November 24: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Poudel unveiled 31-point action-plan for effective implementation of the 'Earning while learning'…
November 24: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Poudel unveiled 31-point action-plan for effective implementation of the 'Earning while learning'…
November 24: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Poudel discussed the issue of vaccinating students above 12 years against COVID-19 with Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada on Tuesday. …
November 24: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale has reportedly appealed to the high-ranking visiting delegates of the European Union (EU) to consider removing Nepal from the union's…
November 23: PATA Nepal Chapter, in collaboration with PATA Bangladesh Chapter, successfully concluded the Nepal-Bangladesh Tourism Promotion and B2B Exchange Program on November 21.…
November 23: Coal is the main source of energy used in brick…
November 23: The government has decided to sign power purchase agreement (PPA) by determining the need of electricity per year.…
November 23: The capital expenditure of provincial governments stands below five percent in the first four months of the current fiscal year.…
November 23: The two customs offices of Birgunj have met the revenue target set for the first four months of the current Fiscal Year (FY…
November 23: The government is preparing to increase the prices of processed milk and dairy…
November 23: Construction of the Kohalpur-Surkhet 132 KV power transmission line has been stalled due to the delay in forwarding the process of authorizing the project to cut down trees along the right of way of the transmission…
November 22: Four companies have been shortlisted for carrying out the study required for placing Nepal's own satellite into the…
November 22: The government has started providing COVID-19 vaccine to all people above 18 years of…
November 22: Although it is mandatory for the local units to present their budget in the village council to manage the expenditure for the new fiscal year, 30 local units have tried to spend illegally without presenting the budget for the current fiscal…
November 22: Nepal has given special emphasis on expanding its relation with the European…
November 22: Nepal's inflation is expected to reach double digit next year, according to the Inflation Expectation Survey released by the Nepal Rastra Bank…
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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"">November 24: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Poudel unveiled 31-point action-plan for effective implementation of the 'Earning while learning' programme. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organizing a programme at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology on Tuesday, Minister Poudel shared that all students would be administered vaccine against COVID-19, all municipalities and provinces would be declared fully literate and the Act for compulsory and free education shall be enacted. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Minister Poudel pledged to launch technical education in as many community schools as possible. He also said that the government is committed to print colourful and quality books until grade 12 and take forward the vacancy announcement for the permanent teachers among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Minister also vowed to prepare draft of the federal education act, facilitate the adjustment of teachers' quota, announce scholarship for the poor and diligent students, and monitor the schools' compliance with the healthy safety measures against COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister also committed to make alternative learning more effective and bring into effect the report of the High-Level Education Commission as well as Nepal's policy presented in the UNSECO's general assembly. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, students will disabilities, those injured in various movements, conflict-survivors among would be provide with education opportunities. -RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-24', 'modified' => '2021-11-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14100', 'image' => '20211124113317_earn-while-you-learn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-24 08:27:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14354', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Secures 10 Million Doses of Vaccine for Children Under 18 Years', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 24: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Poudel discussed the issue of vaccinating students above 12 years against COVID-19 with Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada on Tuesday. ', '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 Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 24: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Poudel discussed the issue of vaccinating students above 12 years against COVID-19 with Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada on Tuesday, November 23. <br /> During the meeting held at the Ministry of Health and Population, Minister Poudel suggested that all students above 12 years of age should be vaccinated soon, as they have started attending schools physically. He stressed on the need for the children to be vaccinated against coronavirus at the school itself. <br /> On the occasion, Health Minister Khatiwada shared that 10 million doses of vaccine have been secured for children under 18 years of age in the country. A total of 30 million doses of vaccine are in the pipeline to arrive here, added Minister Khatiwada. -- RSS </span></span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-24', 'modified' => '2021-11-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14099', 'image' => '20211124082102_covidchildren.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-24 08:20:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14353', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Minister Appeals EU to Remove Nepali Airlines from its Blacklist ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 24: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale has reportedly appealed to the high-ranking visiting delegates of the European Union (EU) to consider removing Nepal from the union's blacklist. ', '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 Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 24: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale has reportedly appealed to the high-ranking visiting delegates of the European Union (EU) to consider removing Nepal from the union's blacklist. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At a courtesy meeting held at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation on Tuesday, Minister Ale requested Paola Pampaloni, deputy managing director of the European Union's External Affairs for Asia and the Pacific, to consider removing the ban imposed on airline companies of Nepal from flying in the skies of the European Union-member nations, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pampaloni, who arrived in Nepal last Saturday leading a three-member delegation to participate in the meeting of Nepal-EU Joint Commission slated for today (November 24), reportedly responded to Minister Ale that EU was positive about removing Nepal from its blacklist. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The EU has banned airline companies of Nepal from flying in its airspace since December 5, 2013 citing poor aviation standards of Nepal.</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 Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"A positive talk has begun to remove Nepal from EU's blacklist. Nepal will certainly be removed from it," RSS quoted Pampaloni as saying. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the meeting, the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues concerning bilateral cooperation between Nepal and the EU. </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 Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The European Union has been supporting Nepal in trade and investment, commerce, energy, science and technology, agriculture, human resource development, environment conservation, post-earthquake reconstruction, rural development, nutrition, education, good governance, among others.</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 Unicode MS","sans-serif""><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20210709114537_20210120123339_g576szqpnac61.jpg" style="height:235px; width:450px" /></span></span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-24', 'modified' => '2021-11-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14098', 'image' => '20211124080834_20191031120033_1572142676.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-24 08:07:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14352', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal-Bangladesh Tourism Promotion and B2B Exchange Programme Concludes', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: PATA Nepal Chapter, in collaboration with PATA Bangladesh Chapter, successfully concluded the Nepal-Bangladesh Tourism Promotion and B2B Exchange Program on November 21. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 23: PATA Nepal Chapter, in collaboration with <span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">PATA Bangladesh Chapter</span>, successfully concluded the <span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal-Bangladesh Tourism Promotion and B2B Exchange Program</span> on November 21. The programme had kicked off on November 16.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The joint collaboration between PATA Chapters of Nepal and Bangladesh was done as the post-pandemic tourism recovery initiative to help in promoting each other's destinations through mutual tie-ups and collaboration for both inbound and outbound tourists between the two neighboring nations, the organisers said in a joint statement</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">PATA Nepal Chapter, with the support of its member and partner organizations, hosted the PATA Bangladesh delegation of 17 members including the deputy director and secretary of Bangladesh Tourism Board, chairman and secretary-general of PATA Bangladesh, 10 tour operators, two media persons and two students from PATA Bangladesh Dhaka University Student Chapter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The exchange program included familiarization visit to Pokhara for Bangladeshi delegates from 17th to 19th November 2021 wherein a "Tourism Networking and Interaction Session” was organized in collaboration with Pokhara Tourism Council and NTB Pokhara on November 18 at Hotel Barahi in Pokhara, Nepal. The Tourism Networking program in Pokhara witnessed the enthusiastic participation of 70 plus tour operators and service providers from the tourism fraternity, the statement added. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The formal programme and B2B session held on November 20 at Park Village Resort included presentations on destination insights and business meetings and networking between 12 Bangladeshi tour operators and 14 Nepali tour operators and tourism service providers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">PATA Nepal Chairman, <span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bibhuti Chand Thakur, </span>emphasized the need to embrace the promotion of "regional travel", as an action plan, for reviving tourism. Since the long haul travel might take a little longer to recover, he said that the nearby destinations, preferably accessible by road or short-haul flights, have more opportunities to build back their tourism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Dr. Dhananjay Regmi, CEO of Nepal Tourism Board and Mohammad Saiful Hasan, the deputy director and secretary of Bangladesh Tourism Board, shared their destination insights and thoughts on the prospects of tourism exchange between Nepal and Bangladesh. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Addressing the function, Shahi Hamid, chairman of PATA Bangladesh, said that he got fascinated with the warm hospitality of Nepal, and there are many alluring tourism products and services in Nepal to attract many Bangladeshi travellers. He said that Nepal used to welcome about 26 thousand Bangladeshis annually before the pandemic and this can be easily doubled with effective promotion and marketing initiatives.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Secretary at Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation Yadav Koirala, who was invited as the chief guest of the programme, expressed his sincere thanks to PATA chapters of Nepal and Bangladesh for undertaking the needful and timely initiative to promote regional tourism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He recommended that Nepal needs to enhance its collaborative marketing and promotional events, organize FAM Trips, improve infrastructures (especially road connectivity), and develop extended tour packages to flourish tourism in both countries. He further assured that the Ministry of Tourism shall facilitate the necessary cooperation and support at the government level to increase the tourism engagements between Nepal and Bangladesh.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The event was promoted by Nepal Tourism Board and Bangladesh Tourism Board; and supported by Himalaya Airlines and Buddha Air (airlines partners), Pokhara Tourism Council (organizing partner), The Royal Mountain Travel (transportation partner), and Hospitality Partners including- The Everest Hotel, KGH Group of Hotels, Aloft, Radisson, Siddhartha Hotel, and The Old Inn.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14097', 'image' => '20211123044607_4.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 16:45:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14351', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shortage of Coal Results in Increase in Price of Bricks', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: Coal is the main source of energy used in brick kilns.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 23: Coal is the main source of energy used in brick kilns. Nepal used to import coal from India before the southern neighbor banned its export. Currently, coal is imported from the United States of America and Indonesia at rates as high as 300 percent compared to that of India. This has caused a big problem to brick kilns.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A total of 85 brick kilns of Province 1 have not been able to bake the raw bricks due to the shortage of coal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The president of Province 1 chapter of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Bhim Ghimire who is also the coordinator of AB Bricks and Tiles Industry, said that bricks could not be produced for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic and that the price of bricks would be higher due to increase in cost of coal and labor charge. According to him, it is more likely for the prices of bricks to reach Rs 25 per piece from Rs 23 per piece.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The price of No.1 brick was only Rs 18 per piece two years ago. The price of brick has increased by Rs 7 per piece in just the interval of 3 years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The price of coal, which was available for US$ 96 per ton two years ago, increased by three folds to US$ 280 per ton. It costs Rs 40,000 to 42,000 per ton in Nepal. However, the brick kilns are facing a shortage of coal as it takes at least six months for the coal to arrive in Nepal via ship from the United States and Indonesia.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ramesh Bhagat, operator of ACC Brick Industry, informed that the availability of coal has begun to increase alongside the decline in the prices. The price of coal which used to cost US$ 280 per ton has now dropped to US$ 240, he said. Until two years ago, coal used to be bought and sold at US$ 95 per ton in the international market.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the brick industry of Nepal could not produce new bricks for the last two years because the workers coming from West Bengal of India could not arrive in Nepal. Although some of the few industries produced bricks with the help of indigenous workers, they could not sustain the business.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The price of bricks which was Rs 18 per piece before the Covid-19 pandemic reached to Rs 23 per piece after the brick industries started to close down. This time as well, due to the increase in the price of coal and the labor cost of Indian workers, new bricks can be sent to the market only at Rs 25 per piece, said Bhagat.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bhagat says, “Even now, the production price of bricks reaches up to Rs 28 per piece. But to maintain the balance in the market, it will be sold at Rs 25 per piece this time as per the policy of increasing prices gradually without increasing it all at once.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Before the lockdown, 85 brick factories in Province 1 had been producing bricks worth Rs 3.40 billion annually. Industrialists said that if the supply of coal eases this year, bricks would be produced in the same proportion. This time the workers have already arrived in September because they had already received the money in August at their residence in Kuch Vihar, West Bengal, India. In Province 1, around 22,000 workers come from Kuch Vihar every year. This year the number of workers has reached 25,000.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Province 1 has been producing 350 million bricks annually. From this, the industrialists have been paying revenue of Rs 350 million to the government. Mahendra Shah, the president of the Brick Producers Association Morang, said that the prices had gone up last year after an interval of six years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rajan Timsina, the general secretary of the Koshi Brick Industry Entrepreneurs Association said it would take six months for the coal to arrive in Nepal from the United States and Indonesia. He said that the brick industry is not in a position to produce at full capacity right now due to the delay in transportation of coal by ships, delay in coal production and other lengthy processes.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14096', 'image' => '20211123042541_sddefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 16:24:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14350', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' NEA to Sign PPA on a Needs Basis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: The government has decided to sign power purchase agreement (PPA) by determining the need of electricity per year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 23: The government has decided to sign power purchase agreement (PPA) by determining the need of electricity per year. For such agreement, projects of semi-reservoir and reservoir nature will be given special priority.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has already signed a PPA for a 6,000 MW river flow project. Similarly, projects with capacity of 9,000 MW are awaiting for PPA.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">PPA has been halted for the last three years. The private sector has not only objected to the suspension of the PPA, but has also demanded its immediate resumption. The Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation is preparing to sign the PPA by determining the capacity of the project.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal has also been publicly stating that PPA will be signed by determining the need.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> In India, memorandum of understanding is signed only for project construction.</span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> PPA is signed only after the construction of the project.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA has been signing PPA at Rs 4.80 per unit in rainy season and Rs 8.40 per unit in winter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Time and again, demands have also been raised that PPA should be signed on the basis of expense. Taking into account all the facts and circumstances, both the ministry and the authority seem to be thinking of taking the process forward on the basis of competition.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Bhusal says that it will be more materialistic when the agreement is done considering the demand for electricity in the next 10 years.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director of NEA Kulman Ghising said that the PPA of semi-reservoir and reservoir projects has not been stopped even though there is no PPA for the river-flow project immediately.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA had decided to provide an average of Rs 12 per unit for reservoir projects in 2074. The seasonal rate has also been fixed. Reservoir projects also seem essential for the energy security of the country.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">An energy expert and president of the Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Professor Amritman Nakarmi says that each country has an additional 30 percent energy reserve for energy security. He added that focus must be given to reservoir project as it would be effective in the case of Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">So far, more than 2,000 MW of electricity has been connected to the national grid. Similarly, 138 projects with total capacity of 3,507 MW are under construction. Similarly, preparations are underway for the construction of 99 projects with capacity of 1,851 MW.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Independent Power Producers’ Association of Nepal (IPPAN), 208 projects with capacity of 16,574 MW are in various stages of study. Two projects with capacity of 1,579 MW are also under construction. A total of 611 projects with a total capacity of 25,417 MW are in the process of construction in one way or another.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Financially and technically, projects with capacity of 57,000 MW are in a position to be constructed within Nepal. The government has strategically taken forward the issue of constructing reservoir project in every province except Province 2. The Tamor Reservoir Project of Province 1 is currently being studied.