March 27: The 7th Bhaktapur Industrial, Cultural, Tourism and Trade Festival is going to be held in April to mark the Nepali New Year 2080 and Bisket Jatra…
March 27: The 7th Bhaktapur Industrial, Cultural, Tourism and Trade Festival is going to be held in April to mark the Nepali New Year 2080 and Bisket Jatra…
March 27: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has drawn the attention of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) of Tulsipur to remove tangled wires from its…
The Janak Education Materials Centre (JEMC) Ltd has assured that it will supply school text books to all districts by mid-April. According to Centre’s Managing Director Anil Kumar Jha, all districts will receive the text books this time before a new academic session…
March 26: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has written a letter to Air India over the issue of flying an aircraft at an altitude of 15,000ft in Nepal’s airspace without the permission from the Air Traffic Controller…
March 26: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved US$120 million in financing to support the implementation of the Government of Nepal’s flagship School Education Sector…
March 26: The share value of most of the commercial banks that opted for merger is below Rs 200 per…
March 26: Nepal Insurance Authority has issued the 'Guidelines for Branch Offices of Insurance Companies, 2079', paving the way for Nepal’s insurance companies to expand their branches…
March 26: The latest census of the government has shown demographic changes in…
March 26: The private sector has urged the government to convert the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simra, Bara into an industrial…
March 26: Nepal Police has confiscated counterfeit notes of over Rs 1 million in the last three…
The Government of Nepal has received commitments for foreign aid amounting to over Rs 138.5 billion in the eight months of the current fiscal year…
March 25: A total of 2,475 foreign tourists visited the Annapurna circuit trek in the first three months of…
March 24: Women’s right to property has pursued a progressive path which is evident from the fact that their ownership of family properties has increased over the past…
March 24: A meeting of the Council of Ministers has decided to promote Additional Inspector General Basanta Bahadur Kunwar to the post of Inspector General of the Nepal…
March 24: Billions of rupees spent on import of clinker has been saved due to the increase in domestic production of the raw material of…
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 27: The 7th Bhaktapur Industrial, Cultural, Tourism and Trade Festival is going to be held in April to mark the Nepali New Year 2080 and Bisket Jatra festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Coordinator of the festival and chairman of District Sports Development Committee, Bhaktapur, Deepak Thapa, shared that the festival will be held from April 6 to 16. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There will be 200 stalls in the festival that will showcase food, clothing, agriculture and handicrafts, utensils, electric and electronics, automobiles, mobiles phones, vehicles, toys, beauty products, and daily consumables. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President of Industrial Peace Nepal Sandeep Mahat said that 20 to 50 percent discount has been arranged on various goods to be sold at the festival. He said that the festival is expected to be visited by about 500,000 people leading to a transaction between Rs 100 to Rs 120 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A cultural presentation along with entertainment for children will also be held as part of the festival. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-27', 'modified' => '2023-03-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17113', 'image' => '20230327083621_20211114083017_moments_1033465320019498.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-27 08:35:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17377', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Calls ISPs to Remove Unmanaged Internet Cables ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 27: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has drawn the attention of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) of Tulsipur to remove tangled wires from its poles. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 27: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has drawn the attention of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) of Tulsipur to remove tangled wires from its poles. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA officials reached the offices of 12 internet service providers, including the Nepal Telecom and told them to remove the wires. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of NEA Distribution Centre, Tulsipur, Gyan Prasad Farsal said that a 15 day notice was issued asking the concerned sides for removing the cables. The NEA argued that the unmanaged cables had become an eyesore to the city dwellers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The deadline given to the ISPs is fast approaching. We have also sent follow-up letter to this effect," said Farsal, adding, "While reaching their offices, we found that some ISPs had not even opened the letter that we sent." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the NEA, the city has a network of old telecommunications lines. The cables are found rampantly used in the city due to several reasons. Such cables are not removed even after the users unsubscribe internet service. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There was an agreement with the ISPs that they would remove the cables on their own noting it had painted a messy picture of the city. According to the agreement, coordination would be made with as many as 12 ISPs, including NTC and Ncell of Tulsipur area to take out unused and unmanaged cables and roll up the functional ones. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farsal further shared that ISPs however expressed their commitment for managing the cables themselves. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-27', 'modified' => '2023-03-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17112', 'image' => '20230327080703_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-27 08:06:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17376', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'JEMC To Supply Text Books Before Commencement Of New Academic Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Janak Education Materials Centre (JEMC) Ltd has assured that it will supply school text books to all districts by mid-April. According to Centre’s Managing Director Anil Kumar Jha, all districts will receive the text books this time before a new academic session begins.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">March 27: The Janak Education Materials Centre (JEMC) Ltd has assured that it will supply school text books to all districts by mid-April. According to Centre’s Managing Director Anil Kumar Jha, all districts will receive the text books this time before a new academic session begins.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Centre has the responsibility of printing and supplying 15 million school textbooks from grade 6 to ten this year. So far, the printing of 13.5 million copies of textbooks has completed. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> Managing Director Jha said printing of 90 percent text books has been completed by now. Last year, the Centre was assigned to print 20 million text books, but this time the government switched to the private sector to publish the text books for grades four and five, reducing the Centre's load. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The new academic session this year is beginning from coming April 14 ( Baisakha 1) the very first day of the Nepali New Year 2080 BS. The printing of the text books has been going on round-the-clock and the Centre plans to complete it by the next few days, JEMC said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> Last year, the Centre was assigned to print 20 million text books, ballot papers and it faced issues due to lack of timely availability of papers for text book printing. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Centre's market management chief Chitra Raj Acharya said the books will be supplied according priority to the rural districts and districts which are far from the Kathmandu Valley in the first phase. The distribution of books will begin from April 3 and will take two to six days for transporting them to all the districts. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">It would take up to six days to supply books to mountainous and some hilly districts and two days to other districts.<br /> The Centre has already selected its distributors. The distribution of the text books will take place from JEMC’s Central Office Management Department and its province offices in all the seven provinces. (RSS) </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-27', 'modified' => '2023-03-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17111', 'image' => '20230327054050_collage (39).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-27 05:33:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17375', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Split-Second Decision of NAC Pilot Averts Mid-Air Collision', 'sub_title' => 'CAAN writes to Air India on Air Traffic Rule Violation ', 'summary' => 'March 26: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has written a letter to Air India over the issue of flying an aircraft at an altitude of 15,000ft in Nepal’s airspace without the permission from the Air Traffic Controller (ATC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 26: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has written a letter to Air India over the issue of flying an aircraft at an altitude of 15,000ft in Nepal’s airspace without the permission from the Air Traffic Controller (ATC). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Such a reckless move by the Indian airliner almost caused a mid-air collision last Friday, CAAN officials said. According to the aviation regulator of Nepal, a fatal accident was avoided due to a split-second decision by another aircraft.<br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The incident occurred last Friday when an Air India plane en route to Kathmandu from New Delhi lowered its altitude to 15,000ft from 19,000ft all of a sudden without the permission from the ATC before landing at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At the same time, an aircraft of the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) coming to Kathmandu from Malaysia was also flying at an altitude of 15,000ft, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“As the NAC aircraft took height, a fatal accident was narrowly avoided,” RSS added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CAAN Spokesperson Jagannath Niraula confirmed that the Air India has been asked to inform the CAAN about the action of the pilot after an investigating the issue. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to RSS, Niraula also said that the CAAN has also formed a probe panel over the issue and the ATC deployed during that time have been prevented from working in an 'Active Position'. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17110', 'image' => '20230326083504_airIndia.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 20:34:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17374', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank Approves $120 Million to Support Nepal’s Education Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved US$120 million in financing to support the implementation of the Government of Nepal’s flagship School Education Sector Program.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 26: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved US$120 million in financing to support the implementation of the Government of Nepal’s flagship School Education Sector Program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a recent statement, the World Bank said that the School Sector Transformation Program operation builds on the Government of Nepal’s previous school education sector programs and puts a greater focus on quality learning by establishing a teacher mentoring system at the local government level and ensuring a full complement of subject teachers (English, Math, and Science) at upper-basic and secondary levels.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Investing in quality education is key to developing human capital which goes to the heart of ensuring greater equity and economic growth,” the statement quoted Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank’s country director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, as saying. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This operation supports the Government of Nepal’s vision to enhance quality of and equitable access to education to fulfill the ambitions of the new federal state.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, the operation focuses on improving foundational skills by implementing the national integrated curriculum in early grades. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">To address the learning losses as a result of school closures due to COVID-19 and other disasters, the operation supports the government’s program through the development and implementation of the Recovery and Accelerated Learning Plan, construction of green and resilient classrooms, and strengthening digital teaching and learning materials, added the statement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The operation also supports improving the equity of the school sector by including girls, disabled students, and those of lower socio-economic status, and by expanding targeted scholarships to students in grades 6-8 (upper-basic level) to help disadvantaged students.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“School closures had the largest impact on students of lower socio-economic backgrounds and deprived communities, as they have even more limited access to teachers and remote learning opportunities,” stated Karthika Radhakrishnan, World Bank’s program task team leader. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This new operation supports the implementation of the Recovery and Accelerated Learning Plan and supports children from poorer socio-economic backgrounds through targeted scholarships.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17109', 'image' => '20230326052018_FsHlkXCXgAIl1CK.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 17:19:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17373', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Share Value of 8 Banks Drops below Rs 200 Per Unit', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: The share value of most of the commercial banks that opted for merger is below Rs 200 per unit.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 26: The share value of most of the commercial banks that opted for merger is below Rs 200 per unit. Among the five commercial banks formed after merger and acquisition, the share price of all the banks except Himalayan Bank has plunged Rs 200 per unit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The lowest share price is of Prabhu Bank which stands at Rs 176 per share as of Thursday. Besides these banks, the share price of eight banks is below Rs 200 per unit. The highest share price is Rs 686 of NIC Asia Bank, which has not distributed dividends to shareholders for two years. Similarly, the share price of Nabil Bank is Rs 605 per unit. Sunrise Bank and Laxmi Bank have also entered into an agreement for merger.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The share price of banks that opted for merger has been dropping continuously despite an increase in their capital. An investor complained that even after the merger, the dividend of the company has decreased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stock analysts say that the share price of commercial banks are under pressure due to the merger.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Of late, traders have traded more shares of companies with less capital. This is the reason that the share price of the company with less capital seems to have increased, while the share price of the company with more capital seems to have dropped.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Dambaru Ballabh Ghimire, an investor who has been involved in the stock market for a long time, the share price of the commercial banks has come down because the company's capital has increased after the merger. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As soon as the share price of such companies increases by Rs 5 per unit, the sellers become active. Ghimire says that this is also the reason why the share price of such companies have dropped.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, it is said that since the market has been in a continuous downward trend for some time now, the share price of the companies has fallen to a very low point. Most of the commercial banks have reduced the dividend rate this year. Investors say that the share price of these companies has decreased due to this very reason.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another reason is that the share trading, which was halted for a long time due to the merger process, has increased in the market after the merger.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17108', 'image' => '20230326033536_1679807403.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 15:34:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17372', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Insurance Companies of Nepal can now Open Branches Abroad', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: Nepal Insurance Authority has issued the 'Guidelines for Branch Offices of Insurance Companies, 2079', paving the way for Nepal’s insurance companies to expand their branches abroad.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 26: Nepal Insurance Authority has issued the 'Guidelines for Branch Offices of Insurance Companies, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2079</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">', paving the way for Nepal’s insurance companies to expand their branches abroad.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Section </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">11</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> of the guidelines issued by the Nepal Insurance Authority on Thursday states that "insurers can open their branches, set up contact office or appoint representative abroad with the prior consent of the authority". </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The insurers who fulfil the conditions set by the authority will be allowed to open their offices in other countries and expand their business after taking approval from the authority.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In order to open its branch, contact office or appoint representatives abroad, the insurer must maintain the capital determined by the authority. In case of any action taken against the insurance company and the director of the company, such company can open an office abroad six months after the completion of any such disciplinary action.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the insurer should inform the authority about opening an office within six months after receiving the final approval from the authority. If the office is not operated within that period, the approval will be canceled automatically.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nirmal Adhikari, information officer of Nepal Insurance Authority, said that with the release of the new guidelines, Nepali insurers who meet the criteria set by the authority for office operations will be able to open offices in other countries and conduct business.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the official, the Nepali insurance companies operating abroad can become a good source of foreign exchange earnings in the near future. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chief Executive Officer of Azod Insurance Kumar Bahadur Khatri says that Nepali insurers will be able to expand their business by opening offices abroad. As a result, the insurance business will also be a good source of foreign exchange earnings, he added. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The insurance companies are now in a position to set up offices abroad due to the increase in their capital. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Therefore, insurers can also become a good source of remittances in Nepal," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17107', 'image' => '20230326014629_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 13:45:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17371', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Census Data Reveal Changing Patterns of Population ', 'sub_title' => '46.9 percent of Nepalis do not work', 'summary' => 'March 26: The latest census of the government has shown demographic changes in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">March 26: The latest census of the government has shown demographic changes in Nepal. According to the National Census 2021, the pattern of Nepal's population has changed in the last ten years. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to National Census 2021, the number of children in Nepal is decreasing while the number of elderly people is increasing.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">In the census of 2011, the population under 14 years of age was 92,48,246 (34.91 percent) but now it has dropped to 81,15,575 (27.83 percent). The population of senior citizens over 60 years has increased from 21,54,410 (8.13 percent) in 2011 to 29,77,318 (10.21 percent) in 2021.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the new data, the population of 15-19 years age group is 10.2 percent. Similarly, the 10-14 years age group make up 10 percent of the total population. Similarly, the 20-24 years group is 9.5 percent of the total population. Currently, the population of the age group below 1 year is 4,11,159. The number of children under 5 years is 24,39,283.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the data, the average life expectancy of citizens has increased and the financial obligations of the state is likely to increase in the future. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the new census, the population of active age group seems to have increased as well. Altogether 61.96 percent of the total population fall in the age group of 15-59 years. In 2011, such population was 56.96 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the census, the total population of Nepal has reached 2,91,64,578. The population has increased by 10.08 percent in 2021 compared to 2011. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The annual population growth rate is 0.92 percent. In 2011, it was 1.35 percent. Bhaktapur has the highest population growth rate (average 3.35 percent). The population growth rate of Ramechhap is negative by 1.67 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">As per the new data, there are more women than men. For the first time, the census of other genders has been conducted. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the 2021 census released by the National Statistics Office, the majority of the Nepalese population involved in financial work are involved in agriculture, forestry and fishery. A total of 57.3 percent of Nepalis are engaged in agricultural work.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">It is mentioned in the report that the interest in the service sector and industries is increasing and the profit in agriculture is decreasing, so the participation in this sector is also in a downward trend.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the report, after agriculture, 12.5 percent of the population is involved in wholesale/retail business, automobile and motorcycle repair business, 8.1 percent in construction sector, 3.9 percent in other service sector, and 3.8 percent in industrial sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the census, 65.5 percent of the population above 10 years of age are financially active. According to the report, a total of 1,56,89,777 Nepalis are financially active. Likewise, 34.3 percent of the population over 10 years is financially inactive.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">A total of 82,11,012 people are not engaged in any economic activities due to old age, education, physical ill health or other circumstances. The majority (46.9 percent) of those who do not do financial work have done nothing because they are students.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Other reasons for people not involved in income-generating works is housekeeping (21.9 percent), old age (11 percent), family care (7.5 percent), other (7.4 percent), disabled/sick (2.5 percent), pension (2.2 percent) and social work/volunteering (0.3 percent).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The number of people who do not work are being supported by other members of the family or the state. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17106', 'image' => '20230326124106_1679637439.collage (63).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 12:40:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17370', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Demands Making Simra SEZ an Industrial Zone', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: The private sector has urged the government to convert the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simra, Bara into an industrial zone.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 26: The private sector has urged the government to convert the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simra, Bara into an industrial zone. The Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industries said that it is hard to attract entrepreneurs due to unreasonable provisions in the SEZ-related legal system which states that the industries operating under the SEZ must export goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The senior vice president of the association, Hari Prasad Gautam wrote a letter to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and asked them to bring Simra SEZ into operation like other industrial areas.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Gautam claimed that there is a provision that the industries opened in SEZ must export and because there is no permanent exportable product in Nepal, investors are not attracted to this facility. Despite repeated promises by the government, the industries are not willing to join Simra SEZ.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Industries established in SEZ must export 60 percent of their products. Previously, there was a provision to export 6 percent of the products in the year of establishment itself. But after realizing that investors did not join the SEZ due to the same provision, it was revised to export 20 percent of the production in the first year, 40 percent in the second year and 60 percent in the following years. The private sector is also dissatisfied with this provision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The SEZ located in Simra of Birgunj-Pathalaiya Industrial Corridor, which the government planned to operate since 2062, hardly falls in the preferred area of investment of the investors. Despite repeated calls from the SEZ Authority after not receiving expected proposals, the industrialists of Bara-Parsa have demanded that domestic market-targeted industries should also be allowed to operate in the SEZ.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As it is becoming difficult to find land for new industries in the Bara-Parsa corridor, the private sector has demanded that 833 bighas of SEZ land can be used as an industrial zone. The chamber claims that some industrialists recently started the process of leasing land in SEZ but backed away from it. Gautam suggests, “Industries are not attracted because of the provision of export. It is appropriate to operate this structure like any other industrial sector.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that due to Nepal's geographical situation and production cost, export business cannot be competitive. Now, the industries that open targeting the domestic market should be prioritized.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government said that income tax exemption will be given to industries set up in SEZ for two years. The private sector also demands that this deadline should be increased to 10 years.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17105', 'image' => '20230326112527_sez simara.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 11:24:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17369', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over One Million Counterfeit Notes Confiscated in Three Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: Nepal Police has confiscated counterfeit notes of over Rs 1 million in the last three months. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 26: Nepal Police has confiscated counterfeit notes of over Rs 1 million in the last three months. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Police Spokesperson DIG Poshraj Pokharel confirmed that the fake currency notes were seized in the last three months. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the police headquarters office data, as many as 22 persons involved in the transactions of counterfeit Nepali notes were arrested during the period. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17104', 'image' => '20230326102442_20170427050255_note.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 10:23:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17368', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Receives Foreign Aid Commitment of Rs 138 billion In Eight Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Government of Nepal has received commitments for foreign aid amounting to over Rs 138.5 billion in the eight months of the current fiscal year 2022/23.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">March 25: The Government of Nepal has received commitments for foreign aid amounting to over Rs 138.5 billion in the eight months of the current fiscal year 2022/23.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Nepal received commitments for grants equivalent to Rs 24.56 billion and Rs 114 billion for foreign loan from different bilateral and multilateral development partners in the last eight months.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government through its annual budget had set a target to receive foreign loan worth Rs 242.26 billion and foreign grants of Rs 44.46 billion in the eight months. Against the target, the commitment for foreign loan and grants stood at 47 percent and 44.28 percent respectively. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government obtained commitment of Rs 350 million for grants from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for 'Project for Human Resources Development Scholarship'. Likewise, JICA has expressed Rs 2 billion commitment for grants for 'Tarai Region Irrigation System Strengthening Project'. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government received commitments of Rs 1.37 billion and Rs 2 billion for grants for 'Wash for All' and 'Empowered Women, Prosperous Nepal' respectively.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Swiss government gave grant commitment of Rs 990 million for ‘Technical and Commercial Education Programme’. Likewise, Nepal government received commitment of Rs 1 billion grants each for entrepreneurship development of returnee workers from South Korea and capacity development of Nepal Police’s Cyber Bureau. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Asian Development Bank expressed commitment of Rs 2.47 billion and Rs 1.57 billion grants for horticulture in hilly parts of the country and for women development programme respectively.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepal government obtained commitments of Rs 5.26 billion grants for the capacity building of security and justice system from British government.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Likewsie, the government gained loan commitments of Rs 114 billion from World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Asian Development Bank(ADB) and others for various projects and programmes in the eight months of the current fiscal year. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17103', 'image' => '20230326062153_collage (38).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 06:08:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17366', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Less than 2500 Tourists Visit Annapurna Circuit in Three Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: A total of 2,475 foreign tourists visited the Annapurna circuit trek in the first three months of 2023. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 25: A total of 2,475 foreign tourists visited the Annapurna circuit trek in the first three months of 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourists included 1,678 male and 797 female, according to Tourism Assistant at Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) Tourist Check Point in Dharapani, Chettra Bahadur Gurung. Around 40 to 50 tourists arrive at the ACAP area every day. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of tourists visiting the Annapurna region has not been able to rise significantly, worrying the tourism entrepreneurs. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Even after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism business has not been able to gain any momentum, said tourism entrepreneur Pancha Bahadur Gurung. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the previous year (ie 2022), a total of 15,900 foreign tourists arrived in the Annapurna circuit trek. This included 10,364 men and 5,536 women, said Gurung. In 2021 the number was 2,273 including 1,562 men and 711 women. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Likewise, 1,976 tourists visited in 2020. The number was 36,647 in 2019. The majority of the tourists coming for trekking in the circuit are from neighboring countries China and India and also from Japan, Australia, Britain, etc. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Annapurna circuit trek starts from Besisahar, Lamjung and ends in Kaski via ManangMustang and Myagdi districts. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-25', 'modified' => '2023-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17101', 'image' => '20230325104606_SG-MYAGDI.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-25 22:45:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17365', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Women’s Access to Family Property up by 1.1 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: Women’s right to property has pursued a progressive path which is evident from the fact that their ownership of family properties has increased over the past decade.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 24: Women’s right to property has pursued a progressive path which is evident from the fact that their ownership of family properties has increased over the past decade. According to the National Census 2021, women’s access to family properties has increased. The final report of the census published by the government on Friday revealed that 23.8 percent households have their land and house in women’s name, a 1.1 percent surge as compared to the 2011 census.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The results of the latest census show that there are a total of 6,666,937 households in the country. Similarly, the number of residential houses stands at 6,660,841. Of them, 31.55 percent households are owned by women, a 5.82 percent increment as opposed to the previous census.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the 2021 census, the population of Nepal has increased to 29.1 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Out of the total population of 29,164,578, females make up 14,911,27 (51.02 percent) . Likewise, the number of males is 14,253,551 (48.98 percent). As per the previous census, the total population of the country stood at 26,494,504.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Population density in mountains, hills declining</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the latest census, population density in mountains and hill areas has decreased over the period of last 10 years. The population density is 460 persons per square kilometer in the Terai, while it is 34 per square kilometer in the mountains. It is just 3 per square kilometer in Manang and 5,169 in the Kathmandu Valley.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the census data, Kathmandu district has the highest number of population across the country as the population here is counted at 2,041,587 while 5,658 people reside in Manang. In terms of distribution of population by districts, Morang, Rupandehi, Jhapa and Sunsari are among those districts facing an increased pressure of population. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, Mustang, Dolpa and Rasuwa have a smaller population.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Terai region's population is 53.61 percent, out of the total population as 15,634,006 people reside in the Terai and this figure is 40. 31 percent or 11,757,624 in the hills. The mountain region reports the residency of 6.08 percent or 1,772,948 people. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Until ten years ago, the Terai's population was 50.27 percent of the total population followed by 43.01 percent in hills and 6.73 percent in the mountains. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> According to the census report, more than 2.19 million Nepalis are living abroad. It has been found that 2,190,592 people from 1,555,961 families are living abroad.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">This number is 269,098 more than the 2011 census. In the 2011 census, 1,921,494 people were found to be living abroad.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the latest census, as many as 1,799,675 men (82.2 percent) and 390,917 (17.8 percent) women are abroad, as mentioned in the report. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The data shows that 68 percent of the population has not gone through internal migration from one local level to another while 10.8 percent of the total population opted for it. Similarly 18.2 percent of the population has migrated from one district to another while 3.1 percent of the population has migrated abroad. The number of migrated population as a whole is 9,341,408.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Employment opportunities, trade-business, study, training, dependency, natural disasters and agriculture have been cited as the major cases of migrations. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Reliance on traditional fuel continues </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Although the government has emphasized development and promotion of clean energy, a large section of the population of the country still relies on traditional means of cooking fuel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A total of 51 per cent of the households in the country said that they still use firewood in the kitchen while those using LPG gas cylinders stand at 44.3 per cent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, those employing induction stoves to prepare food stand at 0.5 while those using traditional cow dung dry patties is 1.2 percent. Likewise, 0.5 percent of the population still uses kerosene and 0.1 use other fuels.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Ten years ago, 64 percent of the household used firewood in the kitchen to prepare food. It is evident that the reliance on traditional fuel has decreased to some extent over the decade but the number of households relying on traditional energy for cooking is still more than half of the population.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Strides in electrification</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Government's vision to expand electricity in all households is almost close to realization. A total of 92.2 per cent households are under the ambit of electricity as per the latest census. Households using solar energy stand at 6.6 per cent at present.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Only 67.3 percent of the population had access to electricity 10 years ago.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Going by this statistic, 98.8 percent of the population had access to clean energy while those using kerosene and other fuel remain below 1 percent. -- RSS</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-24', 'modified' => '2023-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17100', 'image' => '20230324100942_6F8A2862.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-24 22:09:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17364', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'AIG Kunwar Promoted to Nepal Police Chief ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: A meeting of the Council of Ministers has decided to promote Additional Inspector General Basanta Bahadur Kunwar to the post of Inspector General of the Nepal Police. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 24: A meeting of the Council of Ministers has decided to promote Additional Inspector General Basanta Bahadur Kunwar to the post of Inspector General of the Nepal Police. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Surya Kiran Sharma, press coordinator of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, told RSS that the cabinet meeting decided to promote AIG Kunwar to the top post. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He was promoted to AIG as per the decision of March 20. AIGs Tek Prasad Rai, Deepak Thapa, Shyam Lal Gyawali and Kiran Bajracharya along with Kunwar were in the race for IGP. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sitting IGP Dhiraj Pratap Singh is retiring from today (Friday) after completing his 30-year tenure in the police force. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-24', 'modified' => '2023-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17099', 'image' => '20230324082456_PRO-KTM-PRACHANDA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-24 20:24:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17362', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Import of Clinker Almost Comes to a Standstill', 'sub_title' => 'Nepal imported clinker only once in the last eight months', 'summary' => 'March 24: Billions of rupees spent on import of clinker has been saved due to the increase in domestic production of the raw material of cement.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 24: Billions of rupees spent on import of clinker has been saved due to the increase in domestic production of the raw material of cement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Data from the Department of Customs shows that Rs 11 billion was spent for the import of clinker four years ago. The latest data shows that the import of clinker has come almost to a halt.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the department, clinker worth only Rs 19,000 has been imported in the last eight months (July-February) of the current fiscal year. Clinker was imported only once during this period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the department, in the first month of the last fiscal year, clinker worth Rs 34.3 million was imported in July. In the last fiscal year, clinker worth Rs 321.5 million was imported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Clinker is the raw material of cement. Now the country has become self-reliant on clinker and cement. Some industries are also exporting both these items to India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Palpa and Arghakhanchi cement industries are exporting these products as clinker and cement is produced more than the domestic requirement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Tara Prasad Pokharel, vice president of the Nepal Cement Producers Association, said that there has been a problem in the sale of clinker recently due to the low consumption of cement in the country. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"In normal conditions, that is during the season of infrastructure construction, clinker consumption used to be about 80 per cent, now it has dropped to about 30 per cent," Pokharel told New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the association, there are currently 16 industries that produce clinker. These industries produce 40,000 metric tons of clinker daily. Pokharel said that the production capacity has been reduced after the cement consumption decreased.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rajesh Kumar Agarwal, executive director of RMC Group, which produces cement under the Palpa brand, said that the demand for cement has decreased due to the low capital expenditure of the state, which has affected development and construction.