework to guarantee social security for workers in informal sector and the self-employed ones. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 14: Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Krishna Kumar Shrestha informed that the incumbent government was doing homework to guarantee social security for workers in informal sector and the self-employed ones. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Responding to the queries raised on the Appropriation Bill-2079 BS, Minister Shrestha said on Monday that laws and legislations were being formulated to bring self-employed and informal sector workers under the ambit of social security. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Directives for reintegration of returnee migrant workers of Nepal has been presented to the Council of Ministers for approval, said Shrestha, adding that reintegration programmes such as 'Reintegration of Returnee Migrant Workers (ReMi) will soon be implemented with the support of the Swiss government while similar programmes will be enforced with the support of the South Korean government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">To encourage the returnee migrants for entrepreneurship, awards and rewards programmes will implemented, the minister said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, he shared that a five-year strategic plan was formulated for the first time by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, with the objective to promote self-employment programme among the returnee workers and guarantee their social security and other benefits such as accidental insurance and compensation among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister mentioned that earlier the renewal of labour permit used to have a process of four rounds. “It has been cut down to two currently. A Help Desk has been set up in the concerned offices for facilitation of the service-seekers.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Currently, Nepalis are permitted to work in 178 countries with personal labour permit while to work in 111 countries, they need to obtain institutional labour permit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Against this backdrop, the minister shared that preparation was afoot to ink labour pact with the UK for the first time. He also shared that preparation was underway at his initiations to ink labour pact with the Maldives, Seychelles and Israel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry held consultations with heads of 16 foreign diplomatic missions in Nepal as well as the representatives of international organizations to address the issues faced by Nepalis migrant workers and to protect the professional security of Nepalis migrant workers abroad. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Minister said five shelter homes have been set up in Oman, Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to house the stranded and rescued Nepali migrant workers. Moreover, Labour Consular and Labour Attaché have been appointed in Qatar, Malaysia, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Budget has been allocated to prepare DPR for construction of a Labour Hospital. Minister Shrestha expressed his confidence that foreign employment management will undergo changes and as many as workers could come under the ambit of social security. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-14', 'modified' => '2022-06-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15179', 'image' => '20220614092347_SSF (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-14 09:23:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15436', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Why isn’t Nepal Self-Reliant on Textiles? ', 'sub_title' => 'Thirteen out of 14 garment industries in Biratnagar shut down due to adverse conditions', 'summary' => 'June 13: The textile industry is considered to be the mother of industries.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Om Prakash Khanal</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 13: The textile industry is considered to be the mother of industries. Nepal also has a long history of textile industry. However, despite good demand in the domestic market, the textile industry does not seem to be flourishing in Nepal. Even the existing industries are being shut down one after another.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">What is the reason? The industrialists say that the government's policy toward the textile industry is not appropriate. "On the one hand, the government is gradually taking away the privileges of the textile industry, and on the other hand, the uncontrolled import of textiles from India has taken over the domestic market," said an industrialist.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another industrialist Pitamber Kumar Munka shared his view that only a small part of the textile consumed in the country is produced by the domestic industries. “The rest of the demand is met by imported clothes. Lots of textiles are entering the country illegally from the open border with India than through the formal channels,” said Munka, who operates Crown and Kohinoor Textiles in Birgunj.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to industrialists, the government in India grants subsidy up to 50 percent on equipment for the textile industry. "The concession in technology and energy to the textile industry in India is massive. The concession given to us for electricity was also withdrawn,” complained Vinay Shah, managing director of Nobel Textiles.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Until a few years ago, the government used to refund value-added tax (VAT) to textile manufacturers for the sale of garments.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government removed the concession two years ago. The government had decided to give a 50 percent discount on electricity tariff following a protest by the industrialists. Entrepreneurs also got concession in electricity tariff for one year. According to industrialist Ramesh Gadiya, this incentive has been removed from last year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Even the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has demanded refund on the discount used by the industrialists," Gadiya said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">India had reduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on textiles to 5 percent at a time when the Government of Nepal was removing VAT concession given to textile manufacturers. Jitendra Kumar Lohiya, vice-president of the Nepal Textile Industry Association, said that the inflow of Indian textiles into Nepal's market has increased rapidly due to the tax gap of 8 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Lohiya, 13 out of 14 industries in Biratnagar have been shut down. The progress he has made in textiles is still going on. "A small portion of Nepali's annual expenditure on textiles goes to the domestic production and legally imported goods, while the rest goes to illegally imported garments," Lohia claimed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Entrepreneurs say that it has become difficult for Nepali textiles to compete with the products of Indian industries which get subsidy from the government.</span> <span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">On top of that, smuggling of clothes through the open border has become a big problem.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In order to compete with Indian textiles, the industrialists have demanded zero tariff on the import of yarn. Yarn is the main raw material for the textile industry. Entrepreneurs have been paying 5 percent customs duty on its import. The industrialists say that the domestic textile industry will be relieved if they get customs duty relief on yarn.