The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to undo the three decades of gains made in global human development - which can be measured as a combination of the world’s education, health and living standards – in 2020 for the first time since the introduction of the concept in 190, a new United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report has warned.…
May 15: The government is in dilemma on whether or not to give continuity to the much criticized Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Programme in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year…
May 15: The import of food grains has increased drastically in the past seven weeks of lockdown.…
May 15: The Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to tighten the lockdown measures in the three districts of Kathmandu Valley after new cases of coronavirus were reported in the…
May 15: Nine more people have tested positive for coronavirus, according to the state-run national news agency…
May 15: The policies and programmes of the government for the new fiscal year 2020/21 will be presented in the joint meeting of the federal parliament on Friday (May 15).…
May 13: India has once again banned the import of refined palm oil from Nepal.…
May 13: The construction of a road inside Nepali territory in Lipulek by India has not only sent ripples across the political circle but also in the tourism…
May 13: Digital transaction has been experiencing a surge during the lockdown imposed to control the spread of Covid-19.…
May 13: Government authorities confirmed 83 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday. With this, the total number of cases has reached 217 in the country.…
May 13: Activities in the industrial and commercial centers have started to increase after the government announced to allow some industries and businesses to operate amid…
May 12: Minister for Finance Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwa has said that the country’s economy will be revitalized amid the lockdown in effect since March 24 to protect the lives of people from COVID-19.…
May 12: Agriculture seems to be the most lucrative business in Nepal, according to the National Economic Census…
May 12: With the issue of payment of workers taking centre stage, stakeholders have decided to form a task force to seek a solution to the…
May 9: Kumari Bank is in the process to acquire Deva Bikas Bank.…
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to undo the three decades of gains made in global human development - </span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">which can be measured as a combination of the world’s education, health and living standards – in 2020 for the first time since the introduction of the concept in 190, a new United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report has warned. In its 2020 Human Development Perspectives titled COVID-19 and Human Development: Assessing the Crisis, Envisioning the Recovery, the UN body has said that declines in fundamental areas of human development are being felt across most countries - rich and poor - in every region. According to the report, the global per capita income this year is expected to fall by four percent. With closure of schools, UNDP estimates that “effective out-of-school rate”—the percentage of primary school-age children, adjusted to reflect those without internet access— 60 percent of children are not getting an education, leading to global levels not seen since the 1980s.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> “The world has seen many crises over the past 30 years, including the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-09. Each has hit human development hard but, overall, development gains accrued globally year-on-year. COVID-19 – with its triple hit to health, education, and income – may change this trend,” said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. According to the report, the combined impact of these shocks could signify the largest reversal in human development on record. “This is not counting other significant effects, for instance, in the progress towards gender equality. The negative impacts on women and girls span economic - earning and saving less and greater job insecurity - reproductive health, unpaid care work and gender-based violence,” the report reads. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">According to UNDP, the drop in human development is expected to be much higher in developing countries that are less able to cope with the pandemic’s social and economic fallout than richer nations. The report stressed on the need for determined, equity-focused interventions to help economies and societies rally, mitigating the far-reaching impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Implementing equity-focused approaches would be affordable. For instance, closing the gap in access to the internet for low- and middle-income countries is estimated to cost just one per cent of the extraordinary fiscal support packages the world has so far committed to respond to COVID-19,” the report stated. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">UNDP has recommended five priority steps to tackle the complexity of this crisis: protecting health systems and services; ramping up social protection; protecting jobs, small- and medium-sized businesses and informal sector workers; making macroeconomic policies work for everyone; and promoting peace, good governance and trust to build social cohesion. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-22', 'modified' => '2020-05-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11807', 'image' => '20200522014144_human.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-22 01:38:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '31' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12055', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government in a Fix to Give Continuity to Local Infrastructure Development Programme', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: The government is in dilemma on whether or not to give continuity to the much criticized Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Programme in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2020/21.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">May 15: The government is in dilemma on whether or not to give continuity to the much criticized Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Programme in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2020/21.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">The revenue collection has been weak due to the severe effects of lockdown on economic activities. The government is also facing a huge challenge to invest heavily on health infrastructure and employment programmes with the existing resources. Due to this, the officials at Ministry of Finance are not sure about giving continuity to this program in the upcoming budget.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">According to informed sources, the National Planning Commission has given the nod to the finance ministry to decide on this matter. Most of the members of parliament (MPs) from the ruling party are in favour of giving continuity to the programme. Due to this, the Ministry of Finance also is looking forward to including it in the budget. If the program is included in next year’s budget, the government is likely to allocate less amount of money than in the current fiscal year, said an official at the Ministry of Finance. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">In the current fiscal year, Rs 600 million was provided to each of the directly elected MPs for the infrastructure development programme. In the current fiscal year, around Rs 23 billion has been allocated for the programme. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">“Discussions are underway to allocate less budget for the programme due to limitation in revenue collection,” said a high-ranking official at the Ministry of Finance. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">Minister for Finance Yub Raj Khatiwada was not in favour of giving continuity to this programme even for the current fiscal year. This time too, he is not supportive, said sources. However, due to the pressure from the ruling party members, there is high possibility of continuing this programme. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11805', 'image' => '20200515074923_1589492253.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 19:48:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12054', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Import of Food Grains up Significantly During Lockdown', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: The import of food grains has increased drastically in the past seven weeks of lockdown. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">May 15: The import of food grains has increased drastically in the past seven weeks of lockdown. Data maintained by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies indicate that import of food grains has skyrocketed in the last seven weeks since the lockdown started.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">According to a report published by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, altogether 13,343 tons of food grains were imported during the first week of the lockdown. However, the import increased in the second week. Nepal imported 14,643 tons of food grains in the second week of the lockdown. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">The import amount was up drastically to 31,441 tons in the fifth week. However, the import declined down in the sixth and seventh weeks of the lockdown. The imports declined to 28,526 tons and 25,805 tons, respectively during the sixth and seventh weeks of the lockdown.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">Netra Prasad Subedi, director general of the Department of Supplies informed that the increase in import during the lockdown is normal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">He informed that it was natural for imports to increase as shipments were not affected by the lockdown and stocks of goods in the market were running out.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">Avinash Bohara, central member of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), also expressed similar opinion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">He said that the import increased because consumers stockpiled food products more than required, fearing the possibility of food crisis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">"The increase in imports can also be attributed to the increase in relief programmes," he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">The import of food grains has increased by 93.4 percent and pulses by 26.2 percent in seventh week of the lockdown in comparison to the first week.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">The import of vegetables and fruits also has increased by 25 percent and 61.3 percent respectively. Likewise, import of dairy products inclined up by 514.3 percent during the same period.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11804', 'image' => '20200515035749_hinkstockphotos.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 15:57:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12053', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Tightens Lockdown Measures in the Valley', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: The Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to tighten the lockdown measures in the three districts of Kathmandu Valley after new cases of coronavirus were reported in the capital.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">May 15: The Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to tighten the lockdown measures in the three districts of Kathmandu Valley after new cases of coronavirus were reported in the capital.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">A meeting of the chief district officers of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur as well as local representatives and security chiefs on Thursday (May 14) decided to adopt strict measures from Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Spokesperson at the ministry Kedahnath Sharma informed New Business Age that the districts outside the valley can issue vehicle passes only after consulting the ministry.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Recently, three persons who entered the valley from outside tested positive for coronavirus. Those cases were confirmed on Wednesday followed by a new case of infection in a six-year-old girl in the capital a day later. Fearing that the infection could go out of control if adequate measures are not taken, the authorities decided to further tighten the rules.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">After noticing coronavirus infection among people who recently entered the valley from outside districts, the home ministry decided to invalidate all the vehicle passes issued earlier. All such passes have been scrapped, effective from May 14. The meeting also decided to mandatorily perform Rapid Diagnostic Test on any person entering the valley even for emergency purpose. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Likewise, the authorities decided to consider only the passes issued by the concerned authorities as valid for government employees and staffers of banks and financial institutions within the valley.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11803', 'image' => '20200515112204_1589465895.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 11:21:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12052', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'COVID-19 Tally Climbs to 258 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: Nine more people have tested positive for coronavirus, according to the state-run national news agency RSS.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 15: Nine more people have tested positive for coronavirus, according to the state-run national news agency RSS. Those who tested positive on Thursday are from Banke and Makawanpur districts. With this, the number of people infected with COVID-19 has reached to 258, RSS reported citing the Ministry of Health and Population. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to RSS, assistant spokesperson at the ministry Dr Samir Adhikari said the infection was found in nine persons in course of tests carried out on samples collected from different parts of the country. The tests were conducted at the Teku-based National Public Health Laboratory and at the Bheri Hospital, Nepalgunj on Thursday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Among the new COVID-19 cases, eight are from Banke and one from Makawanpur. This is the first time that coronavirus infection has been seen in Makwanpur. A 37-year-old male tested positive to the virus in Makawanpur, according to RSS. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Similarly, COVID-19 infection was also found in eight men aged between 18 to 36 of Ward No 1, 3 and 5 of Narainapur Rural Municipality in Banke district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Assistant spokesman Dr Adhikari said the health condition of the infected persons is normal and they are under the supervision of health workers. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11802', 'image' => '20200515110731_Research1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 11:06:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12051', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt to Announce Policies and Programmes for New Fiscal Year Today', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: The policies and programmes of the government for the new fiscal year 2020/21 will be presented in the joint meeting of the federal parliament on Friday (May 15). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 15: The policies and programmes of the government for the new fiscal year 2020/21 will be presented in the joint meeting of the federal parliament on Friday (May 15). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">President Bidya Devi Bhandari will table the policy and programmes of the government in the joint meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) and National Assembly at 4 pm, according to federal parliament secretariat spokesperson, Dr Rojnath Pandey. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">All the parliamentarians have been asked to attend the meeting and be seated for the meeting by 3:45 pm on Friday. They have been asked to put on decent apparel for the event. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Spokesperson Pandey shared that all the safety protocols such as physical distancing, usage of safety gears such as mask and sanitization among others have been observed in the meeting hall to prevent the spread of the COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">There are 275 members in HoR and 59 in National Assembly. A total of 29 distinguished guests have been invited at the event including the President, the Vice-President, chiefs of the constitutional bodies and chiefs of security agencies among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The heads of the foreign diplomatic missions as well as private sectors have not been invited this year in view of the prospect of COVID-19 transmission. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The Nepal Communist Party-led government is going to launch the policies and porgrammes for the third time. Economic growth will be high in priority in the policies and programmes to be launched and implemented in the new fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Furthermore, the policies and programmes of the government will also incorporate programmes that will address the issues emanated from the COVID-19. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11801', 'image' => '20200515110029_1589464915.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 10:59:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12048', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Bans Palm Oil from Nepal Again', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: India has once again banned the import of refined palm oil from Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">May 13: India has once again banned the import of refined palm oil from Nepal. Nepalese industries have not been able to export the product after India’s Foreign Trade Directorate imposed the ban effective from Tuesday (May 12). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">The directorate issued a circular to its subordinate bodies on Monday to halt the import of palm oil.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">Earlier, India had imposed a similar ban on January 8 for about one and a half months. India eased the restriction to some extent in late February, allowing some of its companies to import refined palm oil from Nepal. But again, India banned the product citing SAFTA regulation, which requires certificate of origin of the product. In the circular, the directorate has ordered all the customs offices to seek the certificate of origin of palm oil from Nepali and Bangladeshi companies as the two countries are signatories to the SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement). </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11800', 'image' => '20200513101938_1589322001.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 10:18:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12050', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Tourism Industry set to Lose 30,000 Indian Pilgrims', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: The construction of a road inside Nepali territory in Lipulek by India has not only sent ripples across the political circle but also in the tourism sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 13: The construction of a road inside Nepali territory in Lipulek by India has not only sent ripples across the political circle but also in the tourism sector. The tourism industry is likely to bear huge losses due to the construction of the vital road that links India with Mansarowar, a polgirmage site in Tibet.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">So far, most of the Indian tourists have been visiting the holy site through Nepal. Although it is possible to reach Mansarowar from India’s Sikkim, pilgrims from India prefer to visit the lake through Nepal due to convenience. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Generally, Indian pilgrims visit Mansarovar between May to September. However, China has banned the visit this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Next year, it is very much likely that Indian pilgrims will use the new route constructed by India by encroaching Nepal’s territory. This means, the tourism industry of Nepal will lose billions of rupees as well as employment. Hotel entrepreneurs who have invested heavily in Nepalgunj and Humla targeting Indian tourists will have to suffer great losses as well. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The new route opened by India last week is the shortest distance to Mansarowar. The pilgrimage site is just 100 kilometers from Lipulek while it is 110 kilometers from Hilsa of Humla. Tourism entrepreneurs say they are likely to loose 30,000 Indian pilgrims annually.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11799', 'image' => '20200513104548_1589238047.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 10:45:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12049', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Increase in Digital Transaction during Lockdown', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: Digital transaction has been experiencing a surge during the lockdown imposed to control the spread of Covid-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 13: Digital transaction has been experiencing a surge during the lockdown imposed to control the spread of Covid-19. Banks and Financial Institution (BFIs) have also been focusing on digital banking. Recently, the number of customers using services like internet banking, debit, credit cards and pre-paid services has reached 10 million.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the data from Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), there are around 31.01 million deposit accounts. Among them most of them use mobile banking. Among the total depositors, 98,06,237 users use mobile banking. Around 72,15,646 depositors use debit card. Similarly, 9,69,055 customers use internet banking. Likewise, 1,46,856 users use credit card and 63,775 customer use pre-paid card. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Due to the pandemic, almost all services except emergency ones are closed. All the banks of Nepal haven’t charged any fee for any kind of digital transaction during the lockdown. The customers have been using digital method to pay for money transfer, mobile top-up, drinking water, electricity and internet bill. Mobile banking and internet banking system have been attracting more customers. Also, digital wallets including e-Sewa, Khalti, IME Pay have been making the payment process more convenient. Recently, people have also been doing various transaction from Connect IPS. This shows that the digital platform have potential to put an end to the use of cheque or paper money. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Nepal Rastra Bank has been stressing on the need of investing in technology.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">NRB has been spending several millions annually on printing new notes. Maximum use of digital payment method will allow the country to use the printed notes for long time. So, Nepal Bankers Association has suggested in the pre-budget report that 80 percent of transaction must be digital. According to Bhuwan Kumar Dahal, president of Nepal Bankers’ Association, they have suggested NRB to focus on developing cashless transaction. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Banking Expert Sanjeev Subba also stresses on the necessity of going into cashless transaction. He said that there are still several challenges when talking about expanding the usage of digital payment method throughout the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Despite the digital facilities, people still prefer to sit in queue for exchanging cheque and to deposit money. This shows that banking system in Nepal still relies on cash,” Subba said. The system is such that we still need to use paper to open bank account, exchange foreign notes and many other bank transactions. In the global scene, customers don’t get cheque and use ATM very less. For Nepal, there are still many hindrances to go into full-fledged digital banking. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11798', 'image' => '20200513103350_SO2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 10:33:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12046', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'COVID-19 Cases Surge to 217 in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: Government authorities confirmed 83 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday. With this, the total number of cases has reached 217 in the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">May 13: Government authorities confirmed 83 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday. With this, the total number of cases has reached 217 in the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">During a regular press briefing, the Ministry of Health and Population confirmed 57 new cases following lab tests in the capital. The ministry later issued a late night statement adding 26 more cases. It is the highest confirmed cases in a single day ever since the first case was reported in the capital in January. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">Among the new cases, 57 were confirmed in Parsa, 9 in Rupandehi, 8 in Kapilbastu, 2 in Mahottari, 2 in Dhanusha, 2 in Bhaktapur, 1 in Sarlahi, Kathmandu and Bara. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">The ministry informed that the health condition of all the patients is normal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">The health ministry informed that they have so far tested 18,964 samples through PCR method and 59,627 through RDT method.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">The first case of COVID-19 was reported on January 23 in a Nepali student who returned from China’s Wuhan, where the disease is believed to have originated. Till date, 33 people have recovered from coronavirus in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/aaaa96798%202.jpg" style="height:1024px; width:758px" /></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11797', 'image' => '20200513092604_Research1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 09:16:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12047', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Customs Offices seek Electronic Means to Check Import and Export', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: Activities in the industrial and commercial centers have started to increase after the government announced to allow some industries and businesses to operate amid lockdown.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">May 13: Activities in the industrial and commercial centers have started to increase after the government announced to allow some industries and businesses to operate amid lockdown.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">At the meantime, the government has restricted all movements other than shipments of goods through the border until May 31 to prevent the coronavirus outbreak from spreading.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">However, the concerned bodies are indifferent towards the risk of infection among the employees working at the checkpoints to facilitate import and export and the service seekers.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In such situation, Birgunj Customs Office had requested the Customs Department to make arrangements for the inspection of imported goods through electronic means to reduce the direct contact between the employees and the service seekers.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">It has been two weeks since the customs office wrote the letter requesting arrangements for the check pass through online system but it has not received any response. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Both the Birgunj Dry Port and Biratnagar Customs had urged the department to make such arrangements.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs department has not yet taken any decision on the request from its subordinate offices. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">However, Article 89 (D) of the Customs Act 2064 has a provision that the documents forwarded electronically through an authorised ID is considered as signed by the customs official even if it does not bear the signature.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs offices have suggested the department to implement this legal provision to reduce the direct contact between the staffers and the service seekers at the checkpoints to stop the contagion. </span></span></h1> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11796', 'image' => '20200513095138_1589204903.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 09:51:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12044', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Economy will be Revitalized Amid Lockdown: Minister Khatiwada ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 12: Minister for Finance Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwa has said that the country’s economy will be revitalized amid the lockdown in effect since March 24 to protect the lives of people from COVID-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 12: Minister for Finance Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwa has said that the country’s economy will be revitalized amid the lockdown in effect since March 24 to protect the lives of people from COVID-19. In the pre-budget discussion in Monday’s meeting of National Assembly, Minister Khatiwada said that the government was moving towards the direction to forward the economic activities to save lives of people. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20200306122644_0180724052602_IMG_0298%202.jpg" style="height:480px; width:598px" /><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Responding to the queries of the parliamentarians, Minister Khatiwada said that the new budget will help bolster coordination among the three-tier governments since the federal government acknowledged that more authority should be given to the local units. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Stating that the local units had actively performed in prevention and control of COVID-19 and treat the infected ones thereby proving the importance of federalism, Khatiwada assured that the government would take into account the parliamentarians’ suggestions to prioritize agriculture sector and health sector while formulating the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to him, all the recommendations given by the parliamentarians would be taken as guidance while formulating the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Furthermore, the finance minister assured that no Nepali citizen abroad would be left stranded and any possible support would be extended to them through diplomatic channel but when it comes to opening the borders with our immediate neighbours it could spell disaster in terms of infection and its spread. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The NA shall next meeting on May 13, Wednesday. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-12', 'modified' => '2020-05-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11794', 'image' => '20200512093643_20190605083713_Clipboard02.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-12 09:33:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12042', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Agriculture is the Most Profitable Business in Nepal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 12: Agriculture seems to be the most lucrative business in Nepal, according to the National Economic Census 2018.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">May 12: Agriculture seems to be the most lucrative business in Nepal, according to the National Economic Census 2018.</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> However, the agriculture sector has not been able to commercialize in Nepal due to the traditional mindset of the people that this sector is not profitable. But the report of the National Economic Census 2018 dismisses such notion with the new finding that agriculture is the most profitable area of business in Nepal.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The recently updated data of the First National Economic Census-2018 by the Department of Statistics shows that agriculture is the most profitable business in Nepal among 18 different sectors.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the study, the profit in agriculture sector was 55.7 percent during the incubation period while the average profit of all other sectors was 29.3 percent only.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The statistics show that agriculture, forestry and fisheries are among the most lucrative businesses in Nepal.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Although the banking and financial sector has been severely criticized for making huge profits, the department's data show that the most profitable sector after agriculture is education-related business.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The annual profit of education-related business sector is 46.1 percent while the annual profit in wholesale and retail vehicle maintenance is 43 percent. Similarly the annual profit of mining and quarrying is 42.2 percent, real estate business (40 percent) and finance and insurance (40.5 percent). </span></span></h1> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/bn%281%29.jpg" style="height:225px; width:400px" /></span></span></p> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></h1> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-12', 'modified' => '2020-05-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11792', 'image' => '20200512091924_20190527010000_Makai.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-12 09:18:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12043', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Task Force to Decide Workers’ Salary', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 12: With the issue of payment of workers taking centre stage, stakeholders have decided to form a task force to seek a solution to the crisis.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">May 12: With the issue of payment of workers taking centre stage, stakeholders have decided to form a task force to seek a solution to the crisis.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">The task force was formed after a meeting between Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Raya Yadav, the employers and the respective trade unions.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">As the meeting failed to find a solution, the ministry decided to form a the task force. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">Associations of private companies had decided to provide 50 percent salary during the lockdown. They said that they would eventually provide the remaining half salary after lockdown. The employers associations have been continuously discussing about implementation of the decision. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">According to Suman Ghimire, spokesperson at the ministry, the task force will consist of representatives from the government, employers and workers’ associations. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">According to Binod Shrestha, president of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT), private companies should follow the instruction of Nepal Government. The employers said that trilateral understanding is necessary to maintain the enterprises and maintain security of the staff.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">In the meeting, officials from the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transportation, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Development were present. Similarly, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Hotel Association of Nepal and Trade Union from private sector also attended the meeting. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-12', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11791', 'image' => '20200512093917_morgan-mckinley-it-salary-guide-position-worth-992x440.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-12 09:29:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12040', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Kumari Bank to Acquire Deva Bikas Bank ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 9: Kumari Bank is in the process to acquire Deva Bikas Bank. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Devanagari Sangam MN"">May 9: </span>Kumari Bank is in the process to acquire Deva Bikas Bank. The two companies have called a meeting on June 1 to finalize the deal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Kumari Bank will hold its General Assembly on the stipulated date at Naxal at 11 am while Deva Bikas Bank will also hold AGM at the same time at its head office in Lal Durbar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Kumari Bank will present the acquisition proposal to the General Assembly with the power of attorney vested on the board of directors. Kumari Bank is preparing to close its book on May 20 for the Special General Assembly.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Meanwhile, the AGM of Deva Bikas Bank is scheduled to approve the acquisition proposal and the financial report of fiscal year 2019/20. The AGM is also expected to approve distribution of 8.55 percent bonus share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Deva Bikas Bank is preparing to close its book between May 18 and June 1 ahead of its AGM.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">The paid-up capital of Deva Bikas Bank currently stands at Rs 3.17 billion while that of Kumari Bank is Rs 9.41 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-11', 'modified' => '2020-05-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11790', 'image' => '20200511093237_acquisition-e1541341949121.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-11 09:32:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ) ) $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