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Cement produced by RMC Group has been exported since last June. According to Agarwal, now clinker is also exported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pashupati Murarka, the owner of Arghakhanchi Cement Industry, also informed that his industry has started exporting clinker.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Clinker import has dropped to zero in a short time," said Murarka, "Arghakhanchi and Palpa cement industries have so far exported 30,000 metric tons of clinker and cement to India."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"There was a situation in the past when imported clinker was expensive, but limestone, the raw material in the country, was not used," Murarka said. According to the association, Rs 3 trillion have been invested in the cement industry so far.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After the earthquake of 2015, when the reconstruction work intensified, the demand for cement increased suddenly. After that, domestic and foreign investment in the cement industry increased. According to the association, there are currently about five dozen cement industries operating in Nepal. The annual production capacity of this industry is 25 million metric tons. As the demand was less than the production capacity, the producers had been demanding the government to facilitate the export to India. With the government implementing the program announced in the budget to give cash subsidies to exports, industrialists have started exporting cement and clinker.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-24', 'modified' => '2023-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17097', 'image' => '20230324045005_1679620101.Clipboard11.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-24 16:49:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17379', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industrial and Cultural Festival to be held in Bhaktapur ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 27: The 7th Bhaktapur Industrial, Cultural, Tourism and Trade Festival is going to be held in April to mark the Nepali New Year 2080 and Bisket Jatra festival. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 27: The 7th Bhaktapur Industrial, Cultural, Tourism and Trade Festival is going to be held in April to mark the Nepali New Year 2080 and Bisket Jatra festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Coordinator of the festival and chairman of District Sports Development Committee, Bhaktapur, Deepak Thapa, shared that the festival will be held from April 6 to 16. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There will be 200 stalls in the festival that will showcase food, clothing, agriculture and handicrafts, utensils, electric and electronics, automobiles, mobiles phones, vehicles, toys, beauty products, and daily consumables. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President of Industrial Peace Nepal Sandeep Mahat said that 20 to 50 percent discount has been arranged on various goods to be sold at the festival. He said that the festival is expected to be visited by about 500,000 people leading to a transaction between Rs 100 to Rs 120 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A cultural presentation along with entertainment for children will also be held as part of the festival. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-27', 'modified' => '2023-03-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17113', 'image' => '20230327083621_20211114083017_moments_1033465320019498.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-27 08:35:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17377', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Calls ISPs to Remove Unmanaged Internet Cables ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 27: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has drawn the attention of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) of Tulsipur to remove tangled wires from its poles. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 27: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has drawn the attention of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) of Tulsipur to remove tangled wires from its poles. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA officials reached the offices of 12 internet service providers, including the Nepal Telecom and told them to remove the wires. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of NEA Distribution Centre, Tulsipur, Gyan Prasad Farsal said that a 15 day notice was issued asking the concerned sides for removing the cables. The NEA argued that the unmanaged cables had become an eyesore to the city dwellers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The deadline given to the ISPs is fast approaching. We have also sent follow-up letter to this effect," said Farsal, adding, "While reaching their offices, we found that some ISPs had not even opened the letter that we sent." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the NEA, the city has a network of old telecommunications lines. The cables are found rampantly used in the city due to several reasons. Such cables are not removed even after the users unsubscribe internet service. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There was an agreement with the ISPs that they would remove the cables on their own noting it had painted a messy picture of the city. According to the agreement, coordination would be made with as many as 12 ISPs, including NTC and Ncell of Tulsipur area to take out unused and unmanaged cables and roll up the functional ones. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farsal further shared that ISPs however expressed their commitment for managing the cables themselves. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-27', 'modified' => '2023-03-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17112', 'image' => '20230327080703_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-27 08:06:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17376', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'JEMC To Supply Text Books Before Commencement Of New Academic Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Janak Education Materials Centre (JEMC) Ltd has assured that it will supply school text books to all districts by mid-April. According to Centre’s Managing Director Anil Kumar Jha, all districts will receive the text books this time before a new academic session begins.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">March 27: The Janak Education Materials Centre (JEMC) Ltd has assured that it will supply school text books to all districts by mid-April. According to Centre’s Managing Director Anil Kumar Jha, all districts will receive the text books this time before a new academic session begins.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Centre has the responsibility of printing and supplying 15 million school textbooks from grade 6 to ten this year. So far, the printing of 13.5 million copies of textbooks has completed. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> Managing Director Jha said printing of 90 percent text books has been completed by now. Last year, the Centre was assigned to print 20 million text books, but this time the government switched to the private sector to publish the text books for grades four and five, reducing the Centre's load. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The new academic session this year is beginning from coming April 14 ( Baisakha 1) the very first day of the Nepali New Year 2080 BS. The printing of the text books has been going on round-the-clock and the Centre plans to complete it by the next few days, JEMC said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> Last year, the Centre was assigned to print 20 million text books, ballot papers and it faced issues due to lack of timely availability of papers for text book printing. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Centre's market management chief Chitra Raj Acharya said the books will be supplied according priority to the rural districts and districts which are far from the Kathmandu Valley in the first phase. The distribution of books will begin from April 3 and will take two to six days for transporting them to all the districts. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">It would take up to six days to supply books to mountainous and some hilly districts and two days to other districts.<br /> The Centre has already selected its distributors. The distribution of the text books will take place from JEMC’s Central Office Management Department and its province offices in all the seven provinces. (RSS) </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-27', 'modified' => '2023-03-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17111', 'image' => '20230327054050_collage (39).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-27 05:33:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17375', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Split-Second Decision of NAC Pilot Averts Mid-Air Collision', 'sub_title' => 'CAAN writes to Air India on Air Traffic Rule Violation ', 'summary' => 'March 26: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has written a letter to Air India over the issue of flying an aircraft at an altitude of 15,000ft in Nepal’s airspace without the permission from the Air Traffic Controller (ATC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 26: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has written a letter to Air India over the issue of flying an aircraft at an altitude of 15,000ft in Nepal’s airspace without the permission from the Air Traffic Controller (ATC). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Such a reckless move by the Indian airliner almost caused a mid-air collision last Friday, CAAN officials said. According to the aviation regulator of Nepal, a fatal accident was avoided due to a split-second decision by another aircraft.<br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The incident occurred last Friday when an Air India plane en route to Kathmandu from New Delhi lowered its altitude to 15,000ft from 19,000ft all of a sudden without the permission from the ATC before landing at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At the same time, an aircraft of the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) coming to Kathmandu from Malaysia was also flying at an altitude of 15,000ft, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“As the NAC aircraft took height, a fatal accident was narrowly avoided,” RSS added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CAAN Spokesperson Jagannath Niraula confirmed that the Air India has been asked to inform the CAAN about the action of the pilot after an investigating the issue. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to RSS, Niraula also said that the CAAN has also formed a probe panel over the issue and the ATC deployed during that time have been prevented from working in an 'Active Position'. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17110', 'image' => '20230326083504_airIndia.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 20:34:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17374', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank Approves $120 Million to Support Nepal’s Education Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved US$120 million in financing to support the implementation of the Government of Nepal’s flagship School Education Sector Program.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 26: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved US$120 million in financing to support the implementation of the Government of Nepal’s flagship School Education Sector Program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a recent statement, the World Bank said that the School Sector Transformation Program operation builds on the Government of Nepal’s previous school education sector programs and puts a greater focus on quality learning by establishing a teacher mentoring system at the local government level and ensuring a full complement of subject teachers (English, Math, and Science) at upper-basic and secondary levels.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Investing in quality education is key to developing human capital which goes to the heart of ensuring greater equity and economic growth,” the statement quoted Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank’s country director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, as saying. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This operation supports the Government of Nepal’s vision to enhance quality of and equitable access to education to fulfill the ambitions of the new federal state.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, the operation focuses on improving foundational skills by implementing the national integrated curriculum in early grades. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">To address the learning losses as a result of school closures due to COVID-19 and other disasters, the operation supports the government’s program through the development and implementation of the Recovery and Accelerated Learning Plan, construction of green and resilient classrooms, and strengthening digital teaching and learning materials, added the statement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The operation also supports improving the equity of the school sector by including girls, disabled students, and those of lower socio-economic status, and by expanding targeted scholarships to students in grades 6-8 (upper-basic level) to help disadvantaged students.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“School closures had the largest impact on students of lower socio-economic backgrounds and deprived communities, as they have even more limited access to teachers and remote learning opportunities,” stated Karthika Radhakrishnan, World Bank’s program task team leader. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This new operation supports the implementation of the Recovery and Accelerated Learning Plan and supports children from poorer socio-economic backgrounds through targeted scholarships.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17109', 'image' => '20230326052018_FsHlkXCXgAIl1CK.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 17:19:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17373', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Share Value of 8 Banks Drops below Rs 200 Per Unit', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: The share value of most of the commercial banks that opted for merger is below Rs 200 per unit.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 26: The share value of most of the commercial banks that opted for merger is below Rs 200 per unit. Among the five commercial banks formed after merger and acquisition, the share price of all the banks except Himalayan Bank has plunged Rs 200 per unit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The lowest share price is of Prabhu Bank which stands at Rs 176 per share as of Thursday. Besides these banks, the share price of eight banks is below Rs 200 per unit. The highest share price is Rs 686 of NIC Asia Bank, which has not distributed dividends to shareholders for two years. Similarly, the share price of Nabil Bank is Rs 605 per unit. Sunrise Bank and Laxmi Bank have also entered into an agreement for merger.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The share price of banks that opted for merger has been dropping continuously despite an increase in their capital. An investor complained that even after the merger, the dividend of the company has decreased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stock analysts say that the share price of commercial banks are under pressure due to the merger.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Of late, traders have traded more shares of companies with less capital. This is the reason that the share price of the company with less capital seems to have increased, while the share price of the company with more capital seems to have dropped.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Dambaru Ballabh Ghimire, an investor who has been involved in the stock market for a long time, the share price of the commercial banks has come down because the company's capital has increased after the merger. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As soon as the share price of such companies increases by Rs 5 per unit, the sellers become active. Ghimire says that this is also the reason why the share price of such companies have dropped.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, it is said that since the market has been in a continuous downward trend for some time now, the share price of the companies has fallen to a very low point. Most of the commercial banks have reduced the dividend rate this year. Investors say that the share price of these companies has decreased due to this very reason.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another reason is that the share trading, which was halted for a long time due to the merger process, has increased in the market after the merger.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17108', 'image' => '20230326033536_1679807403.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 15:34:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17372', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Insurance Companies of Nepal can now Open Branches Abroad', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: Nepal Insurance Authority has issued the 'Guidelines for Branch Offices of Insurance Companies, 2079', paving the way for Nepal’s insurance companies to expand their branches abroad.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 26: Nepal Insurance Authority has issued the 'Guidelines for Branch Offices of Insurance Companies, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2079</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">', paving the way for Nepal’s insurance companies to expand their branches abroad.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Section </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">11</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> of the guidelines issued by the Nepal Insurance Authority on Thursday states that "insurers can open their branches, set up contact office or appoint representative abroad with the prior consent of the authority". </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The insurers who fulfil the conditions set by the authority will be allowed to open their offices in other countries and expand their business after taking approval from the authority.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In order to open its branch, contact office or appoint representatives abroad, the insurer must maintain the capital determined by the authority. In case of any action taken against the insurance company and the director of the company, such company can open an office abroad six months after the completion of any such disciplinary action.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the insurer should inform the authority about opening an office within six months after receiving the final approval from the authority. If the office is not operated within that period, the approval will be canceled automatically.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nirmal Adhikari, information officer of Nepal Insurance Authority, said that with the release of the new guidelines, Nepali insurers who meet the criteria set by the authority for office operations will be able to open offices in other countries and conduct business.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the official, the Nepali insurance companies operating abroad can become a good source of foreign exchange earnings in the near future. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chief Executive Officer of Azod Insurance Kumar Bahadur Khatri says that Nepali insurers will be able to expand their business by opening offices abroad. As a result, the insurance business will also be a good source of foreign exchange earnings, he added. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The insurance companies are now in a position to set up offices abroad due to the increase in their capital. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Therefore, insurers can also become a good source of remittances in Nepal," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17107', 'image' => '20230326014629_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 13:45:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17371', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Census Data Reveal Changing Patterns of Population ', 'sub_title' => '46.9 percent of Nepalis do not work', 'summary' => 'March 26: The latest census of the government has shown demographic changes in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">March 26: The latest census of the government has shown demographic changes in Nepal. According to the National Census 2021, the pattern of Nepal's population has changed in the last ten years. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to National Census 2021, the number of children in Nepal is decreasing while the number of elderly people is increasing.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">In the census of 2011, the population under 14 years of age was 92,48,246 (34.91 percent) but now it has dropped to 81,15,575 (27.83 percent). The population of senior citizens over 60 years has increased from 21,54,410 (8.13 percent) in 2011 to 29,77,318 (10.21 percent) in 2021.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the new data, the population of 15-19 years age group is 10.2 percent. Similarly, the 10-14 years age group make up 10 percent of the total population. Similarly, the 20-24 years group is 9.5 percent of the total population. Currently, the population of the age group below 1 year is 4,11,159. The number of children under 5 years is 24,39,283.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the data, the average life expectancy of citizens has increased and the financial obligations of the state is likely to increase in the future. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the new census, the population of active age group seems to have increased as well. Altogether 61.96 percent of the total population fall in the age group of 15-59 years. In 2011, such population was 56.96 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the census, the total population of Nepal has reached 2,91,64,578. The population has increased by 10.08 percent in 2021 compared to 2011. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The annual population growth rate is 0.92 percent. In 2011, it was 1.35 percent. Bhaktapur has the highest population growth rate (average 3.35 percent). The population growth rate of Ramechhap is negative by 1.67 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">As per the new data, there are more women than men. For the first time, the census of other genders has been conducted. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the 2021 census released by the National Statistics Office, the majority of the Nepalese population involved in financial work are involved in agriculture, forestry and fishery. A total of 57.3 percent of Nepalis are engaged in agricultural work.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">It is mentioned in the report that the interest in the service sector and industries is increasing and the profit in agriculture is decreasing, so the participation in this sector is also in a downward trend.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the report, after agriculture, 12.5 percent of the population is involved in wholesale/retail business, automobile and motorcycle repair business, 8.1 percent in construction sector, 3.9 percent in other service sector, and 3.8 percent in industrial sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the census, 65.5 percent of the population above 10 years of age are financially active. According to the report, a total of 1,56,89,777 Nepalis are financially active. Likewise, 34.3 percent of the population over 10 years is financially inactive.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">A total of 82,11,012 people are not engaged in any economic activities due to old age, education, physical ill health or other circumstances. The majority (46.9 percent) of those who do not do financial work have done nothing because they are students.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Other reasons for people not involved in income-generating works is housekeeping (21.9 percent), old age (11 percent), family care (7.5 percent), other (7.4 percent), disabled/sick (2.5 percent), pension (2.2 percent) and social work/volunteering (0.3 percent).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The number of people who do not work are being supported by other members of the family or the state. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17106', 'image' => '20230326124106_1679637439.collage (63).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 12:40:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17370', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Demands Making Simra SEZ an Industrial Zone', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: The private sector has urged the government to convert the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simra, Bara into an industrial zone.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 26: The private sector has urged the government to convert the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simra, Bara into an industrial zone. The Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industries said that it is hard to attract entrepreneurs due to unreasonable provisions in the SEZ-related legal system which states that the industries operating under the SEZ must export goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The senior vice president of the association, Hari Prasad Gautam wrote a letter to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and asked them to bring Simra SEZ into operation like other industrial areas.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Gautam claimed that there is a provision that the industries opened in SEZ must export and because there is no permanent exportable product in Nepal, investors are not attracted to this facility. Despite repeated promises by the government, the industries are not willing to join Simra SEZ.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Industries established in SEZ must export 60 percent of their products. Previously, there was a provision to export 6 percent of the products in the year of establishment itself. But after realizing that investors did not join the SEZ due to the same provision, it was revised to export 20 percent of the production in the first year, 40 percent in the second year and 60 percent in the following years. The private sector is also dissatisfied with this provision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The SEZ located in Simra of Birgunj-Pathalaiya Industrial Corridor, which the government planned to operate since 2062, hardly falls in the preferred area of investment of the investors. Despite repeated calls from the SEZ Authority after not receiving expected proposals, the industrialists of Bara-Parsa have demanded that domestic market-targeted industries should also be allowed to operate in the SEZ.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As it is becoming difficult to find land for new industries in the Bara-Parsa corridor, the private sector has demanded that 833 bighas of SEZ land can be used as an industrial zone. The chamber claims that some industrialists recently started the process of leasing land in SEZ but backed away from it. Gautam suggests, “Industries are not attracted because of the provision of export. It is appropriate to operate this structure like any other industrial sector.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that due to Nepal's geographical situation and production cost, export business cannot be competitive. Now, the industries that open targeting the domestic market should be prioritized.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government said that income tax exemption will be given to industries set up in SEZ for two years. The private sector also demands that this deadline should be increased to 10 years.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17105', 'image' => '20230326112527_sez simara.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 11:24:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17369', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over One Million Counterfeit Notes Confiscated in Three Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: Nepal Police has confiscated counterfeit notes of over Rs 1 million in the last three months. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 26: Nepal Police has confiscated counterfeit notes of over Rs 1 million in the last three months. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Police Spokesperson DIG Poshraj Pokharel confirmed that the fake currency notes were seized in the last three months. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the police headquarters office data, as many as 22 persons involved in the transactions of counterfeit Nepali notes were arrested during the period. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17104', 'image' => '20230326102442_20170427050255_note.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 10:23:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17368', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Receives Foreign Aid Commitment of Rs 138 billion In Eight Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Government of Nepal has received commitments for foreign aid amounting to over Rs 138.5 billion in the eight months of the current fiscal year 2022/23.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">March 25: The Government of Nepal has received commitments for foreign aid amounting to over Rs 138.5 billion in the eight months of the current fiscal year 2022/23.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Nepal received commitments for grants equivalent to Rs 24.56 billion and Rs 114 billion for foreign loan from different bilateral and multilateral development partners in the last eight months.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government through its annual budget had set a target to receive foreign loan worth Rs 242.26 billion and foreign grants of Rs 44.46 billion in the eight months. Against the target, the commitment for foreign loan and grants stood at 47 percent and 44.28 percent respectively. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government obtained commitment of Rs 350 million for grants from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for 'Project for Human Resources Development Scholarship'. Likewise, JICA has expressed Rs 2 billion commitment for grants for 'Tarai Region Irrigation System Strengthening Project'. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government received commitments of Rs 1.37 billion and Rs 2 billion for grants for 'Wash for All' and 'Empowered Women, Prosperous Nepal' respectively.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Swiss government gave grant commitment of Rs 990 million for ‘Technical and Commercial Education Programme’. Likewise, Nepal government received commitment of Rs 1 billion grants each for entrepreneurship development of returnee workers from South Korea and capacity development of Nepal Police’s Cyber Bureau. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Asian Development Bank expressed commitment of Rs 2.47 billion and Rs 1.57 billion grants for horticulture in hilly parts of the country and for women development programme respectively.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepal government obtained commitments of Rs 5.26 billion grants for the capacity building of security and justice system from British government.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Likewsie, the government gained loan commitments of Rs 114 billion from World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Asian Development Bank(ADB) and others for various projects and programmes in the eight months of the current fiscal year. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17103', 'image' => '20230326062153_collage (38).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 06:08:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17366', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Less than 2500 Tourists Visit Annapurna Circuit in Three Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: A total of 2,475 foreign tourists visited the Annapurna circuit trek in the first three months of 2023. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 25: A total of 2,475 foreign tourists visited the Annapurna circuit trek in the first three months of 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourists included 1,678 male and 797 female, according to Tourism Assistant at Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) Tourist Check Point in Dharapani, Chettra Bahadur Gurung. Around 40 to 50 tourists arrive at the ACAP area every day. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of tourists visiting the Annapurna region has not been able to rise significantly, worrying the tourism entrepreneurs. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Even after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism business has not been able to gain any momentum, said tourism entrepreneur Pancha Bahadur Gurung. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the previous year (ie 2022), a total of 15,900 foreign tourists arrived in the Annapurna circuit trek. This included 10,364 men and 5,536 women, said Gurung. In 2021 the number was 2,273 including 1,562 men and 711 women. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Likewise, 1,976 tourists visited in 2020. The number was 36,647 in 2019. The majority of the tourists coming for trekking in the circuit are from neighboring countries China and India and also from Japan, Australia, Britain, etc. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Annapurna circuit trek starts from Besisahar, Lamjung and ends in Kaski via ManangMustang and Myagdi districts. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-25', 'modified' => '2023-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17101', 'image' => '20230325104606_SG-MYAGDI.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-25 22:45:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17365', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Women’s Access to Family Property up by 1.1 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: Women’s right to property has pursued a progressive path which is evident from the fact that their ownership of family properties has increased over the past decade.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 24: Women’s right to property has pursued a progressive path which is evident from the fact that their ownership of family properties has increased over the past decade. According to the National Census 2021, women’s access to family properties has increased. The final report of the census published by the government on Friday revealed that 23.8 percent households have their land and house in women’s name, a 1.1 percent surge as compared to the 2011 census.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The results of the latest census show that there are a total of 6,666,937 households in the country. Similarly, the number of residential houses stands at 6,660,841. Of them, 31.55 percent households are owned by women, a 5.82 percent increment as opposed to the previous census.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the 2021 census, the population of Nepal has increased to 29.1 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Out of the total population of 29,164,578, females make up 14,911,27 (51.02 percent) . Likewise, the number of males is 14,253,551 (48.98 percent). As per the previous census, the total population of the country stood at 26,494,504.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Population density in mountains, hills declining</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the latest census, population density in mountains and hill areas has decreased over the period of last 10 years. The population density is 460 persons per square kilometer in the Terai, while it is 34 per square kilometer in the mountains. It is just 3 per square kilometer in Manang and 5,169 in the Kathmandu Valley.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the census data, Kathmandu district has the highest number of population across the country as the population here is counted at 2,041,587 while 5,658 people reside in Manang. In terms of distribution of population by districts, Morang, Rupandehi, Jhapa and Sunsari are among those districts facing an increased pressure of population. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, Mustang, Dolpa and Rasuwa have a smaller population.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Terai region's population is 53.61 percent, out of the total population as 15,634,006 people reside in the Terai and this figure is 40. 31 percent or 11,757,624 in the hills. The mountain region reports the residency of 6.08 percent or 1,772,948 people. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Until ten years ago, the Terai's population was 50.27 percent of the total population followed by 43.01 percent in hills and 6.73 percent in the mountains. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> According to the census report, more than 2.19 million Nepalis are living abroad. It has been found that 2,190,592 people from 1,555,961 families are living abroad.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">This number is 269,098 more than the 2011 census. In the 2011 census, 1,921,494 people were found to be living abroad.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the latest census, as many as 1,799,675 men (82.2 percent) and 390,917 (17.8 percent) women are abroad, as mentioned in the report. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The data shows that 68 percent of the population has not gone through internal migration from one local level to another while 10.8 percent of the total population opted for it. Similarly 18.2 percent of the population has migrated from one district to another while 3.1 percent of the population has migrated abroad. The number of migrated population as a whole is 9,341,408.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Employment opportunities, trade-business, study, training, dependency, natural disasters and agriculture have been cited as the major cases of migrations. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Reliance on traditional fuel continues </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Although the government has emphasized development and promotion of clean energy, a large section of the population of the country still relies on traditional means of cooking fuel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A total of 51 per cent of the households in the country said that they still use firewood in the kitchen while those using LPG gas cylinders stand at 44.3 per cent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, those employing induction stoves to prepare food stand at 0.5 while those using traditional cow dung dry patties is 1.2 percent. Likewise, 0.5 percent of the population still uses kerosene and 0.1 use other fuels.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Ten years ago, 64 percent of the household used firewood in the kitchen to prepare food. It is evident that the reliance on traditional fuel has decreased to some extent over the decade but the number of households relying on traditional energy for cooking is still more than half of the population.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Strides in electrification</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Government's vision to expand electricity in all households is almost close to realization. A total of 92.2 per cent households are under the ambit of electricity as per the latest census. Households using solar energy stand at 6.6 per cent at present.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Only 67.3 percent of the population had access to electricity 10 years ago.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Going by this statistic, 98.8 percent of the population had access to clean energy while those using kerosene and other fuel remain below 1 percent. -- RSS</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-24', 'modified' => '2023-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17100', 'image' => '20230324100942_6F8A2862.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-24 22:09:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17364', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'AIG Kunwar Promoted to Nepal Police Chief ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: A meeting of the Council of Ministers has decided to promote Additional Inspector General Basanta Bahadur Kunwar to the post of Inspector General of the Nepal Police. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 24: A meeting of the Council of Ministers has decided to promote Additional Inspector General Basanta Bahadur Kunwar to the post of Inspector General of the Nepal Police. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Surya Kiran Sharma, press coordinator of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, told RSS that the cabinet meeting decided to promote AIG Kunwar to the top post. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He was promoted to AIG as per the decision of March 20. AIGs Tek Prasad Rai, Deepak Thapa, Shyam Lal Gyawali and Kiran Bajracharya along with Kunwar were in the race for IGP. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sitting IGP Dhiraj Pratap Singh is retiring from today (Friday) after completing his 30-year tenure in the police force. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-24', 'modified' => '2023-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17099', 'image' => '20230324082456_PRO-KTM-PRACHANDA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-24 20:24:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17362', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Import of Clinker Almost Comes to a Standstill', 'sub_title' => 'Nepal imported clinker only once in the last eight months', 'summary' => 'March 24: Billions of rupees spent on import of clinker has been saved due to the increase in domestic production of the raw material of cement.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 24: Billions of rupees spent on import of clinker has been saved due to the increase in domestic production of the raw material of cement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Data from the Department of Customs shows that Rs 11 billion was spent for the import of clinker four years ago. The latest data shows that the import of clinker has come almost to a halt.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the department, clinker worth only Rs 19,000 has been imported in the last eight months (July-February) of the current fiscal year. Clinker was imported only once during this period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the department, in the first month of the last fiscal year, clinker worth Rs 34.3 million was imported in July. In the last fiscal year, clinker worth Rs 321.5 million was imported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Clinker is the raw material of cement. Now the country has become self-reliant on clinker and cement. Some industries are also exporting both these items to India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Palpa and Arghakhanchi cement industries are exporting these products as clinker and cement is produced more than the domestic requirement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Tara Prasad Pokharel, vice president of the Nepal Cement Producers Association, said that there has been a problem in the sale of clinker recently due to the low consumption of cement in the country. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"In normal conditions, that is during the season of infrastructure construction, clinker consumption used to be about 80 per cent, now it has dropped to about 30 per cent," Pokharel told New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the association, there are currently 16 industries that produce clinker. These industries produce 40,000 metric tons of clinker daily. Pokharel said that the production capacity has been reduced after the cement consumption decreased.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rajesh Kumar Agarwal, executive director of RMC Group, which produces cement under the Palpa brand, said that the demand for cement has decreased due to the low capital expenditure of the state, which has affected development and construction.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Cement produced by RMC Group has been exported since last June. According to Agarwal, now clinker is also exported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pashupati Murarka, the owner of Arghakhanchi Cement Industry, also informed that his industry has started exporting clinker.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Clinker import has dropped to zero in a short time," said Murarka, "Arghakhanchi and Palpa cement industries have so far exported 30,000 metric tons of clinker and cement to India."