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The association estimates that a large part of the clothing consumed annually in Nepal is illegal. The government been giving a 5 percent discount on interest for loans up to Rs 50 million for the textile industry from the current Fiscal Year 2021/22.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> However, t</span></span><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">he government has not given such concessions to all types of textile industries. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“All types of textile industries should be given this concession, the limit of Rs 50 million should be removed and the concession should be given for at least 10 years,” says Vice President Lohia.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the industrialists, there is a problem in investing in the textile industry due to the policy that changes every year. Most industries have not been able to invest in technology. "Investment is scarce because of the government's volatile policy. Most of the industries are producing goods by importing old equipment. This has not led to the expected improvement in cost reduction and quality assurance,” said an industrialist requesting anonymity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He urged the government to take a long-term policy to protect the employment created by the textile industry with an investment of around Rs 20 billion. He demanded that the government should adopt a policy to protect the textile industry which is the most value-added and job-creating industry. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">About a dozen industries in Birgunj and Biratnagar, which were once famous, have now been shut down. The government-funded Hetauda textile industry has been shut down for years. The government has mentioned in the budget of the upcoming fiscal year that 'arrangements will be made for the civil servants to use the garments produced by Hetauda Textile Industry'.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">While about 250 industries are struggling for survival, the issue of reviving closed textile industry has been included in the budget. The industrialists are doubtful about the government’s intention of reviving the closed industries, believing it to be a move to benefit a certain group of businessmen.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15178', 'image' => '20220613074107_Industries.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 19:40:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15435', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Production in Palpa Declining due to Lack of Chemical Fertilizer', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: The crops planted in Palpa are not improving due to the lack of timely application of chemical fertilizers.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 13: The crops planted in Palpa are not improving due to the lack of timely application of chemical fertilizers. Durga Acharya, a farmer in the district, says that the crop has not been able to thrive due to lack of urea right from the time of planting seeds. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">“We bought urea sold in the black market at a high price for the first time. It cost Rs 42 per kg and we used it once for the maize planted in our field. The crop is not showing any signs of production due to the lack of fertilizers the second time. Now we have no hope of producing maize this time.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Another farmer, Sarada Regmi paid Rs 50 for a kilogram of urea for her crops hoping for a better produce. Farmers have been using chemical fertilizers twice for maize.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Even in the black market, farmers are forced to pay double the price for the fertilizer. Regmi complained that they bought fertilizer at a high price even in the black market but the next time they could not find it regardless of the price.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The price of urea distributed through cooperatives is Rs 20 per kg. Farmers are put in a tight spot as some traders are selling fertilizers at high prices in the black market while taking advantage of the shortage.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Ganesh Acharya, the manager of Lakshadhenu Advanced Cattle Farm complained that they are facing problems for animal feed as well due to lack of fertilizer for the grass needed for feeding the cattle. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Bishnumaya Khadka, operator of Holistic Cow Farm, planted grass and maize on about 40 ropanis of land for animal feed alone. She is worried how to feed the animals as the grass and maize are not improving.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The operators of large livestock farms are worried about managing the cattle feed due to lack of fertilizer. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Suman Panthi, head of the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited, Palpa, said that the government is working to bring the fertilizer pledged by the Indian company through the 'fast track' process. He said, “There are discussions going on for supplying chemical fertilizer to Nepal through an Indian company but the mode of export is not yet decided. Fertilizer can be brought through the fast track within 15 days.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Organic manure can be used to fill the shortage of urea for maize. But the farmers are requesting for chemical fertilizer as soon as possible as manure will not be sufficient for paddy plantation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Chairman of Bijaypur Agricultural Cooperative Rampur, Om Prakash Regmi said that there has been a shortage of urea since the past three months. He says that some farmers visit the cooperative daily with complaints. They are assured that the fertilizer will arrive by mid-June.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">In Palpa, 53 organizations are involved in trading chemical fertilizers with permission from the government. It has been found that the consumption of fertilizers is increasing every year in the district. Five years ago, the district used to consume 1000 metric tons of fertilizer per year. But last year’s consumption was found to be 2000 metric tons. The use of chemical fertilizers is increasing every year with the decline in the fertility of the soil and the availability of cultivable land.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Cooperatives are not allowed to trade chemical fertilizers without the recommendation of the local government’s committee under the coordination of the deputy chief of the municipality. The agricultural cooperatives selected by the committee are allowed to distribute fertilizers. At each local level, one ward and one agricultural cooperative are allowed to sell and distribute fertilizers. If there are no agricultural cooperatives, the municipality may allow savings and loan cooperatives to buy and sell fertilizers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Kamana Adhikari, chief of the Agriculture Knowledge Center says that the production of maize in the district is expected to decline this year due to unavailability of fertilizers on time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Ram Hari Pandey, chief of the agriculture branch of Rampur Municipality, said that the farmers who are into the cultivation sector are now frustrated as they are unable to get fertilizer at the right time.