February 27: The festival of Fagu has formally commenced with the installation of the ritualistic wooden pole with the 'Chir' at the top end in front of Hanumandhoka Durbar in Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday…
February 27: The festival of Fagu has formally commenced with the installation of the ritualistic wooden pole with the 'Chir' at the top end in front of Hanumandhoka Durbar in Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday…
February 27: The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2080/081…
February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic.…
February 27: It has been found that the state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC), failed to purchase paddy as per its own target.…
February 27: The CPN (UML) has decided to quit the government, the state-owned RSS reported on Monday.…
February 27: Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) Office aims to earn Rs 300 million annually.…
February 27: The government has fixed the support price of wheat for the current fiscal year.…
February 27: The westerly wind is having a general impact on the country's weather system at present.…
February 27: Pokhara High Court on Sunday gave a clean chit to actor Purna Bikram Shah (Paul) on charge of…
Kathmandu Metropolitan City is preparing to resume operation of a bigas plant that was closed for the last five…
February 26: Import and export of main agricultural products to and from Nepal have both…
The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has begun a survey to find data on average expenditures by a foreign tourist from Sunday. The survey aims to find how much foreign tourists spend during their stay in Nepal, said the NTB Director Maniraj…
February 26: The budget for the next fiscal year is certain to decline after the National Planning Commission (NPC) capped the ceiling on budget citing government’s failure to collect…
February 26: The farmers of Chitwan have again started their protest, this time with another symbolic protest by flying black…
February 26: Farmers of Lamjung have earned Rs 200 million from the sale of cardamom this year.…
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The festival of Fagu has formally commenced with the installation of the ritualistic wooden pole with the 'Chir' at the top end in front of Hanumandhoka Durbar in Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday morning. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Chir is a tuft of colourful strips of cloth tied to the top end of the pole symbolizing the beginning of Fagu, also called Holi, the festival of colours. The wooden pole is erected at this spot on the eighth day of the waxing moon in the month of Fagun as per the time-honoured custom. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pole was installed at the auspicious time of 7.45am on Monday, the Nepal Calendar Determination Committee said. The people from the Manandhar community are responsible for the erection of the Chir at Hanumandhoka Durbar area. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Fagu festival is celebrated with fervor and enthusiasm in the hill districts including in the Kathmandu Valley from the eighth day of the bright half to the full moon day in the month of Fagun. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">People smeared each other with different colours and threw colour powder in celebration at Hanumandhoka Durbar area when the Chir was installed, signaling the start of the Fagu festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This ritualistic pole is pulled down on the full moon day. The main day of Fagu festival falls on March 6 for the people of the hill districts and on March 7 for the people of the Tarai-Madhesh region this year. -- RSS</span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16876', 'image' => '20230227094421_HB_KTM-_IMG_1215.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 21:43:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17137', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Provinces, Local Units Propose Projects of Rs 150 Billion for Supplementary and Special Grants ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2080/081 BS. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2080/081 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the National Planning Commission (NPC), the local governments have forwarded a total of 4,546 projects with the estimated budget of Rs 115.43 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the provinces have proposed 211 projects seeking Rs 27 billion to implement those projects in the upcoming fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Of the proposed projects from the local and province governments, the new projects carry the budget estimation worth Rs 121.71 billion while projects worth Rs 20.65 billion are ongoing projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As sought by the local and province governments, Rs 50.41 billion has been demanded under the special grant while Rs 71.26 billion for supplementary grant for the new projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Supplementary Grant (Third Amendment) Procedure, 2077 and the Special Grant (Third Amendment) Procedure, 2077 BS mention about the federal supplementary and special grants under which the federal government allocates budget to the province and local governments each year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NPC has entered those proposed projects in its system for project analysis and selection purpose after receiving the proposals from the province and local governments. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A team led by a NPC member shall select the projects and programmes after their thorough assessment based on the parameters given by the procedures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">For the selection of the projects, their feasibility, estimated cost and outcomes should be considered and the projects that generate compulsory liability on the part of the government would also be prioritized. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sectoral priorities are also considered for the selection of new projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The provinces were given the timeline of mid-February to propose the projects and programmes under the federal supplementary and special grants while the local levels were to submit such projects by mid-January. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16875', 'image' => '20230227084256_Grants-April-2019.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 20:42:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17136', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Economic Growth Rate in First Quarter Drops Below the Figure of Pandemic Period', 'sub_title' => 'Economic Growth in First Three Months Stands at 0.8 Percent against the Annual Growth Target of 8 Percent', 'summary' => 'February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bijay Damase</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first three months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23), the size of the economy ie the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased by 0.8 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The economic growth rate of the first quarter of last fiscal year (FY 2021/22) was 3 percent. According to the figures released by the National Statistics Office under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the economic growth rate was 6.9 percent in the second quarter of the same year, 2.9 percent in the third quarter and 9 percent in the fourth quarter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the year 2020/21, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak. Even in the first quarter of that year, the economic growth rate was 0.9 percent. The economic growth rate of the first quarter of the current fiscal year is less than that in the corresponding period of the year of the pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">All sectors have been affected since the beginning of the current fiscal year. According to the National Statistics Office, the economic growth rate in the first quarter of the current FY is less than 1 percent, which has raised questions about the working style of the government.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Facts and figures show that the economy is getting more and more in crisis when the government sets ambitious goals but is unable to deliver on its commitments due to its working style.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government had set a target of achieving 8 percent economic growth in the current fiscal year's budget. However, while revising the budget, Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel admitted that the target is unattainable. Due to the tightening of import, there has been a decline in revenue collection.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the National Statistics Office, which was earlier known as the Central Bureau of Statistics, the output of the mining and mineral sector has declined the most in the first quarter of this year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the first quarter, the production of mining and mineral sector decreased by 29.2 percent. In the same period last year, this sector had increased by 24 percent. In particular, this sector has declined due to the extreme reduction in the demand for cement, the main construction material. Due to the slowdown in construction activities in the country, the demand for construction materials such as cement and sand has decreased. Due to the decrease in public construction and the slow pace of private housing construction, the consumption of such materials has decreased. The data shows that the construction sector has shrunk by 24 percent. In the same period last year, the construction sector had increased by 18 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16874', 'image' => '20230227041039_economic crisis.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 16:09:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17135', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Food Management and Trading Company Fails to Purchase Paddy as per its Target', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: It has been found that the state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC), failed to purchase paddy as per its own target. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: It has been found that the state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC), failed to purchase paddy as per its own target. According to FMTC, it was not possible to purchase paddy as per the target due to the delay in the purchase process.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">FMTC said that the problem surfaced because the government fixed the support price after most of the farmers sold the paddy and FMTC as well started buying it late.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company had set a target of buying 30,200 metric tons of paddy from the farmers for the current fiscal year, but managed to buy only 15,000 tons so far. This year, the company purchased paddy from its depots based in Rajapur, Dhangadhi, Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj, Bhairahawa, Birgunj, Biratnagar, Birtamod, Janakpur and Lahan. In some places, the purchase intermittently continues, but in some places, FMTC has already suspended the work of purchasing paddy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The delay in fixing the support price and late start of buying are the main reasons for the company not being able to buy paddy as per the target. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After most of the farmers sold the paddy, the government fixed the price of coarse paddy at Rs 2,976 per quintal and the price of medium paddy at Rs 3,128 per quintal. Even after the support price was fixed, the farmers had to protest nationwide because FMTC did not buy paddy for a long time stating that the budget was not released.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">FMTC on the other hand, said that the target of buying paddy could not be achieved because farmers sold more rice to local traders than to the company. Mohan Prakash Chand, the chief executive officer of the company, says that late pricing is one of the main reasons, but most of the farmers take loans from local traders and they are forced to sell rice to the traders, leaving less paddy for FMTC. According to Chand, another major reason for not buying paddy as per the target is low quality rice in some places as FMTC does not buy low quality rice.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the purchase of paddy has been less this year, FMTC is buying rice for storage. The company has also invited tenders to buy 142,000 quintals of rice. Bhishma Neupane, head of the procurement department of the company, said that they are going to buy rice after not being able to buy paddy as per the target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company is preparing to buy 15,000 quintals of rice from Lahan, 10,000 quintals from Biratnagar, 3,000 quintals from Birtamod, 22,000 quintals from Birgunj, 20,300 quintals from Kathmandu, 20,000 quintals from Nepalgunj and 7,800 quintals from Bhairahawa. Similarly, the company plans to buy 2,000 quintals of rice from Tulsipur, 20,100 quintals from Surkhet and 22,000 quintals from Dhangadhi.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16873', 'image' => '20230227035714_640px-Rice_Plants_(IRRI).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 15:56:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17134', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UML to Quit Government ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The CPN (UML) has decided to quit the government, the state-owned RSS reported on Monday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The CPN (UML) has decided to quit the government, the state-owned RSS reported on Monday. The party's Secretariat Meeting held at the party central office at Chyasal, Lalitpur on Monday morning decided to quit the government, UML vice Chair Bishnu Prasad Paudel told RSS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He added that the UML has also decided to withdraw its support to the government. </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"">CPN (UML), which is the second largest party in parliament, took such decision after its coalition partner CPN (Maoist Centre) sided with the Nepali Congress (NC) for the upcoming presidential election. CPN (UML) had backed Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to lead the government as the prime minister in return for Dahal’s support in the presidential election. However, in the changed political context after the NC also backed Maoist Centre, the party decided to seek national consensus for a presidential candidate instead of backing the UML. This ultimately led to a situation in which UML has been forced to quit government. However, PM Dahal still enjoys overwhelming support with the NC backup.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16872', 'image' => '20230227032505_PRO_KTM_PRACHANDA_SPEECH.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 15:24:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17133', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Loan Instalment Amount of Pokhara Int’l Airport Exceeds Income Target', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) Office aims to earn Rs 300 million annually. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) Office aims to earn Rs 300 million annually. However, the annual instalment to be paid is Rs 2.4 billion which includes the principal and interest on the loan taken for the construction of the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The instalment payment period of this airport, which has been in operation since January 1, starts from mid-March. The Government of Nepal is scheduled to pay the first instalment of Rs 1.2 billion to the Chinese Exim Bank in this period. The instalment payment period is about to start after the grace period of 7 years for the loan given to Nepal Civil Aviation Authority by the government through the bank is about to end.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The authority has already said that it will not be possible to pay the instalment with the income generated by the operation of Pokhara International Airport. However, CAAN says it is not under pressure to pay the instalment this time. According to the authority's loan repayment schedule, the instalment must be paid on March 15.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Gyanendra Bhul, the information officer of the authority, said that even if the authority cannot pay the installment, it will be paid through the Ministry of Finance. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even if the government is not able to pay the instalments, the accumulated profit of the authority is good. According to the authority's data, the accumulated profit of CAAN is Rs 1465.3 billion. The authority will be able to pay the instalments from the accumulated profit. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the loan schedule to be paid semi-annually, Rs 1.2 billion should be paid in 6 months, while Rs 2.4 billion must be paid in instalments annually.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The instalments must be paid within 20 years of taking the loan (Ashoj 1, 2092). The government had agreed with the bank in 2072 to build Pokhara International Airport. After Pokhara International Airport came into operation, the Pokhara Airport Office has predicted that the profit of the current fiscal year (FY) will also double.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jashodha Subedi, the spokesperson of the airport office, informed that the airport, which earned Rs 130 million in the year 2078/79, is aiming to earn more than double (up to Rs 300 million) in the current year 2079/80. Currently, only domestic flights are operating in Pokhara.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16871', 'image' => '20230227020513_Pokhara-Airport-800X533.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 14:04:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17132', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Fixes Support Price of Wheat', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The government has fixed the support price of wheat for the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: The government has fixed the support price of wheat for the current fiscal year. The support price has been fixed at Rs 3,351 per quintal, which is Rs 186 more compared to last year. Upon suggestion from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the cabinet approved the support price proposed by the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had fixed the support price of wheat at Rs 3,150 per quintal for the first time in the fiscal year 2076/77. In the last four years, the government increased the price of wheat by Rs 337 per quintal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stakeholders say that the government has been miserly in setting the price of wheat, which is known as unprofitable crop because the production is not worth the cost and efforts incurred. Farmers and agricultural activists express doubt that the support price set so miserly will even be implemented.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Food Campaign for Agriculture said that the government's attention should be focused on its implementation rather than setting the support price. According to him, the government sets the support price every year, but it is not implemented. Therefore, he said that the support price has caused more pain than relief to the farmers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of the National Farmers' Commission, Prem Dangal also said that the government's focus should be on the implementation of support prices. According to him, the practice of setting support prices and not implementing them should be brought to an end.