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"There was a situation in the past when imported clinker was expensive, but limestone, the raw material in the country, was not used," Murarka said. According to the association, Rs 3 trillion have been invested in the cement industry so far.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After the earthquake of 2015, when the reconstruction work intensified, the demand for cement increased suddenly. After that, domestic and foreign investment in the cement industry increased. According to the association, there are currently about five dozen cement industries operating in Nepal. The annual production capacity of this industry is 25 million metric tons. As the demand was less than the production capacity, the producers had been demanding the government to facilitate the export to India. With the government implementing the program announced in the budget to give cash subsidies to exports, industrialists have started exporting cement and clinker.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-24', 'modified' => '2023-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17097', 'image' => '20230324045005_1679620101.Clipboard11.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-24 16:49:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17379', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industrial and Cultural Festival to be held in Bhaktapur ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 27: The 7th Bhaktapur Industrial, Cultural, Tourism and Trade Festival is going to be held in April to mark the Nepali New Year 2080 and Bisket Jatra festival. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 27: The 7th Bhaktapur Industrial, Cultural, Tourism and Trade Festival is going to be held in April to mark the Nepali New Year 2080 and Bisket Jatra festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Coordinator of the festival and chairman of District Sports Development Committee, Bhaktapur, Deepak Thapa, shared that the festival will be held from April 6 to 16. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There will be 200 stalls in the festival that will showcase food, clothing, agriculture and handicrafts, utensils, electric and electronics, automobiles, mobiles phones, vehicles, toys, beauty products, and daily consumables. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President of Industrial Peace Nepal Sandeep Mahat said that 20 to 50 percent discount has been arranged on various goods to be sold at the festival. He said that the festival is expected to be visited by about 500,000 people leading to a transaction between Rs 100 to Rs 120 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A cultural presentation along with entertainment for children will also be held as part of the festival. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-27', 'modified' => '2023-03-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17113', 'image' => '20230327083621_20211114083017_moments_1033465320019498.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-27 08:35:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17377', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Calls ISPs to Remove Unmanaged Internet Cables ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 27: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has drawn the attention of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) of Tulsipur to remove tangled wires from its poles. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 27: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has drawn the attention of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) of Tulsipur to remove tangled wires from its poles. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA officials reached the offices of 12 internet service providers, including the Nepal Telecom and told them to remove the wires. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of NEA Distribution Centre, Tulsipur, Gyan Prasad Farsal said that a 15 day notice was issued asking the concerned sides for removing the cables. The NEA argued that the unmanaged cables had become an eyesore to the city dwellers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The deadline given to the ISPs is fast approaching. We have also sent follow-up letter to this effect," said Farsal, adding, "While reaching their offices, we found that some ISPs had not even opened the letter that we sent." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the NEA, the city has a network of old telecommunications lines. The cables are found rampantly used in the city due to several reasons. Such cables are not removed even after the users unsubscribe internet service. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There was an agreement with the ISPs that they would remove the cables on their own noting it had painted a messy picture of the city. According to the agreement, coordination would be made with as many as 12 ISPs, including NTC and Ncell of Tulsipur area to take out unused and unmanaged cables and roll up the functional ones. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farsal further shared that ISPs however expressed their commitment for managing the cables themselves. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-27', 'modified' => '2023-03-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17112', 'image' => '20230327080703_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-27 08:06:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17376', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'JEMC To Supply Text Books Before Commencement Of New Academic Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Janak Education Materials Centre (JEMC) Ltd has assured that it will supply school text books to all districts by mid-April. According to Centre’s Managing Director Anil Kumar Jha, all districts will receive the text books this time before a new academic session begins.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">March 27: The Janak Education Materials Centre (JEMC) Ltd has assured that it will supply school text books to all districts by mid-April. According to Centre’s Managing Director Anil Kumar Jha, all districts will receive the text books this time before a new academic session begins.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Centre has the responsibility of printing and supplying 15 million school textbooks from grade 6 to ten this year. So far, the printing of 13.5 million copies of textbooks has completed. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> Managing Director Jha said printing of 90 percent text books has been completed by now. Last year, the Centre was assigned to print 20 million text books, but this time the government switched to the private sector to publish the text books for grades four and five, reducing the Centre's load. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The new academic session this year is beginning from coming April 14 ( Baisakha 1) the very first day of the Nepali New Year 2080 BS. The printing of the text books has been going on round-the-clock and the Centre plans to complete it by the next few days, JEMC said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> Last year, the Centre was assigned to print 20 million text books, ballot papers and it faced issues due to lack of timely availability of papers for text book printing. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Centre's market management chief Chitra Raj Acharya said the books will be supplied according priority to the rural districts and districts which are far from the Kathmandu Valley in the first phase. The distribution of books will begin from April 3 and will take two to six days for transporting them to all the districts. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">It would take up to six days to supply books to mountainous and some hilly districts and two days to other districts.<br /> The Centre has already selected its distributors. The distribution of the text books will take place from JEMC’s Central Office Management Department and its province offices in all the seven provinces. (RSS) </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-27', 'modified' => '2023-03-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17111', 'image' => '20230327054050_collage (39).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-27 05:33:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17375', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Split-Second Decision of NAC Pilot Averts Mid-Air Collision', 'sub_title' => 'CAAN writes to Air India on Air Traffic Rule Violation ', 'summary' => 'March 26: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has written a letter to Air India over the issue of flying an aircraft at an altitude of 15,000ft in Nepal’s airspace without the permission from the Air Traffic Controller (ATC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 26: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has written a letter to Air India over the issue of flying an aircraft at an altitude of 15,000ft in Nepal’s airspace without the permission from the Air Traffic Controller (ATC). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Such a reckless move by the Indian airliner almost caused a mid-air collision last Friday, CAAN officials said. According to the aviation regulator of Nepal, a fatal accident was avoided due to a split-second decision by another aircraft.<br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The incident occurred last Friday when an Air India plane en route to Kathmandu from New Delhi lowered its altitude to 15,000ft from 19,000ft all of a sudden without the permission from the ATC before landing at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At the same time, an aircraft of the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) coming to Kathmandu from Malaysia was also flying at an altitude of 15,000ft, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“As the NAC aircraft took height, a fatal accident was narrowly avoided,” RSS added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CAAN Spokesperson Jagannath Niraula confirmed that the Air India has been asked to inform the CAAN about the action of the pilot after an investigating the issue. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to RSS, Niraula also said that the CAAN has also formed a probe panel over the issue and the ATC deployed during that time have been prevented from working in an 'Active Position'. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17110', 'image' => '20230326083504_airIndia.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 20:34:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17374', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank Approves $120 Million to Support Nepal’s Education Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved US$120 million in financing to support the implementation of the Government of Nepal’s flagship School Education Sector Program.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 26: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved US$120 million in financing to support the implementation of the Government of Nepal’s flagship School Education Sector Program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a recent statement, the World Bank said that the School Sector Transformation Program operation builds on the Government of Nepal’s previous school education sector programs and puts a greater focus on quality learning by establishing a teacher mentoring system at the local government level and ensuring a full complement of subject teachers (English, Math, and Science) at upper-basic and secondary levels.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Investing in quality education is key to developing human capital which goes to the heart of ensuring greater equity and economic growth,” the statement quoted Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank’s country director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, as saying. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This operation supports the Government of Nepal’s vision to enhance quality of and equitable access to education to fulfill the ambitions of the new federal state.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, the operation focuses on improving foundational skills by implementing the national integrated curriculum in early grades. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">To address the learning losses as a result of school closures due to COVID-19 and other disasters, the operation supports the government’s program through the development and implementation of the Recovery and Accelerated Learning Plan, construction of green and resilient classrooms, and strengthening digital teaching and learning materials, added the statement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The operation also supports improving the equity of the school sector by including girls, disabled students, and those of lower socio-economic status, and by expanding targeted scholarships to students in grades 6-8 (upper-basic level) to help disadvantaged students.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“School closures had the largest impact on students of lower socio-economic backgrounds and deprived communities, as they have even more limited access to teachers and remote learning opportunities,” stated Karthika Radhakrishnan, World Bank’s program task team leader. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This new operation supports the implementation of the Recovery and Accelerated Learning Plan and supports children from poorer socio-economic backgrounds through targeted scholarships.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17109', 'image' => '20230326052018_FsHlkXCXgAIl1CK.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 17:19:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17373', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Share Value of 8 Banks Drops below Rs 200 Per Unit', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: The share value of most of the commercial banks that opted for merger is below Rs 200 per unit.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 26: The share value of most of the commercial banks that opted for merger is below Rs 200 per unit. Among the five commercial banks formed after merger and acquisition, the share price of all the banks except Himalayan Bank has plunged Rs 200 per unit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The lowest share price is of Prabhu Bank which stands at Rs 176 per share as of Thursday. Besides these banks, the share price of eight banks is below Rs 200 per unit. The highest share price is Rs 686 of NIC Asia Bank, which has not distributed dividends to shareholders for two years. Similarly, the share price of Nabil Bank is Rs 605 per unit. Sunrise Bank and Laxmi Bank have also entered into an agreement for merger.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The share price of banks that opted for merger has been dropping continuously despite an increase in their capital. An investor complained that even after the merger, the dividend of the company has decreased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stock analysts say that the share price of commercial banks are under pressure due to the merger.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Of late, traders have traded more shares of companies with less capital. This is the reason that the share price of the company with less capital seems to have increased, while the share price of the company with more capital seems to have dropped.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Dambaru Ballabh Ghimire, an investor who has been involved in the stock market for a long time, the share price of the commercial banks has come down because the company's capital has increased after the merger. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As soon as the share price of such companies increases by Rs 5 per unit, the sellers become active. Ghimire says that this is also the reason why the share price of such companies have dropped.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, it is said that since the market has been in a continuous downward trend for some time now, the share price of the companies has fallen to a very low point. Most of the commercial banks have reduced the dividend rate this year. Investors say that the share price of these companies has decreased due to this very reason.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another reason is that the share trading, which was halted for a long time due to the merger process, has increased in the market after the merger.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17108', 'image' => '20230326033536_1679807403.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 15:34:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17372', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Insurance Companies of Nepal can now Open Branches Abroad', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: Nepal Insurance Authority has issued the 'Guidelines for Branch Offices of Insurance Companies, 2079', paving the way for Nepal’s insurance companies to expand their branches abroad.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 26: Nepal Insurance Authority has issued the 'Guidelines for Branch Offices of Insurance Companies, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2079</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">', paving the way for Nepal’s insurance companies to expand their branches abroad.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Section </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">11</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> of the guidelines issued by the Nepal Insurance Authority on Thursday states that "insurers can open their branches, set up contact office or appoint representative abroad with the prior consent of the authority". </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The insurers who fulfil the conditions set by the authority will be allowed to open their offices in other countries and expand their business after taking approval from the authority.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In order to open its branch, contact office or appoint representatives abroad, the insurer must maintain the capital determined by the authority. In case of any action taken against the insurance company and the director of the company, such company can open an office abroad six months after the completion of any such disciplinary action.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the insurer should inform the authority about opening an office within six months after receiving the final approval from the authority. If the office is not operated within that period, the approval will be canceled automatically.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nirmal Adhikari, information officer of Nepal Insurance Authority, said that with the release of the new guidelines, Nepali insurers who meet the criteria set by the authority for office operations will be able to open offices in other countries and conduct business.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the official, the Nepali insurance companies operating abroad can become a good source of foreign exchange earnings in the near future. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chief Executive Officer of Azod Insurance Kumar Bahadur Khatri says that Nepali insurers will be able to expand their business by opening offices abroad. As a result, the insurance business will also be a good source of foreign exchange earnings, he added. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The insurance companies are now in a position to set up offices abroad due to the increase in their capital. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Therefore, insurers can also become a good source of remittances in Nepal," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17107', 'image' => '20230326014629_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 13:45:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17371', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Census Data Reveal Changing Patterns of Population ', 'sub_title' => '46.9 percent of Nepalis do not work', 'summary' => 'March 26: The latest census of the government has shown demographic changes in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">March 26: The latest census of the government has shown demographic changes in Nepal. According to the National Census 2021, the pattern of Nepal's population has changed in the last ten years. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to National Census 2021, the number of children in Nepal is decreasing while the number of elderly people is increasing.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">In the census of 2011, the population under 14 years of age was 92,48,246 (34.91 percent) but now it has dropped to 81,15,575 (27.83 percent). The population of senior citizens over 60 years has increased from 21,54,410 (8.13 percent) in 2011 to 29,77,318 (10.21 percent) in 2021.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the new data, the population of 15-19 years age group is 10.2 percent. Similarly, the 10-14 years age group make up 10 percent of the total population. Similarly, the 20-24 years group is 9.5 percent of the total population. Currently, the population of the age group below 1 year is 4,11,159. The number of children under 5 years is 24,39,283.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the data, the average life expectancy of citizens has increased and the financial obligations of the state is likely to increase in the future. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the new census, the population of active age group seems to have increased as well. Altogether 61.96 percent of the total population fall in the age group of 15-59 years. In 2011, such population was 56.96 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the census, the total population of Nepal has reached 2,91,64,578. The population has increased by 10.08 percent in 2021 compared to 2011. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The annual population growth rate is 0.92 percent. In 2011, it was 1.35 percent. Bhaktapur has the highest population growth rate (average 3.35 percent). The population growth rate of Ramechhap is negative by 1.67 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">As per the new data, there are more women than men. For the first time, the census of other genders has been conducted. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the 2021 census released by the National Statistics Office, the majority of the Nepalese population involved in financial work are involved in agriculture, forestry and fishery. A total of 57.3 percent of Nepalis are engaged in agricultural work.