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15177', 'image' => '20220613053948_JICA (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 17:39:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15434', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Landowners Affected by the Biratnagar Airport Project Demand Compensation', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: The Biratnagar Airport Victims’ Struggle Committee organized a rally on Saturday and announced a demonstration to block the entrance of the airport.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 13: The Biratnagar Airport Victims’ Struggle Committee organized a rally on Saturday and announced a demonstration to block the entrance of the airport. The committee decided to hold a street demonstration saying that the government has not paid them compensation for the land acquired for the airport even after two years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">A meeting of the committee also decided to give an ultimatum to the District Administration Office, Chief Minister's Office, Civil Aviation Authority Office and District Police Office to fulfill their demands within seven days. The committee informed about its demonstration through a press release on Sunday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Individuals residing near the airport got agitated after the government blocked transaction of their land two years ago for upgrading the Biratnagar Airport and did not pay compensation to them. The meeting has decided to launch a street protests demanding the release of the blocked land or compensation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The federal government had permitted the Civil Aviation Authority in 2077 BS to acquire 126.46 acres of public land to extend the runway of Biratnagar Airport from the 1,500 meters to 3,000 meters. Based on the decision, the authorities have blocked transactions of 1,400 plots of land including 350 houses since two years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Keshe Magarati, a member of the Airport Victims' Struggle Committee, said that the government has not been able to compensate the victims even after blocking transaction of their land for two years. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">If the house and land are not sold within a year, we will submit a memorandum to the local administration and related bodies within a week, then block the way to the highway and the airport.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The government has not allocated any amount in the current and next year's budget to compensate the victims.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"> Uddhav Karki, a member of the struggle committee, said that the hope of compensation is dead as budget has not been allocated. "How long do we have to wait?" Karki said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Santosh Khadka, a member of the struggle committee, complained that the government has allocated budget for the construction of Nijgadh Airport despite the Supreme Court’s orders, but hasn't allocated compensation to the people whose houses and lands have been blocked for two years, he shared.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Yuvraj Bhandari, information officer of the airport, said that the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal had asked the government for budget as compensation for the houses and land that fall in the project area in the current and previous budgets.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">A tripartite agreement was signed which mentions that the federal government will pay 50 per cent, the state government 40 per cent and the Biratnagar Metropolitan City 10 per cent compensation for the land required to be upgraded to a regional level. CAAN's master plan is to upgrade the airport to a regional airport and operate flights to India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15176', 'image' => '20220613033508_Biratnagar_Airport-IMG_8842.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 15:34:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15433', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sudurpaschim Province Lagging behind in Economic Progress despite Huge Potential: NRB Study ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: Sudurpaschim Province is lagging behind in terms of economic progress despite having abundant natural resources, according to a latest study carried out by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 13: Sudurpaschim Province is lagging behind in terms of economic progress despite having abundant natural resources, according to a latest study carried out by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The study says that there are challenges in making the country self-reliant on agricultural production through commercialization due to various factors like lack of infrastructure and management of natural disasters and barren lands caused by increasing migration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The province is low in industrial capacity and entrepreneurship due to a lack of research and exploration, and study of the potential sectors, the study further said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Due to geographical difficulties, the province has faced challenges in the expansion of people's access to finance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the study report, bridging the gap between the province's low capacity in collecting revenue and capitalizing the available resources also seems to be an uphill task. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Managing required resources to increase the capacity of the local and provincial government in mobilising institutional and technical resources and in the infrastructural development is also another challenge. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Despite several challenges, the report suggests that expansion of the pocket area of cash crops, determining the appropriate prices and increase in the production by using modern technology are the possibilities that can be implemented immediately. There is high potential of these activities that can promote exports by substituting imports. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Productivity can be increased by minimizing the dependence on the seasonal rainfall for agriculture if the under-construction project of national pride, the Ranijamara Kulariya Irrigation Project, is completed on time. The project will irrigate a total 38,300 hectares of land. Its physical progress has reached around 60 per cent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the province would see a significant expansion and development of agriculture sector if the construction of the Mahakali Irrigation Project which has been undertaken with the aim of irrigating 33,520 hectares of land is expedited and completed on time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The study states that the productivity of farmland and agricultural production can be increased through timely completion of these two major projects in the province. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is stated that the province also has immense possibilities for the industrial development provided the construction of the required infrastructures like the industrial zone, industrial village, roads and electricity projects is expedited. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the province has high potential for the promotion of tourism through the development of tourism infrastructures and facilities at important historic, religious, cultural and natural touristic areas. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15175', 'image' => '20220613011426_khaptad.