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has become customary for the government to set the support price of rice and wheat late every year, and the state-owned food supply and trading companies do not purchase the produce as per the target. In terms of production area, wheat is the third major food crop of Nepal. According to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, more than 2.1 million metric tons of wheat is produced in Nepal annually. But recently, the area of wheat production is decreasing. In the last 7 years, the area under wheat cultivation in Nepal has decreased by 51,300 hectares.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16870', 'image' => '20230227011337_Wheat_photo-cred-Adobe-stock_E-2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 13:12:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17131', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Light Snowfall Predicted in High-Hill Areas Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The westerly wind is having a general impact on the country's weather system at present. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The westerly wind is having a general impact on the country's weather system at present. Due to the effects in the weather system, the mountainous area of the country would witness partial to general changes in the weather condition while the remaining areas would generally see clean weather, according to the Weather Forecasting Division. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As informed by the division, partial to general changes in weather would occur in the mountainous belt of the country this afternoon while light rain with thunderstorms are likely to take place in some areas of the mountainous belt in Province 1, Bagmati and Gandaki provinces and in one or two places of Lumbini, Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Light snowfall is predicted in limited areas of high hills and the Himalayan territory in the country,” the division said. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, in the night time, partial changes would occur in the mountainous area while light snowfall is likely to take place in one or two places of the high hills and Himalayan region of Province 1 and Gandaki Province. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minimum temperature of Kathmandu was recorded at 10.1 degrees Centigrade on Monday and the maximum temperature is expected to be around 23 degrees Centigrade. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On Sunday, </span></span></strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">various places across the countey, including the Kathmandu Valley, witnessed rain after a long gap. </span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Weather Forecasting Division informed that light to moderate rainfall occurred in different parts of the country, including the federal capital. </span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meteorologist at the Division, Sanjeev Adhikari, informed RSS that the westerly wind caused the rainfall. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rainfall was reported in Bagmati Province, Gandaki Province, Sudurpaschim Province and some other places. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the division, Dhunibeshi of Dhanding witnessed the maximum rainfall on Sunday which was recorded at 12 mm. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bhaktapur recorded 8.4 mm rain and Kirtipur 7 mm. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The division said there was no rainfall in the night. </span></span></span></span><br /> </p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the adverse weather in the wake of sudden rainfall across many parts of the country affected several domestic and international flights on Sunday. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Teknath Sitaula, spokesperson at Tribhuvan International Airport, low visibility owing to bad weather impacted the flights. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sitaula informed that international flights of Vistara and Indigo Air were diverted to Lucknow while the Qatar Airways' airplane was kept on hold in the sky for a while. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, in the domestic flight segment, two flights to and from Bharatpur in Chitwan district were canceled while flights to some destinations were delayed briefly. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There was a light to moderate rainfall coupled with thunderstorm and lightning in various parts of the country due to the influence of the westerly wind, according to the Weather Forecasting Division. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Regular flights resumed after improvement in weather since Sunday night. </span></span><br /> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16869', 'image' => '20230227113946_kk_beni.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 11:39:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17130', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'High Court Acquits Paul Shah on Charge of Pedophilia ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: Pokhara High Court on Sunday gave a clean chit to actor Purna Bikram Shah (Paul) on charge of pedophilia. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: Pokhara High Court on Sunday gave a clean chit to actor Purna Bikram Shah (Paul) on charge of pedophilia. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A division bench of judges Dilliraj Acharya and Shreedhara Kumari Pudasaini acquitted actor Shah on the case. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Earlier, the Nawalpur District Court had sentenced him to two and a half years in jail for allegedly raping a minor. Shah had filed the petition in the High Court, challenging the district court's verdict. However, the District Court Tahanun had acquitted Shah on the rape case against the minor. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The bench of the High Court concluded that the charges against Shah were not sufficient to prove him guilty, Information Officer of High Court, Pokhara, Bishnu Prasad Acharya said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shah's lawyer senior advocate Kamala Mohan Wagle said that actor Shah will be released from the jail following the High Court's verdict. </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"">"Shah has won the case. He will be released on Monday," said Wagle. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16868', 'image' => '20230227111806_paul.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 11:17:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17129', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'KMC Preparing to Restore Closed Biogas Plant ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Kathmandu Metropolitan City is preparing to resume operation of a bigas plant that was closed for the last five years. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 27: Kathmandu Metropolitan City is preparing to resume operation of a bigas plant that was closed for the last five years. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">With the financial assistance of the European Union and KMC, the metropolis will repair the plant and bring back into use that is located in the premises of Department of Environment Teku. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">KMC Environment Department Chief Rabinman Shrestha said that KMC was working to restore the operation of the biogas plant to manage the degradable waste sustainably by generating renewable energy from perishable waste. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">For the project’s restoration, KMC is in talks with National Innovation Center Nepal. “Since the talks with NIC is positive, we shall operate the plant from the next week,” Shestha said. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">European Union and KMC have injected 46 million and 18 million respectively for the plant. Installed under integrated waste management project, the biogas plant requires three metric tons of biodegradable waste in a day. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The project is able to produce 3,000 kilograms of organic fertilizer, 14 kilowatt electricity and 13,500 liters of processed water.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Preparations are underway to restore biogas plant as its closure has hit PhD students conducting research on bio energy and biogas production. Operation of the plant is expected to help the KMC manage degradable wastes. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16867', 'image' => '20230227062144_collage (10).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 06:19:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17128', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Import and Export of Agricultural Produce Declines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 26: Import and export of main agricultural products to and from Nepal have both declined.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 26: Import and export of main agricultural products to and from Nepal have both declined.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the import of agricultural products decreased by 43 percent in the first six months of the current fiscal year. The import of agricultural produce declined because India tightened the export of agricultural produce. Another reason is that the domestic production of some items have increased.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Prakash Kumar Sanjel, said that both import and export of agricultural products have decreased. Although the ministry has not done a separate study on the reasons for the large-scale decrease in imports, he claimed that imports decreased due to India's tightening of export of agricultural products and increase in domestic production of some items compared to the past.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data provided by the Ministry, the import of paddy/rice and maize decreased while the import of wheat decreased the most. According to Sanjel, India's ban on wheat export directly affected Nepal's imports. Due to the Russia-Ukraine tension, India banned the export of wheat on the assumption that there will be a shortage of wheat in its own country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the import of bananas and potatoes also decreased. While the import of other agricultural products is decreasing, the import of onion on the other hand has increased. From last July to January, import of apple among fresh fruits decreased whereas the import of orange seems to have increased. The data shows that the import of sunflower, soybean and palm oil decreased as well.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data, exports of coffee, ghee, sunflower oil, soybean oil have decreased while the exports of ginger, fresh vegetables and cardamom have increased to some extent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16866', 'image' => '20230226055028_20230226023728_wheatttttt.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 17:49:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17127', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NTB Starts Survey to Find Average Expenditure By Foreign Tourist', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has begun a survey to find data on average expenditures by a foreign tourist from Sunday. The survey aims to find how much foreign tourists spend during their stay in Nepal, said the NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">February 26: The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has begun a survey to find data on average expenditures by a foreign tourist from Sunday. The survey aims to find how much foreign tourists spend during their stay in Nepal, said the NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">"Two thousand sample respondents will be selected for the survey. Five employees deployed by the Board will fill out the questionnaire with details of visiting tourists. They have been given 40 days for the job," Lamichhane said. Students of the Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management (NATHM) have volunteered as enumerators for the survey. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">In 2021 and 2022, a foreign tourist spent average USD 48 on a daily basis, Lamichhane said. In 2023, their expenditure is expected to increase anything between USD 70 and 75 each. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, the Nepal Rastra Bank, the National Statistics Office and the NATHM have collaborated for the initiative. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The arrival of foreign tourists has gradually been on the track post COVID-19. A total of 55,074 foreign tourists visited Nepal in January, 2023 alone, according to data with the NTB. Similarly, the total 614,148 tourists arrived in Nepal in 2022. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The years 2020 and 2021 when the infectious disease COVID-19 peaked saw a sharp drop in tourist inflow to stand at 230,085 and 150,962 respectively from a whopping 1,197,091 in 2019 before the pandemic broke out. The year 2020 witnessed an 81 percent decline in tourist influx. ----RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16865', 'image' => '20230226054105_collage (7).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 17:35:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17125', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NPC Caps Limit on Budget for Next FY at Rs 1688 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 26: The budget for the next fiscal year is certain to decline after the National Planning Commission (NPC) capped the ceiling on budget citing government’s failure to collect revenue.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 26: The budget for the next fiscal year is certain to decline after the National Planning Commission (NPC) capped the ceiling on budget citing government’s failure to collect revenue.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NPC has set the limit of Rs 1688.4 billion for next year’s budget which is less than the current fiscal year’s budget by almost 150 billion. The then finance minister Janardan Sharma had announced a budget of Rs 1793.83 billion for the current FY.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A recent meeting of the National Resource Estimation Committee of the NPC chaired by its Vice Chairman Dr Min Bahadur Shrestha decided to downsize the budget and asked the government to work accordingly.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel has reduced the size of the budget announced by his predecessor Sharma as the government failed to collect revenue according to the initial target. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the revised estimated prepared by Finance Minister Paudel, the government will likely spend only Rs 1549.99 billion this year and the budget was downsized accordingly. Compared to this figure, the budget limit for the next fiscal year is Rs 138.41 billion more.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NPC has estimated that the government will collect revenue of Rs 1403 billion for next year's budget. This revenue estimate is about 14 percent more than what will be collected in the current fiscal year. It is estimated that Rs 201 billion will be received from foreign assistance for next year's budget, of which Rs 25 billion will be received as grants and Rs 176 billion as loans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The commission has estimated that the remaining amount will be collected through internal loans of Rs 230 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Analyzing the contraction seen in revenue mobilization in the first six months of the current fiscal year, the decline in subsidies in foreign aid and the increase in the foreign exchange rates which might put pressure on payment of loan, the NPC has made a realistic estimate and projection of national resource mobilization," said Rajendra Kumar Paudel, the spokesperson of the commission. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the commission, the limit has been fixed by keeping the mandatory obligations including salaries, pensions, social security and the implementation status of multi-year projects of national importance, supply of chemical fertilizers, expenses related to the implementation of international commitments, financial transfers among others. The NPC has estimated that next year's economic growth rate will be 8 percent, per capita income will reach USD 1,572 and consumer price inflation will be 6.5 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As the size of current fiscal year’s budget is large, the government’s resources are not able to meet the revenue collection target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The economy has been facing liquidity crisis due to the impacts of the Covid-19 and Russia-Ukraine war. This has caused many problems in the economy. This has forced the government to reduce the size of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16863', 'image' => '20230226023622_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 14:35:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17124', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers in Chitwan Resume Protest', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 26: The farmers of Chitwan have again started their protest, this time with another symbolic protest by flying black balloons.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 26: The farmers of Chitwan have again started their protest, this time with another symbolic protest by flying black balloons. They had started protested by throwing vegetables on the road on February 3. As their demands were not addressed, they started the second phase of the protest on Friday. Lekhnath Bhusal, the coordinator of Farmer’s Struggle Committee Chitwan, said that black balloons were flown to convey the message that the farmers are continuously protesting.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The farmers gathered at the central bus terminal in Bharatpur with placards and reached Pulchok in Narayangadh via District Administration Office, Bypass Road, Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Chaubiskothi. They demonstrated on the highway. They said that despite many assurances that their demands will be met, the concerned authorities have not lived up to their commitment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As a result, the protest continues in various forms.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the demonstration, they insisted to stop the import of vegetables, determine the right price and proper management of domestic products, ensure timely availability of fertilizer and seeds, etc. The farmers demonstrated with placards that read 'There is no future in farming, and they are old to go to the Gulf countries, the leaders are always weak, the people are always poor, let's boycott foreign products, let's encourage domestic products, the agricultural revolution continues'.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16862', 'image' => '20230226015318_0505614105701.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 13:52:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17123', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Earn Rs 200 Million from Sale of Cardamom ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 26: Farmers of Lamjung have earned Rs 200 million from the sale of cardamom this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 26: Farmers of Lamjung have earned Rs 200 million from the sale of cardamom this year. A total of 380 metric tons of cardamom was sold in the district this year, according to the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Project Implementation Unit Lamjung. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This year saw a record amount of cardamom sale since commercial farming of cardamom began 38 years ago in 2041 BS.</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"">Farmers sold cardamom at a minimum price of Rs 550 to 700 per kg this year. The sale of cardamom last year fetched between Rs 950 to 1500 per kg. In the previous year, the farmers had earned Rs182 million from the sale of 3,500 quintals of cardamom. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Compared to the previous year cardamom production of most of the farmers in the district has increased this year. </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 production as well as sale of cardamom has doubled this year compared to last year,” said Ash Bahadur Gurung of Masryangdi Rural Municipality-5. He shared that this year he earned about Rs 555,000 against Rs 400,000 in the previous year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Out of 95 households in Gurung's village, 85 households are cultivating cardamom commercially. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The farmers have however complained about the fluctuating price of cardamom. The farmers have been compelled to sell their produce at much lower prices compared to the past. Farmers say that due to India's monopoly, they are not getting good price for cardamom seeds. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although reports say that cardamom is being cultivated in an area of more than 1000 hectares of land in the district it is actually being produced only in 500 hectares. Masryangdi Rural Municipality, Besisahar Municipality, Kholasothar, Dordi and Dudhpokhari rural municipalities have been declared as cardamom pocket areas. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16861', 'image' => '20230226124914_cardamommm.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 12:48:32', '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' => '17138', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ritualistic Pole of Fagu Festival Installed at Hanumandhoka Durbar Square', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The festival of Fagu has formally commenced with the installation of the ritualistic wooden pole with the 'Chir' at the top end in front of Hanumandhoka Durbar in Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday morning. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The festival of Fagu has formally commenced with the installation of the ritualistic wooden pole with the 'Chir' at the top end in front of Hanumandhoka Durbar in Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday morning. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Chir is a tuft of colourful strips of cloth tied to the top end of the pole symbolizing the beginning of Fagu, also called Holi, the festival of colours. The wooden pole is erected at this spot on the eighth day of the waxing moon in the month of Fagun as per the time-honoured custom. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pole was installed at the auspicious time of 7.45am on Monday, the Nepal Calendar Determination Committee said. The people from the Manandhar community are responsible for the erection of the Chir at Hanumandhoka Durbar area. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Fagu festival is celebrated with fervor and enthusiasm in the hill districts including in the Kathmandu Valley from the eighth day of the bright half to the full moon day in the month of Fagun. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">People smeared each other with different colours and threw colour powder in celebration at Hanumandhoka Durbar area when the Chir was installed, signaling the start of the Fagu festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This ritualistic pole is pulled down on the full moon day. The main day of Fagu festival falls on March 6 for the people of the hill districts and on March 7 for the people of the Tarai-Madhesh region this year. -- RSS</span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16876', 'image' => '20230227094421_HB_KTM-_IMG_1215.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 21:43:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17137', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Provinces, Local Units Propose Projects of Rs 150 Billion for Supplementary and Special Grants ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2080/081 BS. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2080/081 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the National Planning Commission (NPC), the local governments have forwarded a total of 4,546 projects with the estimated budget of Rs 115.43 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the provinces have proposed 211 projects seeking Rs 27 billion to implement those projects in the upcoming fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Of the proposed projects from the local and province governments, the new projects carry the budget estimation worth Rs 121.71 billion while projects worth Rs 20.65 billion are ongoing projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As sought by the local and province governments, Rs 50.41 billion has been demanded under the special grant while Rs 71.26 billion for supplementary grant for the new projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Supplementary Grant (Third Amendment) Procedure, 2077 and the Special Grant (Third Amendment) Procedure, 2077 BS mention about the federal supplementary and special grants under which the federal government allocates budget to the province and local governments each year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NPC has entered those proposed projects in its system for project analysis and selection purpose after receiving the proposals from the province and local governments. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A team led by a NPC member shall select the projects and programmes after their thorough assessment based on the parameters given by the procedures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">For the selection of the projects, their feasibility, estimated cost and outcomes should be considered and the projects that generate compulsory liability on the part of the government would also be prioritized. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sectoral priorities are also considered for the selection of new projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The provinces were given the timeline of mid-February to propose the projects and programmes under the federal supplementary and special grants while the local levels were to submit such projects by mid-January. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16875', 'image' => '20230227084256_Grants-April-2019.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 20:42:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17136', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Economic Growth Rate in First Quarter Drops Below the Figure of Pandemic Period', 'sub_title' => 'Economic Growth in First Three Months Stands at 0.8 Percent against the Annual Growth Target of 8 Percent', 'summary' => 'February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bijay Damase</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first three months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23), the size of the economy ie the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased by 0.8 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The economic growth rate of the first quarter of last fiscal year (FY 2021/22) was 3 percent. According to the figures released by the National Statistics Office under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the economic growth rate was 6.9 percent in the second quarter of the same year, 2.9 percent in the third quarter and 9 percent in the fourth quarter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the year 2020/21, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak. Even in the first quarter of that year, the economic growth rate was 0.9 percent. The economic growth rate of the first quarter of the current fiscal year is less than that in the corresponding period of the year of the pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">All sectors have been affected since the beginning of the current fiscal year. According to the National Statistics Office, the economic growth rate in the first quarter of the current FY is less than 1 percent, which has raised questions about the working style of the government.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Facts and figures show that the economy is getting more and more in crisis when the government sets ambitious goals but is unable to deliver on its commitments due to its working style.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government had set a target of achieving 8 percent economic growth in the current fiscal year's budget. However, while revising the budget, Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel admitted that the target is unattainable. Due to the tightening of import, there has been a decline in revenue collection.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the National Statistics Office, which was earlier known as the Central Bureau of Statistics, the output of the mining and mineral sector has declined the most in the first quarter of this year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the first quarter, the production of mining and mineral sector decreased by 29.2 percent. In the same period last year, this sector had increased by 24 percent. In particular, this sector has declined due to the extreme reduction in the demand for cement, the main construction material. Due to the slowdown in construction activities in the country, the demand for construction materials such as cement and sand has decreased. Due to the decrease in public construction and the slow pace of private housing construction, the consumption of such materials has decreased. The data shows that the construction sector has shrunk by 24 percent. In the same period last year, the construction sector had increased by 18 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16874', 'image' => '20230227041039_economic crisis.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 16:09:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17135', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Food Management and Trading Company Fails to Purchase Paddy as per its Target', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: It has been found that the state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC), failed to purchase paddy as per its own target. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: It has been found that the state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC), failed to purchase paddy as per its own target. According to FMTC, it was not possible to purchase paddy as per the target due to the delay in the purchase process.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">FMTC said that the problem surfaced because the government fixed the support price after most of the farmers sold the paddy and FMTC as well started buying it late.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company had set a target of buying 30,200 metric tons of paddy from the farmers for the current fiscal year, but managed to buy only 15,000 tons so far. This year, the company purchased paddy from its depots based in Rajapur, Dhangadhi, Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj, Bhairahawa, Birgunj, Biratnagar, Birtamod, Janakpur and Lahan. In some places, the purchase intermittently continues, but in some places, FMTC has already suspended the work of purchasing paddy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The delay in fixing the support price and late start of buying are the main reasons for the company not being able to buy paddy as per the target. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After most of the farmers sold the paddy, the government fixed the price of coarse paddy at Rs 2,976 per quintal and the price of medium paddy at Rs 3,128 per quintal. Even after the support price was fixed, the farmers had to protest nationwide because FMTC did not buy paddy for a long time stating that the budget was not released.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">FMTC on the other hand, said that the target of buying paddy could not be achieved because farmers sold more rice to local traders than to the company. Mohan Prakash Chand, the chief executive officer of the company, says that late pricing is one of the main reasons, but most of the farmers take loans from local traders and they are forced to sell rice to the traders, leaving less paddy for FMTC. According to Chand, another major reason for not buying paddy as per the target is low quality rice in some places as FMTC does not buy low quality rice.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the purchase of paddy has been less this year, FMTC is buying rice for storage. The company has also invited tenders to buy 142,000 quintals of rice. Bhishma Neupane, head of the procurement department of the company, said that they are going to buy rice after not being able to buy paddy as per the target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company is preparing to buy 15,000 quintals of rice from Lahan, 10,000 quintals from Biratnagar, 3,000 quintals from Birtamod, 22,000 quintals from Birgunj, 20,300 quintals from Kathmandu, 20,000 quintals from Nepalgunj and 7,800 quintals from Bhairahawa. Similarly, the company plans to buy 2,000 quintals of rice from Tulsipur, 20,100 quintals from Surkhet and 22,000 quintals from Dhangadhi.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16873', 'image' => '20230227035714_640px-Rice_Plants_(IRRI).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 15:56:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17134', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UML to Quit Government ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The CPN (UML) has decided to quit the government, the state-owned RSS reported on Monday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The CPN (UML) has decided to quit the government, the state-owned RSS reported on Monday. The party's Secretariat Meeting held at the party central office at Chyasal, Lalitpur on Monday morning decided to quit the government, UML vice Chair Bishnu Prasad Paudel told RSS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He added that the UML has also decided to withdraw its support to the government. </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"">CPN (UML), which is the second largest party in parliament, took such decision after its coalition partner CPN (Maoist Centre) sided with the Nepali Congress (NC) for the upcoming presidential election. CPN (UML) had backed Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to lead the government as the prime minister in return for Dahal’s support in the presidential election. However, in the changed political context after the NC also backed Maoist Centre, the party decided to seek national consensus for a presidential candidate instead of backing the UML. This ultimately led to a situation in which UML has been forced to quit government. However, PM Dahal still enjoys overwhelming support with the NC backup.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16872', 'image' => '20230227032505_PRO_KTM_PRACHANDA_SPEECH.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 15:24:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17133', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Loan Instalment Amount of Pokhara Int’l Airport Exceeds Income Target', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) Office aims to earn Rs 300 million annually. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) Office aims to earn Rs 300 million annually. However, the annual instalment to be paid is Rs 2.4 billion which includes the principal and interest on the loan taken for the construction of the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The instalment payment period of this airport, which has been in operation since January 1, starts from mid-March. The Government of Nepal is scheduled to pay the first instalment of Rs 1.2 billion to the Chinese Exim Bank in this period. The instalment payment period is about to start after the grace period of 7 years for the loan given to Nepal Civil Aviation Authority by the government through the bank is about to end.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The authority has already said that it will not be possible to pay the instalment with the income generated by the operation of Pokhara International Airport. However, CAAN says it is not under pressure to pay the instalment this time. According to the authority's loan repayment schedule, the instalment must be paid on March 15.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Gyanendra Bhul, the information officer of the authority, said that even if the authority cannot pay the installment, it will be paid through the Ministry of Finance. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even if the government is not able to pay the instalments, the accumulated profit of the authority is good. According to the authority's data, the accumulated profit of CAAN is Rs 1465.3 billion. The authority will be able to pay the instalments from the accumulated profit. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the loan schedule to be paid semi-annually, Rs 1.2 billion should be paid in 6 months, while Rs 2.4 billion must be paid in instalments annually.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The instalments must be paid within 20 years of taking the loan (Ashoj 1, 2092). The government had agreed with the bank in 2072 to build Pokhara International Airport. After Pokhara International Airport came into operation, the Pokhara Airport Office has predicted that the profit of the current fiscal year (FY) will also double.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jashodha Subedi, the spokesperson of the airport office, informed that the airport, which earned Rs 130 million in the year 2078/79, is aiming to earn more than double (up to Rs 300 million) in the current year 2079/80. Currently, only domestic flights are operating in Pokhara.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16871', 'image' => '20230227020513_Pokhara-Airport-800X533.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 14:04:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17132', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Fixes Support Price of Wheat', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The government has fixed the support price of wheat for the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: The government has fixed the support price of wheat for the current fiscal year. The support price has been fixed at Rs 3,351 per quintal, which is Rs 186 more compared to last year. Upon suggestion from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the cabinet approved the support price proposed by the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had fixed the support price of wheat at Rs 3,150 per quintal for the first time in the fiscal year 2076/77. In the last four years, the government increased the price of wheat by Rs 337 per quintal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stakeholders say that the government has been miserly in setting the price of wheat, which is known as unprofitable crop because the production is not worth the cost and efforts incurred. Farmers and agricultural activists express doubt that the support price set so miserly will even be implemented.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Food Campaign for Agriculture said that the government's attention should be focused on its implementation rather than setting the support price. According to him, the government sets the support price every year, but it is not implemented. Therefore, he said that the support price has caused more pain than relief to the farmers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of the National Farmers' Commission, Prem Dangal also said that the government's focus should be on the implementation of support prices. According to him, the practice of setting support prices and not implementing them should be brought to an end.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has become customary for the government to set the support price of rice and wheat late every year, and the state-owned food supply and trading companies do not purchase the produce as per the target. In terms of production area, wheat is the third major food crop of Nepal. According to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, more than 2.1 million metric tons of wheat is produced in Nepal annually. But recently, the area of wheat production is decreasing. In the last 7 years, the area under wheat cultivation in Nepal has decreased by 51,300 hectares.