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to undo the three decades of gains made in global human development - </span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">which can be measured as a combination of the world’s education, health and living standards – in 2020 for the first time since the introduction of the concept in 190, a new United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report has warned. In its 2020 Human Development Perspectives titled COVID-19 and Human Development: Assessing the Crisis, Envisioning the Recovery, the UN body has said that declines in fundamental areas of human development are being felt across most countries - rich and poor - in every region. According to the report, the global per capita income this year is expected to fall by four percent. With closure of schools, UNDP estimates that “effective out-of-school rate”—the percentage of primary school-age children, adjusted to reflect those without internet access— 60 percent of children are not getting an education, leading to global levels not seen since the 1980s.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> “The world has seen many crises over the past 30 years, including the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-09. Each has hit human development hard but, overall, development gains accrued globally year-on-year. COVID-19 – with its triple hit to health, education, and income – may change this trend,” said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. According to the report, the combined impact of these shocks could signify the largest reversal in human development on record. “This is not counting other significant effects, for instance, in the progress towards gender equality. The negative impacts on women and girls span economic - earning and saving less and greater job insecurity - reproductive health, unpaid care work and gender-based violence,” the report reads. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">According to UNDP, the drop in human development is expected to be much higher in developing countries that are less able to cope with the pandemic’s social and economic fallout than richer nations. The report stressed on the need for determined, equity-focused interventions to help economies and societies rally, mitigating the far-reaching impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Implementing equity-focused approaches would be affordable. For instance, closing the gap in access to the internet for low- and middle-income countries is estimated to cost just one per cent of the extraordinary fiscal support packages the world has so far committed to respond to COVID-19,” the report stated. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">UNDP has recommended five priority steps to tackle the complexity of this crisis: protecting health systems and services; ramping up social protection; protecting jobs, small- and medium-sized businesses and informal sector workers; making macroeconomic policies work for everyone; and promoting peace, good governance and trust to build social cohesion. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-22', 'modified' => '2020-05-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11807', 'image' => '20200522014144_human.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-22 01:38:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '31' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12055', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government in a Fix to Give Continuity to Local Infrastructure Development Programme', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: The government is in dilemma on whether or not to give continuity to the much criticized Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Programme in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2020/21.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">May 15: The government is in dilemma on whether or not to give continuity to the much criticized Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Programme in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2020/21.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">The revenue collection has been weak due to the severe effects of lockdown on economic activities. The government is also facing a huge challenge to invest heavily on health infrastructure and employment programmes with the existing resources. Due to this, the officials at Ministry of Finance are not sure about giving continuity to this program in the upcoming budget.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">According to informed sources, the National Planning Commission has given the nod to the finance ministry to decide on this matter. Most of the members of parliament (MPs) from the ruling party are in favour of giving continuity to the programme. Due to this, the Ministry of Finance also is looking forward to including it in the budget. If the program is included in next year’s budget, the government is likely to allocate less amount of money than in the current fiscal year, said an official at the Ministry of Finance. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">In the current fiscal year, Rs 600 million was provided to each of the directly elected MPs for the infrastructure development programme. In the current fiscal year, around Rs 23 billion has been allocated for the programme. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">“Discussions are underway to allocate less budget for the programme due to limitation in revenue collection,” said a high-ranking official at the Ministry of Finance. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">Minister for Finance Yub Raj Khatiwada was not in favour of giving continuity to this programme even for the current fiscal year. This time too, he is not supportive, said sources. However, due to the pressure from the ruling party members, there is high possibility of continuing this programme. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11805', 'image' => '20200515074923_1589492253.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 19:48:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12054', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Import of Food Grains up Significantly During Lockdown', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: The import of food grains has increased drastically in the past seven weeks of lockdown. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">May 15: The import of food grains has increased drastically in the past seven weeks of lockdown. Data maintained by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies indicate that import of food grains has skyrocketed in the last seven weeks since the lockdown started.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">According to a report published by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, altogether 13,343 tons of food grains were imported during the first week of the lockdown. However, the import increased in the second week. Nepal imported 14,643 tons of food grains in the second week of the lockdown. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">The import amount was up drastically to 31,441 tons in the fifth week. However, the import declined down in the sixth and seventh weeks of the lockdown. The imports declined to 28,526 tons and 25,805 tons, respectively during the sixth and seventh weeks of the lockdown.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">Netra Prasad Subedi, director general of the Department of Supplies informed that the increase in import during the lockdown is normal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">He informed that it was natural for imports to increase as shipments were not affected by the lockdown and stocks of goods in the market were running out.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">Avinash Bohara, central member of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), also expressed similar opinion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">He said that the import increased because consumers stockpiled food products more than required, fearing the possibility of food crisis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">"The increase in imports can also be attributed to the increase in relief programmes," he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">The import of food grains has increased by 93.4 percent and pulses by 26.2 percent in seventh week of the lockdown in comparison to the first week.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">The import of vegetables and fruits also has increased by 25 percent and 61.3 percent respectively. Likewise, import of dairy products inclined up by 514.3 percent during the same period.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11804', 'image' => '20200515035749_hinkstockphotos.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 15:57:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12053', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Tightens Lockdown Measures in the Valley', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: The Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to tighten the lockdown measures in the three districts of Kathmandu Valley after new cases of coronavirus were reported in the capital.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">May 15: The Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to tighten the lockdown measures in the three districts of Kathmandu Valley after new cases of coronavirus were reported in the capital.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">A meeting of the chief district officers of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur as well as local representatives and security chiefs on Thursday (May 14) decided to adopt strict measures from Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Spokesperson at the ministry Kedahnath Sharma informed New Business Age that the districts outside the valley can issue vehicle passes only after consulting the ministry.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Recently, three persons who entered the valley from outside tested positive for coronavirus. Those cases were confirmed on Wednesday followed by a new case of infection in a six-year-old girl in the capital a day later. Fearing that the infection could go out of control if adequate measures are not taken, the authorities decided to further tighten the rules.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">After noticing coronavirus infection among people who recently entered the valley from outside districts, the home ministry decided to invalidate all the vehicle passes issued earlier. All such passes have been scrapped, effective from May 14. The meeting also decided to mandatorily perform Rapid Diagnostic Test on any person entering the valley even for emergency purpose. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Likewise, the authorities decided to consider only the passes issued by the concerned authorities as valid for government employees and staffers of banks and financial institutions within the valley.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11803', 'image' => '20200515112204_1589465895.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 11:21:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12052', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'COVID-19 Tally Climbs to 258 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: Nine more people have tested positive for coronavirus, according to the state-run national news agency RSS.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 15: Nine more people have tested positive for coronavirus, according to the state-run national news agency RSS. Those who tested positive on Thursday are from Banke and Makawanpur districts. With this, the number of people infected with COVID-19 has reached to 258, RSS reported citing the Ministry of Health and Population. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to RSS, assistant spokesperson at the ministry Dr Samir Adhikari said the infection was found in nine persons in course of tests carried out on samples collected from different parts of the country. The tests were conducted at the Teku-based National Public Health Laboratory and at the Bheri Hospital, Nepalgunj on Thursday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Among the new COVID-19 cases, eight are from Banke and one from Makawanpur. This is the first time that coronavirus infection has been seen in Makwanpur. A 37-year-old male tested positive to the virus in Makawanpur, according to RSS. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Similarly, COVID-19 infection was also found in eight men aged between 18 to 36 of Ward No 1, 3 and 5 of Narainapur Rural Municipality in Banke district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Assistant spokesman Dr Adhikari said the health condition of the infected persons is normal and they are under the supervision of health workers. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11802', 'image' => '20200515110731_Research1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 11:06:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12051', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt to Announce Policies and Programmes for New Fiscal Year Today', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: The policies and programmes of the government for the new fiscal year 2020/21 will be presented in the joint meeting of the federal parliament on Friday (May 15). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 15: The policies and programmes of the government for the new fiscal year 2020/21 will be presented in the joint meeting of the federal parliament on Friday (May 15). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">President Bidya Devi Bhandari will table the policy and programmes of the government in the joint meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) and National Assembly at 4 pm, according to federal parliament secretariat spokesperson, Dr Rojnath Pandey. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">All the parliamentarians have been asked to attend the meeting and be seated for the meeting by 3:45 pm on Friday. They have been asked to put on decent apparel for the event. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Spokesperson Pandey shared that all the safety protocols such as physical distancing, usage of safety gears such as mask and sanitization among others have been observed in the meeting hall to prevent the spread of the COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">There are 275 members in HoR and 59 in National Assembly. A total of 29 distinguished guests have been invited at the event including the President, the Vice-President, chiefs of the constitutional bodies and chiefs of security agencies among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The heads of the foreign diplomatic missions as well as private sectors have not been invited this year in view of the prospect of COVID-19 transmission. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The Nepal Communist Party-led government is going to launch the policies and porgrammes for the third time. Economic growth will be high in priority in the policies and programmes to be launched and implemented in the new fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Furthermore, the policies and programmes of the government will also incorporate programmes that will address the issues emanated from the COVID-19. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11801', 'image' => '20200515110029_1589464915.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 10:59:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12048', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Bans Palm Oil from Nepal Again', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: India has once again banned the import of refined palm oil from Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">May 13: India has once again banned the import of refined palm oil from Nepal. Nepalese industries have not been able to export the product after India’s Foreign Trade Directorate imposed the ban effective from Tuesday (May 12). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">The directorate issued a circular to its subordinate bodies on Monday to halt the import of palm oil.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">Earlier, India had imposed a similar ban on January 8 for about one and a half months. India eased the restriction to some extent in late February, allowing some of its companies to import refined palm oil from Nepal. But again, India banned the product citing SAFTA regulation, which requires certificate of origin of the product. In the circular, the directorate has ordered all the customs offices to seek the certificate of origin of palm oil from Nepali and Bangladeshi companies as the two countries are signatories to the SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement). </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11800', 'image' => '20200513101938_1589322001.