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 13:13:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15432', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Speaker urges Government to Immediately Address Fertilizer Shortage Issue ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has drawn the government’s attention towards the crisis of chemical fertilizer during the peak of planting season and urged the government to address the issue promptly. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 13: Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has drawn the government’s attention towards the crisis of chemical fertilizer during the peak of planting season and urged the government to address the issue promptly. </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 speaker made such request after the Members of Parliament raised the issue of non-availability of fertilizer during the planting season during a meeting of the House of Representatives on Sunday. The lawmakers urged the speaker to issue a ruling to the government to avail fertilizers which the farmers are yet to receive during the planting season.</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"">Responding to the concerns raised by the lawmakers, the speaker drew the government’s attention towards timely management of fertilizers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“My attention has been drawn towards the voices of honorable lawmakers in regard with the lack of fertilizer during the planting season and I draw the attention of the concerned ministry and the government towards the management of fertilizer. The government must ensure immediate supplies to farmers,” the speaker said. </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 concerned officials have blamed the war between Russia and Ukraine as the reason behind the delay in supplies of chemical fertilizer this year. They are trying to get away with the excuse of war although the lack of fertilizer is not a new problem in the country. </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"">Around 500 metric tons of chemical fertilizer is stuck at Tatopani customs but the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited has shown no interest in customs clearance.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15174', 'image' => '20220613113728_Fertilizer.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 11:36:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15431', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Chitwan National Park Suspends Jungle Safari Temporarily', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 13: Chitwan National Park has decided to suspend jungle safari, jungle walk and other activities inside the national park from June 15 citing the arrival of monsoon.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 13: Chitwan National Park has decided to suspend jungle safari, jungle walk and other activities inside the national park from June 15 citing the arrival of monsoon. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">With the monsoon arriving in Nepal and spreading gradually across the country, the park decided to shut down these activities to prevent risks and damages triggered by the monsoon rain. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Information Officer of the National Park Ganesh Prasad Tiwari shared that the decision was taken to prevent damages of forest track, secure human lives from monsoon-induced disasters and felling of trees. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Tourism activities will be closed temporarily until further notice," Tiwari informed. The park has also closed tourism activities including boating in Rapti River during monsoon. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Altogether 159,881 tourists, both domestic and external, visited the park from the beginning of this fiscal year till mid-May generating over Rs 80 million in revenue, according to the park. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Jungle safari has been one of the major tourist attractions and highest revenue generator in the park which is home to 68 recorded species of mammals, 544 species of birds, 56 species of amphibians and reptiles, and 126 species of fish. -- RSS</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-13', 'modified' => '2022-06-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15173', 'image' => '20220613080155_Chitwan 3.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-13 08:01:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15430', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Minister Admits Flaws, Pledges to Amend Mistakes', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 12: Admitting flaws in the new tax rates, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has pledged to amend the mistakes. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">June 12: Admitting flaws in the new tax rates, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has pledged to amend the mistakes. The finance minister said that the mistake was unintentional and it occurred due to lack of time to check everything in the new laws that are subject to endorsement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Minister Sharma has drawn widespread criticism for fixing new customs duty and excise duty in the Finance Bill 2079 that is likely to threaten the domestic industries of Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We didn’t intend to push the industries to the brink of collapse,” the finance minister said during a meeting with a delegation of industrialists from Morang on Friday. “That is not our policy. We announced the budget after holding discussions with all stakeholders and we will try to include the suggestions of all sides as much as possible.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Morang Trade Association’s Chairman Navin Rijal, the finance minister told them that government does not intend to shut down industries. The finance minister further said that the flaw occurred because he couldn’t look after everything.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Minister Sharma had admitted his mistakes a day after the budget announcement on May 29 and had pledged to amend the mistakes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, former chairman of the association Pawan Kumar Sharda said that the finance minister and the finance secretary might not have knowledge about every aspects of the budget and there might have been some mistakes in course of preparing the new budget. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Now I have understood the problems of all three types of industries. I have received suggestions from various sectors. I will amend the mistakes,” Sharda quoted the finance minister as saying.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Following the assurance of the finance minister, the industrialists of Province 1 have postponed their protests.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance minister Sharma has also assured the sanitary pad industries of amending mistakes that threaten the existence of domestic industries that produce such pads. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The finance minister is positive about addressing the problems that have surfaced due to the new tax-related policy adopted by the government,” said Dol Raj Adhikari, chairman of the Sanitary Pad Producers Association of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The finance minister has assured us that the problems will be addressed before the budget is passed by the parliament,” added Adhikari.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-12', 'modified' => '2022-06-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15172', 'image' => '20220612094625_FM sharma.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-12 21:45:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