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">It is mentioned in the report that the interest in the service sector and industries is increasing and the profit in agriculture is decreasing, so the participation in this sector is also in a downward trend.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the report, after agriculture, 12.5 percent of the population is involved in wholesale/retail business, automobile and motorcycle repair business, 8.1 percent in construction sector, 3.9 percent in other service sector, and 3.8 percent in industrial sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the census, 65.5 percent of the population above 10 years of age are financially active. According to the report, a total of 1,56,89,777 Nepalis are financially active. Likewise, 34.3 percent of the population over 10 years is financially inactive.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">A total of 82,11,012 people are not engaged in any economic activities due to old age, education, physical ill health or other circumstances. The majority (46.9 percent) of those who do not do financial work have done nothing because they are students.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Other reasons for people not involved in income-generating works is housekeeping (21.9 percent), old age (11 percent), family care (7.5 percent), other (7.4 percent), disabled/sick (2.5 percent), pension (2.2 percent) and social work/volunteering (0.3 percent).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The number of people who do not work are being supported by other members of the family or the state. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17106', 'image' => '20230326124106_1679637439.collage (63).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 12:40:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17370', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Demands Making Simra SEZ an Industrial Zone', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: The private sector has urged the government to convert the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simra, Bara into an industrial zone.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 26: The private sector has urged the government to convert the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simra, Bara into an industrial zone. The Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industries said that it is hard to attract entrepreneurs due to unreasonable provisions in the SEZ-related legal system which states that the industries operating under the SEZ must export goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The senior vice president of the association, Hari Prasad Gautam wrote a letter to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and asked them to bring Simra SEZ into operation like other industrial areas.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Gautam claimed that there is a provision that the industries opened in SEZ must export and because there is no permanent exportable product in Nepal, investors are not attracted to this facility. Despite repeated promises by the government, the industries are not willing to join Simra SEZ.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Industries established in SEZ must export 60 percent of their products. Previously, there was a provision to export 6 percent of the products in the year of establishment itself. But after realizing that investors did not join the SEZ due to the same provision, it was revised to export 20 percent of the production in the first year, 40 percent in the second year and 60 percent in the following years. The private sector is also dissatisfied with this provision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The SEZ located in Simra of Birgunj-Pathalaiya Industrial Corridor, which the government planned to operate since 2062, hardly falls in the preferred area of investment of the investors. Despite repeated calls from the SEZ Authority after not receiving expected proposals, the industrialists of Bara-Parsa have demanded that domestic market-targeted industries should also be allowed to operate in the SEZ.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As it is becoming difficult to find land for new industries in the Bara-Parsa corridor, the private sector has demanded that 833 bighas of SEZ land can be used as an industrial zone. The chamber claims that some industrialists recently started the process of leasing land in SEZ but backed away from it. Gautam suggests, “Industries are not attracted because of the provision of export. It is appropriate to operate this structure like any other industrial sector.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that due to Nepal's geographical situation and production cost, export business cannot be competitive. Now, the industries that open targeting the domestic market should be prioritized.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government said that income tax exemption will be given to industries set up in SEZ for two years. The private sector also demands that this deadline should be increased to 10 years.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17105', 'image' => '20230326112527_sez simara.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 11:24:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17369', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over One Million Counterfeit Notes Confiscated in Three Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: Nepal Police has confiscated counterfeit notes of over Rs 1 million in the last three months. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 26: Nepal Police has confiscated counterfeit notes of over Rs 1 million in the last three months. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Police Spokesperson DIG Poshraj Pokharel confirmed that the fake currency notes were seized in the last three months. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the police headquarters office data, as many as 22 persons involved in the transactions of counterfeit Nepali notes were arrested during the period. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17104', 'image' => '20230326102442_20170427050255_note.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 10:23:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17368', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Receives Foreign Aid Commitment of Rs 138 billion In Eight Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Government of Nepal has received commitments for foreign aid amounting to over Rs 138.5 billion in the eight months of the current fiscal year 2022/23.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">March 25: The Government of Nepal has received commitments for foreign aid amounting to over Rs 138.5 billion in the eight months of the current fiscal year 2022/23.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Nepal received commitments for grants equivalent to Rs 24.56 billion and Rs 114 billion for foreign loan from different bilateral and multilateral development partners in the last eight months.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government through its annual budget had set a target to receive foreign loan worth Rs 242.26 billion and foreign grants of Rs 44.46 billion in the eight months. Against the target, the commitment for foreign loan and grants stood at 47 percent and 44.28 percent respectively. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government obtained commitment of Rs 350 million for grants from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for 'Project for Human Resources Development Scholarship'. Likewise, JICA has expressed Rs 2 billion commitment for grants for 'Tarai Region Irrigation System Strengthening Project'. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government received commitments of Rs 1.37 billion and Rs 2 billion for grants for 'Wash for All' and 'Empowered Women, Prosperous Nepal' respectively.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Swiss government gave grant commitment of Rs 990 million for ‘Technical and Commercial Education Programme’. Likewise, Nepal government received commitment of Rs 1 billion grants each for entrepreneurship development of returnee workers from South Korea and capacity development of Nepal Police’s Cyber Bureau. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Asian Development Bank expressed commitment of Rs 2.47 billion and Rs 1.57 billion grants for horticulture in hilly parts of the country and for women development programme respectively.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepal government obtained commitments of Rs 5.26 billion grants for the capacity building of security and justice system from British government.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Likewsie, the government gained loan commitments of Rs 114 billion from World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Asian Development Bank(ADB) and others for various projects and programmes in the eight months of the current fiscal year. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17103', 'image' => '20230326062153_collage (38).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 06:08:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17366', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Less than 2500 Tourists Visit Annapurna Circuit in Three Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: A total of 2,475 foreign tourists visited the Annapurna circuit trek in the first three months of 2023. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 25: A total of 2,475 foreign tourists visited the Annapurna circuit trek in the first three months of 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourists included 1,678 male and 797 female, according to Tourism Assistant at Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) Tourist Check Point in Dharapani, Chettra Bahadur Gurung. Around 40 to 50 tourists arrive at the ACAP area every day. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of tourists visiting the Annapurna region has not been able to rise significantly, worrying the tourism entrepreneurs. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Even after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism business has not been able to gain any momentum, said tourism entrepreneur Pancha Bahadur Gurung. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the previous year (ie 2022), a total of 15,900 foreign tourists arrived in the Annapurna circuit trek. This included 10,364 men and 5,536 women, said Gurung. In 2021 the number was 2,273 including 1,562 men and 711 women. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Likewise, 1,976 tourists visited in 2020. The number was 36,647 in 2019. The majority of the tourists coming for trekking in the circuit are from neighboring countries China and India and also from Japan, Australia, Britain, etc. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Annapurna circuit trek starts from Besisahar, Lamjung and ends in Kaski via ManangMustang and Myagdi districts. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-25', 'modified' => '2023-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17101', 'image' => '20230325104606_SG-MYAGDI.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-25 22:45:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17365', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Women’s Access to Family Property up by 1.1 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: Women’s right to property has pursued a progressive path which is evident from the fact that their ownership of family properties has increased over the past decade.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 24: Women’s right to property has pursued a progressive path which is evident from the fact that their ownership of family properties has increased over the past decade. According to the National Census 2021, women’s access to family properties has increased. The final report of the census published by the government on Friday revealed that 23.8 percent households have their land and house in women’s name, a 1.1 percent surge as compared to the 2011 census.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The results of the latest census show that there are a total of 6,666,937 households in the country. Similarly, the number of residential houses stands at 6,660,841. Of them, 31.55 percent households are owned by women, a 5.82 percent increment as opposed to the previous census.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the 2021 census, the population of Nepal has increased to 29.1 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Out of the total population of 29,164,578, females make up 14,911,27 (51.02 percent) . Likewise, the number of males is 14,253,551 (48.98 percent). As per the previous census, the total population of the country stood at 26,494,504.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Population density in mountains, hills declining</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the latest census, population density in mountains and hill areas has decreased over the period of last 10 years. The population density is 460 persons per square kilometer in the Terai, while it is 34 per square kilometer in the mountains. It is just 3 per square kilometer in Manang and 5,169 in the Kathmandu Valley.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the census data, Kathmandu district has the highest number of population across the country as the population here is counted at 2,041,587 while 5,658 people reside in Manang. In terms of distribution of population by districts, Morang, Rupandehi, Jhapa and Sunsari are among those districts facing an increased pressure of population. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, Mustang, Dolpa and Rasuwa have a smaller population.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Terai region's population is 53.61 percent, out of the total population as 15,634,006 people reside in the Terai and this figure is 40. 31 percent or 11,757,624 in the hills. The mountain region reports the residency of 6.08 percent or 1,772,948 people. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Until ten years ago, the Terai's population was 50.27 percent of the total population followed by 43.01 percent in hills and 6.73 percent in the mountains. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> According to the census report, more than 2.19 million Nepalis are living abroad. It has been found that 2,190,592 people from 1,555,961 families are living abroad.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">This number is 269,098 more than the 2011 census. In the 2011 census, 1,921,494 people were found to be living abroad.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the latest census, as many as 1,799,675 men (82.2 percent) and 390,917 (17.8 percent) women are abroad, as mentioned in the report. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The data shows that 68 percent of the population has not gone through internal migration from one local level to another while 10.8 percent of the total population opted for it. Similarly 18.2 percent of the population has migrated from one district to another while 3.1 percent of the population has migrated abroad. The number of migrated population as a whole is 9,341,408.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Employment opportunities, trade-business, study, training, dependency, natural disasters and agriculture have been cited as the major cases of migrations. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Reliance on traditional fuel continues </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Although the government has emphasized development and promotion of clean energy, a large section of the population of the country still relies on traditional means of cooking fuel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A total of 51 per cent of the households in the country said that they still use firewood in the kitchen while those using LPG gas cylinders stand at 44.3 per cent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, those employing induction stoves to prepare food stand at 0.5 while those using traditional cow dung dry patties is 1.2 percent. Likewise, 0.5 percent of the population still uses kerosene and 0.1 use other fuels.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Ten years ago, 64 percent of the household used firewood in the kitchen to prepare food. It is evident that the reliance on traditional fuel has decreased to some extent over the decade but the number of households relying on traditional energy for cooking is still more than half of the population.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Strides in electrification</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Government's vision to expand electricity in all households is almost close to realization. A total of 92.2 per cent households are under the ambit of electricity as per the latest census. Households using solar energy stand at 6.6 per cent at present.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Only 67.3 percent of the population had access to electricity 10 years ago.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Going by this statistic, 98.8 percent of the population had access to clean energy while those using kerosene and other fuel remain below 1 percent. -- RSS</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-24', 'modified' => '2023-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17100', 'image' => '20230324100942_6F8A2862.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-24 22:09:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17364', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'AIG Kunwar Promoted to Nepal Police Chief ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: A meeting of the Council of Ministers has decided to promote Additional Inspector General Basanta Bahadur Kunwar to the post of Inspector General of the Nepal Police. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 24: A meeting of the Council of Ministers has decided to promote Additional Inspector General Basanta Bahadur Kunwar to the post of Inspector General of the Nepal Police. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Surya Kiran Sharma, press coordinator of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, told RSS that the cabinet meeting decided to promote AIG Kunwar to the top post. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He was promoted to AIG as per the decision of March 20. AIGs Tek Prasad Rai, Deepak Thapa, Shyam Lal Gyawali and Kiran Bajracharya along with Kunwar were in the race for IGP. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sitting IGP Dhiraj Pratap Singh is retiring from today (Friday) after completing his 30-year tenure in the police force. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-24', 'modified' => '2023-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17099', 'image' => '20230324082456_PRO-KTM-PRACHANDA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-24 20:24:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17362', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Import of Clinker Almost Comes to a Standstill', 'sub_title' => 'Nepal imported clinker only once in the last eight months', 'summary' => 'March 24: Billions of rupees spent on import of clinker has been saved due to the increase in domestic production of the raw material of cement.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 24: Billions of rupees spent on import of clinker has been saved due to the increase in domestic production of the raw material of cement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Data from the Department of Customs shows that Rs 11 billion was spent for the import of clinker four years ago. The latest data shows that the import of clinker has come almost to a halt.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the department, clinker worth only Rs 19,000 has been imported in the last eight months (July-February) of the current fiscal year. Clinker was imported only once during this period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the department, in the first month of the last fiscal year, clinker worth Rs 34.3 million was imported in July. In the last fiscal year, clinker worth Rs 321.5 million was imported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Clinker is the raw material of cement. Now the country has become self-reliant on clinker and cement. Some industries are also exporting both these items to India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Palpa and Arghakhanchi cement industries are exporting these products as clinker and cement is produced more than the domestic requirement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Tara Prasad Pokharel, vice president of the Nepal Cement Producers Association, said that there has been a problem in the sale of clinker recently due to the low consumption of cement in the country. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"In normal conditions, that is during the season of infrastructure construction, clinker consumption used to be about 80 per cent, now it has dropped to about 30 per cent," Pokharel told New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the association, there are currently 16 industries that produce clinker. These industries produce 40,000 metric tons of clinker daily. Pokharel said that the production capacity has been reduced after the cement consumption decreased.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rajesh Kumar Agarwal, executive director of RMC Group, which produces cement under the Palpa brand, said that the demand for cement has decreased due to the low capital expenditure of the state, which has affected development and construction.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Cement produced by RMC Group has been exported since last June. According to Agarwal, now clinker is also exported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pashupati Murarka, the owner of Arghakhanchi Cement Industry, also informed that his industry has started exporting clinker.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Clinker import has dropped to zero in a short time," said Murarka, "Arghakhanchi and Palpa cement industries have so far exported 30,000 metric tons of clinker and cement to India."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"There was a situation in the past when imported clinker was expensive, but limestone, the raw material in the country, was not used," Murarka said. According to the association, Rs 3 trillion have been invested in the cement industry so far.