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hydroelectricity Investment and Development Company Ltd (HIDCL) </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">of Nepal is continuing the study in collaboration with Chinese company Power China. Similarly, the study of Sunkoshi II and III are being conducted in Bagmati Province.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The construction of 1,200 megawatt Budhi Gandaki hydropower project along the border of Bagmati and Gandaki provinces has not been done even though the study was completed a long time ago. Similarly, the process has been taken forward to construct reservoir projects in Gandaki, Karnali, Lumbini and Far West. Emphasis has been given on the importance of water resources projects for energy security. </span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14095', 'image' => '20211123040237_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 16:02:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14349', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Capital Expenditure of Provinces Stands Below 5 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: The capital expenditure of provincial governments stands below five percent in the first four months of the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 23: The capital expenditure of provincial governments stands below five percent in the first four months of the current fiscal year. At a time when the federal government is being criticised for its poor capital expenditure, data of capital expenditure of the provincial governments is also found to be significantly low. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Financial Comptroller General Office of Province 2, the province has spent only two percent of the allocated budget of Rs 18.05 billion. Likewise, Bagmati Province has spent only 4.85 percent of the development budget of Rs 29.70 billion allocated for the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Gandaki Province has allocated Rs 16.73 billion under development expenditure. It has spent eight percent of the budget during the review period. Initially the Gandaki Province government had announced a capital budget of Rs 21.17 billion for the current fiscal year. However, the new government formed under the leadership of CPN (Maoist Centre) replaced the previous budget brought through an ordinance and downsized the budget. The new provincial government was occupied in the expansion of the cabinet for a long time and is preparing to introduce the work procedure to spend the budget after in the beginning of the second quarter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the Lumbini Province has only made a capital expenditure of 2.83 percent of the allocated budget in the first four months of the current fiscal year. According to the Provincial Financial Comptroller General Office, Butwal, of the allocated budget of Rs 22.47, only Rs 635.7 million has been spent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Province 1 had allocated Rs 15.5 billion budget for capital expenditure in the current fiscal year 2021/22. Suman Dahal, Provincial Secretary at the Financial Comptroller General, Biratnagar, said about 15 percent of the allocated budget has been spent in the first quarter. He said that Province 1 has increased capital expenditure compared to other states and has been working aggressively. The data shows development expenditure of Province 1 is relatively higher than other provinces.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, Karnali Province has made a capital expenditure of only 2.9 percent while the Far Western Province has also spent only 3.54 percent of the allocated budget.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Jagadish Chandra Pokhrel, former vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission, the development budget could not be spent as expected due to increasing political instability in the provinces like in the federal government. He believes that political leadership's focus was shifted in forming and toppling the government rather than on development activities.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14094', 'image' => '20211123023300_1637623950.1 - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 14:27:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14348', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Customs Offices of Birgunj meet Revenue Target in the First Quarter of current FY ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: The two customs offices of Birgunj have met the revenue target set for the first four months of the current Fiscal Year (FY 2078/79).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 23: The two customs offices of Birgunj have met the revenue target set for the first four months of the current Fiscal Year (FY 2078/79). Birgunj Customs and Dry Port Customs have collected Rs 87.07 billion revenue in the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> According to the Birgunj Customs Office, the revenue collection has improved in the current FY as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has declined while foreign trade has increased.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The data shows that the Birgunj customs, which collected revenue of Rs 43.67 billion from July to November last year, has collected Rs 70.12 billion in the review period of the current FY.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Chief Customs Officer of Birgunj Customs Harihar Poudel, the Birgunj Customs has collected Rs 26.48 billion value added tax and Rs 25.41 billion in customs duty on imports during this period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The customs has collected eight percent more revenue than the target. The Birgunj Customs had set a target of raising Rs 65.11 billion revenue in the first four months of the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chief of Dry Port Customs Office Lal Bahadur Khatri said that the customs office has collected about four percent more revenue than the target set for this period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The dry port customs collected revenue of Rs 16.94 billion during the period, said customs officer Balram Bhandari. The target for the first four months of the current fiscal year was Rs 16.30 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Based on the volume of import and export, the Birgunj customs is considered as the country’s largest customs point. Mostly, industrial raw materials, petroleum products, and vehicles are mainly imported from this customs point. Likewise, processed edible oil, juice, textile and other products are exported through this customs. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14093', 'image' => '20211123011756_20210516024759_20210118020708_1610926784.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 13:17:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14347', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Preparations Underway to Hike the Prices of Dairy Products', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: The government is preparing to increase the prices of processed milk and dairy products.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 23: The government is preparing to increase the prices of processed milk and dairy products. The Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) has taken the initiative to hike the prices of dairy products in consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Dairy Development Board, Nepal Dairy Association, Dairy Industries Association, Department of Livestock Services and other stakeholders.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The decision to hike the prices was taken in the wake of the rise in prices of cattle feed amid Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the crisis created by the pandemic, production cost of milk and milk products has been increasing day by day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Dairy Development Corporation has fixed the price of processed milk at Rs 72 per litre for the producers. Similarly, the price of curd has been fixed between Rs 90 to Rs 100 per litre depending on the quality of the product while the price of ghee has been fixed at Rs 815 per kg.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Information officer at the DDC, Balak Chaudhary, said that they are consulting with stakeholders about the price hike but are yet to reach a decision regarding how much they shall increase the price. Chaudhary estimates that the price of milk products is likely to increase by Rs 8 to Rs 10 per litre.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Milk producers and farmers have been complaining that they are not getting the right price of their produce due to inflation. They argue that they will be at a loss unless the price is increased.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is estimated that around 2.4 million metric tons of milk is produced in Nepal annually. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14092', 'image' => '20211123102546_20200223125404_1 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 10:25:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14346', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Construction of Kohalpur-Surkhet 132 KV Transmission Line Stalled ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: Construction of the Kohalpur-Surkhet 132 KV power transmission line has been stalled due to the delay in forwarding the process of authorizing the project to cut down trees along the right of way of the transmission line. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 23: Construction of the Kohalpur-Surkhet 132 KV power transmission line has been stalled due to the delay in forwarding the process of authorizing the project to cut down trees along the right of way of the transmission line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The construction of the towers for the transmission of electricity has been affected as the trees lying under the right of way of the transmission line in the forests of Banke, Bardiya and Surkhet remain to be chopped. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project has proposed cutting down 13,119 trees in the forests of Banke, Bardiya and Surkhet for this purpose. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Project chief Rabi Kumar Chaudhary said the construction of the transmission line has been affected due to the delay in approval for cutting trees. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"All the preparations have been completed from our side including the project and Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). It is the job of the Ministry of Forest and Environment to forward the proposal on cutting down trees to the Council of Ministers for its approval," said project chief Chaudhary. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project has to be completed by August 2022 as per the agreement between the project and the Indian contractor, RS Infra-Project. The contract for the construction of the project had been signed in July 2020. With the delay in getting approval for cutting down trees in forest area, the project has been constructing the transmission towers only at places that do not fall in forest areas. It has constructed the foundation of the towers at 13 places so far. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Altogether 161 double-circuit towers have to be constructed for the nearly 52 kilometres long transmission line. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14091', 'image' => '20211123095556_Transmission.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 09:55:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14345', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Four Companies Shortlisted for Installation of Nepal's Satellite', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: Four companies have been shortlisted for carrying out the study required for placing Nepal's own satellite into the orbit. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 22: Four companies have been shortlisted for carrying out the study required for placing Nepal's own satellite into the orbit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) shortlisted four out of eight international companies that had presented technical and financial proposal last month. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The shortlisted companies are Euro Consult of France, Turksat of Turkey, S3Tel Inc of the UAE and Thailand's Thaicom. Based upon the technical and financial proposal presented by the shortlisted companies, one company will be selected to work towards launching Nepal's satellite, said NTA's spokesperson Santosh Poudel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has set the target of operating the country's own satellite within 2022 and has already released a policy for it last July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Earlier, 22 companies from 12 different countries had submitted their expression of intent for putting into orbit Nepal's satellite. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14090', 'image' => '20211122095718_20170305031547_NTA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 21:56:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14344', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Starts Providing COVID-19 Vaccine to All Above 18 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: The government has started providing COVID-19 vaccine to all people above 18 years of age.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 22: The government has started providing COVID-19 vaccine to all people above 18 years of age. Prior to this, the vaccination campaign was focused on target groups, but now it is available for all. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Joint Spokesperson at the Ministry of Health and Population, Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari said the government has decided to provide vaccines to all above 18 as the supplies have become regular. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He urged all eligible citizens who missed the previous vaccination campaigns to visit the nearby vaccinations centers and get the shot. The government has a target of vaccinating one-third of the population by mid-January and 21.07 million people by mid-April next year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Till date, 30 percent of the total population has been given the first dose of vaccine while the population receiving the full-course is 26 percent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Kathmandu District Health Office Chief Shambhu Kafley said the vaccine is available at five centers: Birendra Military Hospital, Nepal Police Hospital, Shahid Memorial Hospital, Kalanki; Vayodha Hospital, Balkhu; Lhotse Building in New Buspark, Gongabu; and the Herbs Processing Center, Jadibuti in Kathmandu. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14089', 'image' => '20211122044754_20210713023934_1626133196.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 16:47:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14343', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '30 Local Units yet to Announce Budget for Current Fiscal Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: Although it is mandatory for the local units to present their budget in the village council to manage the expenditure for the new fiscal year, 30 local units have tried to spend illegally without presenting the budget for the current fiscal year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 22: Although it is mandatory for the local units to present their budget in the village council to manage the expenditure for the new fiscal year, 30 local units have tried to spend illegally without presenting the budget for the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Local Government Operation Act, 2074 and the Intergovernmental Fiscal Arrangement Act, all local levels must bring a budget within June 23 and no expenditure can be made without passing the budget. The budget goes to the local level from the federal government through four types of grants, revenue sharing and natural resource allocation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Based on the same sources, the local level should make an estimated budget and submit it to the village council in time as per the constitutional provision. However, these local levels are running the expenses for four months by violating the provision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Basant Adhikari, joint secretary at the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, said that the local levels have ignored the circular twice to bring the budget on time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the ministry, out of 136 local levels of Province 2, a total of 25 local units are spending without presenting their budget. Six local levels from Dhanusha district, five from Rautahat, four from Bara, three each from Siraha and Parsa, two from Saptari, and one each from Mahottari and Sarlahi have not presented their budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although 116 out of 119 local levels of Bagmati Pradesh have submitted budget, three local levels have not been able to present their budget. Likewise, out of 137 local levels of Province 1, two have not submitted their budget yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Altogether 85 local levels in Gandaki, 109 in Lumbini, 79 in Karnali and 88 in the far-western region have already presented their respective budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The main reason for the failure of most of the local levels to present their budget is the quarrel among the people's representatives. According to federal affairs ministry, the local levels that have not submitted the budget have been repeatedly instructed to submit their budget and they have also written to the Ministry of Finance for further action. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Adhikari, letters have been sent to the finance ministry to stop the grants to those local units for not bringing the budget within the stipulated time. As they do not have the authority to take action, he said that the recommendation has already been made and the grants will be stopped.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Ministry of Finance, the government has the right to withhold the financial equalization grants to the local levels if they do not bring the budget on time. Ministry officials say that the government will be forced to stop such grants if they try to run the expenditure without bringing the budget. “Expenditure made after July 16 without presenting the budget on June 24 is unconstitutional and illegal. We will stop the grant,” said a senior official at the finance ministry. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14088', 'image' => '20211122025540_20190609013126_20190531021713_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 14:54:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14342', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Stresses on Expanding ties with European Union', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: Nepal has given special emphasis on expanding its relation with the European Union.', 'content' => '<p><em>Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka (2nd R) with visiting delegates from the EU. Photo Courtesy: MoFA</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 22: Nepal has given special emphasis on expanding its relation with the European Union (EU). Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka expressed the desire to expand Nepal’s relation with the EU during his meeting with the Deputy Managing Director of EU for Asia and the Pacific of European External Affairs Service, Paola Pampaloni. The meeting was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singha Durbar on Sunday, November 21. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pampaloni is in Nepal leading a three-member delegation for the 13th meeting of Nepal-EU Joint Commission scheduled for November 24. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During Sunday’s meeting, Minister Khadka discussed topics of mutual interest as well as regional and multilateral affairs with the visiting delegates. Range of matters concerning Nepal-EU partnership were discussed including development cooperation, trade and civil aviation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The European Union has been supporting Nepal in trade and investment, commerce, energy, science and technology, agriculture, human resource development, environment conservation, post-earthquake reconstruction, rural development, nutrition, education, good governance, among others. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14087', 'image' => '20211122024609_FEsY1bZUUAQmqeq.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 14:43:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14341', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'People Expect Inflation to Reach Double Digit in One Year: NRB Survey', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: Nepal's inflation is expected to reach double digit next year, according to the Inflation Expectation Survey released by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 22: Nepal's inflation is expected to reach double digit next year, according to the Inflation Expectation Survey released by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). The survey was conducted by the central bank from October 3 to 8.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The survey has revealed that the mean inflation and median average inflation are expected to reach 10.3 percent and 9 percent respectively in the next one year. In the next three months of the current fiscal year, mean and median inflation expectations remain at 9.6 percent and eight percent respectively. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director of NRB Dr Prakash Kumar Shrestha, who heads the Economic Research Department of the central bank, said people surveyed in the report expected price hikes in the coming months. Inflation expectation has been determined on the basis of the response given by market consumers. However, it is the report on the current macroeconomic and financial situation of the country that determines if the inflation occurs accordingly or not. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The recent macroeconomic and financial situation report of the central bank had projected an average inflation of 9.4 percent in September. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The inflation expectation varies according to the age of the customer. Consumers of 25 years of age expect average inflation to reach 10.6 percent in the next three months and 10.3 percent in the next one year. Similarly, customers above 56 years of age have said that the inflation will rise to 11.2 percent in the next three months and 12.2 percent in one year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, inflation forecasts vary from city to city. Consumers in Birgunj expect price hikes to reach 12.5 percent in the next three months and 13.4 percent in one year. Similarly, customers of Nepalgunj expect inflation to rise to 5.9 percent in the next three months and also 5.9 percent in one year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Most of the world's central banks conduct inflation expectation survey. NRB has also been conducting such surveys since January last year. This is the second survey conducted by NRB. According to Shrestha these surveys make it easier to formulate necessary policies and change policies based on the results of such surveys.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/1%2857%29.jpg" style="height:561px; width:800px" /></span></span><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/2%2867%29.jpg" style="height:344px; width:800px" /></p> <p><em>Source: Nepal Rastra Bank</em></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14086', 'image' => '20211122013811_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 13:37:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14355', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Announces Action Plan to make 'Earning while Learning Programme' more Effective', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 24: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Poudel unveiled 31-point action-plan for effective implementation of the 'Earning while learning' programme. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 24: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Poudel unveiled 31-point action-plan for effective implementation of the 'Earning while learning' programme. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organizing a programme at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology on Tuesday, Minister Poudel shared that all students would be administered vaccine against COVID-19, all municipalities and provinces would be declared fully literate and the Act for compulsory and free education shall be enacted. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Minister Poudel pledged to launch technical education in as many community schools as possible. He also said that the government is committed to print colourful and quality books until grade 12 and take forward the vacancy announcement for the permanent teachers among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Minister also vowed to prepare draft of the federal education act, facilitate the adjustment of teachers' quota, announce scholarship for the poor and diligent students, and monitor the schools' compliance with the healthy safety measures against COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister also committed to make alternative learning more effective and bring into effect the report of the High-Level Education Commission as well as Nepal's policy presented in the UNSECO's general assembly. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, students will disabilities, those injured in various movements, conflict-survivors among would be provide with education opportunities. -RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-24', 'modified' => '2021-11-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14100', 'image' => '20211124113317_earn-while-you-learn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-24 08:27:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14354', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Secures 10 Million Doses of Vaccine for Children Under 18 Years', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 24: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Poudel discussed the issue of vaccinating students above 12 years against COVID-19 with Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada on Tuesday. ', '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 Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 24: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Poudel discussed the issue of vaccinating students above 12 years against COVID-19 with Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada on Tuesday, November 23. <br /> During the meeting held at the Ministry of Health and Population, Minister Poudel suggested that all students above 12 years of age should be vaccinated soon, as they have started attending schools physically. He stressed on the need for the children to be vaccinated against coronavirus at the school itself. <br /> On the occasion, Health Minister Khatiwada shared that 10 million doses of vaccine have been secured for children under 18 years of age in the country. A total of 30 million doses of vaccine are in the pipeline to arrive here, added Minister Khatiwada. -- RSS </span></span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-24', 'modified' => '2021-11-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14099', 'image' => '20211124082102_covidchildren.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-24 08:20:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14353', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Minister Appeals EU to Remove Nepali Airlines from its Blacklist ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 24: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale has reportedly appealed to the high-ranking visiting delegates of the European Union (EU) to consider removing Nepal from the union's blacklist. ', '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 Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 24: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale has reportedly appealed to the high-ranking visiting delegates of the European Union (EU) to consider removing Nepal from the union's blacklist. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At a courtesy meeting held at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation on Tuesday, Minister Ale requested Paola Pampaloni, deputy managing director of the European Union's External Affairs for Asia and the Pacific, to consider removing the ban imposed on airline companies of Nepal from flying in the skies of the European Union-member nations, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pampaloni, who arrived in Nepal last Saturday leading a three-member delegation to participate in the meeting of Nepal-EU Joint Commission slated for today (November 24), reportedly responded to Minister Ale that EU was positive about removing Nepal from its blacklist. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The EU has banned airline companies of Nepal from flying in its airspace since December 5, 2013 citing poor aviation standards of Nepal.</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 Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"A positive talk has begun to remove Nepal from EU's blacklist. Nepal will certainly be removed from it," RSS quoted Pampaloni as saying. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the meeting, the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues concerning bilateral cooperation between Nepal and the EU. </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 Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The European Union has been supporting Nepal in trade and investment, commerce, energy, science and technology, agriculture, human resource development, environment conservation, post-earthquake reconstruction, rural development, nutrition, education, good governance, among others.</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 Unicode MS","sans-serif""><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20210709114537_20210120123339_g576szqpnac61.jpg" style="height:235px; width:450px" /></span></span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-24', 'modified' => '2021-11-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14098', 'image' => '20211124080834_20191031120033_1572142676.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-24 08:07:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14352', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal-Bangladesh Tourism Promotion and B2B Exchange Programme Concludes', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: PATA Nepal Chapter, in collaboration with PATA Bangladesh Chapter, successfully concluded the Nepal-Bangladesh Tourism Promotion and B2B Exchange Program on November 21. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 23: PATA Nepal Chapter, in collaboration with <span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">PATA Bangladesh Chapter</span>, successfully concluded the <span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal-Bangladesh Tourism Promotion and B2B Exchange Program</span> on November 21. The programme had kicked off on November 16.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The joint collaboration between PATA Chapters of Nepal and Bangladesh was done as the post-pandemic tourism recovery initiative to help in promoting each other's destinations through mutual tie-ups and collaboration for both inbound and outbound tourists between the two neighboring nations, the organisers said in a joint statement</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">PATA Nepal Chapter, with the support of its member and partner organizations, hosted the PATA Bangladesh delegation of 17 members including the deputy director and secretary of Bangladesh Tourism Board, chairman and secretary-general of PATA Bangladesh, 10 tour operators, two media persons and two students from PATA Bangladesh Dhaka University Student Chapter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The exchange program included familiarization visit to Pokhara for Bangladeshi delegates from 17th to 19th November 2021 wherein a "Tourism Networking and Interaction Session” was organized in collaboration with Pokhara Tourism Council and NTB Pokhara on November 18 at Hotel Barahi in Pokhara, Nepal. The Tourism Networking program in Pokhara witnessed the enthusiastic participation of 70 plus tour operators and service providers from the tourism fraternity, the statement added. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The formal programme and B2B session held on November 20 at Park Village Resort included presentations on destination insights and business meetings and networking between 12 Bangladeshi tour operators and 14 Nepali tour operators and tourism service providers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">PATA Nepal Chairman, <span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bibhuti Chand Thakur, </span>emphasized the need to embrace the promotion of "regional travel", as an action plan, for reviving tourism. Since the long haul travel might take a little longer to recover, he said that the nearby destinations, preferably accessible by road or short-haul flights, have more opportunities to build back their tourism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Dr. Dhananjay Regmi, CEO of Nepal Tourism Board and Mohammad Saiful Hasan, the deputy director and secretary of Bangladesh Tourism Board, shared their destination insights and thoughts on the prospects of tourism exchange between Nepal and Bangladesh. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Addressing the function, Shahi Hamid, chairman of PATA Bangladesh, said that he got fascinated with the warm hospitality of Nepal, and there are many alluring tourism products and services in Nepal to attract many Bangladeshi travellers. He said that Nepal used to welcome about 26 thousand Bangladeshis annually before the pandemic and this can be easily doubled with effective promotion and marketing initiatives.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Secretary at Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation Yadav Koirala, who was invited as the chief guest of the programme, expressed his sincere thanks to PATA chapters of Nepal and Bangladesh for undertaking the needful and timely initiative to promote regional tourism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He recommended that Nepal needs to enhance its collaborative marketing and promotional events, organize FAM Trips, improve infrastructures (especially road connectivity), and develop extended tour packages to flourish tourism in both countries. He further assured that the Ministry of Tourism shall facilitate the necessary cooperation and support at the government level to increase the tourism engagements between Nepal and Bangladesh.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The event was promoted by Nepal Tourism Board and Bangladesh Tourism Board; and supported by Himalaya Airlines and Buddha Air (airlines partners), Pokhara Tourism Council (organizing partner), The Royal Mountain Travel (transportation partner), and Hospitality Partners including- The Everest Hotel, KGH Group of Hotels, Aloft, Radisson, Siddhartha Hotel, and The Old Inn.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14097', 'image' => '20211123044607_4.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 16:45:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14351', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shortage of Coal Results in Increase in Price of Bricks', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: Coal is the main source of energy used in brick kilns.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 23: Coal is the main source of energy used in brick kilns. Nepal used to import coal from India before the southern neighbor banned its export. Currently, coal is imported from the United States of America and Indonesia at rates as high as 300 percent compared to that of India. This has caused a big problem to brick kilns.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A total of 85 brick kilns of Province 1 have not been able to bake the raw bricks due to the shortage of coal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The president of Province 1 chapter of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Bhim Ghimire who is also the coordinator of AB Bricks and Tiles Industry, said that bricks could not be produced for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic and that the price of bricks would be higher due to increase in cost of coal and labor charge. According to him, it is more likely for the prices of bricks to reach Rs 25 per piece from Rs 23 per piece.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The price of No.1 brick was only Rs 18 per piece two years ago. The price of brick has increased by Rs 7 per piece in just the interval of 3 years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The price of coal, which was available for US$ 96 per ton two years ago, increased by three folds to US$ 280 per ton. It costs Rs 40,000 to 42,000 per ton in Nepal. However, the brick kilns are facing a shortage of coal as it takes at least six months for the coal to arrive in Nepal via ship from the United States and Indonesia.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ramesh Bhagat, operator of ACC Brick Industry, informed that the availability of coal has begun to increase alongside the decline in the prices. The price of coal which used to cost US$ 280 per ton has now dropped to US$ 240, he said. Until two years ago, coal used to be bought and sold at US$ 95 per ton in the international market.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the brick industry of Nepal could not produce new bricks for the last two years because the workers coming from West Bengal of India could not arrive in Nepal. Although some of the few industries produced bricks with the help of indigenous workers, they could not sustain the business.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The price of bricks which was Rs 18 per piece before the Covid-19 pandemic reached to Rs 23 per piece after the brick industries started to close down. This time as well, due to the increase in the price of coal and the labor cost of Indian workers, new bricks can be sent to the market only at Rs 25 per piece, said Bhagat.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bhagat says, “Even now, the production price of bricks reaches up to Rs 28 per piece. But to maintain the balance in the market, it will be sold at Rs 25 per piece this time as per the policy of increasing prices gradually without increasing it all at once.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Before the lockdown, 85 brick factories in Province 1 had been producing bricks worth Rs 3.40 billion annually. Industrialists said that if the supply of coal eases this year, bricks would be produced in the same proportion. This time the workers have already arrived in September because they had already received the money in August at their residence in Kuch Vihar, West Bengal, India. In Province 1, around 22,000 workers come from Kuch Vihar every year. This year the number of workers has reached 25,000.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Province 1 has been producing 350 million bricks annually. From this, the industrialists have been paying revenue of Rs 350 million to the government. Mahendra Shah, the president of the Brick Producers Association Morang, said that the prices had gone up last year after an interval of six years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rajan Timsina, the general secretary of the Koshi Brick Industry Entrepreneurs Association said it would take six months for the coal to arrive in Nepal from the United States and Indonesia. He said that the brick industry is not in a position to produce at full capacity right now due to the delay in transportation of coal by ships, delay in coal production and other lengthy processes.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14096', 'image' => '20211123042541_sddefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 16:24:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14350', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' NEA to Sign PPA on a Needs Basis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: The government has decided to sign power purchase agreement (PPA) by determining the need of electricity per year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 23: The government has decided to sign power purchase agreement (PPA) by determining the need of electricity per year. For such agreement, projects of semi-reservoir and reservoir nature will be given special priority.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has already signed a PPA for a 6,000 MW river flow project. Similarly, projects with capacity of 9,000 MW are awaiting for PPA.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">PPA has been halted for the last three years. The private sector has not only objected to the suspension of the PPA, but has also demanded its immediate resumption. The Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation is preparing to sign the PPA by determining the capacity of the project.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal has also been publicly stating that PPA will be signed by determining the need.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> In India, memorandum of understanding is signed only for project construction.</span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> PPA is signed only after the construction of the project.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA has been signing PPA at Rs 4.80 per unit in rainy season and Rs 8.40 per unit in winter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Time and again, demands have also been raised that PPA should be signed on the basis of expense. Taking into account all the facts and circumstances, both the ministry and the authority seem to be thinking of taking the process forward on the basis of competition.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Bhusal says that it will be more materialistic when the agreement is done considering the demand for electricity in the next 10 years.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director of NEA Kulman Ghising said that the PPA of semi-reservoir and reservoir projects has not been stopped even though there is no PPA for the river-flow project immediately.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA had decided to provide an average of Rs 12 per unit for reservoir projects in 2074. The seasonal rate has also been fixed. Reservoir projects also seem essential for the energy security of the country.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">An energy expert and president of the Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Professor Amritman Nakarmi says that each country has an additional 30 percent energy reserve for energy security. He added that focus must be given to reservoir project as it would be effective in the case of Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">So far, more than 2,000 MW of electricity has been connected to the national grid. Similarly, 138 projects with total capacity of 3,507 MW are under construction. Similarly, preparations are underway for the construction of 99 projects with capacity of 1,851 MW.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Independent Power Producers’ Association of Nepal (IPPAN), 208 projects with capacity of 16,574 MW are in various stages of study. Two projects with capacity of 1,579 MW are also under construction. A total of 611 projects with a total capacity of 25,417 MW are in the process of construction in one way or another.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Financially and technically, projects with capacity of 57,000 MW are in a position to be constructed within Nepal. The government has strategically taken forward the issue of constructing reservoir project in every province except Province 2. The Tamor Reservoir Project of Province 1 is currently being studied.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hydroelectricity Investment and Development Company Ltd (HIDCL) </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">of Nepal is continuing the study in collaboration with Chinese company Power China. Similarly, the study of Sunkoshi II and III are being conducted in Bagmati Province.