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16870', 'image' => '20230227011337_Wheat_photo-cred-Adobe-stock_E-2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 13:12:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17131', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Light Snowfall Predicted in High-Hill Areas Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The westerly wind is having a general impact on the country's weather system at present. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The westerly wind is having a general impact on the country's weather system at present. Due to the effects in the weather system, the mountainous area of the country would witness partial to general changes in the weather condition while the remaining areas would generally see clean weather, according to the Weather Forecasting Division. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As informed by the division, partial to general changes in weather would occur in the mountainous belt of the country this afternoon while light rain with thunderstorms are likely to take place in some areas of the mountainous belt in Province 1, Bagmati and Gandaki provinces and in one or two places of Lumbini, Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Light snowfall is predicted in limited areas of high hills and the Himalayan territory in the country,” the division said. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, in the night time, partial changes would occur in the mountainous area while light snowfall is likely to take place in one or two places of the high hills and Himalayan region of Province 1 and Gandaki Province. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minimum temperature of Kathmandu was recorded at 10.1 degrees Centigrade on Monday and the maximum temperature is expected to be around 23 degrees Centigrade. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On Sunday, </span></span></strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">various places across the countey, including the Kathmandu Valley, witnessed rain after a long gap. </span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Weather Forecasting Division informed that light to moderate rainfall occurred in different parts of the country, including the federal capital. </span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meteorologist at the Division, Sanjeev Adhikari, informed RSS that the westerly wind caused the rainfall. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rainfall was reported in Bagmati Province, Gandaki Province, Sudurpaschim Province and some other places. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the division, Dhunibeshi of Dhanding witnessed the maximum rainfall on Sunday which was recorded at 12 mm. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bhaktapur recorded 8.4 mm rain and Kirtipur 7 mm. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The division said there was no rainfall in the night. </span></span></span></span><br /> </p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the adverse weather in the wake of sudden rainfall across many parts of the country affected several domestic and international flights on Sunday. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Teknath Sitaula, spokesperson at Tribhuvan International Airport, low visibility owing to bad weather impacted the flights. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sitaula informed that international flights of Vistara and Indigo Air were diverted to Lucknow while the Qatar Airways' airplane was kept on hold in the sky for a while. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, in the domestic flight segment, two flights to and from Bharatpur in Chitwan district were canceled while flights to some destinations were delayed briefly. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There was a light to moderate rainfall coupled with thunderstorm and lightning in various parts of the country due to the influence of the westerly wind, according to the Weather Forecasting Division. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Regular flights resumed after improvement in weather since Sunday night. </span></span><br /> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16869', 'image' => '20230227113946_kk_beni.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 11:39:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17130', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'High Court Acquits Paul Shah on Charge of Pedophilia ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: Pokhara High Court on Sunday gave a clean chit to actor Purna Bikram Shah (Paul) on charge of pedophilia. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: Pokhara High Court on Sunday gave a clean chit to actor Purna Bikram Shah (Paul) on charge of pedophilia. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A division bench of judges Dilliraj Acharya and Shreedhara Kumari Pudasaini acquitted actor Shah on the case. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Earlier, the Nawalpur District Court had sentenced him to two and a half years in jail for allegedly raping a minor. Shah had filed the petition in the High Court, challenging the district court's verdict. However, the District Court Tahanun had acquitted Shah on the rape case against the minor. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The bench of the High Court concluded that the charges against Shah were not sufficient to prove him guilty, Information Officer of High Court, Pokhara, Bishnu Prasad Acharya said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shah's lawyer senior advocate Kamala Mohan Wagle said that actor Shah will be released from the jail following the High Court's verdict. </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"">"Shah has won the case. He will be released on Monday," said Wagle. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16868', 'image' => '20230227111806_paul.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 11:17:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17129', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'KMC Preparing to Restore Closed Biogas Plant ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Kathmandu Metropolitan City is preparing to resume operation of a bigas plant that was closed for the last five years. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 27: Kathmandu Metropolitan City is preparing to resume operation of a bigas plant that was closed for the last five years. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">With the financial assistance of the European Union and KMC, the metropolis will repair the plant and bring back into use that is located in the premises of Department of Environment Teku. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">KMC Environment Department Chief Rabinman Shrestha said that KMC was working to restore the operation of the biogas plant to manage the degradable waste sustainably by generating renewable energy from perishable waste. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">For the project’s restoration, KMC is in talks with National Innovation Center Nepal. “Since the talks with NIC is positive, we shall operate the plant from the next week,” Shestha said. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">European Union and KMC have injected 46 million and 18 million respectively for the plant. Installed under integrated waste management project, the biogas plant requires three metric tons of biodegradable waste in a day. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The project is able to produce 3,000 kilograms of organic fertilizer, 14 kilowatt electricity and 13,500 liters of processed water.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Preparations are underway to restore biogas plant as its closure has hit PhD students conducting research on bio energy and biogas production. Operation of the plant is expected to help the KMC manage degradable wastes. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16867', 'image' => '20230227062144_collage (10).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 06:19:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17128', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Import and Export of Agricultural Produce Declines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 26: Import and export of main agricultural products to and from Nepal have both declined.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 26: Import and export of main agricultural products to and from Nepal have both declined.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the import of agricultural products decreased by 43 percent in the first six months of the current fiscal year. The import of agricultural produce declined because India tightened the export of agricultural produce. Another reason is that the domestic production of some items have increased.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Prakash Kumar Sanjel, said that both import and export of agricultural products have decreased. Although the ministry has not done a separate study on the reasons for the large-scale decrease in imports, he claimed that imports decreased due to India's tightening of export of agricultural products and increase in domestic production of some items compared to the past.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data provided by the Ministry, the import of paddy/rice and maize decreased while the import of wheat decreased the most. According to Sanjel, India's ban on wheat export directly affected Nepal's imports. Due to the Russia-Ukraine tension, India banned the export of wheat on the assumption that there will be a shortage of wheat in its own country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the import of bananas and potatoes also decreased. While the import of other agricultural products is decreasing, the import of onion on the other hand has increased. From last July to January, import of apple among fresh fruits decreased whereas the import of orange seems to have increased. The data shows that the import of sunflower, soybean and palm oil decreased as well.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data, exports of coffee, ghee, sunflower oil, soybean oil have decreased while the exports of ginger, fresh vegetables and cardamom have increased to some extent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16866', 'image' => '20230226055028_20230226023728_wheatttttt.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 17:49:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17127', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NTB Starts Survey to Find Average Expenditure By Foreign Tourist', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has begun a survey to find data on average expenditures by a foreign tourist from Sunday. The survey aims to find how much foreign tourists spend during their stay in Nepal, said the NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">February 26: The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has begun a survey to find data on average expenditures by a foreign tourist from Sunday. The survey aims to find how much foreign tourists spend during their stay in Nepal, said the NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">"Two thousand sample respondents will be selected for the survey. Five employees deployed by the Board will fill out the questionnaire with details of visiting tourists. They have been given 40 days for the job," Lamichhane said. Students of the Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management (NATHM) have volunteered as enumerators for the survey. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">In 2021 and 2022, a foreign tourist spent average USD 48 on a daily basis, Lamichhane said. In 2023, their expenditure is expected to increase anything between USD 70 and 75 each. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, the Nepal Rastra Bank, the National Statistics Office and the NATHM have collaborated for the initiative. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The arrival of foreign tourists has gradually been on the track post COVID-19. A total of 55,074 foreign tourists visited Nepal in January, 2023 alone, according to data with the NTB. Similarly, the total 614,148 tourists arrived in Nepal in 2022. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The years 2020 and 2021 when the infectious disease COVID-19 peaked saw a sharp drop in tourist inflow to stand at 230,085 and 150,962 respectively from a whopping 1,197,091 in 2019 before the pandemic broke out. The year 2020 witnessed an 81 percent decline in tourist influx. ----RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16865', 'image' => '20230226054105_collage (7).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 17:35:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17125', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NPC Caps Limit on Budget for Next FY at Rs 1688 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 26: The budget for the next fiscal year is certain to decline after the National Planning Commission (NPC) capped the ceiling on budget citing government’s failure to collect revenue.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 26: The budget for the next fiscal year is certain to decline after the National Planning Commission (NPC) capped the ceiling on budget citing government’s failure to collect revenue.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NPC has set the limit of Rs 1688.4 billion for next year’s budget which is less than the current fiscal year’s budget by almost 150 billion. The then finance minister Janardan Sharma had announced a budget of Rs 1793.83 billion for the current FY.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A recent meeting of the National Resource Estimation Committee of the NPC chaired by its Vice Chairman Dr Min Bahadur Shrestha decided to downsize the budget and asked the government to work accordingly.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel has reduced the size of the budget announced by his predecessor Sharma as the government failed to collect revenue according to the initial target. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the revised estimated prepared by Finance Minister Paudel, the government will likely spend only Rs 1549.99 billion this year and the budget was downsized accordingly. Compared to this figure, the budget limit for the next fiscal year is Rs 138.41 billion more.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NPC has estimated that the government will collect revenue of Rs 1403 billion for next year's budget. This revenue estimate is about 14 percent more than what will be collected in the current fiscal year. It is estimated that Rs 201 billion will be received from foreign assistance for next year's budget, of which Rs 25 billion will be received as grants and Rs 176 billion as loans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The commission has estimated that the remaining amount will be collected through internal loans of Rs 230 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Analyzing the contraction seen in revenue mobilization in the first six months of the current fiscal year, the decline in subsidies in foreign aid and the increase in the foreign exchange rates which might put pressure on payment of loan, the NPC has made a realistic estimate and projection of national resource mobilization," said Rajendra Kumar Paudel, the spokesperson of the commission. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the commission, the limit has been fixed by keeping the mandatory obligations including salaries, pensions, social security and the implementation status of multi-year projects of national importance, supply of chemical fertilizers, expenses related to the implementation of international commitments, financial transfers among others. The NPC has estimated that next year's economic growth rate will be 8 percent, per capita income will reach USD 1,572 and consumer price inflation will be 6.5 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As the size of current fiscal year’s budget is large, the government’s resources are not able to meet the revenue collection target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The economy has been facing liquidity crisis due to the impacts of the Covid-19 and Russia-Ukraine war. This has caused many problems in the economy. This has forced the government to reduce the size of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16863', 'image' => '20230226023622_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 14:35:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17124', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers in Chitwan Resume Protest', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 26: The farmers of Chitwan have again started their protest, this time with another symbolic protest by flying black balloons.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 26: The farmers of Chitwan have again started their protest, this time with another symbolic protest by flying black balloons. They had started protested by throwing vegetables on the road on February 3. As their demands were not addressed, they started the second phase of the protest on Friday. Lekhnath Bhusal, the coordinator of Farmer’s Struggle Committee Chitwan, said that black balloons were flown to convey the message that the farmers are continuously protesting.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The farmers gathered at the central bus terminal in Bharatpur with placards and reached Pulchok in Narayangadh via District Administration Office, Bypass Road, Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Chaubiskothi. They demonstrated on the highway. They said that despite many assurances that their demands will be met, the concerned authorities have not lived up to their commitment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As a result, the protest continues in various forms.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the demonstration, they insisted to stop the import of vegetables, determine the right price and proper management of domestic products, ensure timely availability of fertilizer and seeds, etc. The farmers demonstrated with placards that read 'There is no future in farming, and they are old to go to the Gulf countries, the leaders are always weak, the people are always poor, let's boycott foreign products, let's encourage domestic products, the agricultural revolution continues'.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16862', 'image' => '20230226015318_0505614105701.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 13:52:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17123', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Earn Rs 200 Million from Sale of Cardamom ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 26: Farmers of Lamjung have earned Rs 200 million from the sale of cardamom this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 26: Farmers of Lamjung have earned Rs 200 million from the sale of cardamom this year. A total of 380 metric tons of cardamom was sold in the district this year, according to the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Project Implementation Unit Lamjung. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This year saw a record amount of cardamom sale since commercial farming of cardamom began 38 years ago in 2041 BS.</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"">Farmers sold cardamom at a minimum price of Rs 550 to 700 per kg this year. The sale of cardamom last year fetched between Rs 950 to 1500 per kg. In the previous year, the farmers had earned Rs182 million from the sale of 3,500 quintals of cardamom. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Compared to the previous year cardamom production of most of the farmers in the district has increased this year. </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 production as well as sale of cardamom has doubled this year compared to last year,” said Ash Bahadur Gurung of Masryangdi Rural Municipality-5. He shared that this year he earned about Rs 555,000 against Rs 400,000 in the previous year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Out of 95 households in Gurung's village, 85 households are cultivating cardamom commercially. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The farmers have however complained about the fluctuating price of cardamom. The farmers have been compelled to sell their produce at much lower prices compared to the past. Farmers say that due to India's monopoly, they are not getting good price for cardamom seeds. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although reports say that cardamom is being cultivated in an area of more than 1000 hectares of land in the district it is actually being produced only in 500 hectares. Masryangdi Rural Municipality, Besisahar Municipality, Kholasothar, Dordi and Dudhpokhari rural municipalities have been declared as cardamom pocket areas. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16861', 'image' => '20230226124914_cardamommm.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 12:48:32', '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' => '17138', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ritualistic Pole of Fagu Festival Installed at Hanumandhoka Durbar Square', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The festival of Fagu has formally commenced with the installation of the ritualistic wooden pole with the 'Chir' at the top end in front of Hanumandhoka Durbar in Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday morning. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The festival of Fagu has formally commenced with the installation of the ritualistic wooden pole with the 'Chir' at the top end in front of Hanumandhoka Durbar in Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday morning. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Chir is a tuft of colourful strips of cloth tied to the top end of the pole symbolizing the beginning of Fagu, also called Holi, the festival of colours. The wooden pole is erected at this spot on the eighth day of the waxing moon in the month of Fagun as per the time-honoured custom. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pole was installed at the auspicious time of 7.45am on Monday, the Nepal Calendar Determination Committee said. The people from the Manandhar community are responsible for the erection of the Chir at Hanumandhoka Durbar area. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Fagu festival is celebrated with fervor and enthusiasm in the hill districts including in the Kathmandu Valley from the eighth day of the bright half to the full moon day in the month of Fagun. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">People smeared each other with different colours and threw colour powder in celebration at Hanumandhoka Durbar area when the Chir was installed, signaling the start of the Fagu festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This ritualistic pole is pulled down on the full moon day. The main day of Fagu festival falls on March 6 for the people of the hill districts and on March 7 for the people of the Tarai-Madhesh region this year. -- RSS</span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16876', 'image' => '20230227094421_HB_KTM-_IMG_1215.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 21:43:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17137', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Provinces, Local Units Propose Projects of Rs 150 Billion for Supplementary and Special Grants ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2080/081 BS. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2080/081 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the National Planning Commission (NPC), the local governments have forwarded a total of 4,546 projects with the estimated budget of Rs 115.43 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the provinces have proposed 211 projects seeking Rs 27 billion to implement those projects in the upcoming fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Of the proposed projects from the local and province governments, the new projects carry the budget estimation worth Rs 121.71 billion while projects worth Rs 20.65 billion are ongoing projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As sought by the local and province governments, Rs 50.41 billion has been demanded under the special grant while Rs 71.26 billion for supplementary grant for the new projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Supplementary Grant (Third Amendment) Procedure, 2077 and the Special Grant (Third Amendment) Procedure, 2077 BS mention about the federal supplementary and special grants under which the federal government allocates budget to the province and local governments each year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NPC has entered those proposed projects in its system for project analysis and selection purpose after receiving the proposals from the province and local governments. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A team led by a NPC member shall select the projects and programmes after their thorough assessment based on the parameters given by the procedures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">For the selection of the projects, their feasibility, estimated cost and outcomes should be considered and the projects that generate compulsory liability on the part of the government would also be prioritized. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sectoral priorities are also considered for the selection of new projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The provinces were given the timeline of mid-February to propose the projects and programmes under the federal supplementary and special grants while the local levels were to submit such projects by mid-January. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16875', 'image' => '20230227084256_Grants-April-2019.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 20:42:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17136', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Economic Growth Rate in First Quarter Drops Below the Figure of Pandemic Period', 'sub_title' => 'Economic Growth in First Three Months Stands at 0.8 Percent against the Annual Growth Target of 8 Percent', 'summary' => 'February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bijay Damase</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first three months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23), the size of the economy ie the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased by 0.8 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The economic growth rate of the first quarter of last fiscal year (FY 2021/22) was 3 percent. According to the figures released by the National Statistics Office under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the economic growth rate was 6.9 percent in the second quarter of the same year, 2.9 percent in the third quarter and 9 percent in the fourth quarter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the year 2020/21, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak. Even in the first quarter of that year, the economic growth rate was 0.9 percent. The economic growth rate of the first quarter of the current fiscal year is less than that in the corresponding period of the year of the pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">All sectors have been affected since the beginning of the current fiscal year. According to the National Statistics Office, the economic growth rate in the first quarter of the current FY is less than 1 percent, which has raised questions about the working style of the government.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Facts and figures show that the economy is getting more and more in crisis when the government sets ambitious goals but is unable to deliver on its commitments due to its working style.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government had set a target of achieving 8 percent economic growth in the current fiscal year's budget. However, while revising the budget, Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel admitted that the target is unattainable. Due to the tightening of import, there has been a decline in revenue collection.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the National Statistics Office, which was earlier known as the Central Bureau of Statistics, the output of the mining and mineral sector has declined the most in the first quarter of this year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the first quarter, the production of mining and mineral sector decreased by 29.2 percent. In the same period last year, this sector had increased by 24 percent. In particular, this sector has declined due to the extreme reduction in the demand for cement, the main construction material. Due to the slowdown in construction activities in the country, the demand for construction materials such as cement and sand has decreased. Due to the decrease in public construction and the slow pace of private housing construction, the consumption of such materials has decreased. The data shows that the construction sector has shrunk by 24 percent. In the same period last year, the construction sector had increased by 18 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16874', 'image' => '20230227041039_economic crisis.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 16:09:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17135', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Food Management and Trading Company Fails to Purchase Paddy as per its Target', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: It has been found that the state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC), failed to purchase paddy as per its own target. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: It has been found that the state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC), failed to purchase paddy as per its own target. According to FMTC, it was not possible to purchase paddy as per the target due to the delay in the purchase process.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">FMTC said that the problem surfaced because the government fixed the support price after most of the farmers sold the paddy and FMTC as well started buying it late.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company had set a target of buying 30,200 metric tons of paddy from the farmers for the current fiscal year, but managed to buy only 15,000 tons so far. This year, the company purchased paddy from its depots based in Rajapur, Dhangadhi, Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj, Bhairahawa, Birgunj, Biratnagar, Birtamod, Janakpur and Lahan. In some places, the purchase intermittently continues, but in some places, FMTC has already suspended the work of purchasing paddy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The delay in fixing the support price and late start of buying are the main reasons for the company not being able to buy paddy as per the target. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After most of the farmers sold the paddy, the government fixed the price of coarse paddy at Rs 2,976 per quintal and the price of medium paddy at Rs 3,128 per quintal. Even after the support price was fixed, the farmers had to protest nationwide because FMTC did not buy paddy for a long time stating that the budget was not released.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">FMTC on the other hand, said that the target of buying paddy could not be achieved because farmers sold more rice to local traders than to the company. Mohan Prakash Chand, the chief executive officer of the company, says that late pricing is one of the main reasons, but most of the farmers take loans from local traders and they are forced to sell rice to the traders, leaving less paddy for FMTC. According to Chand, another major reason for not buying paddy as per the target is low quality rice in some places as FMTC does not buy low quality rice.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the purchase of paddy has been less this year, FMTC is buying rice for storage. The company has also invited tenders to buy 142,000 quintals of rice. Bhishma Neupane, head of the procurement department of the company, said that they are going to buy rice after not being able to buy paddy as per the target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company is preparing to buy 15,000 quintals of rice from Lahan, 10,000 quintals from Biratnagar, 3,000 quintals from Birtamod, 22,000 quintals from Birgunj, 20,300 quintals from Kathmandu, 20,000 quintals from Nepalgunj and 7,800 quintals from Bhairahawa. Similarly, the company plans to buy 2,000 quintals of rice from Tulsipur, 20,100 quintals from Surkhet and 22,000 quintals from Dhangadhi.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16873', 'image' => '20230227035714_640px-Rice_Plants_(IRRI).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 15:56:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17134', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UML to Quit Government ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The CPN (UML) has decided to quit the government, the state-owned RSS reported on Monday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The CPN (UML) has decided to quit the government, the state-owned RSS reported on Monday. The party's Secretariat Meeting held at the party central office at Chyasal, Lalitpur on Monday morning decided to quit the government, UML vice Chair Bishnu Prasad Paudel told RSS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He added that the UML has also decided to withdraw its support to the government. </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"">CPN (UML), which is the second largest party in parliament, took such decision after its coalition partner CPN (Maoist Centre) sided with the Nepali Congress (NC) for the upcoming presidential election. CPN (UML) had backed Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to lead the government as the prime minister in return for Dahal’s support in the presidential election. However, in the changed political context after the NC also backed Maoist Centre, the party decided to seek national consensus for a presidential candidate instead of backing the UML. This ultimately led to a situation in which UML has been forced to quit government. However, PM Dahal still enjoys overwhelming support with the NC backup.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16872', 'image' => '20230227032505_PRO_KTM_PRACHANDA_SPEECH.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 15:24:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17133', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Loan Instalment Amount of Pokhara Int’l Airport Exceeds Income Target', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) Office aims to earn Rs 300 million annually. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) Office aims to earn Rs 300 million annually. However, the annual instalment to be paid is Rs 2.4 billion which includes the principal and interest on the loan taken for the construction of the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The instalment payment period of this airport, which has been in operation since January 1, starts from mid-March. The Government of Nepal is scheduled to pay the first instalment of Rs 1.2 billion to the Chinese Exim Bank in this period. The instalment payment period is about to start after the grace period of 7 years for the loan given to Nepal Civil Aviation Authority by the government through the bank is about to end.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The authority has already said that it will not be possible to pay the instalment with the income generated by the operation of Pokhara International Airport. However, CAAN says it is not under pressure to pay the instalment this time. According to the authority's loan repayment schedule, the instalment must be paid on March 15.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Gyanendra Bhul, the information officer of the authority, said that even if the authority cannot pay the installment, it will be paid through the Ministry of Finance. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even if the government is not able to pay the instalments, the accumulated profit of the authority is good. According to the authority's data, the accumulated profit of CAAN is Rs 1465.3 billion. The authority will be able to pay the instalments from the accumulated profit. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the loan schedule to be paid semi-annually, Rs 1.2 billion should be paid in 6 months, while Rs 2.4 billion must be paid in instalments annually.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The instalments must be paid within 20 years of taking the loan (Ashoj 1, 2092). The government had agreed with the bank in 2072 to build Pokhara International Airport. After Pokhara International Airport came into operation, the Pokhara Airport Office has predicted that the profit of the current fiscal year (FY) will also double.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jashodha Subedi, the spokesperson of the airport office, informed that the airport, which earned Rs 130 million in the year 2078/79, is aiming to earn more than double (up to Rs 300 million) in the current year 2079/80. Currently, only domestic flights are operating in Pokhara.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16871', 'image' => '20230227020513_Pokhara-Airport-800X533.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 14:04:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17132', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Fixes Support Price of Wheat', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The government has fixed the support price of wheat for the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: The government has fixed the support price of wheat for the current fiscal year. The support price has been fixed at Rs 3,351 per quintal, which is Rs 186 more compared to last year. Upon suggestion from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the cabinet approved the support price proposed by the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had fixed the support price of wheat at Rs 3,150 per quintal for the first time in the fiscal year 2076/77. In the last four years, the government increased the price of wheat by Rs 337 per quintal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stakeholders say that the government has been miserly in setting the price of wheat, which is known as unprofitable crop because the production is not worth the cost and efforts incurred. Farmers and agricultural activists express doubt that the support price set so miserly will even be implemented.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Food Campaign for Agriculture said that the government's attention should be focused on its implementation rather than setting the support price. According to him, the government sets the support price every year, but it is not implemented. Therefore, he said that the support price has caused more pain than relief to the farmers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of the National Farmers' Commission, Prem Dangal also said that the government's focus should be on the implementation of support prices. According to him, the practice of setting support prices and not implementing them should be brought to an end.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has become customary for the government to set the support price of rice and wheat late every year, and the state-owned food supply and trading companies do not purchase the produce as per the target. In terms of production area, wheat is the third major food crop of Nepal. According to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, more than 2.1 million metric tons of wheat is produced in Nepal annually. But recently, the area of wheat production is decreasing. In the last 7 years, the area under wheat cultivation in Nepal has decreased by 51,300 hectares.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16870', 'image' => '20230227011337_Wheat_photo-cred-Adobe-stock_E-2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 13:12:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17131', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Light Snowfall Predicted in High-Hill Areas Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The westerly wind is having a general impact on the country's weather system at present. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The westerly wind is having a general impact on the country's weather system at present. Due to the effects in the weather system, the mountainous area of the country would witness partial to general changes in the weather condition while the remaining areas would generally see clean weather, according to the Weather Forecasting Division. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As informed by the division, partial to general changes in weather would occur in the mountainous belt of the country this afternoon while light rain with thunderstorms are likely to take place in some areas of the mountainous belt in Province 1, Bagmati and Gandaki provinces and in one or two places of Lumbini, Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Light snowfall is predicted in limited areas of high hills and the Himalayan territory in the country,” the division said. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, in the night time, partial changes would occur in the mountainous area while light snowfall is likely to take place in one or two places of the high hills and Himalayan region of Province 1 and Gandaki Province. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minimum temperature of Kathmandu was recorded at 10.1 degrees Centigrade on Monday and the maximum temperature is expected to be around 23 degrees Centigrade. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On Sunday, </span></span></strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">various places across the countey, including the Kathmandu Valley, witnessed rain after a long gap. </span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Weather Forecasting Division informed that light to moderate rainfall occurred in different parts of the country, including the federal capital. </span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meteorologist at the Division, Sanjeev Adhikari, informed RSS that the westerly wind caused the rainfall. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rainfall was reported in Bagmati Province, Gandaki Province, Sudurpaschim Province and some other places. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the division, Dhunibeshi of Dhanding witnessed the maximum rainfall on Sunday which was recorded at 12 mm. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bhaktapur recorded 8.4 mm rain and Kirtipur 7 mm. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The division said there was no rainfall in the night. </span></span></span></span><br /> </p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the adverse weather in the wake of sudden rainfall across many parts of the country affected several domestic and international flights on Sunday. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Teknath Sitaula, spokesperson at Tribhuvan International Airport, low visibility owing to bad weather impacted the flights. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sitaula informed that international flights of Vistara and Indigo Air were diverted to Lucknow while the Qatar Airways' airplane was kept on hold in the sky for a while. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, in the domestic flight segment, two flights to and from Bharatpur in Chitwan district were canceled while flights to some destinations were delayed briefly. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There was a light to moderate rainfall coupled with thunderstorm and lightning in various parts of the country due to the influence of the westerly wind, according to the Weather Forecasting Division. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Regular flights resumed after improvement in weather since Sunday night. </span></span><br /> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16869', 'image' => '20230227113946_kk_beni.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 11:39:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17130', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'High Court Acquits Paul Shah on Charge of Pedophilia ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: Pokhara High Court on Sunday gave a clean chit to actor Purna Bikram Shah (Paul) on charge of pedophilia. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: Pokhara High Court on Sunday gave a clean chit to actor Purna Bikram Shah (Paul) on charge of pedophilia. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A division bench of judges Dilliraj Acharya and Shreedhara Kumari Pudasaini acquitted actor Shah on the case. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Earlier, the Nawalpur District Court had sentenced him to two and a half years in jail for allegedly raping a minor. Shah had filed the petition in the High Court, challenging the district court's verdict. However, the District Court Tahanun had acquitted Shah on the rape case against the minor. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The bench of the High Court concluded that the charges against Shah were not sufficient to prove him guilty, Information Officer of High Court, Pokhara, Bishnu Prasad Acharya said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shah's lawyer senior advocate Kamala Mohan Wagle said that actor Shah will be released from the jail following the High Court's verdict. </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"">"Shah has won the case. He will be released on Monday," said Wagle. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16868', 'image' => '20230227111806_paul.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 11:17:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17129', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'KMC Preparing to Restore Closed Biogas Plant ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Kathmandu Metropolitan City is preparing to resume operation of a bigas plant that was closed for the last five years. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 27: Kathmandu Metropolitan City is preparing to resume operation of a bigas plant that was closed for the last five years. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">With the financial assistance of the European Union and KMC, the metropolis will repair the plant and bring back into use that is located in the premises of Department of Environment Teku. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">KMC Environment Department Chief Rabinman Shrestha said that KMC was working to restore the operation of the biogas plant to manage the degradable waste sustainably by generating renewable energy from perishable waste. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">For the project’s restoration, KMC is in talks with National Innovation Center Nepal. “Since the talks with NIC is positive, we shall operate the plant from the next week,” Shestha said. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">European Union and KMC have injected 46 million and 18 million respectively for the plant. Installed under integrated waste management project, the biogas plant requires three metric tons of biodegradable waste in a day. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The project is able to produce 3,000 kilograms of organic fertilizer, 14 kilowatt electricity and 13,500 liters of processed water.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Preparations are underway to restore biogas plant as its closure has hit PhD students conducting research on bio energy and biogas production. Operation of the plant is expected to help the KMC manage degradable wastes. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16867', 'image' => '20230227062144_collage (10).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 06:19:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17128', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Import and Export of Agricultural Produce Declines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 26: Import and export of main agricultural products to and from Nepal have both declined.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 26: Import and export of main agricultural products to and from Nepal have both declined.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the import of agricultural products decreased by 43 percent in the first six months of the current fiscal year. The import of agricultural produce declined because India tightened the export of agricultural produce. Another reason is that the domestic production of some items have increased.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Prakash Kumar Sanjel, said that both import and export of agricultural products have decreased. Although the ministry has not done a separate study on the reasons for the large-scale decrease in imports, he claimed that imports decreased due to India's tightening of export of agricultural products and increase in domestic production of some items compared to the past.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data provided by the Ministry, the import of paddy/rice and maize decreased while the import of wheat decreased the most. According to Sanjel, India's ban on wheat export directly affected Nepal's imports. Due to the Russia-Ukraine tension, India banned the export of wheat on the assumption that there will be a shortage of wheat in its own country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the import of bananas and potatoes also decreased. While the import of other agricultural products is decreasing, the import of onion on the other hand has increased. From last July to January, import of apple among fresh fruits decreased whereas the import of orange seems to have increased. The data shows that the import of sunflower, soybean and palm oil decreased as well.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data, exports of coffee, ghee, sunflower oil, soybean oil have decreased while the exports of ginger, fresh vegetables and cardamom have increased to some extent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16866', 'image' => '20230226055028_20230226023728_wheatttttt.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 17:49:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17127', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NTB Starts Survey to Find Average Expenditure By Foreign Tourist', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has begun a survey to find data on average expenditures by a foreign tourist from Sunday. The survey aims to find how much foreign tourists spend during their stay in Nepal, said the NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">February 26: The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has begun a survey to find data on average expenditures by a foreign tourist from Sunday. The survey aims to find how much foreign tourists spend during their stay in Nepal, said the NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">"Two thousand sample respondents will be selected for the survey. Five employees deployed by the Board will fill out the questionnaire with details of visiting tourists. They have been given 40 days for the job," Lamichhane said. Students of the Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management (NATHM) have volunteered as enumerators for the survey. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">In 2021 and 2022, a foreign tourist spent average USD 48 on a daily basis, Lamichhane said. In 2023, their expenditure is expected to increase anything between USD 70 and 75 each. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, the Nepal Rastra Bank, the National Statistics Office and the NATHM have collaborated for the initiative. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The arrival of foreign tourists has gradually been on the track post COVID-19. A total of 55,074 foreign tourists visited Nepal in January, 2023 alone, according to data with the NTB. Similarly, the total 614,148 tourists arrived in Nepal in 2022. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The years 2020 and 2021 when the infectious disease COVID-19 peaked saw a sharp drop in tourist inflow to stand at 230,085 and 150,962 respectively from a whopping 1,197,091 in 2019 before the pandemic broke out. The year 2020 witnessed an 81 percent decline in tourist influx. ----RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16865', 'image' => '20230226054105_collage (7).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 17:35:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17125', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NPC Caps Limit on Budget for Next FY at Rs 1688 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 26: The budget for the next fiscal year is certain to decline after the National Planning Commission (NPC) capped the ceiling on budget citing government’s failure to collect revenue.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 26: The budget for the next fiscal year is certain to decline after the National Planning Commission (NPC) capped the ceiling on budget citing government’s failure to collect revenue.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NPC has set the limit of Rs 1688.4 billion for next year’s budget which is less than the current fiscal year’s budget by almost 150 billion. The then finance minister Janardan Sharma had announced a budget of Rs 1793.83 billion for the current FY.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A recent meeting of the National Resource Estimation Committee of the NPC chaired by its Vice Chairman Dr Min Bahadur Shrestha decided to downsize the budget and asked the government to work accordingly.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel has reduced the size of the budget announced by his predecessor Sharma as the government failed to collect revenue according to the initial target. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the revised estimated prepared by Finance Minister Paudel, the government will likely spend only Rs 1549.99 billion this year and the budget was downsized accordingly. Compared to this figure, the budget limit for the next fiscal year is Rs 138.41 billion more.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NPC has estimated that the government will collect revenue of Rs 1403 billion for next year's budget. This revenue estimate is about 14 percent more than what will be collected in the current fiscal year. It is estimated that Rs 201 billion will be received from foreign assistance for next year's budget, of which Rs 25 billion will be received as grants and Rs 176 billion as loans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The commission has estimated that the remaining amount will be collected through internal loans of Rs 230 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Analyzing the contraction seen in revenue mobilization in the first six months of the current fiscal year, the decline in subsidies in foreign aid and the increase in the foreign exchange rates which might put pressure on payment of loan, the NPC has made a realistic estimate and projection of national resource mobilization," said Rajendra Kumar Paudel, the spokesperson of the commission. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the commission, the limit has been fixed by keeping the mandatory obligations including salaries, pensions, social security and the implementation status of multi-year projects of national importance, supply of chemical fertilizers, expenses related to the implementation of international commitments, financial transfers among others. The NPC has estimated that next year's economic growth rate will be 8 percent, per capita income will reach USD 1,572 and consumer price inflation will be 6.5 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As the size of current fiscal year’s budget is large, the government’s resources are not able to meet the revenue collection target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The economy has been facing liquidity crisis due to the impacts of the Covid-19 and Russia-Ukraine war. This has caused many problems in the economy. This has forced the government to reduce the size of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16863', 'image' => '20230226023622_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 14:35:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17124', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers in Chitwan Resume Protest', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 26: The farmers of Chitwan have again started their protest, this time with another symbolic protest by flying black balloons.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 26: The farmers of Chitwan have again started their protest, this time with another symbolic protest by flying black balloons. They had started protested by throwing vegetables on the road on February 3. As their demands were not addressed, they started the second phase of the protest on Friday. Lekhnath Bhusal, the coordinator of Farmer’s Struggle Committee Chitwan, said that black balloons were flown to convey the message that the farmers are continuously protesting.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The farmers gathered at the central bus terminal in Bharatpur with placards and reached Pulchok in Narayangadh via District Administration Office, Bypass Road, Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Chaubiskothi. They demonstrated on the highway. They said that despite many assurances that their demands will be met, the concerned authorities have not lived up to their commitment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As a result, the protest continues in various forms.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the demonstration, they insisted to stop the import of vegetables, determine the right price and proper management of domestic products, ensure timely availability of fertilizer and seeds, etc. The farmers demonstrated with placards that read 'There is no future in farming, and they are old to go to the Gulf countries, the leaders are always weak, the people are always poor, let's boycott foreign products, let's encourage domestic products, the agricultural revolution continues'.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16862', 'image' => '20230226015318_0505614105701.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 13:52:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17123', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Earn Rs 200 Million from Sale of Cardamom ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 26: Farmers of Lamjung have earned Rs 200 million from the sale of cardamom this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 26: Farmers of Lamjung have earned Rs 200 million from the sale of cardamom this year. A total of 380 metric tons of cardamom was sold in the district this year, according to the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Project Implementation Unit Lamjung. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This year saw a record amount of cardamom sale since commercial farming of cardamom began 38 years ago in 2041 BS.</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"">Farmers sold cardamom at a minimum price of Rs 550 to 700 per kg this year. The sale of cardamom last year fetched between Rs 950 to 1500 per kg. In the previous year, the farmers had earned Rs182 million from the sale of 3,500 quintals of cardamom. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Compared to the previous year cardamom production of most of the farmers in the district has increased this year. </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 production as well as sale of cardamom has doubled this year compared to last year,” said Ash Bahadur Gurung of Masryangdi Rural Municipality-5. He shared that this year he earned about Rs 555,000 against Rs 400,000 in the previous year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Out of 95 households in Gurung's village, 85 households are cultivating cardamom commercially. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The farmers have however complained about the fluctuating price of cardamom. The farmers have been compelled to sell their produce at much lower prices compared to the past. Farmers say that due to India's monopoly, they are not getting good price for cardamom seeds. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although reports say that cardamom is being cultivated in an area of more than 1000 hectares of land in the district it is actually being produced only in 500 hectares. Masryangdi Rural Municipality, Besisahar Municipality, Kholasothar, Dordi and Dudhpokhari rural municipalities have been declared as cardamom pocket areas. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16861', 'image' => '20230226124914_cardamommm.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 12:48:32', '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