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After the earthquake of 2015, when the reconstruction work intensified, the demand for cement increased suddenly. After that, domestic and foreign investment in the cement industry increased. According to the association, there are currently about five dozen cement industries operating in Nepal. The annual production capacity of this industry is 25 million metric tons. As the demand was less than the production capacity, the producers had been demanding the government to facilitate the export to India. With the government implementing the program announced in the budget to give cash subsidies to exports, industrialists have started exporting cement and clinker.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-24', 'modified' => '2023-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17097', 'image' => '20230324045005_1679620101.Clipboard11.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-24 16:49:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 27: The 7th Bhaktapur Industrial, Cultural, Tourism and Trade Festival is going to be held in April to mark the Nepali New Year 2080 and Bisket Jatra festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Coordinator of the festival and chairman of District Sports Development Committee, Bhaktapur, Deepak Thapa, shared that the festival will be held from April 6 to 16. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There will be 200 stalls in the festival that will showcase food, clothing, agriculture and handicrafts, utensils, electric and electronics, automobiles, mobiles phones, vehicles, toys, beauty products, and daily consumables. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President of Industrial Peace Nepal Sandeep Mahat said that 20 to 50 percent discount has been arranged on various goods to be sold at the festival. He said that the festival is expected to be visited by about 500,000 people leading to a transaction between Rs 100 to Rs 120 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A cultural presentation along with entertainment for children will also be held as part of the festival. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-27', 'modified' => '2023-03-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17113', 'image' => '20230327083621_20211114083017_moments_1033465320019498.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-27 08:35:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17377', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Calls ISPs to Remove Unmanaged Internet Cables ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 27: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has drawn the attention of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) of Tulsipur to remove tangled wires from its poles. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 27: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has drawn the attention of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) of Tulsipur to remove tangled wires from its poles. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NEA officials reached the offices of 12 internet service providers, including the Nepal Telecom and told them to remove the wires. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of NEA Distribution Centre, Tulsipur, Gyan Prasad Farsal said that a 15 day notice was issued asking the concerned sides for removing the cables. The NEA argued that the unmanaged cables had become an eyesore to the city dwellers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The deadline given to the ISPs is fast approaching. We have also sent follow-up letter to this effect," said Farsal, adding, "While reaching their offices, we found that some ISPs had not even opened the letter that we sent." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the NEA, the city has a network of old telecommunications lines. The cables are found rampantly used in the city due to several reasons. Such cables are not removed even after the users unsubscribe internet service. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There was an agreement with the ISPs that they would remove the cables on their own noting it had painted a messy picture of the city. According to the agreement, coordination would be made with as many as 12 ISPs, including NTC and Ncell of Tulsipur area to take out unused and unmanaged cables and roll up the functional ones. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farsal further shared that ISPs however expressed their commitment for managing the cables themselves. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-27', 'modified' => '2023-03-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17112', 'image' => '20230327080703_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-27 08:06:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17376', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'JEMC To Supply Text Books Before Commencement Of New Academic Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Janak Education Materials Centre (JEMC) Ltd has assured that it will supply school text books to all districts by mid-April. According to Centre’s Managing Director Anil Kumar Jha, all districts will receive the text books this time before a new academic session begins.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">March 27: The Janak Education Materials Centre (JEMC) Ltd has assured that it will supply school text books to all districts by mid-April. According to Centre’s Managing Director Anil Kumar Jha, all districts will receive the text books this time before a new academic session begins.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Centre has the responsibility of printing and supplying 15 million school textbooks from grade 6 to ten this year. So far, the printing of 13.5 million copies of textbooks has completed. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> Managing Director Jha said printing of 90 percent text books has been completed by now. Last year, the Centre was assigned to print 20 million text books, but this time the government switched to the private sector to publish the text books for grades four and five, reducing the Centre's load. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The new academic session this year is beginning from coming April 14 ( Baisakha 1) the very first day of the Nepali New Year 2080 BS. The printing of the text books has been going on round-the-clock and the Centre plans to complete it by the next few days, JEMC said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> Last year, the Centre was assigned to print 20 million text books, ballot papers and it faced issues due to lack of timely availability of papers for text book printing. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Centre's market management chief Chitra Raj Acharya said the books will be supplied according priority to the rural districts and districts which are far from the Kathmandu Valley in the first phase. The distribution of books will begin from April 3 and will take two to six days for transporting them to all the districts. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">It would take up to six days to supply books to mountainous and some hilly districts and two days to other districts.<br /> The Centre has already selected its distributors. The distribution of the text books will take place from JEMC’s Central Office Management Department and its province offices in all the seven provinces. (RSS) </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-27', 'modified' => '2023-03-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17111', 'image' => '20230327054050_collage (39).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-27 05:33:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17375', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Split-Second Decision of NAC Pilot Averts Mid-Air Collision', 'sub_title' => 'CAAN writes to Air India on Air Traffic Rule Violation ', 'summary' => 'March 26: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has written a letter to Air India over the issue of flying an aircraft at an altitude of 15,000ft in Nepal’s airspace without the permission from the Air Traffic Controller (ATC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 26: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has written a letter to Air India over the issue of flying an aircraft at an altitude of 15,000ft in Nepal’s airspace without the permission from the Air Traffic Controller (ATC). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Such a reckless move by the Indian airliner almost caused a mid-air collision last Friday, CAAN officials said. According to the aviation regulator of Nepal, a fatal accident was avoided due to a split-second decision by another aircraft.<br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The incident occurred last Friday when an Air India plane en route to Kathmandu from New Delhi lowered its altitude to 15,000ft from 19,000ft all of a sudden without the permission from the ATC before landing at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At the same time, an aircraft of the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) coming to Kathmandu from Malaysia was also flying at an altitude of 15,000ft, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“As the NAC aircraft took height, a fatal accident was narrowly avoided,” RSS added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CAAN Spokesperson Jagannath Niraula confirmed that the Air India has been asked to inform the CAAN about the action of the pilot after an investigating the issue. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to RSS, Niraula also said that the CAAN has also formed a probe panel over the issue and the ATC deployed during that time have been prevented from working in an 'Active Position'. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17110', 'image' => '20230326083504_airIndia.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 20:34:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17374', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank Approves $120 Million to Support Nepal’s Education Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved US$120 million in financing to support the implementation of the Government of Nepal’s flagship School Education Sector Program.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 26: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved US$120 million in financing to support the implementation of the Government of Nepal’s flagship School Education Sector Program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a recent statement, the World Bank said that the School Sector Transformation Program operation builds on the Government of Nepal’s previous school education sector programs and puts a greater focus on quality learning by establishing a teacher mentoring system at the local government level and ensuring a full complement of subject teachers (English, Math, and Science) at upper-basic and secondary levels.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Investing in quality education is key to developing human capital which goes to the heart of ensuring greater equity and economic growth,” the statement quoted Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank’s country director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, as saying. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This operation supports the Government of Nepal’s vision to enhance quality of and equitable access to education to fulfill the ambitions of the new federal state.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, the operation focuses on improving foundational skills by implementing the national integrated curriculum in early grades. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">To address the learning losses as a result of school closures due to COVID-19 and other disasters, the operation supports the government’s program through the development and implementation of the Recovery and Accelerated Learning Plan, construction of green and resilient classrooms, and strengthening digital teaching and learning materials, added the statement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The operation also supports improving the equity of the school sector by including girls, disabled students, and those of lower socio-economic status, and by expanding targeted scholarships to students in grades 6-8 (upper-basic level) to help disadvantaged students.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“School closures had the largest impact on students of lower socio-economic backgrounds and deprived communities, as they have even more limited access to teachers and remote learning opportunities,” stated Karthika Radhakrishnan, World Bank’s program task team leader. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This new operation supports the implementation of the Recovery and Accelerated Learning Plan and supports children from poorer socio-economic backgrounds through targeted scholarships.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17109', 'image' => '20230326052018_FsHlkXCXgAIl1CK.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 17:19:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17373', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Share Value of 8 Banks Drops below Rs 200 Per Unit', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: The share value of most of the commercial banks that opted for merger is below Rs 200 per unit.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 26: The share value of most of the commercial banks that opted for merger is below Rs 200 per unit. Among the five commercial banks formed after merger and acquisition, the share price of all the banks except Himalayan Bank has plunged Rs 200 per unit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The lowest share price is of Prabhu Bank which stands at Rs 176 per share as of Thursday. Besides these banks, the share price of eight banks is below Rs 200 per unit. The highest share price is Rs 686 of NIC Asia Bank, which has not distributed dividends to shareholders for two years. Similarly, the share price of Nabil Bank is Rs 605 per unit. Sunrise Bank and Laxmi Bank have also entered into an agreement for merger.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The share price of banks that opted for merger has been dropping continuously despite an increase in their capital. An investor complained that even after the merger, the dividend of the company has decreased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stock analysts say that the share price of commercial banks are under pressure due to the merger.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Of late, traders have traded more shares of companies with less capital. This is the reason that the share price of the company with less capital seems to have increased, while the share price of the company with more capital seems to have dropped.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Dambaru Ballabh Ghimire, an investor who has been involved in the stock market for a long time, the share price of the commercial banks has come down because the company's capital has increased after the merger. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As soon as the share price of such companies increases by Rs 5 per unit, the sellers become active. Ghimire says that this is also the reason why the share price of such companies have dropped.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, it is said that since the market has been in a continuous downward trend for some time now, the share price of the companies has fallen to a very low point. Most of the commercial banks have reduced the dividend rate this year. Investors say that the share price of these companies has decreased due to this very reason.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another reason is that the share trading, which was halted for a long time due to the merger process, has increased in the market after the merger.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17108', 'image' => '20230326033536_1679807403.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 15:34:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17372', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Insurance Companies of Nepal can now Open Branches Abroad', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: Nepal Insurance Authority has issued the 'Guidelines for Branch Offices of Insurance Companies, 2079', paving the way for Nepal’s insurance companies to expand their branches abroad.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 26: Nepal Insurance Authority has issued the 'Guidelines for Branch Offices of Insurance Companies, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2079</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">', paving the way for Nepal’s insurance companies to expand their branches abroad.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Section </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">11</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> of the guidelines issued by the Nepal Insurance Authority on Thursday states that "insurers can open their branches, set up contact office or appoint representative abroad with the prior consent of the authority". </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The insurers who fulfil the conditions set by the authority will be allowed to open their offices in other countries and expand their business after taking approval from the authority.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In order to open its branch, contact office or appoint representatives abroad, the insurer must maintain the capital determined by the authority. In case of any action taken against the insurance company and the director of the company, such company can open an office abroad six months after the completion of any such disciplinary action.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the insurer should inform the authority about opening an office within six months after receiving the final approval from the authority. If the office is not operated within that period, the approval will be canceled automatically.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nirmal Adhikari, information officer of Nepal Insurance Authority, said that with the release of the new guidelines, Nepali insurers who meet the criteria set by the authority for office operations will be able to open offices in other countries and conduct business.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the official, the Nepali insurance companies operating abroad can become a good source of foreign exchange earnings in the near future. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chief Executive Officer of Azod Insurance Kumar Bahadur Khatri says that Nepali insurers will be able to expand their business by opening offices abroad. As a result, the insurance business will also be a good source of foreign exchange earnings, he added. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The insurance companies are now in a position to set up offices abroad due to the increase in their capital. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Therefore, insurers can also become a good source of remittances in Nepal," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17107', 'image' => '20230326014629_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 13:45:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17371', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Census Data Reveal Changing Patterns of Population ', 'sub_title' => '46.9 percent of Nepalis do not work', 'summary' => 'March 26: The latest census of the government has shown demographic changes in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">March 26: The latest census of the government has shown demographic changes in Nepal. According to the National Census 2021, the pattern of Nepal's population has changed in the last ten years. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to National Census 2021, the number of children in Nepal is decreasing while the number of elderly people is increasing.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">In the census of 2011, the population under 14 years of age was 92,48,246 (34.91 percent) but now it has dropped to 81,15,575 (27.83 percent). The population of senior citizens over 60 years has increased from 21,54,410 (8.13 percent) in 2011 to 29,77,318 (10.21 percent) in 2021.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the new data, the population of 15-19 years age group is 10.2 percent. Similarly, the 10-14 years age group make up 10 percent of the total population. Similarly, the 20-24 years group is 9.5 percent of the total population. Currently, the population of the age group below 1 year is 4,11,159. The number of children under 5 years is 24,39,283.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the data, the average life expectancy of citizens has increased and the financial obligations of the state is likely to increase in the future. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the new census, the population of active age group seems to have increased as well. Altogether 61.96 percent of the total population fall in the age group of 15-59 years. In 2011, such population was 56.96 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the census, the total population of Nepal has reached 2,91,64,578. The population has increased by 10.08 percent in 2021 compared to 2011. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The annual population growth rate is 0.92 percent. In 2011, it was 1.35 percent. Bhaktapur has the highest population growth rate (average 3.35 percent). The population growth rate of Ramechhap is negative by 1.67 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">As per the new data, there are more women than men. For the first time, the census of other genders has been conducted. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the 2021 census released by the National Statistics Office, the majority of the Nepalese population involved in financial work are involved in agriculture, forestry and fishery. A total of 57.3 percent of Nepalis are engaged in agricultural work.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">It is mentioned in the report that the interest in the service sector and industries is increasing and the profit in agriculture is decreasing, so the participation in this sector is also in a downward trend.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the report, after agriculture, 12.5 percent of the population is involved in wholesale/retail business, automobile and motorcycle repair business, 8.1 percent in construction sector, 3.9 percent in other service sector, and 3.8 percent in industrial sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the census, 65.5 percent of the population above 10 years of age are financially active. According to the report, a total of 1,56,89,777 Nepalis are financially active. Likewise, 34.3 percent of the population over 10 years is financially inactive.