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 10:18:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12050', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Tourism Industry set to Lose 30,000 Indian Pilgrims', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: The construction of a road inside Nepali territory in Lipulek by India has not only sent ripples across the political circle but also in the tourism sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 13: The construction of a road inside Nepali territory in Lipulek by India has not only sent ripples across the political circle but also in the tourism sector. The tourism industry is likely to bear huge losses due to the construction of the vital road that links India with Mansarowar, a polgirmage site in Tibet.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">So far, most of the Indian tourists have been visiting the holy site through Nepal. Although it is possible to reach Mansarowar from India’s Sikkim, pilgrims from India prefer to visit the lake through Nepal due to convenience. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Generally, Indian pilgrims visit Mansarovar between May to September. However, China has banned the visit this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Next year, it is very much likely that Indian pilgrims will use the new route constructed by India by encroaching Nepal’s territory. This means, the tourism industry of Nepal will lose billions of rupees as well as employment. Hotel entrepreneurs who have invested heavily in Nepalgunj and Humla targeting Indian tourists will have to suffer great losses as well. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The new route opened by India last week is the shortest distance to Mansarowar. The pilgrimage site is just 100 kilometers from Lipulek while it is 110 kilometers from Hilsa of Humla. Tourism entrepreneurs say they are likely to loose 30,000 Indian pilgrims annually.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11799', 'image' => '20200513104548_1589238047.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 10:45:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12049', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Increase in Digital Transaction during Lockdown', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: Digital transaction has been experiencing a surge during the lockdown imposed to control the spread of Covid-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 13: Digital transaction has been experiencing a surge during the lockdown imposed to control the spread of Covid-19. Banks and Financial Institution (BFIs) have also been focusing on digital banking. Recently, the number of customers using services like internet banking, debit, credit cards and pre-paid services has reached 10 million.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the data from Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), there are around 31.01 million deposit accounts. Among them most of them use mobile banking. Among the total depositors, 98,06,237 users use mobile banking. Around 72,15,646 depositors use debit card. Similarly, 9,69,055 customers use internet banking. Likewise, 1,46,856 users use credit card and 63,775 customer use pre-paid card. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Due to the pandemic, almost all services except emergency ones are closed. All the banks of Nepal haven’t charged any fee for any kind of digital transaction during the lockdown. The customers have been using digital method to pay for money transfer, mobile top-up, drinking water, electricity and internet bill. Mobile banking and internet banking system have been attracting more customers. Also, digital wallets including e-Sewa, Khalti, IME Pay have been making the payment process more convenient. Recently, people have also been doing various transaction from Connect IPS. This shows that the digital platform have potential to put an end to the use of cheque or paper money. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Nepal Rastra Bank has been stressing on the need of investing in technology.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">NRB has been spending several millions annually on printing new notes. Maximum use of digital payment method will allow the country to use the printed notes for long time. So, Nepal Bankers Association has suggested in the pre-budget report that 80 percent of transaction must be digital. According to Bhuwan Kumar Dahal, president of Nepal Bankers’ Association, they have suggested NRB to focus on developing cashless transaction. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Banking Expert Sanjeev Subba also stresses on the necessity of going into cashless transaction. He said that there are still several challenges when talking about expanding the usage of digital payment method throughout the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Despite the digital facilities, people still prefer to sit in queue for exchanging cheque and to deposit money. This shows that banking system in Nepal still relies on cash,” Subba said. The system is such that we still need to use paper to open bank account, exchange foreign notes and many other bank transactions. In the global scene, customers don’t get cheque and use ATM very less. For Nepal, there are still many hindrances to go into full-fledged digital banking. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11798', 'image' => '20200513103350_SO2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 10:33:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12046', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'COVID-19 Cases Surge to 217 in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: Government authorities confirmed 83 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday. With this, the total number of cases has reached 217 in the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">May 13: Government authorities confirmed 83 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday. With this, the total number of cases has reached 217 in the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">During a regular press briefing, the Ministry of Health and Population confirmed 57 new cases following lab tests in the capital. The ministry later issued a late night statement adding 26 more cases. It is the highest confirmed cases in a single day ever since the first case was reported in the capital in January. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">Among the new cases, 57 were confirmed in Parsa, 9 in Rupandehi, 8 in Kapilbastu, 2 in Mahottari, 2 in Dhanusha, 2 in Bhaktapur, 1 in Sarlahi, Kathmandu and Bara. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">The ministry informed that the health condition of all the patients is normal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">The health ministry informed that they have so far tested 18,964 samples through PCR method and 59,627 through RDT method.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">The first case of COVID-19 was reported on January 23 in a Nepali student who returned from China’s Wuhan, where the disease is believed to have originated. Till date, 33 people have recovered from coronavirus in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/aaaa96798%202.jpg" style="height:1024px; width:758px" /></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11797', 'image' => '20200513092604_Research1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 09:16:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12047', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Customs Offices seek Electronic Means to Check Import and Export', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: Activities in the industrial and commercial centers have started to increase after the government announced to allow some industries and businesses to operate amid lockdown.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">May 13: Activities in the industrial and commercial centers have started to increase after the government announced to allow some industries and businesses to operate amid lockdown.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">At the meantime, the government has restricted all movements other than shipments of goods through the border until May 31 to prevent the coronavirus outbreak from spreading.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">However, the concerned bodies are indifferent towards the risk of infection among the employees working at the checkpoints to facilitate import and export and the service seekers.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In such situation, Birgunj Customs Office had requested the Customs Department to make arrangements for the inspection of imported goods through electronic means to reduce the direct contact between the employees and the service seekers.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">It has been two weeks since the customs office wrote the letter requesting arrangements for the check pass through online system but it has not received any response. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Both the Birgunj Dry Port and Biratnagar Customs had urged the department to make such arrangements.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs department has not yet taken any decision on the request from its subordinate offices. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">However, Article 89 (D) of the Customs Act 2064 has a provision that the documents forwarded electronically through an authorised ID is considered as signed by the customs official even if it does not bear the signature.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs offices have suggested the department to implement this legal provision to reduce the direct contact between the staffers and the service seekers at the checkpoints to stop the contagion. </span></span></h1> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11796', 'image' => '20200513095138_1589204903.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 09:51:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12044', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Economy will be Revitalized Amid Lockdown: Minister Khatiwada ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 12: Minister for Finance Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwa has said that the country’s economy will be revitalized amid the lockdown in effect since March 24 to protect the lives of people from COVID-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 12: Minister for Finance Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwa has said that the country’s economy will be revitalized amid the lockdown in effect since March 24 to protect the lives of people from COVID-19. In the pre-budget discussion in Monday’s meeting of National Assembly, Minister Khatiwada said that the government was moving towards the direction to forward the economic activities to save lives of people. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20200306122644_0180724052602_IMG_0298%202.jpg" style="height:480px; width:598px" /><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Responding to the queries of the parliamentarians, Minister Khatiwada said that the new budget will help bolster coordination among the three-tier governments since the federal government acknowledged that more authority should be given to the local units. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Stating that the local units had actively performed in prevention and control of COVID-19 and treat the infected ones thereby proving the importance of federalism, Khatiwada assured that the government would take into account the parliamentarians’ suggestions to prioritize agriculture sector and health sector while formulating the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to him, all the recommendations given by the parliamentarians would be taken as guidance while formulating the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Furthermore, the finance minister assured that no Nepali citizen abroad would be left stranded and any possible support would be extended to them through diplomatic channel but when it comes to opening the borders with our immediate neighbours it could spell disaster in terms of infection and its spread. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The NA shall next meeting on May 13, Wednesday. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-12', 'modified' => '2020-05-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11794', 'image' => '20200512093643_20190605083713_Clipboard02.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-12 09:33:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12042', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Agriculture is the Most Profitable Business in Nepal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 12: Agriculture seems to be the most lucrative business in Nepal, according to the National Economic Census 2018.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">May 12: Agriculture seems to be the most lucrative business in Nepal, according to the National Economic Census 2018.</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> However, the agriculture sector has not been able to commercialize in Nepal due to the traditional mindset of the people that this sector is not profitable. But the report of the National Economic Census 2018 dismisses such notion with the new finding that agriculture is the most profitable area of business in Nepal.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The recently updated data of the First National Economic Census-2018 by the Department of Statistics shows that agriculture is the most profitable business in Nepal among 18 different sectors.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the study, the profit in agriculture sector was 55.7 percent during the incubation period while the average profit of all other sectors was 29.3 percent only.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The statistics show that agriculture, forestry and fisheries are among the most lucrative businesses in Nepal.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Although the banking and financial sector has been severely criticized for making huge profits, the department's data show that the most profitable sector after agriculture is education-related business.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The annual profit of education-related business sector is 46.1 percent while the annual profit in wholesale and retail vehicle maintenance is 43 percent. Similarly the annual profit of mining and quarrying is 42.2 percent, real estate business (40 percent) and finance and insurance (40.5 percent). </span></span></h1> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/bn%281%29.jpg" style="height:225px; width:400px" /></span></span></p> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></h1> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-12', 'modified' => '2020-05-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11792', 'image' => '20200512091924_20190527010000_Makai.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-12 09:18:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12043', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Task Force to Decide Workers’ Salary', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 12: With the issue of payment of workers taking centre stage, stakeholders have decided to form a task force to seek a solution to the crisis.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">May 12: With the issue of payment of workers taking centre stage, stakeholders have decided to form a task force to seek a solution to the crisis.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">The task force was formed after a meeting between Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Raya Yadav, the employers and the respective trade unions.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">As the meeting failed to find a solution, the ministry decided to form a the task force. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">Associations of private companies had decided to provide 50 percent salary during the lockdown. They said that they would eventually provide the remaining half salary after lockdown. The employers associations have been continuously discussing about implementation of the decision. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">According to Suman Ghimire, spokesperson at the ministry, the task force will consist of representatives from the government, employers and workers’ associations. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">According to Binod Shrestha, president of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT), private companies should follow the instruction of Nepal Government. The employers said that trilateral understanding is necessary to maintain the enterprises and maintain security of the staff.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">In the meeting, officials from the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transportation, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Development were present. Similarly, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Hotel Association of Nepal and Trade Union from private sector also attended the meeting. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-12', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11791', 'image' => '20200512093917_morgan-mckinley-it-salary-guide-position-worth-992x440.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-12 09:29:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12040', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Kumari Bank to Acquire Deva Bikas Bank ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 9: Kumari Bank is in the process to acquire Deva Bikas Bank. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Devanagari Sangam MN"">May 9: </span>Kumari Bank is in the process to acquire Deva Bikas Bank. The two companies have called a meeting on June 1 to finalize the deal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Kumari Bank will hold its General Assembly on the stipulated date at Naxal at 11 am while Deva Bikas Bank will also hold AGM at the same time at its head office in Lal Durbar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Kumari Bank will present the acquisition proposal to the General Assembly with the power of attorney vested on the board of directors. Kumari Bank is preparing to close its book on May 20 for the Special General Assembly.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Meanwhile, the AGM of Deva Bikas Bank is scheduled to approve the acquisition proposal and the financial report of fiscal year 2019/20. The AGM is also expected to approve distribution of 8.55 percent bonus share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Deva Bikas Bank is preparing to close its book between May 18 and June 1 ahead of its AGM.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">The paid-up capital of Deva Bikas Bank currently stands at Rs 3.17 billion while that of Kumari Bank is Rs 9.41 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-11', 'modified' => '2020-05-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11790', 'image' => '20200511093237_acquisition-e1541341949121.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-11 09:32:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ) ) $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