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The construction of 1,200 megawatt Budhi Gandaki hydropower project along the border of Bagmati and Gandaki provinces has not been done even though the study was completed a long time ago. Similarly, the process has been taken forward to construct reservoir projects in Gandaki, Karnali, Lumbini and Far West. Emphasis has been given on the importance of water resources projects for energy security. </span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14095', 'image' => '20211123040237_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 16:02:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14349', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Capital Expenditure of Provinces Stands Below 5 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: The capital expenditure of provincial governments stands below five percent in the first four months of the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 23: The capital expenditure of provincial governments stands below five percent in the first four months of the current fiscal year. At a time when the federal government is being criticised for its poor capital expenditure, data of capital expenditure of the provincial governments is also found to be significantly low. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Financial Comptroller General Office of Province 2, the province has spent only two percent of the allocated budget of Rs 18.05 billion. Likewise, Bagmati Province has spent only 4.85 percent of the development budget of Rs 29.70 billion allocated for the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Gandaki Province has allocated Rs 16.73 billion under development expenditure. It has spent eight percent of the budget during the review period. Initially the Gandaki Province government had announced a capital budget of Rs 21.17 billion for the current fiscal year. However, the new government formed under the leadership of CPN (Maoist Centre) replaced the previous budget brought through an ordinance and downsized the budget. The new provincial government was occupied in the expansion of the cabinet for a long time and is preparing to introduce the work procedure to spend the budget after in the beginning of the second quarter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the Lumbini Province has only made a capital expenditure of 2.83 percent of the allocated budget in the first four months of the current fiscal year. According to the Provincial Financial Comptroller General Office, Butwal, of the allocated budget of Rs 22.47, only Rs 635.7 million has been spent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Province 1 had allocated Rs 15.5 billion budget for capital expenditure in the current fiscal year 2021/22. Suman Dahal, Provincial Secretary at the Financial Comptroller General, Biratnagar, said about 15 percent of the allocated budget has been spent in the first quarter. He said that Province 1 has increased capital expenditure compared to other states and has been working aggressively. The data shows development expenditure of Province 1 is relatively higher than other provinces.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, Karnali Province has made a capital expenditure of only 2.9 percent while the Far Western Province has also spent only 3.54 percent of the allocated budget.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Jagadish Chandra Pokhrel, former vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission, the development budget could not be spent as expected due to increasing political instability in the provinces like in the federal government. He believes that political leadership's focus was shifted in forming and toppling the government rather than on development activities.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14094', 'image' => '20211123023300_1637623950.1 - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 14:27:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14348', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Customs Offices of Birgunj meet Revenue Target in the First Quarter of current FY ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: The two customs offices of Birgunj have met the revenue target set for the first four months of the current Fiscal Year (FY 2078/79).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 23: The two customs offices of Birgunj have met the revenue target set for the first four months of the current Fiscal Year (FY 2078/79). Birgunj Customs and Dry Port Customs have collected Rs 87.07 billion revenue in the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> According to the Birgunj Customs Office, the revenue collection has improved in the current FY as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has declined while foreign trade has increased.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The data shows that the Birgunj customs, which collected revenue of Rs 43.67 billion from July to November last year, has collected Rs 70.12 billion in the review period of the current FY.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Chief Customs Officer of Birgunj Customs Harihar Poudel, the Birgunj Customs has collected Rs 26.48 billion value added tax and Rs 25.41 billion in customs duty on imports during this period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The customs has collected eight percent more revenue than the target. The Birgunj Customs had set a target of raising Rs 65.11 billion revenue in the first four months of the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chief of Dry Port Customs Office Lal Bahadur Khatri said that the customs office has collected about four percent more revenue than the target set for this period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The dry port customs collected revenue of Rs 16.94 billion during the period, said customs officer Balram Bhandari. The target for the first four months of the current fiscal year was Rs 16.30 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Based on the volume of import and export, the Birgunj customs is considered as the country’s largest customs point. Mostly, industrial raw materials, petroleum products, and vehicles are mainly imported from this customs point. Likewise, processed edible oil, juice, textile and other products are exported through this customs. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14093', 'image' => '20211123011756_20210516024759_20210118020708_1610926784.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 13:17:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14347', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Preparations Underway to Hike the Prices of Dairy Products', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: The government is preparing to increase the prices of processed milk and dairy products.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 23: The government is preparing to increase the prices of processed milk and dairy products. The Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) has taken the initiative to hike the prices of dairy products in consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Dairy Development Board, Nepal Dairy Association, Dairy Industries Association, Department of Livestock Services and other stakeholders.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The decision to hike the prices was taken in the wake of the rise in prices of cattle feed amid Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the crisis created by the pandemic, production cost of milk and milk products has been increasing day by day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Dairy Development Corporation has fixed the price of processed milk at Rs 72 per litre for the producers. Similarly, the price of curd has been fixed between Rs 90 to Rs 100 per litre depending on the quality of the product while the price of ghee has been fixed at Rs 815 per kg.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Information officer at the DDC, Balak Chaudhary, said that they are consulting with stakeholders about the price hike but are yet to reach a decision regarding how much they shall increase the price. Chaudhary estimates that the price of milk products is likely to increase by Rs 8 to Rs 10 per litre.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Milk producers and farmers have been complaining that they are not getting the right price of their produce due to inflation. They argue that they will be at a loss unless the price is increased.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is estimated that around 2.4 million metric tons of milk is produced in Nepal annually. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14092', 'image' => '20211123102546_20200223125404_1 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 10:25:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14346', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Construction of Kohalpur-Surkhet 132 KV Transmission Line Stalled ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: Construction of the Kohalpur-Surkhet 132 KV power transmission line has been stalled due to the delay in forwarding the process of authorizing the project to cut down trees along the right of way of the transmission line. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 23: Construction of the Kohalpur-Surkhet 132 KV power transmission line has been stalled due to the delay in forwarding the process of authorizing the project to cut down trees along the right of way of the transmission line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The construction of the towers for the transmission of electricity has been affected as the trees lying under the right of way of the transmission line in the forests of Banke, Bardiya and Surkhet remain to be chopped. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project has proposed cutting down 13,119 trees in the forests of Banke, Bardiya and Surkhet for this purpose. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Project chief Rabi Kumar Chaudhary said the construction of the transmission line has been affected due to the delay in approval for cutting trees. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"All the preparations have been completed from our side including the project and Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). It is the job of the Ministry of Forest and Environment to forward the proposal on cutting down trees to the Council of Ministers for its approval," said project chief Chaudhary. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project has to be completed by August 2022 as per the agreement between the project and the Indian contractor, RS Infra-Project. The contract for the construction of the project had been signed in July 2020. With the delay in getting approval for cutting down trees in forest area, the project has been constructing the transmission towers only at places that do not fall in forest areas. It has constructed the foundation of the towers at 13 places so far. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Altogether 161 double-circuit towers have to be constructed for the nearly 52 kilometres long transmission line. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14091', 'image' => '20211123095556_Transmission.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 09:55:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14345', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Four Companies Shortlisted for Installation of Nepal's Satellite', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: Four companies have been shortlisted for carrying out the study required for placing Nepal's own satellite into the orbit. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 22: Four companies have been shortlisted for carrying out the study required for placing Nepal's own satellite into the orbit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) shortlisted four out of eight international companies that had presented technical and financial proposal last month. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The shortlisted companies are Euro Consult of France, Turksat of Turkey, S3Tel Inc of the UAE and Thailand's Thaicom. Based upon the technical and financial proposal presented by the shortlisted companies, one company will be selected to work towards launching Nepal's satellite, said NTA's spokesperson Santosh Poudel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has set the target of operating the country's own satellite within 2022 and has already released a policy for it last July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Earlier, 22 companies from 12 different countries had submitted their expression of intent for putting into orbit Nepal's satellite. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14090', 'image' => '20211122095718_20170305031547_NTA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 21:56:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14344', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Starts Providing COVID-19 Vaccine to All Above 18 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: The government has started providing COVID-19 vaccine to all people above 18 years of age.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 22: The government has started providing COVID-19 vaccine to all people above 18 years of age. Prior to this, the vaccination campaign was focused on target groups, but now it is available for all. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Joint Spokesperson at the Ministry of Health and Population, Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari said the government has decided to provide vaccines to all above 18 as the supplies have become regular. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He urged all eligible citizens who missed the previous vaccination campaigns to visit the nearby vaccinations centers and get the shot. The government has a target of vaccinating one-third of the population by mid-January and 21.07 million people by mid-April next year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Till date, 30 percent of the total population has been given the first dose of vaccine while the population receiving the full-course is 26 percent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Kathmandu District Health Office Chief Shambhu Kafley said the vaccine is available at five centers: Birendra Military Hospital, Nepal Police Hospital, Shahid Memorial Hospital, Kalanki; Vayodha Hospital, Balkhu; Lhotse Building in New Buspark, Gongabu; and the Herbs Processing Center, Jadibuti in Kathmandu. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14089', 'image' => '20211122044754_20210713023934_1626133196.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 16:47:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14343', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '30 Local Units yet to Announce Budget for Current Fiscal Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: Although it is mandatory for the local units to present their budget in the village council to manage the expenditure for the new fiscal year, 30 local units have tried to spend illegally without presenting the budget for the current fiscal year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 22: Although it is mandatory for the local units to present their budget in the village council to manage the expenditure for the new fiscal year, 30 local units have tried to spend illegally without presenting the budget for the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Local Government Operation Act, 2074 and the Intergovernmental Fiscal Arrangement Act, all local levels must bring a budget within June 23 and no expenditure can be made without passing the budget. The budget goes to the local level from the federal government through four types of grants, revenue sharing and natural resource allocation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Based on the same sources, the local level should make an estimated budget and submit it to the village council in time as per the constitutional provision. However, these local levels are running the expenses for four months by violating the provision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Basant Adhikari, joint secretary at the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, said that the local levels have ignored the circular twice to bring the budget on time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the ministry, out of 136 local levels of Province 2, a total of 25 local units are spending without presenting their budget. Six local levels from Dhanusha district, five from Rautahat, four from Bara, three each from Siraha and Parsa, two from Saptari, and one each from Mahottari and Sarlahi have not presented their budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although 116 out of 119 local levels of Bagmati Pradesh have submitted budget, three local levels have not been able to present their budget. Likewise, out of 137 local levels of Province 1, two have not submitted their budget yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Altogether 85 local levels in Gandaki, 109 in Lumbini, 79 in Karnali and 88 in the far-western region have already presented their respective budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The main reason for the failure of most of the local levels to present their budget is the quarrel among the people's representatives. According to federal affairs ministry, the local levels that have not submitted the budget have been repeatedly instructed to submit their budget and they have also written to the Ministry of Finance for further action. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Adhikari, letters have been sent to the finance ministry to stop the grants to those local units for not bringing the budget within the stipulated time. As they do not have the authority to take action, he said that the recommendation has already been made and the grants will be stopped.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Ministry of Finance, the government has the right to withhold the financial equalization grants to the local levels if they do not bring the budget on time. Ministry officials say that the government will be forced to stop such grants if they try to run the expenditure without bringing the budget. “Expenditure made after July 16 without presenting the budget on June 24 is unconstitutional and illegal. We will stop the grant,” said a senior official at the finance ministry. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14088', 'image' => '20211122025540_20190609013126_20190531021713_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 14:54:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14342', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Stresses on Expanding ties with European Union', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: Nepal has given special emphasis on expanding its relation with the European Union.', 'content' => '<p><em>Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka (2nd R) with visiting delegates from the EU. Photo Courtesy: MoFA</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 22: Nepal has given special emphasis on expanding its relation with the European Union (EU). Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka expressed the desire to expand Nepal’s relation with the EU during his meeting with the Deputy Managing Director of EU for Asia and the Pacific of European External Affairs Service, Paola Pampaloni. The meeting was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singha Durbar on Sunday, November 21. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pampaloni is in Nepal leading a three-member delegation for the 13th meeting of Nepal-EU Joint Commission scheduled for November 24. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During Sunday’s meeting, Minister Khadka discussed topics of mutual interest as well as regional and multilateral affairs with the visiting delegates. Range of matters concerning Nepal-EU partnership were discussed including development cooperation, trade and civil aviation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The European Union has been supporting Nepal in trade and investment, commerce, energy, science and technology, agriculture, human resource development, environment conservation, post-earthquake reconstruction, rural development, nutrition, education, good governance, among others. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14087', 'image' => '20211122024609_FEsY1bZUUAQmqeq.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 14:43:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14341', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'People Expect Inflation to Reach Double Digit in One Year: NRB Survey', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: Nepal's inflation is expected to reach double digit next year, according to the Inflation Expectation Survey released by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 22: Nepal's inflation is expected to reach double digit next year, according to the Inflation Expectation Survey released by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). The survey was conducted by the central bank from October 3 to 8.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The survey has revealed that the mean inflation and median average inflation are expected to reach 10.3 percent and 9 percent respectively in the next one year. In the next three months of the current fiscal year, mean and median inflation expectations remain at 9.6 percent and eight percent respectively. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director of NRB Dr Prakash Kumar Shrestha, who heads the Economic Research Department of the central bank, said people surveyed in the report expected price hikes in the coming months. Inflation expectation has been determined on the basis of the response given by market consumers. However, it is the report on the current macroeconomic and financial situation of the country that determines if the inflation occurs accordingly or not. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The recent macroeconomic and financial situation report of the central bank had projected an average inflation of 9.4 percent in September. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The inflation expectation varies according to the age of the customer. Consumers of 25 years of age expect average inflation to reach 10.6 percent in the next three months and 10.3 percent in the next one year. Similarly, customers above 56 years of age have said that the inflation will rise to 11.2 percent in the next three months and 12.2 percent in one year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, inflation forecasts vary from city to city. Consumers in Birgunj expect price hikes to reach 12.5 percent in the next three months and 13.4 percent in one year. Similarly, customers of Nepalgunj expect inflation to rise to 5.9 percent in the next three months and also 5.9 percent in one year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Most of the world's central banks conduct inflation expectation survey. NRB has also been conducting such surveys since January last year. This is the second survey conducted by NRB. According to Shrestha these surveys make it easier to formulate necessary policies and change policies based on the results of such surveys.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/1%2857%29.jpg" style="height:561px; width:800px" /></span></span><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/2%2867%29.jpg" style="height:344px; width:800px" /></p> <p><em>Source: Nepal Rastra Bank</em></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14086', 'image' => '20211122013811_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 13:37:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14355', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Announces Action Plan to make 'Earning while Learning Programme' more Effective', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 24: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Poudel unveiled 31-point action-plan for effective implementation of the 'Earning while learning' programme. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 24: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Poudel unveiled 31-point action-plan for effective implementation of the 'Earning while learning' programme. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organizing a programme at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology on Tuesday, Minister Poudel shared that all students would be administered vaccine against COVID-19, all municipalities and provinces would be declared fully literate and the Act for compulsory and free education shall be enacted. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Minister Poudel pledged to launch technical education in as many community schools as possible. He also said that the government is committed to print colourful and quality books until grade 12 and take forward the vacancy announcement for the permanent teachers among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Minister also vowed to prepare draft of the federal education act, facilitate the adjustment of teachers' quota, announce scholarship for the poor and diligent students, and monitor the schools' compliance with the healthy safety measures against COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister also committed to make alternative learning more effective and bring into effect the report of the High-Level Education Commission as well as Nepal's policy presented in the UNSECO's general assembly. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, students will disabilities, those injured in various movements, conflict-survivors among would be provide with education opportunities. -RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-24', 'modified' => '2021-11-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14100', 'image' => '20211124113317_earn-while-you-learn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-24 08:27:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14354', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Secures 10 Million Doses of Vaccine for Children Under 18 Years', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 24: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Poudel discussed the issue of vaccinating students above 12 years against COVID-19 with Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada on Tuesday. ', '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 Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 24: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Poudel discussed the issue of vaccinating students above 12 years against COVID-19 with Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada on Tuesday, November 23. <br /> During the meeting held at the Ministry of Health and Population, Minister Poudel suggested that all students above 12 years of age should be vaccinated soon, as they have started attending schools physically. He stressed on the need for the children to be vaccinated against coronavirus at the school itself. <br /> On the occasion, Health Minister Khatiwada shared that 10 million doses of vaccine have been secured for children under 18 years of age in the country. A total of 30 million doses of vaccine are in the pipeline to arrive here, added Minister Khatiwada. -- RSS </span></span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-24', 'modified' => '2021-11-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14099', 'image' => '20211124082102_covidchildren.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-24 08:20:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14353', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Minister Appeals EU to Remove Nepali Airlines from its Blacklist ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 24: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale has reportedly appealed to the high-ranking visiting delegates of the European Union (EU) to consider removing Nepal from the union's blacklist. ', '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 Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 24: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale has reportedly appealed to the high-ranking visiting delegates of the European Union (EU) to consider removing Nepal from the union's blacklist. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At a courtesy meeting held at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation on Tuesday, Minister Ale requested Paola Pampaloni, deputy managing director of the European Union's External Affairs for Asia and the Pacific, to consider removing the ban imposed on airline companies of Nepal from flying in the skies of the European Union-member nations, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pampaloni, who arrived in Nepal last Saturday leading a three-member delegation to participate in the meeting of Nepal-EU Joint Commission slated for today (November 24), reportedly responded to Minister Ale that EU was positive about removing Nepal from its blacklist. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The EU has banned airline companies of Nepal from flying in its airspace since December 5, 2013 citing poor aviation standards of Nepal.</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 Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"A positive talk has begun to remove Nepal from EU's blacklist. Nepal will certainly be removed from it," RSS quoted Pampaloni as saying. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the meeting, the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues concerning bilateral cooperation between Nepal and the EU. </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 Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The European Union has been supporting Nepal in trade and investment, commerce, energy, science and technology, agriculture, human resource development, environment conservation, post-earthquake reconstruction, rural development, nutrition, education, good governance, among others.</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 Unicode MS","sans-serif""><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20210709114537_20210120123339_g576szqpnac61.jpg" style="height:235px; width:450px" /></span></span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-24', 'modified' => '2021-11-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14098', 'image' => '20211124080834_20191031120033_1572142676.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-24 08:07:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14352', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal-Bangladesh Tourism Promotion and B2B Exchange Programme Concludes', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: PATA Nepal Chapter, in collaboration with PATA Bangladesh Chapter, successfully concluded the Nepal-Bangladesh Tourism Promotion and B2B Exchange Program on November 21. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 23: PATA Nepal Chapter, in collaboration with <span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">PATA Bangladesh Chapter</span>, successfully concluded the <span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal-Bangladesh Tourism Promotion and B2B Exchange Program</span> on November 21. The programme had kicked off on November 16.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The joint collaboration between PATA Chapters of Nepal and Bangladesh was done as the post-pandemic tourism recovery initiative to help in promoting each other's destinations through mutual tie-ups and collaboration for both inbound and outbound tourists between the two neighboring nations, the organisers said in a joint statement</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">PATA Nepal Chapter, with the support of its member and partner organizations, hosted the PATA Bangladesh delegation of 17 members including the deputy director and secretary of Bangladesh Tourism Board, chairman and secretary-general of PATA Bangladesh, 10 tour operators, two media persons and two students from PATA Bangladesh Dhaka University Student Chapter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The exchange program included familiarization visit to Pokhara for Bangladeshi delegates from 17th to 19th November 2021 wherein a "Tourism Networking and Interaction Session” was organized in collaboration with Pokhara Tourism Council and NTB Pokhara on November 18 at Hotel Barahi in Pokhara, Nepal. The Tourism Networking program in Pokhara witnessed the enthusiastic participation of 70 plus tour operators and service providers from the tourism fraternity, the statement added. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The formal programme and B2B session held on November 20 at Park Village Resort included presentations on destination insights and business meetings and networking between 12 Bangladeshi tour operators and 14 Nepali tour operators and tourism service providers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">PATA Nepal Chairman, <span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bibhuti Chand Thakur, </span>emphasized the need to embrace the promotion of "regional travel", as an action plan, for reviving tourism. Since the long haul travel might take a little longer to recover, he said that the nearby destinations, preferably accessible by road or short-haul flights, have more opportunities to build back their tourism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Dr. Dhananjay Regmi, CEO of Nepal Tourism Board and Mohammad Saiful Hasan, the deputy director and secretary of Bangladesh Tourism Board, shared their destination insights and thoughts on the prospects of tourism exchange between Nepal and Bangladesh. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Addressing the function, Shahi Hamid, chairman of PATA Bangladesh, said that he got fascinated with the warm hospitality of Nepal, and there are many alluring tourism products and services in Nepal to attract many Bangladeshi travellers. He said that Nepal used to welcome about 26 thousand Bangladeshis annually before the pandemic and this can be easily doubled with effective promotion and marketing initiatives.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Secretary at Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation Yadav Koirala, who was invited as the chief guest of the programme, expressed his sincere thanks to PATA chapters of Nepal and Bangladesh for undertaking the needful and timely initiative to promote regional tourism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He recommended that Nepal needs to enhance its collaborative marketing and promotional events, organize FAM Trips, improve infrastructures (especially road connectivity), and develop extended tour packages to flourish tourism in both countries. He further assured that the Ministry of Tourism shall facilitate the necessary cooperation and support at the government level to increase the tourism engagements between Nepal and Bangladesh.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The event was promoted by Nepal Tourism Board and Bangladesh Tourism Board; and supported by Himalaya Airlines and Buddha Air (airlines partners), Pokhara Tourism Council (organizing partner), The Royal Mountain Travel (transportation partner), and Hospitality Partners including- The Everest Hotel, KGH Group of Hotels, Aloft, Radisson, Siddhartha Hotel, and The Old Inn.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14097', 'image' => '20211123044607_4.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 16:45:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14351', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shortage of Coal Results in Increase in Price of Bricks', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: Coal is the main source of energy used in brick kilns.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 23: Coal is the main source of energy used in brick kilns. Nepal used to import coal from India before the southern neighbor banned its export. Currently, coal is imported from the United States of America and Indonesia at rates as high as 300 percent compared to that of India. This has caused a big problem to brick kilns.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A total of 85 brick kilns of Province 1 have not been able to bake the raw bricks due to the shortage of coal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The president of Province 1 chapter of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Bhim Ghimire who is also the coordinator of AB Bricks and Tiles Industry, said that bricks could not be produced for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic and that the price of bricks would be higher due to increase in cost of coal and labor charge. According to him, it is more likely for the prices of bricks to reach Rs 25 per piece from Rs 23 per piece.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The price of No.1 brick was only Rs 18 per piece two years ago. The price of brick has increased by Rs 7 per piece in just the interval of 3 years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The price of coal, which was available for US$ 96 per ton two years ago, increased by three folds to US$ 280 per ton. It costs Rs 40,000 to 42,000 per ton in Nepal. However, the brick kilns are facing a shortage of coal as it takes at least six months for the coal to arrive in Nepal via ship from the United States and Indonesia.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ramesh Bhagat, operator of ACC Brick Industry, informed that the availability of coal has begun to increase alongside the decline in the prices. The price of coal which used to cost US$ 280 per ton has now dropped to US$ 240, he said. Until two years ago, coal used to be bought and sold at US$ 95 per ton in the international market.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the brick industry of Nepal could not produce new bricks for the last two years because the workers coming from West Bengal of India could not arrive in Nepal. Although some of the few industries produced bricks with the help of indigenous workers, they could not sustain the business.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The price of bricks which was Rs 18 per piece before the Covid-19 pandemic reached to Rs 23 per piece after the brick industries started to close down. This time as well, due to the increase in the price of coal and the labor cost of Indian workers, new bricks can be sent to the market only at Rs 25 per piece, said Bhagat.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bhagat says, “Even now, the production price of bricks reaches up to Rs 28 per piece. But to maintain the balance in the market, it will be sold at Rs 25 per piece this time as per the policy of increasing prices gradually without increasing it all at once.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Before the lockdown, 85 brick factories in Province 1 had been producing bricks worth Rs 3.40 billion annually. Industrialists said that if the supply of coal eases this year, bricks would be produced in the same proportion. This time the workers have already arrived in September because they had already received the money in August at their residence in Kuch Vihar, West Bengal, India. In Province 1, around 22,000 workers come from Kuch Vihar every year. This year the number of workers has reached 25,000.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Province 1 has been producing 350 million bricks annually. From this, the industrialists have been paying revenue of Rs 350 million to the government. Mahendra Shah, the president of the Brick Producers Association Morang, said that the prices had gone up last year after an interval of six years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rajan Timsina, the general secretary of the Koshi Brick Industry Entrepreneurs Association said it would take six months for the coal to arrive in Nepal from the United States and Indonesia. He said that the brick industry is not in a position to produce at full capacity right now due to the delay in transportation of coal by ships, delay in coal production and other lengthy processes.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14096', 'image' => '20211123042541_sddefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 16:24:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14350', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' NEA to Sign PPA on a Needs Basis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: The government has decided to sign power purchase agreement (PPA) by determining the need of electricity per year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 23: The government has decided to sign power purchase agreement (PPA) by determining the need of electricity per year. For such agreement, projects of semi-reservoir and reservoir nature will be given special priority.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has already signed a PPA for a 6,000 MW river flow project. Similarly, projects with capacity of 9,000 MW are awaiting for PPA.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">PPA has been halted for the last three years. The private sector has not only objected to the suspension of the PPA, but has also demanded its immediate resumption. The Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation is preparing to sign the PPA by determining the capacity of the project.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal has also been publicly stating that PPA will be signed by determining the need.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> In India, memorandum of understanding is signed only for project construction.</span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> PPA is signed only after the construction of the project.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA has been signing PPA at Rs 4.80 per unit in rainy season and Rs 8.40 per unit in winter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Time and again, demands have also been raised that PPA should be signed on the basis of expense. Taking into account all the facts and circumstances, both the ministry and the authority seem to be thinking of taking the process forward on the basis of competition.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Bhusal says that it will be more materialistic when the agreement is done considering the demand for electricity in the next 10 years.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director of NEA Kulman Ghising said that the PPA of semi-reservoir and reservoir projects has not been stopped even though there is no PPA for the river-flow project immediately.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA had decided to provide an average of Rs 12 per unit for reservoir projects in 2074. The seasonal rate has also been fixed. Reservoir projects also seem essential for the energy security of the country.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">An energy expert and president of the Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Professor Amritman Nakarmi says that each country has an additional 30 percent energy reserve for energy security. He added that focus must be given to reservoir project as it would be effective in the case of Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">So far, more than 2,000 MW of electricity has been connected to the national grid. Similarly, 138 projects with total capacity of 3,507 MW are under construction. Similarly, preparations are underway for the construction of 99 projects with capacity of 1,851 MW.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Independent Power Producers’ Association of Nepal (IPPAN), 208 projects with capacity of 16,574 MW are in various stages of study. Two projects with capacity of 1,579 MW are also under construction. A total of 611 projects with a total capacity of 25,417 MW are in the process of construction in one way or another.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Financially and technically, projects with capacity of 57,000 MW are in a position to be constructed within Nepal. The government has strategically taken forward the issue of constructing reservoir project in every province except Province 2. The Tamor Reservoir Project of Province 1 is currently being studied.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hydroelectricity Investment and Development Company Ltd (HIDCL) </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">of Nepal is continuing the study in collaboration with Chinese company Power China. Similarly, the study of Sunkoshi II and III are being conducted in Bagmati Province.