Election Commission has decided to hold the by-election in Chitwan constituency-2 on April 23,…
Election Commission has decided to hold the by-election in Chitwan constituency-2 on April 23,…
February 12: The government has banned the import of stem roses from abroad on the eve of Valentine's…
February 12: The Nepal Medical Association (NMA) has decided to put off its protest programmes for the time being, following a six-point agreement with the…
February 12: Although big projects titled as game changers are always the top priority of the government, the financial burden of the state is increasing day by day due to the non-completion of the projects on…
February 12: The internal terminal of the Chobhar Dry Port in Kathmandu is going to come into operation soon. …
February 12: The All Nepal Peasants' Federation (ANPF) has demanded the government to ensure market for the domestic agricultural products by fixing fair value for the products at the…
February 11: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has underscored the need for wiping out legal ambiguities and addressing interests and pressure of multi-stakeholders for intensifying development…
February 10: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has stressed on the need for the government to implement a coordinated programme to increase production, as the domestic production needs to be strengthened in order to improve the…
February 10: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) issued a tight monetary policy for the current fiscal year and increased the policy rates.…
February: The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled in favor of the legal provision to allow foreign investment in the agricultural sector.…
February 10: The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to suspend Director General of the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Prem Nath…
February 10: The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has adopted liberal policy with an objective of providing some relief to the borrowers.…
February 10: Fed up with the frequent power cuts without prior notice, the industry operators of Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor have requested the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to announce load shedding rather than unannounced power…
February 10: Farmers have felt a sense of relief this year with the rise in the price of paddy while the consumers are at the receiving…
Asian Hydropower Limited is opening sale of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) to the general public in the second phase from…
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Following the court verdict, Lamichhane had lost the portfolio of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister apart from the status of lawmaker. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16740', 'image' => '20230212062626_collage - 2023-02-12T182127.325.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 18:19:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16999', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Bans Import of Roses on the Eve of Valentine's Day', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: The government has banned the import of stem roses from abroad on the eve of Valentine's Day. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 12: The government has banned the import of stem roses from abroad on the eve of Valentine's Day. <br /> The Plant Quarantine and Pesticide Management Center under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development issued a notice on Thursday and directed its subordinate offices in border areas not to issue import permits for stem roses.<br /> The centre issued the notice after the ministry decided to ban import of roses. The ban will remain in force until another notice, says the centre.<br /> Chief of the Plant Quarantine and Pesticide Management Center Sabitri Baral argued that the import has been stopped for the time being due to the risk of plant diseases. She said that such a decision was taken upon the recommendation of experts. <br /> She said that the notice has been issued to 15 customs offices in border areas of Nepal with India and China.<br /> People involved in the flower business say that the government’s decision to ban import of roses will hit the consumers hard.<br /> Sushil Khadka, who is involved in flower business, says this will cause the price of flowers to skyrocket during the Valentine’s Day.<br /> Earlier, it was estimated that 168,000 stem rose alone would be consumed in the Kathmandu Valley while 112,000 stem roses will be consumed in the cities outside the valley. Last year, on the occasion of Valentine’s Day, 277,000 stem roses were traded in Nepal.<br /> However, the last-minute ban this year will affect the business hard as the orders were placed much before the government’s decision, say businessmen.<br /> According to Min Bahadur Tamang, president of the Nepal Floriculture Association, domestic production is able to meet only 7 percent of the total market demand for roses this time. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16738', 'image' => '20230212043219_20230209011533_20190214040655__RAB0977.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 16:31:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16998', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Health Services Resume as NMA Strikes Six-Point Deal with Government ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: The Nepal Medical Association (NMA) has decided to put off its protest programmes for the time being, following a six-point agreement with the government. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 12: The Nepal Medical Association (NMA) has decided to put off its protest programmes for the time being, following a six-point agreement with the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NMA had taken to the street and also halted the OPD services across the country on Sunday, in protest against the physical assault on a doctor by the police on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to NMA former chair Dr Mukti Raj Shrestha who was also in the talks team, the two sides reached a six-point agreement.</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"">“With this agreement, medical professionals are to get back to work,” he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting wished for quick recovery of the doctor injured in an incident that took place in front of the National Trauma Centre and the Bir Hospital at 4:15 pm on February 10 in course of the management of traffic for the VVIPs. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Senior orthopedic surgeon for the National Trauma Centre, Dr Janith Singh, was allegedly assaulted by a security person during President Bidya Devi Bhandari’s escort back to Sheetal Niwas after addressing a joint session of the Federal Parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the agreement, there is a need to effectively implement the provision relating to the security of health workers and health institutions in line with the Security of Health Workers and Health Organisations Act, 2066 (Revised), and further make security of health workers and health institutions effective. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The agreement was signed between Chairperson of the Nepal Medical Association (NMA) Dr Lochan Karki and Secretary of the Office of Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, Dr Ganesh Prasad Pandey. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Others present on the occasion were Jitendra Basnet, representative of the Home Ministry, Dr Rudra Marasini, representative of the Ministry of Health and Population, former NMA Chairperson Dr Mukti Ram Shrestha, NMA General Secretary Dr Badri Rijal, Secretary of the Health Ministry Dr Roshan Pokharel, Additional Inspector General of Police Dibesh Lohani, Joint Secretary of the Office of Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers Narayan Prasad Bhatta, Joint Secretary of the Health Ministry Krishna Paudel, Chief District Office, Kathmandu Ghana Shyam Upadhyay, Senior Superintendent of Police Dan Bahadur Karki, and Section Officer of the Office of Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers Sagar Adhikari. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16737', 'image' => '20230212040334_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 16:02:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16997', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Game-Changer Projects Moving ahead at Snail’s Pace', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: Although big projects titled as game changers are always the top priority of the government, the financial burden of the state is increasing day by day due to the non-completion of the projects on time.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 12: Although big projects titled as game changers are always the top priority of the government, the financial burden of the state is increasing day by day due to the non-completion of the projects on time.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although two dozen projects are listed as big projects, most of them are being built at a snail's pace. Most of the projects are under construction for a long time.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The future of some large infrastructure projects, that have a multifaceted effect on the country's economy, is in limbo due to the government's delay in preparing the detailed project report (DPR) and the modality of construction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Budhi Gandaki hydropower, Kathmandu-Terai/Madhesh Expressway, Nijgadh International Airport, West Seti Hydropower Project, Karnali-Chisapani Hydropower and Pancheshwar Multi-Purpose Projects classified as projects of national pride have not been able to move forward due to pending DPR and modalities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A study conducted by the National Planning Commission has shown that the initial cost has increased from Rs 1045 billion to Rs 2595 billion as large projects move at a snail's pace.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The construction of Budhigandaki hydropower project, which was advanced in 2069 with the target of completion in 2083, has not yet progressed. The study of the National Planning Commission shows that the cost of this project has now reached Rs 2 trillion 60 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another project that has been affected by the government's dilly dallying is the Kathmandu-Terai/Madhesh Expressway. Even this project has not been able to gain momentum. Now its cost has reached Rs 175 billion. The government has not yet taken a decision on the DPR of this project, which was started in 2065. The much-hyped Nijgadh International Airport project has not yet progressed. The cost has reached Rs 165 billion. Although the West Seti Hydropower and the much talked about Pancheswar multi-purpose project has come into the limelight recently, there is no word on when its construction will start.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As the progress of other projects is also seen at a snail's pace, the government itself has been questioned. Dilliraj Khanal, a member of the Public Expenditure Review Commission, considers past mistakes and weaknesses as the main factor in the slow progress of projects. The only reason why big projects are in trouble is because of project selection. In the past, projects were selected without studying the details. Now there is no choice but to accept the past mistakes and to proceed strictly in the project selection, he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that although some projects have been selected and construction started, they have been stalled due to lack of resource management and preparation for construction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Also, in the past, when big projects were determined, there was a problem in implementation. So, the government has introduced the 'criteria for determining national priority projects 2079' to be strict in the selection of such projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16736', 'image' => '20230212025820_fast track.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 14:57:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16996', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Internal Terminal of Chobhar Dry Port to Come into Operation Soon ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: The internal terminal of the Chobhar Dry Port in Kathmandu is going to come into operation soon. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 12: The internal terminal of the Chobhar Dry Port in Kathmandu is going to come into operation soon. The dry port, which is run by the Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Committee, came into operation since mid-March last year, but the internal terminal is yet to come into operation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Executive Director of the committee, Ashish Gajurel, shared that the operation of the internal terminal will be strted within a day or two after completing the due process of correspondence with the concerned agencies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The internal terminal in the dry port has a capacity for parking of 150 trucks and has warehouses, measurement scales as well as loading and unloading sheds. With the objective of facilitating trade, the entrance fee for the use of the terminal will be free while facilities such as vehicle parking and loading/unloading of goods will be available at the lowest possible fee, said Gajurel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Committee has requested the goods importers and exporters to use the Chobhar Dry Port and benefit from the services available at the port located on the outskirts of Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The dry port that spreads over an area of about 260 ropanis of land has services ranging from customs, quarantine, bank and other services. The port has three load-unload buildings, three warehouses, three administrative buildings, three weight measurement sheds, container yard, power substation, boundary light, and vehicle parking areas. The port's container yard has a 65,000 square meters parking area that can accommodate 500 containers and 500 trucks. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16735', 'image' => '20230212013517_Chobhar Dy port.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 13:34:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16995', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ensure Market for Domestic Agro Products: Peasants' Federation ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: The All Nepal Peasants' Federation (ANPF) has demanded the government to ensure market for the domestic agricultural products by fixing fair value for the products at the earliest. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 12: The All Nepal Peasants' Federation (ANPF) has demanded the government to ensure market for the domestic agricultural products by fixing fair value for the products at the earliest. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government should be sensitive towards making the issue of agriculture and guarantee food sovereignty, argued the farmers. According to the federation, the farmers must have decent opportunity to generate income and employment in this field and the government must play a supporting role.</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"">The federation argued that the farmers are drowning in debt without fair value of their produce and the lack of market, while the middlepersons are taking advantage of the situation.</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"">The federation’s President Balaram Baskota made such a remark at a press conference organised on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that a majority of Nepali people are engaged in agriculture on which the country's economy is based, he said, "Agriculture is taking a back seat due to failure to protect agricultural produces. On the other hand, farmers are struggling without fair price of their products." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">For the development of agriculture, it is main responsibility of the state to provide fertilisers and seeds in time and provide market for the products, he underscored. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that people's right to food sovereignty that was established through Nepali farmers' movements are connected to farmers' prosperity and agricultural transformation, the federation’s General Secretary Pramesh Pokharel viewed that the government should be serious about farmers' protest. “The farmers must be saved from the interference of the foreign products,” he said.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The federation has drawn the attention of the government to resolve problems of fertilisers, seeds and irrigation while expressing sorrow over the incidents in which the farmers had thrown away their agricultural produce in protest. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16734', 'image' => '20230212111916_agri maize.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 11:17:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16992', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Intensify Development Projects: President Bhandari ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 11: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has underscored the need for wiping out legal ambiguities and addressing interests and pressure of multi-stakeholders for intensifying development projects. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 11: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has underscored the need for wiping out legal ambiguities and addressing interests and pressure of multi-stakeholders for intensifying development projects. </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"">In her address to the joint sitting of the federal parliaments on Friday, President Bhandari expressed concerns regarding the lacklusture pace of development projects. </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"">“In order to address the problems, an enabling legislation should be immediately adopted and implemented. The legislation should facilitate the procurement process, utilization of forest area and public land, human resources management, contract management, linking employees’ performance appraisal to their performance level, inter-agency coordination, and incentives for project managers,” she said in the address. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> According to the president, all sides’ attention is required to guarantee quality of infrastructures. </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"">“Development activities cannot move properly in the absence of quality infrastructure. I am confident that the government will pay attention not only to the construction of infrastructure but also to the regular maintenance of the existing infrastructure by ensuring the implementation of an action plan with adequate resources,” President Bhandari said, adding that the development of an appropriate mechanism of mutual coordination for the integrated construction of different types of infrastructures at the beginning of the project would help build necessary coordination. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the president said attention must be paid to the proper utilization of resources in the selection and construction of infrastructure projects. Small projects that are implemented without necessary study and analyses lead to the misuse of resources and fail to yield the desired returns, said the president. </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"">“Instead of allocating the budget for such small projects yielding no returns, it is better to manage the resources to ensure that the ongoing projects are completed within the stipulated timeframe,” she said, expressing confidence that the government would prepare its policies and programmes accordingly in the days ahead. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Strategic infrastructure projects should be selected and built keeping national security at the core, according to her. Roads should be constructed not only as conventional infrastructure but also as links emotionally connecting the citizens of the country. </span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">She further believed that our priorities should include developing standard road network at all wards of the local level, linking the services provided by the state with the road network, developing transport infrastructure to facilitate the means of transportation and to deliver the goods and services to the market, providing easy and accessible transportation facilities to the common people, completing the ongoing road construction within the stipulated time, and marking road transportation safe and reliable. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President Bhandari was for preparing the framework of infrastructure development only upon ensuring the necessity, relevance and sustainability of the infrastructure. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-11', 'modified' => '2023-02-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16731', 'image' => '20230211064849_RP_Kanchanpur-2(1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-11 18:48:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16991', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President for Coordinated Efforts to Boost Production ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has stressed on the need for the government to implement a coordinated programme to increase production, as the domestic production needs to be strengthened in order to improve the economy. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 10: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has stressed on the need for the government to implement a coordinated programme to increase production, as the domestic production needs to be strengthened in order to improve the economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In her address to the joint sitting of both Houses of the Federal Parliament on Friday, the president said, "The agriculture sector still remains our area of comparative and competitive advantage." </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"">President Bhandari suggested that providing subsidies in agriculture on the basis of the quantity of production would provide an incentive to increase production. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“For this, it is necessary to have coordinated implementation of programmes on fertilizers, seeds, agricultural extension services, irrigation, capital and land while keeping agricultural output at the forefront,” she said. Furthermore, the value chain can be maintained by strengthening the internal distribution system and assisting the farmers to receive the right price for their produce on time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The president also noted that trade deficit can be reduced if agricultural programmes could be implemented in such a way that leads to self-sufficiency in certain food items within a specified timeline and then enabling to export surplus items. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The government should focus on creating an investment-friendly environment by providing the basic infrastructure, protecting the investment and building the necessary infrastructure up to the production site to boost production.” -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16730', 'image' => '20230210100726_President Bhandari addressing a joint meeting at Parliament House, 1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 22:06:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16990', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Interest Rate on Internal Debts of Government Increasing', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) issued a tight monetary policy for the current fiscal year and increased the policy rates. ', 'content' => '<p>February 10: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) issued a tight monetary policy for the current fiscal year and increased the policy rates. While under pressure from the external sector including high exchange rate deficit and declining foreign exchange reserves, NRB took a policy of tightening loans by increasing interest rates. Due to this, the internal interest rate of the government also became expensive.</p> <p>As NRB increased the policy rates, the banks started increasing the interest rate, making the interest of internal debt collected by the government through various monetary instruments expensive.</p> <p>NRB announced the monetary policy for the current year on July 23. Immediately after the announcement of the monetary policy, the government issued treasury bills as a tool for raising short-term domestic debt. Banks increased the interest rate on 91-day treasury bills issued on July 26 by 2.67 percentage points which was in single digits before the monetary policy.</p> <p>After that, NRB intervened several times and bought Treasury Bills itself, but the interest rate could not be reduced. So, NRB has to pay high interest rates when raising internal debt through Treasury Bills.</p> <p>Lately, the interest rate of the treasury started to decrease after the liquidity situation in the banks and financial institutions eased, but still, the interest rate is becoming more expensive for the government compared to the last FY. Last year, the interest rate of 28-day treasury bills remained at 4.72 percent.</p> <p>In the current year, the lowest interest rate for 28-day treasury was maintained on January 30 at 5.9 percent. Similarly, 9.18 percent interest rate is maintained on 91-day treasury bills, while the interest rate on 182- and 364-day treasury bills is still in double digits.</p> <p>Similarly, the interest rate of internal debt raised by the government through development bonds also became expensive. In the current year, the government raised Rs 30 billion through development bonds for a period of 2 to 5 years. Its average interest rate remained at 9.95 percent. Last year, when the government raised domestic debt through development bonds, the average interest rate was only 7.74 percent.</p> <p>As of last year, the internal debt of the government is Rs 984 billion. In the current fiscal year, the government set a target of raising domestic debt of Rs 256 billion. Out of that, Rs 30 billion of debt was raised in the second quarter. Similarly, the target is to raise Rs 88 billion in the third quarter and Rs 138 billion in the fourth quarter.</p> <p>Through the monetary policy of the current year, NRB adopted a policy of tightening the loans by increasing the interest rate. Through the policy, the bank rate increased by 1.5 percentage points to 8.5 percent. The deadline for standing liquidity facility (SLF) taken by banks for liquidity management also reduced from 2 days to 5 days only. Similarly, the policy rate increased from 5.5 percent to 7 percent, and the deposit collection rate increased from 4 percent to 5.5 percent.</p> <p>Interest rates of banks are becoming more expensive due to increase in policy rates and lack of liquidity in the financial system. However, as the liquidity situation in the financial system eased recently and the external pressure on the economy decreased, experts say that the internal economy should be made viable by reducing the policy rate through a review of the monetary policy.</p> <p>Former banker Analraj Bhattarai said, “Even though the external pressure on the economy is less now, the internal economy has not been able to run due to high interest rates. NRB should review the monetary policy.”</p> <p>NRB is conducting its half-yearly review of monetary policy today (Friday). It is expected that NRB, which maintained the policy regime in the first quarter monetary policy review, will review the policy rates in the second review.</p> <p>Governor of NRB, Mahaprasad Adhikari has also been indicating in public programs that the provisions of monetary policy will change according to time. He said, “Due to the arrangements made through the monetary policy, we have reached a somewhat comfortable situation. The provisions of the monetary policy are reviewed from time to time.”</p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16729', 'image' => '20230210075421_20230210043603_interest ratee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 19:53:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16987', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Supreme Court Rules in Favour of Foreign Investment in Agriculture', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February: The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled in favor of the legal provision to allow foreign investment in the agricultural sector. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February: The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled in favor of the legal provision to allow foreign investment in the agricultural sector. The path to bring in foreign investment in the agricultural sector has been opened after SC rejected the petition demanding the non-implementation of the amendment to the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act, 2075 to bring in foreign investment in the agricultural sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the need for foreign investment in the agricultural sector was raised several times, but the obstacles to foreign investment could not be removed. Especially industrialists and businessmen have been arguing that small farmers cannot compete with foreign investment in agriculture.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government amended the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act, 2075 to allow foreign investment in the agricultural sector with the objective of exporting 75 percent of the produce.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the said act, the government amended the previous provision that foreign investment could not be brought in the fields of livestock, fishery, beekeeping, fruits, vegetables, oilseeds, pulses, dairy business, etc. A writ was filed in the SC against such a provision made by the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A few days ago, the full text of the decision of the SC’s division bench of justices Prakash Kumar Dhungana and Kumar Chudal dismissing the writ petition filed to prohibit foreign investment in the agriculture sector came out. In the text of the SC verdict, it is mentioned that there will be no negative impact on the domestic agricultural industry due to the opening of foreign investment, and there will be no loss or damage to the nation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The SC opined that since foreign investment is opened on the condition that at least 75 percent of the production is exported, small farmers and domestic production will not be affected. Similarly, it is mentioned in the full text that the provision of foreign investment will remain in place for industries that export agricultural products produced in Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">SC said that technology will be transferred through foreign investment, the modernization of agriculture will increase and as a result, the quantity and quality of agricultural products will also increase. It is also mentioned in the full text that this will help in the import substitution of agricultural produce and increase employment due to foreign technology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the full text of SC, large investment is required for commercial farming and when foreign investment comes in, not only investment but also technology and skills will come in. The verdict states, “Since foreign investment in agriculture does not seem to affect small farmers and domestic producers, it is not appropriate to think that foreign investment will affect domestic investment.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16726', 'image' => '20230210042029_Agri.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 16:19:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16985', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Directs CAAN to suspend TIA Director General Thakur over Bribery Allegation', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to suspend Director General of the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Prem Nath Thakur.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 10: The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to suspend Director General of the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Prem Nath Thakur. </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"">The ministry took such a decision following a revelation of an audio conversation in which Thakur is heard seeking personal benefits from an airline company.</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"">Joint Secretary Rajendra Kumar KC, who is also the ministry's spokesperson, confirmed that CAAN has been directed to fire Thakur. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Thakur has been charged with holding a conversation with Thai Smile Airlines for his personal gains illegally. As per the cabinet decision, CAAN has been asked to suspend Thakur to help investigate the matter,” he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the ministry has urged the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to launch further investigations into the matter, added KC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Some days ago, the CIAA had arrested Purna Chudal, the TIA chief (domestic terminal) along with a bribe. Thakur’s involvement in seeking personal gains came to the fore after the arrest of Chudal. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16724', 'image' => '20230210031858_CAAN.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 15:17:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16984', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Monetary Policy Review Gives Relief to Borrowers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has adopted liberal policy with an objective of providing some relief to the borrowers. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 10: The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has adopted liberal policy with an objective of providing some relief to the borrowers. The central bank has given some relief to the borrowers by publishing a half-yearly review of the monetary policy of the current fiscal year, 2022/23 on Friday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank has made an arrangement so that banks cannot take penalty interest till mid-June 2023 if a borrower makes payment of loans along with interest within a month after the expiry of the deadline, reads the review. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, there is a provision that loans up to Rs 20 million floated through banks and financial institutions to facilitate to small and medium industries and businesses can be restructured within July 16 after analysing their cash flow and incomes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The monetary policy had mandated commercial banks to invest at least 11 percent of their total loans in agriculture sector, sic percent in energy sector and 11 percent in micro, cottage and small scale industries (less than Rs 10 million loans including deprived sector lending).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The mid-term review states that commercial banks have invested 13 percent in agriculture (Rs 543.47 billion), 6.3 percent in energy sector (Rs 262.55 billion) and 9.5 percent in micro, cottage and small scale industries (Rs 396.91 billion) as of mid-December 2022.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While issuing the mid-term review of the monetary policy, NRB stated that the monetary policy of the current fiscal year had set a target of increasing foreign exchange reserves that can support imports for seven months. The mid-term review states that the central bank has exceeded this target as the foreign exchange reserves of the country can support imports for 9.1 months.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The mid-term review also states that there has been a general improvement in the economy in the first six months of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the average inter-bank rate, which was 4.77 percent in mid-December to mid-January a year ago has increased to 7.73 percent in the corresponding period of this year. The average inter-bank rate was 7.01 percent in mid-July last year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16723', 'image' => '20230210042209_20220727022441_monetary policy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 14:42:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16983', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industrialists Urge for Load Shedding Instead of Unannounced Power Cuts', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: Fed up with the frequent power cuts without prior notice, the industry operators of Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor have requested the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to announce load shedding rather than unannounced power cuts.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 10: Fed up with the frequent power cuts without prior notice, the industry operators of Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor have requested the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to announce load shedding rather than unannounced power cuts. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hari Gautam, coordinator of the industry committee under the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that electricity is cut for 8/9 hours every day in the main industrial corridor.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Currently, the production of most of the industries has decreased. Industrialists claim that when the production has dropped to 25 percent, lack of electricity has added to the problem. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Gautam, who is also the vice president of the association, said, “There are problems in the production shift management as well due to power cuts without notice. Instead, it would have been easier if the schedule of load shedding was available.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industrialists complain that production has been badly affected due to the frequent power cuts without notice. Iron, cement and furnace-based industries which consume more electricity are affected more.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As compared to the previous years, the domestic production of electricity and import from India has decreased this year, due to which NEA started cutting its supply to the industries. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the authority's top officials, the power supply in the industry is reduced by 2/3 hours in order to manage the demand during peak hours. However, industrialists said that electricity is interrupted many times throughout the day.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NEA’s data, the demand for electricity in the peak hour is 1,700 megawatts. Authority officials say that domestic production is at most 1,300 MW and 400 MW is being imported from India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The authority claims that this year, production has decreased by 20 percent compared to last year's winter and imports from India are also affected, creating imbalance in supply and demand. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The authority buys electricity from India and has to pay more during peak hours, so it brings it during off hours. NEA has been importing mostly from Bihar of India and Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor is supplied from the same line. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA spokesperson Suresh Bhattarai says that two thermal plants with a capacity of 1,400 megawatts in Bihar are damaged, so they have not been able to bring in the required amount of electricity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Madhav Rajpal, vice president of the association, there are problems such as wastage of raw materials, reduction in production, burning and deterioration of equipment, and deterioration in the quality of products due to frequent power cuts in the industry. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He commented that a dark age has started in the industry less than four years after the end of load shedding.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Industrialists say that they have been trapped in an all-round crisis since the Covid-19 pandemic and the energy insecurity is hitting them even harder. Gautam complains that due to the recession in the market, the industry is running only for 12 hours, and due to the lack of regular electricity supply, it has not been able to run for even eight hours. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16722', 'image' => '20230210013223_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 13:31:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16982', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Paddy Farmers Happy with Price Hike, Consumers Complain ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: Farmers have felt a sense of relief this year with the rise in the price of paddy while the consumers are at the receiving end.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 10: Farmers have felt a sense of relief this year with the rise in the price of paddy while the consumers are at the receiving end. The price of paddy has increased by Rs 300 per quintal compared to the previous year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As neighbouring India has imposed a quota on paddy export, the price of paddy in Nepal has increased along with the increase in price of paddy in India. India has fixed an export quota of 600,000 tons of paddy for Nepal in the current fiscal year </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the increase in the price of paddy, Sona Mansuli variety of rice available at Rs 48 per kg now costs Rs 58 per kg while the price of Mansuli has reached Rs 64 from Rs 50 per kg. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farmers of Madhes province, including Parsa, a pocket area for paddy production, have been suffering due to low price but they have finally got some relief. Sitaram Prasad, a farmer of Lalparsa in Birgunj Ward No 30, says, "The price of paddy does not even meet the cost of production, but this time it has increased." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Kismatia Devi, a paddy farmer of Sabathwa-4, Parsa, however said although the new price is some relief, it is not enough. </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"">Meanwhile, even though the farmers are happy with the increase in the price of paddy the consumers are at the receiving end. The price of rice has increased by Rs 15 to 25 per kg. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sarita Devi Kurmi of Birgunj Metropolis, Ward No 12 said the sudden increase in the price of rice has made daily expenses hard to meet. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Central President of Nepal Rice, Oil and Pulses Industry Association, Subodh Gupta, says Nepal still depends on India to meet 50 to 60 percent demand for paddy.</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""> “Since India has increased the support price for paddy, it has led to an increase in the price of rice, which is mostly imported from India,” says Gupta. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16721', 'image' => '20230210115354_640px-Rice_Plants_(IRRI).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 11:53:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16981', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Asian Hydropower Limited Opens Sale Of IPO to General Public ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Asian Hydropower Limited is opening sale of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) to the general public in the second phase from Friday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 10: Asian Hydropower Limited is opening sale of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) to the general public in the second phase from Friday.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The company is offering 7,56,000 units of shares to the general public, including the mutual fund schemes and employees of the company.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Out of the total shares, 42,000 units of shares have been allotted to the mutual fund schemes. Likewise, 16,000 shares have been set aside for the employees of the company.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> General public an participate in the remaining 6,97,200 units of shares.<br /> Interested investors can apply for a minim of 10 kitta and a maximum of 20,000 kitta of shares at a face value of Rs 100.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The offer will end on February 14. If the IPO remains under-subscribed, the deadline will extend until February 24.<br /> In the first phase, the hydropower company had issued and allotted public offerings to the project affected locals of Ilam district and Nepali citizens working in foreign countries.