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to undo the three decades of gains made in global human development - </span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">which can be measured as a combination of the world’s education, health and living standards – in 2020 for the first time since the introduction of the concept in 190, a new United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report has warned. In its 2020 Human Development Perspectives titled COVID-19 and Human Development: Assessing the Crisis, Envisioning the Recovery, the UN body has said that declines in fundamental areas of human development are being felt across most countries - rich and poor - in every region. According to the report, the global per capita income this year is expected to fall by four percent. With closure of schools, UNDP estimates that “effective out-of-school rate”—the percentage of primary school-age children, adjusted to reflect those without internet access— 60 percent of children are not getting an education, leading to global levels not seen since the 1980s.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> “The world has seen many crises over the past 30 years, including the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-09. Each has hit human development hard but, overall, development gains accrued globally year-on-year. COVID-19 – with its triple hit to health, education, and income – may change this trend,” said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. According to the report, the combined impact of these shocks could signify the largest reversal in human development on record. “This is not counting other significant effects, for instance, in the progress towards gender equality. The negative impacts on women and girls span economic - earning and saving less and greater job insecurity - reproductive health, unpaid care work and gender-based violence,” the report reads. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">According to UNDP, the drop in human development is expected to be much higher in developing countries that are less able to cope with the pandemic’s social and economic fallout than richer nations. The report stressed on the need for determined, equity-focused interventions to help economies and societies rally, mitigating the far-reaching impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Implementing equity-focused approaches would be affordable. For instance, closing the gap in access to the internet for low- and middle-income countries is estimated to cost just one per cent of the extraordinary fiscal support packages the world has so far committed to respond to COVID-19,” the report stated. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">UNDP has recommended five priority steps to tackle the complexity of this crisis: protecting health systems and services; ramping up social protection; protecting jobs, small- and medium-sized businesses and informal sector workers; making macroeconomic policies work for everyone; and promoting peace, good governance and trust to build social cohesion. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-22', 'modified' => '2020-05-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11807', 'image' => '20200522014144_human.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-22 01:38:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '31' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12055', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government in a Fix to Give Continuity to Local Infrastructure Development Programme', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: The government is in dilemma on whether or not to give continuity to the much criticized Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Programme in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2020/21.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">May 15: The government is in dilemma on whether or not to give continuity to the much criticized Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Programme in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2020/21.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">The revenue collection has been weak due to the severe effects of lockdown on economic activities. The government is also facing a huge challenge to invest heavily on health infrastructure and employment programmes with the existing resources. Due to this, the officials at Ministry of Finance are not sure about giving continuity to this program in the upcoming budget.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">According to informed sources, the National Planning Commission has given the nod to the finance ministry to decide on this matter. Most of the members of parliament (MPs) from the ruling party are in favour of giving continuity to the programme. Due to this, the Ministry of Finance also is looking forward to including it in the budget. If the program is included in next year’s budget, the government is likely to allocate less amount of money than in the current fiscal year, said an official at the Ministry of Finance. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">In the current fiscal year, Rs 600 million was provided to each of the directly elected MPs for the infrastructure development programme. In the current fiscal year, around Rs 23 billion has been allocated for the programme. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">“Discussions are underway to allocate less budget for the programme due to limitation in revenue collection,” said a high-ranking official at the Ministry of Finance. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">Minister for Finance Yub Raj Khatiwada was not in favour of giving continuity to this programme even for the current fiscal year. This time too, he is not supportive, said sources. However, due to the pressure from the ruling party members, there is high possibility of continuing this programme. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11805', 'image' => '20200515074923_1589492253.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 19:48:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12054', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Import of Food Grains up Significantly During Lockdown', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: The import of food grains has increased drastically in the past seven weeks of lockdown. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">May 15: The import of food grains has increased drastically in the past seven weeks of lockdown. Data maintained by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies indicate that import of food grains has skyrocketed in the last seven weeks since the lockdown started.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">According to a report published by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, altogether 13,343 tons of food grains were imported during the first week of the lockdown. However, the import increased in the second week. Nepal imported 14,643 tons of food grains in the second week of the lockdown. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">The import amount was up drastically to 31,441 tons in the fifth week. However, the import declined down in the sixth and seventh weeks of the lockdown. The imports declined to 28,526 tons and 25,805 tons, respectively during the sixth and seventh weeks of the lockdown.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">Netra Prasad Subedi, director general of the Department of Supplies informed that the increase in import during the lockdown is normal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">He informed that it was natural for imports to increase as shipments were not affected by the lockdown and stocks of goods in the market were running out.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">Avinash Bohara, central member of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), also expressed similar opinion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">He said that the import increased because consumers stockpiled food products more than required, fearing the possibility of food crisis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">"The increase in imports can also be attributed to the increase in relief programmes," he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">The import of food grains has increased by 93.4 percent and pulses by 26.2 percent in seventh week of the lockdown in comparison to the first week.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">The import of vegetables and fruits also has increased by 25 percent and 61.3 percent respectively. Likewise, import of dairy products inclined up by 514.3 percent during the same period.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11804', 'image' => '20200515035749_hinkstockphotos.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 15:57:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12053', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Tightens Lockdown Measures in the Valley', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: The Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to tighten the lockdown measures in the three districts of Kathmandu Valley after new cases of coronavirus were reported in the capital.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">May 15: The Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to tighten the lockdown measures in the three districts of Kathmandu Valley after new cases of coronavirus were reported in the capital.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">A meeting of the chief district officers of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur as well as local representatives and security chiefs on Thursday (May 14) decided to adopt strict measures from Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Spokesperson at the ministry Kedahnath Sharma informed New Business Age that the districts outside the valley can issue vehicle passes only after consulting the ministry.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Recently, three persons who entered the valley from outside tested positive for coronavirus. Those cases were confirmed on Wednesday followed by a new case of infection in a six-year-old girl in the capital a day later. Fearing that the infection could go out of control if adequate measures are not taken, the authorities decided to further tighten the rules.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">After noticing coronavirus infection among people who recently entered the valley from outside districts, the home ministry decided to invalidate all the vehicle passes issued earlier. All such passes have been scrapped, effective from May 14. The meeting also decided to mandatorily perform Rapid Diagnostic Test on any person entering the valley even for emergency purpose. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Likewise, the authorities decided to consider only the passes issued by the concerned authorities as valid for government employees and staffers of banks and financial institutions within the valley.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11803', 'image' => '20200515112204_1589465895.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 11:21:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12052', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'COVID-19 Tally Climbs to 258 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: Nine more people have tested positive for coronavirus, according to the state-run national news agency RSS.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 15: Nine more people have tested positive for coronavirus, according to the state-run national news agency RSS. Those who tested positive on Thursday are from Banke and Makawanpur districts. With this, the number of people infected with COVID-19 has reached to 258, RSS reported citing the Ministry of Health and Population. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to RSS, assistant spokesperson at the ministry Dr Samir Adhikari said the infection was found in nine persons in course of tests carried out on samples collected from different parts of the country. The tests were conducted at the Teku-based National Public Health Laboratory and at the Bheri Hospital, Nepalgunj on Thursday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Among the new COVID-19 cases, eight are from Banke and one from Makawanpur. This is the first time that coronavirus infection has been seen in Makwanpur. A 37-year-old male tested positive to the virus in Makawanpur, according to RSS. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Similarly, COVID-19 infection was also found in eight men aged between 18 to 36 of Ward No 1, 3 and 5 of Narainapur Rural Municipality in Banke district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Assistant spokesman Dr Adhikari said the health condition of the infected persons is normal and they are under the supervision of health workers. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11802', 'image' => '20200515110731_Research1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 11:06:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12051', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt to Announce Policies and Programmes for New Fiscal Year Today', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: The policies and programmes of the government for the new fiscal year 2020/21 will be presented in the joint meeting of the federal parliament on Friday (May 15). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 15: The policies and programmes of the government for the new fiscal year 2020/21 will be presented in the joint meeting of the federal parliament on Friday (May 15). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">President Bidya Devi Bhandari will table the policy and programmes of the government in the joint meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) and National Assembly at 4 pm, according to federal parliament secretariat spokesperson, Dr Rojnath Pandey. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">All the parliamentarians have been asked to attend the meeting and be seated for the meeting by 3:45 pm on Friday. They have been asked to put on decent apparel for the event. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Spokesperson Pandey shared that all the safety protocols such as physical distancing, usage of safety gears such as mask and sanitization among others have been observed in the meeting hall to prevent the spread of the COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">There are 275 members in HoR and 59 in National Assembly. A total of 29 distinguished guests have been invited at the event including the President, the Vice-President, chiefs of the constitutional bodies and chiefs of security agencies among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The heads of the foreign diplomatic missions as well as private sectors have not been invited this year in view of the prospect of COVID-19 transmission. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The Nepal Communist Party-led government is going to launch the policies and porgrammes for the third time. Economic growth will be high in priority in the policies and programmes to be launched and implemented in the new fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Furthermore, the policies and programmes of the government will also incorporate programmes that will address the issues emanated from the COVID-19. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11801', 'image' => '20200515110029_1589464915.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 10:59:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12048', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Bans Palm Oil from Nepal Again', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: India has once again banned the import of refined palm oil from Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">May 13: India has once again banned the import of refined palm oil from Nepal. Nepalese industries have not been able to export the product after India’s Foreign Trade Directorate imposed the ban effective from Tuesday (May 12). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">The directorate issued a circular to its subordinate bodies on Monday to halt the import of palm oil.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">Earlier, India had imposed a similar ban on January 8 for about one and a half months. India eased the restriction to some extent in late February, allowing some of its companies to import refined palm oil from Nepal. But again, India banned the product citing SAFTA regulation, which requires certificate of origin of the product. In the circular, the directorate has ordered all the customs offices to seek the certificate of origin of palm oil from Nepali and Bangladeshi companies as the two countries are signatories to the SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement). </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11800', 'image' => '20200513101938_1589322001.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 10:18:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12050', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Tourism Industry set to Lose 30,000 Indian Pilgrims', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: The construction of a road inside Nepali territory in Lipulek by India has not only sent ripples across the political circle but also in the tourism sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 13: The construction of a road inside Nepali territory in Lipulek by India has not only sent ripples across the political circle but also in the tourism sector. The tourism industry is likely to bear huge losses due to the construction of the vital road that links India with Mansarowar, a polgirmage site in Tibet.