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The construction of 1,200 megawatt Budhi Gandaki hydropower project along the border of Bagmati and Gandaki provinces has not been done even though the study was completed a long time ago. Similarly, the process has been taken forward to construct reservoir projects in Gandaki, Karnali, Lumbini and Far West. Emphasis has been given on the importance of water resources projects for energy security. </span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14095', 'image' => '20211123040237_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 16:02:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14349', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Capital Expenditure of Provinces Stands Below 5 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: The capital expenditure of provincial governments stands below five percent in the first four months of the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 23: The capital expenditure of provincial governments stands below five percent in the first four months of the current fiscal year. At a time when the federal government is being criticised for its poor capital expenditure, data of capital expenditure of the provincial governments is also found to be significantly low. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Financial Comptroller General Office of Province 2, the province has spent only two percent of the allocated budget of Rs 18.05 billion. Likewise, Bagmati Province has spent only 4.85 percent of the development budget of Rs 29.70 billion allocated for the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Gandaki Province has allocated Rs 16.73 billion under development expenditure. It has spent eight percent of the budget during the review period. Initially the Gandaki Province government had announced a capital budget of Rs 21.17 billion for the current fiscal year. However, the new government formed under the leadership of CPN (Maoist Centre) replaced the previous budget brought through an ordinance and downsized the budget. The new provincial government was occupied in the expansion of the cabinet for a long time and is preparing to introduce the work procedure to spend the budget after in the beginning of the second quarter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the Lumbini Province has only made a capital expenditure of 2.83 percent of the allocated budget in the first four months of the current fiscal year. According to the Provincial Financial Comptroller General Office, Butwal, of the allocated budget of Rs 22.47, only Rs 635.7 million has been spent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Province 1 had allocated Rs 15.5 billion budget for capital expenditure in the current fiscal year 2021/22. Suman Dahal, Provincial Secretary at the Financial Comptroller General, Biratnagar, said about 15 percent of the allocated budget has been spent in the first quarter. He said that Province 1 has increased capital expenditure compared to other states and has been working aggressively. The data shows development expenditure of Province 1 is relatively higher than other provinces.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, Karnali Province has made a capital expenditure of only 2.9 percent while the Far Western Province has also spent only 3.54 percent of the allocated budget.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Jagadish Chandra Pokhrel, former vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission, the development budget could not be spent as expected due to increasing political instability in the provinces like in the federal government. He believes that political leadership's focus was shifted in forming and toppling the government rather than on development activities.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14094', 'image' => '20211123023300_1637623950.1 - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 14:27:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14348', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Customs Offices of Birgunj meet Revenue Target in the First Quarter of current FY ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: The two customs offices of Birgunj have met the revenue target set for the first four months of the current Fiscal Year (FY 2078/79).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 23: The two customs offices of Birgunj have met the revenue target set for the first four months of the current Fiscal Year (FY 2078/79). Birgunj Customs and Dry Port Customs have collected Rs 87.07 billion revenue in the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> According to the Birgunj Customs Office, the revenue collection has improved in the current FY as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has declined while foreign trade has increased.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The data shows that the Birgunj customs, which collected revenue of Rs 43.67 billion from July to November last year, has collected Rs 70.12 billion in the review period of the current FY.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Chief Customs Officer of Birgunj Customs Harihar Poudel, the Birgunj Customs has collected Rs 26.48 billion value added tax and Rs 25.41 billion in customs duty on imports during this period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The customs has collected eight percent more revenue than the target. The Birgunj Customs had set a target of raising Rs 65.11 billion revenue in the first four months of the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chief of Dry Port Customs Office Lal Bahadur Khatri said that the customs office has collected about four percent more revenue than the target set for this period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The dry port customs collected revenue of Rs 16.94 billion during the period, said customs officer Balram Bhandari. The target for the first four months of the current fiscal year was Rs 16.30 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Based on the volume of import and export, the Birgunj customs is considered as the country’s largest customs point. Mostly, industrial raw materials, petroleum products, and vehicles are mainly imported from this customs point. Likewise, processed edible oil, juice, textile and other products are exported through this customs. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14093', 'image' => '20211123011756_20210516024759_20210118020708_1610926784.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 13:17:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14347', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Preparations Underway to Hike the Prices of Dairy Products', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: The government is preparing to increase the prices of processed milk and dairy products.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 23: The government is preparing to increase the prices of processed milk and dairy products. The Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) has taken the initiative to hike the prices of dairy products in consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Dairy Development Board, Nepal Dairy Association, Dairy Industries Association, Department of Livestock Services and other stakeholders.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The decision to hike the prices was taken in the wake of the rise in prices of cattle feed amid Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the crisis created by the pandemic, production cost of milk and milk products has been increasing day by day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Dairy Development Corporation has fixed the price of processed milk at Rs 72 per litre for the producers. Similarly, the price of curd has been fixed between Rs 90 to Rs 100 per litre depending on the quality of the product while the price of ghee has been fixed at Rs 815 per kg.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Information officer at the DDC, Balak Chaudhary, said that they are consulting with stakeholders about the price hike but are yet to reach a decision regarding how much they shall increase the price. Chaudhary estimates that the price of milk products is likely to increase by Rs 8 to Rs 10 per litre.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Milk producers and farmers have been complaining that they are not getting the right price of their produce due to inflation. They argue that they will be at a loss unless the price is increased.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is estimated that around 2.4 million metric tons of milk is produced in Nepal annually. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14092', 'image' => '20211123102546_20200223125404_1 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 10:25:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14346', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Construction of Kohalpur-Surkhet 132 KV Transmission Line Stalled ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: Construction of the Kohalpur-Surkhet 132 KV power transmission line has been stalled due to the delay in forwarding the process of authorizing the project to cut down trees along the right of way of the transmission line. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 23: Construction of the Kohalpur-Surkhet 132 KV power transmission line has been stalled due to the delay in forwarding the process of authorizing the project to cut down trees along the right of way of the transmission line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The construction of the towers for the transmission of electricity has been affected as the trees lying under the right of way of the transmission line in the forests of Banke, Bardiya and Surkhet remain to be chopped. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project has proposed cutting down 13,119 trees in the forests of Banke, Bardiya and Surkhet for this purpose. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Project chief Rabi Kumar Chaudhary said the construction of the transmission line has been affected due to the delay in approval for cutting trees. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"All the preparations have been completed from our side including the project and Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). It is the job of the Ministry of Forest and Environment to forward the proposal on cutting down trees to the Council of Ministers for its approval," said project chief Chaudhary. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project has to be completed by August 2022 as per the agreement between the project and the Indian contractor, RS Infra-Project. The contract for the construction of the project had been signed in July 2020. With the delay in getting approval for cutting down trees in forest area, the project has been constructing the transmission towers only at places that do not fall in forest areas. It has constructed the foundation of the towers at 13 places so far. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Altogether 161 double-circuit towers have to be constructed for the nearly 52 kilometres long transmission line. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14091', 'image' => '20211123095556_Transmission.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 09:55:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14345', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Four Companies Shortlisted for Installation of Nepal's Satellite', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: Four companies have been shortlisted for carrying out the study required for placing Nepal's own satellite into the orbit. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 22: Four companies have been shortlisted for carrying out the study required for placing Nepal's own satellite into the orbit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) shortlisted four out of eight international companies that had presented technical and financial proposal last month. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The shortlisted companies are Euro Consult of France, Turksat of Turkey, S3Tel Inc of the UAE and Thailand's Thaicom. Based upon the technical and financial proposal presented by the shortlisted companies, one company will be selected to work towards launching Nepal's satellite, said NTA's spokesperson Santosh Poudel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has set the target of operating the country's own satellite within 2022 and has already released a policy for it last July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Earlier, 22 companies from 12 different countries had submitted their expression of intent for putting into orbit Nepal's satellite. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14090', 'image' => '20211122095718_20170305031547_NTA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 21:56:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14344', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Starts Providing COVID-19 Vaccine to All Above 18 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: The government has started providing COVID-19 vaccine to all people above 18 years of age.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 22: The government has started providing COVID-19 vaccine to all people above 18 years of age. Prior to this, the vaccination campaign was focused on target groups, but now it is available for all. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Joint Spokesperson at the Ministry of Health and Population, Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari said the government has decided to provide vaccines to all above 18 as the supplies have become regular. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He urged all eligible citizens who missed the previous vaccination campaigns to visit the nearby vaccinations centers and get the shot. The government has a target of vaccinating one-third of the population by mid-January and 21.07 million people by mid-April next year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Till date, 30 percent of the total population has been given the first dose of vaccine while the population receiving the full-course is 26 percent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Kathmandu District Health Office Chief Shambhu Kafley said the vaccine is available at five centers: Birendra Military Hospital, Nepal Police Hospital, Shahid Memorial Hospital, Kalanki; Vayodha Hospital, Balkhu; Lhotse Building in New Buspark, Gongabu; and the Herbs Processing Center, Jadibuti in Kathmandu. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14089', 'image' => '20211122044754_20210713023934_1626133196.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 16:47:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14343', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '30 Local Units yet to Announce Budget for Current Fiscal Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: Although it is mandatory for the local units to present their budget in the village council to manage the expenditure for the new fiscal year, 30 local units have tried to spend illegally without presenting the budget for the current fiscal year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 22: Although it is mandatory for the local units to present their budget in the village council to manage the expenditure for the new fiscal year, 30 local units have tried to spend illegally without presenting the budget for the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Local Government Operation Act, 2074 and the Intergovernmental Fiscal Arrangement Act, all local levels must bring a budget within June 23 and no expenditure can be made without passing the budget. The budget goes to the local level from the federal government through four types of grants, revenue sharing and natural resource allocation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Based on the same sources, the local level should make an estimated budget and submit it to the village council in time as per the constitutional provision. However, these local levels are running the expenses for four months by violating the provision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Basant Adhikari, joint secretary at the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, said that the local levels have ignored the circular twice to bring the budget on time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the ministry, out of 136 local levels of Province 2, a total of 25 local units are spending without presenting their budget. Six local levels from Dhanusha district, five from Rautahat, four from Bara, three each from Siraha and Parsa, two from Saptari, and one each from Mahottari and Sarlahi have not presented their budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although 116 out of 119 local levels of Bagmati Pradesh have submitted budget, three local levels have not been able to present their budget. Likewise, out of 137 local levels of Province 1, two have not submitted their budget yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Altogether 85 local levels in Gandaki, 109 in Lumbini, 79 in Karnali and 88 in the far-western region have already presented their respective budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The main reason for the failure of most of the local levels to present their budget is the quarrel among the people's representatives. According to federal affairs ministry, the local levels that have not submitted the budget have been repeatedly instructed to submit their budget and they have also written to the Ministry of Finance for further action. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Adhikari, letters have been sent to the finance ministry to stop the grants to those local units for not bringing the budget within the stipulated time. As they do not have the authority to take action, he said that the recommendation has already been made and the grants will be stopped.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Ministry of Finance, the government has the right to withhold the financial equalization grants to the local levels if they do not bring the budget on time. Ministry officials say that the government will be forced to stop such grants if they try to run the expenditure without bringing the budget. “Expenditure made after July 16 without presenting the budget on June 24 is unconstitutional and illegal. We will stop the grant,” said a senior official at the finance ministry. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14088', 'image' => '20211122025540_20190609013126_20190531021713_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 14:54:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14342', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Stresses on Expanding ties with European Union', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: Nepal has given special emphasis on expanding its relation with the European Union.', 'content' => '<p><em>Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka (2nd R) with visiting delegates from the EU. Photo Courtesy: MoFA</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 22: Nepal has given special emphasis on expanding its relation with the European Union (EU). Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka expressed the desire to expand Nepal’s relation with the EU during his meeting with the Deputy Managing Director of EU for Asia and the Pacific of European External Affairs Service, Paola Pampaloni. The meeting was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singha Durbar on Sunday, November 21. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pampaloni is in Nepal leading a three-member delegation for the 13th meeting of Nepal-EU Joint Commission scheduled for November 24. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During Sunday’s meeting, Minister Khadka discussed topics of mutual interest as well as regional and multilateral affairs with the visiting delegates. Range of matters concerning Nepal-EU partnership were discussed including development cooperation, trade and civil aviation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The European Union has been supporting Nepal in trade and investment, commerce, energy, science and technology, agriculture, human resource development, environment conservation, post-earthquake reconstruction, rural development, nutrition, education, good governance, among others. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14087', 'image' => '20211122024609_FEsY1bZUUAQmqeq.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 14:43:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14341', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'People Expect Inflation to Reach Double Digit in One Year: NRB Survey', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: Nepal's inflation is expected to reach double digit next year, according to the Inflation Expectation Survey released by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 22: Nepal's inflation is expected to reach double digit next year, according to the Inflation Expectation Survey released by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). The survey was conducted by the central bank from October 3 to 8.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The survey has revealed that the mean inflation and median average inflation are expected to reach 10.3 percent and 9 percent respectively in the next one year. In the next three months of the current fiscal year, mean and median inflation expectations remain at 9.6 percent and eight percent respectively. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director of NRB Dr Prakash Kumar Shrestha, who heads the Economic Research Department of the central bank, said people surveyed in the report expected price hikes in the coming months. Inflation expectation has been determined on the basis of the response given by market consumers. However, it is the report on the current macroeconomic and financial situation of the country that determines if the inflation occurs accordingly or not. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The recent macroeconomic and financial situation report of the central bank had projected an average inflation of 9.4 percent in September. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The inflation expectation varies according to the age of the customer. Consumers of 25 years of age expect average inflation to reach 10.6 percent in the next three months and 10.3 percent in the next one year. Similarly, customers above 56 years of age have said that the inflation will rise to 11.2 percent in the next three months and 12.2 percent in one year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, inflation forecasts vary from city to city. Consumers in Birgunj expect price hikes to reach 12.5 percent in the next three months and 13.4 percent in one year. Similarly, customers of Nepalgunj expect inflation to rise to 5.9 percent in the next three months and also 5.9 percent in one year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Most of the world's central banks conduct inflation expectation survey. NRB has also been conducting such surveys since January last year. This is the second survey conducted by NRB. According to Shrestha these surveys make it easier to formulate necessary policies and change policies based on the results of such surveys.