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Asian Hydropower Limited has developed Lower Jogmai Khola Hydropower in Ilam district. The run-of-the river project has installed capacity of 6.2 megawatts.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The project has been producing power for the last one year. Per megawatt cost for the hydropower construction stands at Rs 21.15 crores</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">NMB Capital is the issue and sales manager of the hydropower company. Interested individuals can apply for the IPO from all C-ASBA-approved banks and financial institutions by the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON). The IPO can also be purchased from Meroshare.</span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16720', 'image' => '20230210061838_collage (64) (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 06:14:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ) ) $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' => '17001', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Election Commission to Hold By-election in Chitwan-2 on April 23 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Election Commission has decided to hold the by-election in Chitwan constituency-2 on April 23, 2023.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> February 12: Election Commission has decided to hold the by-election in Chitwan constituency-2 on April 23, 2023. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A meeting of the Election Commission held on Sunday decided to hold the by-poll for the member of the House of Representatives in accordance with the existing election act-2074 on April 23, 2023. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Earlier, Rastriya Swotantra Party’s President Rabi Lamichhane was elected to the House of Representatives from Chitwan constituency-2 in the general polls held on November 20, 2022. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Lamichhane had lost the status of a lawmaker after the Supreme Court ruled that citizenship certificate he produced to contest the parliamentary polls was invalid. Following the court verdict, Lamichhane had lost the portfolio of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister apart from the status of lawmaker. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16740', 'image' => '20230212062626_collage - 2023-02-12T182127.325.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 18:19:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16999', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Bans Import of Roses on the Eve of Valentine's Day', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: The government has banned the import of stem roses from abroad on the eve of Valentine's Day. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 12: The government has banned the import of stem roses from abroad on the eve of Valentine's Day. <br /> The Plant Quarantine and Pesticide Management Center under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development issued a notice on Thursday and directed its subordinate offices in border areas not to issue import permits for stem roses.<br /> The centre issued the notice after the ministry decided to ban import of roses. The ban will remain in force until another notice, says the centre.<br /> Chief of the Plant Quarantine and Pesticide Management Center Sabitri Baral argued that the import has been stopped for the time being due to the risk of plant diseases. She said that such a decision was taken upon the recommendation of experts. <br /> She said that the notice has been issued to 15 customs offices in border areas of Nepal with India and China.<br /> People involved in the flower business say that the government’s decision to ban import of roses will hit the consumers hard.<br /> Sushil Khadka, who is involved in flower business, says this will cause the price of flowers to skyrocket during the Valentine’s Day.<br /> Earlier, it was estimated that 168,000 stem rose alone would be consumed in the Kathmandu Valley while 112,000 stem roses will be consumed in the cities outside the valley. Last year, on the occasion of Valentine’s Day, 277,000 stem roses were traded in Nepal.<br /> However, the last-minute ban this year will affect the business hard as the orders were placed much before the government’s decision, say businessmen.<br /> According to Min Bahadur Tamang, president of the Nepal Floriculture Association, domestic production is able to meet only 7 percent of the total market demand for roses this time. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16738', 'image' => '20230212043219_20230209011533_20190214040655__RAB0977.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 16:31:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16998', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Health Services Resume as NMA Strikes Six-Point Deal with Government ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: The Nepal Medical Association (NMA) has decided to put off its protest programmes for the time being, following a six-point agreement with the government. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 12: The Nepal Medical Association (NMA) has decided to put off its protest programmes for the time being, following a six-point agreement with the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NMA had taken to the street and also halted the OPD services across the country on Sunday, in protest against the physical assault on a doctor by the police on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to NMA former chair Dr Mukti Raj Shrestha who was also in the talks team, the two sides reached a six-point agreement.</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"">“With this agreement, medical professionals are to get back to work,” he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting wished for quick recovery of the doctor injured in an incident that took place in front of the National Trauma Centre and the Bir Hospital at 4:15 pm on February 10 in course of the management of traffic for the VVIPs. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Senior orthopedic surgeon for the National Trauma Centre, Dr Janith Singh, was allegedly assaulted by a security person during President Bidya Devi Bhandari’s escort back to Sheetal Niwas after addressing a joint session of the Federal Parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the agreement, there is a need to effectively implement the provision relating to the security of health workers and health institutions in line with the Security of Health Workers and Health Organisations Act, 2066 (Revised), and further make security of health workers and health institutions effective. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The agreement was signed between Chairperson of the Nepal Medical Association (NMA) Dr Lochan Karki and Secretary of the Office of Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, Dr Ganesh Prasad Pandey. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Others present on the occasion were Jitendra Basnet, representative of the Home Ministry, Dr Rudra Marasini, representative of the Ministry of Health and Population, former NMA Chairperson Dr Mukti Ram Shrestha, NMA General Secretary Dr Badri Rijal, Secretary of the Health Ministry Dr Roshan Pokharel, Additional Inspector General of Police Dibesh Lohani, Joint Secretary of the Office of Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers Narayan Prasad Bhatta, Joint Secretary of the Health Ministry Krishna Paudel, Chief District Office, Kathmandu Ghana Shyam Upadhyay, Senior Superintendent of Police Dan Bahadur Karki, and Section Officer of the Office of Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers Sagar Adhikari. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16737', 'image' => '20230212040334_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 16:02:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16997', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Game-Changer Projects Moving ahead at Snail’s Pace', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: Although big projects titled as game changers are always the top priority of the government, the financial burden of the state is increasing day by day due to the non-completion of the projects on time.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 12: Although big projects titled as game changers are always the top priority of the government, the financial burden of the state is increasing day by day due to the non-completion of the projects on time.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although two dozen projects are listed as big projects, most of them are being built at a snail's pace. Most of the projects are under construction for a long time.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The future of some large infrastructure projects, that have a multifaceted effect on the country's economy, is in limbo due to the government's delay in preparing the detailed project report (DPR) and the modality of construction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Budhi Gandaki hydropower, Kathmandu-Terai/Madhesh Expressway, Nijgadh International Airport, West Seti Hydropower Project, Karnali-Chisapani Hydropower and Pancheshwar Multi-Purpose Projects classified as projects of national pride have not been able to move forward due to pending DPR and modalities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A study conducted by the National Planning Commission has shown that the initial cost has increased from Rs 1045 billion to Rs 2595 billion as large projects move at a snail's pace.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The construction of Budhigandaki hydropower project, which was advanced in 2069 with the target of completion in 2083, has not yet progressed. The study of the National Planning Commission shows that the cost of this project has now reached Rs 2 trillion 60 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another project that has been affected by the government's dilly dallying is the Kathmandu-Terai/Madhesh Expressway. Even this project has not been able to gain momentum. Now its cost has reached Rs 175 billion. The government has not yet taken a decision on the DPR of this project, which was started in 2065. The much-hyped Nijgadh International Airport project has not yet progressed. The cost has reached Rs 165 billion. Although the West Seti Hydropower and the much talked about Pancheswar multi-purpose project has come into the limelight recently, there is no word on when its construction will start.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As the progress of other projects is also seen at a snail's pace, the government itself has been questioned. Dilliraj Khanal, a member of the Public Expenditure Review Commission, considers past mistakes and weaknesses as the main factor in the slow progress of projects. The only reason why big projects are in trouble is because of project selection. In the past, projects were selected without studying the details. Now there is no choice but to accept the past mistakes and to proceed strictly in the project selection, he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that although some projects have been selected and construction started, they have been stalled due to lack of resource management and preparation for construction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Also, in the past, when big projects were determined, there was a problem in implementation. So, the government has introduced the 'criteria for determining national priority projects 2079' to be strict in the selection of such projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16736', 'image' => '20230212025820_fast track.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 14:57:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16996', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Internal Terminal of Chobhar Dry Port to Come into Operation Soon ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: The internal terminal of the Chobhar Dry Port in Kathmandu is going to come into operation soon. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 12: The internal terminal of the Chobhar Dry Port in Kathmandu is going to come into operation soon. The dry port, which is run by the Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Committee, came into operation since mid-March last year, but the internal terminal is yet to come into operation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Executive Director of the committee, Ashish Gajurel, shared that the operation of the internal terminal will be strted within a day or two after completing the due process of correspondence with the concerned agencies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The internal terminal in the dry port has a capacity for parking of 150 trucks and has warehouses, measurement scales as well as loading and unloading sheds. With the objective of facilitating trade, the entrance fee for the use of the terminal will be free while facilities such as vehicle parking and loading/unloading of goods will be available at the lowest possible fee, said Gajurel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Committee has requested the goods importers and exporters to use the Chobhar Dry Port and benefit from the services available at the port located on the outskirts of Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The dry port that spreads over an area of about 260 ropanis of land has services ranging from customs, quarantine, bank and other services. The port has three load-unload buildings, three warehouses, three administrative buildings, three weight measurement sheds, container yard, power substation, boundary light, and vehicle parking areas. The port's container yard has a 65,000 square meters parking area that can accommodate 500 containers and 500 trucks. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16735', 'image' => '20230212013517_Chobhar Dy port.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 13:34:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16995', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ensure Market for Domestic Agro Products: Peasants' Federation ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: The All Nepal Peasants' Federation (ANPF) has demanded the government to ensure market for the domestic agricultural products by fixing fair value for the products at the earliest. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 12: The All Nepal Peasants' Federation (ANPF) has demanded the government to ensure market for the domestic agricultural products by fixing fair value for the products at the earliest. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government should be sensitive towards making the issue of agriculture and guarantee food sovereignty, argued the farmers. According to the federation, the farmers must have decent opportunity to generate income and employment in this field and the government must play a supporting role.</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"">The federation argued that the farmers are drowning in debt without fair value of their produce and the lack of market, while the middlepersons are taking advantage of the situation.</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"">The federation’s President Balaram Baskota made such a remark at a press conference organised on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that a majority of Nepali people are engaged in agriculture on which the country's economy is based, he said, "Agriculture is taking a back seat due to failure to protect agricultural produces. On the other hand, farmers are struggling without fair price of their products." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">For the development of agriculture, it is main responsibility of the state to provide fertilisers and seeds in time and provide market for the products, he underscored. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that people's right to food sovereignty that was established through Nepali farmers' movements are connected to farmers' prosperity and agricultural transformation, the federation’s General Secretary Pramesh Pokharel viewed that the government should be serious about farmers' protest. “The farmers must be saved from the interference of the foreign products,” he said.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The federation has drawn the attention of the government to resolve problems of fertilisers, seeds and irrigation while expressing sorrow over the incidents in which the farmers had thrown away their agricultural produce in protest. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16734', 'image' => '20230212111916_agri maize.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 11:17:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16992', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Intensify Development Projects: President Bhandari ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 11: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has underscored the need for wiping out legal ambiguities and addressing interests and pressure of multi-stakeholders for intensifying development projects. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 11: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has underscored the need for wiping out legal ambiguities and addressing interests and pressure of multi-stakeholders for intensifying development projects. </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"">In her address to the joint sitting of the federal parliaments on Friday, President Bhandari expressed concerns regarding the lacklusture pace of development projects. </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"">“In order to address the problems, an enabling legislation should be immediately adopted and implemented. The legislation should facilitate the procurement process, utilization of forest area and public land, human resources management, contract management, linking employees’ performance appraisal to their performance level, inter-agency coordination, and incentives for project managers,” she said in the address. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> According to the president, all sides’ attention is required to guarantee quality of infrastructures. </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"">“Development activities cannot move properly in the absence of quality infrastructure. I am confident that the government will pay attention not only to the construction of infrastructure but also to the regular maintenance of the existing infrastructure by ensuring the implementation of an action plan with adequate resources,” President Bhandari said, adding that the development of an appropriate mechanism of mutual coordination for the integrated construction of different types of infrastructures at the beginning of the project would help build necessary coordination. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the president said attention must be paid to the proper utilization of resources in the selection and construction of infrastructure projects. Small projects that are implemented without necessary study and analyses lead to the misuse of resources and fail to yield the desired returns, said the president. </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"">“Instead of allocating the budget for such small projects yielding no returns, it is better to manage the resources to ensure that the ongoing projects are completed within the stipulated timeframe,” she said, expressing confidence that the government would prepare its policies and programmes accordingly in the days ahead. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Strategic infrastructure projects should be selected and built keeping national security at the core, according to her. Roads should be constructed not only as conventional infrastructure but also as links emotionally connecting the citizens of the country. </span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">She further believed that our priorities should include developing standard road network at all wards of the local level, linking the services provided by the state with the road network, developing transport infrastructure to facilitate the means of transportation and to deliver the goods and services to the market, providing easy and accessible transportation facilities to the common people, completing the ongoing road construction within the stipulated time, and marking road transportation safe and reliable. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President Bhandari was for preparing the framework of infrastructure development only upon ensuring the necessity, relevance and sustainability of the infrastructure. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-11', 'modified' => '2023-02-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16731', 'image' => '20230211064849_RP_Kanchanpur-2(1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-11 18:48:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16991', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President for Coordinated Efforts to Boost Production ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has stressed on the need for the government to implement a coordinated programme to increase production, as the domestic production needs to be strengthened in order to improve the economy. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 10: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has stressed on the need for the government to implement a coordinated programme to increase production, as the domestic production needs to be strengthened in order to improve the economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In her address to the joint sitting of both Houses of the Federal Parliament on Friday, the president said, "The agriculture sector still remains our area of comparative and competitive advantage." </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"">President Bhandari suggested that providing subsidies in agriculture on the basis of the quantity of production would provide an incentive to increase production. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“For this, it is necessary to have coordinated implementation of programmes on fertilizers, seeds, agricultural extension services, irrigation, capital and land while keeping agricultural output at the forefront,” she said. Furthermore, the value chain can be maintained by strengthening the internal distribution system and assisting the farmers to receive the right price for their produce on time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The president also noted that trade deficit can be reduced if agricultural programmes could be implemented in such a way that leads to self-sufficiency in certain food items within a specified timeline and then enabling to export surplus items. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The government should focus on creating an investment-friendly environment by providing the basic infrastructure, protecting the investment and building the necessary infrastructure up to the production site to boost production.” -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16730', 'image' => '20230210100726_President Bhandari addressing a joint meeting at Parliament House, 1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 22:06:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16990', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Interest Rate on Internal Debts of Government Increasing', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) issued a tight monetary policy for the current fiscal year and increased the policy rates. ', 'content' => '<p>February 10: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) issued a tight monetary policy for the current fiscal year and increased the policy rates. While under pressure from the external sector including high exchange rate deficit and declining foreign exchange reserves, NRB took a policy of tightening loans by increasing interest rates. Due to this, the internal interest rate of the government also became expensive.</p> <p>As NRB increased the policy rates, the banks started increasing the interest rate, making the interest of internal debt collected by the government through various monetary instruments expensive.</p> <p>NRB announced the monetary policy for the current year on July 23. Immediately after the announcement of the monetary policy, the government issued treasury bills as a tool for raising short-term domestic debt. Banks increased the interest rate on 91-day treasury bills issued on July 26 by 2.67 percentage points which was in single digits before the monetary policy.</p> <p>After that, NRB intervened several times and bought Treasury Bills itself, but the interest rate could not be reduced. So, NRB has to pay high interest rates when raising internal debt through Treasury Bills.</p> <p>Lately, the interest rate of the treasury started to decrease after the liquidity situation in the banks and financial institutions eased, but still, the interest rate is becoming more expensive for the government compared to the last FY. Last year, the interest rate of 28-day treasury bills remained at 4.72 percent.</p> <p>In the current year, the lowest interest rate for 28-day treasury was maintained on January 30 at 5.9 percent. Similarly, 9.18 percent interest rate is maintained on 91-day treasury bills, while the interest rate on 182- and 364-day treasury bills is still in double digits.</p> <p>Similarly, the interest rate of internal debt raised by the government through development bonds also became expensive. In the current year, the government raised Rs 30 billion through development bonds for a period of 2 to 5 years. Its average interest rate remained at 9.95 percent. Last year, when the government raised domestic debt through development bonds, the average interest rate was only 7.74 percent.</p> <p>As of last year, the internal debt of the government is Rs 984 billion. In the current fiscal year, the government set a target of raising domestic debt of Rs 256 billion. Out of that, Rs 30 billion of debt was raised in the second quarter. Similarly, the target is to raise Rs 88 billion in the third quarter and Rs 138 billion in the fourth quarter.</p> <p>Through the monetary policy of the current year, NRB adopted a policy of tightening the loans by increasing the interest rate. Through the policy, the bank rate increased by 1.5 percentage points to 8.5 percent. The deadline for standing liquidity facility (SLF) taken by banks for liquidity management also reduced from 2 days to 5 days only. Similarly, the policy rate increased from 5.5 percent to 7 percent, and the deposit collection rate increased from 4 percent to 5.5 percent.</p> <p>Interest rates of banks are becoming more expensive due to increase in policy rates and lack of liquidity in the financial system. However, as the liquidity situation in the financial system eased recently and the external pressure on the economy decreased, experts say that the internal economy should be made viable by reducing the policy rate through a review of the monetary policy.</p> <p>Former banker Analraj Bhattarai said, “Even though the external pressure on the economy is less now, the internal economy has not been able to run due to high interest rates. NRB should review the monetary policy.”</p> <p>NRB is conducting its half-yearly review of monetary policy today (Friday). It is expected that NRB, which maintained the policy regime in the first quarter monetary policy review, will review the policy rates in the second review.</p> <p>Governor of NRB, Mahaprasad Adhikari has also been indicating in public programs that the provisions of monetary policy will change according to time. He said, “Due to the arrangements made through the monetary policy, we have reached a somewhat comfortable situation. The provisions of the monetary policy are reviewed from time to time.”</p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16729', 'image' => '20230210075421_20230210043603_interest ratee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 19:53:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16987', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Supreme Court Rules in Favour of Foreign Investment in Agriculture', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February: The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled in favor of the legal provision to allow foreign investment in the agricultural sector. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February: The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled in favor of the legal provision to allow foreign investment in the agricultural sector. The path to bring in foreign investment in the agricultural sector has been opened after SC rejected the petition demanding the non-implementation of the amendment to the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act, 2075 to bring in foreign investment in the agricultural sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the need for foreign investment in the agricultural sector was raised several times, but the obstacles to foreign investment could not be removed. Especially industrialists and businessmen have been arguing that small farmers cannot compete with foreign investment in agriculture.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government amended the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act, 2075 to allow foreign investment in the agricultural sector with the objective of exporting 75 percent of the produce.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the said act, the government amended the previous provision that foreign investment could not be brought in the fields of livestock, fishery, beekeeping, fruits, vegetables, oilseeds, pulses, dairy business, etc. A writ was filed in the SC against such a provision made by the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A few days ago, the full text of the decision of the SC’s division bench of justices Prakash Kumar Dhungana and Kumar Chudal dismissing the writ petition filed to prohibit foreign investment in the agriculture sector came out. In the text of the SC verdict, it is mentioned that there will be no negative impact on the domestic agricultural industry due to the opening of foreign investment, and there will be no loss or damage to the nation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The SC opined that since foreign investment is opened on the condition that at least 75 percent of the production is exported, small farmers and domestic production will not be affected. Similarly, it is mentioned in the full text that the provision of foreign investment will remain in place for industries that export agricultural products produced in Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">SC said that technology will be transferred through foreign investment, the modernization of agriculture will increase and as a result, the quantity and quality of agricultural products will also increase. It is also mentioned in the full text that this will help in the import substitution of agricultural produce and increase employment due to foreign technology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the full text of SC, large investment is required for commercial farming and when foreign investment comes in, not only investment but also technology and skills will come in. The verdict states, “Since foreign investment in agriculture does not seem to affect small farmers and domestic producers, it is not appropriate to think that foreign investment will affect domestic investment.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16726', 'image' => '20230210042029_Agri.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 16:19:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16985', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Directs CAAN to suspend TIA Director General Thakur over Bribery Allegation', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to suspend Director General of the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Prem Nath Thakur.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 10: The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to suspend Director General of the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Prem Nath Thakur. </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"">The ministry took such a decision following a revelation of an audio conversation in which Thakur is heard seeking personal benefits from an airline company.</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"">Joint Secretary Rajendra Kumar KC, who is also the ministry's spokesperson, confirmed that CAAN has been directed to fire Thakur. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Thakur has been charged with holding a conversation with Thai Smile Airlines for his personal gains illegally. As per the cabinet decision, CAAN has been asked to suspend Thakur to help investigate the matter,” he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the ministry has urged the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to launch further investigations into the matter, added KC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Some days ago, the CIAA had arrested Purna Chudal, the TIA chief (domestic terminal) along with a bribe. Thakur’s involvement in seeking personal gains came to the fore after the arrest of Chudal. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16724', 'image' => '20230210031858_CAAN.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 15:17:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16984', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Monetary Policy Review Gives Relief to Borrowers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has adopted liberal policy with an objective of providing some relief to the borrowers. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 10: The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has adopted liberal policy with an objective of providing some relief to the borrowers. The central bank has given some relief to the borrowers by publishing a half-yearly review of the monetary policy of the current fiscal year, 2022/23 on Friday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank has made an arrangement so that banks cannot take penalty interest till mid-June 2023 if a borrower makes payment of loans along with interest within a month after the expiry of the deadline, reads the review. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, there is a provision that loans up to Rs 20 million floated through banks and financial institutions to facilitate to small and medium industries and businesses can be restructured within July 16 after analysing their cash flow and incomes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The monetary policy had mandated commercial banks to invest at least 11 percent of their total loans in agriculture sector, sic percent in energy sector and 11 percent in micro, cottage and small scale industries (less than Rs 10 million loans including deprived sector lending).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The mid-term review states that commercial banks have invested 13 percent in agriculture (Rs 543.47 billion), 6.3 percent in energy sector (Rs 262.55 billion) and 9.5 percent in micro, cottage and small scale industries (Rs 396.91 billion) as of mid-December 2022.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While issuing the mid-term review of the monetary policy, NRB stated that the monetary policy of the current fiscal year had set a target of increasing foreign exchange reserves that can support imports for seven months. The mid-term review states that the central bank has exceeded this target as the foreign exchange reserves of the country can support imports for 9.1 months.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The mid-term review also states that there has been a general improvement in the economy in the first six months of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the average inter-bank rate, which was 4.77 percent in mid-December to mid-January a year ago has increased to 7.73 percent in the corresponding period of this year. The average inter-bank rate was 7.01 percent in mid-July last year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16723', 'image' => '20230210042209_20220727022441_monetary policy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 14:42:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16983', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industrialists Urge for Load Shedding Instead of Unannounced Power Cuts', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: Fed up with the frequent power cuts without prior notice, the industry operators of Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor have requested the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to announce load shedding rather than unannounced power cuts.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 10: Fed up with the frequent power cuts without prior notice, the industry operators of Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor have requested the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to announce load shedding rather than unannounced power cuts. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hari Gautam, coordinator of the industry committee under the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that electricity is cut for 8/9 hours every day in the main industrial corridor.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Currently, the production of most of the industries has decreased. Industrialists claim that when the production has dropped to 25 percent, lack of electricity has added to the problem. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Gautam, who is also the vice president of the association, said, “There are problems in the production shift management as well due to power cuts without notice. Instead, it would have been easier if the schedule of load shedding was available.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industrialists complain that production has been badly affected due to the frequent power cuts without notice. Iron, cement and furnace-based industries which consume more electricity are affected more.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As compared to the previous years, the domestic production of electricity and import from India has decreased this year, due to which NEA started cutting its supply to the industries. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the authority's top officials, the power supply in the industry is reduced by 2/3 hours in order to manage the demand during peak hours. However, industrialists said that electricity is interrupted many times throughout the day.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NEA’s data, the demand for electricity in the peak hour is 1,700 megawatts. Authority officials say that domestic production is at most 1,300 MW and 400 MW is being imported from India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The authority claims that this year, production has decreased by 20 percent compared to last year's winter and imports from India are also affected, creating imbalance in supply and demand. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The authority buys electricity from India and has to pay more during peak hours, so it brings it during off hours. NEA has been importing mostly from Bihar of India and Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor is supplied from the same line. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA spokesperson Suresh Bhattarai says that two thermal plants with a capacity of 1,400 megawatts in Bihar are damaged, so they have not been able to bring in the required amount of electricity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Madhav Rajpal, vice president of the association, there are problems such as wastage of raw materials, reduction in production, burning and deterioration of equipment, and deterioration in the quality of products due to frequent power cuts in the industry. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He commented that a dark age has started in the industry less than four years after the end of load shedding.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Industrialists say that they have been trapped in an all-round crisis since the Covid-19 pandemic and the energy insecurity is hitting them even harder. Gautam complains that due to the recession in the market, the industry is running only for 12 hours, and due to the lack of regular electricity supply, it has not been able to run for even eight hours. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16722', 'image' => '20230210013223_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 13:31:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16982', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Paddy Farmers Happy with Price Hike, Consumers Complain ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: Farmers have felt a sense of relief this year with the rise in the price of paddy while the consumers are at the receiving end.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 10: Farmers have felt a sense of relief this year with the rise in the price of paddy while the consumers are at the receiving end. The price of paddy has increased by Rs 300 per quintal compared to the previous year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As neighbouring India has imposed a quota on paddy export, the price of paddy in Nepal has increased along with the increase in price of paddy in India. India has fixed an export quota of 600,000 tons of paddy for Nepal in the current fiscal year </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the increase in the price of paddy, Sona Mansuli variety of rice available at Rs 48 per kg now costs Rs 58 per kg while the price of Mansuli has reached Rs 64 from Rs 50 per kg. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farmers of Madhes province, including Parsa, a pocket area for paddy production, have been suffering due to low price but they have finally got some relief. Sitaram Prasad, a farmer of Lalparsa in Birgunj Ward No 30, says, "The price of paddy does not even meet the cost of production, but this time it has increased." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Kismatia Devi, a paddy farmer of Sabathwa-4, Parsa, however said although the new price is some relief, it is not enough. </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"">Meanwhile, even though the farmers are happy with the increase in the price of paddy the consumers are at the receiving end. The price of rice has increased by Rs 15 to 25 per kg. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sarita Devi Kurmi of Birgunj Metropolis, Ward No 12 said the sudden increase in the price of rice has made daily expenses hard to meet. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Central President of Nepal Rice, Oil and Pulses Industry Association, Subodh Gupta, says Nepal still depends on India to meet 50 to 60 percent demand for paddy.</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""> “Since India has increased the support price for paddy, it has led to an increase in the price of rice, which is mostly imported from India,” says Gupta. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16721', 'image' => '20230210115354_640px-Rice_Plants_(IRRI).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 11:53:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16981', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Asian Hydropower Limited Opens Sale Of IPO to General Public ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Asian Hydropower Limited is opening sale of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) to the general public in the second phase from Friday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 10: Asian Hydropower Limited is opening sale of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) to the general public in the second phase from Friday.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The company is offering 7,56,000 units of shares to the general public, including the mutual fund schemes and employees of the company.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Out of the total shares, 42,000 units of shares have been allotted to the mutual fund schemes. Likewise, 16,000 shares have been set aside for the employees of the company.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> General public an participate in the remaining 6,97,200 units of shares.<br /> Interested investors can apply for a minim of 10 kitta and a maximum of 20,000 kitta of shares at a face value of Rs 100.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The offer will end on February 14. If the IPO remains under-subscribed, the deadline will extend until February 24.<br /> In the first phase, the hydropower company had issued and allotted public offerings to the project affected locals of Ilam district and Nepali citizens working in foreign countries.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Asian Hydropower Limited has developed Lower Jogmai Khola Hydropower in Ilam district. The run-of-the river project has installed capacity of 6.2 megawatts.