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">So far, most of the Indian tourists have been visiting the holy site through Nepal. Although it is possible to reach Mansarowar from India’s Sikkim, pilgrims from India prefer to visit the lake through Nepal due to convenience. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Generally, Indian pilgrims visit Mansarovar between May to September. However, China has banned the visit this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Next year, it is very much likely that Indian pilgrims will use the new route constructed by India by encroaching Nepal’s territory. This means, the tourism industry of Nepal will lose billions of rupees as well as employment. Hotel entrepreneurs who have invested heavily in Nepalgunj and Humla targeting Indian tourists will have to suffer great losses as well. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The new route opened by India last week is the shortest distance to Mansarowar. The pilgrimage site is just 100 kilometers from Lipulek while it is 110 kilometers from Hilsa of Humla. Tourism entrepreneurs say they are likely to loose 30,000 Indian pilgrims annually.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11799', 'image' => '20200513104548_1589238047.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 10:45:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12049', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Increase in Digital Transaction during Lockdown', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: Digital transaction has been experiencing a surge during the lockdown imposed to control the spread of Covid-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 13: Digital transaction has been experiencing a surge during the lockdown imposed to control the spread of Covid-19. Banks and Financial Institution (BFIs) have also been focusing on digital banking. Recently, the number of customers using services like internet banking, debit, credit cards and pre-paid services has reached 10 million.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the data from Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), there are around 31.01 million deposit accounts. Among them most of them use mobile banking. Among the total depositors, 98,06,237 users use mobile banking. Around 72,15,646 depositors use debit card. Similarly, 9,69,055 customers use internet banking. Likewise, 1,46,856 users use credit card and 63,775 customer use pre-paid card. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Due to the pandemic, almost all services except emergency ones are closed. All the banks of Nepal haven’t charged any fee for any kind of digital transaction during the lockdown. The customers have been using digital method to pay for money transfer, mobile top-up, drinking water, electricity and internet bill. Mobile banking and internet banking system have been attracting more customers. Also, digital wallets including e-Sewa, Khalti, IME Pay have been making the payment process more convenient. Recently, people have also been doing various transaction from Connect IPS. This shows that the digital platform have potential to put an end to the use of cheque or paper money. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Nepal Rastra Bank has been stressing on the need of investing in technology.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">NRB has been spending several millions annually on printing new notes. Maximum use of digital payment method will allow the country to use the printed notes for long time. So, Nepal Bankers Association has suggested in the pre-budget report that 80 percent of transaction must be digital. According to Bhuwan Kumar Dahal, president of Nepal Bankers’ Association, they have suggested NRB to focus on developing cashless transaction. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Banking Expert Sanjeev Subba also stresses on the necessity of going into cashless transaction. He said that there are still several challenges when talking about expanding the usage of digital payment method throughout the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Despite the digital facilities, people still prefer to sit in queue for exchanging cheque and to deposit money. This shows that banking system in Nepal still relies on cash,” Subba said. The system is such that we still need to use paper to open bank account, exchange foreign notes and many other bank transactions. In the global scene, customers don’t get cheque and use ATM very less. For Nepal, there are still many hindrances to go into full-fledged digital banking. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11798', 'image' => '20200513103350_SO2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 10:33:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12046', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'COVID-19 Cases Surge to 217 in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: Government authorities confirmed 83 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday. With this, the total number of cases has reached 217 in the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">May 13: Government authorities confirmed 83 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday. With this, the total number of cases has reached 217 in the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">During a regular press briefing, the Ministry of Health and Population confirmed 57 new cases following lab tests in the capital. The ministry later issued a late night statement adding 26 more cases. It is the highest confirmed cases in a single day ever since the first case was reported in the capital in January. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">Among the new cases, 57 were confirmed in Parsa, 9 in Rupandehi, 8 in Kapilbastu, 2 in Mahottari, 2 in Dhanusha, 2 in Bhaktapur, 1 in Sarlahi, Kathmandu and Bara. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">The ministry informed that the health condition of all the patients is normal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">The health ministry informed that they have so far tested 18,964 samples through PCR method and 59,627 through RDT method.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">The first case of COVID-19 was reported on January 23 in a Nepali student who returned from China’s Wuhan, where the disease is believed to have originated. Till date, 33 people have recovered from coronavirus in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/aaaa96798%202.jpg" style="height:1024px; width:758px" /></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11797', 'image' => '20200513092604_Research1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 09:16:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12047', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Customs Offices seek Electronic Means to Check Import and Export', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: Activities in the industrial and commercial centers have started to increase after the government announced to allow some industries and businesses to operate amid lockdown.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">May 13: Activities in the industrial and commercial centers have started to increase after the government announced to allow some industries and businesses to operate amid lockdown.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">At the meantime, the government has restricted all movements other than shipments of goods through the border until May 31 to prevent the coronavirus outbreak from spreading.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">However, the concerned bodies are indifferent towards the risk of infection among the employees working at the checkpoints to facilitate import and export and the service seekers.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In such situation, Birgunj Customs Office had requested the Customs Department to make arrangements for the inspection of imported goods through electronic means to reduce the direct contact between the employees and the service seekers.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">It has been two weeks since the customs office wrote the letter requesting arrangements for the check pass through online system but it has not received any response. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Both the Birgunj Dry Port and Biratnagar Customs had urged the department to make such arrangements.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs department has not yet taken any decision on the request from its subordinate offices. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">However, Article 89 (D) of the Customs Act 2064 has a provision that the documents forwarded electronically through an authorised ID is considered as signed by the customs official even if it does not bear the signature.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs offices have suggested the department to implement this legal provision to reduce the direct contact between the staffers and the service seekers at the checkpoints to stop the contagion. </span></span></h1> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11796', 'image' => '20200513095138_1589204903.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 09:51:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12044', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Economy will be Revitalized Amid Lockdown: Minister Khatiwada ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 12: Minister for Finance Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwa has said that the country’s economy will be revitalized amid the lockdown in effect since March 24 to protect the lives of people from COVID-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 12: Minister for Finance Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwa has said that the country’s economy will be revitalized amid the lockdown in effect since March 24 to protect the lives of people from COVID-19. In the pre-budget discussion in Monday’s meeting of National Assembly, Minister Khatiwada said that the government was moving towards the direction to forward the economic activities to save lives of people. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20200306122644_0180724052602_IMG_0298%202.jpg" style="height:480px; width:598px" /><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Responding to the queries of the parliamentarians, Minister Khatiwada said that the new budget will help bolster coordination among the three-tier governments since the federal government acknowledged that more authority should be given to the local units. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Stating that the local units had actively performed in prevention and control of COVID-19 and treat the infected ones thereby proving the importance of federalism, Khatiwada assured that the government would take into account the parliamentarians’ suggestions to prioritize agriculture sector and health sector while formulating the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to him, all the recommendations given by the parliamentarians would be taken as guidance while formulating the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Furthermore, the finance minister assured that no Nepali citizen abroad would be left stranded and any possible support would be extended to them through diplomatic channel but when it comes to opening the borders with our immediate neighbours it could spell disaster in terms of infection and its spread. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The NA shall next meeting on May 13, Wednesday. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-12', 'modified' => '2020-05-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11794', 'image' => '20200512093643_20190605083713_Clipboard02.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-12 09:33:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12042', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Agriculture is the Most Profitable Business in Nepal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 12: Agriculture seems to be the most lucrative business in Nepal, according to the National Economic Census 2018.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">May 12: Agriculture seems to be the most lucrative business in Nepal, according to the National Economic Census 2018.</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> However, the agriculture sector has not been able to commercialize in Nepal due to the traditional mindset of the people that this sector is not profitable. But the report of the National Economic Census 2018 dismisses such notion with the new finding that agriculture is the most profitable area of business in Nepal.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The recently updated data of the First National Economic Census-2018 by the Department of Statistics shows that agriculture is the most profitable business in Nepal among 18 different sectors.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the study, the profit in agriculture sector was 55.7 percent during the incubation period while the average profit of all other sectors was 29.3 percent only.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The statistics show that agriculture, forestry and fisheries are among the most lucrative businesses in Nepal.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Although the banking and financial sector has been severely criticized for making huge profits, the department's data show that the most profitable sector after agriculture is education-related business.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The annual profit of education-related business sector is 46.1 percent while the annual profit in wholesale and retail vehicle maintenance is 43 percent. Similarly the annual profit of mining and quarrying is 42.2 percent, real estate business (40 percent) and finance and insurance (40.5 percent). </span></span></h1> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/bn%281%29.jpg" style="height:225px; width:400px" /></span></span></p> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></h1> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-12', 'modified' => '2020-05-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11792', 'image' => '20200512091924_20190527010000_Makai.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-12 09:18:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12043', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Task Force to Decide Workers’ Salary', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 12: With the issue of payment of workers taking centre stage, stakeholders have decided to form a task force to seek a solution to the crisis.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">May 12: With the issue of payment of workers taking centre stage, stakeholders have decided to form a task force to seek a solution to the crisis.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">The task force was formed after a meeting between Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Raya Yadav, the employers and the respective trade unions.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">As the meeting failed to find a solution, the ministry decided to form a the task force. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">Associations of private companies had decided to provide 50 percent salary during the lockdown. They said that they would eventually provide the remaining half salary after lockdown. The employers associations have been continuously discussing about implementation of the decision. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">According to Suman Ghimire, spokesperson at the ministry, the task force will consist of representatives from the government, employers and workers’ associations. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">According to Binod Shrestha, president of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT), private companies should follow the instruction of Nepal Government. The employers said that trilateral understanding is necessary to maintain the enterprises and maintain security of the staff.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">In the meeting, officials from the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transportation, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Development were present. Similarly, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Hotel Association of Nepal and Trade Union from private sector also attended the meeting. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-12', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11791', 'image' => '20200512093917_morgan-mckinley-it-salary-guide-position-worth-992x440.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-12 09:29:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12040', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Kumari Bank to Acquire Deva Bikas Bank ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 9: Kumari Bank is in the process to acquire Deva Bikas Bank. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Devanagari Sangam MN"">May 9: </span>Kumari Bank is in the process to acquire Deva Bikas Bank. The two companies have called a meeting on June 1 to finalize the deal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Kumari Bank will hold its General Assembly on the stipulated date at Naxal at 11 am while Deva Bikas Bank will also hold AGM at the same time at its head office in Lal Durbar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Kumari Bank will present the acquisition proposal to the General Assembly with the power of attorney vested on the board of directors. Kumari Bank is preparing to close its book on May 20 for the Special General Assembly.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Meanwhile, the AGM of Deva Bikas Bank is scheduled to approve the acquisition proposal and the financial report of fiscal year 2019/20. The AGM is also expected to approve distribution of 8.55 percent bonus share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Deva Bikas Bank is preparing to close its book between May 18 and June 1 ahead of its AGM.