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">A total of 82,11,012 people are not engaged in any economic activities due to old age, education, physical ill health or other circumstances. The majority (46.9 percent) of those who do not do financial work have done nothing because they are students.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Other reasons for people not involved in income-generating works is housekeeping (21.9 percent), old age (11 percent), family care (7.5 percent), other (7.4 percent), disabled/sick (2.5 percent), pension (2.2 percent) and social work/volunteering (0.3 percent).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The number of people who do not work are being supported by other members of the family or the state. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17106', 'image' => '20230326124106_1679637439.collage (63).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 12:40:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17370', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Demands Making Simra SEZ an Industrial Zone', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: The private sector has urged the government to convert the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simra, Bara into an industrial zone.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 26: The private sector has urged the government to convert the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simra, Bara into an industrial zone. The Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industries said that it is hard to attract entrepreneurs due to unreasonable provisions in the SEZ-related legal system which states that the industries operating under the SEZ must export goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The senior vice president of the association, Hari Prasad Gautam wrote a letter to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and asked them to bring Simra SEZ into operation like other industrial areas.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Gautam claimed that there is a provision that the industries opened in SEZ must export and because there is no permanent exportable product in Nepal, investors are not attracted to this facility. Despite repeated promises by the government, the industries are not willing to join Simra SEZ.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Industries established in SEZ must export 60 percent of their products. Previously, there was a provision to export 6 percent of the products in the year of establishment itself. But after realizing that investors did not join the SEZ due to the same provision, it was revised to export 20 percent of the production in the first year, 40 percent in the second year and 60 percent in the following years. The private sector is also dissatisfied with this provision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The SEZ located in Simra of Birgunj-Pathalaiya Industrial Corridor, which the government planned to operate since 2062, hardly falls in the preferred area of investment of the investors. Despite repeated calls from the SEZ Authority after not receiving expected proposals, the industrialists of Bara-Parsa have demanded that domestic market-targeted industries should also be allowed to operate in the SEZ.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As it is becoming difficult to find land for new industries in the Bara-Parsa corridor, the private sector has demanded that 833 bighas of SEZ land can be used as an industrial zone. The chamber claims that some industrialists recently started the process of leasing land in SEZ but backed away from it. Gautam suggests, “Industries are not attracted because of the provision of export. It is appropriate to operate this structure like any other industrial sector.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that due to Nepal's geographical situation and production cost, export business cannot be competitive. Now, the industries that open targeting the domestic market should be prioritized.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government said that income tax exemption will be given to industries set up in SEZ for two years. The private sector also demands that this deadline should be increased to 10 years.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17105', 'image' => '20230326112527_sez simara.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 11:24:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17369', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over One Million Counterfeit Notes Confiscated in Three Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 26: Nepal Police has confiscated counterfeit notes of over Rs 1 million in the last three months. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 26: Nepal Police has confiscated counterfeit notes of over Rs 1 million in the last three months. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Police Spokesperson DIG Poshraj Pokharel confirmed that the fake currency notes were seized in the last three months. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the police headquarters office data, as many as 22 persons involved in the transactions of counterfeit Nepali notes were arrested during the period. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17104', 'image' => '20230326102442_20170427050255_note.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 10:23:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17368', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Receives Foreign Aid Commitment of Rs 138 billion In Eight Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Government of Nepal has received commitments for foreign aid amounting to over Rs 138.5 billion in the eight months of the current fiscal year 2022/23.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">March 25: The Government of Nepal has received commitments for foreign aid amounting to over Rs 138.5 billion in the eight months of the current fiscal year 2022/23.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Nepal received commitments for grants equivalent to Rs 24.56 billion and Rs 114 billion for foreign loan from different bilateral and multilateral development partners in the last eight months.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government through its annual budget had set a target to receive foreign loan worth Rs 242.26 billion and foreign grants of Rs 44.46 billion in the eight months. Against the target, the commitment for foreign loan and grants stood at 47 percent and 44.28 percent respectively. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government obtained commitment of Rs 350 million for grants from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for 'Project for Human Resources Development Scholarship'. Likewise, JICA has expressed Rs 2 billion commitment for grants for 'Tarai Region Irrigation System Strengthening Project'. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government received commitments of Rs 1.37 billion and Rs 2 billion for grants for 'Wash for All' and 'Empowered Women, Prosperous Nepal' respectively.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Swiss government gave grant commitment of Rs 990 million for ‘Technical and Commercial Education Programme’. Likewise, Nepal government received commitment of Rs 1 billion grants each for entrepreneurship development of returnee workers from South Korea and capacity development of Nepal Police’s Cyber Bureau. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Asian Development Bank expressed commitment of Rs 2.47 billion and Rs 1.57 billion grants for horticulture in hilly parts of the country and for women development programme respectively.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepal government obtained commitments of Rs 5.26 billion grants for the capacity building of security and justice system from British government.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Likewsie, the government gained loan commitments of Rs 114 billion from World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Asian Development Bank(ADB) and others for various projects and programmes in the eight months of the current fiscal year. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-26', 'modified' => '2023-03-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17103', 'image' => '20230326062153_collage (38).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-26 06:08:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17366', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Less than 2500 Tourists Visit Annapurna Circuit in Three Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: A total of 2,475 foreign tourists visited the Annapurna circuit trek in the first three months of 2023. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 25: A total of 2,475 foreign tourists visited the Annapurna circuit trek in the first three months of 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourists included 1,678 male and 797 female, according to Tourism Assistant at Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) Tourist Check Point in Dharapani, Chettra Bahadur Gurung. Around 40 to 50 tourists arrive at the ACAP area every day. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of tourists visiting the Annapurna region has not been able to rise significantly, worrying the tourism entrepreneurs. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Even after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism business has not been able to gain any momentum, said tourism entrepreneur Pancha Bahadur Gurung. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the previous year (ie 2022), a total of 15,900 foreign tourists arrived in the Annapurna circuit trek. This included 10,364 men and 5,536 women, said Gurung. In 2021 the number was 2,273 including 1,562 men and 711 women. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> Likewise, 1,976 tourists visited in 2020. The number was 36,647 in 2019. The majority of the tourists coming for trekking in the circuit are from neighboring countries China and India and also from Japan, Australia, Britain, etc. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Annapurna circuit trek starts from Besisahar, Lamjung and ends in Kaski via ManangMustang and Myagdi districts. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-25', 'modified' => '2023-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17101', 'image' => '20230325104606_SG-MYAGDI.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-25 22:45:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17365', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Women’s Access to Family Property up by 1.1 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: Women’s right to property has pursued a progressive path which is evident from the fact that their ownership of family properties has increased over the past decade.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 24: Women’s right to property has pursued a progressive path which is evident from the fact that their ownership of family properties has increased over the past decade. According to the National Census 2021, women’s access to family properties has increased. The final report of the census published by the government on Friday revealed that 23.8 percent households have their land and house in women’s name, a 1.1 percent surge as compared to the 2011 census.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The results of the latest census show that there are a total of 6,666,937 households in the country. Similarly, the number of residential houses stands at 6,660,841. Of them, 31.55 percent households are owned by women, a 5.82 percent increment as opposed to the previous census.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the 2021 census, the population of Nepal has increased to 29.1 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Out of the total population of 29,164,578, females make up 14,911,27 (51.02 percent) . Likewise, the number of males is 14,253,551 (48.98 percent). As per the previous census, the total population of the country stood at 26,494,504.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Population density in mountains, hills declining</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the latest census, population density in mountains and hill areas has decreased over the period of last 10 years. The population density is 460 persons per square kilometer in the Terai, while it is 34 per square kilometer in the mountains. It is just 3 per square kilometer in Manang and 5,169 in the Kathmandu Valley.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the census data, Kathmandu district has the highest number of population across the country as the population here is counted at 2,041,587 while 5,658 people reside in Manang. In terms of distribution of population by districts, Morang, Rupandehi, Jhapa and Sunsari are among those districts facing an increased pressure of population. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, Mustang, Dolpa and Rasuwa have a smaller population.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Terai region's population is 53.61 percent, out of the total population as 15,634,006 people reside in the Terai and this figure is 40. 31 percent or 11,757,624 in the hills. The mountain region reports the residency of 6.08 percent or 1,772,948 people. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Until ten years ago, the Terai's population was 50.27 percent of the total population followed by 43.01 percent in hills and 6.73 percent in the mountains. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> According to the census report, more than 2.19 million Nepalis are living abroad. It has been found that 2,190,592 people from 1,555,961 families are living abroad.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">This number is 269,098 more than the 2011 census. In the 2011 census, 1,921,494 people were found to be living abroad.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the latest census, as many as 1,799,675 men (82.2 percent) and 390,917 (17.8 percent) women are abroad, as mentioned in the report. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The data shows that 68 percent of the population has not gone through internal migration from one local level to another while 10.8 percent of the total population opted for it. Similarly 18.2 percent of the population has migrated from one district to another while 3.1 percent of the population has migrated abroad. The number of migrated population as a whole is 9,341,408.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Employment opportunities, trade-business, study, training, dependency, natural disasters and agriculture have been cited as the major cases of migrations. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Reliance on traditional fuel continues </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Although the government has emphasized development and promotion of clean energy, a large section of the population of the country still relies on traditional means of cooking fuel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A total of 51 per cent of the households in the country said that they still use firewood in the kitchen while those using LPG gas cylinders stand at 44.3 per cent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, those employing induction stoves to prepare food stand at 0.5 while those using traditional cow dung dry patties is 1.2 percent. Likewise, 0.5 percent of the population still uses kerosene and 0.1 use other fuels.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Ten years ago, 64 percent of the household used firewood in the kitchen to prepare food. It is evident that the reliance on traditional fuel has decreased to some extent over the decade but the number of households relying on traditional energy for cooking is still more than half of the population.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Strides in electrification</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Government's vision to expand electricity in all households is almost close to realization. A total of 92.2 per cent households are under the ambit of electricity as per the latest census. Households using solar energy stand at 6.6 per cent at present.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Only 67.3 percent of the population had access to electricity 10 years ago.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Going by this statistic, 98.8 percent of the population had access to clean energy while those using kerosene and other fuel remain below 1 percent. -- RSS</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-24', 'modified' => '2023-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17100', 'image' => '20230324100942_6F8A2862.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-24 22:09:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17364', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'AIG Kunwar Promoted to Nepal Police Chief ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: A meeting of the Council of Ministers has decided to promote Additional Inspector General Basanta Bahadur Kunwar to the post of Inspector General of the Nepal Police. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 24: A meeting of the Council of Ministers has decided to promote Additional Inspector General Basanta Bahadur Kunwar to the post of Inspector General of the Nepal Police. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Surya Kiran Sharma, press coordinator of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, told RSS that the cabinet meeting decided to promote AIG Kunwar to the top post. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He was promoted to AIG as per the decision of March 20. AIGs Tek Prasad Rai, Deepak Thapa, Shyam Lal Gyawali and Kiran Bajracharya along with Kunwar were in the race for IGP. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sitting IGP Dhiraj Pratap Singh is retiring from today (Friday) after completing his 30-year tenure in the police force. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-24', 'modified' => '2023-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17099', 'image' => '20230324082456_PRO-KTM-PRACHANDA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-24 20:24:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17362', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Import of Clinker Almost Comes to a Standstill', 'sub_title' => 'Nepal imported clinker only once in the last eight months', 'summary' => 'March 24: Billions of rupees spent on import of clinker has been saved due to the increase in domestic production of the raw material of cement.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 24: Billions of rupees spent on import of clinker has been saved due to the increase in domestic production of the raw material of cement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Data from the Department of Customs shows that Rs 11 billion was spent for the import of clinker four years ago. The latest data shows that the import of clinker has come almost to a halt.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the department, clinker worth only Rs 19,000 has been imported in the last eight months (July-February) of the current fiscal year. Clinker was imported only once during this period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the department, in the first month of the last fiscal year, clinker worth Rs 34.3 million was imported in July. In the last fiscal year, clinker worth Rs 321.5 million was imported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Clinker is the raw material of cement. Now the country has become self-reliant on clinker and cement. Some industries are also exporting both these items to India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Palpa and Arghakhanchi cement industries are exporting these products as clinker and cement is produced more than the domestic requirement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Tara Prasad Pokharel, vice president of the Nepal Cement Producers Association, said that there has been a problem in the sale of clinker recently due to the low consumption of cement in the country. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"In normal conditions, that is during the season of infrastructure construction, clinker consumption used to be about 80 per cent, now it has dropped to about 30 per cent," Pokharel told New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the association, there are currently 16 industries that produce clinker. These industries produce 40,000 metric tons of clinker daily. Pokharel said that the production capacity has been reduced after the cement consumption decreased.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rajesh Kumar Agarwal, executive director of RMC Group, which produces cement under the Palpa brand, said that the demand for cement has decreased due to the low capital expenditure of the state, which has affected development and construction.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Cement produced by RMC Group has been exported since last June. According to Agarwal, now clinker is also exported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pashupati Murarka, the owner of Arghakhanchi Cement Industry, also informed that his industry has started exporting clinker.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Clinker import has dropped to zero in a short time," said Murarka, "Arghakhanchi and Palpa cement industries have so far exported 30,000 metric tons of clinker and cement to India."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"There was a situation in the past when imported clinker was expensive, but limestone, the raw material in the country, was not used," Murarka said. According to the association, Rs 3 trillion have been invested in the cement industry so far.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After the earthquake of 2015, when the reconstruction work intensified, the demand for cement increased suddenly. After that, domestic and foreign investment in the cement industry increased. According to the association, there are currently about five dozen cement industries operating in Nepal. The annual production capacity of this industry is 25 million metric tons. As the demand was less than the production capacity, the producers had been demanding the government to facilitate the export to India. With the government implementing the program announced in the budget to give cash subsidies to exports, industrialists have started exporting cement and clinker.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-24', 'modified' => '2023-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17097', 'image' => '20230324045005_1679620101.Clipboard11.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-24 16:49:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