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The project has been producing power for the last one year. Per megawatt cost for the hydropower construction stands at Rs 21.15 crores</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">NMB Capital is the issue and sales manager of the hydropower company. Interested individuals can apply for the IPO from all C-ASBA-approved banks and financial institutions by the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON). The IPO can also be purchased from Meroshare.</span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16720', 'image' => '20230210061838_collage (64) (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 06:14:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ) ) $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' => '17001', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Election Commission to Hold By-election in Chitwan-2 on April 23 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Election Commission has decided to hold the by-election in Chitwan constituency-2 on April 23, 2023.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> February 12: Election Commission has decided to hold the by-election in Chitwan constituency-2 on April 23, 2023. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A meeting of the Election Commission held on Sunday decided to hold the by-poll for the member of the House of Representatives in accordance with the existing election act-2074 on April 23, 2023. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Earlier, Rastriya Swotantra Party’s President Rabi Lamichhane was elected to the House of Representatives from Chitwan constituency-2 in the general polls held on November 20, 2022. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Lamichhane had lost the status of a lawmaker after the Supreme Court ruled that citizenship certificate he produced to contest the parliamentary polls was invalid. Following the court verdict, Lamichhane had lost the portfolio of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister apart from the status of lawmaker. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16740', 'image' => '20230212062626_collage - 2023-02-12T182127.325.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 18:19:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16999', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Bans Import of Roses on the Eve of Valentine's Day', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: The government has banned the import of stem roses from abroad on the eve of Valentine's Day. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 12: The government has banned the import of stem roses from abroad on the eve of Valentine's Day. <br /> The Plant Quarantine and Pesticide Management Center under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development issued a notice on Thursday and directed its subordinate offices in border areas not to issue import permits for stem roses.<br /> The centre issued the notice after the ministry decided to ban import of roses. The ban will remain in force until another notice, says the centre.<br /> Chief of the Plant Quarantine and Pesticide Management Center Sabitri Baral argued that the import has been stopped for the time being due to the risk of plant diseases. She said that such a decision was taken upon the recommendation of experts. <br /> She said that the notice has been issued to 15 customs offices in border areas of Nepal with India and China.<br /> People involved in the flower business say that the government’s decision to ban import of roses will hit the consumers hard.<br /> Sushil Khadka, who is involved in flower business, says this will cause the price of flowers to skyrocket during the Valentine’s Day.<br /> Earlier, it was estimated that 168,000 stem rose alone would be consumed in the Kathmandu Valley while 112,000 stem roses will be consumed in the cities outside the valley. Last year, on the occasion of Valentine’s Day, 277,000 stem roses were traded in Nepal.<br /> However, the last-minute ban this year will affect the business hard as the orders were placed much before the government’s decision, say businessmen.<br /> According to Min Bahadur Tamang, president of the Nepal Floriculture Association, domestic production is able to meet only 7 percent of the total market demand for roses this time. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16738', 'image' => '20230212043219_20230209011533_20190214040655__RAB0977.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 16:31:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16998', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Health Services Resume as NMA Strikes Six-Point Deal with Government ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: The Nepal Medical Association (NMA) has decided to put off its protest programmes for the time being, following a six-point agreement with the government. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 12: The Nepal Medical Association (NMA) has decided to put off its protest programmes for the time being, following a six-point agreement with the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NMA had taken to the street and also halted the OPD services across the country on Sunday, in protest against the physical assault on a doctor by the police on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to NMA former chair Dr Mukti Raj Shrestha who was also in the talks team, the two sides reached a six-point agreement.</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"">“With this agreement, medical professionals are to get back to work,” he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting wished for quick recovery of the doctor injured in an incident that took place in front of the National Trauma Centre and the Bir Hospital at 4:15 pm on February 10 in course of the management of traffic for the VVIPs. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Senior orthopedic surgeon for the National Trauma Centre, Dr Janith Singh, was allegedly assaulted by a security person during President Bidya Devi Bhandari’s escort back to Sheetal Niwas after addressing a joint session of the Federal Parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the agreement, there is a need to effectively implement the provision relating to the security of health workers and health institutions in line with the Security of Health Workers and Health Organisations Act, 2066 (Revised), and further make security of health workers and health institutions effective. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The agreement was signed between Chairperson of the Nepal Medical Association (NMA) Dr Lochan Karki and Secretary of the Office of Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, Dr Ganesh Prasad Pandey. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Others present on the occasion were Jitendra Basnet, representative of the Home Ministry, Dr Rudra Marasini, representative of the Ministry of Health and Population, former NMA Chairperson Dr Mukti Ram Shrestha, NMA General Secretary Dr Badri Rijal, Secretary of the Health Ministry Dr Roshan Pokharel, Additional Inspector General of Police Dibesh Lohani, Joint Secretary of the Office of Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers Narayan Prasad Bhatta, Joint Secretary of the Health Ministry Krishna Paudel, Chief District Office, Kathmandu Ghana Shyam Upadhyay, Senior Superintendent of Police Dan Bahadur Karki, and Section Officer of the Office of Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers Sagar Adhikari. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16737', 'image' => '20230212040334_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 16:02:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16997', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Game-Changer Projects Moving ahead at Snail’s Pace', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: Although big projects titled as game changers are always the top priority of the government, the financial burden of the state is increasing day by day due to the non-completion of the projects on time.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 12: Although big projects titled as game changers are always the top priority of the government, the financial burden of the state is increasing day by day due to the non-completion of the projects on time.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although two dozen projects are listed as big projects, most of them are being built at a snail's pace. Most of the projects are under construction for a long time.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The future of some large infrastructure projects, that have a multifaceted effect on the country's economy, is in limbo due to the government's delay in preparing the detailed project report (DPR) and the modality of construction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Budhi Gandaki hydropower, Kathmandu-Terai/Madhesh Expressway, Nijgadh International Airport, West Seti Hydropower Project, Karnali-Chisapani Hydropower and Pancheshwar Multi-Purpose Projects classified as projects of national pride have not been able to move forward due to pending DPR and modalities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A study conducted by the National Planning Commission has shown that the initial cost has increased from Rs 1045 billion to Rs 2595 billion as large projects move at a snail's pace.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The construction of Budhigandaki hydropower project, which was advanced in 2069 with the target of completion in 2083, has not yet progressed. The study of the National Planning Commission shows that the cost of this project has now reached Rs 2 trillion 60 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another project that has been affected by the government's dilly dallying is the Kathmandu-Terai/Madhesh Expressway. Even this project has not been able to gain momentum. Now its cost has reached Rs 175 billion. The government has not yet taken a decision on the DPR of this project, which was started in 2065. The much-hyped Nijgadh International Airport project has not yet progressed. The cost has reached Rs 165 billion. Although the West Seti Hydropower and the much talked about Pancheswar multi-purpose project has come into the limelight recently, there is no word on when its construction will start.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As the progress of other projects is also seen at a snail's pace, the government itself has been questioned. Dilliraj Khanal, a member of the Public Expenditure Review Commission, considers past mistakes and weaknesses as the main factor in the slow progress of projects. The only reason why big projects are in trouble is because of project selection. In the past, projects were selected without studying the details. Now there is no choice but to accept the past mistakes and to proceed strictly in the project selection, he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that although some projects have been selected and construction started, they have been stalled due to lack of resource management and preparation for construction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Also, in the past, when big projects were determined, there was a problem in implementation. So, the government has introduced the 'criteria for determining national priority projects 2079' to be strict in the selection of such projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16736', 'image' => '20230212025820_fast track.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 14:57:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16996', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Internal Terminal of Chobhar Dry Port to Come into Operation Soon ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: The internal terminal of the Chobhar Dry Port in Kathmandu is going to come into operation soon. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 12: The internal terminal of the Chobhar Dry Port in Kathmandu is going to come into operation soon. The dry port, which is run by the Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Committee, came into operation since mid-March last year, but the internal terminal is yet to come into operation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Executive Director of the committee, Ashish Gajurel, shared that the operation of the internal terminal will be strted within a day or two after completing the due process of correspondence with the concerned agencies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The internal terminal in the dry port has a capacity for parking of 150 trucks and has warehouses, measurement scales as well as loading and unloading sheds. With the objective of facilitating trade, the entrance fee for the use of the terminal will be free while facilities such as vehicle parking and loading/unloading of goods will be available at the lowest possible fee, said Gajurel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Committee has requested the goods importers and exporters to use the Chobhar Dry Port and benefit from the services available at the port located on the outskirts of Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The dry port that spreads over an area of about 260 ropanis of land has services ranging from customs, quarantine, bank and other services. The port has three load-unload buildings, three warehouses, three administrative buildings, three weight measurement sheds, container yard, power substation, boundary light, and vehicle parking areas. The port's container yard has a 65,000 square meters parking area that can accommodate 500 containers and 500 trucks. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16735', 'image' => '20230212013517_Chobhar Dy port.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 13:34:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16995', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ensure Market for Domestic Agro Products: Peasants' Federation ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: The All Nepal Peasants' Federation (ANPF) has demanded the government to ensure market for the domestic agricultural products by fixing fair value for the products at the earliest. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 12: The All Nepal Peasants' Federation (ANPF) has demanded the government to ensure market for the domestic agricultural products by fixing fair value for the products at the earliest. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government should be sensitive towards making the issue of agriculture and guarantee food sovereignty, argued the farmers. According to the federation, the farmers must have decent opportunity to generate income and employment in this field and the government must play a supporting role.</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"">The federation argued that the farmers are drowning in debt without fair value of their produce and the lack of market, while the middlepersons are taking advantage of the situation.</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"">The federation’s President Balaram Baskota made such a remark at a press conference organised on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that a majority of Nepali people are engaged in agriculture on which the country's economy is based, he said, "Agriculture is taking a back seat due to failure to protect agricultural produces. On the other hand, farmers are struggling without fair price of their products." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">For the development of agriculture, it is main responsibility of the state to provide fertilisers and seeds in time and provide market for the products, he underscored. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that people's right to food sovereignty that was established through Nepali farmers' movements are connected to farmers' prosperity and agricultural transformation, the federation’s General Secretary Pramesh Pokharel viewed that the government should be serious about farmers' protest. “The farmers must be saved from the interference of the foreign products,” he said.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The federation has drawn the attention of the government to resolve problems of fertilisers, seeds and irrigation while expressing sorrow over the incidents in which the farmers had thrown away their agricultural produce in protest. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16734', 'image' => '20230212111916_agri maize.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 11:17:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16992', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Intensify Development Projects: President Bhandari ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 11: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has underscored the need for wiping out legal ambiguities and addressing interests and pressure of multi-stakeholders for intensifying development projects. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 11: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has underscored the need for wiping out legal ambiguities and addressing interests and pressure of multi-stakeholders for intensifying development projects. </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"">In her address to the joint sitting of the federal parliaments on Friday, President Bhandari expressed concerns regarding the lacklusture pace of development projects. </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"">“In order to address the problems, an enabling legislation should be immediately adopted and implemented. The legislation should facilitate the procurement process, utilization of forest area and public land, human resources management, contract management, linking employees’ performance appraisal to their performance level, inter-agency coordination, and incentives for project managers,” she said in the address. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> According to the president, all sides’ attention is required to guarantee quality of infrastructures. </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"">“Development activities cannot move properly in the absence of quality infrastructure. I am confident that the government will pay attention not only to the construction of infrastructure but also to the regular maintenance of the existing infrastructure by ensuring the implementation of an action plan with adequate resources,” President Bhandari said, adding that the development of an appropriate mechanism of mutual coordination for the integrated construction of different types of infrastructures at the beginning of the project would help build necessary coordination. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the president said attention must be paid to the proper utilization of resources in the selection and construction of infrastructure projects. Small projects that are implemented without necessary study and analyses lead to the misuse of resources and fail to yield the desired returns, said the president. </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"">“Instead of allocating the budget for such small projects yielding no returns, it is better to manage the resources to ensure that the ongoing projects are completed within the stipulated timeframe,” she said, expressing confidence that the government would prepare its policies and programmes accordingly in the days ahead. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Strategic infrastructure projects should be selected and built keeping national security at the core, according to her. Roads should be constructed not only as conventional infrastructure but also as links emotionally connecting the citizens of the country. </span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">She further believed that our priorities should include developing standard road network at all wards of the local level, linking the services provided by the state with the road network, developing transport infrastructure to facilitate the means of transportation and to deliver the goods and services to the market, providing easy and accessible transportation facilities to the common people, completing the ongoing road construction within the stipulated time, and marking road transportation safe and reliable. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President Bhandari was for preparing the framework of infrastructure development only upon ensuring the necessity, relevance and sustainability of the infrastructure. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-11', 'modified' => '2023-02-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16731', 'image' => '20230211064849_RP_Kanchanpur-2(1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-11 18:48:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16991', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President for Coordinated Efforts to Boost Production ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has stressed on the need for the government to implement a coordinated programme to increase production, as the domestic production needs to be strengthened in order to improve the economy. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 10: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has stressed on the need for the government to implement a coordinated programme to increase production, as the domestic production needs to be strengthened in order to improve the economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In her address to the joint sitting of both Houses of the Federal Parliament on Friday, the president said, "The agriculture sector still remains our area of comparative and competitive advantage." </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"">President Bhandari suggested that providing subsidies in agriculture on the basis of the quantity of production would provide an incentive to increase production. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“For this, it is necessary to have coordinated implementation of programmes on fertilizers, seeds, agricultural extension services, irrigation, capital and land while keeping agricultural output at the forefront,” she said. Furthermore, the value chain can be maintained by strengthening the internal distribution system and assisting the farmers to receive the right price for their produce on time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The president also noted that trade deficit can be reduced if agricultural programmes could be implemented in such a way that leads to self-sufficiency in certain food items within a specified timeline and then enabling to export surplus items. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The government should focus on creating an investment-friendly environment by providing the basic infrastructure, protecting the investment and building the necessary infrastructure up to the production site to boost production.” -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16730', 'image' => '20230210100726_President Bhandari addressing a joint meeting at Parliament House, 1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 22:06:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16990', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Interest Rate on Internal Debts of Government Increasing', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) issued a tight monetary policy for the current fiscal year and increased the policy rates. ', 'content' => '<p>February 10: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) issued a tight monetary policy for the current fiscal year and increased the policy rates. While under pressure from the external sector including high exchange rate deficit and declining foreign exchange reserves, NRB took a policy of tightening loans by increasing interest rates. Due to this, the internal interest rate of the government also became expensive.</p> <p>As NRB increased the policy rates, the banks started increasing the interest rate, making the interest of internal debt collected by the government through various monetary instruments expensive.</p> <p>NRB announced the monetary policy for the current year on July 23. Immediately after the announcement of the monetary policy, the government issued treasury bills as a tool for raising short-term domestic debt. Banks increased the interest rate on 91-day treasury bills issued on July 26 by 2.67 percentage points which was in single digits before the monetary policy.</p> <p>After that, NRB intervened several times and bought Treasury Bills itself, but the interest rate could not be reduced. So, NRB has to pay high interest rates when raising internal debt through Treasury Bills.</p> <p>Lately, the interest rate of the treasury started to decrease after the liquidity situation in the banks and financial institutions eased, but still, the interest rate is becoming more expensive for the government compared to the last FY. Last year, the interest rate of 28-day treasury bills remained at 4.72 percent.</p> <p>In the current year, the lowest interest rate for 28-day treasury was maintained on January 30 at 5.9 percent. Similarly, 9.18 percent interest rate is maintained on 91-day treasury bills, while the interest rate on 182- and 364-day treasury bills is still in double digits.</p> <p>Similarly, the interest rate of internal debt raised by the government through development bonds also became expensive. In the current year, the government raised Rs 30 billion through development bonds for a period of 2 to 5 years. Its average interest rate remained at 9.95 percent. Last year, when the government raised domestic debt through development bonds, the average interest rate was only 7.74 percent.</p> <p>As of last year, the internal debt of the government is Rs 984 billion. In the current fiscal year, the government set a target of raising domestic debt of Rs 256 billion. Out of that, Rs 30 billion of debt was raised in the second quarter. Similarly, the target is to raise Rs 88 billion in the third quarter and Rs 138 billion in the fourth quarter.</p> <p>Through the monetary policy of the current year, NRB adopted a policy of tightening the loans by increasing the interest rate. Through the policy, the bank rate increased by 1.5 percentage points to 8.5 percent. The deadline for standing liquidity facility (SLF) taken by banks for liquidity management also reduced from 2 days to 5 days only. Similarly, the policy rate increased from 5.5 percent to 7 percent, and the deposit collection rate increased from 4 percent to 5.5 percent.</p> <p>Interest rates of banks are becoming more expensive due to increase in policy rates and lack of liquidity in the financial system. However, as the liquidity situation in the financial system eased recently and the external pressure on the economy decreased, experts say that the internal economy should be made viable by reducing the policy rate through a review of the monetary policy.</p> <p>Former banker Analraj Bhattarai said, “Even though the external pressure on the economy is less now, the internal economy has not been able to run due to high interest rates. NRB should review the monetary policy.”</p> <p>NRB is conducting its half-yearly review of monetary policy today (Friday). It is expected that NRB, which maintained the policy regime in the first quarter monetary policy review, will review the policy rates in the second review.</p> <p>Governor of NRB, Mahaprasad Adhikari has also been indicating in public programs that the provisions of monetary policy will change according to time. He said, “Due to the arrangements made through the monetary policy, we have reached a somewhat comfortable situation. The provisions of the monetary policy are reviewed from time to time.”</p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16729', 'image' => '20230210075421_20230210043603_interest ratee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 19:53:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16987', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Supreme Court Rules in Favour of Foreign Investment in Agriculture', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February: The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled in favor of the legal provision to allow foreign investment in the agricultural sector. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February: The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled in favor of the legal provision to allow foreign investment in the agricultural sector. The path to bring in foreign investment in the agricultural sector has been opened after SC rejected the petition demanding the non-implementation of the amendment to the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act, 2075 to bring in foreign investment in the agricultural sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the need for foreign investment in the agricultural sector was raised several times, but the obstacles to foreign investment could not be removed. Especially industrialists and businessmen have been arguing that small farmers cannot compete with foreign investment in agriculture.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government amended the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act, 2075 to allow foreign investment in the agricultural sector with the objective of exporting 75 percent of the produce.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the said act, the government amended the previous provision that foreign investment could not be brought in the fields of livestock, fishery, beekeeping, fruits, vegetables, oilseeds, pulses, dairy business, etc. A writ was filed in the SC against such a provision made by the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A few days ago, the full text of the decision of the SC’s division bench of justices Prakash Kumar Dhungana and Kumar Chudal dismissing the writ petition filed to prohibit foreign investment in the agriculture sector came out. In the text of the SC verdict, it is mentioned that there will be no negative impact on the domestic agricultural industry due to the opening of foreign investment, and there will be no loss or damage to the nation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The SC opined that since foreign investment is opened on the condition that at least 75 percent of the production is exported, small farmers and domestic production will not be affected. Similarly, it is mentioned in the full text that the provision of foreign investment will remain in place for industries that export agricultural products produced in Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">SC said that technology will be transferred through foreign investment, the modernization of agriculture will increase and as a result, the quantity and quality of agricultural products will also increase. It is also mentioned in the full text that this will help in the import substitution of agricultural produce and increase employment due to foreign technology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the full text of SC, large investment is required for commercial farming and when foreign investment comes in, not only investment but also technology and skills will come in. The verdict states, “Since foreign investment in agriculture does not seem to affect small farmers and domestic producers, it is not appropriate to think that foreign investment will affect domestic investment.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16726', 'image' => '20230210042029_Agri.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 16:19:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16985', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Directs CAAN to suspend TIA Director General Thakur over Bribery Allegation', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to suspend Director General of the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Prem Nath Thakur.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 10: The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to suspend Director General of the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Prem Nath Thakur. </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"">The ministry took such a decision following a revelation of an audio conversation in which Thakur is heard seeking personal benefits from an airline company.</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"">Joint Secretary Rajendra Kumar KC, who is also the ministry's spokesperson, confirmed that CAAN has been directed to fire Thakur. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Thakur has been charged with holding a conversation with Thai Smile Airlines for his personal gains illegally. As per the cabinet decision, CAAN has been asked to suspend Thakur to help investigate the matter,” he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the ministry has urged the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to launch further investigations into the matter, added KC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Some days ago, the CIAA had arrested Purna Chudal, the TIA chief (domestic terminal) along with a bribe. Thakur’s involvement in seeking personal gains came to the fore after the arrest of Chudal. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16724', 'image' => '20230210031858_CAAN.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 15:17:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16984', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Monetary Policy Review Gives Relief to Borrowers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has adopted liberal policy with an objective of providing some relief to the borrowers. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 10: The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has adopted liberal policy with an objective of providing some relief to the borrowers. The central bank has given some relief to the borrowers by publishing a half-yearly review of the monetary policy of the current fiscal year, 2022/23 on Friday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank has made an arrangement so that banks cannot take penalty interest till mid-June 2023 if a borrower makes payment of loans along with interest within a month after the expiry of the deadline, reads the review. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, there is a provision that loans up to Rs 20 million floated through banks and financial institutions to facilitate to small and medium industries and businesses can be restructured within July 16 after analysing their cash flow and incomes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The monetary policy had mandated commercial banks to invest at least 11 percent of their total loans in agriculture sector, sic percent in energy sector and 11 percent in micro, cottage and small scale industries (less than Rs 10 million loans including deprived sector lending).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The mid-term review states that commercial banks have invested 13 percent in agriculture (Rs 543.47 billion), 6.3 percent in energy sector (Rs 262.55 billion) and 9.5 percent in micro, cottage and small scale industries (Rs 396.91 billion) as of mid-December 2022.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While issuing the mid-term review of the monetary policy, NRB stated that the monetary policy of the current fiscal year had set a target of increasing foreign exchange reserves that can support imports for seven months. The mid-term review states that the central bank has exceeded this target as the foreign exchange reserves of the country can support imports for 9.1 months.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The mid-term review also states that there has been a general improvement in the economy in the first six months of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the average inter-bank rate, which was 4.77 percent in mid-December to mid-January a year ago has increased to 7.73 percent in the corresponding period of this year. The average inter-bank rate was 7.01 percent in mid-July last year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16723', 'image' => '20230210042209_20220727022441_monetary policy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 14:42:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16983', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industrialists Urge for Load Shedding Instead of Unannounced Power Cuts', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: Fed up with the frequent power cuts without prior notice, the industry operators of Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor have requested the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to announce load shedding rather than unannounced power cuts.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 10: Fed up with the frequent power cuts without prior notice, the industry operators of Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor have requested the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to announce load shedding rather than unannounced power cuts. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hari Gautam, coordinator of the industry committee under the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that electricity is cut for 8/9 hours every day in the main industrial corridor.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Currently, the production of most of the industries has decreased. Industrialists claim that when the production has dropped to 25 percent, lack of electricity has added to the problem. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Gautam, who is also the vice president of the association, said, “There are problems in the production shift management as well due to power cuts without notice. Instead, it would have been easier if the schedule of load shedding was available.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industrialists complain that production has been badly affected due to the frequent power cuts without notice. Iron, cement and furnace-based industries which consume more electricity are affected more.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As compared to the previous years, the domestic production of electricity and import from India has decreased this year, due to which NEA started cutting its supply to the industries. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the authority's top officials, the power supply in the industry is reduced by 2/3 hours in order to manage the demand during peak hours. However, industrialists said that electricity is interrupted many times throughout the day.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NEA’s data, the demand for electricity in the peak hour is 1,700 megawatts. Authority officials say that domestic production is at most 1,300 MW and 400 MW is being imported from India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The authority claims that this year, production has decreased by 20 percent compared to last year's winter and imports from India are also affected, creating imbalance in supply and demand. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The authority buys electricity from India and has to pay more during peak hours, so it brings it during off hours. NEA has been importing mostly from Bihar of India and Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor is supplied from the same line. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA spokesperson Suresh Bhattarai says that two thermal plants with a capacity of 1,400 megawatts in Bihar are damaged, so they have not been able to bring in the required amount of electricity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Madhav Rajpal, vice president of the association, there are problems such as wastage of raw materials, reduction in production, burning and deterioration of equipment, and deterioration in the quality of products due to frequent power cuts in the industry. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He commented that a dark age has started in the industry less than four years after the end of load shedding.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Industrialists say that they have been trapped in an all-round crisis since the Covid-19 pandemic and the energy insecurity is hitting them even harder. Gautam complains that due to the recession in the market, the industry is running only for 12 hours, and due to the lack of regular electricity supply, it has not been able to run for even eight hours. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16722', 'image' => '20230210013223_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 13:31:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16982', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Paddy Farmers Happy with Price Hike, Consumers Complain ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: Farmers have felt a sense of relief this year with the rise in the price of paddy while the consumers are at the receiving end.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 10: Farmers have felt a sense of relief this year with the rise in the price of paddy while the consumers are at the receiving end. The price of paddy has increased by Rs 300 per quintal compared to the previous year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As neighbouring India has imposed a quota on paddy export, the price of paddy in Nepal has increased along with the increase in price of paddy in India. India has fixed an export quota of 600,000 tons of paddy for Nepal in the current fiscal year </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the increase in the price of paddy, Sona Mansuli variety of rice available at Rs 48 per kg now costs Rs 58 per kg while the price of Mansuli has reached Rs 64 from Rs 50 per kg. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farmers of Madhes province, including Parsa, a pocket area for paddy production, have been suffering due to low price but they have finally got some relief. Sitaram Prasad, a farmer of Lalparsa in Birgunj Ward No 30, says, "The price of paddy does not even meet the cost of production, but this time it has increased." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Kismatia Devi, a paddy farmer of Sabathwa-4, Parsa, however said although the new price is some relief, it is not enough. </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"">Meanwhile, even though the farmers are happy with the increase in the price of paddy the consumers are at the receiving end. The price of rice has increased by Rs 15 to 25 per kg. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sarita Devi Kurmi of Birgunj Metropolis, Ward No 12 said the sudden increase in the price of rice has made daily expenses hard to meet. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Central President of Nepal Rice, Oil and Pulses Industry Association, Subodh Gupta, says Nepal still depends on India to meet 50 to 60 percent demand for paddy.</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""> “Since India has increased the support price for paddy, it has led to an increase in the price of rice, which is mostly imported from India,” says Gupta. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16721', 'image' => '20230210115354_640px-Rice_Plants_(IRRI).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 11:53:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16981', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Asian Hydropower Limited Opens Sale Of IPO to General Public ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Asian Hydropower Limited is opening sale of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) to the general public in the second phase from Friday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 10: Asian Hydropower Limited is opening sale of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) to the general public in the second phase from Friday.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The company is offering 7,56,000 units of shares to the general public, including the mutual fund schemes and employees of the company.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Out of the total shares, 42,000 units of shares have been allotted to the mutual fund schemes. Likewise, 16,000 shares have been set aside for the employees of the company.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> General public an participate in the remaining 6,97,200 units of shares.<br /> Interested investors can apply for a minim of 10 kitta and a maximum of 20,000 kitta of shares at a face value of Rs 100.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The offer will end on February 14. If the IPO remains under-subscribed, the deadline will extend until February 24.<br /> In the first phase, the hydropower company had issued and allotted public offerings to the project affected locals of Ilam district and Nepali citizens working in foreign countries.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Asian Hydropower Limited has developed Lower Jogmai Khola Hydropower in Ilam district. The run-of-the river project has installed capacity of 6.2 megawatts.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The project has been producing power for the last one year. Per megawatt cost for the hydropower construction stands at Rs 21.15 crores</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">NMB Capital is the issue and sales manager of the hydropower company. Interested individuals can apply for the IPO from all C-ASBA-approved banks and financial institutions by the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON). The IPO can also be purchased from Meroshare.