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">The paid-up capital of Deva Bikas Bank currently stands at Rs 3.17 billion while that of Kumari Bank is Rs 9.41 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-11', 'modified' => '2020-05-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11790', 'image' => '20200511093237_acquisition-e1541341949121.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-11 09:32:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ) ) $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:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to undo the three decades of gains made in global human development - </span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">which can be measured as a combination of the world’s education, health and living standards – in 2020 for the first time since the introduction of the concept in 190, a new United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report has warned. In its 2020 Human Development Perspectives titled COVID-19 and Human Development: Assessing the Crisis, Envisioning the Recovery, the UN body has said that declines in fundamental areas of human development are being felt across most countries - rich and poor - in every region. According to the report, the global per capita income this year is expected to fall by four percent. With closure of schools, UNDP estimates that “effective out-of-school rate”—the percentage of primary school-age children, adjusted to reflect those without internet access— 60 percent of children are not getting an education, leading to global levels not seen since the 1980s.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> “The world has seen many crises over the past 30 years, including the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-09. Each has hit human development hard but, overall, development gains accrued globally year-on-year. COVID-19 – with its triple hit to health, education, and income – may change this trend,” said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. According to the report, the combined impact of these shocks could signify the largest reversal in human development on record. “This is not counting other significant effects, for instance, in the progress towards gender equality. The negative impacts on women and girls span economic - earning and saving less and greater job insecurity - reproductive health, unpaid care work and gender-based violence,” the report reads. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">According to UNDP, the drop in human development is expected to be much higher in developing countries that are less able to cope with the pandemic’s social and economic fallout than richer nations. The report stressed on the need for determined, equity-focused interventions to help economies and societies rally, mitigating the far-reaching impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Implementing equity-focused approaches would be affordable. For instance, closing the gap in access to the internet for low- and middle-income countries is estimated to cost just one per cent of the extraordinary fiscal support packages the world has so far committed to respond to COVID-19,” the report stated. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">UNDP has recommended five priority steps to tackle the complexity of this crisis: protecting health systems and services; ramping up social protection; protecting jobs, small- and medium-sized businesses and informal sector workers; making macroeconomic policies work for everyone; and promoting peace, good governance and trust to build social cohesion. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-22', 'modified' => '2020-05-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11807', 'image' => '20200522014144_human.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-22 01:38:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '31' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12055', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government in a Fix to Give Continuity to Local Infrastructure Development Programme', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: The government is in dilemma on whether or not to give continuity to the much criticized Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Programme in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2020/21.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">May 15: The government is in dilemma on whether or not to give continuity to the much criticized Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Programme in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2020/21.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">The revenue collection has been weak due to the severe effects of lockdown on economic activities. The government is also facing a huge challenge to invest heavily on health infrastructure and employment programmes with the existing resources. Due to this, the officials at Ministry of Finance are not sure about giving continuity to this program in the upcoming budget.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">According to informed sources, the National Planning Commission has given the nod to the finance ministry to decide on this matter. Most of the members of parliament (MPs) from the ruling party are in favour of giving continuity to the programme. Due to this, the Ministry of Finance also is looking forward to including it in the budget. If the program is included in next year’s budget, the government is likely to allocate less amount of money than in the current fiscal year, said an official at the Ministry of Finance. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">In the current fiscal year, Rs 600 million was provided to each of the directly elected MPs for the infrastructure development programme. In the current fiscal year, around Rs 23 billion has been allocated for the programme. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">“Discussions are underway to allocate less budget for the programme due to limitation in revenue collection,” said a high-ranking official at the Ministry of Finance. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">Minister for Finance Yub Raj Khatiwada was not in favour of giving continuity to this programme even for the current fiscal year. This time too, he is not supportive, said sources. However, due to the pressure from the ruling party members, there is high possibility of continuing this programme. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11805', 'image' => '20200515074923_1589492253.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 19:48:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12054', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Import of Food Grains up Significantly During Lockdown', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: The import of food grains has increased drastically in the past seven weeks of lockdown. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">May 15: The import of food grains has increased drastically in the past seven weeks of lockdown. Data maintained by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies indicate that import of food grains has skyrocketed in the last seven weeks since the lockdown started.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">According to a report published by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, altogether 13,343 tons of food grains were imported during the first week of the lockdown. However, the import increased in the second week. Nepal imported 14,643 tons of food grains in the second week of the lockdown. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">The import amount was up drastically to 31,441 tons in the fifth week. However, the import declined down in the sixth and seventh weeks of the lockdown. The imports declined to 28,526 tons and 25,805 tons, respectively during the sixth and seventh weeks of the lockdown.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">Netra Prasad Subedi, director general of the Department of Supplies informed that the increase in import during the lockdown is normal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">He informed that it was natural for imports to increase as shipments were not affected by the lockdown and stocks of goods in the market were running out.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">Avinash Bohara, central member of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), also expressed similar opinion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">He said that the import increased because consumers stockpiled food products more than required, fearing the possibility of food crisis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">"The increase in imports can also be attributed to the increase in relief programmes," he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">The import of food grains has increased by 93.4 percent and pulses by 26.2 percent in seventh week of the lockdown in comparison to the first week.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri">The import of vegetables and fruits also has increased by 25 percent and 61.3 percent respectively. Likewise, import of dairy products inclined up by 514.3 percent during the same period.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11804', 'image' => '20200515035749_hinkstockphotos.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 15:57:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12053', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Tightens Lockdown Measures in the Valley', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: The Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to tighten the lockdown measures in the three districts of Kathmandu Valley after new cases of coronavirus were reported in the capital.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">May 15: The Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to tighten the lockdown measures in the three districts of Kathmandu Valley after new cases of coronavirus were reported in the capital.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">A meeting of the chief district officers of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur as well as local representatives and security chiefs on Thursday (May 14) decided to adopt strict measures from Friday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Spokesperson at the ministry Kedahnath Sharma informed New Business Age that the districts outside the valley can issue vehicle passes only after consulting the ministry.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Recently, three persons who entered the valley from outside tested positive for coronavirus. Those cases were confirmed on Wednesday followed by a new case of infection in a six-year-old girl in the capital a day later. Fearing that the infection could go out of control if adequate measures are not taken, the authorities decided to further tighten the rules.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">After noticing coronavirus infection among people who recently entered the valley from outside districts, the home ministry decided to invalidate all the vehicle passes issued earlier. All such passes have been scrapped, effective from May 14. The meeting also decided to mandatorily perform Rapid Diagnostic Test on any person entering the valley even for emergency purpose. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Likewise, the authorities decided to consider only the passes issued by the concerned authorities as valid for government employees and staffers of banks and financial institutions within the valley.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11803', 'image' => '20200515112204_1589465895.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 11:21:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12052', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'COVID-19 Tally Climbs to 258 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: Nine more people have tested positive for coronavirus, according to the state-run national news agency RSS.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 15: Nine more people have tested positive for coronavirus, according to the state-run national news agency RSS. Those who tested positive on Thursday are from Banke and Makawanpur districts. With this, the number of people infected with COVID-19 has reached to 258, RSS reported citing the Ministry of Health and Population. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to RSS, assistant spokesperson at the ministry Dr Samir Adhikari said the infection was found in nine persons in course of tests carried out on samples collected from different parts of the country. The tests were conducted at the Teku-based National Public Health Laboratory and at the Bheri Hospital, Nepalgunj on Thursday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Among the new COVID-19 cases, eight are from Banke and one from Makawanpur. This is the first time that coronavirus infection has been seen in Makwanpur. A 37-year-old male tested positive to the virus in Makawanpur, according to RSS. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Similarly, COVID-19 infection was also found in eight men aged between 18 to 36 of Ward No 1, 3 and 5 of Narainapur Rural Municipality in Banke district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Assistant spokesman Dr Adhikari said the health condition of the infected persons is normal and they are under the supervision of health workers. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11802', 'image' => '20200515110731_Research1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 11:06:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12051', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt to Announce Policies and Programmes for New Fiscal Year Today', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 15: The policies and programmes of the government for the new fiscal year 2020/21 will be presented in the joint meeting of the federal parliament on Friday (May 15). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 15: The policies and programmes of the government for the new fiscal year 2020/21 will be presented in the joint meeting of the federal parliament on Friday (May 15). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">President Bidya Devi Bhandari will table the policy and programmes of the government in the joint meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) and National Assembly at 4 pm, according to federal parliament secretariat spokesperson, Dr Rojnath Pandey. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">All the parliamentarians have been asked to attend the meeting and be seated for the meeting by 3:45 pm on Friday. They have been asked to put on decent apparel for the event. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Spokesperson Pandey shared that all the safety protocols such as physical distancing, usage of safety gears such as mask and sanitization among others have been observed in the meeting hall to prevent the spread of the COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">There are 275 members in HoR and 59 in National Assembly. A total of 29 distinguished guests have been invited at the event including the President, the Vice-President, chiefs of the constitutional bodies and chiefs of security agencies among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The heads of the foreign diplomatic missions as well as private sectors have not been invited this year in view of the prospect of COVID-19 transmission. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The Nepal Communist Party-led government is going to launch the policies and porgrammes for the third time. Economic growth will be high in priority in the policies and programmes to be launched and implemented in the new fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Furthermore, the policies and programmes of the government will also incorporate programmes that will address the issues emanated from the COVID-19. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-15', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11801', 'image' => '20200515110029_1589464915.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-15 10:59:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12048', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Bans Palm Oil from Nepal Again', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: India has once again banned the import of refined palm oil from Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">May 13: India has once again banned the import of refined palm oil from Nepal. Nepalese industries have not been able to export the product after India’s Foreign Trade Directorate imposed the ban effective from Tuesday (May 12). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">The directorate issued a circular to its subordinate bodies on Monday to halt the import of palm oil.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">Earlier, India had imposed a similar ban on January 8 for about one and a half months. India eased the restriction to some extent in late February, allowing some of its companies to import refined palm oil from Nepal. But again, India banned the product citing SAFTA regulation, which requires certificate of origin of the product. In the circular, the directorate has ordered all the customs offices to seek the certificate of origin of palm oil from Nepali and Bangladeshi companies as the two countries are signatories to the SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement). </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11800', 'image' => '20200513101938_1589322001.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 10:18:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12050', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Tourism Industry set to Lose 30,000 Indian Pilgrims', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: The construction of a road inside Nepali territory in Lipulek by India has not only sent ripples across the political circle but also in the tourism sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 13: The construction of a road inside Nepali territory in Lipulek by India has not only sent ripples across the political circle but also in the tourism sector. The tourism industry is likely to bear huge losses due to the construction of the vital road that links India with Mansarowar, a polgirmage site in Tibet.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">So far, most of the Indian tourists have been visiting the holy site through Nepal. Although it is possible to reach Mansarowar from India’s Sikkim, pilgrims from India prefer to visit the lake through Nepal due to convenience. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Generally, Indian pilgrims visit Mansarovar between May to September. However, China has banned the visit this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Next year, it is very much likely that Indian pilgrims will use the new route constructed by India by encroaching Nepal’s territory. This means, the tourism industry of Nepal will lose billions of rupees as well as employment. Hotel entrepreneurs who have invested heavily in Nepalgunj and Humla targeting Indian tourists will have to suffer great losses as well. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The new route opened by India last week is the shortest distance to Mansarowar. The pilgrimage site is just 100 kilometers from Lipulek while it is 110 kilometers from Hilsa of Humla. Tourism entrepreneurs say they are likely to loose 30,000 Indian pilgrims annually.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11799', 'image' => '20200513104548_1589238047.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 10:45:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12049', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Increase in Digital Transaction during Lockdown', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: Digital transaction has been experiencing a surge during the lockdown imposed to control the spread of Covid-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 13: Digital transaction has been experiencing a surge during the lockdown imposed to control the spread of Covid-19. Banks and Financial Institution (BFIs) have also been focusing on digital banking. Recently, the number of customers using services like internet banking, debit, credit cards and pre-paid services has reached 10 million.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the data from Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), there are around 31.01 million deposit accounts. Among them most of them use mobile banking. Among the total depositors, 98,06,237 users use mobile banking. Around 72,15,646 depositors use debit card. Similarly, 9,69,055 customers use internet banking. Likewise, 1,46,856 users use credit card and 63,775 customer use pre-paid card. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Due to the pandemic, almost all services except emergency ones are closed. All the banks of Nepal haven’t charged any fee for any kind of digital transaction during the lockdown. The customers have been using digital method to pay for money transfer, mobile top-up, drinking water, electricity and internet bill. Mobile banking and internet banking system have been attracting more customers. Also, digital wallets including e-Sewa, Khalti, IME Pay have been making the payment process more convenient. Recently, people have also been doing various transaction from Connect IPS. This shows that the digital platform have potential to put an end to the use of cheque or paper money. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Nepal Rastra Bank has been stressing on the need of investing in technology.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">NRB has been spending several millions annually on printing new notes. Maximum use of digital payment method will allow the country to use the printed notes for long time. So, Nepal Bankers Association has suggested in the pre-budget report that 80 percent of transaction must be digital. According to Bhuwan Kumar Dahal, president of Nepal Bankers’ Association, they have suggested NRB to focus on developing cashless transaction. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Banking Expert Sanjeev Subba also stresses on the necessity of going into cashless transaction. He said that there are still several challenges when talking about expanding the usage of digital payment method throughout the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Despite the digital facilities, people still prefer to sit in queue for exchanging cheque and to deposit money. This shows that banking system in Nepal still relies on cash,” Subba said. The system is such that we still need to use paper to open bank account, exchange foreign notes and many other bank transactions. In the global scene, customers don’t get cheque and use ATM very less. For Nepal, there are still many hindrances to go into full-fledged digital banking. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11798', 'image' => '20200513103350_SO2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 10:33:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12046', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'COVID-19 Cases Surge to 217 in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: Government authorities confirmed 83 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday. With this, the total number of cases has reached 217 in the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">May 13: Government authorities confirmed 83 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday. With this, the total number of cases has reached 217 in the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">During a regular press briefing, the Ministry of Health and Population confirmed 57 new cases following lab tests in the capital. The ministry later issued a late night statement adding 26 more cases. It is the highest confirmed cases in a single day ever since the first case was reported in the capital in January. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">Among the new cases, 57 were confirmed in Parsa, 9 in Rupandehi, 8 in Kapilbastu, 2 in Mahottari, 2 in Dhanusha, 2 in Bhaktapur, 1 in Sarlahi, Kathmandu and Bara. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">The ministry informed that the health condition of all the patients is normal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">The health ministry informed that they have so far tested 18,964 samples through PCR method and 59,627 through RDT method.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Arial">The first case of COVID-19 was reported on January 23 in a Nepali student who returned from China’s Wuhan, where the disease is believed to have originated. Till date, 33 people have recovered from coronavirus in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/aaaa96798%202.jpg" style="height:1024px; width:758px" /></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11797', 'image' => '20200513092604_Research1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 09:16:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12047', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Customs Offices seek Electronic Means to Check Import and Export', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 13: Activities in the industrial and commercial centers have started to increase after the government announced to allow some industries and businesses to operate amid lockdown.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">May 13: Activities in the industrial and commercial centers have started to increase after the government announced to allow some industries and businesses to operate amid lockdown.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">At the meantime, the government has restricted all movements other than shipments of goods through the border until May 31 to prevent the coronavirus outbreak from spreading.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">However, the concerned bodies are indifferent towards the risk of infection among the employees working at the checkpoints to facilitate import and export and the service seekers.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In such situation, Birgunj Customs Office had requested the Customs Department to make arrangements for the inspection of imported goods through electronic means to reduce the direct contact between the employees and the service seekers.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">It has been two weeks since the customs office wrote the letter requesting arrangements for the check pass through online system but it has not received any response. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Both the Birgunj Dry Port and Biratnagar Customs had urged the department to make such arrangements.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs department has not yet taken any decision on the request from its subordinate offices. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">However, Article 89 (D) of the Customs Act 2064 has a provision that the documents forwarded electronically through an authorised ID is considered as signed by the customs official even if it does not bear the signature.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs offices have suggested the department to implement this legal provision to reduce the direct contact between the staffers and the service seekers at the checkpoints to stop the contagion. </span></span></h1> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-13', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11796', 'image' => '20200513095138_1589204903.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-13 09:51:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12044', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Economy will be Revitalized Amid Lockdown: Minister Khatiwada ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 12: Minister for Finance Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwa has said that the country’s economy will be revitalized amid the lockdown in effect since March 24 to protect the lives of people from COVID-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">May 12: Minister for Finance Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwa has said that the country’s economy will be revitalized amid the lockdown in effect since March 24 to protect the lives of people from COVID-19. In the pre-budget discussion in Monday’s meeting of National Assembly, Minister Khatiwada said that the government was moving towards the direction to forward the economic activities to save lives of people. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20200306122644_0180724052602_IMG_0298%202.jpg" style="height:480px; width:598px" /><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Responding to the queries of the parliamentarians, Minister Khatiwada said that the new budget will help bolster coordination among the three-tier governments since the federal government acknowledged that more authority should be given to the local units. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Stating that the local units had actively performed in prevention and control of COVID-19 and treat the infected ones thereby proving the importance of federalism, Khatiwada assured that the government would take into account the parliamentarians’ suggestions to prioritize agriculture sector and health sector while formulating the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to him, all the recommendations given by the parliamentarians would be taken as guidance while formulating the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Furthermore, the finance minister assured that no Nepali citizen abroad would be left stranded and any possible support would be extended to them through diplomatic channel but when it comes to opening the borders with our immediate neighbours it could spell disaster in terms of infection and its spread. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The NA shall next meeting on May 13, Wednesday. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-12', 'modified' => '2020-05-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11794', 'image' => '20200512093643_20190605083713_Clipboard02.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-12 09:33:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12042', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Agriculture is the Most Profitable Business in Nepal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 12: Agriculture seems to be the most lucrative business in Nepal, according to the National Economic Census 2018.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">May 12: Agriculture seems to be the most lucrative business in Nepal, according to the National Economic Census 2018.</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> However, the agriculture sector has not been able to commercialize in Nepal due to the traditional mindset of the people that this sector is not profitable. But the report of the National Economic Census 2018 dismisses such notion with the new finding that agriculture is the most profitable area of business in Nepal.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The recently updated data of the First National Economic Census-2018 by the Department of Statistics shows that agriculture is the most profitable business in Nepal among 18 different sectors.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the study, the profit in agriculture sector was 55.7 percent during the incubation period while the average profit of all other sectors was 29.3 percent only.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The statistics show that agriculture, forestry and fisheries are among the most lucrative businesses in Nepal.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Although the banking and financial sector has been severely criticized for making huge profits, the department's data show that the most profitable sector after agriculture is education-related business.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The annual profit of education-related business sector is 46.1 percent while the annual profit in wholesale and retail vehicle maintenance is 43 percent. Similarly the annual profit of mining and quarrying is 42.2 percent, real estate business (40 percent) and finance and insurance (40.5 percent). </span></span></h1> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/bn%281%29.jpg" style="height:225px; width:400px" /></span></span></p> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></h1> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-12', 'modified' => '2020-05-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11792', 'image' => '20200512091924_20190527010000_Makai.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-12 09:18:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12043', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Task Force to Decide Workers’ Salary', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 12: With the issue of payment of workers taking centre stage, stakeholders have decided to form a task force to seek a solution to the crisis.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">May 12: With the issue of payment of workers taking centre stage, stakeholders have decided to form a task force to seek a solution to the crisis.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">The task force was formed after a meeting between Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Raya Yadav, the employers and the respective trade unions.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">As the meeting failed to find a solution, the ministry decided to form a the task force. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">Associations of private companies had decided to provide 50 percent salary during the lockdown. They said that they would eventually provide the remaining half salary after lockdown. The employers associations have been continuously discussing about implementation of the decision. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">According to Suman Ghimire, spokesperson at the ministry, the task force will consist of representatives from the government, employers and workers’ associations. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">According to Binod Shrestha, president of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT), private companies should follow the instruction of Nepal Government. The employers said that trilateral understanding is necessary to maintain the enterprises and maintain security of the staff.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">In the meeting, officials from the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transportation, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Development were present. Similarly, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Hotel Association of Nepal and Trade Union from private sector also attended the meeting. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-12', 'modified' => '2020-05-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11791', 'image' => '20200512093917_morgan-mckinley-it-salary-guide-position-worth-992x440.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-12 09:29:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12040', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Kumari Bank to Acquire Deva Bikas Bank ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 9: Kumari Bank is in the process to acquire Deva Bikas Bank. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Devanagari Sangam MN"">May 9: </span>Kumari Bank is in the process to acquire Deva Bikas Bank. The two companies have called a meeting on June 1 to finalize the deal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Kumari Bank will hold its General Assembly on the stipulated date at Naxal at 11 am while Deva Bikas Bank will also hold AGM at the same time at its head office in Lal Durbar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Kumari Bank will present the acquisition proposal to the General Assembly with the power of attorney vested on the board of directors. Kumari Bank is preparing to close its book on May 20 for the Special General Assembly.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Meanwhile, the AGM of Deva Bikas Bank is scheduled to approve the acquisition proposal and the financial report of fiscal year 2019/20. The AGM is also expected to approve distribution of 8.55 percent bonus share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">Deva Bikas Bank is preparing to close its book between May 18 and June 1 ahead of its AGM.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">The paid-up capital of Deva Bikas Bank currently stands at Rs 3.17 billion while that of Kumari Bank is Rs 9.41 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-05-11', 'modified' => '2020-05-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11790', 'image' => '20200511093237_acquisition-e1541341949121.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-05-11 09:32:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ) ) $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