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17138', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ritualistic Pole of Fagu Festival Installed at Hanumandhoka Durbar Square', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The festival of Fagu has formally commenced with the installation of the ritualistic wooden pole with the 'Chir' at the top end in front of Hanumandhoka Durbar in Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday morning. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The festival of Fagu has formally commenced with the installation of the ritualistic wooden pole with the 'Chir' at the top end in front of Hanumandhoka Durbar in Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday morning. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Chir is a tuft of colourful strips of cloth tied to the top end of the pole symbolizing the beginning of Fagu, also called Holi, the festival of colours. The wooden pole is erected at this spot on the eighth day of the waxing moon in the month of Fagun as per the time-honoured custom. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pole was installed at the auspicious time of 7.45am on Monday, the Nepal Calendar Determination Committee said. The people from the Manandhar community are responsible for the erection of the Chir at Hanumandhoka Durbar area. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Fagu festival is celebrated with fervor and enthusiasm in the hill districts including in the Kathmandu Valley from the eighth day of the bright half to the full moon day in the month of Fagun. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">People smeared each other with different colours and threw colour powder in celebration at Hanumandhoka Durbar area when the Chir was installed, signaling the start of the Fagu festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This ritualistic pole is pulled down on the full moon day. The main day of Fagu festival falls on March 6 for the people of the hill districts and on March 7 for the people of the Tarai-Madhesh region this year. -- RSS</span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16876', 'image' => '20230227094421_HB_KTM-_IMG_1215.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 21:43:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17137', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Provinces, Local Units Propose Projects of Rs 150 Billion for Supplementary and Special Grants ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2080/081 BS. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2080/081 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the National Planning Commission (NPC), the local governments have forwarded a total of 4,546 projects with the estimated budget of Rs 115.43 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the provinces have proposed 211 projects seeking Rs 27 billion to implement those projects in the upcoming fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Of the proposed projects from the local and province governments, the new projects carry the budget estimation worth Rs 121.71 billion while projects worth Rs 20.65 billion are ongoing projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As sought by the local and province governments, Rs 50.41 billion has been demanded under the special grant while Rs 71.26 billion for supplementary grant for the new projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Supplementary Grant (Third Amendment) Procedure, 2077 and the Special Grant (Third Amendment) Procedure, 2077 BS mention about the federal supplementary and special grants under which the federal government allocates budget to the province and local governments each year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NPC has entered those proposed projects in its system for project analysis and selection purpose after receiving the proposals from the province and local governments. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A team led by a NPC member shall select the projects and programmes after their thorough assessment based on the parameters given by the procedures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">For the selection of the projects, their feasibility, estimated cost and outcomes should be considered and the projects that generate compulsory liability on the part of the government would also be prioritized. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sectoral priorities are also considered for the selection of new projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The provinces were given the timeline of mid-February to propose the projects and programmes under the federal supplementary and special grants while the local levels were to submit such projects by mid-January. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16875', 'image' => '20230227084256_Grants-April-2019.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 20:42:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17136', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Economic Growth Rate in First Quarter Drops Below the Figure of Pandemic Period', 'sub_title' => 'Economic Growth in First Three Months Stands at 0.8 Percent against the Annual Growth Target of 8 Percent', 'summary' => 'February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bijay Damase</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first three months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23), the size of the economy ie the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased by 0.8 percent. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The economic growth rate of the first quarter of last fiscal year (FY 2021/22) was 3 percent. According to the figures released by the National Statistics Office under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the economic growth rate was 6.9 percent in the second quarter of the same year, 2.9 percent in the third quarter and 9 percent in the fourth quarter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the year 2020/21, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak. Even in the first quarter of that year, the economic growth rate was 0.9 percent. The economic growth rate of the first quarter of the current fiscal year is less than that in the corresponding period of the year of the pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">All sectors have been affected since the beginning of the current fiscal year. According to the National Statistics Office, the economic growth rate in the first quarter of the current FY is less than 1 percent, which has raised questions about the working style of the government.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Facts and figures show that the economy is getting more and more in crisis when the government sets ambitious goals but is unable to deliver on its commitments due to its working style.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government had set a target of achieving 8 percent economic growth in the current fiscal year's budget. However, while revising the budget, Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel admitted that the target is unattainable. Due to the tightening of import, there has been a decline in revenue collection.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the National Statistics Office, which was earlier known as the Central Bureau of Statistics, the output of the mining and mineral sector has declined the most in the first quarter of this year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the first quarter, the production of mining and mineral sector decreased by 29.2 percent. In the same period last year, this sector had increased by 24 percent. In particular, this sector has declined due to the extreme reduction in the demand for cement, the main construction material. Due to the slowdown in construction activities in the country, the demand for construction materials such as cement and sand has decreased. Due to the decrease in public construction and the slow pace of private housing construction, the consumption of such materials has decreased. The data shows that the construction sector has shrunk by 24 percent. In the same period last year, the construction sector had increased by 18 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16874', 'image' => '20230227041039_economic crisis.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 16:09:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17135', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Food Management and Trading Company Fails to Purchase Paddy as per its Target', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: It has been found that the state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC), failed to purchase paddy as per its own target. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: It has been found that the state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC), failed to purchase paddy as per its own target. According to FMTC, it was not possible to purchase paddy as per the target due to the delay in the purchase process.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">FMTC said that the problem surfaced because the government fixed the support price after most of the farmers sold the paddy and FMTC as well started buying it late.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company had set a target of buying 30,200 metric tons of paddy from the farmers for the current fiscal year, but managed to buy only 15,000 tons so far. This year, the company purchased paddy from its depots based in Rajapur, Dhangadhi, Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj, Bhairahawa, Birgunj, Biratnagar, Birtamod, Janakpur and Lahan. In some places, the purchase intermittently continues, but in some places, FMTC has already suspended the work of purchasing paddy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The delay in fixing the support price and late start of buying are the main reasons for the company not being able to buy paddy as per the target. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After most of the farmers sold the paddy, the government fixed the price of coarse paddy at Rs 2,976 per quintal and the price of medium paddy at Rs 3,128 per quintal. Even after the support price was fixed, the farmers had to protest nationwide because FMTC did not buy paddy for a long time stating that the budget was not released.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">FMTC on the other hand, said that the target of buying paddy could not be achieved because farmers sold more rice to local traders than to the company. Mohan Prakash Chand, the chief executive officer of the company, says that late pricing is one of the main reasons, but most of the farmers take loans from local traders and they are forced to sell rice to the traders, leaving less paddy for FMTC. According to Chand, another major reason for not buying paddy as per the target is low quality rice in some places as FMTC does not buy low quality rice.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the purchase of paddy has been less this year, FMTC is buying rice for storage. The company has also invited tenders to buy 142,000 quintals of rice. Bhishma Neupane, head of the procurement department of the company, said that they are going to buy rice after not being able to buy paddy as per the target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company is preparing to buy 15,000 quintals of rice from Lahan, 10,000 quintals from Biratnagar, 3,000 quintals from Birtamod, 22,000 quintals from Birgunj, 20,300 quintals from Kathmandu, 20,000 quintals from Nepalgunj and 7,800 quintals from Bhairahawa. Similarly, the company plans to buy 2,000 quintals of rice from Tulsipur, 20,100 quintals from Surkhet and 22,000 quintals from Dhangadhi.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16873', 'image' => '20230227035714_640px-Rice_Plants_(IRRI).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 15:56:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17134', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UML to Quit Government ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The CPN (UML) has decided to quit the government, the state-owned RSS reported on Monday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The CPN (UML) has decided to quit the government, the state-owned RSS reported on Monday. The party's Secretariat Meeting held at the party central office at Chyasal, Lalitpur on Monday morning decided to quit the government, UML vice Chair Bishnu Prasad Paudel told RSS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He added that the UML has also decided to withdraw its support to the government. </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"">CPN (UML), which is the second largest party in parliament, took such decision after its coalition partner CPN (Maoist Centre) sided with the Nepali Congress (NC) for the upcoming presidential election. CPN (UML) had backed Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to lead the government as the prime minister in return for Dahal’s support in the presidential election. However, in the changed political context after the NC also backed Maoist Centre, the party decided to seek national consensus for a presidential candidate instead of backing the UML. This ultimately led to a situation in which UML has been forced to quit government. However, PM Dahal still enjoys overwhelming support with the NC backup.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16872', 'image' => '20230227032505_PRO_KTM_PRACHANDA_SPEECH.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 15:24:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17133', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Loan Instalment Amount of Pokhara Int’l Airport Exceeds Income Target', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) Office aims to earn Rs 300 million annually. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) Office aims to earn Rs 300 million annually. However, the annual instalment to be paid is Rs 2.4 billion which includes the principal and interest on the loan taken for the construction of the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The instalment payment period of this airport, which has been in operation since January 1, starts from mid-March. The Government of Nepal is scheduled to pay the first instalment of Rs 1.2 billion to the Chinese Exim Bank in this period. The instalment payment period is about to start after the grace period of 7 years for the loan given to Nepal Civil Aviation Authority by the government through the bank is about to end.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The authority has already said that it will not be possible to pay the instalment with the income generated by the operation of Pokhara International Airport. However, CAAN says it is not under pressure to pay the instalment this time. According to the authority's loan repayment schedule, the instalment must be paid on March 15.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Gyanendra Bhul, the information officer of the authority, said that even if the authority cannot pay the installment, it will be paid through the Ministry of Finance. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even if the government is not able to pay the instalments, the accumulated profit of the authority is good. According to the authority's data, the accumulated profit of CAAN is Rs 1465.3 billion. The authority will be able to pay the instalments from the accumulated profit. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the loan schedule to be paid semi-annually, Rs 1.2 billion should be paid in 6 months, while Rs 2.4 billion must be paid in instalments annually.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The instalments must be paid within 20 years of taking the loan (Ashoj 1, 2092). The government had agreed with the bank in 2072 to build Pokhara International Airport. After Pokhara International Airport came into operation, the Pokhara Airport Office has predicted that the profit of the current fiscal year (FY) will also double.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jashodha Subedi, the spokesperson of the airport office, informed that the airport, which earned Rs 130 million in the year 2078/79, is aiming to earn more than double (up to Rs 300 million) in the current year 2079/80. Currently, only domestic flights are operating in Pokhara.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16871', 'image' => '20230227020513_Pokhara-Airport-800X533.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 14:04:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17132', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Fixes Support Price of Wheat', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The government has fixed the support price of wheat for the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 27: The government has fixed the support price of wheat for the current fiscal year. The support price has been fixed at Rs 3,351 per quintal, which is Rs 186 more compared to last year. Upon suggestion from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the cabinet approved the support price proposed by the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had fixed the support price of wheat at Rs 3,150 per quintal for the first time in the fiscal year 2076/77. In the last four years, the government increased the price of wheat by Rs 337 per quintal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stakeholders say that the government has been miserly in setting the price of wheat, which is known as unprofitable crop because the production is not worth the cost and efforts incurred. Farmers and agricultural activists express doubt that the support price set so miserly will even be implemented.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Food Campaign for Agriculture said that the government's attention should be focused on its implementation rather than setting the support price. According to him, the government sets the support price every year, but it is not implemented. Therefore, he said that the support price has caused more pain than relief to the farmers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of the National Farmers' Commission, Prem Dangal also said that the government's focus should be on the implementation of support prices. According to him, the practice of setting support prices and not implementing them should be brought to an end.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has become customary for the government to set the support price of rice and wheat late every year, and the state-owned food supply and trading companies do not purchase the produce as per the target. In terms of production area, wheat is the third major food crop of Nepal. According to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, more than 2.1 million metric tons of wheat is produced in Nepal annually. But recently, the area of wheat production is decreasing. In the last 7 years, the area under wheat cultivation in Nepal has decreased by 51,300 hectares.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16870', 'image' => '20230227011337_Wheat_photo-cred-Adobe-stock_E-2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 13:12:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17131', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Light Snowfall Predicted in High-Hill Areas Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: The westerly wind is having a general impact on the country's weather system at present. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: The westerly wind is having a general impact on the country's weather system at present. Due to the effects in the weather system, the mountainous area of the country would witness partial to general changes in the weather condition while the remaining areas would generally see clean weather, according to the Weather Forecasting Division. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As informed by the division, partial to general changes in weather would occur in the mountainous belt of the country this afternoon while light rain with thunderstorms are likely to take place in some areas of the mountainous belt in Province 1, Bagmati and Gandaki provinces and in one or two places of Lumbini, Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Light snowfall is predicted in limited areas of high hills and the Himalayan territory in the country,” the division said. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, in the night time, partial changes would occur in the mountainous area while light snowfall is likely to take place in one or two places of the high hills and Himalayan region of Province 1 and Gandaki Province. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minimum temperature of Kathmandu was recorded at 10.1 degrees Centigrade on Monday and the maximum temperature is expected to be around 23 degrees Centigrade. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On Sunday, </span></span></strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">various places across the countey, including the Kathmandu Valley, witnessed rain after a long gap. </span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Weather Forecasting Division informed that light to moderate rainfall occurred in different parts of the country, including the federal capital. </span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meteorologist at the Division, Sanjeev Adhikari, informed RSS that the westerly wind caused the rainfall. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rainfall was reported in Bagmati Province, Gandaki Province, Sudurpaschim Province and some other places. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the division, Dhunibeshi of Dhanding witnessed the maximum rainfall on Sunday which was recorded at 12 mm. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bhaktapur recorded 8.4 mm rain and Kirtipur 7 mm. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The division said there was no rainfall in the night. </span></span></span></span><br /> </p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the adverse weather in the wake of sudden rainfall across many parts of the country affected several domestic and international flights on Sunday. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Teknath Sitaula, spokesperson at Tribhuvan International Airport, low visibility owing to bad weather impacted the flights. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sitaula informed that international flights of Vistara and Indigo Air were diverted to Lucknow while the Qatar Airways' airplane was kept on hold in the sky for a while. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, in the domestic flight segment, two flights to and from Bharatpur in Chitwan district were canceled while flights to some destinations were delayed briefly. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There was a light to moderate rainfall coupled with thunderstorm and lightning in various parts of the country due to the influence of the westerly wind, according to the Weather Forecasting Division. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Regular flights resumed after improvement in weather since Sunday night. </span></span><br /> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16869', 'image' => '20230227113946_kk_beni.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 11:39:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17130', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'High Court Acquits Paul Shah on Charge of Pedophilia ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 27: Pokhara High Court on Sunday gave a clean chit to actor Purna Bikram Shah (Paul) on charge of pedophilia. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 27: Pokhara High Court on Sunday gave a clean chit to actor Purna Bikram Shah (Paul) on charge of pedophilia. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A division bench of judges Dilliraj Acharya and Shreedhara Kumari Pudasaini acquitted actor Shah on the case. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Earlier, the Nawalpur District Court had sentenced him to two and a half years in jail for allegedly raping a minor. Shah had filed the petition in the High Court, challenging the district court's verdict. However, the District Court Tahanun had acquitted Shah on the rape case against the minor. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The bench of the High Court concluded that the charges against Shah were not sufficient to prove him guilty, Information Officer of High Court, Pokhara, Bishnu Prasad Acharya said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shah's lawyer senior advocate Kamala Mohan Wagle said that actor Shah will be released from the jail following the High Court's verdict. </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"">"Shah has won the case. He will be released on Monday," said Wagle. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16868', 'image' => '20230227111806_paul.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 11:17:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17129', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'KMC Preparing to Restore Closed Biogas Plant ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Kathmandu Metropolitan City is preparing to resume operation of a bigas plant that was closed for the last five years. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 27: Kathmandu Metropolitan City is preparing to resume operation of a bigas plant that was closed for the last five years. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">With the financial assistance of the European Union and KMC, the metropolis will repair the plant and bring back into use that is located in the premises of Department of Environment Teku. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">KMC Environment Department Chief Rabinman Shrestha said that KMC was working to restore the operation of the biogas plant to manage the degradable waste sustainably by generating renewable energy from perishable waste. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">For the project’s restoration, KMC is in talks with National Innovation Center Nepal. “Since the talks with NIC is positive, we shall operate the plant from the next week,” Shestha said. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">European Union and KMC have injected 46 million and 18 million respectively for the plant. Installed under integrated waste management project, the biogas plant requires three metric tons of biodegradable waste in a day. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The project is able to produce 3,000 kilograms of organic fertilizer, 14 kilowatt electricity and 13,500 liters of processed water.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Preparations are underway to restore biogas plant as its closure has hit PhD students conducting research on bio energy and biogas production. Operation of the plant is expected to help the KMC manage degradable wastes. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-27', 'modified' => '2023-02-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16867', 'image' => '20230227062144_collage (10).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-27 06:19:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17128', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Import and Export of Agricultural Produce Declines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 26: Import and export of main agricultural products to and from Nepal have both declined.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 26: Import and export of main agricultural products to and from Nepal have both declined.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the import of agricultural products decreased by 43 percent in the first six months of the current fiscal year. The import of agricultural produce declined because India tightened the export of agricultural produce. Another reason is that the domestic production of some items have increased.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Prakash Kumar Sanjel, said that both import and export of agricultural products have decreased. Although the ministry has not done a separate study on the reasons for the large-scale decrease in imports, he claimed that imports decreased due to India's tightening of export of agricultural products and increase in domestic production of some items compared to the past.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data provided by the Ministry, the import of paddy/rice and maize decreased while the import of wheat decreased the most. According to Sanjel, India's ban on wheat export directly affected Nepal's imports. Due to the Russia-Ukraine tension, India banned the export of wheat on the assumption that there will be a shortage of wheat in its own country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the import of bananas and potatoes also decreased. While the import of other agricultural products is decreasing, the import of onion on the other hand has increased. From last July to January, import of apple among fresh fruits decreased whereas the import of orange seems to have increased. The data shows that the import of sunflower, soybean and palm oil decreased as well.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data, exports of coffee, ghee, sunflower oil, soybean oil have decreased while the exports of ginger, fresh vegetables and cardamom have increased to some extent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16866', 'image' => '20230226055028_20230226023728_wheatttttt.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 17:49:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17127', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NTB Starts Survey to Find Average Expenditure By Foreign Tourist', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has begun a survey to find data on average expenditures by a foreign tourist from Sunday. The survey aims to find how much foreign tourists spend during their stay in Nepal, said the NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">February 26: The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has begun a survey to find data on average expenditures by a foreign tourist from Sunday. The survey aims to find how much foreign tourists spend during their stay in Nepal, said the NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">"Two thousand sample respondents will be selected for the survey. Five employees deployed by the Board will fill out the questionnaire with details of visiting tourists. They have been given 40 days for the job," Lamichhane said. Students of the Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management (NATHM) have volunteered as enumerators for the survey. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">In 2021 and 2022, a foreign tourist spent average USD 48 on a daily basis, Lamichhane said. In 2023, their expenditure is expected to increase anything between USD 70 and 75 each. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, the Nepal Rastra Bank, the National Statistics Office and the NATHM have collaborated for the initiative. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The arrival of foreign tourists has gradually been on the track post COVID-19. A total of 55,074 foreign tourists visited Nepal in January, 2023 alone, according to data with the NTB. Similarly, the total 614,148 tourists arrived in Nepal in 2022. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The years 2020 and 2021 when the infectious disease COVID-19 peaked saw a sharp drop in tourist inflow to stand at 230,085 and 150,962 respectively from a whopping 1,197,091 in 2019 before the pandemic broke out. The year 2020 witnessed an 81 percent decline in tourist influx. ----RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16865', 'image' => '20230226054105_collage (7).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 17:35:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17125', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NPC Caps Limit on Budget for Next FY at Rs 1688 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 26: The budget for the next fiscal year is certain to decline after the National Planning Commission (NPC) capped the ceiling on budget citing government’s failure to collect revenue.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 26: The budget for the next fiscal year is certain to decline after the National Planning Commission (NPC) capped the ceiling on budget citing government’s failure to collect revenue.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NPC has set the limit of Rs 1688.4 billion for next year’s budget which is less than the current fiscal year’s budget by almost 150 billion. The then finance minister Janardan Sharma had announced a budget of Rs 1793.83 billion for the current FY.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A recent meeting of the National Resource Estimation Committee of the NPC chaired by its Vice Chairman Dr Min Bahadur Shrestha decided to downsize the budget and asked the government to work accordingly.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel has reduced the size of the budget announced by his predecessor Sharma as the government failed to collect revenue according to the initial target. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the revised estimated prepared by Finance Minister Paudel, the government will likely spend only Rs 1549.99 billion this year and the budget was downsized accordingly. Compared to this figure, the budget limit for the next fiscal year is Rs 138.41 billion more.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NPC has estimated that the government will collect revenue of Rs 1403 billion for next year's budget. This revenue estimate is about 14 percent more than what will be collected in the current fiscal year. It is estimated that Rs 201 billion will be received from foreign assistance for next year's budget, of which Rs 25 billion will be received as grants and Rs 176 billion as loans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The commission has estimated that the remaining amount will be collected through internal loans of Rs 230 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Analyzing the contraction seen in revenue mobilization in the first six months of the current fiscal year, the decline in subsidies in foreign aid and the increase in the foreign exchange rates which might put pressure on payment of loan, the NPC has made a realistic estimate and projection of national resource mobilization," said Rajendra Kumar Paudel, the spokesperson of the commission. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the commission, the limit has been fixed by keeping the mandatory obligations including salaries, pensions, social security and the implementation status of multi-year projects of national importance, supply of chemical fertilizers, expenses related to the implementation of international commitments, financial transfers among others. The NPC has estimated that next year's economic growth rate will be 8 percent, per capita income will reach USD 1,572 and consumer price inflation will be 6.5 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As the size of current fiscal year’s budget is large, the government’s resources are not able to meet the revenue collection target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The economy has been facing liquidity crisis due to the impacts of the Covid-19 and Russia-Ukraine war. This has caused many problems in the economy. This has forced the government to reduce the size of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16863', 'image' => '20230226023622_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 14:35:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17124', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers in Chitwan Resume Protest', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 26: The farmers of Chitwan have again started their protest, this time with another symbolic protest by flying black balloons.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 26: The farmers of Chitwan have again started their protest, this time with another symbolic protest by flying black balloons. They had started protested by throwing vegetables on the road on February 3. As their demands were not addressed, they started the second phase of the protest on Friday. Lekhnath Bhusal, the coordinator of Farmer’s Struggle Committee Chitwan, said that black balloons were flown to convey the message that the farmers are continuously protesting.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The farmers gathered at the central bus terminal in Bharatpur with placards and reached Pulchok in Narayangadh via District Administration Office, Bypass Road, Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Chaubiskothi. They demonstrated on the highway. They said that despite many assurances that their demands will be met, the concerned authorities have not lived up to their commitment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As a result, the protest continues in various forms.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the demonstration, they insisted to stop the import of vegetables, determine the right price and proper management of domestic products, ensure timely availability of fertilizer and seeds, etc. The farmers demonstrated with placards that read 'There is no future in farming, and they are old to go to the Gulf countries, the leaders are always weak, the people are always poor, let's boycott foreign products, let's encourage domestic products, the agricultural revolution continues'.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16862', 'image' => '20230226015318_0505614105701.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 13:52:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17123', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Earn Rs 200 Million from Sale of Cardamom ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 26: Farmers of Lamjung have earned Rs 200 million from the sale of cardamom this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 26: Farmers of Lamjung have earned Rs 200 million from the sale of cardamom this year. A total of 380 metric tons of cardamom was sold in the district this year, according to the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Project Implementation Unit Lamjung. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This year saw a record amount of cardamom sale since commercial farming of cardamom began 38 years ago in 2041 BS.</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"">Farmers sold cardamom at a minimum price of Rs 550 to 700 per kg this year. The sale of cardamom last year fetched between Rs 950 to 1500 per kg. In the previous year, the farmers had earned Rs182 million from the sale of 3,500 quintals of cardamom. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Compared to the previous year cardamom production of most of the farmers in the district has increased this year. </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 production as well as sale of cardamom has doubled this year compared to last year,” said Ash Bahadur Gurung of Masryangdi Rural Municipality-5. He shared that this year he earned about Rs 555,000 against Rs 400,000 in the previous year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Out of 95 households in Gurung's village, 85 households are cultivating cardamom commercially. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The farmers have however complained about the fluctuating price of cardamom. The farmers have been compelled to sell their produce at much lower prices compared to the past. Farmers say that due to India's monopoly, they are not getting good price for cardamom seeds. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although reports say that cardamom is being cultivated in an area of more than 1000 hectares of land in the district it is actually being produced only in 500 hectares. Masryangdi Rural Municipality, Besisahar Municipality, Kholasothar, Dordi and Dudhpokhari rural municipalities have been declared as cardamom pocket areas. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-26', 'modified' => '2023-02-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16861', 'image' => '20230226124914_cardamommm.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-26 12:48:32', '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