</span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16720', 'image' => '20230210061838_collage (64) (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 06:14:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ) ) $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' => '17001', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Election Commission to Hold By-election in Chitwan-2 on April 23 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Election Commission has decided to hold the by-election in Chitwan constituency-2 on April 23, 2023.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> February 12: Election Commission has decided to hold the by-election in Chitwan constituency-2 on April 23, 2023. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A meeting of the Election Commission held on Sunday decided to hold the by-poll for the member of the House of Representatives in accordance with the existing election act-2074 on April 23, 2023. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Earlier, Rastriya Swotantra Party’s President Rabi Lamichhane was elected to the House of Representatives from Chitwan constituency-2 in the general polls held on November 20, 2022. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Lamichhane had lost the status of a lawmaker after the Supreme Court ruled that citizenship certificate he produced to contest the parliamentary polls was invalid. Following the court verdict, Lamichhane had lost the portfolio of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister apart from the status of lawmaker. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16740', 'image' => '20230212062626_collage - 2023-02-12T182127.325.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 18:19:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16999', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Bans Import of Roses on the Eve of Valentine's Day', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: The government has banned the import of stem roses from abroad on the eve of Valentine's Day. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 12: The government has banned the import of stem roses from abroad on the eve of Valentine's Day. <br /> The Plant Quarantine and Pesticide Management Center under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development issued a notice on Thursday and directed its subordinate offices in border areas not to issue import permits for stem roses.<br /> The centre issued the notice after the ministry decided to ban import of roses. The ban will remain in force until another notice, says the centre.<br /> Chief of the Plant Quarantine and Pesticide Management Center Sabitri Baral argued that the import has been stopped for the time being due to the risk of plant diseases. She said that such a decision was taken upon the recommendation of experts. <br /> She said that the notice has been issued to 15 customs offices in border areas of Nepal with India and China.<br /> People involved in the flower business say that the government’s decision to ban import of roses will hit the consumers hard.<br /> Sushil Khadka, who is involved in flower business, says this will cause the price of flowers to skyrocket during the Valentine’s Day.<br /> Earlier, it was estimated that 168,000 stem rose alone would be consumed in the Kathmandu Valley while 112,000 stem roses will be consumed in the cities outside the valley. Last year, on the occasion of Valentine’s Day, 277,000 stem roses were traded in Nepal.<br /> However, the last-minute ban this year will affect the business hard as the orders were placed much before the government’s decision, say businessmen.<br /> According to Min Bahadur Tamang, president of the Nepal Floriculture Association, domestic production is able to meet only 7 percent of the total market demand for roses this time. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16738', 'image' => '20230212043219_20230209011533_20190214040655__RAB0977.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 16:31:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16998', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Health Services Resume as NMA Strikes Six-Point Deal with Government ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: The Nepal Medical Association (NMA) has decided to put off its protest programmes for the time being, following a six-point agreement with the government. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 12: The Nepal Medical Association (NMA) has decided to put off its protest programmes for the time being, following a six-point agreement with the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NMA had taken to the street and also halted the OPD services across the country on Sunday, in protest against the physical assault on a doctor by the police on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to NMA former chair Dr Mukti Raj Shrestha who was also in the talks team, the two sides reached a six-point agreement.</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"">“With this agreement, medical professionals are to get back to work,” he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting wished for quick recovery of the doctor injured in an incident that took place in front of the National Trauma Centre and the Bir Hospital at 4:15 pm on February 10 in course of the management of traffic for the VVIPs. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Senior orthopedic surgeon for the National Trauma Centre, Dr Janith Singh, was allegedly assaulted by a security person during President Bidya Devi Bhandari’s escort back to Sheetal Niwas after addressing a joint session of the Federal Parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the agreement, there is a need to effectively implement the provision relating to the security of health workers and health institutions in line with the Security of Health Workers and Health Organisations Act, 2066 (Revised), and further make security of health workers and health institutions effective. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The agreement was signed between Chairperson of the Nepal Medical Association (NMA) Dr Lochan Karki and Secretary of the Office of Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, Dr Ganesh Prasad Pandey. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Others present on the occasion were Jitendra Basnet, representative of the Home Ministry, Dr Rudra Marasini, representative of the Ministry of Health and Population, former NMA Chairperson Dr Mukti Ram Shrestha, NMA General Secretary Dr Badri Rijal, Secretary of the Health Ministry Dr Roshan Pokharel, Additional Inspector General of Police Dibesh Lohani, Joint Secretary of the Office of Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers Narayan Prasad Bhatta, Joint Secretary of the Health Ministry Krishna Paudel, Chief District Office, Kathmandu Ghana Shyam Upadhyay, Senior Superintendent of Police Dan Bahadur Karki, and Section Officer of the Office of Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers Sagar Adhikari. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16737', 'image' => '20230212040334_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 16:02:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16997', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Game-Changer Projects Moving ahead at Snail’s Pace', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: Although big projects titled as game changers are always the top priority of the government, the financial burden of the state is increasing day by day due to the non-completion of the projects on time.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 12: Although big projects titled as game changers are always the top priority of the government, the financial burden of the state is increasing day by day due to the non-completion of the projects on time.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although two dozen projects are listed as big projects, most of them are being built at a snail's pace. Most of the projects are under construction for a long time.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The future of some large infrastructure projects, that have a multifaceted effect on the country's economy, is in limbo due to the government's delay in preparing the detailed project report (DPR) and the modality of construction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Budhi Gandaki hydropower, Kathmandu-Terai/Madhesh Expressway, Nijgadh International Airport, West Seti Hydropower Project, Karnali-Chisapani Hydropower and Pancheshwar Multi-Purpose Projects classified as projects of national pride have not been able to move forward due to pending DPR and modalities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A study conducted by the National Planning Commission has shown that the initial cost has increased from Rs 1045 billion to Rs 2595 billion as large projects move at a snail's pace.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The construction of Budhigandaki hydropower project, which was advanced in 2069 with the target of completion in 2083, has not yet progressed. The study of the National Planning Commission shows that the cost of this project has now reached Rs 2 trillion 60 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another project that has been affected by the government's dilly dallying is the Kathmandu-Terai/Madhesh Expressway. Even this project has not been able to gain momentum. Now its cost has reached Rs 175 billion. The government has not yet taken a decision on the DPR of this project, which was started in 2065. The much-hyped Nijgadh International Airport project has not yet progressed. The cost has reached Rs 165 billion. Although the West Seti Hydropower and the much talked about Pancheswar multi-purpose project has come into the limelight recently, there is no word on when its construction will start.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As the progress of other projects is also seen at a snail's pace, the government itself has been questioned. Dilliraj Khanal, a member of the Public Expenditure Review Commission, considers past mistakes and weaknesses as the main factor in the slow progress of projects. The only reason why big projects are in trouble is because of project selection. In the past, projects were selected without studying the details. Now there is no choice but to accept the past mistakes and to proceed strictly in the project selection, he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that although some projects have been selected and construction started, they have been stalled due to lack of resource management and preparation for construction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Also, in the past, when big projects were determined, there was a problem in implementation. So, the government has introduced the 'criteria for determining national priority projects 2079' to be strict in the selection of such projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16736', 'image' => '20230212025820_fast track.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 14:57:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16996', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Internal Terminal of Chobhar Dry Port to Come into Operation Soon ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: The internal terminal of the Chobhar Dry Port in Kathmandu is going to come into operation soon. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 12: The internal terminal of the Chobhar Dry Port in Kathmandu is going to come into operation soon. The dry port, which is run by the Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Committee, came into operation since mid-March last year, but the internal terminal is yet to come into operation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Executive Director of the committee, Ashish Gajurel, shared that the operation of the internal terminal will be strted within a day or two after completing the due process of correspondence with the concerned agencies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The internal terminal in the dry port has a capacity for parking of 150 trucks and has warehouses, measurement scales as well as loading and unloading sheds. With the objective of facilitating trade, the entrance fee for the use of the terminal will be free while facilities such as vehicle parking and loading/unloading of goods will be available at the lowest possible fee, said Gajurel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Committee has requested the goods importers and exporters to use the Chobhar Dry Port and benefit from the services available at the port located on the outskirts of Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The dry port that spreads over an area of about 260 ropanis of land has services ranging from customs, quarantine, bank and other services. The port has three load-unload buildings, three warehouses, three administrative buildings, three weight measurement sheds, container yard, power substation, boundary light, and vehicle parking areas. The port's container yard has a 65,000 square meters parking area that can accommodate 500 containers and 500 trucks. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16735', 'image' => '20230212013517_Chobhar Dy port.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 13:34:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16995', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ensure Market for Domestic Agro Products: Peasants' Federation ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 12: The All Nepal Peasants' Federation (ANPF) has demanded the government to ensure market for the domestic agricultural products by fixing fair value for the products at the earliest. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 12: The All Nepal Peasants' Federation (ANPF) has demanded the government to ensure market for the domestic agricultural products by fixing fair value for the products at the earliest. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government should be sensitive towards making the issue of agriculture and guarantee food sovereignty, argued the farmers. According to the federation, the farmers must have decent opportunity to generate income and employment in this field and the government must play a supporting role.</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"">The federation argued that the farmers are drowning in debt without fair value of their produce and the lack of market, while the middlepersons are taking advantage of the situation.</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"">The federation’s President Balaram Baskota made such a remark at a press conference organised on Friday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that a majority of Nepali people are engaged in agriculture on which the country's economy is based, he said, "Agriculture is taking a back seat due to failure to protect agricultural produces. On the other hand, farmers are struggling without fair price of their products." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">For the development of agriculture, it is main responsibility of the state to provide fertilisers and seeds in time and provide market for the products, he underscored. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that people's right to food sovereignty that was established through Nepali farmers' movements are connected to farmers' prosperity and agricultural transformation, the federation’s General Secretary Pramesh Pokharel viewed that the government should be serious about farmers' protest. “The farmers must be saved from the interference of the foreign products,” he said.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The federation has drawn the attention of the government to resolve problems of fertilisers, seeds and irrigation while expressing sorrow over the incidents in which the farmers had thrown away their agricultural produce in protest. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-12', 'modified' => '2023-02-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16734', 'image' => '20230212111916_agri maize.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-12 11:17:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16992', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Intensify Development Projects: President Bhandari ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 11: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has underscored the need for wiping out legal ambiguities and addressing interests and pressure of multi-stakeholders for intensifying development projects. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 11: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has underscored the need for wiping out legal ambiguities and addressing interests and pressure of multi-stakeholders for intensifying development projects. </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"">In her address to the joint sitting of the federal parliaments on Friday, President Bhandari expressed concerns regarding the lacklusture pace of development projects. </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"">“In order to address the problems, an enabling legislation should be immediately adopted and implemented. The legislation should facilitate the procurement process, utilization of forest area and public land, human resources management, contract management, linking employees’ performance appraisal to their performance level, inter-agency coordination, and incentives for project managers,” she said in the address. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> According to the president, all sides’ attention is required to guarantee quality of infrastructures. </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"">“Development activities cannot move properly in the absence of quality infrastructure. I am confident that the government will pay attention not only to the construction of infrastructure but also to the regular maintenance of the existing infrastructure by ensuring the implementation of an action plan with adequate resources,” President Bhandari said, adding that the development of an appropriate mechanism of mutual coordination for the integrated construction of different types of infrastructures at the beginning of the project would help build necessary coordination. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the president said attention must be paid to the proper utilization of resources in the selection and construction of infrastructure projects. Small projects that are implemented without necessary study and analyses lead to the misuse of resources and fail to yield the desired returns, said the president. </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"">“Instead of allocating the budget for such small projects yielding no returns, it is better to manage the resources to ensure that the ongoing projects are completed within the stipulated timeframe,” she said, expressing confidence that the government would prepare its policies and programmes accordingly in the days ahead. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Strategic infrastructure projects should be selected and built keeping national security at the core, according to her. Roads should be constructed not only as conventional infrastructure but also as links emotionally connecting the citizens of the country. </span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">She further believed that our priorities should include developing standard road network at all wards of the local level, linking the services provided by the state with the road network, developing transport infrastructure to facilitate the means of transportation and to deliver the goods and services to the market, providing easy and accessible transportation facilities to the common people, completing the ongoing road construction within the stipulated time, and marking road transportation safe and reliable. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President Bhandari was for preparing the framework of infrastructure development only upon ensuring the necessity, relevance and sustainability of the infrastructure. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-11', 'modified' => '2023-02-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16731', 'image' => '20230211064849_RP_Kanchanpur-2(1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-11 18:48:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16991', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President for Coordinated Efforts to Boost Production ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has stressed on the need for the government to implement a coordinated programme to increase production, as the domestic production needs to be strengthened in order to improve the economy. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 10: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has stressed on the need for the government to implement a coordinated programme to increase production, as the domestic production needs to be strengthened in order to improve the economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In her address to the joint sitting of both Houses of the Federal Parliament on Friday, the president said, "The agriculture sector still remains our area of comparative and competitive advantage." </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"">President Bhandari suggested that providing subsidies in agriculture on the basis of the quantity of production would provide an incentive to increase production. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“For this, it is necessary to have coordinated implementation of programmes on fertilizers, seeds, agricultural extension services, irrigation, capital and land while keeping agricultural output at the forefront,” she said. Furthermore, the value chain can be maintained by strengthening the internal distribution system and assisting the farmers to receive the right price for their produce on time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The president also noted that trade deficit can be reduced if agricultural programmes could be implemented in such a way that leads to self-sufficiency in certain food items within a specified timeline and then enabling to export surplus items. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The government should focus on creating an investment-friendly environment by providing the basic infrastructure, protecting the investment and building the necessary infrastructure up to the production site to boost production.” -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16730', 'image' => '20230210100726_President Bhandari addressing a joint meeting at Parliament House, 1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 22:06:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16990', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Interest Rate on Internal Debts of Government Increasing', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) issued a tight monetary policy for the current fiscal year and increased the policy rates. ', 'content' => '<p>February 10: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) issued a tight monetary policy for the current fiscal year and increased the policy rates. While under pressure from the external sector including high exchange rate deficit and declining foreign exchange reserves, NRB took a policy of tightening loans by increasing interest rates. Due to this, the internal interest rate of the government also became expensive.</p> <p>As NRB increased the policy rates, the banks started increasing the interest rate, making the interest of internal debt collected by the government through various monetary instruments expensive.</p> <p>NRB announced the monetary policy for the current year on July 23. Immediately after the announcement of the monetary policy, the government issued treasury bills as a tool for raising short-term domestic debt. Banks increased the interest rate on 91-day treasury bills issued on July 26 by 2.67 percentage points which was in single digits before the monetary policy.</p> <p>After that, NRB intervened several times and bought Treasury Bills itself, but the interest rate could not be reduced. So, NRB has to pay high interest rates when raising internal debt through Treasury Bills.</p> <p>Lately, the interest rate of the treasury started to decrease after the liquidity situation in the banks and financial institutions eased, but still, the interest rate is becoming more expensive for the government compared to the last FY. Last year, the interest rate of 28-day treasury bills remained at 4.72 percent.</p> <p>In the current year, the lowest interest rate for 28-day treasury was maintained on January 30 at 5.9 percent. Similarly, 9.18 percent interest rate is maintained on 91-day treasury bills, while the interest rate on 182- and 364-day treasury bills is still in double digits.</p> <p>Similarly, the interest rate of internal debt raised by the government through development bonds also became expensive. In the current year, the government raised Rs 30 billion through development bonds for a period of 2 to 5 years. Its average interest rate remained at 9.95 percent. Last year, when the government raised domestic debt through development bonds, the average interest rate was only 7.74 percent.</p> <p>As of last year, the internal debt of the government is Rs 984 billion. In the current fiscal year, the government set a target of raising domestic debt of Rs 256 billion. Out of that, Rs 30 billion of debt was raised in the second quarter. Similarly, the target is to raise Rs 88 billion in the third quarter and Rs 138 billion in the fourth quarter.</p> <p>Through the monetary policy of the current year, NRB adopted a policy of tightening the loans by increasing the interest rate. Through the policy, the bank rate increased by 1.5 percentage points to 8.5 percent. The deadline for standing liquidity facility (SLF) taken by banks for liquidity management also reduced from 2 days to 5 days only. Similarly, the policy rate increased from 5.5 percent to 7 percent, and the deposit collection rate increased from 4 percent to 5.5 percent.</p> <p>Interest rates of banks are becoming more expensive due to increase in policy rates and lack of liquidity in the financial system. However, as the liquidity situation in the financial system eased recently and the external pressure on the economy decreased, experts say that the internal economy should be made viable by reducing the policy rate through a review of the monetary policy.</p> <p>Former banker Analraj Bhattarai said, “Even though the external pressure on the economy is less now, the internal economy has not been able to run due to high interest rates. NRB should review the monetary policy.”</p> <p>NRB is conducting its half-yearly review of monetary policy today (Friday). It is expected that NRB, which maintained the policy regime in the first quarter monetary policy review, will review the policy rates in the second review.</p> <p>Governor of NRB, Mahaprasad Adhikari has also been indicating in public programs that the provisions of monetary policy will change according to time. He said, “Due to the arrangements made through the monetary policy, we have reached a somewhat comfortable situation. The provisions of the monetary policy are reviewed from time to time.”</p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16729', 'image' => '20230210075421_20230210043603_interest ratee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 19:53:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16987', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Supreme Court Rules in Favour of Foreign Investment in Agriculture', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February: The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled in favor of the legal provision to allow foreign investment in the agricultural sector. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February: The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled in favor of the legal provision to allow foreign investment in the agricultural sector. The path to bring in foreign investment in the agricultural sector has been opened after SC rejected the petition demanding the non-implementation of the amendment to the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act, 2075 to bring in foreign investment in the agricultural sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the need for foreign investment in the agricultural sector was raised several times, but the obstacles to foreign investment could not be removed. Especially industrialists and businessmen have been arguing that small farmers cannot compete with foreign investment in agriculture.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government amended the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act, 2075 to allow foreign investment in the agricultural sector with the objective of exporting 75 percent of the produce.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the said act, the government amended the previous provision that foreign investment could not be brought in the fields of livestock, fishery, beekeeping, fruits, vegetables, oilseeds, pulses, dairy business, etc. A writ was filed in the SC against such a provision made by the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A few days ago, the full text of the decision of the SC’s division bench of justices Prakash Kumar Dhungana and Kumar Chudal dismissing the writ petition filed to prohibit foreign investment in the agriculture sector came out. In the text of the SC verdict, it is mentioned that there will be no negative impact on the domestic agricultural industry due to the opening of foreign investment, and there will be no loss or damage to the nation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The SC opined that since foreign investment is opened on the condition that at least 75 percent of the production is exported, small farmers and domestic production will not be affected. Similarly, it is mentioned in the full text that the provision of foreign investment will remain in place for industries that export agricultural products produced in Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">SC said that technology will be transferred through foreign investment, the modernization of agriculture will increase and as a result, the quantity and quality of agricultural products will also increase. It is also mentioned in the full text that this will help in the import substitution of agricultural produce and increase employment due to foreign technology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the full text of SC, large investment is required for commercial farming and when foreign investment comes in, not only investment but also technology and skills will come in. The verdict states, “Since foreign investment in agriculture does not seem to affect small farmers and domestic producers, it is not appropriate to think that foreign investment will affect domestic investment.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16726', 'image' => '20230210042029_Agri.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 16:19:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16985', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Directs CAAN to suspend TIA Director General Thakur over Bribery Allegation', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to suspend Director General of the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Prem Nath Thakur.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 10: The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to suspend Director General of the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Prem Nath Thakur. </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"">The ministry took such a decision following a revelation of an audio conversation in which Thakur is heard seeking personal benefits from an airline company.</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"">Joint Secretary Rajendra Kumar KC, who is also the ministry's spokesperson, confirmed that CAAN has been directed to fire Thakur. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Thakur has been charged with holding a conversation with Thai Smile Airlines for his personal gains illegally. As per the cabinet decision, CAAN has been asked to suspend Thakur to help investigate the matter,” he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the ministry has urged the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to launch further investigations into the matter, added KC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Some days ago, the CIAA had arrested Purna Chudal, the TIA chief (domestic terminal) along with a bribe. Thakur’s involvement in seeking personal gains came to the fore after the arrest of Chudal. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16724', 'image' => '20230210031858_CAAN.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 15:17:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16984', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Monetary Policy Review Gives Relief to Borrowers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has adopted liberal policy with an objective of providing some relief to the borrowers. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 10: The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has adopted liberal policy with an objective of providing some relief to the borrowers. The central bank has given some relief to the borrowers by publishing a half-yearly review of the monetary policy of the current fiscal year, 2022/23 on Friday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank has made an arrangement so that banks cannot take penalty interest till mid-June 2023 if a borrower makes payment of loans along with interest within a month after the expiry of the deadline, reads the review. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, there is a provision that loans up to Rs 20 million floated through banks and financial institutions to facilitate to small and medium industries and businesses can be restructured within July 16 after analysing their cash flow and incomes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The monetary policy had mandated commercial banks to invest at least 11 percent of their total loans in agriculture sector, sic percent in energy sector and 11 percent in micro, cottage and small scale industries (less than Rs 10 million loans including deprived sector lending).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The mid-term review states that commercial banks have invested 13 percent in agriculture (Rs 543.47 billion), 6.3 percent in energy sector (Rs 262.55 billion) and 9.5 percent in micro, cottage and small scale industries (Rs 396.91 billion) as of mid-December 2022.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While issuing the mid-term review of the monetary policy, NRB stated that the monetary policy of the current fiscal year had set a target of increasing foreign exchange reserves that can support imports for seven months. The mid-term review states that the central bank has exceeded this target as the foreign exchange reserves of the country can support imports for 9.1 months.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The mid-term review also states that there has been a general improvement in the economy in the first six months of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the average inter-bank rate, which was 4.77 percent in mid-December to mid-January a year ago has increased to 7.73 percent in the corresponding period of this year. The average inter-bank rate was 7.01 percent in mid-July last year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16723', 'image' => '20230210042209_20220727022441_monetary policy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 14:42:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16983', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industrialists Urge for Load Shedding Instead of Unannounced Power Cuts', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: Fed up with the frequent power cuts without prior notice, the industry operators of Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor have requested the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to announce load shedding rather than unannounced power cuts.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 10: Fed up with the frequent power cuts without prior notice, the industry operators of Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor have requested the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to announce load shedding rather than unannounced power cuts. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hari Gautam, coordinator of the industry committee under the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that electricity is cut for 8/9 hours every day in the main industrial corridor.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Currently, the production of most of the industries has decreased. Industrialists claim that when the production has dropped to 25 percent, lack of electricity has added to the problem. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Gautam, who is also the vice president of the association, said, “There are problems in the production shift management as well due to power cuts without notice. Instead, it would have been easier if the schedule of load shedding was available.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industrialists complain that production has been badly affected due to the frequent power cuts without notice. Iron, cement and furnace-based industries which consume more electricity are affected more.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As compared to the previous years, the domestic production of electricity and import from India has decreased this year, due to which NEA started cutting its supply to the industries. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the authority's top officials, the power supply in the industry is reduced by 2/3 hours in order to manage the demand during peak hours. However, industrialists said that electricity is interrupted many times throughout the day.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NEA’s data, the demand for electricity in the peak hour is 1,700 megawatts. Authority officials say that domestic production is at most 1,300 MW and 400 MW is being imported from India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The authority claims that this year, production has decreased by 20 percent compared to last year's winter and imports from India are also affected, creating imbalance in supply and demand. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The authority buys electricity from India and has to pay more during peak hours, so it brings it during off hours. NEA has been importing mostly from Bihar of India and Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor is supplied from the same line. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA spokesperson Suresh Bhattarai says that two thermal plants with a capacity of 1,400 megawatts in Bihar are damaged, so they have not been able to bring in the required amount of electricity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Madhav Rajpal, vice president of the association, there are problems such as wastage of raw materials, reduction in production, burning and deterioration of equipment, and deterioration in the quality of products due to frequent power cuts in the industry. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He commented that a dark age has started in the industry less than four years after the end of load shedding.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Industrialists say that they have been trapped in an all-round crisis since the Covid-19 pandemic and the energy insecurity is hitting them even harder. Gautam complains that due to the recession in the market, the industry is running only for 12 hours, and due to the lack of regular electricity supply, it has not been able to run for even eight hours. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16722', 'image' => '20230210013223_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 13:31:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16982', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Paddy Farmers Happy with Price Hike, Consumers Complain ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 10: Farmers have felt a sense of relief this year with the rise in the price of paddy while the consumers are at the receiving end.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 10: Farmers have felt a sense of relief this year with the rise in the price of paddy while the consumers are at the receiving end. The price of paddy has increased by Rs 300 per quintal compared to the previous year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As neighbouring India has imposed a quota on paddy export, the price of paddy in Nepal has increased along with the increase in price of paddy in India. India has fixed an export quota of 600,000 tons of paddy for Nepal in the current fiscal year </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the increase in the price of paddy, Sona Mansuli variety of rice available at Rs 48 per kg now costs Rs 58 per kg while the price of Mansuli has reached Rs 64 from Rs 50 per kg. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farmers of Madhes province, including Parsa, a pocket area for paddy production, have been suffering due to low price but they have finally got some relief. Sitaram Prasad, a farmer of Lalparsa in Birgunj Ward No 30, says, "The price of paddy does not even meet the cost of production, but this time it has increased." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Kismatia Devi, a paddy farmer of Sabathwa-4, Parsa, however said although the new price is some relief, it is not enough. </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"">Meanwhile, even though the farmers are happy with the increase in the price of paddy the consumers are at the receiving end. The price of rice has increased by Rs 15 to 25 per kg. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sarita Devi Kurmi of Birgunj Metropolis, Ward No 12 said the sudden increase in the price of rice has made daily expenses hard to meet. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Central President of Nepal Rice, Oil and Pulses Industry Association, Subodh Gupta, says Nepal still depends on India to meet 50 to 60 percent demand for paddy.</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""> “Since India has increased the support price for paddy, it has led to an increase in the price of rice, which is mostly imported from India,” says Gupta. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16721', 'image' => '20230210115354_640px-Rice_Plants_(IRRI).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 11:53:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16981', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Asian Hydropower Limited Opens Sale Of IPO to General Public ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Asian Hydropower Limited is opening sale of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) to the general public in the second phase from Friday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 10: Asian Hydropower Limited is opening sale of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) to the general public in the second phase from Friday.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The company is offering 7,56,000 units of shares to the general public, including the mutual fund schemes and employees of the company.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Out of the total shares, 42,000 units of shares have been allotted to the mutual fund schemes. Likewise, 16,000 shares have been set aside for the employees of the company.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> General public an participate in the remaining 6,97,200 units of shares.<br /> Interested investors can apply for a minim of 10 kitta and a maximum of 20,000 kitta of shares at a face value of Rs 100.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The offer will end on February 14. If the IPO remains under-subscribed, the deadline will extend until February 24.<br /> In the first phase, the hydropower company had issued and allotted public offerings to the project affected locals of Ilam district and Nepali citizens working in foreign countries.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Asian Hydropower Limited has developed Lower Jogmai Khola Hydropower in Ilam district. The run-of-the river project has installed capacity of 6.2 megawatts.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The project has been producing power for the last one year. Per megawatt cost for the hydropower construction stands at Rs 21.15 crores</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">NMB Capital is the issue and sales manager of the hydropower company. Interested individuals can apply for the IPO from all C-ASBA-approved banks and financial institutions by the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON). The IPO can also be purchased from Meroshare.</span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-10', 'modified' => '2023-02-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16720', 'image' => '20230210061838_collage (64) (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-10 06:14:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ) ) $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