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/1%2857%29.jpg" style="height:561px; width:800px" /></span></span><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/2%2867%29.jpg" style="height:344px; width:800px" /></p> <p><em>Source: Nepal Rastra Bank</em></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14086', 'image' => '20211122013811_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 13:37:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 24: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Poudel unveiled 31-point action-plan for effective implementation of the 'Earning while learning' programme. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organizing a programme at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology on Tuesday, Minister Poudel shared that all students would be administered vaccine against COVID-19, all municipalities and provinces would be declared fully literate and the Act for compulsory and free education shall be enacted. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Minister Poudel pledged to launch technical education in as many community schools as possible. He also said that the government is committed to print colourful and quality books until grade 12 and take forward the vacancy announcement for the permanent teachers among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Minister also vowed to prepare draft of the federal education act, facilitate the adjustment of teachers' quota, announce scholarship for the poor and diligent students, and monitor the schools' compliance with the healthy safety measures against COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister also committed to make alternative learning more effective and bring into effect the report of the High-Level Education Commission as well as Nepal's policy presented in the UNSECO's general assembly. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, students will disabilities, those injured in various movements, conflict-survivors among would be provide with education opportunities. -RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-24', 'modified' => '2021-11-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14100', 'image' => '20211124113317_earn-while-you-learn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-24 08:27:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14354', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Secures 10 Million Doses of Vaccine for Children Under 18 Years', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 24: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Poudel discussed the issue of vaccinating students above 12 years against COVID-19 with Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada on Tuesday. ', '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 Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 24: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Devendra Poudel discussed the issue of vaccinating students above 12 years against COVID-19 with Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada on Tuesday, November 23. <br /> During the meeting held at the Ministry of Health and Population, Minister Poudel suggested that all students above 12 years of age should be vaccinated soon, as they have started attending schools physically. He stressed on the need for the children to be vaccinated against coronavirus at the school itself. <br /> On the occasion, Health Minister Khatiwada shared that 10 million doses of vaccine have been secured for children under 18 years of age in the country. A total of 30 million doses of vaccine are in the pipeline to arrive here, added Minister Khatiwada. -- RSS </span></span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-24', 'modified' => '2021-11-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14099', 'image' => '20211124082102_covidchildren.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-24 08:20:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14353', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Minister Appeals EU to Remove Nepali Airlines from its Blacklist ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 24: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale has reportedly appealed to the high-ranking visiting delegates of the European Union (EU) to consider removing Nepal from the union's blacklist. ', '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 Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 24: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale has reportedly appealed to the high-ranking visiting delegates of the European Union (EU) to consider removing Nepal from the union's blacklist. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At a courtesy meeting held at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation on Tuesday, Minister Ale requested Paola Pampaloni, deputy managing director of the European Union's External Affairs for Asia and the Pacific, to consider removing the ban imposed on airline companies of Nepal from flying in the skies of the European Union-member nations, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pampaloni, who arrived in Nepal last Saturday leading a three-member delegation to participate in the meeting of Nepal-EU Joint Commission slated for today (November 24), reportedly responded to Minister Ale that EU was positive about removing Nepal from its blacklist. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The EU has banned airline companies of Nepal from flying in its airspace since December 5, 2013 citing poor aviation standards of Nepal.</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 Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"A positive talk has begun to remove Nepal from EU's blacklist. Nepal will certainly be removed from it," RSS quoted Pampaloni as saying. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the meeting, the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues concerning bilateral cooperation between Nepal and the EU. </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 Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The European Union has been supporting Nepal in trade and investment, commerce, energy, science and technology, agriculture, human resource development, environment conservation, post-earthquake reconstruction, rural development, nutrition, education, good governance, among others.</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 Unicode MS","sans-serif""><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20210709114537_20210120123339_g576szqpnac61.jpg" style="height:235px; width:450px" /></span></span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-24', 'modified' => '2021-11-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14098', 'image' => '20211124080834_20191031120033_1572142676.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-24 08:07:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14352', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal-Bangladesh Tourism Promotion and B2B Exchange Programme Concludes', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: PATA Nepal Chapter, in collaboration with PATA Bangladesh Chapter, successfully concluded the Nepal-Bangladesh Tourism Promotion and B2B Exchange Program on November 21. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 23: PATA Nepal Chapter, in collaboration with <span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">PATA Bangladesh Chapter</span>, successfully concluded the <span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal-Bangladesh Tourism Promotion and B2B Exchange Program</span> on November 21. The programme had kicked off on November 16.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The joint collaboration between PATA Chapters of Nepal and Bangladesh was done as the post-pandemic tourism recovery initiative to help in promoting each other's destinations through mutual tie-ups and collaboration for both inbound and outbound tourists between the two neighboring nations, the organisers said in a joint statement</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">PATA Nepal Chapter, with the support of its member and partner organizations, hosted the PATA Bangladesh delegation of 17 members including the deputy director and secretary of Bangladesh Tourism Board, chairman and secretary-general of PATA Bangladesh, 10 tour operators, two media persons and two students from PATA Bangladesh Dhaka University Student Chapter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The exchange program included familiarization visit to Pokhara for Bangladeshi delegates from 17th to 19th November 2021 wherein a "Tourism Networking and Interaction Session” was organized in collaboration with Pokhara Tourism Council and NTB Pokhara on November 18 at Hotel Barahi in Pokhara, Nepal. The Tourism Networking program in Pokhara witnessed the enthusiastic participation of 70 plus tour operators and service providers from the tourism fraternity, the statement added. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The formal programme and B2B session held on November 20 at Park Village Resort included presentations on destination insights and business meetings and networking between 12 Bangladeshi tour operators and 14 Nepali tour operators and tourism service providers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">PATA Nepal Chairman, <span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bibhuti Chand Thakur, </span>emphasized the need to embrace the promotion of "regional travel", as an action plan, for reviving tourism. Since the long haul travel might take a little longer to recover, he said that the nearby destinations, preferably accessible by road or short-haul flights, have more opportunities to build back their tourism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Dr. Dhananjay Regmi, CEO of Nepal Tourism Board and Mohammad Saiful Hasan, the deputy director and secretary of Bangladesh Tourism Board, shared their destination insights and thoughts on the prospects of tourism exchange between Nepal and Bangladesh. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Addressing the function, Shahi Hamid, chairman of PATA Bangladesh, said that he got fascinated with the warm hospitality of Nepal, and there are many alluring tourism products and services in Nepal to attract many Bangladeshi travellers. He said that Nepal used to welcome about 26 thousand Bangladeshis annually before the pandemic and this can be easily doubled with effective promotion and marketing initiatives.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Secretary at Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation Yadav Koirala, who was invited as the chief guest of the programme, expressed his sincere thanks to PATA chapters of Nepal and Bangladesh for undertaking the needful and timely initiative to promote regional tourism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He recommended that Nepal needs to enhance its collaborative marketing and promotional events, organize FAM Trips, improve infrastructures (especially road connectivity), and develop extended tour packages to flourish tourism in both countries. He further assured that the Ministry of Tourism shall facilitate the necessary cooperation and support at the government level to increase the tourism engagements between Nepal and Bangladesh.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The event was promoted by Nepal Tourism Board and Bangladesh Tourism Board; and supported by Himalaya Airlines and Buddha Air (airlines partners), Pokhara Tourism Council (organizing partner), The Royal Mountain Travel (transportation partner), and Hospitality Partners including- The Everest Hotel, KGH Group of Hotels, Aloft, Radisson, Siddhartha Hotel, and The Old Inn.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14097', 'image' => '20211123044607_4.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 16:45:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14351', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shortage of Coal Results in Increase in Price of Bricks', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: Coal is the main source of energy used in brick kilns.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 23: Coal is the main source of energy used in brick kilns. Nepal used to import coal from India before the southern neighbor banned its export. Currently, coal is imported from the United States of America and Indonesia at rates as high as 300 percent compared to that of India. This has caused a big problem to brick kilns.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A total of 85 brick kilns of Province 1 have not been able to bake the raw bricks due to the shortage of coal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The president of Province 1 chapter of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Bhim Ghimire who is also the coordinator of AB Bricks and Tiles Industry, said that bricks could not be produced for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic and that the price of bricks would be higher due to increase in cost of coal and labor charge. According to him, it is more likely for the prices of bricks to reach Rs 25 per piece from Rs 23 per piece.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The price of No.1 brick was only Rs 18 per piece two years ago. The price of brick has increased by Rs 7 per piece in just the interval of 3 years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The price of coal, which was available for US$ 96 per ton two years ago, increased by three folds to US$ 280 per ton. It costs Rs 40,000 to 42,000 per ton in Nepal. However, the brick kilns are facing a shortage of coal as it takes at least six months for the coal to arrive in Nepal via ship from the United States and Indonesia.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ramesh Bhagat, operator of ACC Brick Industry, informed that the availability of coal has begun to increase alongside the decline in the prices. The price of coal which used to cost US$ 280 per ton has now dropped to US$ 240, he said. Until two years ago, coal used to be bought and sold at US$ 95 per ton in the international market.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the brick industry of Nepal could not produce new bricks for the last two years because the workers coming from West Bengal of India could not arrive in Nepal. Although some of the few industries produced bricks with the help of indigenous workers, they could not sustain the business.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The price of bricks which was Rs 18 per piece before the Covid-19 pandemic reached to Rs 23 per piece after the brick industries started to close down. This time as well, due to the increase in the price of coal and the labor cost of Indian workers, new bricks can be sent to the market only at Rs 25 per piece, said Bhagat.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bhagat says, “Even now, the production price of bricks reaches up to Rs 28 per piece. But to maintain the balance in the market, it will be sold at Rs 25 per piece this time as per the policy of increasing prices gradually without increasing it all at once.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Before the lockdown, 85 brick factories in Province 1 had been producing bricks worth Rs 3.40 billion annually. Industrialists said that if the supply of coal eases this year, bricks would be produced in the same proportion. This time the workers have already arrived in September because they had already received the money in August at their residence in Kuch Vihar, West Bengal, India. In Province 1, around 22,000 workers come from Kuch Vihar every year. This year the number of workers has reached 25,000.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Province 1 has been producing 350 million bricks annually. From this, the industrialists have been paying revenue of Rs 350 million to the government. Mahendra Shah, the president of the Brick Producers Association Morang, said that the prices had gone up last year after an interval of six years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rajan Timsina, the general secretary of the Koshi Brick Industry Entrepreneurs Association said it would take six months for the coal to arrive in Nepal from the United States and Indonesia. He said that the brick industry is not in a position to produce at full capacity right now due to the delay in transportation of coal by ships, delay in coal production and other lengthy processes.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14096', 'image' => '20211123042541_sddefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 16:24:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14350', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' NEA to Sign PPA on a Needs Basis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: The government has decided to sign power purchase agreement (PPA) by determining the need of electricity per year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 23: The government has decided to sign power purchase agreement (PPA) by determining the need of electricity per year. For such agreement, projects of semi-reservoir and reservoir nature will be given special priority.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has already signed a PPA for a 6,000 MW river flow project. Similarly, projects with capacity of 9,000 MW are awaiting for PPA.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">PPA has been halted for the last three years. The private sector has not only objected to the suspension of the PPA, but has also demanded its immediate resumption. The Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation is preparing to sign the PPA by determining the capacity of the project.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal has also been publicly stating that PPA will be signed by determining the need.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> In India, memorandum of understanding is signed only for project construction.</span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> PPA is signed only after the construction of the project.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA has been signing PPA at Rs 4.80 per unit in rainy season and Rs 8.40 per unit in winter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Time and again, demands have also been raised that PPA should be signed on the basis of expense. Taking into account all the facts and circumstances, both the ministry and the authority seem to be thinking of taking the process forward on the basis of competition.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Bhusal says that it will be more materialistic when the agreement is done considering the demand for electricity in the next 10 years.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director of NEA Kulman Ghising said that the PPA of semi-reservoir and reservoir projects has not been stopped even though there is no PPA for the river-flow project immediately.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA had decided to provide an average of Rs 12 per unit for reservoir projects in 2074. The seasonal rate has also been fixed. Reservoir projects also seem essential for the energy security of the country.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">An energy expert and president of the Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Professor Amritman Nakarmi says that each country has an additional 30 percent energy reserve for energy security. He added that focus must be given to reservoir project as it would be effective in the case of Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">So far, more than 2,000 MW of electricity has been connected to the national grid. Similarly, 138 projects with total capacity of 3,507 MW are under construction. Similarly, preparations are underway for the construction of 99 projects with capacity of 1,851 MW.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Independent Power Producers’ Association of Nepal (IPPAN), 208 projects with capacity of 16,574 MW are in various stages of study. Two projects with capacity of 1,579 MW are also under construction. A total of 611 projects with a total capacity of 25,417 MW are in the process of construction in one way or another.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Financially and technically, projects with capacity of 57,000 MW are in a position to be constructed within Nepal. The government has strategically taken forward the issue of constructing reservoir project in every province except Province 2. The Tamor Reservoir Project of Province 1 is currently being studied.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hydroelectricity Investment and Development Company Ltd (HIDCL) </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">of Nepal is continuing the study in collaboration with Chinese company Power China. Similarly, the study of Sunkoshi II and III are being conducted in Bagmati Province.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The construction of 1,200 megawatt Budhi Gandaki hydropower project along the border of Bagmati and Gandaki provinces has not been done even though the study was completed a long time ago. Similarly, the process has been taken forward to construct reservoir projects in Gandaki, Karnali, Lumbini and Far West. Emphasis has been given on the importance of water resources projects for energy security. </span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14095', 'image' => '20211123040237_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 16:02:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14349', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Capital Expenditure of Provinces Stands Below 5 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: The capital expenditure of provincial governments stands below five percent in the first four months of the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 23: The capital expenditure of provincial governments stands below five percent in the first four months of the current fiscal year. At a time when the federal government is being criticised for its poor capital expenditure, data of capital expenditure of the provincial governments is also found to be significantly low. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Financial Comptroller General Office of Province 2, the province has spent only two percent of the allocated budget of Rs 18.05 billion. Likewise, Bagmati Province has spent only 4.85 percent of the development budget of Rs 29.70 billion allocated for the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Gandaki Province has allocated Rs 16.73 billion under development expenditure. It has spent eight percent of the budget during the review period. Initially the Gandaki Province government had announced a capital budget of Rs 21.17 billion for the current fiscal year. However, the new government formed under the leadership of CPN (Maoist Centre) replaced the previous budget brought through an ordinance and downsized the budget. The new provincial government was occupied in the expansion of the cabinet for a long time and is preparing to introduce the work procedure to spend the budget after in the beginning of the second quarter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the Lumbini Province has only made a capital expenditure of 2.83 percent of the allocated budget in the first four months of the current fiscal year. According to the Provincial Financial Comptroller General Office, Butwal, of the allocated budget of Rs 22.47, only Rs 635.7 million has been spent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Province 1 had allocated Rs 15.5 billion budget for capital expenditure in the current fiscal year 2021/22. Suman Dahal, Provincial Secretary at the Financial Comptroller General, Biratnagar, said about 15 percent of the allocated budget has been spent in the first quarter. He said that Province 1 has increased capital expenditure compared to other states and has been working aggressively. The data shows development expenditure of Province 1 is relatively higher than other provinces.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, Karnali Province has made a capital expenditure of only 2.9 percent while the Far Western Province has also spent only 3.54 percent of the allocated budget.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Jagadish Chandra Pokhrel, former vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission, the development budget could not be spent as expected due to increasing political instability in the provinces like in the federal government. He believes that political leadership's focus was shifted in forming and toppling the government rather than on development activities.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14094', 'image' => '20211123023300_1637623950.1 - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 14:27:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14348', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Customs Offices of Birgunj meet Revenue Target in the First Quarter of current FY ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: The two customs offices of Birgunj have met the revenue target set for the first four months of the current Fiscal Year (FY 2078/79).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 23: The two customs offices of Birgunj have met the revenue target set for the first four months of the current Fiscal Year (FY 2078/79). Birgunj Customs and Dry Port Customs have collected Rs 87.07 billion revenue in the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> According to the Birgunj Customs Office, the revenue collection has improved in the current FY as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has declined while foreign trade has increased.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The data shows that the Birgunj customs, which collected revenue of Rs 43.67 billion from July to November last year, has collected Rs 70.12 billion in the review period of the current FY.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Chief Customs Officer of Birgunj Customs Harihar Poudel, the Birgunj Customs has collected Rs 26.48 billion value added tax and Rs 25.41 billion in customs duty on imports during this period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The customs has collected eight percent more revenue than the target. The Birgunj Customs had set a target of raising Rs 65.11 billion revenue in the first four months of the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chief of Dry Port Customs Office Lal Bahadur Khatri said that the customs office has collected about four percent more revenue than the target set for this period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The dry port customs collected revenue of Rs 16.94 billion during the period, said customs officer Balram Bhandari. The target for the first four months of the current fiscal year was Rs 16.30 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Based on the volume of import and export, the Birgunj customs is considered as the country’s largest customs point. Mostly, industrial raw materials, petroleum products, and vehicles are mainly imported from this customs point. Likewise, processed edible oil, juice, textile and other products are exported through this customs. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14093', 'image' => '20211123011756_20210516024759_20210118020708_1610926784.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 13:17:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14347', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Preparations Underway to Hike the Prices of Dairy Products', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: The government is preparing to increase the prices of processed milk and dairy products.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 23: The government is preparing to increase the prices of processed milk and dairy products. The Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) has taken the initiative to hike the prices of dairy products in consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Dairy Development Board, Nepal Dairy Association, Dairy Industries Association, Department of Livestock Services and other stakeholders.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The decision to hike the prices was taken in the wake of the rise in prices of cattle feed amid Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the crisis created by the pandemic, production cost of milk and milk products has been increasing day by day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Dairy Development Corporation has fixed the price of processed milk at Rs 72 per litre for the producers. Similarly, the price of curd has been fixed between Rs 90 to Rs 100 per litre depending on the quality of the product while the price of ghee has been fixed at Rs 815 per kg.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Information officer at the DDC, Balak Chaudhary, said that they are consulting with stakeholders about the price hike but are yet to reach a decision regarding how much they shall increase the price. Chaudhary estimates that the price of milk products is likely to increase by Rs 8 to Rs 10 per litre.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Milk producers and farmers have been complaining that they are not getting the right price of their produce due to inflation. They argue that they will be at a loss unless the price is increased.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is estimated that around 2.4 million metric tons of milk is produced in Nepal annually. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14092', 'image' => '20211123102546_20200223125404_1 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 10:25:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14346', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Construction of Kohalpur-Surkhet 132 KV Transmission Line Stalled ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 23: Construction of the Kohalpur-Surkhet 132 KV power transmission line has been stalled due to the delay in forwarding the process of authorizing the project to cut down trees along the right of way of the transmission line. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 23: Construction of the Kohalpur-Surkhet 132 KV power transmission line has been stalled due to the delay in forwarding the process of authorizing the project to cut down trees along the right of way of the transmission line. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The construction of the towers for the transmission of electricity has been affected as the trees lying under the right of way of the transmission line in the forests of Banke, Bardiya and Surkhet remain to be chopped. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project has proposed cutting down 13,119 trees in the forests of Banke, Bardiya and Surkhet for this purpose. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Project chief Rabi Kumar Chaudhary said the construction of the transmission line has been affected due to the delay in approval for cutting trees. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"All the preparations have been completed from our side including the project and Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). It is the job of the Ministry of Forest and Environment to forward the proposal on cutting down trees to the Council of Ministers for its approval," said project chief Chaudhary. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project has to be completed by August 2022 as per the agreement between the project and the Indian contractor, RS Infra-Project. The contract for the construction of the project had been signed in July 2020. With the delay in getting approval for cutting down trees in forest area, the project has been constructing the transmission towers only at places that do not fall in forest areas. It has constructed the foundation of the towers at 13 places so far. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Altogether 161 double-circuit towers have to be constructed for the nearly 52 kilometres long transmission line. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-23', 'modified' => '2021-11-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14091', 'image' => '20211123095556_Transmission.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-23 09:55:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14345', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Four Companies Shortlisted for Installation of Nepal's Satellite', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: Four companies have been shortlisted for carrying out the study required for placing Nepal's own satellite into the orbit. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 22: Four companies have been shortlisted for carrying out the study required for placing Nepal's own satellite into the orbit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) shortlisted four out of eight international companies that had presented technical and financial proposal last month. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The shortlisted companies are Euro Consult of France, Turksat of Turkey, S3Tel Inc of the UAE and Thailand's Thaicom. Based upon the technical and financial proposal presented by the shortlisted companies, one company will be selected to work towards launching Nepal's satellite, said NTA's spokesperson Santosh Poudel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has set the target of operating the country's own satellite within 2022 and has already released a policy for it last July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Earlier, 22 companies from 12 different countries had submitted their expression of intent for putting into orbit Nepal's satellite. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14090', 'image' => '20211122095718_20170305031547_NTA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 21:56:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14344', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Starts Providing COVID-19 Vaccine to All Above 18 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: The government has started providing COVID-19 vaccine to all people above 18 years of age.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 22: The government has started providing COVID-19 vaccine to all people above 18 years of age. Prior to this, the vaccination campaign was focused on target groups, but now it is available for all. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Joint Spokesperson at the Ministry of Health and Population, Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari said the government has decided to provide vaccines to all above 18 as the supplies have become regular. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He urged all eligible citizens who missed the previous vaccination campaigns to visit the nearby vaccinations centers and get the shot. The government has a target of vaccinating one-third of the population by mid-January and 21.07 million people by mid-April next year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Till date, 30 percent of the total population has been given the first dose of vaccine while the population receiving the full-course is 26 percent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Kathmandu District Health Office Chief Shambhu Kafley said the vaccine is available at five centers: Birendra Military Hospital, Nepal Police Hospital, Shahid Memorial Hospital, Kalanki; Vayodha Hospital, Balkhu; Lhotse Building in New Buspark, Gongabu; and the Herbs Processing Center, Jadibuti in Kathmandu. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14089', 'image' => '20211122044754_20210713023934_1626133196.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 16:47:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14343', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '30 Local Units yet to Announce Budget for Current Fiscal Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: Although it is mandatory for the local units to present their budget in the village council to manage the expenditure for the new fiscal year, 30 local units have tried to spend illegally without presenting the budget for the current fiscal year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 22: Although it is mandatory for the local units to present their budget in the village council to manage the expenditure for the new fiscal year, 30 local units have tried to spend illegally without presenting the budget for the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Local Government Operation Act, 2074 and the Intergovernmental Fiscal Arrangement Act, all local levels must bring a budget within June 23 and no expenditure can be made without passing the budget. The budget goes to the local level from the federal government through four types of grants, revenue sharing and natural resource allocation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Based on the same sources, the local level should make an estimated budget and submit it to the village council in time as per the constitutional provision. However, these local levels are running the expenses for four months by violating the provision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Basant Adhikari, joint secretary at the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, said that the local levels have ignored the circular twice to bring the budget on time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the ministry, out of 136 local levels of Province 2, a total of 25 local units are spending without presenting their budget. Six local levels from Dhanusha district, five from Rautahat, four from Bara, three each from Siraha and Parsa, two from Saptari, and one each from Mahottari and Sarlahi have not presented their budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although 116 out of 119 local levels of Bagmati Pradesh have submitted budget, three local levels have not been able to present their budget. Likewise, out of 137 local levels of Province 1, two have not submitted their budget yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Altogether 85 local levels in Gandaki, 109 in Lumbini, 79 in Karnali and 88 in the far-western region have already presented their respective budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The main reason for the failure of most of the local levels to present their budget is the quarrel among the people's representatives. According to federal affairs ministry, the local levels that have not submitted the budget have been repeatedly instructed to submit their budget and they have also written to the Ministry of Finance for further action. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Adhikari, letters have been sent to the finance ministry to stop the grants to those local units for not bringing the budget within the stipulated time. As they do not have the authority to take action, he said that the recommendation has already been made and the grants will be stopped.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Ministry of Finance, the government has the right to withhold the financial equalization grants to the local levels if they do not bring the budget on time. Ministry officials say that the government will be forced to stop such grants if they try to run the expenditure without bringing the budget. “Expenditure made after July 16 without presenting the budget on June 24 is unconstitutional and illegal. We will stop the grant,” said a senior official at the finance ministry. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14088', 'image' => '20211122025540_20190609013126_20190531021713_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 14:54:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14342', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Stresses on Expanding ties with European Union', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: Nepal has given special emphasis on expanding its relation with the European Union.', 'content' => '<p><em>Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka (2nd R) with visiting delegates from the EU. Photo Courtesy: MoFA</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 22: Nepal has given special emphasis on expanding its relation with the European Union (EU). Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka expressed the desire to expand Nepal’s relation with the EU during his meeting with the Deputy Managing Director of EU for Asia and the Pacific of European External Affairs Service, Paola Pampaloni. The meeting was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singha Durbar on Sunday, November 21. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pampaloni is in Nepal leading a three-member delegation for the 13th meeting of Nepal-EU Joint Commission scheduled for November 24. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During Sunday’s meeting, Minister Khadka discussed topics of mutual interest as well as regional and multilateral affairs with the visiting delegates. Range of matters concerning Nepal-EU partnership were discussed including development cooperation, trade and civil aviation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The European Union has been supporting Nepal in trade and investment, commerce, energy, science and technology, agriculture, human resource development, environment conservation, post-earthquake reconstruction, rural development, nutrition, education, good governance, among others. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14087', 'image' => '20211122024609_FEsY1bZUUAQmqeq.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 14:43:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14341', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'People Expect Inflation to Reach Double Digit in One Year: NRB Survey', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 22: Nepal's inflation is expected to reach double digit next year, according to the Inflation Expectation Survey released by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 22: Nepal's inflation is expected to reach double digit next year, according to the Inflation Expectation Survey released by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). The survey was conducted by the central bank from October 3 to 8.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The survey has revealed that the mean inflation and median average inflation are expected to reach 10.3 percent and 9 percent respectively in the next one year. In the next three months of the current fiscal year, mean and median inflation expectations remain at 9.6 percent and eight percent respectively. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director of NRB Dr Prakash Kumar Shrestha, who heads the Economic Research Department of the central bank, said people surveyed in the report expected price hikes in the coming months. Inflation expectation has been determined on the basis of the response given by market consumers. However, it is the report on the current macroeconomic and financial situation of the country that determines if the inflation occurs accordingly or not. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The recent macroeconomic and financial situation report of the central bank had projected an average inflation of 9.4 percent in September. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The inflation expectation varies according to the age of the customer. Consumers of 25 years of age expect average inflation to reach 10.6 percent in the next three months and 10.3 percent in the next one year. Similarly, customers above 56 years of age have said that the inflation will rise to 11.2 percent in the next three months and 12.2 percent in one year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, inflation forecasts vary from city to city. Consumers in Birgunj expect price hikes to reach 12.5 percent in the next three months and 13.4 percent in one year. Similarly, customers of Nepalgunj expect inflation to rise to 5.9 percent in the next three months and also 5.9 percent in one year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Most of the world's central banks conduct inflation expectation survey. NRB has also been conducting such surveys since January last year. This is the second survey conducted by NRB. According to Shrestha these surveys make it easier to formulate necessary policies and change policies based on the results of such surveys.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/1%2857%29.jpg" style="height:561px; width:800px" /></span></span><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/2%2867%29.jpg" style="height:344px; width:800px" /></p> <p><em>Source: Nepal Rastra Bank</em></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-11-22', 'modified' => '2021-11-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14086', 'image' => '20211122013811_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-11-22 13:37:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
